bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Large Range Atomic Force Microscopy with High Aspect Ratio Micropipette Probe for Deep Trench Imaging
Authors: Shi Huiyao , Wang Kaixuan , Tang Si , Zhai Shenghang , Shi Jialin , Su Chanmin , Liu Lianqing
Published: April 2023

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been adopted in both industry and academia for high‐fidelity, full‐profile topographic characterization. Typically, the tiny tip of the cantilever and the limited traveling range of the scanner restrict AFM measurement to relatively flat samples (recommend 1 µm). The primary objective of this work is to address these limitations using a large‐range AFM (measuring height >10 µm) system consisting of a novel repairable high aspect ratio probe (HARP) with a nested‐proportional‐integral‐derivative (nested‐PID) AFM system. The HARP is fabricated using a reliable, cost‐efficient bench‐top process. The tip is then fused by pulling the end of the micropipette cantilever with a length up to hundreds of micrometers and a tip diameter of 30 nm. The design, simulation, fabrication, and performance of the HARP are described herein. This instrument is then tested using polymer trenches which reveals superior image fidelity compared to standard silicon tips. Finally, a nested‐PID system is developed and employed to facilitate 3D characterization of 50‐µm‐step samples. The results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed bench‐top technique for the fabrication of low‐cost, simple HAR AFM probes that facilitate the imaging of samples with deep trenches.
Effect of Hadamard multiplication on bloom filter and double bloom filter transformations
Authors: Sreedharan Ajish , K. S. Anil Kumar
Published: April 2023

Iris biometric is the most common and widely accepted biometric authentication method due to its high accuracy. The iris biometric template should be protected to overcome security and privacy attacks. The two standard iris biometric template protection methods are bloom filter and double bloom filter‐based feature transformations. In this article, we first permuted and then applied the p‐order Hadamard product on the iris template before the bloom filter and double bloom filter‐based transformation to enhance the security. The performance and security are measured using the CASIAv1 iris benchmark database to study the effect of Hadamard multiplication on bloom and double bloom filter‐based transformation. The Hadamard multiplication on the iris template increases the security of the transformed iris template and slightly degrades the matching performance.
Investigation of heat transport characteristics of titanium dioxide nanofluids with corrugated tube
Authors: Ugle Vikas V. , Arulprakasajothi Mahalingam , Padmanabhan Sambandam , Devarajan Yuvarajan , Lakshmaiya Natrayan , Subbaiyan Naveen
Published: April 2023

The implications of cooling fluids with suspended titanium dioxide nanoparticles in augmenting the heat transfer rate in the heat exchanger are discussed. The application of corrugated tubes for increasing the effectiveness of heat exchangers is studied in this work. In deionized water, the nanofluid is synthesized to get three different volume concentrations (0.25%, 0.5%, and 1%). The nanofluid's flow rate varies to 100 L/h, 150 L/h, and 200 L/h, respectively. An experiment is carried out in three corrugated tubes made of copper, with pitch values of 18, 20, and 25 mm, respectively. Optimization is carried out to determine the influence of nanofluid concentration, the mass flow rate of the nanofluids, and the corrugation pitch over the heat transfer rate. It is concluded that increasing the volume concentration of the nanoparticles in deionized water and the mass flow rate of the nanofluid enhances the heat transfer rate in the heat exchanger.
An alternative approach to capture uncertainties embedded in the estimation of social cost of carbon
Authors: Caesary Desy , Kim Hana , Nam Myung Jin
Published: April 2023

The continuous increase in global surface temperature, which has been triggered by the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration from anthropogenic activity, results in damage not only in the short term but also in the long term. This damage, called the social cost of carbon (SCC), has been widely estimated using integrated assessment models (IAMs). A large range of estimated SCC values have been observed because of uncertainties in IAMs' parameters. This study provides a comprehensive review of these uncertainties after dividing IAM modules into four categories: climate sensitivity, damage function, discount rate, and regional–sectoral validation. The review was conducted by comparing key ideas considered by various IAMs: socioeconomic conditions in relation to projected CO2 emissions, estimation of the atmospheric concentration of CO2, estimation of total radiative forcing, parameters of the temperature function, parameters of the damage function, and discount rate value. In addition, this study presents an alternative approach to capture the uncertainties embedded in the SCC estimation, using a machine learning approach. This enables a probabilistic evaluation of a specific level of SCC and improves our comprehension of the implication of the calculated SCC using IAMs. This alternative approach provides a basis for further study of SCC.

This article is categorized under:

Climate and Environment > Net Zero Planning and Decarbonization
Functional neuroimaging in the era of Big Data and Open Science: A modern overview
Authors: Lazar Nicole A.
Published: April 2023

In the past 30 years, the statistical analysis of functional neuroimaging data has made much progress, and spurred many new research directions. At the same time, problems with reproducibility and replicability have plagued the field, owing in part to small sample sizes, a plethora of choices at the data preprocessing stage, and overall lack of transparency in reporting. The latter two in particular pose barriers to statisticians who want to become involved in the area. Recent efforts by some in the neuroimaging community to address these problems represent a turning point. This article highlights the current landscape and provides an introduction to some of the relevant resources in “open neuroimaging.”

