bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On Asymptotic Stability of the Sine-Gordon Kink in the Energy Space
Authors: Alejo Miguel A. , Muñoz Claudio , Palacios José M.
Published: June 2023

We consider the sine-Gordon (SG) equation in $$1+1$$

1
+
1

dimensions. The kink is a static, non symmetric exact solution to SG, stable in the energy space $$H^1\times L^2$$

H
1

×

L
2

. It is well-known that the linearized operator around the kink has a simple kernel and no internal modes. However, it possesses an odd resonance at the bottom of the continuum spectrum, deeply related to the existence of the (in)famous wobbling kink, an explicit periodic-in-time solution of SG around the kink that contradicts the asymptotic stability of the kink in the energy space. In this paper we further investigate the influence of resonances in the asymptotic stability question. We also discuss the relationship between breathers, wobbling kinks and resonances in the SG setting. By gathering Bäcklund transformations (BT) as in Hoffman and Wayne (Differ Int Equ 26(3–4):303–320, 2013), Muñoz and Palacios (Ann. IHP C Analyse Nonlinéaire 36(4):977–1034, 2019) and Virial estimates around odd perturbations of the vacuum solution, in the spirit of Kowalczyk et al. (Lett Math Phys 107(5):921–931, 2017), we first identify the manifold of initial data around zero under which BTs are related to the wobbling kink solution. It turns out that (even) small breathers are deeply related to odd perturbations around the kink, including the wobbling kink itself. As a consequence of this result and Kowalczyk et al. (Lett Math Phys 107(5):921–931, 2017), using BTs we can construct a smooth manifold of initial data close to the kink, for which there is asymptotic stability in the energy space. The initial data has spatial symmetry of the form (kink + odd, even), non resonant in principle, and not preserved by the flow. This asymptotic stability property holds despite the existence of wobbling kinks in SG. We also show that wobbling kinks are orbitally stable under odd data, and clarify some interesting connections between SG and $$\phi ^4$$

ϕ
4

at the level of linear Bäcklund transformations.
Avoiding incompatible drug pairs in central-venous catheters of patients receiving critical care: an algorithm-based analysis and a staff survey
Authors: Wagner Leonhardt Alexander Fabian , Neininger Martina Patrizia , Hensen Jan , Zube Olaf , Bertsche Thilo
Published: June 2023

Purpose

In a critical care setting, we aimed to identify and solve physico-chemical drug incompatibilities in central-venous catheters considering the staffs’ knowledge and assumptions about incompatibilities.

Methods

(i) After positive ethical vote, an algorithm to identify incompatibilities was developed and applied. The algorithm was based on KIK® database and Stabilis® database, the drug label, and Trissel textbook. (ii) A questionnaire was created and used that asked staff for knowledge and assumptions about incompatibilities. (iii) A 4-step avoidance recommendation was developed and applied.

Results

(i) At least one incompatibility was identified in 64 (61.4%) of 104 enrolled patients. Eighty one (62.3%) of 130 incompatible combinations affected piperacillin/tazobactam and in 18 (13.8%) each furosemide and pantoprazole. (ii) 37.8% (n = 14) of the staff members participated in the questionnaire survey (median age: 31, IQR: 4.75 years). The combination of piperacillin/tazobactam and pantoprazole was incorrectly judged to be compatible by 85.7%. Only rarely felt the majority of respondents unsafe in administering drugs (median score: 1; 0, never to 5, always). (iii) In those 64 patients with at least one incompatibility, 68 avoidance recommendations were given, and all were fully accepted. In 44 (64.7%) of 68 recommendations “Step 1: Administer sequentially” was suggested as a avoidance strategy. In 9/68 (13.2%) “Step 2: Use another lumen”, in 7/68 (10.3%) “Step 3: Take a break”, and in 8/68 (11.8%) “Step 4: Use catheters with more lumens” were recommended.

Conclusions

Although incompatibilities were common, the staff rarely felt unsafe when administering drugs. Knowledge deficits correlated well with the incompatibilities identified. All recommendations were fully accepted.
Ascorbyl palmitate–PCL fiber mats loaded with strontium polyphosphate nanoparticles for guided bone regeneration
Authors: Abdel-Hady Bothaina M. , Ekram Basma , Müller Werner E. G. , Gad Abdul Aziz M. , Wang Xiaohong , Schröder Heinz C. , Tolba Emad
Published: June 2023

