bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Automated, fast, robust brain extraction on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted MRI in presence of brain tumors: an optimized model based on multi-center datasets
Authors: Teng Yuen , Chen Chaoyue , Shu Xin , Zhao Fumin , Zhang Lei , Xu Jianguo
Published: August 2023

Objectives

Existing brain extraction models should be further optimized to provide more information for oncological analysis. We aimed to develop an nnU-Net–based deep learning model for automated brain extraction on contrast-enhanced T1-weighted (T1CE) images in presence of brain tumors.

Methods

This is a multi-center, retrospective study involving 920 patients. A total of 720 cases with four types of intracranial tumors from private institutions were collected and set as the training group and the internal test group. Mann–Whitney U test (U test) was used to investigate if the model performance was associated with pathological types and tumor characteristics. Then, the generalization of model was independently tested on public datasets consisting of 100 glioma and 100 vestibular schwannoma cases.

Results

In the internal test, the model achieved promising performance with median Dice similarity coefficient (DSC) of 0.989 (interquartile range (IQR), 0.988–0.991), and Hausdorff distance (HD) of 6.403 mm (IQR, 5.099–8.426 mm). U test suggested a slightly descending performance in meningioma and vestibular schwannoma group. The results of U test also suggested that there was a significant difference in peritumoral edema group, with median DSC of 0.990 (IQR, 0.989–0.991, p = 0.002), and median HD of 5.916 mm (IQR, 5.000–8.000 mm, p = 0.049). In the external test, our model also showed to be robust performance, with median DSC of 0.991 (IQR, 0.983–0.998) and HD of 8.972 mm (IQR, 6.164–13.710 mm).

Conclusions

For automated processing of MRI neuroimaging data presence of brain tumors, the proposed model can perform brain extraction including important superficial structures for oncological analysis.

Clinical relevance statement

The proposed model serves as a radiological tool for image preprocessing in tumor cases, focusing on superficial brain structures, which could streamline the workflow and enhance the efficiency of subsequent radiological assessments.

Key Points

• The nnU-Net–based model is capable of segmenting significant superficial structures in brain extraction.

• The proposed model showed feasible performance, regardless of pathological types or tumor characteristics.

• The model showed generalization in the public datasets.
Breakpoints in complex chromosomal rearrangements correspond to transposase-accessible regions of DNA from mature sperm
Authors: Sugimoto Takeshi , Inagaki Hidehito , Mariya Tasuku , Kawamura Rie , Taniguchi-Ikeda Mariko , Mizuno Seiji , Muramatsu Yukako , Tsuge Ikuya , Ohashi Hirofumi , Saito Nakamichi , Hasegawa Yuiko , Ochi Nobuhiko , Yamaguchi Masatoshi , Murotsuki Jun , Kurahashi Hiroki
Published: August 2023

Constitutional complex chromosomal rearrangements (CCRs) are rare cytogenetic aberrations arising in the germline via an unknown mechanism. Here we analyzed the breakpoint junctions of microscopically three-way or more complex translocations using comprehensive genomic and epigenomic analyses. All of these translocation junctions showed submicroscopic genomic complexity reminiscent of chromothripsis. The breakpoints were clustered within small genomic domains with junctions showing microhomology or microinsertions. Notably, all of the de novo cases were of paternal origin. The breakpoint distributions corresponded specifically to the ATAC-seq (assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with sequencing) read data peak of mature sperm and not to other chromatin markers or tissues. We propose that DNA breaks in CCRs may develop in an accessible region of densely packaged chromatin during post-meiotic spermiogenesis.
View-target relation-guided unsupervised 2D image-based 3D model retrieval via transformer
Authors: Chang Jiacheng , Zhang Lanyong , Shao Zhuang
Published: August 2023

Unsupervised 2D image-based 3D model retrieval aims at retrieving images from the gallery of 3D models by the given 2D images. Despite the encouraging progress made in this task, there are still two significant limitations: (1) feature alignment of 2D images and 3D model gallery is still difficult due to the huge gap between the two modalities. (2) The important view information in the 3D model gallery was ignored by the prior arts, which led to inaccurate results. To alleviate these limitations, inspired by the success of vision transformers (ViT) in a great variety of vision tasks, in this paper, we propose an end-to-end 3D model retrieval architecture on top of ViT, termly transformer-based 3D model retrieval network (T3DRN). In addition, to take advantage of the valuable view information of 3D models, we present an attentive module in T3DRN named shared view-guided attentive module (SVAM) to guide the learning of the alignment features. The proposed method is tested on the challenging dataset, MI3DOR-1. The extensive experimental results have proved the superiority of our proposed method to state-of-the-art methods.
Consistent benefits of fungicide reduction on arthropod predators and predation rates in viticulture: a five-year experiment
Authors: Reiff Jo Marie , Pennington Theresa , Kolb Sebastian , Theiss Konrad , Alakina Ekaterina , Ehringer Marvin , Mason Paul , Shrestha Rosalie , Entling Martin H. , Hoffmann Christoph
Published: August 2023

