bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Identification of Biallelic dystrophin gene variants during maternal carrier testing for Becker muscular dystrophy and review of the DMD exon 49–51 deletion phenotype
Authors: Ulm Elizabeth A. , Nagaraj Chinmayee B. , Tian Cuixia , Smolarek Teresa A.
Published: November 2022

Background

Dystrophinopathies are X‐linked recessive conditions caused by pathogenic variants in the dystrophin (DMD) gene. In a family that included two boys with Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD) due to a DMD deletion of exons 45–47, maternal carrier testing unexpectedly identified biallelic DMD deletions of exons 45–47 and 49–51.

Methods

The patient's mild phenotype in the setting of biallelic DMD variants prompted further investigation of the exon 49–51 deletion in particular, via literature review and retrospective chart review of patients who have been evaluated in our institution's comprehensive neuromuscular center and/or diagnosed in our clinical genetic testing laboratory.

Results

To our knowledge, this is only the fifth case of confirmed biallelic DMD variants in a female. In males, the DMD exon 49–51 deletion appears to result in a mild BMD phenotype with low or normal creatine kinase levels. This deletion comprised 19% (4/21) of dystrophinopathies diagnosed by chromosomal microarray (CMA) in males during the past ten years in our clinical laboratory. Most individuals identified by chart review were diagnosed through CMA, despite the fact that microarray was genome‐wide and not DMD‐specific. This case raised important genetic counseling issues.

Conclusion

The DMD exon 49–51 deletion appears to cause a variable but generally mild BMD phenotype. Its relatively frequent detection by CMA suggests it may be underdiagnosed.
Image restorations using a modified relaxed inertial technique for generalized split feasibility problems
Authors: Godwin Emeka C. , Izuchukwu Chinedu , Mewomo Oluwatosin T.
Published: November 2022

In this article, we propose a new efficient self‐adaptive method and prove that it converges strongly to a minimum‐norm solution of a generalized split feasibility problem in real Hilbert spaces. The proposed method is derived from a definite discrete dynamical system in time, which combines both the relaxation and inertial techniques for the purpose of increasing the rate of convergence of the iterative scheme. Furthermore, the method requires the monotonicity and Lipschitz continuity condition of the underlying single‐valued cost operator
, and it employs some simple self‐adaptive stepsizes that are generated at each iteration by some easy computations. As a by‐product, we obtain methods for solving other classes of generalized split feasibility problems in real Hilbert spaces. Two major merits of our scheme in solving image restoration problems over related schemes are the higher signal‐to‐noise ratio value and lower CPU time for generating recovered images. Finally, we analyze our methods with different related strong convergent methods in the literature.
Numerical method for solving two‐dimensional of the space and space–time fractional coupled reaction‐diffusion equations
Authors: Hadhoud Adel R. , Rageh Abdulqawi A. M. , Agarwal Praveen
Published: November 2022

This paper proposes the shifted Legendre Gauss–Lobatto collocation (SL‐GLC) scheme to solve two‐dimensional space‐fractional coupled reaction–diffusion equations (SFCRDEs). The proposed method is implemented by expressing the function and its spatial fractional derivatives as a finite expansion of shifted Legendre polynomials. Then the expansion coefficients are determined by reducing the SFCRDEs with their initial and boundary conditions to a system of ordinary differential equations for these coefficients. Subsequently, we applied the proposed method to discretize the temporal and spatial variables to convert the two‐dimensional spacetime fractional coupled reaction–diffusion equations (STFCRDEs) to a system of algebraic equations. Some results regarding the error estimation are obtained. Several examples are discussed to validate the capability and efficiency of the proposed scheme.
HALO: A software tool for real‐time head alignment in the MR scanner
Authors: Zhao Zhiying , Galiana Gigi , Zillo Cristofer , Camarro Terry , Qiu Maolin , Papademetris Xenophon , Hampson Michelle
Published: November 2022

Purpose

MRI studies in human subjects often require multiple scanning sessions/visits. Changes in a subject's head position across sessions result in different alignment between brain tissues and the magnetic field which leads to changes in magnetic susceptibility. These changes can have considerable impacts on acquired signals. Head ALignment Optimization (HALO), a software tool was developed by the authors for active head alignment between sessions.

Methods

HALO provides real‐time visual feedback of a subject's current head position relative to the position in a previous session. The tool was evaluated in a pilot sample of seven healthy human subjects.

