bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Libraries, Community Empowerment, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: A Symbiotic Transformation
Authors: Lison Barbara
Published: February 2025

Abstract: For a long time already, libraries are more than just repositories of books. Libraries and librarians had to undergo significant transformations in many aspects. Their current role mainly is to serve as dynamic centers of learning, innovation, and community and citizen engagement. They are dynamic and innovative institutions that play a crucial role in promoting knowledge, education, and social inclusion. In the face of all the global challenges that are dealt with through the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as climate change, poverty, inequality, and the need for quality education, libraries have taken up the opportunity to transform themselves into catalysts for sustainable development, already a long time ago. This article explores how libraries can align their missions, services, and initiatives with the SDGs to create a positive impact on their communities and contribute to a sustainable future.
Librarianship and Participatory Practices: Something Old, Something Borrowed, and Something New
Authors: Bats Raphaëlle
Published: February 2025

Abstract: Participatory practices in libraries seem to be well established in the library landscape yet remain a new practice for many librarians. The fact is, conducting participatory projects calls for the mobilization of a number of skills. Some of these competencies fall within the scope of normal professional experience such as library techniques or ethics. However, it is important to learn how to share and pass on these skills. Others are specific to participation and facilitation, requiring attention, listening, and empathy. The latter are more political and reflect recognition of the sociocultural issues raised by participatory practices. They commit librarians to responsibilities linked to the inclusion of citizens as a collective, on the one hand, and of individuals in their diversity, on the other. With this dual commitment, these transmissions of knowledge, this attention to participants, the library commits itself, in these participative practices, to a true exercise of democracy.
Bridging the Digital Divide: Librarians' Role in Empowering Nigerian Communities through Digital Competencies and Advocacy
Authors: Adeyeye Sophia V.
Published: February 2025

Abstract: This study emphasizes the role of librarians in bridging the digital divide in Nigerian communities. It explores how librarians are providing services to their community in order to drive growth and development. The study is a survey of library personnel from library systems across southwest Nigeria ( N = 98). A structure was adopted as an instrument for data collection. The study found that public libraries in southwest Nigeria offer programs that can equip their patrons with moderate digital skills. However, several challenges abound, most of which centered around lack of adequate digital facilities and minimal skills among librarians. The study concluded that the presence of digital competence programs in the public libraries is a positive signal showing the awareness of public libraries about the importance of helping their patrons acquire digital competencies. It was therefore recommended that libraries increase awareness among the patrons about the importance of digital competencies. Libraries are also urged to seek additional sources of funding to acquire all relevant equipment for digital competence training.
The On- and Offstage Politics of Marijuana in Mexico: Doña Juanita: Principio de sainete por un transeúnte del siglo veinte
Authors: Mehfoud Lauren
Published: February 2025

Abstract: In 1938, Leopoldo Salazar Viniegra—the medical doctor who spearheaded Mexico's brief decriminalization of drugs in 1940—published a comedic one-act play refuting popular beliefs about the dangers of marijuana. The first known performance of this play, however, did not take place until February 2020, when playwright, activist, and then-senator Jesusa Rodríguez staged Doña Juanita: Principio de sainete por un transeúnte del siglo veinte in the Mexican Senate as part of an homage to Salazar, amid contemporary debates about the legalization of cannabis in Mexico. This essay offers the first scholarly analysis of Salazar's play, revealing how his polemical claims about the benign effects of marijuana rely on a gendered framework of addiction that rhetorically equates a substance's addictiveness with feminine beauty and sexuality. Through an analysis of Rodríguez's critical engagement with this gendered rhetoric in her staging of Doña Juanita , this essay also demonstrates how Salazar's increasingly influential ideas might be generatively applied to ongoing policy debates without reproducing difference along gendered lines. Most broadly, this analysis underscores the valuable interventions that artistic production and cultural criticism stand to make in contemporary conversations surrounding drug policy.
Mauricio Pesutić y Marengo, bocetos sobre una muerte : La continuidad de la incertidumbre, la espera y los silencios
Authors: González-Contreras Melissa
Published: February 2025

Abstract: An important Chilean cultural figure, Mauricio Pesutić wrote Marengo, bocetos sobre una muerte in 1988. Marengo shares formal and thematic concerns present in a previous play by Pesutić: Antonio, Nosé, Isidro, Domingo (1984). This essay sheds light on the aesthetic value of both plays as artifacts that made visible and confronted the repressive tactics of Augusto Pinochet's authoritarian regime (1973-1990). The analysis of Marengo, bocetos sobre una muerte shows the play to be a thematic continuation of Antonio in its approach to the detained and disappeared of that historical period. It also underscores the use of motifs such as uncertainty, waiting, and silence to illustrate the formal continuity between the two works as well as the state of prolonged suspense that pertained not only to the detained and disappeared, but also to life under Pinochet's repressive state.
De hechiceras, indígenas, capitanes y criollos: Otras reescrituras de Medea en el teatro argentino
Authors: Bravo Francisco , Romero Laguna
Published: February 2025

