bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cyanobacteria newly isolated from marine volcanic seeps display rapid sinking and robust, high density growth
Authors: Schubert Max G. , Tang Tzu-Chieh , Goodchild-Michelman Isabella M. , Ryon Krista A , Henriksen James R. , Chavkin Theodore , Wu Yanqi , Miettinen Teemu P. , Wychen Stefanie Van , Dahlin Lukas R. , Spatafora Davide , Turco Gabriele , Guarnieri Michael T. , Manalis Scott R. , Kowitz John , Dhir Raja , Quatrini Paola , Mason Christopher E , Church George M , Milazzo Marco , Tierney Braden T
Published: October 2023

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic organisms that play important roles in carbon cycling as well as promising bioproduction chassis. Here, we isolate two novel cyanobacteria, UTEX 3221 and UTEX 3222, from a unique marine environment with naturally elevated CO₂. We describe complete genome sequences for both isolates and, focusing on UTEX 3222 due to its planktonic growth in liquid, characterize biotechnologically-relevant growth and biomass characteristics. UTEX 3222 outpaces other fast-growing model strains on solid medium. It can double every 2.35 hours in a liquid medium and grows to high density (>31g/L biomass dry weight) in batch culture, nearly double that ofSynechococcussp. PCC 11901, whose high-density growth was recently reported. In addition, UTEX 3222 sinks readily, settling more quickly than other fast-growing strains, suggesting improved de-watering of UTEX 3222 biomass. This settling behavior can be explained in part by larger cell volume. These traits may make UTEX 3222 a compelling choice for photosynthetic bioproduction from CO₂. Overall, we find that bio-prospecting in environments with naturally elevated CO₂ may uncover novel CO₂-metabolizing organisms with unique characteristics.
Entropy generation in water conveying nanoparticles flow over a vertically moving rotating surface: Keller box analysis
Authors: Kumar Sanjay , Sharma Kushal , Makinde Oluwole Daniel , Joshi Vimal Kumar , Saleem Salman
Published: October 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to investigate the entropy generation in different nanofluids flow over a vertically moving rotating disk. Unlike the classical Karman flow, water-based nanofluids have various suspended nanoparticles, namely, Cu, Ag, Al2O3 and TiO2, and the disk is also moving vertically with time-dependent velocity.

Design/methodology/approach

The Keller box technique numerically solves the governing equations after reduction by suitable similarity transformations. The shear stress and heat transport features, along with flow and temperature fields, are numerically computed for different concentrations of the nanoparticles.

Findings

This study is done comparatively in between different nanofluids and for the cases of vertical movement of the disk. It is found that heat transfer characteristics rely not only on considered nanofluid but also on disk movement. Moreover, the upward movement of the disk diminishes the heat-transfer characteristics of the fluid for considered nanoparticles. In addition, for the same group of nanoparticles, an entropy generation study is also performed, and an increasing trend is found for all nanoparticles, with alumina nanoparticles dominating the others.

Originality/value

This research is a novel work on a vertically moving rotating surface for the water-conveying nanoparticle fluid flow with entropy generation analysis. The results were found to be in good agreement in the case of pure fluid.
The growth of the Indian agro-based industry and its emissions: industrial relevance of the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis
Authors: Gogoi Nivaj
Published: October 2023

Purpose

The modernization of the agro-based industry has encouraged the application of inorganic fertilizers to increase productivity. However, such fertilizer emissions may pose harmful environmental effects in the long run. This study aims to empirically explore the matter by applying the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in the Indian agro-based industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The study builds two models considering nitrous oxide emission levels from inorganic (synthetic) and organic (manure) fertilizers to evaluate the safer option for the environment. The validity of an industry-specific EKC (IEKC) is tested for the models considering time series data from 1975 to 2019. Here, the autoregressive distributed lag model is applied for the 45 years long time series analysis to test the hypothesis with respect to inorganic and organic fertilizers emissions.

Findings

The existence of the IEKC is rejected by the inorganic fertilizer emissions model. Its U-shaped curve implies that applying such fertilizers will gradually cause degrading environmental effects. On the other hand, the organic fertilizer emissions model supports the existence of an inverted U-shaped IEKC. It proves that organic fertilizers are a better choice for safeguarding the environment in the long run.

