bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Schools as jails: Urban African American Adolescent Males’ (UAAM) experiences and perceptions of violence in low‐income public schools
Authors: Outland Rafael
Published: March 2022

This manuscript presents urban African American adolescent males’ (UAAM) experiences and perceptions of violence in low‐income public schools. Findings derived from a qualitative study that investigated the meanings and experiences of violence among UAAM. Nine and six UAAM participated in in‐depth phenomenological interviews and a focus group, respectively. Findings revealed that UAAM experience and perceive school as a site for criminalizing their behaviors, peer fights, and being undereducated by teachers. Implications for counselors, educators, and service providers are discussed.
Competitive metal‐binding stoichiometry between calcium and strontium by cell wall proteins of Neurospora crassa
Authors: Kota Ashok K. , Mikkineni Anupama , Mathi Pardhasaradhi , Patnala Kiranmayi , Velagapudi Kavitha , Panditi Shravana K. , Jeevigunta Naveena L. L.
Published: March 2022

Cell wall proteins from Neurospora crassa were isolated and evaluated to demonstrate their metal ability to bind Ca2+/Sr2+ by loading the solubilized protein fraction on to immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) column pre‐equilibrated with Ca2+/Sr2+. The sodium dodecyl sulfate–polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis analysis IMAC eluent, revealed ∼18 proteins with a similarity in the proteome pattern of Ca2+/Sr2+ fractions. Diethyl aminoethyl chromatography showed five proteins in common in binding to Ca2+ and Sr2+, were subjected to N‐terminal sequencing. The sequence analysis was studied for the determination of metal‐binding site prediction by CHED software indicating that all five were found to have a high affinity toward Ca2+. From these five, two were randomly selected and denoted as CWP‐A (possess five Ca binding sites of six metal‐binding sites) and CWP‐B (possess six binding sites of eight metal‐binding sites). They were selected for further characterization studies to determine their Ca2+ bound Sr2+ binding properties. Surprisingly, these proteins were able to bind Sr2+ ions (29 μmol) with equal affinity as to Ca2+ ions (42 μmol) by means of direct binding, and/or by displacing calcium as observed in metal‐dependent proteolytic protection, fluorescence‐based metal exchange assays, and molecular simulation studies. From the results, we demonstrate for the first time, that there is a stoichiometry between Ca2+ (an essential macro elemental metal ion) and Sr2+ ions (a nonessential element for which no reported metabolic activity is reported) for the metal‐binding sites on cell wall proteins. This stoichiometry could be due to similar atomic dimensions and metal‐protein structure stabilizing properties of Sr2+ compared to Ca2+.
Tourist taxation as a sustainability financing mechanism for mass tourism destinations
Authors: Cárdenas‐García Pablo Juan , Pulido‐Fernández Juan Ignacio , Durán‐Román José Luis , Carrillo‐Hidalgo Isabel
Published: March 2022

Tourism taxation is one of the tools that can effectively contribute to obtaining resources that favor the development of policies to improve sustainability and the tourist experience in the destination. In this context, the objectives of this research are, on the one hand, to identify tourist preferences when offered 15 different taxes and fees, and, on the other hand, to identify which socio‐demographic factors and trip characteristics condition the tourist's willingness to pay (WTP) of the five most accepted taxes and fees. This study was carried out in Andalusia, a region in southern Spain with a mass tourism specialization.
Knowledge management and knowledge security—Building an integrated framework in the light of COVID‐19
Authors: Zieba Malgorzata , Bongiovanni Ivano
Published: March 2022

This paper presents a framework of knowledge risk management in the face of the COVID‐19 crisis, derived from the literature on knowledge management, knowledge security, and COVID‐19. So far, both researchers and practitioners have focused on knowledge as an asset and their efforts have been aimed at the implementation of knowledge management in various organizational contexts. However, with increasing threats related to cyberattacks or hazards associated with knowledge loss (as magnified by the COVID‐19 crisis), there is a growing need to account for knowledge‐related risks. In this conceptual paper, we integrate the contributions from the knowledge management and knowledge security fields, together with research on COVID‐19 to help organizations protect the knowledge they create, store and share. Based on a structured literature review, our investigation provides researchers and managers with a framework for securely handling organizational knowledge in a critical situation. Our framework revolves around two foci: one the one hand, building appropriate knowledge risk measures and controls; on the other hand, holistically tackling knowledge risks as part of knowledge management activities.
Complications of primary pediatric endoscopic sinus surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis: A 25‐year single surgeon experience
Authors: Ramadan Hassan H. , Bulbul Mustafa G. , Asad Fatima , Wasef Kareem , Makary Chadi A.
Published: March 2022

Objective

To report our experience on the complications of primary pediatric endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS).

Methods

Case series of pediatric ESS performed from 1991 to 2016 on children who failed maximal medical therapy and/or adenoidectomy. Inclusion criteria were children (age <12 years old) who underwent primary ESS with or without adenoidectomy for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) after failed maximal medical therapy and/or adenoidectomy. All patients underwent maxillary antrostomy ± partial or total ethmoidectomy. Patients with complicated acute rhinosinusitis were excluded. Complications reviewed included: skull base injury and CSF leak, orbital injuries (blindness, orbital hemorrhage, emphysema, periorbital swelling and bruising, fat exposure), and bleeding requiring intervention.

