bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Thermal Response of Dielectric Nanoparticle-Infused Tissue Phantoms During Microwave-Assisted Hyperthermia
Authors: Kumar Dhiraj , Dhar Purbarun , Paul Anup
Published: March 2021

Hyperthermia has been in use for many years, as a potential alternative modality for cancer treatment. In this paper, an experimental investigation of microwave-assisted thermal heating (MWATH) of tissue phantom using a domestic microwave oven has been reported. Computer simulations using finite element method-based tools were also carried out to support the experimental observations and probe insight into the thermal transport aspects deep within the tissue phantom. A good agreement between predicted and measured temperature was achieved. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to investigate the efficacy of dielectric nanoparticles, namely, alumina (Al2O3) and titanium oxide (TiO2) during the MWATH of nanoparticle-infused tumor phantoms. A deep-seated tumor injected with nanoparticle solution was specifically mimicked in the experiments. Interesting results were obtained in terms of spatiotemporal thermal history of the nanoparticle-infused tissue phantoms. An elevation in the temperature distribution was achieved in the vicinity of the targeted zone due to the presence of nanoparticles, and the spatial distribution of temperature was grossly morphed. We conclusively show, using experiments and simulations that unlike other nanoparticle-mediated hyperthermia techniques, direct injection of the nanoparticles within the tumor leads to enhanced heat generation in the neighboring healthy tissues. The inhomogeneity of the hyperthermia event is evident from the local occurrence of hot spots and cold spots, respectively. The present findings may have far-reaching implications as a framework in predicting temperature distributions during microwave ablation (MWA).
Optimal Pretaper Phase on Physical Match Performance in Professional Soccer
Authors: Moalla Wassim , Fessi Mohamed Saifeddin , Nouira Sabeur , Mendez-Villanueva Alberto , Di Salvo Valter , Ahmaidi Said
Published: March 2021

Purpose: To investigate the optimal pretaper duration on match running performance in a professional soccer team. Methods: The training load was monitored during daily training sessions and matches during 2 seasons according to different periodization strategies. Matches’ running distances were collected using match analysis system. The data were analyzed in 3 types of mesocycle blocks of 5 (M5), 4 (M4), and 3 weeks (M3), concludes all of them by 1 taper week. Results: Significant decreases in the training load during the taper weeks compared to standard weeks were observed in 3 types of mesocycle blocks (d ≥ 5; P < .01). An increase in overall match running performance was observed in matches played after the taper weeks compared to matches played after the standard weeks during M4 for all speed ranges (d ≥ 1.3; P < .05). The increase was only observed in low-intensity running (d = 1.3; P < .04) and total distance, low-intensity running, and intense running (d ≥ 1.3; P < .05) in M5 and M3, respectively. Match running performance following the taper weeks between the 3 different mesocycle durations was significantly higher in M4 for the number of high-speed running, sprinting, and high-intensity running (P < .05). The greatest enhancement of match running performance was observed at M4 when the training load was decreased by approximately 18% during the tapering period. Conclusion: This study suggests that a period of 3 standard weeks of training followed by 1 taper week is the optimal taper strategy when compared to different pretaper durations.
HN1L/JPT2: A signaling protein that connects NAADP generation to Ca
2+
microdomain formation
Authors: Roggenkamp Hannes G. , Khansahib Imrankhan , Hernandez C. Lola C. , Zhang Yunpeng , Lodygin Dmitri , Krüger Aileen , Gu Feng , Möckl Franziska , Löhndorf Anke , Wolters Valerie , Woike Daniel , Rosche Anette , Bauche Andreas , Schetelig Daniel , Werner René , Schlüter Hartmut , Failla Antonio V. , Meier Chris , Fliegert Ralf , Walseth Timothy F. , Flügel Alexander , Diercks Björn-Philipp , Guse Andreas H.
Published: March 2021

A protein that enables the activation of ryanodine receptors by NAADP in T cells is identified.
Human Corneal Epithelial Cells Internalize Aspergillus flavus Spores by Actin-Mediated Endocytosis
Authors: Arunachalam Divya , Namperumalsamy Venkatesh Prajna , Prajna Lalitha , Kuppamuthu Dharmalingam
Published: March 2021

Human corneal epithelial (HCE) cells play a significant role in the innate immune response by secreting cytokines and antimicrobial peptides when they encounter fungal pathogens. But the detailed mechanism of attachment and engulfment of the fungal conidia by HCE cells is not well understood.
A Same-Genus Screening Approach Reveals Novel Effectors and New Possibilities for Investigating
Chlamydia
Pathogenesis
Authors: Ryan John D. , Nelson David E.
Published: March 2021

Chlamydiae
are obligate intracellular pathogens that rely on secreted effector proteins to establish their intracellular niche. In this issue of the
Journal of Bacteriology
, Yanatori et al. describe a screen for
Chlamydia pneumoniae
effectors, performed in
Chlamydia trachomatis
, which identified several new proteins that are translocated during infection (I).
Divide and Conquer: A Simple, Modern Technique for Collaborative Small Group Learning with Reciprocal Peer Teaching
Authors: Samsa Leigh Ann , Goller Carlos C.
Published: March 2021

