bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Developmental Process of Japanese Psychotherapists Based on Their Life Histories
Authors: Terashima Hitomi , Yaguchi Daiyu
Published: April 2021

We identified the mastery processes of experienced psychotherapists by drawing their life histories, which indicated principles for guiding the development of young psychotherapists. Participants were psychotherapists with over 30 years of experience (N = 7, six men and one woman, mean age = 71.86 years). The data were analyzed using the trajectory equifinality model (TEM). The results indicated that a psychotherapist might continue to practice even while experiencing conflicts and might eventually integrate and establish their unique therapeutic approach into their work. Essential factors in facilitating the motivation to be a psychotherapist include: hope; good friends, coworkers, and supervisors; experience with many cases; learning from a global perspective; and interest in human beings. Moreover, after the mid‐career, adverse events in participants' private lives had positive effects on their development as experts. It was concluded that the development of a psychotherapist is a process of growth as a person. This study indicated factors necessary to continue as a psychotherapist while facing conflicts, which is considered useful for educating future Japanese psychotherapists.
Relationship Between Basic Psychological Needs and Exercise Motivation in Japanese Adults: An Application of Self‐Determination Theory
Authors: Matsumoto Hiroshi , Takenaka Koji
Published: April 2021

Grounded in self‐determination theory (SDT), this study aimed to examine the relationship between satisfying basic psychological needs when exercising and motivation for exercise. Participants (nmale = 324; nfemale = 379) were Japanese adults who completed a survey using a cross‐sectional, non‐experimental design. Bivariate correlations supported positive associations between satisfying each psychological need via exercise, and revealed that adjacent motivations spanning the self‐determination continuum were more positively correlated in comparison to distal motivations. Multiple regression analyses by participant gender indicated that three basic psychological needs satisfaction via exercise predicted intrinsic motivation in men and women and identified regulation in the female subsample. Relatedness need satisfaction did not significantly contribute to predicting identified regulation in the male subsample. Limited support for the role of basic psychological need fulfillment was evident in the regression models related to controlled motivations or amotivation. Overall, the results of this study indicated that SDT could be employed to advance our understanding of the psychological mechanisms that shape exercise motivation in Japanese adults.
Children seeking asylum: Determinants of asylum claims by unaccompanied minors in the United States from 2013 to 2017
Authors: Braaten Daniel , Braaten Claire Nolasco
Published: April 2021

This paper examines the treatment and processing of immigration court decisions for unaccompanied alien children (UAC) in the United States from 2013 to 2017. We focus on two primary questions in our research: (1) whether asylum cases involving UAC are substantially different in outcome than non‐UAC cases, and (2) whether there have been significant differences in the immigration courts' asylum decisions involving unaccompanied minors before and after the Trump administration came to power. We utilize various multilevel models to test individual applicant‐, immigration judge‐, county‐, and state‐level variables on the likelihood of UAC receiving a positive outcome in immigration court. We find strong support for the second hypothesis and mixed support for the first. Overall, our findings suggest that multiple political, economic, social, and geographical factors influence immigration hearings for UAC beyond the individual strength of any one child's case.
More than Meets the Eye: Derivations and Stratification in Boulez's ‘Don’ (1962)
Authors: Sudo Marina
Published: April 2021

Based on a study of the sketch material held at the Paul Sacher Foundation, this paper examines the derivation of materials in the 1962 orchestral version of ‘Don’, the first movement of Pli selon pli: Portrait de Mallarmé by Pierre Boulez. Although the composer starts with a prepared serial multiplication table, he exhibits a flexible and imaginative treatment of material between conceptual planning, conceived initially in the relationship with the last movement, ‘Tombeau’, and its mise en place. Some sketches suggest that Boulez carefully selects the material according to the sound image in his mind. The interaction between planning and sound realisation shows, furthermore, that he did not view the series as a restriction but rather as a fountain of creative inspiration.
Central sensitization and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms in irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain syndromes, and inflammatory bowel disease
Authors: Midenfjord Irina , Grinsvall Cecilia , Koj Peter , Carnerup Ida , Törnblom Hans , Simrén Magnus
Published: April 2021

Background

Central sensitization has been suggested as an explanation of the wide range of gastrointestinal and extraintestinal symptoms commonly seen in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In this study, the presence and level of central sensitization, and its association to gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms were explored in IBS in comparison with control groups.

Methods

We investigated patients with IBS (n = 215), chronic pain disorders (n = 36), and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) (n = 40) and volunteers without chronic diseases (n = 112). The Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) was translated and validated in Swedish and used together with the Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) scale to measure the presence and level of central sensitization. Furthermore, severity of GI symptoms (GSRS‐IBS and IBS‐SSS), and anxiety and depression (HAD) were determined.

