bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Tolerance management during the design of composite structures considering variations in design parameters
Authors: Franz Michael , Schleich Benjamin , Wartzack Sandro
Published: February 2021

Composite structures play an important role in realising resource-efficient products. Their high lightweight potential and improved manufacturing technologies lead to an increased use in high-volume products. However, especially during the design and development of high-volume products, the consideration of uncertainties is essential to guarantee the final product quality. In this context, the use of modern lightweight materials, such as fibre reinforced plastics (FRP), leads to new challenges. This is due to their high number of design parameters, which are subject to deviations from their nominal values. Deviating parameters, e.g. ply angles and thicknesses, influence the manufacturing process as well as the structural behaviour of a composite part. To consider the deviating design parameters during the design process, a new tolerance optimisation approach is presented, defining tolerance values for laminate design parameters, while ensuring the functionality of the composite structure. To reduce the computational effort, metamodels are used during this optimisation to replace finite element simulations. The proposed approach is applied to a use case with different key functions to show its applicability and benefits.
Urinary and anal incontinence among female gymnasts and cheerleaders—bother and associated factors. A cross-sectional study
Authors: Skaug Kristina Lindquist , Engh Marie Ellström , Frawley Helena , Bø Kari
Published: February 2021

Introduction and hypothesis

Artistic gymnastics, team gymnastics and cheerleading are sports including high-impact activities. It is presumed that the athletes’ pelvic floor must be functioning well to prevent urinary (UI) and anal incontinence (AI) during sports. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence and risk factors for UI and AI in female artistic gymnasts, team gymnasts and cheerleaders; the influence of UI and AI on daily living and sport performance; and the athletes’ knowledge about the pelvic floor muscles (PFM).

Methods

All female athletes ≥ 12 years of age competing in ≥ 1 National Championship in artistic gymnastics, team gymnastics or cheerleading in 2018/2019 were invited. International Consensus on Incontinence Questionnaires were used to assess the prevalence/bother of UI and AI.

Results

Among the 319 gymnasts and cheerleaders who participated, the prevalence of UI and AI was 67% and 84%, respectively. Age, training ≥ 4 days/week and straining to void were significantly associated with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and years of training with AI. Eighty-three percent of athletes with SUI reported a negative effect on sports performance, 22% would occasionally avoid training or specific exercises because of leakage, and 28% used pads for protection. Forty-one percent of the athletes had never heard about the PFM, and 74% reported an interest in PFM training to prevent/treat UI or AI.

Conclusions

UI and AI were prevalent in female gymnasts and cheerleaders, and SUI negatively influenced sport performance. The athletes’ knowledge about the PFM was limited.
The subset sum game revisited
Authors: Pieterse Astrid , Woeginger Gerhard J.
Published: February 2021

We discuss a game theoretic variant of the subset sum problem, in which two players compete for a common resource represented by a knapsack. Each player owns a private set of items, players pack items alternately, and each player either wants to maximize the total weight of his own items packed into the knapsack or to minimize the total weight of the items of the other player. We show that finding the best packing strategy against a hostile or a selfish adversary is PSPACE-complete, and that against these adversaries the optimal reachable item weight for a player cannot be approximated within any constant factor (unless P=NP). The game becomes easier when the adversary is short-sighted and plays greedily: finding the best packing strategy against a greedy adversary is NP-complete in the weak sense. This variant forms one of the rare examples of pseudo-polynomially solvable problems that have a PTAS, but do not allow an FPTAS (unless P=NP).
Evaluation of prognostic biomarkers in a population-validated Finnish HNSCC patient cohort
Authors: Routila J. , Leivo I. , Minn H. , Westermarck J. , Ventelä Sami
Published: February 2021

Introduction

Prognostic biomarkers and novel therapeutic approaches have been slow to emerge in the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). In this study, an HNSCC patient cohort is created and performance of putative prognostic biomarkers investigated in a population-validated setting. The overall goal is to develop a novel way to combine biomarker analyses with population-level clinical data on HNSCC patients and thus to improve the carryover of biomarkers into clinical practice.

Materials and methods

To avoid selection biases in retrospective study design, all HNSCC patients were identified and corresponding clinical data were collected from the Southwest Finland geographical area. A particular emphasis was laid on avoiding potential biases in sample selection for immunohistochemical staining analyses. Staining results were evaluated for potential prognostic resolution.

Results

After comprehensive evaluation, the patient cohort was found to be representative of the background population in terms of clinical characteristics such as patient age and TNM stage distribution. A negligible drop-out of 1.3% (6/476) was observed during the first follow-up year. By immunohistochemical analysis, the role of previously implicated HNSCC biomarkers (p53, EGFR, p16, CIP2A, Oct4, MET, and NDFIP1) was investigated.

