bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Where internal medical patients receive intensive interventions: results from a tertiary-care hospital in Israel
Authors: Leibner Gideon , Brammli-Greenberg Shuli , Katz David , Esayag Yaakov , Kaufman Nechama , Rose Adam J.
Published: May 2023

Background

Patients admitted to internal medicine may be moved to more advanced-care settings when their condition deteriorates. In these advanced care settings, there may be higher levels of monitoring and greater ability to deliver Intensive Medical Treatments (IMTs). To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has examined the proportion of patients at different levels of care who receive different types of IMTs.

Methods

In this retrospective observational cohort study, we examined data from 56,002 internal medicine hospitalizations at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, between 01.01.2016 and 31.12.2019. Patients were divided according to where they received care: general-ward, Intermediate-Care Unit, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), or both (Intermediate-Care and ICU). We examined the rates at which these different groups of patients received one or more of the following IMTs: mechanical ventilation, daytime bi-level positive airway pressure (BiPAP), or vasopressor therapy.

Results

Most IMTs were delivered in a general-ward setting – ranging from 45.9% of IMT-treated hospitalizations involving combined mechanical ventilation and vasopressor therapy to as high as 87.4% of IMT-treated hospitalizations involving daytime BiPAP. Compared to ICU patients, Intermediate-Care Unit patients were older (mean age 75.1 vs 69.1, p < 0.001 for this and all other comparisons presented here), had longer hospitalizations (21.3 vs 14.5 days), and were more likely to die in-hospital (22% vs 12%). They were also more likely to receive most of the IMTs compared to ICU patients. For example, 9.7% of Intermediate-Care Unit patients received vasopressors, compared to 5.5% of ICU patients.

Conclusion

In this study, most of the patients who received IMTs actually received them in a general-bed and not in a dedicated unit. These results imply that IMTs are predominantly delivered in unmonitored settings, and suggest an opportunity to re-examine where and how IMTs are given. In terms of health policy, these findings suggest a need to further examine the setting and patterns of intensive interventions, as well as a need to increase the number of beds dedicated to delivering intensive interventions.
Early numeracy and literacy skills and their influences on fourth-grade mathematics achievement: a moderated mediation model
Authors: Chang Isabelle
Published: May 2023

This study explored the influence of early literacy and numeracy skills on fourth-grade math achievement using the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The study utilized valuable information collected by TIMSS about context related questionnaires such as home resources for learning, early literacy and numeracy development, readiness for school, and students’ home and school lives in a cross cultural and linguistic framework. The main purpose of this study was aligned with those of TIMSS to improve math learning and performance and strengthen future employees’ skills in the global workplace. Participants were comprised of mostly Asian and European students. Results show that (1) early literacy skills have a stronger effect on G4 math scores than early numeracy skills; (2) Home resources for learning impact more on children’s early literacy skills than early numeracy skills; (3) both early literacy and numeracy activities have progressed to early literacy skills but demonstrated limited advancement to early numeracy skills, a missing link; (4) students’ confidence in math emerged as the strongest predictor of G4 math scores; (5) students with stronger early literacy skills and early numeracy skills are more confident in math; and (6) The moderated mediation analysis revealed that (a) early literacy skills have stronger direct effects on G4 math achievement than early numeracy skills; (b) the effects of early numeracy skills on G4 math scores become more pronounced for children with weaker early literacy skills (i.e., conditional effects); and (c) the effect of early numeracy skills on G4 math achievement is transmitted through students’ confidence (i.e., mediator) and the effect is more prominent for those who had more proficient early literacy skills (i.e., conditional indirect effects). Findings from the conditional direct and indirect effects of early numeracy skills on G4 math achievement suggest that children who had more proficient early literacy skills utilize strategies beyond just early numeracy skills to solve G4 math problems and that children’s strategies to solve math problems may be enhanced by the proficiency of their literacy skills.
Revolutionising textile manufacturing: a comprehensive review on 3D and 4D printing technologies
Authors: Manaia João P. , Cerejo Fábio , Duarte João
Published: May 2023

An exhaustive and integrative overview of recent developments in 3D and 4D textiles based on Additive Manufacturing (AM) were provided in order to identify the current state‐of‐the‐art. Despite all scientific progress, AM applied on textiles is a challenging technique and is still at an embryonic stage of research and technological development (R&TD), mainly due to the technological gap between featured prototypes and scalability in manufacturing. Despite its full potential across a range of different applications, such as development of functional filament fibres/wires, 3D printing on textiles, 3D printing completed garments and 4D textiles, needs future developments. Although, AM applied on textiles, enables cost and resource efficiency for small scale production through localised production, shorten supply chain and demand driven manufacture, both customisable and scalable, embracing cost and environmental sustainability. The opportunities and limits of 3D and 4D printing textiles are also discussed. Finally, the conclusion highlights the potential future development and application of the convergence of advanced computational design techniques, product customization, mathematical modelling, simulation, and digital modelling within multifunctional textiles.

