bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Code smells in pull requests: An exploratory study
Authors: Azeem Muhammad Ilyas , Shafiq Saad , Mashkoor Atif , Egyed Alexander
Published: October 2023

The quality of a pull request is the primary factor integrators consider for its acceptance or rejection. Code smells indicate sub‐optimal design or implementation choices in the source code that often lead to a fault‐prone outcome, threatening the quality of pull requests. This study explores code smells in 21k pull requests from 25 popular Java projects. We find that both accepted (37%) and rejected (44%) pull requests have code smells, affected mainly by god classes and long methods. Besides, we observe that smelly pull requests are more complex and challenging to understand as they have significantly large sizes, long latency times, more discussion and review comments, and are submitted by contributors with less experience. Our results show that features used in previous studies for pull request acceptance prediction could be potentially employed to predict smell in incoming pull requests. We propose a dynamic approach to predict the presence of such code smells in the newly added pull requests. We evaluate our approach on a dataset of 25 Java projects extracted from GitHub. We further conduct a benchmark study to compare the performance of eight machine learning classifiers. Results of the benchmark study show that XGBoost is the best‐performing classifier for smell prediction.
Professionalization in student affairs and services across the globe
Authors: Perozzi Brett , Shea Robert
Published: October 2023

This article explores the concept of Student Affairs and Services (SAS) as a global profession, how it is positioned and positions itself in the context of what it means to be a profession and reflects on the ways in which SAS has and can professionalize. The literature related to professionalization is presented along with a discussion of the outcomes of the review, which provides direction for SAS as a global profession.
Detection of synthetic lipid‐lowering adulterants in herbal products using high‐performance thin‐layer chromatography
Authors: Joshi Hardi , Bahliwala Payal , Vadalia Jigna , Vegad Udaykumar
Published: October 2023

Adulterating herbal medicine with undeclared synthetic drugs is a worldwide problem that seriously threatens human health. To detect such illicit and not labeled synthetic hypolipidemic substances in herbal medicines, an analytical method to simultaneously identify and quantify atorvastatin (ATV) calcium, simvastatin (SIM), gemfibrozil (GEM), fenofibrate (FEN) belonging to two different classes of drugs (statins and fibrates) was developed based on high‐performance thin‐layer chromatography. The method consisted of Silica Gel G60 F254 precoated aluminum plate as stationary phase and toluene: ethyl acetate: formic acid (7:3:0.3, v/v/v) as optimized mobile phase. The densitometric evaluation wavelength was optimized at 254 nm. The Rf values of ATV, SIM, GEM, and FEN were 0.157, 0.268, 0.691, and 0.852, respectively. The linearity range is between 100–1500 ng/band for ATV and FEN and 200–3000 ng/band for SIM and GEM, respectively. The accuracy was found to be in the range of 97%–105%. The relative standard deviation of precision and robustness was found to be < 5%. However, the five screened market samples did not show the presence of adulteration of the above drugs. This method for the simultaneous determination of four drugs may be successfully employed to screen synthetic hypolipidemics as adulterants in herbal products and dietary supplements.
Effect and molecular mechanism of Sulforaphane alleviates brain damage caused by acute carbon monoxide poisoning:Network pharmacology analysis, molecular docking, and experimental evidence
Authors: Yue Ao‐Chun , Zhou Xu‐Dong , Song Hui‐Ping , Liu Xu‐Han , Bi Ming‐Jun , Han Wei , Li Qin
Published: October 2023

Sulforaphane (SFN) has attracted much attention due to its ability on antioxidant, anti‐inflammatory, and anti‐apoptotic properties, while its functional targets and underlying mechanism of action on brain injury caused by acute carbon monoxide poisoning (ACOP) have not been fully elucidated. Herein, we used a systematic network pharmacology approach to explore the mechanism of SFN in the treatment of brain damage after ACOP. In this study, the results of network pharmacology demonstrated that there were a total of 81 effective target genes of SFN and 36 drug–disease targets, which were strongly in connection with autophagy–animal signaling pathway, drug metabolism, and transcription disorders in cancer. Upon the further biological function and KEGG signaling pathway enrichment analysis, a large number of them were involved in neuronal death, reactive oxygen metabolic processes and immune functions. Moreover, based on the results of bioinformatics prediction associated with multiple potential targets and pathways, the AMP‐activated protein kinase (AMPK) signaling pathway was selected to elucidate the molecular mechanism of SFN in the treatment of brain injury caused by ACOP. The following molecular docking analysis also confirmed that SFN can bind to AMPKα well through chemical bonds. In addition, an animal model of ACOP was established by exposure to carbon monoxide in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to verify the predicted results of network pharmacology. We found that the mitochondrial ultrastructure of neurons in rats with ACOP was seriously damaged, and apoptotic cells increased significantly. The histopathological changes were obviously alleviated, apoptosis of cortical neurons was inhibited, and the number of Nissl bodies was increased in the SFN group as compared with the ACOP group (p < .05). Besides, the administration of SFN could increase the expressions of phosphorylated P‐AMPK and MFN2 proteins and decrease the levels of DRP1, Caspase3, and Casapase9 proteins in the brain tissue of ACOP rats. These findings suggest that network pharmacology is a useful tool for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research, SFN can effectively inhibit apoptosis, protect cortical neurons from the toxicity of carbon monoxide through activating the AMPK pathway and may become a potential therapeutic strategy for brain injury after ACOP.
A novel collaborative control algorithm for maximum power point tracking of wind energy hydraulic conversion system
Authors: Chen Lijuan , Li Jingbin , Zhang Lin , Gao Wei , Ai Chao , Ding Beichen
Published: October 2023

