bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Students and postdocs deserve more
Authors: Malcom Shirley M. , Parikh Sudip
Published: March 2023

A slow-motion crisis is underway among graduate students and postdocs in the United States who comprise today’s indispensable research and teaching workforce and tomorrow’s scientific leaders. Low pay, lack of benefits, and sometimes toxic research environments have persisted for years. Frustrated graduate students, postdocs, and nontenured faculty are protesting and pursuing unionization to address worsening conditions. A few senior leaders are starting to recognize that today’s research environment is much more challenging than that of their sepia-tinted memories. In response, some universities have offered salary and benefits relief. Unionization and overdue adjustments are incomplete and temporary responses to deeply embedded problems—with long-term implications that everyone may regret. So where do solutions lie?
Oceans away
Authors: Stokstad Erik
Published: March 2023

Is raising salmon on land the next big thing in farming fish?
Changes in health-related quality of life and associations with improvements in clinical efficacy: a Phase 2 study of mirikizumab in patients with ulcerative colitis
Authors: Dubinsky Marla C , Jairath Vipul , Feagan Brian G , Naegeli April N , Tuttle Jay , Morris Nathan , Shan Mingyang , Arora Vipin , Lissoos Trevor , Agada Noah , Hibi Toshifumi , Sands Bruce E
Published: March 2023

Objective

Mirikizumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting the interleukin-23 p19 subunit, was effective in a Phase 2 study (NCT02589665) of moderately-to-severely active ulcerative colitis (UC). We studied mirikizumab’s impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Design

HRQoL was evaluated using the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ) and 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) Physical Component Score (PCS) and Mental Component Score (MCS). Mixed effects models for repeated measures compared score changes between mirikizumab and placebo groups. Additional analyses evaluated associations between HRQoL score changes and achievement of efficacy endpoints at weeks 12 and 52.

Results

At week 12, IBDQ improved compared with placebo for all mirikizumab groups except mirikizumab 50 mg (50 mg, p=0.073; 200 mg, p<0.001; 600 mg, p<0.001). SF-36 PCS was significantly higher in all mirikizumab groups at week 12 (50 mg, p=0.011; 200 mg, p=0.022; 600 mg, p=0.002); MCS was significantly higher in mirikizumab 200 and 600 mg groups compared with placebo (50 mg, p=0.429; 200 mg, p=0.028; 600 mg, p<0.001). Achievement of clinical response and remission were associated with greater HRQoL improvements at week 12. Improvements in HRQoL scores were sustained through week 52. Of the clinical symptoms evaluated, reduction in rectal bleeding was associated with greater improvements in IBDQ and SF-36 scores.

Conclusion

Mirikizumab improved HRQoL in patients with moderately-to-severely active UC.
Evaluating equity in performance of an electronic health record-based 6-month mortality risk model to trigger palliative care consultation: a retrospective model validation analysis
Authors: Teeple Stephanie , Chivers Corey , Linn Kristin A , Halpern Scott D , Eneanya Nwamaka , Draugelis Michael , Courtright Katherine
Published: March 2023

Objective

Evaluate predictive performance of an electronic health record (EHR)-based, inpatient 6-month mortality risk model developed to trigger palliative care consultation among patient groups stratified by age, race, ethnicity, insurance and socioeconomic status (SES), which may vary due to social forces (eg, racism) that shape health, healthcare and health data.

Design

Retrospective evaluation of prediction model.

Setting

Three urban hospitals within a single health system.

Participants

All patients ≥18 years admitted between 1 January and 31 December 2017, excluding observation, obstetric, rehabilitation and hospice (n=58 464 encounters, 41 327 patients).

Main outcome measures

General performance metrics (c-statistic, integrated calibration index (ICI), Brier Score) and additional measures relevant to health equity (accuracy, false positive rate (FPR), false negative rate (FNR)).

Results

For black versus non-Hispanic white patients, the model’s accuracy was higher (0.051, 95% CI 0.044 to 0.059), FPR lower (−0.060, 95% CI −0.067 to −0.052) and FNR higher (0.049, 95% CI 0.023 to 0.078). A similar pattern was observed among patients who were Hispanic, younger, with Medicaid/missing insurance, or living in low SES zip codes. No consistent differences emerged in c-statistic, ICI or Brier Score. Younger age had the second-largest effect size in the mortality prediction model, and there were large standardised group differences in age (eg, 0.32 for non-Hispanic white versus black patients), suggesting age may contribute to systematic differences in the predicted probabilities between groups.

Conclusions

An EHR-based mortality risk model was less likely to identify some marginalised patients as potentially benefiting from palliative care, with younger age pinpointed as a possible mechanism. Evaluating predictive performance is a critical preliminary step in addressing algorithmic inequities in healthcare, which must also include evaluating clinical impact, and governance and regulatory structures for oversight, monitoring and accountability.
Association of age with 1-year outcome in patients with acute ischaemic stroke treated with thrombectomy: real-world analysis in 18 506 patients
Authors: Beuker Carolin , Köppe Jeanette , Feld Jannik , Meyer Christian Lennart , Dröge Patrik , Ruhnke Thomas , Günster Christian , Wiendl Heinz , Reinecke Holger , Minnerup Jens
Published: March 2023

Background

To evaluate the association of age with long-term outcome after thrombectomy.