Graphical Abstract
Image quality and radiation dose assessment for the clinically applied 16-slice CT scanner using PMMA phantom and quality assurance phantom
Authors: Mekonin Tadelech Sisay , Deressu Tilahun Tesfaye
Published: May 2023

The goal of this study was to assess the radiation dose delivered accuracy and the acceptable image quality parameter from the 16-slice Philips CT scanner in order to evaluate the current methodology for quality controls of computed tomography systems. The measured volume computed tomography dose index was 101 mGy and the displayed volume computed tomography dose index was 10.2 mGy and the dose length product is 680 mGy*cm for head scan, and the measured volume computed tomography dose index was 6.1 mGy and the displayed volume computed tomography dose index was 6.3 mGy and the dose length product was 587 mGy*cm for body scan, respectively. The image quality parameters were 4.4 HU, 2.3 HU, and 10 HU for uniformity, contrast-to-noise ratio, and computed tomography number accuracy (CT number accuracy) for quality assurance phantom, respectively. We propose that discussions and collaboration regarding patient and particular equipment adjustments be coordinated among radiologists, medical imaging technologists, and medical physicists. This can increase image quality, reduce absorbed radiation, and improve hospital medical care.
Double-pole unsplit complex-frequency-shifted multiaxial perfectly matched layer combined with strong-stability-preserved Runge-Kutta time discretization for seismic wave equation based on the discontinuous Galerkin method
Authors: Huang Jiandong , Yang Dinghui , He Xijun , Sui Jingkun , Liang Shanglin
Published: May 2023

The classical complex-frequency-shifted perfectly matched layer (CFS-PML) technique has attracted widespread attention for seismic wave simulations. However, few studies have addressed the double-pole variant of the CFS-PML scheme. The double-pole CFS-PML has a stronger capacity to absorb near-grazing incident waves and evanescent waves than the classical CFS-PML. Using the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method, we derive a double-pole unsplit auxiliary ordinary differential equation CFS-multiaxial PML (AODE CFS-MPML) formulation, which combines a fourth-order strong-stability-preserved Runge-Kutta time discretization for wavefield simulation on an unstructured grid. The double-pole unsplit CFS-MPML formulations are obtained by introducing auxiliary memory variables and AODEs. The original stress-velocity equations and the double-pole unsplit AODE CFS-MPML equations are all first-order hyperbolic systems and suitable for the DG method. The attenuative variables are added directly to the original seismic wave equations without changing their formats. In contrast to the split perfectly matched layer (PML), we avoid reformulating PML equations in the nonattenuative modeling region. The original seismic wave equation is solved in the nonattenuative modeling domain, whereas the double-pole unsplit AODE CFS-MPML equation is implemented in the PML absorbing region. Three numerical examples validate the performance of the double-pole unsplit AODE CFS-MPML technique. The isotropic and anisotropic experiments demonstrate that our developed double-pole unsplit AODE CFS-MPML is more stable and obtains more accurate solutions than the classical CFS-PML. The second example indicates the flexibility of the combination of the DG method with the double-pole CFS-MPML on undulating topography. The final example displays the applicability and effectiveness of our method in a 3D situation.
Circumstances of suicide after registration with a national digital mental health service: an analysis of coroners’ reports
Authors: Nielssen Olav , Staples Lauren , Karin Eyal , Ryan Katie , Kayrouz Rony , Dear Blake , Cross Shane , Titov Nickolai
Published: May 2023

Background

Little is known about the safety of mental healthcare provided remotely by digital mental health services (DMHS), which do not offer face-to-face contact.

Aims

To examine the circumstances of suicide by patients registered with a national DMHS.

Method

Data from 59 033 consenting patients registered with a national DMHS, the MindSpot Clinic, between 1 January 2013 and 31 December 2016 were linked with the Australian National Death Index and documents held by the National Coronial Information System (NCIS). Data extracted included demographic information, the nature of contact, duration between last contact and death, symptom scores and information in police, autopsy, toxicology and coroners’ reports.

Results

Of the 59 033 patients, 90 (0.15%) died by suicide in a follow-up period of up to 5 years. The mean time between last contact and death was 560 days. Coroners’ reports were located for 81/90 patients. Most (87.0%) were receiving face-to-face care around the time of death, 60.9% had a documented previous suicide attempt, 52.2% had been in hospital in the previous 6 months and 22.2% had severe mental illness, mainly schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Other common findings were current treatment with psychotropic medication (79.2%) and the presence of alcohol (41.6%), benzodiazepines (31.2%), and illegal drugs and non-prescribed opioids (20.8%) at time of death.

Conclusions

Those who died by suicide after contact with the DMHS had more severe illness, were mostly engaged with face-to-face services and often had disinhibiting substances, especially benzodiazepines, present at the time of death.
Introduction: Richard Rorty, Pragmatic Provocateur
Authors: Allen Barry , Rorty Richard , Gaskill Nicholas , Voparil Chris , Smith Barbara Herrnstein
Published: May 2023

This essay introduces a running symposium on the work of Richard Rorty and its legacy fifteen years after his passing. The arc of Rorty's thought defines a trajectory through American pragmatism, tracing a variation unimagined until he expressed it. His work raised Anglophone philosophers’ interest in American pragmatism as never before and also focused the interest of the whole world on American pragmatism as never before, even though the result was to define a pragmatism saturated with nominalism and suppressing the most original qualities of the sources that he celebrated.
Helix excisa L. Pfeiffer, 1855 is a species of Hirtudiscus Hylton Scott, 1973 (Gastropoda: Scolodontidae)
Authors: Roosen Marijn Thomas
Published: May 2023

