bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MSH3: a confirmed predisposing gene for adenomatous polyposis
Authors: Villy Marie-Charlotte , Masliah-Planchon Julien , Schnitzler Anne , Delhomelle Hélène , Buecher Bruno , Filser Mathilde , Merchadou Kevin , Golmard Lisa , Melaabi Samia , Vacher Sophie , Blanluet Maud , Suybeng Voreak , Corsini Carole , Dhooge Marion , Hamzaoui Nadim , Farelly Solenne , Ait Omar Amal , Benamouzig Robert , Caumette Vincent , Bahuau Michel , Cucherousset Joël , Allory Yves , Stoppa-Lyonnet Dominique , Bieche Ivan , Colas Chrystelle
Published: July 2023

Background

TheMSH3gene is part of the DNA mismatch repair system, but has never been shown to be involved in Lynch syndrome. A first report of four patients from two families, bearing biallelicMSH3germline variants, with a phenotype of attenuated colorectal adenomatous polyposis raised the question of its involvement in hereditary cancer predisposition. The patients’ tumours exhibited elevated microsatellite alterations at selected tetranucleotide repeats (EMAST), a hallmark ofMSH3deficiency.

Methods

We report five new unrelated patients withMSH3-associated polyposis. We describe their personal and familial history and study the EMAST phenotype in various normal and tumour samples, which are relevant findings based on the rarity of this polyposis subtype so far.

Results

All patients had attenuated colorectal adenomatous polyposis, with duodenal polyposis in two cases. Both women had breast carcinomas. EMAST phenotype was present at various levels in different samples of the five patients, confirming theMSH3deficiency, with a gradient of instability in polyps depending on their degree of dysplasia. The negative EMAST phenotype ruled out the diagnosis of germlineMSH3deficiency for two patients: one homozygous for a benign variant and one with a monoallelic large deletion.

Conclusion

This report lends further credence to biallelicMSH3germline pathogenic variants being involved in colorectal and duodenal adenomatous polyposis. Large-scale studies may help clarify the tumour spectrum and associated risks. Ascertainment of EMAST may help with the interpretation of variants of unknown significance. We recommend addingMSH3to dedicated diagnostic gene panels.
Interventional approaches to symptomatic Tarlov cysts: a 15-year institutional experience
Authors: Tracz Jovanna , Judy Brendan F , Jiang Kelly J , Caraway Chad A , Yang Wuyang , De Macena Sobreira Nara Lygia , Khan Majid , Witham Timothy F
Published: July 2023

Background

Tarlov cysts are perineural collections of cerebrospinal fluid most often affecting sacral nerve roots, which may cause back pain, extremity paresthesias and weakness, bladder/bowel dysfunction, and/or sexual dysfunction. The most effective treatment of symptomatic Tarlov cysts, with options including non-surgical management, cyst aspiration and injection of fibrin glue, cyst fenestration, and nerve root imbrication, is debated.

Methods

Retrospective chart review was conducted for 220 patients with Tarlov cysts seen at our institution between 2006 and 2021. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the association between treatment modality, patient characteristics, and clinical outcome.

Results

Seventy-two (43.1%) patients with symptomatic Tarlov cysts were managed non-surgically. Of the 95 patients managed interventionally, 71 (74.7%) underwent CT-guided aspiration of the cyst with injection of fibrin glue; 17 (17.9%) underwent cyst aspiration alone; 5 (5.3%) underwent blood patching; and 2 (2.1%) underwent more than one of the aforementioned procedures. Sixty-six percent of treated patients saw improvement in one or more symptoms, with the most improvement in patients after aspiration of cyst with injection of fibrin glue; however, this association was not statistically significant on logistic regression analysis.

Conclusion

Although the subtype of percutaneous treatment was not significantly associated with optimal or suboptimal patient outcomes, cyst aspiration both with and without injection of fibrin glue may serve as a useful diagnostic tool to (1) determine symptom etiology and (2) identify patients who might have achieved temporary improvement between the time of cyst aspiration and refill with cerebrospinal fluid as potential candidates for neurosurgical intervention of cyst fenestration and nerve root imbrication.
Nutrition services during prostate cancer androgen deprivation therapy
Authors: Baguley Brenton , Smith-Gillis Caity , Porter Judi , Kiss Nicole , Ugalde Anna
Published: July 2023

Objective

Dietary interventions are effective strategies to mitigate multiple side effects from androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in prostate cancer, however the perception of, and access to, nutrition services is relatively unknown.

Methods

A qualitative study using semistructured, audio recorded interviews was conducted in men with prostate cancer treated with ADT for ≥3 months. Interviews explored (1) side effects of ADT and drivers for dietary change, (2) accessibility, barriers, facilitators and use of nutrition services and (3) the preferences for nutrition service delivery. Data were coded using interpretative descriptive techniques of textual interview data, and systematically summarised to generate thematical patterns, using NVivo software.