Results

A total of 352 patients underwent ESS between 1991 and 2016. There were no blindness or orbital hematoma reported, and no major nasal bleeding requiring intervention. The total number of complications was 31 (8.8%): 1 (0.3%) CSF leak, 3 (0.85%) orbital emphysema, 5 (1.4%) periorbital ecchymosis, and 22 (6.3%) lamina papyracea violation with orbital fat exposure.

Conclusions

Complications of primary pediatric ESS can be rare dependent on surgeon's experience, the most common being orbital injury.

Level of evidence: 4.
Commonalities and distinctions between two neurodevelopmental disorder subtypes associated with SCN2A and SCN8A variants and literature review
Authors: Mangano Giuseppe Donato , Fontana Antonina , Antona Vincenzo , Salpietro Vincenzo , Mangano Giuseppa Renata , Giuffrè Mario , Nardello Rosaria
Published: March 2022

This study was aimed to analyze the commonalities and distinctions of voltage‐gated sodium channels, Nav1.2, Nav1.6, in neurodevelopmental disorders. An observational study was performed including two patients with neurodevelopmental disorders. The demographic, electroclinical, genetic, and neuropsychological characteristics were analyzed and compared with each other and then with the subjects carrying the same genetic variants reported in the literature. The clinical features of one of them argued for autism spectrum disorder and developmental delay, the other for intellectual disability, diagnoses confirmed by the neuropsychological assessment. The first patient was a carrier of SCN2A (p.R379H) variant while the second was carrier of SCN8A (p.E936K) variant, both involving the pore loop of the two channels. The results of this study suggest that the neurodevelopmental disorders without overt epilepsy of both patients can be the consequences of loss of function of Nav1.2/Nav1.6 channels. Notably, the SCN2A variant, with an earlier expression timing in brain development, resulted in a more severe phenotype as autism spectrum disorder and developmental delay, while the SCN8A variant, with a later expression timing, resulted in a less severe phenotype as intellectual disability.
Multidisciplinary treatment for functional urological disorders with psychosomatic comorbidity in a tertiary pelvic care center—A retrospective cohort study
Authors: van Knippenberg Vera , Leue Carsten , Vrijens Desiree , van Koeveringe Gommert
Published: March 2022

Background

Functional urological disorders are highly prevalent, frequently interrelated, and characterized by a chronic course and considerable treatment resistance. From our point of view, poor treatment outcomes are often attributable to underlying but undetected mental disorders.

Objective

To investigate the effect of integrated outpatient care by a urologist and a psychiatrist on the symptomatology of patients with functional urological disorders in a tertiary referral Pelvic Care Centre.

Setting

Retrospective observational cohort study in functional urological disorders in combination with psychosomatic co‐morbidity. When treatment by a urologist alone was not sufficient, the suitability for a multidisciplinary approach was considered i) if there was a susceptibility for psychiatric comorbidity, ii) if diagnostic procedures did not reveal a treatable somatic cause, or iii) if multiple failed somatic treatments did not relieve complaints. Patients underwent urological treatments before, without reduction of complaints, no treatable somatic cause could be found after diagnostic procedures; or patients suffered from psychiatric comorbidity.

Method

Outcome was measured using patient global impression of improvement, hospitality anxiety and depression scale (HADS), global assessment of functioning (GAF), and a health consumption questionnaire.

Results

A significant reduction in HADS‐depression score was found (p = 0.001) after multidisciplinary treatment. The GAF score increased from 61 to 80, leading to no more than slight impairment in social, occupational, or school functioning. Patients reported their situation as better in comparison with before multidisciplinary treatment. An association was found between pelvic pain and anxiety (p = 0.032) and panic disorder (p = 0.040). Psychological trauma was found to be associated with depression (p = 0.044), with an odds ratio of 2.93 (1.01–8.50). Psychological trauma coincided in 62.3% of patients with urological pain syndromes and in 83.3% with pelvic pain.

Conclusion

Overall results indicate that functional urological patients, previously refractory to urological treatment, benefit from an integrated care approach by urologists and psychiatrists. Explanation about the bladder–brain axis and the alarm falsification model enlightens understanding of urological and psychological contributions to functional syndromes and creates an opportunity for integrated care.
Caregiver burden and the associated factors in the family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia
Authors: Rahmani Farnaz , Roshangar Fariborz , Gholizadeh Leila , Asghari Elnaz
Published: March 2022

Aim

Our study aimed to investigate the caregiving burden and its associated factors in family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia.

Design

Correlational study.

Method

Using the convenience sampling method, 215 caregivers were recruited from outpatient clinics affiliated with a tertiary referral psychiatric hospital in Iran. The caregiving burden was measured by the Zarit Burden Interview (ZBI‐22), and associations between caregiving burden and potential factors were examined using multiple regression analysis. We used the STROBE checklist to report the results.

