bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Jenseits von Parität und Zeit
Authors: Heinrich Matthias
Published: January 2021

Innovative Design‐Ansätze für leistungsstarke photonische Bauelemente bedienen sich grundlegender Prinzipien aus anderen Teilgebieten der Physik. Parität‐Zeitumkehr‐Symmetrie (PT‐Symmetrie) ermöglicht durch das komplexe Zusammenspiel aus dämpfenden und verstärkenden Materialien neuartige Funktionalitäten und eine verlustfreie Manipulation optischer Signale. Allerdings sind gerade lichtverstärkende Medien technisch nur schwierig mit den nötigen mikroskopischen Strukturgrößen realisierbar. Hier bietet das aus der Teilchenphysik stammende Konzept der Supersymmetrie (SUSY) eine Lösung. Mit SUSY lassen sich „Superpartner“ zu Systemen kreieren, die im Fernfeld die gleichen optischen Eigenschaften zeigen. Trotzdem können die Superpartner in der Mikrostruktur abweichen, sodass zum Beispiel stark brechende, teure oder toxische Materialien entfallen können. In Bezug auf photonische Schaltkreise ermöglicht SUSY die Verwendung mehrmodiger Lichtleiter, die zugleich erhebliche Steigerungen der Übertragungsbandbreite und eine merkliche Senkung der Leistungsaufnahme versprechen.
Erste Demonstration von Quantenüberlegenheit
Authors: Hartmann Michael J. , Deppe Frank
Published: January 2021

Mit dem Sycamore‐Quantenprozessor von Google gelang zum ersten Mal überzeugend ein Experiment, in dem ein Quantensystem ein Problem besser löst als derzeit verfügbare herkömmliche Supercomputer. Die Hardware basiert auf der Technologie der supraleitenden Quantenschaltkreise. Ihr wird schon länger ein besonders großes Skalierungspotenzial hin zu mehr Quantenbits bescheinigt. Der verwendete Chip besitzt 53 Qubits. Sie sind in einem zweidimensionalen quadratischen Gitter angeordnet und durch Nächste‐Nachbar‐Wechselwirkung gekoppelt. Somit stellt das Experiment einen großen technologischen Fortschritt für das gesamte Feld der Quantenwissenschaften und ‐technologien dar. Obwohl der praktische Nutzen derzeit noch gering erscheint, sind die Arbeiten des Google‐Teams ein wichtiger Schritt hin zu skalierbarem Quantenrechnen. Damit erscheint erstmals eine fehlerkorrigierte, supraleitende Quantencomputer‐Architektur in nicht allzu ferner Zukunft möglich.
Plasma deposition of a stable SiOx‐like layer on copper surface for enhanced pool boiling heat transfer performance: A combination of microstructures and wetting properties
Authors: Mohammadi Hamid R. , Taghvaei Hamed , Rabiee Ataollah
Published: January 2021

In this study, a thin film composed of inorganic SiOx is deposited on the copper surface by atmospheric pressure plasma‐enhanced chemical vapor deposition. A pool boiling experiment is performed and the influence of the coating on pool boiling performance is examined. Morphology, composition, and wettability of the thin films are assessed using a scanning electron microscope, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectrometer, and contact angle measurements. In addition to the enhancement of pool boiling thermal characteristics, especially a 103% increase in heat transfer coefficient, it is observed that the plasma‐deposited thin film on the copper surface is stable after the four boiling/cooling cycles. Finally, the underlying mechanism behind the improvements achieved by use of coated surface is studied.
Extremalk‐uniform hypertrees on incidence energy
Authors: Zhu Qiangyuan
Published: January 2021

For ak‐uniform hypergraphH= (V(H), E(H)), letB(H)be its incidence matrix,Q(H) =B(H)B(H)Tbe its signless Laplacian matrix. LetS(H)be the subdivision graph ofHandASbe its adjacent matrix. For a matrixM, its energyE(M)is the sum of its singular values. The incidence energyBE(H)ofHis the energy ofB(H). In this article, we obtain some transformations on incidence energy, as their applications, the lower and upper bounds onBE(H)for hypertrees are obtained, at the same time, their corresponding extremal hypergraphs are characterized.
Hydromethanolic root and aerial part extracts from Echium arenarium Guss suppress proliferation and induce apoptosis of multiple myeloma cells through mitochondrial pathway
Authors: Limam Inès , Ben Aissa‐Fennira Fatma , Essid Rim , Chahbi Ahlem , Kefi Sarra , Mkadmini Khaoula , Elkahoui Salem , Abdelkarim Mohamed
Published: January 2021

