bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The use of induction heating for thermographic inspection of composite laminates
Authors: Nobile R , Saponaro A , Pirinu A
Published: February 2023

In the present paper, an active thermographic technique is proposed for the inspection of a unidirectional GFRP panel with integrated artificial internal defects and an aeronautical CFRP panel with real small production defects.

Different inductor geometries were considered by varying the length and the number of spires, finally allowing to identify the optimal solution. Several tests allowed to identify the optimal experimental setup for defect detection as a function of the location of the defect.

The acquired thermal maps were processed in Matlab with a suitable analysis algorithm for the determination of the absolute and normalized thermal contrasts. Another important consideration concerns the possibility of obtaining a qualitative indication on the defect depth. Although the thermal contrast depends on the choice of the intact and defective area, the maximum value of the absolute contrast was higher for the more superficial defects than for the deeper ones. Furthermore, the absolute contrast was correlated with the size of the defects. In the study of CFRP panel, the defects characterization was conducted in a comparable way to evaluate the contrasts with a suitable choice of undamaged reference area.

The comparison of the proposed technique with the traditional pulsed technique has demonstrated the real potential of application on SMArt GFRP and aeronautical CFRP elements with the same level of reliability as traditional thermographic techniques. However, the induction technique has shown better ability to detect small real defects more accurately in CFRP panels. However, the limitation of the power generator and the size of the inductor could limit the detectability of defects.
Effect of roughness small scales on the adhesion of randomly rough surfaces with high fractal dimension
Authors: Violano G , Dini D , Di Bari A , Afferrante L
Published: February 2023

Surface roughness affects several tribological phenomena like adhesion. In this work, JKR-like experimental tests were performed between Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) spherical samples and flat glass substrates with different surface roughness properties. Data were interpreted in the light of classical JKR theory. We find that adhesion is destroyed by roughness in agreement with the most common and well-known results in the literature. However, from the analysis of the Power Spectral Density (PSD) of the surfaces, it emerges that the smaller scales of roughness have a greater influence on the surface adhesion energy in the range of the high fractal dimensions (D > 2.5). In this range, for surfaces with the same root mean square (RMS) roughness amplitude hrms
, which is mainly affected by large scale roughness, the pull-off force (i.e., the maximum tensile force reached during the retracting phase) is observed reducing by increasing the RMS slope of the surface roughness

h

r
m
s

′

, that is by changing the roughness content at the small scales. This result agrees with recent theoretical findings and has never been shown experimentally in the literature to the best of our knowledge.
Design and implementation of an innovative wind power system for beach erosion protection and nourishment
Authors: Demelio G P , Castellano A , Bergamini G
Published: February 2023

Beach erosion phenomena have become increasingly frequent and devastating with serious economic damage on tourism. A relatively recent technique of beach protection and nourishment is based on the creation along the shoreline of an unsaturated sandy zone, in which the level of the phreatic surface is lowered by means of buried drains connected to electric suction pumps. The main problem encountered in this solution is the need to guarantee the drainage when the erosive activity is maximum in the presence of intense thunderstorms that often produce malfunction and outage problems of the power supply. This paper shows the realization of a “green” solution based on a totally mechanical design and construction approach, achieved by connecting a 3.5-meter single-bladed wind turbine to a submerged axial pump with optimized volute by means of a vertical shaft placed inside the tower. The system is managed by a mechanical pitch controller studied for starting and limiting power in exceptional winds.
The preliminary thermo–mechanical design, simulation and optimization, of LAD onboard the eXTP space mission
Authors: Lombardi G , Baldelli A , Fiacco R , Lombardi E , Biancolini M E , Piazzolla R
Published: February 2023

The eXTP (enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry) mission is a major project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and China National Space Administration (CNSA) currently performing a phase B study and proposed for a launch in 2027. The eXTP scientific payload envisages a suite of instruments offering unprecedented simultaneous wide-band X-ray timing and polarimetry sensitivity. A large European consortium is contributing to the eXTP study and it is expected to provide key hardware elements, including the Large Area Detector (LAD) composed of 40 modules for a total effective area of 3.0 m2 at 6.0 keV. In this paper, we describe the preliminary study that led to the design solutions adopted for the most important thermo-mechanical drivers of the LAD Module, which have been elaborated and used for the demonstration of compliance to the system requirements at spacecraft level. We report in particular the mechanical design for the Module and its components, the thermal analysis for each range temperature of the worst cases (coldest case) with the evaluation of the thermoelastic deformation of a reduced module and the results of a campaign of static and dynamic finite element analysis of a simplified parametric model with an accurate mesh processing and the preliminary optimization of the critical components.
DIC analysis of gears in bending condition
Authors: Curà F , Mura A , Corsaro L , Revilla A
Published: February 2023

Thin rim gears present a complex strain and stress field due to its particular geometry, above all in bending problems. From this point of view, the position of the most stressed point and the corresponding equivalent stress value are useful for an accurate design of thin rim gears. More in detail, in case of bending failure, both crack initiation point and corresponding propagation path are strictly related to the gear’s geometry.

In this work, an experimental analysis was performed to evaluate how light weight gears geometry may influence the strain field close to the tooth root.

