bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Acoustic Emissions in Rock Deformation and Failure: New Insights from Q-Statistical Analysis
Authors: Vinciguerra Sergio , Greco Annalisa , Pluchino Alessandro , Rapisarda Andrea , Tsallis Constantino
Published: March 2023

We propose a new statistical analysis of the Acoustic Emissions (AE) produced in a series of triaxial deformation experiments leading to fractures and failure of two different rocks, namely, Darley Dale Sandstone (DDS) and AG Granite (AG). By means of q-statistical formalism, we are able to characterize the pre-failure processes in both types of rocks. In particular, we study AE inter-event time and AE inter-event distance distributions. Both of them can be reproduced with q-exponential curves, showing universal features which are observed here for the first time and could be important in order to understand more in detail rock fractures dynamics.
Corrosion Performance of Commercial Alloys and Refractory Metals in Conditions for Electrorefining of Spent Nuclear Fuels
Authors: Jia Yanhong , Chang Shuangshuang , Du Xin , Guo Shaoqiang
Published: March 2023

Molten LiCl-KCl salt and liquid cadmium are proposed as the electrolyte and the reactive cathode for the electrorefining of spent nuclear fuels. Corrosion testing of existing alloys is mandatory to ensure the service life of the electrorefiner vessel and electrode assemblies. Haynes C276, Inconel 600, AISI 316L stainless steel, and 42CrMo low alloy steel were exposed to LiCl-KCl melt at 500°C for 500 h in an argon atmosphere. All alloys suffered from dissolution attacks with the presence of oxide islands or porous oxide layer on the surface. AISI 316L, T91 steel and tungsten specimens were also submitted to corrosion tests in liquid cadmium at 500°C for 120 h. Corrosion of AISI 316L and T91 stainless steel were predominated by chemical oxidation with additional severe Ni dealloying occurred on AISI 316L. Tungsten only suffered from dissolution attack in comparison.
Anti-aliasing Low-Pass Filter with Independent Adjustment of the Main Parameters Based on Operational and Buffer Amplifiers
Authors: Denisenko Darya , Butyrlagin Nikolay , Pakhomov Ilya , Ivanov Yuri
Published: March 2023

A new circuit of a low-pass filter (LPF) is considered, which is switched on at the input of analog-to-digital converters to limit the spectrum of input signals. The peculiarity of the proposed low-pass filter is the independent adjustment of the pole frequency, the quality factor of the pole and the transmission coefficient by different resistors. Computer simulation performed in the Micro-Cap environment confirms these properties of the LPF. The basic mathematical expressions are obtained, which make it possible to carry out the parametric synthesis of the LPF circuit. It is shown that the sensitivity of the LPF transmission coefficient to changes in the parameters of the frequency-setting elements of the circuit is close to zero and depends only on the ratio of the resistances of the two resistors in the feedback circuit.
Soyut Kavramların Ontolojik ve Epistemolojik Boyutu
Authors: NESTEROVA COŞKUN Svıtlana
Published: March 2023

Soyut kavramlar, başta bilim, hukuk ve ahlak olmak üzere istisnasız her tür insani faaliyet alanında kullanılan temel zihinsel oluşumlar olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadırlar. Soyut kavramlar yaşamımızda ve düşünme sürecinde önemli yer işgal etmesine rağmen, bunların doğası ve işlevlerinin konusunda yeteri kadar araştırma yapılmadığı görünüyor. Bu çalışma mevcut alan literatüründeki eksiklikleri ve tartışmalı hususları tespit ederek, soyut kavramların mahiyetini ve özelliklerini ele almayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu doğrultuda öncelikle soyut ve somut kavramların ayrımını belirleyen hususlar ve tanımlama kriterleri üzerinde durulmuştur ve sonrasında soyut kavramların oluşum süreci incelenmiştir. Araştırmamız, kavramların işaret ettiği nesnelerin ontolojik statüsüne göre soyut kavramların tanımlanmasının elverişli olmadığını göstermektedir. Soyut ve somut kavramlar arasındaki temel farklılığın bunların oluşum sürecinde bulunduğunu göstererek, aralarındaki ayrımın ontolojik olmaktan çok epistemolojik olduğunu iddia etmekteyiz. Soyut kavramlar, somut nesnelere dair deneyimlerin ve kavrayışların ileriki analiziyle elde edildiği için daha üstün bir bilgi seviyesinin ürünleri olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Soyut kavramlar, somut kavramların içlemsel tanımlamasını sağladıkları için bilgi oluşum sürecinde kritik bir yere sahiptir. Bununla birlikte, soyut kavramlar çoğunlukta isim kategorisindeki sözcükler aracılığıyla ifade edildiği ve kategori hatalarına neden olduğu için, bilimsel araştırma sürecinde ve günlük kullanımda bunu dikkate almak önem taşımaktadır.
Procrastinación y satisfacción laboral en ejecutivos durante el periodo de confinamiento por Covid-19. Lima, 2020
Authors:   , Campos Vargas Rocio Melissa
Published: March 2023