For reliable pest suppression, benefits of habitat management for natural enemies of agricultural pests need to be consistent over time. Unfortunately, most research projects allow only for one or two years of data collection. Here, we present a five-year study on effects of fungicide reduction and altered plant architecture on arthropod abundances and natural pest control in an experimental vineyard. The vineyard rows were divided into eight groups, half of which were trained in vertical shoot position (“trellis system”) and the other half as semi-minimal pruned hedge (“minimal pruning”). Every row was divided in three sections receiving three different plant protection intensities, respectively, with fungicides certified for organic viticulture. In each year we sampled arthropods from the grapevine canopy by standardized leaf collection and beat-sheet sampling, and exposed baits of a major grapevine pest (Lobesia botrana) to assess natural pest control. Arthropods, in particular predators, benefited from reduced fungicide sprayings and in turn promoted natural pest control. In contrast, effects of minimal pruning were less strong, and restricted to the leaf mesofauna, earwigs and leafhoppers. Across the five study years with their variable weather conditions, we conclude that the advantages of reduced fungicide sprayings in fungus-resistant varieties are consistent over time.
Cautious policy programming: exploiting KL regularization for monotonic policy improvement in reinforcement learning
Authors: Zhu Lingwei , Matsubara Takamitsu
Published: August 2023

In this paper, we propose cautious policy programming (CPP), a novel value-based reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm that exploits the idea of monotonic policy improvement during learning. Based on the nature of entropy-regularized RL, we derive a new entropy-regularization-aware lower bound of policy improvement that depends on the expected policy advantage function but not on state-action-space-wise maximization as in prior work. CPP leverages this lower bound as a criterion for adjusting the degree of a policy update for alleviating policy oscillation. Different from similar algorithms that are mostly theory-oriented, we also propose a novel interpolation scheme that makes CPP better scale in high dimensional control problems. We demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can trade off performance and stability in both didactic classic control problems and challenging high-dimensional Atari games.
Fair tree classifier using strong demographic parity
Authors: Pereira Barata António , Takes Frank W. , van den Herik H. Jaap , Veenman Cor J.
Published: August 2023

When dealing with sensitive data in automated data-driven decision-making, an important concern is to learn predictors with high performance towards a class label, whilst minimising for the discrimination towards any sensitive attribute, like gender or race, induced from biased data. Hybrid tree optimisation criteria have been proposed which combine classification performance and fairness. Although the threshold-free ROC-AUC is the standard for measuring classification model performance, current fair tree classification methods mainly optimise for a fixed threshold on the fairness metric. In this paper, we propose SCAFF—splitting criterion AUC for Fairness—a compound decision tree splitting criterion which combines the threshold-free strong demographic parity with ROC-AUC termed, easily applicable as an ensemble. Our method simultaneously leverages multiple sensitive attributes of which the values may be multicategorical, and is tunable with respect to the unavoidable performance-fairness trade-off. In our experiments, we demonstrate how SCAFF generates effective models with competitive performance and fairness with respect to binary, multicategorical, and multiple sensitive attributes.
Augmented Lagrangian index-3 semi-recursive formulations with projections
Authors: López Varela Álvaro , Dopico Dopico Daniel , Luaces Fernández Alberto
Published: August 2023

Sensitivity analysis represents a powerful tool for the optimization of multibody system dynamics. The performance of a gradient-based optimization algorithm is strongly tied to the dynamic and the sensitivity formulations considered. The accuracy and efficiency are critical to any optimization problem, thus they are key factors in the selection of the dynamic and sensitivity analysis approaches used to compute an objective function gradient. Semi-recursive methods usually outperform global methods in terms of computational time, even though they involve sometimes demanding recursive procedures. Semi-recursive methods are well suited to be combined with different constraints enforcement schemes as the augmented Lagrangian index-3 formulation with velocity and acceleration projections (ALI3-P), taking advantage of the robustness, accurate fulfillment of constraint equations and the low computational burden. The sensitivity analysis of the semi-recursive ALI3-P formulation is studied in this document by means of the direct differentiation method. As a result, a semi-recursive ALI3-P sensitivity formulation is developed for an arbitrary reference point selection, and then two particular versions are unfolded and implemented in the general purpose multibody library MBSLIM, using as reference point the center of mass (RTdyn0) or the global origin of coordinates (RTdyn1). Besides, the detailed derivatives of the recursive terms are provided, which will be useful not only for the direct sensitivity formulation presented herein, but also for other sensitivity formulations relying on the same recursive expressions. The implementation has been tested in two numerical experiments, a five-bar benchmark problem and a buggy vehicle.
From Tourist to Pilgrim: Theological and Pastoral Challenges in the Context of the Camino de Santiago
Authors: Roszak Piotr
Published: August 2023