Key results

The Swedish translation of CSI demonstrated excellent validity. Central sensitization, defined by validated cut‐off levels for CSI and HSP, was common in the whole cohort (40% and 28%) and in IBS (57% and 35%). Study participants with central sensitization had more severe GI symptoms, anxiety and depression, than participants without central sensitization. Strong associations were seen between CSI and GI symptom severity in the whole cohort (GSRS‐IBS: partial η2 = 0.455, p < 0.001; IBS‐SSS: partial η2 = 0.408, p < 0.001), with decreasing strength in patients with chronic pain, IBD, IBS, and volunteers.

Conclusion and Inferences

Central sensitization was common in IBS and associated with GI symptom severity, but with stronger associations in chronic pain disorders and IBD. This implies that other mechanisms may be of equal or greater importance for GI symptom severity in IBS.
A realist evaluation of the implementation of a large‐scale school eye health programme in India: a qualitative study
Authors: Seelam Bharani , Liu Hueiming , Borah Rishi Raj , Sheeladevi Sethu , Keay Lisa ,   the REACH research group
Published: April 2021

Purpose

This study investigates how and in what circumstances a school‐based eye health programme, the Refractive Errors Among CHildren (REACH) programme, achieved its desired outcomes: accessibility, standards of refractive care, fidelity and availability of comprehensive services, for over 2 million school children in six districts across India.

Methods

We conducted a realist evaluation to identify programme aspects and their causal relationships with outcomes. Deductive and inductive thematic analysis of qualitative data included three phases: 1. theory gleaning, 2. eliciting programme theory, 3. revisiting programme theory. The Initial Programme Theories (IPTs) were developed and revised through review of the literature, programme documents and field notes. We reviewed informal and formal discussions from the participatory advisory workshops and conducted semi‐structured interviews with key stakeholders for the development and refinement of the IPTs. We based our analysis on the programme designers’ perspective; used contexts, mechanisms and outcomes configuration for the analysis and presentation of the findings and reported the revised IPTs for the REACH programme.

Results

We identified four major programme aspects of the REACH programme for evaluation: programme governing unit, human resource, innovation and technology and funding. Based on the intended outcomes of the programme, themes and contexts were sorted and IPTs were defined. We revised the IPTs based on the analysis of the interviews (n = 19). The contexts and mechanisms that were reported to have potential influence on the attainment of favourable programme outcomes were identified. The revisions to the IPTs included: co‐designing a collaborative model and involving local government officials to reinforce trust, community partnerships; local well‐trained staff to encourage participation; use of the web‐based data capturing system with built‐in quality control measures and continued technical support; pre‐determined costs and targets for the outputs promoted transparency and adherence with costs.

Conclusion

This process provided a comprehensive understanding of the opportunities and possibilities for a large‐scale school eye health programme in diverse local contexts in India. This illustrated the importance of embracing principles of system thinking and considering contextual factors for School Eye Health programmes in low and middle‐income countries.
Densitometry marks delineating the affected area in keratoconus: clinical suitability of a new descriptive system based on its repeatability and reproducibility
Authors: Jiménez‐García Marta , Ní Dhubhghaill Sorcha , Hershko Sarah , Koppen Carina , Rozema Jos J
Published: April 2021

Purpose

To present a descriptive system for the elliptic demarcation area seen in keratoconus densitometry maps (obtained with a Scheimpflug tomographer) and to evaluate its suitability for clinical practice.

Methods

The subjects were 30 keratoconus patients at different stages and 20 healthy subjects. The averaged densitometry maps (‘two‐layers’ scan, with fixed layers 120 µm and endothelium) were analysed using a system of four categories (termed ‘Brightness’, ‘Contrast’, ‘Decentration’ and ‘Octants surrounded by a dark line’) that we created to characterise the demarcation area. Four examiners (three corneal specialists and one junior resident) used the system to classify the maps. The inter‐rater agreement was calculated for two subgroups: (1) clinical keratoconus patients and (2) both healthy patients and forme fruste keratoconus patients. Intra‐rater agreement was also determined.

Results

Inter‐rater agreement on classification was higher when analysing clinical keratoconus, reaching levels of substantial agreement. Despite this, only low levels of agreement were found in ‘Decentration’, penalized due to the skewness in the distribution of this descriptor. Almost perfect intra‐rater agreement was obtained for all descriptors in the first subgroup of clinical keratoconus, whereas the agreement was generally moderate within the second subgroup of normal and forme fruste eyes. Agreement was slightly lower with the less experienced observer. At least three observers agreed on four forme fruste keratoconus eyes presenting abnormalities in the images. The observers reported that the ‘Brightness’ descriptor was subjective and redundant with ‘Contrast’.