Helix excisa L. Pfeiffer, 1855 is moved to the genus Hirtudiscus Hylton Scott, 1973, based on conchological characteristics. This decision has implications on scolodontid taxonomy, as several major papers used Helix excisa to redefine Drepanostomella Bourguignat, 1890.
Το καθεστώς των στρατιωτικών συντάξεων και η προοπτική μιας νέας αρχιτεκτονικής
Authors: Πατεράκης Ηρακλής
Published: May 2023

Η παρούσα διατριβή έχει ως αντικείμενο μελέτης τις στρατιωτικές συντάξεις. Περιγράφει διεξοδικά το πως εξελίχθηκε το συνταξιοδοτικό καθεστώς των στρατιωτικών από το 1951 έως σήμερα, ως προς τις συνταξιοδοτικές παροχές και εισφορές, τα όρια ηλικίας και τα συντάξιμα έτη υπηρεσίας. Διερευνά επίσης, τη σύνδεση της αποστρατείας και της συνταξιοδότησης και πως η σχέση αυτή ασκεί βαθύτατη επίδραση στο πλαίσιο ιεραρχίας, εξέλιξης και προαγωγών στις ελληνικές Ένοπλες Δυνάμεις. Παράλληλα, αντικείμενο μελέτης είναι οι διαφορές στο υπηρεσιακό καθεστώς των στρατιωτικών από το καθεστώς των υπολοίπων δημοσίων υπαλλήλων και των μισθωτών του ιδιωτικού τομέα. Περιλαμβάνει μία αυτοτελή ενότητα όπου αναλύονται τα ισχύοντα σχετικά με το υπηρεσιακό και συνταξιοδοτικό πλαίσιο των στρατιωτικών στις ΗΠΑ και το Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο. Τέλος, υποβάλλονται συγκεκριμένες προτάσεις ως προς την προοπτική μετεξέλιξης του νομικού πλαισίου συνταξιοδότησης των στρατιωτικών στην Ελλάδα.
Computer-aided drug design approaches applied to screen natural product’s structural analogs targeting arginase in Leishmania spp
Authors: Barazorda-Ccahuana Haruna Luz , Goyzueta-Mamani Luis Daniel , Candia Puma Mayron Antonio , Simões de Freitas Camila , de Sousa Vieria Tavares Grasiele , Pagliara Lage Daniela , Ferraz Coelho Eduardo Antonio , Chávez-Fumagalli Miguel Angel
Published: May 2023

Introduction: Leishmaniasis is a disease with high mortality rates and approximately 1.5 million new cases each year. Despite the new approaches and advances to fight the disease, there are no effective therapies.

Methods: Hence, this study aims to screen for natural products' structural analogs as new drug candidates against leishmaniasis. We applied Computer-aided drug design (CADD) approaches, such as virtual screening, molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulation, molecular mechanics–generalized Born surface area (MM–GBSA) binding free estimation, and free energy perturbation (FEP) aiming to select structural analogs from natural products that have shown anti-leishmanial and anti-arginase activities and that could bind selectively against the Leishmania arginase enzyme.

Results: The compounds 2H-1-benzopyran, 3,4-dihydro-2-(2-methylphenyl)-(9CI), echioidinin, and malvidin showed good results against arginase targets from three parasite species and negative results for potential toxicities. The echioidinin and malvidin ligands generated interactions in the active center at pH 2.0 conditions by MM-GBSA and FEP methods.

Conclusions: This work suggests the potential anti-leishmanial activity of the compounds and thus can be further in vitro and in vivo experimentally validated.
Anti-angiogenic activity of Ficus deltoidea L. Jack silver nanoparticles using chorioallantoic membrane assay
Authors: Aryani Retno , Nugroho Rudy Agung , Manurung Hetty , Rulimada Muhammad Hafidz , Maytari Erin , Siahaan Angeline , Rudianto Rudianto , Jati Wibowo Nugroho
Published: May 2023

Background: Ficus deltoidea L. Jack is a folk medicinal plant known for its pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, anticancer and anti-angiogenic. This study aimed to evaluate the anti-angiogenic properties of silver nanoparticles biosynthesized using F. deltoidea leaf extract (AgNPs-Fd).

Methods: The AgNPs-Fd were synthesized by mixing 100 mL 1 mM aqueous silver nitrate (AgNO3) and 100 mL 0.1% F. deltoidea ethanolic leaf extract. The resulting AgNPs-Fd were observed for color change and Tyndall effects. Reaction mixture color change from pale brown to reddish brown was observed at 48 h at 37°C. The characterization of AgNPs-Fd was completed with UV–Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. For quantitative analysis of the vascular network in the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay, AngioTool open-source software was used.

