bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Epididymis incision as a method to collect epididymal sperm cells in alpacas
Authors: Auer Marlen , Wagner Henrik , Failing Klaus , Wehrend Axel
Published: December 2021

Background

Epididymal sperm can be collected post‐castration or post‐mortem. This method has already been described for alpaca (Vicugna pacos), but little data are available on success rate and the influence of diluent on it.

Objective

The aim was to investigate the effectiveness of epididymis incision as an extraction method.

Method

Post‐castration epididymides (n = 78) were incised and semen was collected from cut surfaces. Further sperm were flushed with two semen extenders. For the left epididymis, a diluent without animal proteins and for the right, a diluent with egg yolk was utilised. Collected sperms were immediately spermatologically examined.

Results

Due to incorrect measurements, the samples of seven epididymides were not analysed. An evaluation was possible in 58 samples. Average density was 108.80 ± 83.28 million/mL and motility was 53.30 ± 18.17%. On average, 76.70 ± 11.60% of the sperm were vital in eosin‐stained specimens. In the hypoosmotic swelling test, an average of 69.50 ± 10.48% of the sperm had an intact plasma membrane. Semen extender had no effect on spermatological parameters (p > 0.05). Overall success rate of sperm recovery was 83%. Extraction of epididymal sperm was possible in 68.80% of the 2‐year‐old males. The 13 epididymides from which no sperm recovery was possible were histologically examined and for 10, there was no histological evidence of sperm. The corrected success rate was 95.60%.

Conclusion

Testicular volume (p = 0.0453), but not age (p = 0.62), had an effect on the probability of obtaining sperm.
The Fossil Record of Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii) in Greece
Authors: Argyriou Thodoris
Published: December 2021

The nowadays hyper-diverse clade of Actinopterygii (ray-finned bony fishes) is characterized by a long evolutionary history and an extremely rich global fossil record. This work builds upon 170 years of research on the fossil record of this clade in Greece. The taxonomy and spatiotemporal distribution of the ray-finned fish record of Greece are critically revisited and placed in an updated systematic and stratigraphic framework, while some new fossil data and interpretations are also provided. Greece hosts diverse ray-finned fish assemblages, which range in age from Lower Jurassic to Quaternary. Most known assemblages are of Miocene–Pliocene age and of marine affinities. A minimum of 32 families, followed by at least 34 genera and 22 species, have been recognized in Greece. From originally two named genera and seven species, only two fossil species, established on Greek material, are accepted as valid. Additional taxonomic diversity is anticipated, pending detailed investigations. From a taxonomic perspective, previous knowledge lies on preliminary or authoritative assessments of fossils, with many decades-old treatments needing revision. Little is known about Mesozoic–early Cenozoic occurrences or freshwater assemblages. Given the proven potential of the Greek fossil record, this chapter stresses the need for additional exploration and the establishment of permanent, curated collections of fossil fishes in Greek institutions. Directions for future research are discussed.
The Salt of the Earth (Inspired by Cherokee Creation Story)
Authors: Collins Darrin
Published: December 2021

In Cherokee tradition, Selu and her husband Kana’ti are the first inhabitants of the Appalachian territory. Their tale is used to explain the Cherokee way of life (gender roles, religious traditions, and humans’ relationship with nature). In this recasting of the Cherokee creation story, the author seeks to highlight the implications of modern injustices including sexism, environmental racism, and ecological destruction. The goal of this work is to express the ills of commodifying the human body, time, and natural resources and to promote a healthy relationship between humankind and the Earth.
The Science of Data, Data Science: Perversions and Possibilities in the Anthropocene Through a Spatial Justice Lens
Authors: Weiland Travis
Published: December 2021

In the Anthropocene statistics, data science, and mathematical models have become a perversion of reality that society has largely chosen to ignore and is embraced as a great savior because people often view numbers as objective purveyors of truth. However, numbers do not interpret themselves, they do not tell their own story; people do that in all their subjective glory. In this chapter, I start by making connections between the Anthropocene and the disciplines of statistics and data science specifically through the context of spatial data. From this discussion I focus on two main points, which I connect to education. The first is that there is a dialectic tension involved in spatial data enquiry between creating new realities using spatial data and using spatial data to make sense of our reality. The second point is that people can choose how to investigate and use spatial data based on their ethics. I believe students should have opportunities to investigate and use spatial statistics through a spatial justice lens both to learn about the world around them and to shape the world around them.
Reflections on Teaching and Learning Chemistry Through Youth Participatory Science
Authors: Morales-Doyle Daniel , Frausto Aceves Alejandra , Canales Salas Karen , J. Chappell Mindy , G. Rajski Tomasz , Aguilera Adilene , Clay Giani , Lopez Delani
Published: December 2021

