bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Metal Negatrode Supercapatteries: Advancements, Challenges, and Future Perspectives for High‐Performance Energy Storage
Authors: Johan Bashir Ahmed , Ali Saad , Shuaibu Abubakar Dahiru , Shah Syed Shaheen , Alzahrani Atif Saeed , Aziz Md. Abdul
Published: December 2023

Metal negatrode supercapattery (MNSC) is an emerging technology that combines the high energy storage capabilities of batteries with the high‐power delivery of supercapacitors, thereby offering promising solutions for various applications, such as energy storage systems, electric vehicles, and portable electronics. This review article presents a comprehensive analysis of the potential of MNSCs as a prospective energy storage technology. MNSCs utilize a specific configuration in which the negatrode consists of a metal or metal‐rich electrode, such as sodium, aluminum, potassium, or zinc, whereas the positrode functions as a supercapacitor electrode. The utilization of negatrodes with low electrochemical potential and high electrical conductivity is crucial for achieving high specific energy in energy storage devices, despite facing numerous challenges. The present study discusses the design and fabrication aspects of MNSCs, including the selection of appropriate metal negatrodes, electrolytes, and positrodes, alongside the fundamental operational mechanisms. Additionally, this review explores the challenges encountered in MNSCs and proposes solutions to enhance their performance, such as addressing dendrite formation and instability of metal electrodes.
Di‐(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate induces ferroptosis in prepubertal mouse testes via the lipid metabolism pathway
Authors: Wang Xia , Li Dinggang , Zheng Xiangqin , Hong Yifan , Zhao Jie , Deng Wei , Wang Mingxin , Shen Lianju , Long Chunlan , Wei Guanghui , Wu Shengde
Published: December 2023

Di‐(2‐ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), a widely used plasticizer, has been shown to cause reproductive toxicity, but the precise mechanism remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the possible molecular mechanism of DEHP‐induced testicular damage. In vivo study, we administered different doses of DEHP (0, 250, and 500 mg/kg/day) to male C57BL/6 mice from 22 and 35 days after birth. We found that DEHP exposure induced histopathological alterations in prepubertal testes, and testicular lipidomics indicated notable alterations in lipid metabolism and significant enrichment of ferroptosis. Further tests showed that ferrous iron (Fe2+) and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels significantly increased after DEHP exposure. Western blotting revealed that DEHP exposure reduced glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) expression, and elevated acyl coenzyme A synthetase long‐chain member 4 (ACSL4) and lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 3 (LPCAT3) expression. The in vitro results were consistent with the in vivo results. When Leydig cells and Sertoli cells were treated with ferrostatin‐1 and monoethylhexyl phthalate (MEHP), MEHP‐induced increases in Fe2+ and MDA levels, accumulation of lipid reactive oxygen species, downregulation of GPX4, and upregulation of ACSL4 and LPCAT3 were reversed. Collectively, our findings suggested that aberrant lipid metabolism and ferroptosis may be involved in prepubertal DEHP exposure‐induced testicular damage.
Prevalence of porcine circovirus type 2 and type 3 in slaughtered pigs and wild boars in Korea
Authors: Park Seok‐Chan , Kim Suwon , Jeong Tae‐Won , Oh Byungkwan , Lim Chae Woong , Kim Bumseok
Published: December 2023

Background

Porcine circovirus, a non‐enveloped single‐stranded DNA virus belonging to the genus Circovirus of the family Circoviridae, is a major pathogen of porcine circovirus‐associated disease. Porcine circovirus 3, a novel porcine circovirus, has been identified in individuals with clinical symptoms.

Objectives

The prevalence of porcine circovirus 2 and porcine circovirus 3 and the confirmation of diagnosis of this emerging viral disease have not been fully studied yet. Therefore, the objective of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of porcine circovirus 2 and porcine circovirus 3 in slaughtered pigs and wild boars in Korea between 2018 and 2019.

Methods

Lungs and hilar lymph nodes of healthy pigs slaughtered in slaughterhouses and captured wild pigs were collected, and viruses were detected by multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction and two staining methods (in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry) to confirm the presence of porcine circovirus 2 and porcine circovirus 3.

Results

Positive rates of porcine circovirus 2 in lungs and hilar lymph nodes were 78.1% (75/96) and 89.5% (86/96) in slaughtered pigs, respectively. They were 18.0% (30/167) and 46.3% (24/55) in wild boars, respectively. Positive rates of porcine circovirus 3 in lungs and hilar lymph nodes were 30.2% (29/96) and 13.5% (13/96) in slaughtered pigs, respectively. They were 4.2% (7/167) and 5.5% (3/55) in wild boars, respectively. At the farm level, positive rates of porcine circovirus 2 and porcine circovirus 3 were 97.9% (47/48) and 54.2% (26/48), respectively. Positive rates of porcine circovirus 2 and porcine circovirus 3 decreased in spring. Immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization confirmed the presence of porcine circovirus 2 and porcine circovirus 3 in lungs, but not porcine circovirus 3 in the hilar lymph nodes.