To this aim, an experimental activity was carried on by a dedicated equipment for bending tests and the gear deformation was monitored by using the 3D Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique.

The local strain field in both tooth and web portions was measured for two types of gears (standard gear and thin-rim gear) in order to identify the stress condition due to the bending loading. A particular attention was devoted to point out the most stressed point for both gears. Results were also compared with XFEM model available in literature.
Hardware in the Loop Methodology for AEB system development
Authors: Alfatti F , Annicchiarico C , Capitani R
Published: February 2023

Thanks to ADAS systems, vehicle and occupants safety has increased. These systems have however a great impact on design complexity, increasing the time necessary for the launch of the functionality on the market. In this work, a Hardware in the Loop tool and methodology that integrates the Autonomous Emergency System (AEB) is presented, with the objective to speed up the development process. A commercial brake-by-wire braking system has been installed on a static simulator. The unit stock AEB can be activated during the real-time simulation, thanks to a custom strategy reproduced via Software in the Loop approach. In order to assess the capabilities of the proposed methodology, two different controllers have been proposed: the first reproduces the AEB functionality of a commercial car, while the second represent a possible design alternative that must be evaluated during the design phase. The two controllers have been tested in EuroNCAP relevant scenarios, and the performances have been compared in terms of Time To Collision necessary to avoid the impact, deceleration request and final distance from the obstacle. The proposed methodology highlights the role of the static simulator as a development tool that can vastly reduce the time necessary for the development of the AEB system, thanks to an extensive testing of both hardware and control strategy.
Design methodology of a two-degrees-of-freedom gravitational energy harvester
Authors: Monaco M Lo , Russo C
Published: February 2023

The growing spread of IoT (Internet of Things) and monitoring system based on micro electro-mechanical system (MEMS) concerns also the railway systems. The recent developments have made it possible to study and realize innovative integrated systems using connected devices. The technologies allow to collect real-time data from assets, thus providing fundamental information regarding the operation conditions and offering an evaluation of safety and durability of the monitored device. The major innovation of these devices is the use of energy harvesters to support or replace their power supply, making the monitoring device completely autonomous and drastically lowering the maintenance costs. The work presented in this paper is the product of the research group knowledge in vibrational energy harvesting. In particular, we studied a two-degrees-of-freedom (2DOF) gravitational vibration-based energy harvester (GVEH), characterized by the absence of the magnet on the top end of the tube, exploiting gravity as a restoring force. Different masses configuration were tested in order to find the best configuration optimizing power output, frequency bandwidth and overall performances. The time-domain simulations realized in Matlab/Simulink environment are supported with Multiboduy simulations for a better understanding of the system dynamics.
Electrical impedance decreases in annulus fibrosus cartilage exposed to microsecond pulsed electric fields ex vivo
Authors: Atsu Prince Mensah , Thompson Gary L
Published: February 2023

Electropermeabilization of biomembranes often is measured by microscopic imaging of a membrane-impermeable fluorophore that penetrates the cells following pulsed electric field (PEF) exposure. PEF exposure subsequently changes physiological properties of tissue. One way to probe these changes in tissue is measuring electrical properties by way of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). In this study, we analyze impedance and conductivity of bovine annulus fibrosus (AF) cartilage before and after exposures to PEF of 100 µs duration. Two PEF parameters – electric field amplitude and number of pulses – are varied, and total specific dose of PEF is calculated. AF tissue conductivity increases with both amplitude and number of pulses, indicating electropermeabilization of the annulus fibrosus cells. A Live/Dead cell imaging assay validates the EIS measurements, indicating intratissue cell permeabilization by µsPEF exposure. These results support the extension of EIS to monitor extent of electropermeabilization of cells within cartilage tissue.
Research on the mechanism and countermeasures of digital economy development promoting carbon emission reduction in jiangxi province
Authors: Sun Jianbing , Wu Xiaohong
Published: February 2023

The digital economy is an important driving force for China’s economic transformation and upgrading, while ‘carbon peak and carbon neutrality’ is the target vision to be achieved in China. As an important support area for the rise of central China, it is an urgent question to investigate whether the development of the digital economy in Jiangxi Province can contribute to the realization of carbon emission reduction. Based on the panel data of 11 urban areas in Jiangxi Province from 2011 to 2020, the article empirically investigates the impact of the digital economy on regional carbon emissions and its mechanism of action by using the two-way fixed-effect model, mediated-effect model, and panel threshold-effect model. The study shows that, firstly, the digital economy has a significant carbon emission reduction effect, and the conclusion still holds after a series of endogeneity and robustness tests. Second, the carbon emission reduction effect of the digital economy differs among different regions, and the carbon emission reduction effect of the digital economy is more obvious in northern Ganzhou and regions with high carbon emission levels. Again, the intermediary effect suggests that the digital economy can promote carbon emission reduction by strengthening the control of foreign investment introduction. Finally, the panel threshold effect analysis with urbanization as the threshold variable shows that there is a non-linear correlation between the effects of the digital economy on carbon emissions. The findings of this paper provide a feasible path and policy reference for Jiangxi Province’s digital economy to contribute to carbon emission reduction goals.
Predicting the power grid frequency of European islands
Authors: Lund Onsaker Thorbjørn , Nygård Heidi S , Gomila Damiá , Colet Pere , Mikut Ralf , Jumar Richard , Maass Heiko , Kühnapfel Uwe , Hagenmeyer Veit , Schäfer Benjamin
Published: February 2023