Echium arenarium Guss is a Mediterranean plant traditionally used in healing skin wound and it was reported exhibiting potent antioxidant, antibacterial, and antiparasitic activities. However, antitumoral activities of this plant have not yet been explored. Here we investigated for the first time, root (EARE) and aerial part (EAAPE) extracts of E. arenarium Guss to examine cytotoxicity and apoptosis activation pathway on U266 human multiple myeloma (MM) cell line. We demonstrated that EARE and EAAPE decreased U266 cell viability in a dose dependent manner. Based on 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, EARE was significantly two times more efficient (IC50 value 41 μg/ml) than EAAPE (IC50 value 82 μg/ml) considering 48 h of treatment. Furthermore, after 24 h of exposure to 100 μg/ml of EARE or EAAPE, cell cycle showed remarkable increase in sub‐G1 population and a decrease of U266 cells proportion in G1 phase. In addition, EARE increased cell percentage in S phase. Moreover, analysis revealed that EAAPE or EARE induced apoptosis of U266 cells after 24 h of treatment. Interestingly, depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential and activation of caspase 3/7 were demonstrated in treated U266 cells. Phytochemical analysis of E. arenarium extracts showed that EARE exhibited the highest content of total phenolic content. Interestingly, six phenolic compounds were identified. Myricitrin was the major compound in EARE, followed by luteolin 7‐O‐glucoside, resorcinol, polydatin, Trans‐hydroxycinnamic acid, and hyperoside. These findings proved that an intrinsic mitochondria‐mediated apoptosis pathway probably mediated the apoptotic effects of E. arenarium Guss extracts on U266 cells, and this will suggest several action plans to treat MM.
Shedding new light on sterile neutrinos from XENON1T experiment
Authors: Shakeri Soroush , Hajkarim Fazlollah , Xue She-Sheng
Published: January 2021

Abstract

The XENON1T collaboration recently reported the excess of events from recoil electrons, possibly giving an insight into new area beyond the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. We try to explain this excess by considering effective interactions between the sterile neutrinos and the SM particles. In this paper, we present an effective model based on one-particle-irreducible interaction vertices at low energies that are induced from the SM gauge symmetric four-fermion operators at high energies. The effective interaction strength is constrained by the SM precision measurements, astrophysical and cosmological observations. We introduce a novel effective electromagnetic interaction between sterile neutrinos and SM neutrinos, which can successfully explain the XENON1T event rate through inelastic scattering of the sterile neutrino dark matter from Xenon electrons. We find that sterile neutrinos with masses around 90 keV and specific effective coupling can fit well with the XENON1T data where the best fit points preserving DM constraints and possibly describe the anomalies in other experiments.
Higher form symmetries and M-theory
Authors: Albertini Federica , Del Zotto Michele , García Etxebarria Iñaki , Hosseini Saghar S.
Published: January 2021

Abstract

We discuss the geometric origin of discrete higher form symmetries of quantum field theories in terms of defect groups from geometric engineering in M-theory. The flux non-commutativity in M-theory gives rise to (mixed) ’t Hooft anomalies for the defect group which constrains the corresponding global structures of the associated quantum fields. We analyze the example of 4d $$ \mathcal{N} $$
N
= 1 SYM gauge theory in four dimensions, and we reproduce the well-known classification of global structures from reading between its lines. We extend this analysis to the case of 7d $$ \mathcal{N} $$
N
= 1 SYM theory, where we recover it from a mixed ’t Hooft anomaly among the electric 1-form center symmetry and the magnetic 4-form center symmetry in the defect group. The case of five-dimensional SCFTs from M-theory on toric singularities is discussed in detail. In that context we determine the corresponding 1-form and 2-form defect groups and we explain how to determine the corresponding mixed ’t Hooft anomalies from flux non-commutativity. Several predictions for non-conventional 5d SCFTs are obtained. The matching of discrete higher-form symmetries and their anomalies provides an interesting consistency check for 5d dualities.
Retraining Convolutional Neural Networks for Specialized Cardiovascular Imaging Tasks: Lessons from Tetralogy of Fallot
Authors: Tandon Animesh , Mohan Navina , Jensen Cory , Burkhardt Barbara E. U. , Gooty Vasu , Castellanos Daniel A. , McKenzie Paige L. , Zahr Riad Abou , Bhattaru Abhijit , Abdulkarim Mubeena , Amir-Khalili Alborz , Sojoudi Alireza , Rodriguez Stephen M. , Dillenbeck Jeanne , Greil Gerald F. , Hussain Tarique
Published: January 2021

Ventricular contouring of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is the gold standard for volumetric analysis for repaired tetralogy of Fallot (rTOF), but can be time-consuming and subject to variability. A convolutional neural network (CNN) ventricular contouring algorithm was developed to generate contours for mostly structural normal hearts. We aimed to improve this algorithm for use in rTOF and propose a more comprehensive method of evaluating algorithm performance. We evaluated the performance of a ventricular contouring CNN, that was trained on mostly structurally normal hearts, on rTOF patients. We then created an updated CNN by adding rTOF training cases and evaluated the new algorithm’s performance generating contours for both the left and right ventricles (LV and RV) on new testing data. Algorithm performance was evaluated with spatial metrics (Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC), Hausdorff distance, and average Hausdorff distance) and volumetric comparisons (e.g., differences in RV volumes). The original Mostly Structurally Normal (MSN) algorithm was better at contouring the LV than the RV in patients with rTOF. After retraining the algorithm, the new MSN + rTOF algorithm showed improvements for LV epicardial and RV endocardial contours on testing data to which it was naïve (N = 30; e.g., DSC 0.883 vs. 0.905 for LV epicardium at end diastole, p < 0.0001) and improvements in RV end-diastolic volumetrics (median %error 8.1 vs 11.4, p = 0.0022). Even with a small number of cases, CNN-based contouring for rTOF can be improved. This work should be extended to other forms of congenital heart disease with more extreme structural abnormalities. Aspects of this work have already been implemented in clinical practice, representing rapid clinical translation. The combined use of both spatial and volumetric comparisons yielded insights into algorithm errors.
A comparison of femoral component rotation after total knee arthroplasty in Kanekasu radiographs, axial CT slices and 3D reconstructed images
Authors: Robertson Emma L. , Hengherr Martin , Amsler Felix , Hirschmann Michael T. , Mathis Dominic T.
Published: January 2021