Originality/value

Applying the EKC hypothesis on an industrial level can signify whether an industry worsens the environment in the long run. However, very few studies have explored such an application of the hypothesis in the past. Moreover, the literature could not find any previous study exploring the environmental effects of inorganic and organic fertilizers by analyzing the EKC hypothesis. The hypothesis can offer such insights with simplified empirical assessment.
Why do fans go to football games? A discrete choice analysis of ticket buyers' preferences
Authors: Becerra Mario , Balliauw Matteo , Goos Peter , De Borger Bruno , Huyghe Benjamin , Truyts Thomas
Published: October 2023

Purpose

Ticket sales are an essential source of income for football clubs and federations. Analyzing the determinants of fans' willingness-to-pay for tickets is therefore an important exercise. By knowing the match- and fan-related characteristics that influence how much a fan wants to pay for a ticket, as well as to what extent, football clubs and federations can modify their ticket offering and targeting in order to optimize this revenue stream.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a detailed discrete choice experiment, based on McFadden's random utility theory, this paper formulates a Bayesian hierarchical multinomial logit model. Such models are very common in the discrete choice modeling literature. The analysis identifies to what extent match and personal attributes influence fans' willingness-to-pay for games of the Belgian men's and women's football national teams.

Findings

The results show that the strength of the opponent, the type of competition, the location of the seats in the stadium, the day and kick-off time of the match and the ticket price exert an influence on the choice of the respondent. Fans are attracted most by competitive games against strong opponents. They prefer to sit along the sideline, and they have clear preferences for specific kick-off days and times. The authors also find substantial variation between socio-demographic groups, defined in terms of factors such as age, gender and family composition.

Practical implications

The authors use the results to estimate the willingness-to-pay for match tickets for different socio-demographic groups. Their findings are useful for football clubs and federations interested in optimizing the prices of their match tickets.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, no stated preference methods, such as discrete choice analysis, have been used to analyze the willingness-to-pay of sports fans. The advantage of discrete choice analysis is that options and variations in tickets that are not yet available in practice can be studied, allowing football organizations to increase revenues from new ticketing instruments.
How does self-congruity foster customer engagement with global brands? Examining the roles of psychological ownership and global connectedness
Authors: Roy Bhattacharjee Debashree , Kuanr Abhisek , Malhotra Neeru , Pradhan Debasis , Moharana Tapas Ranjan
Published: October 2023

Purpose

Drawing on the self-congruity theory and customer engagement literature, this research accounts for the influence of the three dimensions of customer self-congruity on customer engagement with global brands by uncovering the mediating mechanism of brand psychological ownership and moderating mechanism of global connectedness. The research framework is tested across developed and developing country contexts to highlight any cultural differences in the drivers of customer engagement with global brands.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from developed (USA; n = 270) and developing (India; n = 273) countries through two online surveys and tested, employing structural equation modeling, across the two markets to investigate cross-cultural variations.

Findings

Social self-congruity has the strongest influence on customer engagement for USA consumers, while all three forms of self-congruity are equally important in India. Psychological ownership consistently works as the mediating mechanism across both contexts. While global connectedness accentuates the relationship between self-congruity and brand psychological ownership for Indian consumers, it attenuates the relationship amongst USA consumers.

Originality/value

While prior literature mainly establishes a direct link between self-congruity and customer engagement, this study provides a deeper understanding of the self-congruity–customer engagement relationship by: a) investigating the mediating role of psychological ownership; b) examining the moderating role of global connectedness and c) studying all three forms of self-congruity (i.e. actual, ideal and social) simultaneously. The study, testing the framework in developing and developed country settings, highlights cultural nuances in forming customer engagement with global brands.
Online subject searching of humanities PhD students at a Swedish university
Authors: Golub Koraljka , Tan Xu , Liu Ying-Hsang , Tyrkkö Jukka
Published: October 2023

Purpose

This exploratory study aims to help contribute to the understanding of online information search behaviour of PhD students from different humanities fields, with a focus on subject searching.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology is based on a semi-structured interview within which the participants are asked to conduct both a controlled search task and a free search task. The sample comprises eight PhD students in several humanities disciplines at Linnaeus University, a medium-sized Swedish university from 2020.

Findings

Most humanities PhD students in the study have received training in information searching, but it has been too basic. Most rely on web search engines like Google and Google Scholar for publications' search, and university's discovery system for known-item searching. As these systems do not rely on controlled vocabularies, the participants often struggle with too many retrieved documents that are not relevant. Most only rarely or never use disciplinary bibliographic databases. The controlled search task has shown some benefits of using controlled vocabularies in the disciplinary databases, but incomplete synonym or concept coverage as well as user unfriendly search interface present hindrances.

Originality/value

The paper illuminates an often-forgotten but pervasive challenge of subject searching, especially for humanities researchers. It demonstrates difficulties and shows how most PhD students have missed finding an important resource in their research. It calls for the need to reconsider training in information searching and the need to make use of controlled vocabularies implemented in various search systems with usable search and browse user interfaces.
The perception of halal concept of hoteliers in the light of social exchange theory: a Swedish study
Authors: Abbasian Saeid , Onn Gustaf , Nordberg Denice
Published: October 2023

Purpose

This paper aims at from the perspective of the social exchange theory (SET) gaining an understanding of how promotion of halal concept in Sweden is perceived by Swedish hoteliers.

