bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Quantifying the maximum possible improvement in $$2^{k}$$ experiments
Authors: Sudarsanam Nandan , Kumar Anusha , Frey Daniel D.
Published: June 2022

This research formulates, and numerically quantifies the optimal response that can be discovered in a design space characterized by main effects, and two-way and three-way interactions. In an experimental design setup, this can be conceptualized as the response of the best treatment combination of a$$2^k$$2kfull factorial design. Using Gaussian and Uniform priors for the strength of main effects and interaction effects, this study enables a practitioner to make estimates of the maximum possible improvement that is possible through design space exploration. For basic designs up to two factors, we construct the full distribution of the optimal treatment. Whereas, for values of$$k\ge 3$$k≥3, we analytically formulate two indicators of a greedy heuristic of the expected value of the optimal treatment. We present results for these formulations up to$$k=7$$k=7factors and validate these through simulations. Finally, we also present an illustrative case study of the power loss in disengaged wet clutches, which confirms our findings and serves as an implementation guide for practitioners.
Dual-axes of functional organisation across lateral parietal cortex: the angular gyrus forms part of a multi-modal buffering system
Authors: Humphreys Gina F. , Tibon Roni
Published: June 2022

Decades of neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence have implicated the lateral parietal cortex (LPC) in a myriad of cognitive domains, generating numerous influential theoretical models. However, these theories fail to explain why distinct cognitive activities appear to implicate common neural regions. Here we discuss a unifying model in which the angular gyrus forms part of a wider LPC system with a core underlying neurocomputational function; the multi-sensory buffering of spatio-temporally extended representations. We review the principles derived from computational modelling with neuroimaging task data and functional and structural connectivity measures that underpin the unified neurocomputational framework. We propose that although a variety of cognitive activities might draw on shared underlying machinery, variations in task preference across angular gyrus, and wider LPC, arise from graded changes in the underlying structural connectivity of the region to different input/output information sources. More specifically, we propose two primary axes of organisation: a dorsal–ventral axis and an anterior–posterior axis, with variations in task preference arising from underlying connectivity to different core cognitive networks (e.g. the executive, language, visual, or episodic memory networks).
Disconnections in personal neglect
Authors: Bertagnoli S. , Pacella V. , Rossato E. , Jenkinson P. M. , Fotopoulou A. , Scandola M. , Moro Valentina
Published: June 2022

Personal neglect is a disorder in the perception and representation of the body that causes the patients to behave as if the contralesional side of their body does not exist. This clinical condition has not been adequately investigated in the past as it has been considered a symptom of unilateral spatial neglect, which has mainly been studied with reference to extrapersonal space. Only a few studies with small samples have investigated the neuroanatomical correlates of personal neglect, and these have mainly focused on discrete cortical lesions and modular accounts, as well as being based on the hypothesis that this disorder is associated with somatosensory and spatial deficits. In the present study, we tested the novel hypothesis that personal neglect may be associated not only with discrete cortical and subcortical lesions, but also with disconnections of white matter tracts. We performed an advanced lesion analyses in a large sample of 104 right hemisphere damaged patients, 72 of whom were suffering from personal neglect. Results from the analyses of the grey and white matter were controlled for co-occurrent clinical variables such as extrapersonal neglect, anosognosia for hemiplegia and motor deficits, along with other lesion-related variables such as lesion size and the interval from the lesion onset to neuroimaging recordings. Our results reveal that personal neglect is associated with lesions in a medial network which involves the temporal cortex (Heschl’s gyrus), the ventro-lateral nuclei of the thalamus and the fornix. This suggests that personal neglect involves a convergence between sensorimotor processes, spatial representation and the processing of self-referred information (episodic memory).
Optimisation of Trailing Edge Flaps on the Base Cavity of a Vehicle for Improved Performance at Yaw
Authors: Urquhart Magnus , Sebben Simone
Published: June 2022

Regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of passenger vehicles are becoming increasingly stringent. The aerodynamic drag is a major contributor to the vehicle’s total energy consumption where a large portion is attributed to the base wake. This paper optimises the angles of small trailing edge flaps on a base cavity of a full-scale sports utility vehicle placed in a wind tunnel. The trailing edge flaps are controlled using servos mounted inside the cavity. The flap angles are optimised using a surrogate model based optimisation algorithm with the objective of reducing the aerodynamic drag at different yaw angles and to create a yaw-insensitive geometry by considering several weighted yaw angles to form the driving cycle averaged drag. Low drag designs are further investigated using base pressures and wake measurements. The results show that the base pressures are symmetrised by reducing the crossflow in the wake. As the model is yawed the wake becomes increasingly downwash dominated by a large rotating windward structure which is reduced by the optimised flaps. The cycle averaged drag optimised design has a smaller increase in drag when yawed compared to a design optimised without considering yaw.
Why (Some) Corporations Have Positive Duties to (Some of) the Global Poor
Authors: Ó Laoghaire Tadhg
Published: June 2022