Multifunctional fiber mats are explored as potential bioactive matrices for the development of the next generation of guided bone regeneration membranes with tunable microstructure, strength and therapeutic activity. In the present study, polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibers with different concentrations of ascorbic acid derivatives (ascorbyl palmitate) and strontium polyphosphate nanoparticles (Sr-polyP NPs) were fabricated. The obtained PCL mats scaffolds were assessed not only for microstructure structure features, including morphological observation, hydrophilicity and tensile strength, but also in vitro water uptake, biodegradation (under enzymatic and hydrolytic conditions), bioactivity using SBF, as well as ascorbic acid release study. The observed results showed that the mean fiber diameter of the PCL fibers (388 ± 340 nm) increased with the increase in the concentration of the ASP and Sr-polyP NPs. The addition of ascorbyl palmitate caused an increase in viscosity from 40.6 ± 2.5 to 66.6 ± 2.0 cP in the case of 20% AsP/PCL; however, it caused a decrease in conductivity from 7.3 ± 0.4 to 6.38 µs, while there was an obvious increase in the viscosity and conductivity by Sr-polyP Nps addition from 40.6 ± 2.5 cP in the case of PCL only to 88.3 ± 2.5 cP in the case of PA1/SP15. The contact angle decreases from 125.9 ± 2.5° in the case of PCL only to 112 ± 4 and 102 ± 2.4° in the case of 20% loaded ascorbyl palmitate-PCL mats and 15% Sr/PCL, respectively. Moreover, the assessment of the antioxidant activity of PCL fiber mats containing 10% and 20% ascorbyl palmitate demonstrated that the 20% ascorbyl palmitate-PCL fiber mats have a higher antioxidant effectiveness compared to the 10% mats. This could be attributed to the controlled release of ascorbic acid from PCL, which occurs after 7 days. However, the highest tensile strength was observed for 5% Sr-polyP NPs-loaded PCL/AsP mats at 1.52 ± 0.51 MPa. Further increase of Sr-polyP NPs content resulted in a clear decrease of tensile strength to 1.13 ± 0.13and 0.93 ± 0.71 for 10% and 20% ascorbyl palmitate-PCL mats, respectively. Importantly, the fabricated AsP and Sr-polyP NPs-loaded PCL fiber mats showed induction of calcium phosphate deposition in SBF and the ability to sustain release of ascorbic acid over a time period of 28 d, in addition to the enhancement in cell proliferation compared to PCL only suggesting their application as a favorable synthetic matrix to amplify guided bone regeneration process.

Graphical abstract
Osteoid osteomas of the hip: a well-recognized entity with a proclivity for misdiagnosis
Authors: Wenger Doris E. , Tibbo Meagan E. , Hadley Matthew L. , Sierra Rafael J. , Welch Timothy J.
Published: June 2023

Objectives

The diagnosis of osteoid osteomas (OO) about the hip can be challenging as presenting symptoms can mimic other, more common, periarticular pathologies. Our aims were to identify the most common misdiagnoses and treatments, mean delay in diagnosis, characteristic imaging features and provide tips for avoiding diagnostic imaging pitfalls for patients with OO of the hip.

Methods

We identified 33 patients (34 tumors) with OO about the hip who were referred for radiofrequency ablation between 1998 and 2020. Imaging studies reviewed included radiographs (n = 29), CT (n = 34), and MRI (n = 26).

Results

The most common initial diagnoses were femoral neck stress fracture (n = 8), femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) (n = 7), and malignant tumor or infection (n = 4). The mean time from symptom onset to diagnosis of OO was 15 months (range, 0.4–84). The mean time from initial incorrect diagnosis to OO diagnosis was 9 months (range, 0–46).

Conclusions

The diagnosis of OO of the hip is challenging, with up to 70% of cases initially misdiagnosed as a femoral neck stress fracture, FAI, bone tumor, or other joint pathology in our series. Consideration of OO in the differential diagnosis of hip pain in adolescent patients and awareness of the characteristic imaging findings are critical for making an accurate diagnosis.

Key Points

• The diagnosis of osteoid osteoma of the hip can be challenging, as demonstrated by long delays in time to initial diagnosis and high rates of misdiagnoses which can lead to inappropriate interventions.

• Familiarity with the spectrum of imaging features of OO, especially on MRI, is imperative given the increase in the utilization of this modality for the evaluation of young patients with hip pain and FAI.

• Consideration of OO in the differential diagnosis of hip pain in adolescent patients and awareness of the characteristic imaging findings, including bone marrow edema and the utility of CT, are critical for making a timely and accurate diagnosis.
Online citizen science with the Zooniverse for analysis of biological volumetric data
Authors: Smith Patricia , King Oliver N. F. , Pennington Avery , Tun Win , Basham Mark , Jones Martin L. , Collinson Lucy M. , Darrow Michele C. , Spiers Helen
Published: June 2023

Public participation in research, also known as citizen science, is being increasingly adopted for the analysis of biological volumetric data. Researchers working in this domain are applying online citizen science as a scalable distributed data analysis approach, with recent research demonstrating that non-experts can productively contribute to tasks such as the segmentation of organelles in volume electron microscopy data. This, alongside the growing challenge to rapidly process the large amounts of biological volumetric data now routinely produced, means there is increasing interest within the research community to apply online citizen science for the analysis of data in this context. Here, we synthesise core methodological principles and practices for applying citizen science for analysis of biological volumetric data. We collate and share the knowledge and experience of multiple research teams who have applied online citizen science for the analysis of volumetric biological data using the Zooniverse platform (www.zooniverse.org). We hope this provides inspiration and practical guidance regarding how contributor effort via online citizen science may be usefully applied in this domain.
Regulation of endothelial function by cigarette smoke and next-generation tobacco and nicotine products
Authors: Klein Justus , Diaba-Nuhoho Patrick , Giebe Sindy , Brunssen Coy , Morawietz Henning
Published: June 2023

