bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design of a 3.4‐MW wind turbine with integrated plasma actuator‐based load control
Authors: Chetan Mayank , Sakib M. Sadman , Griffith D. Todd , Gupta Abhineet , Rotea Mario A.
Published: September 2021

Historically, cost reduction in wind energy has been accomplished by increasing hub heights and rotor diameters to capture more energy per turbine. The growth in rotor and turbine costs with increasing turbine sizes is also driven by the additional structure that must be added to withstand unsteady aerodynamic loads caused by turbulence, gusts, wind shear, misaligned yaw, upwind wakes, and the tower shadow. In this paper, we present a holistic design solution to integrate active load control using a controllable Gurney flap based on plasma actuators. We illustrate the design solution for a land‐based 3.4‐MW wind turbine rotor. Comparisons to a baseline reference 3.4‐MW wind turbine show significant load reduction (15–18% DEL reduction for flap‐wise blade root moments), rotor mass reduction (5–8%), and LCOE reduction (1.16–3.11%). To achieve these results, a comprehensive sequential‐iterative design procedure is introduced to integrate the controllable Gurney flap into the turbine design and to drive the design solution toward the best LCOE reduction solution. Results are presented for mapping fatigue load reductions into cost reductions. In addition, an evaluation of active load control extended from Region‐III to also include Region‐II showed a further 34% reduction in DEL.
The nature of the interaction of RE(NO3)3 (yttrium subgroup) with HF or NH4F
Authors: Razumkova I. A. , Azarapin N. O.
Published: September 2021

The nature of the interaction of RE(NO3)3 of the yttrium subgroup with fluorinating agents (HF and NH4F) is considered. Depending on the pH of the solution as well as the fluorinating agent, it was found that compounds with the compositions of REF3 (using HF), (H3O)RE3F10 (NH4F, pH 0–2), NH4RE3F10 (NH4F, pH 3), and NH4RE2F7 (NH4F, pH 4) can be obtained by precipitation. The thermal stability of the obtained compounds and the morphology of the powder particles were established. All compounds obtained from the water environment contained adsorbed water, which was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy and DSC/TG.
Sources of Inspiration of Nordic Procedural Law: Choices and Objectives of the Legal Reforms
Authors: Hjort Maria Astrup
Published: September 2021

This article is based on the following question: does Nordic procedural law exist? Procedural law is often regarded as a national matter, and, unlike in many other legal disciplines, there has not been any official Nordic legislative collaboration in this field. Whether one can refer to procedural law as Nordic or not also has an impact on our perception of procedural law as part of a Nordic community. One way of examining the ‘Nordic-ness’ of procedural law is to examine the sources of inspiration used when reforming procedural codes and acts. These sources are found in the preparatory works to the legislation. This article surveys the sources that have been used to reform the procedural codes and acts in the Nordic countries over the last three centuries and shows how the objects for the procedural reforms have an impact on the choice of sources of inspiration. The survey also shows that the object for the reforms changes over time, and this influences the choice of sources of inspiration. Further, the use of the sources found in the preparatory works is discussed, and this brings us back to the starting point—namely whether, based on the use of the sources of inspiration, the procedural law in the Nordic countries can be described as Nordic.
Europeanisation of Nordic Civil Procedure: Does the Map Match the Terrain?
Authors: Nylund Anna
Published: September 2021

EU law has a tangible influence on the civil procedure law in the Nordic countries. This chapter explores how EU civil procedure law is practised and perceived in the Nordic countries. First, a brief account of the manifold levels and types of EU civil procedure law is given. The extent to which Nordic legal academics, judges and legal counsel make use of and discuss EU civil procedure law is analysed. A key question is whether lawyers appear to have a relatively superficial knowledge of EU law (i.e., they identify only central issues) or whether they have acquired profound skills (i.e., they are able to identify and address complex issues). Third, the transposition of EU hard law and case law into national civil procedure law in the Nordic countries is examined. The Nordic countries generally implement EU hard law diligently, at least formally. Nevertheless, it will be argued that the quality of implementation is sufficient and that case law-based rules are often inadequately transposed. Finally, the consequences of a superficial approach to EU civil procedure law in the Nordic countries are discussed.
School Development in South Carolina - Building Leadership Capacity for Evidence-Based School Development in South Carolina Schools
Authors: Moyi Peter , Hardie Suzy , Cunningham Kathleen M. W.
Published: September 2021

This study presents two U.S. school development projects aimed at building leadership capacity for continuous school development that attempts to use “evidence-based” ideas from the standpoint of education values and understandings with a renewed sensitivity to culturally diverse students in South Carolina schools. The Lowcountry Educator Initiative (LEI) uses a professional development program designed for educators from various schools. School Improvement through Improvement Science (SITIS), stems from a larger university-school partnership initiative that includes other institutions around the United States. The two projects serve as compelling examples that push on the limited scope that federal and local policy requirements place on educational institutions to provide evidence of improvements that lead to educational success. This work offers qualitative evidence that honors, recognizes, and leverages the strengths of the participants’ contexts to facilitate improvement in practice. The projects implemented offer evidence for (1) providing leadership support for school improvement efforts, (2) the use of local context in improving practice, and (3) the valuing of various data to engage in locally-relevant and appropriate work. We recommend centering the local context and improvement science approaches in research design, research funding, and educator preparation.
On the large charge sector in the critical O(N) model at large N
Authors: Giombi Simone , Hyman Jonah
Published: September 2021

