bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ophthalmic artery Doppler in combination with other biomarkers in prediction of pre‐eclampsia at 35–37 weeks' gestation
Authors: Sarno M. , Wright A. , Vieira N. , Sapantzoglou I. , Charakida M. , Nicolaides K. H.
Published: October 2020

Objective

To examine the potential value of maternal ophthalmic artery Doppler at 35–37 weeks' gestation in combination with the established biomarkers of pre‐eclampsia (PE), including mean arterial pressure (MAP), uterine artery pulsatility index (UtA‐PI), serum placental growth factor (PlGF) and serum soluble fms‐like tyrosine kinase‐1 (sFlt‐1), in the prediction of subsequent development of PE.

Methods

This was a prospective observational study in women attending for a routine hospital visit at 35 + 0 to 36 + 6 weeks' gestation. This visit included recording of maternal demographic characteristics and medical history, ultrasound examination for fetal anatomy and growth, assessment of flow velocity waveforms from the maternal ophthalmic arteries, and measurement of MAP, UtA‐PI, serum PlGF and serum sFlt‐1. The competing‐risks model was used to estimate the individual patient‐specific risks of delivery with PE at any time and at < 3 weeks after assessment by a combination of maternal demographic characteristics and medical history with biomarkers. The area under the receiver‐operating‐characteristics curve and detection rate (DR) of delivery with PE, at a 10% false‐positive rate (FPR), in screening by combinations of maternal factors with ophthalmic artery second to first peak of systolic velocity ratio (PSV ratio), MAP, UtA‐PI, serum PlGF and serum sFlt‐1 were determined. The modeled performance of screening for PE was also estimated.

Results

The study population of 2287 pregnancies contained 60 (2.6%) that developed PE, including 19 (0.8%) that delivered with PE at < 3 weeks after assessment. The PSV ratio improved the prediction of PE with delivery at any stage after assessment provided by maternal factors alone (from 25.4% to 50.6%), maternal factors and MAP (54.3% to 62.7%), maternal factors, MAP and PlGF (68.3% to 70.8%) and maternal factors, MAP, PlGF and sFlt‐1 (75.7% to 76.7%), at a FPR of 10%. The PSV ratio also improved the prediction of PE with delivery at < 3 weeks after assessment provided by maternal factors alone (from 31.0% to 69.4%), maternal factors and MAP (74.1% to 83.4%), maternal factors, MAP and UtA‐PI (77.1% to 85.0%) and maternal factors, MAP and PlGF (84.8% to 88.6%). The empirical results for DR at a 10% FPR were consistent with the modeled results. Screening by a combination of maternal factors with MAP and PSV ratio also detected 59.4% (95% CI, 58.6–82.5%) of cases of gestational hypertension with delivery at any stage after assessment, and 86.7% (95% CI, 82.4–100%) of those with delivery at < 3 weeks after assessment.

Conclusion

Ophthalmic artery Doppler could potentially improve the performance of screening for PE at 35–37 weeks, especially imminent PE with delivery within 3 weeks after assessment, but further studies are needed to validate this finding. © 2020 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
Gamithromycin in swine: Pharmacokinetics and clinical evaluation against swine respiratory disease
Authors: Hamel Dietmar , Richard‐Mazet Alexandra , Voisin Florian , Böhne Inge , Fraisse Florence , Rauh Renate , Huang Rose , Kellermann Michael , Letendre Laura , Dumont Pascal , Rehbein Steffen
Published: October 2020

The pharmacokinetics of gamithromycin were evaluated in 26 male castrated and female crossbred swine administered gamithromycin 15% w/v (Zactran®, Boehringer Ingelheim) intravenously at 6 mg/kg bodyweight or intramuscularly at 3, 6 or 12 mg/kg bodyweight. Blood samples were collected up to Day 10 to establish the plasma profile of gamithromycin, bioavailability and dose proportionality. When administered by intramuscular injection at 6 mg/kg BWT, pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows: area under the curve until last quantifiable plasma concentration, 5.13 ± 0.957 µg*hours/ml; maximum plasma concentration, 960 ± 153 ng/ml at 5 to 15 min; terminal half‐life of 94.1 ± 20.4 hr. Absolute bioavailability was 92.2%. Increase in systemic exposure was proportional to the gamithromycin dose level over the range 3–12 mg/kg BWT. No gender‐related statistically significant difference in exposure was observed. For clinical evaluation of Zactran® against swine respiratory disease, 305 pigs from six commercial farms in three countries in Europe with signs associated with Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and/or Haemophilus parasuis and/or Pasteurella multocida and/or Bordetella bronchiseptica were used. At each site, animals were treated once in a 1:1 ratio with a single intramuscular dose of Zactran® (6 mg gamithromycin/kg bodyweight) or Zuprevo® (4% w/v tildipirosin at 4 mg/kg bodyweight; MSD Animal Health) at the recommended dose respectively. Animals were observed and scored daily for 10 consecutive days for signs of swine respiratory disease (depression, respiration and rectal temperature), and animals presenting signs of clinical swine respiratory disease (Depression Score 3 and/or Respiratory Score 3 associated with Rectal Temperature > 40.0°C) were removed from the study and considered as treatment failure. Animals which remained in the study were individually assessed for ʽtreatment successʼ or ʽtreatment failureʼ (Depression Score ≥ 1 and Rectal Temperature > 40.0°C or Respiratory Score ≥ 1 and Rectal Temperature > 40.0°C). Using a non‐inferiority hypothesis test (non‐inferiority margin = 0.10), the proportion of treatment successes in the Zactran® group (97%) was equivalent to or better than that in the Zuprevo® group (93%).
Climate activism and its effects
Authors: Fisher Dana R. , Nasrin Sohana
Published: October 2020