Methods

In a retrospective cohort study based on routine healthcare data from Germany between 2010 and 2018, we included 18 506 patients with acute ischaemic stroke treated with mechanical thrombectomy. Association between age and mortality, disability, and level of care at 1 year was assessed.

Results

The median age was 76 years, 36.3% were aged ≥80 years and 55.8% were women. Patients aged ≥80 compared with those <80 years had a higher mortality (55.4% vs 28.5%; adjusted HR 1.13; 95% CI 1.05 to 1.31), more often had moderate/severe disability (35.5% vs 33.2%, adjusted HR 1.14; 95% CI 1.06 to 1.23) and less frequently had no/slight disability (17.4% vs 41.0%) at 1 year. Older age was associated with a higher likelihood of living in a nursing home (13.4% vs 9.2%, adjusted HR 1.09; 95% CI 0.97 to 1.22) and a lower likelihood of living at home (33.8% vs 62.8%) at 1 year. These associations were also robust when analysed in patients with no disability prior to stroke. Factors most strongly associated with worse 1-year outcomes in elderly patients were chronic limb-threatening ischaemia (67.9% vs 56.4%; HR 1.59, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.82), dementia at baseline (65.2% vs 47.3%; HR 1.29, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.44) and ventilation >48 hours (79.3% vs 52.2%; HR 2.91, 95% CI 2.66 to 3.18).

Conclusions

In this large ‘real-world’ cohort, outcomes after mechanical thrombectomy were strongly associated with age. Of patients aged ≥80 years more than half were dead and less than one-fifth were functionally independent at 1 year. Certain comorbidities and ventilation >48 hours were associated with even worse outcomes.
Consensus statement on aortic valve replacement via an anterior right minithoracotomy in the UK healthcare setting
Authors: Vohra Hunaid A , Salmasi M Yousuf , Mohamed Fatemazahra , Shehata Monica , Bahrami Bardia , Caputo Massimo , Deshpande Ranjit , Bapat Vinayak , Bahrami Toufan , Birdi Inderpaul , Zacharias Joseph
Published: March 2023

The wide uptake of anterior right thoracotomy (ART) as an approach for aortic valve replacement (AVR) has been limited despite initial reports of its use in 1993. Compared with median sternotomy, and even ministernotomy, ART is considered to be less traumatic to the chest wall and to help facilitate quicker patient recovery. In this statement, a consensus agreement is outlined that describes the potential benefits of the ART AVR. The technical considerations that require specific attention are described and the initiation of an ART programme at a UK centre is recommended through simulation and/or use of specialist instruments in conventional cases. The use of soft tissue retractors, peripheral cannulation, modified aortic clamping and the use of intraoperative adjuncts, such as sutureless valves and/or automated knot fasteners, are important to consider in order to circumvent the challenges of minimal the altered exposure via an ART.

A coordinated team-based approach that encourages ownership of the programme by team members is critical. A designated proctor/mentor is also recommended. The organisation of structured training and simulation, as well as planning the initial cases are important steps to consider.
Income Shocks, Borrowing Constraints, and Household Child Schooling: Evidence from Rural Thailand
Authors: WONGMONTA SASIWOOTH
Published: March 2023

In rural areas of developing countries, shocks and financial constraints on households are generally recognized as obstacles to children’s schooling opportunities. This paper investigates the effects of income shocks and borrowing constraints on household demand for education in rural Thailand, using the Townsend Thai panel data spanning from 2013 to 2017. Information on annual rainfall at the provincial level is used to estimate a transitory income component for Thai rural households. Estimation results indicate that income risks and borrowing constraints have a substantial negative impact on child schooling outcomes, including educational attainment and the number of years delayed in school. It also finds that transitory income results in increased household education expenditures conditional on children’s attendance at school. These findings suggest that in addition to households’ socioeconomic status, children’s human capital is at risk mainly due to income uncertainty and the absence of well-developed financial and insurance markets.
The Finance–Growth Nexus in Asia: A Meta-Analytic Approach
Authors: ANWAR AMAR , IWASAKI ICHIRO
Published: March 2023

This paper features a meta-analysis of the effects of financial development and liberalization on macroeconomic growth in Asia. A meta-synthesis of 748 estimates extracted from 75 previous studies indicates that the growth-enhancing effect of finance reaches an economically meaningful scale in the region. Synthesis results also reveal that the finance–growth nexus in South Asia is stronger than that in East Asia. Publication selection bias is examined using both linear and nonlinear techniques, and our results show that there is a possibility of publication bias in the literature. After applying advanced and up-to-date meta-analysis methods, we find that the collected estimates contain significant underlying empirical evidence of the impact of finance on economic growth for both Asia and its subregions.
The Phytochemistry of Ganoderma Species and their Medicinal Potentials
Authors: Blundell Renald , Camilleri Emma , Baral Bikash , Karpiński Tomasz M. , Neza Edlira , Atrooz Omar M.
Published: March 2023