La investigación lleva por título “Procrastinación y Satisfacción laboral en ejecutivos durante el periodo de confinamiento por Covid - 19. Lima, 2020”, cuyo objetivo general fue determinar si existe una relación significativa entre la procrastinación y la satisfacción laboral. El estudio es de tipo no experimental, correlacional de corte transversal. Comprende dos variables. La primera, la procrastinación laboral, conformada por dos dimensiones: procrastinación con internet y procrastinación sin internet, la segunda variable es la satisfacción laboral, conformada por la dimensión satisfacción laboral intrínseca. Se aplicó dos instrumentos: el cuestionario Procrastination at Work Scale (PAWS) (Metin, Taris y Peeters, 2016), que tuvo una confiabilidad de 0.956 de alfa de Cronbach y la escala de Satisfacción laboral de Price, adaptada por Alarco (2010), que tuvo una confiabilidad de 0.895 de alfa de Cronbach. Para la investigación se realizó un censo, pues se utilizó todos los miembros de la población, compuesta por 95 ejecutivos del sector privado en trabajo remoto, pertenecientes a diversas compañías de Lima. De acuerdo con la prueba de correlación de Spearman, la cual indica que entre las variables procrastinación y satisfacción existe una relación moderada (rho = - 0,579, pvalor < 0,05) siendo la tendencia de la relación negativa, es decir que ambas variables se correlacionan de manera inversa. Esto significa que, a mayor procrastinación laboral, menor es el nivel de satisfacción laboral en los ejecutivos durante el periodo de confinamiento por COVID- 19.
Evaluación de los indicadores de inflación subyacente para el Perú
Authors:   , Grande Espino Alexander
Published: March 2023

El objetivo de esta investigación es evaluar la utilidad de los indicadores de inflación subyacente que existen en el Perú. En particular, se analizan 4 indicadores de inflación subyacente publicados por el Banco Central de Reserva del Peruú: (i) la inflación subyacente oficial, (ii) la inflación sin alimentos, (iii) la inflación sin alimentos y energía, y (iv) la inflación sin alimentos y bebidas. La utilidad de estos indicadores se analizó bajo los tres criterios propuestos por Marques y Otros (2003): (a) Existe una relación de largo plazo 1 a 1 entre la inflación oficial y la inflación subyacente (es decir, cointegran con un vector de cointegración igual a [1, 1]), (b) la inflación subyacente es debilmente exógena (es decir, es un atractor para la inflación oficial), y (c) la inflación subyacente es fuertemente exógena (es decir, permite predecir a la inflación oficial). La información utilizada es de frecuencia mensual y cubre todo el período de Metas Explícitas de Inflación previo a la pandemia del COVID-19, desde enero 2002 hasta febrero 2020. Los resultados muestran que la inflación subyacente oficial y la inflación sin alimentos y bebidas cumplen con los criterios considerados.
Hybrid Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach to Choose the Best Treatment Process to Remove Pesticides from Drinking Water Sources: Diuron and Cypermethrin
Authors: OZGUR Cihan , BARIS Deniz , Bekaroglu Sehnaz Sule Kaplan
Published: March 2023

Overuse of pesticides in the agriculture sector has resulted in many problems related to human health and environmental issues. Most of the pesticides reach aquatic bodies through agricultural runoff, transportation through air, and seepage through the soil. To lessen the hazards pesticide usage poses to the environment and public health, pesticides must be removed from drinking water sources. Today, choosing the best treatment process is a difficult challenge for water authorities, especially in developing nations because of its complexity. This study proposes a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method based on Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which combines the order preference technique similar to the ideal solution (TOPSIS) and the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) to choose the most appropriate method for pesticide removal in drinking water treatment. The goal of this approach is to prioritize and choose treatment options for different pesticide groups. To represent different pesticide groups, diuron, and cypermethrin were selected based on toxicity, worldwide occurrence, persistence, and physicochemical properties. The results of all MCDM techniques show that nanofiltration is the best alternative for diuron removal and granular activated carbon adsorption is the most appropriate process for cypermethrin removal. Hybrid MCDM techniques is the best method to choose the treatment technologies to comply with technical, financial, and environmental requirements. The assessment of pesticide removal methods using hybrid AHP/MCDM approach has never been performed before in drinking water treatment, and it has been shown to be a promising way for ranking treatment processes for pesticides.
WITHDRAWN: The Impact of Macro-Economy Variables on the Economic Growth in Iran
Authors: khorami Shahrouz , Naseri Bahareh , Bahari Arman
Published: March 2023

Developing and increasing the economy are the important goals, which any economy follows. The main goal of the study is to explore the impact of variables of macro-economy like human, physical properties, and the value of government on developing the economy of Iran. Therefore, the data from Iran from 1990 to 2020 was used by utilizing the Auto-Aggression Distributed Lag (ARDL). The results of the estimation of the long-term relations in the base of ARDL models show the coefficient related to physical properties variable and human properties have been estimated significantly and positively. Also, the coefficient variable of force and the value of government were estimated negatively as the percentage of the government’s spending from impure. The coefficient of error correction sentence was estimated as -0.31, which is completely significant and expected. In base of this study’s results, the physical properties and human properties variables are the important variables, which impact on economy development and can develop the economy of country by increasing the personal abilities and producing and people’s potentials. While in Iran, because of the existed economy structure, the role of government in economy is so vital but the high volume of job opportunities can have the negative impact on the body of economy, which this study tries to reflex it, and by making the government’s spending meaningful through the developing programs of country and perspective proof can be important and effective step through the mentioned goals.
JEL classification: O47, C32, C22, H54
wildNeRF: Novel view synthesis of in-the-wild dynamic scenes using using sparse monocular view data
Authors: Khalid Shuja , Rudzicz Frank
Published: March 2023