This article is categorized under:

Software for Computational Statistics > Software/Statistical Software
The WhyRel Prototype for Modular Relational Verification of Pointer Programs
Authors: Nagasamudram Ramana , Banerjee Anindya , Naumann David A.
Published: April 2023

Verifying relations between programs arises as a task in various verification contexts such as optimizing transformations, relating new versions of programs with older versions (regression verification), and noninterference. However, relational verification for programs acting on dynamically allocated mutable state is not well supported by existing tools, which provide a high level of automation at the cost of restricting the programs considered. Auto-active tools, on the other hand, require more user interaction but enable verification of a broader class of programs. This article presents WhyRel, a tool for the auto-active verification of relational properties of pointer programs based on relational region logic. WhyRel is evaluated through verification case studies, relying on SMT solvers orchestrated by the Why3 platform on which it builds. Case studies include establishing representation independence of ADTs, showing noninterference, and challenge problems from recent literature.
Computing Adequately Permissive Assumptions for Synthesis
Authors: Anand Ashwani , Mallik Kaushik , Nayak Satya Prakash , Schmuck Anne-Kathrin
Published: April 2023

We automatically compute a new class of environment assumptions in two-player turn-based finite graph games which characterize an “adequate cooperation” needed from the environment to allow the system player to win. Given an $$\omega $$-regular winning condition $$\varPhi $$ for the system player, we compute an $$\omega $$-regular assumption $$\varPsi $$ for the environment player, such that (i) every environment strategy compliant with $$\varPsi $$ allows the system to fulfill $$\varPhi $$ (sufficiency), (ii) $$\varPsi $$ can be fulfilled by the environment for every strategy of the system (implementability), and (iii) $$\varPsi $$ does not prevent any cooperative strategy choice (permissiveness).

For parity games, which are canonical representations of $$\omega $$-regular games, we present a polynomial-time algorithm for the symbolic computation of adequately permissive assumptions and show that our algorithm runs faster and produces better assumptions than existing approaches—both theoretically and empirically. To the best of our knowledge, for $$\omega $$-regular games, we provide the first algorithm to compute sufficient and implementable environment assumptions that are also permissive.
WASIM: A Word-level Abstract Symbolic Simulation Framework for Hardware Formal Verification
Authors: Fang Wenji , Zhang Hongce
Published: April 2023

This paper demonstrates the design and usage of WASIM, a word-level abstract symbolic simulation framework with pluggable abstraction/refinement functions. WASIM is useful in the formal verification of functional properties on register-transfer level (RTL) hardware designs. Users can control the symbolic simulation process and tune the level of abstraction by interacting with WASIM through its Python API. WASIM can be used to directly check formal properties on symbolic traces or to extract useful fragments from symbolic representations to construct safe inductive invariants as a correctness certificate. We demonstrate the utility of WASIM on the verification of two pipelined hardware designs. WASIM and the case studies are available under open-source license at: [9].
Industrial-Strength Controlled Concurrency Testing for $$\textsc {C}{} \texttt {\#} $$ Programs with $$\textsc {Coyote} $$
Authors: Deligiannis Pantazis , Senthilnathan Aditya , Nayyar Fahad , Lovett Chris , Lal Akash
Published: April 2023

This paper describes the design and implementation of the open-source tool $$\textsc {Coyote} $$ for testing concurrent programs written in the $$\textsc {C}{} \texttt {\#} $$ language. $$\textsc {Coyote} $$ provides algorithmic capabilities to explore the state-space of interleavings of a concurrent program, with deterministic repro for any bug that it finds. $$\textsc {Coyote} $$ encapsulates multiple ideas from the research community to offer state-of-the-art testing for $$\textsc {C}{} \texttt {\#} $$ programs, as well as an efficiently engineered implementation that has been shown robust enough to support industrial use.
Symbiotic-Witch 2: More Efficient Algorithm and Witness Refutation
Authors: Ayaziová Paulína , Strejček Jan
Published: April 2023

The new version of the witness validator Symbiotic-Witch follows more precisely the (fixed version of the) semantics of verification witnesses. This makes the tool more efficient as it can benefit from sink nodes. Further, the tool can now refute a witness. To sum up, Symbiotic-Witch  2 can confirm or refute violation witnesses of reachability safety, memory safety, memory cleanup, and overflow properties of sequential C programs.
EBF 4.2: Black-Box Cooperative Verification for Concurrent Programs
Authors: Aljaafari Fatimah , Shmarov Fedor , Manino Edoardo , Menezes Rafael , Cordeiro Lucas C.
Published: April 2023

Combining different verification and testing techniques together could, at least in theory, achieve better results than each individual one on its own. The challenge in doing so is how to take advantage of the strengths of each technique while compensating for their weaknesses. EBF 4.2 addresses this challenge for concurrency vulnerabilities by creating Ensembles of Bounded model checkers and gray-box Fuzzers. In contrast with portfolios, which simply run all possible techniques in parallel, EBF strives to obtain closer cooperation between them. This goal is achieved in a black-box fashion. On the one hand, the model checkers are forced to provide seeds to the fuzzers by injecting additional vulnerabilities in the program under test. On the other hand, off-the-shelf fuzzers are forced to explore different interleavings by adding lightweight instrumentation and systematically re-seeding them.
Mopsa-C: Modular Domains and Relational Abstract Interpretation for C Programs (Competition Contribution)
Authors: Monat Raphaël , Ouadjaout Abdelraouf , Miné Antoine
Published: April 2023

