bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cloud based manufacturing: A review of recent developments in architectures, technologies, infrastructures, platforms and associated challenges
Authors: Gharibvand Vahid , Kolamroudi Mohammad Karimzadeh , Zeeshan Qasim , Çınar Zeki Murat , Sahmani Saeid , Asmael Mohammed , Safaei Babak
Published: February 2024

Service-provider industries have used cloud-based technologies in recent years. Information technology (IT) led the development of electronic hardware and software technologies to enable cloud computing as a new paradigm. Other vanguard industries such as communications and financial services leveraged cloud computing technology to develop cloud-based platforms for their respective industries. Manufacturing industry is a relative newcomer to cloud technologies although it has used modern technologies on factory floor to boost production efficiency. Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) is one of the key technologies of Industry 4.0 (I 4.0) and the goal of CMfg is to develop cloud-based approaches in manufacturing that provide flexibility, adaptability, and agility also, reduces challenges caused by system complexity. In recent years, researchers evaluated cloud technologies and proposed initial solutions tailored to manufacturing requirements. However, there are challenges in implementing CMfg due to complexity of technologies, different types of products and wide range of requirements from mass production of consumer products to low-volume specialty products. This paper presents the advantages, challenges and shortcomings associated with applications of the latest technologies to drive transition to CMfg. This research examined cloud technologies proposed for implementation of CMfg such as architectures, models, frameworks, infrastructure, interoperability, virtualization, optimal service selection, etc. This research also studied the role of technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), cyber physical systems (CPS) robotics, big data, radio frequency identification (RFID), 3D printing and artificial intelligence (AI) in accelerating the adoption and future direction of CMfg.
Slowly recurrent Collet–Eckmann maps on the Riemann sphere
Authors: Aspenberg Magnus
Published: February 2024

In this paper we study perturbations of rational Collet–Eckmann maps for which the Julia set is the whole sphere, and for which the critical set is allowed to be slowly recurrent. Generically, if each critical point is simple, we show that each such Collet–Eckmann map is a Lebesgue point of Collet–Eckmann maps in the space of rational maps of the same degree $$d \ge 2$$

d
≥
2

. The same result holds in each subspace, where we fix the multiplicities of the critical points.
In vivo validation of the functional role of MicroRNA-4638-3p in breast cancer bone metastasis
Authors: Akshaya R. L. , Saranya I. , Salomi G. Margaret , Shanthi P. , Ilangovan R. , Venkataraman P. , Selvamurugan N.
Published: February 2024

Purpose

Skeletal metastases are increasingly reported in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (BC) patients. We previously reported that TGF-β1 sustains activating transcription factor 3(ATF3) expression and is required for cell proliferation, invasion, and bone metastasis genes. Increasing studies suggest the critical regulatory function of microRNAs (miRNAs) in governing BC pathogenesis. TGF-β1 downregulated the expression of miR-4638-3p, which targets ATF3 in human BC cells (MDA-MB-231). In the present study, we aimed to identify the functional role of miR-4638-3p in BC bone metastasis by the caudal artery injection of the MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing mir-4638 in the mice.

Methods

MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing miR-4638 were prepared by stable transfections. Reverse transcriptase quantitative PCR was carried out to determine the expression of endogenous miR-4638-3p and bone resorption marker genes. X-ray, micro-CT, and Hematoxylin & Eosin studies were used to determine osteolytic lesions, trabecular structure, bone mineral density, and micrometastasis of cells.

Results

The mice injected with MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing miR-4638-3p decreased the expression of bone resorption marker genes, compared to MDA-MB-231 cells injection. Reduced osteolytic lesions and restored bone density by MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing miR-4638-3p were observed. Similarly, the mice injected with MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing miR-4638-3p showed a better microarchitecture of the trabecular network. A few abnormal cells seen in the femur of MDA-MB-231 cells-injected mice were not found in MDA-MB-231 cells overexpressing miR-4638.

Conclusion

The identified functional role of ATF3 targeting miR-4638-3p in BC bone metastasis in vivo suggests its candidature as BC therapeutics in the future.
OpenWorkFlow—Development of an open-source synthesis-platform for safety investigations in the site selection process
Authors: Lehmann Christoph , Bilke Lars , Buchwald Jörg , Graebling Nico , Grunwald Norbert , Heinze Julian , Meisel Tobias , Lu Renchao , Naumov Dmitri , Rink Karsten , Özgür Sen Ozan , Selzer Philipp , Shao Haibing , Wang Wenqing , Zill Florian , Nagel Thomas , Kolditz Olaf
Published: February 2024

The identification of appropriate locations for secure nuclear waste disposal, a crucial aspect of Germany’s nuclear phase-out strategy (StandAG 2017), remains a significant scientific, technical, and political challenge worldwide. The selection and safety assessment of sites demand extensive applications of numerical methods. The OpenWorkFlow project, initiated by Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung (BGE), develops a new, open synthesis platform to virtualise repository systems. The simulation platform will evaluate far-field and near-field processes, supporting the site selection process first and the geotechnical design of repository systems later on. The project’s development philosophy adheres to the principles of continuity and innovation. Through continuous scientific development, the OpenWorkFlow platform will remain at the forefront of science and technology. Furthermore, as a digital platform, OpenWorkFlow employs up-to-date IT methods and constantly evolving software concepts. As its name suggests, OpenWorkFlow (OWF) is an open platform, developed on the basis of FAIR principles as an open-source project, inviting community participation.