Many corporations are large, powerful, and wealthy. There are massive shortfalls of global justice, with hundreds of millions of people in the world living below the threshold of extreme poverty, and billions more living not far above that threshold. Where injustice and needs shortfalls must be remediated, we often look towards agents’ capabilities to determine who ought to bear the costs of rectifying the situation. The combination of these three claims grounds what I call a ‘linkage-based’ account of why corporations have demanding positive duties to the global poor. In this paper, I put forward a distinctive linkage-based account of corporations’ positive duties centred on the idea of dependence and the importance of meeting agents’ core needs. In addition to outlining and defending this account, I will show that we can utilise its basic conceptual components to make headway on questions that have received insufficient attention in the business ethics literature; specifically, we can say something substantive about the weighting of needy agents’ competing claims to assistance, and about the limits to the demands that can be lodged against corporations on the basis of others' unmet needs. Having integrated considerations of duties' grounding, their comparative weight, and the limits of their demandingness into a single account of corporate positive duty, I conclude by discussing a challenge to attributing to corporations duties owed to the worst-off amongst the global poor.
Landscape genetics of an endangered salt marsh endemic: Identifying population continuity and barriers to dispersal
Authors: Statham Mark J. , Aylward Cody M. , Barthman-Thompson Laureen , Kierepka Elizabeth M. , Sacks Benjamin N.
Published: June 2022

Preserving the genetic diversity of endangered species is fundamental to their conservation and requires an understanding of genetic structure. In turn, identification of landscape features that impede gene flow can facilitate management to mitigate such obstacles and help with identifying isolated populations. We conducted a landscape genetic study of the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris), a species endemic to the coastal marshes of the San Francisco Estuary of California. We collected and genotyped > 500 samples from across the marshes of Suisun Bay which contain the largest remaining tracts of habitat for the species. Cluster analyses and a population tree identified three geographically discrete populations. Next, we conducted landscape genetic analyses at two scales (the entire study area and across the Northern Marshes) where we tested 65 univariate models of landscape features and used the best supported to test multivariable analyses. Our analysis of the entire study area indicated that open water and elevation (> 2 m) constrained gene flow. Analysis of the Northern Marshes, where low elevation marsh habitat is more continuous, indicated that geographic distance was the only significant predictor of genetic distance at this scale. The identification of a large, connected population across Northern Marshes achieves a number of recovery targets for this stronghold of the species. The identification of landscape features that act as barriers to dispersal enables the identification of isolated and vulnerable populations more broadly across the species range, thus aiding conservation prioritization.
A forecasting and warning system of storm surge events along the Norwegian coast
Authors: Kristensen Nils Melsom , Røed Lars Petter , Sætra Øyvind
Published: June 2022

We consider the Norwegian Meteorological Institute’s system regarding the daily forecasts of water level, and warnings of possible dangerous water level events along the Norwegian coast. The system consists of three parts, the production of water level forecasts, a decision support system, and a system for dissemination of warnings to key users and the general public. Included is a brief description of the forecasting model and the parallel ensemble prediction system, and an assessment of the forecasts produced by them. Based on the assessment of the production models for a three year period we find that they provide sufficiently trustworthy forecasts of water levels for the purpose at hand. Also included is a description of the web based decision support system for issuing warnings. The decision support system was for instance used during the extreme weather event “Elsa” in February 2020, and was found to be an efficient tool both to monitor the event in its early stages and to expedite warnings to key users and the general public.
Why do Socioeconomic Differences in Women’s Living Standards Converge After Union Dissolution?
Authors: Hogendoorn Bram
Published: June 2022

Union dissolution is a critical event for women’s living standards. Previous work has found that women in high-income unions lose more from union dissolution than women in low-income unions. This study proposes two mechanisms to explain this “convergence” in living standards. The compensation mechanism concerns the ability to compensate the loss of partner earnings with alternative sources of income, whereas the partner independence mechanism concerns how much women stand to lose from dissolution in the first place. To test these mechanisms, the author drew on a unique administrative dataset from the Netherlands, covering women who experienced dissolution within ten years after union formation (N = 57,960). A decomposition analysis showed that convergence was not driven by compensation: women from all income groups decreased their household size and re-partnered, women from low-income unions increased transfer income, and women from high-income unions increased personal earnings and decreased tax payments. Instead, convergence was driven by partner independence: women from lower-income unions depended relatively less on their partners because they relied more on transfer income prior to dissolution. These results demonstrate how partners’ interdependence moderates the consequences of life events. The welfare state plays a crucial role in this process.
Science, Dualities and the Phenomenological Map
Authors: Solari H. G. , Natiello M. A.
Published: June 2022