Abstract

We study operators in the rank-j totally symmetric representation of O(N) in the critical O(N) model in arbitrary dimension d, in the limit of large N and large charge j with j/N ≡ $$ \hat{j} $$

j
̂

fixed. The scaling dimensions of the operators in this limit may be obtained by a semiclassical saddle point calculation. Using the standard Hubbard-Stratonovich description of the critical O(N) model at large N, we solve the relevant saddle point equation and determine the scaling dimensions as a function of d and $$ \hat{j} $$

j
̂

, finding agreement with all existing results in various limits. In 4 < d < 6, we observe that the scaling dimension of the large charge operators becomes complex above a critical value of the ratio j/N, signaling an instability of the theory in that range of d. Finally, we also derive results for the correlation functions involving two “heavy” and one or two “light” operators. In particular, we determine the form of the “heavy-heavy-light” OPE coefficients as a function of the charges and d.
ODE/IQFT correspondence for the generalized affine $$ \mathfrak{sl} $$(2) Gaudin model
Authors: Kotousov Gleb A. , Lukyanov Sergei L.
Published: September 2021

Abstract

An integrable system is introduced, which is a generalization of the $$ \mathfrak{sl} $$
sl
(2) quantum affine Gaudin model. Among other things, the Hamiltonians are constructed and their spectrum is calculated using the ODE/IQFT approach. The model fits into the framework of Yang-Baxter integrability. This opens a way for the systematic quantization of a large class of integrable non-linear sigma models. There may also be some interest in terms of Condensed Matter applications, as the theory can be thought of as a multiparametric generalization of the Kondo model.
Double bundle ACL reconstruction leads to better restoration of knee laxity and subjective outcomes than single bundle ACL reconstruction
Authors: Seppänen Arttu , Suomalainen Piia , Huhtala Heini , Mäenpää Heikki , Kiekara Tommi , Järvelä Timo
Published: September 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this meta-analysis is to compare arthroscopic single bundle (SB) and double bundle (DB) anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions in the light of all available randomised controlled trials (RCTs). A meta-analysis of this well-researched topic was performed and subgroup analyses of the medial portal (MP) technique and the transtibial technique (TT) were added as a new idea. The hypothesis was that the DB technique is superior to the SB technique also in subgroup analyses of the MP and TT techniques.

Methods

Instructions of the PRISMA checklist were followed. Systematic literature search from electronic databases, including PubMed, Cochrane library and Scopus was performed to find RCTs that compared the SB and DB techniques. Nine outcomes were used to compare these two techniques. Each study was assessed according to the Cochrane Collaboration’s risk of bias tool and three subgroup analyses (minimum 2-years’ follow-up, TT technique and MP technique) were performed.

Results

A total of 40 studies were included in this meta-analysis. When analysing all the included studies, the DB technique was superior to the SB technique in KT-1000/2000 evaluation (p < 0.01), IKDC subjective evaluation (p < 0.05), Lysholm scores (p = 0.02), pivot shift (p < 0.01) and IKDC objective evaluation (p = 0.02). Similar results were also found in the subgroup analyses of minimum 2-years’ follow-up and the TT technique. However, there were no differences between the two techniques in a subgroup analysis of the MP technique.

Conclusion

Generally, DB ACL reconstruction leads to better restoration of knee laxity and subjective outcomes than SB ACL reconstruction. The subgroup analysis of the MP technique revealed that surgeons can achieve equally as good results with both techniques when femoral tunnels are drilled through the medial portal.

Level of evidence

II.
Gene activation via Cre/lox-mediated excision in cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)
Authors: Zhang Zhifen , Guo Yinping , Marasigan Kathleen Monfero , Conner Joann A. , Ozias-Akins Peggy
Published: September 2021

Key message

Expression of Cre recombinase by AtRps5apro or AtDD45pro enabled Cre/lox-mediated recombination at an early embryonic developmental stage upon crossing, activating transgenes in the hybrid cowpea and tobacco.