The Ganoderma genus is known for its diverse use as a functional food and therapeutic agent. This fungus has over 428 species, with Ganoderma lucidum being the most studied. The Ganoderma species produce several secondary metabolites and bioactive compounds like polysaccharides, phenols, and triterpenes, which are largely responsible for their therapeutic properties. Throughout this review, several extracts obtained from Ganoderma species have been studied to delve into their therapeutic characteristics and mechanisms. Such properties like immunomodulation, antiaging, antimicrobial, and anticancer activities have been demonstrated by several Ganoderma species and are supported by a large body of evidence. Although its phytochemicals play a vital role in its therapeutic properties, identifying the therapeutic potentials of fungal-secreted metabolites for human health-promoting benefits is a challenging task. Identification of novel compounds with distinct chemical scaffolds and their mechanism of action could help suppress the spread of rising pathogens. Thus, this review provides an updated and comprehensive overview of the bioactive components in different Ganoderma species and the underlying physiological mechanisms.
Effects of thermal and mechanical properties of Hf and Ta-doped NiCoCrAlY bonding layer alloys on the high-temperature oxidation resistance of thermal barrier coatings
Authors: Duan Wenhao , Qiang Wenjiang , Huang Bingxin , Li Yalin , Huang Ziang
Published: March 2023

The MCrAlY bonding layer alloy was prepared by vacuum melting, and the alloy composition was NiCoCrAlY and NiCoCrAlYHfTa. The high-temperature cyclic oxidation experiment was carried out in air at 1050∘C until it failed. The results show that Hf and Ta have a significant influence on the oxidation resistance of the alloy. The doped specimens have longer oxidation lifetimes compared to the undoped samples. The study also found that the Hf would diffuse out and combine with O to form HfO2 in the thermally grown oxide (TGO) layer, which would improve the adhesion and reduce the wrinkles of the oxide layer. Ta in the doped specimens hinders the diffusion of Al and reduces the oxidation rate, while improving the thermal mismatch. Therefore, the specimens doped with both Hf and Ta have the highest oxidation lifetimes, though the oxidation lifetime was 10 times longer than that of the undoped specimens. It is indicated that the doping of Hf and Ta is an important method to improve the oxidation lifetime of thermal barrier coatings (TBCs).
On electrical transport and thermoelectric performance in Half-Heusler phase ScNiSb
Authors: Ciesielski Kamil , Kaczorowski Dariusz
Published: March 2023

Half-Heusler (HH) phases are among the most extensively studied thermoelectric materials. Bipolar thermal conductivity analysis performed for their sub-group based on rare-earth (R) metals, RNiSb, indicated high mobility ratio in favor of electrons. The result motivated studies of ScNiSb[Formula: see text]Tex series in which n-type-doped samples shown higher mobility and significantly improved thermoelectric performance [K. Ciesielski et al., Phys. Rev. Appl.  15, 044047 (2021)]. Recently, Kajikawa attempted alternative interpretation of transport properties in ScNiSb, where multi-parameter fit led to mobility ratio in favor of holes [Y. Kajikawa, Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 2250071 (2022)]. In this work we discuss the details of electrical properties and thermoelectric performance of ScNiSb in the context of structural disorder and the most recent experimental literature on a related chemical system. The paper considers also relevant assumptions regarding band degeneracy and scattering mechanisms for effective mass modeling in ScNiSb. Last, technical difficulties of the model proposed by Kajikawa are addressed. We believe that the provided insight will be useful for understating electrical transport in HH compounds, which can contribute to further improvement of their thermoelectric performance.
A Robust Framework for Severity Detection of Knee Osteoarthritis Using an Efficient Deep Learning Model
Authors: Mahum Rabbia , Irtaza Aun , El-Meligy Mohammed A. , Sharaf Mohamed , Tlili Iskander , Butt Saamia , Mahmood Asad , Awais Muhammad
Published: March 2023

With the changing lifestyle, a large population suffers from a bone disease known as an osteoarthritis affecting the knee, spine, and hip. Therefore, timely detection and classification of the disease are necessary to minimize the loss, however, it is a time-consuming task and requires various tests and physicians’ in-depth analysis. Thus, an accurate automated technique, timely detection and classification are needed to cope with the aforementioned challenges. This study proposes a technique based on an efficient DenseNet that uses the knee image’ features to identify the Knee Osteoarthritis (KOA) and determine its severity level according to the KL grading system such as Grade-I, Grade-II, Grade-III, and Grade-IV. We introduced the reweighted cross-entropy loss function which makes our proposed algorithm more robust as the training data is imbalanced. The dense connections of efficient DenseNet with regularization power help to reduce the overfitting during the training of small knee sample training sets. The proposed algorithm is an efficient approach that can identify the early symptoms of KOA and classify the severity level of the disease for better decision making by orthopedics. The algorithm is a pre-trained network that does not require a huge training set, therefore, the existing dataset i.e. Mendeley VI has been utilized for the training and testing. Additionally, cross-validation has been employed using the OAI dataset to assess the performance of the proposed model. The algorithm achieved 98.22% accuracy over the testing set and 98.08% accuracy over cross-validation. Various experiments have been performed to confirm that our proposed algorithm is more consistent and capable of detecting and classifying the KOA disease than existing state of the art.
Intersection formulas for parities on virtual knots
Authors: Nikonov Igor
Published: March 2023