This chapter captures a panel discussion from the 2019 conference of Science Educators for Equity, Diversity, and Social Justice (SEEDS, http://seedsweb.org) in Norfolk, Virginia. The panel included two high school students, three high school chemistry teachers, a community organizer, an administrator for a large urban school district, and a university-based science educator. These panelists, the authors of this chapter, had been collaborating on an initiative to support youth participatory science (YPS) projects in high school chemistry classes. We share this lightly edited transcript of our conversation as a way to communicate perspectives about the opportunities and challenges of YPS from viewpoints across these constituency groups. Our conversation is organized around three questions for reflection: (1) What are some of the challenges and possibilities when it comes to engaging with YPS in science classes? (2) How has engaging in YPS exposed both insights and oversights of scientific ways of knowing? (3) In YPS, what are the relationships between learning science and engaging in political and community issues?
Conclusion: Another Complicated Conversation
Authors: Wallace Maria F. G. , Bazzul Jesse , Higgins Marc , Tolbert Sara
Published: December 2021

This edited collection is not just a conventional “body of work,” but a living-breathing community of more-than-human potential. Writing, researching, questioning, and yes, even, feeling; perhaps another science education is actually possible?
Creating Magical Research: Writing for a Felt Reality in a More-Than-Human World
Authors: Bowers Nicole
Published: December 2021

We work in the ruins of a world that has produced those ruins (Sauvé, 2017; Tsing in The mushroom at the end of the world: On the possibility of life in capitalist ruins. Princeton University Press, 2015), this time often referred to as the Anthropocene, science educators and researchers have been called to break with post-positivism, dualisms, and reductionism to settle on new onto-epistemological grounds (Bazzul and Kayumova,.Educational Philosophy and Theory 48:284–299, 2016; Haraway, D. (2016). Staying with the trouble: Making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press.; Lather & St. Pierre in International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26:629–633, 2013). One promising proposition lies in ontologies of process and epistemologies that expand to encompass affect with new combinations of knowing/experiencing/researching that honor the more-than-human world we need to navigate (Manning, E. (2013). Always more than one: Individuation’s dance. Duke University Press.; Muraca,.Environmental Values 20:375–396, 2011). In this chapter, I will introduce artful writing as inquiry in science education and explain the elements of magical realism that may contribute to works that reverberate with the-more-than-human world of the Anthropocene (Faris, W. (2004). Ordinary enchantments. Vanderbilt University Press.; Manning, E. (2016). The minor gesture. Duke University Press.; (Richardson & St. Pierre in The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Sage, 2005).
Redrawing Relationalities at the Anthropocene(s): Disrupting and Dismantling the Colonial Logics of Shared Identity Through Thinking with Kim Tallbear
Authors: Dutt Priyanka , Fateyeva Anastasya , Gabereau Michelle , Higgins Marc
Published: December 2021

What does it mean to respond to the Anthropocenes, plural, when doing science education? Specifically, can we critically engage with the Anthropocene, singular, without responding to the multiplicity in which Indigenous land and its many facets within the global community were at risk of destruction from Man? In this work, we contemplate the urgency of the inclusion of Indigenous philosophies and ways-of-knowing within the arching body politic, giving space to these practices that have been otherwise silenced within and beyond Western colonial frames. We argue that if the ways of thinking and practicing science and science education continue to stem from settler colonialism, capitalism, and toxicity, having previously and continually been responsible for the erasure of Indigeneity, the response within the Anthropocene will be multitudinously harmful. Here, we turn to Dakota scholar, Kim Tallbear, (Native American DNA: Tribal belonging and the false promise of genetic belonging, University of Minnesota Press, 2013) and her work in the intersections of identity, science, settler relations, and Indigeneity with the use of provocative imagery to the innate feeling of and within the Anthropocene(s).
Suberin in Monocotyledonous Crop Plants: Structure and Function in Response to Abiotic Stresses
Authors: Grünhofer Paul , Schreiber Lukas , Kreszies Tino
Published: December 2021

Apoplastic barriers, formed by Casparian bands and suberin lamellae, represent important means of plant roots to adapt water and nutrient homeostasis to changing environmental conditions. To understand and evaluate the precise physiological role of suberin lamellae in water and nutrient transport characteristics, it is important to understand root anatomy, including main deposition sites and microstructure of suberin. Here we review suberin localization, chemistry, biosynthesis, and differential implementation in dependence of different abiotic stimuli in roots of monocotyledonous crop plants. Furthermore, we add results on the formation of suberized barriers in barley roots under nitrogen and phosphate deficiency, as well as ABA treatments. We conclude that the degree of suberin accumulation is essentially independent of absolute root length, while endodermal plasticity strongly and differentially responds to external environmental stimuli and thus affects plant physiology.
The Legal Context
Authors: Frankot Edda
Published: December 2021

This chapter gives a brief introduction into late medieval Kampen, the archival sources used in the study, an overview of the historical and legal background of banishment in the Low Countries and a discussion of the by-laws concerning the topic. It also includes a brief description of the images illustrating the contents of one of the manuscripts used, some of which are included in this book.
Fitting ideals of p-ramified Iwasawa modules over totally real fields
Authors: Greither Cornelius , Kataoka Takenori , Kurihara Masato
Published: December 2021

