bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Biofilm of Cutibacterium acnes: a target of different active substances
Authors: Ruffier d'Epenoux Louise , Fayoux Erwan , Veziers Joëlle , Dagnelie Marie‐Ange , Khammari Amir , Dréno Brigitte , Corvec Stéphane
Published: May 2024

Background

Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory dermatosis. Cutibacterium acnes plays a crucial role in the acne pathophysiology. Recent works present evidence of C. acnes growing as a biofilm in cutaneous follicles. This development is currently considered one of the leading causes of C. acnes in vivo persistence and resistance to antimicrobials used to treat acne.

Objective

Our objective was to evaluate the effects of various active compounds (clindamycin, erythromycin, doxycycline, and myrtle extract) on eight distinct, well‐characterized strains of C. acnes following their growth in biofilm mode.

Methods/Results

Cutibacterium acnes isolates from phylotypes IA1 and IA2 produce more biofilm than other phylotypes. No antibiotic effect was observed either during the curative test or preventive test. Myrtle extract at 0.01% (w/v) showed significant efficacy on the biofilm for C. acnes strains (curative assays). Furthermore, it appear that myrtle extract and doxycycline together reduce the overall biomass of the biofilm. A significant dose‐dependent effect was observed during the preventive test, greater than the one observed under curative conditions, with an important loss of activity of the myrtle extract observed from 0.001% (w/v) concentration onwards. Transmission electron microscopy showed that bacteria treated with myrtle extract grew biofilms much less frequently than untreated bacteria. Additionally, when the quantity of myrtle extract grew, the overall number of bacteria dropped, indicating an additional antibacterial action.

Conclusion

These findings support the hypothesis that the different C. acnes phylotypes have various aptitudes in forming biofilms. They also suggest that myrtle extract is a promising alternative as an anti‐biofilm and antibacterial agent in fighting diseases caused by planktonic and biofilm C. acnes.
High energy storage density achieved in BNT‐based ferroelectric translucent ceramics under low electric fields
Authors: Yang Jian , Guan Pengfei , Zhang Yixiao , Zhu Xiaolong , Wang Haotian , Yang Chang , Zheng Ming
Published: May 2024

The development of ceramics with superior energy storage performance and transparency holds the potential to broaden their applications in various fields, including optoelectronics, energy storage devices, and transparent displays. However, designing a material that can achieve high energy density under low electric fields remains a challenge. In this work, (1−x)Bi0.5Na0.5TiO3−xBaZr0.3Ti0.7O3:0.6mol%Er3+ (abbreviated as (1−x)BNT−xBZT:0.6%Er3+) ferroelectric translucent ceramics were prepared by the conventional solid‐state reaction method. The energy storage properties of (1−x)BNT−xBZT:0.6%Er3+ are systematically investigated under low electric fields by modulating the coupling between coexisting phase structures of polar nano regions. Especially, 0.9BNT–0.1BZT:0.6%Er3+ ceramic exhibits an ultra‐high maximum polarization (Pmax = 66.3 µC/cm2), large recoverable energy storage density (Wrec = 2.95 J/cm3), total energy storage density (W = 5.75 J/cm3), and energy storage efficiency (η = 51.3%) under 190 kV/cm. The sample also exhibits excellent thermal stability (30‐150°C) and transmittance (∼28%). This work could facilitate the advancement of energy storage systems that are more efficient and cost‐effective, and also provide opportunities for the design and manufacture of novel devices.
Oxidation of SiC fibers in water vapor
Authors: Christensen Victoria L. , Ericks Andrew R. , Silverstein Ravit , Duan Isaac N. , Zok Frank W.
Published: May 2024

The current study focuses on the role of composition in the oxidation behavior of three commercial SiC fibers (Hi‐Nicalon Type S (HNS), Tyranno ZMI, and Tyranno SA) in a steam‐containing environment at 1000°C. Oxide scales that form on each of the three fiber types differ in morphology, microstructure, and composition. Differences are attributed to O and C contents, crystallinity, and minor alloying elements. Oxidation kinetics of the HNS fibers follow linear/parabolic (Deal–Grove) predictions over the entire range of exposure times (to 96 h). In the other fibers, deviations from the initial linear/parabolic trend occur when either the scale crystallizes in situ during oxidation (as on the ZMI fibers) or when structural changes internal to the fiber alter the chemical environment at the scale/fiber interface (on the SA fibers). Adaptations of the linear/parabolic oxidation model are used to rationalize the growth kinetics in the latter two cases. Collectively, the data and analyses indicate a two‐fold difference in permeabilities of crystalline and amorphous silica scales. Inferred interface reaction rates further suggest faster oxidation for fibers with greater amounts of amorphous Si–O–C. Moreover, crystalline scales are more prone to cracking, because of their higher viscosity at elevated temperatures and a deleterious phase transformation upon cooling.
The role of neuroestrogens in the estrogen‐induced gonadotropin surge in male monkeys
Authors: Biswas Mohammad S. , Gelman Erica M. , Alexopoulos Daniel J. , Keen Kim L. , Adam Ryan J. , Terasawa Ei
Published: May 2024