Discussion

Our exceptionally representative patient material supports the use of population validation to improve the applicability of results to real-life situations. The failure of the putative prognostic biomarkers emphasizes the need for controlling bias in retrospective studies, especially in the heterogenous tumor environment of HNSCC. The resolution of simple prognostic examination is unlikely to be sufficient to identify biomarkers for clinical practice of HNSCC.
Balancing patients’ fears of recurrence and fears of COVID-19 when considering their preference for review consultations
Authors: Dimelow Joanna , Lowe Derek , Rogers Simon N.
Published: February 2021

Purpose

Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients may experience fears regarding cancer recurrence (FoR) and of catching COVID-19. There could be unease for attending hospital clinics for face to face (F2F) examination. F2F benefit in cancer surveillance has to be balanced against the risk of virus transmission. This study aimed to report perceptions of fear of cancer and fear of COVID-19 and to report patient preference for follow-up consultation in HNC survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods

The study ran from lockdown in England on 24th March to 29th July 2020. Patients were offered preference to postpone their consultation, to have it by telephone, or F2F. A postal survey was undertaken in the 2 weeks post-consultation (actual or postponed).

Results

There were 103 patients. Initial action by consultant and patient resulted in 51 postponed consultations, 35 telephone consultations and 17 F2F meetings, with 10 F2F triggered by the patient. There were 58 responders to the survey and most (39) had a clear preference for one mode of follow-up consultation during the COVID-19 pandemic, with half (19) preferring F2F. A similar response was seen regarding their consultations in general to address unmet needs and concerns, with 38 having a preferred mode, 29 preferring F2F. Serious fears about recurrence and COVID-19 were at relatively low levels with a tendency to be more concerned about recurrence.

Conclusion

Any redesign of mode and frequency of out-patient follow-up in light of COVID-19 should be undertaken in discussion with patient groups and with individual patients.
Comment on “Ultrapotassic magmatism in the heyday of the Variscan Orogeny: the story of the Třebíč Pluton, the largest durbachitic body in the Bohemian Massif” by Janoušek et al.
Authors: Schaltegger U. , Gaynor S. P. , Widmann P. , Kotková J.
Published: February 2021

This comment addresses the incorrect treatment and presentation of data from laser ablation ICP-MS U–Pb age determinations of two samples of the Třebíč Pluton. This results in inaccurate ages and error assessment, invalidating the age interpretations of the authors. To corroborate our arguments, new high-precision chemical abrasion ID-TIMS data are presented that unequivocally define the emplacement age of the Třebíč pluton.
VarioGuide® frameless neuronavigation-guided stereoelectroencephalography in adult epilepsy patients: technique, accuracy and clinical experience
Authors: Ladisich Barbara , Machegger Lukas , Romagna Alexander , Krainz Herbert , Steinbacher Jürgen , Leitinger Markus , Kalss Gudrun , Thon Niklas , Trinka Eugen , Winkler Peter A. , Schwartz Christoph
Published: February 2021

Background

Stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) allows the identification of deep-seated seizure foci and determination of the epileptogenic zone (EZ) in drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) patients. We evaluated the accuracy and treatment-associated morbidity of frameless VarioGuide® (VG) neuronavigation-guided depth electrode (DE) implantations.

Methods

We retrospectively identified all consecutive adult DRE patients, who underwent VG-neuronavigation DE implantations, between March 2013 and April 2019. Clinical data were extracted from the electronic patient charts. An interdisciplinary team agreed upon all treatment decisions. We performed trajectory planning with iPlan® Cranial software and DE implantations with the VG system. Each electrode’s accuracy was assessed at the entry (EP), the centre (CP) and the target point (TP). We conducted correlation analyses to identify factors associated with accuracy.

Results

The study population comprised 17 patients (10 women) with a median age of 32.0 years (range 21.0–54.0). In total, 220 DEs (median length 49.3 mm, range 25.1–93.8) were implanted in 21 SEEG procedures (range 3–16 DEs/surgery). Adequate signals for postoperative SEEG were detected for all but one implanted DEs (99.5%); in 15/17 (88.2%) patients, the EZ was identified and 8/17 (47.1%) eventually underwent focus resection. The mean deviations were 3.2 ± 2.4 mm for EP, 3.0 ± 2.2 mm for CP and 2.7 ± 2.0 mm for TP. One patient suffered from postoperative SEEG-associated morbidity (i.e. conservatively treated delayed bacterial meningitis). No mortality or new neurological deficits were recorded.

Conclusions

The accuracy of VG-SEEG proved sufficient to identify EZ in DRE patients and associated with a good risk-profile. It is a viable and safe alternative to frame-based or robotic systems.
Comparison and evaluation of state-of-the-art LSM merge policies
Authors: Mao Qizhong , Jacobs Steven , Amjad Waleed , Hristidis Vagelis , Tsotras Vassilis J. , Young Neal E.
Published: February 2021