Design/methodology/approach

A mixed-methods approach has been used consisting of 62 completed surveys with closed-ended and open-ended questions, follow-up comments and five in-depth interviews with hoteliers in the mid-Sweden region. Content analysis has been employed.

Findings

Three categories of meanings are the main findings: general perception, safeguarding Swedish secular values and financially unjustifiable have been discovered. Most of the respondents have been sceptical towards halal and Muslim-friendly hotel concepts due to financial and cultural challenges these two concepts have for the Swedish tourism and hotel industries. Based on the SET, this entails more costs than benefits and is especially at odds with Swedish-rooted secular values.

Practical implications

This study provides practical implications and increased knowledge for tourism stakeholders including hotels in Sweden.

Originality/value

This is one of the very few studies on halal tourism in Scandinavia and the first Scandinavian study on hoteliers' attitudes towards halal tourism.
Application and use of telepresence robots in libraries and information center services: prospect and challenges
Authors: Jha Sanjay Kumar
Published: October 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore how robots are being used in libraries and information centers to transform their services and what are the future possibilities and trends in the application of robots in libraries.

Design/methodology/approach

Through a review of the literature, this paper analyzes various library websites and consults literature relating to the use of telepresence robots in libraries; the current application of robots in libraries has been enumerated along with case studies of libraries currently adopting telepresence robots.

Findings

With the practical examples of libraries using different types of robots, this study summarizes diverse activities of artificial intelligence-mediated robots. The uses of telepresence technology in libraries help to enhance library services, reach new users and provide a more inclusive and accessible library experience. Telepresence robots enhance the quality and accessibility of library services, expand library outreach and provide new opportunities for virtual engagement and programming. The application of telepresence robots in libraries can offer many benefits, but there are also several challenges that libraries must address to ensure successful implementation.

Social implications

This study will motivate libraries and library professionals to take advantage of adopting telepresence robots in library and information center services and further accelerate library operations in the right direction.

Originality/value

This paper highlights how the introduction of telepresence robots in libraries improves services and productivity and creates a more engaging environment for the user group. The benefits and challenges of using robots in the library and the future trend in the application of telepresence robots in libraries are also discussed.
Effects of AI ChatGPT on travelers’ travel decision-making
Authors: Kim Jeong Hyun , Kim Jungkeun , Kim Seongseop (Sam) , Hailu Tadesse Bekele
Published: October 2023

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate travelers’ intentions to use ChatGPT and the influential factors affecting their decision-making.

Design/methodology/approach

Four studies were conducted to test three hypotheses. Four groups of respondents totaling 593 (Study 1), 337 (Study 2), 374 (Study 3) and 385 (Study 4) survey participants were used for data analyses.

Findings

Overall, the findings confirmed the impacts of technology usage experience and ChatGPT’s mistakes and provided additional information on travelers’ intentions to use ChatGPT. The four hypotheses were supported.

Originality/value

The findings can help researchers and industry to understand travelers’ intentions to use ChatGPT and their responses to its functions.
The nature of measurement across the hybridised social sector: A systematic review of reviews
Authors: Ahearn Elizabeth‐Rose , Mai Catherine
Published: October 2023

Performance measurement and management serve as the key elements for demonstrating accountability to funders and stakeholders for many social entities. Although substantial study has been completed to understand the measurement practices employed by specific models of social entities, there is an absence of studies taking a broader perspective on organisational performance measurement across the entire system. A systematic review of reviews methodology identified previous systematic and meta‐studies of social performance measurement and management practices across the entire sector. The 19 reviews identified examined the measurement and management practices of a range of hybrid social entities including non‐profits, social enterprises, corporate social responsibility undertakings, impact investments and bonds, government departments, and knowledge‐intensive public organisations. The motivations of demonstrating accountability and learning opportunities for improvement are congruous across all entities. However, the approaches and methods employed to measure impact and meet these objectives are distinct between the different entity forms. Furthermore, acknowledgement of the different measurement approaches of other hybrid social entities was notably absent perhaps indicating a lack of knowledge dissemination across the broader system. Some barriers and complexities seem to be generalised across all hybrid entities; however, other challenges appear to be unique to specific hybrid models and measurement approaches. Through amalgamating a broad range of papers, we present opportunities to strengthen performance measurement and management across an increasingly hybridised social sector.

Points for practitioners

Performance measurement and management are crucial for demonstrating accountability and improving social impact for all forms of hybrid entities including non‐profits, social enterprises, corporate social responsibility undertakings, impact investments and bonds, government departments, and knowledge‐intensive public organisations.

While the measurement practices of these organisational entities have been studied separately, there has been a lack of understanding as to the common practices and deviations across a hybrid organisational system. Practitioners should explore the different approaches and methods employed by the various social impact entities to identify opportunities for improved practice.