Results

Family caregivers of patients with schizophrenia reported a high level of caregiving burden, with 38.2% of the caregivers perceiving severe burden relating to their role. In the regression analysis, age, gender, educational level, income, job loss due to caregiving, relationship with patient, disease duration and frequency of caregiving were statistically significant predictors of caregiving burden. The regression model explained 54.4% of the variance of caregiving burden.
Audiovisual synchrony detection for fluent speech in early childhood: An eye‐tracking study
Authors: Zhou Han‐yu , Yang Han‐xue , Wei Zhen , Wan Guo‐bin , Lui Simon S. Y. , Chan Raymond C. K.
Published: March 2022

During childhood, the ability to detect audiovisual synchrony gradually sharpens for simple stimuli such as flashbeeps and single syllables. However, little is known about how children perceive synchrony for natural and continuous speech. This study investigated young children's gaze patterns while they were watching movies of two identical speakers telling stories side by side. Only one speaker's lip movements matched the voices and the other one either led or lagged behind the soundtrack by 600 ms. Children aged 3–6 years (n = 94, 52.13% males) showed an overall preference for the synchronous speaker, with no age‐related changes in synchrony‐detection sensitivity as indicated by similar gaze patterns across ages. However, viewing time to the synchronous speech was significantly longer in the auditory‐leading (AL) condition compared with that in the visual‐leading (VL) condition, suggesting asymmetric sensitivities for AL versus VL asynchrony have already been established in early childhood. When further examining gaze patterns on dynamic faces, we found that more attention focused on the mouth region was an adaptive strategy to read visual speech signals and thus associated with increased viewing time of the synchronous videos. Attention to detail, one dimension of autistic traits featured by local processing, has been found to be correlated with worse performances in speech synchrony processing. These findings extended previous research by showing the development of speech synchrony perception in young children, and may have implications for clinical populations (e.g., autism) with impaired multisensory integration.
Dynamic material flow analysis of silicon photovoltaic modules to support a circular economy transition
Authors: Khalifa Sherif A. , Mastrorocco Benjamin V. , Au Dylan D. , Ovaitt Silvana , Barnes Teresa M. , Carpenter Alberta C. , Baxter Jason B.
Published: March 2022

Solar photovoltaics (PV) are the fastest growing renewable energy technologies for clean, cheap, and sustainable electricity generation. To prepare for rapid scale‐up, the PV industry needs to project material requirements to build out all aspects of the supply chain appropriately and plan to handle large volumes of module waste. Impacts of deploying different material circularity strategies to reduce waste and conserve primary resources need to be quantified to inform sustainable material management. Here, we introduce the photovoltaic dynamic material flow analysis (PV DMFA) model based on PV electricity generation. The model quantifies material flows and stocks in the cradle‐to‐cradle life cycles of utility‐scale c‐Si PV systems in the United States through 2100. We present case studies for solar flat glass and aluminum frame materials under various scenarios to project the impacts of PV performance, reliability, and processing parameters, material circularity strategies, and module design shifts. In the absence of circularity measures, ~100 million MT of flat glass and ~12 million MT of aluminum would be needed for PV installations by 2100 to meet projected growth in domestic utility PV demand to nearly 1000 TWh in 2100. With optimistic but feasible improvements in efficiency, reliability, and circularity, material intensity and waste could be reduced by nearly 50%. Efficient module collection, minimally intrusive recycling, and careful scrap handling and cleaning could improve material circularity in the PV value chain. This model serves as a sustainability data support tool that may aid in the circular economy transition for PV systems.
Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells: A review of recent proteomic applications
Authors: Alexovič Michal , Lindner Joshua Raoul , Bober Peter , Longuespée Rémi , Sabo Ján , Davalieva Katarina
Published: March 2022

Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) represent a sentinel blood sample which reacts to different pathophysiological stimuli in the form of immunological responses/immunophenotypic changes. The study of molecular content of PBMCs can provide better understanding of immune processes giving the possibility of monitoring the health conditions of the host organism. Proteomic analysis of PBMCs can achieve mentioned goal as important immune‐related biomarkers are easily accessible for analysis. PBMCs have been gaining attention in different research areas including preclinical or clinical investigations. In this review, recent applications of proteomic analysis of PBMCs are described and discussed. Approaches are divided based on different proteomic workflows such as in‐gel, in‐solution and on‐filter modes. The effect of various diseases such as autoimmune, cancer, neurodegenerative, viral, metabolic, and various immune stimulations such as radiation, vaccine, corticosteroids over PBMCs proteome, are described with emphasis on promising protein biomarker candidates.
Development of plasticity in vitrimers synthesized from a semi‐crystalline polymer using injection molding
Authors: Farge Laurent , Spiegel Rémi , André Stéphane , Noûs Camille , Lainé Richard , Hoppe Sandrine
Published: March 2022