Neuroestrogens locally synthesized in the brain are known to play a role in sexual behaviors. However, the question of whether neuroestrogens are involved in the regulation of the gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) release is just emerging. Because previous studies in this lab indicate that neuroestradiol is also important for the pulsatile release as well as the surge release of GnRH in female rhesus monkeys, in the present study, we examined whether neuroestradiol plays a role in the estrogen‐induced LH surge in orchidectomized (ORX) male rhesus monkeys. Unlike in rodents, it is known that a high dose of estrogen treatment can result in the LH surge in ORX male rhesus monkeys. Results that the administration of the aromatase inhibitor, letrozole, failed to attenuate the estrogen‐induced LH surge, suggest that unlike in ovariectomized females, neuroestrogens do not play a role in the LH surge experimentally induced by the exogenous estrogen treatment in ORX male monkeys.
Reassessing the association: Evaluation of a polyalanine deletion variant of RUNX2 in non‐syndromic sagittal and metopic craniosynostosis
Authors: Walton Isaac S. , McCann Emma , Weber Astrid , Morton Jenny E. V. , Noons Peter , Wilson Louise C. , Ching Rosanna C. , Cilliers Deirdre , Johnson David , Phipps Julie M. , Shears Deborah J. , Thomas Gregory P. L. , Wall Steven A. , Twigg Stephen R. F. , Wilkie Andrew O. M.
Published: May 2024

The RUNT‐related transcription factor RUNX2 plays a critical role in osteoblast differentiation, and alterations to gene dosage cause distinct craniofacial anomalies. Uniquely amongst the RUNT‐related family, vertebrate RUNX2 encodes a polyglutamine/polyalanine repeat (Gln23‐Glu‐Ala17 in humans), with the length of the polyalanine component completely conserved in great apes. Surprisingly, a frequent 6‐amino acid deletion polymorphism, p.(Ala84_Ala89)del, occurs in humans (termed 11A allele), and a previous association study (Cuellar et al. Bone 137:115395;2020) reported that the 11A variant was significantly more frequent in non‐syndromic sagittal craniosynostosis (nsSag; allele frequency [AF] = 0.156; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.126–0.189) compared to non‐syndromic metopic craniosynostosis (nsMet; AF = 0.068; 95% CI 0.045–0.098). However, the gnomAD v.2.1.1 control population used by Cuellar et al. did not display Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium, hampering interpretation. To re‐examine this association, we genotyped the RUNX2 11A polymorphism in 225 individuals with sporadic nsSag as parent–child trios and 164 singletons with sporadic nsMet, restricting our analysis to individuals of European ancestry. We compared observed allele frequencies to the non‐transmitted alleles in the parent–child trios, and to the genome sequencing data from gnomAD v.4, which display Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. Observed AFs (and 95% CI) were 0.076 (0.053–0.104) in nsSag and 0.082 (0.055–0.118) in nsMet, compared with 0.062 (0.042–0.089) in non‐transmitted parental alleles and 0.065 (0.063–0.067) in gnomAD v.4.0.0 non‐Finnish European control genomes. In summary, we observed a non‐significant excess, compared to gnomAD data, of 11A alleles in both nsSag (relative risk 1.18, 95% CI 0.83–1.67) and nsMet (relative risk 1.29, 95% CI 0.87–1.92), but we did not replicate the much higher excess of RUNX2 11A alleles in nsSag previously reported (p = 0.0001).
BounTI (boundary‐preserving threshold iteration): A user‐friendly tool for automatic hard tissue segmentation
Authors: Didziokas Marius , Pauws Erwin , Kölby Lars , Khonsari Roman H. , Moazen Mehran
Published: May 2024

X‐ray Computed Tomography (CT) images are widely used in various fields of natural, physical, and biological sciences. 3D reconstruction of the images involves segmentation of the structures of interest. Manual segmentation has been widely used in the field of biological sciences for complex structures composed of several sub‐parts and can be a time‐consuming process. Many tools have been developed to automate the segmentation process, all with various limitations and advantages, however, multipart segmentation remains a largely manual process. The aim of this study was to develop an open‐access and user‐friendly tool for the automatic segmentation of calcified tissues, specifically focusing on craniofacial bones. Here we describe BounTI, a novel segmentation algorithm which preserves boundaries between separate segments through iterative thresholding. This study outlines the working principles behind this algorithm, investigates the effect of several input parameters on its outcome, and then tests its versatility on CT images of the craniofacial system from different species (e.g. a snake, a lizard, an amphibian, a mouse and a human skull) with various scan qualities. The case studies demonstrate that this algorithm can be effectively used to segment the craniofacial system of a range of species automatically. High‐resolution microCT images resulted in more accurate boundary‐preserved segmentation, nonetheless significantly lower‐quality clinical images could still be segmented using the proposed algorithm. Methods for manual intervention are included in this tool when the scan quality is insufficient to achieve the desired segmentation results. While the focus here was on the craniofacial system, BounTI can be used to automatically segment any hard tissue. The tool presented here is available as an Avizo/Amira add‐on, a stand‐alone Windows executable, and a Python library. We believe this accessible and user‐friendly segmentation tool can benefit the wider anatomical community.
Shaping the Professionality of Secondary Teacher Candidates with Diverse Backgrounds during the Great Depression
Authors: Garai Imre
Published: May 2024