Modelling, forecasting and overall understanding of the dynamics of the power grid and its frequency are essential for the safe operation of existing and future power grids. Much previous research was focused on large continental areas, while small systems, such as islands are less well-studied. These natural island systems are ideal testing environments for microgrid proposals and artificially islanded grid operation. In the present paper, we utilise measurements of the power grid frequency obtained in European islands: the Faroe Islands, Ireland, the Balearic Islands and Iceland and investigate how their frequency can be predicted, compared to the Nordic power system, acting as a reference. The Balearic Islands are found to be particularly deterministic and easy to predict in contrast to hard-to-predict Iceland. Furthermore, we show that typically 2–4 weeks of data are needed to improve prediction performance beyond simple benchmarks.
Voting in the Reconstruction Novel: Black Suffrage, Election-Day Violence, and the Regulation of the Vote
Authors: Donnelly Andrew
Published: February 2023

How did fiction respond to the expansions of democracy during the Reconstruction period? This article provides a survey of Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction novels that include scenes of Black electoral participation. Such scenes of voting are also scenes of violence, either threatened or realized, and represent a range of political views. The article explores how novels use such scenes to advocate radical protections of Black voting rights, white supremacist restrictions on Black suffrage, and liberal policies of nonintervention in elections. A set of post-Reconstruction writers asserted a position as expressly moderate between the latter two: that Black political participation must be regulated. These novels pair the threat of Black voting with the civic emergencies of floods and other natural disasters in order to make the regulation of voting rights as necessary for survival as the management of a rising river. This view, positioned as a compromise between the rights provided by the Fifteenth Amendment and the fears of white reactionaries, was shared, alongside similar water metaphors, in the consequential decisions on voting rights by the period’s Supreme Court. This article shows the range of novelistic responses in the wake of the Fifteenth Amendment and the shaping of a self-consciously moderate stance that ultimately supported the national policy of Black disenfranchisement.Liberals [could] square voting regulations with their belief in laissez-faire government . . . by treating electoral reform like the management of natural phenomena, a science of managing threats as in the linked rising tides of river and Black politics in [the period’s novels].
Chicanx Counterstories: Legal Narrative in Oscar Zeta Acosta’sThe Revolt of the Cockroach People
Authors: de la Garza Valenzuela José A
Published: February 2023

Oscar Zeta Acosta’s The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1973) offers a fictional dramatization of two of the Chicano Movement’s most defining historical moments: the LA student walkouts and the death of Ruben Salazar, a Chicano journalist. This essay analyzes how Acosta’s narrator and stand-in, Buffalo Zeta Brown, contests the criminalizing legal narratives about Chicanxs produced by courts in the aftermath of both events. As Brown navigates the legal networks that criminalize Chicanxs, he builds a narrative infrastructure that shapes counterstories of the community that are later dismantled when the courts attempt to violently neutralize the Chicano Movement’s early legal victories following the death of Roland Zanzibar, a stand-in for Salazar. The essay argues, analyzing Brown’s attempts to tell stories about Chicanxs in the courts and a candidate for public office, that the state insists on authoring the preconditions of Chicanx democratic participation in ways that betray the experiences of the protesters who inspire Acosta’s militants. Acosta illustrates how democratic participation only comes at the expense of authorship and underscores how, when democracy is in crisis, the novel serves as a flexible outlet for counterstories never authorized as fact by institutions charged with safeguarding the state’s monopoly on legal narrative.When the story [Brown] seeks to tell about Chicanxs conflicts with the stock narratives that the courts and their auxiliary bodies favor, authorship is revealed to be the cost of democratic participation.
Democratic Realism, National Allegory, and the Future of the Asian American Novel
Authors: Fan Christopher T
Published: February 2023

Recent fiction by Asian Americans grapples with, on the one hand, the waning stakes and political failure of American identity (a democratic realism), and, on the other hand, the allure of Asia’s simultaneous capitalist challenge and alternative to US-based racial form (a capitalist realism). This article argues that the tensions and contradictions of this conjuncture are registered in recent Asian American novels via national allegory and reads the aesthetic partition between comedy and tragedy in Marie Myung-ok Lee’s 2022 novel The Evening Hero as exemplary of this formal approach.If the transnational turn promised a way out of US democratic realism and the dominance of its ethnographic imperative, then how have recent Asian American novels registered the process of turning to Asia and away from America?
Bad Faith and the American Indian: Laura Cornelius Kellogg and the Problem of Democratic Inclusion
Authors: Manshel Hannah
Published: February 2023

