bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Voice recovery in eight Yucatan mini-pigs after vocal fold implantation surgery
Authors: Schlegel Patrick , Chen Anthony , Al-Hiyari Yazeed , Long Jennifer
Published: April 2023

As there currently exists no standardized framework to assess pig voice health, and voice parameters designed for humans do often not work on aperiodic pig voice, new approaches must be developed. We performed cell-based outer vocal fold replacement (COVR) surgery in six Yucatan mini-pigs (with two pigs in the control group) and tracked functional and structural voice recovery over up to six months. Recovery of voice function was assessed by tracking acoustic parameters and spectrograms in three pigs. Structural recovery was assessed by histologic analysis and Amino Acid Quantitation after harvest of vocal fold tissue in three pigs each. The results of functional analysis reflect expected voice worsening right after surgery and gradual recovery in one pig that was tracked the longest. Structural analysis shows small differences in fiber directionality between control group and pigs after surgery. Increasing amounts of detected amino acid markers for collagen and elastin over time after surgery may hint on gradual structural recovery. With this preliminary work, we form the basis for a larger long-term pre-clinical safety and efficacy study of COVR implantation.
Strategies for teaching waves in the next generation science standards
Authors: Stoeckel Marta R.
Published: April 2023

Waves and their applications are one of the disciplinary core ideas in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), but the performance expectations include concepts that have not historically been an important part of teaching waves in high school science classrooms, with a particular focus on technologies that utilize waves and on students making connections between different types of waves including sound, seismic waves, and electromagnetic waves. In this talk, I will share resources and strategies that I use to teach some of these concepts, including both hands-on activities and digital resources. Many of these resources are also appropriate to other physics courses, including AP Physics and introductory college physics courses.
Penn State acoustic wave kits (PAWKits)
Authors: Simon Julianna C. , Russell Daniel A.
Published: April 2023

The increasing prevalence of blended resident and distance education courses makes it difficult to implement in-class demonstrations or hands-on activities to enhance learning. Our objective here is to develop and evaluate the use of at-home activity kits in fundamental acoustics and vibration courses for graduate students. First-generation PAWkits includedfive1-ft PVC pipes, four PVC couplers, a PVC end cap, a PVC T-branch, two dental dams, a tuning fork, a bluetooth speaker with passive radiator, a lapel microphone, a thick string, a thin string, ten magnets, four magnetic hooks, four springs (two spring constants), and an alligator clip. The total cost of the kit per student was estimated at $66 plus shipping. The first-generation PAWkit was designed for five main activities includingmeasuring directivity of the speaker and tuning fork, waves in pipes including T-branch and low-pass filters, waves in membranes, waves in strings, and mass-spring vibration systems. Activities were tested across two required Penn State first-year required courses for graduate students. PAWkits are currently being evaluated through student surveys and, in the future, by tracking the performance of Ph.D. students on the qualifying exam. [Work supported by Penn State Leonhard Center Seed Grant.]
Educational high school physics demonstration apparatus for acoustic landmine simulant resonance detection
Authors: Burge Rebecca D. , Korman Murray S.
Published: April 2023

This landmine “simulant” resonance detection demo was created in conjunction with a high school physics mentorship, using a variety of easily-accessibleequipment in order to demonstrate an important application of fundamental concepts of sound and vibration. A plastic tray (4 in. deep) contained a 3-in. diameter drum-like circular landmine simulant (1.5 in. high) with a thin acrylic top plate buried (1 in. deep) in a 3 in. layer of dry sifted masonry sand. A small accelerometer was place on the surface over the simulant. Airborne sound, a loud speaker chirp, with frequency slowly increasing over time, was created using a Mathematica® generated wav file played by the Raspberry Pi® computer. Sound excited the sand vibration that coupled to the top plate. The accelerometer generated a frequency response voltage, related to the sweep time. The Raspberry Pi® also played a role in implementing the A to D conversion, so that the frequency response near resonance was displayed as a voltage in a readable format. With this demo apparatus high school students will be excited by the fundamentals of wave propagation and concepts about resonance with regards to its real-life applications. [Specially inspired by James M. Sabatier’s research on acoustic landmine detection.]
Imaging based pore network modeling of acoustical materials
Authors: Rabbani Arash , Wojciechowski Brittany , Sharma Bhisham
Published: April 2023

The acoustical behavior of porous materials is dictated by their underlying pore network geometry. Given the complexity of accurately characterizing the various pore network features, current acoustical models instead rely on indirectly incorporating these features by accounting for them within acoustical transport properties, such as tortuosity, viscous and thermal characteristic lengths, and flow resistivity. In turn, these transport properties are currently identified using inverse characterization techniques or using multiphysics modeling techniques. Here, we propose the use of advanced image processing methods to characterize the pore network of acoustical materials and allow the direct calculation of their transport and acoustical properties. To establish the feasibility of this idea, we create 3D printable CAD models of porous materials with controlled pore geometries and use a Matlab-based watershed segmentation technique to calculate their effective pore and throat size distributions. These distributions are then used to calculate their transport properties and predict their sound absorption coefficients using the Johnson–Champoux–Allard model. For comparison, we calculate the transport properties using the hybrid multiphysics modeling technique and the inverse characterization method. The predictions from the three different methods are then compared with experimental measurements obtained by printing and testing the models using an impedance tube.
Understanding auditory intuitive physics
Authors: McDermott Joshua H. , Agarwal Vinayak , De La Torre Fernanda , Traer James
Published: April 2023