Conclusions

The description of the area was repeatable and reproducible, and may be a valuable supplement when documenting clinical keratoconus stage and progression in daily practice. However, a minor learning curve was noticed and agreement was higher among the more experienced observers. Since the descriptor ‘Brightness’ was found to be subjective and redundant, it was excluded from the final proposed classification.
Involuntary backsourcing in the public sector: From conflict to collaboration
Authors: Berlin Johan M. , Jansson Magnus , Karlsson David , Carlström Eric D.
Published: April 2021

The aim of this study is to contribute to the literature on how involuntary backsourcing in public organizations is performed in practice and how it affects the relationship between principal and agent. The study focuses on two questions: (1) Which stages characterize the process when public contracts are involuntary terminated? (2) How does involuntary backsourcing affect the relationship between principal and agent during the transfer period? The study's case concerns public backsourcing in Sweden, in particular, how a metropolitan municipality manages involuntary backsourcing. This study provides in‐depth insights into backsourcing and its practice, as well as the degree to which the conflict dimension between the parties is affected. The study shows—paradoxically—that the relationship between principal and agent during the transition phase is characterized by dependence, mutual exchange of information, collaboration, and less conflict. The study contributes to developing the theory of backsourcing, particularly the behavior that is played out between principal and agent in the transition stage. The findings identify the need for public organizations which make outsourcing decisions to have contingency plans for bringing operations back in‐house.
Offensive Realism and the Future of China's Rise*
Authors: Myšička Stanislav
Published: April 2021

One of the most important questions about China's rising military and economic power is whether this trend will eventually lead to confrontation with the United States in the future or if China will become even more deeply integrated into the contemporary world order. John Mearsheimer's theory of offensive realism claims that great powers relentlessly maximize their power in a highly competitive anarchical world in order to assure their survival by trying to achieve regional hegemony at the expense of other powerful actors. Unlike many other contemporary liberal and realist thinkers, Mearsheimer predicts that China will try to become regional hegemon in Asia, which will inevitably lead to counterbalancing moves by today's sole regional hegemon – the United States. For Mearsheimer, significant change in China's material capabilities will unescapably lead it to a conflict with an American‐led counter‐balancing coalition, similar to the situation during the Cold War superpower competition. In this paper, I argue that the theory of offensive realism is lacking both in theoretical accuracy and in interpretation of empirical cases chosen by its author. That is especially true of contemporary offensive realism's analysis of China's rise to become a true global power. Understanding the deficiencies of offensive realism is crucial for avoiding foreign policy prescriptions that might lead to further deterioration of future Sino–American relations.
Smaller Ally Matters: Civil‐Military Relations and Military Effectiveness in the Fighter eXperimental (FX) III Project of the ROK–US Alliance
Authors: Lee Haneol
Published: April 2021

This article explores alliance effectiveness with a particular focus on peacetime capability‐building activities. Questioning why an alliance succeeds in an effective capability‐building activity sometimes but not others, this article argues that the key to effectiveness rests on the civil‐military relations of the smaller ally. The military effectiveness of capability‐building activities increases if the preferences of civilian and military leaders of the smaller ally are converged. Furthermore, constructive civil‐military coordination positively impacts military effectiveness. This article tests these propositions with the FX‐III project, which is regarded as the largest fighter jet procurement project of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The military effectiveness of the project declined across two phases, which is attributable primarily to unproductive coordination between civilian and military leaders in phase two. This case study reveals that the impact of preference alignment does not influence military effectiveness as broadly as does civil‐military coordination.
Fatalism, fear, and compliance with preventive measures in COVID‐19 pandemic: A structural equation modeling analysis
Authors: Özdil Kamuran , Bulucu Büyüksoy Gizem D. , Çatıker Aslıhan
Published: April 2021

Objectives

This study was conducted to develop and evaluate a theoretical model to explain the relationships among participation in individual and social activities, compliance with prevention guidelines, and the perception of fatalism and fear of COVID‐19.

Methods

Cross‐sectional survey of 1,067 participants who were >18 years of age living in different provinces of Turkey recruited between August 15, 2020 and October 15, 2020. We used covariant structural analysis to assess the relationships of the constructs of the theoretical model.

Results

Significant fits were detected for Model 1 (χ2 = 924,389, p < .001, comparative fit index or CFI = 0.944), and for Model 2 (χ2 = 2,253,751, p < .001, CFI = 0.926). The predetermination and luck subdimensions reduce the fear of COVID‐19, while the pessimism subdimension and compliance with preventive measures increase the fear.