We prove that parities on virtual knots come from invariant 1-cycles on the arcs of knot diagrams. In turn, the invariant cycles are determined by quasi-indices on the crossings of the diagrams. The found connection between the parities and the (quasi)-indices allows one to define a new series of parities on virtual knots.
The Gordian complexes of knots given by 4-move
Authors: Ali Danish , Yang Zhiqing , Hussain Abid , Ali Muqadar
Published: March 2023

The Gordian complex of knots is a simplicial complex whose vertices consist of all knot types in [Formula: see text]. Local moves play an important role in defining knot invariants. There are many local moves known as unknotting operations for knots. In this paper, we discuss the 4-move operation. We show that for any knot [Formula: see text] and for any given natural number [Formula: see text], there exists a family of knots [Formula: see text] such that for any pair [Formula: see text] of distinct elements of the family, the Gordian distance of knots by 4-move is [Formula: see text]. We also show the existence of an arbitrarily high dimensional simplex in the Gordian complexes.
Research on Denoising Algorithm of Composite Thermal Wave Detection Image Based on Improved Total Variation
Authors: Shen Xuehui , Huang Qingjiu
Published: March 2023

How to improve the high resolution and remove the noise of composite infrared thermal wave detection image have become important research topics in machine vision. Therefore, this paper proposes a composite image enhancement algorithm based on edge adaptive total variation of direction. Using the improved adaptive directional total variation model to construct the guidance image of the guidance filter can provide better structural information for the guidance filter and conduct the guidance filter. This process is iterated to eliminate noise and ladder effect. Experimental results show that this algorithm is superior to other advanced methods in objective evaluation index and subjective vision. The algorithm proposed in this paper can not only effectively eliminate noise and ladder effect, but also highlight image details and structure information, which proves the effectiveness of this algorithm.
Improving the Seismic Performance of Eccentrically Braced Frames Using Tie Elements
Authors: Semsar Sepehr , Mirghaderi Seyed Rasoul , Keshavarzi Farhad , Ebrahimi Samira
Published: March 2023

In Eccentrically Braced Frames (EBFs), link beams in lower storeys may experience a high risk of vulnerability due to the nondistribution of plastic hinges in the frame height and this problem leads to the formation of the soft storey. To mitigate such vulnerabilities, successive link beams can be tied throughout the structure height employing tie elements to develop a tied EBF (TBF) system. Unlike many studies on K-TBFs with shear link beams, limited investigations have evaluated the performance of single diagonal TBFs and K-TBFs with flexural link beams. In this study, K-EBFs/TBFs refer to EBFs/TBFs having link beams with two braces and single diagonal EBFs/TBFs refer to EBFs/TBFs having link beams with one brace. K-EBFs with flexural link beams have drawn the attention of designers because these frames make more space in the architectural design to create larger openings. Accordingly, improving the performance of K-EBFs with flexural link beams is one of this research objectives. The results comparison for 18 2D EBFs with different storeys including K-EBF with shear behavior, K-EBF with flexural behavior, and single diagonal EBF with shear behavior indicated that tie elements in these models can increase energy dissipation capacity and distribute plastic hinges in the structure height. The results exhibited that not only this system performance was considerably improved using tie elements, but also offered better resistance against progressive collapse.
Accuracy improvement for classifying retinal OCT images by diseases using deep learning-based selective denoising approach
Authors: Hu Lantian , Guo Ruixiang , Li Sifan , Cao Jing , Liu Qian
Published: March 2023

In ophthalmology, retinal optical coherence tomography (OCT) images with noticeable structural features help identify human eyes as healthy or diseased. The recently hot artificial intelligence (AI) realized this recognition process automatically. However, speckle noise in the original retinal OCT image reduces the accuracy of disease classification. This study presents a time-saving approach based on deep learning to improve classification accuracy by removing the noise from the original dataset. Firstly, four pre-trained convolutional neural networks (CNNs) from the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC) were trained to classify the original images into two categories: The noise reduction required (NRR) and the noise-free (NF) images. Among the CNNs, VGG19_BN performed best with 98% accuracy and 99% recall. Then, we used the block-matching and 3D filtering (BM3D) algorithm to denoise the NRR images. Those noise-removed NRR and the NF images form the processed dataset. The quality of images in the dataset is prominently ameliorated after denoising, which is valid to improve the models’ performance. The original and processed datasets were tested on the four pre-trained CNNs to evaluate the effectiveness of our proposed approach. We have compared the CNNs, and the results show the performance of the CNNs trained with the processed dataset is improved by an average of 2.04%, 5.19%, and 5.10% under overall accuracy (OA), Macro F1-score, and Micro F1-score, respectively. Especially for DenseNet161, the OA is improved to 98.14%. Our proposed method demonstrates its effectiveness in improving classification accuracy and opens a new solution to reduce denoising time-consuming for large datasets.
Reliability measures in brother trees
Authors: Mariam Reji Remi , Sundara Rajan R.
Published: March 2023