This paper addresses the social transformation of the Hungarian secondary teacher candidates brought about by the combination of the effects of the Great Depression and the standardisation endeavours of the teacher training institution between 1930 and 1935. The reconfiguration of the social composition of candidates is revealed by making use of archival sources and statistical reports. Document analysis of archival sources, descriptive statistical analysis and secondary literature review are employed as the main methods. Notions related to the critical approach of professionalisation theories are applied in the interpretation process. Results suggest that the professional institution did not only prevent less affluent social strata from dropping out of training but contributed to their disappearance by introducing standardisation initiatives when the crisis was imminent. It contributed to the worsening of the teacher shortage and the abandonment of uniformization that set the whole profession on a deprofessionalisation course.
Estimation for Markov Chains with Periodically Missing Observations
Authors: U. Müller Ursula , Schick Anton , Wefelmeyer Wolfgang
Published: May 2024

When we observe a stationary time series with observations missing at periodic time points, we can still estimate its marginal distribution well, but the dependence structure of the time series may not be recoverable at all, or the usual estimators may have much larger variance than in the fully observed case. We show how non‐parametric estimators can often be improved by adding unbiased estimators. We focus on a simple setting, first‐order Markov chains on a finite state space, and an observation pattern in which a fixed number of consecutive observations is followed by an observation gap of fixed length, say workdays and weekends. The new estimators perform astonishingly well in some cases, as illustrated with simulations. The approach extends to continuous state space and to higher‐order Markov chains.
Metaphysics and Theology: A Summa “For” the Gentiles
Authors: Falque Emmanuel
Published: May 2024

Thomas Aquinas did not simply write a Summa “against” the Gentiles (contra Gentiles), but rather first and foremost a Summa “for” the Gentiles (pro Gentilibus). As the sole recourse for Muslims and pagans for whom there was no Scripture in common, natural reason is not only a vertical site for access to God; it designates the horizontal topos for a human community capable of gathering us together. Yesterday's “reason” (Thomas Aquinas) plays the role of “finitude” today (Heidegger) – to know what forms us “in common.” Such is the unique perspective of an apologetics that no longer holds itself up with a kind of “looming transcendence” (Merleau‐Ponty), as if the absolute were immediately given. We will cease opposing metaphysics and theology with a discourse that is supposedly pure yet wrongly sought. The lesson of the Council of Nicaea (325 CE) guides us to transform tradition rather than overcome it. The Council's “that is” regarding the same substance (homooúsion) of the Father translates the biblical into the Hellenic, rather than endeavoring to depart from the Hellenic as such. In this respect, the famous “that which everyone calls God” (et omnes dicunt Deum) at the end of each of Aquinas’ Five Ways indicates less the idol of a conceptual God to be overcome, and instead signals the icon of a rational God, who in its kenosis takes up our proper nature in order to transform it. From a theo‐logy where “only God speaks well of God” (subjective genitive), we shall pass over to a theo‐logy where “humans can also speak of God, at least in part” (objective genitive). A new connection between metaphysics and theology is established here, one capable of initiating a different relation between the believer and the world.
Suitability of multifunction devices Myah and Myopia Master for monitoring myopia progression in children and adults
Authors: Chow Amy H. Y. , Mungalsingh Melanie A. , Thai Danny , Selimos Zoe , Yan Sarah Kathryn , Xu Hellen , Jones Deborah A.
Published: May 2024

Purpose

To assess the feasibility of using multifunction instruments to measure axial length for monitoring myopia progression in children and adults.

Methods

Axial length was measured in 60 children (aged 6–18 years) and 60 adults (aged 19–50 years) with multifunction instruments (Myah and Myopia Master) and stand‐alone biometers (Lenstar LS900 and IOLMaster 700). Repeatability (measurements by the same examiner) and reproducibility (measurements by different examiners) were computed as the within‐subject standard deviation (Sw) and 95% limits of agreement (LoA). Inter‐instrument agreement was computed as intraclass correlation coefficients. The threshold for detecting myopic progression was taken as 0.1 mm. Measures were repeated only in children following the administration of 1% tropicamide to determine the impact of cycloplegia on axial length.

Results

Overall, the IOLMaster 700 had the best repeatability in children (0.014 mm) and adults (0.009 mm). Repeatability Sw values for all devices ranged from 0.005 to 0.021 mm (children) and 0.003 to 0.016 mm (adults). In children, reproducibility fell within 0.1 mm 95% of the time for the Myah, Myopia Master and IOLMaster 700. Agreement among all devices was classified as excellent (ICC 0.999; 95% CI 0.998–0.999), but the 95% LoA among the Myah, Myopia Master and Lenstar LS900 was ≥0.1 mm. Cycloplegia had no statistically significant effect on axial length (all p > 0.13).

