bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of a rapid test for point‐of‐care detection of cardiac troponin I in serum of healthy and diseased dogs and cats
Authors: Santarelli G. , Sebastián Marcos P. , Talavera J. , Aznar‐Cervantes S. D. , Fernández del Palacio J.
Published: November 2024

Objectives

(1) To compare the results of a rapid test for qualitative detection of cardiac troponin I (cTnI) values >1 ng/mL with those obtained using a reference quantitative method and (2) to perform a semiquantitative assessment of rapid test results using this point‐of‐care (POC) assay.

Design

Prospective cross‐sectional study from April 2015 to November 2020.

Setting

Secondary referral hospital.

Animals

Eighty dogs and 20 cats, with and without cardiovascular disease.

Interventions

None.

Measurements and Main Results

Serum samples were obtained, and cTnI rapid test was conducted in parallel with chemiluminescence assay (reference standard). Positive results from the rapid test were further classified as mild and strong positives, based on subjective assessment of the color intensity of the test line. Rapid test was deemed valid in all patients. There was agreement for positive samples between the qualitative and quantitative techniques in 31 dogs and 5 cats, and for negative samples in 43 dogs and 13 cats, resulting in a strong and moderate agreement, respectively. There was a significant difference between color scale groups.

Conclusions

The rapid test assessed provides a feasible POC option to determine concentrations of cTnI >1 ng/mL in dogs and cats and shows a moderate to strong agreement with a validated conventional quantitative assay. Furthermore, semiquantitative assessment allows estimation of the magnitude of the elevation.
Validation of Exercise and Postexercise Energy Expenditure Estimates Using Hip and Wrist Accelerometer Algorithms
Authors: Remillard Nicholas M. , Hoogkamer Wouter , Layec Gwenael , Sirard John
Published: November 2024

To estimate physical activity intensity, accelerometer-based devices are often calibrated to energy expenditure (EE) measures using indirect calorimetry (IC). Most EE estimation algorithms are based on steady-state data and do not consider excess postexercise oxygen consumption (EPOC). Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of incorporating EPOC into linear and nonlinear accelerometer methods for estimating EE after high-intensity running. Methods: Nine adult males participated in three visits using IC to measure EE while wearing wrist and hip ActiGraph accelerometers. Each visit is described as follows: (a) Visit 1: a treadmill VO2peak test determined treadmill speed for subsequent visits; (b) Visit 2: 20-min seated baseline and three vigorous treadmill running bouts (30, 60, and 120 s) with 20-min seated rest between; and (c) Visit 3: 60-min supine baseline and a 30-min treadmill run followed by 3-hr supine rest. Fifteen EE estimation algorithms were compared with IC-measured EE. The bias (ActiGraph accelerometers − IC) and 95% confidence interval of the bias were used to determine significance. Results: Linear regression EE algorithms tended to overestimate EE after each exercise bout (mean bias kilocalories [95% confidence intervals]; 30 s: 12.5 [3.3, 21.6], 60 s: 9.6 [0.4, 18.9], 120 s: 6.5 [−2.7, 15.7], and 30 min: 177.5 [84.6, 262.1]). The nonlinear algorithms underestimated EE after the short bouts and, due to the wide confidence interval, demonstrated no bias after the 30-min bout (30 s: −7.9 [−10.2, −5.6], 60 s: −10.9 [−14.0, −7.9], 120 s: −15.4 [−15.9, −14.8], 30 min: 14.8[−39.5, 69.2]). Adding EPOC did not improve EE estimates. Conclusions: Generally, the addition of measured EPOC did not improve device-based EE estimates. Nonlinear methods demonstrated less bias in estimating postexercise EE than linear methods.
A Treadmill-Based Evaluation of the Validity of the ActivPAL4 for Detecting Steps in Walking and Running in Healthy Adults
Authors: Choi Jordan , Hon Sereen , Redpath Louise , Wu Chi Chian , Stansfield Ben
Published: November 2024

Objective: To accurately characterize people’s physical activity validated measurement devices must be used. The activPAL4 physical activity monitor allows measurement of stepping. A systematic approach was taken to validate the monitor for walking and running, across the walk to run transition. Methods: A cross-sectional sample of healthy young adults completed an incremental treadmill-based protocol (speeds 3.0–11.8 km/hr in 0.4 km/hr increments; 0.83–3.28 m/s). A video-based reference standard was used to evaluate the accuracy of the activPAL4 (thigh-mounted activity monitor) in detecting steps with mean percentage error, mean absolute percentage error, and agreement calculated. A linear regression modeled mean percentage error using sex, body mass index, height, cadence, and step length. Results: Thirty-six participants (25.6 ± 3.7 years, 18 M/18 F) transitioned from walking to running between 1.61 and 2.28 m/s. Mean percentage error between activPAL4 and video-based step count within speeds ranged from 1.6% to 4.3% for walking and 1.1% to 20.5% for running. Overall, walking step detection was good (mean absolute percentage error 3.1%), but steps were undercounted by the activPAL4 during running (mean absolute percentage error 14.5%). Regression modeling indicated that in walking for males activPAL4 undercounted by 2.85%, for females 1.79%. In running, for males activPAL4 undercounted steps by 13.3%, for females 15.6%. Sex and body mass index explained only a small amount of variance(). Cadence was the most important predictor of percentage error in running () contributing to an adjusted R2 of .391. Conclusion: The activPAL4 measures walking steps well across the range of walking speeds from 0.83 to 1.94 m/s. Running steps were undercounted by the activPAL4 in relation to video-based observation between 10% and 20% between 1.83 and 3.28 m/s.
Assessing the Efficacy of Sport-Based Physical Education on Children’s Activity Behaviors: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Authors: Cepni Aliye B. , Walsh David W. , Kim Hanjoe , Yoon Cynthia Y. , Hughes Sheryl O. , Ledoux Tracey A. , Johnston Craig A.
Published: November 2024