We present a novel neural radiance model that is trainable in a selfsupervised manner for novel-view synthesis of dynamic unstructured scenes. Our end-to-end trainable algorithm learns highly complex, realworld static scenes within seconds and dynamic scenes with both rigid and non-rigid motion within minutes. By differentiating between static and motion-centric pixels, we create high-quality representations from a sparse set of images. We perform extensive qualitative and quantitative evaluation on existing benchmarks and set the state-of-the-art on performance measures on the challenging NVIDIA Dynamic Scenes Dataset. Additionally, we evaluate our model performance on challenging real-world datasets such as Cholec80 and SurgicalActions160. We have made the available at https://github.com/ShujaKhalid/wildNeRF.
Factors other than climate change are currently more important in predicting how well fruit farms are doing financially
Authors: Obster Fabian , Bohle Heidi , Pechan Paul
Published: March 2023

Supervised machine learning and statistical modeling methods were used to analyze the impact of climate change on financial wellbeing of fruit farmers in Tunisia and Chile. The analysis was based on face to face interviews with 801 farmers. This is the first report directly comparing climate change hazards with other factors potentially impacting financial wellbeing of (fruit) farms. Certain climate change factors, namely increases in temperature and reductions in precipitation, can regionally impact self-perceived financial wellbeing of fruit farmers. Specifically, increases in temperature and reduction in precipitation can have a measurable negative impact on the financial wellbeing of farms in Chile. This effect is less pronounced in Tunisia. However, climate change is only of minor importance for predicting farm financial wellbeing, especially for farms already doing financially well. Factors that are more important, mainly in Tunisia, included trust in information sources and prior farm ownership. Other important factors include farm size, water management systems used and diversity of fruit crops grown. Moreover, some of the important factors identified differed between farms doing and not doing well financially. Interactions between factors may improve or worsen farm financial wellbeing.
Perinatal and maternal outcome in relation to maternal obesity and overweight in Sudanese women
Authors: Elimam Ali Mohamed Ali , Allah Eltigani Nor Allah Eltigani Nor , Salih Sakeena Nour Eldine , Handady Siddig Omer M.
Published: March 2023

Background: Maternal complications, including gestational diabetes mellitus, hypertensive disorders and delivery of a preterm or a growth restricted baby, are higher among women with overweight or obesity.
Objective: To determine perinatal and maternal outcome in relation to maternal obesity and overweight among Sudanese women.
Methods: It was a descriptive, cross-sectional and hospital-based study conducted in Bashier Teaching Hospital, Sudan from July 2021 to January 2022. Three hundred pregnant women who fulfilled the inclusion criteria of the study were enrolled in the study. Data was collected using a questionnaire which filled with women included in the study and after taking informed consent.
Results: The mean of age was 31.31 ±2.88 among the overweight group and 29.03 ±3.83 among the obese group . The rate of preeclampsia was (38.5% vs. 12.9%), anemia (8.2% vs. 2.2%) , DVT (1.6% vs. 0.0%) , polyhydramnios (6.6% vs. 3.4%) and gestational diabetes (9.8% vs. 4.5%). These were significantly (p-value < 0.05) higher in obese cases as compared to overweight women. Significantly (p-value < 0.05) higher rates of IUFD (2.5% vs. 0.6%), low apgar score <7 (30. 3% vs. 11.8%) %), admission to NICU (26. 2% vs. 12.4%) was noted among obese group.
Conclusion: The study concluded that overweight and obesity were associated with significant and higher maternal outcome such as development of gestational diabetes , hypertensive disorders, intraprtum and postpartum hemorrhage and other disorders.
Smell Impairmet and Schizophrania: Genotypic and Phenotypc Correlates in a Familial Cohort
Authors: Saeed Azza , Ibraheim Nada , Abbasher Khabab , Hasabo Elfatih A. , Alnour Roaa , Hamad Reem , Ahmed Lamees , Abuswar Safa , Eltigani Amel , Hussein Ayman , Ibrahim Muntaser E.
Published: March 2023