Mopsa is a multilanguage static analysis platform relying on abstract interpretation. It is able to analyze C, Python, and programs mixing these two languages; we focus on the C analysis here. It provides a novel way to combine abstract domains, in order to offer extensibility and cooperation between them, which is especially beneficial when relational numerical domains are used. The analyses are currently flow-sensitive and fully context-sensitive. We focus only on proving programs to be correct, as our analyses are designed to be sound and terminating but not complete. We present our first participation to SV-Comp, where Mopsa earned a bronze medal in the SoftwareSystems category.
PIChecker: A POR and Interpolation based Verifier for Concurrent Programs (Competition Contribution)
Authors: Su Jie , Yang Zuchao , Xing Hengrui , Yang Jiyu , Tian Cong , Duan Zhenhua
Published: April 2023

is a tool for verifying reachability properties of concurrent C programs. It moderates the trace-space explosion problem, aggravated by thread alternation, through utilizing the PC-DPOR and C-Intp techniques. The PC-DPOR technique constructs a constrained dependency graph to refine dependencies between transitions. With this basis, the inherent imprecision of the dependence over-approximation can be overcome. Thereby, many redundant equivalent traces are prevented from being explored. On the other hand, the C-Intp technique performs conditional interpolation to confine the reachable regions of states, so that infeasible conditional branches which occur more frequently in concurrent verification tasks could be pruned automatically. We have implemented the above techniques on top of the open-source program analysis framework .
Ultimate Automizer and the CommuHash Normal Form
Authors: Heizmann Matthias , Barth Max , Dietsch Daniel , Fichtner Leonard , Hoenicke Jochen , Klumpp Dominik , Naouar Mehdi , Schindler Tanja , Schüssele Frank , Podelski Andreas
Published: April 2023

The verification approach of Ultimate Automizer utilizes SMT formulas. This paper presents techniques to keep the size of the formulas small. We focus especially on a normal form, called CommuHash normal form that was easy to implement and had a significant impact on the runtime of our tool.
PyLTA: A Verification Tool for Parameterized Distributed Algorithms
Authors: Thomas Bastien , Sankur Ocan
Published: April 2023

We present the tool PyLTA, which can model check parameterized distributed algorithms against LTL specifications. The parameters typically include the number of processes and a bound on faulty processes, and the considered algorithms are round-based and either synchronous or asynchronous.
Ultimate Taipan and Race Detection in Ultimate
Authors: Dietsch Daniel , Heizmann Matthias , Klumpp Dominik , Schüssele Frank , Podelski Andreas
Published: April 2023

Ultimate Taipan integrates trace abstraction with algebraic program analysis on path programs. Taipan supports data race checking in concurrent programs through a reduction to reachability checking. Though the subsequent verification is not tuned for data race checking, the results are encouraging.
Parallel Program Analysis via Range Splitting
Authors: Haltermann Jan , Jakobs Marie-Christine , Richter Cedric , Wehrheim Heike
Published: April 2023

Ranged symbolic execution has been proposed as a way of scaling symbolic execution by splitting the task of path exploration onto several workers running in parallel. The split is conducted along path ranges which – simply speaking – describe sets of paths. Workers can then explore path ranges in parallel.

In this paper, we propose ranged analysis as the generalization of ranged symbolic execution to arbitrary program analyses. This allows us to not only parallelize a single analysis, but also run different analyses on different ranges of a program in parallel. Besides this generalization, we also provide a novel range splitting strategy operating along loop bounds, complementing the existing random strategy of the original proposal. We implemented ranged analysis within the tool CPAchecker and evaluated it on programs from the SV-COMP benchmark. The evaluation in particular shows the superiority of loop bounds splitting over random splitting. We furthermore find that compositions of ranged analyses can solve analysis tasks that none of the constituent analysis alone can solve.
Towards Log Slicing
Authors: Dawes Joshua Heneage , Shin Donghwan , Bianculli Domenico
Published: April 2023

This short paper takes initial steps towards developing a novel approach, called log slicing, that aims to answer a practical question in the field of log analysis: Can we automatically identify log messages related to a specific message (e.g., an error message)? The basic idea behind log slicing is that we can consider how different log messages are “computationally related” to each other by looking at the corresponding logging statements in the source code. These logging statements are identified by 1) computing a backwards program slice, using as criterion the logging statement that generated a problematic log message; and 2) extending that slice to include relevant logging statements.