This article presents an analysis of the current challenges to the identity of the Christian pilgrim in the face of the dynamic growth of religious tourism. The semantic inflation that results in every wanderer being described as a pilgrim implies a new configuration of pastoral care, especially in terms of responding to the perceived “consumerism of the sacred.” In the context of Zygmunt Bauman’s observations concerning the transformation of the pilgrim into the tourist, the article proposes a reverse type of reflection, that is, how the tourist can become a pilgrim in the reality of modern-day pilgrimage routes. The Camino de Santiago was chosen as the point of reference, and current pastoral activities – both institutional and individual – were analyzed.
An egalitarian challenge to increasing epistemic value in democracy
Authors: Müller Julian F. , Afrouzi Amin Ebrahimi
Published: August 2023

The epistemic value of a political procedure—such as democracy or a civil trial system—depends on how well it performs in arriving at decisions that are correct by some independent standard. A core assumption in the literature on epistemic democracy is that boosting the epistemic value of such a procedure makes it better overall. Even though this assumption seems innocuous (and hence has not been discussed in much detail), we will argue that it is not beyond the pale of reasonable disagreement. For it is possible to increase the epistemic value of a political procedure in ways that give rise to egalitarian objections.
Investigating the impacts of humans and dogs on the spatial and temporal activity of wildlife in urban woodlands
Authors: Beasley Rachael , Carbone Chris , Brooker Adrian , Rowcliffe Marcus , Waage Jeff
Published: August 2023

Humans can derive enormous benefit from the natural environment and the wildlife they see there, but increasing human use of natural environments may negatively impact wildlife, particularly in urban green spaces. Few studies have focused on the trade-offs between intensive human use and wildlife use of shared green spaces in urban areas. In this paper, we investigate the impacts of humans and their dogs on wildlife within an urban green space using camera trap data from Hampstead Heath, London. Spatial and temporal activity of common woodland bird and mammal species were compared between sites with low and high frequency of visits by humans and dogs. There was no significant difference in the spatial or temporal activity of wildlife species between sites with lower and higher visitation rates of humans and dogs, except with European hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus) which showed extended activity in the mornings and early evenings in sites with lower visitation rates. This may have implications for the survival and reproductive success of European hedgehogs. Our results suggest that adaptation to human and dog activity deserves greater study in urban green spaces, as would a broader approach to measuring possible anthropogenic effects.
Neurocognitive Dysfunction After Treatment for Pediatric Brain Tumors: Subtype-Specific Findings and Proposal for Brain Network-Informed Evaluations
Authors: Sleurs Charlotte , Fletcher Paul , Mallucci Conor , Avula Shivaram , Ajithkumar Thankamma
Published: August 2023

The increasing number of long-term survivors of pediatric brain tumors requires us to incorporate the most recent knowledge derived from cognitive neuroscience into their oncological treatment. As the lesion itself, as well as each treatment, can cause specific neural damage, the long-term neurocognitive outcomes are highly complex and challenging to assess. The number of neurocognitive studies in this population grows exponentially worldwide, motivating modern neuroscience to provide guidance in follow-up before, during and after treatment. In this review, we provide an overview of structural and functional brain connectomes and their role in the neuropsychological outcomes of specific brain tumor types. Based on this information, we propose a theoretical neuroscientific framework to apply appropriate neuropsychological and imaging follow-up for future clinical care and rehabilitation trials.
Investigating the use cases of a novel heat battery in Dutch residential buildings
Authors: Wang Shuwei , Hoes Pieter-Jan , Hensen Jan L. M. , Adan Olaf C. G. , Donkers Pim A. J.
Published: August 2023

Recent advances in thermochemical storage technology have introduced a novel closed-loop thermal energy storage (TES) system, known as the heat battery (HB), which is believed to have great potential for aiding the energy transition in the built environment because of its higher energy density and neglectable storage loss compared to conventional TES systems. In order to investigate the potential use cases of the HB and provide practical feedback for its further development, this research employs a simulation-based approach to analyze its influence on building performance in various use cases within Dutch residential buildings. Stakeholders including the homeowner, distribution system operator, and district heating system operator are identified, and a preliminary list of use cases is defined based on relevant literature and input from the HB developer. The simulation approach is conducted to predict key performance indicators for each stakeholder. The Kruskal-Wallis test was employed to sort and scrutinize the simulation outcomes and discern the significance of each use case element. The findings demonstrated that the HB holds the potential to diminish both the operational energy cost by up to 30% for the homeowners and the peak heating load transmitted from the building to the district heating system.
Biochemical composition and bioactivity of the crude extract of Sargassum dentifolium (Turner) C. Agardh, of Western Coast of the Red Sea, Hurghada, Egypt
Authors: Helal Muhamed A. , El-Gamal Ahmed D. , Elhela Atef A. , El-Belely Ehab F.
Published: August 2023