The main objective of this work is to analyze finely the influence of cross‐linking on the mechanical properties of polybutylene terephtalate‐based vitrimers. Tensile tests were carried out at four temperatures (80, 100, 130, and 160°C) on a series of vitrimer specimens made by injection molding for which the cross‐linker concentrations were changed by small increments of 0.25%, from 0% to 2%. The displacement and strain fields were measured on the specimen surfaces through 3D digital image correlation in order to analyze the strain localization/delocalization phenomena that occur during the successive stages of the deformation process. In particular, we measured the yield strain (onset of strain localization), and the strain at neck stabilization (beginning of the strain delocalization phase). When the degree of cross‐linking increases, we observed two complementary effects leading to the decrease of the strain range during which plastic instability develops. Firstly increases. Secondly, and this is the main cause of the plastic instability strain range reduction, decreases. This latter effect results from the limitation in extensibility of the macromolecular network in the solid state caused by cross‐linking. More specifically, cross‐linking leads to two distinct modifications of the macromolecular network that both contribute to the reduction of its extensibility. The first is the decrease of the chain length between the network nodes. The second is the pre‐orientation of the macromolecular network that occurs during injection molding in the case of vitrimers with high viscosities due to cross‐linking. Eventually, when , the suppression of the yield point on the tensile curve was observed for the most cross‐linked vitrimers. Furthermore, in the temperature range of investigation, was found to be independent of temperature.
Human factor analysis and classification system for the oil, gas, and process industry
Authors: Yang Jeongmo , Kwon YoungGuk
Published: March 2022

Human error can cause severe problems in industrial oil, gas, and chemical processes. Although human factors analysis and classification systems (HFACSs) for the oil and gas industry (HFACS‐OGI) and the small‐scale chemical industry (HFACS‐CSMEs) have been independently developed, there are some limitations in providing detailed information on the contributing factors. Therefore, a new HFACS must be developed that can be commonly applied to the oil, gas, and chemical fields. This paper develops an integrated HFACS that can be applied to the oil, gas, chemical, and power plants, called HFACS‐OGAPI, by analyzing 45 accidents that occurred in domestic and overseas oil, gas, chemical, and power plants, based on the HFACS‐OGI system. An integrated HFACS‐OGAPI that can be applied to the oil, gas, chemical, and power plants is developed. The framework effectively identifies the contributing factors by providing specific information on Tiers 1, 2, 3, and 4 for Levels 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The contributing factors are effectively identified by analyzing the BP Texas Refinery explosion (2005), the Kleen Energy natural gas explosion (2010), and the Aghorn Operating Waterflood Station accidents (2019) with the developed framework. A checklist suitable for the HFACS‐OGAPI is developed by considering the contents developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Department of Defense to determine the contributing factors. The developed checklist is expected to effectively identify and improve on the causes of human error through periodic inspection.
Design and experimental validation of a master manipulator with position and posture decoupling for laparoscopic surgical robot
Authors: Lei Yanqiang , Li Yibin , Song Rui , Wang Dechen , Zhang Tao , Zhang Gang , Du Fuxin
Published: March 2022

Background

The master manipulator with position and posture decoupling and force feedback can improve the immersion of the operation, and the gravity balance can reduce the fatigue of surgeons.

Methods

A seven degree of freedom master manipulator is developed. The parallelogram structure and the angle conversion method contribute to the realization of decoupling position and posture. The calculating method based on the virtual work principle is adopted to achieve the passive gravity balance. The relationship between the master manipulator's joint torque and output force is established to achieve force feedback.

Results

A prototype of the master manipulator was built and its performance was experimentally evaluated. The maximum value of the positioning mean absolute error is 1.2 mm. The maximum absolute error of the force‐feedback is 0.32 N.

Conclusion

With the functions of positioning, gravity balance, and force feedback, our manipulator shows the potential for single port laparoscopic surgery.
Event‐triggered controller design from the control input perspective
Authors: Xing Lantao , Lin Hong , Wang Chenliang , Liu Zhitao , Liu Meiqin
Published: March 2022

In this article, we propose a novel event‐triggered control (ETC) method from the control input perspective. Different from existing results in which event conditions are designed based on the variation of system states, this method designs event conditions from the control input perspective, that is, based on the control input variations. Through this method, it is shown that for nonlinear systems, the commonly used input‐to‐state stable assumption can be removed. For linear systems, this method is shown equivalent to conventional results established based on state signals. Moreover, it provides flexibility in designing different event conditions for uncertain nonlinear systems. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated through two simulation examples.
H∞$$ {H}_{\infty } $$ tracking control for uncertain switched stochastic systems with mixed time‐varying delays
Authors: Deng Yalin , Zhang Huasheng , Xia Jianwei , Sun Wei
Published: March 2022

