bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
openBF: an open-source finite volume 1D blood flow solver
Authors: Benemerito I , Melis A , Wehenkel A , Marzo A
Published: November 2024

Computational simulations are widely adopted in cardiovascular biomechanics because of their capability of producing physiological data otherwise impossible to measure with non-invasive modalities. Objective. This study presents openBF, a computational library for simulating the blood dynamics in the cardiovascular system. Approach. openBF adopts a one-dimensional viscoelastic representation of the arterial system, and is coupled with zero-dimensional windkessel models at the outlets. Equations are solved by means of the finite-volume method and the code is written in Julia. We assess its predictions by performing a multiscale validation study on several domains available from the literature. Main results. At all scales, which range from individual arteries to a population of virtual subjects, openBF’s solution show excellent agreement with the solutions from existing software. For reported simulations, openBF requires low computational times. Significance. openBF is easy to install, use, and deploy on multiple platforms and architectures, and gives accurate prediction of blood dynamics in short time-frames. It is actively maintained and available open-source on GitHub, which favours contributions from the biomechanical community.
A ferromagnetic notched soft guidewire for enhanced flexibility
Authors: Shen Yang , Cui Chaoyu , Liang Shenglong , Zhang Hongchuan , Zhang Xianmin , Lu Yihua , Li Hai , Zhu Benliang
Published: November 2024

Ferromagnetic soft guidewires (FSGs) capable of remote active steering and navigation offer substantial potential for biomedical applications. However, in practical applications, such as tasks requiring navigation through large-angle bends in narrow spaces and carrying loads, the performance of FSG is limited. This paper presents a design framework for ferromagnetic notched soft guidewires (FNSGs) that significantly enhances steering performance while maintaining sufficient stiffness. Then, an modified segmented Cosserat rod model is proposed and validated through finite element analysis and experiments, providing an effective tool for the analysis of FNSGs. Moreover, analysis of the workspace and the bending stiffness is conducted on FNSG design with different notch geometric parameters, revealing that the notches have a significant impact on the deflection of FNSG along different directions. Finally, the superior performance of the FNSG in navigation, maneuvering through large-angle bends, and bearing heavy loads was demonstrated through an integrated magnetic field system.
Microstructural characterisation studies on hot corrosion behaviour of YSZ/Gd2Zr2O7 based plasma spray coatings on SS316
Authors: S Maharajan , F Michael Thomas Rex
Published: November 2024

The present study uses microstructural analysis to examine the impact of integrating the rare earth oxide Gadolinium Zirconate (Gd2Zr2O7) into the primary YSZ powder during plasma spray coating on an SS316 substrate. The ceramic coatings are formulated with two distinct concentrations: 5 wt. % Gd2Zr2O7, designated as 5GDZ, and 15 wt. % Gd2Zr2O7, designated as 15GDZ. The coating thickness was consistently maintained at a bond coating of 50 μm and a top coating of 200 μm across all coated samples by controlling relevant process parameters, including current, powder feed rate, and standoff distance. Hot corrosion tests were conducted on the samples using 50 mg/cm2 of molten salt comprising 60 wt. % V2O5 and Na2SO4 at a temperature of 700 °C for 12 h. The results indicated that YSZ and 15GDZ effectively prevented corrosion in the hot molten salt environment. The corrosive products containing YVO4 and m-ZrO2 in the YSZ and 15GDZ coating act as a passivation layer to inhibit corrosion to a certain extent. Compared to YSZ, 5GDZ shows a weight gain of 162.5 mg/cm2, 58.54% higher. However, there is no noticeable improvement in hot corrosion resistance. The 5GDZ coating exhibited the formation of thin, corrosive products. More spallation, cracks, and fractures are evident in the 5GDZ coating. The weight gain of 15GDZ is quantified at 115.32 mg/cm2, representing a 40.9% reduction compared to the 5GDZ coating. Hence, further increases in the weight of Gd2Zr2O7 were added with YSZ beyond 5 wt. % demonstrate an enhancement in hot corrosion resistance. The penetration of molten salt into the bond coating interface and substrate is completely inhibited in all three coatings, as evidenced by the SEM and EDAX analysis.
Fusing thermal and visual sensory data for enhanced VIO localization in low-light conditions
Authors: Si Pengju , Liu Yuxuan , Zhao Li , Cui Wei , Fu Zhumu , Tao Fazhan , Gao Song
Published: November 2024