Conclusion

These results suggest that the prevalence of porcine circovirus 2 and porcine circovirus 3 might vary depending on the season and the type of sample. Wild boars might play a role in the epidemiology of porcine circovirus 2 and porcine circovirus 3 in South Korea. Continuous surveillance and further study are needed for this emerging disease.
Probing new physics through entanglement in diboson production
Authors: Aoude Rafael , Madge Eric , Maltoni Fabio , Mantani Luca
Published: December 2023

Abstract

Pair production of heavy vector bosons is a key process at colliders: it allows to test our understanding of the Standard Model and to explore the existence of new physics through precision measurements of production rates and differential distributions. New physics effects can be subtle and often require observables specifically designed for their detection. In this study, we focus on quantum information observables that characterise the spin states of the final diboson system. We analyse concurrence bounds, purity, and Bell inequalities for a bipartite qutrit system representing two massive gauge bosons. Our findings show that quantum spin observables can serve as complementary probes for heavy new physics as parametrised by higher dimensional operators in the Standard Model effective field theory. In particular, we find that these observables offer increased sensitivity to operators whose contributions do not interfere with the Standard Model amplitudes at the level of differential cross sections.
Non-Lorentzian IIB supergravity from a polynomial realization of SL(2, ℝ)
Authors: Bergshoeff Eric A. , Grosvenor Kevin T. , Lahnsteiner Johannes , Yan Ziqi , Zorba Utku
Published: December 2023

Abstract

We derive the action and symmetries of the bosonic sector of non-Lorentzian IIB supergravity by taking the non-relativistic string limit. We find that the bosonic field content is extended by a Lagrange multiplier that implements a restriction on the Ramond-Ramond fluxes. We show that the SL(2, ℝ) transformation rules of non-Lorentzian IIB supergravity form a novel, nonlinear polynomial realization. Using classical invariant theory of polynomial equations and binary forms, we will develop a general formalism describing the polynomial realization of SL(2, ℝ) and apply it to the special case of non-Lorentzian IIB supergravity. Using the same formalism, we classify all the relevant SL(2, ℝ) invariants. Invoking other bosonic symmetries, such as the local boost and dilatation symmetry, we show how the bosonic part of the non-Lorentzian IIB supergravity action is formed uniquely from these SL(2, ℝ) invariants. This work also points towards the concept of a non-Lorentzian bootstrap, where bosonic symmetries in non-Lorentzian supergravity are used to bootstrap the bosonic dynamics in Lorentzian supergravity, without considering the fermions.
The endpoint of partial deconfinement
Authors: Berenstein David , Yan Kai
Published: December 2023

Abstract

We study the matrix quantum mechanics of two free hermitian N × N matrices subject to a singlet constraint in the microcanonical ensemble. This is the simplest example of a theory that at large N has a confinement/deconfinement transition. In the microcanonical ensemble, it also exhibits partial deconfinement with a Hagedorn density of states. We argue that the entropy of these configurations, based on a combinatorial counting of Young diagrams, are dominated by Young diagrams that have the VKLS shape. When the shape gets to the maximal depth allowed for a Young diagram of SU(N), namely N, we argue that the system stops exhibiting the Hagedorn behavior. The number of boxes (energy) at the transition is N2/4, independent of the charge of the state.
NIKE-MED – Nachhaltige Interdisziplinarität in Komplexen Einsätzen unter Tage – MEDical Treatment
Authors: Galler Robert , Wenighofer Robert , Karlseder Markus , Roszipal Benjamin , Egger-Lampl Sebastian , Lindenthal Michael , Juen Barbara , Kratzer Dietmar , Hofer Peter , Wegscheider Thomas , Fischer Philip , Eder Julian , Resch Christian , Kern Hannes
Published: December 2023

Das Projekt NIKE-MED zielt darauf ab, die Effizienz und Effektivität der Einsatzkräfte bei der Bewältigung von Notfällen insbesondere bei Großschadensereignissen zu erhöhen, um die Sicherheit der betroffenen Personen zu gewährleisten. Komplexe Einsätze unter Tage sind mit einem Massenanfall von Opfern mit sehr spezifischen Verletzungsmustern, die man aus bewaffneten Konflikten kennt (Vergiftungen, Verbrennungen, Schuss- und Splitterverletzungen, Verletzungen durch großflächige mechanische Gewalteinwirkung) sowie besonderen Herausforderungen (Kontamination, Dynamiken großer Menschenmengen) verbunden. Basierend auf einem Referenzszenario, in welchem vergangene Ereignisse zu einer hochkomplexen untertägigen Lage verdichtet wurden, konnten Abläufe evaluiert und eine Applikation für die Einsatzkräfte zur Optimierung der notfallmedizinischen Versorgung entwickelt werden. In weiterer Folge wird es nötig sein, Erfordernisse für die Entwicklung strategischer Reservekapazitäten abzuleiten, um für derartige Fälle gerüstet zu sein.
Hermitian Yang–Mills connections on pullback bundles
Authors: Sektnan Lars Martin , Tipler Carl
Published: December 2023