Cigarette smoking is the most important avoidable cardiovascular risk factor. It causes endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis and increases the risk of its severe clinical complications like coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, and peripheral artery disease. Several next-generation tobacco and nicotine products have been developed to decrease some of the deleterious effects of regular tobacco smoking. This review article summarizes recent findings about the impact of cigarette smoking and next-generation tobacco and nicotine products on endothelial dysfunction. Both cigarette smoking and next-generation tobacco products lead to impaired endothelial function. Molecular mechanisms of endothelial dysfunction like oxidative stress, reduced nitric oxide availability, inflammation, increased monocyte adhesion, and cytotoxic effects of cigarette smoke and next-generation tobacco and nicotine products are highlighted. The potential impact of short- and long-term exposure to next-generation tobacco and nicotine products on the development of endothelial dysfunction and its clinical implications for cardiovascular diseases are discussed.
Finding Matching Cuts in H-Free Graphs
Authors: Lucke Felicia , Paulusma Daniël , Ries Bernard
Published: June 2023

The well-known -complete problem Matching Cut is to decide if a graph has a matching that is also an edge cut of the graph. We prove new complexity results for Matching Cut restricted to H-free graphs, that is, graphs that do not contain some fixed graph H as an induced subgraph. We also prove new complexity results for two recently studied variants of Matching Cut, on H-free graphs. The first variant requires that the matching cut must be extendable to a perfect matching of the graph. The second variant requires the matching cut to be a perfect matching. In particular, we prove that there exists a small constant $$r>0$$

r
>
0

such that the first variant is -complete for $$P_r$$

P
r

-free graphs. This addresses a question of Bouquet and Picouleau (The complexity of the Perfect Matching-Cut problem. CoRR, arXiv:2011.03318, (2020)). For all three problems, we give state-of-the-art summaries of their computational complexity for H-free graphs.
Bite by byte: can fitness wearables help bariatric patients lose more weight after surgery?
Authors: Huang Estella Y. , Chung Daniel , Hollandsworth Hannah M. , Goldhaber Nicole H. , Robles Lorijane , Horgan Maria , Sandler Bryan J. , Jacobsen Garth R. , Broderick Ryan C. , Grunvald Eduardo , Horgan Santiago
Published: June 2023

Background

Multidisciplinary approaches to weight loss have been shown to improve outcomes in bariatric patients. Few studies have been performed assessing the utility and compliance of fitness tracking devices after bariatric surgery. We aim to determine whether use of an activity tracking device assists bariatric patients in improving postoperative weight loss behaviors.

Methods

A fitness wearable was offered to patients undergoing bariatric surgery from 2019 to 2022. A telephone survey was conducted to elucidate the impact of the device on the patient’s postoperative weight loss efforts 6 to 12 months after surgery. Weight loss outcomes of sleeve gastrectomy (SG) patients receiving the fitness wearable (FW) were compared to those of a group of SG patients who did not receive one (non-FW).

Results

Thirty-seven patients were given a fitness wearable, 20 of whom responded to our telephone survey. Five patients reported not using the device and were excluded. 88.2% reported that using the device had a positive impact on their overall lifestyle. Patients felt that using the fitness wearable to keeping track of their progress helped them both to achieve short-term fitness goals and sustain them in the long run. From the patients that utilized the device, 44.4% of those that discontinued felt like it helped them build a routine that they maintained even after they were no longer using it. Demographic data between FW and non-FW groups (age, sex, CCI, initial BMI, and surgery BMI) did not differ significantly. The FW group trended towards greater %EWL at 1 year post-operation (65.2% versus 52.4%, p = 0.066) and had significantly greater %TWL at 1 year post-operation (30.3% versus 22.3%, p = 0.02).

Conclusion

The use of an activity tracking device enhances a patient’s post-bariatric surgery experience, serving to keep patients informed and motivated, and leading to improved activity that may translate to better weight loss outcomes.
Interspinous and spinolaminar synthetic vertebropexy of the lumbar spine
Authors: Calek Anna-Katharina , Altorfer Franziska , Fasser Marie-Rosa , Widmer Jonas , Farshad Mazda
Published: June 2023

Purpose

To develop and test synthetic vertebral stabilization techniques (“vertebropexy”) that can be used after decompression surgery and furthermore to compare them with a standard dorsal fusion procedure.

Methods

Twelve spinal segments (Th12/L1: 4, L2/3: 4, L4/5: 4) were tested in a stepwise surgical decompression and stabilization study. Stabilization was achieved with a FiberTape cerclage, which was pulled through the spinous process (interspinous technique) or through one spinous process and around both laminae (spinolaminar technique). The specimens were tested (1) in the native state, after (2) unilateral laminotomy, (3) interspinous vertebropexy and (4) spinolaminar vertebropexy. The segments were loaded in flexion–extension (FE), lateral shear (LS), lateral bending (LB), anterior shear (AS) and axial rotation (AR).

