bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Peaks-over-threshold model in flood frequency analysis: a scoping review
Authors: Pan Xiao , Rahman Ataur , Haddad Khaled , Ouarda Taha B. M. J.
Published: February 2022

In flood frequency analysis (FFA), annual maximum (AM) model is widely adopted in practice due to its straightforward sampling process. However, AM model has been criticized for its limited flexibility. FFA using peaks-over-threshold (POT) model is an alternative to AM model, which offers several theoretical advantages; however, this model is currently underemployed internationally. This study aims to bridge the current knowledge gap by conducting a scoping review covering several aspects of the POT approach including model assumptions, independence criteria, threshold selection, parameter estimation, probability distribution, regionalization and stationarity. We have reviewed the previously published articles on POT model to investigate: (a) possible reasons for underemployment of the POT model in FFA; and (b) challenges in applying the POT model. It is highlighted that the POT model offers a greater flexibility compared to the AM model due to the nature of sampling process associated with the POT model. The POT is more capable of providing less biased flood estimates for frequent floods. The underemployment of POT model in FFA is mainly due to the complexity in selecting a threshold (e.g., physical threshold to satisfy independence criteria and statistical threshold for Generalized Pareto distribution – the most commonly applied distribution in POT modelling). It is also found that the uncertainty due to individual variable and combined effects of the variables are not well assessed in previous research, and there is a lack of established guideline to apply POT model in FFA.
Don’t miss the mismatch: investigating the objective function mismatch for unsupervised representation learning
Authors: Stuhr Bonifaz , Brauer Jürgen
Published: February 2022

Finding general evaluation metrics for unsupervised representation learning techniques is a challenging open research question, which recently has become more and more necessary due to the increasing interest in unsupervised methods. Even though these methods promise beneficial representation characteristics, most approaches currently suffer from the objective function mismatch. This mismatch states that the performance on a desired target task can decrease when the unsupervised pretext task is learned too long–especially when both tasks are ill-posed. In this work, we build upon the widely used linear evaluation protocol and define new general evaluation metrics to quantitatively capture the objective function mismatch and the more generic metrics mismatch. We discuss the usability and stability of our protocols on a variety of pretext and target tasks and study mismatches in a wide range of experiments. Thereby we disclose dependencies of the objective function mismatch across several pretext and target tasks with respect to the pretext model’s representation size, target model complexity, pretext and target augmentations as well as pretext and target task types. In our experiments, we find that the objective function mismatch reduces performance by$$\sim$$∼0.1–5.0% for Cifar10, Cifar100 and PCam in many setups, and up to$$\sim$$∼25–59% in extreme cases for the 3dshapes dataset.
Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines for gastroesophageal reflux disease 2021
Authors: Iwakiri Katsuhiko , Fujiwara Yasuhiro , Manabe Noriaki , Ihara Eikichi , Kuribayashi Shiko , Akiyama Junichi , Kondo Takashi , Yamashita Hiroshi , Ishimura Norihisa , Kitasako Yuichi , Iijima Katsunori , Koike Tomoyuki , Omura Nobuo , Nomura Tsutomu , Kawamura Osamu , Ohara Shuichi , Ozawa Soji , Kinoshita Yoshikazu , Mochida Satoshi , Enomoto Nobuyuki , Shimosegawa Tooru , Koike Kazuhiko
Published: February 2022

In Japan, with the increasing prevalence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and growing public interest, the Japanese Society of Gastroenterology issued Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines for GERD (1st edition) in 2009 and a revised 2nd edition in 2015. A number of studies on GERD were subsequently conducted in Japan and abroad, and vonoprazan, a potassium-competitive acid blocker (P-CAB), became available for the first time in Japan in February 2015. The revised 3rd edition (Japanese edition), which incorporates new findings and information, was published in April 2021. These guidelines are summarized herein, particularly sections related to the treatment of GERD. The important clinical issues addressed in the present revision are (i) the introduction of treatment algorithms that classify GERD into reflux esophagitis and non-erosive reflux disease, (ii) the clarification of treatment algorithms based on to the severity of reflux esophagitis, and (iii) the positioning of vonoprazan in the treatment for GERD. The present guidelines propose vonoprazan as the initial/maintenance treatment for severe reflux esophagitis. They also recommend vonoprazan or PPI as an initial treatment for mild reflux esophagitis and recommended PPI and proposed vonoprazan as maintenance treatment. These updated guidelines offer the best clinical strategies for GERD patients in Japan and hope that they will be of global use for the diagnosis and treatment for GERD.
Cost-effectiveness of anterior surgical decompression surgery for cervical degenerative disk disease: a systematic review of economic evaluations
Authors: Schuermans V. N. E. , Smeets A. Y. J. M. , Boselie A. F. M. , Zarrouk O. , Hermans S. M. M. , Droeghaag R. , Curfs I. , Evers S. M. A. A. , van Santbrink H.
Published: February 2022

Purpose

No clear consensus exists on which anterior surgical technique is most cost-effective for treating cervical degenerative disk disease (CDDD). One of the most common treatment options is anterior cervical discectomy with fusion (ACDF). Anterior cervical discectomy with arthroplasty (ACDA) was developed in an effort to reduce the incidence of clinical adjacent segment pathology and associated additional surgeries by preserving motion. This systematic review aims to evaluate the evidence regarding the cost-effectiveness of anterior surgical decompression techniques used to treat radiculopathy and/or myelopathy caused by CDDD.