Results: The plasmon resonance peak for AgNPs-Fd at 430 nm was visible in the UV-Visible spectrum, indicating the formation of AgNPs-Fd. The F. deltoidea extract and nanoparticles interacted well according to FTIR analysis. The AgNPs-Fd morphology of 20 nm particle sizes was observed using TEM. The chromatographic analysis of AgNPs-Fd identified potential anti-angiogenic compounds, such as phytol, stigmasterol, lupeol and sitosterol. The angiogenic inhibition properties of AgNPs-Fd were tested using the CAM assay. The 90 mg dose AgNPs-Fd treatment in CAMs demonstrated significant anti-angiogenesis, indicating effectiveness in controlling vessel formation.

Conclusions: The present study suggests that eco-friendly work and the “green” process of AgNPs-Fd is potentially applicable for nanobiotechnology in anti-angiogenic fields.
From avoiding uncertainty to accepting it: Semiotic modelling of history education at the limits of knowledge
Authors: Rickberg Merit
Published: May 2023

This article explicates how different approaches to teaching history can enforce diverse strategies for dealing with uncertainty. Descriptions of three types of historical pedagogy are analysed as three kinds of modelling systems derived from Juri Lotman’s theory of semiotics of culture: myth-type modelling, scientific modelling, and play-type modelling. The paper argues that the connection between pedagogical approaches and uncertainty, as an experience that occurs at the limits of knowledge, can be modelled as the relation between a semiotic system and its boundary. The nature of this relation can differ depending on how the division between the internal and external space of the semiotic entity is perceived. Different types of modelling systems establish distinct patterns in order to deal with the indeterminacy of the borderland area. In the process of learning, these patterns can be viewed as semiotic strategies that various pedagogical approaches enforce when arriving at the limits of knowledge and facing the situation of indeterminacy that can cause students to experience uncertainty. Three different strategies are discussed in the context of history education: avoiding uncertainty in the case of the collective memory approach, addressing uncertainty in the case of the disciplinary approach, and accepting uncertainty in the case of the post-modern approach to teaching history.
The post-disaster transformation of interspecies dependencies: From talkative buffalo to desemiotized cows on the slope of Mt. Merapi
Authors: Nazaruddin Muzayin , Magnus Riin
Published: May 2023

This paper suggests how natural disasters may serve as the final propulsion for changes already taking place within a society. While focusing on shifts in human–non-human animal relations, this text also discusses their embedding in broader transformations of human–environment relations and the underlying economic and cultural change. It carves out interspecific dependencies that constitute an agro-ecosystem and follows their demise as the agricultural species are switched to market economic production in a post-disaster context. It thereby suggests that the human-facilitated semiotic fitting of the agricultural species is replaced by human-imposed fitting in which the species composition is largely determined by the market prices. At the same time, the paper draws attention to the cessation and transformation of human–non-human communication as a marker, but also an experiential corollary, of modernization and market economy. As a case study, it focuses on the 2010 Mt. Merapi eruption in Indonesia and its aftermath in the villages on its slope. The study analyses how the shift from using plough buffalo to utilizing market economic cattle farming reflects not just an economic, but also an affective and semiotic change stemming from a shift in the intensity and kind of human–animal relations.
Por sí y en el nombre de la república de las minas: el gobierno local de Zacatecas (1546-1650)
Authors: Albi Rodríguez María de los Reyes
Published: May 2023

Fruto de una ardua labor de búsqueda en los archivos de España y México, esta obra constituye una importante contribución a la investigación de los cabildos indianos, especialmente al estudio del origen y desarrollo del cabildo de la ciudad minera de Zacatecas durante los siglos XVI y XVII. La población surgió como un modesto real de minas de plata en 1546 para convertirse posteriormente en la plataforma principal para la expansión del dominio español sobre el norte de Nueva España y en uno de los pilares económicos del Imperio Hispánico. La autora no solo aborda los aspectos socioeconómicos de ese proceso; se centra también en las singularidades institucionales que configuraron su peculiar gobierno local, además de adentrarse en el análisis de la heterogénea sociedad que, atraída por las minas, se fue formando. El estudio supone un avance en el conocimiento de los poderes municipales americanos y sus élites al ofrecer una visión extraordinariamente rica de la primera gran etapa de la historia de la Ciudad de Zacatecas y con ella la revelación del mundo de la frontera mexicana en el período estudiado.
La gestión del conocimiento en emprendimientos sociales: un análisis bibliométrico y cienciométrico de tendencias
Authors: Marulanda-Grisales Natalia , Herrera Pulgarín José Julián , Urrego Marín María Lucelly , García Gómez Alma Leonora
Published: May 2023

Las tendencias de gestión de conocimiento en emprendimientos sociales precisan la revisión sobre las formas de liderazgo en los territorios, a fin de caracterizar habilidades y aptitudes idóneas que den lugar a una cultura organizacional, las cuales relacionen el valor social con la efectiva solución de las necesidades en las comunidades. Por ende, el campo de investigación sobre emprendimientos sociales encuentra en los factores organizacionales un horizonte de compresión favorable. El objetivo del trabajo radica en evaluar el avance de la producción científica sobre la gestión del conocimiento en relación con dichas empresas híbridas durante los años 1995 y 2021. Como metodología, fueron revisadas tendencias en investigación, para lo cual se empleó un estudio bibliométrico y cienciométrico, con una muestra de 157 documentos recuperados de la base de datos Scopus. A partir de las leyes de Lotka, Pareto y De Solla Price, fueron desarrollados indicadores de cantidad, calidad e historia. Los resultados establecen como ámbitos de futuras investigaciones: la articulación de herramientas de la industria 4.0 y 5.0, la integración global de ecosistemas de emprendimiento, el incremento de inclusión y la diversidad, además del empoderamiento y posicionamiento en el entorno de las diversas comunidades identificadas como gestoras de soluciones a sus problemáticas particulares.
Personalized Privacy Preservation in Consumer Mobile Trajectories
Authors: Macha Meghanath , Foutz Natasha Zhang , Li Beibei , Ghose Anindya
Published: May 2023