This study evaluated the biochemical composition and bioactivity of the crude extract of Sargassum dentifolium on the western coast of the Red Sea, Hurghada, Egypt. The biomass contained approximately 25.80% of total carbohydrates, and 8.40% of total protein, while lipids constitute about 2% of the total dry weight which is consistent with the low lipid content typically found in seaweeds. S. dentifolium also produces volatile and non-volatile compounds as part of its metabolic processes. The most abundant volatile compound identified was phytol, which has various industrial and pharmaceutical applications. Saturated fatty acids (SFAs) were the most frequently detected non-volatile compounds, with palmitic acid being the most common. The total phenolic content was 50.6 mg g−1 (5.06%), and the total flavonoid content was 33.9 mg g−1 (3.39%) of the total dry-weight extract. S. dentifolium extract demonstrated significant antioxidant activity, with radical scavenging properties and phenolic content that may contribute to its antioxidant efficacy. It also showed cytotoxic activity against cancer cells, particularly human hepatocellular liver carcinoma (HepG2) and human colon carcinoma (HCT-116) cells, indicating their potential as a source of anti-cancer agents. However, the extract exhibited moderate to weak antiviral activity and limited antimicrobial activity against specific microorganisms. This research could contribute to the development of new functional macroalgae-based food or nutraceutical products with potential health benefits.
The location of the permanent mandibular canine as identified in orthopantomograms from children younger than 5 years of age: a case series study
Authors: Kjær I. , Svanholt M. , Svanholt P.
Published: August 2023

Aim

The aim of this case series study is to describe where the crowns of the permanent mandibular canines are located in early childhood in relation to the preceding primary canines.

Materials and methods

From a sample of 31 orthopantomograms from children, younger than 5 years of age, the location of the mandibular canines was analysed by visual inspection. The radiographs were taken due to different deviations in the dentition and forwarded during a period of 28 years for elucidating different diagnostic questions. From an embryological point of view, the primary canine was considered as a stable structure in the jawbone. A longitudinal axis through the primary canine was named the canine axis. The initial site of the permanent crown was the site, where the permanent lamina “placed” the tooth bud for final development. A normal site was determined when the canine axis passed though the permanent crown and a pathological site was determined when this did not happen.

Results

Normal sites for the permanent crowns were observed in 19 cases and abnormal sites in 8 cases. In four cases, the interrelationship between the canine axis and the permanent crown could not be decided. The study demonstrated that the tooth germ for the permanent canine can start initial formation misplaced distally or mesially to the preceding primary tooth.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates different malpositions of the initial crowns of the permanent mandibular canines in children younger than 5 years of age. The results are considered of importance for future understanding of the aetiology behind ectopic mandibular canines.
A brief review of tribological properties for black phosphorus
Authors: Lv Fanfan , Wang Wei , Li Jinjin , Gao Yuan , Wang Kuaishe
Published: August 2023

Black phosphorus (BP) is a new class of two-dimensional (2D) layered material, which shows the unanticipated characteristics in many aspects including electronics, transistors, sensors, energy storage, batteries, photocatalysis, and other applications due to its high charge carrier mobility, tunable direct bandgap, and unique in-plane anisotropic structure. In addition, BP has drawn tremendous attention in the field of tribology due to the low shear strength, the layered structure, and the weak connected force between the layers by van der Waals interaction. In recent years, many significant progresses have been made in experimental studies on BP materials as solid lubricants or lubrication additives. This work offers a review of researching regarding the tribological properties of BP. Moreover, the lubrication mechanisms of BP as the lubrication additive including the formation of the tribo-film, micro-bearing effect, and self-repair performance are also summarized. Finally, the current challenges and prospects of BP material as lubricant are proposed.
Tribological properties of low-temperature time-dependent pretreated graphite for mechanical seal pairs in high-speed turbopump
Authors: Zhao Yangyang , Zhang Guoyuan , Wang Junqian , Wang He , Zhao Weigang , Zeng Qunfeng
Published: August 2023

The friction coefficient and wear rate of pretreated graphite with liquid nitrogen were obtained by using a ball-on-disk tester, and the wear of GCr15–graphite seal pairs with the low-temperature time-dependent pretreatment was discussed by comparing the wear morphology. The results show that liquid nitrogen pretreatment can affect the hardness and interlayer spacing of graphite. The range of the friction coefficients of pretreated graphite changes from 0.17 to 0.22. With the increase of liquid nitrogen pretreatment time, the wear mechanism of graphite would change from dominated three-body wear to adhesion wear. The experimental results of the mechanical seal with liquid nitrogen pretreatment show that the wear rate of stator is less than 0.00165 mm3·N−1·m−1, and the graphite shows a good low-temperature compatibility.
Approximate contact solutions for non-axisymmetric homogeneous and power-law graded elastic bodies: A practical tool for design engineers and tribologists
Authors: Popov Valentin L. , Li Qiang , Willert Emanuel
Published: August 2023