Sound is often caused by physical interactions between objects. Humans have some ability to discern these interactions by listening. This talk will describe our lab’s efforts to understand these perceptual inferences. Our research involves three inter-related approaches. First, we make physical and acoustic measurements of everyday objects and surfacesto characterize the sound of real-world objects. Second, we develop methods to synthesize sounds from physical interactions (impacts, scrapes, and rolls). Third, we use these sounds to investigate the perceptual processes and representations underlying auditory intuitive physics. The results reveal regularities in object sounds that have been internalized by humans and that are used to infer object properties and physical events from sound.
Development of a normative baseline for speech stability in lingual articulation
Authors: Frisch Stefan A.
Published: April 2023

In typical speech production, speakers usually use the same articulatory gesture for a particular speech sound in a particular context (such as a /k/ sound after an /i/ vowel). However, since people are not machines, there is inherent variation in how precisely a speech gesture is repeated. Previous research on consistency of tongue articulation has found individual variation in articulatory consistency in tongue posture that may also provide insight into communication disorders, such as stuttering (Frisch et al., 2016, Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics). This presentation will report on pilot data for the development a normative measure for speech stability to establish how much variation is typical for different age groups and whether the complexity of speech materials influences the articulatory measure of speech stability. Included in the pilot methodology are (1) a wide variety of lingual consonants, (2) variation in vowel context, and (3) evaluation of a perceptual proxy measure for speech stability that could be practically used in a clinical environment.
Gender expression in productions of /s/ and /ʃ/
Authors: Houle Nichole , Levi Susannah V.
Published: April 2023

The spectral features of /s/ and /ʃ/ carry important sociophonetic information regarding a speaker’s gender. Gender is defined as man or woman, but this excludes people who identify as trans and gender non-conforming. In this study, we use a more expansive definition of gender to investigate the acoustics (duration and spectral moments) of /s/ and /ʃ/ across cis men, cis women, and transfeminine speakers in voiced and whispered speech. Additionally, we investigated the relationship between spectral measures and transfeminine gender expression. We examined /s/ and /ʃ/ productions in words from 30 speakers (10 cis men, 14 cis women, and 6 transfeminine) and 31 speakers (10 cis men, 13 cis women, and 8 transfeminine), respectively. In general, fricative center of gravity was highest in productions by cis women, followed by transfeminine, and then cis men speakers. Gender differences were found for /s/, but not /ʃ/. Cis women speakers produced /s/ with greater negative skew than cis men speakers. Transfeminine speakers did not differ from either group. Within transfeminine speakers, /s/ and /ʃ/ center of gravity were related to a speaker’s gender related voice concerns. Taken together, /s/ and /ʃ/ differed by gender and may be related to transfeminine vocal concerns.
Rhoticity in Black Boston: Examining the effects of ethnicity and ethnic orientation
Authors: Henry Malachi , Robinson Amalia , Dong Xiao , Miller Jeremy , Miller-Broomfield Clara , Sosa Erika , Nesbitt Monica
Published: April 2023

Recent studies have sought to more thoroughly examine rhoticity among non-white Bostonians (Nagy andIrwin, 2010; Browne andStanford, 2018), as the city becomes more racially and ethnically diverse. We build upon Browne and Stanford (2018), which found that Black Bostonians (African American [AA] and Caribbean American [CA]) were more r-ful than White Bostonians. We seek to account for variation in this speech community by considering the impact of ethnicity and the emic measure of ethnic orientation (Hoffman andWalker, 2010) on rhoticity in Black Boston. Six CA and 18 AA Bostonians’ /r/ productions (n = 2018) were gathered from sociolinguistic interviews conducted as part of the Eastern Massachusetts Life and Language Project (Nesbitt andWatts, 2022), in addition to one CA and six AA participants from Browne and Stanford’s (2018) dataset. Linear mixed-effects modeling revealed significant effects of ethnicity, such that Caribbean Americans (95% r-ful) are almost categorically r-ful (p-value < 0.001), while African Americans are more variable (10%–100% r-ful). Furthermore, ethnic orientation was a significant predictor of rhoticity (p-value < 0.001); among African Americans, high ethnic orientation led to more r-fulness. Rather than ethnic identification alone, factors such as social networks, migration history, and language attitudes influence rhoticity in Black Boston.
Granger causality analysis of internal tongue muscles in tongue protrusion from diffusion and tagged MRI
Authors: Park Hyeonjeong , Xing Fangxu , Stone Maureen , Liu Xiaofeng , Zhuo Jiachen , Fels Sidney , Reese Tim , Wedeen Van , El Fakhri Georges , Prince Jerry L. , Woo Jonghye
Published: April 2023