Abstract: This essay analizes the presence and re-working of Medea in Argentine theatre as an exercise in feminine, indigenous, and social resistence. In the context of la argentinidad , these Medeas are situated as protagonists during periods of conquest, ethnic and cultural confrontations, and socio-political debates regarding identity. The author of this study focuses on four specific works— La Navarro by Alberto Drago, Medea de Moquehuá by Luis María Salvaneschi, La hechicera by José Luis Alves¸ and Medea del Paraná by Suellen Worstell de Dornbrook—drawing upon the classical tragedies of old as well as other contemporary Latin American Medeas.
"Save America From Itself": Steve Erickson's Speculative History of the Future in Shadowbahn
Authors: Deinert Greg
Published: February 2025

Abstract: Steve Erickson's recent novel Shadowbahn displays a complex navigation of time that models a new formal mode for envisioning a long-durational and recursive understanding of history. The primary conceit of Erickson's novel is simple: the Twin Towers, famous for their destruction on September 11, 2001, have recently reappeared, fully formed, in the Badlands of the Dakotas. This essay argues that the reappearance of this imperial emblem on Native American land in the heart of America questions the perseverance of colonial thought and persuasively integrates 9/11 into a long genealogy of colonial violence.
Rape Culture and the Zombie Apocalypse: Richard Matheson's I Am Legend
Authors: Bergner Gwen
Published: February 2025

Abstract: This essay considers how the sexual violence in Matheson's iconic post-apocalypse novel dramatizes social tensions arising from Cold War "containment" policies that corralled affluent, white families in the suburbs to prevent socio-political unrest. Neville, the last man, must defeat a horde of zombie-vampire women and capture the lone woman survivor to restore the nuclear family and ensure human survival. Neville's rationalized gender violence recalls "wife-capture" tropes in earlier prehistoric fictions and anticipates recent zombie apocalypse texts that also naturalize sexual violence as necessary to reproductive futures, thus revealing the social logic of "rape culture."
"An Unknown Tongue": God, Complexity, and the Limits of Secular Epistemology in Cormac McCarthy's The Passenger and Stella Maris
Authors: Frye Steven
Published: February 2025

Abstract: Cormac McCarthy's duology The Passenger and Stella Maris examines the productive nexus between science and religious inquiry in a contemporary context. Predicated on the recent historiographic notion that there has always been a productive relationship between these fields, McCarthy's final novels explore how physics, mathematics, philosophy, and music blend in a worldview that explores the metaphysical implications of these areas of inquiry when considered together. In this context, McCarthy emerges as a radical skeptic who remains uncertain about ultimate questions but understands the value and necessity of both scientific inquiry and religious experience.
Satan's Luckless Harp: Antebellum Freethought Poetry in The Boston Investigator
Authors: Keller Michael
Published: February 2025

Abstract: Founded in 1831, Abner Kneeland's freethought newspaper The Boston Investigator was a thorn in the side of Boston's elite for decades, providing what amounted to a "weekly national correspondence school" to middle-class readers all over the US (French 215). While Kneeland's paper gained attention with controversial articles on subjects such as atheism, labor, and birth control, what is often overlooked is its frequent printing of freethought poetry. In the context of prolific evangelical publications featuring poems aimed at converting and ridiculing infidels, The Boston Investigator published poetry that challenged religious orthodoxy and opened up a space for creative ideological and aesthetic experimentation. This paper examines the freethought poetry in Kneeland's newspaper and explores its role in questioning religious authority and nourishing heterodox counterpublics in Jacksonian America.
Secularist Implications in the Satirical Poetry of 19th-Century Greece: The Case of Andreas Laskaratos and His Criticism of the Orthodox Christian Establishment
Authors: Sakellariou Alexandros
Published: February 2025

Abstract: This article focuses on the case of Andreas Laskaratos (1811–1901), a famous satirical poet from the Ionian island of Cephalonia (Kefallinia) and a representative of the Heptanese School of Literature. Laskaratos was excommunicated from the Orthodox Church of Greece because of his criticism of the religious establishment. Apart from his other writings, a great number of his satirical poems present trenchant criticism of the Orthodox Church and its impact on people's lives. Laskaratos was critical of superstition in the church and accused the clergy of taking advantage of its social status and people's naivety. His vitriolic critique focused on the supposedly miraculous icons, religious rituals, symbols, and relics. This article demonstrates how Laskaratos's satirical poetry expresses secularist ideas that probably could not be articulated otherwise within the context of the strict social control exercised by the Orthodox Church. Viewing satirical poetry as constructive social criticism, the main argument is that Laskaratos's poetry builds on Enlightenment ideas and that he can be situated among the pioneer secularist freethinkers within the Greek Orthodox context.
Philosophical in Confronting Rejection: language confusion in the correspondence between editor and author
Authors: Young Neal , Child William
Published: February 2025