Visual inertial odometry (VIO) is a crucial technique for autonomous driving, but it encounters challenges in dark or shadowy environments, where the accuracy of the positioning system may be degraded or lost. Moreover, different kinds of sensor noise can affect the positioning accuracy. In this paper, we present a novel VIO localization algorithm that fuses data from a thermal camera, a visual camera, and an inertial measurement unit (IMU) in a tightly coupled manner. To handle non-Gaussian noise in dark environments and improve positioning accuracy and stability, we employ an iterative extended Kalman filter (IEKF) with the maximum correntropy criterion and adaptive noise, enhancing the robustness. We first combine the thermal camera with the conventional VIO method to form a thermal VIO framework. Then, an adaptive maximum correntropy criterion IEKF (AMCCIEKF) algorithm is proposed to refine the accuracy and stability. We implement and experimentally evaluate our proposed localization method using an open dataset. In a dark and shaking environment, our method reduces errors by approximately 56% compared to IEKF. Moreover, our method achieves a 41% reduction in median and 65% in standard deviation (S.D.).
Nanoindentation study of PbMoO4 single crystals: mechanical properties and implications for applications
Authors: Isik M , Gasanly N M
Published: November 2024

Nanomechanical properties of lead molybdate (PbMoO4) single crystal were investigated using nanoindentation measurements. The force-dependent Young’s modulus and hardness of PbMoO4 along the [100] direction was determined using the Oliver–Pharr method. As the applied force increased, hardness and young modulus values decreased. This behavior was referred to the indentation size effect (ISE). The force-dependent plots were analyzed using proportional specimen resistance model and true hardness value was determined as 1.84 GPa. As a result of increasing the applied force from 5 to 100 mN, the Young modulus decreased from 81.7 to 60.2 GPa. The dependencies of plastic and elastic deformation components were also reported in the present study. It was seen that plastic deformation is the dominant component. The findings suggest that PbMoO4 is relatively soft material and can be considered as a promising material for mechanical and optoelectronics applications that require revealed hardness and Young’s modulus values.
Optical field modulation-enhanced cantilever sensor-based photoacoustic spectroscopy gas detection system
Authors: Cheng Hongtu , Shen Yang , Feng Jie , Fang Zhi
Published: November 2024

This study presents an approach to enhance the sensitivity of cantilever sensor-based photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy gas detection systems through optical field modulation. Theoretical investigations into the mechanism and method of optical field modulation are followed by experimental validation. Acetylene is selected as the target molecule, with a near-infrared DFB LD laser serving as the light source. A dual-lens configuration was constructed to yield a better optical field distribution compared to the single-lens configuration. In the near-field of the laser, the setup of the dual-lens configuration has a better sensitivity than that of the single-lens setup, with a limit of detection reaching 0.52 μl l−1. In the far-field of the laser, however, the PA signals are significantly lower than that of near-field measurements, indicating that far-field measurement is not preferred. The results can provide references to the sensitivity improvement of the PA spectroscopy-based gas sensing system.
Thermal kinetics and photodegradation performance towards methylene blue of melt-quenched Se70Te30 glass
Authors: Mahmoud A Z , Abd-Elnaiem Alaa M , Shamekh A M A
Published: November 2024

This paper reports the structure, basic characteristics, photocatalytic performance, and crystallization kinetics of the Se70Te30 glass. The Se70Te30 glass was synthesized using the melt-quenching method. The crystallization kinetics were investigated under non-isothermal condition via the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. For example, the glass transition activation energy, the thermal stability, and the Avrami index have been determined and discussed. It was found that thermal stability and glass-forming ability influence the crystallization rate. Furthermore, the activation energy needed for the amorphous-crystalline transition of the Se70Te30 glass was obtained using conventional methods. The thermal kinetic parameters were analyzed using various conventional approaches and were revealed to be influenced by the heating rate (β). The photocatalytic activity of the Se70Te30 glass towards methylene blue (MB) was examined and compared to the literature. The UV-visible irradiation time affects the photodegradation of MB and reaches 72.13% under the UV-visible irradiation for 70 min. A hypothesized mechanism for the degradation of the MB dye by Se70Te30 catalysts is described. The study employed Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetics to ascertain the rate constant of 2.1 × 10–2 min–1 towards MB dye degradation and to assess the photo-reactivity of the Se70Te30 glass under investigation using quantitative analysis. The synthesized Se70Te30 glass could be helpful for purifying wastewater and degrading other organic dyes, in addition to its benefits for phase change memory applications.
Combining deep reinforcement learning with heuristics to solve the traveling salesman problem
Authors: Hong 洪 Li 莉 , Liu 刘 Yu 宇 , Xu 徐 Mengqiao 梦俏 , Deng 邓 Wenhui 文慧
Published: November 2024

