bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multiclass Supervised Machine Learning Algorithms Applied to Damage and Assessment Using Beam Dynamic Response
Authors: de Sousa Amanda Aryda Silva Rodrigues , da Silva Coelho Jefferson , Machado Marcela Rodrigues , Dutkiewicz Maciej
Published: July 2023

Purpose

Structural damage can significantly alter a system's local flexibility, leading to undesirable displacements and vibrations. Analysing the dynamic structure feature through statistical analysis enables us to discriminate the current structural condition and predict its short- or long-term lifespan. By directly affecting the system's vibration, cracks and discontinuities can be detected, and their severity quantified using the DI. Two damage indexes (DI) are used to build a dataset from the beam's natural frequency and frequency response function (FRF) under both undamaged and damaged conditions, and numerical and experimental tests provided the data-driven.

Methods

In this paper, we present the methodology based on machine learning (ML) to monitor the structural integrity of a beam-like structure. The performance of six ML algorithms, including k-nearest neighbors (kNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree (DT), Random Forest (RF), and Naive Bayes (NB) are investigated.

Results

The paper discusses the challenges of implementing each technique and assesses their performance in accurately classifying the dataset and indicating the beam's integrity.

Conclusion

The structural monitoring performed with the ML algorithm achieved excellent metrics when inputting the simulation-generated dataset, up to 100%, and up to 95% having as input dataset provided from experimental tests. Demonstrating that the ML algorithm could correctly classify the health condition of the structure.
Fertilizer management strategies for improved quality and yield in winter wheat
Authors: Azimnejad Abbas , Fallah Amoli Hormoz , Niknejad Yousef , Ahmadpour Ahmad , Barari Tari Davood
Published: July 2023

In order to study the effect of different soil amended and biological fertilizers on the accumulation of nitrogen and phosphorous in the wheat grain and some physiological and morphological characteristics of wheat, this experiment was performed as a split factorial arranged in randomized block design with 32 treatment and three replication for 2 years. The treatments included mycorrhiza inoculation as a main factor (without inoculation, bacterial inoculation with Glomus. mosseae, Glomus.intraradices and G. mosseae + G. intraradices), and sub factor was super absorbent polymer treatment (no application, 9 ton zeolite ha−1, 3 kg stacosorb ha−1 and 9 ton zeolite ha−1 + 3 kg stacosorb ha−1) and phosphorous in the form of nano chelated phosphorous (no application and application 200 mg L−1). The use of G. mosseae + G. intraradices had a positive and significant effect on the biological and grain yield so that it caused an increase of 5.9% and 6.4%, respectively compared to the control. The results showed that zeolite + stacosorb resulted the most to grain yield (6903 kg ha−1). The highest and lowest grain nitrogen content were related to the treatment of G. mosseae + G. intraradices inoculation and nano phosphorous, with 1.75% and 1.76%, respectively. Indeed, the results showed that the use of biological fertilizer and nano phosphorous together had better results than solo application, which could be helpful in attaining high grain yields while preventing excessive phosphorous chemical fertilization, reduce environmental pollution and moving towards sustainable agriculture.
Exergetic optimization of some design parameters of the hybrid photovoltaic/thermal collector with bi-fluid air/ternary nanofluid (CuO/MgO/TiO2)
Authors: Kenfack Armel Zambou , Nematchoua Modeste Kameni , Simo Elie , Mfoundikou Mouhamed Nazir , Fosso Jean Vanel Kenfack , Babikir Mahamat Hassane , Chara-Dackou Venant Sorel
Published: July 2023

Hybrid PV/T (Photovoltaic/thermal) systems are a robust alternative to the limitations of PV panels and thermal collectors in energy production. Improving their performance is therefore necessary. This article presents a new configuration of hybrid photovoltaic and thermal (PV/T) air/water-CuO/MgO/TiO2 collector which is optimized by seeking a better combination of design parameters which maximize the exergy performance. An energy and exergy analysis of the system is carried out and a multi-objective optimization with the genetic algorithm is developed using Matlab. These to determine the values of these nine (9) design parameters such as collector tilt angle, collector area, center to center distance between tubes, inside and outside diameter of tubes and thicknesses of the cells, of the glass layer, of the insulation, of the absorber. The other parameters are taken constant and a set of optimal solutions are sought for 1000 generations. The comparison of the different numerical results from this article with the design parameters from previous work shows good agreement. It is observed that the total exergy efficiency is maximum between the values of 23.41–36.6% and the majority of the design parameters studied in general are minimum. The discussions deduced that the minimization of the components of the bi-fluid PV/T hybrid collector could reduce the losses inside the latter by favoring the cooling as well as the displacement of the heat at the back of the PV cell. This work shows that the mixture of water and ternary nanoparticles with a flow rate of 0.00575 kg/s cooled more than air at 0.008 kg/s, but the system performed better when the two fluids operated simultaneously at 0.0035 kg/s. Due to the requirement of optimal efficiency and minimum costs, the hybridization of nanoparticles presents better thermo-economic performances.
Assessment of Dose-Reduction Strategies in Wavelength-Selective Neutron Tomography
Authors: Daugherty M. Cyrus , DiStefano Victoria H. , LaManna Jacob M. , Jacobson David L. , Kienzle Paul A. , Kim Youngju , Hussey Daniel S. , Bajcsy Peter
Published: July 2023