Conclusion

In public health crises such as COVID‐19, it is important to plan scientific knowledge‐based public education; take initiatives in accordance with the cultural, social, economic, religious, and local characteristics of the societies; and conduct public health studies covering the whole society.
Determinants of vegetation regeneration on forest roads following restoration treatments: implications for boreal caribou conservation
Authors: Lacerte Rebecca , Leblond Mathieu , St‐Laurent Martin‐Hugues
Published: April 2021

Linear features are increasing worldwide and, in many jurisdictions, their decommissioning has been identified as a way to restore wildlife habitat. Few studies have assessed restoration practices on forest roads, yet they are the main linear disturbance throughout most circumboreal forests. In boreal forests of eastern Canada, such knowledge would be especially valuable for the conservation of boreal populations of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). We assessed the short‐term establishment of vegetation following four treatments applied across 40 km of forest roads, along a restoration gradient involving additive treatments (i.e. each successive treatment included the treatments prior): closing the road to traffic, decompacting the soil, planting black spruce trees, and adding enriched soil. We linked lateral cover (a proxy of movement obstruction for wildlife) and the occurrence and abundance of plant species to road treatments and environmental covariates. Vegetation establishment 3–4 years after decommissioning was mostly influenced by treatments but also by road width and stand composition in the vicinity of roads. The combination of closing, decompacting, and planting was the most effective treatment to establish regeneration that would lead to suitable caribou habitat as it reduced food availability for moose and bears (i.e. lower presence of herbaceous species, fruit‐bearing shrubs, and deciduous trees). It also reduced the presence of plants competing with spruce, such as ericaceous shrubs. Our results suggest that the decommissioning of forest roads could benefit caribou, provided it is performed at a sufficiently broad scale, and accompanied by other habitat restoration and protection practices.
Removing the Influence of Group Variables in High-Dimensional Predictive Modelling
Authors: Aliverti Emanuele , Lum Kristian , Johndrow James E. , Dunson David B.
Published: April 2021

In many application areas, predictive models are used to support or make important decisions. There is increasing awareness that these models may contain spurious or otherwise undesirable correlations. Such correlations may arise from a variety of sources, including batch effects, systematic measurement errors or sampling bias. Without explicit adjustment, machine learning algorithms trained using these data can produce out-of-sample predictions which propagate these undesirable correlations. We propose a method to pre-process the training data, producing an adjusted dataset that is statistically independent of the nuisance variables with minimum information loss. We develop a conceptually simple approach for creating an adjusted dataset in high-dimensional settings based on a constrained form of matrix decomposition. The resulting dataset can then be used in any predictive algorithm with the guarantee that predictions will be statistically independent of the nuisance variables. We develop a scalable algorithm for implementing the method, along with theory support in the form of independence guarantees and optimality. The method is illustrated on some simulation examples and applied to two case studies: removing machine-specific correlations from brain scan data, and removing ethnicity information from a dataset used to predict recidivism. That the motivation for removing undesirable correlations is quite different in the two applications illustrates the broad applicability of our approach.
A relational perspective on emotion regulation across adulthood
Authors: English Tammy , Growney Claire M.
Published: April 2021

Theories of aging suggest that close social connections are key determinants of maintained emotional well‐being across adulthood. However, most emotion regulation (ER) research has taken an intrapsychic perspective, focusing primarily on individuals' attempts to manage their own emotions in isolation from others. In this article, we present a relational perspective on ER and suggest that consideration of social factors can provide novel insight into how ER operates and changes throughout the adult lifespan. We describe theoretical perspectives of aging and ER, review the mixed evidence regarding the characterization of age‐related shifts in ER, and highlight relational features of ER goals, strategy selection, and success of implementation. We conclude with a discussion of directions for future research examining ER throughout adulthood from a relational perspective, advocating for the comparison of intrapersonal and interpersonal ER in ecologically valid and longitudinal contexts.
Physical Activity in Hospitalized Persons With Dementia: Feasibility and Validity of the MotionWatch 8
Authors: Kuzmik Ashley , Resnick Barbara , Cacchione Pamela , Arendacs Rachel , Boltz Marie
Published: April 2021

Persons with dementia are at high risk for hospital-acquired disability, associated with low physical activity during hospitalizations. To determine the effectiveness of efforts to increase physical activity, a valid and reliable measurement approach is required. Data from an ongoing cluster randomized clinical trial examined the feasibility and validity of the MotionWatch 8 (MW8) triaxial actigraphy device. The sample included 321 participants of which 259 (81%) were willing to wear the MW8 for 24 hr. Regression analysis revealed that time in low activity, β = 0.17, t(255) = 2.9, p = .004, and time in moderate activity, β = 0.14, t(255) = 2.4, p = .017, measured by the MW8, were associated with participants’ physical function. Engagement in moderate physical activity was associated with return to baseline function at discharge (Wald χ2 = 4.10, df = 1, p = .043). The study provides preliminary support for the feasibility and validity of the MW8 in hospitalized persons with dementia.
Physical Activity and Sitting Time From 16 to 24 Weeks of Pregnancy to 12, 24, and 48 Months Postpartum: Findings From the 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort Study
Authors: Mielke Gregore I. , Crochemore-Silva Inacio , Domingues Marlos Rodrigues , Silveira Mariangela Freitas , Bertoldi Andréa Dâmaso , Brown Wendy J.
Published: April 2021