We present an epistemological schema of natural sciences inspired by Peirce’s pragmaticist view, stressing the role of the phenomenological map, that connects reality and our ideas about it. The schema has a recognisable mathematical/logical structure which allows to explore some of its consequences. We show that seemingly independent principles as the requirement of reproducibility of experiments and the Principle of Sufficient Reason are both implied by the schema, as well as Popper’s concept of falsifiability. We show that the schema has some power in demarcating science by first comparing with an alternative schema advanced during the first part of the 20th century which has its roots in Hertz and has been developed by Einstein and Popper. Further, the identified differences allow us to focus in the construction of Special Relativity, showing that it uses an intuited concept of velocity that does not satisfy the requirements of reality in Peirce. While the main mathematical observation connected with this issue has been known for more than a century, it has not been investigated from an epistemological point of view. A probable reason could be that the socially dominating epistemology in physics does not encourage such line of work. We briefly discuss the relation of the abduction process presented in this work with discussions regarding “abduction” in the literature and its relation with “analogy”.
Mimush Sheep and the Spectre of Inbreeding: Historical Background for Festetics’s Organic and Genetic Laws Four Decades Before Mendel’s Experiments in Peas
Authors: Poczai Péter , Santiago-Blay Jorge A. , Sekerák Jiří , Bariska István , Szabó Attila T.
Published: June 2022

The upheavals of late eighteenth century Europe encouraged people to demand greater liberties, including the freedom to explore the natural world, individually or as part of investigative associations. The Moravian Agricultural and Natural Science Society, organized by Christian Carl André, was one such group of keen practitioners of theoretical and applied scientific disciplines. Headquartered in the “Moravian Manchester” Brünn (nowadays Brno), the centre of the textile industry, society members debated the improvement of sheep wool to fulfil the needs of the Habsburg armies fighting in the Napoleonic Wars. Wool, as the raw material of soldiers' clothing, could influence the war’s outcome. During the early nineteenth century, wool united politics, economics, and science in Brno, where breeders and natural scientists investigated the possibilities of increasing wool production. They regularly discussed how “climate” or “seed” characteristics influenced wool quality and quantity. Breeders and academics put their knowledge into immediate practice to create sheep with better wool traits through consanguineous matching of animals and artificial selection. This apparent disregard for the incest taboo, however, was viewed as violating natural laws and cultural norms. The debate intensified between 1817 and 1820, when a Hungarian veteran soldier, sheep breeder, and self-taught natural scientist, Imre (Emmerich) Festetics, displayed his inbred Mimush sheep, which yielded wool extremely well suited for the fabrication of light but strong garments. Members of the Society questioned whether such “bastard sheep” would be prone to climatic degeneration, should be regarded as freaks of nature, or could be explained by natural laws. The exploration of inbreeding in sheep began to be distilled into hereditary principles that culminated in 1819 with Festetics’s “laws of organic functions” and “genetic laws of nature,” four decades before Gregor Johann Mendel’s seminal work on heredity in peas.
A stronger association of diabetes mellitus with impaired hyperaemia using a novel ECG-gated device compared with peripheral arterial tonometry
Authors: Lal Anchal , Dave Neha , Barry Michael Anthony , Sood Annika , Mitchell Paul , Thiagalingam Aravinda
Published: June 2022

Purpose

Impaired digital reactive hyperaemia and flicker-stimulated retinal vascular response are commonly reported risk markers of cardiovascular disease. This is the first study to determine the correlation of these risk markers with diabetes mellitus by comparing our novel flicker-modulated ECG-gated fundoscope with the EndoPAT2000 system.

Methods

In total, 119 controls and 120 participants with diabetes mellitus partook in this cross-sectional study. The EndoPAT2000 system assessed digital reactive hyperaemia under fasting conditions. A mydriatic ECG-gated fundoscope with a novel flicker module acquired digital retinal images of the left eye before, during and after flicker stimulation. An inhouse semi-automated software measured retinal vessel diameters using a validated protocol with two observers repeating measurements in a subset of 10 controls and 10 participants with diabetes mellitus. Intra- and inter-observer reliability analyses occurred by the interclass correlation coefficient. A receiver operating characteristic curve established associations of variables with diabetes mellitus.

Results

Diabetes mellitus was more strongly associated with flicker-stimulated retinal arteriolar calibre change from baseline (AUC 0.81, 95% CI 0.75–0.87, p < 0.0001) than reactive hyperaemia index. Median flicker-stimulated arteriolar calibre change from baseline (controls: 2.74%, IQR 1.07 vs diabetes mellitus: 1.64%, IQR 1.25, p < 0.0001) and reactive hyperaemia index (controls: 1.87, IQR 0.81 vs diabetes mellitus: 1.60, IQR 0.81, p = 0.003) were lower in diabetes mellitus than controls. Intra- and inter-observer reliability coefficients were high from 0.87 to 0.93.