Background: Children from low-income and racial/ethnic minority backgrounds are more prone to insufficient physical activity and heightened sedentary behaviors. This study aims to increase moderate to vigorous physical activity and decrease sedentary behaviors among high-risk children through an inclusive and transformative sport skill development physical education (PE) intervention. Methods: Elementary school-aged children were recruited from 3 public schools located in underserved communities in Houston, TX. Classrooms were randomly assigned to a sport-based PE class (intervention, 12 classrooms, n = 124) or a standard PE class (control, 13 classrooms, n = 133). The intervention was implemented at school by teachers over 10 weeks, whereas at home, the intervention group received equipment, virtual classes, and parent trainings. Activity behaviors were assessed using accelerometry (ActiGraph GT3X+) at baseline and post intervention. Multilevel linear mixed-effects models were conducted to examine changes in activity behaviors between the study conditions. Results: Participants were 9.33 (0.68) years old, and 46% were females, who identified as either Hispanic/Latino (48%) and/or Black (38%). The difference in minutes of weekend sedentary behavior change was 32 minutes between study conditions (P = .012). Specifically, intervention girls decreased weekend sedentary behavior by 37 minutes, whereas girls in the control condition increased by 8 minutes (P < .01). Despite the direction of change in overall, weekday, or weekend moderate to vigorous physical activity and overall or weekday sedentary behaviors in favor of the intervention, these effects did not reach the statistically significant level compared to the control condition. Conclusions: Sport-based PE intervention can be an important strategy to decrease child sedentary behaviors during out-of-school periods, particularly among girls.
Body Mass Index Predicts Function in Individuals With Plantar Fasciopathy: A Longitudinal Observational Study
Authors: Brandão Fernanda Colen Milagres , Freire Ana Paula Coelho Figueira , Rabelo Daniel Barreto , Melo Sabrina Oliveira , Mastahinich Mario Efraín Recinos , Zambelli Roberto , Souza Thales R. , Pinto Rafael Z.
Published: November 2024

Context: Plantar fasciopathy (PF) is a common, self-limiting condition with notable economic impact and multifactorial origins. Clinical tests help clinicians to identify specific dysfunction and limitations influencing PF’s clinical course. This study aims to investigate whether body mass index (BMI) influences the performance of clinical tests and clinical presentation of individuals with PF and to determine whether BMI and clinical tests predict the clinical course of PF over a 3-month follow-up period. Design: This study is a longitudinal observational study. Participants were grouped, according to the median BMI, into low and high BMI. Setting: Healthcare centers and physiotherapy clinics. Participants: Fifty-two individuals with PF participated in this study. Main Outcome Measures: Baseline: Ankle dorsiflexion range of motion and navicular drop, heel-rise, and step-down tests were administered. Pain intensity and function were measured at baseline and at 3-month follow-up. Results: Low BMI group showed better function (mean difference = 11.8; 95% CI, 1.9 to 21.6) and lower pain intensity (mean difference = −1.5; 95% CI, −2.6 to −0.3) than the high BMI group. In the multivariable regression model, higher BMI predicted lower function (beta coefficient = −1.20; 95% CI, −2.3 to −0.3). Conclusions: In individuals with PF, BMI levels influenced PF clinical presentation. The high BMI group showed more severe pain and lower function. Higher BMI was found to be a poor prognostic factor for function in individuals with PF.
Physical Activity Avoidance During Menstruation—The Role of Coping and Self-Efficacy
Authors: Morse Christopher I. , Hearn Jasmine , Holmes Paul S. , Kolić Petra
Published: November 2024