Results

Interviews were completed of 20 men with prostate cancer treated with ADT (25.5±20.1 months). Thematic analysis revealed four overarching themes—(1)the changes from ADT: men revealed that weight gain, loss of muscle and strength from ADT were daily struggles that negatively impact body image and components of masculinity reduced; (2)strategies to take control: several dietary changes were trialled and restrictive in foods and nutrients. Barriers to accessing nutrition specialists were the cost for the service and absence of a clear referral pathway; (3)importance of nutrition knowledge: demand for specialised nutrition services with knowledge in addressing side effects from ADT; (4)diverse patients need diverse nutrition support:that includes peer or partner support, and technology supported nutrition content.

Conclusion

Evidence-based nutrition services are an unmet need for men treated with ADT. Future work is required to develop services that can be readily available and accessible to improve prostate cancer survivorship care.
Stability of PPT in equilibrium states
Authors: Merkli Marco , Zagrodnik Mitch
Published: July 2023

We use simple spectral perturbation theory to show that the positive partial transpose property is stable under bounded perturbations of the Hamiltonian, for equilibrium states in infinite dimensions. The result holds provided the temperature is high enough, or equivalently, provided the perturbation is small enough.
Language Classes of Extended Distributed Reaction Systems
Authors: Ciencialová Lucie , Cienciala Luděk , Csuhaj-Varjú Erzsébet
Published: July 2023

Reaction systems are well-known formal models of interactions between biochemical reactions. A reaction system is a finite set of triples (reactants, inhibitors, products) that represent chemical reactions, where the reactants, the inhibitors, and the products are objects corresponding to the chemicals. The reactions may facilitate or inhibit each other. A distributed reaction system consists of a finite set of reaction systems that interact with their environment (function in a given context). The environment is a finite set of reactants provided by a context automaton. In the preceding paper, we studied distributed reaction systems where in each step, the context automaton provided a separate set of reactants to the component reaction systems. We assigned languages to these distributed reaction systems and provided representations of some well-known language classes by these constructs. In this paper, the context is provided for the whole distributed reaction system and the component reaction systems distribute the context among each other in different ways (the same context is valid for each component, or the context is split among the components). As in the preceding paper, we assign languages to these new types of distributed reaction systems and provide representations of well-known language classes (the class of right-linear simple matrix languages, the recursively enumerable language class).
Some results on the comparison principle for the weighted log canonical thresholds
Authors: Tung Trinh
Published: July 2023

The purpose of this paper is to establish some results on the comparison principle for the weighted log canonical thresholds of plurisubharmonic functions in case the weight is a measure of the form [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the Lebesgue measure in [Formula: see text].
Rumor propagation model with neutral state
Authors: Qiao Xinran , Wang Lanjun , Wang Xiaowen , Zhu Mengxiao , Hu Bo , Zhang Yongdong , Liu A.-A.
Published: July 2023

The development of social networks provides a broad platform for the dissemination of information and also leads to the proliferation of fake news and false information, which we collectively refer to as rumors. The spread of rumors causes unnecessary panic and loss to individuals and society. To reduce the negative impacts of rumors, an appropriate rumor control strategy is necessary. To come up with some reasonable strategies, we need to have a clearer understanding of the spread of rumors. In this paper, we analyze crowd attitudes during the spreading of rumors by setting the misinformation prevalent progress on the social network as a dynamic system. Considering that most people do not have a clear supportive or opposing attitude when exposed to rumor information, we introduce a new group, stiflers who remain neutral, based on the infectious disease model scheme. By deriving the mean-field equation describing the rumor propagation process, we judge the stability of the constructed model. Finally, we use the model to fit the real-world data related to COVID-19, and based on this, we discuss the properties of the model and propose related strategies.
Event horizon detection: Zenith view as seen by falling into a Schwarzschild black hole
Authors: Iida Yukiyoshi
Published: July 2023

To visualize what is seen by an observer in curved spacetime, both general relativistic effects and special relativistic effects need to be considered. In this study, the author analytically proved that the zenith view seen by an observer falling freely into a Schwarzschild black hole (that is, the observer’s view of the point on the opposite side of the black hole) becomes enlarged, “redder,” and darker as the observer falls from an arbitrary initial rest position. An equation expressing the magnification factor of the zenith view was also derived. The derived factor characterizes the brightness and frequency of light emanated from the zenith view. Using these results, the author derived visualizations of the zenith views for various scenarios. As expressed by the derivations presented here, the moment when the observer sees the zenith view appear twice as large compared to the initial rest position coincides with the crossing of the event horizon; that is, a freely falling observer can detect the horizon through the simple procedure of continuing to observe the zenith view. This result implies that the effect of aberration dominates the effect of light deflection while the observer is falling.
COMPARISON AND PERFORMANCE OF α, α+β AND β TITANIUM ALLOYS FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS
Authors: PESODE PRALHAD , BARVE SHIVPRAKASH
Published: July 2023

