bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Extraction of parameters of a stochastic integrate-and-fire model with adaptation from voltage recordings
Authors: Kiessling Lilli , Lindner Benjamin
Published: December 2024

Integrate-and-fire models are an important class of phenomenological neuronal models that are frequently used in computational studies of single neural activity, population activity, and recurrent neural networks. If these models are used to understand and interpret electrophysiological data, it is important to reliably estimate the values of the model’s parameters. However, there are no standard methods for the parameter estimation of Integrate-and-fire models. Here, we identify the model parameters of an adaptive integrate-and-fire neuron with temporally correlated noise by analyzing membrane potential and spike trains in response to a current step. Explicit formulas for the parameters are analytically derived by stationary and time-dependent ensemble averaging of the model dynamics. Specifically, we give mathematical expressions for the adaptation time constant, the adaptation strength, the membrane time constant, and the mean constant input current. These theoretical predictions are validated by numerical simulations for a broad range of system parameters. Importantly, we demonstrate that parameters can be extracted by using only a modest number of trials. This is particularly encouraging, as the number of trials in experimental settings is often limited. Hence, our formulas may be useful for the extraction of effective parameters from neurophysiological data obtained from standard current-step experiments.
Minimal-invasive, image guided, 360-degree resection of ilio-lumbo-sacral ostechondroma, planned on the 3D model in a child with hereditary multiple ostechondroma (HMO)
Authors: Bobinski Lukas , Tachtaras Evangelos , Hedström Erik
Published: December 2024

Background

Hereditary Multiple Osteochondromas (HMO), previously known as Multiple Hereditary Exostoses (MHE), is a genetic disorder characterized by the formation of multiple, benign, exostoses (osteochondromas) growing from the metaphyseal region of long bones as well as from the axial skeleton. Lesions originating from the lumbar spine region are rare, and are most common growing from the posterior element of the vertebrae. HMO associated osteochondromas are difficult to treat due to continuous and incontrollable growth of these lesions and a lifetime risk for malignant transformation.

Case report

We describe a case of a 16-year old patient with known HMO who developed a giant ilio-lumbo-sacral osteochondroma. The tumor protruded into the L4-S1 intraspinal foramina with exophytic expansion to the right psoas muscle and lumbar plexus with compression of the right common iliac vein. To plan and execute the resection and minimize the risk of complications, we used a 3D printed model of the lesion with intraabdominal vessels. The patient was operated during a two-stage procedure - first by mini-open, transabdominal, navigated resection of the lesion, followed by delayed posterior, mini-invasive, navigated resection. The outcome was uneventful and there were no signs of regrowth or malignant transformation during 4 years of follow-up.

Conclusion

We describe a 360-degree surgical resection with application of a 3D printed model, navigation, and mini-invasive techniques. Our report may be useful and inspire spine surgeons to apply similar techniques to treat complex spine lesions.
Exploring the spatial clustering and spillover effects of COVID-19 vaccination uptake in Romania: an analysis at municipality level
Authors: Mare Codruta , Belbe Stefana , Petrovici Norbert
Published: December 2024

This study investigates the spatial clustering and spillover effects of COVID-19 vaccine uptake in Romania, focusing on the municipality-level distribution of vaccine acceptance and hesitancy while considering the factors that influence it. The research uses the Spatial Durbin Error Model (SDEM) and identifies spatial clusterization, as well as significant contagion and diffusion processes in the vaccination behaviour conditioned by socioeconomic factors, labour market characteristics, social and religious attitudes, urban, and health indicators. We find evidence in favour of spatial spillover effects of the poverty rate, opposition to same-sex marriage, COVID-19 infection rate, peri-urban towns, and denser cities. Our findings contribute to the literature of the spatial distribution and determinants of vaccine uptake and carry practical implications for policy makers offering evidence-based insights that can inform targeted strategies and interventions to enhance vaccine acceptance and address hesitancy in specific locations.
Efficient calculation of the equilibrium composition in multicomponent batch adsorption with the steric mass action model
Authors: Kaiblinger Norbert , Hahn Rainer , Carta Giorgio
Published: December 2024

Streamlined relationships are derived to predict the equilibrium composition in batch adsorption when the isotherm is described by the steric mass action (SMA) model, which is used extensively to represent macromolecule adsorption on ion exchange resins. In the general case with N components, the approach reduces the mathematical problem from a system of 2N equations to a single non-linear algebraic equation whose numerical solution is easily found. A graphical approach is also presented where isotherm lines describing mixture equilibrium values of the adsorbed concentrations of each component are plotted against the equilibrium solution concentration of a common reference species. In this case, the actual equilibrium composition is obtained at the intercept of the reference component equilibrium curve with the straight line representing the material balance for the reference species. Analytical expressions are provided for two and three-component mixtures. The graphical approach provides insight on the effects of the ratio of adsorbent and solution volumes on the equilibrium composition.
The Informal, Non-Prescribed Use of Antiretroviral Medications for PrEP Among a National US-Based Sample of Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Buttram Mance E. , Ellis Matthew S. , Samuel Krishen D. , Hayhurst Matthew
Published: December 2024