We completely calculate the Fitting ideal of the classicalp-ramified Iwasawa module for any abelian extensionK/kof totally real fields, using the shifted Fitting ideals recently developed by the second author. This generalizes former results where we had to assume that onlyp-adic places may ramify inK/k. One of the important ingredients is the computation of some complexes in appropriate derived categories.
Wird die Rolle von psychischen Erkrankungen beim Suizid überbewertet?
Authors: Brieger Peter , Menzel Susanne , Hamann Johannes
Published: December 2021

Die Aussage, dass Suizide zu 90 % Folge psychischer Erkrankungen sind, wird häufig in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur zitiert. Neuere Analysen und Kommentare ziehen das aber in Zweifel und betonen die Notwendigkeit, vielfältigere Ursachen für Suizidereignisse zu beachten, auch um die Prävention von Suiziden nicht auf das Erkennen und Behandeln psychischer Erkrankungen zu reduzieren. Das Ziel dieser Übersichtsarbeit ist die Darstellung und Bewertung wichtiger empirischer Befunde zu der Frage, ob die Rolle psychischer Störungen beim Suizid überbewertet wird.

Psychische Störungen erhöhen das Risiko eines Suizides um das bis zu 30- bis 50-Fache gegenüber der Allgemeinbevölkerung, dennoch wird dadurch nur ein Teil aller Suizide erklärt. Aus Beobachtungs- und Therapiestudien ergeben sich deutliche Hinweise, dass psychische Störungen nur ein Faktor unter mehreren sind, die zu Suizid führen. Eine Rolle spielen beispielsweise auch Beziehungsprobleme, Substanzmissbrauch, Belastungen durch schwere körperliche Erkrankungen, akute Krisen im Beruf, Probleme mit Finanzen und juristische Belastungen.

Suizidales Verhalten weist auf eine tiefe Unzufriedenheit hin, aber nicht notwendigerweise auf eine psychische Erkrankung. Viele Menschen mit einer psychischen Erkrankung zeigen kein suizidales Verhalten und nicht alle Menschen, die sich ihr Leben nehmen, haben eine psychische Erkrankung. Diese Erkenntnisse haben erhebliche Konsequenzen für die universale und indizierte Prävention von Suiziden.
Acute and Chronic Effects of Clothianidin, Thiamethoxam and Methomyl on Chironomus dilutus
Authors: Phillips Bryn M. , Voorhees Jennifer P. , Siegler Katie , McCalla Laura , Meertens Peter , Bower Julie , Tjeerdema Ron S.
Published: December 2021

Organism tolerance thresholds for emerging contaminants are vital to the development of water quality criteria. Acute (96-h) and chronic (10-day) effects thresholds for neonicotinoid pesticides clothianidin and thiamethoxam, and the carbamate pesticide methomyl were developed for the midge Chironomus dilutus to support criteria development using the UC Davis Method. Median lethal concentrations (LC50s) were calculated for acute and chronic exposures, and the 25% inhibition concentrations (IC25) were calculated for the chronic exposures based on confirmed chemical concentrations. Clothianidin effect concentrations were 4.89 µg/L, 2.11 µg/L and 1.15 µg/L for 96-h LC50, 10-day LC50 and 10-day IC25, respectively. Similarly, thiamethoxam concentrations were 56.4 µg/L, 32.3 µg/L and 19.6 µg/L, and methomyl concentrations were 244 µg/L, 266 µg/L and 92.1 µg/L. Neonicotinoid effect concentrations compared favorably to previously published 96-h and 14-day LC50 concentrations, and methomyl effect concentrations were within the acute survival range reported for Chironomus species and other organisms.
Polybaric fractional crystallisation of arc magmas: an experimental study simulating trans-crustal magmatic systems
Authors: Marxer Felix , Ulmer Peter , Müntener Othmar
Published: December 2021

Crystallisation-driven differentiation is one fundamental mechanism proposed to control the compositional evolution of magmas. In this experimental study, we simulated polybaric fractional crystallisation of mantle-derived arc magmas. Various pressure–temperature trajectories were explored to cover a range of potential magma ascent paths and to investigate the role of decompression on phase equilibria and liquid lines of descent (LLD). Fractional crystallisation was approached in a step-wise manner by repetitively synthesising new starting materials chemically corresponding to liquids formed in previous runs. Experiments were performed at temperatures ranging from 1140 to 870 °C with 30 °C steps, and pressure was varied between 0.8 and 0.2 GPa with 0.2 GPa steps. For most fractionation paths, oxygen fugacity (fO2) was buffered close to the Ni-NiO equilibrium (NNO). An additional fractionation series was conducted at fO2 corresponding to the Re-ReO2 buffer (RRO ≈ NNO+2). High-pressure experiments (0.4–0.8 GPa) were run in piston cylinder apparatus while 0.2 GPa runs were conducted in externally heated pressure vessels. Resulting liquid lines of descent follow calc-alkaline differentiation trends where the onset of pronounced silica enrichment coincides with the saturation of amphibole and/or Fe–Ti–oxide. Both pressure and fO2 exert crucial control on the stability fields of olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, plagioclase, and Fe–Ti–oxide phases and on the differentiation behaviour of arc magmas. Key observations are a shift of the olivine–clinopyroxene cotectic towards more clinopyroxene-rich liquid composition, an expansion of the plagioclase stability field and a decrease of amphibole stability with decreasing pressure. Decompression-dominated ascent trajectories result in liquid lines of descent approaching the metaluminous compositional range observed for typical arc volcanic rocks, while differentiation trends obtained for cooling-dominated trajectories evolve to peraluminous compositions, similar to isobaric liquid lines of descent at elevated pressures. Experiments buffered at RRO provide a closer match with natural calc-alkaline differentiation trends compared to fO2 conditions close to NNO. We conclude that decompression-dominated fractionation at oxidising conditions represents one possible scenario for arc magma differentiation.
Exact and metaheuristic approaches for unrelated parallel machine scheduling
Authors: Moser Maximilian , Musliu Nysret , Schaerf Andrea , Winter Felix
Published: December 2021