This paper primarily focuses on the technical aspects of OWF, with only a brief discussion of conceptual principles and modelling methods. In the second part of the manuscript, demonstration examples from different scales are presented to illustrate the current technical status of OWF and to emphasize the requirement for further development.
The Dubousset Functional Test: a reliable and valid test in early stage Parkinson’s disease patients
Authors: Abit Kocaman Ayşe , Aydoğan Arslan Saniye , Bozkurt Yusuf Emre , Coşkun Erdal
Published: February 2024

Introduction

Dubousset Functional Test (DFT) is an assessment test evaluating the functional capacity and dynamic balance. The study aimed to examine the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the DFT in early stage Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional study. Thirty-three early stage PD patients were recruited. The DFT was performed along with the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, dual-task TUG, Functional Reach Test (FRT), 3-m backward walk test (3MBWT), Tinetti Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA), and Berg Balance Scale (BBS).

Results

The test–retest reliability of the subcomponents of the DFT was excellent. The ICCs were as follows: 0.952, 0.955, 0.917, and 0.919, respectively. The correlation with subcomponents of DFT and TUG, dual-task TUG, FRT, 3MBWT, BBS, and POMA was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). The standard measurement errors of the subcomponents of the DFT were 1.45, 1.39, 1.70, and 1.57, respectively. The minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of the subcomponents was 2.05, 1.97, 2.41, and 2.22, respectively.

Conclusion

The DFT is a reliable, valid, and easy-to-administer tool in assessing the balance and physical function of early stage PD patients.
Tracing the evolution of cyber resilience: a historical and conceptual review
Authors: Tzavara Vasiliki , Vassiliadis Savvas
Published: February 2024

In 2000, during a time when cyber security research was focused on the risks and threats posed by digital systems, the notion of being able to withstand and recover from cyber attacks, also known as cyber resilience, emerged. Recently, this concept has gained increasing attention due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid acceleration of digitalization. While experts acknowledge the distinction between cyber security and cyber resilience, the exact definition and evolution of the latter remain somewhat ambiguous. The aim of this paper is to offer a thorough comprehension of how the notion of cyber resilience has developed throughout history. It delves into the concept of cyber resilience and its progression over time in response to the rising frequency and complexity of cyber threats. Cyber resilience, a new concept, has gained significant recognition as a critical component of cyber security strategy across diverse sectors, encompassing public and private domains alike. It begins with an overview of the definition and key components of cyber resilience and then traces the origin of the concept from its early development in the 2000s. The paper also explores the major milestones and events that have shaped the evolution of this capacity, including changes in technology and societal factors, up to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. This study provides valuable insights into future challenges for ensuring the continued resilience of digital infrastructure by examining the historical and contextual factors that have influenced the concept.
A framework for embedded software portability and verification: from formal models to low-level code
Authors: Martins Gomes Renata , Aichernig Bernhard , Baunach Marcel
Published: February 2024

Porting software to new target architectures is a common challenge, particularly when dealing with low-level functionality in drivers or OS kernels that interact directly with hardware. Traditionally, adapting code for different hardware platforms has been a manual and error-prone process. However, with the growing demand for dependability and the increasing hardware diversity in systems like the IoT, new software development approaches are essential. This includes rigorous methods for verifying and automatically porting Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS) to various devices. Our framework addresses this challenge through formal methods and code generation for embedded RTOS. We demonstrate a hardware-specific part of a kernel model in Event-B, ensuring correctness according to the specification. Since hardware details are only added in late modeling stages, we can reuse most of the model and proofs for multiple targets. In a proof of concept, we refine the generic model for two different architectures, also ensuring safety and liveness properties. We then showcase automatic low-level code generation from the model. Finally, a hardware-independent factorial function model illustrates more potential of our approach.
Panic consumption under public health emergencies: The mediating role of risk perception
Authors: Peng Shao , Hadžić Bakir , Danner Michael , Rätsch Matthias
Published: February 2024

Aim

The primary objective of this study was to examine and explain the public panic consumption model based on the stimulus–organism–response theory, during the peak time period of the COVID-19 pandemic in China.

Subject and methods

The research data were collected through the questionnaires adapted for the purpose of this survey, which included a total of 408 participants (33% female) from the global population. The stepwise regression analysis has been conducted.