This study aims to determine an acquisitional and computational workflow that yields the highest quality spatio-spectral reconstructions in four-dimensional neutron tomography studies. The properties of neutrons enable unique image contrast modes, but accessing these modes requires defining the energy of the neutron beam, resulting in long acquisition times. We seek sparse angular tomography approaches to collect of order 100 tomograms at different neutron wavelengths using the minimum number of input projection images. In these computational image workflows, we identified and evaluated the main factors affecting the quality of the tomographic reconstruction such as the projection number, the reconstruction method, and the post-processing method and we report relationships between 3D reconstruction quality metrics and acquisition time. Based on these relationships, the performance of seeded simultaneous iterative reconstruction-based techniques (SIRT and SIRT with total variation regularization) yielded improved image quality and more accurate estimates of the reconstructed attenuation values compared to other methods, which included convolutional neural networks. The methods were then applied to a dose-reduced monochromatic dataset and characterized via signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and single-voxel resolution.
The $$W\ell \nu$$-vertex corrections to W-boson mass in the R-parity violating MSSM
Authors: Zheng Min-Di , Chen Feng-Zhi , Zhang Hong-Hao
Published: July 2023

Inspired by the astonishing $$7\sigma$$

7
σ

discrepancy between the recent CDF-II measurement and the standard model prediction on the mass of W-boson, we investigate the $$\lambda '$$

λ
′

-corrections to the vertex of $$\mu \rightarrow \nu _\mu e\bar{\nu _e}$$

μ
→

ν
μ

e

ν
e

¯

decay in the context of the R-parity violating minimal supersymmetric standard model. These corrections can raise the W-boson mass independently. Combined with recent Z-pole and kaon decay measurements, $$m_W \lesssim 80.37$$

m
W

≲
80.37

 GeV can be reached. We find that these vertex corrections cannot explain the CDF result entirely at the $$2\sigma$$

2
σ

and even $$3\sigma$$

3
σ

levels. However, these corrections together with the oblique contributions can be accordant with the CDF-II result and relevant bounds at the $$3\sigma$$

3
σ

level.
Investigation of the structural, electrical and magnetic properties of vanadium substituted Mn–Zn ferrites
Authors: Jyoti Atanu Sarker , Biswas G. G. , Rana Md. Rasel , Islam Shariful , Hossain Md. Emran , Khan M. N. I. , Hoque K. , Ali Md. Ashraf
Published: July 2023

This work revealed the role of altering vanadium (V) content in Mn–Zn ferrites. We used the traditional solid-state reaction method to prepare the $${\mathrm{Mn}}_{0.5}{\mathrm{Zn}}_{0.5}{\mathrm{V}}_{\mathrm{x}}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{2-\mathrm{x}}{\mathrm{O}}_{4}$$

Mn

0.5

Zn

0.5

V
x

Fe

2
-
x

O
4

(x = 0.0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) ferrites. Powder X-ray diffraction was used to analyze the samples’ crystal structures, revealing the prepared sample’s spinal cubic crystal structure. With increasing Vanadium concentration, the lattice constant drops proportionately. We used Debye–Scherrer (D–S), Williamson–Hall (W–H) Plot, Halder–Wagner (H–W) Langford, and Size Strain Plot (SSP) methods to compare different structural properties. We also used the impedance analyzer to investigate the samples’ dielectric characteristics and AC conductivity at room temperature over a frequency range of 1 kHz–100 MHz. The magnetic properties, i.e., Saturation magnetization (Ms), Coercive field (Hc), and Remanent magnetization (Mr), were estimated from the ferromagnetic hysteresis behavior of the samples measured using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The saturation magnetization was observed to decrease with an increase in V content. The Mr and HC vary non-linearly with V contents. The prepared samples’ initial permeability was tested, and a reasonably constant complex permeability (µ') was recorded over a wide frequency range (~ 1000 Hz).
Autistic Regression and Exposure to Industrial Chemicals: Preliminary Observations
Authors: Goez Helly , Nielsen Charlene C. , Bryan Sean , Clark Brenda , Zwaigenbaum Lonnie , Yamamoto Shelby S. , Osornio-Vargas Alvaro R.
Published: July 2023

Exposure to industrial pollutants is a potential risk factor not fully explored in ASD with regression (ASD+R). We studied geographical collocation patterns of industrial air chemical emissions and the location of homes of children with ASD+R at different exposure times, compared with ASD cases without regression (ASD−R). Fifteen of 111 emitted chemicals collocated with ASD+R, and 65 with ASD−R. ASD+R collocated more strongly with different neurotoxicants/immunotoxicants a year before diagnosis, whereas ASD−R were moderately collocated with chemicals across all exposure periods. This preliminary exploratory analysis of differences in exposure patterns raises a question regarding potential pathophysiological differences between the conditions.
Small clause predicates and sluicing
Authors: Stockwell Richard
Published: July 2023