Publication of scientific and biomedical manuscripts in “high impact factor” (IF) journals is important in advancing careers, obtaining funding, and developing a field of research. Rejection by prestigious journals is not infrequent and usually painful, especially to young investigators. Reasons provided by an editor are often confusing. We assess the language of the rejection letter from a specific philosophical stance, originated by Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein’s late writings on language as usage and as inherent to human activity have profoundly influenced many of the humanities but have been less frequently applied to the sciences. However, Wittgenstein’s ideas about language have relevance for understanding editorial correspondence and also, more broadly, for our thinking about scientific work and “science.”
Internet Policy and Connectivity Challenges for Students in a Ghanaian University
Authors: Kammer Jenna , Atiso Kodjo , Borteye Edward
Published: February 2025

abstract: At the 2024 ALA conference, the authors presented their exploration of the internet access challenges faced by graduate students at a STEM university in Ghana. This research highlighted how unreliable, expensive, and intermittent internet affects academic life, particularly for students off-campus. Despite the university's solid on-campus connectivity and diverse digital resources, students struggle with internet access at home, which impacts online learning. The study, which surveyed students using a digital citizenship framework, revealed gaps in technical skills and political engagement. This paper tells the story of this research and policy changes in Ghana, including the needs identified by the researchers, such as improved infrastructure, more affordable internet, and enhanced digital literacy programs, to support academic success in regions with connectivity issues.
Adam Smith’s America: How a Scottish Philosopher Became an Icon of American Capitalism
Authors: Liu Glory M.
Published: February 2025

Abstract: Based on a presentation at the American Philosophical Society’s Member Meeting in April 2023, this essay explores Adam Smith, his impact in his own time, and his evolving legacies to the present through the lens of reception history. It is a brief informal overview of the author’s book of the same title, covering almost 250 years in relatively few pages to give audiences a sense of the larger project: a history that is ultimately less interested in what Smith actually meant or intended in his own time and more interested in how subsequent readers encountered his ideas in their time and what they did with those ideas. By exposing the varied ways economists, political thinkers, and others have used Smith’s writings to advance their own agendas, the author also shows how those ideas have often lost the painstaking nuance of Smith’s own work. Indeed, she suggests that Smith’s complexity of thought, balanced approach, and comfort with ambiguity has meant that even readers on opposite sides of an issue can find support for their beliefs in Smith’s writings. However, Adam Smith introduced questions about modern commercial society with which we still grapple today; as long as that is the case, his work will remain both relevant and contested.
Gertrude Himmelfarb: 8 August 1922–30 December 2019
Authors: Muller Jerry Z.
Published: February 2025

Abstract: This biographical memoir commemorates the life, work, and professional legacy of eminent intellectual historian and literary critic Gertrude Himmelfarb (1922–2019), who was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1986
Debating the Place of Yiddish in the Romanian Jewish Education System During the Interwar Period: Perspectives from Jewish Elites and Romanian Authorities
Authors: Nastasă-Matei Irina
Published: February 2025

Abstract: The article analyzes the different stances toward education conducted in the Yiddish language held by state officials, politicians, and Jewish leaders of various political orientations in Romania during the interwar period. First, it analyzes the regional linguistic differences among the Jews and their various school traditions, depending on their different historical developments and pre-World War I history of state belonging. Second, it focuses on the conflicting attitudes of the Jews regarding the place of Yiddish in their political projects and, therefore, in their school system. Third, it discusses the obstacles posed by Romanian authorities to Yiddish schools, and to a coherent Jewish school system more generally. The analysis reveals how difficult it was for the Jews in Greater Romania to reach an agreement regarding their national and instruction language. Moreover, it shows how Jews were caught in the logic of a national—and nationalist—state that regarded language as one of the most important criteria defining an ethnic group. The Jews were, however, traditionally multilingual, a characteristic never understood by the authorities, who considered Jews speaking German, Hungarian, or Russian to be indicative of their lack of loyalty to Romania and a marker of irredentism, while Yiddish was seen as a sign of their unwillingness to integrate or of their commitment to socialism. Paradoxically, while limiting the right of the Jews to study in their languages—Yiddish and Hebrew—and enforcing Romanianization, the authorities simultaneously excluded them from social and political life.
Aspirational Marines and Jewish Heroes: Battle Cry and the Emergence of Leon Uris
Authors: Pickus David
Published: February 2025

Abstract: Leon Uris (1924–2003) was one of the first and most successful American novelists to reach a mass audience while openly identifying as a Jew. He also was never embraced by literary critics nor granted membership among Jewish literary elites. This paper argues for a second look at Uris, not to valorize, but to recognize the complexity in his aesthetic and moral choices, even as the limitations and unpopularity of these choices remain evident. A key perspective for debating Uris's legacy is found in his sudden emergence from unknown war veteran to bestseller due to the publication of Battle Cry (1953), a semiautobiographical World War II novel which follows a Marine squad through training and savage fighting in the South Pacific. Uris's winning formula was to transfer a sense of grievance and precarity—something he well knew as a disadvantaged high school dropout—into an account of sacrifice and valor, aspects of war he witnessed in brutal combat. Readers of Battle Cry were presented with an opportunity to identify with the characters' aspirations, irrespective of their fate. Understanding the Jewish presence in Battle Cry is essential for grasping Uris's narrative facility. Jewish characters play an important role in expressing Uris's models of aspiration. Exploring Battle Cry 's success makes a case for including Uris in the canon of noted Jewish American authors, not necessarily as an exalted presence, but as a voice for a Jewish "street" sensibility attuned to a troubling aspect of war and deserving of a hearing.
Sensation, Sati, and Retribution in Mary E. Leslie's Sonnets on the Indian Mutiny
Authors: Gibson Mary Ellis
Published: February 2025