Results

The results have shown that both physical social networks and online social networks have a significant positive impact on infection risk perception, but the impact of physical social networks has proved to be a better predictor. Infection information obtained from physical social networks affects conformity buying and uncontrolled self-medication if the perceived risk perception is higher. When it comes to the impact of risk perception on conformity buying, health change has a significant negative regulatory effect. In the impact of risk perception on the uncontrolled self-medication, health change has no significant regulatory effect.

Conclusions

During the recent epidemic states, it is noticeable that public panic consumption has aggravated the difficulty of emergency management. Especially when it comes to the management of medical materials and medicines. In order to tackle this challenge in the future, the trigger mechanisms behind panic consumption are revealed.
Chance-constrained stochastic assembly line balancing with branch, bound and remember algorithm
Authors: Li Zixiang , Sikora Celso Gustavo Stall , Kucukkoc Ibrahim
Published: February 2024

Assembly lines are widely used mass production techniques applied in various industries from electronics to automotive and aerospace. A branch, bound, and remember (BBR) algorithm is presented in this research to tackle the chance-constrained stochastic assembly line balancing problem (ALBP). In this problem variation, the processing times are stochastic, while the cycle time must be respected for a given probability. The proposed BBR method stores all the searched partial solutions in memory and utilizes the cyclic best-first search strategy to quickly achieve high-quality complete solutions. Meanwhile, this study also develops several new lower bounds and dominance rules by taking the stochastic task times into account. To evaluate the performance of the developed method, a large set of 1614 instances is generated and solved. The performance of the BBR algorithm is compared with two mixed-integer programming models and twenty re-implemented heuristics and metaheuristics, including the well-known genetic algorithm, ant colony optimization algorithm and simulated annealing algorithm. The comparative study demonstrates that the mathematical models cannot achieve high-quality solutions when solving large-size instances, for which the BBR algorithm shows clear superiority over the mathematical models. The developed BBR outperforms all the compared heuristic and metaheuristic methods and is the new state-of-the-art methodology for the stochastic ALBP.
A deep clustering-based state-space model for improved disease risk prediction in personalized healthcare
Authors: Niu Shuai , Ma Jing , Yin Qing , Bai Liang , Li Chen , Yang Xian
Published: February 2024

Decision support systems are being developed to assist clinicians in complex decision-making processes by leveraging information from clinical knowledge and electronic health records (EHRs). One typical application is disease risk prediction, which can be challenging due to the complexity of modelling longitudinal EHR data, including unstructured medical notes. To address this challenge, we propose a deep state-space model (DSSM) that simulates the patient’s state transition process and formally integrates latent states with risk observations. A typical DSSM consists of three parts: a prior module that generates the distribution of the current latent state based on previous states; a posterior module that approximates the latent states using up-to-date medical notes; and a likelihood module that predicts disease risks using latent states. To efficiently and effectively encode raw medical notes, our posterior module uses an attentive encoder to better extract information from unstructured high-dimensional medical notes. Additionally, we couple a predictive clustering algorithm into our DSSM to learn clinically useful representations of patients’ latent states. The latent states are clustered into multiple groups, and the weighted average of the cluster centres is used for prediction. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our deep clustering-based state-space model using two real-world EHR datasets, showing that it not only generates better risk prediction results than other baseline methods but also clusters similar patient health states into groups.
Combining cognition and context: entrepreneurial alertness and the microfoundations of entrepreneurial ecosystems
Authors: Roundy Philip T. , Im Subin
Published: February 2024

Entrepreneurial alertness (EA) research has made substantial progress in identifying the psychological and organizational antecedents and consequences of EA. However, the interactions between environmental factors and EA are understudied and it is unclear how alertness influences and is shaped by entrepreneurs’ local ecosystems. In this “perspectives” essay, we contend that EA and entrepreneurial ecosystems research could be enriched by greater cross-fertilization. We respond to calls for more focus on the microfoundations of entrepreneurship by exploring the opportunities in research at the interface of EA and entrepreneurial ecosystems. We develop a multi-level framework to explain how EA is not only influenced by entrepreneurial ecosystems but can collectively influence the system-level functioning and leadership of ecosystems. Our framework clarifies how EA is shaped by the social, cultural, and material attributes of ecosystems and, in turn, how EA influences ecosystem attributes (diversity and coherence) and outcomes (resilience and coordination). We explain why it is critical to treat the environment as more than simply a moderating influence on the effects of EA and why it is fruitful for entrepreneurship research to develop a fuller picture of EA’s contextual determinants and outcomes. We conclude by proposing a research agenda that explores the interplay between EA and entrepreneurial ecosystems.
What makes a change agent in environmental conflict transformation? Evidence from rural France
Authors: Calla Simon , Lécuyer Lou , Butler James R. A. , Young Juliette C.
Published: February 2024