Meeting the information needs of the diverse range of stakeholders in social services sector poses a challenge for all social initiatives. However, our review highlights the importance of ensuring that the voice and perspectives of social service recipients are adequately represented.
Green growth, geopolitical risk, and economic policy uncertainty: Evidence from China
Authors: Xiaofang Li , Syed Qasim Raza , Ahmed Zahoor
Published: October 2023

This empirical analysis aims to probe the impact of geopolitical risk (GPR) and economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on green growth (GG) in China. In order to achieve this, we make use of time series data from 1990 to 2020. We adopt the novel wavelet quantile correlation (WQC) approach to report time‐varying results across quantiles. The key findings from the novel WQC approach delineate that EPU and GPR impede GG in the short‐ and long‐run, whereas, EPU and GPR promote GG in the medium‐run. Regarding the policy recommendations, we suggest to impede both EPU and GPR to upsurge long‐run GG in China.
Spontaneous retroperitoneal and intracranial hemorrhage following streptokinase therapy in acute myocardial infarction: An autopsy case report
Authors: Ayyappan Sathish , Shekhawat Raghvendra Singh , Meshram Vikas P. , Kanchan Tanuj
Published: October 2023

Bleeding complications following thrombolytic treatment for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) are not infrequent, among which intracranial hemorrhage is commonly reported. In contrast, retroperitoneal hematoma following the administration of thrombolytics is rarely reported in the literature. We are reporting a case of a middle‐aged man, who presented with left‐sided chest pain and was diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome with anterior wall ST elevation AMI. The patient was administered with thrombolytic drugs, including streptokinase and heparin. Percutaneous coronary intervention in the form of Coronary angioplasty with stent insertion was done to the left anterior descending artery, given coronary artery disease. The blood investigations showed elevated activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time. The patient developed vomiting, altered sensorium, and left‐sided weakness, and a non‐contrast computerized tomography brain was done, which showed acute hemorrhage involving the right frontal lobe with intraventricular extension, so the ventricular drain was placed. The patient developed cardiac arrest and died on the third day. On autopsy examination, the brain showed subarachnoid hemorrhage, intraparenchymal hemorrhage over the right frontal lobe, and clotted blood in all the ventricles. A retroperitoneal hematoma of around 1500 cc was seen over the left side of the peritoneal cavity. This case highlights that although intracranial hemorrhage is a known complication after administrating thrombolytic therapy, clinicians should also be aware of the possibility of retroperitoneal hemorrhage. This case emphasizes the value of an autopsy in determining the cause of death in such situations.
Food provision in Australian aged care homes does not meet protein needs of residents: A call for reform
Authors: Li Lam Yan , Poon Shirley , Robbins Judy , Iuliano Sandra
Published: October 2023

Aim

Malnutrition is common in older adults in aged care homes, partly due to inadequate protein intake. Menu planning guidelines are available however, adherence to guidelines is unknown. This study aimed to determine; (i) what are the average serving sizes of menu items provided and do they meet recommended portion sizes? (ii) does consumption from a ‘typical’ menu provide sufficient protein? and (iii) can substituting a ‘typical’ menu with high‐protein options enable residents to achieve protein adequacy?

Methods

This study involved 572 residents (73% female; aged 86.4 ± 7.3 years) from 60 aged‐care homes in Australia involved in a 2‐year cluster‐randomised trial. During the trial, food intake was recorded quarterly using visual estimation of plate‐waste and 42 061 foods analysed. As part of a secondary analysis of these data, portion sizes of foods were compared to guidelines by calculating the mean (95% confidence interval). Items were deemed inadequate if the upper 95% confidence interval remained below recommended portion sizes.

Results

On average 47% of breakfast and 80% of lunch/dinner items were below recommended portion sizes. Relative protein intakes, from a typical menu (most consumed foods), was 0.9 g and 0.8 g/kg body weight/day for females and males; both below recommendations. Substituting regular items with higher protein equivalents increased protein intake to 1.3 g and 1.2 g/kg body weight/day, for females and males, respectively.

Conclusion

Aged care homes in Australia are not meeting menu planning guidelines resulting in insufficient protein being provided. Reform to menu guidelines including provision of high‐protein foods, will ensure protein adequacy in older adults in aged‐care homes.
Modeling source water disinfection byproducts formation potential using environmental variables
Authors: Wang Kezhen , Mukundan Rajith , Gelda Rakesh K.
Published: October 2023