Recent studies employing deep learning to solve the traveling salesman problem (TSP) have mainly focused on learning construction heuristics. Such methods can improve TSP solutions, but still depend on additional programs. However, methods that focus on learning improvement heuristics to iteratively refine solutions remain insufficient. Traditional improvement heuristics are guided by a manually designed search strategy and may only achieve limited improvements. This paper proposes a novel framework for learning improvement heuristics, which automatically discovers better improvement policies for heuristics to iteratively solve the TSP. Our framework first designs a new architecture based on a transformer model to make the policy network parameterized, which introduces an action-dropout layer to prevent action selection from overfitting. It then proposes a deep reinforcement learning approach integrating a simulated annealing mechanism (named RL-SA) to learn the pairwise selected policy, aiming to improve the 2-opt algorithm’s performance. The RL-SA leverages the whale optimization algorithm to generate initial solutions for better sampling efficiency and uses the Gaussian perturbation strategy to tackle the sparse reward problem of reinforcement learning. The experiment results show that the proposed approach is significantly superior to the state-of-the-art learning-based methods, and further reduces the gap between learning-based methods and highly optimized solvers in the benchmark datasets. Moreover, our pre-trained model M can be applied to guide the SA algorithm (named M-SA (ours)), which performs better than existing deep models in small-, medium-, and large-scale TSPLIB datasets. Additionally, the M-SA (ours) achieves excellent generalization performance in a real-world dataset on global liner shipping routes, with the optimization percentages in distance reduction ranging from 3.52% to 17.99%.
HiFAST: An H i Data Calibration and Imaging Pipeline for FAST. III. Standing Wave Removal
Authors: Xu Chen , Wang Jie , Jing Yingjie , Li Fujia , Gan Hengqian , Liu Ziming , Liang Tiantian , Chen Qingze , Liu Zerui , Hou Zhipeng , Hu Hao , Hu Huijie , Huang Shijie , Jiang Peng , Zhang Chuan-Peng , Zhu Yan
Published: November 2024

The standing waves existing in radio telescope data are primarily due to reflections among the instruments, which significantly impact the spectral quality of the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST). Eliminating these standing waves for FAST is challenging given the constant changes in their phases and amplitudes. Over a ten-second period, the phases shift by 18° while the amplitudes fluctuate by 6 mK. Thus, we developed the fast Fourier transform (FFT) filter method to eliminate these standing waves for every individual spectrum. The FFT filter can decrease the rms from 3.2 to 1.15 times the theoretical estimate. Compared to other methods such as sine fitting and running median, the FFT filter achieves a median rms of approximately 1.2 times the theoretical expectation and the smallest scatter at 12%. Additionally, the FFT filter method avoids the flux loss issue encountered with some other methods. The FFT is also efficient in detecting harmonic radio frequency interference (RFI). In the FAST data, we identified three distinct types of harmonic RFI, each with amplitudes exceeding 100 mK and intrinsic frequency periods of 8.1, 0.5, and 0.37 MHz, respectively. The FFT filter, proven as the most effective method, is integrated into the H i data calibration and imaging pipeline for FAST (HiFAST, https://hifast.readthedocs.io).
ML-based calibration and control of the GlueX Central Drift Chamber
Authors: Britton T. , Goodrich M. , Jarvis N. , Jeske T. , Kalra N. , Lawrence D. , McSpadden D. , Rajput K.
Published: November 2024

The GlueX Central Drift Chamber (CDC) in Hall D at Jefferson Lab, used for detecting and tracking charged particles, is calibrated and controlled during data taking using a Gaussian process. The system dynamically adjusts the high voltage applied to the anode wires inside the chamber in response to changing environmental and experimental conditions such that the gain is stabilized. Control policies have been established to manage the CDC's behavior. These policies are activated when the model's uncertainty exceeds a configurable threshold or during human-initiated tests during normal production running. We demonstrate the system reduces the time detector experts dedicate to calibration of the data offline, leading to a marked decrease in computing resource usage without compromising detector performance.
ATLAS ITk-Pixel DAQ system
Authors: Alkakhi Wael ,   the ATLAS ITk collaboration
Published: November 2024

During the ATLAS High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC) upgrade, the current inner detector is going to be replaced by an all-silicon Inner Tracker (ITk). The pixel detector, located in the innermost part of the ITk, comprises 9716 modules arranged in 5 cylindrical layers around the beam line. The ITk-Pixel Data AcQuisition (DAQ) system basic read-out chain includes the YARR software, communicating with the FELIX PCIe board acting as an interface connected through lpGBT transceivers to the on-detector front-end (FE) chips ITkPix. The FEs are grouped in triplet (3-FE) and mostly in 4-FE Quad Modules (QM), that are installed on local supports, which are integral parts of the ITk structure. The FELIX system is also used for performing Quality Control (QC) tests during integration. The work describes the development steps and corresponding testing and read-out chain validation results. A representative read-out sub-system will be used to develop and validate the different aspects of the read-out chain. This subsystem can be a Loaded Local Support (LLS) comprising few tens of ITkPix QMs with serial powering (SP) and opto-box connection. In order to have the readout chain validated, developments on trigger and command sending and data reading of YARR FelixClient controller were consequently required, working first on a lab setup with a couple of ITkPix single chip cards (SCCs) and QMs. This step has been carried out successfully, paving the road to the next LLS sub-system readout test, once more QMs are available.
Towards sustainable urban water management: an ecological compensation framework for sponge cities
Authors: Shi Chunyan , Li You , Li Haijian , Qiu Hong , Xu Tongyu
Published: November 2024