Transformation of agriculture towards increased sustainability is needed to meet the challenge of declining biodiversity. Nevertheless, stakeholders’ differing perceptions of what sustainability should be, and the multiplicity of possible ways to achieve it can lead to conflictual situations, highlighting the importance of conflict transformation as part of the broader sustainability transformation. If conflict transformation needs to be addressed to prevent the status quo persisting, such processes also reveal the state of social relations and allow us to analyze how collective actions could lead to broader transformations. Using three case studies involving conflicts around pesticide use in the region Bourgogne Franche-Comté (France), we investigate the hypothesis that transformation processes require the engagement of change agents who are motivated and able to overcome barriers to change. Results from 55 in-depth interviews with stakeholders highlight that transformational change depends less on the capacities of a single individual, and more on the mobilization of a plurality of heterogeneous actors (especially farmers, local authorities, and the general public). These actors need to carry out a range of activities that occur with and for others and have an influence on others. According to interviewees, the actors need to engage others, encourage new initiatives, create spaces for knowledge exchanges, and go beyond boundaries. The effectiveness of change agents also depends on the existence of participatory and proactive processes to bring individuals together to create or capitalize on windows of opportunity.
Acute toxicity tests of TEMPO-oxidized cellulose nanofiber using Daphnia magna and Oryzias latipes
Authors: Tai Rie , Ogura Isamu , Okazaki Toshiya , Iizumi Yoko , Mano Hiroyuki
Published: February 2024

Ecotoxicity data on cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) are limited despite their wide application prospects. Herein, acute toxicity tests of 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl radical (TEMPO)-oxidized CNFs to Daphnia magna and Oryzias latipes were conducted according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development test guidelines, which consider CNF dispersibility during the test. To select a suitable test medium, the interaction between the medium components and CNFs was first evaluated using five test media with different ion concentrations. The viscosity, zeta potential, and concentration uniformity of TEMPO-CNFs changed with increasing ionic concentration. The toxicity test results showed no acute toxicity of TEMPO-CNFs to the two species, even at the highest exposure concentrations in this study. Both the median effective concentration (EC50) and median lethal concentration (LC50) were >100 mg/L. In most cases, the measured CNF concentrations were within 20% of the nominal concentrations and remained largely constant. However, in the D. magna acute toxicity test, the concentration uniformity of TEMPO-CNFs tended to decrease when the CNF concentration was low. Our results demonstrate the importance of measuring CNF concentrations during testing and revealed that the ion concentrations in the test solution changed because of the interaction between the medium components and TEMPO-CNFs. This finding demonstrates the importance of examining the components of the medium to avoid mistaking the effects of depleted medium components for the direct effects of TEMPO-CNFs on aquatic organisms.
A Heritage Without Boundaries: Nature-Culture Synergies in and around Norwegian Protected Landscapes
Authors: Bele Bolette , Nielsen Véronique Karine Simon , Fairclough Graham , Herring Peter
Published: February 2024

We address the question of nature-culture synergies in protected mountain landscapes with a specific focus on the Norwegian National Park of Hardangervidda. Fragile and complex ecosystems developed from long-lasting socio-ecological grazing processes that started approximately 4000 years ago in Scandinavia are facing manifold environmental challenges and societal issues that endanger both natural and cultural heritages. Our goals are to clarify the nature-culture synergies and relationships and investigate holistic management and preservation of natural and cultural values. Our results highlight an urgent need to develop holistic conservation frameworks and methodologies for protected landscapes that integrate cultural and natural heritages and enhance the potential of local communities to protect threatened semi-natural environments and experienced-based knowledge for the future.
Overlooked and misunderstood: how urban community gardeners perceive social wasps and their ecosystem functions
Authors: Schmack Julia M. , Egerer Monika , Karlebowski Susan , Neumann Astrid E. , Sturm Ulrike
Published: February 2024

Despite their importance for agricultural food production, many insects receive little to no positive attention. While bees have become the focus of insect conservation in agricultural landscapes, social wasps still rank among the most disliked animals and their ecological role and the ecosystem services they provide through e.g. pollination and pest control is subsequently understudied. We conducted a survey on the perceptions of social wasps and their ecosystem functions in urban community gardens in Berlin and Munich, Germany. We found that gardeners rated wasps as least beneficial for urban gardens among other insect taxa, and that predation was perceived as a negative function in insects and spiders. Respondent´s emotions were predominantly positive towards bees and negative towards wasps. Trivia questions about wasps revealed that knowledge of wasp ecology was positively associated with respondents´ willingness to share gardens with wasps. Implications for insect conservation: Our results show that urban gardeners´ negative perceptions of social wasps are likely driven by both a lack of knowledge about their ecological functions and a profusion of negative emotions towards wasps. Public outreach and education on the ecological importance of social wasps and other uncharismatic taxa as well as positive encounters with these specieshave the potential to improve their public image and thereby support the conservation of wasps and other insects.
Multi-label oxide classification in float-zone silicon crystal growth using transfer learning and asymmetric loss
Authors: Chen Tingting , Tosello Guido , Calaon Matteo
Published: February 2024