This brief report presents findings on informal, non-prescribed PrEP use among an online sample of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (n = 196). Mean age was 33.4. Participants were Hispanic (13.3%), African American (15.8%), white (63.8%), and other race/ethnicity (6.6%). Informal PrEP users (11%) more frequently reported past year sexually transmitted infections (p < 0.001), group sex (p < 0.001), sex in public (p < 0.01), transactional sex (p < 0.001), ever receiving a formal PrEP prescription (p < 0.05), and ease of finding diverted HIV medications on gay dating/sex apps (p < 0.05). Formal PrEP uptake should be encouraged to mitigate potential negative consequences of informal use.
Factors Associated with Housing Stability Among Individuals with Co-Occurring Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders Receiving Assertive Community Treatment Services
Authors: Yuan Yeqing , Manuel Jennifer
Published: December 2024

Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is a community-based, multidisciplinary mental health treatment model with improved housing stability as a treatment goal. We know little about factors contributing to housing stability among ACT participants with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorders, who account for 30% of the ACT participant population. Informed by the behavioral model of health service use, the present study aimed to examine the relationship between housing stability and theoretically relevant factors. We retrospectively abstracted the data from two ACT teams’ treatment service planning and tracking system. Stable housing was defined by living in a private residence or permanent supportive housing throughout the assessment periods; unstable housing was defined by having at least one unstable housing situation (e.g., jail or prison) throughout the assessment periods. The sample included 57 individuals with 272 assessment charts. Multivariate logistic regression results show that service engagement was associated with housing stability and that receiving housing supportive services was inversely associated with housing stability. The findings support prior literature in that service engagement remained a “critical ingredient” of the ACT model and highlights the importance of the supportive aspect of housing services in improving housing stability among individuals with co-occurring disorders.
Stress Generation in Social Anxiety: A Longitudinal Study of the Role of Post-Event Processing
Authors: Moriishi Chihiro , Maeda Shunta
Published: December 2024

Background

Individuals with social anxiety experience a larger number of negative life events. However, studies applying the stress generation model to social anxiety are limited, and factors predicting stress generation have not been adequately examined. This study examined whether post-event processing (PEP) predicted stress generation in social anxiety.

Methods

Five hundred students participated in the survey. The survey was conducted at two time points (T1 and T2), collecting data regarding PEP, negative life events (negative interpersonal dependent events, negative non-interpersonal dependent events, and negative independent events), social anxiety symptoms, and depressive symptoms.

Results

PEP measured at T1 did not significantly predict the experience of negative dependent events at T2. Social anxiety symptoms did not predict the experience of negative interpersonal dependent events, while depressive symptoms predicted the experience of all negative life events.

Conclusions

PEP may not be a predictor of stress generation in social anxiety. The influence of depressive symptoms should be considered in the stress generation model.
A systems-based approach to ensure berry crops health status: from the breeder to the field
Authors: Singh Shivani , Villamor Dan E. V. , Poudyal Dipak Sharma , Sierra-Mejia Andrea , Tzanetakis Ioannis E.
Published: December 2024

Advancements in breeding have facilitated the global expansion of berry cultivation. This expansion has also spread pathogens and diseases, primarily because traditional detection methods often fail to identify asymptomatic pathogen infections, allowing for the propagation of infected material. This communication proposes a systems-based approach utilizing modern technologies for effective pathogen detection and elimination. We emphasize the need for strict certification standards and best management practices in nurseries to maintain healthy berry stocks. By integrating advanced testing and elimination methodologies with rigorous certification, we anticipate an increase in the sustainability of the berry industry, contributing to its long-term viability.
Thermal Transport and Thermal Diffusivity by Laser Flash Technique: A Review
Authors: Sundar R. , Sudha C.
Published: December 2024

Thermophysical properties encompassing specific heat, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and thermal expansion and their temperature dependence is most sought after during selection of materials for various engineering applications. In this review a broad perspective on the thermal transport in metals and alloys, thermal energy carriers and factors affecting their mean free path is presented. Following the discussion on thermal transport, various techniques available for measuring thermal diffusivity, their principle of detection, merits and demerits are deliberated with an emphasis on laser flash analyzer. Theory of laser flash analysis, possible causes for deviation in the theoretical assumptions that affect the accuracy of measured diffusivity and ways and means of improving the same is dwelt upon. Finally, few typical case studies on thermal diffusivity measurements covering broad spectrum of materials differing in chemistry, degree of deformation, and heat treatment conditions are presented to demonstrate the sensitivity of thermal diffusivity to microstructural changes in materials.
When the Burden Lifts: The Effect of School and Day Care Reopenings on Parents’ Life Satisfaction
Authors: Tobler Lina , Christoph Bernhard , Fervers Lukas , Jacob Marita
Published: December 2024