Results

Interspinous fixation significantly reduced ROM in FE by 66% (p = 0.003), in LB by 7% (p = 0.006) and in AR by 9% (p = 0.02). Shear movements (LS and AS) were also reduced, although not significantly: in LS reduction by 24% (p = 0.07), in AS reduction by 3% (p = 0.21). Spinolaminar fixation significantly reduced ROM in FE by 68% (p = 0.003), in LS by 28% (p = 0.01), in LB by 10% (p = 0.003) and AR by 8% (p = 0.003). AS was also reduced, although not significantly: reduction by 18% (p = 0.06). Overall, the techniques were largely comparable. The spinolaminar technique differed from interspinous fixation only in that it had a greater effect on shear motion.

Conclusion

Synthetic vertebropexy is able to reduce lumbar segmental motion, especially in flexion–extension. The spinolaminar technique affects shear forces to a greater extent than the interspinous technique.
Characterizing the temporal dynamics of intrinsic brain activities in depressed adolescents with prior suicide attempts
Authors: Cheng Xiaofang , Chen Jianshan , Zhang Xiaofei , Wang Ting , sun Jiaqi , Zhou Yanling , Yang Ruilan , Xiao Yeyu , Chen Amei , Song Ziyi , Chen Pinrui , Yang Chanjuan , QiuxiaWu  , Lin Taifeng , Chen Yingmei , Cao Liping , Wei Xinhua
Published: June 2023

Converging evidence has revealed disturbances in the corticostriatolimic system are associated with suicidal behaviors in adults with major depressive disorder. However, the neurobiological mechanism that confers suicidal vulnerability in depressed adolescents is largely unknown. A total of 86 depressed adolescents with and without prior suicide attempts (SA) and 47 healthy controls underwent resting-state functional imaging (R-fMRI) scans. The dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (dALFF) was measured using sliding window approach. We identified SA-related alterations in dALFF variability primarily in the left middle temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus (MFG), superior frontal gyrus (SFG), right SFG, supplementary motor area (SMA) and insula in depressed adolescents. Notably, dALFF variability in the left MFG and SMA was higher in depressed adolescents with recurrent suicide attempts than in those with a single suicide attempt. Moreover, dALFF variability was capable of generating better diagnostic and prediction models for suicidality than static ALFF. Our findings suggest that alterations in brain dynamics in regions involved in emotional processing, decision-making and response inhibition are associated with an increased risk of suicidal behaviors in depressed adolescents. Furthermore, dALFF variability could serve as a sensitive biomarker for revealing the neurobiological mechanisms underlying suicidal vulnerability.
The Efficacy and Safety of Patiromer for Heart Failure Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Wang Yuhui , Gao Yu , Feng Jun , Hou Linlin , Luo Chunmiao , Zhang Zhipeng
Published: June 2023

Purpose

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of patiromer, a novel potassium binder, in reducing the risk of hyperkalemia in patients with heart failure and optimizing their RAASi therapy.

Design

Systematic review and meta-analyses.

Method

The authors conducted a systematic search in Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library for randomized controlled trials investigating the efficacy and safety of patiromer in heart failure patients from inception to 31 January 2023 and updated on 25 March 2023. The primary outcome was the association between the reduction of hyperkalemia and patiromer compared with placebo, and the secondary outcome was the association between optimization of RAASi therapy and patiromer.

Results

A total of four randomized controlled trials (n = 1163) were included in the study. Patiromer was able to reduce the risk of hyperkalemia in heart failure patients by 44% (RR 0.56, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.87; I2 = 61.9%), improve tolerance to target doses of MRA in patients with heart failure (RR 1.15, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.30; I2 = 49.4%), and decrease the proportion of all-cause discontinuation of RAASi (RR 0.49, 95% CI 0.25 to 0.98; I2 = 48.4%). However, patiromer therapy was associated with an increased risk of hypokalemia (RR 1.51, 95% CI 1.07 to 2.12; I2 = 0%), while no other statistically significant adverse events were observed.

Conclusion

Patiromer appears to have a considerable effect on reducing the incidence of hyperkalemia in heart failure patients and on optimizing the therapy of RAASi in those patients.
Dislocation and strain mapping in metamorphic parabolic-graded InGaAs buffers on GaAs
Authors: Stephen Nicholas , Kumar Praveen , Gocalinska Agnieszka , Mura Enrica , Kepaptsoglou Demie , Ramasse Quentin , Pelucchi Emanuele , Arredondo Miryam
Published: June 2023

We investigate different architectures for parabolic-graded InGaAs metamorphic buffers grown on GaAs using transmission electron microscopy techniques. The different architectures include InGaP and AlInGaAs/InGaP superlattices with different GaAs substrate misorientations and the inclusion of a strain balancing layer. Our results correlate: (i) the density and distribution of dislocations in the metamorphic buffer and (ii) the strain in the next layer preceding the metamorphic buffer, which varies for each type of architecture. Our findings indicate that the dislocation density in the lower region of the metamorphic layer ranges between 108 and 1010 cm−2, with AlInGaAs/InGaP superlattice samples exhibiting higher values compared to samples with InGaP films. We have identified two waves of dislocations, with threading dislocations typically located lower in the metamorphic buffer (~ 200–300 nm) in comparison to misfit dislocations. The measured localised strain values are in good agreement with theoretical predications. Overall, our results provide a systematic insight into the strain relaxation across different architectures, highlighting the various approaches that can be used to tailor strain in the active region of a metamorphic laser.