This article concerns the exponential tracking control problem of uncertain switched stochastic systems with mixed time‐varying delays including discrete delay and distributed delay. First, according to the multiple Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional described by the mixed time‐varying delays and the average dwell time method, a delay‐dependent sufficient conclusion is obtained, which makes the augmented system mean‐square exponential stable and satisfies the tracking performance. Then, the corresponding controllers are designed to ensure that the system has model reference tracking performance based on the above stability analysis. Finally, a numerical example and water quality preservation problems are employed to corroborate the usefulness of the method.
Reclaiming independence in spatial‐clustering datasets: A series of data‐driven spatial weights matrices
Authors: Wang Wei , Xiao Xiong , Qian Jian , Chen Shiqi , Liao Fang , Yin Fei , Zhang Tao , Li Xiaosong , Ma Yue
Published: March 2022

Most spatial models include a spatial weights matrix (W) derived from the first law of geography to adjust the spatial dependence to fulfill the independence assumption. In various fields such as epidemiological and environmental studies, the spatial dependence often shows clustering (or geographic discontinuity) due to natural or social factors. In such cases, adjustment using the first‐law‐of‐geography‐based W might be inappropriate and leads to inaccuracy estimations and loss of statistical power. In this work, we propose a series of data‐driven Ws (DDWs) built following the spatial pattern identified by the scan statistic, which can be easily carried out using existing tools such as SaTScan software. The DDWs take both the clustering (or discontinuous) and the intuitive first‐law‐of‐geographic‐based spatial dependence into consideration. Aiming at two common purposes in epidemiology studies (ie, estimating the effect value of explanatory variable X and estimating the risk of each spatial unit in disease mapping), the common spatial autoregressive models and the Leroux‐prior‐based conditional autoregressive (CAR) models were selected to evaluate performance of DDWs, respectively. Both simulation and case studies show that our DDWs achieve considerably better performance than the classic W in datasets with clustering (or discontinuous) spatial dependence. Furthermore, the latest published density‐based spatial clustering models, aiming at dealing with such clustering (or discontinuity) spatial dependence in disease mapping, were also compared as references. The DDWs, incorporated into the CAR models, still show considerable advantage, especially in the datasets for common diseases.
Regression modeling of restricted mean survival time for left‐truncated right‐censored data
Authors: Rong Rong , Ning Jing , Zhu Hong
Published: March 2022

The restricted mean survival time (RMST) is a clinically meaningful summary measure in studies with survival outcomes. Statistical methods have been developed for regression analysis of RMST to investigate impacts of covariates on RMST, which is a useful alternative to the Cox regression analysis. However, existing methods for regression modeling of RMST are not applicable to left‐truncated right‐censored data that arise frequently in prevalent cohort studies, for which the sampling bias due to left truncation and informative censoring induced by the prevalent sampling scheme must be properly addressed. The pseudo‐observation (PO) approach has been used in regression modeling of RMST for right‐censored data and competing‐risks data. For left‐truncated right‐censored data, we propose to directly model RMST as a function of baseline covariates based on POs under general censoring mechanisms. We adjust for the potential covariate‐dependent censoring or dependent censoring by the inverse probability of censoring weighting method. We establish large sample properties of the proposed estimators and assess their finite sample performances by simulation studies under various scenarios. We apply the proposed methods to a prevalent cohort of women diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer identified from surveillance, epidemiology, and end results‐medicare linked database.
Influence of steel fiber and polyvinyl alcohol fiber on properties of high performance concrete
Authors: Ju Yanzhong , Zhu Meitong , Zhang Xiaolei , Wang Dehong
Published: March 2022

To investigate influence of the single steel fibers, single polyvinyl alcohol fiber (PVA) and hybrid fibers on the properties of high performance concrete (HPC), the tests of the fresh properties, compressive strength, flexural strength and toughness of HPC reinforced with steel fiber and PVA fiber were conducted. The toughness of hybrid fiber HPC was evaluated through several flexural performance analysis methods and improved flexural toughness evaluation methods. In order to analyze the fiber toughening principle and the effect of different fiber content on flexural strength, the four‐point bending test was simulated by finite element modeling. And the calculation formula of hybrid steel‐PVA fiber HPC flexural strength was proposed. The results indicate that, steel fibers, PVA fibers and hybrid fibers can both improve HPC strength and toughness, while the content of PVA fiber had a critical value about 1%. If it is greater than this value, the enhancement of toughness will be reduced. Furthermore, the steel fiber and PVA fiber can play a bridging role in different scales to improve the toughness and strength of HPC.
The annual rate of independent events – A key interpretation for traditional extreme value distributions of wind velocity
Authors: Torrielli Alessio , Repetto Maria Pia , Solari Giovanni
Published: March 2022