Background
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which patients experience altered perception of the world. It has been reported to manifest in smell impairment similar to other neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. The sense of smell functions through olfactory receptor genes (ORs), a large family of G protein coupled receptors (GPCR), however, how it relates to neurotransmitters dysfunction associated with schizophrenia remains largely speculative.
Methods
Based on preliminary findings of ORs enrichment in whole genomes/exomes of seven families with multiple siblings affected with schizophrenia, sequence data were further interrogated focusing this time on ORs genes. A separate study using 10 different odorants was carried out in 116 healthy controls, 24 patients and 18 healthy first degree relatives, to test their olfactory identification and detection abilities.
Results and Discussion
In concordance with the literature, there were significant differences between schizophrenia cases and population healthy controls in smell identification rather than total detection with P ≤ 0.001.
Although no single variant was found shared between all seven families, several pathogenic variants were shared between two families or more, with marked enrichment in chromosome 11. Four rare variants were detected in one family together with eight rather common variants associated with sensory perception .Network analysis showed centrality of olfactory and non-ORs genes like Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway which may shed light on possible functional aspects of the OR impairment in schizophrenia.
Conclusion
The implication of these findings and the marked inter familial variation warrants further investigation of smell impairment involvement in schizophrenia pathogenesis in both individualized and globalized settings.
Effects of dietary xylanase plus β-glucanase levels on total-tract nutrient and energy digestibility and N balance of growing pigs fed diets containing corn distiller dried grains
Authors: Dereck Bryan Francisco Castro , Giacomel Elias , de Souza Caroline , de Freitas Leonardo Willian , Straub Igor Willian Wrobel , Corassa Anderson , Ton Ana Paula Silva , Gois Franz Dias , Fuentes Jhunior Abrahan Marcía , Sbardella Maicon
Published: March 2023

Corn distiller dried grains (corn-DDG) addition to pig diets has been limited due to fiber concerns. The purposes were to determine the metabolizable energy of corn-DDG (Exp. I) and the dose–response effects of dietary xylanase plus β-glucanase on nutrient and energy digestibility of growing pigs fed diets containing 25% corn-DDG (Exp. II). Pigs in individual cages were submitted to feeding periods of 5 d for voluntary feed intake quantification followed by 5 d for collection of feces and urine. In Exp. I, 10 barrows with 61.10 ± 3.25 kg BW distributed in a randomized complete block design experiment with five replications were fed a reference diet or a test diet (75% reference diet plus 25% corn-DDG). In Exp. II, 10 castrated male pigs with 29.69 ± 3.57 kg BW distributed in a Latin square design (two squares with four replicates in time) experiment were fed with 5 dietary xylanase plus β-glucanase levels (0, 50, 100, 200 or 400 mg/kg) added to diets formulated with 25% corn-DDG. The corn-DDG had 26.5% crude protein, 5.94% ether extract, 55.5% neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and 4,248 kcal/kg gross energy. The metabolizable energy of corn-DDG was 3,657 ± 189 kcal/kg. Increasing dietary xylanase plus β-glucanase quadratically influenced (P < 0.05) the NDF digestibility and digestible energy in growing pigs fed diets containing 25% corn-DDGS. Compared to the control, dietary xylanase plus β-glucanase addition increased digestibility and reduced metabolizability of crude protein. Dietary xylanase plus β-glucanase addition in growing pig diets containing corn-DDG increased NDF digestibility, allowing additional dietary energy and protein availability.
Impact of a wearable-based physical activity andsleep intervention in multimorbidity patients:protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Neves Bernardo , Doutel Eduardo , Pereira Hugo V. , Costa Filipe , Carlos João S. , Ferreira Daniel , Moreno Plinio , Ferreira Pedro , Silva Nuno André , Moreira José Maria , Leite Francisca , Machado Jaime , Goncalves Breno
Published: March 2023

Background: The benefits of physical activity and adequate sleep are well documented, and their importance strengthens with the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases and multimorbidity (MM). Interventions to promote physical activity and sleep that use commercial activity trackers may be useful non-pharmacological approaches to managing individual health; however, limited evidence exists on their use to improve physical activity in elderly patients with MM.
Methods: This study aims to measure the effects of behavioral change techniques (BCTs) delivered by a wearable device on physical activity (PA) and quality of sleep (QS) in elderly patients with MM. We designed an open-label randomized controlled trial with participants recruited through primary care and a specialist outpatient clinic. Participants must be more than 65 years old, have MM, and have access to smartphones. All eligible participants will receive PA promotion content and will be randomly assigned to wear a smartwatch. The primary outcome will be the participants' PA measurement at six months using the IPAQ-SF. Secondary outcomes will include changes in the participants' frailty status, biometric measurements, quality of life, and biopsychosocial assessments. A sample size of 40 participants per arm was calculated to detect group differences, with 50 participants recruited and randomized into each arm.
Discussion: This study aims to contribute to a better understanding of PA patterns and the impact of wearable-based PA interventions in patients with MM. In addition, we aim to contribute to more knowledge about the relationship between PA patterns, Patient Reported Outcomes Measures (PROMs), and healthcare resource utilization in patients with MM. To achieve this, the study will leverage a locally developed PROMs registry and assess data from participants' medical records, in order to understand the added impact of wearable data and medical information data on predicting PROMs and unplanned hospital admissions.
Trial registration: Awaiting number assignment on ClinialTrials.gov
WITHDRAWN: Vulnerability risk among older people living alone: A cross-sectional study using the Vulnerable Elders Survey (VES-13)
Authors: Montayre Jed , Sparks Trena , Marak Carol , Carney Maria Torroella , Ho Mu-Hsing
Published: March 2023