Conclusions

Impaired flicker-stimulated retinal arteriolar calibre change from baseline is more highly correlated with diabetes mellitus in this study than a reduced reactive hyperaemia index.
COVID-19 Induced Environments, Health-Related Quality of Life Outcomes and Problematic Behaviors: Evidence from Children with Syndromic Autism Spectrum Disorders
Authors: Bolbocean Corneliu , Rhidenour Kayla B , McCormack Maria , Suter Bernhard , Holder J Lloyd
Published: June 2022

Between July 2020 and January 2021, 230 principal caregivers completed a questionnaire to measure proxy-assessed health-related quality of life outcomes (HRQoL), behavioral outcomes in children with syndromic autism spectrum disorders and COVID-19 induced changes to lifestyle and environments. HRQoL and behavioral outcomes reported earlier during the pandemic were generally worse compared to those reported later. COVID-19 induced reduction to a caregiver’s mental health appointments, and hours spent watching TV were associated with decreases in HRQoL and increased the likelihood of problematic behaviors. Increasing time outdoors and time away from digital devices were positively associated with HRQoL and behaviors and might protect children from COVID-19 induced restrictions.
Ultra-Sensitive Fluorimetric Method for the First Estimation of Vonoprazan in Real Human Plasma and Content Uniformity Test
Authors: Saraya Roshdy E. , Hassan Yasser F. , Eltukhi Walid E. , Salman Baher I.
Published: June 2022

Vonoprazan (VON) has been approved recently via US-FDA in 2015 as the first in class of potassium competitive acid blocker group. VON is used for management of GIT ulcer, reflux esophagitis and for eradication of Helicobacter pylori. So, the first spectrofluorimetric method was developed for estimation of VON in real human plasma and content uniformity test. The fluorimetric methodology based on reaction of secondary amine group in VON with benzofurazan (0.05% w/v NBD-Cl) reagent as nucleophilic substitution reaction in alkaline medium (0.1 M borate buffer pH 8.2) to produce highly fluorescent product measure at 530 nm after excitation at 465 nm. The linear calibration range was found 15 to 200 ng mL−1 with lower limit of quantitation (LOQ) equal to 8.57 ng mL−1. The method was successfully applied for estimation of VON in pharmacokinetic (PK) and content uniformity studies. The maximum plasma concentration was found to be (Cmax) 71.03 ng mL−1 after maximum time (tmax) equal to 1.5 ± 0.15 h. The presented strategy also applied to ensure concentration of drug in each tablet using content uniformity test with high percent of recovery 100.05 ± 0.66. The proposed method was established for clinical laboratories and therapeutic drug monitoring studies.
Strengthening Relationships between Couples to Respond to Domestic Violence: a Commentary on Policy Changes Needed to Support this Evolution
Authors: Barth Richard P. , Jiranek Harriet C.
Published: June 2022

Broad calls to narrow the role of police in American society have begun to include arguments to reduce the carceral responding to intimate partner violence (IPV) and add a stronger social response. The field’s improved understanding of lethality risk assessment; better classification of offender risk by past involvement with general violence or family only violence; and positive findings from trials of relationship strengthening interventions as couples counseling, restorative justice practices, and mediation, call for exploring relationship-strengthening approaches to complement more carceral approaches. Yet, a half century of adherence to traditional IPV service approaches that have steered away from relationship strengthening has generated an array of procedures and policies that need to change before the IPV services field can broaden and become more responsive. These changes are likely to be more fitting across racial and cultural groups and more suited for those seeking to improve relationship safety. This paper reviews these trends and considers legislative remedies that would facilitate the emergence of additional safe, empowering, relationship-responsive, trauma sensitive additions to IPV services.
Moral worth, right reasons and counterfactual motives
Authors: Fearnley Laura
Published: June 2022

This paper explores the question of what makes an action morally worthy. I start with a popular theory of moral worth which roughly states that a right action is morally praiseworthy if and only if it is performed in response to the reasons which make the action right. While I think the account provides promising foundations for determining praiseworthiness, I argue that the view lacks the resources to adequately satisfy important desiderata associated with theories of moral worth. Firstly, the view does not adequately capture the degree to which an action has moral worth, and secondly, the view does not identify if right actions produced from overdetermined motives have moral worth. However, all is not lost; I also argue that the account can satisfy the desiderata when it attends to the agent’s counterfactual motives in addition to their actual motives. By considering counterfactual motives, we can measure the robustness of the actual praiseworthy motive, and attending to motivational robustness allows the new proposal to fully satisfy the two desiderata. At the end of this paper, I respond to some criticisms typically brought against a counterfactual view of moral worth.
Measuring the influence of non-scientific features on citations
Authors: Mammola Stefano , Piano Elena , Doretto Alberto , Caprio Enrico , Chamberlain Dan
Published: June 2022