Graphical abstract
Serum neurofilament light and white matter characteristics in the general population: a longitudinal analysis
Authors: Hermesdorf Marco , Wulms Niklas , Maceski Aleksandra , Leppert David , Benkert Pascal , Wiendl Heinz , Kuhle Jens , Berger Klaus
Published: June 2023

Neurofilament light polypeptide (NfL) is a component of the neuronal cytoskeleton and particularly abundant in large-caliber axons. When axonal injury occurs, NfL is released and reaches the cerebrospinal fluid and the blood. Associations between NfL and white matter alterations have previously been observed in studies based on patients with neurological diseases. The current study aimed to explore the relationship between serum NfL (sNfL) and white matter characteristics in a population-based sample. The cross-sectional associations between sNfL as dependent variable, fractional anisotropy (FA), and white matter lesion (WML) volume were analyzed with linear regression models in 307 community-dwelling adults aged between 35 and 65 years. These analyses were repeated with additional adjustment for the potential confounders age, sex, and body mass index (BMI). Longitudinal associations over a mean follow-up of 5.39 years were analyzed with linear mixed models. The unadjusted cross-sectional models yielded significant associations between sNfL, WML volume, and FA, respectively. However, after the adjustment for confounders, these associations did not reach significance. In the longitudinal analyses, the findings corroborated the baseline findings showing no significant associations between sNfL and white matter macrostructure and microstructure beyond the effects of age. In synopsis with previous studies in patients with acute neurological diseases showing a significant association of sNfL with white matter changes beyond the effects of age, the present results based on a sample from the general population suggest the perspective that changes in sNfL reflect age-related effects that also manifest in altered white matter macrostructure and microstructure.
Pliocene Geotourism: Innovative Projects for Valorizing the Paleontological Heritage of Three Different-Staged Quarries of Tuscany (Central Italy)
Authors: Merella Marco , Collareta Alberto , Casati Simone , Di Cencio Andrea , Bianucci Giovanni
Published: June 2023

Quarries are areas of pivotal importance for investigation, popularization, and educational purposes in the field of geosciences. Here, we focus on three quarries of Tuscany (La Serra, Arcille, and Certaldo) that have been home to significant finds of marine vertebrate fossils. The three selected localities are representative of the many active (La Serra), inactive (Arcille), and abandoned (Certaldo) Tuscan quarries where vertebrate-bearing Pliocene deposits are exposed. Given the richness and scientific value of their paleontological content (including holotypes as well as otherwise unique specimens), the abundance of exposed sedimentary structures, and the high potential for open-air musealization, the La Serra, Arcille, and Certaldo quarries should be regarded as geosites. These quarries are thoroughly described, and several suggestions for their preservation and valorization are proposed, focusing on their importance for geotourism, with the goal of reaching out to the broadest audience possible. Many innovative dissemination tools, including 3D technologies, are now available for pursuing such an aim.
Dynamic train dwell time forecasting: a hybrid approach to address the influence of passenger flow fluctuations
Authors: Pang Zishuai , Wang Liwen , Wang Shengjie , Li Li , Peng Qiyuan
Published: June 2023

Train timetables and operations are defined by the train running time in sections, dwell time at stations, and headways between trains. Accurate estimation of these factors is essential to decision-making for train delay reduction, train dispatching, and station capacity estimation. In the present study, we aim to propose a train dwell time model based on an averaging mechanism and dynamic updating to address the challenges in the train dwell time prediction problem (e.g., dynamics over time, heavy-tailed distribution of data, and spatiotemporal relationships of factors) for real-time train dispatching. The averaging mechanism in the present study is based on multiple state-of-the-art base predictors, enabling the proposed model to integrate the advantages of the base predictors in addressing the challenges in terms of data attributes and data distributions. Then, considering the influence of passenger flow on train dwell time, we use a dynamic updating method based on exponential smoothing to improve the performance of the proposed method by considering the real-time passenger amount fluctuations (e.g., passenger soars in peak hours or passenger plunges during regular periods). We conduct experiments with the train operation data and passenger flow data from the Chinese high-speed railway line. The results show that due to the advantages over the base predictors, the averaging mechanism can more accurately predict the dwell time at stations than its counterparts for different prediction horizons regarding predictive errors and variances. Further, the experimental results show that dynamic smoothing can significantly improve the accuracy of the proposed model during passenger amount changes, i.e., 15.4% and 15.5% corresponding to the mean absolute error and root mean square error, respectively. Based on the proposed predictor, a feature importance analysis shows that the planned dwell time and arrival delay are the two most important factors to dwell time. However, planned time has positive influences, whereas arrival delay has negative influences.
Heterogeneous differential evolution particle swarm optimization with local search
Authors: Lin Anping , Liu Dong , Li Zhongqi , Hasanien Hany M. , Shi Yaoting
Published: June 2023