As activism including climate strikes have become a common occurrence around the world, it is important to consider the growth in climate change‐focused activism and participation in social movements as a specific type of civic engagement. Although studies have analyzed climate activism and the climate movement, there is limited research that integrates it into the broader literature on civic engagement and which considers how these forms of engagement are related to specific climate outcomes. Here, we take a first step in understanding the material outcomes of these efforts. Specifically, we provide an overview of climate‐related activism as a form of civic engagement, paying particular attention to the targets of this activism and its environmental outcomes in terms of greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Then, we focus on one of the most common tactics to gain momentum in recent years: the school strike, which has mobilized a growing number of participants around the world. We discuss how the Coronavirus pandemic has changed the climate movement with much activism moving online. We conclude by discussing the overall state of the knowledge about the outcomes of climate activism, as well as highlighting the need for careful research to measure its effects across scale.

This article is categorized under

Policy and Governance > Private Governance of Climate Change

The Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Climate Science and Social Movements
Climate change: What we know and what is to be done
Authors: Levine Mark D. , Steele Robert V.
Published: October 2020

Our goal in this article is to explain briefly what we believe to be the scientifically confirmed findings of climate change and what actions in our judgment are needed to forestall the worst impacts of a changing climate. Climate change is well documented by data and scientific observation. The global average temperature has already increased by more than 1°C (1.8°F) above preindustrial levels, and the impacts already felt are significant and encompass the entire globe. A 1°C increase in global temperature has resulted in increased melting of glaciers and the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets; higher frequency of more severe hurricanes; greater severity of droughts and forest fires; and extinction of selected species on land and in the sea, among other impacts. These are due largely to the extreme temperatures that accompany the higher mean temperature. There exist policies and cost‐effective technologies today that can achieve large reductions in carbon emissions. There is significant experience with all of the policies and technologies. R&D needs to be carried out on key new zero‐carbon technologies. Foremost among these technologies are electricity storage for large‐scale application in wind and solar power plants, batteries for electric vehicles, and zero‐carbon fuels for vehicles. Other than the (in our view limited but worthwhile) progress achieved through the Conference of the Parties meetings, especially the Paris Agreement, the world has not yet begun addressing climate change sufficiently to avoid very significant impacts. One early sign that the world has become serious about climate change will occur when oil and gas companies reduce and ultimately cease exploring for new resources.

This article is categorized under:

Energy and Climate > Climate and Environment
Recent advances in applications of nanoparticles in SERS in vivo imaging
Authors: Du Zhen , Qi Yuchen , He Jian , Zhong Danni , Zhou Min
Published: October 2020

Surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) technique has been regarded as one of the most important research methods in the field of single‐molecule science. Since the previous decade, the application of nanoparticles for in vivo SERS imaging becomes the focus of research. To enhance the performance of SERS imaging, researchers have developed several SERS nanotags such as gold nanostars, copper‐based nanomaterials, semiconducting quantum dots, and so on. The development of Raman equipment is also necessary owing to the current limitations. This review describes the recent advances of SERS nanoparticles and their applications for in vivo imaging in detail. Specific examples highlighting the in vivo cancer imaging and treatment application of SERS nanoparticles. A perspective on the challenges and opportunities of nanoparticles in SERS in vivo imaging is also provided.

This article is categorized under:

Diagnostic Tools > in vivo Nanodiagnostics and Imaging

Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Nanomedicine for Oncologic Disease
Lipid Droplets in Cancer
Authors: Petan Toni
Published: October 2020

Lipid droplets have a unique structure among organelles consisting of a dense hydrophobic core of neutral lipids surrounded by a single layer of phospholipids decorated with various proteins. Often labeled merely as passive fat storage repositories, they in fact have a remarkably dynamic life cycle. Being formed within the endoplasmic reticulum membrane, lipid droplets rapidly grow, shrink, traverse the cytosol, and engage in contacts with other organelles to exchange proteins and lipids. Their lipid and protein composition changes dynamically in response to cellular states and nutrient availability. Remarkably, their biogenesis is induced when cells experience various forms of nutrient, energy, and redox imbalances, including lipid excess and complete nutrient deprivation. Cancer cells are continuously exposed to nutrient and oxygen fluctuations and have the capacity to switch between alternative nutrient acquisition and metabolic pathways in order to strive even during severe stress. Their supply of lipids is ensured by a series of nutrient uptake and scavenging mechanisms, upregulation of de novo lipid synthesis, repurposing of their structural lipids via enzymatic remodeling, or lipid recycling through autophagy. Importantly, most of these pathways of lipid acquisition converge at lipid droplets, which combine different lipid fluxes and control their usage based on specific cellular needs. It is thus not surprising that lipid droplet breakdown is an elaborately regulated process that occurs via a complex interplay of neutral lipases and autophagic degradation. Cancer cells employ lipid droplets to ensure energy production and redox balance, modulate autophagy, drive membrane synthesis, and control its composition, thereby minimizing stress and fostering tumor progression. As regulators of (poly)unsaturated fatty acid trafficking, lipid droplets are also emerging as modulators of lipid peroxidation and sensitivity to ferroptosis. Clearly, dysregulated lipid droplet turnover may also be detrimental to cancer cells, which should provide potential therapeutic opportunities in the future. In this review, we explore how lipid droplets consolidate lipid acquisition and trafficking pathways in order to match lipid supply with the requirements for cancer cell survival, growth, and metastasis.
Prediction of Acoustic Fields Using a Lattice-Boltzmann Method and Deep Learning
Authors: Rüttgers Mario , Koh Seong-Ryong , Jitsev Jenia , Schröder Wolfgang , Lintermann Andreas
Published: October 2020