Background: Physical activity levels decrease during pregnancy, and the time course of return to prepregnancy levels is unclear. This study aimed to describe changes in leisure-time physical activity (LTPA) and sitting time from 16 to 24 weeks of pregnancy to 12, 24, and 48 months postpartum in women with different education levels in Brazil. Methods: Data from 4000 mothers of children enrolled in the 2015 Pelotas (Brazil) Birth Cohort were analyzed. The women were interviewed between 16 and 24 weeks of pregnancy and when their children were aged 12, 24, and 48 months. The LTPA and sitting time were self-reported. Results: Only 15.7% of the women reported any LTPA during pregnancy; this declined to 7.9% at 12 months postpartum; it was 16.8% at 24 months and 23.2% at 48 months. On average, participants spent a mean (SD) of 6.4 (3.9), 4.2 (3.2), 4.3 (3.3), and 4.4 (3.3) hours per day sitting during pregnancy, and at 12, 24, and 48 months after the birth, respectively. Both any LTPA and high sitting (8+ h/d) were consistently higher among women with higher education. Conclusion: After 24 months postpartum, LTPA levels had returned to or exceeded pregnancy levels, but sitting time remained lower than during pregnancy.
A universal route to explosive phenomena
Authors: Kuehn Christian , Bick Christian
Published: April 2021

The emergence of discontinuous critical transitions can typically be expected when an additional feature is added to a system.
Apoptotic body–mediated intercellular delivery for enhanced drug penetration and whole tumor destruction
Authors: Zhao Dongyang , Tao Wenhui , Li Songhao , Chen Yao , Sun Yinghua , He Zhonggui , Sun Bingjun , Sun Jin
Published: April 2021

Heterodimeric prodrug nanoparticles overcome the penetration limitations of the neighboring effect.
Instrument Base of the Reactor PIK
Authors: Kovalchuk M. V. , Voronin V. V. , Grigoriev S. V. , Serebrov A. P.
Published: April 2021

The program of developing the instrument base of reactor complex PIK is reviewed. This program is carried out in correspondence with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 356 on July 25, 2019 and the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Synchrotron and Neutron Research and Research Infrastructure on the 2019–2027s. The general concept and plans of formation of the instrument base are reported in the four-volume manuscript PIK Reactor Complex (editors V.L. Aksenov and M.V. Kovalchuk), published in 2015.
Neutron Scattering Techniques and Complementary Methods for Structural and Functional Studies of Biological Macromolecules and Large Macromolecular Complexes
Authors: Lebedev D. V. , Egorov V. V. , Shvetsov A. V. , Zabrodskaya Y. A. , Isaev-Ivanov V. V. , Konevega A. L.
Published: April 2021

The review describes the application of small-angle scattering (SAS) of neutrons and complementary methods to study the structures of biomacromolecules. Here we cover SAS techniques, such as the contrast variation, the neutron spin-echo, and the solution of direct and inverse problems of three-dimensional reconstruction of the structures of macromolecules from SAS spectra by means of molecular modeling. A special section is devoted to specific objects of research, such as supramolecular complexes, influenza virus nucleoprotein, and chromatin.
Comparative effectiveness of biologics and targeted therapies for psoriatic arthritis
Authors: Zhang Hanzhe , Wen Jiajun , Alexander G Caleb , Curtis Jeffrey R
Published: April 2021

Objective

To quantify comparative effectiveness of interleukin (IL)−12/23 antagonist (ustekinumab), IL-17A antagonists (secukinumab and ixekizumab), PDE4 inhibitor (apremilast) and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) inhibitors (infliximab, etanercept, adalimumab, certolizumab pegol and golimumab) for psoriatic arthritis (PsA).

Methods

We adapted a deidentified claims-based algorithm validated for inflammatory arthritis treatments to compare treatments among a retrospective cohort of commercially insured and Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with PsA from October 2013 to April 2019 in the OptumLabs Data Warehouse. Main outcomes include (1) treatment effectiveness, based on: adherence, adding or switching biologic or PDE4, addition of new non-biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug, increase in biologic or PDE4 dose or frequency and glucocorticoid use and (2) percentage of each group fulfilling the effectiveness algorithm. We used Poisson regression with robust variance stratified by prior PsA biologic exposure and adjusted for potential confounders.

Results

Of 2730 individuals with PsA, 327 received IL-12/23, 138 IL-17A’s, 624 PDE4 and 1641 TNF-α’s. Effectiveness criteria were fulfilled among 63 (19.3%) IL-12/23 recipients, 40 (29.0%) IL-17A recipients, 160 (25.6%) PDE4 recipients and 530 (32.3%) TNF-α recipients. Among biologic-naïve individuals, IL-12/23 was less effective than TNF-α’s with fully adjusted relative risk (aRR) compared with TNF-α’s of 0.63 (95% CI 0.45 to 0.89). Among biologic-experienced individuals, PDE4 recipients were less effective than TNF-α’s (aRR 0.67, 95% CI 0.46 to 0.96).