As implant materials, titanium and its alloys have been extensively utilized because of their exceptional mechanical properties and biocompatibility. Despite this, corporations and researchers alike have kept up their aggressive pursuit of better alloys since there are still issues that require immediate attention. One of these causes a problem with stress shielding as a noticeable variation in the elastic modulus of the implant material. Ti alloys release harmful ions after extended usage. The poor bioactivity of the Ti alloy surface slows the healing process. In order to address these problems, additional research has concentrated on developing Ti alloys for the 21st century that contain a more suitable phase and change the surface of the alloy from inherently bioinert to bioactive. This study assesses the knowledge presently existing on the biological, chemical, mechanical, and electrochemical characteristics of important [Formula: see text]-Ti alloys created in recent years with the objective to provide scientific justification for using [Formula: see text]-titanium-based alloys as a substitute for cpTi. Dental implants might be made using [Formula: see text]-Ti alloys as an alternative. The enhanced alloy qualities, which include a lower modulus of elasticity, improved strength, suitable biocompatibility, and good abrasion and excellent resistance to corrosion, offer the essential proof. Additionally, structural, chemical, and thermomechanical modifications to [Formula: see text]-Ti alloys allow for the production of materials that may be tailored to the needs of unique instances for clinical practises. By researching the paper, the performance and attributes of [Formula: see text]-titanium alloy are compared to those of other forms of titanium alloy, such as [Formula: see text] titanium alloys. To support their usage as cpTi substitutes, in vivo studies are required to assess new [Formula: see text]-titanium alloys.
MICROSTRUCTURAL AND CORROSION ANALYSIS OF CROWN PINION WITH VARIOUS COMPOSITIONS OF HIGH CARBON STEEL AND SILICON CARBIDE MATERIALS
Authors: GODWIN R. CHARLES , DHANASEKARAN C.
Published: July 2023

The pinion and crown are key components in an automobile’s transmission system. The surface characteristics of high-carbon steel have a major effect on differential gear action. As a result, gear damages and increased downtime for repairs are experienced over time. To address this issue, manufacturers have started using alternative materials such as aluminium alloys and composites to improve the durability and efficiency of the transmission system. Engineers can now adjust the design of crown and pinion gears for best performance thanks to developments in computer-aided design and simulation tools. This has led to the development of more compact and lightweight transmission systems that offer better fuel efficiency and acceleration. However, these innovations come at a cost, as they require specialized manufacturing processes and materials that can be expensive. Nevertheless, the benefits of improved transmission systems are clear, as they can significantly enhance the driving experience while reducing maintenance costs over time. As technology continues to evolve, we can expect further improvements in material design that will further enhance crown pinion performance and reliability. To overcome these failures and increase the material’s life, high-carbon steel is preferred. In this study, high-carbon steel composites with various material proportions (100% to 0%, 99% to 1%, and 97.5% to 2.5% of high-carbon steel, and silicon carbide, respectively) are experimentally investigated and evaluated for better structural strength and surface behavior of the crown pinion. The crown pinion is thoroughly analyzed using salt spray corrosion testing and X-ray diffraction analysis. According to the results, the proportion of 97.5% high carbon steel with 2.5% silicon carbide has better surface properties than the other proportions, and it is also recommended to make the crown pinion for future uses.
EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION ON CNC MILLING AND MECHANICAL PERFORMANCE OF FIBER COATED WIRE MESH HYBRID COMPOSITES
Authors: THANGAMANI JAYARAMAN , KRISHNASAMY PRABU
Published: July 2023

In recent years, the use of natural fibers has increased in manya applications, particularly in automotive industry, owing to their lightweight, high specific strength, recyclability, and ecological properties. This study aims to investigate the influence of copper filler on fiber-coated hybrid composite through mechanical and machining (CNC milling) characterization. Initially, the copper filler was characterized using the energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), particle size analysis (scanning electron microscope), and component analysis (X-ray diffraction (XRD)). Four coated natural fiber/wire mesh hybrid composite designs were developed and identified as hemp/mesh/ramie composite [HMR (1-4)]. In this work, 16 experiments were designed by central composite design (CCD) using Design Expert 13, considering the spindle speed, feed rate, and composite type as input parameters. The results indicate that copper filler particle proportion influenced the tensile strength and impact resistance of the HMR hybrid composite (16% & 15.42%). A fiber coating with a higher infill percentage reduces water absorption. The responses were estimated based on the resultant force and surface roughness, which were influenced by the weight percentage of the filler. In all the spindle speeds, the resultant forces are increased with raise in feed rates (120–600 mm/min).
Analytic Solution for Free Vibrations of Folded Plate Structures
Authors: Deutsch A. , Eisenberger M.
Published: July 2023

In this work, a new high accuracy solution for vibrations of structures made of plate segments is presented. Each plate segment is deforming both in and out of its plane, and the edges common to two plate segments must have compatible displacements, rotations, shear forces, and moments. It is obtained by using carefully chosen series that solve the combined partial differential equations of motion, for in-plane and out-of-plane deformations for all possible combinations of edge conditions. The number of terms in the series is taken such that convergence is ensured to the number of digits as shown. Examples of the new solutions are given and compared with available solutions for the same cases.
Theoretical Modeling of Plasmon Resonance Induced by Hollow Nanoshell Spheres Assisted with a Graphene Shell for Use as an Efficient Narrowband Absorber
Authors: Almarashi Jamal Q. M. , Moustafa Samar , Ahmed Moustafa , Fares Hesham
Published: July 2023