This Commentaire bears out a prediction of Anand et al.'s (to appear) syntactic identity condition on sluicing. Identity is calculated over argument domains as small as small clauses. With extraction of a small clause subject, sluicing is possible where only a small clause predicate has an antecedent.
Foreign Policy Specificity: An Analysis of Ministerial Survival in Latin America, 1945–2020
Authors: Feliú Ribeiro Pedro , López Burian Camilo
Published: July 2023

This research note analyzes the incentives of different types of policy areas for a president to keep or dismiss a minister. It uses ministerial survival analysis to compare foreign and domestic policy areas, focusing on comparable and analogous presidential decisions among countries and portfolios. The research utilizes ministerial survival data for education, finance, health, and foreign policy between 1945 and 2020 in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Using Cox regression models, we find that a foreign policy portfolio has a positive effect on ministerial survival, but the specificity of this portfolio does not hold for autocratic governments. Autocracies show higher levels of ministerial survival in all four portfolios, but a foreign policy portfolio is no more stable than domestic portfolios. Democratic presidents have the incentive to signal stability to the international audience, preserving the foreign policy portfolio from the frequent ministerial changes in domestic portfolios.
PINDAR, NEMEAN 3.36: ΕΓΚΟΝΗΤΙ AND GREEK LEXICA
Authors: Battezzato Luigi , Della Rossa Federico
Published: July 2023

This paper argues that: (a) the transmitted text of Pind. Nem. 3.35–6 ποντίαν Θέτιν κατέμαρψεν | ἐγκονητί (‘[Peleus] caught the sea-nymph Thetis quickly’) is not the original text of Pindar; (b) ἐγκονητί does not fit the context, is not an attested Greek word and should be eliminated from dictionaries of ancient Greek; (c) Byzantine etymological works, followed by many modern scholars, base their explanations on the late antique form ἀκονητί, which should be eliminated from classical, Hellenistic and imperial texts; (d) the tradition of the Etymologicum Magnum knows the variant ἐγκονιτί (conjectured for Pindar by Bergk) ‘with dust’ (‘with effort’), which seems presupposed by the scholia on Pindar; (e) the form ἐγκονιτί (created on the pattern of ἀκονιτί) is to be preferred in Pindar for reasons of language and content and should be added to the dictionaries of ancient Greek.
VARIVM ET MVTABILE SEMPER FEMINA: DIVINE WARNINGS AND HASTY DEPARTURES IN ODYSSEY 15 AND AENEID 4
Authors: Muse Kevin
Published: July 2023

In his second appearance to Aeneas in Aeneid 4 Mercury drives the hero to flee Carthage with a false allegation that Dido is planning an attack, capping his warning with an infamous sententia about the mutability of female emotion. Building on a previous suggestion that Mercury's first speech to Aeneas is modelled on Athena's admonishment of Telemachus at the opening of Odyssey 15, this article proposes that Mercury's second speech as well is modelled on Athena's warning, in which the goddess uses misdirection about Penelope's intentions and a misogynistic gnōmē about the changeability of women's affections to spur Telemachus’ departure from Sparta. After setting out how Virgil divides his imitation of Athena's speech verbally and thematically between Mercury's two speeches, the discussion turns to why both Athena and Mercury adopt these deceptive tactics. The speeches are shown to be culminations of the poets’ similar approaches to creating doubt and foreboding around the queens’ famed capacities for using δόλος. Common features in the ensuing hasty departures of Telemachus and Aeneas further confirm Virgil's use of Odyssey 15 in devising Aeneas’ escape from Carthage.
Effects of insect host chemical secretions on the entomopathogenic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae
Authors: Smith T.R. , Tay A. , Koprivnikar J.
Published: July 2023

Given the threat presented by parasites and pathogens, insects employ various defences to protect themselves against infection, including chemical secretions. The red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum releases a secretion containing the benzoquinones methyl-1,4-benzoquinone (MBQ) and ethyl-1,4-benzoquinone (EBQ) into the environment. These compounds have known antimicrobial effects; however, their role in defence against macroparasites is not known. Entomopathogenic nematodes, such as Steinernema carpocapsae, present a serious threat to insects, with successful infection leading to death. Thus, quinone-containing secretions may also aid in host defence. We tested how exposure to the individual components of this quinone secretion, as well as a mix at naturally-occurring proportions, affected the survival and thrashing behaviour of S. carpocapsae, as well as their virulence to a model host (Galleria mellonella). Exposure to high concentrations of MBQ and EBQ, as well as the quinone mix, significantly increased nematode death but did not consistently reduce thrashing, which would otherwise be expected given their toxicity. Rather, quinones may act as a host cue to S. carpocapsae by triggering increased activity. We found that exposure to quinones for 24 or 72 hours did not reduce nematode virulence, and surviving nematodes remained infective after non-lethal exposure. Our results indicate that quinone secretions likely serve as a defence against multiple infection threats by reducing S. carpocapsae survival, but further research is required to contextualize their roles by testing against other nematodes, as well as other helminths using insects as hosts.
Comparison of Kato–Katz, PCR and coproantigen for the diagnosis of Taenia solium taeniasis
Authors: Lightowlers Marshall W. , Mananjara Diana Edithe Andria , Rakotoarinoro Mihajamanana , Rakotoarison Valisoa C. , Raliniaina Modestine , Rasamoelina-Andriamanivo Harentsoaniaina , Gauci Charles G. , Jabbar Abdul , Mwape Kabemba E. , Donadeu Meritxell , Ramiandrasoa Noromanana Sylvia , Nely Jose Alphonse
Published: July 2023