Abstract: Mary E. Leslie's thirty-six sonnets on the Indian uprising of 1857, composed in Calcutta during that year, are the most complex English-language poems about the rebellion and the most conflicted. In Leslie's poems, as in others by Tennyson, Christina Rossetti, and Whittier, tropes of rape and rescue, of British heroism and heathen barbarism, simplify and manage the violence of empire. For Leslie, female self-sacrifice, sati, and retribution shaped the story of the Mutiny. But Leslie was the daughter of missionaries. India was her only home, and violence could not be fully contained by common cultural tropes. In Leslie's volume Sorrows, Aspirations and Legends from India , the sonnet comes under extreme pressure. Leslie's laments are compared in a final section with the contemporaneous response of Mirza Asadullah Kahn Ghalib, the greatest of Urdu poets, who survived the siege of Delhi and whose letters and ghazals from the period provide an anguished voice from the center of the violence.
Morris the Skald: Icelandic Translation as Social Liberation
Authors: Boos Florence
Published: February 2025

Abstract: Between 1869 and 1895, William Morris published with his co-translator Eiríkr Magnússon eight volumes of Icelandic translations. Morris's approach to Icelandic translation embodied a form of radical, empowering identification, which moderated over time into a belief that certain aspects of Icelandic culture could provide models for an alternate, less materialistic future society. Morris expressed his intense engagement with the sagas in a series of poems, in which he responded in starkly personal terms to the Icelandic literary past. In addition, Morris inscribed several of his writings in calligraphic manuscripts, merging his skaldic persona, calligraphic renditions, original poetry, and autobiographical expressions. His grasp of the significance of medieval linguistic forms, coupled with a belief in their ability to generate new meanings, anticipated his later view that aspects of a reimagined Icelandic culture provided a salutary antidote to the "infallible maxims" of Victorian industrial capitalism. Morris's immersion in the Icelandic sagas thus provided a form of creative estrangement on several fronts, as he responded variously to the Old Norse tales as imagined skald, time traveler, creative historicist, translator, linguistic wordsmith, critic, poet, and social theorist.
Dynamic-threshold-based pre-relaying for enhanced key allocation in quantum-secured networks
Authors: Stan Catalina , Verchere Dominique , Olmos Juan José Vegas , Tafur Monroy Idelfonso , Rommel Simon
Published: February 2025

Quantum key distribution (QKD) is experiencing a rapid increase of interest due to its security advantages in the face of quantum computers. However, typical QKD deployments are point-to-point and limited in terms of distance, which significantly restricts their utilization for end-user applications. To overcome these restrictions, trusted relays are adopted as intermediate nodes to allow the transition to QKD networks (QKDNs), where one of the hallmarks is the key management system. In this work, we investigate different key allocation strategies as a method to enhance the performance of key management systems in QKDN from the perspective of key allocation success rate and key delivery delay. We first describe an upgrade model from classical to QKDN at three distinct network layers—quantum, key management, and service. Then, we propose a novel, to our knowledge, key allocation strategy leveraging the benefits of key storage and relaying as a solution to improve the QKDN performance. To achieve this, our method makes use of end-to-end virtual quantum key pools (VQKPs) implemented between non-adjacent nodes requesting key material. We introduce static and dynamic upper and lower threshold limits at the VQKP level, with the dynamic thresholds adapted according to application demand, to control the key distribution in the network and fill the pools ahead of end-user requests. We demonstrate through simulations that the introduction of thresholds achieves performance enhancement and explain the trade-off between the key allocation success rate and key delivery delay evaluation metrics in comparison with different on-demand key allocation strategies.
Multiple frequency combs via pump modulation in a three-mode optomechanical system
Authors: Liu Shaopeng , Li Ying , Song Zhenzhen , Zhou Shuang , Wang Junfeng , Liu Bo
Published: February 2025

Parametric frequency conversion involving phonons is an intriguing physical issue in cavity optomechanics. Here, this phenomenon is exploited to devise multiple frequency combs in a three-mode optomechanical system assisted by a degenerate parametric amplifier (DPA). In the optomechanical model, the configuration of optical-mechanical-mechanical coupled resonators provides a well-established environment containing photon-phonon and phonon-phonon interactions. When the system satisfies the frequency matching of parametric conversion involving photons, both integral and fractional multiples of phonons, we observe that the two interactions contribute respectively to generating optical frequency combs (OFCs) with a tooth spacing of 1GHz and phonon-based frequency combs (PBFCs) of integer- and fraction-order with a tooth spacing of 80MHz/N
f
(N
f
is an integer). Since N
f
can be adjusted by mechanical pumps operating on the mechanical resonators, the repetition rate of the frequency combs is flexibly modulated, thus enabling the pursuit of an ultra-small tooth spacing. More importantly, we report that by increasing the nonlinear gain coefficient of the DPA, the PBFCs can grow explosively, forming dense plateau regions and summing up to hundreds of comb lines. The proposal may be useful in facilitating dual-comb spectroscopy and achieving the ultrahigh resolution of frequency combs.
High-efficiency co-registration of OPM-MEG and MRI using point cloud processing
Authors: Qi Jiahe , Shang Shuyi , Chen Keyu , He Junhuai , Yang Shuang , Wang Aimin , Wei Chaoliang , Zhao Ting , Jiao Hongchen , Feng Lishuang , Cheng Heping
Published: February 2025

Optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) offer high temporal and spatial resolution for magnetoencephalography (MEG) applications, particularly in noninvasive brain mapping and epilepsy diagnosis. However, effective MEG-MRI co-registration remains challenging. This study presents a novel co-registration technique utilizing OPMs to achieve rapid registration speeds and submillimeter precision, addressing the limitations of traditional methods. We developed an indirect registration method that integrates a marker module with an optimized fast and robust iterative closest point (FRICP) algorithm and principal component analysis (PCA), resulting in a 27% increase in efficiency. The custom MEG helmet enables rapid 3D facial digitization, reducing scanning time to an average of 20 seconds—the fastest reported—while minimizing errors due to cable obstructions. Experimental validation demonstrated absolute position errors of 0.49 mm and orientation errors of 0.17°, confirming the technique’s accuracy. This approach addresses critical registration challenges and holds significant potential to advance MEG technology and improve neurological disorder diagnostics.
Lensless diffraction imaging using a rotated slit modulation
Authors: Lin Yihua , Li Gang , Yan Dong , Zhang Wenbin , Zhu Jingfu , Zhao Yixuan
Published: February 2025

Iterative phase retrieval is a computational imaging technique to recover the lost phase information from intensity-only images for lensless diffraction imaging. However, the conventional single-shot phase retrieval is always constrained by the precise selection of support region or sparse assumption. To address it, we propose a multi-rotation phase retrieval (MRPR) algorithm for lensless imaging. In our method, a support-based phase retrieval with total variation is first designed to calculate all illumination patterns, which removes the requirement of rotation angle estimation. Then, the illumination modulation and total variation regularization are combined to restrain the multi-rotation optimization function to iteratively reconstruct the complex-valued image of the sample. In comparison with support-based phase retrieval, our method does not rely on the selection of support region and shows high-fidelity image reconstruction. The simulation and experimental results are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.
Modeling Toxoplasma gondii-gut early interactions using a human microphysiological system
Authors: Ramírez-Flores Carlos J. , Hryckowian Nicole D. , Gale Andrew N. , Babatunde Kehinde Adebayo , Lares Marcos , Beebe David J. , Kerr Sheena C. , Knoll Laura J.
Published: February 2025

Oral transmission of parasites via environmentally resistant cyst stages in contaminated food or water is a common route of human infection, but there are no effective vaccines available for any enteric parasitic infection. Our knowledge of parasite cyst stage conversion and interaction with the intestinal tract is limited. Here, we investigate infection dynamics of Toxoplasma gondii cyst-stage in murine jejunum and human intestinal microphysiological systems. We focus on parasite ingress, replication, and conversion of the cyst stage to the rapidly replicating dissemination stage. In vivo bioluminescent imaging of mice fed cysts revealed spots of infection throughout the jejunum and ileum, which were selected for further analyses. Immunostaining showed parasite migration and replication predominantly in the stroma, with minimal replication in enterocytes. We recapitulated bradyzoite infection in human intestinal microphysiological systems and showed stage conversation and migration through collagen. This integrated approach elucidates complex host-parasite interactions, highlighting the value of microphysiological systems in advancing understanding and identifying potential therapeutics.
Explainable Graph Spectral Clustering of text documents
Authors: Starosta Bartłomiej , Kłopotek Mieczysław A. , Wierzchoń Sławomir T. , Czerski Dariusz , Sydow Marcin , Borkowski Piotr
Published: February 2025

Spectral clustering methods are known for their ability to represent clusters of diverse shapes, densities etc. However, the results of such algorithms, when applied e.g. to text documents, are hard to explain to the user, especially due to embedding in the spectral space which has no obvious relation to document contents. Therefore, there is an urgent need to elaborate methods for explaining the outcome of the clustering. We have constructed in this paper a theoretical bridge linking the clusters resulting from Graph Spectral Clustering and the actual document content, given that similarities between documents are computed as cosine measures in tf or tfidf representation. This link enables to provide with explanation of cluster membership in clusters produced by GSA. We present a proposal of explanation of the results of combinatorial and normalized Laplacian based graph spectral clustering. For this purpose, we show (approximate) equivalence of combinatorial Laplacian embedding and of K-embedding (proposed in this paper) and term vector space embedding. We performed an experimental study showing that K-embedding approximates well Laplacian embedding under favourable block matrix conditions and show that approximation is good enough under other conditions. We show also perfect equivalence of normalized Laplacian embedding and the M-embedding (proposed in this paper) and (weighted) term vector space embedding. Hence a bridge is constructed between the textual contents and the clustering results using both combinatorial and normalized Laplacian based Graph Spectral Clustering methods. We provide a theoretical background for our approach. An initial version of this paper is available at arXiv, (Starosta B 2023). The Reader may refer to that text to get acquainted with formal aspects of our method and find a detailed overview of motivation.
Simulation study for the energy and position reconstruction performances of the beam monitoring system of Carbon Ion Radiation Therapy using GEANT4
Authors: Eo Yun , Kwon Na Hye , Bae Joonsuk , Cheon Byunggu , Cho Guk , Choi Suyong , Do Hyunsuk , Ha Seungkyu , Huh Changgi , Hwang Kyuyeong , Jang Haeun , Jang Seoyun , Jang Yoonjun , Jeong Jinryong , Kim Beomkyu , Kim Bobae , Kim Dongwoon , Kim Sungwon , Ko Sanghyun , Lee Hyupwoo , Lee Hyungjun , Lee Jason , Lee Junghyun , Lee Sehwook , Lee Woochan , Lee Yunjae , Lim Sanghoon , Park Hyesung , Ryu Jaehyeok , Kim Jin Sung , Ryu Min Sang , Yoo Hwidong , Kim Dong Wook , Kim Minsuk
Published: February 2025