Citations remain a prime, yet controversial, measure of academic performance. Ideally, how often a paper is cited should solely depend on the quality of the science reported therein. However, non-scientific factors, including structural elements (e.g., length of abstract, number of references) or attributes of authors (e.g., prestige and gender), may all influence citation outcomes. Knowing the predicted effect of these features on citations might make it possible to ‘game the system’ of citation counts when writing a paper. We conducted a meta-analysis to build a quantitative understanding of the effect of similar non-scientific features on the impact of scientific articles in terms of citations. We showed that article length, number of authors, author experience and their collaboration network, Impact Factors, availability as open access, online sharing, different referencing practice, and number of figures all exerted a positive influence on citations. These patterns were consistent across most disciplines. We also documented temporal trends towards a recent increase in the effect of journal Impact Factor and number of authors on citations. We suggest that our approach can be used as a benchmark to monitor the influence of these effects over time, minimising the influence of non-scientific features as a means to game the system of citation counts, and thus enhancing their usefulness as a measure of scientific quality.
Environmental Law and Youth Protests: Future Generations Between Speech Acts and Political Representation
Authors: Corrias Luigi D. A.
Published: June 2022

This article aims to provide a semiotic analysis of environmental law and youth protests. More precisely, drawing on speech act theory this article regards both as types of communication and teases out the inherent voice and message, specifically with regard to the interests of future generations. The argument unfolds in three steps. First, the article looks into speaker and speech of environmental law and argues that it speaks, as legislation does, in the first-person plural voice of a ‘we’. Second, the article examines a speech of Greta Thunberg through the lens of Stanley Cavell’s theory of passionate utterances. This interpretation will unlock the political stakes of Thunberg’s speech as she claims standing with those responsible for enacting environmental law. Finally, the consequences of this reading will be analysed by relating message and voice of environmental law. As youth protests question ordinary forms of political representation, new ways of safeguarding the interests of future generations are called upon.
Seeing colours unconsciously
Authors: Zięba Paweł Jakub
Published: June 2022

According to unconscious perception hypothesis (UP), mental states of the same fundamental kind as ordinary conscious seeing can occur unconsciously. The proponents of UP often support it with empirical evidence for a more specific hypothesis, according to which colours can be seen unconsciously (UPC). However, UPC is a general claim that admits of many interpretations. The main aim of this paper is to determine which of them is the most plausible. To this end, I investigate how adopting various conceptions of colour and perceptual phenomenal character affects UPC’s resilience to objections. This brings me to the conclusion that the most plausible reading of UPC is the one according to which the phenomenal character of colour perception (i) is constituted by colours qua primitive mind-independent qualities of the environment and (ii) is not essentially tied to consciousness. My conclusion not only identifies the most plausible interpretation of UPC, but also highlights and supports an unorthodox version of the relational theory of perception, which is a perfectly viable yet so far overlooked stance in the debate about unconscious perception.
Microstructural Classification and Reconstruction of the Computational Geometry of Steamed Bread Using Descriptor-Based Approach
Authors: Ajani Clement Kehinde , Zhu Zhiwei , Sun Da-Wen
Published: June 2022

Microstructures affect the properties of food products; accurate and relatively less complex microstructural representations are thus needed for modelling of transport phenomena during food processing. Hence, the present study aimed at developing computational microstructures of steamed bread using descriptor-based approach. Relevant information was extracted from the scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the steamed bread and evaluated using seven classifiers. For the automatic classification and using all descriptors, bagged trees ensembles (BTE) had the highest accuracy of 98.40%, while Gaussian Naïve Bayes was the least with 92.10% accuracy. In the “step forward” analysis, five descriptors had higher classification accuracy (98.80%) than all descriptors, implying that increase in descriptors might or might not increase classification accuracy. Microstructural validation revealed that the ellipse fitting method with a p value of 0.7984 for the area was found to be superior to the Voronoi method with a corresponding p value of 1.4554 × 10−5, confirming that the ellipse developed microstructure was more suitable for microscale modelling of transport phenomena in steamed bread.
Small Strains in Soil Constitutive Modeling
Authors: Castellón Javier , Ledesma Alberto
Published: June 2022

This paper reviews the state of the art of soil behavior in the range of small strains and its constitutive modeling, which is an important issue when predicting displacements under serviceability conditions. The factors that control nonlinear, hysteretic and dependent on recent history soil behavior are described. Likewise, concepts of soil constitutive modeling are explored in detail and two criteria are explained and used to classify the analyzed models: (1) a first criterion based on the concept of tensorial zones; and (2) a second criterion based on the elements that defines the hysteretic soil behavior, including reversal criteria, memory rules and the effects of reversals on soil degradation and on soil stiffness recovery. The fundamentals of the formulation of the analyzed models are provided, as well as their scope of application, advantages and disadvantages.
CALR type 1 mutations are associated with an increased incidence of myelofibrosis in young male patients
Authors: Weir Philip , Hindley Andrew , Catherwood Mark , McMullin Mary Frances
Published: June 2022

Background

Calreticulin (CALR) mutations are commonly identified in patients with essential thrombocythaemia or myelofibrosis. CALR type 1 mutations are known to have a higher overall incidence in males but little is known about the risks of mutation subtypes on myelofibrotic change across patient age and sex.

Aims

To identify differences in the incidence of myelofibrotic change within subgroups of patients with CALR type 1 mutations.