Methods

The search was conducted in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, CINAHL, EconLit, NHS-EED and the Cochrane Library. Studies were included if healthcare costs and utility or effectivity measurements were mentioned.

Results

A total of 23 studies were included out of the 1327 identified studies. In 9 of the 13 studies directly comparing ACDA and ACDF, ACDA was the most cost-effective technique, with an incremental cost effectiveness ratio ranging from $2.900/QALY to $98.475/QALY. There was great heterogeneity between the costs of due to different in- and exclusion criteria of costs and charges, cost perspective, baseline characteristics, and calculation methods. The methodological quality of the included studies was moderate.

Conclusion

The majority of studies report ACDA to be a more cost-effective technique in comparison with ACDF. The lack of uniform literature impedes any solid conclusions to be drawn. There is a need for high-quality cost-effectiveness research and uniformity in the conduct, design and reporting of economic evaluations concerning the treatment of CDDD.

Trial registration

PROSPERO Registration: CRD42020207553 (04.10.2020).
IoT-oriented high-efficient anti-malware hardware focusing on time series metadata extractable from inside a processor core
Authors: Koike Kazuki , Kobayashi Ryotaro , Katoh Masahiko
Published: February 2022

We aim to improve the efficiency of our previously proposed anti-malware hardware; it is a hardware-implemented malware detection mechanism that uses information inside the processor. We previously evaluated a prototype, but, due to its prototypical nature, there remain limitations, such as only detecting certain behaviors, high power consumption, and a tendency to bloat the training model. In this paper, we propose a circuit and a learning method to achieve high efficiency, low power consumption, and light weight for the model. In considering these three issues, we focus on time-series metadata obtained by transforming the processor information. To improve efficiency, we implement predictive detection to predict the behavior of metadata in the malware detection component. This lets the model detect malware within less than 19% of the number of execution cycles of the conventional method. To reduce power consumption, we implement a sampling circuit that interrupts the input to the detection circuit at regular intervals, reducing the system’s uptime by 99% while maintaining judgment accuracy. Finally, for a light weight, we focus on the training process of the metadata generator based on a machine-learning model. By applying sampling learning and feature dimensionality reduction in the training process, a metadata generator approximately 16% smaller than the previous version is created.
BSREM for Brain Metastasis Detection with 18F-FDG-PET/CT in Lung Cancer Patients
Authors: Liberini Virginia , Pizzuto Daniele A. , Messerli Michael , Orita Erika , Grünig Hannes , Maurer Alexander , Mader Cäcilia , Husmann Lars , Deandreis Désirée , Kotasidis Fotis , Trinckauf Josey , Curioni Alessandra , Opitz Isabelle , Winklhofer Sebastian , Huellner Martin W.
Published: February 2022

The aim of the study was to analyze the use of block sequential regularized expectation maximization (BSREM) with different β-values for the detection of brain metastases in digital fluorine-18 labeled 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose (18F-FDG) PET/CT in lung cancer patients. We retrospectively analyzed staging/restaging 18F-FDG PET/CT scans of 40 consecutive lung cancer patients with new brain metastases, confirmed by MRI. PET images were reconstructed using BSREM (β-values of 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700) and OSEM. Two independent blinded readers (R1 and R2) evaluated each reconstruction using a 4-point scale for general image quality, noise, and lesion detectability. SUVmax of metastases, brain background, target-to-background ratio (TBR), and contrast recovery (CR) ratio were recorded for each reconstruction. Among all reconstruction techniques, differences in qualitative parameters were analyzed using non-parametric Friedman test, while differences in quantitative parameters were compared using analysis of variances for repeated measures. Cohen’s kappa (k) was used to measure inter-reader agreement. The overall detectability of brain metastases was highest for BSREM200 (R1: 2.83 ± 1.17; R2: 2.68 ± 1.32) and BSREM300 (R1: 2.78 ± 1.23; R2: 2.68 ± 1.36), followed by BSREM100, which had lower accuracy owing to noise. The highest median TBR was found for BSREM100 (R1: 2.19 ± 1.05; R2: 2.42 ± 1.08), followed by BSREM200 and BSREM300. Image quality ratings were significantly different among reconstructions (p < 0.001). The median quality score was higher for BSREM100-300, and both noise and metastases’ SUVmax decreased with increasing β-value. Inter-reader agreement was particularly high for the detectability of photopenic metastases and blurring (all k > 0.65). BSREM200 and BSREM300 yielded the best results for the detection of brain metastases, surpassing both BSREM400 and OSEM, typically used in clinical practice.
Modeling and mitigating supply chain disruptions as a bilevel network flow problem
Authors: Glogg René Y. , Timonina-Farkas Anna , Seifert Ralf W.
Published: February 2022