Float-Zone (FZ) crystal growth process allows for producing higher purity silicon crystal with much lower concentrations of impurities, in particular low oxygen content. Nevertheless, the FZ process occasionally faces the problem of small contamination from oxidation. This can come in the form of a thin oxide layer that may form on un-melted polysilicon surface. The appearance of the oxide layer indicates degraded machine performance and the need for machine maintenance. Therefore, oxide investigation is important for improving both the FZ process and FZ machines, and the first step is oxide recognition. In this study, we characterized oxide into mainly three varieties, according to their surface texture characteristics, which are: (i) spot (ii) shadow and (iii) ghost curtain. We leveraged FZ images captured from the vision system integrated on the FZ machine to establish an oxide dataset. Targeted for data imbalance problem in our dataset, a method based on transfer learning and asymmetric loss for multi-label oxide classification is presented in this work. The results showed that the pre-trained model and the asymmetric loss used for training outperformed the baseline models and improved the classification performance. Furthermore, this study deeply investigated the effectiveness of the components of asymmetric loss. Finally, Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-CAM) was employed to explain decision process of the models in order to adopt them in the industry.
Polar form of Dirac fields: implementing symmetries via Lie derivative
Authors: Fabbri Luca , Vignolo Stefano , Cianci Roberto
Published: February 2024

We consider the Lie derivative along Killing vector fields of the Dirac relativistic spinors: By using the polar decomposition we acquire the mean to study the implementation of symmetries on Dirac fields. Specifically, we will become able to examine under what conditions it is equivalent to impose a symmetry upon a spinor or only upon its observables. For one physical application, we discuss the role of the above analysis for the specific spherical symmetry, obtaining some no-go theorem regarding spinors and discussing the generality of our approach.
Untangling the commons: three different forms of commonality
Authors: Moroni Stefano
Published: February 2024

The term “commons” is used with increasing frequency in the public debate and scientific literature in various fields (including economics and sociology). However, this term is often ambiguous and used to denote quite different things. Obviously, any concept, and therefore also the concept of “commons”, does not have an “essence”. Clear definitions do not serve to capture what something is in itself, but only to rigorously specify what use is made of a given expression. In other words, linguistic precision is not a value in itself, but becomes necessary when misunderstandings can arise – as happens in the case under discussion. This article critically revisits the notion itself of “commons”. It is based on an extensive interdisciplinary literature review. However, the intent is not to provide an overview of the state of the art but to suggest a critical reframing of the discourse. The overall aim is not solely to distinguish different uses of the term; it is also to clarify the real scope and meaning of each definition of it – such as the one proposed by Elinor Ostrom, which is too often inappropriately invoked. As the article demonstrates, Ostrom’s view on many issues perfectly aligns with the Hayekian account of the evolutionary, emerging nature of a significant number of successful institutions and forms of organization.
Instruction influences cross-language transfer of reading skills: evidence from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial
Authors: Kim Young-Suk Grace , Stern Jonathan , Mohohlwane Nompumelelo , Taylor Stephen
Published: February 2024

Longitudinal data from the Early Grade Reading Study (EGRS I) in South Africa (N = 4538) were used to examine the role of instructional contexts in the relations of literacy skills between children’s home language (L1 Setswana) and a second language (L2 English). All children received literacy instruction in Setswana in Grades 1 to 3. However, children in the treatment condition were provided with explicit and systematic Setswana language instruction in phonological awareness and phonics (n = 1964), whereas those in comparison condition received business-as-usual instruction (n = 2574). Children’s literacy skills were assessed four times: Time 1 in the beginning of Grade 1, Time 2 at the end of Grade 1, Time 3 at the end of Grade 2, and Time 4 at the end of Grade 4. Literacy data in Setswana were collected in all four time points, whereas data in English were collected in Times 3 and 4. Results from confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling showed that L1 Setswana literacy skill strongly predicted concurrent L2 English reading skill across instructional contexts. However, the longitudinal relation from Grade 2 Setswana literacy skill to Grade 4 English reading skill was found only for those in the treatment condition, but not for those in the comparison condition, after accounting for concurrent relations between Setswana and English. These results suggest that instructional contexts in L1 have implications for the nature relations between L1 and L2 literacy skills.
An Analysis of the Effect of Streaming on Civic Participation Through a Causal Hidden Markov Model
Authors: Bartolucci Francesco , Favaro Donata , Pennoni Fulvia , Sciulli Dario
Published: February 2024