The paper presents a problem definition of log slicing, describes an initial approach for log slicing, and discusses a key open issue that can lead towards new research directions.
Renewed Aspirations for Schools as Community Hubs
Authors: Cleveland Benjamin , McShane Ian , Chandler Philippa , Backhouse Sarah , Aston Ruth , Clinton Janet M.
Published: April 2023

This book explores the expanded roles of schools, investigating how they may offer more to their communities than formal education. It also discusses what schools can gain from their communities through various forms of partnership and collaboration. We explore this ‘more than a school’ idea through past examples, in current practice, and as a model for schools into the future. Uniquely, the book investigates these issues from a spatial perspective, adopting the view that school and urban infrastructure, including buildings and landscaped outdoor areas (i.e., space), matters in the context of school-community relations. Indeed, we suggest that it mediates these relations, even though such influence is infrequently mentioned in the existing literature. Aligning our research with the spatial turn in the social sciences, we argue that research into school-community connections has tended to view such relations as fundamentally social, omitting adequate consideration of the role that space plays in enabling and/or constraining connections between school administrators, students, teachers, parents, carers, and members of the wider community. Adopting a spatial approach, a range of new perspectives are offered with respect to fostering stronger school-community connections through engaging thoughtfully with the built environment. The recurring themes of partnering, planning, designing, and enabling schools as community hubs are used to structure the 20 chapters that follow the initial scene-settings chapters.
Schools as ‘Sacred Enclaves’ or ‘Community Hubs’? South Korean Experiences
Authors: Kim Hyung Min , Han GwangYa
Published: April 2023

This chapter illustrates the South Korean perception of and policy approaches to schools from the perspective of ‘schools as community hubs’ versus ‘schools as sacred enclaves.’ It historically reviews aspiration to education and the geographical settings for it. High residential density characteristics have created superior environments for independent commutes and interactions between pupils and community members in South Korea. While planning approaches have advocated the role of schools in community building, there have been barriers, among which children’s safety is the most crucial. This chapter juxtaposes these two views by illustrating recent challenges in the removal of school fences and providing an example of community multi-functional buildings on a school site, arguing safety should be a firm pre-condition to leverage school facilities for society-wide community benefits.
Policy for Schools as Community Hubs: Insights Into a Fragmented Environment
Authors: Polglase Robert , McShane Ian , Cleveland Benjamin
Published: April 2023

Schools as community hubs are recognised for their significant contributions to communities. Yet, these projects must negotiate complex and often fragmented policy environments that cross government jurisdictions and disciplines to achieve stakeholder support, funding, and operate over the longer-term to deliver benefits to communities. Policy research in this area is scarce. This chapter discusses policy for schools as community hubs through the lenses of Bacchi and Goodwin’s ‘problem representation’ approach and ideas about performative and locally enacted policy. This theoretical framework is applied to Yuille Park Community College, in Victoria, Australia, as an interpretive policy analysis to reveal insights into the policy environment that was negotiated to develop this community-facing school. Now proclaimed as a ‘whole of life’ community centre, Yuille Park relied on the skill and continuity of key actors who—with little formal policy direction—coordinated solutions across service provision, urban planning, and facility design to make a difference to a struggling community, generating neighbourhood uplift and helping to overcome entrenched intergenerational challenges.
School and Community Infrastructure Networks: What Might These Look Like?
Authors: Miles Natalie , Cleveland Benjamin , Chandler Philippa
Published: April 2023

This chapter asks, ‘How might school and community infrastructure networks be conceived, and what might they look like?’ Through an exploratory review of the literature, the relationships between school and community infrastructures are investigated and connections and boundaries between different forms of infrastructure for community use are discussed. A network theory approach is adopted to explore emerging insights into how school facilities and other community assets (buildings and landscaped areas) might better support whole-of-community development, education, and wellbeing. Historically, the opposing design objectives of connection and security have challenged the development of schools as locations for community use, often resulting in facilities that are inadequately planned or resolved in their design to meet the needs of multiple user-groups. Might the reappraisal of school planning and design enable new and improved connections with other community infrastructures? Might planning and designing community facilities with school users in mind improve their utility? Drawing together various discourses in the literature, a network model is proposed to represent relationships between school and community infrastructures. This is intended to encourage planning authorities to explore potentially better integrated, more effective, and financially more efficient models of infrastructure provision for community use—especially in fast growing areas on the edges of Australia’s largest cities where demand for community services and infrastructure is high, but resources are stretched.
Simplified likelihoods using linearized systematic uncertainties
Authors: Berger N.
Published: April 2023

Abstract

This paper presents a simplified likelihood framework designed to facilitate the reuse, reinterpretation and combination of LHC experimental results. The framework is based on the same underlying structure as the widely used HistFactory format, but with systematic uncertainties considered at linear order only. This simplification leads to large gains in computing performance for the evaluation and maximization of the likelihood function, compared to the original statistical model. The framework accurately describes non-Gaussian effects from low event counts, as well as correlated uncertainties in combinations. While primarily targeted towards binned descriptions of the data, it is also applicable to unbinned models.
In planta interactions of a novel bacteriophage against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato
Authors: Skliros Dimitrios , Papazoglou Polyxeni , Gkizi Danai , Paraskevopoulou Eleni , Katharios Pantelis , Goumas Dimitrios E , Tjamos Sotirios , Flemetakis Emmanouil
Published: April 2023