To develop a high performance and widely applicable particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, a heterogeneous differential evolution particle swarm optimization (HeDE-PSO) is proposed in this study. HeDE-PSO adopts two differential evolution (DE) mutants to construct different characteristics of learning exemplars for PSO, one DE mutant is for enhancing exploration and the other is for enhance exploitation. To further improve search accuracy in the late stage of optimization, the BFGS (Broyden–Fletcher–Goldfarb–Shanno) local search is employed. To assess the performance of HeDE-PSO, it is tested on the CEC2017 test suite and the industrial refrigeration system design problem. The test results are compared with seven recent PSO algorithms, JADE (adaptive differential evolution with optional external archive) and four meta-heuristics. The comparison results show that with two DE mutants to construct learning exemplars, HeDE-PSO can balance exploration and exploitation and obtains strong adaptability on different kinds of optimization problems. On 10-dimensional functions and 30-dimensional functions, HeDE-PSO is only outperformed by the most competitive PSO algorithm on seven and six functions, respectively. HeDE-PSO obtains the best performance on sixteen 10-dimensional functions and seventeen-30 dimensional functions. Moreover, HeDE-PSO outperforms other compared PSO algorithms on the industrial refrigeration system design problem.
A novel driver emotion recognition system based on deep ensemble classification
Authors: Zaman Khalid , Zhaoyun Sun , Shah Babar , Hussain Tariq , Shah Sayyed Mudassar , Ali Farman , Khan Umer Sadiq
Published: June 2023

Driver emotion classification is an important topic that can raise awareness of driving habits because many drivers are overconfident and unaware of their bad driving habits. Drivers will acquire insight into their poor driving behaviors and be better able to avoid future accidents if their behavior is automatically identified. In this paper, we use different models such as convolutional neural networks, recurrent neural networks, and multi-layer perceptron classification models to construct an ensemble convolutional neural network-based enhanced driver facial expression recognition model. First, the faces of the drivers are discovered using the faster region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) model, which can recognize faces in real-time and offline video reliably and effectively. The feature-fusing technique is utilized to integrate the features extracted from three CNN models, and the fused features are then used to train the suggested ensemble classification model. To increase the accuracy and efficiency of face detection, a new convolutional neural network block (InceptionV3) replaces the improved Faster R-CNN feature-learning block. To evaluate the proposed face detection and driver facial expression recognition (DFER) datasets, we achieved an accuracy of 98.01%, 99.53%, 99.27%, 96.81%, and 99.90% on the JAFFE, CK+, FER-2013, AffectNet, and custom-developed datasets, respectively. The custom-developed dataset has been recorded as the best among all under the simulation environment.
Novel Bilayer-Shelled N, O-Doped Hollow Porous Carbon Microspheres as High Performance Anode for Potassium-Ion Hybrid Capacitors
Authors: Pan Zhen , Qian Yong , Li Yang , Xie Xiaoning , Lin Ning , Qian Yitai
Published: June 2023

With the advantages of high energy/power density, long cycling life and low cost, dual-carbon potassium ion hybrid capacitors (PIHCs) have great potential in the field of energy storage. Here, a novel bilayer-shelled N, O-doped hollow porous carbon microspheres (NOHPC) anode has been prepared by a self-template method, which is consisted of a dense thin shell and a hollow porous spherical core. Excitingly, the NOHPC anode possesses a high K-storage capacity of 325.9 mA h g−1 at 0.1 A g−1 and a capacity of 201.1 mAh g−1 at 5 A g−1 after 6000 cycles. In combination with ex situ characterizations and density functional theory calculations, the high reversible capacity has been demonstrated to be attributed to the co-doping of N/O heteroatoms and porous structure improved K+ adsorption and intercalation capabilities, and the stable long-cycling performance originating from the bilayer-shelled hollow porous carbon sphere structure. Meanwhile, the hollow porous activated carbon microspheres (HPAC) cathode with a high specific surface area (1472.65 m2 g−1) deriving from etching NOHPC with KOH, contributing to a high electrochemical adsorption capacity of 71.2 mAh g−1 at 1 A g−1. Notably, the NOHPC//HPAC PIHC delivers a high energy density of 90.1 Wh kg−1 at a power density of 939.6 W kg−1 after 6000 consecutive charge–discharge cycles.
Cubic Vertex-Transitive Graphs Admitting Automorphisms of Large Order
Authors: Potočnik Primož , Toledo Micael
Published: June 2023

A connected graph of order n admitting a semiregular automorphism of order n/k is called a k-multicirculant. Highly symmetric multicirculants of small valency have been extensively studied, and several classification results exist for cubic vertex- and arc-transitive multicirculants. In this paper, we study the broader class of cubic vertex-transitive graphs of order n admitting an automorphism of order n/3 or larger that may not be semiregular. In particular, we show that any such graph is either a k-multicirculant for some $$k \le 3$$

k
≤
3

, or it belongs to an infinite family of graphs of girth 6.
Shear Strength of Single and Multi-layer Soil–Geosynthetic and Geosynthetic–Geosynthetic Interfaces Using Large Direct Shear Testing
Authors: Muluti Shade Sitwala , Kalumba Denis , Sobhee-Beetul Laxmee , Chebet Faridah
Published: June 2023