Carbon Ion Radiation Therapy is operated in several countries because of its advantage to have high dose concentration and/or high linear energy transfer (LET). To estimate the beam performance of Carbon Ion Radiation Therapy, we target the 1% energy and 1 mm2 position resolutions of the beam monitoring system. The beam monitoring system consists of a scintillation crystal and fiber hodoscope. The scintillation crystal is 20 × 20 × 120mm3 and its candidates are LYSO, CsI and BGO. The fiber hodoscope is composed of 1 mm thickness scintillation fibers and the fibers are arranged vertically for 2D reconstruction. With GEANT4 simulation, we verify the performance of our beam monitoring system. The energy response of the LYSO and BGO scintillators is linear within ± 2%. The energy resolution of each crystal candidate achieves the goal; LYSO (0.061%), CsI (0.20%) and BGO (0.10%). The position is reconstructed via fiber hodoscope within 5% uncertainty.
The impact of the Hamas-Israel conflict on the U.S. defense industry stock market return
Authors: Klomp Jeroen
Published: February 2025

On October 7th, 2023, Hamas carried out a terrorist attack on Israel. The Israeli government promptly retaliated the attack with massive bombing and a major military operation in the Gaza Strip. Following these events, a period of uncertainty started about the potential escalation of the internal conflict into a widespread regional conflict, or at least causes a threat to the fragile peace in the Middle East. This uncertainty was even further exacerbated as many regional leaders strongly condemned the actions of Israel. This study investigates whether the equity value of U.S. defense companies stands to gain in the short run from the risk of regional peace instability, given the anticipated increase in demand for arms. For this purpose, we rely on different approaches to capture the threat to regional peace caused by the internal conflict, including one based on the intensification of internet searches containing information about the Hamas-Israeli conflict. The key findings of this study unequivocally reveal that there is a significant positive relationship between the conflict intensity and the daily stock market returns of U.S. arms-producing firms. This result may suggest that investors are inclined to believe that the internal conflict is a serious threat to the regional peace, thereby enhancing the business prospects of the U.S. defense industry, as the largest arms supplier in the area.
Trends, gender, and racial disparities in patients with mortality due to paroxysmal tachycardia: A nationwide analysis from 1999–2020
Authors: Goyal Aman , Saeed Humza , Yamin Saif , Abdullah  , Sultan Wania , Arshad Muhammad Khubaib , Sulaiman Samia Aziz , Changez Mah I. Kan , Mahalwar Gauranga
Published: February 2025

Background

Paroxysmal tachycardia encompasses various heart rhythm disorders that cause rapid heart rates. Its episodic occurrence makes it difficult to identify and measure its prevalence and trends in the population. Additionally, there is limited data on disparities and trends in mortality due to paroxysmal tachycardia, which is essential for assessing current medical approaches and identifying at-risk populations.

Methods

Our study examined death certificates from 1999 to 2020 using the CDC WONDER Database to identify deaths caused by paroxysmal tachycardia in individuals aged 25 and older, using the ICD-10 code I47. Age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) and annual percent changes (APC) were calculated by year, gender, age group, race/ethnicity, geographic location, and urbanization status. Trends in AAMRs were analyzed using the Joinpoint Regression Program to identify significant changes and inflection points in mortality trends throughout the study period.

Results

Between 1999 and 2020, 155,320 deaths were reported in patients with paroxysmal tachycardia. Overall, AAMR decreased from 4.8 to 3.7 per 100,000 population between 1999 and 2020, despite showing a significant increase from 2014 to 2020 (APC: 4.33; 95% CI: 3.53 to 5.56). Men had consistently higher AAMRs than women (4.7 vs. 2.2). Furthermore, we found that AAMRs were highest among Non-Hispanic (NH) Black or African Americans and lowest in NH Asian or Pacific Islanders (4 vs. 1.9). Nonmetropolitan areas had higher AAMRs than metropolitan areas (3.6 vs. 3.2).