We examine the effect of streaming based on ability levels on individuals’ civic participation throughout their adult life. The hypothesis we test is that ability grouping influences individuals’ general self-concept and, consequently, their civic participation choices across the life course. We employ data from the British National Child Development Study, which follows all UK citizens born during a certain week in 1958. Six binary variables observed at 33, 42, and 51 years of age are considered to measure civic participation. Our approach defines causal estimands with multiple treatments referring to the evolution of civic engagement over time in terms of potential versions of a sequence of latent variables assumed to follow a Markov chain with initial and transition probabilities depending on posttreatment time-varying covariates. The model also addresses partially or entirely missing data on one or more indicators at a given time occasion and missing posttreatment covariate values using dummy indicators. The model is estimated by maximizing a weighted log-likelihood function with weights corresponding to the inverse probability of the received treatment obtained from a multinomial logit model based on pretreatment covariates. Our results show that ability grouping affects the civic participation of high-ability individuals when they are 33 years old with respect to participation in general elections.
Camp Lejeune Marine Cancer Risk Assessment for Exposure to Contaminated Drinking Water From 1955 to 1987
Authors: Rosenfeld Paul E. , Spaeth Kenneth R. , McCarthy Savannah J. , Winter Sophia C. , Wilson Maddie S. , Hagemann Matthew
Published: February 2024

This study utilizes guidance from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to calculate the cancer risk to United States Marines who were exposed to carcinogens in drinking water at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune. Camp Lejeune is a 233-square-mile Marine Corps training facility in North Carolina. From 1953 to 1987, nearby dry cleaners, landfills, and underground storage tanks contaminated drinking water systems that served Camp Lejeune (ATSDR, 2017). Some of the most toxic contaminants found in the drinking water modeled by ATSDR include benzene, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), trichloroethylene (TCE), trans-1,2-dichloroethylene (DCE), and vinyl chloride (VC). ATSDR utilized MODFLOW and EPANET modeling software to determine the level of contamination in the three main drinking water systems at Camp Lejeune: Tarawa Terrace, Holcomb Boulevard, and Hadnot Point. This paper presents an application of methodology to quantify cancer risk for the Marines who lived and served at Camp Lejeune from 1953 to 1987 using ATSDR’s health assessment, chemical contaminant modeling, and USEPA methodology. While VC and TCE were found to be the main risk drivers, benzene and PCE also contributed to the cumulative cancer risk. This analysis shows (1) That the cancer risk was greatest during the 1970s and 1980s and (2) that the inhalation exposure pathway had the greatest contribution to overall cancer risk followed by ingestion, with the smallest contribution from dermal absorption.
Determination of Bioavailability, Potential Ecological and Human Health Risks, and Biomonitoring of Potential Toxic Elements in Gold Mine Tailings from Four Areas of Antioquia, Colombia
Authors: Salazar Juan P. , Saldarriaga Juan F. , Zapata Daniela , López Julián E.
Published: February 2024

Gold mining has helped many countries and regions grow and prosper. Yet, because of the significant environmental effects produced, waste management (mine tailings) has emerged as a crucial issue for the sector. In this study, the concentrations of several potential toxic elements (PTEs) (Fe, Zn, Cu, As, Hg, Pb, Cr, Cd, and Ni) in mine tailings from four gold mining operations (Yalí, Puerto Berrio, Buriticá 1, and Buriticá 2,) were quantified. A biomonitoring system has also been suggested, along with two environmental risk indexes for ecosystems and human health. To do this, composite samples of tailings were collected from the four regions. A PTEs analysis using an ICP-OES as well as physicochemical characterization (pH, electrical conductivity, cation exchange capacity, organic matter) have been performed. Indicators such as antioxidant activity and H2O2 content in Phaseolus vulgaris plants have been used to estimate the bioavailability of PTEs. In contrast to the pseudo-total concentration, the data showed that the bioavailable concentration of PTEs correlated with the risk. The ecological system and public health are more at risk from the mine tailings in Buriticá and Puerto Berrio. It has been demonstrated that P. vulgaris is a quick and effective technique to assess the danger to the environment and public health connected with mining regions, according to the suggested biomonitoring system. The findings of this study can assist the relevant authorities in taking quick action to improve environmental protection and risk management of hazardous waste in gold mining areas.
Attentional impairment and altered brain activity in healthcare workers after mild COVID-19
Authors: Lin Keyi , Gao Yaotian , Ji Wei , Li Yan , Wang Wei , Du Mengcheng , Liu Jia , Hong Zhengyu , Jiang Tao , Wang Yuyang
Published: February 2024

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) is highly transmissible and pathogenic. Patients with mild cases account for the majority of those infected with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Although there is evidence that many patients with COVID-19 have varying degrees of attentional impairment, little is known about how SARS-COV-2 affects attentional function. This study included a high-risk healthcare population divided into groups of healthcare workers (HCWs) with mild COVID-19 (patient group, n = 45) and matched healthy HCWs controls (HC group, n = 42), who completed general neuropsychological background tests and Attention Network Test (ANT), and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) to assess altered brain activity; Selective impairment occurred in orienting and executive control networks, but not in alert network, in the patient group, and widespread cognitive impairment encompassing general attention, memory, and executive dysfunction. Moreover, the patient group had significantly lower ALFF values in the left superior and left middle frontal gyri than the HC group. SARS-COV-2 infection may have led to reduced brain activity in the left superior and left middle frontal gyri, thus impairing attentional orienting and executive control networks, which may explain the development of attentional deficits after COVID-19.
Impact of Schistosoma sp., Infection on Biological, Feeding, Physiological, Histological, and Genotoxicological Aspects of Biomphalaria alexandrina and Bulinus truncatus Snails
Authors: Dokmak Hebat-Allah A. , Hammam Olfat A. , Ibrahim Amina M.
Published: February 2024

Background

Trematode infections of the genus Schistosoma can induce physiological and behavioral changes in intermediate snail hosts. This is because the parasite consumes essential resources necessary for the host's survival, prompting hosts to adapt their behavior to maintain some level of fitness before parasite-induced mortality occurs.