Collaborative group learning and peer teaching are robust active learning techniques. Students and instructors interact with technology extensively in their lives and in the classroom.
Introducing Weekly Themes to Engage Students in a Microbiology Class†
Authors: Peterson Stacey N.
Published: March 2021

Providing variety in course assignments and activities is one way to engage students and promote learning for students from diverse backgrounds and with different learning preferences. I add variety and energy to my upper-division microbiology lecture course through the use of “theme weeks.” Assignments and class activities are designed to correlate with the theme of the week. Themes are chosen that align well with the course content and address institutional or program student learning outcomes. Examples of themes I use in my microbiology course include Art, Relevance to Life, and Analogies. Several theme ideas and examples of assignments and activities are provided in this article. Many of these themes are not discipline-specific and can be integrated into a variety of science courses. Since using theme weeks in my microbiology class, I have observed an increase in student participation and interest in the course.
Build-Your-Own Exam: Involving Undergraduate Students in Assessment Design and Evaluation to Enhance Self-Regulated Learning
Authors: D’Ambrosio Lisa M.
Published: March 2021

Teaching students how to critically assess their own learning progress is a persistent challenge in undergraduate science education. Engaging students in the design and evaluation of assessments is an emerging method for enhancing self-awareness of one's own competencies, to identify knowledge gaps, and to develop strategies for improved learning. Here, I describe an assessment activity for mid-level undergraduate science courses that directly involves students in the composition, revision, and evaluation of written exams. This activity uses a combination of faculty instruction, peer feedback, and self-assessment to facilitate deep comprehension of the curriculum and to ultimately help increase students' cognitive reasoning and ability to self-regulate their own learning. Instructional resources and alternative activity timelines are provided to promote easy implementation in a variety of course contexts at the post-secondary level.
Introducing Mammalian Cell Colony Formation in the Undergraduate Biology Laboratory
†
Authors: Robinson Ashley M. , Crow Mackenzie M. , Kratz Austin , Ritts Taylor , Suh Yewseok K. , Segarra Verónica A.
Published: March 2021

Clonogenic assays are a simple and robust method that allow researchers to characterize mammalian cell line features, including the ability of a single cell to grow into a colony. We have used this assay as a tool in the undergraduate biology laboratory, exposing students to a more specialized form of mammalian cell culture and helping them refine scientific research skills and knowledge. In this article, we share an easy and undergraduate-friendly method of using HeLa cells to carry out clonogenic assays. The methods described include the introduction of different treatments to assess their effect in HeLa cell colony formation. In this laboratory exercise, undergraduate students utilize different cell culture techniques such as growing, harvesting, counting, diluting, staining, and imaging cells.
Early formation and taphonomic significance of kaolinite associated with Burgess Shale fossils
Authors: Anderson Ross P. , Tosca Nicholas J. , Saupe Erin E. , Wade Jon , Briggs Derek E.G.
Published: March 2021

The role of minerals in Burgess Shale–type fossilization is controversial, particularly that of the clay mineral kaolinite. Kaolinite may have formed on carcasses or attached to them as they decayed, stabilizing organic matter. Alternatively, kaolinite may have formed during metamorphism, playing no role in the preservation of soft tissues. Evaluating the formation and taphonomic role of kaolinite is difficult, because the mineralogy of Burgess Shale–type fossils is incompletely known. We used in situ selected-area X-ray diffraction to constrain the mineralogy of fossils from the classic Burgess Shale Formation in British Columbia, Canada. Fossils can be distinguished from the matrix that surrounds them by the presence of dolomite, kaolinite, and pyrite. Chlorite may be more abundant in the matrix. The preferential survival of kaolinite in association with fossils provides evidence of early diagenetic clay-organic interactions that protected the clay from metamorphic transformation. Kaolinite likely played a crucial role in fossilization, inhibiting the growth of heterotrophic bacteria and aiding polymerization of soft tissue biomolecules. This may result in biases in soft-tissue preservation to areas and times where kaolinite was prevalent.
Supplemental Material: Missing water from the Qiangtang Basin on the Tibetan Plateau
Authors: Yong Bin , Li Ling , al. et
Published: March 2021

Detailed methods and supplemental figures.
Supplemental Material 2: Geomorphic expression and slip rate of the Fairweather fault, southeast Alaska, and evidence for predecessors of the 1958 rupture
Authors: Witter R.C. , al. et
Published: March 2021

Ten figures and five tables that support the analyses and discussion presented in the paper.
Supplemental Material: Jurassic to Neogene Quantitative Crustal Thickness Estimates in Southern Tibet
Authors: Sundell Kurt E. , al. et
Published: March 2021

Filtered and unfiltered geochronology-geochemistry results are from the Tibetan Magmatism Database (Chapman and Kapp, 2017); the full data set between 89–92 °W and 29–31 °N was downloaded 20 July 2020. All data are available online at jaychapman.org/tibet-magmatism-database.html. MATLAB code is available at github.com/kurtsundell/CrustalThickness and incorporates the filtered data to reproduce all results presented in this work.
Atraumatic splenic rupture in patient with acute pancreatitis
Authors: Nadaraja Roshini , Yahya Zarif , Mori Krinal , Aly Ahmad
Published: March 2021