Wind has been admitted as one of the most promising renewable energy resources in multinational regionalization policies. However, the energy conversion and utilization are challenging due to the technique reliability and cost issues. Hydraulic wind turbine (HWT) may solve the above problems. HWT is taken as a research object, and the maximum power point tracking (MPPT) control strategy is proposed collaborating with active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) and linear quadratic regulator (LQR) control methods, to solve multiplicative nonlinearity problems in the plant models and the influence of external disturbance on control performance in the MPPT control process. A nonlinear simulation model is built to explain the main findings from the experiments and obtain a better understanding of the effect of time‐varying system parameters and random fluctuation in wind speed. The collaborative control algorithm is experimentally verified on a 24‐kW HWT semi‐physical test platform that results in a promising energy conversion rate, plus the hydraulic parameters can satisfy the demand, accordingly. Ultimately, the potential challenges of implementing this technique in a smart wind energy conversion system are discussed to give a further design guidance, either theoretically or practically.
Magnetic field and dissipation effects on mixed convection viscous fluid flow by a channel in the presence of porous medium and heat generation/absorption phenomenon
Authors: Xin Xiao , Masthanaiah Y. , Rushikesava A. , Tarakaramu Nainaru , Abdullaev Sherzod , Khan M. Ijaz , Bouazzi Imen Rashid
Published: October 2023

In this study, we investigate the phenomenon of mixed convection in viscous fluid flow by a vertical channel, considering the presence of magneto‐hydro‐dynamics and porosity. Mixed convection occurs when both buoyancy forces and external forces, such as pumps or fans, influence the flow behavior. Understanding and accurately predicting mixed convection is crucial for optimizing heat exchanger design and performance. To model the temperature equation, we utilize the concept of the first law of thermodynamics. Additionally, we incorporate effects such as Joule heating, heat generation, and radiative heat flux in the energy equation modeling. The resulting physical liquid equations are solved using the shooting technique with the RKF (Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg) scheme. We present graphical representations of the flow variables, discussing their behavior in detail. The introduction provides an overview of the paper's roadmap, while the conclusion highlights the main and significant results obtained from our study. We found that, the temperature is more when liquid motion in between channel for large numerical values of thermal radiation parameter and Reynolds number.
Molodensky’s and Helmert’s Theories: Two Equivalent Geodetic Approaches to the Determination of the Gravity Potential and the Earth Surface
Authors: Sansó Fernando , Barzaghi Riccardo , Reguzzoni Mirko
Published: October 2023

A fundamental problem of physical geodesy is the determination of the “Surface of the Earth” and its gravitational potential from various types of observations performed on the Earth surfaceSitself or in the outer space. When data are derived from gravimetry onSwe speak of Molodensky’s problem. Since the gravity field depends linearly on its source, i.e. the mass distribution, it follows that we can manipulate the (unknown) internal density in a known way and still return to the same external solution once the effects of the manipulation have been eliminated (restored). This is used, in the frame of Molodensky’s theory, with the Residual Terrain Correction that is removed (and then restored) before approximating the solution by some regularized (collocation or other) approach. Differently, Helmert’s approach shifts the masses of the topographic layer, compressing them to some internal surface and substituting their effects on gravity by that of a single layer. Data are thus lowered to some internal ellipsoid or sphere and a solution is then easily computed. The effects of the internal changes are then inverted and added back to the solution. Despite the apparent completely different approach one can prove that the final solutions, when data are given continuously on the boundary and the errors are made to tend to zero, converge to the true potential on the surfaceSand then in the outer space. So the two solutions are geodetically equivalent and do not create any scientific conflict. Different is what happens insideS, down to the geoid level. Here Helmert’s approach, that introduces the density of the topographic layer as data, is certainly less erroneous in approximating the true potential. Yet due to the imperfect knowledge of the density and even more to the ill-posedness of the downward continuation operator, the internal potential can have large errors, unless the solution is duly regularized and an appropriate tuning is introduced between the regularization parameter and the size of data errors.
The Quasigeoid: Why Molodensky Heights Fail
Authors: Kingdon Robert , Vaníček Petr , Santos Marcelo , Sheng Michael , Foroughi Ismael
Published: October 2023