Conclusions

The Myah and Myopia Master multifunction instruments demonstrated good repeatability and reproducibility, and their accuracy was comparable to stand‐alone biometers. Axial length measurements using different instruments can be considered interchangeable but should be compared with some caution. Accurate axial length measurements can be obtained without cycloplegia. The multifunction instruments Myah and Myopia Master are as well suited for monitoring myopia progression in children as the stand‐alone biometers IOLMaster 700 and Lenstar LS900.
Monopoly pricing with unknown demand
Authors: Weber Thomas A.
Published: May 2024

The optimal pricing of goods, especially when they are new and the innovating firm is a monopolist, must proceed without precise knowledge of the demand curve. This paper provides a pricing method with a relative robustness guarantee by maximizing a performance index which amounts to a worst‐case ratio of the obtained payoff to the best possible payoff. Assuming monotonicity and complementarity of demand in price and the unknown demand parameter, the performance index is fully determined by its behavior at the boundary of the parameter space. This allows for an efficient computation of an optimal robust price. In the linear case, which can also be used for nonlinear demand with bounded slope, the method provides a simple closed‐form solution. A comparison with the standard worst‐case payoff criterion reveals substantial improvements in both absolute and relative performance, at only a small cost relative to the maximized expected profit.
The making and unmaking of opportunity: educational mobility in 20th‐century Denmark
Authors: Karlson Kristian B. , Landersø Rasmus
Published: May 2024

We examine trends in intergenerational educational mobility throughout the 20th century in Denmark. We demonstrate that major reforms in compulsory schooling substantially increased not only the levels of education but also intergenerational mobility in education for children born in the 1940s through to the 1960s. However, even as college education has expanded significantly for children born in the 1970s and 1980s, educational mobility has been declining. We empirically test different mechanisms that could account for this decline in educational mobility.
Exercise addiction in team sports: A systematic literature review
Authors: Chhabra Bhavya , Nazlıgül Merve Denizci , Szabo Attila
Published: May 2024

While regular exercise should be part of the contemporary lifestyle, many people overindulge in it to the point of losing control over their behavior. This condition is known as exercise addiction (EA). Although addiction is an individual phenomenon, and most of the over 1,000 published studies on EA look at individual exercisers, there are studies on team sports athletes, too. Theoretically, these athletes should not manifest exercise addiction, but some studies are projecting the contrary. Therefore, in this literature review, we analyze EA in team athletes. Based on four databases (PsycINFO, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar), we located 22 articles conforming to inclusion criteria. These studies suggest a high risk of exercise addiction among team sports participants. While the figures are lower than for individual exercisers, they are in discord with the concept of addiction as a dysfunction, and the lack of a single case of exercise addiction reported (to date) in team sports athletes in the academic literature. In agreement with a recent position paper, we conclude that there are substantial conceptual and measurement errors in exercise addiction research.
Privatisation and government spending efficiency: An empirical analysis in Europe
Authors: Cuadrado‐Ballesteros Beatriz , Peña‐Miguel Noemí
Published: May 2024

Academic literature has made an effort to demonstrate the positive effects of privatisation reforms on government performance and economic growth. However, there is no sufficient evidence to support the benefits of privatisation in terms of government spending efficiency. This study analyses the correlation between privatisation and government spending efficiency. Our empirical results do not support a positive effect of privatisation on government spending efficiency. These findings are relevant because they suggest that, although privatisation has been usually seen as a tool to balance public finances, it does not mean that government spending efficiency will be higher after privatising State‐owned enterprises.
Overuse injury and affects in competitive sport: A prospective longitudinal study
Authors: Martin Simon , Edouard Pascal , Sanchez Xavier , Ivarsson Andreas
Published: May 2024

Overuse injuries, which have a high prevalence in sport, are suggested to result in different affective responses in comparison to traumatic injuries. Affects may also reciprocally act as risk factors for overuse injury. The aim of this study was to examine the associations between overuse injury and affects within a longitudinal follow‐up design. Competitive athletes (N = 149) of various sports and levels of competition completed the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) and the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Centre Overuse injury questionnaire (OSTRC‐O) once a week over 10 consecutive weeks. Bivariate unconditional latent curve model analyses with structured residuals were performed to evaluate the associations within and across weeks between OSTRC‐O severity score and affects. Results indicated that OSTRC‐O severity score and positive affects (PA) had a statistically significant negative within‐week relation (r = −24.51, 95% CI = [−33.9, −15.1], p < 0.001). Higher scores of overuse injury were significantly related to lower levels of PA across weeks (ß = −0.02, 95% CI = [−0.04, −0.001], p = 0.044), while the reciprocal effect of PA on overuse injury was not significant (ß = −0.13, 95% CI = [−0.52, 0.26], p = 0.51). No statistically significant association was observed between OSTRC‐O severity score and negative affects, neither within nor across weeks. Our findings suggest that overuse injury may have adverse psychological consequences on the long run through lessened PA and address the need for providing sustainable psychological support focusing upon such PA when working with athletes experiencing overuse injury.
Steering Women out of Engineering: Career Assessment Tools as a Technology of Self‐Expressive Segregation
Authors: Blair‐Loy Mary , Mayorova Olga V. , Hegazy Rana , Graeve Olivia A. , Cosman Pamela C.
Published: May 2024