Atraumatic splenic rupture (ASR) is a rare complication of acute pancreatitis with high mortality and morbidity rates. We present a case of a 63-year-old woman with a history of hypertension, presenting with acute pancreatitis who subsequently developed a splenic rupture requiring a laparotomy and splenectomy. ASR is a rare but life-threatening complication requiring prompt recognition and management and should be considered in patient with pancreatitis who develops sudden haemodynamic compromise and worsening anaemia.
Oral submucous fibrosis in children: an alarming condition and challenges in management
Authors: Rai Anshul , Jain Anuj , Arora Aakash , Motiwale Tejas
Published: March 2021

Oral submucous fibrosis (OSF) is a well-documented potentially malignant condition. It affects most commonly the adult patients of India and Indian subcontinent, only few cases affecting children have been reported in the literature. This paper presents three cases of OSF below the age of 12 years and reviews the aetiology, clinical presentation, treatment modalities in children with improved follow-up results. Clinical features like restricted mouth opening, burning sensation and history of betel nut chewing helps in the diagnosis of the patients, which can be confirmed by histopathological examination. Conservative management and oral physiotherapy in children help in improved mouth opening. Counselling the children, their friends and parents also plays a vital role. The present paper highlights that children on a larger scale are using tobacco products and further studies are required with larger sample size.
Surviving violent, traumatic loss after severe political persecution: lessons from the evaluation of a Venezuelan asylum seeker
Authors: McQuaid Jennifer H , Silva Michelle Alejandra , McKenzie Katherine C
Published: March 2021

In July 2019, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) released a report urging the Venezuelan government to take immediate action to address the ‘grave violations of economic, social, civil, political and cultural rights’ occurring in the country. This case study highlights the human rights violations occurring in Venezuela through the case of a Venezuelan woman who experienced political persecution and traumatic loss resulting from her opposition to the ruling socialist party. As the clinical team of evaluators explored the mental health effects of surviving threats on her own life and the politically motivated assassination of her husband, it was agreed that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition did not fully capture the extent of her suffering. Case discussion broadens the lens beyond the client’s experiences of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression to include persistent complex bereavement disorder, and emphasises the importance of addressing the sequelae of traumatic loss in a multifaceted way that broadens understanding of emotional functioning postmigration.
Unusual sequelae of staphyloma following Ahmed glaucoma valve explantation and its management
Authors: Kolipaka Pratinya Gowri , Krishnamurthy Rashmi , Bagga Bhupesh
Published: March 2021

We report a case of a 7-year-old boy, who presented with plate exposure after Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implantation in the eye with secondary glaucoma following penetrating trauma. He underwent AGV explantation with scleral patch graft and conjunctival limbal autograft and started on topical and oral antiglaucoma medication (AGM) for intraocular pressure (IOP) control. Two months later, he presented to us with high intraocular pressure and uveal tissue prolapse at the site of previous tube entry displacing the scleral and conjunctival grafts posteriorly. The defect was closed with corneal patch graft. Patient underwent limited transscleral cyclophotocoagulation and was maintained on topical AGM for IOP control. Our case highlights that explantation is a definitive management in such cases of plate exposure. Tube entry site is a potential weak area and there is risk of uveal prolapse through this area with high IOP. Corneal patch graft helps in successfully managing such defects involving the sclero-limbal region.
Use of multiple anticholinergic medications can predispose patients to severe non-exertional hyperthermia
Authors: Manivannan Ahila , Kabbani Dana , Levine Diane
Published: March 2021

We present a case of a 64-year-old woman who developed severe non-exertional hyperthermia (NEHT) due to excessive anticholinergic effects from her psychiatric medications. The patient was found unresponsive in a non-air-conditioned room where the outside temperature was over 33°C. She presented with altered mental status, hypotension and an oral temperature of 42°C. Drug–drug interactions from her home medications for depression, bipolar disorder and seizures (amitriptyline, cyclobenzaprine, benztropine, topiramate, clonazepam, trazodone) were suspected. Blood cultures grewStaphylococcus hominis. The patient quickly returned to baseline with supportive care in the intensive care unit. She was treated for the Staph hominis bacteraemia with a 7-day course of vancomycin. Due to her quick recovery and lack of neurological findings, severe NEHT with associated bacteraemia was determined to have caused her presenting symptoms. This patient’s multiple anticholinergic medications increased her susceptibility to develop NEHT by inhibited sweating, this patient’s natural cooling mechanism.
Endovascular treatment of postpartum haemorrhage in a woman with genitourinary and vascular congenital malformations
Authors: Perkins Scott , Drews Elena , Li Gabriel , Martin Jonathan
Published: March 2021