The human tongue is a muscular hydrostat, comprising a group of orthogonally oriented and interdigitated muscles without skeletal support. Key characteristics of the tongue as a muscular hydrostat include that the tongue’s volume is constant, and any decrease in one dimension will be compensated by an increase in another dimension. This work aims to identify causal relationships among internal muscles in protrusive muscle contractions, which is vital to understand their underlying muscle coordination patterns. We investigated four muscles known to contribute to tongue protrusion, including transverse, verticalis, superior longitudinal, and genioglossus muscles. To capture tongue structure and function, we acquired diffusion MRI and tagged MRI to estimate the muscle fiber geometry of the four muscles and the motion patterns of tongue protrusion, respectively. We first computed Lagrangian strains along muscle fiber direction in each voxel, reflecting muscle fiber shortening. Average strain values in each muscle, defined by a vocal tract atlas, were then input into a linear vector autoregression Granger causality model, to investigate their causal relationships. Our findings on the strain patterns over time as well as the pairwise causal relationships were consistent in part with the muscular hydrostat theory, which helps elucidate the tongue muscle coordination patterns.
Does the articulatory modulation function encode stress?
Authors: Campbell Jessica , Byrd Dani , Goldstein Louis
Published: April 2023

The articulatory modulation function, a signal quantifying global change in vocal tract posture over time, is highly rhythmic, with limited variability within and across speakers. It is unclear, however, if the stability and periodicity of this signal, whose peaks (“pulses”) occur at a frequency of ∼8 Hz, is partially driven by quasi-oscillatory linguistic phenomena such as lexical stress patterning. In the present study, articulatory point-tracking data (XRMB) of connected speech for multiple subjects is used to assess the effect of linguistic stress on the spatiotemporal patterning of the vocal tract modulation function to determine if the patterning of acoustic vowel onsets—both stressed and in general—is encoded in the length of modulation function’s inter-pulse intervals and/or in the magnitude (velocity) of the pulses. The results show no correlation between inter-pulse intervals and stress. However, stress is encoded as higher velocity magnitudes in the pulses immediately following acoustic vowel onsets in stressed syllables (compared to unstressed ones)and additionally encoded in higher magnitude than the immediately preceding pulse. While the temporal stability of the modulation function does not appear to be related to the general regularity of stressed syllables in English, the signal does retain linguistic stress information in modulation pulse magnitude.
Compensatory articulatory behaviors after tongue reconstruction in production of English plosives: Establishing the range of lip movement patterns for control speakers
Authors: Hanas Natalie , Jeffery Caroline C. , Aalto Daniel
Published: April 2023

Head and neck cancer can have a devastating impact on speech and swallowing function. In particular, a tumor in the tongue can reduce the ability to produce articulatory gestures typical for English plosives. Previous case studies suggest that the lower lip can compensate for tongue tip gestures in speech after tongue reconstruction. The goal of this study is to establish typical lower lip movement patterns for alveolar and velar plosives for English speakers towards identifying compensatory lip movements in cancer speakers. Ten participants were recruited with no reported hearing or speech problems. A list of 40 minimal pairs beginning with the target plosives were created and embedded in carrier sentences. The participants read sentences in random order with and without babble noise in a standing posture. Lip motion was captured using a custom app on an iPhone 11 capturing the perioral surface area with the TrueDepth infrared camera. Preliminary results suggest that this app-based approach to lip tracking is a viable tool to capture typical lip movement patterns, ultimately enabling clinical research in more accessible settings. Mixed-effects linear regression analyses of the lip kinematics will be discussed.
Lip posture of high and high-mid vowels in Hnaring Lutuv
Authors: Bohnert Amanda , Berkson Kelly H.
Published: April 2023

Lutuv is an under-documented South Central Tibeto-Burman language which is reported to contain six high monophthongs /i, y, ɨ, ʉ, Ɯ, u/ and four diphthongal vowels with high onsets /ie̯, yə̯, uɔ̯, Ɯə̯/ (Bohnert etal., 2022). No articulatory work on Lutuv exists to date, but impressionistic observations suggest that while the contrast between /i, y/ and /u, Ɯ/ is one of rounding (as implied by their IPA transcriptions), the contrast between /ɨ, ʉ/ is instead one of lip spreading. In addition, /ʉ/ seems to involve a degree of frication from labiodental contact. To further investigate these observations, the current paper utilizes facial landmark recognition through OpenFace 2.0 (Baltrusaitis et al., 2018) to analyze the lip posture of these vowels, measuring horizontal, vertical, and lateral lip aperture over the duration of each vowel produced by one native speaker in a curated word list. These measurements are compared both within and across pairs to determine (1) the articulatory characteristics of Lutuv rounding contrasts, and (2) whether the central high vowels display these characteristics. These data complement existing acoustic analyses and provide a more detailed understanding of the articulation of a typologically rare contrast.
Analyses of speech recordings from an acoustic head and torso simulator with and without face coverings using both spectrogram and transcription tools
Authors: Ruhala Laura , Ruhala Richard J. , Brito Guillermo , Cumbee Britt
Published: April 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic caused the need for a wide assortment of face coverings to be adopted all over the globe. While reducing the transmission of the virus, the use of such face covering also reduced speech sound levels and intelligibly. Sound levels and recordings were made at a 2-mdistance from an acoustic head and torso simulator (HATS) with and without masks, including a KN95 mask, a surgical style mask, and a transparent plastic face shield. In this study, WAV recordings were made using short phases of pre-recorded American English female and male talkers from the ITU-T P.50 database. Adobe Audition software was used to improve the playback quality of the speech recordings, trim the modified files into 10 sof speech, ensure that they all started with the same spoken words, and create spectrograms to identify the mask-related attenuations or amplifications. Adobe Premier Pro software was used for the transcription of these files. Documenting which words were transcribed correctly or incorrectly provided further indication of the effects of various face coverings on speech intelligibility.
Examining vowel fronting and lengthening as indicators of feminine voices in Southern English speech
Authors: Shport Irina
Published: April 2023