Using traditional computational fluid dynamics and aeroacoustics methods, the accurate simulation of aeroacoustic sources requires high compute resources to resolve all necessary physical phenomena. In contrast, once trained, artificial neural networks such as deep encoder-decoder convolutional networks allow to predict aeroacoustics at lower cost and, depending on the quality of the employed network, also at high accuracy. The architecture for such a neural network is developed to predict the sound pressure level in a 2D square domain. It is trained by numerical results from up to 20,000 GPU-based lattice-Boltzmann simulations that include randomly distributed rectangular and circular objects, and monopole sources. Types of boundary conditions, the monopole locations, and cell distances for objects and monopoles serve as input to the network. Parameters are studied to tune the predictions and to increase their accuracy. The complexity of the setup is successively increased along three cases and the impact of the number of feature maps, the type of loss function, and the number of training data on the prediction accuracy is investigated. An optimal choice of the parameters leads to network-predicted results that are in good agreement with the simulated findings. This is corroborated by negligible differences of the sound pressure level between the simulated and the network-predicted results along characteristic lines and by small mean errors.
Brane-jet instabilities
Authors: Bena Iosif , Pilch Krzysztof , Warner Nicholas P.
Published: October 2020

Abstract

With one exception, all known non-supersymmetric AdS4 and AdS5 vacua of gauged maximal supergravities that descend from string and M theory have been shown to have modes with mass below the BF bound. The remaining non-supersymmetric AdS solution is perturbatively stable within gauged maximal supergravity, and hence appears to contradict recent conjectures about the AdS stability based on the weak gravity conjecture. We show that this solution is actually unstable by exhibiting a new decay channel, which is only visible when the solution is uplifted to eleven dimensions. In particular, M2 brane probes at generic locations inside the internal manifold are attracted to the Poincaré horizon, only to be expelled as “brane jets” along certain directions of the internal manifold. Such instabilities can arise in any non-supersymmetric AdS vacuum in any dimension. When a brane-jet instability is present, the force that expels the branes is the same as the force felt by a probe brane whose mass is less than its charge.
Erratum to: On self-similar axion-dilaton configurations
Authors: Hatefi Ehsan , Antonelli Riccardo
Published: October 2020

The Authors order and affiliations order for author Ehsan Hatefi has been modified
The Poincaré and BMS flux-balance laws with application to binary systems
Authors: Compère Geoffrey , Oliveri Roberto , Seraj Ali
Published: October 2020

Abstract

Asymptotically flat spacetimes admit both supertranslations and Lorentz transformations as asymptotic symmetries. Furthermore, they admit super-Lorentz transformations, namely superrotations and superboosts, as outer symmetries associated with super-angular momentum and super-center-of-mass charges. In this paper, we present comprehensively the flux-balance laws for all such BMS charges. We distinguish the Poincaré flux-balance laws from the proper BMS flux-balance laws associated with the three relevant memory effects defined from the shear, namely, the displacement, spin and center-of-mass memory effects. We scrutinize the prescriptions used to define the angular momentum and center-of-mass. In addition, we provide the exact form of all Poincaré and proper BMS flux-balance laws in terms of radiative symmetric tracefree multipoles. Fluxes of energy, angular momentum and octupole super-angular momentum arise at 2.5PN, fluxes of quadrupole supermomentum arise at 3PN and fluxes of momentum, center-of-mass and octupole super-center-of-mass arise at 3.5PN. We also show that the BMS flux-balance laws lead to integro-differential consistency constraints on the radiation-reaction forces acting on the sources. Finally, we derive the exact form of all BMS charges for both an initial Kerr binary and a final Kerr black hole in an arbitrary Lorentz and supertranslation frame, which allows to derive exact constraints on gravitational waveforms produced by binary black hole mergers from each BMS flux-balance law.
Zilch vortical effect, Berry phase, and kinetic theory
Authors: Huang Xu-Guang , Mitkin Pavel , Sadofyev Andrey V. , Speranza Enrico
Published: October 2020