A 43-year-old woman presented with postpartum haemorrhage necessitating uterine artery embolisation. Prior to embolisation, angiography demonstrated the presence of a persistent sciatic artery (PSA). Due to the possibility of embolic particles inadvertently traveling to the lower extremity via this variant arterial pathway, care was taken to only embolise the uterine artery. PSAs are uncommon but important vascular pathways to screen for during pelvic intervention and are associated with other genitourinary anomalies.
Intravascular lithotripsy-assisted balloon angioplasty to facilitate transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve implantation in a patient with coral reef aorta
Authors: Morris Joseph Patrick , Cadogan Diarmaid , Casserly Ivan P
Published: March 2021

This case describes the management of a woman in her 70s with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis and concomitant severe stenosis of the suprarenal abdominal aorta due to ‘coralreef’ calcification of theaortic wall and lumen (CRA). Due to her religious beliefs as a Jehovah’s Witness regarding the use of blood products, she rejected the option of surgical aortic valve replacement. Transfemoral (TF) delivery of a transcatheter aortic valve was challenged by the presence of CRA. A successful TF transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) was achieved by the treatment of the CRA with intravascular lithotripsy-assisted angioplasty, followed by delivery and deployment of a self-expanding TAVI valve.
Pneumomediastinum in patients with SARS-CoV-2 treated with non-invasive ventilation
Authors: Thein Onn Shaun , Niazi Muhammad , Ali Abdisamad , Sahal Adeel
Published: March 2021

SARS-CoV-2, causing the pandemic COVID-19, has rapidly spread, overwhelming healthcare systems. Non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NIV) can be used as a bridging therapy to delay invasive mechanical ventilation or as a standalone therapy. Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is rare and self-limiting, but there is an increased incidence documented in COVID-19.

Here we document two cases of pneumomediastinum-related prolonged NIV therapy in severe COVID-19. Patient 1, a 64-year-old man, who developed symptoms after NIV therapy was weaned and survived. Patient 2, an 82-year-old woman, failed to improve despite NIV therapy, on investigation was found to have a pneumomediastinum. After review, the patient was placed on best supportive care and died 3 days later.

We highlight the importance of recognising less common causes of deterioration in severe COVID-19 treated with NIV. In addition, pneumomediastinum in these cases may not always lead to poor outcomes.
Experiences and impact of international medical volunteering: a multi-country mixed methods study
Authors: McCauley Mary , Raven Joanna , van den Broek Nynke
Published: March 2021

Objective

To assess the experience and impact of medical volunteers who facilitated training workshops for healthcare providers in maternal and newborn emergency care in 13 countries.

Settings

Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, UK and Zimbabwe.

Participants

Medical volunteers from the UK (n=162) and from low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC) (n=138).

Outcome measures

Expectations, experience, views, personal and professional impact of the experience of volunteering on medical volunteers based in the UK and in LMIC.

Results

UK-based medical volunteers (n=38) were interviewed using focus group discussions (n=12) and key informant interviews (n=26). 262 volunteers (UK-based n=124 (47.3%), and LMIC-based n=138 (52.7%)) responded to the online survey (62% response rate), covering 506 volunteering episodes. UK-based medical volunteers were motivated by altruism, and perceived volunteering as a valuable opportunity to develop their skills in leadership, teaching and communication, skills reported to be transferable to their home workplace. Medical volunteers based in the UK and in LMIC (n=244) reported increased confidence (98%, n=239); improved teamwork (95%, n=232); strengthened leadership skills (90%, n=220); and reported that volunteering had a positive impact for the host country (96%, n=234) and healthcare providers trained (99%, n=241); formed sustainable partnerships (97%, n=237); promoted multidisciplinary team working (98%, n=239); and was a good use of resources (98%, n=239). Medical volunteers based in LMIC reported higher satisfaction scores than those from the UK with regards to impact on personal and professional development.

Conclusion

Healthcare providers from the UK and LMIC are highly motivated to volunteer to increase local healthcare providers’ knowledge and skills in low-resource settings. Further research is necessary to understand the experiences of local partners and communities regarding how the impact of international medical volunteering can be mutually beneficial and sustainable with measurable outcomes.
Community first response and out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: a qualitative study of the views and experiences of international experts
Authors: Heffernan Eithne , Mc Sharry Jenny , Murphy Andrew , Barry Tomás , Deasy Conor , Menzies David , Masterson Siobhan
Published: March 2021

Objectives

This research aimed to examine the perspectives, experiences and practices of international experts in community first response: an intervention that entails the mobilisation of volunteers by the emergency medical services to respond to prehospital medical emergencies, particularly cardiac arrests, in their locality.

Design

This was a qualitative study in which semistructured interviews were conducted via teleconferencing. The data were analysed in accordance with an established thematic analysis procedure.

Setting

There were participants from 11 countries: UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Participants

Sixteen individuals who held academic, clinical or managerial roles in the field of community first response were recruited. Maximum variation sampling targeted individuals who varied in terms of gender, occupation and country of employment. There were eight men and eight women. They included ambulance service chief executives, community first response programme managers and cardiac arrest registry managers.

Results

The findings provided insights on motivating and supporting community first response volunteers, as well as the impact of this intervention. First, volunteers can be motivated by ‘bottom-up factors’, particularly their characteristics or past experiences, as well as ‘top-down factors’, including culture and legislation. Second, providing ongoing support, especially feedback and psychological services, is considered important for maintaining volunteer well-being and engagement. Third, community first response can have a beneficial impact that extends not only to patients but also to their family, their community and to the volunteers themselves.