Rapid urbanization and climate change have intensified water-related challenges in urban areas, requiring innovative solutions for sustainable water management. This study critically examines China’s sponge city initiative, which integrates green infrastructure and ecological principles to enhance urban water resilience. The research identifies key challenges, including inadequate planning, design inconsistencies, and financial sustainability issues, which hinder the full realization of ecosystem service benefits. To address these gaps, we propose a novel ecological compensation framework that integrates the ecosystem services framework with urban planning and public payment mechanisms. Our four-step methodology leverages low impact development practices to enhance policy efficacy, aligning urban development with ecological integrity and sustainability. By transitioning from ecosystem service recognition to a publicly funded compensation model, this approach ensures the financial viability of sponge city projects, fosters broad societal participation, and supports resilient urban development. Importantly, the developed framework is adaptable, making it applicable to sponge city initiatives worldwide. It offers a flexible, evidence-based strategy for cities facing similar water management challenges, promoting ecological resilience while ensuring long-term financial sustainability. This study contributes to global urban water management discourse, providing a scalable model that supports integrated, community-backed urban planning and sets a new standard for sponge city development.
Future intensification of co-occurrences of heat, PM2.5 and O3 extremes in China and India despite stringent air pollution controls
Authors: Gao Meng , Wang Fan , Xu Yangyang , Chen Ji , Lu Xiao , Carmichael Gregory R
Published: November 2024

Heat and air pollution extremes are two leading global health stressors, both of which are particularly serious in China and India. It is well recognized that exposure to co-occurrence of heat and air pollution extremes will cause amplified health outcomes, yet century‐long understanding of future co‐occurrence is still lacking. On the basis of sophisticated regional coupled climate-chemistry modeling, we predict future individual and joint occurrences of heat and air pollution extremes in China and India in 2096–2100 relative to 2010–2014. We find intensified co-occurrences of heat and air pollution extremes in both China and India, despite reductions in projected emissions and improved air quality. Under the medium air pollution control of SSP245, the frequency of Tw&PM&O3 joint hazard increases by 382% in North India, and 729% in Beijing by the end of this century. Given the significant role of temperature changes in the co-occurrence and larger compounding health impacts, actions are urgently needed to reduce exposure to co-extreme events.
Growth performance and survival rate of silver pompano (Trachynotus blochii) seed after additional amino acid lysine in feed
Authors: Minjoyo Herno , Saputra Suryadi , Rivaie Arief Rahman , Antoro Suci , Dhoe Silfester Basi , Meiyana Maya , Prihaningrum Arif , Suprayudi Muhammad Agus
Published: November 2024

Lysine is an essential amino acid and an important factor in feed that affects fish growth. The objective of the present study was to determine the optimum percentage of lysine in the feed that can produce the maximum growth performance of silver pompano seeds. These studies were performed using four different treatments of additional lysine levels; i.e.; treatment A: 0.15%), treatment B: 0.35%), treatment C: 0.55%), and treatment K: 0% for control. The study was a completely randomized design with four treatments, each consisting of three replicates. The results showed that feeding with different levels of lysine had no significant effect on body weight gain, feed consumption, absolute weight, feed conversion ratio, or survival rate, except for specific growth rate and lysine retention, which had a significant effect on fish fed treatment A (0.15%) or feed containing 3.39% lysine.
Cloud computing using Google Earth Engine and Sentinel-1 SAR images to detect water bodies changes at coastal city
Authors: Selamat Muhammad Banda , Lanuru Mahatma , Idrus Muhammad Rijal
Published: November 2024

Flooding in low-lying urban coastal areas often occurs during extreme rainfall periods. Although such floods are temporary, they can cause devastating damage and disrupt transportation and economic activities. As a coastal city, Makassar is faced with extreme tidal phenomena as a result of climate change, which contribute to flooding events under certain conditions. This study aims to spatially detect inundations during the rainy season at Makassar City in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. A number of Sentinel-1 images that work on microwaves and are available on the Google Earth Engine have been deployed and processed using Cloud Computing Technology. Water bodies and land were distinguished by backscattering values of VV polarization using the Threshold and Boolean techniques. Water body images were converted from raster to vector, and polygon areas were calculated. The largest body of water occurred during the 2021 wet season, at approximately 1,389 ha, and the lowest at approximately 986 ha (1,653 points) in 2022. Over the five years from 2018 to 2022, Manggala, Tamalanrea, Tamalate and Biringkanaya districts had the largest water bodies during the wet season. During this period, the area of water bodies varied between 6% and 8% of Makassar’s total area, with a decreasing trend of approximately 1%.
Utilization of aerial photo techniques using drone with different flight paths for measurement of fishing boat hull dimensions
Authors: Tandipuang Paduartama , Novita Yopi , Farhum St Aisjah , Rumpa Arham
Published: November 2024