Landfill liners are critical components of waste containment systems that are designed to prevent the migration of pollutants into the environment. Accurate measurement of the shear strength of soil–geosynthetic and geosynthetic–geosynthetic interfaces is essential for designing safe and cost-effective landfill liners. This paper presents a comparative study of the shear strength parameters of single and multi-layer interfaces using a Large Direct Shear Apparatus (LDSA). The study aimed to investigate the effects of using different testing configurations on the Peak and Large Displacement (LD) strengths of the interfaces and to identify the test configuration that provides the most critical shear strength results. A “305 × 305 mm” LDSA was used to perform interface shear tests in saturated conditions with applied normal stresses ranging from 50 to 400 kPa. The results showed good agreement between strength envelopes derived from single and multi-layer interface tests for the materials tested. However, the peak and LD strengths were generally 9% and 24% lower, respectively, for single interface tests than for multi-layer interface tests across the range of normal stresses considered. This conservative estimate may be attributed to the rigid clamping of the geosynthetics, resulting in some tensile strains that reduce the peak and LD shear strengths. Moreover, it was observed in multi-layer interface tests that transfer of shear stresses within the system could have occurred, which could have led to higher overall peak and LD shear strengths. Higher displacements along the critical interface in single interface tests than in multi-layer interface tests may also contribute to this outcome. Overall, these findings have important implications for designing landfill liner systems and performing shear strength tests. Specifically, multi-layer interface tests provide a better simulation of field conditions and a more accurate representation of the shear strength characteristics of composite liner systems. However, performing multiple single interface tests may still be necessary to fully understand the shear strength of individual interfaces. Further research is needed to explore the implications of these findings for other materials and testing conditions.
Comparison of an Optimised Multiresolution Segmentation Approach with Deep Neural Networks for Delineating Agricultural Fields from Sentinel-2 Images
Authors: Tetteh Gideon Okpoti , Schwieder Marcel , Erasmi Stefan , Conrad Christopher , Gocht Alexander
Published: June 2023

Effective monitoring of agricultural lands requires accurate spatial information about the locations and boundaries of agricultural fields. Through satellite imagery, such information can be mapped on a large scale at a high temporal frequency. Various methods exist in the literature for segmenting agricultural fields from satellite images. Edge-based, region-based, or hybrid segmentation methods are traditional methods that have widely been used for segmenting agricultural fields. Lately, the use of deep neural networks (DNNs) for various tasks in remote sensing has been gaining traction. Therefore, to identify the optimal method for segmenting agricultural fields from satellite images, we evaluated three state-of-the-art DNNs, namely Mask R-CNN, U-Net, and FracTAL ResUNet against the multiresolution segmentation (MRS) algorithm, which is a region-based and a more traditional segmentation method. Given that the DNNs are supervised methods, we used an optimised version of the MRS algorithm based on supervised Bayesian optimisation. Monotemporal Sentinel-2 (S2) images acquired in Lower Saxony, Germany were used in this study. Based on the agricultural parcels declared by farmers within the European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) framework, the segmentation results of each method were evaluated using the F-score and intersection over union (IoU) metrics. The respective average F-score and IoU obtained by each method are 0.682 and 0.524 for Mask R-CNN, 0.781 and 0.646 for U-Net, 0.808 and 0.683 for FracTAL ResUNet, and 0.805 and 0.678 for the optimised MRS approach. This study shows that DNNs, particularly FracTAL ResUNet, can be effectively used for large-scale segmentation of agricultural fields from satellite images.
Praktizieren – Benennen – Erzählen
Authors: Jacob Katharina
Published: June 2023

In dem Beitrag wird der Frage nachgegangen, was unter Semantiken und Narrative des Entscheidens linguistisch zu verstehen ist. Zielsetzung ist daher, ausgehend von der Untersuchung der Autorin zu einer »Linguistik des Entscheidens« (Jacob 2017), in der die kommunikative Praxis des Entscheidens in Bezug auf linguistische Theorien und Methoden in den Blick genommen wird, bestimmte Semantiken und Narrative des Entscheidens zu identifizieren und an konkreten Beispielen aus dem parlamentarischen Diskurs um erneuerbare Energien von 1983 bis 2013 zu veranschaulichen.
Understanding Evil Deeds in Human Terms: Empathy for the Perpetrators, the Dead Victims, and the Ethics of Being the Afterlife
Authors: Elgabsi Natan
Published: June 2023

This essay concerns what it means to historicize evil in an ethically responsible way: that is, what it means to think and narrate perpetrators and victims of evil through what is testified to and told about them. I show that a responsible gaze can only be recognized by allowing ourselves to be addressed by the dead victims. The argument consists in an existential critique of a set of common ideas in the human sciences, which suggest that we must attempt to empathize with the perpetrators in order to understand their deeds in human terms. This empathetic thought, I suggest, easily leads us either to aestheticize the victims or to think that the evils in our history should be addressed as a metaphysical susceptibility to evil internal to being human. By critically discussing these ideas, I show that empathy for the perpetrators in several respects does injustice to the dead victims, which marks that we as their afterlife continue to have an irresponsible relationship with the dead.
Limits to the Weighing of Goods. A Proposal for Determining the Scopes of Deontological and Consequentialist Ethics
Authors: Rothhaar Markus
Published: June 2023