Abstract

Rotating photon gas exhibits a chirality separation along the angular velocity which is manifested through a generation of helicity and zilch currents. In this paper we study this system using the corresponding Wigner function and construct elements of the covariant chiral kinetic theory for photons from first principles. The Wigner function is solved order-by-order in ħ and the unconstrained terms are fixed by matching with quantum field theory results. We further consider the zilch and helicity currents and show that both manifestations of the chirality transport originate in the Berry phase of photons similarly to other chiral effects. Constructing the kinetic description from the Wigner function we find that the frame vector needed to fix the definition of spin of a massless particle is, in fact, the vector of the residual gauge freedom for the free Maxwell theory. We also briefly comment on the possible relation between vortical responses in rotating systems of massless particles and the anomalies of underlying quantum field theory.
Feature-Driven Viewpoint Placement for Model-Based Surface Inspection
Authors: Mosbach Dennis , Gospodnetić Petra , Rauhut Markus , Hamann Bernd , Hagen Hans
Published: October 2020

The goal of visual surface inspection is to analyze an object’s surface and detect defects by looking at it from different angles. Developments over the past years have made it possible to partially automate this process. Inspection systems use robots to move cameras and obtain pictures that are evaluated by image processing algorithms. Setting up these systems or adapting them to new models is primarily done manually. A key challenge is to define camera viewpoints from which the images are taken. The number of viewpoints should be as low as possible while still guaranteeing an inspection of the desired quality. System engineers define and evaluate configurations that are improved based on a time-consuming trial-and-error process leading to a sufficient, but not necessarily optimal, configuration. With the availability of 3D surface models defined by triangular meshes, this step can be done virtually. This paper presents a new scalable approach to determine a small number of well-placed camera viewpoints for optical surface inspection planning. The initial model is approximated by B-spline surfaces. A set of geometric feature functionals is defined and used for an adaptive, non-uniform surface sampling that is sparse in geometrically low-complexity areas and dense in regions of higher complexity. The presented approach is applicable to solid objects with a given 3D surface model. It makes camera viewpoint generation independent of the resolution of the triangle mesh, and it improves previous results considering number of viewpoints and their relevance.
Efficient analysis of welding thermal conduction using the Newton–Raphson method, implicit method, and their combination
Authors: Feng Zhongyuan , Ma Ninshu , Li Wangnan , Narasaki Kunio , Lu Fenggui
Published: October 2020

Finite element analysis is commonly used to investigate the thermal-mechanical phenomena during welding. To improve the computing efficiency of finite element analysis for welding thermal conduction, a novel Newton–Raphson method (NRM) without the computation of inverse matrix and a hybrid method combing the NRM and conventional implicit method (IMP) were developed. Comparison of computing time between the hybrid method implemented in an in-house software JWRIAN and the IMP used in a commercial software ABAQUS indicated that the computing speed of the former was about 4.5 times faster than that of the latter. Additionally, compared to the conventional IMP, the NRM exhibited higher computing efficiency in the analysis of transient thermal conduction during the welding heating process. Meanwhile, a combined hybrid method of the NRM and IMP was verified to be more efficient in analyzing the welding thermal conduction throughout the heating and cooling processes. Moreover, the thermal cycles computed by the hybrid method were consistent with those from experimental measurement, indicating the high accuracy of the hybrid method. Furthermore, the hybrid method was used to predict the temperature field of the corner boxing fillet joint welded by a low transformation temperature weld metal for generation of compressive residual stress.
Diagnostic accuracy for the epileptogenic zone detection in focal epilepsy could be higher in FDG-PET/MRI than in FDG-PET/CT
Authors: Kikuchi Kazufumi , Togao Osamu , Yamashita Koji , Momosaka Daichi , Nakayama Tomohiro , Kitamura Yoshiyuki , Kikuchi Yoshitomo , Baba Shingo , Sagiyama Koji , Ishimatsu Keisuke , Kamei Ryotaro , Mukae Nobutaka , Iihara Koji , Suzuki Satoshi O. , Iwaki Toru , Hiwatashi Akio
Published: October 2020

Objectives

To examine the utility of FDG-PET/MRI in patients with epilepsy by comparing the diagnostic accuracy of PET/MRI and PET/CT in epileptogenic zone (EZ) detection.

Methods

This prospective study included 31 patients (17 males, 14 females) who underwent surgical resection for EZ. All patients were first scanned using FDG-PET/CT followed immediately with FDG-PET/MRI. Two series of PET plus standalone MR images were interpreted independently by five board-certified radiologists. A 4-point visual score was used to assess image quality. Sensitivities and visual scores from both PETs and standalone MRI were compared using the McNemar test with Bonferroni correction and Dunn’s multiple comparisons test.

Results

The EZs were confirmed histopathologically via resection as hippocampal sclerosis (n = 11, 35.5%), gliosis (n = 8, 25.8%), focal cortical dysplasia (n = 6, 19.4%), and brain tumours (n = 6, 19.4%) including cavernous haemangioma (n = 3), dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumour (n = 1), ganglioglioma (n = 1), and polymorphous low-grade neuroepithelial tumour of the young (n = 1). The sensitivity of FDG-PET/MRI was significantly higher than that of FDG-PET/CT and standalone MRI (FDG-PET/MRI vs. FDG-PET/CT vs. standalone MRI; 77.4–90.3% vs. 58.1–64.5% vs. 45.2–80.6%, p < 0.0001, respectively). The visual scores derived from FDG-PET/MRI were significantly higher than those of FDG-PET/CT, as well as standalone MRI (2.8 ± 1.2 vs. 2.0 ± 1.1 vs. 2.1 ± 1.2, p < 0.0001, respectively). Compared to FDG-PET/CT, FDG-PET/MRI increased the visual score (51.9%, increased visual scores of 2 and 3).