In two recent papers, approximate solutions for compact non-axisymmetric contact problems of homogeneous and power-law graded elastic bodies have been suggested, which provide explicit analytical relations for the force–approach relation, the size and the shape of the contact area, as well as for the pressure distribution therein. These solutions were derived for profiles, which only slightly deviate from the axisymmetric shape. In the present paper, they undergo an extensive testing and validation by comparison of solutions with a great variety of profile shapes with numerical solutions obtained by the fast Fourier transform (FFT)-assisted boundary element method (BEM). Examples are given with quite significant deviations from axial symmetry and show surprisingly good agreement with numerical solutions.
The Danish problem
Authors: Eichengreen Barry
Published: August 2023

Specialists in international finance have long been impressed by the fragility of currency pegs. Yet the National Bank of Denmark has been able to maintain the krone’s peg to the euro since the euro came into existence in 1999, and the krone’s peg to the Deutschmark and SDR for 17 years before that. This paper considers a series of hypotheses that may help to account for the exceptional nature of this case. None of these explanations is entirely satisfactory, but collectively they go some way toward explaining the Danish exception.
The Special Criminal Court and the challenge of criminal accountability in the Central African Republic
Authors: Ndiyun Robert Kosho
Published: August 2023

States which encounter massive human rights violations usually implement various mechanisms of achieving accountability. There exists documented evidence of conflict-related international crimes in the Central African Republic (CAR). Still, the perpetrators enjoy impunity as no appropriate measures were adopted to guarantee criminal accountability. The Special Criminal Court (SCC) was established in the CAR in 2015 as a hybrid criminal accountability mechanism. This article with the aid of a qualitative method and a narrative approach aims at investigating the activities of the SCC in the fight against the culture of impunity in a country experiencing persistent human rights violations. As conflict and impunity persist in the socially and politically unstable CAR, a comprehensive synopsis of the SCC and a preliminary assessment of the court and its challenges seven years after creation constitute a domain of investigation that urgently requires a deeper investigation to halt impunity, recurrent hostilities and human rights violations. Why has impunity and violations persisted in the CAR despite the creation of the SCC? The paper identifies critical factors to the success of the SCC, based on previous experiments with hybrid courts. The outcome of this research reveal that the fragile security situation in the country and other factors significantly hinder the court’s objective of serving justice and contributing to durable peace in the CAR.
The Economics of Cars
Authors: Cassia Fabio , Ferrazzi Matteo
Published: August 2023

The automotive sector represents more than a simple industry. It embodies the economic and technological power of nations, the lifestyle and consumption patterns of societies, the dynamics of urban and territorial development, and acts as a national barometer of economic success and failure.

This book explains how the car industry works and analyses the challenges both for the sector and for the economies that rely on the industry for jobs, growth and innovation. It explores an industry that has been under severe pressure in industrialized countries for many years - factories have closed, jobs have gone and brands and manufacturers have disappeared - yet world production has never been higher, reaching new peaks annually.

The authors investigate how western and Japanese manufacturers still dominate the market, despite the challenge posed by Korean, Chinese and Indian competitors. They examine how changing environmental policies and consumer preferences are moving the industry towards electric vehicles; how usage patterns are evolving, favouring car-sharing; and how advances in electronics and digitalization are set to further reshape the sector with autonomous and self-driving vehicles.

The book offers readers a short, non-technical guide to the workings of a fast-moving industry that remains of huge importance to both national and global economies.
Interlacement limit of a stopped random walk trace on a torus
Authors: Járai Antal A. , Sun Minwei
Published: August 2023

We consider a simple random walk on
$\mathbb{Z}^d$
started at the origin and stopped on its first exit time from
$({-}L,L)^d \cap \mathbb{Z}^d$
. Write L in the form
$L = m N$
with
$m = m(N)$
and N an integer going to infinity in such a way that
$L^2 \sim A N^d$
for some real constant
$A \gt 0$
. Our main result is that for
$d \ge 3$
, the projection of the stopped trajectory to the N-torus locally converges, away from the origin, to an interlacement process at level
$A d \sigma_1$
, where
$\sigma_1$
is the exit time of a Brownian motion from the unit cube
$({-}1,1)^d$
that is independent of the interlacement process. The above problem is a variation on results of Windisch (2008) and Sznitman (2009).
ON THE ESSENTIAL TORSION FINITENESS OF ABELIAN VARIETIES OVER TORSION FIELDS
Authors: ACHTER JEFFREY D. , DUAN LIAN , WANG XIYUAN
Published: August 2023

The classical Mordell–Weil theorem implies that an abelian variety A over a number field K has only finitely many K-rational torsion points. This finitude of torsion still holds even over the cyclotomic extension
$K^{\mathrm {cyc}}=K{\mathbb Q}^{\mathrm {ab}}$
by a result of Ribet. In this article, we consider the finiteness of torsion points of an abelian variety A over the infinite algebraic extension
$K_B$
obtained by adjoining the coordinates of all torsion points of an abelian variety B. Assuming the Mumford–Tate conjecture, and up to a finite extension of the base field K, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the finiteness of
$A(K_B)_{\mathrm tors}$
in terms of Mumford–Tate groups. We give a complete answer when both abelian varieties have dimension at most 3, or when both have complex multiplication.
Post-Tishreen Online Feminism: Continuity, Rupture, Departure
Authors: Mustafa Balsam
Published: August 2023