The biology and biotechnology of bacteriophages have been extensively studied in recent years to explore new and environmentally friendly methods of controlling phytopathogenic bacteria. Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (Pst) is responsible for bacterial speck disease in tomato plants, leading to decreased yield. Disease management strategies rely on the use of copper-based pesticides. The biological control of Pst with the use of bacteriophages could be an alternative environmentally friendly approach to diminish the detrimental effects of Pst in tomato cultivations. The lytic efficacy of bacteriophages can be used in biocontrol-based disease management strategies. Here, we report the isolation and complete characterization of a bacteriophage, named Medea1, which was also tested in planta against Pst, under greenhouse conditions. The application of Medea1 as a root drenching inoculum or foliar spraying reduced 2.5- and fourfold on average, respectively, Pst symptoms in tomato plants, compared to a control group. In addition, it was observed that defense-related genes PR1b and Pin2 were upregulated in the phage-treated plants. Our research explores a new genus of Pseudomonas phages and explores its biocontrol potential against Pst, by utilizing its lytic nature and ability to trigger the immune response of plants.

Key points

• Medea1 is a newly reported bacteriophage against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato having genomic similarities with the phiPSA1 bacteriophage

• Two application strategies were reported, one by root drenching the plants with a phage-based solution and one by foliar spraying, showing up to 60- and 6-fold reduction of Pst population and disease severity in some cases, respectively, compared to control

• Bacteriophage Medea1 induced the expression of the plant defense-related genes Pin2 and PR1b
Multimodal imaging findings of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma arising from a biliary adenofibroma: a case report with radiological–pathological correlation
Authors: Kanemaru Noriko , Nakai Yudai , Watadani Takeyuki , Nakao Takahiro , Hinata Munetoshi , Nakazawa Akiko , Akamatsu Nobuhisa , Ushiku Tetsuo , Hasegawa Kiyoshi , Abe Osamu
Published: April 2023

Purpose

Biliary adenofibroma is a solid microcystic epithelial neoplasm in the liver, comprising microcystic and tubuloacinar glandular tissues lined by a non-mucin secreting biliary epithelium and supported by a fibrous stroma. It is an extremely rare benign tumor with potential for malignant transformation. Herein, we report the case of a 64-year-old woman diagnosed with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma arising from biliary adenofibroma.

Methods

Imaging studies revealed a tumor of 50 mm diameter, consisting of two components in S1 of the liver. The ventral portion of the tumor showed an ill-defined mass with early peripheral and gradual centripetal enhancement invading to the middle hepatic vein on computed tomography (CT), diffusion restriction on magnetic resonance images, and high fluorine-18-2-deoxy-d-glucose (FDG) uptake on positron emission tomography, like conventional intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. The dorsal portion showed a well-defined and low-attenuated mass with heterogeneous early enhancement and partial wash-out on CT, marked hyperintensity on heavily T2-weighted images, and low FDG uptake. The patient subsequently underwent extended left hepatectomy.

Results

Pathologically, the former was diagnosed as cholangiocarcinoma and the latter as biliary adenofibroma. We discuss the radiological-pathological correlation of the tumor with a literature review.

Conclusion

Preoperative diagnosis of biliary adenofibroma is extremely challenging; however, clinically, it is crucial not to miss the presence of malignant findings.

Graphical abstract
Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation remains a feasible approach for elderly with acute myeloid leukemia: a 10-year experience
Authors: Duda Katarzyna , Wieczorkiewicz-Kabut Agata , Koclęga Anna , Zielińska Patrycja , Woźniczka Krzysztof , Krzemień Helena , Armatys Anna , Helbig Grzegorz
Published: April 2023

The incidence of AML increases with age. The implementation of reduced intensity conditioning and progress in supportive care enabled to perform allo-HSCT in elderly patients. The main objective of the study was to assess the safety and efficacy of allotransplantation in elderly AML.Forty nine patients (33 males) at median age of 68 years were identified. Data on patients’ and transplant’s related variables were retrieved from our local transplant registry. Most patients (65%) were transplanted from 10/10-HLA or 9/10-HLA matched unrelated donor, seven patients (14%) received stem cells from matched related donor and ten patients (20%) from haploidentical donor. All patients received reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC). Peripheral blood was a source of stem cells in all patients except one (98%). Acute GVHD developed in 22 patients (44%) with 5 individuals presenting grade III-IV. CMV reactivation was demonstrated in 19 patients (39%) till day + 100. In total, 22 patients (45%) have died. The main causes of death included infectious complications (n = 9), relapse with subsequent chemotherapy resistance (n = 7), steroid-resistant GvHD (n = 4) and other causes (n = 2). Twenty-seven patients (55%) were alive at the last contact, presented full donor chimerism and remained in the complete remission. The probability of OS and relapse-free survival (RFS) were 57% and 81% at 2 years, respectively. Older donor age showed negative impact on relapse. CMV reactivation, the severity of acute graft versus host disease and older donor age negatively influenced survival. Allo-HSCT remains a safe, feasible and effective procedure for elderly AML patients.
Semigroup models for biochemical reaction networks
Authors: Loutchko Dimitri
Published: April 2023