Predictive models of disinfection byproducts (DBPs) formation in treated drinking water have been widely used to guide operational decisions. However, very few studies have addressed the issue of managing DBPs through watershed protection programs and proactive management of water supply systems through predictive modeling of DBP formation potential in source waters. Here, we propose a two‐component, simple statistical approach to predict the formation potentials of the sum of five haloacetic acids (HAA5fp) and total trihalomethanes (TTHMfp) in source water streams using environmental variables and ultraviolet absorbance at 254 nm wavelength (UV254) as a surrogate for DBP precursors. In the first component of the model, using three feature selection regression models and cross‐validation of subsets of the selected predictors, we identified three commonly monitored variables—streamflow, soil temperature, and total phosphorus for predicting UV254. In the second component, HAA5fp and TTHMfp are predicted from UV254. The approach is successfully demonstrated for two source water streams of the New York City water supply system (R2 was 0.8, and 0.7–0.8 for the two model components). Long‐term predictions of HAA5fp and TTHMfp showed distinct seasonal patterns that are linked to differences in land uses of the two watersheds. Moreover, sensitivity analysis showed that transport processes were important in one watershed whereas production processes were more important in the other.
Common institutional ownership and stock price crash risk
Authors: Chen Shenglan , Ma Hui , Wu Qiang , Zhang Hao
Published: October 2023

This paper presents new evidence on the economic benefits arising from common institutional ownership. We find a negative and significant effect of common institutional ownership on stock price crash risk. This effect is robust to a battery of robustness checks and is causal according to some identification tests, including difference‐in‐differences analyses on financial institution mergers. We find evidence that the negative effect is attributable to the monitoring role of common institutional owners—a role that is enabled by common owners' lower information processing cost and greater monitoring incentives owing to governance externalities. We also find that common owners negatively influence crash risk through constraining bad news hoarding and that common owners are more likely to force CEO turnover when a firm has higher crash risk. Overall, our results suggest that common institutional shareholders play a unique and effective monitoring role that fends off stock price crashes.
Intravenous MELAtonin for prevention of Postoperative Agitation and Emergence Delirium in children (MELA‐PAED): A protocol and statistical analysis plan for a randomized clinical trial
Authors: Garioud Anne Louise de Barros , Andersen Lars Peter Kloster , Jensen Aksel Karl Georg , Do Hien Quoc , Jakobsen Janus Christian , Holst Lars Broksø , Rasmussen Lars Simon , Afshari Arash
Published: October 2023

Background

Emergence agitation and delirium in children remain a common clinical challenge in the post‐anesthetic care unit. Preoperative oral melatonin has been suggested as an effective preventive drug with a favorable safety profile. The oral bioavailability of melatonin, however, is low. Therefore, the MELA‐PAED trial aims to investigate the efficacy and safety of intraoperative intravenous melatonin for the prevention of emergence agitation in pediatric surgical patients.

Methods

MELA‐PAED is a randomized, double‐blind, parallel two‐arm, multi‐center, superiority trial comparing intravenous melatonin with placebo. Four hundred participants aged 1–6 years will be randomized 1:1 to either the intervention or placebo. The intervention consists of intravenous melatonin 0.15 mg/kg administered approximately 30 min before the end of surgery. Participants will be monitored in the post‐anesthetic care unit (PACU), and the Post Hospitalization Behavior Questionnaire for Ambulatory Surgery (PHBQ‐AS) will be performed on days 1, 7, and 14 after the intervention. Serious Adverse Events (SAE) will be assessed up to 30 days after the intervention.

Results

The primary outcome is the incidence of emergence agitation, assessed dichotomously as any Watcha score >2 during the participant's stay in the post‐anesthetic care unit. Secondary outcomes are opioid consumption in the post‐anesthetic care unit and adverse events. Exploratory outcomes include SAEs, postoperative pain, postoperative nausea and vomiting, and time to awakening, to first oral intake, and to discharge readiness.

Conclusion

The MELA‐PAED trial investigates the efficacy of intravenous intraoperative melatonin for the prevention of emergence agitation in pediatric surgical patients. Results may provide further knowledge concerning the use of melatonin in pediatric perioperative care.
Long‐term Tai Chi practice in older adults is associated with “younger” functional abilities
Authors: Ma Yan , Gow Brian J. , Song Rhayun , Rist Pamela M. , Hausdorff Jeffrey M. , Lipsitz Lewis A. , Manor Brad , Wayne Peter M.
Published: October 2023

Age‐related alterations in physiology lead to declines in physical function that are associated with numerous adverse outcomes among older adults. Utilizing a hybrid design, we aimed to understand whether both long‐term and short‐term Tai Chi (TC) training are associated with age‐related decline in physical function in healthy older adults. We first conducted cross‐sectional comparisons among TC‐naïve older adults (n = 60, 64.2 ± 7.7 years), TC‐expert older adults (n = 27, 62.8 ± 7.6 years, 24.5 ± 12 years experience), and TC‐naïve younger adults (n = 15, 28.7 ± 3.2 years) to inform long‐term effects of TC training on physical function, including single leg stance time with eyes closed, grip strength, Timed Up and Go, maximum walking speed, functional reach, and vertical jump for lower‐extremity power. There were significant differences among the three groups on all the six tests. For most functional tests, TC‐experts performed better than age‐matched TC‐naïve controls and were statistically indistinguishable from young healthy adult controls. Long‐term TC training was associated with higher levels of physical function in older adults, suggesting a potential preventative healthy aging effect. In the randomized longitudinal trial, TC‐naïve subjects were randomized (n = 31 to Tai Chi group, n = 29 to usual care control group) to evaluate the short‐term effects of TC over 6 months on all outcomes. TC's short‐term impacts on physical function were small and not statistically significant. The impact of short‐term training in healthy adults is less clear. Both potential longer‐term preventive effects and shorter‐term restorative effects warrant further research with rigorous, adequately powered controlled clinical trials.
Semantics‐guided generative diffusion model with a 3DMM model condition for face swapping
Authors: Liu Xiyao , Liu Yang , Zheng Yuhao , Yang Ting , Zhang Jian , Wang Victoria , Fang Hui
Published: October 2023