Conclusions

The findings can inform the future development of community first response programmes, especially in terms of volunteer recruitment, training and support. The results also have implications for future research by highlighting that this intervention has important outcomes, beyond response times and patient survival, which should be measured, including the benefits for families, communities and volunteers.
High likelihood of actionable pathogenic variant detection in breast cancer genes in women with very early onset breast cancer
Authors: Evans D Gareth , van Veen Elke Maria , Byers Helen J , Evans Sarah J , Burghel George J , Woodward Emma Roisin , Harkness Elaine F , Eccles Diana M , Greville-Haygate Stephanie L , Ellingford Jamie M , Bowers Naomi L , Pereira Marta , Wallace Andrew J , Howell Sasha J , Howell Anthony , Lalloo Fiona , Newman William G , Smith Miriam Jane
Published: March 2021

Background

While the likelihood of identifying constitutional breast cancer-associated BRCA1, BRCA2 and TP53 pathogenic variants (PVs) increases with earlier diagnosis age, little is known about the correlation with age at diagnosis in other predisposition genes. Here, we assessed the contribution of known breast cancer-associated genes to very early onset disease.

Methods

Sequencing of BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53 and CHEK2 c.1100delC was undertaken in women with breast cancer diagnosed ≤30 years. Those testing negative were screened for PVs in a minimum of eight additional breast cancer-associated genes. Rates of PVs were compared with cases ≤30 years from the Prospective study of Outcomes in Sporadic vs Hereditary breast cancer (POSH) study.

Results

Testing 379 women with breast cancer aged ≤30 years identified 75 PVs (19.7%) in BRCA1, 35 (9.2%) in BRCA2, 22 (5.8%) in TP53 and 2 (0.5%) CHEK2 c.1100delC. Extended screening of 184 PV negative women only identified eight additional actionable PVs. BRCA1/2 PVs were more common in women aged 26–30 years than in younger women (p=0.0083) although the younger age group had rates more similar to those in the POSH cohort. Out of 26 women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) alone, most were high-grade and 11/26 (42.3%) had a PV (TP53=6, BRCA2=2, BRCA1=2, PALB2=1). This PV yield is similar to the 61 (48.8%) BRCA1/2 PVs identified in 125 women with triple-negative breast cancer. The POSH cohort specifically excluded pure DCIS which may explain lower TP53 PV rates in this group (1.7%).

Conclusion

The rates of BRCA1, BRCA2 and TP53 PVs are high in very early onset breast cancer, with limited benefit from testing of additional breast cancer-associated genes.
Mutation frequency of Escherichia coli isolated from river water: potential role in the development of antimicrobial resistance
Authors: Yamazaki Tomohiro , Matsuo Junji
Published: March 2021

Bacteria acquire genetic variations that help them to adapt to stressful environmental conditions, and these changes may be associated with the development of antimicrobial resistance. In this study, we investigated the mutation frequencies of 270 isolates of Escherichia coli from river water, which represents a relatively unstressful environment. As we predicted, mutation frequencies of the E. coli isolates ranged from <1 × 10−11 to 6.3 × 10−8 (median, 1.7 × 10−9), and a strong mutator (≥ 4 × 10−7) was not detected. To better understand the role of mutation frequency in the development of antimicrobial resistance, we assessed antimicrobial sensitivity after exposure of the E. coli isolates to subinhibitory concentrations of ciprofloxacin, as a surrogate for stress. We found that antimicrobial resistance increased in bacteria with a low mutation frequency after exposure, and the relative increase in antimicrobial resistance generally increased, depending on the mutation frequency. Thus, mutation frequency may contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance of bacteria in natural environments.
Where to Find Value on the Balance Sheet
Authors: Chinloy Peter , Imes Matthew , Tang Tilan
Published: March 2021

Firms with higher book equity relative to market capitalization earn a premium, leading to sorting into value and growth. This sorting implies that any balance sheet additions are risky. This paper provides evidence that what a firm holds on its balance sheet matters, and value occurs with high book-to-market ratios. Each holding relative to firm market capitalization has a risk premium, varying across holdings. Among US firms quarterly for 1980–2016, doubling holdings of cash and receivables relative to market capitalization earn premiums of at least 1%, as does taking on debt. These account for the entire value premium, since physicals, intangibles and payables are not risky. The value premium derives from the composition of the firm’s assets.
Real-time subsurface scattering with single pass variance-guided adaptive importance sampling
Authors: Xie Tiantian , Olano Marc , Karis Brian , Narkowicz Krzysztof
Published: March 2021