The availability of childcare services eases parents’ daily lives and research has shown that it positively affects well-being, especially for mothers. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted established childcare arrangements, with school and day care closures adding to parental burdens. Despite extensive discourse on the influence of these closures on parental well-being, few studies have empirically analysed the effects of the increase in childcare responsibilities associated with the closures on the well-being of parents. We seek to address this gap by examining the impact of school and day care reopenings on parental well-being. We expect that parents’ life satisfaction will increase when schools and day care facilities are reopened—and that this effect is particularly strong for mothers. Leveraging the variation in the time of reopenings across Germany’s federal states, we employ a difference-in-differences and a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach to assess changes in well-being. The research design accounts for state-level differences and potential confounding factors related to the pandemic. By using data from the German IAB-HOPP study, which offers timely measures of life satisfaction, we aim to quantify the effects of reopenings on parental well-being. Results show only a small and marginally positive effect of reopenings on average life satisfaction among parents. However, this is due to a strong and significant effect of reopenings on mothers’ life satisfaction and no significant effect for fathers. Our findings contribute to research on the division of unpaid labour and childcare and support the notion that public childcare provision is crucial, particularly for mothers’ life satisfaction.
Band evolution and 2D nonreciprocal wave propagation in strongly nonlinear meta-plates
Authors: Gong Chen , Fang Xin , Cheng Li
Published: December 2024

Nonlinear meta-materials/structures can enable exotic wave phenomena, leading to extraordinary functionalities, but the bandgap properties and nonreciprocal wave manipulation in high-dimensional nonlinear metamaterials, such as plates, are not fully understood. In this study, we examine the band evolution and nonreciprocal wave propagation in a two-dimensional (2D) strongly nonlinear meta-plate based on analytical methods and numerical integration on the infinite model. The 2D dispersion curves are obtained through combining harmonic balance and Shooting-Newton iteration methods. Numerical studies show that the 2D nonlinear meta-plate exhibits band degeneration and self-adaptive propagation, analogous to 1D cases. However, as confirmed analytically, both band degeneration and self-adaptivity are regulated by the spatial wave divergence in the 2D meta-plate. Furthermore, combining nonlinear and linear portions of a meta-plate entails nonreciprocal wave propagation in 2D space with elucidated physical properties and mechanisms specific to 2D wave propagation. In light of the above, this work presents new computational methods as well as the elucidation of new wave phenomena and properties which are conducive to wave manipulation in 2D strongly nonlinear meta-materials/structures.
Refined Marriage Rates and Coresidential Relationships by Sexual Identity and Age: A Research Note
Authors: Westrick-Payne Krista K. , Manning Wendy D.
Published: December 2024

This research note estimates refined marriage rates and coresidential relationships among individuals identifying as gay, lesbian, and straight in the United States seven years after the legalization of same-sex marriage. Data to estimate refined marriage rates or coresidential relationships by sexual identity are not available in a single national dataset so we leverage data from the U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 American Community Survey and Household Pulse Survey, to estimate refined marriage rates and the share in a coresidential union for straight, lesbian, and gay populations aged 18 to 64, based on the unmarried population and age. Findings highlight the importance of considering age alongside sexual identity when analyzing marital behavior and coresidential relationships. Both refined marriage rates and percentage living in coresidential relationships were lower among gay identifying males across all age groups, whereas rates among lesbian identifying females were comparable to those among straight identifying males and females. This study contributes to research on contemporary relationship dynamics as well as calling for new demographic data and investigations into the complexities of marriage and cohabitation among diverse populations.
Tailored to Women, Provided to Men? Gendered Occupational Inequality in Access to Flexible Working-Time Arrangements
Authors: Jacobi Aljoscha , Hamjediers Maik , Naujoks Tabea
Published: December 2024