The numerous stages and eaquipment used to measure the dimensions of a fishing boat make this method less efficient. The aim of this research was to compare the results of measuring the horizontal dimensions of fishing boat hulls using conventional methods and drones with different flight path variations. Data collection was performed using drones with aerial photography techniques. The 3Dsurvey pilot software was used to create a flight path pattern of 00 and 900 at an altitude of 40 m with an overlap of 80%. Aerial photo image processing was carried out using Agisoft metashape software with medium settings to align photos, dense clouds, and tiled models. From 4 different locations, there were 32 fishing boats were measured from four different locations. The results showed that the dimensional average difference values for LoA were 2.78 cm and Bmax was 1.63 cm with the 900 flight path pattern. The 00 flight path pattern shows that the dimensional average difference values of the LoA was 3.22 cm and Bmax were 3.92 cm. A completely randomized block design test stated that both treatment and block had an influence on the LoA. The treatment had no influence on the Bmax, but the block had an influence. Tukey’s test results indicated that K1 was not significantly different from K2 on the LoA. K0, K1, and K2 were not significantly different for the Bmax. This technique can be applied as an alternative method to measur the horizontal dimensions of fishing boat hulls in large quantities.
An integrated stairwise adaptive finite point scheme for the two-dimensional coupled Burgers’ equation
Authors: Sreelakshmi A , Shyaman V P , Awasthi Ashish
Published: November 2024

This paper explores the potential of a streamlined adaptive finite point method (FPM) in tackling two-dimensional coupled Burgers’ equations, employing them as a testbed for further advancements. Firstly the coupled system is transformed into a two-dimensional heat equation through Cole–Hopf transformation and then this transformed equation is split into one-dimensional heat equations at intermediate temporal levels along X and Y directions and these one-dimensional equations are finally to be treated with the adaptive FPM. The distinctive feature of the adaptive FPM used here lies in employing an implicit 4-point stencil within each local cell to compute the solution at a higher temporal level through a linear combination of solutions from the preceding temporal level. The coefficients involved in this linear combination are derived via the local fundamental solutions within that cell, thereby imbuing the formulations with the intrinsic essence of the exact solution. Moreover, the separation constant utilized is tailored to consistently integrate the influence of the initial solution, independent of the temporal level. The method’s theoretical underpinnings ensure its conditionally stable, consistent, and convergent behavior. The accuracy of the scheme is substantiated by its proficient handling of diverse examples, attesting to its superior cost-effectiveness and time efficiency.
Validation of the SIMIND simulation code using the myocardial phantom HL
Authors: Yasumoto Yoshiaki , Daisaki Hiromitsu , Sato Mitsuru
Published: November 2024

Introduction. Monte Carlo simulation codes simulating medical imaging nuclear detectors (SIMIND) are notable tools used to model nuclear medicine experiments.This study aimed to confirm the usability of SIMIND as an alternative method for nuclear medicine experiments with a cardiac phantom HL, simulating human body structures, by comparing the actual experiment data. Methods. A cardiac phantom HL that simulates myocardial scintigraphy using 123I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine was developed, and single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography imaging was performed using Discovery NM/CT 670 scanner. Aside from the main-energy window(159 keV ± 10%), additional windows were set on the low(137.5 keV ± 4% ) and high(180.5 keV ± 3%)-energy sides. The simulations were performed under the same conditions as the actual experiments. Regions of interest (ROIs) were set in each organ part of the experiments and simulated data, and a polar map for the myocardial part was developed. The mean, maximum (max), and minimum (min) counts within each ROI, as well as the relative errors of each segment in the polar map, were calculated to evaluate the accuracy of the simulation. Results. Overall, the results were favorable with relative errors of <10% except in some areas based on the data from the main-energy window and postreconstruction. On the other hand, relative errors of >10% were found in both the low and high subenergy windows. The smallest error occurred when assessing using mean values within the ROIs. The relative error was high at the cardiac base in the polar map evaluation; however, it remained <10% from the mid to apical heart sections. Conclusion. SIMIND is considered an alternative method for nuclear medicine experiments using a myocardial phantom HL that closely resembles human body structures. However, caution is warranted as accuracy may decrease under specific conditions.
ZeROf-Offload: forward-gradient scheme for efficient full parameter fine-tuning of billion-scale language models
Authors: Zhu Jian , Feng Peicheng , Lu Jiawei , Fang Bowei , Yang Hesong
Published: November 2024