The extreme value theory has been object of engineering studies for more than a century. The analysis of extreme winds plays a key role for complex civil structures and a driving role in different stages of wind turbines lifetime. Most of extremes probability models depend on the annual rate of independent events (ARIE) which has been traditionally considered a constant value. The authors have embraced a recent belief considering the ARIE as a function of the wind velocity. Even though a certain agreement has been achieved across the researches, some issues are still pending. In this regard, the paper shows that the annual, seasonal and daily fluctuations embedded in time series of the mean wind speeds, constrain its probability distribution and time correlation to be physically consistent. Besides, a new physical interpretation of the ARIE is presented, expressing how the independence across wind observations increases with the wind speed, up to the point that all yearly observations are independent if larger than a suitable speed value. Such a tendency is not revealed if the annual, seasonal and daily fluctuations are excluded by the analysis, leading to a deceitful shape of the ARIE. Finally, the paper shows how the velocity‐dependent ARIE model is consistent with the conventional asymptotic extreme value theory, if a sufficiently large left‐censorship applies to the dataset. The study of the ARIE presented in this paper is based on long‐term Monte Carlo simulation of the mean wind speed.
Adsorption performance and its mechanism of aqueous As(III) on polyporous calcined oyster shell‐supported Fe–Mn binary oxide
Authors: Shi Yao , Xing Yifei , Song Zhilian , Dang Xueming , Zhao Huimin
Published: March 2022

Fe–Mn binary oxide (FMBO) is a promising adsorbent for As(III) removal through combined adsorption and oxidation. The calcined oyster shell‐supported Fe–Mn binary oxide (FMBO/OS) adsorbent was synthesized by the co‐precipitation method. Results indicated that the calcined oyster shell, as a carrier, improved the stability of FMBO and its adsorption capacity for As(III). The maximum adsorption capacity of FMBO/OS on As(III) reached 140.5 mg·g−1. Under pH 5.0 and 25°C, the removal efficiency of FMBO/OS to As(III) solution (C0 = 10 mg·L−1) reached 87% within 12 h. Moreover, based on the characterization analyses, the removal mechanisms of As(III) were deduced to include the combined adsorption and oxidation process of FMBO and the synergistic effect of oyster shells. This work provides new insights into synthesizing efficient and green adsorbents to remove aqueous As(III). Meanwhile, it provides technical support for reusing waste biomass materials such as the oyster shell.

Practitioner Points

FMBO/OS was prepared by a simple hydrothermal co‐precipitation method.

The carrier alleviates the agglomeration of Fe–Mn oxides.

The adsorbent shows a strong adsorption capacity of As(III) and good selectivity.

The good results benefit from the synergistic effect of calcium arsenate generation.

The prepared adsorbent can adsorb arsenic in real samples.
High‐temperature technology survey and comparison among incineration, pyrolysis, and gasification systems for water resource recovery facilities
Authors: Winchell Lloyd J. , Ross John J. , Brose Dominic A. , Pluth Thaís B. , Fonoll Xavier , Norton John W. , Bell Katherine Y.
Published: March 2022

Solids from wastewater treatment undergo processing to reduce mass, minimize pathogens, and condition the products for specific end uses. However, costs and contaminant concerns (e.g., per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS]) challenge traditional landfill and land application practices. Incineration can overcome these issues but has become complicated due to evolving emissions regulations, and it suffers from poor public perception. These circumstances are driving the re‐emergence of pyrolysis and gasification technologies. A survey of suppliers was conducted to document differences with technologies. Both offer advantages over incineration with tailored production of a carbon‐rich solid, currently less stringent air emission requirements, and lower flue gas flows requiring treatment. However, incineration more simply combines drying and thermal processing into one reactor. Equipment costs provided favor pyrolysis and gasification at lower capacities but converge with incineration at higher capacities. Long‐term operational experience will confirm technology competitiveness and elucidate whether pyrolysis and gasification warrant widespread adoption.

Practitioner Points

Pyrolysis and gasification systems are gaining traction in the wastewater industry with several full‐scale installations operating, in construction, or design

Several advantages, but some disadvantages, are considered in comparison with incineration

Organic contaminants, including PFAS, will undergo transformation and potentially complete mineralization through each process
Publication Bias in Precision Oncology and Cancer Biomarker Research; Challenges and Possible Implications
Authors: Lotsberg Maria Lie , D’mello Peters Stacey Ann
Published: March 2022

Publication bias and lack of information sharing are major obstacles in scientific research. Indeed, a lot of time, money and effort might be misspent on research that has already been undertaken, but not published. Over time, this causes a bias in the scientific literature that has implications for researchers designing new research projects or interpreting results. It also affects society and decision-making processes as important scientific knowledge is not shared, used, and critically discussed. In the specific context of medical research, publication bias can have a great impact on patients’ lives, as they could potentially have received a more adequate treatment or avoided harmful side-effects. The issue of publication bias seems even more stringent for precision oncology and biomarker research, as aiming for perfection or ‘hyper precision’ will leave even less space for ‘negative’ results than in medical research in general. Indeed, although a lot of resources are spent on cancer biomarker research, still only a few biomarkers end up in the clinic, and even for those that “succeed” in this process, there are still challenges with defining cut-offs for biomarker positive and negative subgroups as well as deciding how to treat the biomarker defined subgroups in a most optimal way. The aim of this chapter is to explore the extent of publication bias in the context of precision oncology and cancer biomarker research: its implications on researchers, patients, and society, as well as to reflect on the deeper roots of the problem.
Filled with Desire, Perceive Molecules
Authors: Strand Roger , Engen Caroline
Published: March 2022

Could there be a Taoist philosophy of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML)? This chapter discusses why a molecular treatment of AML has been so hard to find but still so intensely researched, and exposes some of the ethical dilemmas involved when treating this aggressive blood cancer. It does so by applying the concepts and style of the ancient Chinese masterpiece Tao Te Ching, the essence of which is that the real world is richer than what can be expressed by language.
Precision Oncology in the News
Authors: Stenmarck Mille Sofie , Nilsen Irmelin W.
Published: March 2022

Cancer has been a highly prevalent topic in the news media for some time and continues to be so with the rise and alleged promise of precision medicine. In this chapter, we present two empirical studies that explore how the news media frames issues related to cancer treatment and research.