The network components of interconnection networks are exposed to failures. But it is necessary that a network should not break down when such failures occur. Thus reliability and efficiency of interconnection networks have been the subject of extensive study in past years. The connectivity, wide diameter, Rabin number, and fault diameter of a network are used as measures of reliability and efficiency. In this paper, the [Formula: see text]-wide diameter, [Formula: see text]-Rabin number, and [Formula: see text]-fault diameter of brother tree BT[Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] are obtained.
Fire Risk Analysis and Resilience Improvement in Lusaka City
Authors: Zulu Eddray , Shi Yijun
Published: March 2023

Fire risk has become one of the most recurring and frequent disasters in the world. Fire disaster risk has put more burdens on the economic loss and social development of the people of Lusaka city in Zambia. Lusaka city has continuously suffered from fire cases that have claimed millions of Kwacha loss and life. It has been discovered that the incidence of fire is increasing very rapidly. The causes can be charcoal braziers, cigarette ends, lighted candles, illegal wiring, electrical fault, etc. but the devastation is increasing both in terms of lives and economies. Due to the increase of cases, the disaster management mitigation unity in Zambia organized and structured programs and policies, but the administration and resilience implementation of these programs demand more efficiency. In the recent years, fire disaster risk has damaged lives and the economy much more than other disasters in Zambia. This paper is about the fire risk analysis and resilience improvement in Lusaka city. The data are from the fire brigade in Lusaka city and the field which has been used to analyze the trends of fire and other disaster risks in years and their impact on the city.
Improved Pigeon-Inspired Optimization in an Integrated Obstacle Avoidance Method for Mars UAV Formation
Authors: Liao Teng , Chen Boyi , Zhou Qichao , Liu Yanbin
Published: March 2023

This paper models the Mars UAV formation exploring the surface of Mars, and then the formation obstacle avoidance is brought up with the assumptions of the Mars circumstance and the UAVs. Based on their specialty, constrained Delaunay triangulation, Yen-[Formula: see text] shortest path algorithm, the collaborative function, and the improved pigeon-inspired optimization (PIO) algorithm are integrated to solve the obstacle avoidance for the formation. Since the steering maneuver costs much energy and increases instabilities vulnerable in extraterrestrial exploration, the paper focuses on the route smoothness problem. The PIO is improved to be suitable for smooth routes and is compatible with other PIO variants. The simulation results show that the sum of the steering angle, namely the performance index, is effectively reduced and satisfies the obstacle avoidance requirements for Mars UAV formation.
A detective duo of apatite and zircon geochronology for East Avalonia, Johnston Complex, Wales
Authors: Clarke Anthony J. I. , Kirkland Christopher L. , Glorie Stijn
Published: March 2023

The Johnston Complex represents a rare inlier of the Neoproterozoic basement of southern Britain and offers a window into the tectonomagmatic regime of East Avalonia during the assembly of Gondwana. This work presents
in situ
zircon (U–Pb, Lu–Hf), apatite (U–Pb), and trace element chemistry for both minerals from the complex. Zircon and apatite yield a coeval crystallization age of 570 ± 3 Ma, and a minor antecrystic zircon core component is identified at 615 ± 11 Ma. Zircon Hf data imply a broadly chondritic source, comparable to Nd data from East Avalonia, and T
DM
2
model ages of
c.
1.5 Ga indicate source extraction during the Mesoproterozoic. Zircon trace element chemistry is consistent with an ensialic calc-alkaline continental arc setting and demonstrates that magmatism was ongoing prior to terrane dispersal at 570 Ma. Apatite trace element chemistry implies a sedimentary component within the melt consistent with voluminous S-type granite production during the formation of Gondwana. The similarity of the ɛHf and geochemistry between both zircon age populations suggest derivation from a uniform source that did not undergo significant modification between 615–570 Ma. Time-constrained apatite–zircon chemistry addresses complexities in dating S-type granitoids (zircon inheritance) and permits inferences on post-magmatic thermal histories.

Supplementary material:
Zircon U–Pb, Lu–Hf and trace element data, and apatite U–Pb and trace element data are available at
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6484464
An Anonymous and Supervisory Cross-chain Privacy Protection Protocol for Zero-trust IoT Application
Authors: Yang Yinghong , Bai Fenhua , Yu Zhuo , Shen Tao , Liu Yingli , Gong Bei
Published: March 2023

Internet of things (IoT) development tends to reduce the reliance on centralized servers. The zero-trust distributed system combined with blockchain technology has become a hot topic in IoT research. However, distribution data storage services and different blockchain protocols make network interoperability and cross-platform more complex. Relay chain is a promising cross-chain technology that solves the complexity and compatibility issues associated with blockchain cross-chain transactions by utilizing relay blockchains as cross-chain connectors. Yet relay chain cross-chain transactions need to collect asset information and implement asset transactions via two-way peg. Due to the release of user transaction information, there is the issue of privacy leakage. In this article, we propose a cross-chain privacy protection protocol based on the Groth16 zero-knowledge proof algorithm and coin-mixing technology, which changes the authentication mechanism and uses a combination of generating functions to map virtual external addresses in transactions. It allows fast cross-chain anonymous transactions while hiding the genuine user’s address. The experiment shows that, in a zero-trust IoT context, our scheme can effectively protect user privacy information, accomplish controlled transaction traceability operations, and guarantee cross-chain transaction security.
Digital Economy: The Evolution of the Digital Economy
Authors: Wladawsky-Berger Irving
Published: March 2023