Modern NoSQL database systems use log-structured merge (LSM) storage architectures to support high write throughput. LSM architectures aggregate writes in a mutable MemTable (stored in memory), which is regularly flushed to disk, creating a new immutable file called an SSTable. Some of the SSTables are chosen to be periodically merged—replaced with a single SSTable containing their union. A mergepolicy (a.k.a. compaction policy) specifies when to do merges and which SSTables to combine. A bounded depth merge policy is one that guarantees that the number of SSTables never exceeds a given parameter k, typically in the range 3–10. Bounded depth policies are useful in applications where low read latency is crucial, but they and their underlying combinatorics are not yet well understood. This paper compares several bounded depth policies, including representative policies from industrial NoSQL databases and two new ones based on recent theoretical modeling, as well as the standard Tiered policy and Leveled policy. The results validate the proposed theoretical model and show that, compared to the existing policies, the newly proposed policies can have substantially lower write amplification with comparable read amplification.
Three decades of landslide activity in western Nepal: new insights into trends and climate drivers
Authors: Muñoz-Torrero Manchado A. , Allen S. , Ballesteros-Cánovas J. A. , Dhakal A. , Dhital M. R. , Stoffel M.
Published: February 2021

In recent decades, landslide disasters in the Himalayas, as in other mountain regions, are widely reported to have increased. While some studies have suggested a link to increasing heavy rainfall under a warmer climate, others pointed to anthropogenic influences on slope stability, and increasing exposure of people and assets located in harm’s way. A lack of sufficiently high-resolution regional landslide inventories, both spatially and temporally, has prevented any robust consensus so far. Focusing on Far-Western Nepal, we draw on remote sensing techniques to create a regional inventory of 26,350 single landslide events, of which 8778 date to the period 1992–2018. These events serve as a basis for the analyses of landslide frequency relationships and trends in relation to precipitation and temperature datasets. Results show a strong correlation between the annual number of shallow landslides and the accumulated monsoon precipitation (r = 0.74). Furthermore, warm and dry monsoons followed by especially rainy monsoons produce the highest incidence of shallow landslides (r = 0.77). However, we find strong spatial variability in the strength of these relationships, which is linked to recent demographic development in the region. This highlights the role of anthropogenic drivers, and in particular road cutting and land-use change, in amplifying the seasonal monsoon influence on slope stability. In parallel, the absence of any long-term trends in landslide activity, despite widely reported increase in landslide disasters, points strongly to increasing exposure of people and infrastructure as the main driver of landslide disasters in this region of Nepal. By contrast, no climate change signal is evident from the data.
Young refugees’ and asylum seekers’ career choices: a qualitative investigation
Authors: Fedrigo Laurence , Udayar Shagini , Toscanelli Cecilia , Clot-Siegrist Eva , Durante Federico , Masdonati Jonas
Published: February 2021

A major challenge for refugees and asylum seekers is social and professional integration. Using constructivist and capability approaches, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 young refugees and asylum seekers enrolled in an integration program in French-speaking Switzerland about their career choices. Following consensual qualitative and phenomenological approaches, we focused on their life trajectories (the situation in their home country, triggers behind their flight, arrival in Switzerland) and their current situation (resources and barriers). From their career plans, interests, and values, we formed three profiles (the vocation seekers, the altruists, and the work lovers) to characterize how they constructed their careers.
Clinical follow-up of left atrial appendage occlusion in patients with atrial fibrillation ineligible of oral anticoagulation treatment—a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Labori Frida , Bonander Carl , Persson Josefine , Svensson Mikael
Published: February 2021

Purpose

The recommended stroke prevention for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and increased risk of ischemic stroke is oral anticoagulation (OAC). Parts of the patient population are not eligible due to contraindication, and percutaneous left atrial occlusion (LAAO) can then be a preventive treatment option. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to estimate the long-term clinical effectiveness of LAAO as stroke prevention in patients with AF, increased risk of ischemic stroke, and contraindication to OAC.

Methods

We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis, using Poisson random effect models, to estimate the incidence rate (events per 100 patient-years) of ischemic stroke, transient ischemic attack, major bleeding, and all-cause death after LAAO treatment. We also calculated the risk reduction of ischemic stroke with LAAO compared with no stroke prevention estimated through a predicted risk in an untreated population (5.5 per 100 patient-years).

Results

We included 29 observational studies in our meta-analysis, including 7 951 individuals and 12 211 patient-years. The mean CHA2DS2-VASc score among the patients in the included studies is 4.32. The pooled incidence rate of ischemic stroke is 1.38 per 100 patient-years (95% CI 1.08; 1.77). According to a meta-regression model, the estimated incidence rate of ischemic stroke at CHA2DS2-VASc 4 is 1.39 per 100 patient-years. This implies a risk reduction of 74.7% with LAAO compared to predicated risk with no stroke prevention.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that LAAO is effective as stroke prevention for patients with AF, increased risk of stroke, and contraindication to oral anticoagulation.
Optimal electromechanical bandgaps in piezo-embedded mechanical metamaterials
Authors: Dwivedi Ankur , Banerjee Arnab , Adhikari Sondipon , Bhattacharya Bishakh
Published: February 2021