Any height system has two constituents: A reference surface upon which all heights are equal to zero, and a prescription for how observed heights and height differences will be related to that surface. That prescription is typically formulated with reference to Earth’s gravity field, but in this contribution, we will use the concept of metric spaces instead. In most height systems, the height of a point can be interpreted as the length of the 3-dimensional path from a point of interest to the reference surface in a particular metric space. The geometry of the path is that of the space associated with the height system. This submission explores the definition of a height system simply as a metric space and a reference surface, applies it to common height systems used in geodesy (geodetic, orthometric, dynamic, normal), and examines their characteristics through that lens.
Explaining Socio-Demographic and Behavioral Patterns of Vaccination Against the Swine Flu (H1N1) Pandemic
Authors: Punzi Clara , Maslennikova Aleksandra , Gezici Gizem , Pellungrini Roberto , Giannotti Fosca
Published: October 2023

Pandemic vaccination campaigns must account for vaccine skepticism as an obstacle to overcome. Using machine learning to identify behavioral and psychological patterns in public survey datasets can provide valuable insights and inform vaccination campaigns based on empirical evidence. However, we argue that the adoption of local and global explanation methodologies can provide additional support to health practitioners by suggesting personalized communication strategies and revealing potential demographic, social, or structural barriers to vaccination requiring systemic changes. In this paper, we first implement a chain classification model for the adoption of the vaccine during the H1N1 influenza outbreak taking seasonal vaccination information into account, and then compare it with a binary classifier for vaccination to better understand the overall patterns in the data. Following that, we derive and compare global explanations using post-hoc methodologies and interpretable-by-design models. Our findings indicate that socio-demographic factors play a distinct role in the H1N1 vaccination as compared to the general vaccination. Nevertheless, medical recommendation and health insurance remain significant factors for both vaccinations. Then, we concentrated on the subpopulation of individuals who did not receive an H1N1 vaccination despite being at risk of developing severe symptoms. In an effort to assist practitioners in providing effective recommendations to patients, we present rules and counterfactuals for the selected instances based on local explanations. Finally, we raise concerns regarding gender and racial disparities in healthcare access by analysing the interaction effects of sensitive attributes on the model’s output.
Adding Why to What? Analyses of an Everyday Explanation
Authors: Terfloth Lutz , Schaffer Michael , Buhl Heike M. , Schulte Carsten
Published: October 2023

In XAI it is important to consider that, in contrast to explanations for professional audiences, one cannot assume common expertise when explaining for laypeople. But such explanations between humans vary greatly, making it difficult to research commonalities across explanations. We used the dual nature theory, a techno-philosophical approach, to cope with these challenges. According to it, onan explain, for example, an XAI’s decision by addressing its dual nature: by focusing on the Architecture (e.g., the logic of its algorithms) or the Relevance (e.g., the severity of a decision, the implications of a recommendation). We investigated 20 explanations of games using the theory as an analytical framework. We elaborate how we used the theory to quickly structure and compare explanations of technological artifacts. We supplement results from analyzing the explanation contents with results from a video recall to explore how Explainers (EX) justified their explanation. We found that EX were focusing on the physical aspects of the game first (Architecture) and only later on aspects of the Relevance. Reasoning in the video recalls indicated that EX regarded the focus on the Architecture as important for structuring the explanation initially by explaining the basic components before focusing on more complex, intangible aspects. EX justified shifting between addressing the two sides by explanation goals, emerging misunderstandings, and the knowledge needs of the explainee. We discovered several commonalities that inspire future research questions which, if further generalizable, provide first ideas for the construction of synthetic explanations.
A new geometric flow on 3-manifolds: the K-flow
Authors: Tasseten Kezban , Tekin Bayram
Published: October 2023

Abstract

We define a new geometric flow, which we shall call the K-flow, on 3-dimensional Riemannian manifolds; and study the behavior of Thurston’s model geometries under this flow both analytically and numerically. As an example, we show that an initially arbitrarily deformed homogeneous 3-sphere flows into a round 3-sphere and shrinks to a point in the unnormalized flow; or stays as a round 3-sphere in the volume normalized flow. The K-flow equation arises as the gradient flow of a specific purely quadratic action functional that has appeared as the quadratic part of New Massive Gravity in physics; and a decade earlier in the mathematics literature, as a new variational characterization of three-dimensional space forms. We show the short-time existence of the K-flow using a DeTurck-type argument.
Axion-gauge coupling quantization with a twist
Authors: Reece Matthew
Published: October 2023

Abstract

The possible couplings of an axion to gauge fields depend on the global structure of the gauge group. If the Standard Model gauge group is minimal, or equivalently if fractionally charged color-singlet particles are forbidden, then the QCD axion’s Chern-Simons couplings to photons and gluons obey correlated quantization conditions. Specifically, the photon coupling can have a fractional part which is a multiple of 1/3, but which is determined by the gluon coupling. A consequence of this result is that, among all theories with a minimal gauge group and minimal axion coupling to gluons, the smallest possible axion-photon amplitude |gaγγ| arises for E/N = 8/3. This provides a new motivation for experiments targeting this axion-photon coupling.
Zungennekrose als klinische Manifestation einer Riesenzellarteriitis
Authors: Pfeil Alexander , Hoffmann Tobias , Freesmeyer Martin , Oelzner Peter , Wolf Gunter
Published: October 2023