Four methods were compared for the diagnosis of human taeniasis caused by Taenia solium. Fecal samples from persons living in a T. solium endemic region of Madagascar were examined for taeniid eggs by the Kato–Katz method. Subsequently, samples positive (n = 16) and negative (n = 200) for T. solium eggs were examined by (i) amplification of the fragment of small subunit of the mitochondrial ribosomal RNA (rrnS) gene using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and (ii) a nested PCR of a fragment of the T. solium Tso31 gene. Additionally, 12 egg-positive and all egg-negative samples were tested for coproantigen detection. A further 9 egg-positive fecal samples were examined using both PCRs. Of the 12 egg-positive samples tested by PCRs and coproantigen methods, 9 (75%) were positive by rrnS PCR, 3 (25%) using Tso31-nested PCR and 9 (75%) by coproantigen testing. None of the 200 egg-negative fecal samples was positive in either rrnS or Tso31-nested PCR. Twenty of the 25 egg-positive samples (80%) were positive in rrnS PCR, and DNA sequencing of PCR amplicons was obtained from 18 samples, all confirmed to be T. solium. Twelve of the 25 egg-positive samples (48%) were positive in the Tso31-nested PCR, all of which were also positive by rrnS PCR. It is suggested that species-specific diagnosis of T. solium taeniasis may be achieved by either coprological examination to detect eggs or coproantigen testing, followed by rrnS PCR and DNA sequencing to confirm the tapeworm species in egg-positive or coproantigen-positive samples.
Reading the mind in the eyes and cognitive ability in schizophrenia- and autism spectrum disorders
Authors: Alvarez Rebecca , Velthorst Eva , Pinkham Amy , Ludwig Kelsey A. , Alamansa Jorge , Gaigg Sebastian B. , Penn David L. , Harvey Philip D. , Fett Anne-Kathrin
Published: July 2023

Background

Schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are characterized by difficulties in theory of mind (ToM). We examined group differences in performance on a ToM-related test and associations with an estimated IQ.

Methods

Participants [N = 1227, SZ (n = 563), ASD (n = 159), and controls (n = 505), 32.2% female] completed the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and assessments of cognitive ability. Associations between IQ and group on RMET were investigated with regression analyses.

Results

SZ (d = 0.73, p < 0.001) and ASD (d = 0.37, p < 0.001) performed significantly worse on the RMET than controls. SZ performed significantly worse than ASD (d = 0.32, p = 0.002). Adding IQ to the model, SZ (d = 0.60, p < 0.001) and ASD (d = 0.44, p < 0.001) continued to perform significantly worse than controls, but no longer differed from each other (d = 0.13, p = 0.30). Small significant negative correlations between symptom severity and RMET performance were found in SZ (PANSS positive: r = −0.10, negative: r = −0.11, both p < 0.05). A small non-significant negative correlation was found for Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule scores and RMET in ASD (r = −0.08, p = 0.34).

Conclusions

SZ and ASD are characterized by impairments in RMET. IQ contributed significantly to RMET performance and accounted for group differences in RMET between SZ and ASD. This suggests that non-social cognitive ability needs to be included in comparative studies of the two disorders.
Mediating Feuerbach and Barth: Bonhoeffer's this-worldly theology
Authors: Della Torre II Frank
Published: July 2023

In this paper, I revisit a debate between Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Barth, known as the ‘Barth–Feuerbach confrontation’. I begin by framing the contours of this dispute as it was initiated by Barth and carried forward by his interpreters, who have sought in vain to make Barth's and Feuerbach's positions commensurable. Having narrated the history of this ongoing scholarly discussion and clarified why it remains intractable, I turn to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, whose this-worldly conception of theology, I argue, provides resources for ‘mediating’ the insights of Feuerbach and Barth. By attending to Bonhoeffer's earliest engagements with Barth on the question of divine revelation, and by exploring his striking proximity to Feuerbach on the issue of this-worldliness, we can see how Bonhoeffer helps overcome not only the dichotomies that plague the Barth–Feuerbach confrontation but also those that pervade modern attempts to safeguard this-worldliness by dispensing with divine transcendence.
Divergences on monads for relational program logics
Authors: Sato Tetsuya , Katsumata Shin-ya
Published: July 2023