Objective

To compare the posterior condylar angle measured with Kanekasu radiograph and 2D-CT with the gold standard 3D-CT following primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Methods

Eighty-two knees with pain following TKA were included in this retrospective study. Two independent raters measured the anatomical and surgical posterior condylar angles twice on each Kanekasu radiograph and 2D-CT. These measurements were compared against the 3D-CT measurement. The intra- and interrater reliability of the Kanekasu radiograph and 2D-CT and the correlation with 3D-CT were calculated.

Results

The intra- and interrater reliability for measurements of the anatomical posterior condyle angle for the Kanekasu radiograph and the 2D-CT were excellent for both raters (0.85–0.92). For the less experienced rater 1, the intrarater reliability was significantly better for 2D-CT than Kanekasu radiograph for measuring both the surgical (p< 0.01) and anatomical posterior condyle angles (p< 0.05). For the experienced rater 2, the intrarater reliability was significantly better for Kanekasu radiograph than 2D-CT for measurement of the surgical posterior condyle angle (p< 0.05). The correlation with 3D-CT is higher in 2D-CT than in Kanekasu radiograph (p< 0.01). While the Kanekasu radiograph predicts the 3D-CT angle with 65.9%, 2D-CT can measure the true angle with 82.9% certainty.

Conclusion

Measurements using the anatomical transepicondylar axis are easier to replicate compared to the surgical transepicondylar axis. In comparison with the gold standard 3D-CT, 2D-CT showed a significantly higher correlation with 3D-CT than the Kanekasu measurements. If 3D-CT is available, it should be preferred over 2D-CT and Kanekasu view radiograph for femoral component rotation measurements.
Variation among colonies in breeding success and population trajectories of wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at South Georgia
Authors: Rackete Carola , Poncet Sally , Good Stephanie D. , Phillips Richard A. , Passfield Ken , Trathan Philip
Published: January 2021

The wandering albatross,Diomedea exulans,is a globally threatened species breeding at a number of sites within the Southern Ocean. Across the South Georgia archipelago, there are differences in population trends even at closely located colonies. Between 1999 and 2018 the largest colony, at Bird Island, declined at 3.01% per annum, while in the Bay of Isles, the decline was 1.44% per annum. Using mean demographic rates from a 31-year study at Bird Island and an 11-year study of breeding success at Prion Island in the Bay of Isles in a VORTEX model, we show that differences in breeding success do not fully explain observed differences in population trends. Other potential contributing factors are differential use of foraging areas, with possible knock-on effects on adult body condition, provisioning rate and breeding success, or on bycatch rates of adults or immatures.
Card-based Cryptography with Dihedral Symmetry
Authors: Shinagawa Kazumasa
Published: January 2021

It is known that secure computation can be done by using a deck of physical cards. This area is called card-based cryptography. Shinagawa et al. (in: Provable security—9th international conference, ProvSec 2015, Kanazawa, Japan, 2015) proposed regular n-sided polygon cards that enable to compute functions over $${\mathbb {Z}}/n{\mathbb {Z}}$$

Z
/
n
Z

. In particular, they designed efficient protocols for linear functions (e.g. addition and constant multiplication) over $${\mathbb {Z}}/n{\mathbb {Z}}$$

Z
/
n
Z

. Here, efficiency is measured by the number of cards used in the protocol. In this paper, we propose a new type of cards, dihedral cards, as a natural generalization of regular polygon cards. Based on them, we construct efficient protocols for various interesting functions such as carry of addition, equality, and greater-than, whose efficient construction has not been known before. Beside this, we introduce a new protocol framework that captures a wide class of card types including binary cards, regular polygon cards, dihedral cards, and so on.
Impact of water consumption on renal function in the general population: a cross-sectional analysis of KNHANES data (2008–2017)
Authors: Lo Jong Ah , Kim Jin Sun , Jo Min Jee , Cho Eun Jung , Ahn Shin Young , Ko Gang Jee , Kwon Young Joo , Kim Ji Eun
Published: January 2021

Background

The renoprotective effect of water intake remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the relationship between water intake and renal impairment in the Korean general population, focusing on individual differences in body fluid distribution and risk of chronic dehydration.

Methods

We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of the 2008–2017 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). Adult participants who had body weight and serum creatinine data and had answered 24-h recall nutritional survey were included. Four water intake groups were defined by daily total water intake per body weight: lowest (< 20 mL/kg/day), low-moderate (20–29.9 mL/kg/day), high-moderate (30–49.9 mL/kg/day), and highest (≥ 50 mL/kg/day). We assessed the risk of renal impairment (estimated glomerular filtration rate ≤ 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) according to water intake.