Ein 83-jähriger Patient stellte sich aufgrund einer seit drei Wochen bestehenden Schwellung der Zunge vor. Die Zungenschwellung ging mit Schmerzen beim Essen, gelblichen Plaques sowie einer gräulich-braunen Läsion im vorderen Abschnitt der Zunge einher. Zusätzlich waren ein plötzlicher Sehverlust auf dem linken Auge und temporale Kopfschmerzen seit drei Tagen zu verzeichnen. Aufgrund eines paraklinisch erhöhten C‑reaktiven Proteins und der bestehenden Symptomatik wurden eine Sonographie der supraaortalen Arterien und auch eine Positronenemissionstomographie/Computertomographie durchgeführt. Es zeigten sich in der Bildgebung eine Entzündung der großen Arterien sowie ein Halophänomen in der Sonographie der A. temporalis. Somit konnte die Diagnose einer Riesenzellarteriitis mit Zungennekrose gestellt werden. Eine immunsuppressive Therapie mit Glukokortikoiden wurde eingeleitet. Die Zungennekrose stellt eine seltene Manifestation einer Riesenzellarteriitis dar, welche einer umgehenden immunsuppressiven Therapie bedarf, um weitere Folgeschäden, wie vollständige Nekrose und Superinfektion bis zur Zungenamputation, zu vermeiden.
Decoupling Inequality for Paraboloid Under Shell Type Restriction and Its Application to the Periodic Zakharov System
Authors: Kinoshita Shinya , Nakamura Shohei , Sanwal Akansha
Published: October 2023

In this paper, we establish local well-posedness for the Zakharov system on $${\mathbb {T}}^d$$

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and $$d\ge 5$$

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as long as one utilizes the iteration argument. We introduce ideas from recent developments of the Fourier restriction theory. The key element in the proof of our well-posedness result is a new trilinear discrete Fourier restriction estimate involving paraboloid and cone. We prove this trilinear estimate by improving Bourgain–Demeter’s range of exponent for the linear decoupling inequality for paraboloid (Bourgain and Demeter in Ann Math 182:351–389) under the constraint that the input space-time function f satisfies $$\textrm{supp}\, {\hat{f}} \subset \{ (\xi ,\tau ) \in {\mathbb {R}}^{d+1}: 1- \frac{1}{N} \le |\xi | \le 1 + \frac{1}{N},\; |\tau - |\xi |^2| \le \frac{1}{N^{2}} \} $$

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Alignment between timing of ‘highest caloric intake’ and chronotype in relation to body composition during adolescence: the DONALD Study
Authors: Jankovic Nicole , Schmitting Sarah , Stutz Bianca , Krüger Bettina , Buyken Anette , Alexy Ute
Published: October 2023

Purpose

Our aim was to assess alignment in timing of ‘highest caloric intake’ with individual chronotype and its association with body composition in adolescents.

Methods

We used repeatedly collected data from n = 196 adolescents (age 9–16 years, providing N = 401 yearly questionnaires) of the DONALD open cohort study. Chronotype was assessed by the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire from which midpoint of sleep (MSFsc) was derived. A sex- and age-specific diet-chrono-alignment score (DCAS) was calculated as the difference in hours between the chronotype-specific median timing of highest caloric intake of the studied population and the individual timing of ‘highest caloric intake’ or vice versa. Repeated-measures regression models were applied to study cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between the DCAS and body composition, e.g., Fat Mass Index (FMI) or Fat Free Mass Index (FFMI).

Results

DCAS ranged from −6:42 h to + 8:01 h and was not associated with body composition. Among adolescents with a later chronotype (N = 201) a 1 h increase in DCAS (later consumption of ‘highest caloric intake’ in comparison to the median intake of that group), increased FFMI by 1.92 kg/m2 (95% CI: 0.15, 3.69, p value = 0.04) over a median follow-up of 0.94 year.

Conclusion

Alignment of energy intake with individual chronotype appears beneficial for FFMI among those with a late chronotype.
Analytical and clinical validation of PATHWAY Anti-HER-2/neu (4B5) antibody to assess HER2-low status for trastuzumab deruxtecan treatment in breast cancer
Authors: Garrido Charo , Manoogian Melissa , Ghambire Dhiraj , Lucas Shawn , Karnoub Maha , Olson Matthew T. , Hicks David G. , Tozbikian Gary , Prat Aleix , Ueno Naoto T. , Modi Shanu , Feng Wenqin , Pugh Judith , Hsu Ching , Tsurutani Junji , Cameron David , Harbeck Nadia , Fang Qijun , Khambata-Ford Shirin , Liu Xuemin , Inge Landon J. , Vitazka Patrik
Published: October 2023