Conclusions

The diagnostic accuracy for the EZ detection in focal epilepsy could be higher in FDG-PET/MRI than in FDG-PET/CT.

Key Points

• Sensitivity of FDG-PET/MRI was significantly higher than that of FDG-PET/CT and standalone MRI (FDG-PET/MRI vs. FDG-PET/CT vs. standalone MRI; 77.4–90.3% vs. 58.1–64.5% vs. 45.2–80.6%, p < 0.0001, respectively).

• Visual scores derived from FDG-PET/MRI were significantly higher than those of FDG-PET/CT and standalone MRI (2.8 ± 1.2 vs. 2.0 ± 1.1 vs. 2.1 ± 1.2, p < 0.0001, respectively).

• Compared to FDG-PET/CT, FDG-PET/MRI increased the visual score (51.9%, increased visual scores of 2 and 3).
Ciliary body length revisited by anterior segment optical coherence tomography: implications for safe access to the pars plana for intravitreal injections
Authors: Lincke Joel-Benjamin , Keller Salome , Amaral Joao , Zinkernagel Martin S. , Schuerch Kaspar
Published: October 2020

Purpose

To investigate the dependence of the ciliary body length (CBL) on the axial length (AL) and to draw conclusions on implications regarding safe pars plana access for intravitreal injections and vitreoretinal surgery.

Methods

A total of 200 individuals (mean age 42 years, SD ± 15.4) were enrolled in the study. Objective refraction and AL were obtained. Spherical equivalent (SE) was calculated. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (ASOCT) was used to image and measure the CBL.

Results

The mean SE was − 1.64 diopters (SD ± 3.15, range − 14.5 to + 9 diopters) and the mean AL was 24.19 mm (SD ± 1.65, range 19.8–32.2 mm). There was a significant correlation between SE and AL (r2 = 0.62, p < 0.0001). Mean CBL correlated significantly with age (r2 = 0.11, p < 0.0001), AL (r2 = 0.23, p < 0.0001) and SE (r2 = 0.25, p < 0.0001). The mean CBL was 3351 μm (SD ± 459, range 2184–4451 μm). Three separate groups were defined by their AL with a normal AL group (AL 22.5 to 25 mm), a short AL group (AL < 22.5 mm) and a long AL group (AL > 25 mm). The mean CBL in the normal AL group was 3311 μm (SD ± 427), in the short AL group 2936 μm (SD ± 335) and in the long AL group 3715 μm (SD ± 365), and differed significantly (p < 0.0001) when compared.

Conclusion

For interventions requiring pars plana access (as an intravitreal injection or vitreoretinal surgery), an incision distance of 3.5–4.0 mm posterior to the limbus is recommended. In our research, however, a difference of 0.77 mm in mean CBL between the group with short AL and the group with long AL is demonstrated, implying that the mean CBL in very short and very long eyes differs significantly. These findings suggest that the AL should be taken into account for pars plana access and that it would be advisable to prefer the shorter or longer recommended distance (3.5 and 4.0 mm, respectively) from the limbus, which correlates with the AL. If AL is > 25 mm, a distance of 4.0 mm from the limbus should be chosen; and if AL is < 22.5 mm, a distance of 3.5 mm seems adequate.

Trial registration number and date

NCT00564291, 27 Nov 2007
Stroke incidence and case fatality: a 9-year prospective population-based study in an elderly population of Bagheria, Italy
Authors: Arnao Valentina , Salemi Giuseppe , Scondotto Salvatore , Casuccio Nicola , Riolo Marianna , D’Amelio Marco , Ragonese Paolo , Aridon Paolo
Published: October 2020

Background

The incidence of stroke in high-income countries has been on the decline; however, few epidemiological surveys have been conducted in recent years to specifically estimate the incidence along with outcome of stroke, in Italy. This study aimed to examine the incidence and case fatality rates of stroke in an elderly Italian population.

Methods

A cohort of 2200 people > 65 years was randomly stratified from the total elderly population of Bagheria, Italy. A 9-year prospective population-based study was performed (19,800 person/years).

Results

We identified 112 first-ever strokes, 53 females and 59 males: 82 (73.1%) ischemic, 13(11.6%) intracerebral haemorrhages, 6 (5.35%) subarachnoid haemorrhages, while 11(9.8%) were classified as undetermined strokes. The crude overall annual incidence was 5.65 per 1000 (95%CI: 4.61 to 6.70) for first-ever stroke. The overall crude incidence rates were 4.74 per 1000 (5.08 for males and 4.46 for females) for ischemic stroke, 0.65 (0.99 for males and 0.37 for females) for intracerebral haemorrhage, and 0.03 for subarachnoid haemorrhage. The incidence rate for first-ever stroke was 5.4 per 1000 (95% CI: 5.36 to 5.45) after adjustment for the 2015 World population and 5.56 (95% CI: 5.52 to 5.61), compared to the 2015 European population. Overall case fatality rates for first-ever stroke was 8.19% at 28 days and 24.1% at 1 year.