The aim of the present study was to investigate self-efficacy and coping strategies in women who avoided physical activity during menstruation (avoiders), adapted their physical activity during menstruation (adaptors), or maintained their normal physical activity during menstruation (nonavoiders). Using an online survey which included sections on menstrual severity, menstrual attitude (menstrual self-evaluation questionnaire), coping (the premenstrual coping measure and the coping inventory for stressful situations), and self-efficacy for exercise, 349 respondents were classified as avoiders (40.7%), adapters (33.5%), and non-avoiders (25.8%). Avoiders and adapters had similar menstrual symptoms, with menstrual flow and menstrual pain being greater in avoiders than non-avoiders (p < .001). The positive elements of menstrual attitude were lower in avoiders compared with nonavoiders (p < .05). Avoiders had lower task-focused coping strategies (p < .05), with premenstrual coping showing avoiders to have higher self-care and adjusting energy coping strategies (all p < .01). Compared with nonavoiders and adapters, avoiders had lower self-efficacy for exercise (p < .001). During menstruation, avoiders of physical activity do so with more severe and frequent menstrual symptoms, a less positive attitude to menstruation, more passive and avoidance coping strategies, and with lower self-efficacy than non-avoiders. Despite presenting with similar menstrual symptoms to avoiders, adapters continue to exercise during menstruation, underpinned by a higher self-efficacy for exercise. Taken together, these findings suggest that self-efficacy and coping strategies may act as important factors for physical activity avoidance during menstruation.
Recombination across distant coronavirid species and genera is a rare event with distinct genomic features
Authors: Patiño-Galindo Juan , García-Sastre Adolfo , Kuhn Jens H. , Rabadan Raul , Palacios Gustavo
Published: November 2024

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; family
Coronaviridae
, genus
Betacoronavirus
, subgenus
Sarbecovirus
) has caused millions of deaths, prompting a need for better understanding of coronavirid emergence and spillover to humans. As an evaluation of how some features of SARS-CoV-2, unique among sarbecoviruses, may have been acquired from related viruses, we conducted phylogenetic and recombination analyses to compare the frequency of recombination among coronavirids across vs within genera, subgenera, and species. Among known betacoronaviruses, we identified 199 (183 intraspecies, 16 interspecies, but no intersubgenera) recombination events. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that the ancestry of interspecies events was limited and less prone to affect 5′ regions of coronavirid genome open reading frame 1 (ORF1) than intraspecies events. On the contrary, interspecies events were significantly more prone to impact the 3′ end (ORF6–ORF8 and the nucleocapsid protein [
N
] ORF), suggesting the existence of region-specific constraints on recombination. This work substantiated that recombination among betacoronaviruses is limited by the genome similarity between their parental viruses. We conclude that SARS-CoV-2 likely acquired unique features through recombination with closely related circulating sarbecoviruses (most likely from the same species) that co-existed geographically.

IMPORTANCE

Understanding the evolutionary events that led to SARS-CoV-2 emergence, spillover, and spread is crucial to prevent, or at least be prepared for, the same type of occurrence in the future. Given that SARS-CoV-2 has some characteristics not found in other closely related viruses, we aimed to systematically assess how likely these unique features may have been acquired through recombination. We found that, although recombination is a frequent phenomenon among betacoronaviruses, it is mostly limited to closely related members of the same species. Therefore, we conclude that the most likely scenario involved feature acquisition from recombination with a closely related virus that was circulating in a geographically overlapping area or through a different biological process, but not recombination from a virus of a different species, genus, or subgenus.
Metabolomic profiles of stony coral species from the Dry Tortugas National Park display inter- and intraspecies variation
Authors: Deutsch Jessica M. , Demko Alyssa M. , Jaiyesimi Olakunle A. , Foster Gabriel , Kindler Adelaide , Pitts Kelly A. , Vekich Tessa , Williams Gareth J. , Walker Brian K. , Paul Valerie J. , Garg Neha
Published: November 2024

Coral reefs are experiencing unprecedented loss in coral cover due to increased incidence of disease and bleaching events. Thus, understanding mechanisms of disease susceptibility and resilience, which vary by species, is important. In this regard, untargeted metabolomics serves as an important hypothesis-building tool enabling the delineation of molecular factors underlying disease susceptibility or resilience. In this study, we characterize metabolomes of four species of visually healthy stony corals, including
Meandrina meandrites
,
Orbicella faveolata
,
Colpophyllia natans
, and
Montastraea cavernosa
, collected at least a year before stony coral tissue loss disease reached the Dry Tortugas, Florida, and demonstrate that both symbiont and host-derived biochemical pathways vary by species. Metabolomes of
Meandrina meandrites
displayed minimal intraspecies variability and the highest biological activity against coral pathogens when compared to other species in this study. The application of advanced metabolite annotation methods enabled the delineation of several pathways underlying interspecies variability. Specifically, endosymbiont-derived vitamin E family compounds, betaine lipids, and host-derived acylcarnitines were among the top predictors of interspecies variability. Since several metabolite features that contributed to inter- and intraspecies variation are synthesized by the endosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae, which could be a major source of these compounds in corals, our data will guide further investigations into these Symbiodiniaceae-derived pathways.