Numerous policy-makers and social scientists promote flexible working as a means to reconcile work and family life, often explicitly targeting women. Accordingly, one might expect that flexible working-time arrangements are more prevalent in occupations with a high share of female employees. Yet, previous evidence indicates the opposite. To address this puzzle, we investigate the occupational opportunity structures for flexible working. A devaluation argument proposes that employers perceive female-typed work as being of lower value, thus inhibiting the provision of flexible working-time arrangements in tfemale-dominated occupations. We evaluate this argument against alternative explanations, namely differences in the ability to bargain for flexible working and in structural or practical barriers to flexible working. Descriptive results based on German panel data (GSOEP, 2003–2017) enriched with occupational-level information confirm that female-dominated occupations provide the least access to flexible work. Linear probability models with yearly fixed-effects indicate that power resources and structural barriers account for differences in flexible working between male-dominated and integrated occupations; yet an unexplained disadvantage for female-dominated occupations remains. Moreover, this disadvantage has grown between 2003 and 2017. We interpret this result as support of a cultural devaluation of female-dominated occupations in access to flexible working-time arrangements. Our findings highlight that the empirical reality of gendered occupational opportunity structures contradicts the gendered policy discourse on flexible work.
Teachers’ responses to a case of relational bullying: a typology based on teachers’ strategies and reasoning
Authors: Paljakka Antonia
Published: December 2024

Although there is a growing body of research on teachers’ responses to bullying, the question of how teachers decide to respond is still under-researched. The present paper investigates participants’ intended responses to a case of relational bullying, the structure of the proposed intervention, the implicit aims of that intervention and the teachers’ reasoning. The study is based on a qualitative vignette study with open-ended questions. The sample comprised 38 secondary school teachers (58% female, 42% male). Qualitative content analysis and type formation were used to analyse the data. Ten different (sub)types of teachers’ responses were constructed based on patterns in the way teachers responded regarding things they would do, things they would avoid, and their reasoning: the relaxed, the cautious, the investigator, the impartial, the enlightened, the situation-oriented, the principle-oriented, the responsible, the experienced and the personally-affected type. The findings are interpreted in the light of previous research, and practical implications as well as implications for teacher education are discussed.
Hong Kong students’ motivational beliefs and emotions in collaborative learning in ESL classrooms: influences of actual and self-perceived English proficiency
Authors: Bai Barry , Zang Xuan , Guo Wenjuan
Published: December 2024

Although the benefits of collaborative learning across disciplines are well-established, its effectiveness hinges on the quality of execution. Motivational beliefs and emotions are crucial in students' engagement and achievement. Yet, a notable gap exists in examining these variables among students with varying proficiency levels in the context of collaborative learning. To address the gap, the present study investigated 289 fourth- and fifth-grade Hong Kong primary students’ motivational beliefs and emotions in ESL collaborative learning and explored the variation across students’ actual and self-perceived English proficiency. The findings revealed an overall high level of motivational beliefs alongside a medium level of anxiety. Structural equation modelling analyses indicated that self-perceived proficiency positively influenced students' motivational beliefs, whereas actual proficiency did not make a unique contribution. Both self-perceived and actual proficiency, as well as their interaction, reduced anxiety. Actual proficiency had a stronger negative impact on anxiety when self-perceived proficiency was high, and the influence of self-perceived proficiency was significant only when actual proficiency was high. Practical implications are discussed.
A neural network-based adaptive cut-off approach to normality testing for dependent data
Authors: Kim Minwoo , Genton Marc G. , Huser Raphaël , Castruccio Stefano
Published: December 2024

There is a wide availability of methods for testing normality under the assumption of independent and identically distributed data. When data are dependent in space and/or time, however, assessing and testing the marginal behavior is considerably more challenging, as the marginal behavior is impacted by the degree of dependence, which typically leads to an inflation in Type I error rates. We propose a new approach to assess normality for dependent data by non-linearly incorporating existing statistics from normality tests as well as sample moments such as skewness and kurtosis through a neural network with adaptive cut-offs by which the Type I error inflation issue is fixed. We calibrate (deep) neural networks by simulated normal and non-normal data with a wide range of dependence structures and we determine the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis. We compare several approaches for normality tests and demonstrate the superiority of our method in terms of statistical power through an extensive simulation study. A real world application to global temperature data further demonstrates how the degree of spatio-temporal aggregation affects the marginal normality in the data.
Efficient quantum circuit contraction using tensor decision diagrams
Authors: Lopez-Oliva Vicente , Badia Jose M. , Castillo Maribel
Published: December 2024

Simulating quantum circuits efficiently on classical computers is crucial given the limitations of current noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices. This paper adapts and extends two methods used to contract tensor networks within the fast tensor decision diagram (FTDD) framework. The methods, called iterative pairing and block contraction, exploit the advantages of tensor decision diagrams to reduce both the temporal and spatial cost of quantum circuit simulations. The iterative pairing method minimizes intermediate diagram sizes, while the block contraction algorithm efficiently handles circuits with repetitive structures, such as those found in quantum walks and Grover’s algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate that, in some cases, these methods significantly outperform traditional contraction orders like sequential and cotengra in terms of both memory usage and execution time. Furthermore, simulation tools based on decision diagrams, such as FTDD, show superior performance to matrix-based simulation tools, such as Google tensor networks, enabling the simulation of larger circuits more efficiently. These findings show the potential of decision diagram-based approaches to improve the simulation of quantum circuits on classical platforms.
The Exportation of Hong Kong’s Quality Granite in the 19th and 20th Centuries: A Historical Re-Evaluation
Authors: Deng Y. Katherine , Poon S.W. , Man K.F.
Published: December 2024