Elastic mechanical metamaterials are the exemplar of periodic structures. These are artificially designed structures having idiosyncratic physical properties like negative mass and negative Young’s modulus in specific frequency ranges. These extreme physical properties are due to the spatial periodicity of mechanical unit cells, which exhibit local resonance. That is why scientists are researching the dynamics of these structures for decades. This unusual dynamic behavior is frequency contingent, which modulates wave propagation through these structures. Locally resonant units in the designed metamaterial facilitate bandgap formation virtually at any frequency for wavelengths much higher than the lattice length of a unit. Here, we analyze the band structure of piezo-embedded negative mass metamaterial using the generalized Bloch theorem. For a finite number of the metamaterial units coupled equation of motion of the system is deduced, considering purely resistive and shunted inductor energy harvesting circuits. Successively, the voltage and power produced by piezoelectric material along with transmissibility of the system are computed using the backward substitution method. The addition of the piezoelectric material at the resonating unit increases the complexity of the solution. The results elucidate, the insertion of the piezoelectric material in the resonating unit provides better tunability in the band structure for simultaneous energy harvesting and vibration attenuation. Non-dimensional analysis of the system gives physical parameters that govern the formation of mechanical and electromechanical bandgaps. Optimized numerical values of these system parameters are also found for maximum first attenuation bandwidth. Thus, broader bandgap generation enhances vibration attenuation, and energy harvesting can be simultaneously available, making these structures multifunctional. This exploration can be considered as a step towards the active elastic mechanical metamaterials design.
Hölder estimates for magnetic Schrödinger semigroups in $${\mathbb {R}}^{d}$$ from mirror coupling
Authors: Fürst Oliver , Güneysu Batu
Published: February 2021

We use the mirror coupling of Brownian motion to show that under a $$\beta \in (0,1)$$

β
∈
(
0
,
1
)

-dependent Kato-type assumption on the possibly nonsmooth electromagnetic potential, the corresponding magnetic Schrödinger semigroup in $${\mathbb {R}}^d$$

R

d

has a global $$L^{p}$$

L
p

-to-$$C^{0,\beta }$$

C

0
,
β

Hölder smoothing property for all $$p\in [1,\infty ]$$

p
∈
[
1
,
∞
]

; in particular, his all eigenfunctions are uniformly $$\beta $$
β
-Hölder continuous. This result shows that the eigenfunctions of the Hamilton operator of a molecule in a magnetic field are uniformly $$\beta $$
β
-Hölder continuous under weak $$L^q$$

L
q

-assumptions on the magnetic potential.
Motivational Differences? Comparing Private, Public and Hybrid Organizations
Authors: Jacobsen Dag Ingvar
Published: February 2021

While studies of motivational differences between managers in private and public organizations proliferate, few have compared managers’ motivation in hybrid organizations to the motivation of managers in private and public organizations. This lack of studies is surprising, as corporatization has been an important trend in the public sector over the last decades. Using a large survey covering almost 3000 managers from a representative sample of organizations in Norway, this study fills this hole by comparing how managers in hybrid organizations differ on extrinsic, intrinsic and prosocial motivation from their counterparts in public and private organizations.
Evaluation of Static Mapping for Dynamic Space-Shared Multi-task Processing on FPGAs
Authors: Minhas Umar Ibrahim , Woods Roger , Karakonstantis Georgios
Published: February 2021

Whilst FPGAs have been used in cloud ecosystems, it is still extremely challenging to achieve high compute density when mapping heterogeneous multi-tasks on shared resources at runtime. This work addresses this by treating the FPGA resource as a service and employing multi-task processing at the high level, design space exploration and static off-line partitioning in order to allow more efficient mapping of heterogeneous tasks onto the FPGA. In addition, a new, comprehensive runtime functional simulator is used to evaluate the effect of various spatial and temporal constraints on both the existing and new approaches when varying system design parameters. A comprehensive suite of real high performance computing tasks was implemented on a Nallatech 385 FPGA card and show that our approach can provide on average 2.9 × and 2.3 × higher system throughput for compute and mixed intensity tasks, while 0.2 × lower for memory intensive tasks due to external memory access latency and bandwidth limitations. The work has been extended by introducing a novel scheduling scheme to enhance temporal utilization of resources when using the proposed approach. Additional results for large queues of mixed intensity tasks (compute and memory) show that the proposed partitioning and scheduling approach can provide higher than 3 × system speedup over previous schemes.
FPGA-Based Inter-layer Pipelined Accelerators for Filter-Wise Weight-Balanced Sparse Fully Convolutional Networks with Overlapped Tiling
Authors: Shimoda Masayuki , Sada Youki , Nakahara Hiroki
Published: February 2021

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) exhibit state-of-the-art performance while performing computer-vision tasks. CNNs require high-speed, low-power, and high-accuracy hardware for various scenarios, such as edge environments. However, the number of weights is so large that embedded systems cannot store them owing to their limited on-chip memory. A different method is used to minimize the input image size, for real-time processing, but it causes a considerable drop in accuracy. Although pruned sparse CNNs and special accelerators are proposed, the requirement of random access incurs a large number of wide multiplexers for a high degree of parallelism, which becomes more complicated and unsuitable for FPGA implementation. To address this problem, we propose filter-wise pruning with distillation and block RAM (BRAM)-based zero-weight skipping accelerator. It eliminates weights such that each filter has the same number of nonzero weights, performing retraining with distillation, while retaining comparable accuracy. Further, filter-wise pruning enables our accelerator to exploit inter-filter parallelism, where a processing block for a layer executes filters concurrently, with a straightforward architecture. We also propose an overlapped tiling algorithm, where tiles are extracted with overlap to prevent both accuracy degradation and high utilization of BRAMs storing high-resolution images. Our evaluation using semantic-segmentation tasks showed a 1.8 times speedup and 18.0 times increase in power efficiency of our FPGA design compared with a desktop GPU. Additionally, compared with the conventional FPGA implementation, the speedup and accuracy improvement were 1.09 times and 6.6 points, respectively. Therefore, our approach is useful for FPGA implementation and exhibits considerable accuracy for applications in embedded systems.
Erratum to: CAR T Cell Therapy for Hematological Malignancies
Authors: Yang Xin , Wang Gao-xiang , Zhou Jian-feng
Published: February 2021