In this paper, we study an important real-life scheduling problem that can be formulated as an unrelated parallel machine scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times, due dates, and machine eligibility constraints. The objective is to minimise total tardiness and makespan. We adapt and extend a mathematical model to find optimal solutions for small instances. Additionally, we propose several variants of simulated annealing to solve very large-scale instances as they appear in practice. We utilise several different search neighbourhoods and additionally investigate the use of innovative heuristic move selection strategies. Further, we provide a set of real-life problem instances as well as a random instance generator that we use to generate a large number of test instances. We perform a thorough evaluation of the proposed techniques and analyse their performance. We also apply our metaheuristics to approach a similar problem from the literature. Experimental results show that our methods are able to improve the results produced with state-of-the-art approaches for a large number of instances.
Focal beam structuring by triple mixing of optical vortex lattices
Authors: Stoyanov Lyubomir , Maleshkov Georgi , Stefanov Ivan , Paulus Gerhard G. , Dreischuh Alexander
Published: December 2021

On-demand generation and reshaping of arrays of focused laser beams is highly desired in many areas of science and technology. In this work, we present a versatile approach for laser beam structuring in the focal plane of a lens by triple mixing of square and/or hexagonal optical vortex lattices (OVLs). In the artificial far field the input Gaussian beam is reshaped into ordered arrays of bright beams with flat phase profiles. This is remarkable, since the bright focal peaks are surrounded by hundreds of OVs with their dark cores and two-dimensional phase dislocations. Numerical simulations and experimental evidences for this are shown, including a broad discussion of some of the possible scenarios for such mixing: triple mixing of square-shaped OVLs, triple mixing of hexagonal OVLs, as well as the two combined cases of mixing square-hexagonal-hexagonal and square-square-hexagonal OVLs. The particular ordering of the input phase distributions of the OV lattices on the used spatial light modulators is found to affect the orientation of the structures ruled by the hexagonal OVL. Reliable control parameters for the creation of the desired focal beam structures are the respective lattice node spacings. The presented approach is flexible, easily realizable by using a single spatial light modulator, and thus accessible in many laboratories.
Typen und Strategien von Täterinnen bei sexuellem Kindesmissbrauch
Authors: Gebhardt Tanita , Briken Peer , Tozdan Safiye , Schröder Johanna
Published: December 2021

Hintergrund

Bei sexuellem Kindesmissbrauch wird in der Regel an einen männlichen Täter gedacht. Frauen, die Kinder sexuell missbrauchen, stellen in unserer Gesellschaft immer noch ein Tabuthema dar. Täter:innentypologien können ein wichtiges Hilfsmittel darstellen, um zu verbesserten Interventionsmaßnahmen, Rehabilitationsleistungen sowie zur Verbrechensprävention beizutragen. Bisherige Typologien zu weiblichen Tätern im Kontext sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs konzentrieren sich entweder auf Persönlichkeitsmerkmale oder Verhaltensweisen. Die vorliegende Analyse vereint beide Aspekte und versucht somit, bisherige Forschung zu ergänzen.

Methodik

Zur Entwicklung einer Täterinnentypologie wurden 30 schriftliche Berichte und transkribierte Anhörungen von weiblichen sowie männlichen Betroffenen und Zeug:innen mittels qualitativer Inhaltsanalyse ausgewertet.

Ergebnisse

Es wurden 4 Täterinnentypen und ihre Strategien herausgearbeitet: die sadistische Täterin, die vermittelnde Täterin, die parentifizierende Täterin und die instruierende Täterin.