Fronting and lengthening of lax vowels /ɪ ɛ ɑ/ but not /ʊ/ was found to make words sound more feminine for Southern U.S. listeners (Shport, 2018). This study examined whether /ɪ ɛ ɑ/ are more fronted and are longer in female than male speech. Fifty speakers from Louisiana (27 Black, 23 White, 31 females, 19 males) participated in a word-reading task (4 vowels × 3 words × 4 repetitions). The effects of gender and ethnicity on Lobanov-normalized F2 and duration values were examined using generalized linear modeling. For duration, only /ɛ/ was significantly longer in female than in male productions. For F2, significant differences were found only in productions of the back vowels: /ɑ/ was fronted more by male than female speakers (the gender difference was larger in White speakers); /ʊ/ was fronted more by female than male speakers (and more so by White than Black speakers). These results suggest that Southerners’ perception of relatively fronted and longer variants of /ɪ ɛ ɑ/ as sounding more feminine is not firmly grounded in the acoustic characteristics of these vowels in Southern female as compared to male speech. Possible influences of formant normalization and ethnolectal variation on result interpretation are discussed.
Mid-frequency sound intensity fluctuations on the Washington shelf
Authors: Tang Dajun , Hefner Brian T. , Xu Guangyu , Thorsos Eric I. , Harcourt Ramsey R. , Mickett John B. , Prakash Kumar
Published: April 2023

A joint Oceanography/Acoustics experiment was conducted 15 July–13 August, 2022 in Washington’s shallow coastal shelf waters to investigate mid-frequency sound intensity fluctuations and the oceanographic mechanisms driving them, including subsurface ducts, internal tides, and internal waves. Acoustic pulses centered at 3.5 kHz and 6 kHz were transmitted up-shelf from a stationary source and recorded by receivers on two moorings at 10 km and 20 km ranges, respectively. A ship-towed Shallow Water Integrated Mapping System (SWIMS) repeatedly sampled the ocean between the source and receiver moorings, providing sound speed measurements as a function of range, depth, and time. In addition, five oceanographic moorings strategically placed around the acoustic path took additional ocean data over time. The sound speed profiles feature a surface mixed layer underneath which a subsurface duct with local sound speed minima of 1–2 m/s is frequently present. Analysis shows that (1) when the sound source is inside the subsurface duct, transmission loss is reduced by 15 dB compared to when the source is outside and (2) the statistics of the acoustic intensity are consistent with strong scattering. [Work supported by the Office of Naval Research.]
An analytical framework for low-power underwater backscatter communications
Authors: Allam Ahmed , Akbar Waleed , Adib Fadel
Published: April 2023

Acoustic underwater backscatter enables ultra-low-power communication with applications in ocean exploration, monitoring, navigation, and aquaculture. Unlike traditional communication systems, acoustic backscatter does not require active signal generation. Instead, it communicates data by modulating existing acoustic signals, requiring few microwatts of power for operation. Backscatter communication enables ultra-low power sensors by switching between absorbing and reflecting acoustic waves transmitted from a central station. The energy burden is shifted to the transmitting station, and the acoustic power supplied by the station can power the sensor, allowing for battery-free operation. Initial demonstrations of underwater backscatter communication were encouraging; however, the theoretical and practical limits are still unknown. In this work, we develop a multiphysics analytical framework for the communication and power link budget of underwater backscatter. The framework calculates practical communication and power-up range, transmitter power budget, and signal-to-noise ratio, accounting for transducers’ characteristics and the underwater communication channel. The analytical predictions are validated for practical transducers using high-fidelity piezo-acoustic finite element simulations and experimental measurements. The framework will guide future backscatter systems design, identifying practical operation ranges and optimal frequencies for data transmission and batteryless operation.
Focusing late-time returns from elastic targets in bistatic collection geometries
Authors: Dalton Kyle S. , Blanford Thomas E. , Brown Daniel C.
Published: April 2023

Targets encountered during synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) surveys may exhibit elastic scattering behavior and re-radiate sound after initial interrogation. These re-radiated returns are often described as “late-time” energy, as they reach the sonar after the initial geometric returns. Range-specific focusing methods can enhance acoustic features such as late-time energy, but these methods typically make a monostatic sonar approximation that may not hold in very shallow water sensing geometries. This presentation will discuss the development of a late-time reconstruction algorithm applicable to bistatic sonar geometries. Using both simulated and experimental sonar data from monostatic and bistatic collection geometries, this work will first quantify the differences between traditionally beamformed imagery and late-time-focused imagery using common image quality metrics. Next, we will quantitatively compare the impact of collection geometry on the performance of late-time focusing algorithms. Finally, the work will describe methods that use information from a multi-static collection to compress late-time energy down to a high-contrast, spatiallycondensed point. The analysis of these signal processing strategies will focus on their potential applications to automatic target recognition.
Engineering an active immunotherapy for personalized cancer treatment and prevention of recurrence
Authors: Wu Kerui , Lyu Feng , Wu Shih-Ying , Sharma Sambad , Deshpande Ravindra Pramod , Tyagi Abhishek , Zhao Dan , Xing Fei , Singh Ravi , Watabe Kounosuke
Published: April 2023