Results

In total of 50,113 participants, 3.9% had renal impairment. The risk of renal impairment gradually decreased as water intake increased. After adjustment of sodium intake, the trend of renoprotective effect was remained in low-moderate and high-moderate water intake group compared to low intake group, whereas no significant impact was observed with the highest water intake due to concurrent intake of high sodium. In subgroup analysis, the renoprotective effect of water intake was significant in the participants with elderly, male and daily sodium intake over 2 g/day.

Conclusions

High daily water intake is renoprotective. Our data may provide an important basis for determining the amount of water intake needed to prevent renal impairment, considering variations in body weight, body composition and risk of chronic dehydration.
Monitoring saline intrusion in the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar, using data from the Sentinel-2 satellite mission
Authors: Sakai Toru , Omori Keisuke , Oo Aung Naing , Zaw Yan Naung
Published: January 2021

Summer rice cannot be grown near the coast of the Ayeyarwady Delta, Myanmar, because of the high salinity in river water during the dry season. This means that saline intrusion should be monitored to manage the irrigated rice-growing area. The aim of this study therefore is to develop a model to estimate the salinity of river water using satellite imagery. The imagery of Sentinel-2 was suitable for monitoring saline intrusion because of their high spatial (10-m) and temporal (10-day) resolutions. We found that the reflectance of the visible bands was correlated with electrical conductivity, which was influenced by the concentration and composition of dissolved salts. When the river water mixed with the salt water from the sea, suspended particles tended to flocculate and settle, as a result, less turbid water was more saline. The best-fitting model was obtained with the green band (coefficient of determination R2 of 0.776, root mean square error of 4.896 dSm−1, and mean absolute error of 3.340 dS m−1). The saline intrusion showed considerable spatial and temporal variability during the dry season. The salinity intrusion extended approximately 80 km inland at the end of the dry season in March in the Pathein River. The 1 ppt salt concentration line in March marked the boundary between cultivated and non-cultivated areas of paddy field, which indicates that cultivable areas were strongly affected by saline intrusion. The results show that more frequent and higher resolution monitoring than before of the Sentinel-2 can support effective water resource management.
Correction to: Can a Good Person be a Good Trader? An Ethical Defense of Financial Trading
Authors: Rocchi Marta , Thunder David
Published: January 2021

The article Can a Good Person be a Good Trader? An Ethical Defense of Financial Trading, written by Marta Rocchi and David Thunder, was originally published Online First without Open Access. After publication in volume 159, issue 1, page 89–103 the authors decided to opt for Open Choice and to make the article an Open Access publication. Therefore, the copyright of the article has been changed to © The Authors 2017 and the article is forthwith distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
An Eye-Tracking Study of Attention Biases in Children at High Familial Risk for Depression and Their Parents with Depression
Authors: Platt B. , Sfärlea A. , Buhl C. , Loechner J. , Neumüller J. , Asperud Thomsen L. , Starman-Wöhrle K. , Salemink E. , Schulte-Körne G.
Published: January 2021

Attention biases (AB) are a core component of cognitive models of depression yet it is unclear what role they play in the transgenerational transmission of depression. 44 children (9–14 years) with a high familial risk of depression (HR) were compared on multiple measures of AB with 36 children with a low familial risk of depression (LR). Their parents: 44 adults with a history of depression (HD) and 36 adults with no history of psychiatric disorder (ND) were also compared. There was no evidence of group differences in AB; neither between the HR and LR children, nor between HD and ND parents. There was no evidence of a correlation between parent and child AB. The internal consistency of the tasks varied greatly. The Dot-Probe Task showed unacceptable reliability whereas the behavioral index of the Visual-Search Task and an eye-tracking index of the Passive-Viewing Task showed better reliability. There was little correlation between the AB tasks and the tasks showed minimal convergence with symptoms of depression or anxiety. The null-findings of the current study contradict our expectations and much of the previous literature. They may be due to the poor psychometric properties associated with some of the AB indices, the unreliability of AB in general, or the relatively modest sample size. The poor reliability of the tasks in our sample suggest caution should be taken when interpreting the positive findings of previous studies which have used similar methods and populations.
Impact of a high-density grid catheter on long-term outcomes for structural heart disease ventricular tachycardia ablation
Authors: Proietti Riccardo , Dowd Rory , Gee Lim Ven , Yusuf Shamil , Panikker Sandeep , Hayat Sajad , Osman Faizel , Patel Kiran , Salim Handi , Aldhoon Bashar , Foster Will , Merghani Ahmed , Kuehl Michael , Banerjee Prithwish , Lellouche Nicolas , Dhanjal Tarvinder
Published: January 2021

Background

Substrate mapping has highlighted the importance of targeting diastolic conduction channels and late potentials during ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation. State-of-the-art multipolar mapping catheters have enhanced mapping capabilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether long-term outcomes were improved with the use of a HD Grid mapping catheter combining complementary mapping strategies in patients with structural heart disease VT.

Methods

Consecutive patients underwent VT ablation assigned to either HD Grid, Pentaray, Duodeca, or point-by-point (PbyP) RF mapping catheters. Clinical endpoints included recurrent anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP), appropriate shock, asymptomatic non-sustained VT, or all-cause death.