Previous research has shown that gendered societal expectations are adopted by students as seemingly personal and individualistic self‐assessments and preferences, which then lead to gender‐normative choices about college majors and careers. This study examines one seemingly objective mechanism, which millions use each year for guidance on college majors and careers. We examine two Career Assessment Tools (CATs) with deep institutional presence: O*NET and Traitify. Analyzing an exemplar case of engineering majors, we find that CATs are less likely to recommend engineering occupations to women, even after controlling for GPA, satisfaction with the major, and planned persistence. Even in our sample of engineering majors, CATs apparently use small differences in students' gender‐normative self‐expressive preferences to drive sharply different occupational recommendations, thereby solidifying pathways toward gender‐segregated occupations and reinforcing men's dominance of engineering. If women similar to our study participants take CATs, they are likely to be steered away from engineering occupations or majors. More broadly, CATs illustrate how taken‐for‐granted, seemingly neutral technologies can reinforce gender segregation.
Characterisation of the novel HLA‐DRB4*01:01:12 allele by sequencing‐based typing
Authors: Cargou Marine , Andreani Marco , Lucas Jonathan A. M. , Wojciechowski Elodie , Visentin Jonathan
Published: May 2024

HLA‐DRB4*01:01:12 differs from HLA‐DRB4*01:01:01:01 by one nucleotide substitution in codon 175 in exon 3.
Limitations of provenance diagnoses and maximum‐depositional‐age constraints based on detrital‐zircon geochronology: the fertility bias
Authors: Wei Xiaochun , Chen Hanlin , Garzanti Eduardo , Webb A. Alexander G. , McKenzie N. Ryan , Wang Ping
Published: May 2024

Detrital zircon U–Pb geochronology (DZG) is widely used in the provenance analysis and calculating maximum depositional ages (MDAs) of strata. To assess the geologic limitations of this approach, we conducted DZG coupled with bulk‐petrology and heavy‐mineral analyses of Miocene volcaniclastic and non‐volcanic siliciclastic sandstones from the SW Tarim Basin. Although these two sandstone types display greatly different bulk‐petrography and heavy‐mineral signatures, they exhibit similar detrital‐zircon‐age spectra, and thus represent a less common case in which interpretations based on DZG alone may misalign with bulk‐sediment provenance. Most zircon‐based MDAs of volcaniclastic sandstones range from 12.3 to 14.8 Ma, deviating from their ca. 11 Ma true depositional age constrained previously. The similarity of zircon‐age spectra in volcaniclastic and siliciclastic sandstones and the 1–4 M.y. error of the zircon‐based MDAs is ascribed to the low zircon fertility of coeval alkaline magmatic sources. This study emphasizes the importance of an integrated approach to provenance analysis and chronostratigraphy.
A combined lipidomic and proteomic profiling of Arabidopsis thaliana plasma membrane
Authors: Bahammou Delphine , Recorbet Ghislaine , Mamode Cassim Adiilah , Robert Franck , Balliau Thierry , Van Delft Pierre , Haddad Youcef , Mongrand Sébastien , Fouillen Laetitia , Simon‐Plas Françoise
Published: May 2024

The plant plasma membrane (PM) plays a key role in perception of environmental signals, and set‐up of adaptive responses. An exhaustive and quantitative description of the whole set of lipids and proteins constituting the PM is necessary to understand how these components allow to fulfill such essential physiological functions. Here we provide by state‐of‐the‐art approaches the first combined reference of the plant PM lipidome and proteome from Arabidopsis thaliana suspension cell culture. We identified and quantified a reproducible core set of 2165 proteins, which is by far the largest set of available data concerning this plant PM proteome. Using the same samples, combined lipidomic approaches, allowing the identification and quantification of an unprecedented repertoire of 414 molecular species of lipids showed that sterols, phospholipids, and sphingolipids are present in similar proportions in the plant PM. Within each lipid class, the precise amount of each lipid family and the relative proportion of each molecular species were further determined, allowing to establish the complete lipidome of Arabidopsis PM, and highlighting specific characteristics of the different molecular species of lipids. Results obtained point to a finely tuned adjustment of the molecular characteristics of lipids and proteins. More than a hundred proteins related to lipid metabolism, transport, or signaling have been identified and put in perspective of the lipids with which they are associated. This set of data represents an innovative resource to guide further research relative to the organization and functions of the plant PM.
Radical bound for Zaremba's conjecture
Authors: Shulga Nikita
Published: May 2024

Famous Zaremba's conjecture (1971) states that for each positive integer , there exists a positive integer , coprime to , such that if you expand a fraction into a continued fraction , all of the coefficients ’s are bounded by some absolute constant , independent of . Zaremba conjectured that this should hold for . In 1986, Niederreiter proved Zaremba's conjecture for numbers of the form with and for with . In this paper, we prove that for each number , there exists , coprime to , such that all of the partial quotients in the continued fraction of are bounded by , where is the radical of an integer number, that is, the product of all distinct prime numbers dividing . In particular, this means that Zaremba's conjecture holds for numbers of the form with , generalizing Neiderreiter's result. Our result also improves upon the recent result by Moshchevitin, Murphy and Shkredov on numbers of the form , where is an arbitrary prime and is sufficiently large.
Outer billiards in the spaces of oriented geodesics of the three‐dimensional space forms
Authors: Godoy Yamile , Harrison Michael , Salvai Marcos
Published: May 2024