Conclusions

TNF-α’s appeared more effective than IL-12/23’s for biologic-naïve individuals, and PDE4’s for biologic-experienced individuals. These results may help inform treatment choice for individuals with PsA.
Genetic variation inLUMAN/CREB3and association with stress and meat quality traits in Yorkshire pigs
Authors: Larson Shayla , Arrazola Aitor , Parra Rebecca , Morrissey Krysta , Faulkner Tess , Jafarikia Mohsen , Mandell Ira , Bergeron Renée , Lu Ray
Published: April 2021

LUMAN/CREB3 is a stress regulatory gene that affects the activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis in mice and presents a promising avenue for exploring variable stress-responsiveness in pigs. Pigs with similar characteristics to LUMAN-deficient mice, including greater resilience to stress and receptivity to human handling, would be valuable in the pork industry from animal welfare and production efficiency perspectives. We previously identified eight genetic variations and five haplotypes throughout the LUMAN locus in Yorkshire pigs. In this study, we analysed associations between LUMAN variations with behavioural stress response during three tests (open field test, novel object test, and human approach test), physiological stress responsiveness (cortisol), and carcass/meat quality measurements from purebred Yorkshire pigs. Haplotypes A1 and A2 were associated with decreased activity levels in novel environments and greater plasma cortisol concentrations at slaughter. Haplotype A1 was associated with lower carcass scratch scores and meat with lower cooking losses and greater tenderness. Haplotypes B1 and B2 were associated with the opposite traits including increased activity levels in novel environments and characteristics for lower meat quality including greater cooking losses, lower marbling, and paler coloured meat. We conclude that DNA variations in the LUMAN locus could potentially be used as genetic markers for stress resistance and meat quality in pig breeding.
RDX remote Raman detection on NATO SET-237 samples
Authors: Gallo Emanuela C. A. , Cantu Luca M. L. , Duschek Frank
Published: April 2021

Ultraviolet Raman spectroscopy measurements have been taken at DLR in Lampoldshausen to detect NATO SET-237 standard samples of RDX. The main goal was to quantify the minimum requirements for an unambiguous identification in remote detection (60 cm distance) with a commercial Czerny–Turner spectrometer coupled with a CCD camera. Well-defined distribution of explosives on surfaces was tested as standardized samples. Therefore, Raman spectra of RDX have been acquired for different sample concentrations (50, 250 and 1000 μg/cm2, respectively) and under several laser energies (1.5, 3.0 and 5.0 mJ/pulse, respectively) at 355 nm excitation wavelength. The lowest possible reproducible surface concentration (50 µg/cm2) was detected with excitation energy of 3 mJ/pulse in the described configuration.
Automated Orchestration of Online Educational Collaboration in Cloud-based Environments
Authors: Czekierda Łukasz , Zieliński Krzysztof , Zieliński Sławomir
Published: April 2021

Integrated collaboration environments (ICEs) are widely used by corporations to increase productivity by fostering groupwide and interpersonal collaboration. In this article, we discuss the enhancements of such environment needed to build an educational ICE (E-ICE) that addresses the specific needs of educational users. The motivation for the research was the Małopolska Educational Cloud (MEC) project conducted by AGH University and its partners.

The E-ICE developed by MEC project fosters collaboration between universities and high schools by creating an immersive virtual collaboration space. MEC is a unique project due to its scale and usage domain. Multiple online collaboration events are organized weekly between over 150 geographically scattered institutions. Such events, aside from videoconferencing, require various services. The MEC E-ICE is a complex composition of a significant number of services and various terminals that require very specific configuration and management.

In this article, we focus on a model-driven approach to automating the organization of online meetings in their preparation, execution, and conclusion phases. We present a conceptual model of E-ICE-supported educational courses, introduce a taxonomy of online educational services, identify planes and modes of their operation, as well as discuss the most common collaboration patterns.