Genetic engineering ideally results in precise spatiotemporal control of transgene expression. To activate transgenes exclusively in a hybrid upon fertilization, we evaluated a Cre/lox-mediated gene activation system with the Cre recombinase expressed by either AtRps5a or AtDD45 promoters that showed activity in egg cells and young embryos. In crosses between Cre recombinase lines and transgenic lines harboring a lox-excision reporter cassette with ZsGreen driven by the AtUbq3 promoter after Cre/lox-mediated recombination, we observed complete excision of the lox-flanked intervening DNA sequence between the AtUbq3pro and the ZsGreen coding sequence in F1 progeny upon genotyping but no ZsGreen expression in F1 seeds or seedlings. The incapability to observe ZsGreen fluorescence was attributed to the activity of the AtUbq3pro. Strong ZsGreen expression in F1 seeds was observed after recombination when ZsGreen was driven by the AtUbq10 promoter. Using the AtDD45pro to express Cre resulted in more variation in recombination frequencies between transgenic lines and crosses. Regardless of the promoter used to regulate Cre, mosaic F1 progeny were rare, suggesting gene activation at an early embryo-developmental stage. Observation of ZsGreen-expressing tobacco embryos at the globular stage from crosses with the AtRps5aproCre lines pollinated by the AtUbq3prolox line supported the early activation mode.
End-to-end automated body composition analyses with integrated quality control for opportunistic assessment of sarcopenia in CT
Authors: Nowak Sebastian , Theis Maike , Wichtmann Barbara D. , Faron Anton , Froelich Matthias F. , Tollens Fabian , Geißler Helena L. , Block Wolfgang , Luetkens Julian A. , Attenberger Ulrike I. , Sprinkart Alois M.
Published: September 2021

Objectives

To develop a pipeline for automated body composition analysis and skeletal muscle assessment with integrated quality control for large-scale application in opportunistic imaging.

Methods

First, a convolutional neural network for extraction of a single slice at the L3/L4 lumbar level was developed on CT scans of 240 patients applying the nnU-Net framework. Second, a 2D competitive dense fully convolutional U-Net for segmentation of visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissue (VAT, SAT), skeletal muscle (SM), and subsequent determination of fatty muscle fraction (FMF) was developed on single CT slices of 1143 patients. For both steps, automated quality control was integrated by a logistic regression model classifying the presence of L3/L4 and a linear regression model predicting the segmentation quality in terms of Dice score. To evaluate the performance of the entire pipeline end-to-end, body composition metrics, and FMF were compared to manual analyses including 364 patients from two centers.

Results

Excellent results were observed for slice extraction (z-deviation = 2.46 ± 6.20 mm) and segmentation (Dice score for SM = 0.95 ± 0.04, VAT = 0.98 ± 0.02, SAT = 0.97 ± 0.04) on the dual-center test set excluding cases with artifacts due to metallic implants. No data were excluded for end-to-end performance analyses. With a restrictive setting of the integrated segmentation quality control, 39 of 364 patients were excluded containing 8 cases with metallic implants. This setting ensured a high agreement between manual and fully automated analyses with mean relative area deviations of ΔSM = 3.3 ± 4.1%, ΔVAT = 3.0 ± 4.7%, ΔSAT = 2.7 ± 4.3%, and ΔFMF = 4.3 ± 4.4%.

Conclusions

This study presents an end-to-end automated deep learning pipeline for large-scale opportunistic assessment of body composition metrics and sarcopenia biomarkers in clinical routine.

Key Points

• Body composition metrics and skeletal muscle quality can be opportunistically determined from routine abdominal CT scans.

• A pipeline consisting of two convolutional neural networks allows an end-to-end automated analysis.

• Machine-learning-based quality control ensures high agreement between manual and automatic analysis.
Prevalence of Hirschsprung-associated enterocolitis in patients with Hirschsprung disease
Authors: Hagens J. , Reinshagen K. , Tomuschat C.
Published: September 2021

Purpose

Hirschsprung's associated enterocolitis (HAEC) is a complication of Hirschsprung's Disease (HD) with considerable morbidity and mortality. The variability in presentation leads to a wide variety of the reported prevalence pre-and postoperatively. This systematic review aimed to clarify the prevalence of HAEC in short—(S-HD), long (L-HD), TCA and the type of operation used.

Methods

A systematic literature-based search for relevant cohorts was performed using Pubmed/Medline, Cochrane Library from its inception to May 2021. Studies reporting on pre-and postoperative enterocolitis, segment length, and surgical procedure (Soave, Swenson, Duhamel) were included. Pooled prevalence and subgroup analysis have been calculated for pre-and postoperative HAEC.

Results

4738 articles were identified from the literature search, among which 57 studies, including 9744 preoperative and 8568 postoperative patients, were included. The groups were sorted by length of the aganglionic segment for further analysis. The pooled prevalence for preoperative HAEC was 18.3% for all types, 15.2% for S-HD and 26.1% for TCA. The pooled prevalence for postoperative HAEC was in total 18.2% for all segment lengths and used techniques. Subgroup analysis showed no significant difference in the occurrence of postoperative enterocolitis between the three techniques.