Let be the three‐dimensional space form of constant curvature , that is, Euclidean space , the sphere , or hyperbolic space . Let be a smooth, closed, strictly convex surface in . We define an outer billiard map on the four‐dimensional space of oriented complete geodesics of , for which the billiard table is the subset of consisting of all oriented geodesics not intersecting . We show that is a diffeomorphism when is quadratically convex. For , has a Kähler structure associated with the Killing form of . We prove that is a symplectomorphism with respect to its fundamental form and that can be obtained as an analogue to the construction of Tabachnikov of the outer billiard in defined in terms of the standard symplectic structure. We show that does not preserve the fundamental symplectic form on associated with the cross product on , for . We initiate the dynamical study of this outer billiard in the hyperbolic case by introducing and discussing a notion of holonomy for periodic points.
A direct aspiration first pass technique for retrieval of a detached coil
Authors: Masahira Noritaka , Ohta Tsuyoshi , Fukui Naoki , Yanagawa Toshio , Kondou Yuichirou , Morimoto Masanori , Ueba Tetsuya
Published: May 2024

A 64-year-old man was referred to our hospital for treatment of a cerebral aneurysm that was incidentally found. The aneurysm was 7 mm in size and located on the left anterior communicating artery. Using a balloon assisted technique, we performed coil embolization. During the second coil insertion, the first coil was dislodged into the anterior communicating artery. We attempted coil retrieval using a snare, which was unsuccessful. We applied a direct aspiration first pass technique (ADAPT) and advanced a Penumbra 4MAX immediately proximal to the dislodged coil; the dislodged coil was then successfully retrieved. ADAPT is a simple procedure for retrieval of a detached coil, and it can be used as an alternative to the snare technique.
Giant cell arteritis: a closer look at its ophthalmological manifestations
Authors: Pinto Ferreira Nuno G , Menezes Falcão Luiz , Alves Antonio T , Campos Fatima
Published: May 2024

Giant cell arteritis with ocular involvement is an ocular emergency. Arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (AAION) is the most common ophthalmological manifestation associated with this disease. Visual loss is usually permanent with rare cases showing visual recovery. Visual improvement, if it occurs, is generally limited, and the visual field defects are persistent and severe. The main goal of AAION treatment is the preservation of vision in the fellow eye. In patients with neurophthalmological manifestations, high-dose corticosteroids should be initiated immediately and aggressively, and maintained thereafter. We present a case of AAION and severe vision loss where significant visual recovery was seen after treatment.
Laparoscopic ‘sleeve’ caecectomy for idiopathic solitary caecal ulcer mimicking appendicitis
Authors: Sran Harkiran , Sebastian Joseph , Doughan Samer
Published: May 2024

Idiopathic ulcer of the caecum is a rare condition of unknown aetiology. Its clinical presentation may mimic various pathologies, including appendicitis, inflammatory bowel disease and caecal malignancy. A definitive diagnosis is rarely established preoperatively, and is usually only confirmed histologically following surgical resection. We report a case of a young patient with caecal ulceration presenting with symptoms and signs of appendicitis, in whom laparoscopic anterior ‘sleeve’ caecectomy was performed to excise an inflammatory-looking mass involving the caecum. Histological examination demonstrated a deep mucosal ulcer and subsequent colonoscopy did not reveal any further pathology.
Reporting a novel variant of type VI dual left anterior descending artery: a rare coronary anomaly
Authors: Deora Surender , Kumar Tarun , Shah Sanjay C , Patel Tejas
Published: May 2024

A dual left anterior descending artery (LAD) is a rare congenital coronary anomaly and is classified into six types based on the origin and course of the long LAD. In type VI dual LAD, the short LAD arises from the left main coronary artery, and the long anomalous LAD, from the proximal right coronary artery (RCA), coursing between the right ventricular outflow tract and aortic root to reach its normal course in the mid interventricular groove. We present a novel variant of type VI dual LAD where the course of the long LAD is the same but the origin is not from the RCA but, instead, separately, from the right coronary sinus.
Successful treatment of phlegmasia cerulea dolens in a nonagenarian patient with chronic iliac vein occlusion using a Cleaner thrombectomy device
Authors: Sevuk Utkan , Kose Kaan , Ayaz Firat , Ozyalcin Sertan
Published: May 2024

A 91-year-old man was admitted to the emergency room with a 3-day history of severe pain, swelling and cyanosis in his left leg. Duplex ultrasound findings were suggestive of acute left popliteal and iliofemoral venous thrombosis. Heparin was initiated and pharmacomechanical thrombolysis (PMT) was performed with the use of a Cleaner thrombectomy device. At the completion of PMT, repeat venography revealed chronic proximal iliac vein occlusion. After the procedure, alteplase was infused via the intra-arterial catheter at a rate of 0.5 mg/h over 24 h to clear the thrombus distal to the popliteal vein and residual thrombus. The patient’s signs and symptoms improved markedly after the intervention. There were no minor or systemic bleeding problems. He was discharged home 10 days after the procedure without any complications.
Harnessing innovation to help meet the needs of elders: field testing an electronic tool to streamline geriatric assessments across healthcare settings
Authors: Adler Limor , Radomyslsky Zorian , Mizrahi Reuveni Miri , Schejter Eduardo , Yehoshua Ilan , Segal Yakov , Kivity Sara , Naimi Etti , Saban Mor
Published: May 2024

Background

As populations age globally, effectively managing geriatric health poses challenges for primary care. Comprehensive geriatric assessments (CGAs) aim to address these challenges through multidisciplinary screening and coordinated care planning. However, most CGA tools and workflows have not been optimised for routine primary care delivery.