Breast cancer has been shown to be resistant to immunotherapies. To overcome this challenge, we developed an active immunotherapy for personalized treatment based on a smart nanovesicle. This is achieved by anchoring membrane-bound bioactive interleukin 2 (IL2) and enriching T cell–promoting costimulatory factors on the surface of the dendritic cell–derived small extracellular vesicles. This nanovesicle also displays major histocompatibility complex–bound antigens inherited from tumor lysate–pulsed dendritic cell. When administrated, the surface-bound IL2 is able to guide the nanovesicle to lymphoid organs and activate the IL2 receptor on lymphocytes. Furthermore, it is able to perform antigen presentation in the replacement of professional antigen-presenting cells. This nanovesicle, named IL2-ep13nsEV, induced a strong immune reaction to rescue 50% of the mice in our humanized patient-derived xenografts, sensitized cancer cells to immune checkpoint inhibitor treatment, and prevented the recurrence of resected tumors. This paradigm presents a feasible strategy for the treatment and prevention of metastatic breast cancer.
An ERK-dependent molecular switch antagonizes fibrosis and promotes regeneration in spiny mice (Acomys)
Authors: Tomasso Antonio , Koopmans Tim , Lijnzaad Philip , Bartscherer Kerstin , Seifert Ashley W.
Published: April 2023

Although most mammals heal injured tissues and organs with scarring, spiny mice (Acomys) naturally regenerate skin and complex musculoskeletal tissues. Now, the core signaling pathways driving mammalian tissue regeneration are poorly characterized. Here, we show that, while immediate extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation is a shared feature of scarring (Mus) and regenerating (Acomys) injuries, ERK activity is only sustained at high levels during complex tissue regeneration. Following ERK inhibition, ear punch regeneration inAcomysshifted toward fibrotic repair. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, we identified ERK-responsive cell types. Loss- and gain-of-function experiments prompted us to uncover fibroblast growth factor and ErbB signaling as upstream ERK regulators of regeneration. The ectopic activation of ERK in scar-prone injuries induced a pro-regenerative response, including cell proliferation, extracellular matrix remodeling, and hair follicle neogenesis. Our data detail an important distinction in ERK activity between regenerating and poorly regenerating adult mammals and open avenues to redirect fibrotic repair toward regenerative healing.
DNA metabarcoding highlights cyanobacteria as the main source of primary production in a pelagic food web model
Authors: Novotny Andreas , Serandour Baptiste , Kortsch Susanne , Gauzens Benoit , Jan Kinlan M. G. , Winder Monika
Published: April 2023

Models that estimate rates of energy flow in complex food webs often fail to account for species-specific prey selectivity of diverse consumer guilds. While DNA metabarcoding is increasingly used for dietary studies, methodological biases have limited its application for food web modeling. Here, we used data from dietary metabarcoding studies of zooplankton to calculate prey selectivity indices and assess energy fluxes in a pelagic resource-consumer network. We show that food web dynamics are influenced by prey selectivity and temporal match-mismatch in growth cycles and that cyanobacteria are the main source of primary production in the investigated coastal pelagic food web. The latter challenges the common assumption that cyanobacteria are not supporting food web productivity, a result that is increasingly relevant as global warming promotes cyanobacteria dominance. While this study provides a method for how DNA metabarcoding can be used to quantify energy fluxes in a marine food web, the approach presented here can easily be extended to other ecosystems.
The road to death: Caspases, cleavage, and pores
Authors: Dixit Vishva M.
Published: April 2023

Vishva Dixit recounts his favorite discoveries after 30-plus years studying the proteins that allow infected, damaged, or obsolete cells to die.
Pharmacokinetic Model of Tenofovir and Emtricitabine and Their Intracellular Metabolites in Patients in the ANRS 134-COPHAR 3 Trial Using Dose Records
Authors: Bertrand Julie , Barrail-Tran Aurélie , Fayette Lucie , Savic Rada , Goujard Cécile , Teicher Elina , Barau Caroline , Pruvost Alain , Taburet Anne-Marie , Mentré France , Verstuyft Céline , Barrail-Tran A. , Brunet A. , Commoy M.-J. , Couffin-Cadiergues S. , Descamps D. , Duval X. , Goujard C. , Le Guellec C. , Mentré F. , Nembot G. , Taburet A.-M. , Vrijens B. , Ajana •• , Aissi •• , Baclet •• , Besnier •• , Bollens •• , Boulanger •• , Brochier •• , Brunet •• , Chaix •• , Ciuchete •• , Ghosn •• , Duval •• , Ferret •• , Ferret •• , Gaubin •• , Goujard •• , Girard •• , Kouadio •• , Lupin •• , Parienti •• , Ajana •• , Parrinello •• , Poinçon de la Blanchardière •• , May •• , Marien •• , Medintzeff •• , Metivier •• , Mole •• , Molina •• , Nau •• , Ouazene •• , Pintado •• , Quertainmont •• , Ramani •• , Rami •• , Sellier •• , Simon •• , Talbi •• , Thoirain •• , Verdon •• , Trépo •• , Wassoumbou •• , Yazdanpanah •• , Barrail-Tran •• , Gagneux •• , Delhotal •• , Hoizey •• , Houdret •• , Leguellec •• , Peytavin •• , Poirier •• , Sauvageon •• , Taburet •• , André •• , Soulié •• , Calvez •• , Morand-Joubert •• , Harchi •• , Bocket •• , Mourez •• , Palmer •• , Pallier •• , Deschamps •• , Mazeron •• , Bolmann •• , Storto •• , Thanh Thuy •• , Nembot G. , Unal G. , Mentré F. , Mentré F. , Panhard X. , Savic R. , Vrijens B.
Published: April 2023