Conclusion

Our study shows that in the elderly population investigated, stroke incidence and case fatality rates resulted being lower, compared to those from Italian and most European populations. Similar to previous studies, these rates increased linearly with age and were higher in males.
Energiewende: Wo bleibt das langfristige Denken bei der Offshore-Windenergie?
Authors: Kruse Mirko
Published: October 2020

Die Offshore-Windenergie mit Schwerpunkt auf der Nordseeregion und ihren dominierenden Ländern entwickelt sich zuungunsten Deutschlands. Zudem gewinnt Asien in diesem Bereich erhebliche Marktanteile. Offshore-Windenergieanlagen erfordern eine langfristige Planung, wobei die Stilllegung miteinbezogen werden muss. Im nächsten Jahrzehnt ergeben sich zwei große Stilllegungszyklen. Der Stand der Vorbereitungen in den jeweiligen Ländern wird kritisch diskutiert. Offene Fragen zur Anpassung an die Herausforderungen, die sich aus der Stilllegung ergeben, werden hervorgehoben und mögliche Antworten vorgestellt.
Inductive linearization for binary quadratic programs with linear constraints
Authors: Mallach Sven
Published: October 2020

A linearization technique for binary quadratic programs (BQPs) that comprise linear constraints is presented. The technique, called “inductive linearization”, extends concepts for BQPs with particular equation constraints, that have been referred to as “compact linearization” before, to the general case. Quadratic terms may occur in the objective function, in the set of constraints, or in both. For several relevant applications, the linear programming relaxations obtained from applying the technique are proven to be at least as strong as the one obtained with a well-known classical linearization. It is also shown how to obtain an inductive linearization automatically. This might be used, e.g., by general-purpose mixed-integer programming solvers.
Early school closures can reduce the first-wave of the COVID-19 pandemic development
Authors: Klimek-Tulwin Monika , Tulwin Tytus
Published: October 2020

Aim

The COVID-19 pandemic presents serious threats to global public health and the world economy. Therefore, the rapid escalation of the number of cases has led to national government and global interventions. This study aimed to assess the effect of school closures on the COVID-19 pandemic and epidemic trajectories in selected countries.

Subject and methods

Information on the number of cases and population in each country were taken from official government reports. Dates of educational institutions closure were taken from the UNESCO database. Statistical analyses were performed using Statistica. We summarized the data graphically and descriptively.

Results

Most of the European countries closed schools in the period of 11–20 of March 2020. However, there was a big difference in the phase of the epidemic on the day of closure. The data indicate that there was a strong correlation between the day of educational facilities closure and the incidence rate in the following days (16th, 30th, and 60th days since the 100th confirmed case in each country). Early closure of schools in analyzed countries is statistically significantly correlated with lower incidence rates further on during the different phases of the epidemic. Thereby closure of schools with delay is statistically significantly correlated with a higher incidence rate in the following days.

Conclusion

The available data suggest that school closures can potentially reduce transmission during the pandemic, although more research is needed on the effectiveness of these practices.
Understanding unequal ageing: towards a synthesis of intersectionality and life course analyses
Authors: Holman Daniel , Walker Alan
Published: October 2020

Intersectionality has received an increasing amount of attention in health inequalities research in recent years. It suggests that treating social characteristics separately—mainly age, gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic position—does not match the reality that people simultaneously embody multiple characteristics and are therefore potentially subject to multiple forms of discrimination. Yet the intersectionality literature has paid very little attention to the nature of ageing or the life course, and gerontology has rarely incorporated insights from intersectionality. In this paper, we aim to illustrate how intersectionality might be synthesised with a life course perspective to deliver novel insights into unequal ageing, especially with respect to health. First we provide an overview of how intersectionality can be used in research on inequality, focusing on intersectional subgroups, discrimination, categorisation, and individual heterogeneity. We cover two key approaches—the use of interaction terms in conventional models and multilevel models which are particularly focussed on granular subgroup differences. In advancing a conceptual dialogue with the life course perspective, we discuss the concepts of roles, life stages, transitions, age/cohort, cumulative disadvantage/advantage, and trajectories. We conclude that the synergies between intersectionality and the life course hold exciting opportunities to bring new insights to unequal ageing and its attendant health inequalities.
Older Children’s Responses to Wordless Picturebooks: Making Connections
Authors: Iordanaki Lina
Published: October 2020

This article explores 11-year-old children’s connections to prior knowledge and experiences while reading a wordless version ofLittle Red Riding Hood. The study extends pre-existing research on reader response theories by focusing on images instead of written text. The approach taken places emphasis on the reader’s active engagement, for readers use visual decoding skills and culturally oriented knowledge in an effort to interpret the wordless story and fill its gaps. A multiple case study design was implemented involving sixteen students from Greece and England, all being in the final year of primary school and identified as fluent readers. The participants in each country, separated into two groups of four, read the book in an empty classroom, with no teacher intervention. The aim was to identify patterns in their unmediated responses, and to present and analyse the themes of their connections based on empirical evidence. The participants linked the illustrations to their common general knowledge, including cultural references and gender-based generalisations, to personal experiences, and to other texts such as books and films. The findings reveal the prevalence of common themes in their interpretations of the story and encourage engagement with wordless picturebooks, even for older students. Due to their special nature and complexity, these books can initiate interesting conversations on issues such as identity and gender diversity.
Emotions, Actions and Inclinations to Act
Authors: Werner Christiana
Published: October 2020