We present theoretical modeling of the local surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) induced by hollow nanoshell spheres assisted with a graphene shell, aiming to examine their potential for use as efficient narrowband absorbers in the infrared wavelength region. We investigate two designs of hollow nanoparticles; namely, a hollow graphene nanosphere with a single graphene shell, and a hollow nanosphere with double shells comprising a graphene shell wrapped around a silver shell. The electric field in each region of the nanoshell is determined by solving the Laplace equation of the potential within the electrostatic approximation (the nanoshell radius [Formula: see text]50[Formula: see text]nm). Using the calculated polarizability of nanoshells, we derive analytical expressions for the absorption and scattering cross-sections. We show that in both proposed nanocomposite models, the graphene shell affords an ultra-narrow LSPR with an absorption efficiency significantly higher than the scattering efficiency. In addition, the graphene-assisted LSPR can be tuned through the visible and infrared regions by changing the Fermi energy and thickness of the graphene layer. Another exciting finding is that the use of a silver shell in the hollow bi-shell nanoparticles provides another LSPR peak besides that induced by the graphene shell. Both LSPRs of graphene and silver shells can be overlapped by changing the optical properties of graphene and/or the geometrical parameters of the silver shell. The resulting LSPR is characterized by a dominant absorption cross-section and a significant narrowband. In both proposed nanoshell designs, the properties of LSPRs are promising for use in various optical imaging and phototherapy applications.
The Roles of Green Entrepreneurial Concerns and Sustainable Management of Supply Chains Post COVID-19
Authors: Sumarliah Eli , Amrullah Nurul Iman Hima , Al-Hakeem Belal
Published: July 2023

Scholars have begun to pay more attention to green entrepreneurial concerns (GEC) and sustainable management of supply chain (SMSC) practices, but the impact of these factors on a firm’s competitive performance (FCP) remains unclear, especially post COVID-19. Although previous studies have examined GEC and SMSC practices, they have mainly focused on assessing their effects on general firm performance, not specifically on FCP and the post-COVID-19 perspective. Therefore, this study investigates the direct links between GEC and SMSC, and between SMSC and FCP from a COVID-19 standpoint. This paper also examines the mediating effect of SMSC on the GEC–FCP relationship, and the moderating effect of digital technologies on the GEC–SMSC correlation. This study is a survey-based empirical research. The survey forms or questionnaires were distributed to 330 companies in Yemen with a response rate of 83.9%. The conceptual framework was assessed with structural equation modeling. The analysis outcomes indicate that GEC significantly affects SMSC and then FCP. The outcomes also unveil that SMSC mediates the GEC–FCP relation. Furthermore, digital technologies (e.g. artificial intelligence and big data analytics) significantly moderate the relationship between GEC and SMSC. This paper contributes to the existing literature by (i) expanding the limited findings of previous SMSC works by delivering a novel factor of GEC to boost the FCP via SMSC post the pandemic; and (ii) increasing knowledge about the effect of digital technologies on advancing SMSC and later FCP post the pandemic. Different from other academic works that have observed SMSC as a direct predicting factor for firm performance, the research offers novel insights about the capability of SMSC to mediate the relationship between GEC and FCP, and digital technologies can support the incorporation of GEC and SMSC for companies’ internal operations, particularly in the era of uncertainty such as in the post-pandemic times.
Multi-Label Quantification
Authors: Moreo Alejandro , Francisco Manuel , Sebastiani Fabrizio
Published: July 2023

Quantification, variously called
supervised prevalence estimation
or
learning to quantify
, is the supervised learning task of generating predictors of the relative frequencies (a.k.a.
prevalence values
) of the classes of interest in unlabelled data samples. While many quantification methods have been proposed in the past for binary problems and, to a lesser extent, single-label multiclass problems, the multi-label setting (i.e., the scenario in which the classes of interest are not mutually exclusive) remains by and large unexplored. A straightforward solution to the multi-label quantification problem could simply consist of recasting the problem as a set of independent binary quantification problems. Such a solution is simple but naïve, since the independence assumption upon which it rests is, in most cases, not satisfied. In these cases, knowing the relative frequency of one class could be of help in determining the prevalence of other related classes. We propose the first truly multi-label quantification methods, i.e., methods for inferring estimators of class prevalence values that strive to leverage the stochastic dependencies among the classes of interest in order to predict their relative frequencies more accurately. We show empirical evidence that natively multi-label solutions outperform the naïve approaches by a large margin. The code to reproduce all our experiments is available online.
Improving Indic code-mixed to monolingual translation using Mixed Script Augmentation, Generation & Transfer Learning
Authors: Bhowmick Rajat Subhra , Ganguli Isha , Paul Ananya , Paul Jayanta , Sil Jaya
Published: July 2023