In DESTINY-Breast04 (DB-04), safety and efficacy of HER2-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) trastuzumab deruxtecan (T-DXd) in previously treated HER2-low unresectable/metastatic breast cancer were established. This manuscript describes the analytical validation of PATHWAY Anti-HER2/neu (4B5) Rabbit Monoclonal Primary Antibody (PATHWAY HER2 (4B5)) to assess HER2-low status and its clinical performance in DB-04. Preanalytical processing and tissue staining parameters were evaluated to determine their impact on HER2 scoring. The recommended antibody staining procedure provided the optimal tumor staining, and deviations in cell conditioning and/or antibody incubation times resulted in unacceptable negative control staining and/or HER2-low status changes. Comparisons between antibody lots, kit lots, instruments, and day-to-day runs showed overall percent agreements (OPAs) exceeding 97.9%. Inter-laboratory reproducibility showed OPAs of ≥97.4% for all study endpoints. PATHWAY HER2 (4B5) was utilized in DB-04 for patient selection using 1340 tumor samples (59.0% metastatic, 40.7% primary, (0.3% missing data); 74.3% biopsy, 25.7% resection/excisions). Overall, 77.6% (823/1060) of samples were HER2-low by both central and local testing, with the level of concordance differing by sample region of origin and collection date. In DB-04, the efficacy of T-DXd over chemotherapy of physician’s choice was consistent, regardless of the characteristics of the sample used (primary or metastatic, archival, or newly collected, biopsy or excision/resection). These results demonstrate that PATHWAY HER2 (4B5) is precise and reproducible for scoring HER2-low status and can be used with multiple breast cancer sample types for reliably identifying patients whose tumors have HER2-low expression and are likely to derive clinical benefit from T-DXd.
KAT6A mutations in Arboleda-Tham syndrome drive epigenetic regulation of posterior HOXC cluster
Authors: Singh Meghna , Spendlove Sarah J. , Wei Angela , Bondhus Leroy M. , Nava Aileen A. , de L. Vitorino Francisca N. , Amano Seth , Lee Jacob , Echeverria Gesenia , Gomez Dianne , Garcia Benjamin A. , Arboleda Valerie A.
Published: October 2023

Arboleda-Tham Syndrome (ARTHS) is a rare genetic disorder caused by heterozygous, de novo mutations in Lysine(K) acetyltransferase 6A (KAT6A). ARTHS is clinically heterogeneous and characterized by several common features, including intellectual disability, developmental and speech delay, and hypotonia, and affects multiple organ systems. KAT6A is the enzymatic core of a histone–acetylation protein complex; however, the direct histone targets and gene regulatory effects remain unknown. In this study, we use ARTHS patient (n = 8) and control (n = 14) dermal fibroblasts and perform comprehensive profiling of the epigenome and transcriptome caused by KAT6A mutations. We identified differential chromatin accessibility within the promoter or gene body of 23% (14/60) of genes that were differentially expressed between ARTHS and controls. Within fibroblasts, we show a distinct set of genes from the posterior HOXC gene cluster (HOXC10, HOXC11, HOXC-AS3, HOXC-AS2, and HOTAIR) that are overexpressed in ARTHS and are transcription factors critical for early development body segment patterning. The genomic loci harboring HOXC genes are epigenetically regulated with increased chromatin accessibility, high levels of H3K23ac, and increased gene–body DNA methylation compared to controls, all of which are consistent with transcriptomic overexpression. Finally, we used unbiased proteomic mass spectrometry and identified two new histone post-translational modifications (PTMs) that are disrupted in ARTHS: H2A and H3K56 acetylation. Our multi-omics assays have identified novel histone and gene regulatory roles of KAT6A in a large group of ARTHS patients harboring diverse pathogenic mutations. This work provides insight into the role of KAT6A on the epigenomic regulation in somatic cell types.
Exact and sampling methods for mining higher-order motifs in large hypergraphs
Authors: Lotito Quintino Francesco , Musciotto Federico , Battiston Federico , Montresor Alberto
Published: October 2023

Network motifs are recurrent, small-scale patterns of interactions observed frequently in a system. They shed light on the interplay between the topology and the dynamics of complex networks across various domains. In this work, we focus on the problem of counting occurrences of small sub-hypergraph patterns in very large hypergraphs, where higher-order interactions connect arbitrary numbers of system units. We show how directly exploiting higher-order structures speeds up the counting process compared to traditional data mining techniques for exact motif discovery. Moreover, with hyperedge sampling, performance is further improved at the cost of small errors in the estimation of motif frequency. We evaluate our method on several real-world datasets describing face-to-face interactions, co-authorship and human communication. We show that our approximated algorithm allows us to extract higher-order motifs faster and on a larger scale, beyond the computational limits of an exact approach.
Exogenous Application of Humic Acid Mitigates Salinity Stress on Pittosporum (Pittosporum tobira) Plant by Adjusting the Osmolytes and Nutrient Homeostasis
Authors: Lasheen Fawzy F. , Hewidy Mohammed , Abdelhamid Ahmed N. , Thabet Ramez S. , Abass Mohamed M. M. , Fahmy Asmaa A. , Saudy Hani S. , Hassan Karim M.
Published: October 2023