The use of mobile technologies to collect and analyze consumer location data has created a multi-billion-dollar ecosystem with various stakeholders. However, this ecosystem also presents privacy risks to consumers. To address this issue, data aggregators can implement a privacy preserving framework that balances privacy risks to consumers with data utilities for advertisers.

The proposed framework is personalized and flexible, allowing for quantification of personalized privacy risks and data obfuscation to reduce these risks. It can accommodate a variety of risks, utilities, and trade-offs between the two. The framework was validated on one million consumer location trajectories, revealing potential privacy risks in the absence of data obfuscation. Machine learning methods are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework which outperformed ten baselines from the latest literature, significantly reducing each consumer’s privacy risk while preserving advertiser utility. As the use of location big data continues to grow, this research offers a necessary framework to balance privacy risks and data utilities, sustain a secure and self-governing ecosystem, and ensure the protection of consumers’ personal data.
Walking the Purpose-Talk Inside a Large Company: Sustainable Product Development as an Instance of Divergent Change
Authors: Kimsey Marissa , Geradts Thijs , Battilana Julie
Published: May 2023

There is a growing interest in large companies pursuing a new purpose—changing their core reason for being from a singular focus on financial gain to a renewed responsibility to people and the planet alongside profit. Yet knowledge of how a large company can walk that purpose-talk is still in its infancy. In this essay, we zoom in on the development of new sustainable products that embody a renewed responsibility to people and the planet. We conceptualize sustainable product development in a large company as an instance of divergent change and explore: How can sustainable products develop inside a large company in the face of the intense resistance that such a divergent change is likely to trigger? Building on our qualitative study from 2010 to 2019 of four products in a large fast-moving consumer goods company, we unpack two key leadership practices: (1) relaxing metrics for a product team, which (structurally) enables experimenting with a sustainable product separate from the mainstream business, and (2) advocating with gatekeepers, which (discursively) enables anchoring a sustainable product within the mainstream business. Overall, our findings suggest that sustainable product development will not do much to transform a large company if sustainable products remain merely tolerated exceptions.

History: This paper has been accepted for the Strategy Science Special Issue on Corporate Purpose.
Greek Minority Language Instruction in Albania: Education Policy Issues and Prospects
Authors: Sotiroudas Vasileios , Griva Eleni
Published: May 2023

The purpose of the present study was to identify current issues related to Greek Minority Education in Albania and its potential as considered from the part of the teachers’ and principals’ perspective. The current situation of Greek language education was recorded, problems encountered by the educational institutions and the teachers were highlighted and the prospects for teaching the Greek language in Albania were considered. 45 Teachers of Greek language and eight school principals participated in the study. For the purpose of the present study, a combination of qualitative and quantitative approach was employed. The data from the target groups were collected through two basic research instruments: (a) teacher questionnaires and (b) principal interviews. The findings raised a number of issues related to the Greek language education: the student language level, the need for providing systematic training to teachers who work in bilingual environments, as well as the deficiency of strong incentives for the teacher secondment from Greece to Albania. The data indicated the teachers’ concern about the effectiveness of the existing curricula and language textbooks in accomplishing the goals of teaching the Greek language in bilingual contexts.
Borderline human
Authors: Jones Jules
Published: May 2023

Many people have been labelled with psychiatric ‘diagnoses’ such as ‘Borderline Personality Disorder’. That was one of the labels that was bestowed on me, amongst others, incorrectly. This poem speaks to what I experienced.
Degree of polarization model based on a modified three-component pBRDF
Authors: Zhang Zhiwei , Yang Zhiyong , Li Gengpeng , Chen Dong , Wang Xiaowei
Published: May 2023

The polarized bidirectional reflectance distribution function (pBRDF)
model not only can quantify the radiation intensity, but also can
effectively describe the polarization characteristics of the scattered
light on the target surface. In this paper, a modified three-component
pBRDF model is proposed, which considers the reflection process to be
composed of specular reflection, multiple reflection, and volume
scattering. Key parameters such as the distribution of the microfacet,
geometrical attenuation factor, multiple reflection, and volume
scattering, are modified. The degree of polarization model is derived
based on the new pBRDF, when the incident light is natural light. The
degree of polarization of four coating fabric samples is measured by a
multi-angle polarization instrument, and the undetermined coefficients
in the model are inverted based on the experimental data. A comparison
of the measured and modeled results at a wavelength of 720 nm
reveals that the model can accurately describe the spatial
distribution of polarization characteristics of four samples and
control the errors within 0.06, 0.1, 0.04, and 0.09, which provides a
theoretical basis for polarization detection and polarization image
simulation.
Spatio-temporally reconfigurable light in degenerate laser cavities
Authors: Bartolo Adrian , Vigne Nathan , Marconi Mathias , Beaudoin Grégoire , Le Gratiet Luc , Pantzas Konstantinos , Sagnes Isabelle , Garnache Arnaud , Giudici Massimo
Published: May 2023