We are in the early stages of a historical transition from the industrial economy of the past two centuries to a new kind of a 21st century digital economy. This transition is being driven by dramatic advances in digital technologies and the internet over the past two decades, as well as the more recent advances in big data and artificial intelligence. The paper will discuss some of the key technologies that are driving this long-term transformation, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing, and next generation user interfaces, as well as their potential impact on the economy, society, and our personal lives.
GRAFS: Graphical Faceted Search System to Support Conceptual Understanding in Exploratory Search
Authors: Guo Mengtian , Zhou Zhilan , Gotz David , Wang Yue
Published: March 2023

When people search for information about a new topic within large document collections, they implicitly construct a mental model of the unfamiliar information space to represent what they currently know and guide their exploration into the unknown. Building this mental model can be challenging as it requires not only finding relevant documents but also synthesizing important concepts and the relationships that connect those concepts both within and across documents. This article describes a novel interactive approach designed to help users construct a mental model of an unfamiliar information space during exploratory search. We propose a new semantic search system to organize and visualize important concepts and their relations for a set of search results. A user study (n=20) was conducted to compare the proposed approach against a baseline faceted search system on exploratory literature search tasks. Experimental results show that the proposed approach is more effective in helping users recognize relationships between key concepts, leading to a more sophisticated understanding of the search topic while maintaining similar functionality and usability as a faceted search system.
Between Written and Visual Communication: CIDOC CRM Ontology for Medieval and Early Modern European Graffiti
Authors: Trentin Mia , Felicetti Achille
Published: March 2023

The development of graffiti studies during the last couple of decades highlighted the relevance and potential of graffiti as a complementary source for understanding different aspects of past societies. Moreover, the availability of digital documentation techniques crucially increased data production, showing the widespread presence of graffiti in Medieval and Early Modern contexts across Europe.

However, the approach to historical graffiti has not been yet structured. Guidelines, specific analytical tools, and descriptors are still missing due to various reasons. First, graffiti are a multiform and multimodal graphic expression, so texts, signs, and images must be considered together despite their different communicative nature. Secondly, due to their variety in forms and contents, graffiti have been studied from many perspectives (e.g., epigraphy, palaeography, history, art history, maritime studies), following the specific interests of each scholar. Consequently, the numerous and extensive contributions concerning graffiti highlight the lack of shared standards and approaches, hindering data analysis and interoperability. The panorama emerging is fragmentary and unstructured.

This article thus aims to offer a first step toward the development of a specific methodology for the analysis and study of Medieval and Early Modern European graffiti. Precisely, a specific ontology adopting CIDOC CRM for Medieval and Early Modern graffiti will be presented, as developed in a preliminary form within the DIGIGRAF project

1

with the support of the ARIADNEplus

2

network.
Research on Korean Translation in the Context of Epidemic Prevention and Control
Authors: Wang Zhiguo , Ma Chunxiao
Published: March 2023

An emergency like COVID-19 requires a theoretical framework for policy implementation that involves public and private sector collaborations. After policy failures, new institutions have formed that trigger PPP's later, allowing the incumbent administration to continue in office longer. It focuses on novel approaches to dealing with pandemics. The present administration put these rules in place to keep COVID-19 under control. When it comes to Real Time - polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing, South Korea's government and corporations partnered to swiftly raise the quantity of testing in the country. Models of policy change are shown to be dynamic, cyclical, and recursive. During the COVID-19 outbreak in South Korea, an empirical content research was conducted. Even though South Korea's leader was at risk of losing public support to the point where impeachment was mentioned as a possible option, he dramatically reversed public mood to win general elections by a wide margin in April 2020, while the pandemic scenario persisted. To win reelection, democratic administrations are under more pressure to effectively perform crisis management when faced with a crisis. As a result, they are under even more pressure to immediately mobilize public and private resources. The emergency use authorization (EUA) protocol for test kits is an example of "leapfrogging actors" – up-and-coming innovators – who helped turn a pandemic tragedy into a possibility for sustained leadership and for them. The results based on infected premises culling rate ratio is 82.3%, number of measles cases report is 86.4%, spread and epidemic ratio is 84.2%, important of epidemiology is 89.35%, transmission potential of COVID-19 is 91.24% and illustration of epidemic control is 92.45. The results based on infected premises culling rate ratio is 82.3%, number of measles cases report is 86.4%, spread and epidemic ratio is 84.2%, important of epidemiology is 89.35%, transmission potential of COVID-19 is 91.24% and illustration of epidemic control is 92.45.
RadarSense: Accurate Recognition of Mid-air Hand Gestures with Radar Sensing and Few Training Examples
Authors: Sluÿters Arthur , Lambot Sébastien , Vanderdonckt Jean , Vatavu Radu-Daniel
Published: March 2023