Oneida writer and activist Laura Cornelius Kellogg’s 1920 hybrid text Our Democracy and the American Indian strategically uses US settler legal concepts, such as private property, to critique the US government’s hypocrisy in its unjust treatment of Native people. It appeals for sovereignty in a mode that turns these same unjust methods and tools against their government uses. Kellogg uses her treatise to show that not only has Congress acted in bad faith toward Native people, but that this bad faith can be turned back on the government and used to further Indigenous self-governance. Instead of completely rejecting private property ownership—the form of land relation the US government either excluded Native people from or granted them limited access to—Kellogg embraces it and adapts it for collective Native interests. This article reads Kellogg’s text alongside contemporary legal cases around Oneida sovereignty to show ongoing colonialism forces Indigenous peoples to draw on Anglo-American legal forms not to assimilate, but rather to survive. It suggests that state-recognized forms of Native sovereignty may be accessed only temporarily, and then through acts of bad faith strategy, in which the letter of the law is used to ends counter to the law’s ostensible intention.[Laura Cornelius] Kellogg uses her treatise to show that not only has Congress acted in bad faith toward Native people, but . . . that this bad faith can be turned back on the [US] government . . . to further Indigenous self-governance.
Secrecy and Democracy
Authors: Potolsky Matthew
Published: February 2023

This essay reviews five books that challenge established modern assumptions about the nature and necessity of privacy, transparency, and the secret, and, in doing so, raise more general questions about the longstanding belief in the Enlightenment tradition that secrecy is a tool of conspiracy and therefore inimical to democracy.At a moment when old assumptions about privacy and transparency are falling away, perhaps it is time, these books imply, to think about the positive value of secret-keeping.
Freedom by the Book: Novels and the Future of Liberal Democracy
Authors: Fraser Gordon
Published: February 2023

The scholars included in this special issue of ALH reveal not an ideology but a method—a method that depends upon the novel. Many of the scholars here suggest that by reading novels—and, in particular, by reading them well—we might extend the horizon of democratic possibility. The present essay agrees. Indeed, it suggests that novels extend the horizon of democratic possibility in three important ways: by enabling readers to think deeply about the relationship between incommensurate goods; by accounting for the role of emotion in shaping values; and by enabling readers to process and react to the inevitability of change. Ultimately, this essay suggests that novels have a role to play in fostering democratic values.As free people, we make choices about the individual and collective direction of our lives. And, in deciding, we need the examples and stories of others. We need, in other words, stories about lives lived meaningfully or unmeaningfully, with dignity or without it.
Patient Preferences and Perceptions Concerning Aesthetic Providers and Social Media
Authors: Murphrey Morgan , Dayan Steven , Aguilera Shino Bay , Fabi Sabrina
Published: February 2023

Background

With the rise of social media, aesthetic providers have established a presence on social media. However, there has been little research to evaluate how patients perceive these aesthetic providers and what they desire to see on their professional accounts.

Objectives

This study aimed to evaluate the social media preferences and perceptions of patients who undergo aesthetic procedures.

Methods

A survey was sent to a random sample of US individuals; 651 (32%) identified that they underwent aesthetic procedures. Descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze participants and groups were compared with chi-square analyses.

Results

Our sample had a majority of females (57% female, 43% male). An aesthetic medical provider's social media presence had a positive impact on 41% of respondents; a minority of respondents (9%) preferred no social media presence. Fifty-five percent of respondents indicated they would prefer to see a provider with a blue checkmark. With regard to content published, 70% of respondents found it important that a provider show before and after photographs. One-third of respondents indicated they would prefer not to see personal content (n = 236, 36%).

Conclusions

A social media presence is not a strict requirement for success, but 41% of respondents reported a social media presence positively impacted their desire to see the provider as a patient. Patients preferred certain characteristics, such as verification and before and after photographs. Aesthetic providers should take care when determining what content to publish to their social accounts and should consider focusing on educational, promotional, and family/interpersonal content.
Real-World Experience With Collagenase Clostridium Histolyticum-aaes for Buttock and Thigh Cellulite: Focus on Administration and Safety Profile
Authors: Shridharani Sachin M , Kennedy MacKenzie L
Published: February 2023

Background

Collagenase clostridium histolyticum-aaes (CCH-aaes) is approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe buttock cellulite in adult women.

Objectives

To report on real-world experience with CCH-aaes in the treatment of buttock and thigh cellulite.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of medical records from a single treatment center.

Results

The population comprised 28 consecutively treated women; mean age was 40.5 years (range, 23-56 years) and mean body mass index was 25.9 kg/m2 (range, 19.6-41.0 kg/m2). Treatment areas were buttocks only (78.6% of patients), thighs only (10.7%), or both buttocks and thighs (10.7%). Most patients (89.3%) were treated in 2 areas (buttocks or thighs) at each visit; however, 3 patients were treated in 4 areas. At each session, the CCH-aaes dose was 0.07 mg per dimple (0.3 mL of 0.23 mg/mL for buttock cellulite; 1.5 mL of 0.046 mg/mL for thigh cellulite). The mean number of treatment sessions was 2.6 (range, 1-4) for buttock cellulite and 2.5 (range 1-3) for thigh cellulite. The mean number of dimples treated was 11.5 (range, 3-17) per buttock, 11.0 (range, 1-14) per thigh, and 23.4 (range, 8-32) overall per treatment session. Injection site–related adverse events of special interest were experienced by all 28 patients: bruising (100%), edema (96.4%), tenderness (85.7%), nodules (39.3%), pruritus (32.1%), and hyperpigmentation indicative of hemosiderin staining (7.1%). Mean duration of injection-site bruising was 8.8 days (range, 2-15 days).

Conclusions

CCH-aaes is an effective, well-tolerated, minimally invasive treatment option for buttock and thigh cellulite in women.

Level of Evidence: 3
Prognosis after hepatic resection of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: meta-analysis
Authors: Su Jia-Yong , Deng Zhu-Jian , Teng Yu-Xian , Koh Ye Xin , Zhang Wan-Guang , Zheng Ming-Hua , Xie Si , Huo Rong-Rui , Chen Chao-Jing , Ma Liang , Zhong Jian-Hong
Published: February 2023

Background

Whether the safety and efficacy of hepatic resection differ between patients whose hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is related to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) or has other aetiologies is unknown. A systematic review was performed to explore potential differences between such conditions.

Methods

PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library were systematically searched for relevant studies that reported hazard ratios (HRs) for overall and recurrence-free survival between patients with NAFLD-related HCC or HCC of other aetiologies.

Results

The meta-analysis involved 17 retrospective studies involving 2470 patients (21.5 per cent) with NAFLD-related HCC and 9007 (78.5 per cent) with HCC of other aetiologies. Patients with NAFLD-related HCC were older and had higher body mass index (BMI), but were less likely to have cirrhosis (50.4 per cent versus 64.0 per cent, P < 0.001). The two groups suffered similar rates of perioperative complications and mortality. Patients with NAFLD-related HCC had slightly higher overall survival (HR 0.87, 95 per cent c.i. 0.75 to 1.02) and recurrence-free survival (HR 0.93, 95 per cent c.i. 0.84 to 1.02) than those with HCC of other aetiologies. In the various subgroup analyses, the only significant finding was that Asian patients with NAFLD-related HCC had significantly better overall survival (HR 0.82, 95 per cent c.i. 0.71 to 0.95) and recurrence-free survival (HR 0.88, 95 per cent c.i. 0.79 to 0.98) than Asian patients with HCC of other aetiologies.

Conclusion

The available evidence suggests that patients with NAFLD-related HCC have similar perioperative complications and mortality, but potentially longer overall and recurrence-free survival, compared with those with HCC of other aetiologies. Tailored surveillance strategies should be developed for patients with NAFLD without cirrhosis.
Hybrid Working: Is It Working… and at What Cost? Exploring the Experience of Managers in Child Protection: Social Work
Authors: Daley Esme
Published: February 2023

This study used thematic analysis to consider eight UK child protection social work (CPSW) managers’ experience of hybrid working. Adair’s Action Centred Leadership (task, individual, team) (1967) was used as a framework to consider how managers lead teams through changes in working arrangements as hybrid working practices have become normalised. The themes identified included (i) Task: ease of moving work online, manager perceptions of the impact on quality of work, the experience of professional and organisational approaches; (ii) Individual: social worker well-being, tension about being available versus capacity to focus, impact on work/home boundaries; and (iii) Team: the importance of connecting, modelling practice and ease of communication. Findings suggest that hybrid arrangements were implemented as a result of organisational and logistic priorities, rather than to benefit children and families or the workforce. Though much of the task of CPSW has returned to being delivered as before COVID-19, and individual worker needs have been somewhat considered, the team as a unit to support and contain the worker has been largely neglected through the advancement of existing neoliberal and managerial policies under the pretext of COVID-19 measures. To counteract the negative impact of hybrid working arrangements, future policy focus must be on building strong teams.
Coronary CT angiography-derived plaque characteristics and physiologic patterns for peri-procedural myocardial infarction and subsequent events
Authors: Dai Neng , Chen Zhangwei , Zhou Fan , Zhou You , Hu Nan , Duan Shaofeng , Wang Wei , Zhang Longjiang , Qian Juying , Ge Junbo
Published: February 2023

Aims

Peri-procedural myocardial infarction (PMI) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been shown to be associated with worse clinical outcomes. We aimed to investigate the value of coronary plaque characteristics and physiologic disease patterns (focal vs. diffuse) assessed by coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) in predicting PMI and adverse events.

Methods and results

Three hundred fifty-nine patients with normal pre-PCI high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) underwent CTA before PCI were analysed. The high-risk plaque characteristics (HRPC) were assessed on CTA. The physiologic disease pattern was characterized using CTA fractional flow reserve-derived pullback pressure gradients (FFRCT PPG). PMI was defined as an increase in hs-cTnT to >5 times the upper limit of normal after PCI. The major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were a composite of cardiac death, spontaneous myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization. The presence of ≥3 HRPC in the target lesions [odds ratio (OR) 2.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29–3.80, P = 0.004] and low FFRCT PPG (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.02–1.52, P = 0.028) were independent predictors of PMI. In a four-group classification according to HRPC and FFRCT PPG, patients with ≥3 HRPC and low FFRCT PPG had the highest risk of MACE (19.3%; overall P = 0.001). Moreover, the presence of ≥3 HRPC and low FFRCT PPG was an independent predictor of MACE and showed incremental prognostic value compared with a model with clinical risk factors alone [C index = 0.78 vs. 0.60, P = 0.005, net reclassification index = 0.21 (95% CI: 0.04–0.48), P = 0.020].

Conclusions

Coronary CTA can evaluate plaque characteristics and physiologic disease patterns simultaneously, which plays an important role for risk stratification before PCI.
Preoperative prognostic factors for 5-year survival following pulmonary metastasectomy from colorectal cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Gkikas Andreas , Kakos Christos , Lampridis Savvas , Godolphin Peter J , Patrini Davide
Published: February 2023

OBJECTIVES

We seek to identify preoperative prognostic factors and measure their effect on 5-year survival following pulmonary metastasectomy (PM) for Colorectal Cancer (CRC).

METHODS

We systematically reviewed the databases of Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Embase and Google Scholar from January 2000 to April 2021 to identify preoperative factors that have been investigated for their prognostic effect on survival following PM. Quality assessment was performed using the QUIPS tool. The prognostic effect of each identified factor on 5-year survival post-PM was estimated using random-effects meta-analyses.

RESULTS

We identified 115 eligible articles which included 13 294 patients who underwent PM from CRC. The overall 5-year survival after resection of the lung metastasis was 54.1%. The risk of bias of the included studies was at least moderate in 93% (107/115). Seventy-seven preoperative factors had been investigated for their prognostic effect. Our analysis showed that 11 factors had favourable and statistically significant prognostic effect on 5-year survival post-PM. These included solitary metastasis, size <2 cm, unilateral location, N0 thoracic disease, no history of extra-thoracic or liver metastasis, normal carcinoembryonic antigen levels both before PM and CRC excision, no neo-adjuvant chemotherapy before PM, CRC T-stage < T4 and no p53 mutations on CRC. Disease-free interval at 24 months did not appear to affect 5-year survival.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite the considerable risk of bias in the literature, our study consolidates the available evidence on preoperative prognostic factors for PM from CRC. These findings can complement both clinical practice and the design of future research on the field of PM.
Authorship as a determinant of art prices and auction settings in eighteenth-century Paris
Authors: Van Miegroet Hans J , Radermecker Anne-Sophie V
Published: February 2023

In the context of a booming art market in Paris, eighteenth-century art dealers began to exploit authorship as a value-enhancing strategy. Using Jean-Baptiste Pierre Lebrun’s business as a case study, we show that art dealers purposefully used a firm scale of authentication to create product differentiation and to boost auction dynamics and revenues by reordering the lots before the sale in leaflets known as feuilles de vacation. Our empirical findings support the hypothesis of the development of a market driven by the quest for the artist’s hand in pre-revolutionary Paris, with differential use of connoisseurial knowledge, depending on buyers’ profiles.
Impact of the EURO-PERISTAT Reports on obstetric management: a difference-in-regression-discontinuity analysis
Authors: Daalderop Leonie A , Been Jasper V , Steegers Eric A P , Bertens Loes C M
Published: February 2023

Background

Population health monitoring, such as perinatal mortality and morbidity rankings published by the European Perinatal Health (EURO-PERISTAT) reports may influence obstetric care providers’ decision-making and professional behaviour. We investigated short-term changes in the obstetric management of singleton term deliveries in the Netherlands following publication of the EURO-PERISTAT reports in 2003, 2008 and 2013.

Methods

We used a quasi-experimental difference-in-regression-discontinuity approach. National perinatal registry data (2001–15) was used to compare obstetric management at delivery in four time windows (1, 2, 3 and 5 months) surrounding publication of each EURO-PERISTAT report.

Results

The 2003 EURO-PERISTAT report was associated with higher relative risks (RRs) for an assisted vaginal delivery across all time windows [RR (95% CI): 1 month: 1.23 (1.05–1.45), 2 months: 1.15 (1.02–1.30), 3 months: 1.21 (1.09–1.33) and 5 months: 1.21 (1.11–1.31)]. The 2008 report was associated with lower RRs for an assisted vaginal delivery at the 3- and 5-month time windows [0.86 (0.77–0.96) and 0.88 (0.81–0.96)]. Publication of the 2013 report was associated with higher RRs for a planned caesarean section across all time windows [1 month: 1.23 (1.00–1.52), 2 months: 1.26 (1.09–1.45), 3 months: 1.26 (1.12–1.42) and 5 months: 1.19(1.09–1.31)] and lower RRs for an assisted vaginal delivery at the 2-, 3- and 5-month time windows [0.85 (0.73–0.98), 0.83 (0.74–0.94) and 0.88 (0.80–0.97)].

Conclusions

This study showed that quasi-experimental study designs, such as the difference-in-regression-discontinuity approach, are useful to unravel the impact of population health monitoring on decision-making and professional behaviour of healthcare providers. A better understanding of the contribution of health monitoring to the behaviour of healthcare providers can help guide improvements within the (perinatal) healthcare chain.
Literature for All: On Designation and Interpretation in Hugo’s
Notre-Dame de Paris
Authors: Dubois Alexandre
Published: February 2023

This article contends that Victor Hugo’s
Notre-Dame de Paris
is a novel that follows a democratic principle by opening up its meaning, and that of its titular cathedral, to anyone and everyone. Whereas Hugo’s novel and his famous syntagm ‘ceci tuera cela’ have been extensively studied as an examination of the fall of architecture in favour of the printed book, this article will argue that a semiotic analysis of the syntagm reveals Hugo’s intention to recognize the legitimacy of society’s subjects to experience and talk about (artistic) objects. Through a discussion of the chapters added in the book’s second edition and in which Hugo comments on his own work, this article recontextualizes the spatial, historical, and political components that help clarify the democratic intent at the centre of the novel, but also of its resurgence in popularity in 2019 when Notre-Dame was devastated by fire.
Accuracy comparison of tooth volume and mesiodistal diameter measurements for sex dimorphism based on cone-beam computed tomography: a study for the northern Chinese population
Authors: Bu Wenqing , Ji Lingling , Han Mengqi , Wu Zixuan , Sultan Badr , Chen Teng , Tang Yu , Guo Yucheng , Wang Fei
Published: February 2023

Sex estimation based on teeth could help to narrow the scope for individual identification. According to the different teeth morphology among both genders, we plan to establish a sex estimation method for the northern Chinese population through mesiodistal diameter and teeth volume measurements and compare the accuracy of the two methods. In this study, measurements were taken from cone-beam computed tomography images collected from 142 males and 140 females aged 21–59 years. The mesiodistal diameter and volume of the left canines and the first molars in both upper and lower jaws were measured and analyzed for suitable coefficients. We selected 80% samples as the training set to set up the logistic regression formulas and 20% as the test set to obtain accuracy. The accuracy of sex estimation by mesiodistal diameter can reach 87.50%, and the volume is up to 78.57%. The measurement of mesiodistal diameter is less time-consuming. This work established and tested a method to estimate sex for the northern Chinese population. Results showed that sex estimation based on the mesiodistal diameter of teeth has higher accuracy than the method based on teeth volume.
FLInt: single shot safe harbor transgene integration via Fluorescent Landmark Interference
Authors: Malaiwong Nawaphat , Porta-de-la-Riva Montserrat , Krieg Michael
Published: February 2023

The stable incorporation of transgenes and recombinant DNA material into the host genome is a bottleneck in many bioengineering applications. Due to the low efficiency, identifying the transgenic animals is often a needle in the haystack. Thus, optimal conditions require efficient screening procedures, but also known and safe landing sites that do not interfere with host expression, low input material and strong expression from the new locus. Here, we leverage an existing library of ≈300 different loci coding for fluorescent markers that are distributed over all 6 chromosomes in Caenorhabditis elegans as safe harbors for versatile transgene integration sites using CRISPR/Cas9. We demonstrated that a single crRNA was sufficient for cleavage of the target region and integration of the transgene of interest, which can be easily followed by loss of the fluorescent marker. The same loci can also be used for extrachromosomal landing sites and as co-CRISPR markers without affecting body morphology or animal behavior. Thus, our method overcomes the uncertainty of transgene location during random mutagenesis, facilitates easy screening through fluorescence interference and can be used as co-CRISPR markers without further influence in phenotypes.
Multispecies polyploidization, chromosome shuffling, and genome extraction in Zea/Tripsacum hybrids
Authors: Iqbal Muhammad Zafar , Wen Xiaodong , Xu Lulu , Zhao Yanli , Li Jing , Jiang Weiming , Cheng Mingjun , Li Huaxiong , Li Yingzheng , Li Xiaofeng , He Ruyu , He Jianmei , Su Yuegui , Ali Asif , Peng Yan , Rong Tingzhao , Tang Qilin
Published: February 2023

By hybridization and special sexual reproduction, we sequentially aggregated Zea mays, Zea perennis, and Tripsacum dactyloides in an allohexaploid, backcrossed it with maize, derived self-fertile allotetraploids of maize and Z. perennis by natural genome extraction, extended their first six selfed generations, and finally constructed amphitetraploid maize using nascent allotetraploids as a genetic bridge. Transgenerational chromosome inheritance, subgenome stability, chromosome pairings and rearrangements, and their impacts on an organism's fitness were investigated by fertility phenotyping and molecular cytogenetic techniques genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Results showed that diversified sexual reproductive methods produced highly differentiated progenies (2n = 35–84) with varying proportions of subgenomic chromosomes, of which one individual (2n = 54, MMMPT) overcame self-incompatibility barriers and produced a self-fertile nascent near-allotetraploid by preferentially eliminating Tripsacum chromosomes. Nascent near-allotetraploid progenies showed persistent chromosome changes, intergenomic translocations, and rDNA variations for at least up to the first six selfed generations; however, the mean chromosome number preferably maintained at the near-tetraploid level (2n = 40) with full integrity of 45S rDNA pairs, and a trend of decreasing variations by advancing generations with an average of 25.53, 14.14, and 0.37 for maize, Z. perennis, and T. dactyloides chromosomes, respectively. The mechanisms for three genome stabilities and karyotype evolution for formatting new polyploid species were discussed.
Seismic characterization of a fluid escape structure in the North Sea: the Scanner Pockmark complex area
Authors: Jedari-Eyvazi Farid , Bayrakci Gaye , Minshull Timothy A , Bull Jonathan M , Henstock Timothy J , Macdonald Calum , Robinson Adam H
Published: February 2023

Subsurface fluid escape structures are geological features which are commonly observed in sedimentary basins worldwide. Their identification and description have implications for various subsurface fluid flow applications, such as assuring integrity of overburden rocks to geological CO2 storage sites. In this study, we applied 3-D first-arrival traveltime tomography to a densely sampled wide-azimuth and wide-angle ocean bottom seismometer (OBS) data set collected over the Scanner Pockmark complex, a site of active gas venting in the North Sea. Seismic reflection data show a chimney structure underlying the Scanner Pockmark. The objective of this study was to characterize this chimney as a representative fluid escape structure in the North Sea. An area of 6$\times $6 km2 down to a depth of 2 km below sea level was investigated using a regularized tomography algorithm. In total, 182 069 manually picked traveltimes from 24 OBS were used. Our final velocity model contains compressional wave velocity perturbations ranging from −125 to +110 ms−1 relative to its average 1-D model and compares favourably with a coincident seismic reflection data set. The tomographic velocity model reveals that the chimney as observed in seismic reflection data is part of a larger complex fluid escape structure, and discriminates the genuine chimney from seismic artefacts. We find that part of the seeping gas migrates from a deep source, accumulates beneath the Crenulate Reflector unconformity at ∼250 m below seafloor (mbsf) before reaching the porous sediments of the Ling Bank and Coal Pit formation at <100 mbsf. In addition, the model shows that the venting gas at Scanner Pockmark is also being fed laterally through a narrow NW–SE shallow channel. Quantitative velocity analysis suggests a patchy gas saturation within the gas-charged sediments of the Ling Bank and the Coal Pit formations. Confined to the well-resolved regions, we estimate a base case average gas saturation of ∼9 per cent and in-situ gas volume of ∼1.64 $\times {10^6}\ {{\rm{m}}^3}$ across the Ling Bank and Coal Pit Fm. that can sustain the observed methane flux rate at the Scanner Pockmark for about 10 to 17 yr.
The telomere-to-telomere genome of Fragaria vesca reveals the genomic evolution of Fragaria and the origin of cultivated octoploid strawberry
Authors: Zhou Yuhan , Xiong Jinsong , Shu Ziqiang , Dong Chao , Gu Tingting , Sun Pengchuan , He Shuang , Jiang Mian , Xia Zhiqiang , Xue Jiayu , Khan Wasi Ullah , Chen Fei , Cheng Zong-Ming
Published: February 2023

Fragaria vesca, commonly known as wild or woodland strawberry, is the most widely distributed diploid Fragaria species and is native to Europe and Asia. Because of its small plant size, low heterozygosity, and relative ease of genetic transformation, F. vesca has been a model plant for fruit research since the publication of its Illumina-based genome in 2011. However, its genomic contribution to octoploid cultivated strawberry remains a long-standing question. Here, we de novo assembled and annotated a telomere-to-telomere, gap-free genome of F. vesca ‘Hawaii 4’, with all seven chromosomes assembled into single contigs, providing the highest completeness and assembly quality to date. The gap-free genome is 220 785 082 bp in length and encodes 36 173 protein-coding gene models, including 1153 newly annotated genes. All 14 telomeres and seven centromeres were annotated within the seven chromosomes. Among the three previously recognized wild diploid strawberry ancestors, F. vesca, F. iinumae, and F. viridis, phylogenomic analysis showed that F. vesca and F. viridis are the ancestors of the cultivated octoploid strawberry F. × ananassa, and F. vesca is its closest relative. Three subgenomes of F. × ananassa belong to the F. vesca group, and one is sister to F. viridis. We anticipate that this high-quality, telomere-to-telomere, gap-free F. vesca genome, combined with our phylogenomic inference of the origin of cultivated strawberry, will provide insight into the genomic evolution of Fragaria and facilitate strawberry genetics and molecular breeding.
Lodestar in the Time of Coronavirus? Interpreting International Obligations to Realise the Right to Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Bueno de Mesquita Judith , Lougarre Claire , Montel Lisa , Sekalala Sharifah
Published: February 2023

While the right to health has gained significant momentum in international law over the past two years, there is little clarity on what it means for States to comply with this right in times of COVID-19. Taking Articles 2(1) and 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as a starting point, our article follows an approach guided by the rules of treaty interpretation under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties to suggest how right to health obligations to prevent, treat and control infectious diseases should be interpreted in relation to COVID-19, and how these obligations interact with general obligations of immediacy, progressive realisation, minimum core and international assistance and cooperation in this context. This article makes a novel contribution to clarifying the right to health during COVID-19, thus enhancing capacity for the oversight of this right; its incorporation in global health law; and the understanding of its corresponding obligations in future global health emergencies.