Improving the physiological status expressed in adjusting the osmolytes and nutrients balance of plant cell is a crucial matter for ameliorating the hazards of salinity. In this context, humic substances have a significant role for stimulating the plant tolerance to various stresses. Therefore, the current study aimed to assess the importance of foliar spray of humic acid (0 and 150 mg L−1) for avoiding the effect of salt stress (0, 4000 and 8000 mg L−1) on vegetative growth of pittosporum plant, protein, proline, peroxidase activity and nutrient components related to salinity. The treatments were arranged in a randomized complete block design with 3 replicates. Results revealed that the highest vegetative growth was recorded with mg L−1 humic acid. While, salinity levels of 4000, and 8000 mg L−1 led to increases in protein, proline peroxidase activity, and chloride and sodium inions. Compared to humic acid-untreated plants, application of humic acid under salinity level of 4000 mg L−1 enhanced plant height, root fresh weight plant−1, root dry weight plant−1, shoot fresh weight plant−1 and shoot dry weight plant−1 by 12.6, 10.9, 17.7, 43.4, 19.4%, respectively, in the second season. Humic acid application under all salinity levels showed favorable effect for keeping leaves in both seasons, since fallen leaves number was reduced. The increases in potassium (K) content reached about 12.0 and 22.4% under 4000 mg L−1 and 8000 mg L−1, respectively, owing to humic acid application. Protein, proline content and peroxidase activity showed the minimal values under humic acid × salinity level of 4000 mg L−1. It could be concluded that application of humic mitigates the harmful effect of salinity and improves the vegetative growth parameters and physiological status of pittosporum plants while increases the uptake of beneficial nutrients.
Living alone is related to depressive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Eggert Laura , Schröder Johanna , Lotzin Annett
Published: October 2023

Aim

The multiple psychological, social, and socioeconomic stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic may increase the risk for depression in vulnerable groups. Individuals living alone may be particularly vulnerable to depressive symptoms, especially if they receive little social support. This study examined whether living alone during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with depressive symptoms. In addition, we examined whether social support moderates this association.

Subject and methods

N = 2245 German participants from the general population were recruited between June and September 2020. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9, two types of social support (instrumental and emotional support) were assessed with the Brief COPE. Using structural equation modelling, the association between living alone and depressive symptoms, as well as the moderating role of social support, were investigated.

Results

Living alone was significantly related to higher levels of depressive symptoms. Emotional or instrumental support did not moderate the relationship between living alone and depressive symptoms.

Conclusion

Living alone might be a risk factor for depression, independently of the level of instrumental or emotional support.
Intraocular pressure after combined photorefractive keratectomy and corneal collagen cross-linking for keratoconus
Authors: Nabil Karim Mahmoud , Elmassry Ahmed Abdel Karim , Ntakarusho Silas , Said Amr Ahmed
Published: October 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the effect of combined photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) and corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL) on intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with keratoconus (KC).

Methods

We included 64 eyes of 34 patients (19 males and 15 females; age: 19-40y) with stages 1–2 keratoconus which had undergone combined wavefront-optimized photorefractive keratectomy and corneal collagen cross linking. Two other groups of patients were added as controls: the PRK group including 110 eyes of 57 patients (23 males and 34 females; age: 18-44y) which had undergone wavefront-optimized photorefractive keratectomy for myopic refractive errors, and the CXL group including 36 eyes of 23 patients (14 males and 9 females; age: 12-38y) with keratoconus, not filling the inclusion criteria for combined PRK and CXL, which had undergone corneal collagen cross-linking. IOP was recorded preoperatively and postoperatively at 3, 6 and 12 months follow-up visits.

Results

Preoperative IOP in both CXL (12.1 ± 2.53 mmHg) and PRK + CXL (13.2 ± 2.50 mmHg) groups was significantly lower than PRK group (15.8 ± 3.10 mmHg) (F = 30.505, p < 0.001). At 3 months postoperatively, IOP showed no statistically significant difference between the three studied groups (F = 1.821, p = 0.164). At 6 months postoperatively, IOP in the CXL group (14.6 ± 2.64 mmHg) was significantly higher than both PRK (13.4 ± 2.27 mmHg) and PRK + CXL (13.3 ± 2.62 mmHg) groups (F = 3.721, p = 0.026). At 12 months postoperatively, IOP in the CXL group (14.3 ± 2.69 mmHg) was significantly higher than the PRK group (13.2 ± 2.23 mmHg) and was higher than PRK + CXL group (13.3 ± 2.59 mmHg) although not statistically significant (F = 3.393, p = 0.035).

Regarding the percent of change from preoperative IOP, a statistically significant difference between the three studied groups was detected at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively (H = 117.459, 109.303, 122.694 respectively, p < 0.001). The median percent of change from preoperative IOP in the PRK group was −16.7%, −15%, and −16.7%, in the CXL group was + 14.3%, + 19.4%, and + 19.1%, while in PRK + CXL group was 0% at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively. (Post-hoc power analysis 75%).