The use of code-mixed languages (written in Roman character) on social media platforms is prevalent in multilingual nations. Translation from code-mixed to monolingual is necessary for social media analysis, content filtering, and targeted advertising. Training translation models from scratch is difficult due to the scarcity of available code-mixed resources and the extremely noisy nature of real-time code-mixed sentences. At the moment, multilingual state-of-the-art language models are routinely used for multilingual applications. However, multilingual models are ineffective in handling code-mixed sentences as it is usually written in Roman script but contain words from at least two languages. In the paper, two data augmentation techniques are proposed to improve code-mixed to monolingual translation, one based on script augmentation and the other on code-mixed sentence generation. The proposed approach converts the code-mixed sentences into ‘Mixed Script form’ that restore the native language words in the sentences with corresponding native language scripts. The novelty of the work is that the multilingual language models include each language’s linguistic competence, preserving context in the monolingual sentences, not possible in the earlier models. Using an mT5 model, denoising and mixed-script switching are performed, followed by monolingual translation with another mT5 model. Code-mixed sentences are generated by employing a simple code-mixed sentence generating technique using monolingual parallel inputs. Two different Indic language sets, namely Hindi-English and Bengali-English are applied and in each case, the proposed approach outperforms straight uni-script (Roman) code-mixed to monolingual translation.
Safe Maintenance of Railways using COTS Mobile Devices: The Remote Worker Dashboard
Authors: Zoppi Tommaso , Mungiello Innocenzo , Ceccarelli Andrea , Cirillo Alberto , Sarti Lorenzo , Esposito Lorenzo , Scaglione Giuseppe , Repetto Sergio , Bondavalli Andrea
Published: July 2023

The railway domain is regulated by rigorous safety standards to ensure that specific safety goals are met. Often, safety-critical systems rely on custom hardware-software components that are built from scratch to achieve specific functional and non-functional requirements. Instead, the (partial) usage of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) components is very attractive as it potentially allows reducing cost and time to market. Unfortunately, COTS components do not individually offer enough guarantees in terms of safety and security to be used in critical systems as they are. In such a context,
RFI
(Rete Ferroviaria Italiana), a major player in Europe for railway infrastructure management, aims at equipping track-side workers with COTS devices to remotely and safely interact with the existing interlocking system, drastically improving the performance of maintenance operations. This paper describes the first effort to update existing (embedded) railway systems to a more recent cyber-physical system paradigm. Our Remote Worker Dashboard (RWD) pairs the existing safe interlocking machinery alongside COTS mobile components, making cyber and physical components cooperate to provide the user with responsive, safe, and secure service. Specifically, the RWD is a SIL4 cyber-physical system to support maintenance of actuators and railways in which COTS mobile devices are safely used by track-side workers. The concept, development, implementation, verification, and validation activities to build the RWD were carried out in compliance with the applicable CENELEC standards required by certification bodies to declare compliance with specific guidelines.
[Retracted] Deep Learning‐Based Leaf Region Segmentation Using High‐Resolution Super HAD CCD and ISOCELL GW1 Sensors
Authors: Talasila Srinivas , Rawal Kirti , Sethi Gaurav
Published: July 2023

Super HAD CCD and ISOCELL GW1 imaging sensors are used for capturing images in high‐resolution cameras nowadays. These high‐resolution camera sensors were used in this work to acquire black gram plant leaf diseased images in natural cultivation fields. Segmenting plant leaf regions from the black gram cultivation field images is a preliminary step for disease identification and classification. It is also helpful for the farmers to assess the plants’ health and identify the diseases in their early stages. Even though plant leaf region segmentation has been effectively handled in many contributions, no universally applicable solution exists to solve all issues. Therefore, an approach for extracting leaf region from black gram plant leaf images is presented in this article. The novelty of the proposed method is that MobileNetV2 has been utilized as a backbone network for DeepLabv3+ layers to segment plant leaf regions. The DeepLabv3+ with MobileNetV2 segmentation model exhibited superior performance compared to the other models (SegNet, U‐Net, DeepLabv3+ with ResNet18, ResNet50, Xception, and InceptionResNetV2) in terms of accuracy of 99.71%, Dice of 98.72%, and Jaccard/IoU of 97.47% when data augmentation was applied. The algorithms were developed and trained using MATLAB software. Each of the experimental trials reported in this article surpasses the prior findings.
Agrophysiological Performance of Mungbean Accessions (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek) and Nitrogen Balance under Mungbean in Burkina Faso
Authors: Nana Rasmata , Oumar Maïga , Sawadogo Nerbéwendé , Louré Mohamed
Published: July 2023

Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) is a seed legume that is not well known in the cropping systems and dietary habits of Burkina Faso. The objective of this study was to evaluate the physiological and agronomic performance of fifteen mungbean accessions from a collection of the World Vegetable Center in Mali under rainfed conditions in Burkina Faso. The experimental design was a Fischer block with three replications, and the measurements focused not only on the growth, development cycle, and yield parameters of the plants but also on the total nitrogen balance in the soil at harvest. The results show that growth parameters such as the plant height at the beginning of flowering (HP), stem neck diameter (SCD), and number of branches per plant (NBrP) significantly discriminate between dealerships. The same was true for all the developmental parameters. The tallest plants with a higher crown diameter and number of branches were those of accession A3. The early flowering cycle varied from very early (29 days) to medium (41 days), with an average of about 34 days. On the other hand, the cycle at harvest varied from 82 days to 93 days depending on the accessions, with an average of about 88 days. The best performances in terms of yield were expressed by the accessions A3, A2, and A12 with 850.50 kg·ha−1, 625.2 kg·ha−1, and 544.8 kg·ha−1, respectively. At harvest, the soil nitrogen balance was generally positive with an increase of 0.326 g·N·kg−1 of soil, which represents a nitrogen input from the mungbean contributing to the improvement of the soil nitrogen status. As nitrogen is an essential nutrient that is often lacking, limiting plant growth, farmers are obliged to supply this nutrient in the form of fertiliser; with mungbean’s ability to supply nitrogen to the soil, it could therefore be used in crop rotations as a solution to make up for the lack of nitrogen.
Survival From Birth Until Young Adulthood Among Individuals With Congenital Heart Defects: CH STRONG
Authors: Downing Karrie F. , Nembhard Wendy N. , Rose Charles E. , Andrews Jennifer G. , Goudie Anthony , Klewer Scott E. , Oster Matthew E. , Farr Sherry L.
Published: July 2023

BACKGROUND:

Limited population-based information is available on long-term survival of US individuals with congenital heart defects (CHDs). Therefore, we assessed patterns in survival from birth until young adulthood (ie, 35 years of age) and associated factors among a population-based sample of US individuals with CHDs.

METHODS:

Individuals born between 1980 and 1997 with CHDs identified in 3 US birth defect surveillance systems were linked to death records through 2015 to identify those deceased and the year of their death. Kaplan-Meier survival curves, adjusted risk ratios (aRRs) for infant mortality (ie, death during the first year of life), and Cox proportional hazard ratios for survival after the first year of life (aHRs) were used to estimate the probability of survival and associated factors. Standardized mortality ratios compared infant mortality, >1-year mortality, >10-year mortality, and >20-year mortality among individuals with CHDs with general population estimates.

RESULTS:

Among 11 695 individuals with CHDs, the probability of survival to 35 years of age was 81.4% overall, 86.5% among those without co-occurring noncardiac anomalies, and 92.8% among those who survived the first year of life. Characteristics associated with both infant mortality and reduced survival after the first year of life, respectively, included severe CHDs (aRR=4.08; aHR=3.18), genetic syndromes (aRR=1.83; aHR=3.06) or other noncardiac anomalies (aRR=1.54; aHR=2.53), low birth weight (aRR=1.70; aHR=1.29), and Hispanic (aRR=1.27; aHR=1.42) or non-Hispanic Black (aRR=1.43; aHR=1.80) maternal race and ethnicity. Individuals with CHDs had higher infant mortality (standardized mortality ratio=10.17), >1-year mortality (standardized mortality ratio=3.29), and >10-year and >20-year mortality (both standardized mortality ratios ≈1.5) than the general population; however, after excluding those with noncardiac anomalies, >1-year mortality for those with nonsevere CHDs and >10-year and >20-year mortality for those with any CHD were similar to the general population.

CONCLUSIONS:

Eight in 10 individuals with CHDs born between1980 and 1997 survived to 35 years of age, with disparities by CHD severity, noncardiac anomalies, birth weight, and maternal race and ethnicity. Among individuals without noncardiac anomalies, those with nonsevere CHDs experienced similar mortality between 1 and 35 years of age as in the general population, and those with any CHD experienced similar mortality between 10 and 35 years of age as in the general population.
Olivier ou palmier ?
Authors: Valtierra Ana
Published: July 2023

The oldest Greek sources narrate how Leto at the time of childbirth held on to a palm tree on the island of Delos to help herself with the effort of contractions. Under this palm tree, the god Apollo was born, making it an element of sacred worship of which the ancients said that it never died. Despite the clarity of the sources in the plant identification from the 5th century BC onwards, we can observe an attempt to appropriate the sacred tree of Leto’s childbirth that is made manifest through written and visual sources. Thus, the olive tree or the image of Athena began to appear as protagonists of the myth. They began to oversee the birth of the god Apollo. This iconographic manipulation had a single purpose: to justify, through religion, the economic and political control of a key commercial centre in the Greek world.
Sustainable Internal Security in Nigeria: Any Role for International Human Rights Law?
Authors: Ibe-Ojiludu Somadina
Published: July 2023