It is a widespread notion that certain rights duties put categorical constraints on the actions of any rational agent, whereas other rights or duties that can be weighed against each other, based on the value of the goods affected. Both assumptions, however, seem to exclude each other in a theoretical perspective. In this article, I will nevertheless propose an approach, how to reconcile them. The starting point for this proposal is the idea that any action must be justifiable to the persons concerned. Against this backdrop, I try to show that submitting another person to a strategic calculus of weighing goods cannot be justified to her if the goods in question cannot be separated from that person, i.e. are in a certain perspective “identical” with her, as with the good of life. This also opens a perspective to reconcile deontological and consequentialist ethics.
Analysis of Different Electric Current Frequencies in Soil Apparent Conductivity
Authors: dos Santos Fernando Ferreira Lima , de Queiroz Daniel Marçal , Valente Domingos Sárvio Magalhães , Khorsandi Farzaneh , de Moura Araújo Guilherme
Published: June 2023

Purpose

The electrical resistivity method is commonly used to identify areas with similar soil characteristics by measuring the soil’s apparent electrical conductivity (ECa). However, the ideal frequency range to be used and the influence of the signal frequency on ECa values obtained by sensors is still uncertain. This study aimed to (1) evaluate the effect of electric current frequency on ECa values and (2) evaluate the correlation between ECa values obtained from different frequencies and soil attributes of agronomic interest, such as soil water content and pH. ECa determinations were obtained in four experimental areas using six different frequencies of electric current (1, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 40 Hz).

Methods

The influence of the electric current signal frequency on the value obtained by the sensor was analyzed by linear regressions in all experimental areas, followed by the F-test (α = 0.05). Pearson’s correlations (α = 0.05) were calculated to quantify the relationships between ECa and soil physical and chemical attributes, for each frequency of the electric current signal of the sensor.

Results

Statistical analyses indicated that the electric current frequency does not significantly affect the measured conductivity value. According to the chi-square test (p ≤ 0.05), the number of significant correlations between ECa and soil physical and chemical attributes was homogeneous for all frequencies. The F-test indicated that the frequency of the electric current had no significant effect on ECa in 90% of the experimental points.

Conclusion

It was shown that all frequencies in the range of 1 to 40 Hz can be used to correlate ECa values with chemical and physical soil attributes, such as soil water content (r = 0.73, p < 0.05) and exchangeable calcium content (r = 0.66, p < 0.05).
Human-Centric Multimodal Machine Learning: Recent Advances and Testbed on AI-Based Recruitment
Authors: Peña Alejandro , Serna Ignacio , Morales Aythami , Fierrez Julian , Ortega Alfonso , Herrarte Ainhoa , Alcantara Manuel , Ortega-Garcia Javier
Published: June 2023

The presence of decision-making algorithms in society is rapidly increasing nowadays, while concerns about their transparency and the possibility of these algorithms becoming new sources of discrimination are arising. There is a certain consensus about the need to develop AI applications with a Human-Centric approach. Human-Centric Machine Learning needs to be developed based on four main requirements: (i) utility and social good; (ii) privacy and data ownership; (iii) transparency and accountability; and (iv) fairness in AI-driven decision-making processes. All these four Human-Centric requirements are closely related to each other. With the aim of studying how current multimodal algorithms based on heterogeneous sources of information are affected by sensitive elements and inner biases in the data, we propose a fictitious case study focused on automated recruitment: FairCVtest. We train automatic recruitment algorithms using a set of multimodal synthetic profiles including image, text, and structured data, which are consciously scored with gender and racial biases. FairCVtest shows the capacity of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) behind automatic recruitment tools built this way (a common practice in many other application scenarios beyond recruitment) to extract sensitive information from unstructured data and exploit it in combination to data biases in undesirable (unfair) ways. We present an overview of recent works developing techniques capable of removing sensitive information and biases from the decision-making process of deep learning architectures, as well as commonly used databases for fairness research in AI. We demonstrate how learning approaches developed to guarantee privacy in latent spaces can lead to unbiased and fair automatic decision-making process. Our methodology and results show how to generate fairer AI-based tools in general, and in particular fairer automated recruitment systems.
Numerical modeling of cyclic softening/hardening behavior of carbon steels from low- to high-cycle fatigue regime
Authors: Fincato R. , Yonezawa T. , Tsutsumi S.
Published: June 2023

The aim of this study is to characterize the stress–strain behavior of three construction steels (SM490, SM570, and F18B) through both experimental and numerical investigations. The material performance was evaluated by conducting tests on round bar specimens subjected to monotonic, fatigue, and incremental step fully reversed loading conditions. The experimental campaign was conducted to provide valuable information on the mechanical performances of the steels and data for calibrating the material constants required for numerical analyses. The numerical simulations aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed unconventional plasticity model, the Fatigue SS model (FSS), in describing the non-linear behavior of the materials under a broad range of loading conditions, including stress states below and beyond the macroscopic yield condition. This aspect is a significant advantage of the FSS model, as conventional elastoplastic theories fail to provide a phenomenological description of inelastic material deformation under stress states within the yield condition. The good agreement between the experimental and numerical results confirms the validity of the calibration of the material constants and the reliability of the computational approach.