The article “CAR T Cell Therapy for Hematological Malignancies”, written by Xin YANG, Gao-xiang WANG, Jian-feng ZHOU, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal on December 2019 without open access.
Alterations in oleanolic acid and sterol content in marigold (Calendula officinalis) hairy root cultures in response to stimulation by selected phytohormones
Authors: Alsoufi Abdulwadood S. M. , Staśkiewicz Klaudia , Markowski Michał
Published: February 2021

Hairy root cultures are an efficient tool for the biotechnological production of plant metabolites and a convenient experimental model for analyzing the effect of various compounds on plant metabolism. In contrast to many other types of in vitro plant cultures, hairy roots do not require an external supply of phytohormones to the medium. Consequently, plant growth regulators such as auxins and cytokinins are rarely used as elicitors in hairy root in vitro cultures; however, they can strongly influence plant defense responses. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of two auxins: natural indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) and synthetic 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA), as well as two cytokinins: natural kinetin and synthetic 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) at a concentration of 0.75 mg/L on the metabolism of sterols and triterpenoids in Calendula officinalis hairy roots. Auxins prevented the accumulation of triterpenoid saponins (oleanolic acid glycosides), while cytokinin BAP increased their accumulation by 17% and their release into the culture medium by a factor of 10. Other cytokinins and kinetins increased the sterol levels by 17%, the level of stigmasterol by 15%, and the level of isofucosterol by 7 times.
Autonomic Cardiovascular Alterations in Chronic Kidney Disease: Effects of Dialysis, Kidney Transplantation, and Renal Denervation
Authors: Quarti-Trevano Fosca , Seravalle Gino , Dell’Oro Raffaella , Mancia Giuseppe , Grassi Guido
Published: February 2021

Purpose of Review

To review the results of studies of the effects of dialysis and kidney transplantation on the autonomic nervous system alterations that occur in chronic kidney disease.

Recent Findings

Vagal control of the heart mediated by arterial baroreceptors is altered early in the course of the renal disease. Sympathetic activation occurs, with increases in resting heart rate, venous plasma norepinephrine levels, muscle sympathetic nerve traffic, and other indirect indices of adrenergic drive. The magnitude of the changes reflects the clinical severity of the kidney disease. Both the sympathetic and parasympathetic alterations have a reflex origin, depending on the impairment in baroreflex and cardiopulmonary reflex control of the cardiovascular system. These alterations are partially reversed during acute hemodialysis, but the responses are variable depending on the specific type of dialytic treatment that is employed. Renal transplantation improves reflex cardiovascular control, resulting in sympathoinhibition following renal transplantation if the native kidneys are removed. Sympathoinhibitory effects have been also reported in renal failure patients after bilateral renal denervation.

Assessment of autonomic nervous system responses to dialysis and renal transplantation provides information of clinical interest, given the evidence that autonomic alterations are involved in the development and progression of cardiovascular complications, as well as in the prognosis of chronic kidney disease.
Statins as Potential Chemoprevention or Therapeutic Agents in Cancer: a Model for Evaluating Repurposed Drugs
Authors: Joharatnam-Hogan Nalinie , Alexandre Leo , Yarmolinsky James , Lake Blossom , Capps Nigel , Martin Richard M , Ring Alistair , Cafferty Fay , Langley Ruth E
Published: February 2021

Purpose of Review

Repurposing established medicines for a new therapeutic indication potentially has important global and societal impact. The high costs and slow pace of new drug development have increased interest in more cost-effective repurposed drugs, particularly in the cancer arena. The conventional drug development pathway and evidence framework are not designed for drug repurposing and there is currently no consensus on establishing the evidence base before embarking on a large, resource intensive, potential practice changing phase III randomised controlled trial (RCT). Numerous observational studies have suggested a potential role for statins as a repurposed drug for cancer chemoprevention and therapy, and we review the strength of the cumulative evidence here.

Recent Findings

In the setting of cancer, a potential repurposed drug, like statins, typically goes through a cyclical history, with initial use for several years in another disease setting, prior to epidemiological research identifying a possible chemo-protective effect. However, further information is required, including review of RCT data in the initial disease setting with exploration of cancer outcomes. Additionally, more contemporary methods should be considered, such as Mendelian randomization and pharmaco-epidemiological research with “target” trial design emulation using electronic health records. Pre-clinical and traditional observational data potentially support the role of statins in the treatment of cancer; however, randomised trial evidence is not supportive. Evaluation of contemporary methods provides little added support for the use of statin therapy in cancer.