Conclusions

Combined PRK and CXL in patients with KC shows no significant effect on IOP, in contrast to either procedure performed separately.
A hazard analysis of federal permitting under the national environmental policy act of 1970
Authors: Bennon Michael , De La Hormaza Daniel , Geddes R. Richard
Published: October 2023

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970 requires federal agencies to assess the environmental impact of proposed federal actions. NEPA thus affects delivery of a wide range of infrastructure projects. NEPA requires the completion of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for environmentally impactful federal actions. For infrastructure projects this can entail significant delays. A typical EIS now takes about four and one-half years and is over 600 pages long. Some EIS’s take over a decade to complete. We provide the first detailed analysis of project approval times under NEPA by examining 1269 EIS permitting processes. We analyze empirically the well-defined interval from Notice of Intent to file to Record of Decision (ROD). We use a Cox proportional hazard model to estimate the impact of several factors on EIS duration. Factors include permits featuring major construction, those including private investment, those for projects located in states with restrictive environmental laws, those using the federal permitting “dashboard,” and those publishing a Supplemental EIS prior to the ROD. We find that privately financed projects receive faster permitting, while projects involving major construction, those undertaken in restrictive states, and those utilizing the federal permitting dashboard, face slower permitting times. We also explore links between EIS page counts and permitting time. Greater EIS page counts are associated with longer permitting times. We conclude by examining EIS completion during economic stimulus programs such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), as well as the frequency of EIS completion by the federal government.
The Experience of Affordances in an Intersubjective World
Authors: Kiverstein Julian , Artese Giuseppe Flavio
Published: October 2023

Our paper is concerned with theories of direct perception in ecological psychology that first emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. Ecological psychology continues to be influential among philosophers and cognitive scientists today who defend a 4E (embodied, embedded, extended, enactive) approach to the scientific study of cognition. Ecological psychologists have experimentally investigated how animals are able to directly perceive their surrounding environment and what it affords to them. We pursue questions about direct perception through a discussion of the ecological psychologist’s concept of affordances. In recent years, psychologists and philosophers have begun to mark out two explanatory roles for the affordance concept. In one role, affordances are cast as belonging to a shared, publicly available environment, and existing independent of the experience of any perceiving and acting animal. In a second role, affordances are described in phenomenological terms, in relation to an experiencing animal that has its own peculiar needs, interests and personal history. Our aim in this paper is to argue for a single phenomenological or experiential understanding of the affordance concept. We make our argument, first of all, based on William James’ concept of pure experience developed in his later, radical empiricist writings. James thought of pure experience as having a field structure that is organized by the selective interest and needs of the perceiver. We will argue however that James did not emphasize sufficiently the social and intersubjective character of the field of experience. Drawing on the phenomenologist Aron Gurwitsch, we will argue that psychological factors like individual needs and attention must be thought of as already confronted with a social reality. On the phenomenological reading of affordances we develop, direct perception of affordances is understood as taking place within an intersubjective world structured by human social and cultural life.
Computational modeling of attractor-based neural processes involved in the preparation of voluntary actions
Authors: Hassannejad Nazir Azadeh , Hellgren Kotaleski Jeanette , Liljenström Hans
Published: October 2023

Volition is conceived as a set of orchestrated executive functions, which can be characterized by features, such as reason-based and goal-directedness, driven by endogenous signals. The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) has long been considered to be responsible for cognitive control and executive function, and its neurodynamics appears to be central to goal-directed cognition. In order to address both associative processes (i.e. reason-action and action-outcome) based on internal stimuli, it seems essential to consider the interconnectivity of LPFC and the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The critical placement of ACC as a hub mediates projection of afferent expectancy signals directly from brain structures associated with emotion, as well as internal signals from subcortical areas to the LPFC. Apparently, the two cortical areas LPFC and ACC play a pivotal role in the formation of voluntary behaviors. In this paper, we model the neurodynamics of these two neural structures and their interactions related to intentional control. We predict that the emergence of intention is the result of both feedback-based and competitive mechanisms among neural attractors. These mechanisms alter the dimensionalities of coexisting chaotic attractors to more stable, low dimensional manifolds as limit cycle attractors, which may result in the onset of a readiness potential (RP) in SMA, associated with a decision to act.
Machine learning-based computer-aided simple triage (CAST) for COVID-19 pneumonia as compared with triage by board-certified chest radiologists
Authors: Ohno Yoshiharu , Aoki Takatoshi , Endo Masahiro , Koyama Hisanobu , Moriya Hiroshi , Okada Fumito , Higashino Takanori , Sato Haruka , Oyama-Manabe Noriko , Haraguchi Takafumi , Arakita Kazumasa , Aoyagi Kota , Ikeda Yoshihiro , Kaminaga Shigeo , Taniguchi Akira , Sugihara Naoki
Published: October 2023

Purpose

Several reporting systems have been proposed for providing standardized language and diagnostic categories aiming for expressing the likelihood that lung abnormalities on CT images represent COVID-19. We developed a machine learning (ML)-based CT texture analysis software for simple triage based on the RSNA Expert Consensus Statement system. The purpose of this study was to conduct a multi-center and multi-reader study to determine the capability of ML-based computer-aided simple triage (CAST) software based on RSNA expert consensus statements for diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia.

Methods

For this multi-center study, 174 cases who had undergone CT and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests for COVID-19 were retrospectively included. Their CT data were then assessed by CAST and consensus from three board-certified chest radiologists, after which all cases were classified as either positive or negative. Diagnostic performance was then compared by McNemar’s test. To determine radiological finding evaluation capability of CAST, three other board-certified chest radiologists assessed CAST results for radiological findings into five criteria. Finally, accuracies of all radiological evaluations were compared by McNemar’s test.