Schlussfolgerungen

Eine Wissensvermittlung hinsichtlich der Täterinnentypen an verschiedene Institutionen der Gesellschaft könnte die Aufklärungsarbeit bezüglich weiblicher Täterinnen im Kontext sexuellen Kindesmissbrauchs intensivieren.
More than a snapshot: dynamic value-in-use emergence in e-services
Authors: Bulawa Nicole , Jacob Frank
Published: December 2021

Supporting consumers’ value-in-use (ViU) emergence throughout a usage process has become increasingly challenging as, in today’s environment, usage has shifted from discrete events to continuous e-service interactions. Although researchers acknowledge that ViU is dynamic and evolves over time, most studies treat it as a static concept. Using the empirical context of language learning applications, the authors adopt a dynamic perspective on e-service ViU and extend it with regulatory mode theory using a qualitative approach. By applying the underlying functions of self-regulation: locomotion and assessment, the authors investigate how ViU emerges throughout a usage process and establish an eight-stage ViU emergence process, ranging from initial trigger to termination. By examining a consumer’s usage, assessments, and movements, practitioners can pinpoint a consumer’s location in the ViU emergence process and take appropriate measures to further promote ViU emergence in e-services.
FAM65A as a novel prognostic biomarker in human tumors reveal by a pan-cancer analysis
Authors: Liang Wenken , Mo Chune , Wei Jianfen , Chen Wei , Gong Weiwei , Shi Jianling , Hou Xianliang , Li Chunhong , Deng Yecheng , Ou Minglin
Published: December 2021

Background

Family with sequence similarity 65 member A (FAM65A), also known as RIPOR1, is differentially expressed between human tumor and non-tumor tissues in kinds of cancers. In addition, it was reported that the product ofFAM65Amay be a biomarker for cholangiocarcinoma patients. However, there is still no evidence on the relationship between theFAM65Aand different types of tumors. Our study is mainly for exploring the prognostic values ofFAM65Ain pan-cancer and for further discovering a potential therapeutics target.

Methods

We analyzedFAM65Aexpression, prognostic values, genetic alteration, protein phosphorylation, immune infiltration and enrichment analysis across different types of human malignant tumors based on The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets. Additionally, Real-Time PCR (RT-qPCR) was performed to further confirm the roles ofFAM65Ain the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer.

Results

We found thatFAM65Aexpression was associated with the prognosis of multiple human tumors, especially colorectal cancer. Moreover, we also observed thatFAM65Awas highly expressed in colorectal cancer through RT-qPCR. We observed that decreasing phosphorylation level of the S351 locus in colon adenocarcinoma, uterine corpus endometrial carcinoma and lung adenocarcinoma. And the expression ofFAM65Awas positively related to cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) infiltration in many tumors, such as colon adenocarcinoma. Therefore,FAM65Amay be a potential prognostic biomarker of human tumors.
Higher education decisions and macroeconomic conditions at age eighteen
Authors: Graves Jennifer , Kuehn Zoë
Published: December 2021

Using individual data from PIAAC and data on youth unemployment for 18 countries, we test how macroeconomic conditions experienced at age eighteen affect the following decisions in post-secondary and tertiary education: (i) enrollment (ii) dropping-out, (iii) type of degree completed, (iv) area of specialization, and (v) time-to-degree. We also analyze how the effects vary by gender and parental background. Our findings differ across geographies (Anglo-Saxon, Southern European, Western European, and Scandinavian countries), which shows that the impacts of macroeconomic conditions on higher education decisions depend on context, such as labor markets and education systems. By analyzing various components of higher education together, we are able to obtain a clearer picture of how during economic downturns potential mechanisms interact to determine higher education decisions.
The obstacles and challenges of transition towards a renewable and sustainable energy system in Azerbaijan and Poland
Authors: Cholewa Marcin , Mammadov Farid , Nowaczek Agnieszka
Published: December 2021

The aims of the paper are to identify and assess the determinants of transition to renewable and sustainable energy development in Azerbaijan and Poland. Both countries have a clear target to increase the share of renewable energy sources (RES) in the gross final energy consumption, i.e. Poland in the National Energy and Climate Plan for the years 2021–2030 declares that it wishes to achieve 21–23% by 2030 (total consumption in electricity, heating and cooling as well as for transport purposes). But there are currently significant producers and consumers of conventional energy carriers, respectively coal and oil, and these fuels ensure an appropriate level of energy security and production stability. Moreover, in Poland, the mining sector plays a very important social role, whereas the oil industry in Azerbaijan creates significant budget revenue. Therefore, even with stronger EU and worldwide climate policy and a decreasing cost of cleaner forms of energy, there are many challenges and obstacles for such countries in increasing energy from RES associated with energy security, efficiency, existing infrastructure, competitiveness and social aspects. In order to identify best practices for the transition to decarbonisation, the availability of energy resources, energy market structures, national strategies and policies were compared using PESTEL analysis.
Adjusting normalization bounds to improve hypervolume based search for expensive multi-objective optimization
Authors: Wang Bing , Singh Hemant Kumar , Ray Tapabrata
Published: December 2021