We provide complementary evidence of alternative study designs to enable a robust critical appraisal from a number of sources of the go/no-go decision for a prospective phase III RCT of statins in the treatment of cancer.
Who achieves superior rates of upward social mobility and better labor market outcomes in China: international student returnees or postgraduates who study domestically?
Authors: Zhai Keyu , Gao Xing
Published: February 2021

Given the growth in student mobility and transnational higher education, there is an abundance of research on international students’ studying and living experiences in a new environment. However, their poststudy transitions and social mobility have rarely been touched. This study addresses how student returnees perform in China’s labor market and social mobility, following their accomplishment of their master degree in the UK and return to China. In theoretical considerations of the graduates’ social mobility, Bourdieu’s capital theory helps identify the capital accumulation and conversion in the social mobility process. Based on a survey to collect data, 756 questionnaires are collected, including 347 questionnaires for returnees and 409 questionnaires for home graduates. Multi-regression model and visualization are employed to analyze the collected data. This study reports that home graduates have better performance in social mobility than their peers. Additionally, employment preference and spatial mobility between international and home graduates represent large diversity.
Potential of Typha latifolia L. for phytofiltration of iron-contaminated waters in laboratory-scale constructed microcosm conditions
Authors: Meitei Maibam Dhanaraj , Prasad Majeti Narasimha Vara
Published: February 2021

The present study gave a preliminary report on the phytofiltration of iron-contaminated waters and aggravation of iron uptake by copper supplementation usingTypha latifoliaL. in constructed microcosms. During the experiment, Fe concentrations reduced up to 1.67 ± 0.076 mg L−1(94.43% removal efficiency) and 0.087 ± 0.013 mg L−1(97.10% removal efficiency) by 14th day from the initial concentrations of 30 mg L−1in the microcosm setups. Iron accumulation in the plant tissues was 2425.65 ± 41.01 mg kg−1(Fe with Cu) compared with 1446.00 ± 36.01 mg kg−1(without Cu), revealing that Cu addition in the microcosm setup magnifies Fe accumulation and removal. Thus, the results signify that constructed wetlands (CW) can serve as the low-cost, ecofriendly alternative for wastewater treatment.
Making Tweedie’s compound Poisson model more accessible
Authors: Delong Łukasz , Lindholm Mathias , Wüthrich Mario V.
Published: February 2021

The most commonly used regression model in general insurance pricing is the compound Poisson model with gamma claim sizes. There are two different parametrizations for this model: the Poisson-gamma parametrization and Tweedie’s compound Poisson parametrization. Insurance industry typically prefers the Poisson-gamma parametrization. We review both parametrizations, provide new results that help to lower computational costs for Tweedie’s compound Poisson parameter estimation within generalized linear models, and we provide evidence supporting the industry preference for the Poisson-gamma parametrization.
Parallel modular multiplication using 512-bit advanced vector instructions
Authors: Buhrow Benjamin , Gilbert Barry , Haider Clifton
Published: February 2021

Applications such as public-key cryptography are critically reliant on the speed of modular multiplication for their performance. This paper introduces a new block-based variant of Montgomery multiplication, the Block Product Scanning (BPS) method, which is particularly efficient using new 512-bit advanced vector instructions (AVX-512) on modern Intel processor families. Our parallel-multiplication approach also allows for squaring and sub-quadratic Karatsuba enhancements. We demonstrate $$1.9\,\times $$

1.9

×

improvement in decryption throughput in comparison with OpenSSL and $$1.5\,\times $$

1.5

×

improvement in modular exponentiation throughput compared to GMP-6.1.2 on an Intel Xeon CPU. In addition, we show $$1.4\,\times $$

1.4

×

improvement in decryption throughput in comparison with state-of-the-art vector implementations on many-core Knights Landing Xeon Phi hardware. Finally, we show how interleaving Chinese remainder theorem-based RSA calculations within our parallel BPS technique halves decryption latency while providing protection against fault-injection attacks.
The Importance of Common Currency Tasks in Translational Psychiatry
Authors: Pike Alexandra C. , Lowther Millie , Robinson Oliver J.
Published: February 2021

Purpose of Review

Common currency tasks are tasks that investigate the same phenomenon in different species. In this review, we discuss how to ensure the translational validity of common currency tasks, summarise their benefits, present recent research in this area and offer future directions and recommendations.

Recent Findings

We discuss the strengths and limitations of three specific examples where common currency tasks have added to our understanding of psychiatric constructs—affective bias, reversal learning and goal-based decision making.