Face swapping is a technique that replaces a face in a target media with another face of a different identity from a source face image. Currently, research on the effective utilisation of prior knowledge and semantic guidance for photo‐realistic face swapping remains limited, despite the impressive synthesis quality achieved by recent generative models. In this paper, we propose a novel conditional Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model (DDPM) enforced by a two‐level face prior guidance. Specifically, it includes (i) an image‐level condition generated by a 3D Morphable Model (3DMM), and (ii) a high‐semantic level guidance driven by information extracted from several pre‐trained attribute classifiers, for high‐quality face image synthesis. Although swapped face image from 3DMM does not achieve photo‐realistic quality on its own, it provides a strong image‐level prior, in parallel with high‐level face semantics, to guide the DDPM for high fidelity image generation. The experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms state‐of‐the‐art face swapping methods on benchmark datasets in terms of its synthesis quality, and capability to preserve the target face attributes and swap the source face identity.
Multi‐Modal Face Stylization with a Generative Prior
Authors: Li Mengtian , Dong Yi , Lin Minxuan , Huang Haibin , Wan Pengfei , Ma Chongyang
Published: October 2023

In this work, we introduce a new approach for face stylization. Despite existing methods achieving impressive results in this task, there is still room for improvement in generating high‐quality artistic faces with diverse styles and accurate facial reconstruction. Our proposed framework, MMFS, supports multi‐modal face stylization by leveraging the strengths of StyleGAN and integrates it into an encoder‐decoder architecture. Specifically, we use the mid‐resolution and high‐resolution layers of StyleGAN as the decoder to generate high‐quality faces, while aligning its low‐resolution layer with the encoder to extract and preserve input facial details. We also introduce a two‐stage training strategy, where we train the encoder in the first stage to align the feature maps with StyleGAN and enable a faithful reconstruction of input faces. In the second stage, the entire network is fine‐tuned with artistic data for stylized face generation. To enable the fine‐tuned model to be applied in zero‐shot and one‐shot stylization tasks, we train an additional mapping network from the large‐scale Contrastive‐Language‐Image‐Pre‐training (CLIP) space to a latent w+ space of fine‐tuned StyleGAN. Qualitative and quantitative experiments show that our framework achieves superior performance in both one‐shot and zero‐shot face stylization tasks, outperforming state‐of‐the‐art methods by a large margin.
Efficient Neural Representation of Volumetric Data using Coordinate‐Based Networks.
Authors: Devkota S. , Pattanaik S.
Published: October 2023

In this paper, we propose an efficient approach for the compression and representation of volumetric data utilizing coordinate‐based networks and multi‐resolution hash encoding. Efficient compression of volumetric data is crucial for various applications, such as medical imaging and scientific simulations. Our approach enables effective compression by learning a mapping between spatial coordinates and intensity values. We compare different encoding schemes and demonstrate the superiority of multiresolution hash encoding in terms of compression quality and training efficiency. Furthermore, we leverage optimization‐based meta‐learning, specifically using the Reptile algorithm, to learn weight initialization for neural representations tailored to volumetric data, enabling faster convergence during optimization. Additionally, we compare our approach with state‐of‐the‐art methods to showcase improved image quality and compression ratios. These findings highlight the potential of coordinate‐based networks and multi‐resolution hash encoding for an efficient and accurate representation of volumetric data, paving the way for advancements in large‐scale data visualization and other applications.
A Differential Diffusion Theory for Participating Media
Authors: Cen Yunchi , Li Chen , Li Frederick W. B. , Yang Bailin , Liang Xiaohui
Published: October 2023