When solving expensive multi-objective optimization problems, surrogate models are often used to reduce the number of true evaluations. Based on predictions from the surrogate models, promising candidate solutions, also referred to as infill solutions, can be identified for evaluation to expedite the search towards the optimum. This infill process in turn involves optimization of certain criteria derived from the surrogate models. In this study, predicted hypervolume maximization is considered as the infill criterion for expensive multi/many-objective optimization. In particular, we examine the effect of normalization bounds on the performance of the algorithm building on our previous study on bi-objective optimization. We propose a more scalable approach based on “surrogate corner” search that shows improved performance where some of the conventional techniques face challenges. Numerical experiments on a range of benchmark problems with up to 5 objectives demonstrate the efficacy and reliability of the proposed approach.
Enhancing the magnetocaloric response of high-entropy metallic-glass by microstructural control
Authors: Yin Hangboce , Law Jia Yan , Huang Yongjiang , Shen Hongxian , Jiang Sida , Guo Shu , Franco Victorino , Sun Jianfei
Published: December 2021

Non-equiatomic high-entropy alloys (HEAs), the second-generation multi-phase HEAs, have been recently reported with outstanding properties that surpass the typical limits of conventional alloys and/or the first-generation equiatomic single-phase HEAs. For magnetocaloric HEAs, non-equiatomic (Gd36Tb20Co20Al24)100−xFex microwires, with Curie temperatures up to 108 K, overcome the typical low temperature limit of rare-earth-containing HEAs (which typically concentrate lower than around 60 K). For alloys with x = 2 and 3, they possess some nanocrystals, though very minor, which offers a widening in the Curie temperature distribution. In this work, we further optimize the magnetocaloric responses of x = 3 microwires by microstructural control using the current annealing technique. With this processing method, the precipitation of nanocrystals within the amorphous matrix leads to a phase compositional difference in the microwires. The multi-phase character leads to challenges in rescaling the magnetocaloric curves, which is overcome by using two reference temperatures during the scaling procedure. The phase composition difference increases with increasing current density, whereby within a certain range, the working temperature span broadens and simultaneously offers relative cooling power values that are at least 2-fold larger than many reported conventional magnetocaloric alloys, both single amorphous phase or multi-phase character (amorphous and nanocrystalline). Among the amorphous rare-earth-containing HEAs, our work increases the working temperature beyond the typical <60 K limit while maintaining a comparable magnetocaloric effect. This demonstrates that microstructural control is a feasible way, in addition to appropriate compositional design selection, to optimize the magnetocaloric effect of HEAs.
Definition of an FHIR-based multiprotocol IoT home gateway to support the dynamic plug of new devices within instrumented environments
Authors: Zampognaro Paolo , Paragliola Giovanni , Falanga Vincenzo
Published: December 2021

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies have become a milestone advancement in the digital healthcare domain, since the number of IoT medical devices is grown exponentially, and it is now anticipated that by 2020, there will be over 161 million of them connected worldwide. Therefore, in an era of continuous growth, IoT healthcare faces various challenges, such as the collection over multiple protocols (e.g. Bluetooth, MQTT, CoAP, ZigBEE, etc.) the interpretation, as well as the harmonization of the data format that derive from the existing huge amounts of heterogeneous IoT medical devices. In this respect, this study aims at proposing an advanced Home Gateway architecture that offers a unique data collection module, supporting direct data acquisition over multiple protocols (i.e.BLE, MQTT) and indirect data retrieval from cloud health services (i.e. GoogleFit). Moreover, the solution propose a mechanism to automatically convert the original data format, carried over BLE, in HL7 FHIR by exploiting device capabilities semantic annotation implemented by means of FHIR resource as well. The adoption of such annotation enables the dynamic plug of new sensors within the instrumented environment without the need to stop and adapt the gateway. This simplifies the dynamic devices landscape customization requested by the several telemedicine applications contexts (e.g. CVD, Diabetes) and demonstrate, for the first time, a concrete example of using the FHIR standard not only (as usual) for health resources representation and storage but also as instrument to enable seamless integration of IoT devices. The proposed solution also relies on mobile phone technology which is widely adopted aiming at reducing any obstacle for a larger adoption.
Revisiting the Experiential Effect: How Criminal Offending Affects Juveniles’ Perceptions of Detection Risk
Authors: Kaiser Florian , Huss Björn , Reinecke Jost
Published: December 2021

Perceptual deterrence research has consistently found that criminal offending is inversely related to subsequent perceptions of the risk of being caught or arrested. This inverse relationship has been dubbed an “experiential effect,” reflecting the idea that people learn by committing (undetected) crimes that the detection or arrest risk is lower than first feared. The current study explores the validity of this experiential argument. It relies on self-report data from 3,259 adolescent participants in the panel study Crime in the modern City (Duisburg, Germany). We computed detection rates and risk perceptions, and used fixed effects models to investigate the proposed experiential learning process. Most findings support the experiential argument: (1) juvenile offenses were rarely detected by the police, (2) juveniles (especially those inexperienced with crime) tended to overestimate the detection risk, (3) juveniles reduced their risk perceptions when they committed crimes, (4) this reduction occurred primarily among those who overestimated the detection risk in periods when they were not committing crimes. However, the study also produced the surprising finding that the experiential effect seems to be short-lived: people appeared to return to initial risk perception levels when they stopped committing crimes. Overall, the results corroborate the experiential argument. However, they also indicate that the argument may need revision to account for the potential short-term nature of the experiential effect. This “ephemerality effect” is good news for policy, as lowered risk perceptions will in most cases only temporarily increase the likelihood of future delinquency.
Running online experiments using web-conferencing software
Authors: Li Jiawei , Leider Stephen , Beil Damian , Duenyas Izak
Published: December 2021