Since British colonization in 1841, Hong Kong was described as a “barren and rocky” fishing town in the South China Sea. Archival evidence indicated that local granite blocks had been shipped to mainland China for construction purposes as early as 1844. In 2014, the unearthing of an ancient well made of granite kindled a fresh interest in tracing how these primitive, quality and abundantly available stones had been pursued locally and globally. This paper aims to unearth the ignored facet of Hong Kong in the 19th and 20th centuries by unveiling the exportation history of granite to various destinations. Extensive archival research in Hong Kong, Mainland China and the UK has been conducted, quarry-related historical places visited, and operatives or their descendants in the old quarries interviewed. Both tangible and intangible evidence indicated that, after the initial use of granite blocks as a principal building material in local construction, quality granite was gradually exported to Mainland China and other Asian countries, and further across the Pacific Ocean. With the expanded supplies and the concurrently exported stonemasonry, Hong Kong’s granite played a unique role in shaping the global cityscapes. It is therefore suggested that Hong Kong, at the start of her development, be re-evaluated as a world-class granite producer and exporter.
AI-assisted diagnostic approach for the influenza-like illness in children: decision support system for patients and clinicians
Authors: Lee Youngro , Seo Jongmo , Kim Yun-Kyung
Published: December 2024

Influenza-like illnesses (ILI), such as influenza and RSV, pose significant global health burdens, especially in febrile children under 6 years old. Differentiating these from bacterial infections based solely on clinical symptoms is challenging. While PCR tests are reliable, they are costly and time-consuming. An effective predictive tool would help doctors prioritize tests and guide parents on seeking emergency care for their febrile children. We collected data from 2,559 children who visited the hospital for ILI inspections. We developed XGBoost models, comparing nine different machine learning algorithms. Our AI-assisted diagnostic pipeline consists of two stages: Decision Support System for patients (DSS-P): An in-house model using sex, age, symptoms, and medical history to decide on hospital visits. Decision Support System for clinicians (DSS-C): An in-hospital model incorporating breath sound types and Chest X-ray results to determine the necessity of clinical tests. We tested various experimental settings, including the addition of RAT-tested samples and the combined consideration of influenza and RSV. The performance for influenza achieved an Area Under the Curve of 0.749 and 0.776, while RSV achieved 0.907 and 0.924 in DSS-P and DSS-C, respectively. We identified biomarkers, noting that most biomarkers had opposite effects for influenza and RSV. This study developed predictive models for influenza and RSV and explored their underlying mechanisms. An expectation tool to guide doctors in prioritizing tests or assisting parents in deciding on emergency care for their febrile child would be invaluable. Biomarker analysis performed can provide insight on clinical fields.
Quantum theory-inspired inter-sentence semantic interaction model for textual adversarial defense
Authors: Huang Jiacheng , Chen Long , Yi Xiaoyin , Yu Ning
Published: December 2024

Deep neural networks have a recognized susceptibility to diverse forms of adversarial attacks in the field of natural language processing and such a security issue poses substantial security risks and erodes trust in artificial intelligence applications among people who use them. Meanwhile, quantum theory-inspired models that represent word composition as a quantum mixture of words have modeled the non-linear semantic interaction. However, modeling without considering the non-linear semantic interaction between sentences in the current literature does not exploit the potential of the quantum probabilistic description for improving the robustness in adversarial settings. In the present study, a novel quantum theory-inspired inter-sentence semantic interaction model is proposed for enhancing adversarial robustness via fusing contextual semantics. More specifically, it is analyzed why humans are able to understand textual adversarial examples, and a crucial point is observed that humans are adept at associating information from the context to comprehend a paragraph. Guided by this insight, the input text is segmented into subsentences, with the model simulating contextual comprehension by representing each subsentence as a particle within a mixture system, utilizing a density matrix to model inter-sentence interactions. A loss function integrating cross-entropy and orthogonality losses is employed to encourage the orthogonality of measurement states. Comprehensive experiments are conducted to validate the efficacy of proposed methodology, and the results underscore its superiority over baseline models even commercial applications based on large language models in terms of accuracy across diverse adversarial attack scenarios, showing the potential of proposed approach in enhancing the robustness of neural networks under adversarial attacks.
Ti3C2Tx Composite Aerogels Enable Pressure Sensors for Dialect Speech Recognition Assisted by Deep Learning
Authors: Xiao Yanan , Li He , Gu Tianyi , Jia Xiaoteng , Sun Shixiang , Liu Yong , Wang Bin , Tian He , Sun Peng , Liu Fangmeng , Lu Geyu
Published: December 2024