Several relational program logics have been introduced for integrating reasoning about relational properties of programs and measurement of quantitative difference between computational effects. Toward a general framework for such logics, in this paper, we formalize the concept of quantitative difference between computational effects as divergences on monads, then develop a relational program logic called approximate computational relational logic (acRL for short). It supports generic computational effects and divergences on them. The semantics of the acRL is given by graded strong relational liftings constructed from divergences on monads. We derive two instantiations of the acRL: (1) for the verification of various kinds of differential privacy of higher-order functional probabilistic programs and (2) the other for measuring difference of distributions of cost between higher-order functional probabilistic programs with a cost counting operator.
Successful implementation of telehealth visits in the paediatric heart failure and heart transplant population
Authors: Bansal Neha , D'Souza Nikita , Wisotzkey Bethany L. , Albers Erin , Shih Renata , Exil Vernat , McQueen Melissa , Hillenburg Joseph P. , Azeka Estela , Law Sabrina , Peng David M. , O’Connor Matthew , Gajarski Robert , Vanderpluym Christina , Lorts Angela , Barnes Aliessa , Sojka Melanie , Bano Maria , Keating Megan , Rosenthal David N. , Conway Jennifer , Schroeder Katie , Nandi Deipanjan
Published: July 2023

The Advanced Cardiac Therapies Improving Outcomes Network (ACTION) and Pediatric Heart Transplant Society (PHTS) convened a working group at the beginning of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the aim of using telehealth as an alternative medium to provide quality care to a high-acuity paediatric population receiving advanced cardiac therapies. An algorithm was developed to determine appropriateness, educational handouts were developed for both patients and providers, and post-visit surveys were collected. Telehealth was found to be a viable modality for health care delivery in the paediatric heart failure and transplant population and has promising application in the continuity of follow-up, medication titration, and patient education/counselling domains.
Space Medicine: The Next Frontier of Medical Education
Authors: Waisberg Ethan , Ong Joshua , Masalkhi Mouayad , Lee Andrew G.
Published: July 2023

Spaceflight has always been met with awe by the general public and may also have strong implications for medical training for future physicians, regardless of specialty or practice. Within the near future, the commercialization of spaceflight will lead to an unprecedented surge in travelers to space. With this increase, the understanding of space medicine and potential physiological risks of microgravity will only become more important for doctors to understand. Historically, teaching education on how the body responds to various different environments and environmental changes has been a longstanding core to medical education. Thus, education about the physiological, pathologic, and histologic changes to weightlessness over prolonged periods of time will likely provide additional insights to space medicine, as well as how medicine can be practiced here on Earth. The addition of space medicine to the medical curriculum will likely not only benefit future space medicine physicians, but also likely benefit all physicians and human health on Earth. In this manuscript, we discuss the various risks that astronauts undergo, as well as current space medicine education initiatives on Earth.
Anxiety sensitivity and disgust sensitivity predict blood-injection-injury fears in individuals with dental anxiety
Authors: Siev Jedidiah , Sinex Rachel H. , Sorid Samantha D. , Behar Evelyn
Published: July 2023

Background:

Anxiety sensitivity (AS) and disgust sensitivity (DS) are transdiagnostic vulnerability factors for anxiety. Both correlate with blood-injection-injury (BII) phobia symptoms in several studies; however, there is ambiguity about their relative contributions, and studies investigating this have relied on unselected samples. Furthermore, although DS reliably predicts BII in studies that do not account for AS, this may be limited to domain-specific DS rather than DS more broadly.

Aims:

The aims of this study were to examine AS and DS as separate and simultaneous predictors of BII fears in a sample with a wide range of BII symptoms, and with attention to the specificity of DS to BII-relevant domains.

Method:

Fifty-three participants who scored above a clinical threshold on a validated measure of dental anxiety, and who represented a wide range of BII severity, completed measures of AS, DS and BII symptoms.

Results:

AS and DS were moderately to strongly correlated with BII severity (r = .40 and .47, p = .004 and <.001), and both independently predicted BII severity when entered as simultaneous predictors (β = .32 and .35, p = .045 and .015). Furthermore, after omitting DS about injections and blood draws, domain-general DS was still moderately correlated with BII severity (r = .33, p = .017). However, domain-general DS did not significantly predict BII severity after accounting for AS (β = .20, p = .164).

Conclusions:

AS and DS both predict BII symptoms, and prospective research is warranted to examine them as potential vulnerability factors.
THE ROLE OF THE MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES IN SUPPORTING THE COVID-19 RESPONSE IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Authors: MCCAW JAMES M. , PLANK MICHAEL J.
Published: July 2023

Mathematical modelling has been used to support the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in countries around the world including Australia and New Zealand. Both these countries have followed similar pandemic response strategies, using a combination of strict border measures and community interventions to minimize infection rates until high vaccine coverage was achieved. This required a different set of modelling tools to those used in countries that experienced much higher levels of prevalence throughout the pandemic.