We report the results of a novel protocol for running online experiments using a combination of an online experimental platform in parallel with web-conferencing software in two formats—with and without subject webcams—to improve subjects’ attention and engagement. We compare the results between our online sessions with the offline (lab) sessions of the same experiment. We find that both online formats lead to comparable subject characteristics and performance as the offline (lab) experiment. However, the webcam-on protocol has less noisy data, and hence better statistical power, than the protocol without a webcam. The webcam-on protocol can detect reasonable effect sizes with a comparable sample size as in the offline (lab) protocol.
Technokratie und Freiheit: Zur Ideengeschichte der digitalen Steuerungsutopie
Authors: Schulz Daniel
Published: December 2021

Gegen das präsentistische (Selbst‑)Verständnis der Digitalisierung vertritt der Beitrag die These, dass die Entwicklung der digitalen Konstellation eng mit der utopischen Tradition des politischen Denkens verbunden ist. Die Idee einer technischen Steuerung politischer und sozialer Ordnungsfragen ist Ausdruck eines spezifisch modernen Verfügbarkeitsdenkens, das in der Geschichte der politischen Utopien seit Thomas Morus in verschiedenen Varianten durchgespielt wurde. Der Beitrag skizziert in einem ersten Schritt diese Vorgeschichte von der Frühen Neuzeit bis in das zwanzigste Jahrhundert, um dann im zweiten Schritt exemplarisch die behavioristische Utopie B. F. Skinners in diese Entwicklung der technischen Verhaltenskonditionierung einzureihen. Im letzten Teil wird dann gezeigt, wie das digitale Ordnungsdenken der Gegenwart im Zeichen von Big Data erneut an die umfassenden Steuerungshoffnungen der hochmodernen Humantechnik anknüpft. Abschließend wird die Frage gestellt, wie sich die politische Theorie im Deutungskonflikt der Digitalisierung verorten sollte.
Elements of the anthropological theory of didactics in the selection of contents in a course of fluid mechanics in engineering, a case study in Spanish universities
Authors: Palencia José Luis Díaz , Redondo Antonio Naranjo , Caballero Pedro Vivas
Published: December 2021

The Anthropological Theory of Didactics has been applied to the field of didactics of mathematics with remarkable success. Fluid Mechanics is a discipline with a strong mathematical background, where mathematics is used for modeling the continuous nature. In addition, the Fluid Mechanics concepts are essential for the future engineer or scientist. For this reason, it is worth thinking whether the content that developed in engineering schools or science faculties are those demanded by the future professionals. The analysis has been done within the context of a case study framed in the Spanish noosphere, more particularly Universities and Companies. In this direction, the objective of this article is to know the institutional distance between the University and society as a demander of technologies based on Fluid Mechanics. To this end, the methodology based on the issuance of a questionnaire to experts focused on aspects such as present and emerging content associated with the Fluid Mechanics of an engineering degree is used. Note that the number of experts selected is reduced so as to consider the study as a sourcing for introducing expert thoughts on the fluid mechanics conception between university and companies. The results highlight the existence of an institutional distance between the University and the Enterprise (as a technology executor) in the conception of contents, thus establishing an area of potential improvement within the noosphere associated with fluid mechanics in Spain.

Highlights

Questionnaire to experts to understand the current institutional relations between University and Company in the Spanish system.

Application of the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (ATD) techniques to Fluid Mechanics.

Confirmation of an institutional distance between University and Companies in Fluid Mechanics conceptions.
A novel ResNet101 model based on dense dilated convolution for image classification
Authors: Zhang Qi
Published: December 2021

Image classification plays an important role in computer vision. The existing convolutional neural network methods have some problems during image classification process, such as low accuracy of tumor classification and poor ability of feature expression and feature extraction. Therefore, we propose a novel ResNet101 model based on dense dilated convolution for medical liver tumors classification. The multi-scale feature extraction module is used to extract multi-scale features of images, and the receptive field of the network is increased. The depth feature extraction module is used to reduce background noise information and focus on effective features of the focal region. To obtain broader and deeper semantic information, a dense dilated convolution module is deployed in the network. This module combines the advantages of Inception, residual structure, and multi-scale dilated convolution to obtain a deeper level of feature information without causing gradient explosion and gradient disappearance. To solve the common feature loss problems in the classification network, the up- down-sampling module in the network is improved, and multiple convolution kernels with different scales are cascaded to widen the network, which can effectively avoid feature loss. Finally, experiments are carried out on the proposed method. Compared with the existing mainstream classification networks, the proposed method can improve the classification performance, and finally achieve accurate classification of liver tumors. The effectiveness of the proposed method is further verified by ablation experiments.