We investigate hermitian Yang–Mills connections on pullback bundles with respect to adiabatic classes on the total space of holomorphic submersions with connected fibres. Under some technical assumptions on the graded object of a Jordan–Hölder filtration, we obtain a necessary and sufficient criterion for when the pullback of a strictly semistable vector bundle will carry an hermitian Yang–Mills connection, in terms of intersection numbers on the base of the submersion. Together with the classical Donaldson–Uhlenbeck–Yau correspondence, we deduce that the pullback of a stable (resp. unstable) bundle remains stable (resp. unstable) for adiabatic classes, and settle the semi-stable case.
Country-level effects of diagnosis-related groups: evidence from Germany’s comprehensive reform of hospital payments
Authors: Messerle Robert , Schreyögg Jonas
Published: December 2023

Hospitals account for about 40% of all healthcare expenditure in high-income countries and play a central role in healthcare provision. The ways in which they are paid, therefore, has major implications for the care they provide. However, our knowledge about reforms that have been made to the various payment schemes and their country-level effects is surprisingly thin. This study examined the uniquely comprehensive introduction of diagnosis-related groups (DRGs) in Germany, where DRGs function as the sole pricing, billing, and budgeting system for hospitals and almost exclusively determine hospital revenue. The introduction of DRGs, therefore, completely overhauled the previous system based on per diem rates, offering a unique opportunity for analysis. Using aggregate data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and recent advances in econometrics, we analyzed how hospital activity and efficiency changed in response to the reform. We found that DRGs in Germany significantly increased hospital activity by around 20%. In contrast to earlier studies, we found that DRGs have not necessarily shortened the average length of stay.
Virulence of Dothistroma septosporum and D. pini on Pinus nigra and P. mugo under conditions of natural infection
Authors: Jánošíková Zuzana , Kobza Marek , Ondrušková Emília , Ostrovský Radovan , Pažitný Jozef , Adamčíková Katarína
Published: December 2023

Dothistroma needle blight (DNB) is a severe needle disease of pines worldwide, caused by two closely related species, Dothistroma septosporum and D. pini. The two fungal species are similar not only in their morphological characteristics, but also cause very similar symptoms in their hosts, and have a similar ecology. The aim of this study was to compare the virulence of the two Dothistroma species in natural infection experiments on 2-year-old seedlings of two DNB susceptible pine species, Pinus nigra and P. mugo, in two seedling stands for each pathogen species. The virulence of the pathogens and presence of symptoms (symptomatic needles, red bands and acervuli) were assessed after 2 years of exposure to inoculum. The incidence of seedlings with DNB symptoms was 65% and 76% for P. nigra and P. mugo, respectively. No difference was found between D. septosporum and D. pini in any of the three DNB symptoms evaluated on seedlings of P. mugo. However, symptoms of disease differed between the two Dothistroma species on P. nigra. Variables that reflect the intensity of disease development, the number of red bands and acervuli per needle, showed a difference in virulence between D. septosporum and D. pini, but only in the case of the host species P. nigra. The results suggest that the virulence of the two Dothistroma species could be affected by host pine species and that there are differences in the susceptibility of individual pine species to D. septosporum and D. pini. Further factors could affect the virulence of these pathogens, including isolate origin, climatic or environmental factors.
Enhancing biodiversity conservation and monitoring in protected areas through efficient data management
Authors: Urbano Ferdinando , Viterbi Ramona , Pedrotti Luca , Vettorazzo Enrico , Movalli Cristina , Corlatti Luca
Published: December 2023

A scientifically informed approach to decision-making is key to ensuring the sustainable management of ecosystems, especially in the light of increasing human pressure on habitats and species. Protected areas, with their long-term institutional mandate for biodiversity conservation, play an important role as data providers, for example, through the long-term monitoring of natural resources. However, poor data management often limits the use and reuse of this wealth of information. In this paper, we share lessons learned in managing long-term data from the Italian Alpine national parks. Our analysis and examples focus on specific issues faced by managers of protected areas, which partially differ from those faced by academic researchers, predominantly owing to different mission, governance, and temporal perspectives. Rigorous data quality control, the use of appropriate data management tools, and acquisition of the necessary skills remain the main obstacles. Common protocols for data collection offer great opportunities for the future, and complete recovery and documentation of time series is an urgent priority. Notably, before data can be shared, protected areas should improve their data management systems, a task that can be achieved only with adequate resources and a long-term vision. We suggest strategies that protected areas, funding agencies, and the scientific community can embrace to address these problems. The added value of our work lies in promoting engagement with managers of protected areas and in reporting and analysing their concrete requirements and problems, thereby contributing to the ongoing discussion on data management and sharing through a bottom-up approach.
Does Abortion Liberalisation Accelerate Fertility Decline? A Worldwide Time-Series Analysis
Authors: Fernández Juan J. , Juif Dácil
Published: December 2023