Results

HALO was shown to enable subjects to actively align their head positions to the desired position of their initial sessions. The subjects were able to improve their head alignment significantly using HALO and achieved good alignment with their first session meeting stringent criteria similar to that used for within‐run head motion (less than 2 mm translation or 2 degrees rotation in any direction from the desired position). Moreover, we found a negative correlation between the post‐alignment rotation and similarity in inter‐session BOLD patterns around the air‐tissue interface near sinus which further highlighted the impact of tissue‐field alignment on BOLD data quality.

Conclusion

Utilization of HALO in longitudinal studies may help to improve data quality by ensuring the consistency of susceptibility gradients in brain tissues across sessions. HALO has been made publicly available.
Review examples of international higher education collaboration and innovation
Authors: Dennis Marguerite J.
Published: November 2022

“At a time of crisis, the need for international partnership and collaboration are all the greater to address common challenges.”

— Jan Wopking, Managing Director of German U15
Set students up for a good start with concierge services
Authors: Hope Joan
Published: November 2022

When prospective students consider going to college, they're excited about their futures. But what if they get confused or discouraged by the enrollment process and never even make it to a class?
The best colleges for adult learners never stop working to improve
Authors: Sutton Halley
Published: November 2022

“I'm a farm kid. I grew up in a small town in Nebraska — there were a whopping 1,000 people in my town,” Jerrid P. Freeman, Ph.D., Vice President for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, said. “It was one of those things where college was just not on my radar.” Freeman pursued his undergraduate degree at the University of Nebraska at Kearney while playing sports and came to love the higher education environment, going on to earn his master's and doctorate.
Immigration Policy and Hispanic Representation in National Elections
Authors: Amuedo‐Dorantes Catalina , Bucheli José R.
Published: November 2022

For the first time in U.S. history, after decades of unprecedented growth in interior immigration enforcement disproportionately impacting Latinos, ten percent of the U.S. House of Representatives is Hispanic. Using congressional district‐level data on all candidates participating in general elections to the U.S. House of Representatives between 2008 and 2018, we show that intensified immigration enforcement suppressed Hispanics’ representation in congressional elections. The effect—nonexistent for other minorities, such as non‐Hispanic Black candidates, as well as in primary elections—is driven by local police‐based measures and diminished electoral support. Furthermore, it appears more harmful during midterm elections and in localities without a sanctuary policy.
Erucamide/thermoplastic polyurethane blend with low coefficient of friction, high elasticity and good mechanical properties for intelligent wearable devices
Authors: Jia Tongyu , Tian Hongchi , Liu Suting , Zhang Shijia , Ning Nanying , Yu Bing , Tian Ming
Published: November 2022

In this study, erucamide as a non‐toxic and tasteless lubricant was melt blended with thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to reduce the coefficient of friction (COF) of TPU and thus to improve the wearing comfort of intelligent wearable devices. The results show that when the content of erucamide reaches percolation, erucamide can migrate to the TPU surface, forming a layer of lubrication film, and thus significantly reduces the COF of TPU. In addition, erucamide with amide groups can form hydrogen bonds with carbamate groups from TPU chains and thus can disrupt the hydrogen bonds between two amide groups of TPU chains. With the introduction of erucamide, the chain mobility of TPU increases, the partial phase mixing of soft phase and hard phase of TPU occurs, and the interchain interaction between TPU chains decreases. Under the appropriate content of erucamide (0.5 wt%), both the elasticity and processability of TPU are also significantly improved, whereas the high tensile strength, tear strength and elongation at break of the TPU blend is still obtained, facilitating its practical application in intelligent wearable devices. © 2022 Society of Industrial Chemistry.
Tuning of meristem maturation rate increases yield in multiple Triticum aestivum cultivars
Authors: Goldshmidt Alexander , Ziegler Todd , Zhou Dafeng , Brower‐Toland Brent , Preuss Sasha , Slewinski Thomas
Published: November 2022

Breeding programs aim to improve crop yield and environmental stability for enhanced food security. The principal methodology in breeding for stable yield gain relies on the indirect selection of beneficial genetics by yield evaluation across diverse environmental conditions. This methodology requires substantial resources while delivering a slow pace of yield gain and environmental adaptation. Alternative methods are required to accelerate gain and adaptation, becoming even more imperative in a changing climate. New molecular tools and approaches can enable accelerated creation and deployment of multiple alleles of genes identified to control key traits. With the advent of tools that enable breeding by targeted allelic selection, identifying gene targets associated with an improved crop performance ideotype will become crucial. Previous studies have shown that altered photoperiod regimes increase yield in wheat (Triticum aestivum). In the current study, we have employed such treatments to study the resulting yield ideotype in five spring wheat cultivars. We found that the photoperiod treatment creates a yield ideotype arising from delayed spike establishment rates that are accompanied by increased early shoot expression of TARGET OF EAT1 (TaTOE1) genes. Genes identified in this way could be used for ideotype‐based improve crop performance through targeted allele creation and selection in relevant environments.
Assign‐MALDI – A free software for assignment of MALDI‐TOF MS spectra of glycans derivatized using common and novel labeling strategies
Authors: Parsons Lisa M. , Cipollo John F.
Published: November 2022

Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time‐of‐flight (MALDI‐ToF) MS is a popular method to analyze glycans released from proteins, cell lines, and tissue samples. Chemical modification of glycans (derivatization) can enhance ionization, enable semi‐quantitation, and assist in linkage identification. However, the mass changes incurred by novel and more recently developed derivatizations are not accommodated by most spectral assignment programs, necessitating manual assignment which increases both the difficultly and the likelihood of error. AssignMALDI is a software tool designed to create glycan databases with customized derivatizations (labels) and automatically assign glycan masses in MALDI‐TOF spectra using the new database. It can also average peak intensities across multiple spectra and prepare publication‐ready assignment tables. To make it easy to use with different platforms, all input files and most output files are in text format. An interactive display enables users to inspect and edit peak assignments prior to producing charts and tables for publication. The program is freely available through GitHUB and Python‐savvy users can add or adjust features as needed.
Fenoxycarb exposure affects antiviral immunity and HaNPV infection in the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera
Authors: Attarianfar Marzieh , Mikani Azam , Mehrabadi Mohammad
Published: November 2022

Background

Application of insect growth regulators (IGR) is a good option for insect pest management because of their fewer adverse effects on humans and domestic animals. These compounds are capable of interfering with normal growth and development by mimicking the actions of hormones such as juvenile hormone (JH) or ecdysone. The effect of JH and its analogs on some aspects of insect immunity has been determined, yet their possible effects on antiviral immunity response has not been investigated yet. Considering the importance of antiviral response in viral replication, in this study the effects of the JH analog (JHA), fenoxycarb on the antiviral immunity pathway core genes [i.e. micro (mi)RNA, small interfering (si)RNA and apoptosis] of Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner) larvae were investigated. The effect of fenoxycarb on the susceptibility of the larvae to H. armigera nuclear polyhedrosis virus (HaNPV) also was assessed.

Results

The results showed that the transcription level of miRNA (Dicer1, Ago1), siRNA (Dicer2, Ago2) and apoptosis (Caspase1, Caspase5) core genes in H. armigera larvae were decreased significantly after 24, 48 and 96 h feeding on a diet containing lethal and sublethal doses of fenoxycarb. Moreover, the mortality rate to HaNPV in the larvae treated with fenoxycarb increased compared to the control, leading to an increased replication of HaNPV.

Conclusion

Together, our results suggest that the antiviral immune system could be modulated by JHA and facilitate HaNPV replication in the larvae, increasing the mortality rate of the insect larvae. Understanding the effect of JHA on antiviral immunity is an important step toward the process of exploiting JHAs and viral pathogens to control insect pests. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.
Retraction: Co3O4 Polyhedron@MnO2 Nanotube Composite as Anode for High‐Performance Lithium‐Ion Batteries
Authors: Cao Zhiguang , Yang Yuebei , Qin Junling , He Jieying , Su Zixue
Published: November 2022

Small 2021, 17, 2008165

DOI: 10.1002/smll.202008165

The above article in Small, published online on 26 March 2021 in Wiley Online Library (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smll.202008165),[1] has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the Editor‐in‐Chief, José Oliveira, and Wiley‐VCH GmbH. The retraction has been agreed following an investigation by the corresponding author. The electrochemical measurements on the anode were performed in a wrong manner and cannot reliably be reproduced. The conclusions of this article are considered to be invalid. The authors agree with the retraction but were not available to confirm the final wording of the retraction.