We present a novel approach to differentiable rendering for participating media, addressing the challenge of computing scene parameter derivatives. While existing methods focus on derivative computation within volumetric path tracing, they fail to significantly improve computational performance due to the expensive computation of multiply‐scattered light. To overcome this limitation, we propose a differential diffusion theory inspired by the classical diffusion equation. Our theory enables real‐time computation of arbitrary derivatives such as optical absorption, scattering coefficients, and anisotropic parameters of phase functions. By solving derivatives through the differential form of the diffusion equation, our approach achieves remarkable speed gains compared to Monte Carlo methods. This marks the first differentiable rendering framework to compute scene parameter derivatives based on diffusion approximation. Additionally, we derive the discrete form of diffusion equation derivatives, facilitating efficient numerical solutions. Our experimental results using synthetic and realistic images demonstrate the accurate and efficient estimation of arbitrary scene parameter derivatives. Our work represents a significant advancement in differentiable rendering for participating media, offering a practical and efficient solution to compute derivatives while addressing the limitations of existing approaches.
Data‐Driven Ink Painting Brushstroke Rendering
Authors: Madono Koki , Simo‐Serra Edgar
Published: October 2023

Although digital painting has advanced much in recent years, there is still a significant divide between physically drawn paintings and purely digitally drawn paintings. These differences arise due to the physical interactions between the brush, ink, and paper, which are hard to emulate in the digital domain. Most ink painting approaches have focused on either using heuristics or physical simulation to attempt to bridge the gap between digital and analog, however, these approaches are still unable to capture the diversity of painting effects, such as ink fading or blotting, found in the real world. In this work, we propose a data‐driven approach to generate ink paintings based on a semi‐automatically collected high‐quality real‐world ink painting dataset. We use a multi‐camera robot‐based setup to automatically create a diversity of ink paintings, which allows for capturing the entire process in high resolution, including capturing detailed brush motions and drawing results. To ensure high‐quality capture of the painting process, we calibrate the setup and perform occlusion‐aware blending to capture all the strokes in high resolution in a robust and efficient way. Using our new dataset, we propose a recursive deep learning‐based model to reproduce the ink paintings stroke by stroke while capturing complex ink painting effects such as bleeding and mixing. Our results corroborate the fidelity of the proposed approach to real hand‐drawn ink paintings in comparison with existing approaches. We hope the availability of our dataset will encourage new research on digital realistic ink painting techniques.
Dissection Puzzles Composed of Multicolor Polyominoes
Authors: Kita N.
Published: October 2023

Dissection puzzles leverage geometric dissections, wherein a set of puzzle pieces can be reassembled in various configurations to yield unique geometric figures. Mathematically, a dissection between two 2D polygons can always be established. Consequently, researchers and puzzle enthusiasts strive to design unique dissection puzzles using the fewest pieces feasible. In this study, we introduce novel dissection puzzles crafted with multi‐colored polyominoes. Diverging from the traditional aim of establishing geometric dissection between two 2D polygons with the minimal piece count, we seek to identify a common pool of polyomino pieces with colored faces that can be configured into multiple distinct shapes and appearances. Moreover, we offer a method to identify an optimized sequence for rearranging pieces from one form to another, thus minimizing the total relocation distance. This approach can guide users in puzzle assembly and lessen their physical exertion when manually reconfiguring pieces. It could potentially also decrease power consumption when pieces are reorganized using robotic assistance. We showcase the efficacy of our proposed approach through a wide range of shapes and appearances.
3D Object Tracking for Rough Models
Authors: Song Xiuqiang , Xie Weijian , Li Jiachen , Wang Nan , Zhong Fan , Zhang Guofeng , Qin Xueying
Published: October 2023

Visual monocular 6D pose tracking methods for textureless or weakly‐textured objects heavily rely on contour constraints established by the precise 3D model. However, precise models are not always available in reality, and rough models can potentially degrade tracking performance and impede the widespread usage of 3D object tracking. To address this new problem, we propose a novel tracking method that handles rough models. We reshape the rough contour through the probability map, which can avoid explicitly processing the 3D rough model itself. We further emphasize the inner region information of the object, where the points are sampled to provide color constrains. To sufficiently satisfy the assumption of small displacement between frames, the 2D translation of the object is pre‐searched for a better initial pose. Finally, we combine constraints from both the contour and inner region to optimize the object pose. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method achieves state‐of‐the‐art performance on both roughly and precisely modeled objects. Particularly for the highly rough model, the accuracy is significantly improved (40.4% v.s. 16.9%).
A Post Processing Technique to Automatically Remove Floater Artifacts in Neural Radiance Fields
Authors: Wirth T. , Rak A. , Knauthe V. , Fellner D. W.
Published: October 2023

Neural Radiance Fields have revolutionized Novel View Synthesis by providing impressive levels of realism. However, in most in‐the‐wild scenes they suffer from floater artifacts that occur due to sparse input images or strong view‐dependent effects. We propose an approach that uses neighborhood based clustering and a consistency metric on NeRF models trained on different scene scales to identify regions that contain floater artifacts based on Instant‐NGPs multiscale occupancy grids. These occupancy grids contain the position of relevant optical densities in the scene. By pruning the regions that we identified as containing floater artifacts, they are omitted during the rendering process, leading to higher quality resulting images. Our approach has no negative runtime implications for the rendering process and does not require retraining of the underlying Multi Layer Perceptron. We show on a qualitative base, that our approach is suited to remove floater artifacts while preserving most of the scenes relevant geometry. Furthermore, we conduct a comparison to state‐of‐the‐art techniques on the Nerfbusters dataset, that was created with measuring the implications of floater artifacts in mind. This comparison shows, that our method outperforms currently available techniques. Our approach does not require additional user input, but can be be used in an interactive manner. In general, the presented approach is applicable to every architecture that uses an explicit representation of a scene's occupancy distribution to accelerate the rendering process.
Surgical correction of chronic penile retroversion through a castration incision in a horse
Authors: Loyd Avery F. , Husby Kirsty A.
Published: October 2023