Conclusion

The prevalence of preoperative HAEC increases with segment length. However, pooled data suggest that the postoperative risk for developing HAEC, independently of the employed method and segment length, is comparable to the preoperative risk.
Analysis of interrater reliability in age assessment of minors: how does expertise influence the evaluation?
Authors: Franceschetti Lorenzo , Merelli Vera Gloria , Corona Susanna , Magli Francesca , Maggioni Lidia , Cummaudo Marco , Tritella Stefania , De Angelis Danilo , Cattaneo Cristina
Published: September 2021

Nowadays, the clinical forensic medical management of migration flows comprises the age assessment of unaccompanied minors. The process of age estimation is a fundamental pillar for legally ensuring the minors’ rights and their protection needs. The procedure is complex and involves different phases and actors, from medical doctors to law enforcement officers. The present study aimed to investigate the performance of Greulich and Pyle, Demirjian, and Mincer methods when performed by raters both trained and without training. Also, the interrater reliability within groups of raters from different areas of expertise was evaluated. A total of 36 participants were enrolled for this study, divided in two groups according to their level of experience with age estimation methods. Each rater was asked to allocate stages and standards for age assessment, evaluating ten orthopantomograms and ten hand-wrist roentgenograms. The interrater reliability expressed through the Fleiss Kappa coefficient and the agreement with the reference standard were calculated. The results showed that none of the categories analyzed could reach a good interrater reliability (ĸ > 0.8) for both methods. The study results highlighted variation and disagreement in the interpretation of the sample among raters and in the subsequent stages and standards allocation. In conclusion, the results of this study highlight that expertise does influence the reliability of the most utilized methods of age estimation of living individuals and stress the importance of proper training and practice, which could greatly increase the accuracy of age assessments.
Psychosocial functioning in adolescents growing up with chronic disease: The Dutch HBSC study
Authors: Berkelbach van der Sprenkel Emma E. , Nijhof Sanne L. , Dalmeijer Geertje W. , Onland-Moret N. Charlotte , de Roos Simone A. , Lesscher Heidi M. B. , van de Putte Elise M. , van der Ent Cornelis K. , Finkenauer Catrin , Stevens Gonneke W. J. M.
Published: September 2021

Many adolescents worldwide (indirectly) grow up with a chronic disease, which may impact their functioning and wellbeing. The objective of this study is to assess whether adolescents with a (family member with a) chronic disease differ from their healthy counterparts in terms of psychosocial functioning. Data from the Dutch 2013 HBSC-survey were used, including 7168 adolescents (Meanage = 13.7, SD = 1.57, 50.5% female). Participants indicated whether they or one of their family members had a long-term (> 3 months) disease or disability (mental/physical) and were categorized into four groups based on disease presence (none, other, self, both). Psychosocial functioning was assessed in terms of life satisfaction, self-rated health, psychosomatic health, mental health problems, support, substance use, physical exercise, screen time, and school liking. Chronically diseased adolescents (n = 162) reported lower life satisfaction, self-rated and psychosomatic health, more mental health problems, lower peer support, more substance use, and less physical exercise compared to healthy peers. Chronically diseased adolescents who also had a family member with a chronic disease (n = 74) showed comparable outcomes on these life domains, although they did not differ from their healthy peers regarding peer support, substance use, and physical activity. Healthy adolescents with a chronically diseased family member (n = 737) reported significantly lower life satisfaction, self-rated and psychosomatic health, more mental health problems, and less family support compared to healthy peers who grew up in healthy families; however, they reported more positive outcomes than adolescents who had a chronic disease themselves.

Conclusion: Having a (family member with a) chronic disease is associated with impaired psychosocial functioning on various life domains. Our findings aid in understanding the psychosocial associates of chronic disease and imply that caregivers should be observant of psychosocial problems among vulnerable adolescents to provide appropriate guidance.

What is Known:• Adolescents who grow up with a (family member with a) chronic disease encounter numerous challenges that may be related to poorer developmental outcomes on the long term.

What is New:• This study adds a comprehensive overview of the psychosocial functioning of adolescents with a (family member with a) chronic disease, as compared to healthy counterparts that grow up in a healthy family.
Health care quality in nonparametric efficiency studies: a review
Authors: Sommersguter-Reichmann Margit
Published: September 2021

Scientists are increasingly considering quality in nonparametric frontier efficiency studies in health care. There are many ways to include quality in efficiency analyses. These approaches differ, among other things, in the underlying assumptions about the influence of quality on the attainable efficiency frontier and the distribution of inefficiency scores. The aim is to provide an overview of how scholars have taken quality into account in nonparametric frontier efficiency studies and, at the same time, to address the underlying assumptions on the relationship between efficiency and quality. To this end, we categorized empirical efficiency studies according to the methodological approaches and quality dimensions and collected the quality indicators used. We performed a Web of Science search for studies published in journals covered by the Science Citation Index Expanded, the Social Sciences Citation Index, and the Emerging Sources Citation Index between 1980 and 2020. Of the 126 studies covered in this review, 78 are one-stage studies that incorporate quality directly into the efficiency model and thus assume that quality impacts the attainable efficiency frontier. Forty-four articles are two-stage studies that consider quality in the first and the second stage or the second stage only. Four studies do not assume a priori a specific association between efficiency and quality. Instead, they test for this relationship empirically. Outcome quality is by far the most frequently incorporated quality dimension. While most studies consider structural quality as an environmental variable in the second stage, they include outcome quality predominantly directly in the efficiency model. Process quality is less common.
Characterization and Modeling of Thermostable GH50 Agarases from Microbulbifer elongatus PORT2
Authors: Anggraeni Santi Rukminita , Ansorge-Schumacher Marion B.
Published: September 2021