Conclusions

Our analysis showed a significant decrease in mortality from paroxysmal tachycardia since 1999, although there has been a slight increase in recent years. However, disparities remain, with higher AAMRs among men, NH Black or African Americans, and residents of non-metropolitan areas. These findings call for immediate public health actions to curb the rising trends and reduce potential disparities.
Unraveling multimodality of digital health records by comparing mortality trajectories of diagnoses of diseases from over 12 million patients
Authors: Paik Hyojung
Published: February 2025

Understanding the multimodality of digital health data, including the scope of death records, is essential for adequate data acquisition to build a research framework for the health sciences. In this study, I leveraged the diverse healthcare records of over 12 million patients to reconstitute mortality trajectories that navigate the sequence of disease processes shared among patients from initial presentation through interim conditions that ultimately terminate in fatal outcomes. I conducted a comprehensive analysis of longitudinal discharge records for 10.4 million patients from US hospitals, utilizing the US State Inpatient Data (USSID) including 290,253 records of deaths in clinics. I also scrutinized the cross-sectional records of Korea from the billing reviews, specifically the National Inpatients Set of Korea (NISK), encompassing 2.1 million patients. By tracing the diagnostic timelines of patients diagnosed with significant comorbid diseases (False Discovery Rate (FDR) <0.1), I built mortality trajectories, mapping the temporal progression of disease diagnoses resulting in death. My trajectory model rewired 705 significant mortality trajectories across both datasets (USSID and NISK). The presented mortality trajectories successfully recapitulated established patterns of mortality for each country, while also revealing different trajectories leading to death, influenced by the modality of data. For example, viral hepatitis, a known predisposing feature of liver cancer in Asia, was observed to initiate in younger Koreans. Interestingly, owing to the collection of hospital records, the modeled mortality trajectories derived from the USSID converged towards sepsis. Although a substantial sequence of diagnostic processes is shared between USSID and NISK, the multimodality of these two datasets highlights different diagnoses preceded by fatal outcomes. Unraveling mortality patterns is feasible with an appropriate understanding of the multimodality of digital health data.
The protein interactome of Escherichia coli carbohydrate metabolism
Authors: Chowdhury Shomeek , Fong Stephen S. , Uetz Peter
Published: February 2025

We investigate how protein-protein interactions (PPIs) can regulate carbohydrate metabolism in Escherichia coli. We specifically investigated the stoichiometry of 378 PPIs involving carbohydrate metabolic enzymes. In 48 interactions, the interactors were much more abundant than the enzyme and are thus likely to affect enzyme activity and carbohydrate metabolism. Many of these PPIs are conserved across thousands of bacteria including pathogens and microbial species. E. coli adapts to different cellular environments by adjusting the quantities of the interacting proteins (25 PPIs) in a way that the protein-enzyme interaction (PEI) is a likely mechanism to regulate its metabolism in specific environments. We predict 3 PPIs (RpsB-AdhE, DcyD-NanE and MinE-Yccx) previously not known to regulate metabolism.
Multilevel analysis of factors associated with suicide attempts: Evidence from 2022/2023 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey
Authors: Asnake Angwach Abrham , Seifu Beminate Lemma , Fente Bezawit Melak , Asebe Hiwot Altaye , Bezie Meklit Melaku , Negussie Yohannes Mekuria , Asmare Zufan Alamrie , Melkam Mamaru
Published: February 2025

Background

This issue represents a major global public health concern, accounting for approximately 703,000 deaths each year. Despite Mozambique having the 9th highest suicide rate in the world and the highest in Africa, there is no national data quantifying the burden of suicide attempts. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence of suicide attempts and identify individual and community-level factors associated with them using mixed-effects logistic regression. This study is crucial for developing early interventions, which can help reduce the risk of suicide and enhance overall mental health outcomes for young people.

Method

The data used in this study were drawn from the 2022/2023 Mozambique Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS). A weighted sample of 10,909 individuals (7,716 males and 3,149 females) aged 15–29 was included. The fitted model was evaluated using AIC and BIC, with the model having the lowest Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) is another statistical measure used to assess the quality of a model, similar to the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC). The results of the final model were presented as Adjusted Odds Ratios (AOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Variables were considered statistically significant if their p-value was less than 0.05 in the multivariable analysis.

Results

About 3.60% (95% CI: 3.33%-4.03%) of participants were seriously considered suicide attempt in the past 12 months of before the survey. Educational status, occupation, marital status, depression, anxiety, and geographic region were significant factors associated with suicidal attempt.