[1] Z. Cao, Y. Yang, J. Qin, J. He, Z. Su, Small 2021, 17, 2008165.
Constructing (ad)ventures in Collaborative Composing: Examining a Case of (un)sanctioned Play in the Elementary Literacies Classroom
Authors: Brownell Cassie J.
Published: November 2022

Using data from a year‐long case study in a Midwestern public school in the United States, the author invites readers into the play world of four multilingual and multiracial boys, affectionately named the “LEGO Boys” by their third‐grade teacher. As documented in the findings, the boys maintained a cohesive narrative about how their stories fit with the sanctioned prompt's goals while engaged in collaborative (un)sanctioned play. Ultimately, the “LEGO Boys” serve as an exemplar of how children collaboratively curate the curriculum for their own purposes under the radar of adults.
Robust estimation of clinch joint characteristics based on data-driven methods
Authors: Zirngibl Christoph , Schleich Benjamin , Wartzack Sandro
Published: November 2022

Given a steadily increasing demand on multi-material lightweight designs, fast and cost-efficient production technologies, such as the mechanical joining process clinching, are becoming more and more relevant for series production. Since the application of such joining techniques often base on the ability to reach similar or even better joint loading capacities compared to established joining processes (e.g., spot welding), few contributions investigated the systematic improvement of clinch joint characteristics. In this regard, the use of data-driven methods in combination with optimization algorithms showed already high potentials for the analysis of individual joints and the definition of optimal tool configurations. However, the often missing consideration of uncertainties, such as varying material properties, and the related calculation of their impact on clinch joint properties can lead to poor estimation results and thus to a decreased reliability of the entire joint connection. This can cause major challenges, especially for the design and dimensioning of safety-relevant components, such as in car bodies. Motivated by this, the presented contribution introduces a novel method for the robust estimation of clinch joint characteristics including uncertainties of varying and versatile process chains in mechanical joining. Therefore, the utilization of Gaussian process regression models is demonstrated and evaluated regarding the ability to achieve sufficient prediction qualities.
Design of tool grinding processes for indexable inserts made of rocks
Authors: Wolters Philipp , Breidenstein Bernd , Denkena Berend , Bergmann Benjamin
Published: November 2022

Using natural rocks as alternative cutting tool material poses a possibility to meet actual environmental, economic and geopolitical challenges. The present state of knowledge, however, is not sufficient to allow a knowledge-based design of the tool grinding process of cutting tools made of rock. For this reason, this study presents an investigation of the significance of the grinding process parameters and grinding tool specifications for the flank face and cutting edge roughness as well as for the cutting edge microgeometry besides an analysis of the scatter of the grinding results in tool grinding of rock inserts. Thus, the study contributes to a knowledge-based design of tool grinding processes of rock tools. In this context, confocal and focus variation microscopes are used besides SEM images to investigate the above mentioned factors in the plunge face grinding of rock inserts from five different rocks. The results identify the axial feed velocity of the plunge face grinding process as a highly significant influence factor for cutting edge roughness and microgeometry, while cutting speed only shows a significant influence on cutting edge microgeometry. Besides that, highly significant influences of the used rock type and the abrasive grain size are identified for all three mentioned factors. Grinding result analyses show a scatter between 0.04 and 25.00 µm depending on the parameter and rock investigated. Additionally, recommendations for the design of the tool grinding process of rock tools are presented deduced from the obtained results.
A New Monitoring Strategy of Large Micro-, Meso- and Macro-Litter: A Case Study on Sandy Beaches of Baltic Lagoons and Estuaries
Authors: Gyraite Greta , Haseler Mirco , Balčiūnas Arūnas , Sabaliauskaitė Viktorija , Martin Georg , Reisalu Greta , Schernewski Gerald
Published: November 2022

Coastal lagoons and estuaries are hot spots to accumulate river basin-related plastic leakage. However, no official methodology exists to investigate their relatively short, rich in organic matter beaches, and the knowledge of pollution of lagoons is scarce worldwide. This study aimed to develop a methodology suitable for large micro (2–5 mm), meso (5–25 mm), and macro-litter (>25 mm) monitoring at sandy inner-coastal waters that would provide comparable results to the intensively used OSPAR 100 m method. The method proposed in this study is based on two 40 m2 rectangular polygons placed on the tidal accumulation zone for macro-litter enumeration and two 1 m2 squares for micro- and meso-litter. This method has been applied to 23 beaches from three inner-coastal waters of the Baltic Sea. This study shows that the litter densities between lagoons and bays differ and depend on the river output intensity and the retention capacity. The “Construction material”, “Plastic pieces 2–5 mm”, and “Plastic pieces 5–25 mm” were among this study’s top ten most common litter items. Experts allocated these items to the “Land based industry and trade” source, which indicates that lagoons and bays through the connection of the major rivers could be a potential sink of land-based litter. An evident strength of the methodology established is the capability to determine litter of all sizes, low-cost and time-efficiency, implementable for volunteer-based monitoring; provides comparable results to the most commonly used methods for investigating litter pollution on coastal beaches.
Effect of prior martensite formation on the bainite transformation kinetics in high-strength 3% Mn multiphase steel
Authors: Morawiec M. , Skowronek A. , Kozłowska A. , Garcia-Mateo C. , Grajcar A.
Published: November 2022