We show that a III-V semiconductor Vertical External-Cavity
Surface-Emitting Lasers (VECSELs) can be engineered to generate light
with a customizable spatio-temporal structure. The temporal control
is achieved through the emission of Temporal Localized Structures
(TLSs), a particular mode-locking regime that allows the individual
addressing of the pulses traveling back and forth in the cavity. The
spatial profile control relies on a degenerate external cavity and
it is implemented thanks to an absorptive mask deposited onto the
gain mirror that limits the positive net gain within two circular
spots in the transverse section of the VECSEL. We show that each spot
emits spatially uncorrelated TLS. Hence, the spatio-temporal structure
of the light emitted can be shaped by individually addressing the
pulses emitted by each spot. Because the maximum number of pulses
circulating in the cavity and the number of positive net-gain spots
in the VECSEL can be increased straightforwardly, this result is a
proof of concept of a laser platform capable of handling light states
of scalable complexity. We discuss applications to three dimensional
all-optical buffer and to multiplexing of frequency combs that share
the same laser cavity.
Giant two-photon absorption of anatase TiO2 in Au/TiO2 core-shell nanoparticles
Authors: Wang Lijie , Chow Tsz Him , Oppermann Malte , Wang Jianfang , Chergui Majed
Published: May 2023

We report on deep-to-near-UV transient absorption spectra of core-shell Au/SiO2 and Au/TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) excited at the surface plasmon resonance of the Au core, and of UV-excited bare anatase TiO2 NPs. The bleaching of the first excitonic transition of anatase TiO2 at ∼3.8  eV is a signature of the presence of electrons/holes in the conduction band (CB)/valence band (VB) of the material. We find that while in bare anatase TiO2 NPs, two-photon excitation does not occur up to the highest used fluences (1.34  mJ/cm2), it takes place in the TiO2 shell at moderate fluences (0.18  mJ/cm2) in Au/TiO2 core-shell NPs, as a result of an enhancement due to the plasmon resonance. We estimate the enhancement factor to be of the order of ∼108–109. Remarkably, we observe that the bleach of the 3.8 eV band of TiO2 lives significantly longer than in bare TiO2, suggesting that the excess electrons/holes in the conduction/valence band are stored longer in this material.
Comparison between single and serial computed tomography images in classification of acute appendicitis, acute right-sided diverticulitis, and normal appendix using EfficientNet
Authors: Park So Hyun , Kim Young Jae , Kim Kwang Gi , Chung Jun-Won , Kim Hyun Cheol , Choi In Young , You Myung-Won , Lee Gi Pyo , Hwang Jung Han
Published: May 2023

This study aimed to develop a convolutional neural network (CNN) using the EfficientNet algorithm for the automated classification of acute appendicitis, acute diverticulitis, and normal appendix and to evaluate its diagnostic performance. We retrospectively enrolled 715 patients who underwent contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT). Of these, 246 patients had acute appendicitis, 254 had acute diverticulitis, and 215 had normal appendix. Training, validation, and test data were obtained from 4,078 CT images (1,959 acute appendicitis, 823 acute diverticulitis, and 1,296 normal appendix cases) using both single and serial (RGB [red, green, blue]) image methods. We augmented the training dataset to avoid training disturbances caused by unbalanced CT datasets. For classification of the normal appendix, the RGB serial image method showed a slightly higher sensitivity (89.66 vs. 87.89%; p = 0.244), accuracy (93.62% vs. 92.35%), and specificity (95.47% vs. 94.43%) than did the single image method. For the classification of acute diverticulitis, the RGB serial image method also yielded a slightly higher sensitivity (83.35 vs. 80.44%; p = 0.019), accuracy (93.48% vs. 92.15%), and specificity (96.04% vs. 95.12%) than the single image method. Moreover, the mean areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUCs) were significantly higher for acute appendicitis (0.951 vs. 0.937; p < 0.0001), acute diverticulitis (0.972 vs. 0.963; p = 0.0025), and normal appendix (0.979 vs. 0.972; p = 0.0101) with the RGB serial image method than those obtained by the single method for each condition. Thus, acute appendicitis, acute diverticulitis, and normal appendix could be accurately distinguished on CT images by our model, particularly when using the RGB serial image method.
A feasibility study demonstrating that independence, quality of life, and adaptive behavioral skills can improve in children with Down syndrome after using assistive technology
Authors: White Kaylin , Han Samuel S. , Britton Angela , Hendrix James
Published: May 2023

Enhancing independence and quality of life are key modifiable outcomes that are short- and long-term goals for children with Down syndrome and for their parents. Here we report the outcome of a 4-week feasibility study in a cohort of 26 children with Down Syndrome, 7–17 years old, who used an assistive technology approach that incorporated smart device software and step-by-step pictures (the MapHabit System). Parents reported improvements in children’s activities of daily living, quality of life, and independence. They recommended this technology to other families. This report and its findings underscore the feasibility of using assistive technology in children with Down syndrome within home and family settings. A limiting factor is whether participants who did not complete the study, and thus were not included in analyses, might have impacted the study outcomes. The current findings that assistive technology can be used successfully and effectively in family and home settings set the stage for more informative systematic studies using assistive technology for this population.