Conclusion

The findings of this study enhance our understanding of the intricate relationships between suicide attempts and their predictors. Additionally, the results highlight the need for targeted interventions and mental health promotion strategies that consider the identified individual and community-level factors to reduce suicide rates in Mozambique.
Spatial risk modelling of highly pathogenic avian influenza in France: Fattening duck farm activity matters
Authors: Artois Jean , Vergne Timothée , Fourtune Lisa , Dellicour Simon , Scoizec Axelle , Le Bouquin Sophie , Guérin Jean-Luc , Paul Mathilde C. , Guinat Claire
Published: February 2025

In this study, we present a comprehensive analysis of the key spatial risk factors and predictive risk maps for HPAI infection in France, with a focus on the 2016–17 and 2020–21 epidemic waves. Our findings indicate that the most explanatory spatial predictor variables were related to fattening duck movements prior to the epidemic, which should be considered as indicators of farm operational status, e.g., whether they are active or not. Moreover, we found that considering the operational status of duck houses in nearby municipalities is essential for accurately predicting the risk of future HPAI infection. Our results also show that the density of fattening duck houses could be used as a valuable alternative predictor of the spatial distribution of outbreaks per municipality, as this data is generally more readily available than data on movements between houses. Accurate data regarding poultry farm densities and movements is critical for developing accurate mathematical models of HPAI virus spread and for designing effective prevention and control strategies for HPAI. Finally, our study identifies the highest risk areas for HPAI infection in southwest and northwest France, which is valuable for informing national risk-based strategies and guiding increased surveillance efforts in these regions.
Identification and validation of TSPAN13 as a novel temozolomide resistance-related gene prognostic biomarker in glioblastoma
Authors: Wang Haofei , Liu Zhen , Peng Zesheng , Lv Peng , Fu Peng , Jiang Xiaobing
Published: February 2025

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most lethal primary tumor of the central nervous system, with its resistance to treatment posing significant challenges. This study aims to develop a comprehensive prognostic model to identify biomarkers associated with temozolomide (TMZ) resistance. We employed a multifaceted approach, combining differential expression and univariate Cox regression analyses to screen for TMZ resistance-related differentially expressed genes (TMZR-RDEGs) in GBM. Using LASSO Cox analysis, we selected 12 TMZR-RDEGs to construct a risk score model, which was evaluated for performance through survival analysis, time-dependent ROC, and stratified analyses. Functional enrichment and mutation analyses were conducted to explore the underlying mechanisms of the risk score and its relationship with immune cell infiltration levels in GBM. The prognostic risk score model, based on the 12 TMZR-RDEGs, demonstrated high efficacy in predicting GBM patient outcomes and emerged as an independent predictive factor. Additionally, we focused on the molecule TSPAN13, whose role in GBM is not well understood. We assessed cell proliferation, migration, and invasion capabilities through in vitro assays (including CCK-8, Edu, wound healing, and transwell assays) and quantitatively analyzed TSPAN13 expression levels in clinical glioma samples using tissue microarray immunohistochemistry. The impact of TSPAN13 on TMZ resistance in GBM cells was validated through in vitro experiments and a mouse orthotopic xenograft model. Notably, TSPAN13 was upregulated in GBM and correlated with poorer patient prognosis. Knockdown of TSPAN13 inhibited GBM cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and enhanced sensitivity to TMZ treatment. This study provides a valuable prognostic tool for GBM and identifies TSPAN13 as a critical target for therapeutic intervention.
Exploration of different quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based genotyping methods to distinguish Apcmin/+ mice from wildtype mice
Authors: Sun Yuting , Zhou Tingyu , Ye Silin , Lau Effie Yin Tung , Zeng Yao , Liang Jessie Qiaoyi
Published: February 2025

Various molecular methods have been established for genotyping single-nucleotide variants (SNVs). However, despite the widespread availability of quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) instruments in biomedical laboratories, the lack of professional analytical tools impedes the application of qPCR in genotyping. Apcmin/+ mice, which harbour a germline Apc mutation (g.2549T>A) associated with multiple intestinal neoplasms, are extensively employed in colorectal cancer research. In this study, we used Apc as a model and assessed the feasibility of different qPCR-based methods for SNV genotyping, considering approaches with and without genotyping analytical tools. We initially employed allele-specific PCR followed by electrophoresis to determine the genotypes of Apc in tail tissues from potential Apcmin/+ mice, and this method served as the benchmark for evaluating the performance of qPCR-based methods. Dye-based qPCR and melting curve assays exhibited distinct dissociation patterns that differentiated between synthesised wildtype (TT) and heterozygous mutant (TA) DNA and between TT and TA genotype mice based on analysis of tissue samples. This discrimination ability of these assays was unaffected by the use of different intercalating dyes (SYBR Green I or EvaGreen). Dual-probe qPCR assays were developed to simultaneously detect mutant and wildtype alleles using differently labelled probes. The genotyping module and delta cycle threshold method were used to facilitate the analysis of results. The qPCR-based methods displayed 100% agreement with the standard genotyping outcomes. When the PCR–electrophoresis method was used, approximately 15% of the samples required re-examination to obtain conclusive results. In contrast, when the qPCR methods were used, success rates exceeding 99% were achieved with a single test. Additionally, all qPCR-based methods determined mouse genotypes by analysis of stool samples, highlighting the applicability of these methods for non-invasive genotyping. Loss of heterozygosity in the Apc gene in intestinal polyps was detected using the dual-probe assay with delta cycle threshold method. In summary, this study successfully implemented intercalator-based and probe-based qPCR methods, with and without professional analytical modules, for characterising Apc in tissue and stool samples. Furthermore, these methods can be extended to allow genotyping of other SNVs and can facilitate non-invasive genotyping of transgenic animals.