Wearable pressure sensors capable of adhering comfortably to the skin hold great promise in sound detection. However, current intelligent speech assistants based on pressure sensors can only recognize standard languages, which hampers effective communication for non-standard language people. Here, we prepare an ultralight Ti3C2Tx MXene/chitosan/polyvinylidene difluoride composite aerogel with a detection range of 6.25 Pa-1200 kPa, rapid response/recovery time, and low hysteresis (13.69%). The wearable aerogel pressure sensor can detect speech information through the throat muscle vibrations without any interference, allowing for accurate recognition of six dialects (96.2% accuracy) and seven different words (96.6% accuracy) with the assistance of convolutional neural networks. This work represents a significant step forward in silent speech recognition for human–machine interaction and physiological signal monitoring.
Substance use prediction using artificial intelligence techniques
Authors: Unlu Ali , Subasi Abdulhamit
Published: December 2024

Substance use poses a significant public health challenge worldwide, including in Finland. This study seeks to predict patterns of substance use, aiming to identify the driving factors behind these trends using artificial intelligence techniques. This research utilizes data from the 2022 Finnish National Drug Survey, comprising 3,857 participants, to develop predictive models targeting the use of cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamine, cocaine, and non-prescribed medications. Analysis of 23 questionnaire items yielded 76 features across four substance use dimensions: demographic attributes, experience and preferences of drug use, health-related aspects of drug use, and social attributes of drug use. In addition to traditional machine learning (ML) approaches previously applied in this field, three sophisticated deep learning models—standard LSTM, BiLSTM, and Recursive LSTM—were employed to evaluate their predictive performance. These LSTM models were further augmented with SHAP analysis to identify the primary influences on substance use patterns. While all these artificial intelligence models demonstrated superior predictive performance, our focus was specifically on the outcomes of the LSTM models due to their novel application in this field. The results underscore the exceptional performance of both LSTM and ML models in unraveling complex substance use behaviors, underlining their applicability in diverse public health contexts. This study not only sheds light on the predictors of substance uses but also furthers methodological innovation in drug research, charting new directions for crafting targeted intervention strategies and policies. The observed variability in predictor significance across different substances indicates the necessity for tailored prevention programs catering to particular user groups. Integrating machine learning with social science and public health policy, our research deepens the understanding of the factors influencing substance use and promotes effective strategies for its mitigation. Despite some limitations, this investigation establishes a foundation for future studies and accentuates the critical role of advanced computational techniques in addressing intricate social issues.
Contact angle for theoretical parameterization of immersion freezing rate inferred from the freezing temperature
Authors: Chang Jun-Jie , Chen Jen-Ping , Liu Pei-Hsin
Published: December 2024

This study derived contact angles for fifteen types of pollens, nine types of fungi, ten types of bacteria, one type of diatom, and twelve types of mineral dust for use in the parameterization of immersion freezing based on the classical nucleation theory (CNT). Our approach is to interpret freezing temperature measurement results with the stochastic nucleation concept. In this way, the abundant freezing temperature data available in the literature can be converted to contact angles that needed in the CNT parameterization for a variety of INPs. The derived contact angles compared well with values independently obtained in earlier studies based on a pure-CNT approach using laboratory nucleation rate data. The uncertainties in contact angle calculation associated with the definition of onset nucleation rate, the activation energy, and the ice-nuclei size are estimated to be about ± 1–2°, ± 1–5°, and ± 1–2°, respectively, among different ice-nucleating particles.
Current pathways model for hall thruster plumes in ground-based vacuum test facilities: measurements and observations
Authors: Jovel David R. , Cabrera Janice D. , Walker Mitchell L. R.
Published: December 2024