Trial registration: The clinical trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov

Registration number: NCT05343468
Chocolate intake and muscle pain sensation: A randomized experimental study
Authors: Hajati Alexandra , Brondani Mario , Angerstig Lina , Klein Victoria , Liljeblad Linda , Al-Moraissi Essam Ahmed , Louca Jounger Sofia , Brondani Bruna , Christidis Nikolaos
Published: May 2023

Background

Chocolate, as a cocoa-derived product rich in flavanols, has been used for medical and anti-inflammatory purposes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate if the ingestion of different percentages of cocoa products affects the experimentally induced pain caused by intramuscular hypertonic saline injections in the masseter muscle of healthy men and women.

Methods

This experimental randomized, double-blind, and controlled study included 15 young, healthy, and pain-free men and 15 age-matched women and involved three visits with at least a 1-week washout. Pain was induced twice at each visit with intramuscular injections of 0.2 mL hypertonic saline (5%), before and after intake of one of the different chocolate types: white (30% cocoa content), milk (34% cocoa content), and dark (70% cocoa content). Pain duration, pain area, peak pain, and pressure pain threshold (PPT) were assessed every fifth minute after each injection, up until 30 min after the initial injection. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed using IBM® SPSS (Version 27); significance level was set to p<0.05.

Results

This study showed that intake of chocolate, no matter the type, reduced the induced pain intensity significantly more than no intake of chocolate (p<0.05, Tukey test). There were no differences between the chocolate types. Further, men showed a significantly greater pain reduction than women after intake of white chocolate (p<0.05, Tukey test). No other differences between pain characteristics or sexes were revealed.

Conclusion

Intake of chocolate before a painful stimulus had a pain-reducing effect no matter the cocoa concentration. The results indicate that perhaps it is not the cocoa concentration (e.g., flavanols) alone that explains the positive effect on pain, but likely a combination of preference and taste-experience. Another possible explanation could be the composition of the chocolate, i.e. the concentration of the other ingredients such as sugar, soy, and vanilla.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05378984.
Confronting historical legacies of biological anthropology in South Africa—Restitution, redress and community-centered science: The Sutherland Nine
Authors: Gibbon Victoria E. , Feris Loretta , Gretzinger Joscha , Smith Kathryn , Hall Simon , Penn Nigel , Mutsvangwa Tinashe E. M. , Heale Michaela , Finaughty Devin A. , Karanja Yvonne W. , Esterhuyse Jan , Kotze Daniël , Barnes Nina , Gunston Geney , May Je’nine , Krause Johannes , Wilkinson Caroline M. , Schiffels Stephan , Februarie Doreen , Alves Sianne , Sealy Judith C.
Published: May 2023

We describe a process of restitution of nine unethically acquired human skeletons to their families, together with attempts at redress. Between 1925–1927 C.E., the skeletonised remains of nine San or Khoekhoe people, eight of them known-in-life, were removed from their graves on the farm Kruisrivier, near Sutherland in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. They were donated to the Anatomy Department at the University of Cape Town. This was done without the knowledge or permission of their families. The donor was a medical student who removed the remains from the labourers’ cemetery on his family farm. Nearly 100 years later, the remains are being returned to their community, accompanied by a range of community-driven interdisciplinary historical, archaeological and analytical (osteobiographic, craniofacial, ancient DNA, stable isotope) studies to document, as far as possible, their lives and deaths. The restitution process began by contacting families living in the same area with the same surnames as the deceased. The restitution and redress process prioritises the descendant families’ memories, wishes and desire to understand the situation, and learn more about their ancestors. The descendant families have described the process as helping them to reconnect with their ancestors. A richer appreciation of their ancestors’ lives, gained in part from scientific analyses, culminating with reburial, is hoped to aid the descendant families and wider community in [re-]connecting with their heritage and culture, and contribute to restorative justice, reconciliation and healing while confronting a traumatic historical moment. While these nine individuals were exhumed as specimens, they will be reburied as people.
‘This is the end of the road for science’: The mad doctor in Cold War horror comics
Authors: Goodrum Michael , Smith Philip
Published: May 2023

This article concerns the representation of scientists, doctors and other agents of reason in Cold War horror comics. Such figures, we demonstrate, are typically represented as misguided, blind to the dangers of their creations or knowingly malevolent. The manifestation of this trend in the 1950s can be understood as a facet of the larger programme of post-Second World War social criticism found in the genre. When horror comics returned after the revision of the Code in 1971, some aligned with the anti-psychiatry movement. These comics portray scenarios in which the discovery of things man was not meant to know extends beyond weapons of war to the human psyche and where psychology as a discipline serves as a repressive apparatus interested primarily in the preservation of social norms rather than the emotional health of patients.
Gestão da Experiência do Cliente: Perspectivas Contemporâneas na Hotelaria
Authors: Bandinelli Vargas Lopes de Oliveira Thais , Paula Lisboa Sohn Ana
Published: May 2023