Solo living or living alone with geographically near support among older people is considered by some as a life-style choice. However, kinlessness may prove to be critical for the health and well-being among older people. This cross-sectional study examined the profile of older people living alone and to determine their risk for health deterioration based on self-rated health, limitations in physical function, and functional disabilities. Data collection was through an online survey from a close social media group with members from all over the world, who identified as older people living alone with no geographically close family members. The Vulnerable Elder Survey (VES-13) developed by Saliba et al. (2001) was used for the purpose of examining vulnerability of the older people living in the community. Our findings show that older adults in our study, even though they are still able to cope living alone in the community, 21.4% were considered vulnerable and at risk of health decline. Less than half of participants (n = 137; 43.8%) have an advanced medical care plan and more than 50% (n = 242) of participants did not have access to any organisation or agency that assists with health appointment/visits. In terms of the matters that concern participants the most while living alone in the community, healthcare access (valid% = 35.8%) and affordability (valid% = 35.8%) ranked as topmost priorities, followed by the social involvement, climate and weather, preserving and promoting health, transportation, physical fitness and spiritual well-being. Our findings suggested that multi-sectoral effort by way of community members, beyond the healthcare settings (i.e., lawyers and policymakers) is needed to identify and address the challenges faced by older people living alone while they are still residing within their communities and have competent decision-making capacity, particularly matters concerning their health and access to healthcare services.
Summer rain and wet soil but not management correlate with the distribution of a toxic plant in production grasslands
Authors: Wagner Thomas C. , Laumer Michael , Kuhn Gisbert , Mayer Franziska , Gehring Klaus , Krieger Marie-Therese , Kollmann Johannes , Albrecht Harald
Published: March 2023

In the northern forelands of the Alps, farmers report an increase of Jacobaea aquatica in production grasslands. Due to its toxicity, the species affects grassland productivity and makes costly control measures necessary. We are investigating the extent to which management practices or climatic factors are responsible for the increase of the species, and how the situation will change as a result of climate change. We tested for effects of management intensity, fertilization, agri-environmental measures and injuries to soil and sward and modeled the species' risk of occurrence under rcp4.5 and rcp8.5 scenarios. Main determinants of the occurrence of the species are soil type and summer rainfall. A high risk is associated with wet soils and more than 400 mm rain between June and August. An influence of the management related factors could not be detected. Under the climate scenarios, the overall occurrence risk decreases, and shifts to the wetter alpine regions. The reported increase is rather a shift in the occurrence of the species due to the altered precipitation situation. Under future climatic conditions, the species will decline and retreat to higher regions in the Alps. This will decrease the risk of forage contamination in lower production grassland.
Measurements for characteristics of turbulence over a streamwise preferential porous substrate
Authors: Morimoto Mahiro , Aoki Ryoma , Kuwata Yusuke , Suga Kazuhiko
Published: March 2023

To investigate the flow characteristics over a streamwise-preferential porous substrate, we design a layered porous medium that satisfies the drag-reducing conditions suggested by the DNS of Gomez-de Segura and Garcia-Mayoral (2019). Planar PIV measurements are carried out for fully developed turbulent flows over substrates made of the layered porous medium. Two (square duct and two-dimensional channel) flow cases are considered. Streamwise-wall-normal plane measurements are performed at the bulk Reynolds numbers Reb=5000-15000 for the square duct flows. The measurement data indicate that with the drag-reducing conditions, which are suggested by the DNS, turbulence over the porous substrate is suppressed to a similar level to that near a solid smooth wall. For further discussion, we then carry out another PIV campaign for channel flows. With streamwise-wall-normal and streamwise-spanwise plane measurements of channel flows at Reb=3000-15000, it is observed that the turbulence level near the porous medium is more significant than that near the solid wall. To investigate why turbulence over the layered porous medium behaves unlike in the DNS, we analyse the data comparing with our previously studied porous medium turbulence. With the spanwise streak distributions and quadrant analyses, their similarity and dissimilarity of turbulence structures are discussed.
Hypericons for Abstract Concepts: Non-traditional Approaches to Visual Explainability
Authors: Pandiani Delfina Sol Martinez , Lazzari Nicolas , Erp Marieke van , Presutti Valentina
Published: March 2023

In the cultural heritage (CH) field, abstract concepts–such as comfort, power, or freedom–are considered powerful tools to index cultural visual data. Simultaneously, the ever-increasing number of images is too great to index manually, so computer vision (CV)-based methods are employed to automatically classify images. The CV field, however, has paid scarce attention to image classification based on abstract concepts, partly because it has historically favored tasks and datasets for purportedly objective, concrete categories. More subjective and culturally-coded classes, like abstract concepts, more explicitly require interpretability of predictions by automatic models, given the potential to echo harmful bias. This is especially true for their detection in CH collections, given that they tend to contain many `ethically sensitive' depictions. To address the gap in CV-based interpretable methods for automatic classification of abstract concepts, we (1) present ARTstract, a dataset of cultural images and their evocation of certain abstract concepts (2) report baseline model performances on ARTstract for the task of image classification by abstract concepts, and, critically, (3) use them as a case study of traditional and non-traditional approaches to visual interpretability, inspired by [Offert \& Bell 2021]’s work. We introduce a unique approach to testing the interpretability of predictions by automatic models, using a combination of attribution maps (AM) and stable diffusion (SD). This approach has not been attempted before, and we experiment with it as a way to extend hermeneutic work back into the technical system that enables, unveiling its potential as a provider of lessons for developing systems that are interpretable-by-design.
Welding motion matching of tank with variable curvature section based on discrete planning method of welding torch posture
Authors: song Yanli , Li Weihao , Wang Jun , Lu Jue , Zhang Shulei , Zuo Hongzhou , Wang Xuanguo
Published: March 2023