Years of globalization, outsourcing and cost cutting have increased supply chain vulnerability calling for more effective risk mitigation strategies. In our research, we analyze supply chain disruptions in a production setting. Using a bilevel optimization framework, we minimize the total production cost for a manufacturer interested in finding optimal disruption mitigation strategies. The problem constitutes a convex network flow program under a chance constraint bounding the manufacturer’s regrets in disrupted scenarios. Thus, in contrast to standard bilevel optimization schemes with two decision-makers, a leader and a follower, our model searches for the optimal production plan of a manufacturer in view of a reduction in the sequence of his own scenario-specific regrets. Defined as the difference in costs of a reactive plan, which considers the disruption as unknown until it occurs, and a benchmark anticipative plan, which predicts the disruption in the beginning of the planning horizon, the regrets allow measurement of the impact of scenario-specific production strategies on the manufacturer’s total cost. For an efficient solution of the problem, we employ generalized Benders decomposition and develop customized feasibility cuts. In the managerial section, we discuss the implications for the risk-adjusted production and observe that the regrets of long disruptions are reduced in our mitigation strategy at the cost of shorter disruptions, whose regrets typically stay far below the risk threshold. This allows a decrease of the production cost under rare but high-impact disruption scenarios.
Odor learning improves efficacy of egg parasitoids as biocontrol agents against Tuta absoluta
Authors: Gonthier Jérémy , Zhang Yi-Bo , Zhang Gui-Fen , Romeis Jörg , Collatz Jana
Published: February 2022

Trichogramma spp. (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) are generalist egg parasitoids widely used as biological control agents, yet with limited efficacy against Tuta absoluta (Meyrick; Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), a key pest of tomato. Olfactory cues related to the host-plant complex influence the searching behavior in parasitoids. Studies have shown that female Trichogramma spp. can learn odor cues affecting their preference. We assessed if learning increases the response to tomato odor and whether it improves the parasitism rate of Trichogramma achaeae, Trichogramma evanescens, and Trichogramma dendrolimi. The parasitoids were either naive, reared for one generation on T. absoluta eggs, or conditioned associatively with an oviposition experience on a factitious host in the presence of tomato odor. Subsequently, their arrestment response (searching time) to T. absoluta-infested tomato leaves was observed in a static four-chamber olfactometer. Rearing the parasitoids on T. absoluta increased the arrestment time of T. dendrolimi strongly and that of T. evanescens slightly but not that of T. achaeae. In contrast, oviposition experience on a factitious host with the tomato odor (leaves or extract) increased the searching time of T. achaeae and T. evanescens strongly but did not improve the response of T. dendrolimi. Concerning parasitism improvement, only T. achaeae showed an increased parasitism rate after associative learning. Hence, the learning capacity of T. achaeae should be further explored to improve its biological control efficacy against T. absoluta.
Cellulose-g-tetraethylenepentamine dual-function imprinted polymers selectively and effectively adsorb and remove 4-nitrophenol and Cr(VI)
Authors: Lang Daning , Xu Xia , Wu Ronglan , Wang Wei , Shi Ming , Jia Ke , Chen Shifei , Wang Jide
Published: February 2022

A cellulosic material has been synthesized that could efficiently and selectively adsorb organic and inorganic contaminants from aqueous solutions without interference from competing adsorption sites. Cellulose-graft-tetraethylenepentamine molecular imprinted polymer (C-TEPA-MIP) was synthesized by using 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) as the template. The C-TEPA-MIP adsorbent could adsorb 4-NP and Cr(VI) simultaneously and selectively, without being affected by the competitive adsorption sites of each of these pollutants. The adsorption of 4-NP was predominantly due to the imprinted sites of 4-NP in C-TEPA-MIP that were located inside of the adsorbent, whereas that of Cr(VI) was primarily due to the amine groups of TEPA found on the surface of the adsorbent. Compared with the non-imprint polymer synthesized without the template, C-TEPA-MIP showed higher selectivity for both 4-NP and Cr(VI) in unitary and binary systems. In addition, C-TEPA-MIP exhibited good stability and recyclability for 4-NP, which makes it a promising candidate material for applications concerning wastewater treatment.