Results

Seventy-three procedures were performed (33 HD Grid, 22 Pentaray, 12 Duodeca, and 6 PbyP) with no significant difference in baseline characteristics. Substrate mapping was performed in 97% of cases. Activation maps were generated in 82% of HD Grid cases (Pentaray 64%; Duodeca 92%; PbyP 33% (p = 0.025)) with similar trends in entrainment and pace mapping. Elimination of all VTs occurred in 79% of HD Grid cases (Pentaray 55%; Duodeca 83%; PbyP 33% (p = 0.04)). With a mean follow-up of 372 ± 234 days, freedom from recurrent ATP and shock was 97% and 100% respectively in the HD Grid group (Pentaray 64%, 82%; Duodeca 58%, 83%; PbyP 33%, 33% (log rankp = 0.0042,p = 0.0002)).

Conclusions

This study highlights a step-wise improvement in survival free from ICD therapies as the density of mapping capability increases. By using a high-density mapping catheter and combining complementary mapping strategies in a strict procedural workflow, long-term clinical outcomes are improved.
Correction to: Global post‑marketing safety surveillance of Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) in patients with high‑grade glioma in clinical practice
Authors: Shi Wenyin , Blumenthal Deborah T. , Bush Nancy Ann Oberheim , Kebir Sied , Lukas Rimas V. , Muragaki Yoshihiro , Zhu Jay‑Jiguang , Glas Martin
Published: January 2021

The graphic abstract was missing in the original online publication. The original article has been corrected.
An economic assessment framework for decommissioning of offshore wind farms using a cost breakdown structure
Authors: Adedipe Tosin , Shafiee Mahmood
Published: January 2021

Purpose

As wind power generation increases globally, there will be a substantial number of wind turbines that need to be decommissioned in the coming years. It is crucial for wind farm developers to design safe and cost-effective decommissioning plans and procedures for assets before they reach the end of their useful life. Adequate financial provisions for decommissioning operations are essential, not only for wind farm owners but also for national governments. Economic analysis approaches and cost estimation models therefore need to be accurate and computationally efficient. Thus, this paper aims to develop an economic assessment framework for decommissioning of offshore wind farms using a cost breakdown structure (CBS) approach.

Methods

In the development of the models, all the cost elements and their key influencing factors are identified from literature and expert interviews. Similar activities within the decommissioning process are aggregated to form four cost groups including: planning and regulatory approval, execution, logistics and waste management, and post-decommissioning. Some mathematical models are proposed to estimate the costs associated with decommissioning activities as well as to identify the most critical cost drivers in each activity group. The proposed models incorporate all cost parameters involved in each decommissioning phase for more robust cost assessment.

Results and discussion

A case study of a 500 MW baseline offshore wind farm is proposed to illustrate the models’ applicability. The results show that the removal of wind turbines and foundation structures is the most costly and lengthy stage of the decommissioning process due to many requirements involved in carrying out the operations. Although inherent uncertainties are taken into account, cost estimates can be easily updated when new information becomes available. Additionally, further decommissioning cost elements can be captured allowing for sensitivity analysis to be easily performed.

Conclusions

Using the CBS approach, cost drivers can be clearly identified, revealing critical areas that require attention for each unique offshore wind decommissioning project. The CBS approach promotes adequate management and optimisation of identified key cost drivers, which will enable all stakeholders involved in offshore wind farm decommissioning projects to achieve cost reduction and optimal schedule, especially for safety-critical tasks.
Reasons for Gambling and Problem Gambling Among Norwegian Horse Bettors: A Real-World Study Utilizing Combining Survey Data and Behavioral Player Data
Authors: Auer Michael , Griffiths Mark D.
Published: January 2021

Despite the popularity of horserace gambling around the world, there is surprisingly little in-depth research on the topic. Additionally, studies suggest that motives for gambling are an important proximal factor related to problematic gambling among young people and adults. The present study investigated reasons for gambling among Norwegian horse bettors utilizing questions based on the Reasons for Gambling Questionnaire. The Norwegian gambling operator Rikstoto tracks all players’ behavior across all game types on the internet as well as land-based gambling and provided the data for the study. Consequently, the responses to the questions were correlated with actual gambling behavior. The authors were given access to an anonymized dataset of 3627 players (934 females and 2693 males) from the Norwegian horse betting operator Rikstoto who all completed a short survey. The reasons for gambling most endorsed by horserace bettors were to win big prizes and for excitement. The least endorsed reasons for gambling were to impress other people and to decrease tension. Gambling for money and gambling for recreation and coping were the most highly correlated with self-reported problem gambling. Age was significant and negatively correlated with self-reported gambling problems. The number of bets made, the amount of money consciously bet (i.e., players choosing the horse(s) compared to letting a random generator choose), as well as the monthly loss limit were significant and positively correlated. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the present study is the first to investigate (i) motivations to gamble combining self-report data with data from a real-world setting, (ii) horserace betting with actual player data, and (iii) correlations between self-reported information about gambling problems with actual gambling behavior and self-reported motivation to play. Consequently, the findings are of high existential value to the gambling studies field.
Rethinking Assistive Technologies: Users, Environments, Digital Media, and App-Practices of Hearing
Authors: Ochsner Beate , Spöhrer Markus , Stock Robert
Published: January 2021