A previous companion paper introduced a current pathways model that represents the electrical coupling between the Hall effect thruster (HET) and the ground-based vacuum test facility operational environment. In this work, we operated a 7-kW class HET at 4.5 kW, 15 A and 6 kW, 20 A on krypton to quantify aspects of the current pathways model to characterize the role metal vacuum chambers play in the thruster’s discharge circuit as a function of discharge current. During HET operation, far-field ion and electron saturation currents at 47 near-facility wall locations were measured using an array of 5.08 cm diameter, stainless-steel planar electrodes. In addition, the plasma properties at three distinct locations within the facility, 25 cm from the facility wall, were obtained using Langmuir probes. Experimental results show that thruster beam ions do not readily neutralize with cathode electrons and instead neutralize with the free electrons provided by the metallic chamber wall. In addition, significant charge-exchange (CEX) ion current was measured in the background plasma environment and constituted about 23% of the total ion current measured by the planar electrode array. Thus, the metallic vacuum chamber surfaces facilitate charge neutralization for both ion populations. Additionally, the plasma environment near the facility walls was characterized to be non-uniform with an estimated plasma sheath capacitance ranging between 0.45 µF and 1.79 µF. Further analysis shows that the plasma sheath at the facility wall behaves like a parallel RC circuit, potentially concealing the thruster’s AC characteristics. Inherent plasma oscillations give rise to inductive effects with inductances that varied between 76.5 nH and 101.4 nH. Hence, the dynamic characteristics of the HET’s discharge are influenced by the capacitive and inductive effects introduced by the vacuum test facility operational environment.
An empirical study of LLaMA3 quantization: from LLMs to MLLMs
Authors: Huang Wei , Zheng Xingyu , Ma Xudong , Qin Haotong , Lv Chengtao , Chen Hong , Luo Jie , Qi Xiaojuan , Liu Xianglong , Magno Michele
Published: December 2024

The LLaMA family, a collection of foundation language models ranging from 7B to 65B parameters, has become one of the most powerful open-source large language models (LLMs) and the popular LLM backbone of multi-modal large language models (MLLMs), widely used in computer vision and natural language understanding tasks. In particular, LLaMA3 models have recently been released and have achieved impressive performance in various domains with super-large scale pre-training on over 15T tokens of data. Given the wide application of low-bit quantization for LLMs in resource-constrained scenarios, we explore LLaMA3’s capabilities when quantized to low bit-width. This exploration can potentially provide new insights and challenges for the low-bit quantization of LLaMA3 and other future LLMs, especially in addressing performance degradation issues that suffer in LLM compression. Specifically, we comprehensively evaluate the 10 existing post-training quantization and LoRA fine-tuning (LoRA-FT) methods of LLaMA3 on 1-8 bits and various datasets to reveal the low-bit quantization performance of LLaMA3. To uncover the capabilities of low-bit quantized MLLM, we assessed the performance of the LLaMA3-based LLaVA-Next-8B model under 2-4 ultra-low bits with post-training quantization methods. Our experimental results indicate that LLaMA3 still suffers from non-negligible degradation in linguistic and visual contexts, particularly under ultra-low bit widths. This highlights the significant performance gap at low bit-width that needs to be addressed in future developments. We expect that this empirical study will prove valuable in advancing future models, driving LLMs and MLLMs to achieve higher accuracy at lower bit to enhance practicality.
Religious Resistance and the Public’s Health
Authors: Sepper Elizabeth , Wiley Lindsay F.
Published: December 2024

The Affordable Care Act’s preventive services mandate requires private insurance plans to serve public health goals. But the employers that facilitate access to insurance for more than half the population hold political views and economic interests that may run counter to public interests. And now, in the name of for-profit employers’ religious rights, the courts are eroding the legal foundations of privately financed public health. Religious objections to the preventive services mandate — of which Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra is just the most recent high-profile example — have become a site of opposition to public health. Courts have radically revised standards for religious exemption, adopting an individualistic frame that discounts population-level effects. Recent decisions could invite free exercise claims that go to the heart of securing population health through the workplace.
Preventive Medicine Stigma
Authors: Dorfman Doron
Published: December 2024

The 2023 Texas federal district court decision Braidwood Management, Inc. vs. Becerra enjoined the enforcement of the Affordable Care Act’s preventive care mandate, which requires “first-dollar” insurance coverage for a range of preventive measures, including pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), an HIV prophylactic drug. Most scholars have analyzed the case with respect to the conflict between public health goals and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). This Article suggests another reading of the Braidwood decision in light of a broader socio-legal phenomenon I call preventive health stigma. Stereotypes attach to the underlying medical condition that a given measure is aimed at preventing, or to the actual preventive measure resulting in stigmatization. Preventive health stigma penetrated the Braidwood decision through the case’s focus on PrEP users’ signaled prurient behavior instead of the drug’s proven health benefits. After offering a novel reading of the Braidwood decision, this Article also shows how preventive health stigma surfaces in the legal treatment of other preventive measures, such as abortion pills, masking, and vaccines. Understanding how stigma attaches to preventive medicine constitutes an important step in understanding how law and prejudice can undermine health reform.
No More Wild West: The Need for Wellness Professional Standards
Authors: Zabawa Barbara J.
Published: December 2024