A gestão da experiência do cliente tem sido estratégia-chave de empresas hoteleiras tidas como líderes em seus segmentos. Para entender esse fenômeno, propõe-se uma revisão sistemática visando a identificar as práticas, os benefícios e as tendências da gestão da experiência do cliente na hotelaria. Realizada na base de dados Scopus, a pesquisa contemplou uma amostra de 241 artigos (recorte temporal de 2011-2021). Os 20 artigos mais citados da amostra tiveram seu conteúdo acessado para análise e achados bibliométricos da amostra total complementaram a discussão. Os resultados assinalam como principal benefício a manutenção da vantagem competitiva e a diferenciação do negócio. Melhores práticas estão associadas ao capital humano, uso de tecnologia e design de serviço. Tendências apontam a evolução do conceito de experiência, maior atenção à experiência do colaborador, busca por benefícios mútuos e o uso da tecnologia para incentivar engajamento e cocriação. Além da agenda de pesquisa, este estudo avança ao sinalizar a crescente importância da gestão da experiência na hotelaria, que seu sucesso depende de esforços conjuntos, sendo preciso agir ativamente frente à constante transformação dos serviços, da economia e do comportamento do consumidor, a fim de manter a empresa hoteleira competitiva e alinhada às expectativas do seu hóspede.
Validation of the Short Version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale in Korean Police Officers
Authors:   Crisis and Emergency Management: Theory and Praxis, Song Jinhee , Kang Kyonghwa
Published: May 2023

This methodological study verified the validity and reliability of the Conor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC), which is used worldwide, for police officers. Data were collected from November 2021 to February 2022 through the Google survey platform from police officers who agreed to follow-up surveys online after participating in the job training course at the Police Human Resources Development Institute. After randomly assigning the collected data to two groups, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA, CFA, respectively) were conducted using SPSS Statistics 25.0 and AMOS 25.0 programs. EFA revealed two factors of “hardiness against adversity” and “acceptance of adversity and a supportive relationship”. In addition, the two-factor and 12-item structures derived through CFA were appropriate, ensuring the validity and reliability of internal consistency. This study confirmed that the CD-RISC is a valid instrument for measuring the resilience of police officers. The short version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale will help measure the effectiveness of mental health promotion intervention.
Defying grand narratives of ‘being an international student’: finding ‘home’ in the Other
Authors: Sadoudi Yasmine , Holliday Adrian
Published: May 2023

The PhD students in this study create a sense of being at home as part of their own way of being themselves. Their programme requires and allows considerable autonomy in how they choose to be with the people around them. Different to common expectations of the ‘international student’, their nationality and its ‘culture’ being apart from the ‘culture’ they find is not the major factor. Instead they draw resources from their personal cultural trajectories within which their lives in Britain form another stage in a lifelong journey of identity construction. They do not ‘assimilate’ in the expected sense. Their friends are not mainly ‘British’. Their brought multilingualism is characteristic of a natural hybridity that prepares them to be different selves in diverse social locations and with people of diverse origin on and off campus through an ongoing negotiation process of small culture formation on the go.
Metabolic syndrome components and vitamin D availability relationship in late postmenopausal women
Authors: Izmozherova N. V. , Popov A. A. , Ryabinina A. V. , Vikhareva A. A. , Safianik E. A. , Spevak A. V. , Shambatov M. A. , Bakhtin V. M.
Published: May 2023

BACKGROUND: The global prevalence of vitamin D deficiency is currently a real threat due to association with major chronic non-communicable diseases. Abdominal obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia contribute significantly to cardiometabolic risk in late postmenopausal women.

AIM: to assess the frequency of deficiency and insufficiency of 25(OH)D in late postmenopausal residents of Yekaterinburg; to establish associations of 25(OH)D serum concentration with components of metabolic syndrome and severity of menopausal symptoms.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: During the period from October 2018 to March 2020 145 independently living late postmenopausal residents of Yekaterinburg were enrolled in a cross-sectional study. The following scope of data regarding each of the subjects was collected: complaints and anamnesis, anthropometry, diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus, assessment of 25 (OH)D level by the ECLIA method, LDL-C, HDL-C levels, serum TG by the enzymatic colorimetric method, as well as the evaluation of the modified menopausal index.

RESULTS: Adequate serum level of 25(OH)D was detected in 20.6% patients, insufficiency and deficiency were found in 33.1 and 46.2% cases, respectively. In patients with vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency, the most frequent metabolic syndrome components were arterial hypertension (p=0.02; OR 3.5; CI 1.2–10.6) and abdominal obesity (p=0.03; OR 2.8; CI 1.1–7.2). Vitamin D deficient subjects had significantly lower serum HDL and increased TG levels (p=0.04), compared to the adequately provided 25(OH)D patients. Vitamin D levels were not associated with the severity of menopausal symptoms in late postmenopausal women. Regular daily intake of 400–2000 IU of colecalciferol contributed to higher serum 25(OH)D level.

CONCLUSION: a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among postmenopausal women of Yekaterinburg was detected. Diagnosis and correction of vitamin D levels are necessary for timely reduction of cardiometabolic risk, primarily due to the potential pleiotropic effects of D-hormone on the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.