Since WWII, the two most important global trends in family planning have been fertility decline and abortion liberalisation. But are they related? Specifically: Does abortion liberalisation affect changes in fertility rates? The demographic literature has yet to answer this important question and instead offers two opposing predictions. Some studies argue that liberalisation of this medical procedure reduces fertility rates. By contrast, others note that such legal reforms may merely have an average, negligible effect on fertility levels. We adjudicate between the two approaches by conducting, in our view, the most comprehensive global, quantitative analysis of the relationship between those legal reforms and changing fertility rates. The analysis relies on two-way fixed models and three different indicators of abortion policy liberalism created by independent research teams to estimate the relationship between abortion liberalisation and total fertility changes. The data cover 185 independent states between 1970 and 2019. Fertility rates are significantly related to average public education levels and alternative contraceptive use. Using multiple model specifications, however, abortion reforms do not have a robust association with the outcome. Replication materials for this article can be found at https://figshare.com/s/5336a4422f47c8c39228.
Pricing decisions in a two-period closed-loop supply chain game under asymmetric information and uncertainty
Authors: Beranek Maria , Buscher Udo
Published: December 2023

Strategies to increase sustainability are of growing relevance for supply chains and especially for the management of production processes. In this paper, we build on existing literature in closed-loop supply chain management and consider a two-period game-theoretic model in which product returns are reused in the manufacturing process. In all scenarios, we assume that the return rate of used products is random and not known to the players at the beginning of the planning horizon, thus, they have to deal with uncertainty in period 1. In contrast to existing literature, we will also address the circumstance that the players’ level of information in period 2, after the returns have been realized, can be linked to the collection mode in the supply chain. In Scenario A, the retailer is involved in the collection of the used products and transfers them to the manufacturer, so that symmetric information is available. In Scenario B, on the other hand, the used products reach the manufacturer directly from the customer, so that the manufacturer has an information advantage over the retailer. By comparing these scenarios and a vertically integrated supply chain benchmark case, it becomes clear that, depending on the actual return rate, the presence of private information can be either beneficial or detrimental to the manufacturer. The retailer, on the other hand, can compensate for information disadvantages in most cases over the multi-period planning period due to its position as a Stackelberg leader. Regardless of the amount of a transfer payment offered to it by the manufacturer, it prefers the collection of the goods by the manufacturer itself. These findings contribute to literature on symmetric information, where, for example, a retailer-led collection is preferred (Savaskan et al. Manage Sci 50(2):239–252, 2004) or the decision depends on the amount of the transfer payment (Modak et al. J Clean Prod 171:512–528, 2018). However, we show that cooperation between the players leads to the best results not only economically but also from an ecological point of view.
Educating and Training in Research Integrity (RI): A Study on the Perceptions and Experiences of Early Career Researchers Attending an Institutional RI Course
Authors: Francesca Greco , Ceruti Silvia , Martini Stefano , Picozzi Mario , Cosentino Marco , Marino Franca
Published: December 2023

Research integrity (RI) is defined as adherence to ethical principles, deontological duties, and professional standards necessary for responsible conduct of scientific research. Early training on RI, especially for early-career researchers, could be useful to help develop good standards of conduct and prevent research misconduct (RM).

The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a training course on RI, by mapping the attitudes of early-career researchers on this topic through a questionnaire built upon the revised version of the Scientific Misconduct Questionnaire and administered to all participants at the beginning and at the end of the course.

Results show that after the course, participants reporting a high understanding of the rules and procedures related to RM significantly increased (pre-course: 38.5%, post-course: 61.5%), together with the percentage of those reporting a lack of awareness on the extent of misconduct (pre-course: 46.2%, post-course: 69.2%), and of those who believe that the lack of research ethics consultation services strongly affects RM (pre-course: 15.4%, post-course: 61.5%). Early-career researchers agree on the importance to share with peers and superiors any ethical concern that may arise in research, and to create a work environment that fosters RI awareness.

As a whole, results suggest the effectiveness of the course. Institutions should introduce RI training for early-career researchers, together with research methodology, integrity and ethics consultation services to support them. Senior scientists should promote RI into their research practices, and should stimulate engagement in peer-to-peer dialogue to develop good practices based on RI principles.
Meaning in Life in Late-Stage Parkinson’s Disease: Results from the Care of Late-Stage Parkinsonism Study (CLaSP) in Six European Countries
Authors: Bublitz Sarah K. , Brandstötter Cornelia , Fegg Martin , Ferreira Joaquim J. , Odin Per , Bloem Bastiaan R. , Meissner Wassilios G. , Dodel Richard , Schrag Anette , Lorenzl Stefan
Published: December 2023