IMPORTANCE

Previous research profiling gene expression, proteins, and metabolites produced during thermal stress have reported the importance of endosymbiont-derived pathways in coral bleaching resistance. However, our understanding of interspecies variation in these pathways among healthy corals and their role in diseases is limited. We surveyed the metabolomes of four species of healthy corals with differing susceptibilities to the devastating stony coral tissue loss disease and applied advanced annotation approaches in untargeted metabolomics to determine the interspecies variation in host and endosymbiont-derived pathways. Using this approach, we propose the survey of immune markers such as vitamin E family compounds, acylcarnitines, and other metabolites to infer their role in resilience to coral diseases. As time-resolved multi-omics datasets are generated for disease-impacted corals, our approach and findings will be valuable in providing insight into the mechanisms of disease resistance.
Clinical laboratory evaluation of the Hologic Panther Aptima BV and CV/TV assays for the diagnosis of vaginitis in Dunedin, Aotearoa New Zealand
Authors: Elvy Juliet , Carter Katelyn , Paterson Jenna , Smith Megan , Parslow Gayleen , Ussher James E.
Published: November 2024

Vaginitis presentations are common, but traditional diagnostic methods are imperfect. Molecular methods for bacterial vaginosis (BV) and vulvovaginal candidiasis (CV) are increasingly available but not commonly utilized in Aotearoa New Zealand. We evaluated the Hologic Aptima BV and CV/
Trichomonas vaginalis
(TV) assays against our current methods (Gram stain, yeast culture, and Hologic Aptima TV assay) and performed a retrospective BV clinical audit. The BV Aptima assay performed well with high sensitivity (97.5%) and specificity (96.3%) when the indeterminate BV category was excluded. BV indeterminate samples were almost evenly split between positive and negative results when tested on the Aptima BV assay. BV Gram stain interpretation was error prone, with 20% of samples discordant on duplicate examination. Although the Aptima CV assay was highly sensitive, it lacked specificity compared with Gram stain (83.5%) but was similar to culture (91.2%). Our BV clinical audit showed that patients with a BV indeterminate result were less likely to be treated for BV than those with a positive result, meaning more women may be treated for BV if this assay were implemented. Overall, implementation may improve laboratory workflow and consistency of reporting, but cost may be a barrier. The clinical impact of changing methods needs to be considered.

IMPORTANCE

In this paper, we evaluate the performance of the Aptima molecular assays against current Gram stain and culture methods, as well as a clinical audit to determine the potential clinical impact of implementation. Although molecular methods are increasingly used in other countries, New Zealand has not yet adopted this approach. Importantly, we found Gram stain for bacterial vaginosis (BV) to be error prone, with 20% of Gram stain results discordant on repeat examination. We show the potential for molecular methods to increase BV diagnoses and improve reproducibility and consistency of reporting which, according to our clinical audit results, would lead to more women being treated for this dysbiosis condition overall.
Liquid biopsy to identify Barrett’s oesophagus, dysplasia and oesophageal adenocarcinoma: theEMERALDmulticentre study
Authors: Miyoshi Jinsei , Mannucci Alessandro , Scarpa Marco , Gao Feng , Toden Shusuke , Whitsett Timothy , Inge Landon J , Bremner Ross M , Takayama Tetsuji , Cheng Yulan , Bottiglieri Teodoro , Nagetaal Iris D , Shrubsole Martha J , Zaidi Ali H , Wang Xin , Coleman Helen G , Anderson Lesley A , Meltzer Stephen J , Goel Ajay
Published: November 2024

Background

There is no clinically relevant serological marker for the early detection of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) and its precursor lesion, Barrett’s oesophagus (BE).

Objective

To develop and test a blood-based assay for EAC and BE.

Design

Oesophageal MicroRNAs of BaRRett, Adenocarcinoma and Dysplasia (EMERALD) was a large, international, multicentre biomarker cohort study involving 792 patient samples from 4 countries (NCT06381583) to develop and validate a circulating miRNA signature for the early detection of EAC and high-risk BE. Tissue-based miRNA sequencing and microarray datasets (n=134) were used to identify candidate miRNAs of diagnostic potential, followed by validation using 42 pairs of matched cancer and normal tissues. The usefulness of the candidate miRNAs was initially assessed using 108 sera (44 EAC, 34 EAC precursors and 30 non-disease controls). We finally trained a machine learning model (XGBoost+AdaBoost) on RT-qPCR results from circulating miRNAs from a training cohort (n=160) and independently tested it in an external cohort (n=295).

Results

After a strict process of biomarker discovery and selection, we identified six miRNAs that were overexpressed in all sera of patients compared with non-disease controls from three independent cohorts of different nationalities (miR-106b, miR-146a, miR-15a, miR-18a, miR-21 and miR-93). We established a six-miRNA diagnostic signature using the training cohort (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC): 97.6%) and tested it in an independent cohort (AUROC: 91.9%). This assay could also identify patients with BE among patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (AUROC: 94.8%, sensitivity: 92.8%, specificity: 85.1%).

Conclusion

Using a comprehensive approach integrating unbiased genome-wide biomarker discovery and several independent experimental validations, we have developed and validated a novel blood test that might complement screening options for BE/EAC.