Microwave radars bring many benefits to mid-air gesture sensing due to their large field of view and independence from environmental conditions, such as ambient light and occlusion. However, radar signals are highly dimensional and usually require complex deep learning approaches. To understand this landscape, we report results from a systematic literature review of (
N
=118) scientific papers on radar sensing, unveiling a large variety of radar technology of different operating frequencies and bandwidths and antenna configurations but also various gesture recognition techniques. Although highly accurate, these techniques require a large amount of training data that depend on the type of radar. Therefore, the training results cannot be easily transferred to other radars. To address this aspect, we introduce a new gesture recognition pipeline that implements advanced full-wave electromagnetic modeling and inversion to retrieve physical characteristics of gestures that are radar independent, i.e., independent of the source, antennas, and radar-hand interactions. Inversion of radar signals further reduces the size of the dataset by several orders of magnitude, while preserving the essential information. This approach is compatible with conventional gesture recognizers, such as those based on template matching, which only need a few training examples to deliver high recognition accuracy rates. To evaluate our gesture recognition pipeline, we conducted user-dependent and user-independent evaluations on a dataset of 16 gesture types collected with the Walabot, a low-cost off-the-shelf array radar. We contrast these results with those obtained for the same gesture types collected with an ultra-wideband radar made of a vector network analyzer with a single horn antenna and with a computer vision sensor, respectively. Based on our findings, we suggest some design implications to support future development in radar-based gesture recognition.
LFWE: Linguistic Feature Based Word Embedding for Hindi Fake News Detection
Authors: Sharma Richa , Arya Arti
Published: March 2023

It is essential for research communities to investigate ways for authenticating news. The use of linguistic feature based analysis to automatically detect false news is gaining popularity among the scientific community. However, such techniques are exclusively created for English, leaving low-resource languages like Hindi behind. To address this issue, we constructed a novel annotated Hindi Fake News (HinFakeNews) dataset of roughly 33,300 articles that can be utilized to develop autonomous fake news detection systems. This work provides a two-stage benchmark model for identifying fake news in Hindi using machine learning. The proposed model, LFWE (Linguistic Feature Based Word Embedding), generates word embedding over linguistic features. This article focuses on 23 key linguistic features (15 extracted and 08 derived) for successful detection of Hindi fake news. These features are grouped as lexical, semantic, syntactic, psycho-linguistic, readability, and quantity features. The contribution is twofold. In the first phase, the dataset is preprocessed and linguistic features are extracted. In the second phase, feature sets are generated as word embeddings, and an Ensemble voting classification is carried out on the feature sets. According to experimental findings, the LFWE model accurately detects and classifies fake news in Hindi with an accuracy of 98.49%.
Energy-Efficient Approximate Edge Inference Systems
Authors: Ghosh Soumendu Kumar , Raha Arnab , Raghunathan Vijay
Published: March 2023

The rapid proliferation of the Internet of Things and the dramatic resurgence of artificial intelligence based application workloads have led to immense interest in performing inference on energy-constrained edge devices. Approximate computing (a design paradigm that trades off a small degradation in application quality for disproportionate energy savings) is a promising technique to enable energy-efficient inference at the edge. This article introduces the concept of an approximate edge inference system (
AxIS
) and proposes a systematic methodology to perform joint approximations between different subsystems in a deep neural network (DNN)-based edge inference system, leading to significant energy benefits compared to approximating individual subsystems in isolation. We use a smart camera system that executes various DNN-based image classification and object detection applications to illustrate how the sensor, memory, compute, and communication subsystems can all be approximated synergistically. We demonstrate our proposed methodology using two variants of a smart camera system: (a)
Cam

Edge

, where the DNN is executed locally on the edge device, and (b)
Cam

Cloud

, where the edge device sends the captured image to a remote cloud server that executes the DNN. We have prototyped such an approximate inference system using an Intel Stratix IV GX-based Terasic TR4-230 FPGA development board. Experimental results obtained using six large DNNs and four compact DNNs running image classification applications demonstrate significant energy savings (≈ 1.6× -4.7× for large DNNs and ≈ 1.5× -3.6× for small DNNs), for minimal (<1%) loss in application-level quality. Furthermore, results using four object detection DNNs exhibit energy savings of ≈ 1.5× -5.2× for similar quality loss. Compared to approximating a single subsystem in isolation,
AxIS
achieves 1.05× -3.25× gains in energy savings for image classification and 1.35× -4.2× gains for object detection on average, for minimal (<1%) application-level quality loss.
Beyond Self-diagnosis: How a Chatbot-based Symptom Checker Should Respond
Authors: You Yue , Tsai Chun-Hua , Li Yao , Ma Fenglong , Heron Christopher , Gui Xinning
Published: March 2023