The MEC E-ICE, which we present as a case study, is built in accordance with the presented, model-driven approach. MEC educational services are described in a way that allows for converting the declarative specification of E-ICE application models into platform-independent models, platform-specific models, and, finally, working sets of orchestrated service instances. Such approach both reduces the level of technical knowledge required from the end-users and considerably speeds up the construction of online educational collaboration environments.
Socializing the Videos: A Multimodal Approach for Social Relation Recognition
Authors: Xu Tong , Zhou Peilun , Hu Linkang , He Xiangnan , Hu Yao , Chen Enhong
Published: April 2021

As a crucial task for video analysis, social relation recognition for characters not only provides semantically rich description of video content but also supports intelligent applications, e.g., video retrieval and visual question answering. Unfortunately, due to the semantic gap between visual and semantic features, traditional solutions may fail to reveal the accurate relations among characters. At the same time, the development of social media platforms has now promoted the emergence of crowdsourced comments, which may enhance the recognition task with semantic and descriptive cues. To that end, in this article, we propose a novel multimodal-based solution to deal with the character relation recognition task. Specifically, we capture the target character pairs via a search module and then design a multistream architecture for jointly embedding the visual and textual information, in which feature fusion and attention mechanism are adapted for better integrating the multimodal inputs. Finally, supervised learning is applied to classify character relations. Experiments on real-world data sets validate that our solution outperforms several competitive baselines.
Bottom-up and Layerwise Domain Adaptation for Pedestrian Detection in Thermal Images
Authors: Kieu My , Bagdanov Andrew D. , Bertini Marco
Published: April 2021

Pedestrian detection is a canonical problem for safety and security applications, and it remains a challenging problem due to the highly variable lighting conditions in which pedestrians must be detected. This article investigates several domain adaptation approaches to adapt RGB-trained detectors to the thermal domain. Building on our earlier work on domain adaptation for privacy-preserving pedestrian detection, we conducted an extensive experimental evaluation comparing top-down and bottom-up domain adaptation and also propose two new bottom-up domain adaptation strategies. For top-down domain adaptation, we leverage a detector pre-trained on RGB imagery and efficiently adapt it to perform pedestrian detection in the thermal domain. Our bottom-up domain adaptation approaches include two steps: first, training an adapter segment corresponding to initial layers of the RGB-trained detector adapts to the new input distribution; then, we reconnect the adapter segment to the original RGB-trained detector for final adaptation with a top-down loss. To the best of our knowledge, our bottom-up domain adaptation approaches outperform the best-performing single-modality pedestrian detection results on KAIST and outperform the state of the art on FLIR.
GreyReID: A Novel Two-stream Deep Framework with RGB-grey Information for Person Re-identification
Authors: Qi Lei , Wang Lei , Huo Jing , Shi Yinghuan , Gao Yang
Published: April 2021

In this article, we observe that most false positive images (i.e., different identities with query images) in the top ranking list usually have the similar color information with the query image in person re-identification (Re-ID). Meanwhile, when we use the greyscale images generated from RGB images to conduct the person Re-ID task, some hard query images can obtain better performance compared with using RGB images. Therefore, RGB and greyscale images seem to be complementary to each other for person Re-ID. In this article, we aim to utilize both RGB and greyscale images to improve the person Re-ID performance. To this end, we propose a novel two-stream deep neural network with RGB-grey information, which can effectively fuse RGB and greyscale feature representations to enhance the generalization ability of Re-ID. First, we convert RGB images to greyscale images in each training batch. Based on these RGB and greyscale images, we train the RGB and greyscale branches, respectively. Second, to build up connections between RGB and greyscale branches, we merge the RGB and greyscale branches into a new joint branch. Finally, we concatenate the features of all three branches as the final feature representation for Re-ID. Moreover, in the training process, we adopt the joint learning scheme to simultaneously train each branch by the independent loss function, which can enhance the generalization ability of each branch. Besides, a global loss function is utilized to further fine-tune the final concatenated feature. The extensive experiments on multiple benchmark datasets fully show that the proposed method can outperform the state-of-the-art person Re-ID methods. Furthermore, using greyscale images can indeed improve the person Re-ID performance in the proposed deep framework.
A Semi-supervised Learning Approach Based on Adaptive Weighted Fusion for Automatic Image Annotation
Authors: Li Zhixin , Lin Lan , Zhang Canlong , Ma Huifang , Zhao Weizhong , Shi Zhiping
Published: April 2021

To learn a well-performed image annotation model, a large number of labeled samples are usually required. Although the unlabeled samples are readily available and abundant, it is a difficult task for humans to annotate large numbers of images manually. In this article, we propose a novel semi-supervised approach based on adaptive weighted fusion for automatic image annotation that can simultaneously utilize the labeled data and unlabeled data to improve the annotation performance. At first, two different classifiers, constructed based on support vector machine and covolutional neural network, respectively, are trained by different features extracted from the labeled data. Therefore, these two classifiers are independently represented as different feature views. Then, the corresponding features of unlabeled images are extracted and input into these two classifiers, and the semantic annotation of images can be obtained respectively. At the same time, the confidence of corresponding image annotation can be measured by an adaptive weighted fusion strategy. After that, the images and its semantic annotations with high confidence are submitted to the classifiers for retraining until a certain stop condition is reached. As a result, we can obtain a strong classifier that can make full use of unlabeled data. Finally, we conduct experiments on four datasets, namely, Corel 5K, IAPR TC12, ESP Game, and NUS-WIDE. In addition, we measure the performance of our approach with standard criteria, including precision, recall, F-measure, N+, and mAP. The experimental results show that our approach has superior performance and outperforms many state-of-the-art approaches.
Realizing the actual magnitudes of aortic diameter and cardiac output: a multisensory learning approach
Authors: Farré Nuria , Almendros Isaac , Otero Jorge , Navajas Daniel , Farré Ramon
Published: April 2021