Methods

All patients with a positive CALR exon 9 mutation identified within our unit between February 2016 and September 2020 were reviewed with note taken of patient sex, age at diagnosis, initial MPN diagnosis, and subsequent disease transformation.

Results

In our cohort, young male patients with CALR type 1 mutations were shown to be at significantly increased risk of myelofibrosis compared to age matched female patients.

Conclusions

Male patients have a worse myeloproliferative neoplasm phenotype than female patients with it occurring at a younger age and being more myelofibrotic in nature. Further investigation is needed into the reasons for this variability.
Three past mathematicians’ views on history in mathematics teaching and learning: Poincaré, Klein, and Freudenthal
Authors: Jahnke Hans-Niels , Jankvist Uffe Thomas , Kjeldsen Tinne Hoff
Published: June 2022

In the HPM (History and Pedagogy of Mathematics) literature, the three mathematicians Henri Poincaré (1854–1912), Felix Klein (1849–1925), and Hans Freudenthal (1905–1990) are often mentioned in relation to having opinions about the role of the history of mathematics in the teaching and learning of mathematics. Such mentioning often appears without any further account of their viewpoints. In the paper, we seek to dig more deeply, asking the questions of what these three mathematicians’ views on history in mathematics education were, how they themselves expressed these, and what the similarities and differences might be. Our departure point was the known texts by the three mathematicians in which they touch upon aspects of the history of mathematics in relation to teaching and learning, or mathematics education in general. When possible, these written works were accompanied by secondary accounts. Finally, we draw perspectives concerning the issue of how the views of these three mathematicians may or may not align with some of the trends in modern day HPM research.
Minimally Invasive Procedures in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Localized Prostate Cancer: an Interventional Radiologist’s Perspective
Authors: Avital Yaniv , Fütterer Jurgen J. , Cherniavsky Alexei , Bomers Joyce G. R.
Published: June 2022

Purpose of Review

Minimal invasive procedures, including targeted biopsy (TB) and focal therapy (FT), are increasingly used in diagnosis and treatment of localized prostate cancer. Here, we review the current role of these procedures, from a perspective of an interventional radiologist.

Recent Findings

TB is an established part of current guidelines for diagnosis of PCa. Several modalities of FT are gaining prevalence in recent years, as a tissue-preserving alternative for definitive treatment of localized PCa. FT is currently at early research stages, offered to selected patients in clinical trials settings.

TB and FT are minimally invasive procedures used by multidisciplinary teams for diagnosis and treatment of localized PCa.
Tech Ethics Through Trust Auditing
Authors: Grellette Matthew
Published: June 2022

The public’s trust in the technology sector is waning and, in response, technology companies and state governments have started to champion “tech ethics”. That is, they have pledged to design, develop, distribute, and employ new technologies in an ethical manner. In this paper, I observe that tech ethics is already subject to a widespread pathology in that technology companies, the primary executors of tech ethics, are incentivized to pursue it half-heartedly or even disingenuously. Next, I highlight two emerging strategies which might be used to combat this problem, but argue that both are subject to practical limitations. In response, I suggest an additional way of augmenting the practice of tech ethics. This is to employ “trust audits,” a new form of public participation in the socio-technical environment. In the remainder of the paper, I offer a description of how trust audits work, what they might look like in practice, and how they can fit in alongside those other strategies for improving tech ethics.
Cyanidin-3-O-Glucoside Regulates the M1/M2 Polarization of Microglia via PPARγ and Aβ42 Phagocytosis Through TREM2 in an Alzheimer’s Disease Model
Authors: Sanjay  , Shin Jae-Ho , Park Miey , Lee Hae-Jeung
Published: June 2022

Microglial polarization plays an essential role in the progression and regression of neurodegenerative disorders. Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside (C3G), a dietary anthocyanin found in many fruits and vegetables, has been reported as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antitumor agent. However, there have been no reports on whether C3G can regulate the M1/M2 shift in an Alzheimer’s disease model. We attempted to investigate the effects of C3G on M1/M2 polarization and the mechanism to regulate anti-inflammation and phagocytosis, both in vitro and in vivo. HMC3 cells were treated with β-amyloid (Aβ42) in the presence or absence of 50 μM C3G for different time intervals, and APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mice were orally administered 30 mg/kg/day of C3G for 38 weeks. The in vitro data revealed that C3G could shift the M1 phenotype of microglia to M2 by reducing the expression of M1-specific markers (CD86 and CD80), inflammatory cytokines (IL-Iβ, IL-6, TNF-α), reactive oxygen species, and enhancing the expression of M2-specific markers (CD206 and CD163). The APPswe/PS1ΔE9 mice results were consistent with the in vitro data, indicating a significant reduction in inflammatory cytokines and higher expression of M2-specific markers such as CD206 and Arg1 in C3G-treated Alzheimer’s disease model mice. Additionally, C3G was found to upregulate PPARγ expression levels both in vitro and in vivo, whereas a PPARγ antagonist (GW9662) was found to block C3G-mediated effects in vitro. In this study, we confirmed that C3G could regulate microglial polarization by activating PPARγ and eliminating accumulated β-amyloid by enhancing Aβ42 phagocytosis through the upregulation of TREM2.
Satellite maneuver detection and estimation with optical survey observations
Authors: Pastor Alejandro , Escribano Guillermo , Sanjurjo-Rivo Manuel , Escobar Diego
Published: June 2022