Chatbot-based symptom checker (CSC) apps have become increasingly popular in healthcare. These apps engage users in human-like conversations and offer possible medical diagnoses. The conversational design of these apps can significantly impact user perceptions and experiences, and may influence medical decisions users make and the medical care they receive. However, the effects of the conversational design of CSCs remain understudied, and there is a need to investigate and enhance users’ interactions with CSCs. In this article, we conducted a two-stage exploratory study using a human-centered design methodology. We first conducted a qualitative interview study to identify key user needs in engaging with CSCs. We then performed an experimental study to investigate potential CSC conversational design solutions based on the results from the interview study. We identified that emotional support, explanations of medical information, and efficiency were important factors for users in their interactions with CSCs. We also demonstrated that emotional support and explanations could affect user perceptions and experiences, and they are context-dependent. Based on these findings, we offer design implications for CSC conversations to improve the user experience and health-related decision-making.
The Inseparable Relationship Between Cholesterol and Hedgehog Signaling
Authors: Siebold Christian , Rohatgi Rajat
Published: March 2023

Ligands of the Hedgehog (HH) pathway are paracrine signaling molecules that coordinate tissue development in metazoans. A remarkable feature of HH signaling is the repeated use of cholesterol in steps spanning ligand biogenesis, secretion, dispersal, and reception on target cells. A cholesterol molecule covalently attached to HH ligands is used as a molecular baton by transfer proteins to guide their secretion, spread, and reception. On target cells, a signaling circuit composed of a cholesterol transporter and sensor regulates transmission of HH signals across the plasma membrane to the cytoplasm. The repeated use of cholesterol in signaling supports the view that the HH pathway likely evolved by coopting ancient systems to regulate the abundance or organization of sterol-like lipids in membranes.
Translation and mRNA Stability Control
Authors: Wu Qiushuang , Bazzini Ariel A.
Published: March 2023

Messenger RNA (mRNA) stability and translational efficiency are two crucial aspects of the post-transcriptional process that profoundly impact protein production in a cell. While it is widely known that ribosomes produce proteins, studies during the past decade have surprisingly revealed that ribosomes also control mRNA stability in a codon-dependent manner, a process referred to as codon optimality. Therefore, codons, the three-nucleotide words read by the ribosome, have a potent effect on mRNA stability and provide cis -regulatory information that extends beyond the amino acids they encode. While the codon optimality molecular mechanism is still unclear, the translation elongation rate appears to trigger mRNA decay. Thus, transfer RNAs emerge as potential master gene regulators affecting mRNA stability. Furthermore, while few factors related to codon optimality have been identified in yeast, the orthologous genes in vertebrates do not necessary share the same functions. Here, we discuss codon optimality findings and gene regulation layers related to codon composition in different eukaryotic species.
Nanotechnologies for Physiology-Informed Drug Delivery to the Lymphatic System
Authors: Maisel Katharina , McClain Claire A. , Bogseth Amanda , Thomas Susan N.
Published: March 2023

Accompanying the increasing translational impact of immunotherapeutic strategies to treat and prevent disease has been a broadening interest across both bioscience and bioengineering in the lymphatic system. Herein, the lymphatic system physiology, ranging from its tissue structures to immune functions and effects, is described. Design principles and engineering approaches to analyze and manipulate this tissue system in nanoparticle-based drug delivery applications are also elaborated.
Diverging Destinies in East Asia
Authors: Raymo James M. , Park Hyunjoon , Yu Jia
Published: March 2023

Research on diverging destinies provides a compelling and influential framework for understanding relationships between socioeconomic bifurcation in family behavior and inequality within and across generations. Articulations of the diverging destinies framework stress its broad relevance for low-fertility societies, but empirical evaluations in East Asia are limited. We address this gap by summarizing and synthesizing scholarship on socioeconomic differentials in family behavior and relationships between family circumstances and children's well-being in mainland China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. We seek an understanding of how and why the diverging destinies framework is or is not helpful for understanding family change and inequality in societies characterized by a highly asymmetric gender division of labor, strong emphasis on family investment in children, and limited public support for families. This article provides a contextual and empirical basis upon which to build subsequent research on family change and inequality in East Asia.
The Legitimacy of Science
Authors: Gauchat Gordon W.
Published: March 2023

The ongoing pandemic and quickening climate crisis make it difficult to overstate the significance of science and science policy to our world. These global catastrophes have laid bare the fragility of science's legitimacy and its dependence on broader cultural understandings and institutional norms. Challenges to science's legitimacy are numerous and daunting in the early twenty-first century but also nothing new. This review interrogates science as culture in our highly fragmented and polarized social environment, and the idea that scientific knowledge and expertise are experiencing a profound and accelerating legitimacy crisis. The challenges are internal and external to the production of scientific knowledge, emphasizing the publicly financed sector in colleges and universities worldwide. Internal threats include fraud, replicability, knowledge diffusion and equability, disciplinary fragmentation, and overproduction. Equally important are the external threats, such as polarization, authoritarianism, religious beliefs, information technology, and economic capital—commanding financial flows to organized science. While sociology is uniquely situated to study these composite issues, it faces sobering challenges and its own scientific legitimacy crisis.
Podcasts of Note - Spring 2023
Authors: Suroviec Alice
Published: March 2023

Podcasts of Note selected for you by Alice Suroviec
Tech Highlights - Spring 2023
Authors: Schindelholz Mara , McNulty David , Liu Chao (Gilbert) , Liu Zenghe , Karuppaiah Chock , Pile Donald
Published: March 2023

A collection of technology highlights pulled from recent papers published in ECS journals.