Our two studies both find a striking lack of nuance and diversity in the framing. The media coverage has seemingly stagnated, with a framing of either tragic choices and patient stories, or the sensationalistic coverage of new cancer drugs and treatments. The news content is accepted as is without further challenging questions or objections. We consider why it is that these news framings remain unchallenged in this way.

We argue that we need a more sober approach to cancer in the news media, thus challenging the dominant framings that have characterized the media coverage of the topic of cancer over the last decade. The news media is one of the contributing instances, shaping the public discourse on cancer. However the answer as to why we see this complete lack of nuance cannot solely be studied with a media centred approach.
Inferring Invariants with Quantifier Alternations: Taming the Search Space Explosion
Authors: Koenig Jason R. , Padon Oded , Shoham Sharon , Aiken Alex
Published: March 2022

We present a PDR/IC3 algorithm for finding inductive invariants with quantifier alternations. We tackle scalability issues that arise due to the large search space of quantified invariants by combining a breadth-first search strategy and a new syntactic form for quantifier-free bodies. The breadth-first strategy prevents inductive generalization from getting stuck in regions of the search space that are expensive to search and focuses instead on lemmas that are easy to discover. The new syntactic form is well-suited to lemmas with quantifier alternations by allowing both limited conjunction and disjunction in the quantifier-free body, while carefully controlling the size of the search space. Combining the breadth-first strategy with the new syntactic form results in useful inductive bias by prioritizing lemmas according to: (i) well-defined syntactic metrics for simple quantifier structures and quantifier-free bodies, and (ii) the empirically useful heuristic of preferring lemmas that are fast to discover. On a benchmark suite of primarily distributed protocols and complex Paxos variants, we demonstrate that our algorithm can solve more of the most complicated examples than state-of-the-art techniques.
LinSyn: Synthesizing Tight Linear Bounds for Arbitrary Neural Network Activation Functions
Authors: Paulsen Brandon , Wang Chao
Published: March 2022

The most scalable approaches to certifying neural network robustness depend on computing sound linear lower and upper bounds for the network’s activation functions. Current approaches are limited in that the linear bounds must be handcrafted by an expert, and can be sub-optimal, especially when the network’s architecture composes operations using, for example, multiplication such as in LSTMs and the recently popularSwishactivation. The dependence on an expert prevents the application of robustness certification to developments in the state-of-the-art of activation functions, and furthermore the lack of tightness guarantees may give a false sense of insecurity about a particular model. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to consider the problem ofautomaticallysynthesizingtightlinear bounds for arbitrary n-dimensional activation functions. We propose the first fully automated method that achieves tight linear bounds while only leveraging the mathematical definition of the activation function itself. Our method leverages an efficient heuristic technique to synthesize bounds that are tight andusually sound, and then verifies the soundness (and adjusts the bounds if necessary) using the highly optimized branch-and-bound SMT solver,dReal. Even though our method depends on an SMT solver, we show that the runtime is reasonable in practice, and, compared with state of the art, our method often achieves 2-5X tighter final output bounds and more than quadruple certified robustness.
Clausal Proofs for Pseudo-Boolean Reasoning
Authors: Bryant Randal E. , Biere Armin , Heule Marijn J. H.
Published: March 2022

When augmented with a Pseudo-Boolean (PB) solver, a Boolean satisfiability (SAT) solver can apply apply powerful reasoning methods to determine when a set of parity or cardinality constraints, extracted from the clauses of the input formula, has no solution. By converting the intermediate constraints generated by the PB solver into ordered binary decision diagrams (BDDs), a proof-generating, BDD-based SAT solver can then produce a clausal proof that the input formula is unsatisfiable. Working together, the two solvers can generate proofs of unsatisfiability for problems that are intractable for other proof-generating SAT solvers. The PB solver can, at times, detect that the proof can exploit modular arithmetic to give smaller BDD representations and therefore shorter proofs.
Moving Definition Variables in Quantified Boolean Formulas
Authors: Reeves Joseph E. , Heule Marijn J. H. , Bryant Randal E.
Published: March 2022

Augmenting problem variables in a quantified Boolean formula with definition variables enables a compact representation in clausal form. Generally these definition variables are placed in the innermost quantifier level. To restore some structural information, we introduce a preprocessing technique that moves definition variables to the quantifier level closest to the variables that define them. We express the movement in the QRAT proof system to allow verification by independent proof checkers. We evaluated definition variable movement on the QBFEVAL’20 competition benchmarks. Movement significantly improved performance for the competition’s top solvers. Combining variable movement with the preprocessorBloqqerimproves solver performance compared to usingBloqqeralone.
Property Directed Reachability for Generalized Petri Nets
Authors: Amat Nicolas , Zilio Silvano Dal , Hujsa Thomas
Published: March 2022