The Care of Late-Stage Parkinsonism (CLaSP) study is a longitudinal, multicentre, prospective cohort study to assess the needs and provision of care for people with late-stage Parkinson’s disease and their caregivers in six European countries. As a cross-sectional study within the CLaSP study, 509 people with Parkinson’s disease completed the “Schedule-for-Meaning-in-Life-Evaluation” (SMiLE) questionnaire. We compared the results to those of a representative sample of healthy participants (n = 856). People with late-stage Parkinson’s disease reported family, partnership and spirituality as the greatest areas of importance. Overall, they had lower SMiLE indices compared to healthy participants. People with late-stage Parkinson’s disease rated the importance of core meaning in life areas (namely family, social relations and health) as significantly lower than the representative cohort and they also rated satisfaction as significantly lower in most areas. In conclusion, people with late-stage Parkinson’s disease do have areas where they can find meaning, such as family, partnership and spirituality. However, they indicate a lack of fulfilment of their individual MiL, reflected by low satisfaction rates in the majority of meaning in life categories. The need for spiritual support for people with Parkinson’s disease indicates the important role of chaplains to help people with Parkinson’s disease maintain meaning in life.
Origin and Evolution of Jupiter’s Trojan Asteroids
Authors: Bottke William F. , Marschall Raphael , Nesvorný David , Vokrouhlický David
Published: December 2023

The origin of the Jupiter Trojan asteroids has long been a mystery. Dynamically, the population, which is considerably smaller than the main asteroid belt, librates around Jupiter’s stable L4 and L5 Lagrange points, 60 deg ahead and behind Jupiter. It is thought that these bodies were captured into these orbits early in solar system history, but any capture mechanism must also explain why the Trojans have an excited inclination distribution, with some objects reaching inclinations of 35°. The Trojans themselves, individually and in aggregate, also have spectral and physical properties that appear consistent with many small bodies found in the outer solar system (e.g., irregular satellites, Kuiper belt objects). In this review, we assemble what is known about the Trojans and discuss various models for their origin and collisional evolution. It can be argued that the Trojans are unlikely to be captured planetesimals from the giant planet zone, but instead were once denizens of the primordial Kuiper belt, trapped by the events taking place during a giant planet instability. The Lucy mission to the Trojans is therefore well positioned to not only answer questions about these objects, but also about their place in planet formation and solar system evolution studies.
Social Enterprises Within the Public Sector’s Purview: A Taxonomy-Based Study on South Korea
Authors: Claassen Casper Hendrik , Mair Johanna , Bidet Eric
Published: December 2023

This study applies a hierarchical clustering approach to identify social enterprise models that have appeared in a setting of public sector-led incubation. Within such a context, a high degree of conformity ought to be apparent due to the coercive isomorphic pressures associated with public sector patronage. We nominate South Korea for our analysis, given that the rising number of social enterprises in the country is closely related to a regulatory intervention. Based on an analysis of 468 social enterprises, we find, contrary to expectations, that distinct clusters of government-certified social enterprises have emerged, namely social utility niche, job outsourcing, market opportunity, and integrated balanced models. We typologize these models according to their strategic orientation, mission focus, and institutional alignment. In doing so, we contribute to social enterprise research by illustrating how organizational pluralism may manifest when the growth of a population of social enterprises is directly linked to public sector intervention and regulation.
Temporal variation of allergenic potential in urban parks during the vegetation period: a case study from Bratislava, Slovakia
Authors: Zahradníková Eva , Rendeková Alena , Ščevková Jana
Published: December 2023

Park greenery represents an oasis for urban residents; however, during the flowering period of trees that produce allergenic pollen grains, these areas threaten individuals suffering from seasonal allergic respiratory diseases. In this study, we evaluated the temporal distribution of the allergenic potential of three most important urban parks in Bratislava over the vegetation period, using a modification of the Urban Green Zone Allergenicity Index (IUGZA) and Individual-Specific Allergenic Potential Index (IISA) designed as a running index — rIUGZA and rIISA. We found that rIUGZA gives better information for park management and revitalization, since it considers the potential size of woody plants, while rIISA, considering the actual size of the vegetation, provides more relevant information for pollen-allergy sufferers. Based on rIISA, the allergenic potential was highest in May for the Grassalkovich Garden (formal baroque garden) and Janko Kráľ Park (English landscape park) and in April for the Medic Garden (repurposed baroque garden). We also found differences in the duration of the period of increased allergenic potential in these parks, ranging from 1 to 3 months. Based on the total annual sums of rIISA, we found the highest allergenic potential in the Medic Garden and lowest in the Janko Kráľ Park. This variance is caused mainly by the different density of trees and percentage of allergenic species. The biggest contributors to the allergenic potential were Platanus, Acer and Tilia. Based on the information on temporal variation of the allergenic potential during the vegetation period provided by the running indices, it is possible to improve the planning of park revitalization based on the flowering period of allergenic species and provide better information to the pollen-allergy sufferers for minimizing the allergenic effect of urban green areas on their health during a particular month.
Comparative life cycle assessment of traditional timber jack arch slab refurbishment solutions: Eco-efficient proposal versus conventional ones
Authors: Sánchez-Burgos M. A. , Pedreño-Rojas M. A. , Pérez-Gálvez F. , Rubio-de-Hita P.
Published: December 2023

Purpose

In the context of worldwide efforts to reduce plastic waste, the authors of this document patented a cement mortar floor slab interjoist prefab vault incorporating recycled plastic. This piece was designed to be used for the refurbishment of Spanish traditional timber jack arch floor slabs. Taking into account nowadays context, it is essential to assess the environmental benefits of this product.