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a computerised CGA tool, called the Golden Age Visit, implemented in primary care in Israel.

Methods

This study employed a quasiexperimental mixed-methods design to evaluate outcomes associated with the Golden Age electronic health assessment tool. Quantitative analysis used electronic medical records data from Maccabi Healthcare Services, the second largest health management organisation (HMO) in Israel. Patients aged 75 and older were included in analyses from January 2017 to December 2019 and January 2021 to December 2022. For patients, data were also collected on controls who did not participate in the Golden Age Visit programme during the same time period, to allow for comparison of outcomes. For physicians, qualitative data were collected via surveys and interviews with primary care physicians who used the Golden Age Visit SMARTEST e-assessment tool.

Results

A total of 9022 community-dwelling adults aged 75 and older were included in the study: 1421 patients received a Golden Age Visit CGA (intervention group), and 7601 patients did not receive the assessment (control group). After CGAs, diagnosis rates increased significantly for neuropsychiatric conditions and falls. Referrals to physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dietetics and geriatric outpatient clinics also rose substantially. However, no differences were found in rates of hip fracture or relocation to long-term care between groups. Surveys among physicians (n=151) found high satisfaction with the programme.

Conclusion

Implementation of a large-scale primary care CGA programme was associated with improved diagnosis and management of geriatric conditions. Physicians were also satisfied, suggesting good uptake and feasibility within usual care. Further high-quality studies are still needed but these results provide real-world support for proactively addressing geriatric health needs through structured screening models.
Toward inclusive justice: Applying the Diverse Voices design method to improve the Washington State Access to Justice Technology Principles
Authors: Magassa Lassana , Friedman Batya
Published: May 2024

Just court systems are enabled by inclusive justice practices. Toward creating conditions for more inclusive justice–specifically engaging with and enabling experiential experts–we applied the Diverse Voices method to improve the Access to Justice Technology Principles (ATJ-TPrinc) which guide court administration in Washington State, USA. We situate our work in literature on inclusive justice, public interest technology in the courts, value sensitive design, and experiential experts. Then we present our research context, the Washington State ATJ-TPrinc, and our method, the Diverse Voices. We provide details on our methods, including our project genesis and implementation of the Diverse Voices process. We conducted experiential expert panels with four stakeholder groups: legal professionals, currently/formerly incarcerated people, immigrant communities, and rural communities. We then report key concerns and insights that surfaced during the panels as well as the review process and adoption of the revised Principles by the Washington State Supreme Court. We document changes to the ATJ-Princ informed by feedback from the expert panelists, including two new principles – P11 Human Touch and P12 Language Access. The discussion focuses on evidence for success, skillful implementation of the Diverse Voices method, the need for complementary regulation, and benefits to inclusive justice efforts and public interest technology projects. Our contributions entail: (1) a case study demonstrating the use of the Diverse Voices method to improve a tech policy document for the Washington State court system; (2) for public interest technology, a model for public engagement around tech policy that foregrounds participation of experiential experts, as well as the conditions necessary to ensure concerns raised are both heard and acted upon; (3) facilitation techniques and skills for enabling diverse stakeholder groups to express their concerns around responsible computing systems; and (4) revised and expanded access to justice technology principles to support more inclusive justice.
Abusive Comment Detection in Tamil Code-Mixed Data by Adjusting Class Weights and Refining Features
Authors: G L Gayathri , Swaminathan Krithika , Krishnakumar Divyasri , D Thenmozhi , B Bharathi
Published: May 2024

In recent years, a significant portion of the content on various platforms on the internet has been found to be offensive or abusive. Abusive comment detection can go a long way in preventing internet users from facing the adverse effects of coming in contact with abusive language. This problem is particularly challenging when the comments are found in low-resource languages like Tamil or Tamil-English code-mixed text. So far, there has not been any substantial work on abusive comment detection using imbalanced datasets. Furthermore, significant work has not been performed, especially for Tamil code-mixed data, that involves analysing the dataset for classification and accordingly creating a custom vocabulary for preprocessing. This paper proposes a novel approach to classify abusive comments from an imbalanced dataset using a customised training vocabulary and a combination of statistical feature selection with language-agnostic feature selection while making use of explainable AI for feature refinement. Our model achieved an accuracy of 74% and a macro F1-score of 0.46.
A few Thoughts on the Use of ChatGPT, GPT 3.5, GPT-4 and LLMs in Parliaments: Reflecting on the results of experimenting with LLMs in the parliamentarian context
Authors: Lucke Jörn Von , Frank Sander
Published: May 2024