The catalytic reaction system (CRS) formalism by Hordijk and Steel is a versatile method to model autocatalytic biochemical reaction networks. It is particularly suited, and has been widely used, to study self-sustainment and self-generation properties. Its distinguishing feature is the explicit assignment of a catalytic function to chemicals that are part of the system. In this work, it is shown that the subsequent and simultaneous catalytic functions give rise to an algebraic structure of a semigroup with the additional compatible operation of idempotent addition and a partial order. The aim of this article is to demonstrate that such semigroup models are a natural setup to describe and analyze self-sustaining CRS. The basic algebraic properties of the models are established and the notion of the function of any set of chemicals on the whole CRS is made precise. This leads to a natural discrete dynamical system on the power set of chemicals, which is obtained by iteratively considering the self-action on a set of chemicals by its own function. The fixed points of this dynamical system are proven to correspond to self-sustaining sets of chemicals, which are functionally closed. Finally, as the main application, a theorem on the maximal self-sustaining set and a structure theorem on the set of functionally closed self-sustaining sets of chemicals are proven.
Robustness of pulmonary nodule radiomic features on computed tomography as a function of varying radiation dose levels—a multi-dose in vivo patient study
Authors: Bartholomeus Gijs A. , van Amsterdam Wouter A. C. , Harder Annemarie M.den , Willemink Martin J. , van Hamersvelt Robbert W. , de Jong Pim A. , Leiner Tim
Published: April 2023

Objective

Analysis of textural features of pulmonary nodules in chest CT, also known as radiomics, has several potential clinical applications, such as diagnosis, prognostication, and treatment response monitoring. For clinical use, it is essential that these features provide robust measurements. Studies with phantoms and simulated lower dose levels have demonstrated that radiomic features can vary with different radiation dose levels. This study presents an in vivo stability analysis of radiomic features for pulmonary nodules against varying radiation dose levels.

Methods

Nineteen patients with a total of thirty-five pulmonary nodules underwent four chest CT scans at different radiation dose levels (60, 33, 24, and 15 mAs) in a single session. The nodules were manually delineated. To assess the robustness of features, we calculated the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). To visualize the effect of milliampere-second variation on groups of features, a linear model was fitted to each feature. We calculated bias and calculated the R2 value as a measure of goodness of fit.

Results

A small minority of 15/100 (15%) radiomic features were considered stable (ICC > 0.9). Bias increased and R2 decreased at lower dose, but shape features seemed to be more robust to milliampere-second variations than other feature classes.

Conclusion

A large majority of pulmonary nodule radiomic features were not inherently robust to radiation dose level variations. For a subset of features, it was possible to correct this variability by a simple linear model. However, the correction became increasingly less accurate at lower radiation dose levels.

Clinical relevance statement

Radiomic features provide a quantitative description of a tumor based on medical imaging such as computed tomography (CT). These features are potentially useful in several clinical tasks such as diagnosis, prognosis prediction, treatment effect monitoring, and treatment effect estimation.

Key Points

• The vast majority of commonly used radiomic features are strongly influenced by variations in radiation dose level.

• A small minority of radiomic features, notably the shape feature class, are robust against dose-level variations according to ICC calculations.

• A large subset of radiomic features can be corrected by a linear model taking into account only the radiation dose level.
Surface tension behavior of superspreading and non-superspreading trisiloxane surfactants
Authors: Silva Séforah Carolina Marques , Gambaryan-Roisman Tatiana , Venzmer Joachim
Published: April 2023

One parameter frequently considered to be relevant for superspreading of trisiloxane surfactants is surface tension kinetics. In the scientific literature, some experimental results reported for trisiloxane surfactants are in contradiction with fundamental concepts of surfactant monomer diffusion. Therefore, maximum bubble pressure tensiometry has been used to determine dynamic surface tension (DST) of two types of trisiloxane surfactants: superspreader and non-superspreader. Results show that both surfactants behave similarly at concentrations below critical micelle concentration (CMC), as expected. The CMC curves, as determined by drop shape analysis, confirmed that the more hydrophilic non-superspreader has a higher CMC as compared to the more hydrophobic superspreader. Accordingly, the lower surfactant monomer concentration of the superspreader results in a higher DST than the non-superspreader at the same surface age. So, in contrary to claims in the literature, there is nothing mysterious or unexpected concerning the surface tension behavior of trisiloxane surfactants.

Graphical Abstract
The relationship of the efficiency of energy conversion into growth as an indicator for the determination of the optimal dose for mutation breeding with the appearance of chromosomal abnormalities and incomplete mitosis after gamma irradiation of kernels of Triticum turgidum ssp. durum L.
Authors: Von Well Eben , Fossey Annabel , Booyse Mardé
Published: April 2023