This is a clinical case report describing the surgical correction of a penis retroverted through a scrotal castration site fistula of at least 4 months duration. The penile retroversion was not observed in the immediate post‐operative period or for the first 2 months of ownership by the owner. Surgical correction involved breaking down adhesions, replacing the penis into its proper anatomic position and debriding and closing the scrotal fistula. The gelding was discharged 1 day post‐operatively without any complications. Follow‐up communication with the owner revealed no apparent concerns with surgical site healing or abnormalities in ability to urinate long‐term.
Physiological roles of human interleukin‐17 family
Authors: Liu Yucong , Ouyang Ye , You Wanchun , Liu Wenqi , Cheng Yufan , Mai Xinming , Shen Zhu
Published: October 2023

Interleukin‐17 s (IL‐17s) are well‐known proinflammatory cytokines, and their antagonists perform excellently in the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases such as psoriasis. However, their physiological functions have not been given sufficient attention by clinicians. IL‐17s can protect the host from extracellular pathogens, maintain epithelial integrity, regulate cognitive processes and modulate adipocyte activity through distinct mechanisms. Here, we present a systematic review concerning the physiological functions of IL‐17s. Our goal is not to negate the therapeutic effect of IL‐17 antagonists, but to ensure their safe use and reasonably explain the possible adverse events that may occur in their application.
„Der Lettern Heer, durch deren Erzt man lauter spricht“: Stimmenamplifikation und die Dialektik der Aufklärung in Gottscheds „Jubelode auf das dritte Jahrhundert der edlen Buchdruckerkunst“
Authors: Brass Sebastian
Published: October 2023

Der Aufsatz untersucht, wie Gottscheds „Jubelode auf das dritte Jahrhundert der edlen Buchdruckerkunst“, 1740 zum 300. Jubiläum gedruckt, den Buchdruck mit beweglichen Lettern als Distributionsmedium für Wissen und Tugend feiert – und dabei daran mitarbeitet, dass Aufklärung in Mythos zurückschlägt. Zum einen inszeniert der Text den Buchdruck als Wunderwaffe im Kulturkrieg mit Frankreich und fordert die Deutschen dazu auf, ihn als Propagandamaschine sowie als deutschen Mythos zu instrumentalisieren, um einen kollektiven Minderwertigkeitskomplex zu heilen. Zum anderen macht die Ode selbst von einer kommunikativen Asymmetrie und einer Amplifikation der gedruckten Stimme Gebrauch, wie hier im Dialog mit medientheoretischen Auseinandersetzungen mit der Gattung, der Aufklärung und der akustischen Propaganda des Nationalsozialismus argumentiert wird. Anhand eines close reading einer wenig bekannten Ode sowie einer Rede Gottscheds zum selben Anlass beleuchtet der Beitrag eine Verbindung, die zwei Jahrhunderte nach der „Jubelode“ Horkheimer und Adorno andeuten, wenn sie das Radio als die „sublimierte Druckerpresse“ bezeichnen.
Vat‐photopolymerization‐based complex ceramic: Optimization of slurry, printing process, and postprocessing parameters
Authors: Kong Dekun , Guo Anfu , Wu Hailong , Zhou Xiaoyan , Li Xunjin , Qu Peng , Wang Shaoqing , Han Wenchao , Xiang Guo
Published: October 2023

Vat photopolymerization is an effective and economical method for preparing ceramic specimens with complex structures. However, the improper selection of process parameters during the preparation process limits the scope of its application. In this study, the most suitable shear rate was determined based on the solid content and rheological properties of the ceramic slurry. In addition, the specific printing‐process parameters were objectively selected, and the gray correlation method was used to determine the improved weight resolution coefficient through orthogonal experiments combined with the entropy weight method to select the most suitable printing parameters. Finally, the main debinding and sintering parameters that affect the heat treatment performance were considered, and multiple characterization methods were used to detect the specimens and study the impact of parameter changes on specimen performance. The experimental results show that when the laser power is 210 mW, the slice layer thickness is .04 mm, the scanning spacing is .05 mm, and the filling mode is XY, the green bodies have the best forming quality. When the sintering temperature is 1600°C, and the holding time is 4 h, the specimens have the best mechanical properties (the flexural strength reaches 114 MPa).