Maneuver detection and estimation is deemed crucial for maintaining catalogs of Resident Space Objects (RSOs) as it helps to avoid sets of duplicated objects and track correlation issues. In fact, maneuvers, along with launches and break-up events, are the main source of potential new object detections during RSOs cataloging activities. For the continuous and reliable provision of Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM) services, a challenging trade-off between detection time and characterization accuracy of maneuvers needs to be performed. In this paper, two novel and operationally feasible methodologies are proposed for maneuver detection and estimation. The first, a track-to-orbit methodology, uses a pre-maneuver orbit to linearize the dynamics and estimate the single burn that minimizes the residuals of the post-maneuver tracks. The second, an orbit-to-orbit methodology, estimates the double burn that solves a minimization problem between the pre-maneuver and post-maneuver orbits. Both methods, based on an optimal control approach, are not only proposed to tackle the maneuver estimation problem but also to be integrated on operational and robust association frameworks. Results are presented for optical scenarios with both simulated and real data, providing insightful conclusions on the capabilities, performance and limitations of the proposed methods. Particular emphasis is given to the importance of the track association, since a single track is usually not enough to perform a reliable estimation of the maneuver. Besides, the capability of the methods to provide a solution to the association problem, even when not perfectly characterizing the true maneuver, is discussed.
VAT chargeability of football intermediaries’ commissions in EU Law, in the light of the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement
Authors: Onesti Niccolò Emanuele
Published: June 2022

This article discusses the Value-Added Tax (VAT) discipline relating to the representation services offered by football intermediaries in the contractual negotiation of the employment contract between the player and the club(s). The analysis is carried out taking into consideration the relevant legislative provisions of European Union (EU) law as well as the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the findings of the EU VAT Committee. The VAT discipline of representation services provided by football intermediaries is first analyzed in light of the EU legislative acts regulating the different legal figures of intermediation contracts and the effects on the EU internal market. Then, the legal nature of the “intermediation commission”—as the VAT chargeable event—and the “place of supply of the intermediation service”—as the place of taxation—as qualified by EU tax law, are studied. Finally, the EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) provisions regarding VAT chargeability of intermediation services are analyzed. The article concludes arguing that, at the moment, it does not seem that the TCA has specifically reformed the regulation of the VAT chargeability of the intermediation commission received by football agents for their representation services in negotiating an employment contract between the player and the club(s).
Effect of Ti Addition and Heat Treatment on Electrochemical Properties of Cast Fe35Mn31Ni18Al13Tix HEAs
Authors: Ibrahim Mohamed , El-Hadad Shimaa , Khalifa Waleed , Shoeib Madiha
Published: June 2022

High Entropy Alloys (HEAs) are one of the new families of alloys that gained the attention of researchers as a new approach to materials design. The special compositional design of these alloys results in unique microstructures and hence distinguished properties. Corrosion resistance is one of the most important properties of any material used for structural components. Therefore, it is of interest to investigate the electrochemical properties of such recent groups of HEAs alloys to understand their corrosion behavior. In the current study, the electrochemical properties of cast Fe35Mn31Ni18Al13Tix HEAs prepared by induction melting were investigated in 3.5% NaCl and 5% H2SO4 solutions. It was observed that both Ti addition (0.0–3 wt%) and heat treatment (900 °C at 10 and 20 h) altered the alloys microstructure and, hence, affected their corrosion behavior. The base alloy without Ti showed higher resistance to corrosion in both NaCl and H2SO4 solutions compared to Ti-containing alloys. Heat treatment for 10 h increased significantly the corrosion resistance of the as-cast alloys regardless of the Ti content. On the other hand, heat treatment for 20 h affected negatively the corrosion resistance of the alloy without Ti. Therefore, the electrochemical properties of HEAs can be well controlled through alloying additives and heat treatment.
4D printing of soft orthoses for tremor suppression
Authors: Mohammadi Moslem , Zolfagharian Ali , Bodaghi Mahdi , Xiang Yong , Kouzani Abbas Z.
Published: June 2022

Tremor is an involuntary and oscillatory movement disorder that makes daily activities difficult for affected patients. Hand tremor-suppression orthoses are noninvasive, wearable devices designed to mitigate tremors. Various studies have shown that these devices are effective, economical, and safe; however, they have drawbacks such as large weight, awkward shape, and rigid parts. This study investigates different types of tremor-suppression orthoses and discusses their efficiency, mechanism, benefits, and disadvantages. First, various orthoses (with passive, semi-active, and active mechanisms) are described in detail. Next, we look at how additive manufacturing (AM) has progressed recently in making sensors and actuators for application in tremor orthoses. Then, the materials used in AM are further analyzed. It is found that traditional manufacturing problems can be solved with the help of AM techniques, like making orthoses that are affordable, lighter, and more customizable. Another concept being discussed is using smart materials and AM methods, such as four-dimensional (4D) printing, to make orthoses that are more comfortable and efficient.