Trial registration number

NCT06381583.
Searching for the vector-like X-quark at the future electron–proton colliders
Authors: Zhang Yan-Ju , Zhu Yong-Tao , Han Lin , Bi Yan-Ping , Liu Tai-Gang
Published: November 2024

In a simplified model including an exotic vector-like X-quark (VLQ-X) with electric charge 5/3, we investigate the process $$e^{+}p \rightarrow \bar{\nu }_{e}X+\bar{\nu }_{e}X\bar{t}$$

e
+

p
→

ν

¯

e

X
+

ν

¯

e

X

t

¯

induced by the couplings between the VLQ-X and the first- and third-generation quarks at the future ep colliders. We further explore the prospects of discovering the VLQ-X via the $$X\rightarrow tW$$

X
→
t
W

decay model at the electron–hadron Future Circular Collider (FCC-eh) with its proposed 60 GeV electron beam and 50 TeV proton beam. We focus our analysis on the final states, including two same-sign lepton (electrons or muons) or $$\mu \mu $$

μ
μ

pairs, at least one b-tagged jet, and large missing transverse momentum. By performing a detailed signal-to-background analysis and detector simulations, the 95% confidence level exclusion limits and $$5\sigma $$

5
σ

discovery reaches are presented in terms of parameter space regions.
Black hole solutions in double field theory
Authors: Ying Shuxuan
Published: November 2024

In this paper, we study black hole solutions in double field theory. In the first part, we introduce a solution-generating method and classify black hole solutions into three categories in standard double field theory. To solve the problem of double time, we utilize space/time split double field theory in the second part to derive black hole solutions. By introducing a cosmological constant and imposing the strong constraint, our findings indicate that when considering the entire doubled spacetime, the curvature signifies a generalized AdS vacuum. However, in the subspace of the entire spacetime, black holes and curvature singularities emerge.
Signatures from the observed jet power and the radiative efficiency for rotating black holes in loop quantum gravity
Authors: Cheng Zhengwei , Chen Songbai , Jing Jiliang
Published: November 2024

We investigate the radiative efficiency and jet power in the spacetime of a rotating black hole within the framework of loop quantum gravity (LQG), which includes an additional LQG parameter. The results show that as the LQG parameter increases, the radiative efficiency decreases for slowly rotating black holes while it increases for rapidly rotating black holes. Furthermore, the jet power is found to increase for different black hole spins. With the observed data from the well-known sources A0620-00, H1743-322, XTE J1550-564, GRS1124-683, GRO J1655-40, and GRS1915+105, we make some constraints on the black hole spin parameter and the LQG parameter. The presence of the LQG parameter broadens the allowed range of the black hole spin parameter for sources A0620-00, H1743-322, XTE J1550-564 and GRO J1655-40. However, for the source GRS 1915+105, there is no overlap between the allowed parameter regions, which implies that the rotating LQG black hole cannot simultaneously account for the observed jet power and the radiative efficiency as in other black hole spacetimes
Planar vortices in a Lorentz symmetry breaking environment
Authors: Mavigno E. , Belich H. , Luchini G.
Published: November 2024

We revisit planar vortex solutions within a model derived from the dimensional reduction of scalar electromagnetism, with a quartic potential incorporating the Carroll–Field–Jackiw term. We explore analytically and numerically the influence of a Lorentz symmetry-breaking constant field on these configurations and our analysis shows how this constant field can produce a new asymptotic behaviour characterised by damped oscillations of the electric and magnetic fields on the edge of the vortices.
Research Progress of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Treating Central Nervous System Diseases by Modulating Ferroptosis
Authors: Zhou Zhiyu , Yu Yajun , Miao Jingchao , Wang Guan , Wang Yixi , Wang Tianlin , Ji Hongchang , Tan Lijun
Published: November 2024

A newly proposed form of programmed cell death, ferroptosis, is distinct in cellular morphology, biochemical characteristics, and genetic characteristics from apoptosis, autophagy, and necrosis. Its mechanisms primarily encompass iron overload, lipid peroxidation, and amino acid metabolisms. Extensive research confirms that ferroptosis is linked to the onset and progression of various diseases that pose a threat to the central nervous system (CNS), offering new directions and targets for the mechanistic study and pharmacotherapy of CNS diseases. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), encompassing herbal medicines (extracts, compound formulations, injections, etc.), acupuncture, and moxibustion, boasts advantages over other treatments, such as multi-pathway and multi-target approaches and high safety. TCM has also demonstrated good efficacy in treating CNS diseases. Numerous studies indicate that TCM can modulate ferroptosis to treat CNS diseases, showing promising research prospects. This paper briefly outlines the pathways and mechanisms of ferroptosis and systematically summarizes the current status and progress of TCM in regulating various CNS diseases through the ferroptosis pathway, providing new insights and directions for future TCM treatments of CNS diseases.
Chapter 1. Introduction to the Albertine Rift
Authors: Nicholas Christopher J.
Published: November 2024

Continental rifting is a fundamental geological process that has been responsible for breaking supercontinents apart and opening new ocean basins throughout Earth's history and the East African Rift System (EARS) is the best active example of this happening in the world today. The Albertine Rift lies at the northern end of the Western Arm of the EARS, consisting primarily of the Lake Albert and Lake Edward basins as they pass along the border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. This Memoir describes the key geomorphological features found in the Albertine Rift Valley at the present day, identifying the sedimentary dynamic elements that dovetail together to characterise the dominant depositional environments in these early continental rift basins. These are then used to interpret the Pliocene - Holocene sedimentary sequences, documented during geological field surveys over an eight year period, exposed around the onshore parts of the Lake Albert and Lake Edward rift valleys. Ultimately, the sedimentary dynamics of the Albertine Rift and the stacking of its three-dimensional stratigraphic architecture, is shown to beat to the rhythm of oscillating global glacial - interglacial climatic cyclicity and how this affects the Equatorial Tropics of Africa.
Chapter 7. Albertine Rift Basin Deltas
Authors: Nicholas Christopher J.
Published: November 2024