Highlights

The multi-scale feature extraction module is introduced to extract multi-scale features of images, it can extract deep context information of the lesion region and surrounding tissues to enhance the feature extraction ability of the network.

The depth feature extraction module is used to focus on the local features of the lesion region from both channel and space, weaken the influence of irrelevant information, and strengthen the recognition ability of the lesion region.

The feature extraction module is enhanced by the parallel structure of dense dilated convolution, and the deeper feature information is obtained without losing the image feature information to improve the classification accuracy.
Low awareness of community-dwelling older adults on the importance of dietary protein: new insights from four qualitative studies
Authors: Linschooten Joost O. , Verwijs Marije H. , Beelen Janne , de van der Schueren Marian A. E. , Roodenburg Annet J. C.
Published: December 2021

Meeting the recommended daily protein intake can be a challenge for community-dwelling older adults (CDOA). In order to understand why, we studied attitudes towards protein-rich products and healthy eating in general; identified needs and preferences, barriers and promotors and knowledge regarding dietary behaviour and implementation of high protein products. Attitudes towards protein-rich products and healthy eating were evaluated in focus groups (study 1, n 17). To gain insights in the needs and preferences of older adults with regard to meals and meal products (study 2, n 30), visual information on eating behaviour was assessed using photovoicing and verified in post-photovoice interviews. In studies 3 and 4, semi-structured interviews were conducted to identify protein consumption-related barriers, opportunities (n 20) and knowledge and communication channels (n 40), respectively. Risk of low protein intake was assessed using ProteinScreener55+ (Pro55+) in studies 2–4 (n 90). Focus groups showed that participants were unaware of potential inadequate dietary protein. Photovoicing showed that sixteen of thirty participants mainly consumed traditional Dutch products. In post-photovoice interviews, participants indicated that they were satisfied with their current eating behaviour. Barriers for adequate use of protein-rich products were ‘lack of knowledge’, ‘resistance to change habits’ and ‘no urge to receive dietary advice’. Promotors were ‘trust in professionals’ and ‘product offers’. Sixty-two percent had a low risk of low protein intake. CDOA feel low urgency to increase protein intake, possibly linked to low knowledge levels. A challenge for professionals would be to motivate older adults to change their eating pattern, to optimise protein intake.
Exact solutions and critical behaviour for a linear growth-diffusion equation on a time-dependent domain
Authors: Allwright Jane
Published: December 2021

A linear growth-diffusion equation is studied in a time-dependent interval whose location and length both vary. We prove conditions on the boundary motion for which the solution can be found in exact form and derive the explicit expression in each case. Next, we prove the precise behaviour near the boundary in a ‘critical’ case: when the endpoints of the interval move in such a way that near the boundary there is neither exponential growth nor decay, but the solution behaves like a power law with respect to time. The proof uses a subsolution based on the Airy function with argument depending on both space and time. Interesting links are observed between this result and Bramson's logarithmic term in the nonlinear FKPP equation on the real line. Each of the main theorems is extended to higher dimensions, with a corresponding result on a ball with a time-dependent radius.
Rapid and safe wire tension distribution scheme for redundant cable-driven parallel manipulators
Authors: Mousavi Mohammad Reza , Ghanbari Masoud , Moosavian S. Ali A. , Zarafshan Payam
Published: December 2021

A non-iterative analytical approach is investigated to plan the safe wire tension distribution along with the cables in the redundant cable-driven parallel robots. The proposed algorithm considers not only tracking the desired trajectory but also protecting the system against possible failures. This method is used to optimize the non-negative wire tensions through the cables which are constrained based on the workspace conditions. It also maintains both actuators’ torque and cables’ tensile strength boundary limits. The pseudo-inverse problem solution leads to ann-dimensional convex problem, which is related to the robot degrees of redundancy. In this paper, a comprehensive solution is presented for a 1–3 degree(s) of redundancy in wire-actuated robots. To evaluate the effectiveness of this method, it is verified through an experimental study on the RoboCab cable robot in the infinity trajectory tracking task. As a matter of comparison, some standard methods like Active-set and sequential quadratic programming are also presented and the average elapsed time for each method is compared to the proposed algorithm.
ARE REPLICATION STUDIES INFREQUENT BECAUSE OF NEGATIVE ATTITUDES?
Authors: McManus Kevin
Published: December 2021

Replication is a research methodology designed to verify, consolidate, and generalize knowledge and understanding within empirical fields of study. In second language studies, however, reviews share widespread concern about the infrequency of replication. A common but speculative explanation for this situation is that replication studies are not valued because they lack originality and/or innovation. To better understand and respond to the infrequency of replication in our field, 354 researchers were surveyed about their attitudes toward replication and their practices conducting replication studies. Responses included worldwide participation from researchers with and without replication experience. Overall, replications were evaluated as relevant and valuable to the field. Claims that replication studies lack originality/innovation were not supported. However, dissemination issues were identified: half of published replication studies lacked explicit labeling and one quarter of completed replications were unpublished. Explicit labeling of replication studies and training in research methodology and dissemination can address this situation.