Emotional responses to fiction are part of our experience with art and media. Some of these responses (“fictional emotions”) seem to be directed towards fictional entities—entities that we believe do not exist. Some philosophers argue that fictional emotions differ in nature from other emotional responses. (cf. Walton in J Philos 75(1):5–27, 1978, Mimesis as make-believe, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1990, Walton, in: Hjort, Laver (ed.) Emotion and the arts, Oxford University, New York, 1997; Currie in The nature of fiction, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990; Stecker in Br J Aesthet 51(3):295–308, 2011) The claim is supposed to be supported among others by ‘the argument from action.’ In contrast to genuine emotions, proponents of this argument claim, fictional emotions do not motivate their bearers to act. (cf. Yanal in Paradoxes of emotion and fiction, Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, 1999; Lamarque in Br J Aesthet 21(4):291–304, 1981; Carroll in The philosophy of horror: or, paradoxes of the heart, Routledge, London, 1990; Currie 1990; Walton 1978, 1990; Suits in Pac Philos Q 87(3):369–386, 2006; Friend, in: Kind (ed.) The Routledge handbook of philosophy of imagination, Routledge, New York, 2016) This claim grounds in what may appear to be an obvious fact: that viewers and readers of are not led to act by their fictional emotions. It is certainly true that viewers and readers of fiction do not form intentions to perform actions directed towards fictional entities. In contrast to the proponents of the argument from action, I will argue that the lack of any such intentions can be explained only with reference to intending’s doxastic conditions, conditions that are unsatisfied in the fictional scenario. Decisively, this explanation does not refer to the motivational force of the agent’s emotions; indeed, it doesn’t refer to emotions at all. Thus, the lack of intentions to perform actions directed towards fictional objects provides no support for the claim that fictional emotions are no genuine emotions.
Vertical or shared? When leadership supports team learning for educational change
Authors: Koeslag-Kreunen Mieke , Van den Bossche Piet , Van der Klink Marcel R. , Gijselaers Wim H.
Published: October 2020

University teacher teams can work toward educational change through the process of team learning behavior, which involves sharing and discussing practices to create new knowledge. However, teachers do not routinely engage in learning behavior when working in such teams and it is unclear how leadership support can overcome this problem. Therefore, this study examines when team leadership behavior supports teacher teams in engaging in learning behavior. We studied 52 university teacher teams (281 respondents) involved in educational change, resulting in two key findings. First, analyses of multiple leadership types showed that team learning behavior was best supported by a shared transformational leadership style that challenges the status quo and stimulates team members’ intellect. Mutual transformational encouragement supported team learning more than the vertical leadership source or empowering and initiating structure styles of leadership. Second, moderator analyses revealed that task complexity influenced the relationship between vertical empowering team leadership behavior and team learning behavior. Specifically, this finding suggests that formal team leaders who empower teamwork only affected team learning behavior when their teams perceived that their task was not complex. These findings indicate how team learning behavior can be supported in university teacher teams responsible for working toward educational change. Moreover, these findings are unique because they originate from relating multiple team leadership types to team learning behavior, examining the influence of task complexity, and studying this in an educational setting.
Uncertain distance-based outlier detection with arbitrarily shaped data objects
Authors: Angiulli Fabrizio , Fassetti Fabio
Published: October 2020

Enabling information systems to face anomalies in the presence of uncertainty is a compelling and challenging task. In this work the problem of unsupervised outlier detection in large collections of data objects modeled by means of arbitrary multidimensional probability density functions is considered. We present a novel definition ofuncertain distance-based outlierunder the attribute level uncertainty model, according to which an uncertain object is an object that always exists but its actual value is modeled by a multivariate pdf. According to this definition an uncertain object is declared to be an outlier on the basis of the expected number of its neighbors in the dataset. To the best of our knowledge this is the first work that considers the unsupervised outlier detection problem on data objects modeled by means of arbitrarily shaped multidimensional distribution functions. We present the UDBOD algorithm which efficiently detects the outliers in an input uncertain dataset by taking advantages of three optimized phases, that are parameter estimation, candidate selection, and the candidate filtering. An experimental campaign is presented, including a sensitivity analysis, a study of the effectiveness of the technique, a comparison with related algorithms, also in presence of high dimensional data, and a discussion about the behavior of our technique in real case scenarios.
Weighted amplifiers and inapproximability results for Travelling Salesman problem
Authors: Chlebík Miroslav , Chlebíková Janka
Published: October 2020