Against the backdrop of an aging world population increasingly affected by a diverse range of abilities and disabilities as well as the rise of ubiquitous computing and digital app cultures, this paper questions how mobile technologies mediate between heterogeneous environments and sensing beings. To approach the current technological manufacturing of the senses, two lines of thought are of importance: First, there is a need to critically reflect upon the concept of assistive technologies (AT) as artifacts providing tangible solutions for a specific disability. Second, the conventional distinction between user and environment requires a differentiated consideration. This contribution will first review James Gibson’s concept of “affordances” and modify this approach by introducing theories and methods of Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Then, we present two case studies where we explore the relations between recent “assistive” app technologies and human sensory perception. As hearing and seeing are key in this regard, we concentrate on two specific media technologies: ReSound LINX2, a hearing aid which allows for direct connect (via Bluetooth) with iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, and Camassia, an IOS app for sonic wayfinding for blind people. We emphasize the significance of dis-/abling practices for manufacturing novel forms of hearing and seeing and drawing on sources like promotional materials by manufacturers, ads, or user testimonials and reviews. Our analysis is interested in the reciprocal relationships between users and their socio-technical and media environments. By and large, this contribution will provide crucial insights into the contemporary entanglement of algorithm-driven technologies, daily practices, and sensing subjects: the production of techno-sensory arrangements.
Natural capital for nature’s contributions to people: the case of Japan
Authors: Kumagai Junya , Wakamatsu Mihoko , Hashimoto Shizuka , Saito Osamu , Yoshida Takehito , Yamakita Takehisa , Hori Keiko , Matsui Takanori , Oguro Michio , Aiba Masahiro , Shibata Rei , Nakashizuka Tohru , Managi Shunsuke
Published: January 2021

Recently, natural capital has gained the attention of researchers and policymakers to promote sustainability. Previous studies have investigated the value of ecosystem services with respect to specific areas or species. Other studies have investigated the value of various types of ecosystem services and natural capital by integrating a number of findings using meta-analyses at the global level. Although these studies have provided information on either the global value of natural capital or the local value of specific subjects, there is little evidence on the country-specific values of natural capital in Japan, which will provide useful information for national environmental policies. We investigated the perceived values of terrestrial and marine natural capital in Japan using internet surveys and payment card methods. Data on various natural forms of capital were collected in a unified format and comparable manner. We found that some explanatory variables, such as perceived importance and visit frequency, as well as sociodemographic characteristics, are significant drivers of the willingness to pay (WTP), which maintains each aspect of natural capital. In addition, we conducted future predictions of terrestrial and marine natural capital using a scenario developed in a previous study. Our results indicate that Japan should follow a population-dispersed scenario for the sustainable management of natural capital up to 2050.
Structured Computational Modeling of Human Visual System for No-reference Image Quality Assessment
Authors: Zhu Wen-Han , Sun Wei , Min Xiong-Kuo , Zhai Guang-Tao , Yang Xiao-Kang
Published: January 2021

Objective image quality assessment (IQA) plays an important role in various visual communication systems, which can automatically and efficiently predict the perceived quality of images. The human eye is the ultimate evaluator for visual experience, thus the modeling of human visual system (HVS) is a core issue for objective IQA and visual experience optimization. The traditional model based on black box fitting has low interpretability and it is difficult to guide the experience optimization effectively, while the model based on physiological simulation is hard to integrate into practical visual communication services due to its high computational complexity. For bridging the gap between signal distortion and visual experience, in this paper, we propose a novel perceptual no-reference (NR) IQA algorithm based on structural computational modeling of HVS. According to the mechanism of the human brain, we divide the visual signal processing into a low-level visual layer, a middle-level visual layer and a high-level visual layer, which conduct pixel information processing, primitive information processing and global image information processing, respectively. The natural scene statistics (NSS) based features, deep features and free-energy based features are extracted from these three layers. The support vector regression (SVR) is employed to aggregate features to the final quality prediction. Extensive experimental comparisons on three widely used benchmark IQA databases (LIVE, CSIQ and TID2013) demonstrate that our proposed metric is highly competitive with or outperforms the state-of-the-art NR IQA measures.
Microstructural and Mechanical Characterization of Thin-Walled Tube Manufactured with Selective Laser Melting for Stent Application
Authors: Langi E. , Zhao L. G. , Jamshidi P. , Attallah M. M. , Silberschmidt V. V. , Willcock H. , Vogt F.
Published: January 2021

This paper focuses on microstructural and mechanical characterization of metallic thin-walled tube produced with additive manufacturing (AM), as a promising alternative technique for the manufacturing of tubes as a feedstock for stents micromachining. Tubes, with a wall thickness of 500 μm, were made of 316L stainless steel using selective laser melting. Its surface roughness, constituting phases, underlying microstructures and chemical composition were analyzed. The dependence of hardness and elastic modulus on the crystallographic orientation were investigated using electron backscatter diffraction and nanoindentation. Spherical nanoindentation was performed to extract the indentation stress–strain curve from the load–displacement data. The obtained results were compared with those for a commercial 316L stainless steel stent. Both tube and commercial stent samples were fully austenitic, and the as-fabricated surface finish for the tube was much rougher than the stent. Microstructural characterization revealed that the tube had a columnar and coarse grain microstructure, compared to equiaxed grains in the commercial stent. Berkovich nanoindentation suggested an effect for the grain orientation on the hardness and Young’s modulus. The stress–strain curves and the indentation yield strength for the tube and stent were similar. The work is an important step toward AM of patient-specific stents.
Initial experience of virtual-assisted lung mapping utilizing both indocyanine green and indigo carmine
Authors: Yanagiya Masahiro , Amano Yoko , Hiyama Noriko , Matsumoto Jun
Published: January 2021