Viewing the considerable potential of marine agar as a source for the sustainable production of energy as well as nature-derived pharmaceutics, this work investigated the catalytic activity of three novel GH50 agarases from the mesophilic marine bacterium Microbulbifer elongatus PORT2 isolated from Indonesian coastal seawaters. The GH50 agarases AgaA50, AgaB50, and AgaC50 were identified through genome analysis; the corresponding genes were cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3). All recombinant agarases hydrolyzed β-p-nitrophenyl galactopyranoside, indicating β-glycosidase characteristics. AgaA50 and AgaB50 were able to cleave diverse natural agar species derived from Indonesian agarophytes, indicating a promising tolerance of these enzymes for substrate modifications. All three GH50 agarases degraded agarose, albeit with remarkable diversity in their catalytic activity and mode of action. AgaA50 and AgaC50 exerted exolytic activity releasing differently sized neoagarobioses, while AgaB50 showed additional endolytic activity in dependence on the substrate size. Surprisingly, AgaA50 and AgaB50 revealed considerable thermostability, retaining over 75% activity after 1-h incubation at 50 °C. Considering the thermal properties of agar, this makes these enzymes promising candidates for industrial processing.
Autonomic modulation of ventricular electrical activity: recent developments and clinical implications
Authors: van Weperen Valerie Y. H. , Vos Marc A. , Ajijola Olujimi A.
Published: September 2021

Purpose

This review aimed to provide a complete overview of the current stance and recent developments in antiarrhythmic neuromodulatory interventions, focusing on lifethreatening vetricular arrhythmias.

Methods

Both preclinical studies and clinical studies were assessed to highlight the gaps in knowledge that remain to be answered and the necessary steps required to properly translate these strategies to the clinical setting.

Results

Cardiac autonomic imbalance, characterized by chronic sympathoexcitation and parasympathetic withdrawal, destabilizes cardiac electrophysiology and promotes ventricular arrhythmogenesis. Therefore, neuromodulatory interventions that target the sympatho-vagal imbalance have emerged as promising antiarrhythmic strategies. These strategies are aimed at different parts of the cardiac neuraxis and directly or indirectly restore cardiac autonomic tone. These interventions include pharmacological blockade of sympathetic neurotransmitters and neuropeptides, cardiac sympathetic denervation, thoracic epidural anesthesia, and spinal cord and vagal nerve stimulation.

Conclusion

Neuromodulatory strategies have repeatedly been demonstrated to be highly effective and very promising anti-arrhythmic therapies. Nevertheless, there is still much room to gain in our understanding of neurocardiac physiology, refining the current neuromodulatory strategic options and elucidating the chronic effects of many of these strategic options.
Genetic diversity of seeds from four German Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) seed orchards
Authors: Pakull Birte , Eusemann Pascal , Wojacki Janine , Ahnert Diana , Liesebach Heike
Published: September 2021

In Germany, Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesiiFranco) is seen as a valuable species for future cultivation in times of climate change. Local seed production in seed stands and seed orchards may secure that local adaptation is transferred to the next generation, but small population sizes could lower genetic diversity and thus future adaptability. Here we analyse the transfer of genetic diversity from parent to offspring generation in four older German seed orchards. We detected low pollen contamination rates due to high levels of spatial isolation. Even with a relatively low number of 40 clones, seed orchard design with randomized and repeated planting of clones led to low selfing rates, and despite uneven parental contributions, the number of successful parents and the level of genetic intermixture were high enough to allow the transfer of an adequate part of the genetic diversity to the next generation. Larger numbers, however, might be needed to reliably conserve the entire genetic diversity over succeeding generations. Conclusions on the establishment of future seed orchards and regarding areas requiring further research are drawn at the end of the paper.
Long-term ecology and conservation of the Kungur forest-steppe (pre-Urals, Russia): case study Spasskaya Gora
Authors: Shumilovskikh Lyudmila , Sannikov Pavel , Efimik Elena , Shestakov Igor , Mingalev Vitaliy V.
Published: September 2021

The Kungur forest-steppe is the northernmost outpost of European forest-steppe, located in the western pre-Urals within the boreal climatic zone. The co-existence of boreal, nemoral and steppe species with relicts and endemics results in a high plant diversity, making it an important biodiversity hotspot. Under current climate change and strong agricultural impacts, the Kungur forest-steppe is rapidly degrading. In order to develop sustainable management strategies, we studied the vegetation history over the last 3500 years in the natural reserve area Spasskaya Gora. Palynological data indicate that the territory of Spasskaya Gora was largely covered by hemiboreal forests with high proportion of elm during the late Holocene. An opening of the vegetation strongly correlates with erosion, both indicating anthropogenic activities such as lumbering, agriculture, grazing and hay making. The modernPinusandBetuladominated forests combined with large areas dominated by grasses and herbs appear in the last 300 years and caused by human activity. The data support the ‘anthropogenic’ hypothesis of the Kungur forest-steppe development, suggesting that Pleistocene steppe was replaced by hemiboreal forests during the Holocene. Steppe elements survived on exposed rocks. The recent forest-steppe landscapes dominated by pioneer birch and poplar were formed due to anthropogenic deforestation. With respect to nature conservation, our data demonstrate that prohibition of any anthropogenic activities at Spasskaya Gora will lead to loss of diversity of steppe assemblages over the mid-term. We emphasize that conservation of the high plant diversity of the Kungur forest-steppe must include disturbance factors in the form of selective lumbering, prescribed burning, moderate grazing or traditional mowing.
Evolutionary algorithms for designing reversible cellular automata
Authors: Mariot Luca , Picek Stjepan , Jakobovic Domagoj , Leporati Alberto
Published: September 2021