The expander graph constructions and their variants are the main tool used in gap preserving reductions to prove approximation lower bounds of combinatorial optimisation problems. In this paper we introduce the weighted amplifiers and weighted low occurrence of Constraint Satisfaction problems as intermediate steps in the NP-hard gap reductions. Allowing the weights in intermediate problems is rather natural for the edge-weighted problems as Travelling Salesman or Steiner Tree. We demonstrate the technique for Travelling Salesman and use the parametrised weighted amplifiers in the gap reductions to allow more flexibility in fine-tuning their expanding parameters. The purpose of this paper is to point out effectiveness of these ideas, rather than to optimise the expander’s parameters. Nevertheless, we show that already slight improvement of known expander values modestly improve the current best approximation hardness value for TSP from $$\frac{123}{122}$$

123
122

(Karpinski et al. in J Comput Syst Sci 81(8):1665–1677, 2015) to $$\frac{117}{116}$$

117
116

. This provides a new motivation for study of expanding properties of random graphs in order to improve approximation lower bounds of TSP and other edge-weighted optimisation problems.
Nonconvex constrained optimization by a filtering branch and bound
Authors: Eichfelder Gabriele , Klamroth Kathrin , Niebling Julia
Published: October 2020

A major difficulty in optimization with nonconvex constraints is to find feasible solutions. As simple examples show, the$$\alpha $$αBB-algorithm for single-objective optimization may fail to compute feasible solutions even though this algorithm is a popular method in global optimization. In this work, we introduce a filtering approach motivated by a multiobjective reformulation of the constrained optimization problem. Moreover, the multiobjective reformulation enables to identify the trade-off between constraint satisfaction and objective value which is also reflected in the quality guarantee. Numerical tests validate that we indeed can find feasible and often optimal solutions where the classical single-objective$$\alpha $$αBB method fails, i.e., it terminates without ever finding a feasible solution.
Computing the trajectories for the development of optimal routes
Authors: Zazai M. Fawad , Fügenschuh Armin R.
Published: October 2020

Planning the construction of new transport routes or power lines on terrain is usually carried out manually by engineers, with no guarantee of optimality. We introduce a new approach for the computation of an optimal trajectory for the construction of new transit routes and power lines between two locations on a submanifold $$U\subset \mathbb {R}^{3}$$

U
⊂

R

3

representing the topography of a terrain. U is approximatively modeled by a special weighted grid. On this grid, the shortest paths for the construction of new routes are determined, whereby we consider three optimization criteria: routes with minimum distance, routes with lowest construction costs and routes with minimum absolute altitude variations or minimum absolute gradients. Subsequently, a combination of these criteria is used to expand this problem into a multi-criteria optimization problem. A shortest path algorithm, such as the Dijkstra algorithm, is used to compute optimal compromises for the construction of new routes.
Respect and the reality of apparent reasons
Authors: Sylvan Kurt L.
Published: October 2020

Rationality requires us to respond to apparent normative reasons. Given the independence of appearance and reality, why think that apparent normative reasons necessarily provide real normative reasons? And if they do not, why think that mistakes of rationality are necessarily real mistakes? This paper gives a novel answer to these questions. I argue first that in the moral domain, there are objective duties of respect that we violate whenever we do what appears to violate our first-order duties. The existence of these duties of respect, I argue, ensures that apparent moral reasons are exceptions to the independence of appearance and reality. I then extend these arguments to the domain of overall reason. Just as there are objective duties of respect for moral reasons that explain moral blameworthiness, so there are objective duties of respect for reasons (period) that explain blameworthiness in the court of overall reason. The existence of these duties ensures that apparent reasons (period) are exceptions to the independence of appearance and reality.
Chiasmal herniation following treatment of pituitary macroadenoma
Authors: Tabak Marjolein , Pelsma Iris C. M. , Kruit Mark C. , van Furth Wouter R. , Biermasz Nienke R. , Notting Irene C.
Published: October 2020

Purpose

To evaluate whether the occurrence of chiasmal herniation coincides with visual field (VF) deterioration and to compare the course of VF defects in patients with and without radiological chiasmal herniation following treatment of pituitary adenoma.

Methods

This retrospective cohort study included 48 pituitary macroadenoma patients with chiasm compression, divided into three groups: Group 1 (N = 12), downward displaced optic chiasm and deteriorated VFs; Group 2 (N = 16), downward displaced optic chiasm; Group 3 (N = 20), control-group matched for tumour size and follow-up VFs, in mean deviation (dB). VFs were compared over time and a severity index, Chiasm Herniation Scale (CHS), for herniation based on radiological parameters was designed.

Results

After treatment, all groups showed improvement of VFs (Gr1: 2.97 dB p = 0.097, Gr2: 4.52 dB p = 0.001 and Gr3: 5.16 dB p = 0.000), followed by long-term gradual deterioration. The course of VFs between patients with and without herniation was not significantly different (p = 0.143), neither was there a difference in the course before and after herniation (p = 0.297). The median time till onset of herniation was 40 months (IQR 6 month-10 years) and did not significantly differ (p = 0.172) between the groups. There was no relation between VFs and the degree of herniation (p = 0.729).

Conclusion

Herniation does not appear to have clinical relevance with respect to VF outcome. The newly designed CHS is the first scoring system to quantify the severity of herniation and, in the absence of alternatives, may be useful to describe MRI findings to serve future added value in larger sized outcome studies.