One of the most obvious geomorphological features that can form at a coastline is a delta. In the Albertine Rift, at the long-axial shorelines of lakes away from rift border faults at the basin flanks, and where there is a gentle, offshore topographic dip to the rift valley floor, then a long-axial delta system (LADS) can form. Low-level aerial photography demonstrates that these have a relatively high sediment discharge over a remarkably short period of time, prograding tens of metres in only a few years. This produces an elongate delta finger lobe, with associated characteristic geomorphological features, such as dextral and sinistral spits, barrier and mouth bars. Yet, no delta finger lobes are more than a few kilometres long, indicating that incremental movement along rift bounding and intra-basinal faults change the dip of the rift valley floor and cause forced avulsion in rivers and rapid abandonment of a LADS. Together, these factors produce easily identifiable intervals within Pleistocene - Holocene rift-fill stratigraphy that display coarsening-up parasequence sets within an overall 3-5 m deltaic package. Typically, these will be stacked in the stratigraphy between recogniseable marginal lacustrine sediments, such as sand berms and runnel lagoons.
Learn to Create Simple LEGO Micro Buildings
Authors: Ge Jiahao , Zhou Mingjun , Fu Chi-Wing
Published: November 2024

This paper presents the first learning-based generative pipeline for effectively creating 3D LEGO®
1
models. This task is very challenging due to the lack of dedicated representations and datasets for learning coherently-connected bricks arrangements, as well as an immense design space that is combinatorial in nature. We approach this task by focusing on creating LEGO® micro buildings. Our contributions are four-fold. First, we propose the LEGO® semantic volume representation to encode LEGO® models, considering the bricks types and bricks connections, while allowing back-propagation learning. Second, we further consider the transformative nature of LEGO
®
to atomize the semantic volume and formulate a generative model to learn the representation. Third, we build a rich dataset of micro buildings for model learning. Last, we design the progressive reconstructor to create 3D LEGO® models from the generated representations, while ensuring bricks connections. We employed our pipeline to create LEGO
®
micro buildings with a wide array of bricks types, demonstrating its strong capability of learning diverse micro-building styles and producing assemble-able LEGO® models. Further, we performed various quantitative evaluations, ablations, and a user study to show the compelling capability of our approach in terms of generative quality, fidelity, and diversity.
MATTopo: Topology-preserving Medial Axis Transform with Restricted Power Diagram
Authors: Wang Ningna , Huang Hui , Song Shibo , Wang Bin , Wang Wenping , Guo Xiaohu
Published: November 2024

We present a novel topology-preserving 3D medial axis computation framework based on volumetric restricted power diagram (RPD), while preserving the medial features and geometric convergence simultaneously, for both 3D CAD and organic shapes. The volumetric RPD discretizes the input 3D volume into sub-regions given a set of medial spheres. With this intermediate structure, we convert the homotopy equivalency between the generated medial mesh and the input 3D shape into a localized contractibility checking for each restricted element (power cell, power face, power edge), by checking their connected components and Euler characteristics. We further propose a fractional Euler characteristic algorithm for efficient GPU-based computation of Euler characteristic for each restricted element on the fly while computing the volumetric RPD. Compared with existing voxel-based or point-cloud-based methods, our approach is the first to adaptively and directly revise the medial mesh without globally modifying the dependent structure, such as voxel size or sampling density, while preserving its topology and medial features. In comparison with the feature preservation method MATFP [Wang et al. 2022], our method provides geometrically comparable results with fewer spheres and more robustly captures the topology of the input 3D shape.
Optimized shock-protecting microstructures
Authors: Huang Zizhou , Panozzo Daniele , Zorin Denis
Published: November 2024

Mechanical shock is a common occurrence in various settings, there are two different scenarios for shock protection: catastrophic protection (e.g. car collisions and falls) and routine protection (e.g. shoe soles and mattresses). The former protects against one-time events, the latter against periodic shocks and loads. Common shock absorbers based on plasticity and fracturing materials are suitable for the former, while our focus is on the latter, where elastic structures are useful. Further, we optimize the effective elastic material properties which control the critical shock parameter, maximal stress, with energy dissipation by viscous forces assumed adequate. Improved elastic materials protecting against shock can be used in applications such as automotive suspension, furniture like sofas and mattresses, landing gear systems, etc. Materials offering optimal protection against shock have a highly non-linear elastic response: their reaction force needs to be as close as possible to constant with respect to deformation.