Graphical abstract
Economic expectations and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic: a one-year longitudinal evaluation on Italian university students
Authors: Busetta Giovanni , Campolo Maria Gabriella , Panarello Demetrio
Published: February 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has produced an extensive aggravation of people’s anxiety level. Different policies aimed at fighting the spread of the virus could affect anxiety in various ways. We built an ad hoc web-based survey, administered to the student population of three Italian universities at the beginning of the pandemic and at one year’s distance, to collect information on retrospective and current anxiety levels and the underlining reasons. The survey also included questions concerning sociodemographic, economic, labor, lifestyle, academic career, and on-line teaching features, which prevents students from identifying the main survey topic to be anxiety. This research aims at assessing the change in anxiety levels between the analyzed periods and the main determinants of such change, focusing on students’ economic expectancies. Results from a Poisson regression model show that anxiety has increased compared to both the pre-pandemic level and the one quantified during the first lockdown. This increase is revealed to be mostly driven by economic and career-related uncertainties, rather than by job loss and proximity to COVID-19. Thus, policymakers should take action to provide certainties both in terms of economic prospects and reopening strategies, especially to avoid that the resulting increase in anxiety translates into an amplified suicide risk.
Disentangling the Bidirectional Relationships Across the Corporate Sustainable Development Indicators
Authors: Kyaw Khine , Pindado Julio , de-la-Torre Chabela
Published: February 2022

This study disentangles the relationships that exist between the four indicators of corporate sustainable development: economic, environmental, social, and governance. We account for the potential bidirectionality of the relationships, control for the dynamic nature of the sustainability process, and address the endogeneity problem to appropriately analyze the sustainability process. We estimated a panel data from 734 U.S. companies from 2004 through 2016 by using the system generalized method of moments and find evidence of a clear dynamic nature of the businesses’ sustainability process. The results show that the current levels of the four sustainable development indicators are strongly determined by the levels of these indicators in the two previous years. Our results also show that corporate sustainable development follows a virtuous circle. The relationships across the economic, environmental, and social indicators are bidirectional and positive. Hence, these three sustainability indicators do not compete for available resources. On the contrary, they are tightly interconnected in a firm’s sustainable development processes. Therefore, practitioners and regulators should consider these indicators simultaneously to promote sustainability in businesses and apply long-term sustainability policies. Altogether, our evidence supports the idea that firms can do good by doing well, and they do well by doing good.
Alethic pluralism for pragmatists
Authors: Kaspers Tom
Published: February 2022

Pragmatism and the correspondence theory of truth are longtime foes. Nevertheless, there is an argument to be made that pragmatists must embrace truth as correspondence. I show that there is a distinctive pragmatic utility to taking truth to be correspondence, and I argue that it would be inconsistent for pragmatists to accept the utility of the belief that truth is correspondence while resisting the premise that this belief is correct.

In order to show how pragmatists can embrace truth as correspondence, I develop a kind of alethic pluralism, which treats pragmatist truth as theoretically fundamental to truth as correspondence. This theoretical fundamentality of pragmatist truth allows the pragmatist to conditionally accept truth as correspondence for certain discourses without falling prey to the typical pragmatist objections to correspondence. This pluralist account of truth thus allows pragmatists to concede that, for certain domains of discourse, truth is correspondence, without thereby betraying their pragmatist principles.
Characterization of browning during CO2 deastringency treatment in astringent persimmon fruit
Authors: Han Weijuan , Cao Kun , Diao Songfeng , Sun Peng , Li Huawei , Mai Yini , Suo Yujing , Fu Jianmin
Published: February 2022

Deastringency treatment with CO2 is an effective and convenient method for improving the marketability of persimmon fruit. However, the main persimmon cultivars in China turn brown very quickly following exposure to a high-CO2 atmosphere, causing significant economic loss. However, the mechanisms of persimmon browning under CO2 treatment remain largely unknown. In this study, we evaluated components and enzymes related to persimmon fruit browning. The results revealed that astringency was alleviated by simultaneous reduction of soluble tannin content and accumulation of insoluble tannin. During persimmon browning, fruit firmness, total phenolic content, and phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity decreased significantly, whereas malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD), catalase (CAT), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity increased significantly, suggesting that reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging enzymes and non-enzymatic antioxidants cannot effectively maintain redox reaction balance to protect cell membranes from oxidative damage during CO2 treatment. An untargeted metabolomics analysis identified 19 polyhydroxyphenols that were downregulated in CO2-treated fruit, suggesting that phenolics may act as a substrate for persimmon browning. We also identified 11 metabolites associated with abiotic stress. Together, these results study provide valuable information on the mechanism of persimmon fruit browning induced by CO2 treatment and will contribute to the ongoing development of the persimmon fruit industry.
Intelligent predetection of projected reference markers for robot-based inspection systems
Authors: Bauer Philipp , Schmitt Stefan , Dirr Jonas , Magaña Alejandro , Reinhart Gunther
Published: February 2022