In large language models (LLMs), full-parameter fine-tuning is crucial for task-specific adaptation. Traditionally, this relies on deep learning training frameworks utilizing the back-propagation scheme. However, this scheme presents inherent issues, e.g. activation memory bottlenecks and backward locking, which limit the efficient computational resource usage. In this work, we propose the design and analysis of ZeROf-Offload, an innovative fine-tuning framework that adapts the forward-gradient scheme. This framework adopts a unique forward-gradient-oriented CPU offload strategy, enabling fine-tuning of billion-scale LLMs solely in the forward phase and enhancing computational efficiency. Empirical evaluations reveal the advantage of eliminating the backward phase in fine-tuning. ZeROf-Offload achieves134 TFlops/GPU for models with over 130 billion parameters on a single DGX-A100 node, outperforming DeepSpeed’s ZeRO-Offload, which achieves 102 TFlops/GPU for models with up to 53.7 billion parameters, the largest size manageable within GPU memory limitations. Furthermore, we have expanded ZeROf-Offload for multi-DGX-A100 environments with integrated 3D parallelism, achieving near-linear speedup across up to 128 GPUs and the token throughput by 1.4x and 1.5x, respectively. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed ZeROf-Offload has achieved the highest throughput performance compared to all examined state-of-the-art frameworks.
Are Constitutions So Indeterminate that We Cannot Compare Them?
Authors: Ginsburg Tom , Versteeg Mila
Published: November 2024

Mark Tushnet’s prolific and generative engagement with comparative constitutional law has been wide-ranging. One line of methodological critique that he and others have pursued has taken on large-n studies, noting that constitutional texts cannot be understood without interpretation, which necessarily varies across countries. This chapter takes on this critique and argues that if pushed too far, it undermines comparison entirely. The chapter argues that comparison is possible and that the degree of determinacy of legal texts is ultimately an empirical question. It notes that the recent literature on transnational judicial dialogue suggests that there is a good deal of common understanding of texts across contexts.
Mark Tushnet’s Central Contribution—and Challenge—to the Enterprise of Comparative Constitutionalism
Authors: Levinson Sanford
Published: November 2024

Mark Tushnet is one of the best-read, most truly erudite students of comparative constitutionalism in the world. But, perhaps paradoxically, the very breadth of his knowledge has led him to adopt a stance of remarkable modesty with regard to what “advice” he might be willing to offer anyone engaged in the actual task of designing a constitution for a particular society. He is not, that is, a “constitutional engineer” who believes that there is a transcultural, transpolitical set of “best practices” that can simply be imposed on any given polity. One must know a lot of history and political sociology in order to make decisions that seem suitable for any given necessarily complex situation. Tushnet makes us aware not only of the inevitable presence of competing values and the fact that reasonable people can and will disagree about, for example, the scope of freedom of speech, but also of the importance of empirical evidence with regard to determining the actual consequences, if any, of any given step in institutional “constitutional design.” These are important, indeed essential, lessons, and we have special reason to be grateful to Tushnet for his reminding us of the limits of what we know. To be told, as Mark often insists, that the answer to a given question is “It all depends” may sometimes be frustrating, but is also essential.
The Architecture of Constitutionalism
Authors: Cane Peter
Published: November 2024

Tripartite separation of powers was a basic feature of 18th-century political theory, finding its most enduring formal expression in the US Constitution of 1789. A century later, the weaknesses of the theory, both descriptive and prescriptive, were becoming clear with the creation of bodies such as independent regulatory agencies. In the early 20th century, the idea of a fourth branch of government (the bureaucracy) was mooted, and by the end of the century that sobriquet was being applied to so-called democracy-protecting institutions. It was observed, too, that some constitutional systems recognize as many as five branches. This chapter focuses on separation of powers as a descriptive theory. It argues that accurate understanding of various constitutional systems is facilitated by recognition of a large variety of governmental institutions and functions. It further argues that descriptive purposes would be better served by abandonment of the concepts of separation of powers and branches of government, and their replacement with holistic analysis of institutions and functions in terms of concentration and diffusion of power.
The Constituent Power and Its Limits
Authors: Barak Aharon
Published: November 2024

This chapter focuses on two questions concerning the primary constituent power. First, is this power an absolute power, an unlimited power? Second, if the primary constituent power exceeded its authority, is there a place for judicial review? As to the first question, my view is that there are limitations on the scope of the primary constituent power. Such limitations are not based on natural law theory, or in international law. Furthermore, such limitations cannot be based on the interpretation of the constitutional text, or on the idea of having a constitution. I argue that the limitation of the primary constituent must be based on a point of reference which is external to the constituent power. It must come from the people to whom the severity belongs. The identity of the people is determined by the Kelsenian basic norm, or by the Hartian rule of recognition, or according to Dworkians’ best interpretation of the entire social and legal history. As to the second question, my view is that judicial review of the primary constituent power should be recognized. An example of such review has been discussed by the Supreme Court of Israel.
Civic Virtue, Civic Obligation, Knowledge Institutions, and Proconstitutional Actors
Authors: Jackson Vicki C
Published: November 2024