In this paper, we use shape optimization and topology search to design 2D families of microstructures approximating the ideal behavior across a range of deformations, leading to superior shock protection. We present an algorithmic pipeline for the optimal design of such families combining differentiable nonlinear homogenization with self-contact and an optimization algorithm. We validate the effectiveness of our advanced 2D designs by extruding and fabricating them with 3D printing technologies and performing material and drop testing.
DreamUDF: Generating Unsigned Distance Fields from A Single Image
Authors: Liu Yu-Tao , Gao Xuan , Chen Weikai , Yang Jie , Meng Xiaoxu , Yang Bo , Gao Lin
Published: November 2024

Recent advances in diffusion models and neural implicit surfaces have shown promising progress in generating 3D models. However, existing generative frameworks are limited to closed surfaces, failing to cope with a wide range of commonly seen shapes that have open boundaries. In this work, we present DreamUDF, a novel framework for generating high-quality 3D objects with arbitrary topologies from a single image. To address the challenge of generating proper topology given sparse and ambiguous observations, we propose to incorporate both the data priors from a multi-view diffusion model and the geometry priors brought by an unsigned distance field (UDF) reconstructor. In particular, we leverage a joint framework that consists of 1) a generation module that produces a neural radiance field for photorealistic renderings from arbitrary views; and 2) a reconstruction module that distills the learnable radiance field into surfaces with arbitrary topologies. We further introduce a field coupler that bridges the radiance field and UDF under a novel optimization scheme. This allows the two modules to mutually boost each other during training. Extensive experiments and evaluations demonstrate that DreamUDF achieves high-quality reconstruction and robust 3D generation on both closed and open surfaces with arbitrary topologies, compared to the previous works.
Fast and Globally Consistent Normal Orientation based on the Winding Number Normal Consistency
Authors: Lin Siyou , Shi Zuoqiang , Liu Yebin
Published: November 2024

Estimating consistently oriented normals for point clouds enables a number of important applications in computer graphics such as surface reconstruction. While local normal estimation is possible with simple techniques like principal component analysis (PCA), orienting these normals to be globally consistent has been a notoriously difficult problem. Some recent methods exploit various properties of the winding number formula to achieve global consistency with state-of-the-art performance. Despite their exciting progress, these algorithms either have high space/time complexity, or do not produce accurate and consistently oriented normals for imperfect data. In this paper, we propose a novel property from the winding number formula, termed
Winding Number Normal Consistency (WNNC
), to tackle this problem. The derived property is based on the simple observation that the normals (negative gradients) sampled from the winding number field should be codirectional to the normals used to compute the winding number field. Since the WNNC property itself does not resolve the inside/outside orientation ambiguity, we further propose to incorporate an objective function from Parametric Gauss Reconstruction (PGR). We propose to iteratively update normals by alternating between WNNC-based normal updates and PGR-based gradient descents, which leads to an embarrassingly simple yet effective iterative algorithm that allows fast and high-quality convergence to a globally consistent normal vector field. Furthermore, our proposed algorithm only involves repeatedly evaluating the winding number formula and its derivatives, which can be accelerated and parallelized using a treecode-based approximation algorithm due to their special structures. Exploiting this fact, we implement a GPU-accelerated treecode-based solver. Our GPU (and even CPU) implementation can be significantly faster than the recent state-of-the-art methods for normal orientation from raw points. Our code is integrated with the popular PyTorch framework to facilitate further research into winding numbers, and is publicly available at https://jsnln.github.io/wnnc/index.html.
PVP-Recon: Progressive View Planning via Warping Consistency for Sparse-View Surface Reconstruction
Authors: Ye Sheng , He Yuze , Lin Matthieu , Sheng Jenny , Fan Ruoyu , Han Yiheng , Hu Yubin , Yi Ran , Wen Yu-Hui , Liu Yong-Jin , Wang Wenping
Published: November 2024

Neural implicit representations have revolutionized dense multi-view surface reconstruction, yet their performance significantly diminishes with sparse input views. A few pioneering works have sought to tackle this challenge by leveraging additional geometric priors or multi-scene generalizability. However, they are still hindered by the imperfect choice of input views, using images under empirically determined viewpoints. We propose
PVP-Recon
, a novel and effective sparse-view surface reconstruction method that progressively plans the next best views to form an optimal set of sparse viewpoints for image capturing.
PVP-Recon
starts initial surface reconstruction with as few as 3 views and progressively adds new views which are determined based on a novel warping score that reflects the information gain of each newly added view. This progressive view planning progress is interleaved with a neural SDF-based reconstruction module that utilizes multi-resolution hash features, enhanced by a progressive training scheme and a directional Hessian loss. Quantitative and qualitative experiments on three benchmark datasets show that our system achieves high-quality reconstruction with a constrained input budget and outperforms existing baselines.
DirectL: Efficient Radiance Fields Rendering for 3D Light Field Displays
Authors: Yang Zongyuan , Liu Baolin , Song Yingde , Yi Lan , Xiong Yongping , Zhang Zhaohe , Yu Xunbo
Published: November 2024