Methods

A cradle to gate LCA has been performed following ISO 14044 and ISO 15804 recommendations. Thus, the aim of this research is both to provide a measure of the environmental improvement that this material adds to the building process and to compare it with current most used construction elements used for the same function. It is stressed that this study is based mainly on primary data obtained from Spanish producers.

Results

The results obtained show that the reference scenario, corresponding to the new patented vault, is the system with lower impacts in six out of the seven categories assessed. Furthermore, when adding the LCA normalisation step, the conducted analysis show that for the most influential impact categories, GWP100a and AD fossil fuels, the reference scenario bears the lowest scores.

Conclusions

It can be concluded that the new patented vault has a better environmental performance than the assessed commercial vaults. Therefore, in this research, the benefits for the construction sector to incorporate recycled plastics are shown. Furthermore, these results can encourage the research on construction products that include recycled plastics in their composition. Bearing in mind that this study assesses the impacts corresponding to the production of a prototype of the newly vault, it is considered that there is room for further improvement through the optimisation of the production process.
Awareness of Heightened Sexual and Behavioral Vulnerability as a Trigger for PrEP Resumption Among Adolescent Girls and Young Women in East and Southern Africa
Authors: Reddy Krishnaveni , Palanee-Phillips Thesla , Heffron Renee
Published: December 2023

Purpose of Review

East and Southern Africa are the epicenter of the HIV epidemic. High HIV incidence rates among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) remain stable over the last decade despite access to daily oral PrEP. Some settings have experienced high PrEP uptake among AGYW; however, discontinuation has been high. This review sought to understand drivers of PrEP discontinuation in this population in order to identify potential mechanisms to facilitate PrEP restart and optimize PrEP use.

Recent Findings

Drivers of PrEP discontinuation included low perceived HIV acquisition risk, PrEP-associated side effects, pill burden, family/sexual partner disapproval, lack of/intermittent sexual activity, PrEP use stigma, fear of intimate partner violence, misinformation about long-term PrEP use, and limited/inconsistent access to PrEP.

The most frequently reported driver of PrEP discontinuation was low perceived HIV acquisition risk. This indicates that innovative interventions to help AGYW recognize their HIV risk and make informed decisions about PrEP use are urgently needed.
Role of IFN-α in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Lin Chung M. A. , Isaacs John D. , Cooles Faye A. H.
Published: December 2023

Purpose of Review

Type 1 interferons (IFN-I) are of increasing interest across a wide range of autoimmune rheumatic diseases. Historically, research into their role in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been relatively neglected, but recent work continues to highlight a potential contribution to RA pathophysiology.

Recent Findings

We emphasise the importance of disease stage when examining IFN-I in RA and provide an overview on how IFN-I may have a direct role on a variety of relevant cellular functions. We explore how clinical trajectory may be influenced by increased IFN-I signalling, and also, the limitations of scores composed of interferon response genes. Relevant environmental triggers and inheritable RA genetic risk relating to IFN-I signalling are explored with emphasis on intriguing data potentially linking IFN-I exposure, epigenetic changes, and disease relevant processes.

Whilst these data cumulatively illustrate a likely role for IFN-I in RA, they also highlight the knowledge gaps, particularly in populations at risk for RA, and suggest directions for future research to both better understand IFN-I biology and inform targeted therapeutic strategies.
Pedagogical Orientations and Evolving Responsibilities of Technological Universities: A Literature Review of the History of Engineering Education
Authors: Martin Diana Adela , Bombaerts Gunter , Horst Maja , Papageorgiou Kyriaki , Viscusi Gianluigi
Published: December 2023

Current societal changes and challenges demand a broader role of technological universities, thus opening the question of how their role evolved over time and how to frame their current responsibility. In response to urgent calls for debating and redefining the identity of contemporary technological universities, this paper has two aims. The first aim is to identify the key characteristics and orientations marking the development of technological universities, as recorded in the history of engineering education. The second aim is to articulate the responsibility of contemporary technological universities given their different orientations and characteristics. For this, we first provide a non-systematic literature review of the key pedagogical orientations of technological universities, grounded in the history of engineering education. The five major orientations of technological universities presented in the paper are technical, economic, social, political, and ecological. We then use this historical survey to articulate the responsibilities of contemporary technological universities reflecting the different orientations. Technological universities can promote and foster the development of scientific, professional, civic, legal, or intra- and inter- generational responsibility. We argue that responsibility is not specific to any particular orientation, such that the concept is broadened to complement each orientation or mix of orientations of a technological university. Our contribution thus serves as a call for technological universities to self-reflect on their mission and identity, by offering a lens for identifying the orientations they currently foster and making explicit the responsibility arising from their current orientation or the ones they strive to cultivate.
Cancer of unknown primary—state of the art
Authors: Fuereder Thorsten
Published: December 2023