Since Nigeria’s restoration to democracy in 1999, the country has never faced the same level of internal security threat as it does now, including threats from Boko Haram rebels, herdsmen and bandits. This paper argued that the problem of internal insecurity in Nigeria is a symptom of a failed state and that this can be remedied by the adoption of the concept of new approach to security in international law which essentially entails enthroning a regime of human rights protection in the country. The paper discovered that in Nigeria the number of human rights recognised in each generation of rights is not exhaustive enough. The paper further found, among other things, that Nigeria’s Fundamental Rights (Enforcement Procedure) Rule, 2009 does not give effect to internationally-recognized Rights that are uncaptured or weakly captured in Nigeria’s municipal law. The paper utilised the doctrinal methodology.
Navigating Academia’s Stressful Waters: Discussing the Power of Horizontal Linkages for Early-Career Researchers
Authors: Amaral Lucas , Grimm Julia , Pradilla Camilo Arciniegas
Published: July 2023

Mental health issues are on the rise among early career researchers (ECRs), endangering the future of academia. Horizontal linkages among ECRs can play a role in building a reliable emotional support system. We offer four suggestions to overcome existing barriers and foster these linkages.
Exploring Therapeutic Relationships in Pediatric Occupational Therapy: A Meta-Ethnography
Authors: Gagné-Trudel Sandrine , Therriault Pierre-Yves , Cantin Noémi
Published: July 2023

Background. Developing strong therapeutic relationships with families is a crucial aspect of pediatric occupational therapy. However, building such relationships is complex as they involve multiple directions of interaction. Purpose. To provide a thorough interpretation of children's, caregivers’, and occupational therapists’ experience of the therapeutic relationship. Method. A meta-ethnography was realized to synthesize qualitative studies. A systematic search was carried out using five databases from 2005 to 2022. The CAPS checklist was used to appraise included studies’ quality. The analysis was completed using a constant comparison of findings. Findings. Three themes emerged from the 14 studies synthesized. The first theme illustrates that the therapeutic relationship can have different meanings depending on the perspective of children, caregivers, or occupational therapists. The second theme explores the components impacting the experience of the relationship. These include the power dynamics, the communication, and respect for diversity. Finally, the third theme illustrates how the relationship can empower positive change. Implications. Children, caregivers, and occupational therapists each have a perspective that ought to be heard. Occupational therapists should actively ask for children's and caregivers’ perspectives to encourage power sharing and effective communication. By doing so, occupational therapists can strengthen the therapeutic relationship, which, in turn, promotes positive change.
Digitalization of public sector organizations over time: The applicability of quantitative text analysis
Authors: Fossheim Karin , Lund-Tønnesen Jonas
Published: July 2023

In recent decades, public organizations have undergone significant changes related to digitalization. These changes are the result of multiple, varying influences, such as external institutional feedback. The issue of digitalization feedback development in public organizations opens the discussion on how to study digitalization over time. In this article, we consider whether the method of quantitative text analysis can be used to observe the same administrative trends in digitalization as found using other methods and data sources in existing research. After conducting a co-occurrence analysis of documents from the Norwegian Customs Agency (NCA) over a period of 20 years, we found that the NCA's digitalization-related language changed in this period and that user feedback was the most frequently emphasized kind of external feedback. These observations are consistent with the literature, which shows that the use of co-occurrence methodology to study public administration has a positive role in future research.

Points for practitioners

Quantitative text analysis is an effective method to observe administrative trends. Findings of the study corroborate with previous research showing that current administrative trends emphasize collaboration between public organizations and citizen participation as central development features of digitalization of public organizations. The co-occurrence analysis has some limitations and needs to be further improved to develop theory and identify new areas of public administration digitalization.
Output-feedback anti-disturbance consensus for multi-agent systems with application to secondary voltage regulation for microgrids
Authors: Qiu Xuechao , Wang Xiangyu
Published: July 2023

This paper investigates a distributed finite-time consensus problem for second-order multi-agent systems (MASs) with disturbances and unmeasurable states. Output-feedback anti-disturbance consensus protocols are designed by finite-time observer (FTO) methods and the nonsingular integral terminal sliding-mode control (NITSMC). Some FTOs are first introduced for the agents to estimate the disturbances and unmeasurable states together. Then, the nonsingular integral terminal sliding-mode surfaces are proposed, based on which consensus protocols are proposed. Moreover, the consensus methods are also applied to microgrids (MGs). Based on MG systems, output voltages achieve consensus through secondary regulation. Simulations verify the effectiveness.
A class of nonlinear multi-objective mixed integer programming model for oil and gas portfolio and algorithm solution
Authors: Yan Wei
Published: July 2023

This paper is concerned with the oil & gas assets portfolio. A multi-objective portfolio model of oil & gas assets is studied from two perspectives—scale and revenue. Considering the nonlinear and integer constraints in the model, a class of oil & gas assets portfolio model of nonlinear multi-objective mixed integer programming is established. The weight of the multi-objective is solved by the support vector machine model. A hybrid genetic algorithm, which uses the position displacement strategy of the particle swarm optimizer as a mutation operation, is applied to the optimization model. Finally, two examples are applied to verify the effectiveness of the model and algorithm.
Fairness of using different English accents: The effect of shared L1s in listening tasks of the Duolingo English test
Authors: Kang Okim , Yan Xun , Kostromitina Maria , Thomson Ron , Isaacs Talia
Published: July 2023