Welding path planning and motion matching of complex tanks are major areas of research for intelligent welding equipment. In the present work, the welding of tank with variable curvature section was taken as the study object, an innovative method to automatically generate the posture of welding torch at the welding spots of variable curvature section was proposed. The torch posture homogeneous transformation matrix was established, and the equation of welding motion matching on basis of the method of torch posture planning was constructed by combining the angle planning equation of the positioner. Then, a set of welding torch posture and positioner’s rotation angles along the welding path of variable curvature section was created in Matlab, and the combination code of the welding torch movement and positioner rotation was obtained to accurately control the welding speed, wire extension and the posture of welding torch during the welding process of the tank. An aluminum alloy tank composed of eight arcs was chosen to verify the proposed technique. The results show that the difference of welding position at the same positioner’s rotation angle ranged from -0.7976 mm to 0.7616 mm, the repeatability accuracy of the posture of the automatic welding system was less than 0.1 mm, and the weld qualification rate of aluminum alloy tank is more than 98% with limited weld defects. That is, the tanks with variable curvature sections can be automatically and accurately welded by the proposed method.
Data from the European registry for patients with McArdle disease (EUROMAC): Functional status and social participation.
Authors: Karazi Walaa , Scalco Renata S. , Stemmerik Mads G. , Løkken Nicoline , Lucia Alejandro , Santalla Alfredo , Martinuzzi Andrea , Vavla Marinela , Reni Gianluigi , Toscano Antonio , Musumeci Olimpia , Kouwenberg Carlyn V. , Laforêt Pascal , Millán Beatriz San , Vieitez Irene , Siciliano Gabriele , Kühnle Enrico , Trost Rebecca , Sacconi Sabrina , Durmus Hacer , Kierdaszuk Biruta , Wakelin Andrew , Andreu Antoni L. , Pinós Tomàs , Marti Ramon , Quinlivan Ros , Vissing John , Voermans Nicol C.
Published: March 2023

Background
The European registry for individuals with GSD5 and other muscle glycogenosis (EUROMAC) was launched to register rare muscle glycogenosis in Europe, to facilitate recruitment for research trials and to learn about the phenotypes and disseminate knowledge about the diseases. A network of twenty full and collaborating partners from eight European countries and the US contributed data on rare muscle glycogenosis in the EUROMAC registry.
Methods
Following the initial report on demographics, neuromuscular features and comorbidity (2020), we here present the data on social participation, previous and current treatments (medication, supplements, diet and rehabilitation) and limitations. Furthermore, the following questionnaires were used: Fatigue severity scale (FSS), WHO Disability Assessment Scale (DAS 2.0), health related quality of life (SF36) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ).
Results
Of 282 participants with confirmed diagnoses of muscle glycogenosis, 269 had GSD5. Of them 196 (73%) completed all questionnaires; for the others, the data were incomplete. The majority, 180 (67%) were currently working. Previous medical treatments included pain relief (23%) and rehabilitation treatment (60%). The carbohydrate-rich diet was reported to be beneficial for 68%, the low sucrose diet for 76% and the ketogenic diet for 88%. Almost all participants (93%) reported difficulties climbing stairs. The median FSS score was 5.22, indicating severe fatigue. The data from the WHODAS and IPAQ was not of sufficient quality to be interpreted.
Conclusions
The EUROMAC project and registry have provided insight into the functional and social status of participants with GSD5: most participants are socially active despite limitations in physical and daily life activities. Regular physical activity and different dietary approaches may alleviate fatigue and pain.
Survival Rate of Kidney Cancer in the Asian Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis study
Authors: Delam Hamed , Keshtkaran Zahra , Eidi Ahmadreza , Zare Reza , Shahedi Alireza , Hassanipour Soheil , Amini-Salehi Ehsan , Abdollahpour‐Alitappeh Meghdad
Published: March 2023

Background:Kidney cancer is one of the most deadly cancers of the urinary tract. Among the different continents, Asia has the highest percentage in terms of incidence and mortality. In the present study, we aimed to provide a comprehensive estimate of kidney cancer survival in Asian countries.Methods:The current study is a systematic review and meta-analysis of kidney cancer survival in Asian countries. Researchers in the study searched for articles published in six international databases. We included all observational studies (cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies) published up to June 1, 2022. Survival and exclusively localized renal cell carcinoma in Asian countries were included in the study. The Newcastle-Ottawa Quality Assessment Form has been prepared in previous studies to evaluate the quality of papers. The random-effects model was used to reduce the risk of bias in the studies. The Egger bias test was also used to assess the risk of publication bias.Results:In total, 42 articles had criteria for inclusion in the analysis. The one-year survival rate in Asian countries was 71% (95% CI 66.2-75.3). The five-year survival rate was 69.4% (95% CI 67.7-71.0), and the 10-year survival rate was 62.3% (95% CI 57.6-66.7). The meta-regression results showed a significant association between publication year and one-year and five-year survival rates. Thus, the year of study is a cause of variability in results of one-year (Reg Coef = 0.099, P<0.001) and five-year (Reg Coef = 0.045, P<0.001) survival rates. Human Development Index was a cause of variability in results of one-year (Reg Coef = 4.80, P<0.001) and five-year survival rates (Reg Coef = 2.90, P<0.001).Conclusion:The survival rate of kidney cancer in Asian countries is lower than in European countries and the United States.
Survival and Factors Associated with Mortality Among Infants with Anorectal Malformation: A Population- Based Study from A Middle-Income Country
Authors: BAH Mohd Nizam MAT , ZAHARI Norazah , KASIM Aina Salwa , SHARIF Noorintan Liana MOHAMED
Published: March 2023