In this article, we provide an overview of some of the mathematical modelling and data analytics work that has helped to inform the policy response to the pandemic in Australia and New Zealand. This is a reflection on our experiences working at the modelling–policy interface and the impact this has had on the pandemic response. We outline the various types of model outputs, from short-term forecasts to longer-term scenario models, that have been used in different contexts. We discuss issues relating to communication between mathematical modellers and stakeholders such as health officials and policymakers. We conclude with some future challenges and opportunities in this area.
Chinese and Australian Neoliberal Policy Responses to Risks in Social Service Purchasing
Authors: Fisher Karen R. , Cortis Natasha , Shang Xiaoyuan , Blaxland Megan
Published: July 2023

China adopted neoliberal approaches to improve the supply of quality social services in the early 2000s. How did the Chinese government manage the financial and quality risks of increasing the provision via government purchasing and how did it differ from other countries? The article examines the policy trajectory of early childhood education and care in China and Australia on this question. Policy analysis of the effect of purchasing on the cost to government and quality of services shows how both countries used subsidy arrangements to engage non-profit and private providers to expand supply. When faced with market risks, they both tightened regulations, but China differed in the speed and strength of their response, restricting the proportion of private providers. The findings have implications for understanding the risks of relying on market forces in other social service sectors, and how policy can effectively respond.
Electoral system preferences of citizens compared: evidence from a conjoint experiment in Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom
Authors: Linhart Eric , Jankowski Michael , Tepe Markus
Published: July 2023

Electoral systems fulfill different functions. Typically, they cannot meet all demands at the same time, so that the evaluation of specific electoral systems depends on subjective preferences about the single demands. We argue that it is the electorate which transfers its power to representatives and, therefore, its preferences should be considered in debates about electoral systems. Consequently, our contribution presents results of citizens’ demands regarding electoral system attributes. Specifically, we rely on a large-scale conjoint experiment conducted in Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK in which subjects were asked to choose between two electoral systems which randomly differed on a set of attributes referring to electoral systems’ core functions. Our results show that all core functions are generally of importance for the respondents but reveal a higher preference for proportional electoral systems. These preferences are largely stable for citizens in different countries but also for other subgroups of subjects.
Partially Erupted Prominence Material as a Diagnostic of Coronal Mass Ejection Trajectory
Authors: Hovis‐Afflerbach B. A. , Thompson B. J. , Mason E. I.
Published: July 2023

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are energetic releases of large‐scale magnetic structures from the Sun. CMEs can have impacts on spacecraft and at Earth. This trajectory is typically assumed to be radial, but often the CME moves outward with some spatial offset from the source region where the eruption initially occurred. A CME is frequently accompanied by a prominence eruption, a movement of cool, dense material up into the corona that can be ejected or fall back down. We investigate eruptions in which some portion of the prominence material falls back to the Sun along field lines which have reconfigured in the eruption, rather than draining back to the source or escaping with the CME. Using a method called persistence mapping, 304 Å images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and coronagraph images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, we measure and compare the offsets in latitude of 20 CMEs and their respective prominences with respect to the source region. The 20 events were chosen to sample over the first 10 years of the SDO mission. We find that the offsets are correlated. We find no difference between eruptions offset toward the equator or the poles, suggesting that the offset is a result of local changes in the eruptive field, rather than of the Sun's global magnetic field structure. These findings help us contextualize individual eruptions and highlight changes in the local magnetic field associated with the prominence eruption.
A Decision‐Relevant Factor‐Fixing Framework: Application to Uncertainty Analysis of a High‐Dimensional Water Quality Model
Authors: Wang Qian , Guillaume Joseph H. A. , Jakeman John D. , Bennett Frederick R. , Croke Barry F. W. , Fu Baihua , Yang Tao , Jakeman Anthony J.
Published: July 2023

Factor Fixing (FF) is a common method for reducing the number of model parameters to lower computational cost. FF typically starts with distinguishing the insensitive parameters from the sensitive and pursues uncertainty quantification (UQ) on the resulting reduced‐order model, fixing each insensitive parameter at a fixed value. There is a need, however, to expand such a common approach to consider the effects of decision choices in the FF‐UQ procedure on metrics of interest. Therefore, to guide the use of FF and increase confidence in the resulting dimension‐reduced model, we propose a new adaptive framework consisting of four principles: (a) re‐parameterize the model first to reduce obvious non‐identifiable parameter combinations, (b) focus on decision relevance especially with respect to errors in quantities of interest (QoI), (c) conduct adaptive evaluation and robustness assessment of errors in the QoI across FF choices as sample size increases, and (d) reconsider whether fixing is warranted. The framework is demonstrated on a spatially‐distributed water quality model. The error in estimates of QoI caused by FF can be estimated using a Polynomial Chaos Expansion (PCE) surrogate model. Built with 70 model runs, the surrogate is computationally inexpensive to evaluate and can provide global sensitivity indices for free. For the selected catchment, just two factors may provide an acceptably accurate estimate of model uncertainty in the average annual load of Total Suspended Solids (TSS), suggesting that reducing the uncertainty in these two parameters is a priority for future work before undertaking further formal uncertainty quantification.
Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare professionals on oral care of pregnant women in Brunei Darussalam
Authors: Muhammad-Safwan Nur-Afifah Syafiqah , Abdul-Mumin Khadizah H. , Abdul Rahman Hanif , Gharif Rafidah , Haji-Momin Haji-Mohin , Kisut Ramlah , Zielinski Ruth , Dhaliwal Jagjit Singh
Published: July 2023

Objective

To examine nationwide the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of healthcare professionals on oral/dental care of pregnant women in Brunei Darussalam.