Iraqi women's struggle for equal rights has been shaped by similar circumstances and factors in both past and present. Since the founding of the Iraqi nation–state, ruling elites have repeatedly traded women's rights for building alliances with tribal and religious conservative forces in the interest of sustaining power. There was some progress in the areas of personal status and family law as well as women's access to education and the labor market throughout the years from the revolution of 1958 to the 1980s. Women's status declined dramatically during the 1990s due to intermittent wars, economic sanctions, repressive policies of the Baʿthist regime, and eroding state structures. Similar developments are notable since the toppling of that regime in 2003 at the hands of a US-led invasion. The selling rhetoric of liberating Iraqi women was quickly debunked when women's rights were de-prioritized and sacrificed for the sake of maintaining order and security, giving way for tribal and Islamist powers to control and discipline women. Iraqi women have been grappling with a new reality marked by a lack of security, an ethno-sectarian muḥāṣaṣa (quota-based) system, conflict, terrorist groups and militias, rampant corruption, the fragile rule of law, and the erosion of Iraqi institutions. All of these have allowed for the (re)emergence of different forms of patriarchies and masculinities, compounded by the empowerment of tribal and religious authorities, contributing to an increase in various forms of gender-based violence.
The Politics of Memory in Contemporary Baghdad: A Comparative Neighborhood Study
Authors: Walter Alissa , Al-Hammood Ali Taher
Published: August 2023

Twenty years after the US invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of the Ba‘thist regime, what kinds of historical narratives are starting to emerge among residents of Baghdad about the events of the recent past? How have their experiences with the new Iraqi state over the past twenty years colored Baghdadis’ perceptions of what their lives were like under Saddam Hussein, and how are they making sense of the profound disruptions their city has undergone in the years since 2003? We conducted structured interviews with sixty residents of Baghdad across four different neighborhoods in December 2022 and January 2023 to better understand how Baghdadis are perceiving, interpreting, and narrating changes that have taken place in their neighborhoods during their lifetimes. In light of these interviews, we offer preliminary insights about the politics of memory in contemporary Baghdad: how history, memory, and collective identities intersect in different ways for Iraqis in different parts of the city. How do residents of different Baghdad neighborhoods identify and describe the “good times” and “bad times” of the recent past, and what factors are influencing the construction of their historical narratives?
The Form of Remembrance: Prison Writing and the Memory of the Ba‘th in Dreaming of Baghdad and I‘jaam
Authors: Al-Hassan Hawraa
Published: August 2023

In his 2019 critical study, Husayn Sarmak Hassan complained that not enough attention has been given to the production of Iraqi prison writing even after the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime and its censorship apparatus. He notes, for example, that during the 2017 Cairo book fair, he found thirty (presumably new) prison novels, none of which were written by Iraqis. The relative scarcity of prison novels from Iraq is most certainly not due to lack of content; since the collapse of the old regime, there has been a proliferation of personal accounts, both oral and written, detailing the horrors of Saddam's Ba'th and the extent of the human toll of its wars and oppression. The ensuing documentation projects that emerged out of this mass catharsis aimed to amplify voices that had hitherto been marginalized and silenced, including the experiences of political prisoners. Hassan's study on prison writing, published by the Iraqi Ministry of Culture, can be seen in this light: as part of a national effort to process the literary and psychological aspects of the Ba‘th's legacy. However, the author's interest in prison writing also stems from his professional background as a medical doctor and psychiatrist directly involved in the study and treatment of PTSD in military veterans of the Iran–Iraq War. His personal interest in the experiences of Iraqi political prisoners is also made clear by certain paratextual elements in his study; in the acknowledgements, for example, Hassan dedicates his text to a friend who spent twenty years in incarceration as a political prisoner, and to his brother, who he found unrecognizable due to starvation and torture on a visit to a Najaf prison in 1994.
Detection of two SNPs of the LIPE gene in Holstein–Friesian cows with divergent milk production
Authors: El-Kassas Seham , Abo-Al-Ela Haitham G. , Abdulraouf Esraa , Helal Mohamed Atef , Sakr A. M. , Abdo Safaa E.
Published: August 2023