The study aim was to determine the optimal gamma irradiation dose for mutation breeding in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum L. Root, shoot and seedling growth, as well as the efficiency of energy conversion into growth were determined to examine the growth retardation effects of gamma irradiation that are the result of DNA damage (bridges, ring chromosomes, micronuclei, incomplete mitosis) in Triticum turgidum ssp. durum L. The kernels were irradiated with doses of 50, 150, 250 and 350 Gy using a 60Cobalt gamma-ray source. The kernels were placed in germination paper at 25 °C to grow for a 132 h period for the determination of shoot and root growth and the efficiency of energy conversion into growth. Root tips were collected and fixated over a 47.5 h growth period for the determination of the chromosomal abnormalities and incomplete mitosis. The control differed highly significantly (p < 0.01) from irradiated samples at all doses in root growth and from 250 to 350 Gy samples in shoot growth and the efficiency of energy conversion into growth. There was a highly significant (p < 0.01) increase in the number of bridges and micronuclei between 50 Gy samples and samples irradiated with the higher irradiation doses while 50 Gy samples differed only from 250 and 350 Gy samples regarding ring chromosomes and interphase cells with incomplete mitosis. Root and seedling growth on the one hand and the efficiency of energy conversion into growth on the other were found to be measuring different effects of gamma irradiation on plant growth. The latter was used for the determination of the optimal dose for mutation breeding as 155.52 Gy.
Keratoconus tomographic indices in osteogenesis imperfecta
Authors: Correia Barão Rafael , Santos Miguel , Marques Raquel Esteves , Quintas Ana Miguel , Guerra Paulo
Published: April 2023

Purpose

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a rare inherited disease affecting collagen-rich tissues. Ocular complications have been reported such as thin corneas, low ocular rigidity, keratoconus, among others. The purpose of this study is to characterize corneal tomographic features in OI patients compared to unaffected patients, with particular focus on commonly studied keratoconus indices.

Methods

Cross-sectional case–control study including 37 OI patients and 37 age-matched controls. Patients and controls underwent comprehensive ophthalmological examination including corneal Scheimpflug tomography with a Pentacam HR device (Oculus Optikgeräte GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany) to analyse and compare topometric, tomographic, pachymetric and Belin-Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display III (BAD-D) data of both eyes of each patient.

Results

Most OI patients had type I disease (n = 24; 65%) but type III–VII patients were also included. Two patients had clinically overt bilateral keratoconus. OI patients had significantly higher maximum keratometry (45.2 ± 2.1 vs. 43.7 ± 1.2; p = 0.0416), front and back elevation (3.0 ± 3.3 vs. 2.1 ± 1.3, p = 0.0201; 11.1 ± 8.2 vs. 5.0 ± 3.7, p < 0.0001), index of surface variance (25.5 ± 13 vs. 17.4 ± 8.3; p = 0.0016), index of vertical asymmetry (0.21 ± 0.14 vs. 0.15 ± 0.06; p = 0.0215), index of height asymmetry (9.2 ± 14 vs. 6.0 ± 4.5; p = 0.0421), index of height decentration (0.02 ± 0.01 vs. 0.01 ± 0.01; p < 0.0001) and average pachymetric progression (1.01 ± 0.19 vs. 0.88 ± 0.14; p < 0.0001) readings. Thinnest corneal thickness and maximum Ambrósio relational thickness were significantly lower (477 ± 52 vs. 543 ± 26; 387 ± 95 vs. 509 ± 49; p < 0.0001). Two-thirds of OI patients had corneas with a minimum thickness < 500 µm. BAD-D value was significantly higher in OI patients (2.1 ± 1.4 vs. 0.9 ± 0.2; p < 0.0001).

Conclusion

OI patients showed significant changes in corneal profiles compared with healthy subjects. A high proportion of patients had tomographically suspect corneas when using keratoconus diagnostic indices. Further studies are warranted to assess the true risk of corneal ectasia in OI patients.
Multi-layered repair of high-flow CSF fistulae following endoscopic skull base surgery without nasal packing or lumbar drains: technical refinements to optimise outcome
Authors: Hannan Cathal John , Kewlani Bharti , Browne Steven , Javadpour Mohsen
Published: April 2023

Aims

Post-operative CSF leak remains a significant problem following endoscopic skull base surgery, particularly when there is a high-flow intra-operative CSF leak. Most skull base repair techniques are accompanied by the insertion of a lumbar drain and/or the use of nasal packing which have significant shortcomings. Our aim was to review the results of a large series of endoscopic skull base cases where a high-flow intra-operative CSF leak rate was encountered and repaired to assess if modifications in technique could reduce the post-operative CSF leak rate.

Methods

A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database of skull base cases performed by a single surgeon over a 10-year period was performed. Data regarding patient demographics, underlying pathology, skull base repair techniques and post-operative complications were analysed.

Results

One hundred forty-two cases with high-flow intra-operative CSF leak were included in the study. The most common pathologies were craniopharyngiomas (55/142, 39%), pituitary adenomas (34/142, 24%) and meningiomas (24/142, 17%). The CSF leak rate was 7/36 (19%) when a non-standardised skull base repair technique was used. However, with the adoption of a standardised, multi-layer repair technique, the post-operative CSF leak rate decreased significantly (4/106, 4% vs. 7/36, 19%, p = 0.006). This improvement in the rate of post-operative CSF leak was achieved without nasal packing or lumbar drains.