Methods

In this study, the reproductive and biochemical parameters of Biomphalaria alexandrina and Bulinus truncatus were examined during the cercareal shedding stage of infection with Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium, respectively, compared with controls.

Results

The study revealed an infection rate of 34.7% for S. mansoni and 30.4% for S. haematobium. In B. alexandrina infected with S. mansoni, a survival rate of 65.2% was recorded, along with a mean prepatent period of 30.3 ± 1.41 days, a mean shedding duration of 14.2 ± 0.16 days, and a mean lifespan of 44.1 ± 0.24 days. Meanwhile, in B. truncatus infected with S. haematobium, a survival rate of 56.4% was observed, with a mean prepatent period of 44.3 ± 1.41 days, a mean shedding duration of 22.6 ± 2.7 days, and a mean lifespan of 66.9 ± 1.6 days. Feeding increased in both infected species of snails, while the net reproductive rate (Ro) of the infected snails decreased. Total antioxidant (TAO) and lipid peroxidation activity increased in the two infected snail species during shedding, while Glutathione-S-transferase levels decreased. Lipid peroxidase activity and nitrogen oxide levels significantly decreased in infected B. alexandrina and increased in infected Bulinus. Steroid hormone levels were elevated in infected Biomphalaria, whereas they were reduced in infected Bulinus. Comet assay parameters showed an increase in the two infected genera after infection compared to control snails, indicating genotoxic damage and histopathological damage was observed.

Conclusions

These findings demonstrate that infection with larva species diverse biochemical, hormonal, genotoxic, and histopathological changes in the tissues responsible for fecundity and reproduction in B. alexandrina and B. truncates comparing with controls.
Policing Hate Crime: Exploring the Issue with a Cohort of Sworn Police Officers
Authors: Birch Philip , McNeill Kimberley , Levtova Yara , Ireland Jane L.
Published: February 2024

Globally, there has been a trend in rising levels of hate crime that scholars have argued is reflective of significant social problems within society. Research into hate crime has typically focused on the police and their subsequent response to this crime type, with many findings reporting that the police are racist, homophobic and Islamophobic, to name but a few. However, existing research seldom captures the insights and experiences of sworn police officers, as much of the data is gathered from third parties. This paper presents the empirical findings from a Delphi study conducted with one police force in Australia, sampling sworn New South Wales (NSW) police officers between October 2020 and October 2021. The findings focus on four overarching areas: defining hate crime, perpetrators of hate crime, victims of hate crime, and responses to hate crime. These themes capture the perspectives of NSW police officers in relation to operational and organisational practice in respect of hate crime. Drawing on a Delphi method, the research outlines police perceptions of the nature of hate crime, as well as capturing how hate crime can be effectively reported, recorded, and responded to. Conclusions and implications are considered. These include the requirement for a clearer definition and targeted education strategies aimed at improving knowledge and understanding relating to hate crime. Future directions include the development of a standardised approach to reporting, recording, and responding to hate crime.
Vanishing of quartic and sextic twists of L-functions
Authors: Berg Jennifer , Ryan Nathan C. , Young Matthew P.
Published: February 2024

Let E be an elliptic curve over $${{\mathbb {Q}}}$$
Q
. We conjecture asymptotic estimates for the number of vanishings of $$L(E,1,\chi )$$

L
(
E
,
1
,
χ
)

as $$\chi $$
χ
varies over all primitive Dirichlet characters of orders 4 and 6, subject to a mild hypothesis on E. Our conjectures about these families come from conjectures about random unitary matrices as predicted by the philosophy of Katz-Sarnak. We support our conjectures with numerical evidence. Compared to earlier work by David, Fearnley and Kisilevsky that formulated analogous conjectures for characters of any odd prime order, in the composite order case, we need to justify our use of random matrix theory heuristics by analyzing the equidistribution of the squares of normalized Gauss sums. To do this, we introduce the notion of totally order $$\ell $$
ℓ
characters to quantify how quickly the quartic and sextic Gauss sums become equidistributed. Surprisingly, the rate of equidistribution in the full family of quartic (resp., sextic) characters is much slower than in the sub-family of totally quartic (resp., sextic) characters. We provide a conceptual explanation for this phenomenon by observing that the full family of order $$\ell $$
ℓ
twisted elliptic curve L-functions, with $$\ell $$
ℓ
even and composite, is a mixed family with both unitary and orthogonal aspects.
Pathways to Euphoria: Deconstructing Gender-Expansive Adults Conceptualizations of Wellbeing
Authors: Hall Taine , Rees Clare , Newnham Elizabeth
Published: February 2024