The LIPE gene (lipase E, hormone-sensitive type), also known as hormone-sensitive lipase, acts as a primary regulator of lipid metabolism during lactation in cows. We studied a total of two hundred Holstein–Friesian cows and performed sequencing analysis that revealed two synonymous nucleotide changes within the LIPE gene: a transition change, c.276 T > C in exon 2 (g.50631651 T > C; position 351 of GenBank: ON638900) and a transversion change, c.219C > A in exon 6 (g.50635369C > A; position 1070 of GenBank: ON638901). The observed genotypes were TC and CC for the c.276 T > C SNP and CC and CA for the c.219C > A SNP. Notably, the heterozygous TC genotype of the T351C SNP exhibited a significant association with high milk yield. Furthermore, the T351C SNP displayed significant associations with various milk parameters, including temperature, freezing point, density and the percentages of fat, protein, lactose, solids and solids-not-fat, with the homozygous CC genotype showing higher values. The c.219C > A SNP also demonstrated a significant association with milk composition, with heterozygous genotypes (CA) exhibiting higher percentages of fat, protein, and lactose compared to homozygous genotypes (CC). This effect was consistent among both high and low milk producers for fat and lactose percentages, while high milk producers exhibited a higher protein percentage than low milk producers. These findings highlight the importance of considering the detected SNPs in marker-assisted selection and breeding programs for the identification of high milk-producing Holstein–Friesian cows and potentially other breeds. Moreover, this study strongly supports the fundamental role of the LIPE gene in milk production and composition in lactating animals.
The Johor–Singapore Causeway: Celebrating and conceptualising its centenary
Authors: Hutchinson Francis E. , Lin Shaun , Bunnell Tim
Published: August 2023

The Johor–Singapore Causeway was inaugurated on 28 June 1924. With this, Singapore became physically connected to the Malay Peninsula via a 1,056-metre-long raised track across the Johor Strait. Since then, this understated piece of infrastructure has come to underpin many aspects of life in Singapore and Malaysia. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, an estimated 300,000 people crossed between Malaysia and Singapore via the Causeway every day, making it one of the busiest border crossings in the world, and perhaps the busiest of all in Southeast Asia. The reasons for this transborder travel included daily commutes for work, access to education and health services, as well as shopping and leisure. In addition, people crossed the Causeway to then use either Singapore or Johor as a gateway to destinations further afield. While the pandemic curtailed almost all cross-border movement of people, as of early 2023 trips across the Causeway were approaching their pre-COVID-19 levels.
Impact of endosymbionts on tick physiology and fitness
Authors: Kolo Agatha O. , Raghavan Rahul
Published: August 2023

Ticks transmit pathogens and harbour non-pathogenic, vertically transmitted intracellular bacteria termed endosymbionts. Almost all ticks studied to date contain 1 or more of Coxiella, Francisella, Rickettsia or Candidatus Midichloria mitochondrii endosymbionts, indicative of their importance to tick physiology. Genomic and experimental data suggest that endosymbionts promote tick development and reproductive success. Here, we review the limited information currently available on the potential roles endosymbionts play in enhancing tick metabolism and fitness. Future studies that expand on these findings are needed to better understand endosymbionts’ contributions to tick biology. This knowledge could potentially be applied to design novel strategies that target endosymbiont function to control the spread of ticks and pathogens they vector.
A narrative systematic review of changes in mental health symptoms from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Blendermann Mary , Ebalu Tracie I , Obisie-Orlu Immanuela C , Fried Eiko I , Hallion Lauren S
Published: August 2023

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic raised concerns regarding population-wide impacts on mental health. Existing work on the psychological impacts of disaster has identified the potential for multiple response trajectories, with resilience as likely as the development of chronic psychopathology. Early reviews of mental health during the pandemic suggested elevated prevalence rates of multiple forms of psychopathology, but were limited by largely cross-sectional approaches. We conducted a systematic review of studies that prospectively assessed pre- to peri-pandemic changes in symptoms of psychopathology to investigate potential mental health changes associated with the onset of the pandemic (PROSPERO #CRD42021255042). A total of 97 studies were included, covering symptom clusters including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), fear, anxiety, depression, and general distress. Changes in psychopathology symptoms varied by symptom dimension and sample characteristics. OCD, anxiety, depression, and general distress symptoms tended to increase from pre- to peri-pandemic. An increase in fear was limited to medically vulnerable participants, and findings for PTSD were mixed. Pre-existing mental health diagnoses unexpectedly were not associated with symptom exacerbation, except in the case of OCD. Young people generally showed the most marked symptom increases, although this pattern was reversed in some samples. Women in middle adulthood in particular demonstrated a considerable increase in anxiety and depression. We conclude that mental health responding during the pandemic varied as a function of both symptom cluster and sample characteristics. Variability in responding should therefore be a key consideration guiding future research and intervention.
Between Political Constraints and Professional Historical Writing: Three Decades of Croatian Historiography (1990–2021)
Authors: Koren Snježana , Agičić Damir
Published: August 2023