Starting in November 2022 with the free provision of ChatGPT, large language models (LLM) are now publicly available. This has significantly increased the number of publications which scopes potential changes caused by the application of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in various societal domains. The private use of AI and the economic integration of generative LLMs have increased significantly. However, for parliamentarians and parliamentary professionals, the technology often remains abstract, impacting everyday work only peripherally. Due to the special responsibility of parliaments, governments, and administrations as the organizational instances of society, and through the inherent legitimations by society itself, there is a necessity to examine the implications of the use of generative LLMs within these institutions and traditional structures as well as their influence on political system logic. The paper analyzes the responses that the generative LLMs GPT 3.5 and GPT 4 have provided via ChatGPT, based on the same input command (prompt) over different times. The responses help to assess how LLMs can be used in the parliamentary context, to reflect what dangers exist as well as to respond to the question on how a business model of an AI department in parliament might look like. Furthermore, it shall be explored whether there are fluctuations in the quality of the responses and how these should be evaluated against the backdrop of the need for accurate and precise workflows in parliamentary operations. Ultimately, the paper aims to provide an answer as to whether the application of ChatGPT together with the LLMs GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 could already deliver this necessary quality and consistency for the parliamentarian working environment today.
Classification of Impressionist and Pointillist Paintings Based on Their Brushstrokes Characteristics
Authors: Georgoulaki Kristina
Published: May 2024

The classification of works of art in terms of artistic style is a complex task. Some painting styles are closely related to the form of their brushstrokes. Salient examples are Pointillism and Impressionism, having both distinguishable brushstroke characteristics which are small, rounded of clear color, repetitive dots for Pointillism style and visible, elongated and slanting, repetitive touches for Impressionism style. As Impressionism is the ancestral style of Pointillism, the two styles have many elements in common and distinguishing them is difficult. In this article, specific texture features are investigated for the classification of the two styles, focusing mainly on small differences in their brushstrokes. The texture features adopted are Granulometric features, gray-level co-occurrence matrix features, and run length features. It is shown experimentally that the run length method outperforms the other features and can efficiently (up to 95%) discriminate the two textured styles since it incorporates information about size, direction, and intensity of brushstrokes.
Towards Better Quantity Representations for Solving Math Word Problems
Authors: Sun Runxin , He Shizhu , Zhao Jun , Liu Kang
Published: May 2024

Solving a math word problem requires selecting quantities in it and performing appropriate arithmetic operations to obtain the answer. For deep learning-based methods, it is vital to obtain good quantity representations, i.e., to selectively and emphatically aggregate information in the context of quantities. However, existing works have not paid much attention to this aspect. Many works simply encode quantities as ordinary tokens, or use some implicit or rule-based methods to select information in their context. This leads to poor results when dealing with linguistic variations and confounding quantities. This article proposes a novel method to identify question-related distinguishing features of quantities by contrasting their context with the question and the context of other quantities, thereby enhancing the representation of quantities. Our method not only considers the contrastive relationship between quantities but also considers multiple relationships jointly. Besides, we propose two auxiliary tasks to further guide the representation learning of quantities: (1) predicting whether a quantity is used in the question and (2) predicting the relations (operators) between quantities given the question. Experimental results show that our method outperforms previous methods on SVAMP and ASDiv-A under similar settings, even some newly released strong baselines. Supplementary experiments further confirm that our method indeed improves the performance of quantity selection by improving the representation of both quantities and questions.
Experimental Investigation of Ductility in GFRP RC Beams by Confining the Compression Zone
Authors: Tahrirchi Erfan , J. Alaee Farshid , Jalali Meysam
Published: May 2024

Nowadays, building structures in corrosive environments requires some considerations. Being lightweight, high tensile strength, and corrosion resistance are the features that make fiber‐reinforced plastic (FRP) bars an alternative component for longitudinal steel reinforcement of concrete. On the other hand, the linear elastic behavior of FRP bars, alongside the brittle behavior of concrete, makes brittle members without considerable ductility. In this paper, the effect of compression region confinement with CFRP sheets on the FRP‐reinforced concrete beams was experimentally investigated. Eight GFRP reinforced beams with 2 m length, including one reference beam and seven confined beams, were constructed and tested under a four‐point bending test. Based on the type of confinement, specimens are categorized into four groups. Flexural behavior improvements, including load carry capacity, energy dissipation capacity, and ductility, were observed in at least one specimen of each confined group. According to the results, the specimen that was spirally confined with a 30 mm ribbon width and angle of 10° had the best total energy absorption up to about 110% improvement in comparison to the unconfined specimen. On the other hand, vertically confined specimens with 50 mm ribbon width showed the highest improvement in ductility indices and load carrying capacity up to 60% and 11% in comparison to unconfined specimens, respectively. Due to concrete compression zone fractures in flexural failure mode, the over‐reinforce method is considered the design philosophy. Results indicate that regardless of the confinement type (discrete vertical, discrete spiral, or continuous spiral confinement), there is an optimal amount for width, blank space between ribbons, and depth of confinement to achieve the best flexural behavior.