Reversible Cellular Automata (RCA) are a particular kind of shift-invariant transformations characterized by dynamics composed only of disjoint cycles. They have many applications in the simulation of physical systems, cryptography, and reversible computing. In this work, we formulate the search of a specific class of RCA – namely, those whose local update rules are defined by conserved landscapes – as an optimization problem to be tackled with Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Genetic Programming (GP). In particular, our experimental investigation revolves around three different research questions, which we address through a single-objective, a multi-objective, and a lexicographic approach. In the single-objective approach, we observe that GP can already find an optimal solution in the initial population. This indicates that evolutionary algorithms are not needed when evolving only the reversibility of such CA, and a more efficient method is to generate at random syntactic trees that define the local update rule. On the other hand, GA and GP proved to be quite effective in the multi-objective and lexicographic approach to (1) discover a trade-off between the reversibility and the Hamming weight of conserved landscape rules, and (2) observe that conserved landscape CA cannot be used in symmetric cryptography because their Hamming weight (and thus their nonlinearity) is too low.
Strategic investment decisions in multi-stage contests with heterogeneous players
Authors: Deutscher Christian , Sahm Marco , Schneemann Sandra , Sonnabend Hendrik
Published: September 2021

When heterogeneous players make strategic investment decisions in multi-stage contests, they might conserve resources in a current contest to spend more in a subsequent contest, if the degree of heterogeneity in the current (subsequent) contest is sufficiently large (small). We confirm these predictions using data from German professional soccer, in which players are subject to a one-match ban if they accumulate five yellow cards. Players with four yellow cards facing the risk of being suspended for the next match are (i) less likely to be fielded when the heterogeneity in the current match increases and (ii) more likely to receive a fifth yellow card in the current match when heterogeneity in the next match increases or heterogeneity in the next match but one (when they return from their ban) decreases.
Non-invasive sampling of bats reflects their potential as ecological indicators of elemental exposure in a diamond mining area, northern Limpopo Province, South Africa
Authors: Cory-Toussaint Dawn , Taylor Peter J. , Barnhoorn Irene E. J.
Published: September 2021

Bats have been proposed as reliable bioindicators for monitoring bioaccumulation of elements and chemicals in natural and transformed ecosystems. Non-invasive methods are becoming more popular as research moves away from destructive methodologies. We present the first concentrations of 23 elements in Mops condylurus and Tadarida aegyptiaca (Molossidae) fur and blood from an opencast diamond mine and reference area using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Concentrations of B, K, Rb and Cd in the bats’ fur were significantly higher in the mining footprint compared to the reference area (P < 0.05). Other elements such as Zn and Hg were significantly higher in the blood of bats from the mining footprint than the reference area (P < 0.05), whereas Mn was significantly higher in the blood of bats from the reference area than from the mining footprint (P < 0.05). Sixteen of the 22 elements above the limit of detection, with the exception of Ba, were significantly higher in the fur samples than in the blood due to elements being incorporated over time into the fur as it grows, whereas blood reveals short-term exposure to elements. Concentrations of most of the elements were reasonably low except Al, Fe and Zn. In general, the element concentrations particularly in the fur samples were comparable with other international studies reporting elemental fur concentrations from anthropogenically impacted and natural areas. Fur and blood have the potential to be viable indicators of environmental toxicity, but research is required on toxic thresholds and physiological and ecological unknowns around element concentrations in bat tissues and organs.
Associations between ambient air pollutants and hospital admissions: more needs to be done
Authors: Belch Jill JF , Fitton Catherine , Cox Bianca , Chalmers James D
Published: September 2021

Deaths from air pollution in the UK are higher by a factor of 10 than from car crashes, 7 for drug-related deaths and 52 for murders, and yet awareness seems to be lacking in local government. We conducted an 18-year retrospective cohort study using routinely collected health care records from Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, and Perth Royal Infirmary, in Tayside, Scotland, UK, from 2000 to 2017. Hospitalisation events and deaths were linked to daily nitric oxides (NOX, NO, NO2), and particulate matter 10 (PM10) levels extracted from publicly available data over this same time period. Distributed lag models were used to estimate risk ratios for hospitalisation and mortality, adjusting for temperature, humidity, day of the week, month and public holiday. Nitric oxides and PM10 were associated with an increased risk of all hospital admissions and cardiovascular (CV) admissions on day of exposure to pollutant. This study shows a significant increase in all cause and CV hospital admissions, on high pollution days in Tayside, Scotland.
Life cycle assessment of aquaculture bivalve shellfish production — a critical review of methodological trends
Authors: Vélez-Henao Johan Andrés , Weinland Franz , Reintjes Norbert
Published: September 2021