The burgeoning wellness industry attracts a lot of practitioners who are largely unregulated. This “wild west” of wellness creates uncertainty for insurers, employers, consumers, and practitioners as to: (1) what services and items wellness practitioners can offer; (2) whether those practitioners are qualified; and (3) whether they behave in an ethical manner. Some guideposts for these wellness stakeholders would be welcome and may reduce consumer harm. Guideposts for wellness is especially crucial in a time when the Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra case threatens the delivery of preventive care services in the health care sector. As we have learned from the health care sector, the state licensure scheme is confining and not conducive to national practice, particularly in the wake of virtual platform technologies. Thus, instead of state licensure, this article proposes a private Standard Development Organization (SDO) scheme that can create and enforce standards within the wellness industry.
Preventive Care and Health Equity: The Educational Divide
Authors: Gartner David
Published: December 2024

The preventive services at the center of Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra contribute to reducing inequities in life expectancy in the United States. Critical preventive are currently fully covered by insurance as preventive care under the Affordable Care Act. Reducing affordable access to such screenings and medicines is most likely to impact those with lower incomes and less education, and contribute to widening existing inequities in health outcomes.

Recent research has identified a large and growing mortality gap between those with and without college degrees. On average, individuals without college degrees are likely to die about 8.5 years earlier than those with such degrees. In recent decades, cancer death rates fell nearly two times faster among the college educated. Mortality from heart disease fell by nearly two-thirds among those with college degrees but by less than one-third for all others.

Disparities in life expectancy in the United States reflect the uneven progress against the leading causes of death among different populations. The Braidwood decision, if upheld, will raise the costs to patients for interventions that have contributed to recent gains in life expectancy. This Article analyzes the impact of Braidwood on preventive health interventions in the context of growing life expectancy gaps within the United States.
The Potential Effects of Braidwood Management v. Becerra and Impact on Community Health Centers
Authors: Morris Rebecca , Shin Peter , Jacobs Feygele , Murphy Caitlin , Rosenbaum Sara , Casoni Maria , Johnson Kay
Published: December 2024

Braidwood Management, Inc. v. Becerra challenges the Affordable Care Act free preventive coverage guarantee. Community health centers serve over 30 million residents of medically underserved urban and rural communities. Their limited federal grant funding makes them reliant on insurance revenue for their operations, Medicaid and subsidized marketplace coverage in particular, both of which are implicated by the case. To understand these implications, we developed an analytic model that crosswalks the preventive services potentially affected by Braidwood and the preventive care that all health centers must furnish. Of the 193 preventive services now covered under the guarantee, only forty-eight would survive were the Braidwood plaintiffs to prevail. In underserved communities, health centers are a principal source of the nearly 150 affected services, as evidenced by the care they are required to furnish under federal law, the quality metrics they are expected to meet, and the health diagnoses and treatments identified in federal performance reporting requirements. Thus, the impact on access, quality, patient health, and health center finances and care capability will likely be substantial.
5 Mapping out the sacred landscape of Epirus
Authors: Vasileiou Eleni D.
Published: December 2024

To my mother, Penelope.

This paper offers an overview of the published material of the Epirotic sanctuaries. The presentation will be limited to the geographical area of modern Epirus (prefectures of Arta, Ioannina, Preveza, and Thesprotia) and it will cover the period from the Early Iron Age (eighth century BC) to the beginning of the Roman conquest (second to early first century BC). Areas of ritual character in Epirus range from shrines to organized sanctuaries. It is not always easy to identify the deity/deities worshipped at the ritual places presented.
1 Introduction and overview
Authors: Loy Michael , Parikh Tulsi
Published: December 2024

This introduction presents the structure and contents of the current issue of Archaeological Reports. It also offers an overview (not meant to be exhaustive) of archaeological activity in Greece over the past 12 months, focusing on major exhibitions and other cultural events as well as on important recent publications.
Tornado Seasonality in Central‐Southern Chile
Authors: Caballero‐Morán V. , Rondanelli R.
Published: December 2024

Tornado records in Chile show an apparent seasonality with a peak between May and June. We study this seasonality in central‐south and austral Chile by analyzing three indicators of tornado environments: vorticity generation parameter (VGP), storm‐relative helicity (SRH) and mean relative humidity . Annual cycles of VGP, SRH and show favorable conditions during the fall in the central‐south region, well correlated with the records in the area, and associated with maximum values of low‐level (0–1 km) and deep‐layer (0–6 km) wind shear, and relatively high values of most unstable CAPE. In the austral region, favorable conditions occur during the summer, in the presence of maximum deep‐layer wind shear and maximum values of the most unstable CAPE. Analysis of temperature, wind, and humidity were performed to understand the mechanisms that lead to the development of these conditions in these two regions.