Conclusion

With iterative modifications to a multi-layered closure technique for high-flow intra-operative CSF leaks, it is possible to obtain a very low rate of post-operative CSF leak, without lumbar drains or nasal packing.
Optimal algorithms for differentially private stochastic monotone variational inequalities and saddle-point problems
Authors: Boob Digvijay , Guzmán Cristóbal
Published: April 2023

In this work, we conduct the first systematic study of stochastic variational inequality (SVI) and stochastic saddle point (SSP) problems under the constraint of differential privacy (DP). We propose two algorithms: Noisy Stochastic Extragradient (NSEG) and Noisy Inexact Stochastic Proximal Point (NISPP). We show that a stochastic approximation variant of these algorithms attains risk bounds vanishing as a function of the dataset size, with respect to the strong gap function; and a sampling with replacement variant achieves optimal risk bounds with respect to a weak gap function. We also show lower bounds of the same order on weak gap function. Hence, our algorithms are optimal. Key to our analysis is the investigation of algorithmic stability bounds, both of which are new even in the nonprivate case. The dependence of the running time of the sampling with replacement algorithms, with respect to the dataset size n, is $$n^2$$

n
2

for NSEG and $${\widetilde{O}}(n^{3/2})$$

O
~

(

n

3
/
2

)

for NISPP.
Subset sums and block designs in a finite vector space
Authors: Pavone Marco
Published: April 2023

In this paper we settle the question of whether a finite-dimensional vector space $${{\mathcal {V}}}$$
V
over $${\mathbb {F}}_p,$$

F
p

,

with p an odd prime, and the family of all the k-sets of elements of $${\mathcal {V}}$$
V
summing up to a given element x,  form a 1-$$(v,k,\lambda _1)$$

(
v
,
k
,

λ
1

)

or a 2-$$(v,k,\lambda _2)$$

(
v
,
k
,

λ
2

)

block design, and, in either case, we find a closed form for $$\lambda _i$$

λ
i

and characterize the automorphism group. The question is discussed also in the case where the elements of the k-sets are required to be all nonzero, as the two cases happen to be intrinsically inseparable. The “twin case” $$p=2,$$

p
=
2
,

which has strict connections with coding theory, was completely discussed in a recent paper by G. Falcone and the present author.
An Operational Notion of Classicality Based on Physical Principles
Authors: Sarkar Shubhayan
Published: April 2023

One of the basic observations of the classical world is that physical entities are real and can be distinguished from each other. However, within quantum theory, the idea of physical realism is not well established. A framework to analyse how observations in experiments can be described using some physical states of reality was recently developed, known as ontological models framework. Different principles when imposed on the ontological level give rise to different theories, the validity of which can be tested based on the statistics generated by these theories. Using the ontological models framework, we formulate a novel notion of classicality termed ontic-distinguishability, which is based upon the physical principles that in classical theories extremal states are physical states of reality and every sharp measurement observes the state of the system perfectly. We construct a communication task in which the success probability is bounded from above for ontological models satisfying the notion of ontic-distinguishability. Contrary to previous notions of classicality which either required systems of dimension strictly greater than two or atleast three preparations, a violation of ontic-distinguishability can be observed using just a pair of qubits and a pair of incompatible measurements. We further show that violation of previously known notions of classicality such as preparation non-contextuality and Bell’s local causality is a violation of ontic-distinguishability.
Dispersive Friedmann universes and synchronization
Authors: Cotsakis Spiros
Published: April 2023

We introduce consideration of dispersive aspects of standard perfect fluid Friedmann cosmology and study the new qualitative behaviours of cosmological solutions that emerge as the fluid parameter changes and zero eigenvalues appear in the linear part of the Friedmann equations. We find that due to their insufficient degeneracy, the Milne, flat, Einstein-static, and de Sitter solutions cannot properly bifurcate. However, the dispersive versions of Milne and flat universes contained in the versal unfolding of the standard Friedmann equations possess novel long-term properties not met in their standard counterparts. We apply these results to the horizon problem and show that unlike their hyperbolic versions, the dispersive Milne and flat solutions completely synchronize in the future, hence offering a solution to the homogeneity, isotropy, and causal connectedness puzzles.
Coupling of an analytical rolling model and reinforcement learning to design pass schedules: towards properties controlled hot rolling
Authors: Idzik C. , Krämer A. , Hirt G. , Lohmar J.
Published: April 2023

Rolling is a well-established forming process employed in many industrial sectors. Although highly optimized, process disruptions can still lead to undesired final mechanical properties. This paper demonstrates advances in pass schedule design based on reinforcement learning and analytical rolling models to guarantee sound product quality. Integrating an established physical strengthening model into an analytical rolling model allows tracking the microstructure evolution throughout the process, and furthermore the prediction of the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength of the rolled sheet. The trained reinforcement learning algorithm Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) automatically proposes pass schedules by drawing upon established scheduling rules combined with novel rule sets to maximize the final mechanical properties. The designed pass schedule is trialed using a laboratory rolling mill while the predicted properties are confirmed using micrographs and materials testing. Due to its fast calculation time, prospectively this technique can be extended to also account for significant process disruptions such as longer inter-pass times by adapting the pass schedule online to still reach the desired mechanical properties and avoid scrapping of the material.