Purpose

The increase of shellfish production has raised environmental concerns, i.e., enrichment and redistribution of nutrients and energy consumption. Efforts assessing the environmental burdens arising from the expansion of shellfish production have been made using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. Although LCA has been extensively applied and reviewed in aquaculture systems, shellfish production remains scarcely studied. The objective of this review is to identify methodological trends, highlight gaps and limitations, and provide guidelines for future studies.

Methods

A systematic literature review was applied to scientific studies published up to 2021. A total of 13 documents were shorted by abstract and full text-screening. Literature meeting the inclusion criteria were further analyzed in six different aspects of a LCA (functional unit, system boundaries, data and data quality, allocation, impact assessment methods, interpretation methods). Discussion and guidelines are provided for each reviewed aspect.

Results and discussions

Shellfish LCAs differ considerably from other aquaculture studies mainly because shellfish avoids the allocation of impacts derived from the production of fishmeal. Co-products are present when the shellfish is processed, e.g., in canned products. Furthermore, shellfish studies do not take into account the positive credits from the removal of nutrients from the ecosystems and from the valorization of the shellfish waste (shell and organic remains). Limited information was found for countries outside Europe and species different from mussels. Despite the variability on goals and scopes of the studies, methodological trends were found. The local impacts of the shellfish with the farming area and the impacts on biodiversity have not been included into the studies.

Conclusions and recommendations

Effort should be made in providing the data associated with the fore-background system within the studies in order to improve transparency and to allow the reproduction of the results. Information regarding the natural condition of the cultivation area should be provided as the shellfish production depends mainly on non-anthropogenic conditions. Application of biodiversity assessment methodologies should be encouraged, despite their limitations.
Einschätzungen von Textunterschieden durch Lehramtsstudent*innen: Eine Studie am Beispiel von Texten zum Umgang mit (Leistungs‑)Heterogenität
Authors: Nagele Fabio , Katstaller Michaela , Greiner Ulrike
Published: September 2021

Bildungs- und erziehungswissenschaftliche Fragestellungen, die sich z. B. mit dem Umgang mit (Leistungs‑)Heterogenität von Schüler*innen im Klassenzimmer befassen, sind nicht nur aus der Perspektive des pädagogischen Professionswissens relevant, sondern auch Bestandteil von Diskursen zwischen Wissenschaft, Politik, Gesellschaft und pädagogischer Praxis. Da (angehende) Lehrpersonen als aktiv Beteiligte sowohl produktiv als auch rezeptiv an diesen Diskursen partizipieren, benötigen sie die generische Fähigkeit, Aussagen aus verschiedenen Informationsquellen sowie deren Bedeutsamkeit adäquat einschätzen zu können. Basierend auf dem Multiple-Document-Comprehension-Modell (MDC-Modell) wird in dieser Studie untersucht, ob Lehramtsstudent*innen des Bachelorstudiums (n = 193) an der Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg die aus dem MDC-Modell abgeleiteten kognitiven Anforderungen im Vergleich von Texten beherrschen. Den Student*innen wurde dazu ein wissenschaftlicher Text und ein journalistischer Kommentar zu der Frage des Umgangs mit (Leistungs‑)Heterogenität vorgelegt, auf deren Basis Verifikationsitems bearbeitet werden mussten. Anschließend wurden mithilfe eines kognitiven Diagnosemodells (CDM) die kognitiven Anforderungen des MDC-Modells modelliert, um dessen Mehrdimensionalität empirisch abzubilden. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass ca. 93 % der Lehramtsstudent*innen zumindest einen der vier Anforderungsbereiche des MDC-Modells nicht beherrschen. Der Beitrag zeigt somit neue Möglichkeiten in der Diagnostik von Fertigkeiten zum Vergleich multipler Dokumente gemäß des MDC-Ansatzes im Bereich der Lehrer*innenbildungsforschung auf, welche zukünftig auch für die Ausbildung von angehenden Lehrpersonen genutzt werden können.
Primary Soil Contaminants and Their Risks, and Their Relationship to Myocardial Infarction Susceptibility in Urban Krakow (Poland)
Authors: Ciarkowska Krystyna , Konduracka Ewa , Gambus Florian
Published: September 2021