Historically, research has portrayed transgender, gender-diverse, and non-binary (TGDN) individuals through narratives of distress and dysfunction. Through the adoption of a positive psychology lens, the present study sought to refute this dominant deficit model, instead exploring the processes that foster wellbeing among TGDN adults residing in Western Australia. Central to this study was the collaboration between researchers and the TGDN community. Participants comprised twelve adults who self-identified as members of Western Australia’s TGDN community, recruited through TGDN community spaces. In line with the exploratory qualitative design employed in this study, participants took part in face-to-face, semi-structured interviews; with transcripts analysed using thematic analysis. Gender euphoria emerged as the central concept underlying participants’ conceptualizations of wellbeing. Three subsequent themes were identified: (1) achieving gender congruence, (2) collectively healing, and (3) finding gender pride. Each theme illustrates a means through which gender euphoria, and thus wellbeing, was elicited among participants. These findings may inform the development of individualized strategies that clinicians, and institutions serving TGDN individuals, can implement to improve the wellbeing of their clients. Further, this study highlights the need to avoid reconstructing pathologising narratives, and instead adopt participatory, and positive psychology approaches to research with the TGDN community.
Network toxicity analysis: an information-theoretic approach to studying the social dynamics of online toxicity
Authors: Kiddle Rupert , Törnberg Petter , Trilling Damian
Published: February 2024

The rise of social media has corresponded with an increase in the prevalence and severity of online toxicity. While much work has gone into understanding its nature, we still lack knowledge of its emergent structural dynamics. This work presents a novel method—network toxicity analysis—for the inductive analysis of the dynamics of discursive toxicity within social media. Using an information-theoretic approach, this method estimates toxicity transfer relationships between communicating agents, yielding an effective network describing how those entities influence one another, over time, in terms of their produced discursive toxicity. This method is applied to Telegram messaging data to demonstrate its capacity to induce meaningful, interpretable toxicity networks that provide valuable insight into the social dynamics of toxicity within social media.
Hermeneutic Suspicion in Action: Agency Beyond Causality
Authors: Hejlesen Jonas Tellefsen
Published: February 2024

In this article, I argue for the use of the hermeneutics of suspicion in the investigation of the conditions of our actions. I claim that by staying suspicious of immediate answers as well as manifest conditions, and remaining curious of other conditions that may influence us, we can come closer to an understanding of our actions and what structures them. By investigating the broad question of why we do what we do, I critically examine the concept of agency and its role in answering this question. I distinguish between two fundamentally different approaches to the understanding of our actions that relate to the concept of agency: On the one hand, is the agentic view that focuses on reasons and asserts that our agency is the basis of our actions. On the other hand, is the non-agentic view that focuses on causes and asserts that our actions are causally determined. To overcome this sharp distinction, I argue for a reconceptualisation concerning our understandings of why we act and of the human psyche itself. This reconceptualisation is twofold. Firstly, it consists of abandoning a simple causality in favour of the notion of catalysis. Secondly, it consists of viewing the psyche as an open system rather than a closed system. In linking the concept of catalysis with the hermeneutics of suspicion, I bring together the ontological and epistemological dimensions of my thinking. The concept of catalysis underlines the ontological complexity and multiplicity of the conditions of our actions and of the human psyche, while the introduction of the hermeneutics of suspicion tells us how we must face this epistemologically.
Electron beam-induced white emission from iridium complexes-doped polymer dots
Authors: Liu Zuoyue , Su Zheming , Asanuma Daiki , Tojo Sachiko , Yamaji Minoru , Fujitsuka Mamoru , Osakada Yasuko
Published: February 2024

Radiation detection plays an important role in diverse applications, including medical imaging, security, and display technologies. Scintillators, materials that emit light upon exposure to radiation, have garnered significant attention due to their exceptional sensitivity. Previous research explored polymer dots (P-dots) doped with iridium complexes as nano-sized scintillators for radiation detection, but these were constrained to emitting specific colors like red, green, and blue, limiting their utility. Recently, there has been a breakthrough in the development of white light emitters stimulated by UV–visible light. These emitters exhibit a broad spectral range in the visible wavelength, enhancing contrast and simplifying detection by visible-light sensors. Consequently, the quest for white color scintillators in radiation detection has emerged as a promising avenue for enhancing scintillation efficiency. In this study, we present a novel approach by applying P-dots doped with two iridium complexes to create white light-emitting nano-sized scintillators. These scintillators offer a wider spectral coverage within the visible-light wavelength range. Under UV light (365 nm) excitation, our synthesized P-dots exhibited remarkable white light emission. Moreover, when excited by electron beam irradiation, we observed the clear emission close to white emission which is valuable for improving the detection of radiation.