Virtual-assisted lung mapping is a bronchoscopic multiple dye marking technique that facilitates sublobar lung resections for unidentifiable pulmonary tumors. Marking failure reportedly occurs in 10% of cases. To overcome this limitation, we developed indocyanine green virtual-assisted lung mapping that uses indocyanine green in addition to indigo carmine. Here, we report our initial experience of indocyanine green virtual-assisted lung mapping.
RippleNet: a Recurrent Neural Network for Sharp Wave Ripple (SPW-R) Detection
Authors: Hagen Espen , Chambers Anna R. , Einevoll Gaute T. , Pettersen Klas H. , Enger Rune , Stasik Alexander J.
Published: January 2021

Hippocampal sharp wave ripples (SPW-R) have been identified as key bio-markers of important brain functions such as memory consolidation and decision making. Understanding their underlying mechanisms in healthy and pathological brain function and behaviour rely on accurate SPW-R detection. In this multidisciplinary study, we propose a novel, self-improving artificial intelligence (AI) detection method in the form of deep Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) with Long Short-Term memory (LSTM) layers that can learn features of SPW-R events from raw, labeled input data. The approach contrasts conventional routines that typically relies on hand-crafted, heuristic feature extraction and often laborious manual curation. The algorithm is trained using supervised learning on hand-curated data sets with SPW-R events obtained under controlled conditions. The input to the algorithm is the local field potential (LFP), the low-frequency part of extracellularly recorded electric potentials from the CA1 region of the hippocampus. Its output predictions can be interpreted as time-varying probabilities of SPW-R events for the duration of the inputs. A simple thresholding applied to the output probabilities is found to identify times of SPW-R events with high precision. The non-causal, or bidirectional variant of the proposed algorithm demonstrates consistently better accuracy compared to the causal, or unidirectional counterpart. Reference implementations of the algorithm, named ‘RippleNet’, are open source, freely available, and implemented using a common open-source framework for neural networks () and can be easily incorporated into existing data analysis workflows for processing experimental data.
Causal Network Inference for Neural Ensemble Activity
Authors: Chen Rong
Published: January 2021

Interactions among cellular components forming a mesoscopic scale brain network (microcircuit) display characteristic neural dynamics. Analysis of microcircuits provides a system-level understanding of the neurobiology of health and disease. Causal discovery aims to detect causal relationships among variables based on observational data. A key barrier in causal discovery is the high dimensionality of the variable space. A method called Causal Inference for Microcircuits (CAIM) is proposed to reconstruct causal networks from calcium imaging or electrophysiology time series. CAIM combines neural recording, Bayesian network modeling, and neuron clustering. Validation experiments based on simulated data and a real-world reaching task dataset demonstrated that CAIM accurately revealed causal relationships among neural clusters.
The Inextricable Link Between Food and Linguistic Diversity: Wild Food Plants among Diverse Minorities in Northeast Georgia, Caucasus
Authors: Pieroni Andrea , Sõukand Renata , Bussmann Rainer W.
Published: January 2021

The Inextricable Link Between Food and Linguistic Diversity: Wild Food Plants Among Diverse Minorities in Northeast Georgia, Caucasus.Divergences in the categorization and use of wild food plants among ethnic and linguistic groups living within the same environment are prototypical for the dual nature of biocultural diversity, which is generally richer on ecological and cultural edges. We interviewed 136 people from seven ethnolinguistic groups living in Georgia documenting the use of wild food plants. The results show the inextricable link between food and linguistic diversity; moreover, we observed a greater number of commonly used plants among Christian communities, as Muslim communities shared just one taxon widely used in all regions. Comparison with other Georgian regions and selected ethnic groups living in Azerbaijan showed lower use of wild food plants. Future investigations in the region should widen the ethnolinguistic research to include other aspects of ethnobiology and to dedicate more in-depth studies to understanding the underlying reasons for homogenization and plant-use erosion.
The Left Atrial Septal Pouch: A New Stroke Risk Factor?
Authors: Kapoor Ruchi , Wadi Lara , Becerra Brian , Eskander Michael , Razmara Ali , Lombardo Dawn , Paganini-Hill Annlia , Kim Jin Kyung , Fisher Mark
Published: January 2021