The Cancer of Unknown Primary (CUP) syndrome does not represent a single clinical entity but comprises a diverse group of malignant tumors. CUP is defined as a histologically confirmed metastatic malignant disease for which the primary tumor cannot be identified after completing initial diagnostics. Although its incidence has decreased, managing CUP patients remains a significant clinical challenge, particularly for those in the poor prognosis group, where the overall survival is merely 3 months. In this context, accurate diagnostics and prompt treatment initiation are crucial. While platinum-based chemotherapy still plays a central role in CUP therapy, the future holds promise with the advent of next-generation targeted therapies and immunotherapies guided by the results of advanced sequencing tools. These advancements offer hope for improving the bleak outcomes faced by these patients.
Moffuly-II: A Robot that Hugs and Rubs Heads
Authors: Onishi Yuya , Sumioka Hidenobu , Shiomi Masahiro
Published: December 2023

Although whole-body touch interaction, e.g., hugging, is essential for human beings from various perspectives, not everyone can interact with intimate friends/family due to physical separations caused by such circumstances as pandemics, geographical constraints, etc. The possibility of human–robot touch interaction is one approach that ameliorates such missing touch interactions. In this study, we developed a robot named Moffuly-II, that hugs people and rubs their heads during a hug because head-touching behaviors are typical affective interactions between intimate persons. Moffuly-II is a large huggable teddy-bear type robot and it has enough capability to both hug and touch the head. We conducted an experiment with human participants and evaluated the effectiveness of combining intra-hug gestures (squeezing and rubbing) and the touch area (back and head). From experimental results, we identified the advantages of implementing rubbing gestures compared to squeezing gestures and some of the advantages of head-touching behaviors compared to back-touching behaviors.
Who earns trust in online environments? A meta-analysis of trust in technology and trust in provider for technology acceptance
Authors: Kuen Leonie , Westmattelmann Daniel , Bruckes Maike , Schewe Gerhard
Published: December 2023

Trust has been identified as inevitable for technology acceptance and might further gain importance as technologies become increasingly complex. However, previous research on trust in online environments lacks a systematic configuration of trust entities in research models; some studies include either trust in technology or trust in provider, others both. In combination with inconsistent results, this leads to a lack of in-depth knowledge about the trust entities’ relationship to each other, to their antecedents, and intention to use. Therefore, this study aims at clarifying these relationships and examining how they vary for different configurations. We performed pairwise meta-analyses to generate summary effects for the individual trust entities and examined four different trust configurations by applying meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM). Our findings advance technology acceptance and trust research and highlight the necessity to carefully configure trust. More specifically, the results from pairwise meta-analysis support a strong relationship between the trust entities that is, however, countered by the effects of antecedents in MASEM. Institution-based trust and reputation are found stronger predictors for trust in provider and familiarity a stronger determinant of trust in technology. Furthermore, the trust entities show comparable paths to intention to use when either trust entity is included in the research model, but when both are integrated, trust in technology is more important than trust in provider.
Sensitivity Evaluation of Enveloped and Non-enveloped Viruses to Ethanol Using Machine Learning: A Systematic Review
Authors: Wanguyun Aken Puti , Oishi Wakana , Sano Daisuke
Published: December 2023

Viral diseases are a severe public health issue worldwide. During the coronavirus pandemic, the use of alcohol-based sanitizers was recommended by WHO. Enveloped viruses are sensitive to ethanol, whereas non-enveloped viruses are considerably less sensitive. However, no quantitative analysis has been conducted to determine virus ethanol sensitivity and the important variables influencing the inactivation of viruses to ethanol. This study aimed to determine viruses’ sensitivity to ethanol and the most important variables influencing the inactivation of viruses exposed to ethanol based on machine learning. We examined 37 peer-reviewed articles through a systematic search. Quantitative analysis was employed using a decision tree and random forest algorithms. Based on the decision tree, enveloped viruses required around ≥ 35% ethanol with an average contact time of at least 1 min, which reduced the average viral load by 4 log10. In non-enveloped viruses with and without organic matter, ≥ 77.50% and ≥ 65% ethanol with an extended contact time of ≥ 2 min were required for a 4 log10 viral reduction, respectively. Important variables were assessed using a random forest based on the percentage increases in mean square error (%IncMSE) and node purity (%IncNodePurity). Ethanol concentration was a more important variable with a higher %IncMSE and %IncNodePurity than contact time for the inactivation of enveloped and non-enveloped viruses with the available organic matter. Because specific guidelines for virus inactivation by ethanol are lacking, data analysis using machine learning is essential to gain insight from certain datasets. We provide new knowledge for determining guideline values related to the selection of ethanol concentration and contact time that effectively inactivate viruses.
Zeroth- and first-order difference discrimination for unsupervised domain adaptation
Authors: Wang Jie , Chen Xing , Zhang Xiao-Lei
Published: December 2023