Mark Tushnet’s work argues that successful democracy may require civic virtues and suggests that radically decentralized governance and “engagement” remedies in courts might help cultivate civic attitudes that enable democracy to work. This chapter takes up the idea of civic virtue, exploring what it is, who should have it, what public expectations of public officials’ morality are, whether such expectations matter, and how a sense of civic duty might be encouraged. A core element of civic virtue is an orientation to help improve the broader community of which one is a part; a sense of civic duty is especially important for those who hold power, but this cannot be sustained without public expectations of civic-minded official conduct. The chapter suggests a link between Tushnet’s arguments and William James’s view that democracy requires citizens with a “tincture of self doubt” and tolerance for different ideas and that education could contribute to these attitudes. Approaches, beyond those discussed by Tushnet, for the cultivation of the kind of civic attitudes necessary for democracy, as well as knowledge of how to participate in governance, might include civic education, a greater emphasis by constitutional jurists on the concept and content of nonjusticiable duties of proconstitutional public officials, and recognition of the constitutional role of knowledge institutions in encouraging attitudes of epistemic openness and tolerance for disagreement.
Constituent Power in Constitutional Theory, with a Note on Language and Method
Authors: Tushnet Mark
Published: November 2024

Despite recent criticisms ably presented by Sergio Verdugo, the concept of constituent power seems essential to explain how irregular constitutional changes—those brought about by processes not authorized by the constitution in place—are or become legally binding. Properly understood, the concept of constituent power is not used properly either “in the moment” or prospectively, that is, as partisans advocate for irregular changes or implement irregular processes to put such changes in place. Rather, the concept is properly used only retrospectively, not as Verdugo suggests to support a claim that a unified people actually endorsed the changes when they first occurred, but rather to identify those irregular changes that “stick”—that a nation’s people come over time to accept as legally binding.
A scoping review of the measurement and analysis of frailty in randomised controlled trials
Authors: Sun Yanhe , Witham Miles D , Clegg Andy , Taylor Rod S , Dibben Grace , McAllister David , Hanlon Peter
Published: November 2024

Background

Frailty is of increasing interest in trials, either as a target of intervention, as an outcome or as a potential treatment modifier. However, frailty measurement is often highly variable. This scoping review assessed how frailty is quantified in randomised controlled trials (RCTs), in what context and for what purposes.

Methods

We searched five electronic databases for RCTs in which frailty was measured among trial participants. We extracted data on intervention type, the frailty measure used and the purpose for which frailty was assessed. We then compared these data according to reasons for frailty assessment.

Results

We identified 415 RCTs assessing frailty across a range of interventions. Frailty was used to define the target population (166 trials), as an outcome (156 trials), as an effect modifier examining interaction of frailty on treatment effect (61 trials), as a purely descriptive characteristic (42 trials) or as a prognostic marker examining the impact of frailty on future health outcome (78 trials). The trials used 28 different measures of frailty (plus 29 additional trial-specific measures). The frailty phenotype model was the most common overall (164 trials), for defining the target population (90/166 trials) and as an outcome (81/156 trials). The cumulative deficit model frailty index was also frequently used (102 trials) and was most common among trials assessing treatment effect modification (21/61 trials).

Conclusion

Frailty measurement in RCTs is highly variable. Understanding the properties of respective frailty measures and how these relate to frailty as encountered in clinical practice is a priority to ensure that trial findings can inform healthcare delivery for people living with frailty.
tcrBLOSUM: an amino acid substitution matrix for sensitive alignment of distant epitope-specific TCRs
Authors: Postovskaya Anna , Vercauteren Koen , Meysman Pieter , Laukens Kris
Published: November 2024

Deciphering the specificity of T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoires is crucial for monitoring adaptive immune responses and developing targeted immunotherapies and vaccines. To elucidate the specificity of previously unseen TCRs, many methods employ the BLOSUM62 matrix to find TCRs with similar amino acid (AA) sequences. However, while BLOSUM62 reflects the AA substitutions within conserved regions of proteins with similar functions, the remarkable diversity of TCRs means that both TCRs with similar and dissimilar sequences can bind the same epitope. Therefore, reliance on BLOSUM62 may bias detection towards epitope-specific TCRs with similar biochemical properties, overlooking those with more diverse AA compositions. In this study, we introduce tcrBLOSUMa and tcrBLOSUMb, specialized AA substitution matrices for CDR3 alpha and CDR3 beta TCR chains, respectively. The matrices reflect AA frequencies and variations occurring within TCRs that bind the same epitope, revealing that both CDR3 alpha and CDR3 beta display tolerance to a wide range of AA substitutions and differ noticeably from the standard BLOSUM62. By accurately aligning distant TCRs employing tcrBLOSUMb, we were able to improve clustering performance and capture a large number of epitope-specific TCRs with diverse AA compositions and physicochemical profiles overlooked by BLOSUM62. Utilizing both the general BLOSUM62 and specialized tcrBLOSUM matrices in existing computational tools will broaden the range of TCRs that can be associated with their cognate epitopes, thereby enhancing TCR repertoire analysis.
Hypometabolic mismatch with atrophy and tau pathology in mixed Alzheimer and Lewy body disease
Authors: Duong Michael Tran , Das Sandhitsu R , Khandelwal Pulkit , Lyu Xueying , Xie Long , McGrew Emily , Dehghani Nadia , McMillan Corey T , Lee Edward B , Shaw Leslie M , Yushkevich Paul A , Wolk David A , Nasrallah Ilya M
Published: November 2024