The conventional physiology courses consist of theoretical lectures, clinical application seminars, numerical exercises, simulations, and laboratory practices. However, in subjects that involve relevant physical quantities, even students who successfully pass exams may be unable to realize the actual quantities involved. For example, students may know what the values of the aortic diameter and cardiac output are, and they may be skilled at calculating changes in variables without being able to realize the actual physical magnitudes of the variables, resulting in limited understanding. To address this problem, here we describe and discuss simple practical exercises specifically designed to allow students to multisensory experience (touch, see, hear) the actual physical magnitudes of aortic diameter and cardiac output in adult humans at rest and exercise. The results obtained and the feedback from a student survey both clearly show that the described approach is a simple and interesting tool for motivating students and providing them with more realistic learning.
A new trick for an old dog? Myocardial-specific roles for prostaglandins as mediators of ischemic injury and repair
Authors: Martens Matthew D. , Fernando Amy S. , Gordon Joseph W.
Published: April 2021

The small lipid-derived paracrine signaling molecules known as prostaglandins have been recognized for their ability to modulate many facets of cardiovascular physiology since their initial discovery more than 85 years ago. Although the role of prostaglandins in the vasculature has gained significant attention across time, a handful of historical studies have also directly implicated the cardiomyocyte in both prostaglandin synthesis and release. Recently, our understanding of how prostaglandin receptor modulation impacts and contributes to myocardial structure and function has gained attention while leaving most other components of myocardial prostaglandin metabolism and signaling unexplored. This mini-review highlights both the key historical studies that underpin modern prostaglandin research in the heart, while concurrently presenting the latest findings related to how prostaglandin metabolism and signaling impact myocardial injury and repair.
Mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicles in the failing heart: past, present, and future
Authors: Karbasiafshar Catherine , Sellke Frank W. , Abid M. Ruhul
Published: April 2021

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death globally. Current treatment options include lifestyle changes, medication, and surgical intervention. However, many patients are unsuitable candidates for surgeries due to comorbidities, diffuse coronary artery disease, or advanced stages of heart failure. The search for new treatment options has recently transitioned from cell-based therapies to stem-cell-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs). A number of challenges remain in the EV field, including the effect of comorbidities, characterization, and delivery. However, recent revolutionary developments and insight into the potential of personalizing EV contents by bioengineering methods to alter specific signaling pathways in the ischemic myocardium hold promise. Here, we discuss the past limitations of cell-based therapies and recent EV studies involving in vivo, in vitro, and omics, and future challenges and opportunities in EV-based treatments in CVD.
On the Solutions of Three-Dimensional Rational Difference Equation Systems
Authors: Alayachi H. S. , Khan A. Q. , Noorani M. S. M.
Published: April 2021

In this paper, we are interested in a technique for solving some nonlinear rational systems of difference equations of third order, in three-dimensional case as a special case of the following system:

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=

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 and 

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=

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with initial conditions

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 and 

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are nonzero real numbers. Moreover, we study some behavior of the systems such as the boundedness of solutions for such systems. Finally, we present some numerical examples by giving some numerical values for the initial values of each case. Some figures have been given to explain the behavior of the obtained solutions in the case of numerical examples by using the mathematical program MATLAB to confirm the obtained results.
Management Model on Electronic Commerce Data Based on Cloud Computing
Authors: Pan Hailan , Yang Xiaohuan
Published: April 2021

Judging from the current situation, China’s e‐commerce companies are developing more and more rapidly, and the sales records of e‐commerce platforms continue to break through. However, in this rapid development, many problems have been exposed. Because B2C e‐commerce business management methods are different from traditional business management methods, there are many fundamental differences between the risks faced by traditional e‐commerce companies and traditional enterprises. Compared with traditional enterprises, the risks faced by e‐commerce enterprises have greater uncertainty and complexity, and the related risk management measures have not fully kept up with the development speed of B2C e‐commerce and are still in the stage of continuous exploration. With the popularity of e‐commerce and higher applicability, the research on e‐commerce data management model is urgent. In order to study the e‐commerce data management model, theoretical research and commercial application of cloud computing are discussed in depth from literature analysis, comparative analysis, graphical analysis, and case analysis. I hope to expand the application research of cloud computing platform in e‐commerce. Finally, it proves that e‐commerce has a good development advantage in the future development.