Materials and methods

A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted using an online survey of eligible healthcare professionals in all Government Maternal and Child Health Care Clinics, Dental Clinics and Obstetrics and Gynecological Clinics in four hospitals covering the whole of Brunei Darussalam. Participants were given seven days to complete the survey. Sub-group analysis using Chi-square test for independence and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant association between domains of oral care practices and demographic factors. P values less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

A total of 346 healthcare professionals participated in this online study. Most participants (94.3%) responded that they perceived oral health to be of high importance. However, less than two thirds of the participants (59.0%) included oral health questions during antenatal health assessments. Moreover, only 16.2% of participants frequently discussed the importance of oral care with their antenatal patients.

Conclusions

In this survey, most healthcare professionals viewed oral health to be of high importance for prenatal/antenatal patients. However, not all put those views into practice with regard to oral care in pregnant women.
In vitro oogenesis from murine premeiotic germ cells using a new three-dimensional culture system
Authors: Wang Lu , Yan Zi-Hui , He Tao-Ran , Liu Hai-Xia , Li Yu-Kang , Niu Yi-Lin , Wang Jun-Jie , De Felici Massimo , Ge Wei , Shen Wei
Published: July 2023

A faithful reconstitution of the complete process of oogenesis in vitro is helpful for understanding the molecular mechanisms, genetics, and epigenetic changes related to gametogenesis; it can also be useful for clinical drug screening, disease research, and regenerative medicine. To this end, given the consensus that murine female germ cells initiate meiosis at E13.5, substantial works have reported the successful generation of fertile oocytes using E12.5 female gonads as starting materials. Nevertheless, our data demonstrated that murine germ cells at E12.5 have heterogeneously initiated a meiotic transcriptional program based on a measurement of pre‐mRNAs (unspliced) and mature mRNAs (spliced) at a single-cell level. Therefore, to establish a platform that faithfully recapitulates the entire process in vitro (from premeiotic murine germ cells to fully developed oocytes), we here report a novel three-dimensional organoid culture (3-DOC) system, which successfully induced fully developed oocytes from E11.5 premeiotic female germ cells (oogonia). Compared with 2D culture and other 3D culture methods, this new culture system is more cost-effective and can create high-quality oocytes similar to in vivo oocytes. In summary, our new culture platform provides an experimental model for future research in regenerative medicine and reproductive biology.
Scaling-up and future sustainability of a national reproductive genetic carrier screening program
Authors: Fehlberg Zoe , Best Stephanie , Long Janet C. , Theodorou Tahlia , Pope Catherine , Hibbert Peter , Williams Sharon , Freeman Lucinda , Righetti Sarah , Archibald Alison D. , Braithwaite Jeffrey
Published: July 2023

An understanding of factors influencing implementation is essential to realise the benefits of population-based reproductive genetic carrier screening programs. The aim of this study was to synthesise data collected during the Australian Reproductive Genetic Carrier Screening Project (Mackenzie’s Mission) to track how priorities shifted over time and identify important factors during scaling-up and for sustainment. We used a multi-method qualitative approach to integrate longitudinal project data collected from 10 project committees with 16 semi-structured interviews conducted with study team members. Both datasets were analysed using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) to identify constructs of interest within early, mid-point, and future implementation phases. Several CFIR constructs were present across implementation. The complexity of implementation presented challenges that were overcome through a quality-designed and packaged product, formal and informal networks and communication, and access to knowledge and information. Addressing the diverse consumer needs through resources and increasing community and non-genetic speciality engagement remained a priority throughout and for future sustainment. Going forward, further addressing program complexities and securing funding were emphasised. By applying an implementation framework, findings from this study may be useful for future effort towards building and/or sustaining reproductive genetic carrier screening programs.
Facile morphological tuning of thin film composite membranes for enhanced desalination performance
Authors: Mohammed Shabin , Aburabie Jamaliah , Hashaikeh Raed
Published: July 2023

Polyamide (PA) membranes with a thin selective layer have been widely investigated for desalination and water treatment. Several modifications have been proposed over the years to tailor the morphology of such thin film composite (TFC) membranes by altering the support and/or selective layers to achieve superior performance. In this study, a facile approach towards fabricating a highly wrinkled selective layer has been demonstrated through bio-inspired modification of the support layer with Y-type zeolites. Results showed that incorporating zeolites in a smaller dimension (200 nm) produced by a unique ball milling technique is favorable for a defect-free selective layer in comparison to larger commercial zeolites. PA membranes formed by the interfacial polymerization (IP) of Piperazine (PIP) and 1,3,5-Benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (TMC) revealed highly wrinkled morphology due to the presence of zeolites in the TFC interlayer. At optimum fabrication conditions, the membrane exhibited a fast transport of 22.5 ± 2.2 Lm-2h-1bar-1 with a salt rejection of 48.6, 91.3, 99.1, and 99.5% for NaCl, MgCl2, MgSO4, and Na2SO4, respectively. Besides the unique preparation of zeolites in smaller dimensions, the novelty of this study lies in the facile membrane pretreatment before IP to achieve wrinkled PA membranes for enhanced nanofiltration performance.
Landing site of the Chang’e-6 lunar farside sample return mission from the Apollo basin
Authors: Zeng Xingguo , Liu Dawei , Chen Yuan , Zhou Qin , Ren Xin , Zhang Zhoubin , Yan Wei , Chen Wangli , Wang Qiong , Deng Xiangjin , Hu Hao , Liu Jianjun , Zuo Wei , Head James W. , Li Chunlai
Published: July 2023