Like most European historiographies, modern Croatian historiography was founded in the second half of the nineteenth century. It coincided with the appearance and spread of nationalism – what is more, it was one of its essential components. Nonetheless, the number of historians in Croatia remained small for a long period of time (In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, approximately twenty historians worked in universities, museums, and archives), and historiographic production was modest and methodologically traditional. The number of historians and institutions dedicated to historical writing increased significantly in the decades following the Second World War, reflecting the importance placed on history by the communist authorities. Approximately one hundred historians were employed in Croatia at the time of its independence in the early 1990s, principally at the country's two universities and a number of historical institutes. Today, Croatia – a country with a population of less than four million – offers up to eight undergraduate and graduate history programs, as well as several doctoral programs. More than 300 professional historians work in faculties, institutes and other institutions such as archives, museums or non-governmental organisations.
What Mathematics and Metaphysics of Corporeal Nature Offer to Each Other: Kant on the Foundations of Natural Science
Authors: McNulty Michael Bennett
Published: August 2023

Kant famously distinguishes between the methods of mathematics and of metaphysics, holding that metaphysicians err when they avail themselves of the mathematical method. Nonetheless, in the Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science, he insists that mathematics and metaphysics must jointly ground ‘proper natural science’. This article examines the distinctive contributions and unity of mathematics and metaphysics to the foundations of the science of body. I argue that the two are distinct insofar as they involve distinctive sorts of grounding relations – mathematics pertains to formal grounding, while metaphysics concerns material grounding – while they are unified insofar as they treat motion, the fundamental determination of the science of body.
The Necessity of Empirical Laws of Nature through the Lens of Kant’s Dialectic
Authors: Spagnesi Lorenzo
Published: August 2023

This article analyses a sceptical challenge resulting from metaphysical approaches to the problem of the necessity of empirical laws of nature in Kant’s critical philosophy (what I shall call ‘essentialist’ readings). I argue that this challenge may jeopardize the purpose of empirical enquiry (and therefore the plausibility of essentialist readings), but that Kant has internal resources to address it in the Dialectic of the Critique of Pure Reason. I show that reading this problem through the lens of the Dialectic allows us to reconcile the metaphysical question of necessitation of laws with a robust sense of empirical cognition.
ASTER VNIR‐SWIR Based Lithological Mapping of Granitoids in the Western Junggar Orogen (NW Xinjiang): Improved Inputs to Random Forest Method
Authors: Zhou Yarong , Zheng Shuo , An Yanfei , Lai Chunkit
Published: August 2023

Although advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer multispectral analysis for lithological mapping has been widely applied, traditional methods such as band ratios (BR) and principal component analysis (PCA) are still hampered by cumbersome data processing and poor classification performance. In this study, we utilize improved data inputs for random forest (RF) to extract lithological information of granitoids, which are the predominant rock type for intrusion‐related polymetallic ore deposits in the western Junggar Orogen (NW Xinjiang). Based on spectral absorption features of minerals (e.g., orthoclase, K‐feldspar, hornblende, biotite, plagioclase, and oligoclase), image statistical information and textural features, we tested different combinations of bands, BR, PCA, and texture using RF method, and found that the combination of B13678 + T1 (Mean texture) achieved the highest weighted‐F1 score for granitoids, with an accuracy of 87.32%. Compared to the support vector machine, RF effectively distinguishes lithological differences between different types of granitoid and wallrocks, especially the granite, granodiorite, and alkali granite in the Akebasito intrusion, as well as the alkali granite, plagiogranite and biotite granite in the Karamay intrusions. Moreover, the large number of rare metal deposits (including Cu, Au, Mo, etc.) distributed near the granitoid intrusions in the western Junggar, our result facilitates the analysis of regional tectonic evolution and mineralization controlling.
A multi-site service evaluation of silver diamine fluoride use for children
Authors: Timms Laura , Bux Sara , Maybin Linzi , Rogers Helen , Horisk Katie , Fraser Jacqueline , Large Jessica , Deery Chris , Ashley Paul , Keightley Alex , Sumner Oliver
Published: August 2023

Introduction The use of silver diamine fluoride (SDF) is relatively new to the UK. It is unknown how it is being used and for what indications in UK paediatric dental services.

Aim To: 1) establish how SDF is being used across different paediatric dental settings in the UK; and 2) consider parental and patient views on the treatment experience and side effect of discolouration.

Method A multi-site service evaluation was carried out across six paediatric dentistry units covering hospital and community services. Data were collected prospectively from 17/02/2020 to 02/03/2022. Simple descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data.

Results Data were collected for 54 patients. The included patients had an age range of 2-13 years, with a mean of 4.9 years. The reason SDF was chosen was reported as: to avoid general anaesthetic (n = 25); to avoid extractions (n = 8); stabilisation (n = 25); acclimatisation (n = 24); and insufficient cooperation for other treatment (n = 17). In total, 42 cases had SDF applied to the primary dentition. This was in the anterior dentition for 18 patients and the posterior dentition for 15, with nine patients having SDF applied both anteriorly and posteriorly. The majority of children and parents were accepting of the technique and immediate aesthetic outcome.

Conclusion In the services involved in this multi-site service evaluation, SDF is used for young patients in the primary dentition for the purpose of caries arrest. The technique was viewed positively by the majority of parents and children.