Technical advancements in optical devices like sensors and projectors have led to tremendous innovations in manufacturing metrology, not least due to reductions in cost and the use of sophisticated image processing software. More recently, methods based on machine learning have demonstrated their high potential in meeting challenges that are difficult to overcome using conventional image processing techniques. In this context, we present an approach for the intelligent predetection of projected reference markers in robot-based inspection systems. These markers support the alignment of different sensor views and do not need to be physically attached to any parts. However, their robust detection is challenging under unfavorable lighting conditions. Hence, we introduce trained models of a cascade classifier based on both synthetic and real image data. Subsequently, we present the detection performance for different shapes and designs of markers projected onto real-world sheet metal parts as used in the automotive industry. The results demonstrate that properly trained classifiers can achieve a recall and precision of 90% and higher. The use of intelligent predetection promises more robust results in the subsequent detection of projected markers and, thus, benefits image processing in particular in geometric quality assurance applications.
Essential Metals and Trace Elements in Cereals and Their Derivatives Commercialized and Consumed in Cape Verde
Authors: Rubio-Armendáriz Carmen , Gutiérrez Ángel J. , Gomes-Furtado Verena , González-Weller Dailos , Revert Consuelo , Hardisson Arturo , Paz Soraya
Published: February 2022

Cereals and their derivatives are basic foods in the human diet and a source of minerals, but the content of elements may vary depending on the type of cereal or its processing. The levels of Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu, Zn, Mo, Co, and Mn have been determined in 126 samples of cereals and cereal derivatives (rice, corn gofio, corn flour, wheat flour, corn, and wheat) commercialized and consumed in Cape Verde using an inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) after a wet microwave digestion process. Some elements stand out in products such as corn gofio (K), wheat (Mg), and wheat flour (Fe). Negative correlations were found between Mo-Na and Na-Zn that could suggest interference between these elements. Bearing in mind the dietary intake evaluation and the guideline values provided by EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) or FAO (Food Authority Organization), the consumption of wheat (100 g/day) provides a notable contribution of Mo, Mn, Fe, and Mg. Considering the nutritional value of the analyzed essential and trace elements, the consumption of different cereals and their derivatives should be promoted.
Neuroenhancements in the Military: A Mixed-Method Pilot Study on Attitudes of Staff Officers to Ethics and Rules
Authors: Sattler Sebastian , Jacobs Edward , Singh Ilina , Whetham David , Bárd Imre , Moreno Jonathan , Galeazzi Gian , Allansdottir Agnes
Published: February 2022

Utilising science and technology to maximize human performance is often an essential feature of military activity. This can often be focused on mission success rather than just the welfare of the individuals involved. This tension has the potential to threaten the autonomy of soldiers and military physicians around the taking or administering of enhancement neurotechnologies (e.g., pills, neural implants, and neuroprostheses). The Hybrid Framework was proposed by academic researchers working in the U.S. context and comprises “rules” for military neuroenhancement (e.g., ensuring transparency and maintaining dignity of the warfighter). Integrating traditional bioethical perspectives with the unique requirements of the military environment, it has been referenced by military/government agencies tasked with writing official ethical frameworks. Our two-part investigation explored the ethical dimensions of military neuroenhancements with military officers – those most likely to be making decisions in this area in the future. In three workshops, structured around the Hybrid Framework, we explored what they thought about the ethical issues of enhancement neurotechnologies. From these findings, we conducted a survey (N = 332) to probe the extent of rule endorsement. Results show high levels of endorsement for a warfighter’s decision-making autonomy, but lower support for the view that enhanced warfighters would pose a danger to society after service. By examining the endorsement of concrete decision-making guidelines, we provide an overview of how military officers might, in practice, resolve tensions between competing values or higher-level principles. Our results suggest that the military context demands a recontextualisation of the relationship between military and civilian ethics.
Integrating 3D printing of polymer matrix composites and metal additive layer manufacturing: surface metallization of 3D printed composite panels through cold spray deposition of aluminium particles
Authors: Perna Alessia Serena , Viscusi Antonio , Gatta Roberta Della , Astarita Antonello
Published: February 2022