Autostereoscopic display technology, despite decades of development, has not achieved extensive application, primarily due to the daunting challenge of three-dimensional (3D) content creation for non-specialists. The emergence of Radiance Field as an innovative 3D representation has markedly revolutionized the domains of 3D reconstruction and generation, simplifying 3D content creation for common users and broadening the applicability of Light Field Displays (LFDs). However, the combination of these two technologies remains largely unexplored. The standard paradigm to create optimal content for parallax-based light field displays demands rendering at least 45 slightly shifted views preferably at high resolution per frame, a substantial hurdle for real-time rendering. We introduce DirectL, a novel rendering paradigm for Radiance Fields on autostereoscopic displays with lenticular lens. By thoroughly analyzing the interleaved mapping of spatial rays to screen sub-pixels, we accurately render only the light rays entering the human eye and propose subpixel repurposing to significantly reduce the pixel count required for rendering. Tailored for the two predominant radiance fields---Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) and 3D Gaussian Splatting (3DGS), we propose corresponding optimized rendering pipelines that directly render the light field images instead of multi-view images, achieving state-of-the-art rendering speeds on autostereoscopic displays. Extensive experiments across various autostereoscopic displays and user visual perception assessments demonstrate that DirectL accelerates rendering by up to 40 times compared to the standard paradigm without sacrificing visual quality. Its rendering process-only modification allows seamless integration into subsequent radiance field tasks. Finally, we incorporate DirectL into diverse applications, showcasing the stunning visual experiences and the synergy between Light Field Displays and Radiance Fields, which reveals the immense potential for application prospects.
DirectL Project Homepage: direct-l.github.io
Architectural Co-LOD Generation
Authors: Zhang Runze , Pan Shanshan , Lv Chenlei , Gong Minglun , Huang Hui
Published: November 2024

Managing the level-of-detail (LOD) in architectural models is crucial yet challenging, particularly for effective representation and visualization of buildings. Traditional approaches often fail to deliver controllable detail alongside semantic consistency, especially when dealing with noisy and inconsistent inputs. We address these limitations with
Co-LOD
, a new approach specifically designed for effective LOD management in architectural modeling. Co-LOD employs shape co-analysis to standardize geometric structures across multiple buildings, facilitating the progressive and consistent generation of LODs. This method allows for precise detailing in both individual models and model collections, ensuring semantic integrity. Extensive experiments demonstrate that Co-LOD effectively applies accurate LOD across a variety of architectural inputs, consistently delivering superior detail and quality in LOD representations.
Stripe Embedding: Efficient Maps with Exact Numeric Computation
Authors: Livesu Marco
Published: November 2024

We consider the fundamental problem of injectively mapping a surface mesh with disk topology onto a boundary constrained convex domain. We start from the basic observation that mapping a strip of triangles onto a rectangular shape always yields a valid embedding, if the vertices that bound the strip are sorted coherently along the sides of the rectangle. Based on this intuition, we propose a straightforward algorithm, called Stripe Embedding, that operates by decomposing the input mesh into a set of triangle strips and then embeds each strip into the target domain by means of linear interpolation between two previously embedded vertices. Thanks to its simplicity, Stripe Embedding is extremely efficient and permits to switch to an exact implementation without almost increasing its running times. Stripe Embedding is up to three orders of magnitude faster than the Tutte embedding for same numerical model and, even when implemented with costly rational numbers, it is faster than any floating point implementation of prior methods at any scale.
SKEL-Betweener: a Neural Motion Rig for Interactive Motion Authoring
Authors: Agrawal Dhruv , Buhmann Jakob , Borer Dominik , Sumner Robert W. , Guay Martin
Published: November 2024

Authoring 3D motions is a laborious process that requires manipulating and coordinating many control handles over time. Neural motion representations learned from large motion datasets have recently shown impressive capabilities in many motion completion tasks. However, current methods are not designed for interactive motion authoring workflows. The reasons being their requirement of a dense context of full poses, which takes considerable time to author, as well as their lack of joint-level controls for refinement. In this paper, we introduce a
Neural Motion Rig
called SKEL-Betweener, tailored to interactive motion authoring. SKEL-Betweener is able to generate long motion sequences from two poses only, and enables intermediate motion authoring via
neural motion
curves---intuitive joint-level controls for positions and orientations. Through user evaluations, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our Neural Motion Rig for efficiently creating and editing motions.
Surface Reconstruction Using Rotation Systems
Authors: Cui Ruiqi , Gæde Emil Toftegaard , Rotenberg Eva , Kobbelt Leif , Bærentzen J. Andreas
Published: November 2024

Inspired by the seminal result that a graph and an associated rotation system uniquely determine the topology of a closed manifold, we propose a combinatorial method for reconstruction of surfaces from points. Our method constructs a spanning tree and a rotation system. Since the tree is trivially a planar graph, its rotation system determines a genus zero surface with a single face which we proceed to incrementally refine by inserting edges to split faces. In order to raise the genus, special handles are added in a later stage by inserting edges between different faces and thus merging them. We apply our method to a wide range of input point clouds in order to investigate its effectiveness, and we compare our method to several other surface reconstruction methods. It turns out that our approach has two specific benefits over these other methods. First, the output mesh preserves the most information from the input point cloud. Second, our method provides control over the topology of the reconstructed surface. Code is available on https://github.com/cuirq3/RsR.