Polypathology is a major driver of heterogeneity in clinical presentation and extent of neurodegeneration (N) in patients with Alzheimer Disease (AD). Beyond amyloid (A) and tau (T) pathologies, over half of patients with AD have concomitant pathology such as α-synuclein (S) in mixed AD with Lewy Body Disease (LBD). Patients with Mixed Etiology Dementia (MED) such as AD+LBD have faster progression and potentially differential responses to targeted treatments, though the diagnosis of AD+LBD can be challenging given overlapping clinical and imaging features. Development and validation of improved in vivo biomarkers are required to study relationships between N and S and identify imaging patterns reflecting mixed AD+LBD pathologies.

We hypothesize that individual proteinopathies, such as T and S, are associated with commensurate levels of N. Thus, we assessed biomarkers of A, T, N and S with positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) seeding amplification assay (SAA) data to determine molecular presentations of mixed A+S+ vs. A+S– cognitively impaired patients from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI).

We found A+S+ patients had parieto-occipital 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose hypometabolism (a measure of N) disproportionate to the degree of regional atrophy or T burden, highlighting worse hypometabolism associated with S+ SAA. Following up on this hypometabolic mismatch with CSF metabolite and proteome analyses, we found that A+S+ patients exhibited lower CSF levels of dopamine metabolites and synaptic markers like neuronal pentraxin-2 (NPTX2), suggesting that altered neurotransmission and neuron integrity contribute to this dissociation between metabolic PET and MRI. Potential confounders exist when studying relations between N, AD and LBD pathologies, including neuroinflammation and other non-Alzheimer pathologies in MED, though our findings imply posterior hypometabolic mismatch is related more to S than vascular or TDP-43 pathology.

A+S+ patients had posterior mismatch with excessive 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose hypometabolism relative to atrophy or T load, possibly reflecting impaired neuron integrity. Further research must disentangle the impact of multiple proteinopathies and clinicopathologic factors on hypometabolism and atrophy. Cumulatively, patients with mixed AD+LBD etiologies harbor a unique metabolic PET mismatch signature.
Telemedicine in nephrology: future perspective and solutions
Authors: Sugawara Yuka , Hirakawa Yosuke , Nangaku Masaomi
Published: November 2024

Telemedicine is a medical practice that uses electronic information and communication technologies. It is not exclusive to face-to-face care but complements face-to-face care and other forms of medical care. It has advantages such as facilitating home therapy, reducing patient travel time and costs, and empowering patients. This makes equitable access to care feasible. Clinical studies have been conducted on telemedicine in nephrology outpatient care, inpatient consultations and hemodialysis, indicating that telemedicine can improve patient satisfaction, leading to enhanced treatment owing to increased adherence and frequency of visits. However, it has not been sufficiently used in the kidney field. The key to spreading “telenephrology” (telemedicine in nephrology) is how physical examinations and laboratory/imaging/physiological tests, currently challenging to perform without face-to-face contact, can be substituted with methods optimized for the telemedicine framework. This paper describes the current status of telemedicine and telenephrology, along with advanced methods for collecting data equivalent to laboratory, imaging and physiological tests outside of hospitals, including estimation of serum creatinine levels from saliva or tear fluid, estimation of blood hemoglobin levels by taking pictures of the eyelid conjunctiva or nails with a smartphone and ultrasound of the kidneys using motion capture technology. With an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of current telemedicine, we should make full use of it for better treatment and patient care. However, further telenephrology research is required.
Guidelines for the management of hypertension in CKD patients: where do we stand in 2024?
Authors: Theodorakopoulou Marieta , Ortiz Alberto , Fernandez-Fernandez Beatriz , Kanbay Mehmet , Minutolo Roberto , Sarafidis Pantelis A
Published: November 2024

Until recently, major bodies producing guidelines for the management of hypertension in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) disagreed in some key issues. In June 2023, the European Society of Hypertension (ESH) published the new 2023 ESH Guidelines for the management of arterial hypertension a document that was endorsed by the European Renal Association. Several novel recommendations relevant to the management of hypertension in patients with CKD appeared in these guidelines, which have been updated to reflect the latest evidence-based practices in managing hypertension in CKD patients. Most of these are in general agreement with the previous 2021 Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) guidelines—some reflect different emphasis on some topics (i.e. detailed algorithms on antihypertensive agent use) while others reflect evolution of important evidence in recent years. The aim of the present review is to summarize and comment on key points and main areas of focus in patients with CKD, as well as to compare and highlight the main differences with the 2021 KDIGO Guidelines for the management of blood pressure in CKD.