In real-time applications, it is difficult to simulate realistic subsurface scattering with differing degrees translucency. Burley's reflectance approximation by empirically fitting the diffusion profile as a whole makes it possible to achieve realistic looking subsurface scattering for different translucent materials in screen space. However, achieving a physically correct result requires real-time Monte Carlo sampling of the analytic importance function per pixel per frame, which seems prohibitive to achieve. In this paper, we propose an approximation of the importance function that can be evaluated in real-time. Since subsurface scattering is more pronounced in certain regions (e.g., with light gradient change), we propose an adaptive sampling method based on temporal variance to lower the required number of samples. We propose a one phase adaptive sampling pass that is unbiased, and able to adapt to scene changes due to motion and lighting. To further improve the quality, we explore temporal reuse with a guiding pass prior to the final temporal anti-aliasing (TAA) phase that further improves the quality. Our local guiding pass does not constrain the TAA implementation, and only requires one additional texture to be passed between frames. Our proposed variance-guided algorithm has the potential to make stochastic sampling algorithm effective for real-time rendering.
Lossy Geometry Compression for High Resolution Voxel Scenes
Authors: van der Laan Remi , Scandolo Leonardo , Eisemann Elmar
Published: March 2021

Sparse Voxel Directed Acyclic Graphs (SVDAGs) losslessly compress highly detailed geometry in a high-resolution binary voxel grid by identifying matching elements. This representation is suitable for high-performance real-time applications, such as free-viewpoint videos and high-resolution precomputed shadows. In this work, we introduce a lossy scheme to further decrease memory consumption by minimally modifying the underlying voxel grid to increase matches. Our method efficiently identifies groups of similar but rare subtrees in an SVDAG structure and replaces them with a single common subtree representative. We test our compression strategy on several standard voxel datasets, where we obtain memory reductions of 10% up to 50% compared to a standard SVDAG, while introducing an error (ratio of modified voxels to voxel count) of only 1% to 5%. Furthermore, we show that our method is complementary to other state of the art SVDAG optimizations, and has a negligible effect on real-time rendering performance.
Sub-triangle opacity masks for faster ray tracing of transparent objects
Authors: Gruen Holger , Benthin Carsten , Woop Sven
Published: March 2021

We propose an easy and simple-to-integrate approach to accelerate ray tracing of alpha-tested transparent geometry with a focus on Microsoft® DirectX® or Vulkan® ray tracing extensions. Pre-computed bit masks are used to quickly determine fully transparent and fully opaque regions of triangles thereby skipping the more expensive alpha-test operation. These bit masks allow us to skip up to 86% of all transparency tests, yielding up to 40% speed up in a proof-of-concept DirectX® software only implementation.
Neural Denoising for Path Tracing of Medical Volumetric Data
Authors: Hofmann Nikolai , Martschinke Jana , Engel Klaus , Stamminger Marc
Published: March 2021

In this paper, we transfer machine learning techniques previously applied to denoising surface-only Monte Carlo renderings to path-traced visualizations of medical volumetric data. In the domain of medical imaging, path-traced videos turned out to be an efficient means to visualize and understand internal structures, in particular for less experienced viewers such as students or patients. However, the computational demands for the rendering of high-quality path-traced videos are very high due to the large number of samples necessary for each pixel. To accelerate the process, we present a learning-based technique for denoising path-traced videos of volumetric data by increasing the sample count per pixel; both through spatial (integrating neighboring samples) and temporal filtering (reusing samples over time). Our approach uses a set of additional features and a loss function both specifically designed for the volumetric case. Furthermore, we present a novel network architecture tailored for our purpose, and introduce reprojection of samples to improve temporal stability and reuse samples over frames. As a result, we achieve good image quality even from severely undersampled input images, as visible in the teaser image.
Hardware-Accelerated Dual-Split Trees
Authors: Lin Daqi , Vasiou Elena , Yuksel Cem , Kopta Daniel , Brunvand Erik
Published: March 2021

Bounding volume hierarchies (BVH) are the most widely used acceleration structures for ray tracing due to their high construction and traversal performance. However, the bounding planes shared between parent and children bounding boxes is an inherent storage redundancy that limits further improvement in performance due to the memory cost of reading these redundant planes. Dual-split trees can create identical space partitioning as BVHs, but in a compact form using less memory by eliminating the redundancies of the BVH structure representation. This reduction in memory storage and data movement translates to faster ray traversal and better energy efficiency. Yet, the performance benefits of dual-split trees are undermined by the processing required to extract the necessary information from their compact representation. This involves bit manipulations and branching instructions which are inefficient in software. We introduce hardware acceleration for dual-split trees and show that the performance advantages over BVHs are emphasized in a hardware ray tracing context that can take advantage of such acceleration. We provide details on how the operations needed for decoding dual-split tree nodes can be implemented in hardware and present experiments in a number of scenes with different sizes using path tracing. In our experiments, we have observed up to 31% reduction in render time and 38% energy saving using dual-split trees as compared to binary BVHs representing identical space partitioning.
Report from ACM ICMR 2018
Authors: Gurrin Cathal
Published: March 2021

Multimedia computing, indexing, and retrieval continue to be one of the most exciting and fastest-growing research areas in the field of multimedia technology. ACM ICMR is the premier international conference that brings together experts and practitioners in the field for an annual conference.
QoE column: Solving complex issues through immersive narratives
Authors: Perkis Andrew , Hameed Asim , Irshad Shafaq
Published: March 2021