We propose a semi-decision procedure for checking generalized reachability properties, on generalized Petri nets, that is based on the Property Directed Reachability (PDR) method. We actually define three different versions, that vary depending on the method used for abstracting possible witnesses, and that are able to handle problems of increasing difficulty. We have implemented our methods in a model-checker called SMPT and give empirical evidences that our approach can handle problems that are difficult or impossible to check with current state of the art tools.
Searching for Ribbon-Shaped Paths in Fair Transition Systems
Authors: Bozzano Marco , Cimatti Alessandro , Tonetta Stefano , Vozarova Viktoria
Published: March 2022

Diagnosability is a fundamental problem of partial observable systems in safety-critical design. Diagnosability verification checks if the observable part of system is sufficient to detect some faults. A counterexample to diagnosability may consist of infinitely many indistinguishable traces that differ in the occurrence of the fault. When the system under analysis is modeled as a Büchi automaton or finite-state Fair Transition System, this problem reduces to look for ribbon-shaped paths, i.e., fair paths with a loop in the middle.

In this paper, we propose to solve the problem by extending the liveness-to-safety approach to look for lasso-shaped paths. The algorithm can be applied to various diagnosability conditions in a uniform way by changing the conditions on the loops. We implemented and evaluated the approach on various diagnosability benchmarks.
CoVeriTeam: On-Demand Composition of Cooperative Verification Systems
Authors: Beyer Dirk , Kanav Sudeep
Published: March 2022

There is no silver bullet for software verification: Different techniques have different strengths. Thus, it is imperative to combine the strengths of verification tools via combinations and cooperation. CoVeriTeam is a language and tool for on-demand composition of cooperative approaches. It provides a systematic and modular way to combine existing tools (without changing them) in order to leverage their full potential. The idea of cooperative verification is that different tools help each other to achieve the goal of correctly solving verification tasks.

The language is based on verification artifacts (programs, specifications, witnesses) as basic objects and verification actors (verifiers, validators, testers) as basic operations. We define composition operators that make it possible to easily describe new compositions. Verification artifacts are the interface between the different verification actors. CoVeriTeam consists of a language for composition of verification actors, and its interpreter.

As a result of viewing tools as components, we can now create powerful verification engines that are beyond the possibilities of single tools, avoiding to develop certain components repeatedly. We illustrate the abilities of CoVeriTeam on a few case studies. We expect that CoVeriTeam will help verification researchers and practitioners to easily experiment with new tools, and assist them in rapid prototyping of tool combinations.
Efficient Neural Network Analysis with Sum-of-Infeasibilities
Authors: Wu Haoze , Zeljić Aleksandar , Katz Guy , Barrett Clark
Published: March 2022

Inspired by sum-of-infeasibilities methods in convex optimization, we propose a novel procedure for analyzing verification queries on neural networks with piecewise-linear activation functions. Given a convex relaxation which over-approximates the non-convex activation functions, we encode the violations of activation functions as a cost function and optimize it with respect to the convex relaxation. The cost function, referred to as the Sum-of-Infeasibilities (SoI), is designed so that its minimum is zero and achieved only if all the activation functions are satisfied. We propose a stochastic procedure, , to efficiently minimize the SoI. An extension to a canonical case-analysis-based complete search procedure can be achieved by replacing the convex procedure executed at each search state with . Extending the complete search with achieves multiple simultaneous goals: 1) it guides the search towards a counter-example; 2) it enables more informed branching decisions; and 3) it creates additional opportunities for bound derivation. An extensive evaluation across different benchmarks and solvers demonstrates the benefit of the proposed techniques. In particular, we demonstrate that SoI significantly improves the performance of an existing complete search procedure. Moreover, the SoI-based implementation outperforms other state-of-the-art complete verifiers. We also show that our technique can efficiently improve upon the perturbation bound derived by a recent adversarial attack algorithm.
Verified First-Order Monitoring with Recursive Rules
Authors: Zingg Sheila , Krstić Srđan , Raszyk Martin , Schneider Joshua , Traytel Dmitriy
Published: March 2022

First-order temporal logics and rule-based formalisms are two popular families of specification languages for monitoring. Each family has its advantages and only few monitoring tools support their combination. We extend metric first-order temporal logic (MFOTL) with a recursive let construct, which enables interleaving rules with temporal logic formulas. We also extend VeriMon, an MFOTL monitor whose correctness has been formally verified using the Isabelle proof assistant, to support the new construct. The extended correctness proof covers the interaction of the new construct with the existing verified algorithm, which is subtle due to the presence of the bounded future temporal operators. We demonstrate the recursive let’s usefulness on several example specifications and evaluate our verified algorithm’s performance against the DejaVu monitoring tool.