The integration of metals and polymers in the same component to couple the best properties and advantages of both these classes of materials can be useful for engineering applications. In this scenario, the aim of this paper is to integrate additive manufacturing of composites with cold spray deposition of metal particles: in particular, 3D-printed carbon fibre-reinforced plastics (CFRP) panels were coated with aluminium particles to couple the lightweight and high mechanical properties of CFRP with high wear resistance and hardness of metals. CFRP panels have been produced by using the Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) technology, then the panels have been coated with aluminium particles by using a low pressure cold spray facility. Panels with various stratification sequences have been produced to investigate the feasibility of the process and to highlight the influence of the lay-up strategy on the whole process; the parameters of the cold spray process have been also optimized to ensure an effective deposition. Adhesion tests, distortion measurements, cross-section observations and surface coverage measurements have been chosen as response outputs to evaluate the effectiveness of the process and to assess the influence of the process parameters. The integration between FFF of CFRPs and cold spray deposition of aluminium particles has been proved, values of surface coverage close to 100% and good values of adhesion strength (close to 4 MPa) have been achieved; moreover, the presence of the fibres, giving a higher stiffness to the substrate, avoids the occurrence of distortion phenomena during the deposition. It was also proved that the printing parameters influence the deposition: an increase in the infill density from 30% to 50% leads to an increase in the adhesion strength up to 40%. In summary, the results obtained proved the feasibility of the process and allowed to enucleate directions of future research.
“We Need to Address the Trauma”: School Social Workers′ Views About Student and Staff Mental Health During COVID-19
Authors: Watson Kate R. , Capp Gordon , Astor Ron Avi , Kelly Michael S. , Benbenishty Rami
Published: February 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent school disruptions shined a spotlight on the mental health needs of young people, and the importance of schools and school social workers (SSWs) in attending to those needs. This study sought to understand SSWs’ views about mental health and trauma in relation to the pandemic and schools reopening. Data came from written responses to open-ended questions on a national survey of SSWs during June–July 2020 (Kelly et al., 2021; Watson et al., 2022). In the national survey, 450 SSWs responded to open-ended questions, providing 115 single-spaced pages of detailed qualitative comments. A unified conceptual model for a trauma-informed school was created by integrating components suggested within the literature. This conceptual model was then used to generate a theory-based coding schema. Responses mapped well onto the conceptual model. Major themes included recognition of COVID-19 and 2020 social unrest as a unique period and potentially traumatic experience; the need for a trauma-informed school response; the challenges of addressing all facets of safety during the pandemic; and the essentiality and difficulty of maintaining school-based relationships during school closures and remote learning. Results demonstrated that SSWs used and discussed key components of a trauma-informed approach. Respondents offered several recommendations for implementing trauma-informed approaches during and after the pandemic, many of which required collaboration from other school staff. Findings provide empirical support for a unified school model that integrates components of a trauma-informed approach found in the literature. We make recommendations for interpersonal, organizational, and policy adaptations schools can take to become more trauma informed.
Neanderthals’ hunting seasonality inferred from combined cementochronology, mesowear, and microwear analysis: case studies from the Alpine foreland in Italy
Authors: Livraghi Alessandra , Rivals Florent , Rendu William , Peresani Marco
Published: February 2022

Herbivore teeth are a valuable source of information for inferring the hunting season of past hunter-gatherers, the spatial–temporal organization of their activities, their socio-economic organization, and their adaptation to the seasonal fluctuation of the resources. Numberless of studies have been conducted on Neanderthals across Eurasia, but only few of them rely on the application of cementochronology and tooth wear analyses combined to obtain information about the ungulate paleodiet, paleoenvironments, and the time range of the mortality events. In this study, we present the results achieved though the combination of these two high-resolution techniques applied to large and medium-sized herbivore teeth yielded by two Middle Paleolithic sites in the north-east of Italy. We combined the two methodologies with the aim to overcome any possible lack of information, due to the use of a single method. This study addressed to analyze the material coming from two caves in the Venetian region, De Nadale and San Bernardino, and to produce data supporting the interpretation of the origin of the two archaeofaunal assemblages as a result of seasonal hunting events that took place mainly in winter. In this specific geographic and environmental context, our data gain a better understanding of Neanderthal subsistence strategies and occupational patterns.
An investigation of the influence of integration of steel heat treatment and brazing process on the microstructure and performance of vacuum-brazed cemented carbide/steel joints
Authors: Tillmann W. , Ulitzka T. , Dahl L. , Wojarski L. , Ulitzka H.
Published: February 2022

Cemented carbides are commonly brazed to transformation hardening tool steels without taking a proper and adequate steel heat treatment into account. This publication shows the limits and possibilities of integrating a steel heat treatment, including a quenching process, into a vacuum brazing process. Therefore, copper-based filler metals are selected to ensure the steel component’s high and homogenous hardness and supply a high joint quality. In this context, the aimed steel hardness was chosen in the range between 400 and 440 HV1 based on industrial experiences. This specific hardness range for the steel component was set to avoid wear of machining tools in subsequent machining steps if the steel hardness is too high and to prevent wear and deformation of the tool itself in case of a steel hardness too low. When using the transformation hardening tool steel 1.2344, the obtained shear strength values did not exceed a threshold of 20 MPa which can be attributed to the required N2-quenching from brazing respectively solution annealing temperature. However, the steel components featured a hardness of 527.1 HV1 for the specimens brazed with pure copper at 1100 °C and 494.0 HV1 for those brazed with a CuGeNi filler metal at 1040 °C. This publication also shows an alternative route to manufacture long-lasting tools with a cemented carbide/steel joint by applying the difficult to wet and not well researched, but for many other reasons very suitable precipitation hardening maraging steel. Especially, the comparable low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) and the capability of the lath martensite to compensate large amounts of externally imposed stresses during the austenite-to-martensite transformation as well as the cooling rate independent of the hardening mechanism of the maraging steel and a pre-applied nickel coating including the corresponding diffusion processes are responsible for a sound joint with a shear strength > 300 MPa. Moreover, the subsequent tempering process at 580 °C for 3 h provides the maraging steel joining partner with a hardness of 426.6 ± 6.0 HV1.
Comparison of process behavior, microstructure and mechanical properties of ultrasound enhanced friction stir welded titanium/titanium joints
Authors: Thomae Marco , Gester Andreas , Wagner Guntram
Published: February 2022