This study aimed to answer an ongoing validity question related to the use of nonstandard English accents in international tests of English proficiency and associated issues of test fairness. More specifically, we examined (1) the extent to which different or shared English accents had an impact on listeners’ performances on the Duolingo listening tests and (2) the extent to which different English accents affected listeners’ performances on two different task types. Speakers from four interlanguage English accent varieties (Chinese, Spanish, Indian English [Hindi], and Korean) produced speech samples for “yes/no” vocabulary and dictation Duolingo listening tasks. Listeners who spoke with these same four English accents were then recruited to take the Duolingo listening test items. Results suggested that there is a shared first language (L1) benefit effect overall, with comparable test scores between shared-L1 and inner-circle L1 accents, and no significant differences in listeners’ listening performance scores across highly intelligible accent varieties. No task type effect was found. The findings provide guidance to better understand fairness, equality, and practicality of designing and administering high-stakes English tests targeting a diversity of accents.
Endometrial scratch injury in infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization cycles: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Maged Ahmed M , El-Mazny Akmal , Lasheen Yossra , El-Nassery Noura
Published: July 2023

Objective

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of endometrial scratch injury (ESI) in infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Methods

We screened MEDLINE, CENTRAL, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Central Register from inception to April 2023 using keywords related to endometrial scratch, implantation, infertility, and IVF. We included 41 randomized, controlled trials of ESI in IVF cycles (9084 women). The primary outcomes were the clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, and live birth rates.

Results

The clinical pregnancy rate was reported in all 41 studies. The odds ratio (OR) for the clinical pregnancy rate had an effect estimate of 1.34 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of 1.14 to 1.58. The live birth rate was reported in 32 studies with 8129 participants. The OR for the live birth rate had an effect estimate of 1.30 with a 95% CI of 1.06 to 1.60. The multiple pregnancy rate was reported in 21 studies with 5736 participants. The OR for the multiple pregnancy rate had an effect estimate of 1.35 with a 95% CI of 1.07 to 1.71.

Conclusion

ESI increases the clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, live birth, multiple pregnancy, and implantation rates in women undergoing IVF cycles.
Abolishing institutional racism
Authors: Elliott-Cooper Adam
Published: July 2023

In 2020, anti-racist campaigns mobilising under the banner of Black Lives Matter challenged liberal reforms to policing as they made calls to defund the police. In the same year, the UK government’s Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities rejected not just the radical demands of Black Lives Matter protesters, but even liberal analyses of institutional racism in policing. This article examines how these two political interventions, analysing the same place at the same time, arrived at such divergent conclusions. This is done by tracing critiques of institutional racism from the Black Power movements of the 1960s and ’70s, through to the more liberal interpretations of institutional racism following the 1999 Macpherson Report. It goes on to argue that the failings of Macpherson provided the impetus for the political developments of 2020. The dearth of political, historical and economic analysis by Macpherson helped embolden the government to denude interpretations of data on racial inequalities as constituting institutional racism. Simultaneously, the endurance of police racism in post-Macpherson Britain has served only to underline the necessity for more radical demands in challenging institutional racism. The author argues that this has spurred on present-day activists to draw on the radical Black Power politics of the twentieth century to complement their abolitionist demands.
Stitching together the threads of internationalism: London in anti-imperial organising
Authors: Salhab Akram
Published: July 2023

In this article, based on a modified speech delivered as part of the ‘Radical internationalism and shifts in the global order’ panel at the ‘New Circuits of Anti-racism Conference’, King’s College London, October 2022 (IRR50), an organiser both for Palestinian liberation and migrant rights scopes the potential for international solidarity in the metropole today. He contrasts a recent revival in solidarity during the ‘Corbyn era’ with times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when London was a hotbed of progressive internationalism as exiles sought refuge and freedom to think, write, organise and build links. He asks what we can learn from these experiences, and what the possibilities are of such concerted internationalism in London, and Britain more generally, today.
From memory to a re-imagining; learning from Sivanandan
Authors: Guns Priya
Published: July 2023

This personal account of what Sivanandan’s writing – particularly his novel When Memory Dies – means to one Sri Lankan Tamil writer from the diaspora shows how his imaginative melding of history, politics and individual lives speaks to the issues facing Third World and ‘subaltern’ poets, intellectuals and novelists today. Through Sivanandan’s work, and an exploration of the significance of the interplay of the personal and the political, the author focuses on how to make radical art in a neoliberal globalist world. This was originally delivered as a talk at the ‘New Circuits of Anti-racism Conference’, King’s College London, October 2022 (IRR50).
Radical internationalism and shifts in the global order
Authors: Gordon Avery F.
Published: July 2023

As moderator of the panel of speakers on ‘Radical internationalism and shifts in the global order’ at the ‘New Circuits of Anti-racism Conference’, King’s College London, October 2022 (IRR50), the author takes stock of challenging global conditions in terms of austerity and debt, mounting oppositions, capitalist crises and authoritarianisms and post-global ‘war on terror’ moves against Chinese and Russian expansionism. How, she asks, do these changes impact social movements and solidarities?