Overall, common currency tasks offer the potential to improve drug discovery in psychiatry. We recommend that researchers prioritise construct validity above face validity when designing common currency tasks and suggest that the evidence for construct validity is summarised in papers presenting research in this area.
Innovative aerodynamic grain separation system for plant harvesting in sloped areas: problems, research and optimization of parameters
Authors: Bieniek Jerzy , Komarnicki Piotr , Detyna Jerzy
Published: February 2021

This article presents the main problems associated with cereal harvesting in sloping areas. The presented innovative aerodynamic system supporting the separating unit of combine harvester can be one of the ways to counteract the negative effects of harvesting machines work on slopes. The Monte Carlo numerical method, presented in this article, was applied in the optimization of an aerodynamic sieve separation process on an inclined terrain. The given variables are the transverse slope of separator α (of the sieve), longitudinal slope β and the output of the main and side fans. The Monte Carlo method makes it possible to determine an optimized set of parameters (α = 10°, β = 2.8°, δ = 9°), the output of the main fan (0.67 m3 s−1) and the output of the side fan (1.86 m3 s−1), allowing to obtain the best indicator values of 2.1% grain loss and 97.5% grain purity.
Behavior of copper and lead during mineralurgical and hydrometallurgical processing of flash smelting slag
Authors: Gargul Krzysztof , Boryczko Bożena , Bukowska Andżelika , Hołda Adam , Małecki Stanisław , Tora Barbara
Published: February 2021

There are only a few smelters processing copper concentrates directly into blister copper. Despite the many advantages of this process, a serious challenge of this technology is the need to process the resulting flash smelting slag. It contains 12–15% copper and 2.5–4% lead. In this form, it cannot be considered as waste material and, therefore, a high-temperature reduction process is carried out. This decopperization process is energy- and time-consuming. The use of mineralurgical and hydrometallurgical processes, selective enrichment of the appropriate slag fractions in copper and lead, followed by its hydrometallurgical processing and recovery of Cu and Pb could be an interesting supplement to the methods used so far. The article presents results of research on the possibility of separation of useful components from copper slag using the original method of sieve analysis, gravitational enrichment and magnetic separation. Preliminary results of tests were made on a laboratory scale. Then, selective leaching of copper and lead from flash smelting slag was carried out, obtaining very promising results.
Disaster Risk Assessment Among Iranian Exceptional Schools
Authors: Miresmaeeli Seyedeh Samaneh , Esmaeili Nafiseh , Sadeghi Ashlaghi Sepideh , Abbasi Dolatabadi Zahra
Published: February 2021

Background:

Exceptional children, like other children, have the right to be educated in a safe environment. Disasters are considered as serious issues regarding safety and security of educational environments. Following disasters, vulnerable groups, especially children with handicaps and disabilities are more likely to be seriously injured. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the safety and disaster risk assessment of exceptional schools in Tehran, Iran.

Method:

The cross-sectional study was conducted in exceptional schools in Tehran, 2018. First, 55 exceptional schools in all grades were selected based on census sampling method and evaluated by using a checklist designed by Tehran Disaster Mitigation and Management Organization (TDMMO) and Ministry of Education in 2015. The data were analyzed using Excel software and statistical descriptive tests.

Result:

Based on the results, school facilities are worn and have unsafe elevators (least safety: 7.69%), yards (least safety: 9.52%), laboratories (least safety: 16.67%), libraries (least safety: 24.24%), fire extinguishing systems (least safety: 28.99%), and storage rooms and kitchens (least safety: 33.33%) which require immediate considerations. In total, the safety of exceptional schools in this study was 70.13%, which suggests medium-risk level.

Conclusion:

The educational settings must be reconsidered, along with identifying the risk and safety at school. In addition, a standard should be established for evaluating safety, especially in exceptional schools.
KMS states on the crossed product -algebra of a homeomorphism
Authors: CHRISTENSEN JOHANNES , THOMSEN KLAUS
Published: February 2021

Let

$\phi :X\to X$
be a homeomorphism of a compact metric space X. For any continuous function

$F:X\to \mathbb {R}$
there is a one-parameter group

$\alpha ^{F}$
of automorphisms (or a flow) on the crossed product

$C^*$
-algebra

$C(X)\rtimes _{\phi }\mathbb {Z}$
defined such that

$\alpha ^{F}_{t}(fU)=fUe^{-itF}$
when

$f \in C(X)$
and U is the canonical unitary in the construction of the crossed product. In this paper we study the Kubo--Martin--Schwinger (KMS) states for these flows by developing an intimate relation to the ergodic theory of non-singular transformations and show that the structure of KMS states can be very rich and complicated. Our results are complete concerning the set of possible inverse temperatures; in particular, we show that when

$C(X) \rtimes _{\phi } \mathbb Z$
is simple this set is either

$\{0\}$
or the whole line

$\mathbb R$
.
Prime number theorem for regular Toeplitz subshifts
Authors: FRĄCZEK KRZYSZTOF , KANIGOWSKI ADAM , LEMAŃCZYK MARIUSZ
Published: February 2021

We prove that neither a prime nor an l-almost prime number theorem holds in the class of regular Toeplitz subshifts. But when a quantitative strengthening of the regularity with respect to the periodic structure involving Euler’s totient function is assumed, then the two theorems hold.
Public mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Ashton John R.
Published: February 2021