Unsupervised domain adaptation transfers empirical knowledge from a label-rich source domain to a fully unlabeled target domain with a different distribution. A core idea of many existing approaches is to reduce the distribution divergence between domains. However, they focused only on part of the discrimination, which can be categorized into optimizing the following four objectives: reducing the intraclass distance between domains, enlarging the interclass distances between domains, reducing the intraclass distances within domains, and enlarging the interclass distances within domains. Moreover, because few methods consider multiple types of objectives, the consistency of data representations produced by different types of objectives has not yet been studied. In this paper, to address the above issues, we propose a zeroth- and first-order difference discrimination (ZFOD) approach for unsupervised domain adaptation. It first optimizes the above four objectives simultaneously. To improve the discrimination consistency of the data across the two domains, we propose a first-order difference constraint to align the interclass differences across domains. Because the proposed method needs pseudolabels for the target domain, we adopt a recent pseudolabel generation method to alleviate the negative impact of imprecise pseudolabels. We conducted an extensive comparison with nine representative conventional methods and seven remarkable deep learning-based methods on four benchmark datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method, as a conventional approach, not only significantly outperforms the nine conventional comparison methods but is also competitive with the seven deep learning-based comparison methods. In particular, our method achieves an accuracy of 93.4% on the Office+Caltech10 dataset, which outperforms the other comparison methods. An ablation study further demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed constraint in aligning the objectives.
Legitimation erwachsenenpädagogischer Programmbereiche am Beispiel der digitalen Grundbildung
Authors: Koller Julia , Arbeiter Jana , Bickeböller Jakob , Theurer Thomas
Published: December 2023

Gesamtgesellschaftlicher Wandel und Megatrends wie die digitale Transformation können Akteure und Organisationen der Erwachsenenbildung dazu veranlassen, die Legitimität ihrer Handlungsroutinen zu reevaluieren. Der Beitrag veranschaulicht die Legitimation von Programmbereichen am Beispiel der Digitalen Grundbildung. Im Anschluss an den Neo-Institutionalismus wird erörtert, dass Organisationen auf Legitimationsquellen aus ihrer Umwelt zurückgreifen können und müssen. Auf Grundlage einer Interviewstudie (n = 16), die mit Verfahren der qualitativen Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet wurde, werden folgende Fragen bearbeitet: (1) Welche inhaltlichen Bezüge (Legitimationen) sind bei der Konstruktion und Behauptung von Legitimität für den Programmbereich digitale Grundbildung von Bedeutung? (2) Inwieweit werden diese Legitimationen zu Legitimationsmustern verknüpft? Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass professionelles Handeln im Zusammenhang mit dem Herstellen von Legitimität eine stete Reflexion der Ziele beinhaltet. Es zeigen sich dabei bestimmte Legitimationsmuster: ökonomische Abwägungen, pädagogisch-normative Überzeugungen sowie das Vorhandensein von „institutional digital entrepreneurs“.
Literature in an age of endless work
Authors: Lupton Christina Jane
Published: December 2023

This piece makes the case for the novel’s allegiance to a way of life that includes both work and contemplation. I point this out in response to some recent arguments that situate reading in one framework or another: a professional or a ›lay‹ context; a critical or a literary one. Bringing in the results of a recent ethnographic study that shows even literary academics wishing for some reading time away from work, and some novels that situate themselves at the end of the working day, I suggest that the best case for literature’s professional and practical continuation lies, ironically, in our political defence of a mode of non-work.
Visible-infrared person re-identification via specific and shared representations learning
Authors: Zheng Aihua , Liu Juncong , Wang Zi , Huang Lili , Li Chenglong , Yin Bing
Published: December 2023

The primary goal of visible-infrared person re-identification (VI-ReID) is to match pedestrian photos obtained during the day and night. The majority of existing methods simply generate auxiliary modalities to reduce the modality discrepancy for cross-modality matching. They capture modality-invariant representations but ignore the extraction of modality-specific representations that can aid in distinguishing among various identities of the same modality. To alleviate these issues, this work provides a novel specific and shared representations learning (SSRL) model for VI-ReID to learn modality-specific and modality-shared representations. We design a shared branch in SSRL to bridge the image-level gap and learn modality-shared representations, while a specific branch retains the discriminative information of visible images to learn modality-specific representations. In addition, we propose intra-class aggregation and inter-class separation learning strategies to optimize the distribution of feature embeddings at a fine-grained level. Extensive experimental results on two challenging benchmark datasets, SYSU-MM01 and RegDB, demonstrate the superior performance of SSRL over state-of-the-art methods.