Titanium as a high-performance material offers great potential for a wide range of applications with different aspects like lightweight-constructions, biocompatibility as well as design and is used in various industrial areas like the transportation sector or in medical and sports engineering. To exploit the full potential of titanium, there is still a need for innovative and efficient joining techniques compared to conventional methods. The process of friction stir welding as a solid-state joining method is able to produce high-quality similar joints of titanium. Nevertheless, there are still some challenging aspects when friction stir welding titanium like the formation of oxide layers that affect the mechanical properties especially in the field of fatigue negatively. The superposition of power ultrasound on the friction stir welding process can address this issue. Therefore, the hybrid process of ultrasound enhanced friction stir welding was applied on similar Ti6Al4V/Ti6Al4V joints in a butt joint configuration to reduce the amount of oxide layers and improve the fatigue lifetime of the joints. For the joint configuration, a positive impact of the power ultrasound could be identified by the breakup of oxide layers and an increase in the tensile strength of 16%. Also stepwise load increase tests revealed a higher estimated fatigue strength for ultrasound enhanced friction stir welded specimen in this butt joint configuration.
Private Investments, Public Goods: Regulating Markets for Sustainable Development
Authors: Tan Celine
Published: February 2022

In the new ecosystem for financing the sustainable development goals (SDGs), private actors are no longer passive bystanders in the development process, nor engaged merely as clients or contractors but as co-investors and co-producers in development projects and programmes. This ‘private turn’ in the financing of international development and other global public goods sees the enmeshment of public and private finance that brings aid and other forms of official development finance into sharp contact with regulatory regimes commonly associated with commercial investments, capital markets and corporate activity. The shift away from public resources for financing (e.g., multilateral sovereign loans) to leveraging financial markets for development capital (e.g., equity and portfolio investments) will insert countries into global financial markets and engagements with corporate actors in ways that will change forms of regulation, accountability and transparency of public finance. Zooming in on the creation of markets for sustainable development investments (SDI), this paper explores how this broader ‘reengineering of public finance’ is establishing new forms of governance that are restructuring the relationship between states and markets and between transnational capital and their host communities. Specifically, the movement towards private investments and financial markets as key drivers of financing for sustainable development has two critical impacts on transnational governance: (a) the use of private markets, in their capital allocation roles, as quasi-regulatory tools for achieving the SDGs and other global public goods; and (b) the deployment of private regulatory regimes (e.g., contracts, codes of conduct, corporate governance codes) as mechanisms to govern the social and environmental externalities of transnational economic activity. These developments have wide-ranging impacts on the domestic legal, political and civic constitution of states that can paradoxically constrain fiscal and policy space for enabling the attainment of the SDGs.
Artificial Intelligence to Address Cyberbullying, Harassment and Abuse: New Directions in the Midst of Complexity
Authors: Milosevic Tijana , Van Royen Kathleen , Davis Brian
Published: February 2022

This brief article serves as an introductory piece for the special issue “The Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Address Online Bullying and Abuse.” It provides an overview of the state of the art with respect to the use of AI in addressing various types of online abuse and cyberbullying; current challenges for the field; and it emphasises the need for greater interdisciplinary collaboration on this topic. The article also summarises key contributions of the articles selected for the special issue.
Regtech: steering the regulatory spaceship in the right direction?
Authors: Papantoniou Alexandros A.
Published: February 2022

A spaceship steers by changing its existing orbit or trajectory. The current regulatory framework for financial institutions, albeit essential, is inefficient, thus steering the regulatory spaceship out of orbit. Regtech is an ever-evolving innovation which may have the potential to become a catalyst in financial services industry regulation. It provides automated solutions for monitoring, reporting and analysing regulatory requirements, thereby significantly reducing costs and improving productivity. This paper, however, argues that Regtech currently lacks the envisaged effective and widespread adoption because of risks, ambiguities, costs and difficulties associated with its application. The future of Regtech, therefore, remains uncertain. Yet through careful modification and implementation of recommendation initiatives, Regtech will be able to transform the way in which regulators and financial institutions observe and implement the current regulatory landscape, steering the regulatory spaceship in the right direction.
Investigating the impact of indoor temperature on the performance of the retail commercial refrigeration system
Authors: Brownbridge Oliver , Sully Matthew , Noons Joshua , Albayati Ibrahim M.
Published: February 2022

Commercial food outlets in the UK are responsible for 3% of the UK total energy consumption, with refrigeration systems account for 29% of this total. In this paper, a validated model that simulates a commercial refrigeration system installed over 2000 sq. ft to mimic a real express store installed at the Riseholme Refrigeration Research Centre at the University of Lincoln, UK, is presented. Investigations are conducted to examine the different failures of air conditioning (AC) systems and their impacts on the indoor store temperature, and hence on the refrigeration performance and energy consumption. Three different scenarios were examined: gradual increase in store temperature caused by an AC system with reduced performance, sudden increase in store temperature caused by a drastic AC failure and fluctuations in store temperature caused by a faulty AC system. The results of the investigation for different failure scenarios of the AC system during 3 h of continual operation showed an increase in the energy consumption of the refrigeration system by 17.4% as a result of gradual AC failure, 33.6% for the sudden failure and 5.3% for the intermittent failure. It is concluded that the AC failures caused the power drawn to increase due to spending a prolonged period of time at higher temperatures than during the normal AC operation. Also, the frequency which the compressors switch on and off increases the level of wear on the compressors. Both gradual and sudden failures of the AC system show a sustained increase in temperature that leads to a greater duty cycle for the expansion valve to increase the amount of refrigerant available. It is found that the sudden failure of the AC system had the greatest impact on the system, as the temperature of the store rises quickest, the display cases are exposed to higher temperatures for a longer time; this causes the greatest demand on the system and so lead to the largest power consumption. It is notable that for all three failure types that the product temperature experiences, there are no noticeable fluctuations and they remain comfortably within the temperature boundaries between 3 and 1 °C, as the system is able to provide an adequate cooling.
Geometric Perturbation Theory and Travelling Waves profiles analysis in a Darcy–Forchheimer fluid model
Authors: Palencia J. L. Díaz , Rahman S.
Published: February 2022

The intention along the presented analysis is to develop existence, uniqueness and asymptotic analysis of solutions to a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow saturating porous medium. The influence of a porous medium is provided by the Darcy–Forchheimer conditions. Firstly, the existence and uniqueness topics are developed making used of a weak formulation. Once solutions are shown to exist regularly, the problem is converted into the Travelling Waves (TW) domain to study the asymptotic behaviour supported by the Geometric Perturbation Theory (GPT). Based on this, analytical expressions are constructed to the velocity profile for the mentioned Darcy–Forchheimer flow. Afterwards, the approximated solutions based on the GPT approach are shown to be sufficiently accurate for a range of travelling waves speeds in the interval [2.5, 2.8].
Bayesian Modeling of the Clovis and Folsom Radiocarbon Records Indicates a 200-Year Multigenerational Transition
Authors: Buchanan Briggs , Kilby J. David , LaBelle Jason M. , Surovell Todd A. , Holland-Lulewicz Jacob , Hamilton Marcus J.
Published: February 2022

An enduring problem in North American archaeology concerns the nature of the transition between the Clovis and Folsom Paleoindian complexes in the West. Traditional models indicate a temporal hiatus between the two complexes implying that Folsom was a population replacement for Clovis. Alternatively, if Folsom was an innovation that occurred within Clovis populations and subsequently spread, we would expect to see a temporal overlap. Here, we test these hypotheses using high-quality radiocarbon dates and Bayesian statistics to infer the temporal boundaries of the complexes. We show that the Folsom complex initially appears between 12,900 and 12,740 cal BP, whereas Clovis disappears between 12,720 and12,490 cal BP. Therefore, Folsom may have appeared about 200 years before Clovis disappeared, and so the two complexes likely co-occurred in the West for nearly eight generations. This finding suggests that Folsom was a successful adaptive innovation that diffused through the western Clovis population, eventually going to fixation over multiple generations.
Automating the Repair of Faulty Logical Theories
Authors: Li Xue
Published: February 2022

This thesis aims to develop a domain-independent system for repairing faulty Datalog-like theories by combining three existing techniques: abduction, belief revision, and conceptual change. Accordingly, the proposed system is named the ABC repair system (ABC). Given an observed assertion and a current theory, abduction adds axioms, which explain that observation by making the corresponding assertion derivable from the expanded theory. Belief revision incorporates a new piece of information which conflicts with the input theory by deleting old axioms. Conceptual change uses the reformation algorithm for blocking unwanted proofs or unblocking wanted proofs. The former two techniques change an axiom as a whole, while reformation changes the language in which the theory is written. These three techniques are complementary. But they have not previously been combined into one system. We are working on aligning these three techniques in ABC, which is capable of repairing logical theories with better result than each individual technique alone. In addition, ABC extends abduction and belief revision to operate on preconditions: the former deletes preconditions from rules, and the latter adds preconditions to rules. Datalog is used as the underlying logic of theories in this thesis, but the proposed system has the potential to be adapted to theories in other logics.

Abstract prepared by Xue Li by taking directly from the thesis.

E-mail: xuerr.lee@gmail.com
Lactobacillus bloodstream infections genetically related to probiotic use in pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant patients
Authors: Gilliam Craig H. , Brazelton de Cardenas Jessica , Carias Delia , Maron Alfaro Gaby , Hayden Randall T. , Hakim Hana
Published: February 2022

We describe a cluster of 6 pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant recipients with Lactobacillus bacteremia attributed to probiotic use. Lactobacillus isolates cultured from probiotics and patients’ blood were proven to be related using whole-genome sequencing. Clinical studies are needed to evaluate the safety of probiotic use in immunocompromised patients.