We recorded the concentrations, distributions and sources of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), along with zinc (Zn), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd), in soils from different areas of Krakow––the city-centre, industrial and residential zones––and from outside the city. Their relationships to the soil properties were examined, and associations were established between the soil pollution in the different areas and myocardial infarction (MI) incidences in 5054 hospitalised patients who had lived in Krakow for more than 30 years. The PAH and Cd concentrations exceeded threshold-effect levels in the city-centre and industrial zones, while Zn, Pb and phenanthrene exceeded probable-effect levels. Industrial incineration processes, coal combustion and petrol-powered vehicles are the main sources of the PAHs, Zn and Cd, while the Pb originates mainly from historical accumulation and the use of Pb-enriched petrol. The mean number of MI incidences in Krakow equated to 0.72% of the residents, while in the city-centre and industrial zones it was ~ 2.8 and 1.2%, respectively. In the residential zone, the mean number of MI incidences was < 0.5% of the residents. These results may suggest that differences in MI incidence in Krakow residents is, at least in part, linked to chronic PAH and heavy-metal exposure.
A quick GRASP-based method for influence maximization in social networks
Authors: Lozano-Osorio Isaac , Sánchez-Oro Jesús , Duarte Abraham , Cordón Óscar
Published: September 2021

The evolution and spread of social networks have attracted the interest of the scientific community in the last few years. Specifically, several new interesting problems, which are hard to solve, have arisen in the context of viral marketing, disease analysis, and influence analysis, among others. Companies and researchers try to find the elements that maximize profit, stop pandemics, etc. This family of problems is collected under the term Social Network Influence Maximization problem (SNIMP), whose goal is to find the most influential users (commonly known as seeds) in a social network, simulating an influence diffusion model. SNIMP is known to be an$$\mathcal {NP}$$NP-hard problem and, therefore, an exact algorithm is not suitable for solving it optimally in reasonable computing time. The main drawback of this optimization problem lies on the computational effort required to evaluate a solution. Since each node is infected with a certain probability, the objective function value must be calculated through a Monte Carlo simulation, resulting in a computationally complex process. The current proposal tries to overcome this limitation by considering a metaheuristic algorithm based on the Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) framework to design a quick solution procedure for the SNIMP. Our method consists of two distinct stages: construction and local search. The former is based on static features of the network, which notably increases its efficiency since it does not require to perform any simulation during construction. The latter involves a local search based on an intelligent neighborhood exploration strategy to find the most influential users based on swap moves, also aiming for an efficient processing. Experiments performed on 7 well-known social network datasets with 5 different seed set sizes confirm that the proposed algorithm is able to provide competitive results in terms of quality and computing time when comparing it with the best algorithms found in the state of the art.
What’s inside is all that counts? The contours of everyday thinking about self-control
Authors: Bermúdez Juan Pablo , Murray Samuel , Chartrand Louis , Barbosa Sergio
Published: September 2021

Does self-control require willpower? The question cuts to the heart of a debate about whether self-control is identical with some psychological process internal to the agents or not. Noticeably absent from these debates is systematic evidence about the folk-psychological category of self-control. Here, we present the results of two behavioral studies (N = 296) that indicate the structure of everyday use of the concept. In Study 1, participants rated the degree to which different strategies to respond to motivational conflict exemplify self-control. Participants distinguished between intra-psychic and externally-scaffolded strategies and judged that the former exemplified self-control more than the latter. In Study 2, participants provided various solutions to manage motivational conflict and rated their proposals on effectiveness. Participants produced substantially more intra-psychic strategies, rated them as more effective, and advised them at a higher rate than externally-scaffolded strategies. Taken together, these results suggest that while people recognize a plurality of strategies as genuine instances of self-control, purely internal exercises of self-control are considered more prototypical than their externally-scaffolded counterparts. This implies a hierarchical structure for the folk psychological category of self-control. The concept encompasses a variety of regulatory strategies and organizes these strategies along a hierarchical continuum, with purely intra-psychic strategies at the center and scaffolded strategies in the periphery.
Testing, Training, and Optimising Performance of Track Cyclists: A Systematic Mapping Review
Authors: Stadnyk Antony M. J. , Impellizzeri Franco M. , Stanley Jamie , Menaspà Paolo , Slattery Katie M.
Published: September 2021

Background

Track cyclists must develop mental, physical, tactical and technical capabilities to achieve success at an elite level. Given the importance of these components in determining performance, it is of interest to understand the volume of evidence to support implementation in practice by coaches, practitioners, and athletes.

Objective

The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic mapping review to describe the current scale and density of research for testing, training and optimising performance in track cycling.

Methods

All publications involving track cyclist participants were reviewed from four databases (PubMed, SPORTDiscus, Academic Search Complete, Cochrane Library) plus additional sources. Search results returned 4019 records, of which 71 met the inclusion criteria for the review.

Results

The review revealed most published track cycling research investigated athlete testing followed by performance optimisation, with training being the least addressed domain. Research on the physical components of track cycling has been published far more frequently than for tactical or technical components, and only one study was published on the mental components of track cycling. No true experimental research using track cyclists has been published, with 51 non-experimental and 20 quasi-experimental study designs.

Conclusions

Research in track cycling has been growing steadily. However, it is evident there is a clear preference toward understanding the physical—rather than mental, tactical, or technical—demands of track cycling. Future research should investigate how this aligns with coach, practitioner, and athlete needs for achieving track cycling success.

Registration

This systematic mapping review was registered on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/wt7eq).