Graphic abstract
Autophagy is required for spermatogonial differentiation in the Drosophila testis
Authors: Varga Virginia B. , Schuller Dóra , Szikszai Fanni , Szinyákovics Janka , Puska Gina , Vellai Tibor , Kovács Tibor
Published: June 2022

Autophagy is a conserved, lysosome-dependent catabolic process of eukaryotic cells which is involved in cellular differentiation. Here, we studied its specific role in the differentiation of spermatogonial cells in the Drosophila testis. In the apical part of the Drosophila testis, there is a niche of germline stem cells (GSCs), which are connected to hub cells. Hub cells emit a ligand for bone morhphogenetic protein (BMP)-mediated signalling that represses Bam (bag of marbles) expression in GSCs to maintain them in an undifferentiated state. GSCs divide asymmetrically, and one of the daughter cells differentiates into a gonialblast, which eventually generates a cluster of spermatogonia (SG) by mitoses. Bam is active in SG, and defects in Bam function arrest these cells at mitosis. We show that BMP signalling represses autophagy in GSCs, but upregulates the process in SG. Inhibiting autophagy in SG results in an overproliferating phenotype similar to that caused by bam mutations. Furthermore, Bam deficiency leads to a failure in downstream mechanisms of the autophagic breakdown. These results suggest that the BMP-Bam signalling axis regulates developmental autophagy in the Drosophila testis, and that acidic breakdown of cellular materials is required for spermatogonial differentiation.
An Optimized Neural Network Prediction Model for Reservoir Porosity Based on Improved Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm
Authors: Liu Miaomiao , Yao Dan , Guo Jingfeng , Chen Jing
Published: June 2022

Efficient and accurate porosity prediction is essential for the fine description of reservoirs, for which an optimized BP neural network (BPNN) prediction model is proposed. Aiming at the problem that the BPNN is sensitive to initialization and converges to local optimum easily, an improved shuffled frog leaping algorithm (ISFLA) is proposed based on roulette and genetic coding. Firstly, a roulette mechanism is introduced to improve the selection probability of elite individuals, thus enhancing the global optimization ability. Secondly, a genetic coding method is carried out by making full use of effective information such as the global and local optimal solutions and the boundary values of subgroups. Subsequently, the ISFLA algorithm is verified on 12 benchmark functions and compared with four intelligent optimization algorithms, and experimental results show its good optimization performance. Finally, the ISFLA algorithm is applied to the optimization of initial weights and thresholds of the BPNN, and a new model named ISFLA_BP is proposed to study the porosity prediction problem. The logging data is preprocessed by grey correlation analysis and deviation normalization, and then the effective prediction of porosity is achieved by natural gamma, density and other relevant parameters. The performance of ISFLA_BP model is compared with the standard three-layer BPNN and four BPNN parameter optimization methods based on swarm intelligence algorithms. Experimental results show that the proposed model has higher training accuracy, stability and faster convergence speed, with a mean square error of 0.02, and its prediction accuracy for porosity is higher than that of the other five methods.
SARS-CoV-2 and RT-PCR Testing in Travelers: Results of a Cross-sectional Study of Travelers at Iraq’s International Borders
Authors: Salih Doaa Abdulkhaleq , Ahmed Jivan Qasim , Qader Marwan Khalil , Shukur Mohammed S. , Zeebaree Bayar K. A. , Sadeq Mateen Bahjat , Mohammed Sirwan Najeeb , Masiha Hushank Nadhmi , Abdullah Ibrahim Mohammed , Mohammed Omar , Taha Luqman Saleh , Al-Qadi Rawand
Published: June 2022

Background:

In late 2019, a novel coronavirus was detected in Wuhan, China, that caused a pandemic by September 2021, resulting in 224,180,411 cases and more than 4,600,000 deaths worldwide. In response to the pandemic, the Autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) imposed strict infection control measures at its borders for all travelers from neighboring countries, wherein each traveler was subjected to a mandatory reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test on arrival to detect severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infected travelers. The aim of this study is to determine the rate of infection with SARS-CoV-2 among the travelers entering Kurdistan region through Ibrahim Al-Khalil crossing point with Turkey as a predictor for the upcoming infection waves.

Methods:

The data of RT-PCR tests to detect SARS-CoV-2 in all travelers arriving at the Ibrahim Al-Khalil Border Crossing between Iraq and the Republic of Turkey were reviewed from August 21, 2020 to August 21, 2021.

Results:

It was found that there were 9873 cases of SARS-CoV-2 infections among 1,082,074 travelers during the study period.

Conclusions:

This study shows the importance of mass testing of travelers at border crossings to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection.