bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Allometric relationships between stem diameter, height and crown area of associated trees of cocoa agroforests of Ghana
Authors: Asigbaase Michael , Dawoe Evans , Abugre Simon , Kyereh Boateng , Ayine Nsor Collins
Published: September 2023

Allometric models which are used to describe the structure of trees in agroforestry systems are usually extrapolated from models developed for trees in forest ecosystems. This makes quantitative assessment of the functions of shade trees in agroforestry systems challenging since increased availability of light and space in these systems may induce structural differences from those growing under forest conditions. We addressed this issue by providing species-specific allometric information on the structural characteristics of associated shade trees on cocoa agroforestry systems and assessed if allometries conformed to theoretical predictions. At the plot level, stand and soil characteristics affecting tree structural characteristics were assessed. The study was conducted in cocoa agroforestry systems at Suhum, Ghana. The height-diameter at breast height (H-DBH) allometry had the best fits (R2 = 53–89%), followed by the crown area (CA)-DBH allometry (R2 = 27–87%) and then the CA-H allometry (R2 = 22–73%). In general, the scaling exponents of the CA-DBH, H-CA and H-DBH allometries conformed to the metabolic scaling theory (MST). However, both the CA-DBH and H-DBH allometries diverged from the geometric similarity model. Though forest tree species had similar crown areas as fruit trees, they were slenderer than fruit trees. Tree slenderness coefficients were positively correlated with soil P, Ca, Cu and the ratios (Ca + Mg):K, (Ca + Mg):(K + Na) and Ca:Mg, but not C:N while DBH and H were correlated with soil P and C:N ratio. Our results show that critical soil nutrients and their ratios affects shade tree structural attributes (e.g. slenderness and CA), which possibly restrict variations in species-specific allometries to a narrow range on cocoa systems. Furthermore, shade tree species richness and density are better predictors of relative canopy projection area (a proxy for shade intensity) than tree species diversity. In conclusion, the results have implications for shade tree species selection, monitoring of woody biomass and maintenance of biodiversity.
Ionotronic WS2 memtransistors for 6-bit storage and neuromorphic adaptation at high temperature
Authors: Mallik Sameer Kumar , Padhan Roshan , Sahu Mousam Charan , Pradhan Gopal K. , Sahoo Prasana Kumar , Dash Saroj Prasad , Sahoo Satyaprakash
Published: September 2023

Inspired by massive parallelism, an increase in internet-of-things devices, robust computation, and Big-data, the upsurge research in building multi-bit mem-transistors is ever-augmenting with different materials, mechanisms, and state-of-the-art architectures. Herein, we demonstrate monolayer WS2-based functional mem-transistor devices which address nonvolatility and synaptic operations at high temperature. The ionotronic memory devices based on WS2 exhibit reverse hysteresis with memory windows larger than 25 V, and extinction ratio greater than 106. The mem-transistors show stable retention and endurance greater than 100 sweep cycles and 400 pulse cycles in addition to 6-bit (64 distinct nonvolatile storage levels) pulse-programmable memory features ranging over six orders of current magnitudes (10−12–10−6 A). The origin of the multi-bit states is attributed to the carrier dynamics under electrostatic doping fluctuations induced by mobile ions, which is illustrated by employing a fingerprint mechanism including band-bending pictures. The credibility of all the storage states is confirmed by obtaining reliable signal-to-noise ratios. We also demonstrate key neuromorphic behaviors, such as synaptic plasticity, near linear potentiation, and depression, rendering it suitable for successful implementation in high temperature neuromorphic computing. Furthermore, artificial neural network simulations based on the conductance weight update characteristics of the proposed ionotronic mem-transistors are performed to explore the potency for accurate image recognition. Our findings showcase a different class of thermally aided memories based on 2D semiconductors unlocking promising avenues for high temperature memory applications in demanding electronics and forthcoming neuromorphic computing technologies.
Smart-Plexer: a breakthrough workflow for hybrid development of multiplex PCR assays
Authors: Miglietta Luca , Chen Yuwen , Luo Zhi , Xu Ke , Ding Ning , Peng Tianyi , Moniri Ahmad , Kreitmann Louis , Cacho-Soblechero Miguel , Holmes Alison , Georgiou Pantelis , Rodriguez-Manzano Jesus
Published: September 2023

Developing multiplex PCR assays requires extensive experimental testing, the number of which exponentially increases by the number of multiplexed targets. Dedicated efforts must be devoted to the design of optimal multiplex assays ensuring specific and sensitive identification of multiple analytes in a single well reaction. Inspired by data-driven approaches, we reinvent the process of developing and designing multiplex assays using a hybrid, simple workflow, named Smart-Plexer, which couples empirical testing of singleplex assays and computer simulation to develop optimised multiplex combinations. The Smart-Plexer analyses kinetic inter-target distances between amplification curves to generate optimal multiplex PCR primer sets for accurate multi-pathogen identification. In this study, the Smart-Plexer method is applied and evaluated for seven respiratory infection target detection using an optimised multiplexed PCR assay. Single-channel multiplex assays, together with the recently published data-driven methodology, Amplification Curve Analysis (ACA), were demonstrated to be capable of classifying the presence of desired targets in a single test for seven common respiratory infection pathogens.
Griddient: a microfluidic array to generate reconfigurable gradients on-demand for spatial biology applications
Authors: Sanchez-de-Diego Cristina , Virumbrales-Muñoz María , Hermes Brock , Juang Terry D. , Juang Duane S. , Riendeau Jeremiah , Guzman Emmanuel Contreras , Reed-McBain Catherine A. , Abizanda-Campo Sara , Patel Janmesh , Hess Nicholas J. , Skala Melissa C. , Beebe David J. , Ayuso Jose M.
Published: September 2023

Biological tissues are highly organized structures where spatial-temporal gradients (e.g., nutrients, hypoxia, cytokines) modulate multiple physiological and pathological processes including inflammation, tissue regeneration, embryogenesis, and cancer progression. Current in vitro technologies struggle to capture the complexity of these transient microenvironmental gradients, do not provide dynamic control over the gradient profile, are complex and poorly suited for high throughput applications. Therefore, we have designed Griddent, a user-friendly platform with the capability of generating controllable and reversible gradients in a 3D microenvironment. Our platform consists of an array of 32 microfluidic chambers connected to a 384 well-array through a diffusion port at the bottom of each reservoir well. The diffusion ports are optimized to ensure gradient stability and facilitate manual micropipette loading. This platform is compatible with molecular and functional spatial biology as well as optical and fluorescence microscopy. In this work, we have used this platform to study cancer progression.
Simulations of a protein fold switch reveal crowding-induced population shifts driven by disordered regions
Authors: Bazmi Saman , Seifi Bahman , Wallin Stefan
Published: September 2023

Macromolecular crowding effects on globular proteins, which usually adopt a single stable fold, have been widely studied. However, little is known about crowding effects on fold-switching proteins, which reversibly switch between distinct folds. Here we study the mutationally driven switch between the folds of GA and GB, the two 56-amino acid binding domains of protein G, using a structure-based dual-basin model. We show that, in the absence of crowders, the fold populations PA and PB can be controlled by the strengths of contacts in the two folds, κA and κB. A population balance, PA ≈ PB, is obtained for κB/κA = 0.92. The resulting model protein is subject to crowding at different packing fractions, ϕc. We find that crowding increases the GB population and reduces the GA population, reaching PB/PA ≈ 4 at ϕc = 0.44. We analyze the ϕc-dependence of the crowding-induced GA-to-GB switch using scaled particle theory, which provides a qualitative, but not quantitative, fit of our data, suggesting effects beyond a spherical description of the folds. We show that the terminal regions of the protein chain, which are intrinsically disordered only in GA, play a dominant role in the response of the fold switch to crowding effects.
Cavity-renormalized quantum criticality in a honeycomb bilayer antiferromagnet
Authors: Weber Lukas , Viñas Boström Emil , Claassen Martin , Rubio Angel , Kennes Dante M.
Published: September 2023

Strong light-matter interactions as realized in an optical cavity provide a tantalizing opportunity to control the properties of condensed matter systems. Inspired by experimental advances in cavity quantum electrodynamics and the fabrication and control of two-dimensional magnets, we investigate the fate of a quantum critical antiferromagnet coupled to an optical cavity field. Using unbiased quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we compute the scaling behavior of the magnetic structure factor and other observables. While the position and universality class are not changed by a single cavity mode, the critical fluctuations themselves obtain a sizable enhancement, scaling with a fractional exponent that defies expectations based on simple perturbation theory. The scaling exponent can be understood using a generic scaling argument, based on which we predict that the effect may be even stronger in other universality classes. Our microscopic model is based on realistic parameters for two-dimensional magnetic quantum materials and the effect may be within the range of experimental detection.
Improving luminescence thermometry based on non-thermally coupled levels of double luminescent ionic centers Tm3+ and Ho3+ in NaYF4:Yb/Tm@NaYF4:Yb/Ho microcrystals
Authors: Zhou Aihua , Yang Jiaxin , Li Yan , Ming Chengguo , Cai Yuanxue , Pei Yumiao
Published: September 2023

Ratiometric sensing of temperature was studied based on thermally coupled energy levels and non-thermally coupled energy levels of NaYF4:Yb/Tm@NaYF4:Yb/Ho.
Synthesis of a new photosensitizer for photodynamic and photothermal synergistic cancer therapy
Authors: Deng Jun , Xia Xiaohua , Yuan Hua , Chen Zhiqiang , Jiang Xin , Zou Dengfeng , Wang Qiang
Published: September 2023

Illustration of synthesis of PDIDPP NPs for photodynamic and photothermal synergistic therapy.
Paradigm in single-atom electrocatalysts for dinitrogen reduction to ammonia
Authors: Ponnada Srikanth , Gorle Demudu Babu , Kumari Indu , Kumar Sakkarapalayam Murugesan Senthil , Swihart Mark T. , Botte Gerardine G. , Sharma Rakesh K.
Published: September 2023

Single-atom catalysts (SACs) are a new class of electrocatalysts for the electrochemical nitrogen reduction reaction.
Practical challenges and future perspectives of solid polymer electrolytes: microscopic structure and interface design
Authors: Geng Maoning , Su Gang , Huang Sheng , Wang Shuanjin , Xiao Min , Han Dongmei , Meng Yuezhong
Published: September 2023

Reviewing the performance improving strategies of solid polymer electrolytes from the microscopic perspective.
A fluffy all-siloxane bottlebrush architecture for liquid-like slippery surfaces
Authors: Gu Yunjiao , Zhou He , Liu Fenghua , Zhou Shuxue , Wu Weiping
Published: September 2023

A transparent all-siloxane bottlebrush liquid-like surface is created by in situ sequential reactions. This unique non-linear architecture improves the grafting density and shows superior sliding performances compared to its linear counterparts.
First-principles study of intrinsic and hydrogen point defects in the earth-abundant photovoltaic absorber Zn3P2
Authors: Yuan Zhenkun , Xiong Yihuang , Hautier Geoffroy
Published: September 2023

The shallow VZn acceptors are proposed as the source for p-type doping in the Zn3P2 solar absorber. Not only VZn but also deep-level defects PZn and Pi have increased concentrations in non-stoichiometric, P-rich Zn3P2.
Activatable probes with potential for intraoperative tumor-specific fluorescence-imaging guided surgery
Authors: Wu Mingzhu , Gong Deyan , Zhou Yuanyuan , Zha Zhengbao , Xia Xiaoping
Published: September 2023

This review mainly describes the design principles and mechanisms of activatable probes for the fluorescence imaging of tumors.
Resource and trajectory optimization for secure communication in RIS assisted UAV‐MEC system
Authors: Liu Shihao , Huang Yangchao , Hu Hang , Si Jiangbo , Cheng Guobing , Huang Tao , Hu Xiaoliang
Published: September 2023

The combination of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and mobile edge computing (MEC) is considered as a promising approach to tackle soaring computing requirements. The broadcast nature of air‐to‐ground (A2G) links makes UAV communications vulnerable to eavesdroppers, so secure UAV communications remain an open question. This paper proposes a secure communication scheme for reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)‐assisted UAV‐MEC systems, in which the RIS assists the user in offloading data to the legitimate UAV, and the legitimate UAV provides computing services to the user. To fully expand the security computing capacity of the system, the communication link is improved by introducing RIS, and the jammer interferes with the eavesdropper. The secure computing capability of the system is maximized by optimizing communication resources and trajectories. Since the proposed problem is non‐convex, successive convex approximation (SCA) technique and block coordinate descent (BCD) technique is combined to solve the problem. The simulation results show that the proposed scheme in this paper can effectively improve the system secure computing bits compared with the benchmark scheme.
A non‐linear fractional‐order type‐3 fuzzy control for enhanced path‐tracking performance of autonomous cars
Authors: Mohammadzadeh Ardashir , Taghavifar Hamid , Zhang Chunwei , Alattas Khalid A. , Liu Jinping , Vu Mai The
Published: September 2023

Path‐tracking and lane‐keeping efficiency of driverless cars remain critical characteristics of the efficient and safe deployment of such vehicles in future intelligent transportation systems. This study introduces a robust type‐3 (T3) fuzzy controller implementation for the path‐tracking task of driverless cars during critical driving conditions and subject to exogenous disturbances. Unlike many existing control paradigms, the proposed scheme is independent of the parameter information and assumes the system dynamics are unknown and non‐linear. Control inputs are constructed to improve robustness by eliminating the error bounds while ensuring stability by leveraging the Lyapunov stability theorem and Barbalat's lemma. Also, a predicate scheme based on non‐linear predictive control technique is introduced to enhance the lateral displacement. Based on the obtained results, the schemed controller exhibits competitive effectiveness in path‐tracking tasks, and strong efficiency under various road conditions, parametric uncertainties, and unknown disturbances.
A temporal shift reconstruction network for compressive video sensing
Authors: Gu Zhenfei , Zhou Chao , Lin Guofeng
Published: September 2023

Compressive sensing provides a promising sampling paradigm for video acquisition for resource‐limited sensor applications. However, the reconstruction of original video signals from sub‐sampled measurements is still a great challenge. To exploit the temporal redundancies within videos during the recovery, previous works tend to perform alignment on initial reconstructions, which are too coarse to provide accurate motion estimations. To solve this problem, the authors propose a novel reconstruction network, named TSRN, for compressive video sensing. Specifically, the authors utilise a number of stacked temporal shift reconstruction blocks (TSRBs) to enhance the initial reconstruction progressively. Each TSRB could learn the temporal structures by exchanging information with last and next time step, and no additional computations is imposed on the network compared to regular 2D convolutions due to the high efficiency of temporal shift operations. After the enhancement, a bidirectional alignment module to build accurate temporal dependencies directly with the help of optical flows is employed. Different from previous methods that only extract supplementary information from the key frames, the proposed alignment module can receive temporal information from the whole video sequence via bidirectional propagations, thus yielding better performance. Experimental results verify the superiority of the proposed method over other state‐of‐the‐art approaches quantitatively and qualitatively.
Axillary Node Metastases of Medullary Thyroid Cancer: A Hallmark of
Terminal Disease
Authors: Machens Andreas , Lorenz Kerstin , Weber Frank , Dralle Henning
Published: September 2023

Little is known about axillary node metastasis of medullary thyroid cancer (MTC).
To address this, a comparative study of patients with and without axillary node
metastases of MTC was conducted. Among 1215 consecutive patients with MTC, 482
patients had node-negative MTC and 733 patients node-positive MTC. Among the 733
patients with node-positive MTC, 4 patients (0.5%) had axillary node
metastases, all of which were ipsilateral. Patients with axillary node
metastases had 5.7–6.9-fold more node metastases removed, both at the
authors’ institution (medians of 34.5 vs. 5 metastases; p=0.011)
and in total (medians of 57 vs. 10 metastases; p=0.013), developed more
frequently distant metastases (3 of 4 vs. 178 of 729 patients, or 75 vs.
24%; p=0.049), specifically to bone (2 of 4 vs. 67 of 729
patients, or 50 vs. 9%; p=0.046) and brain (1 of 4 vs. 4 of 729
patients, or 25 vs. 0.5%; p=0.027), and more often succumbed to
cancer-specific death (3 of 4 vs. 52 of 729 patients, or 75 vs. 14%;
p=0.005). Altogether, patients with axillary node metastases revealed
4–8-fold more node metastases in the ipsilateral lateral neck (medians
of 11 vs. 3 metastases; p=0.021) and in the ipsilateral central neck
(medians of 8 vs. 1 metastases; p=0.079) patients without axillary node
metastases. Cancer-specific survival of patients with vs. patients without
axillary node metastases of MTC was significantly shorter (means of 41 vs. 224
months; plog-rank<0.001). These findings show that patients with
axillary node metastases of MTC have massive metastatic dissemination with poor
survival.
Inhibitory artificial synapses based on photoelectric co-modulation of graphene/WSe2 van der Waals heterojunctions
Authors: Zhou Youfa , Zhang Ping , Li Jiaqi , Mao Xurui
Published: September 2023

Optical artificial synapses possess several advantages, including high bandwidth, strong interference immunity, and ultra-fast signal transmission, overcoming the limitations of electrically stimulated synapses. Among various functional materials, 2D materials exhibit exceptional optical and electrical properties. By utilizing van der Waals heterostructures formed by these materials through rational design, synaptic devices can mimic the information perception ability of biological systems. This lays the foundation for low-energy artificial vision systems and neuromorphic computing. This study introduces an inhibitory artificial synapse based on photoelectric co-modulation of graphene/WSe2 van der Waals heterojunctions. By synergistically applying gate voltage and light pulses, we simulate memory and logic functions observed in the brain’s visual cortex. We achieve the construction of inhibitory synapses, enabling properties such as postsynaptic current response, short-term and long-term plasticity, and paired-pulse facilitation. Additionally, we accomplish the inverse recovery of device conductivity through separate gate voltage stimulation. Through bidirectional modulation of the artificial synaptic conductance, we construct an artificial hardware neural network that achieves 92.5% accuracy in recognizing handwritten digital images from the MNIST dataset. The network also has good recognition accuracy for handwritten digital images with different standard deviation Gaussian noise applied and other datasets. Furthermore, we successfully mimic the neural behavior of aversive learning for alcohol withdrawal in alcoholic patients using the device properties. The promising capabilities of artificial synapses constructed through electrical and optical synergistic modulation make them suitable for wearable electronics and artificial vision systems.
MuTATE—an R package for comprehensive multi-objective molecular modeling
Authors: Ayton Sarah G , Treviño Víctor
Published: September 2023

Motivation

Comprehensive multi-omics studies have driven advances in disease modeling for effective precision medicine but pose a challenge for existing machine-learning approaches, which have limited interpretability across clinical endpoints. Automated, comprehensive disease modeling requires a machine-learning approach that can simultaneously identify disease subgroups and their defining molecular biomarkers by explaining multiple clinical endpoints. Current tools are restricted to individual endpoints or limited variable types, necessitate advanced computation skills, and require resource-intensive manual expert interpretation.

Results

We developed Multi-Target Automated Tree Engine (MuTATE) for automated and comprehensive molecular modeling, which enables user-friendly multi-objective decision tree construction and visualization of relationships between molecular biomarkers and patient subgroups characterized by multiple clinical endpoints. MuTATE incorporates multiple targets throughout model construction and allows for target weights, enabling construction of interpretable decision trees that provide insights into disease heterogeneity and molecular signatures. MuTATE eliminates the need for manual synthesis of multiple non-explainable models, making it highly efficient and accessible for bioinformaticians and clinicians. The flexibility and versatility of MuTATE make it applicable to a wide range of complex diseases, including cancer, where it can improve therapeutic decisions by providing comprehensive molecular insights for precision medicine. MuTATE has the potential to transform biomarker discovery and subtype identification, leading to more effective and personalized treatment strategies in precision medicine, and advancing our understanding of disease mechanisms at the molecular level.

Availability and implementation

MuTATE is freely available at GitHub (https://github.com/SarahAyton/MuTATE) under the GPLv3 license.
A general framework for powerful confounder adjustment in omics association studies
Authors: Roy Asmita , Chen Jun , Zhang Xianyang
Published: September 2023

Motivation

Genomic data are subject to various sources of confounding, such as demographic variables, biological heterogeneity, and batch effects. To identify genomic features associated with a variable of interest in the presence of confounders, the traditional approach involves fitting a confounder-adjusted regression model to each genomic feature, followed by multiplicity correction.

Results

This study shows that the traditional approach is suboptimal and proposes a new two-dimensional false discovery rate control framework (2DFDR+) that provides significant power improvement over the conventional method and applies to a wide range of settings. 2DFDR+ uses marginal independence test statistics as auxiliary information to filter out less promising features, and FDR control is performed based on conditional independence test statistics in the remaining features. 2DFDR+ provides (asymptotically) valid inference from samples in settings where the conditional distribution of the genomic variables given the covariate of interest and the confounders is arbitrary and completely unknown. Promising finite sample performance is demonstrated via extensive simulations and real data applications.

Availability and implementation

R codes and vignettes are available at https://github.com/asmita112358/tdfdr.np.
The Perceived Contribution of Older People to Climate Change Impact, Mitigation, and Adaptation: Measurement Development and Validation
Authors: Ayalon Liat , Roy Senjooti
Published: September 2023

Background and Objectives

To improve the understanding of ageism toward older people in the context of climate change, the present study developed and validated a new measure that examines the perceived negative and positive contributions of older people to climate change impact, mitigation, and adaptation efforts.

Research Design and Methods

Four studies (N = 774) were conducted to develop a new measure and evaluate its reliability and validity, relying on exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, multiple-group analysis (Australia and India), discriminative validity, and convergent and divergent validity.

Results

A 2-subscale measure covering older people’s perceived negative contribution to climate change effects (5 items) and perceived positive contribution to adaptation and mitigation measures (3 items; eg, negative, and positive ageism in the context of climate change) was supported by the data. The measure has demonstrated adequate validity and reliability.

Discussion and Implications

The measure highlights a relatively neglected area in current climate change discourse and may assist in identifying ways to improve intergenerational solidarity as part of climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts toward building a world for all ages under a healthy climate, which allows for healthy aging and healthy longevity. These objectives are in line with the current mission posed by the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing.
Acceptability and Feasibility of a Pain and Depressive Symptoms Management Intervention in Middle-Aged and Older African American Women
Authors: Taylor Janiece L , Clair Catherine A , Gitlin Laura N , Atkins Shelbie , Bandeen-Roche Karen , Abshire Saylor Martha , Hladek Melissa deCardi , Riser Tiffany J , Thorpe Roland J , Szanton Sarah L
Published: September 2023

Background and Objectives

The intersection of race, gender, and age puts older African American women at high risk of experiencing comorbid pain and depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and acceptability of a 12-week behavioral activation intervention to target self-selected goals related to pain and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older African American women.

Research Design and Methods

This randomized waitlist control study included 34 self-identified African American women, 50 years of age or older, with moderate-to-severe chronic pain and depressive symptoms. The intervention consisted of 8 in-person or virtual 1-hour visits with a nurse. Follow-up acceptability assessments were conducted with 10 participants.

Results

The average age of the participants was 64.8 (standard deviation [SD] 10.5). They reported an average pain intensity score of 7.0 (SD 1.9) out of 10 and an average Patient Health Questionnaire-9 depressive symptoms score of 11.9 (SD 4.0) at baseline. Of the 34 participants who consented, 28 (82.4%) women started the intervention and 23 (82.1%) completed the intervention. Participants described the study as useful and beneficial. Participants recommended including a group component in future iterations. Effect sizes at 12 weeks were −0.95 for depressive symptoms indicating a substantial decrease in experienced depressive symptoms, but pain intensity was virtually unchanged (+0.09).

Discussion and Implications

The findings of this study demonstrate that the intervention is acceptable among middle-aged and older African American women and their personal goals were met. Including a group component and identifying effective ways to decrease attrition rates will be key in the next steps of development for this intervention. It is crucial to provide tailored, nonpharmacological approaches to pain, and depression symptom management in older adult populations who experience inequities in pain and mental health outcomes. This study emphasizes the importance of participant-driven goal-setting interventions.
Improving care safety by characterizing task interruptions during interactions between healthcare professionals: an observational study
Authors: Teigné Delphine , Cazet Lucie , Birgand Gabriel , Moret Leila , Maupetit Jean-Claude , Mabileau Guillaume , Terrien Noémie
Published: September 2023

Few studies have investigated interruptions to the work of professionals practicing in inpatient hospitals, and even fewer take account of the functions that make up the system. Safety of care can be improved by considering avoidable interruptions during interactions between managerial and care delivery functions. The present study describes the characteristics of interruptions to the work of professionals working in the inpatient hospital sector, with respect to their typology, frequency, duration, and avoidability in the context of interactions between functions. This direct observational study of interruptions in hospital care was performed in the Pays de la Loire (west coast) area of France. A total of 23 teams (17 institutions) working in medical or surgical specialties (excluding intensive care) were included. Observations were performed between May and September 2019, and lasted seven consecutive hours per team. A pair of observers simultaneously observed the same professional for ∼30 min. Each occupational category was examined. Reported characteristics were: (i) the method and duration of the request, (ii) the location of interrupted and interrupting persons, (iii) the reaction of the interrupted person, (iv) the characteristics of the interrupting person, and (v) the classification of interrupted and interrupting tasks according to their function. An avoidable interruption was defined. Interruptions during interactions between professionals were categorised in terms of their function and avoidability. Descriptive statistical analyses (mean, standard deviation, and distribution) were run. In particular, cross-comparisons were run to highlight avoidability interruptions and interactions between managerial and care delivery functions during the working day, for different professional categories, and for the location of the request. Overall, 286 interrupted professionals were observed and 1929 interruptions were characterised. The majority of interruptions were due to a face-to-face request (58.7%), lasting ≤30 s (72.5%). Professionals engaged in the response in 49.3% of cases. A total of 57.4% of interruptions were avoidable. The average number of interruptions was 10.5 (SD = 3.2) per hour per professional. An analysis of avoidability and interactions between managerial and care delivery functions found that the period between 12:00 and 13:00 was the riskiest in terms of care safety. This study highlighted the characteristics of interruptions to the activity of professionals working in inpatient hospitals. Care teams could focus on making medical and nursing professionals much more aware of the importance of interruptions, and each team could decide how to best-manage interruptions, in the context of their specific working environment.
Massive Violence Against Civilians in War
Authors: Mégret Frédéric
Published: September 2023

Armed conflicts have increasingly been characterized by a phenomenon of massive violence against civilians. Beyond a certain point, the question becomes whether such violence is properly characterized as incidental to the pursuit of hostilities or should be seen as conceptually detached from it. This article looks at the competing cases for dealing with this phenomenon of massive violence against civilians from the perspective of war crimes or crimes against humanity. The focus of war crimes particularly when committed as part of a policy at the International Criminal Court has further diminished the difference with crimes against humanity. This article finds that, given the dense overlap of both categories when it comes to massive violence against civilians in times of war, the expressivist finalities of international criminal justice are better served by emphasizing the fundamental nature of such violence as a crime against humanity. This better makes sense of the genealogy of international criminal law as emerging from a tradition of human rights and recuses any notion that systematic attacks against civilians have, in fact and in principle, anything to do with the pursuit of war.
Report on the exact methods for finding minimum-sized DFA
Authors: Wieczorek Wojciech , Strąk Łukasz , Nowakowski Arkadiusz
Published: September 2023

This paper presents four state-of-art methods for the finite-state automaton inference based on a sample of labeled strings. The first algorithm is Exbar, and the next three are mathematical models based on ASP, SAT and SMT theories. The potentiality of using multiprocessor computers in the context of automata inference was our research’s primary goal. In a series of experiments, we showed that our parallelization of the exbar algorithm is the best choice when a multiprocessor system is available. Furthermore, we obtained a superlinear speedup for some of the prepared datasets, achieving almost a 5-fold speedup on the median, using 12 and 24 processes.
Hyaline-vascular type unicentric Castleman disease with dysplastic follicular dendritic cell proliferative lesions: a case report
Authors: Horikawa Daisuke , Shimazaki Ryotaro , Manabe Kazuya , Ichimura Kentaro , Ishibashi Kei , Fukasaku Yasutomo , Ishikawa Takahisa , Koshizuka Yasuyuki , Shibaki Taiichiro , Yanagida Naoyuki , Akabane Hiromitsu , Yokoo Hideki , Sumi Yasuo
Published: September 2023

Castleman disease (CD) is a rare lymphoproliferative disease. Hyaline-vascular type unicentric CD has a good prognosis if completely resected during surgery. However, follicular dendritic cell proliferative lesions have the potential for recurrence and metastasis. A 22-year-old man was referred to our hospital with the chief complaint of nausea and vomiting. These symptoms were caused by a right mesocolonic tumor pushing the duodenum. The patient underwent laparoscopic tumorectomy and complete surgical excision. The postoperative course was uneventful, with no complications. Pathological examination confirmed that the tumor was an enlarged lymph node, typical of hyaline vascular-type CD; however, follicular dendritic cell proliferative lesions were noted. We report a rare case of hyaline-vascular-type CD with follicular dendritic cell proliferative lesions associated with malignancy, as limited case reports exist on this particular disease.
C-TERMINALLY ENCODED PEPTIDE (CEP) and cytokinin hormone signaling intersect to promote shallow lateral root angles
Authors: Chapman Kelly , Taleski Michael , Frank Manuel , Djordjevic Michael A
Published: September 2023

Root system architecture (RSA) influences the acquisition of heterogeneously dispersed soil nutrients. Cytokinin and C-TERMINALLY ENCODED PEPTIDE (CEP) hormones affect RSA, in part by controlling the angle of lateral root (LR) growth. Both hormone pathways converge on CEP DOWNSTREAM 1 (CEPD1) and CEPD2 to control primary root growth; however, a role for CEPDs in controlling the growth angle of LRs is unknown. Using phenotyping combined with genetic and grafting approaches, we show that CEP hormone-mediated shallower LR growth requires cytokinin biosynthesis and perception in roots via ARABIDOPSIS HISTIDINE KINASE 2 (AHK2) and AHK3. Consistently, cytokinin biosynthesis and ahk2,3 mutants phenocopied the steeper root phenotype of cep receptor 1 (cepr1) mutants on agar plates, and CEPR1 was required for trans-Zeatin (tZ)-type cytokinin-mediated shallower LR growth. In addition, the cepd1,2 mutant was less sensitive to CEP and tZ, and showed basally steeper LRs on agar plates. Cytokinin and CEP pathway mutants were grown in rhizoboxes to define the role of these pathways in controlling RSA. Only cytokinin receptor mutants and cepd1,2 partially phenocopied the steeper-rooted phenotype of cepr1 mutants. These results show that CEP and cytokinin signaling intersect to promote shallower LR growth, but additional components contribute to the cepr1 phenotype in soil.
Incidence of Shoulder Labral Pathology in United States Military Members
Authors: Allen Dexter , Somerson Jeremy S , Janney Cory F
Published: September 2023

Introduction

Shoulder injuries account for approximately 8% to 24% of all musculoskeletal injuries in the military. Recently, a change was made to service-specific physical fitness tests. Knowledge of relative shoulder labral injury rates before and after this change would help guide future directions and preventive strategies. However, we found no previous literature evaluating the rates of labral injury among United States Military branch personnel by enlistment status (enlisted versus officer), gender, age, or race.

Materials and Methods

In this retrospective epidemiological study, we queried the Defense Medical Epidemiology Database for International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) code S43.43 (superior glenoid labrum lesion) to determine the total number of patients with a shoulder labral injury from 2016 to 2019. Results were assessed for demographic associations of shoulder labral injury with branch, service occupation, rank, gender, race, and age. Queries were limited to first-time occurrences and ambulatory data only.

Results

Overall, our study found the incidence of shoulder labral injuries to be largely conserved each year from 2016 to 2019 (3.22–3.35/1000/year). Incidence of labral injury was highest in males, White service members, the junior enlisted, the Army service branch, ages 20 to 29, and enlisted non-combat personnel.

Conclusions

With knowledge of injury patterns in specific military populations, initiatives may be taken to identify at-risk service members with the goal of informing future preventive strategies.
Reconceptualizing Music Therapy in Acute Mental Health Settings Part II: Clinical Applications of Single-Session Therapy
Authors: Silverman Michael J
Published: September 2023

By championing the strengths, resources, and resilience of service users and increasing treatment access while limiting costs, single-session therapy (SST) represents a collaborative, direct, and transparent approach to providing treatment. In SST, service users have active and empowered roles in determining the focus, solutions, and extent of the therapy. SST practitioners note that all circumstances, settings, and contexts are unique and thus provide service users with autonomy to help them address the concerns that brought them to seek treatment. In Part II, I describe various ways to implement SST for music therapy clinicians in acute mental health settings. As Carr et al. (2013) noted a need for a music therapy model in acute mental health settings, I highlight Soo-Hoo’s (2018) Strength-Based Multicultural Integrative Therapy model as a potential therapeutic framework. To help music therapists apply aspects of SST to their clinical practice, I also provide questions for therapists to use in SST, describe how to conclude SST, provide suggestions for single-session group music therapy and other applications of single-session therapy in music therapy, and conclude with a critical reflection of SST.
Transitional Support for Former Members of Parliament: Benchmarks for ‘Professional Parliaments’
Authors: Ferguson Peter , Nethery Amy , Nwokora Zim
Published: September 2023

Leaving parliament is often a time of significant financial, employment and emotional difficulty for MPs. However, few studies have examined the support provided by parliaments to departing and former members. Consequently, parliaments lack access to best-practice case studies to improve the transitional experience for MPs. This article develops five benchmarks for supporting former MPs, covering transitional financial assistance; retirement income; career, financial, life transitions and redundancy counselling; mental health and medical services; and social and networking opportunities. These benchmarks are used to assess the support provided to former members by 22 selected ‘professional parliaments’. Although most of these parliaments offer adequate retirement income, none currently provide sufficient transitional financial assistance for MPs who depart before pensionable age. In all cases, improvements are also required to mental health and other counselling services. Most parliaments provide adequate social and networking opportunities. Implementing and extending these measures will improve the transitional experience of former MPs and enhance democratic rotation by reducing impediments to high-quality candidates from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds from seeking political office, while easing the exit of MPs who are ready to leave.
Retrospective analysis of equity-based optimization for COVID-19 vaccine allocation
Authors: Stafford Erin , Dimitrov Dobromir , Ceballos Rachel , Campelia Georgina , Matrajt Laura
Published: September 2023

Marginalized racial and ethnic groups in the United States were disproportionally affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. To study these disparities, we construct an age-and-race-stratified mathematical model of SARS-CoV-2 transmission fitted to age-and-race-stratified data from 2020 in Oregon and analyze counterfactual vaccination strategies in early 2021. We consider two racial groups: non-Hispanic White persons and persons belonging to BIPOC groups (including non-Hispanic Black persons, non-Hispanic Asian persons, non-Hispanic American-Indian or Alaska-Native persons, and Hispanic or Latino persons). We allocate a limited amount of vaccine to minimize overall disease burden (deaths or years of life lost), inequity in disease outcomes between racial groups (measured with five different metrics), or both. We find that, when allocating small amounts of vaccine (10% coverage), there is a trade-off between minimizing disease burden and minimizing inequity. Older age groups, who are at a greater risk of severe disease and death, are prioritized when minimizing measures of disease burden, and younger BIPOC groups, who face the most inequities, are prioritized when minimizing measures of inequity. The allocation strategies that minimize combinations of measures can produce middle-ground solutions that similarly improve both disease burden and inequity, but the trade-off can only be mitigated by increasing the vaccine supply. With enough resources to vaccinate 20% of the population the trade-off lessens, and with 30% coverage, we can optimize both equity and mortality. Our goal is to provide a race-conscious framework to quantify and minimize inequity that can be used for future pandemics and other public health interventions.
Spreading expertise: think tanks as digital advocators in the social media era
Authors: Zhao Jing , Zhu Xufeng
Published: September 2023

Think tanks and their roles in rendering expertise in policy advice have been the subject of historical and ongoing research in policy sciences. However, the widening trend of digital behaviors of think tanks in the social media era is yet to be investigated. While social media is reshaping the political ecology and challenging conventional sources of knowledge, it also serves as a potential channel for think tanks to publicly share their expertise and policy advice with the public and decision-makers, thus evolving into “digital advocators.” Based on social media big data methods, this paper has constructed two sets of new think tank indicators with “network centrality” of social media accounts and “ripple effect” of social media citations from Facebook and Twitter to capture and observe the digital activities of 207 prominent think tanks in 62 countries or regions. We have concluded that think tanks have displayed their opinion and values and increased visibility as digital advocators by spreading expertise on social media platforms with online marketing skills. With various values and ideas, social media not only is hosting massive policy advocacy activities and being an expertise spreading arena for think tanks but has also been changing the ecology of the think tank industry and expertise markets.
The Tophus Impact Questionnaire (TIQ-20): responsiveness to change during urate-lowering therapy
Authors: Cao Cindy , Gamble Greg , Horne Anne , Aati Opetaia , Doyle Anthony , Drake Jill , Stamp Lisa K , Dalbeth Nicola
Published: September 2023

Objectives

In 2015, the 20-item Tophus Impact Questionnaire (TIQ-20) was developed as a tophus-specific patient-reported outcome measure. The aim of this study was to determine whether TIQ-20 scores change during urate-lowering therapy.

Methods

We analysed data from a 2-year clinical trial of allopurinol dose escalation using a treat-to-target serum urate approach. For participants with tophaceous gout, the longest diameter of up to three index tophi was measured, using Vernier calipers, and the TIQ-20 was recorded at study visits. Participants at the one site were invited to participate in a dual-energy CT (DECT) substudy. Participants were included in this analysis if they had tophaceous gout and TIQ-20 scores available at baseline, Year 1 and Year 2 (n = 58, 39 with DECT data). Data were analysed using a mixed-model approach to repeated measures.

Results

Improvements were observed in all tophus measures over the 2-year period. The mean (s.d.) TIQ-20 scores reduced over 2 years from 3.59 (1.77) to 2.46 (1.73), P < 0.0001, and the mean (95% CI) TIQ-20 change over the 2 years was –1.13 (–1.54, –0.71). The effect size (Cohen’s d) for the change in the sum of the index tophi diameter over 2 years was 0.68, for the DECT urate volume was 0.50, and for the TIQ-20 was 0.71.

Conclusion

For people with tophaceous gout treated with allopurinol using a treat-to-target serum urate approach, improvements in TIQ-20 occurred, as did improvements in physical and imaging tophus measures. These findings demonstrate that the TIQ-20 is a responsive patient-reported instrument of tophus impact.
Fitness effects of mutations to SARS-CoV-2 proteins
Authors: Bloom Jesse D , Neher Richard A
Published: September 2023

Knowledge of the fitness effects of mutations to SARS-CoV-2 can inform assessment of new variants, design of therapeutics resistant to escape, and understanding of the functions of viral proteins. However, experimentally measuring effects of mutations is challenging: we lack tractable lab assays for many SARS-CoV-2 proteins, and comprehensive deep mutational scanning has been applied to only two SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Here, we develop an approach that leverages millions of publicly available SARS-CoV-2 sequences to estimate effects of mutations. We first calculate how many independent occurrences of each mutation are expected to be observed along the SARS-CoV-2 phylogeny in the absence of selection. We then compare these expected observations to the actual observations to estimate the effect of each mutation. These estimates correlate well with deep mutational scanning measurements. For most genes, synonymous mutations are nearly neutral, stop-codon mutations are deleterious, and amino acid mutations have a range of effects. However, some viral accessory proteins are under little to no selection. We provide interactive visualizations of effects of mutations to all SARS-CoV-2 proteins (https://jbloomlab.github.io/SARS2-mut-fitness/). The framework we describe is applicable to any virus for which the number of available sequences is sufficiently large that many independent occurrences of each neutral mutation are observed.