Limited data on the survival of anorectal malformation (ARM) patients from lower-and-middle income countries is available. This retrospective population-based study from the State of Johor, Malaysia, determines the incidence, mortality rate, and survival of ARM patients and factors associated with mortality. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to estimate the survival of ARM patients at 1-, 5- and 10- years. In addition, multivariate cox-regression analysis was used to analyze mortality-related factors. There were 175 ARM patients among 803850 live births, giving an overall ARM incidence of 2.2 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.9 to 2.5) per 10,000 live births. The male-to-female ratio was 1.5: 1. There was 122 (69%) non-isolated ARM, of which 41 were Down syndrome and 34 had VACTERL. Seventy-three (41.7%) had CHD, with 38 severe and 35 non-severe CHD. Overall, 33 (18.9%) patients died, with a median age of death of 5.7 months (Interquartile range 25 days to 11.2 months). The overall estimated 1-, 5- and 10-year survival rate for ARM patients was 82.3% (95% CI, 76.0% – 88.6%), 77.3% (95% CI, 70.4% - 84.2%), and 77.3% (95% CI, 70.4%- 84.2%), respectively. Univariate analysis shows that non-isolated ARM, VACTREL association, and severe CHD were associated with mortality. However, only severe CHD is the independent factor associated with mortality, with a hazard ratio of 4.03 (95% CI: 1.93-8.42).
Conclusion: CHD is common among ARM patients, and one in five ARM patients had a severe cardiac defect, significantly affecting their survival.
Building Product Family Platform and Product Service System Based on Extension Innovation Method
Authors: Chen Tao , LUH Ding-Bang , Li Xing-Sen
Published: March 2023

In order to improve the universality of the product family platform, from the perspective of extension innovation method, the product family architecture composed of demand domain, functional domain, technology domain and physical domain was studied. Based on the extension innovation methods, a product service system centered on the product family development platform was established. The basic-element logic language and method of extension design is employed to analyze the characteristics of product family design including generalization, parameterization, modularization, and intelligence. The product family design platform is built through three aspects: formal and modeled basic element representation, modular element configuration and intelligent generation paths. The platform consists of four models and three resource libraries, which is beneficial to forming a decision-making and configuration framework based on product family design platform and reveal the whole process of product development. Combined with artificial intelligence technology, this research constructs a smart product service system framework oriented towards product family design and proposes an extension design generation system. The main challenges and future research directions are also discussed.
Alteration of Circulating levels of BDNF, SPARC, FGF-21, and GDF-15 after 1 Year of Anti-Obesity Treatments and Their Association with 1-Year Weight Loss
Authors: Chaiyasoot Kusuma , Khumkhana Nanta , Deekum Wanjan , Chaichana Chartchai , Taweerutchana Voraboot , Srisuwora Nicha , Pramyothin Pornpoj
Published: March 2023

Conclusions: This study highlights the association of SPARC, FGF-21, and GDF-15 levels with BMI. Decreased circulating levels of GDF-15 and FGF-21 were associated with greater weight loss at 1 year regardless of types of anti-obesity modalities.
Purpose: Emerging evidence revealed that brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF), secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine(SPARC), fibroblast growth factor 21(FGF-21) and growth differentiation factor 15(GDF-15) are involved in energy metabolism and body weight regulation. Our study aimed at examining their association with BMI, their alterations after anti-obesity treatments, and their association with 1-year weight loss.
Methods: A prospective observational study of 171 participants with overweight and obesity and 46 lean controls was established. All participants received lifestyle educational intervention (LEI) with or without anti-obesity treatments (LEI+bariatric/metabolic surgery, n=41; LEI+topiramate, n=46; LEI+liraglutide, n=31; LEI+orlistat, n=12; and LEI alone, n=41). Anthropometric and metabolic parameters, insulin sensitivity, C-reactive protein (CRP), fasting plasma levels of BDNF, SPARC, GDF-15, and FGF-21 were measured at baseline and 1 year.
Results: Multiple linear regression showed that the fasting levels of SPARC, FGF-21, and GDF-15 were significantly associated with baseline BMI after adjusting for age and sex. At 1 year, average weight loss was 4.8% in the entire cohort with a significant improvement in glycemia, insulin sensitivity and CRP. Multiple linear regression adjusted for age, sex, baseline BMI, type of treatment, and the presence of T2DM revealed that the decrease in log10FGF-21 and log10GDF-15 at 1 year from baseline were significantly associated with greater 1-year percentage weight loss.
Integrative Pan-Cancer Analysis Reveals the Value of POU3F4 in Tumor Prognostic Signature, Immunity and Drug Resistance
Authors: Ji Yaya , Ji Ruijie , Lin Yujian , Zhang Xunrui , Li Wen , Zhang Lei , Wu Yuhang , Liu Lehan , Sha Tianle , Chen Weiwei , Song Jianxiang , Zhang Xinhua
Published: March 2023