Tenofovir (TFV) and emtricitabine (FTC) are part of the recommended highly active antiretroviral therapy (ART). Both molecules show a large interindividual pharmacokinetic (PK) variability.
Regulatory Role of Anti-Sigma Factor RsbW in Clostridioides difficile Stress Response, Persistence, and Infection
Authors: Cheng Jeffrey K. J. , Đapa Tanja , Chan Ivan Y. L. , MacCreath Thomas O. , Slater Ross , Unnikrishnan Meera
Published: April 2023

Pathogens like
Clostridioides difficile
face a range of stresses in the environment and within the host. Alternative transcriptional factors like sigma factor B (σ
B
) enable the bacterium to respond quickly to different stresses.
Hybrid Genome Assemblies of 245 Avian and Broiler Barn Environment-Associated Escherichia coli Strains Isolated from Saskatchewan Broiler Farms
Authors: Sanderson Haley , Nnajide Chinenye R. , McCarthy Madeline C. , Singh Reema , Rubin Joseph E. , Dillon Jo-Anne R. , White Aaron P.
Published: April 2023

Escherichia coli
infections in poultry cause significant morbidity and economic losses for producers each year. In a 3-year period, we collected and sequenced the whole genomes of
E. coli
disease isolates (
n
 = 91), isolates from presumed healthy birds (
n
 = 61), and isolates from 8 barn sites (
n
 = 93) on broiler farms in Saskatchewan.
Coordinated and Distinct Roles of Peptidoglycan Carboxypeptidases DacC and DacA in Cell Growth and Shape Maintenance under Stress Conditions
Authors: Choi Umji , Park Si Hyoung , Lee Han Byeol , Son Ji Eun , Lee Chang-Ro
Published: April 2023

Most bacteria have a peptidoglycan architecture for cell shape maintenance and protection against osmotic challenges. Peptidoglycan
dd
-carboxypeptidases control the amount of pentapeptide substrates, which are used in the formation of 4-3 cross-links by the peptidoglycan synthetic
dd
-transpeptidases, penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs).
Polyclonal Spread of Fosfomycin Resistance among Carbapenemase-Producing Members of the
Enterobacterales
in the Czech Republic
Authors: Mattioni Marchetti V. , Kraftova L. , Finianos M. , Sourenian T. , Hrabak J. , Bitar I.
Published: April 2023

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) currently represents a concern for human health, and the reintroduction of antibiotics such as fosfomycin into clinical practice can provide further option in treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacterial infections. However, there is a global increase of fosfomycin-resistant bacteria, reducing its effectiveness.
Supplemental Material: Reconstructing the erosional and tectonic record of Laramide contraction to Rio Grande rift extension, southern Indio Mountains, western Texas, USA
Authors: Conley A. , Ricketts J.W. , al. et
Published: April 2023

Plate 1. 1:12,000-scale geologic map and associated cross sections of the southern Indio Mountains. Complete unit descriptions are provided in Text File S1 (see text footnote 1).
Effects of microcurrent therapy in promoting function and pain management of knee osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol
Authors: Zhou Zhuoluo , Xue Yuxin , Zhao Yi , Mu Xiaohong , Xu Lin
Published: April 2023

Introduction

Microcurrent therapy (MCT) is a rising conservative treatment for patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Considering its potential benefits and convenience, MCT’s application in those individuals with knee OA is capacious. However, no plausible clinical evidence has proved its unequivocal advantages in treating knee OA conservatively. The purpose of this study is to determine whether MCT is helpful in pain management and promoting function of knee OA and is safe in the treatment of knee OA in adult patients.