Results

A comparison of diagnosis for COVID-19 pneumonia based on RT-PCR results for cases with COVID-19 pneumonia findings on CT showed no significant difference of diagnostic performance between ML-based CAST software and consensus evaluation (p > 0.05). Comparison of agreement on accuracy for all radiological finding evaluations showed that emphysema evaluation accuracy for investigator A (AC = 91.7%) was significantly lower than that for investigators B (100%, p = 0.0009) and C (100%, p = 0.0009).

Conclusion

This multi-center study shows COVID-19 pneumonia triage by CAST can be considered at least as valid as that by chest expert radiologists and may be capable for playing as useful a complementary role for management of suspected COVID-19 pneumonia patients as well as the RT-PCR test in routine clinical practice.
Bildung und Subjektivierung. Systematische Spannungslinien des Subjektivierungskonzepts im Kontext von Optimierung, Digitalisierung und Migration
Authors: Bünger Carsten , Jergus Kerstin
Published: October 2023

Dieser Beitrag erläutert die Bedeutung des Subjektivierungskonzepts für erziehungswissenschaftliche Theoriebildung und Forschung mit besonderer Berücksichtigung aktueller gesellschaftspolitischer Fragestellungen. Im Zentrum dieses Stichwortartikels stehen dabei zum einen die kategorialen Implikationen, die das Subjektivierungstheorem für erziehungswissenschaftliche Fragestellungen offeriert. Dabei ist insbesondere die bildungstheoretische Frage nach Prozessen der Subjektwerdung berührt, die durch die Bezugnahme auf Subjektivierung vielfältige Impulse und empirisch-analytische Wendungen erfährt. Dieser bildungstheoretische Fokus wird zum anderen mit dem Blick auf die Produktivität der Subjektivierungsanalyse für aktuelle erziehungswissenschaftliche Problemstellungen und Forschungsperspektiven verbunden. Herausgestellt wird so, inwiefern die Bezugnahme auf Subjektivierungsformen einen innovativen Beitrag zur Untersuchung der Zusammenhänge von gesellschaftlichen Dynamiken der Globalisierung – wie insbesondere Migration, Ökonomisierung und Digitalisierung – und je spezifischen Selbst-Bildungsprozessen leisten kann.
Enhancing framelet GCNs with generalized p-Laplacian regularization
Authors: Shao Zhiqi , Shi Dai , Han Andi , Vasnev Andrey , Guo Yi , Gao Junbin
Published: October 2023

Graph neural networks (GNNs) have achieved remarkable results for various graph learning tasks. However, one of the recent challenges for GNNs is to adapt to different types of graph inputs, such as heterophilic graph datasets in which linked nodes are more likely to contain a different class of labels and features. Accordingly, an ideal GNN model should adaptively accommodate all types of graph datasets with different labeling distributions. In this paper, we tackle this challenge by proposing a regularization framework on graph framelet with the regularizer induced from graph p-Laplacian. By adjusting the value of p, the p-Laplacian based regularizer restricts the solution space of graph framelet into the desirable region based on the graph homophilic features. We propose an algorithm to effectively solve a more generalized regularization problem and prove that the algorithm imposes a (p-Laplacian based) spectral convolution and diagonal scaling operation to the framelet filtered node features. Furthermore, we analyze the denoising power of the proposed model and compare it with the predefined framelet denoising regularizer. Finally, we conduct empirical studies to show the prediction power of the proposed model in both homophily undirect and heterophily direct graphs with and without noises. Our proposed model shows significant improvements compared to multiple baselines, and this suggests the effectiveness of combining graph framelet and p-Laplacian.
The Effects of Bariatric Surgery on Pharmacokinetics of Drugs: a Review of Current Evidence
Authors: Konstantinidou Sofia K. , Argyrakopoulou Georgia , Dalamaga Maria , Kokkinos Alexander
Published: October 2023

Purpose of Review

Obesity constitutes a major public health concern and has been recognized as an epidemic. To date, bariatric surgery remains the most effective way for substantial long-lasting weight loss in severe obesity. The purpose of this review is to summarize how the pharmacokinetics of drugs are affected by the most common types of bariatric surgery, i.e., Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG).

Recent Findings

Limited data are available regarding the changes in pharmacokinetics of drugs after bariatric surgery. The lack of existing guidelines may lead patients to experience drug toxicity or therapeutic undertreatment. Pharmacokinetic parameters that need to be taken into consideration postoperatively include gastric motility, gastric volume, pH, surface area, bile secretions, carrier proteins, and first-pass metabolism. For drugs with a narrow therapeutic index, other factors need to be monitored closely, including plasma drug levels, patients’ clinical outcomes, and laboratory markers. Patients should be followed up frequently and treated in accordance with their response to the drug therapy.

Bariatric surgery may affect the pharmacokinetics of various drugs, due to the resultant anatomical changes and the substantial weight loss. Therefore, there is a need to identify those potential changes and adjust patients’ medication doses in order to achieve higher efficacy and avoid toxicity.