A transdisciplinary dialogue and innovative research, including technical and artistic research as well as digital humanities are necessary to solve complex issues. We need to support and produce creative practices, and engage in a critical reflection about the social and ethical dimensions of our current technology developments. At the core is an understanding that no single discipline, technology, or field can produce knowledge capable of addressing the complexities and crises of the contemporary world. Moreover, we see the arts and humanities as critical tools for understanding this hyper-complex, mediated, and fragmented global reality. As a use case, we will consider the complexity of extreme weather events, natural disasters and failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation, which are the risks with the highest likelihood of occurrence and largest global impact (World Economic Forum, 2017). Through our project, World of Wild Waters (WoWW), we are using immersive narratives and gamification to create a simpler holistic understanding of cause and effect of natural hazards by creating immersive user experiences based on real data, realistic scenarios and simulations. The objective is to increase societal preparedness for a multitude of stakeholders. Quality of Experience (QoE) modeling and assessment of immersive media experiences are at the heart of the expected impact of the narratives, where we would expect active participation, engagement and change, to play a key role [1].

Here, we present our views of immersion and presence in light of Quality of Experience (QoE). We will discuss the technical and creative considerations needed for QoE modeling and assessment of immersive media experiences. Finally, we will provide some reflections on QoE being an important building block in immersive narratives in general, and especially towards considering Extended Realities (XR) as an instantiation of Digital storytelling.
PhD thesis: Quality of experience characterization and provisioning in mobile cellular networks
Authors: Liotou Eirini
Published: March 2021

Traditionally, previous generations of mobile cellular networks have been designed with Quality of Service (QoS) criteria in mind, so that they manage to meet specific service requirements. Quality of Experience (QoE) has, however, recently emerged as a concept, disrupting the design of future network generations by giving clear emphasis on the actually achieved user experience.
Report on the SIGIR 2019 Workshop on eCommerce (ECOM19)
Authors: Degenhardt Jon , Kallumadi Surya , Porwal Utkarsh , Trotman Andrew
Published: March 2021

The SIGIR 2019 Workshop on eCommerce (ECOM19), was a full day workshop that took place on Thursday, July 25, 2019 in Paris, France. The purpose of the workshop was to serve as a platform for publication and discussion of Information Retrieval and NLP research and their applications in the domain of eCommerce. The workshop program was designed to bring together practitioners and researchers from academia and industry to discuss the challenges and approaches to product search and recommendation in the eCommerce domain. A second goal was to run a data challence on real-world eCommerce data. The workshop drew contributions from both industry as well as academia, in total the workshop received 38 submissions, and accepted 24 (63%). There were two keynotes by invited speakers, a poster session where all the accepted submissions were presented, a panel discussion, and three short talks by invited speakers.
Addressing gender inequality
Authors: Goharian Nazli , Verberne Suzan
Published: March 2021

The SIGIR'19 Women in IR session, co-organized by Nazli Goharian and Suzan Verberne, took place on July 23 and was attended by well over 200 participants. After giving attribute to Laura Dietz, one of the co-founders who had initiated the Women in IR session in 2014 and organized it annually, the session started with a keynote by Mounia Lalmas sharing her experiences on the path she took towards learning, confronting challenges, and professional advancements. Next we had a panel comprised of panelists from both academia and industry discussing gender inequality.
Report on the International Conference on Design of Experimental Search & Information Retrieval Systems (DESIRES 2018)
Authors: Alonso Omar , Silvello Gianmaria
Published: March 2021

This is a report on the first edition of the International Conference on Design of Experimental Search & Information REtrieval Systems (
DESIRES
2018) held in Bertinoro, Italy, from August 28 to August 31, 2018.
What is decidable under the TSO memory model?
Authors: Atig Mohamed Faouzi
Published: March 2021

We consider the verification problem of safety and liveness properties of finite-state programs running under the Total Store Ordering (TSO) memory model.We first review the decidability/complexity results regarding these two problems and then show that the termination problem is decidable.
Factors Influencing Sustained Utilization of Child Welfare Services among Children Aged 18 to 59 Months in a Low-Income Rural Community, Ghana
Authors: Konlan Kennedy Diema , Amoah Roberta Mensima , Doat Abdul Razak , Abdulai Juliana Asibi
Published: March 2021

Background. Despite substantial progress in reducing child mortality, concerted efforts remain necessary to avoid preventable deaths in children under-5 years and to accelerate progress in improving child survival. The patronage of child welfare services is paramount to the attainment of these goals. This study identified the factors that influence the patronage of child welfare services in a rural community in the Ho West District of the Volta region. Methodology. This quantitative descriptive cross-sectional design employed a systematic sampling method to select 310 caregivers of children aged 18 to 59 months in the Abutia Kloe subdistrict using a pretested questionnaire. The data were entered into a Microsoft excel spreadsheet and cleaned and exported to Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 22) for analysis. Results. The results showed that children (44.2%) had defaulted at a point during the continued growth monitoring process. The reasons for the default included completed major immunization (72.3%), started school (57.4%), and poor staff attitude (3.2%). Mothers have an idea about the purpose of the growth chart (68.0%) as the mothers (86.5%) are able to access a child welfare clinic in less than thirty minutes’ walk from their homes. The cross tabulation on level of education and regular CWC attendance showed a strong association (r2 = 8.071,