The left atrial septal pouch (LASP) occurs due to incomplete fusion of septa primum and secundum at the inter-atrial septum, creating an open flap that may serve as a thromboembolic source. Prior studies have demonstrated increased prevalence of LASP in cryptogenic strokes. The aim of the current study was to validate the above findings in a separate, larger group of stroke and non-stroke patients. We examined transesophageal echocardiograms (TEEs) performed between July 2011 and December 2018. LASP prevalence was determined in TEEs referred for ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack (“stroke”) and compared with LASP prevalence in patients undergoing TEEs for other reasons (“non-stroke”). Stroke subtyping was performed using the Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST) criteria. There were 306 TEEs from 144 non-stroke and 162 stroke patients. Mean age and sex distribution were 56 ± 1 (mean ± SE) and 65% male in the non-stroke group and 58 ± 1 and 54% male in the stroke group. The overall prevalence of LASP was 31%. The prevalence of LASP was 28% (41/144) in non-stroke patients, 25% (24/95) in non-cryptogenic stroke patients, and 43% (29/67) in cryptogenic stroke patients. LASP prevalence was significantly higher in the cryptogenic subgroup compared with the non-cryptogenic subgroup (p = 0.02). These findings demonstrate a significant association of LASP with risk of cryptogenic stroke, suggesting that LASP may serve as a thromboembolic nidus. Additional studies are needed to determine the generalizability of these findings, and their therapeutic implications, supporting LASP as a stroke risk factor.
Acute and Chronic Kidney Dysfunction and Outcome After Stroke Thrombectomy
Authors: Fandler-Höfler Simon , Odler Balazs , Kneihsl Markus , Wünsch Gerit , Haidegger Melanie , Poltrum Birgit , Beitzke Markus , Deutschmann Hannes , Enzinger Christian , Rosenkranz Alexander R , Gattringer Thomas
Published: January 2021

Data on the impact of kidney dysfunction on outcome in patients with stroke due to large vessel occlusion are scarce. The few available studies are limited by only considering single kidney parameters measured at one time point. We thus investigated the influence of both chronic kidney disease (CKD) and acute kidney injury (AKI) on outcome after mechanical thrombectomy. We included consecutive patients with anterior circulation large vessel occlusion stroke receiving mechanical thrombectomy at our center over an 8-year period. We extracted clinical data from a prospective registry and investigated kidney serum parameters at admission, the following day and throughout hospital stay. CKD and AKI were defined according to established nephrological criteria. Unfavorable outcome was defined as scores of 3–6 on the modified Rankin Scale 3 months post-stroke. Among 465 patients, 31.8% had an impaired estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) at admission (< 60 ml/min/1.73 m2). Impaired admission eGFR was related to unfavorable outcome in univariable analysis (p = 0.003), but not after multivariable adjustment (p = 0.96). Patients frequently met AKI criteria at admission (24.5%), which was associated with unfavorable outcome in a multivariable model (OR 3.03, 95% CI 1.73–5.30, p < 0.001). Moreover, patients who developed AKI during hospital stay also had a worse outcome (p = 0.002 in multivariable analysis). While CKD was not associated with 3-month outcome, we identified AKI either at admission or throughout the hospital stay as an independent predictor of unfavorable prognosis in this study cohort. This finding warrants further investigation of kidney–brain crosstalk in the setting of acute stroke.
Measurement of gas diffusion coefficient and analysis of influencing factors for Shaanxi Debao coalbed methane reservoir in China
Authors: Li Zhihang , Hu Xiong
Published: January 2021

Shanxi Debao has affluent coalbed methane (CBM) reservoir in China. Understanding its characteristics, especially the diffusion characteristics of natural gas in the coal seam, is the key data of CBM development in this block. In this paper, a method of measuring the gas diffusion coefficient of coal and rock by the adsorption method is proposed by using the experimental method. The calculation model for calculating the gas diffusion coefficient of coal and rock is established according to the adsorption amount, and the diffusion correlation coefficient under different pressures, different water saturation and the different temperatures is established. The results show that it is feasible to calculate the diffusion coefficient of the gas in coal and rock according to the adsorption capacity of coal and rock. With the increase in the pressure, the diffusion coefficient increases, the water saturation increases. While the diffusion coefficient decreases, the temperature increases, and the diffusion coefficient increases. The results calculated by the model could provide guidance for the future development of Debao coalbed methane reservoir in Shanxi Province, China.
Correlation and prediction of solubility of hydrogen in alkenes and its dissolution properties
Authors: Jamali Mohammad , Izadpanah Amir Abbas , Mofarahi Masoud
Published: January 2021

In this work, solubility of hydrogen in some alkenes was investigated at different temperatures and pressures. Solubility values were calculated using the Peng–Robinson equation of state. Binary interaction parameters were calculated using fitting the equation of state on experimental data, Group contribution method and Moysan correlations and total average absolute deviation for these methods was 3.90, 17.60 and 13.62, respectively. Because hydrogen solubility in Alkenes is low, Henry’s law for these solutions were investigated, too. Results of calculation showed with increasing temperature, Henry’s constant was decreased. The temperature dependency of Henry’s constants of hydrogen in ethylene and propylene was higher than to other alkenes. In addition, using Van’t Hoff equation, the thermodynamic parameters for dissolution of hydrogen in various alkenes were calculated. Results indicated that the dissolution of hydrogen was spontaneous and endothermic. The total average of dissolution enthalpy ($${\Delta H}^{^\circ }$$

Δ
H

∘

) and Gibbs free energy ($${\Delta G}^{^\circ }$$

Δ
G

∘

) for these systems was 3.867 kJ/mol and 6.361 kJ/mol, respectively. But dissolution of hydrogen in almost of alkenes was not an entropy-driven process.