To address questions about the multiple lunar nearside–farside dichotomies and to provide new insights into both the early impact history of the Solar System and the geological evolution of the Moon, the Chang’e-6 (CE-6) landing zone has been selected to lie within the lunar farside South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin in the southern part of the Apollo basin (150–158° W, 41–45° S), a site that provides access to a diversity of SPA material. Here, we describe the geomorphology, geology and chronology of three candidate sampling sites within this zone that are likely to ensure safe landing and sampling. The geological characteristics indicate that CE-6 is expected to collect lunar farside SPA ejecta fragments, possible mantle material and young (roughly 2.40 Gyr-year-old) and/or old (roughly 3.43 Gyr-year-old) basaltic material, all of which will provide important guidance for future in situ farside sample collection and deepen our understanding of the evolution of the Moon.
NF-κB subunits direct kinetically distinct transcriptional cascades in antigen receptor-activated B cells
Authors: Zhao Mingming , Chauhan Prashant , Sherman Cheryl A. , Singh Amit , Kaileh Mary , Mazan-Mamczarz Krystyna , Ji Hongkai , Joy Jaimy , Nandi Satabdi , De Supriyo , Zhang Yongqing , Fan Jinshui , Becker Kevin G. , Loke Png , Zhou Weiqiang , Sen Ranjan
Published: July 2023

The nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) family of transcription factors orchestrates signal-induced gene expression in diverse cell types. Cellular responses to NF-κB activation are regulated at the level of cell and signal specificity, as well as differential use of family members (subunit specificity). Here we used time-dependent multi-omics to investigate the selective functions of Rel and RelA, two closely related NF-κB proteins, in primary B lymphocytes activated via the B cell receptor. Despite large numbers of shared binding sites genome wide, Rel and RelA directed kinetically distinct cascades of gene expression in activated B cells. Single-cell RNA sequencing revealed marked heterogeneity of Rel- and RelA-specific responses, and sequential binding of these factors was not a major mechanism of protracted transcription. Moreover, nuclear co-expression of Rel and RelA led to functional antagonism between the factors. By rigorously identifying the target genes of each NF-κB subunit, these studies provide insights into exclusive functions of Rel and RelA in immunity and cancer.
Detecting the interaction between urban elements evolution with population dynamics model
Authors: Jin Min , Wang Lizhe , Ge Fudong , Yan Jining
Published: July 2023

Exploring the evolution of urban elements can improve understanding of the developmental process of city and drive such development into a better direction. However, the non-linearity and complexity of changes in urban elements have brought great challenges to understanding this process. In this paper, we propose a cross-diffusion partial differential equation based on ecological dynamics to simulate the evolutionary process of urban elements from the microscopic viewpoint. The interaction between urban elements is simulated by constructing a non-linear and spatiotemporal change equation, and the main influence between elements is evaluated by the key parameters in the discussed equation. Our model is first experimented to time-series data on population density and housing prices to analyzes the interaction of these two elements in the evolution process. We then extend the model to label data, land cover data, to obtain a quantitative expression of the interaction between different land types in the process of urban land cover change.
Long non-coding RNA SOX2-OT enhances cancer biological traits via sponging to tumor suppressor miR-122-3p and miR-194-5p in non-small cell lung carcinoma
Authors: Dodangeh Fatemeh , Sadeghi Zahra , Maleki Parichehr , Raheb Jamshid
Published: July 2023

The oncogenic role of long non-coding RNA SOX2 overlapping transcript (SOX2-OT) has been demonstrated as a miRNA decay system that sponges tumor suppressor miRNA, including miR-122-3p in glioblastoma and miR-194-5p in glioblastoma, gastric, and colorectal cancers. However, the molecular function of SOX2-OT remains unknown in most cancers, including lung cancer. In the current study, we aimed to evaluate the downstream regulatory function of SOX2-OT in A549 and Calu-3 lung cancer cell lines. We knocked down SOX2-OT expression using an RNA interference system, which significantly decreased expression in A549 and Calu-3 cells. The expression of down-regulating miRNAs (miR-122-3p and miR-194-5p) was evaluated, revealing increased expression of miR-122-3p and miR-194-5p. Additionally, the expression of miRNAs downstream mRNA, including FOXO1 (Forkhead Box O1) and FOXA1 (Forkhead Box O1), changed. Recently, critical roles of FOXO1 and FOXA1 proteins in pathways involved in proliferation, metastasis and apoptosis have been demonstrated. Downstream changes in cellular traits were assessed using MTT, flow cytometry, metastasis and apoptosis assays. These assessments confirmed that the biological behaviors of lung cancer cells were influenced after SOX2-OT knockdown. In summary, the present study highlights the oncogenic role of SOX2-OT through the regulation of miR-122-3p/FOXO1 and miR-194-5p/FOXA1 pathways.