COVID-19 has presented society with a public health threat greater than any in living memory, leaving us to question almost every aspect of our society. An ever increasing concern is how we protect the global population from mental illness and whether public mental health policies can achieve this. In this article I reflect on the history of mental health service development, and furthermore on how COVID-19 might impact on the delivery of public mental health strategies into the future.
THE RELATION BETWEEN TWO DIMINISHED CHOICE PRINCIPLES
Authors: SCHUMACHER SALOME
Published: February 2021

For every$n\in \omega \setminus \{0,1\}$we introduce the following weak choice principle:

$\operatorname {nC}_{<\aleph _0}^-:$For every infinite family$\mathcal {F}$of finite sets of size at least n there is an infinite subfamily$\mathcal {G}\subseteq \mathcal {F}$with a selection function$f:\mathcal {G}\to \left [\bigcup \mathcal {G}\right ]^n$such that$f(F)\in [F]^n$for all$F\in \mathcal {G}$.

Moreover, we consider the following choice principle:

$\operatorname {KWF}^-:$For every infinite family$\mathcal {F}$of finite sets of size at least$2$there is an infinite subfamily$\mathcal {G}\subseteq \mathcal {F}$with a Kinna–Wagner selection function. That is, there is a function$g\colon \mathcal {G}\to \mathcal {P}\left (\bigcup \mathcal {G}\right )$with$\emptyset \not =f(F)\subsetneq F$for every$F\in \mathcal {G}$.

We will discuss the relations between these two choice principles and their relations to other well-known weak choice principles. Moreover, we will discuss what happens when we replace$\mathcal {F}$by a linearly ordered or a well-ordered family.
NEW CHRONOMETRIC INSIGHTS INTO ANCIENT EGYPTIAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS HELD AT THE MUSÉE DU LOUVRE AND THE MUSÉE DES BEAUX-ARTS DE LYON
Authors: Quiles A , Emerit S , Asensi-Amorós V , Beck L , Caffy I , Delqué-Količ E , Guichard H
Published: February 2021

Very little is known about the manufacturing and use of ancient Egyptian instruments, and their discovery is very rare. An extensive radiocarbon (14C) dating program has been conducted on 25 ancient Egyptian musical instruments currently held at the Louvre Museum (musée du Louvre) and the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts (musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon). This study includes cordophones (harps, lyres, lutes), membranophones (drums, tambourines), idiophones (clappers, crotales), as well as wind instruments (oboe) that have entered the museum collections during the 19th century or the first half of the 20th century; consequently, the original archaeological contexts of their discoveries are poorly understood. Approximately 50 14C dates enable drawing a general overview of the instruments manufacturing. A wide variety of wood material has been identified, representing both indigenous species and imported species. Results indicate that the native flora of Egypt was exclusively used until the Third Intermediate Period when the first imports could be identified. 14C results are not always consistent with relative dates previously thought, mainly based on stylistic criteria. They demonstrate these collections hold very well-preserved objects extending over 2500 years, from the Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1700 BCE) to the start of the Islamic Period (8th century CE). This project provides important results for the knowledge of ancient Egyptian musical instrument crafts.
Triggering Ideological Thinking: How Elections Foster Coherence of Welfare State Attitudes
Authors: HEIDE-JØRGENSEN TOBIAS
Published: February 2021

Since Converse (1964) first proposed his “nonattitudes hypothesis,” numerous studies have confirmed that the public at large lacks ideologically consistent political attitudes. I put forth an event-based theory of attitude crystallization that explains how elections can strengthen attitude consistency and apply it to an issue domain integral to the left-right (liberal-conservative) cleavage: welfare politics. Specifically, I theorize that elections that give ideological opponents a majority will mobilize ideological predispositions, leading to more coherent welfare attitudes. I test the argument by relying on 11 Danish surveys linked to official records on local elections over four decades and using a regression discontinuity design. Evidence strongly supports the notion that elections increase attitude consistency if the majority produced goes against the individual’s ideological preferences. The findings stress the dynamic nature of attitude structure and the important role regular political events play in that regard.
Reducing socioeconomic differences in anthropometric characteristics among young Polish women
Authors: Kliś Katarzyna , Wronka Iwona
Published: February 2021

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the socioeconomic differences in adult anthropometric parameters of young women in Poland. The study was cross-sectional and conducted in the years 2015 to 2018 among 1257 women aged 19–24 years. The heights, weights, wrist widths and waist, hip and chest circumferences of the subjects were measured. Body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist-to-chest ratio (WCR) and chest-to-height ratio (CHtR) were calculated. A survey was conducted to collect data on the women’s socioeconomic characteristics. The application of the Generalized Linear Model (GLM) including all socioeconomic indicators (urbanization level of place of residence in childhood, parental education, number of siblings, material conditions) revealed no significant association of these with any of the analysed anthropometric traits. The results of the logistic regression showed no significant differences in the risk of underweight, too low abdominal adiposity or too high abdominal adiposity. However, the risk of overweight and obesity was significantly affected by the degree of urbanization of the women’s place of residence in childhood and by their number of siblings. The results show that the socioeconomic factors that once had a significant influence on anthropometric traits currently do not play such an important role. This change can be explained by the equalization of living conditions and lifestyles of individual social groups in Poland.