POU3F4, a transcription factor (TF), has been proved to be critical regulator of inner ear and pancreas development and neurogenesis. Despite growing evidence confirming the indispensable role of POU3F4 in carcinogenesis of specific cancers, the pan-cancer assessment of POU3F4 remains scanty. As a result, we aimed at studying the prognostic value of POU3F4 in thirty-three cancers and to study the underlying function in immunity. On the grounds of data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia, Genotype Tissue-Expression and Gene Set Cancer Analysis, we made use of numerous bioinformatics ways to study the prospective carcinogenic effects of POU3F4, DNA methylation, RNA methylation, tumor mutation burden (TMB), mismatch repair (MMR) gene, microsatellite instability (MSI), POU3F4-prognosis interrelation, and immune cell infiltration (ICI) in discrepant tumors. The analysis yielded that the POU3F4 expression was at a low rate in most cancers, while it was higher in breast invasive carcinoma, glioblastoma multiforme, liver hepatocellular carcinoma, and thyroid carcinoma. Additionally, POU3F4 had a link with the prognosis of discrepant cancers, either positively or negatively. Expression of POU3F4 showed relevance to MSI (4 cancer types) and TMB (6 cancer types), and exhibited striking relevance to DNA methylation (13 cancer types) and RNA methylation (most cancers). Additionally, its expression was associated with tumor immune microenvironment, immune-related genes, ICI and drug resistance in different cancers. In vitro experiments had shown that POU3F4 could increase cell viability, proliferation and migration of glioma cells. Our research reveals that concerning the indispensable function in carcinogenesis and tumor immunity, POU3F4 is deemed as a prognostic hallmark in discrepant malignancies.
DC-GAN with Feature Attention for Single Image Dehazing
Authors: TASSEW TEWODROS MEGABIAW , Xuan Nie
Published: March 2023

In recent years, the frequent occurrence of smog weather has affected people's health and has also had a major impact on computer vision application systems. Images captured in hazy environments suffer from quality degradation and other issues such as color distortion, low contrast, and lack of detail. This study proposes an end-to-end, adversarial neural network-based dehazing technique called DC-GAN that combines Dense and Residual blocks efficiently for improved dehazing performance. In addition, it also consists of channel attention and pixel attention, which can offer more versatility when dealing with different forms of data. The Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network with Gradient Penality(WGAN-GP) was used as an enhancement method to correct the shortcomings in the original GAN's cost function and create an improvised loss. On the basis of the experiment results, the algorithm used in this paper is able to generate sharp images with high image quality. The processed images were simultaneously analyzed using the objective evaluation metrics Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity (SSIM). The findings demonstrate that the dehazing effect is favorable compared to other state-of-the-art dehazing algorithms, achieving a PSNR and SSIM of 14.7 and 0.54 for the indoor images, and 16.54 and 0.54 for the outdoor images respectively using the NTIRE 2018 dataset. Using the SOTS dataset, the model achieved a PSNR and SSIM of 23.98 and 0.87 for the indoor images, and 19.88 and 0.83 for the outdoor images.
Aluminum soap nanoparticles-lignin powder form phase-selective gelator: synergistic adsorption and gelation for rapid oil spill recovery
Authors: Cui Suwan , Qi Bohao , Liu Hao , Sun Xiaojun , He Rui , Lian Junshuai , Li Yiming , Lu Jinren , Bao Mutai
Published: March 2023

Rapid and effective recovery of the oil spill is extremely challenging during oil spill remediation. To meet this challenge, an organogelator-polymerized porous matrix composed of adsorbents and organogelators provided a new strategy. This work investigated the gelling mechanism of aluminum 12-hydroxystearate (Al HSA) to form spherical nano micelles in solvents via UV-vis, FT-IR, and XRD. We creatively proposed a method for saponification of 12-hydroxystearic acid (HSA) on lignin via epichlorohydrin (ECH) crosslinking to produce aluminum soap-lignin gelator (OTS-AL/Al HSA). By adjusting the ECH content, Al HSA nanoparticles (15-40 nm) were grown on lignin, which improved the roughness endowing lignin with better hydrophobicity (WCA 134.6°) before octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) modification. Oils and organic solvents could be rapidly adsorbed by OTS-AL/Al HSA gelator at low temperatures due to the abundant pore structures. Rheological studies demonstrated its gelation characteristics, which were attributed to the rapid absorption of oils by lignin and the self-assembly of Al HSA nano micelles on lignin to form an aggregated network structure trapping oils, thus realizing the synergistic effect of oil adsorption-gelation. Recyclable materials, easy preparation process, and excellent oil treatment capacity make this new biomaterial may inspire more research in oil spill remediation in the future.