Methods and analysis

We will search through MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Google Scholar from inception to 15 March 2023. Original studies will include randomised controlled trials of patients treated with MCT. Two authors will independently screen, select studies, extract data and perform risk of bias assessment. Data consistently reported across studies will be pooled using random-effects meta-analysis. Heterogeneity will be evaluated using Cochrane’s Q statistic and quantified using I2statistics. Graphical and formal statistical tests will be used to assess for publication bias.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval will not be needed for this study as the data will be extracted from already published studies. The results of this review will be published in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at conferences.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42022319828
EXAcerbations of COPD and their OutcomeS on CardioVascular diseases (EXACOS-CV) Programme: protocol of multicountry observational cohort studies
Authors: Nordon Clementine , Rhodes Kirsty , Quint Jennifer K , Vogelmeier Claus F , Simons Sami O , Hawkins Nathaniel M , Marshall Jonathan , Ouwens Mario , Garbe Edeltraut , Müllerová Hana
Published: April 2023

Introduction

In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the risk of certain cardiovascular (CV) events is increased by threefold to fivefold in the year following acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD), compared with a non-exacerbation period. While the effect of severe AECOPD is well established, the relationship of moderate exacerbation or prior exacerbation to elevated risk of CV events is less clear. We will conduct cohort studies in multiple countries to further characterise the association between AECOPD and CV events.

Methods and analysis

Retrospective longitudinal cohort studies will be conducted within routinely collected electronic healthcare records or claims databases. The study cohorts will include patients meeting inclusion criteria for COPD between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2018. Moderate exacerbation is defined as an outpatient visit and/or medication dispensation/prescription for exacerbation; severe exacerbation is defined as hospitalisation for COPD. The primary outcomes of interest are the time to (1) first hospitalisation for a CV event (including acute coronary syndrome, heart failure, arrhythmias or cerebral ischaemia) since cohort entry or (2) death. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models will compare the hazard of a CV event between exposed periods following exacerbation (split into these periods: 1–7, 8–14, 15–30, 31–180 and 181–365 days) and the unexposed reference time period, adjusted on time-fixed and time-varying confounders.

Ethics and dissemination

Studies have been approved in Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, where an institutional review board is mandated. For each study, the results will be published in peer-reviewed journals.
The stability of three-strategy cyclic dominance dynamics in finite populations
Authors: Liu Xinmeng , Niu Qingqing , Tian Haiyan , Zhang Gang
Published: April 2023

In finite populations, the stability of three-strategy cyclic dominance dynamics is investigated. A model for three-strategy cyclic dominance games is proposed. The stability of dynamical system corresponding to the model is compared with that of replicator dynamics, it verifies that the results of finite populations are quite different from that of replicator dynamics.
The constrained state of minimum energy and the effective equation of motion
Authors: Akhavan Amin
Published: April 2023

In this paper, we define the state of minimum energy while the expectation values of the field operators and their time derivatives in a determined moment in such a state are constrained. As an axiom, we consider such a state as the background of the quantum field theory. As an example, we consider the scalar field with [Formula: see text] interaction. To the third-order of perturbation, we obtain the equation of motion of the dynamic expectation value of the scalar field in the defined state.
Research on Defect Detection Method of Nonwoven Fabric Mask Based on Machine Vision
Authors: Huang Jingde , Huang Zhangyu , Zhan Xin
Published: April 2023

During the production, transportation and storage of nonwoven fabric mask, there are many damages caused by human or nonhuman factors. Therefore, checking the defects of nonwoven fabric mask in a timely manner to ensure the reliability and integrity, which plays a positive role in the safe use of nonwoven fabric mask. At present, the wide application of machine vision technology provides a technical mean for the defect detection of nonwoven fabric mask. On the basis of the pre-treatment of the defect images, it can effectively simulate the contour fluctuation grading and gray value change of the defect images, which is helpful to realize the segmentation, classification and recognition of nonwoven fabric mask defect features. First, in order to accurately obtain the image information of the nonwoven fabric mask, the binocular vision calibration method of the defect detection system is discussed. On this basis, the defect detection mechanism of the nonwoven fabric mask is analyzed, and the model of image processing based on spatial domain and Hough transform is established, respectively. The original image of the nonwoven fabric mask is processed by region processing and edge extraction. Second, the defect detection algorithm of nonwoven fabric mask is established and the detection process is designed. Finally, a fast defect detection system for nonwoven fabric mask is designed, and the effectiveness of the detection method for nonwoven fabric mask is analyzed with an example. The results show that this detection method has positive engineering significance for improving the detection efficiency of defects in nonwoven fabric mask.
CLS-Net: An Action Recognition Algorithm Based on Channel-Temporal Information Modeling
Authors: Xue Mengfan , Zheng Jiannan , Li Tao , Peng Dongliang
Published: April 2023

The modeling of channel and temporal information is of crucial importance for action recognition tasks. To build a high-performance action recognition network by effectively capturing channel and temporal information, we propose CLS-Net: an action recognition algorithm based on channel-temporal information modeling. The proposed CLS-Net characterizes channel and temporal information by inserting multiple modules to an end-to-end backbone network, including a channel attention module (CA module) for modeling channel information, a long-term temporal module (LT module) and a short-term temporal module (ST module) for modeling temporal information. Specifically, the CA module extracts the correlation between feature channels so the network can learn to selectively strengthen the features containing useful information and suppress the useless features through global information. The LT module moves some channels in the temporal dimension to realize information interaction across time domains and model global temporal information. The ST module enhances the motion-sensitive features by calculating the feature-level frame difference information and realizes the representation of local motion information. Since the multi-module insertion mode directly affects the whole model’s final performance, we propose a novel multi-module insertion mode instead of a simple series or parallel connection to ensure that the multiple modules can complement one another and cooperate with each other more efficiently. CLS-Net achieves SOTA performance on the EgoGesture and Jester dataset in the same type of network and achieves competitive results on the Something-Something V2 dataset.
3D PET/CT Tumor Co-Segmentation Based on Background Subtraction Hybrid Active Contour Model
Authors: Li Laquan , Jiang Chuangbo , Wang Patrick Shen-Pei , Zheng Shenhai
Published: April 2023