p
≤
0.03

). Cross tabulation on marital status and CWC attendance showed a positive significant association (r2 = 17.307, df = 2,

p
≤
0.001

). Married caregivers (85.2%) as compared with unmarried ones (60.5%) are more likely to seek child welfare services for their child. Conclusion. Healthcare providers should intensify education on the need to continue growth monitoring up to 59 months even after the completion of major immunization. This goal can be attained if growth monitoring is incorporated into school health activities while policy implementers ensure the full execution.
Evaluation of Cartilaginous Endplate Degeneration Based on Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Authors: Chen Xiaofeng , Guo Weijun , Li Hao , Li Xi , Han Zhuangxun , Chu Xueyuan , Lao Zehui , Xie Junxian , Cai Dongling
Published: March 2021

In order to carry out the evaluation of cartilaginous endplate degeneration based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), this paper retrospectively analyzed the MRI data from 120 cases of patients who were diagnosed as lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration and underwent MRI examinations in the designated hospital of this study from June 2018 to June 2020. All cases underwent conventional sagittal and transverse T1WI and T2WI scans, and some cases were added with sagittal fat-suppression T2WI scans; then, the number of degenerative cartilaginous endplates and its ratio to degenerative lumbar intervertebral discs were counted and calculated, and the T1WI and T2WI signal characteristics of each degenerative cartilage endplate and its correlation with cartilaginous endplate degeneration were summarized, compared, and analyzed to evaluate the cartilaginous endplate degeneration by those magnetic resonance information. The study results show that there were 33 cases of cartilaginous endplate degeneration, accounting for 27.50% of all those 120 patients with lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration (54 degenerative endplates in total), including 9 cases with low T1WI and high T2WI signals, 5 cases with high T1WI and low T2WI signals, 12 cases with high and low mixed T1WI and high or mixed T2WI signals, and 4 cases with both low T1WI and T2WI signals. Therefore, MRI scanning can clearly present the abnormal signals of lumbar intervertebral disc and cartilaginous endplate degeneration, accurately identity their lesion locations, and type their degenerative characteristics, which may be best inspection method for the evaluation of cartilaginous endplate degeneration in the early diagnosis of intervertebral disc degeneration. The study results of this paper provide a reference for further researches on the evaluation of cartilaginous endplate degeneration based on magnetic resonance imaging.
An Optimization Model for Tramp Ship Scheduling considering Time Window and Seaport Operation Delay Factors
Authors: Yang Ang , Cao Yu , Chen Kang , Zeng Qingcheng , Chen Zigen
Published: March 2021

The quantity of electrical coal transported through the tramp shipping network is increasing due to the high demands. This trend has increased the scheduling difficulty combined with the underdevelopment of the private thermal power plant port. The high coal consumption and low port storage capacity requires the scheduling of the tramp ship to be on a strict time window to ensure the continuous operation of the thermal power plant. The low port unloading capacity often leads to the port congestion and delay of the unloading operation. This paper develops a mixed-integer-programming model for the optimization of the tramp ship scheduling to reduce the total operation cost, including the transportation cost and the unloading waiting cost, and the branch-and-price algorithm is adopted to solve this large-scale model. The model and algorithm are tested with historical operation data from the thermal power plant in the southern coastal areas of China. The optimized scheme significantly reduces the total operation cost by reducing the unloading waiting time and the number of active vessels in certain periods. The results also demonstrate the algorithm improvement in the aspects of the optimization quality and efficiency comparing with the heuristic solution.
Planar Nonlinear Galloping of Iced Transmission Lines under Forced Self-Excitation Conditions
Authors: Liu Xiaohui , Yang Shuguang , Wu Chuan , Zou Ming , Min Guangyun , Sun Ceshi , Cai Mengqi
Published: March 2021

In order to study the influence of dynamic wind on the nonlinear galloping characteristics of iced transmission lines, an external excitation load is added to the governing equation of iced transmission lines under the condition of stable wind, and a new forced self-excited system has been established. The frequency-amplitude relationship of the forced self-excited system under weak excitation and strong excitation is obtained by using the multiple-scale method. The principal resonances and superharmonic and subharmonic resonances of the forced self-excited system have also been analyzed. The results show that, in the forced self-excited system under strong excitation, when the excitation frequency is close to the integral and fractional times of the natural frequency, it is easier to produce 1/2-order subharmonic resonance, 2-order superharmonic resonance, and 3-order superharmonic resonance. In addition, numerical techniques provide bifurcation diagrams of different control parameters, which are able to highlight the effects of the simultaneous presence of the sources of excitation. When the control parameters (wind velocity, excitation amplitude, tuning parameter, tension, and Young’s modulus) change, the response amplitudes of the principal resonance and harmonic resonance will have multivalues, jump phenomenon, and hardening behavior. The control parameters can be used as a reference for engineering design. More importantly, as a combination of the Duffing equation and the Rayleigh equation, the forced self-excited system also has high theoretical research value.