Accurate tumor segmentation in medical images plays an important role in clinical diagnosis and disease analysis. However, medical images usually have great complexity, such as low contrast of computed tomography (CT) or low spatial resolution of positron emission tomography (PET). In the actual radiotherapy plan, multimodal imaging technology, such as PET/CT, is often used. PET images provide basic metabolic information and CT images provide anatomical details. In this paper, we propose a 3D PET/CT tumor co-segmentation framework based on active contour model. First, a new edge stop function (ESF) based on PET image and CT image is defined, which combines the grayscale standard deviation information of the image and is more effective for blurry medical image edges. Second, we propose a background subtraction model to solve the problem of uneven grayscale level in medical images. Apart from that, the calculation format adopts the level set algorithm based on the additive operator splitting (AOS) format. The solution is unconditionally stable and eliminates the dependence on time step size. Experimental results on a dataset of 50 pairs of PET/CT images of non-small cell lung cancer patients show that the proposed method has a good performance for tumor segmentation.
Free Vibration and Dynamic Analysis on Free-Constrained Layer of Graphene Based on Composite Conical Shell via Jacobi–Ritz Method
Authors: Zhao Jing , Fan Guobin , Guan Jialin , Li Hui , Liu Jincan , Xie Zhengchao , Wong Pak Kin
Published: April 2023

Excessive vibration has always been a serious problem for conical shell structures, while the application of the graphene-based free-constrained layer (GFCL) based on carbon fiber-reinforced composite (CFRC) structure is a novel way to improve structural performance. An analytical model for vibration and dynamic characteristics of the GFCL-CFRC conical shell resting on the Winkler–Pasternak elastic foundation with arbitrary boundary conditions is constructed, and four types of GFCL porosity distribution and GFCL dispersion pattern are considered in this model. The multi-segment technique and virtual spring technique are utilized to simulate arbitrary boundary conditions. Then, the first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and Hamilton’s principle are employed to obtain the motion equation of the GFCL-CFRC conical shell, and the motion equation of the GFCL-CFRC conical shell is solved by the Ritz method. In conclusion, the dispersion mode of GFCL, thickness ratio of GFCL, and fiber angle have influence on the dynamic performance. With a reasonable design, the dynamic performance of the GFCL-CFRC conical shell can be further improved.
SIRS epidemic modeling using fractional-ordered differential equations: Role of fear effect
Authors: Mangal Shiv , Misra O. P. , Dhar Joydip
Published: April 2023

In this paper, an SIRS epidemic model using Grunwald–Letnikov fractional-order derivative is formulated with the help of a nonlinear system of fractional differential equations to analyze the effects of fear in the population during the outbreak of deadly infectious diseases. The criteria for the spread or extinction of the disease are derived and discussed on the basis of the basic reproduction number. The condition for the existence of Hopf bifurcation is discussed considering fractional order as a bifurcation parameter. Additionally, using the Grunwald–Letnikov approximation, the simulation is carried out to confirm the validity of analytic results graphically. Using the real data of COVID-19 in India recorded during the second wave from 15 May 2021 to 15 December 2021, we estimate the model parameters and find that the fractional-order model gives the closer forecast of the disease than the classical one. Both the analytical results and numerical simulations presented in this study suggest different policies for controlling or eradicating many infectious diseases.
Using Panopto In-Video Quizzes for Online Education
Authors: Jung Eulho , Snow Greg
Published: April 2023

Panopto is a screen and lecture capture tool that can create in-video quizzes. By following guidelines, creating quizzes in Panopto can effectively keep students watching and help the lecture content stick in learners' memories.
Tangible User Interfaces for Enhancing User Experience of Virtual Reality Cultural Heritage Applications for Utilization in Educational Environment
Authors: Hulusic Vedad , Gusia Linda , Luci Nita , Smith Michael
Published: April 2023

Museums are traditionally considered learning environments and are ordinarily used for non-formal education. Physical museums, while being irreplaceable, are limited to a physical space, requiring mobility and physical presence. In addition, traditional exhibitions are not designed for interaction and physical exploration of artefacts. With the focus being shifted from museum exhibits to visitors’ experience, utilization of emerging technologies and co-creation of virtual museums not only helps in preservation of cultural heritage, but enhances the dissemination, engagement, and experience, while addressing the mobility and the plurality of voices and perspectives represented. In this work, we designed and developed the School House Virtual Museum with tangible user interfaces based on participatory, interdisciplinary, and co-creative methods with students and a larger community of researchers, artists, and practitioners working on heritage and memory. In a user study with 62 participants, usability and user experience were explored and the potential contribution of such virtual museums to learning, based on critical, cross-disciplinary, and participatory dialogue, both in cultural and educational institutions/programs has been investigated. The results have confirmed that the system has been well designed and developed, and the user experience was largely positive. The responses from educators and students confirmed that the application holds potential as a learning and education tool in either museums, schools, or when used independently.