The work presents results on the effect of prior martensite formation on bainite transformation kinetics in a 3% medium-Mn multiphase steel. The material was subjected to two isothermal holding temperatures: 400 °C (without martensite) and 350 °C (with prior martensite). According to obtained dilatometric results, the formation of prior martensite leads to the acceleration of bainite transformation kinetics. The bainite formation starts and finishes much faster, when the prior martensite was present before the isothermal holding. The microstructural investigation of the steel after heat treatment was carried out using light and scanning electron microscopy. The microstructures were composed of fine bainitic laths with retained austenite and small amount of martensitic-austenitic islands at 400 °C. At 350 °C the presence of large tempered martensite laths was detected. The bainite is composed of a mixture of fine and coarse laths. The increase of the bainitic lath thickness is attributed to the coalescence process occurring at the lower holding temperature. The differences in the steel hardness after the two heat treatments were relatively small (~ 13 HV10).
The Quantified Argument Calculus with Two- and Three-valued Truth-valuational Semantics
Authors: Yin Hongkai , Ben-Yami Hanoch
Published: November 2022

We introduce a two-valued and a three-valued truth-valuational substitutional semantics for the Quantified Argument Calculus (Quarc). We then prove that the 2-valid arguments are identical to the 3-valid ones with strict-to-tolerant validity. Next, we introduce a Lemmon-style Natural Deduction system and prove the completeness of Quarc on both two- and three-valued versions, adapting Lindenbaum’s Lemma to truth-valuational semantics. We proceed to investigate the relations of three-valued Quarc and the Predicate Calculus (PC). Adding a logical predicateTto Quarc, true of all singular arguments, allows us to represent PC quantification in Quarc and translate PC into Quarc, preserving validity. Introducing a weak existential quantifier into PC allows us to translate Quarc into PC, also preserving validity. However, unlike the translated systems, neither extended system can have a sound and complete proof system with Cut, supporting the claim that these are basically different calculi.
Exploring Radiomics for Classification of Supraglottic Tumors: A Pilot Study in a Tertiary Care Center
Authors: Rao Divya , Koteshwara Prakashini , Singh Rohit , Jagannatha Vijayananda
Published: November 2022

Accurate classification of laryngeal cancer is a critical step for diagnosis and appropriate treatment. Radiomics is a rapidly advancing field in medical image processing that uses various algorithms to extract many quantitative features from radiological images. The high dimensional features extracted tend to cause overfitting and increase the complexity of the classification model. Thereby, feature selection plays an integral part in selecting relevant features for the classification problem. In this study, we explore the predictive capabilities of radiomics on Computed Tomography (CT) images with the incidence of laryngeal cancer to predict the histopathological grade and T stage of the tumour. Working with a pilot dataset of 20 images, an experienced radiologist carefully annotated the supraglottic lesions in the three-dimensional plane. Over 280 radiomic features that quantify the shape, intensity and texture were extracted from each image. Machine learning classifiers were built and tested to predict the stage and grade of the malignant tumour based on the calculated radiomic features. To investigate if radiomic features extracted from CT images can be used for the classification of laryngeal tumours. Out of 280 features extracted from every image in the dataset, it was found that 24 features are potential classifiers of laryngeal tumour stage and 12 radiomic features are good classifiers of histopathological grade of the laryngeal tumor. The novelty of this paper lies in the ability to create these classifiers before the surgical biopsy procedure, giving the clinician valuable, timely information.
Testing Very Large Database Management Systems: The Case of SAP HANA
Authors: Bach Thomas , Andrzejak Artur , Seo Changyun , Bierstedt Christian , Lemke Christian , Ritter Daniel , Hwang Dong Won , Sheshi Erda , Schabernack Felix , Renkes Frank , Gaumnitz Gordon , Martens Jakob , Hoemke Lars , Felderer Michael , Rudolf Michael , Jambigi Neetha , May Norman , Joy Robin , Scheja Ruben , Schwedes Sascha , Seibel Sebastian , Seifert Sebastian , Haas Stefan , Kraft Stephan , Kroll Thomas , Scheuer Tobias , Lehner Wolfgang
Published: November 2022

Software Testing is an established activity in the software development process to ensure and improve the quality of a software. Consequently, there exists a wide range of literature, popular information, and even multiple ISO standards covering this topic. However, we found that testing very large database management systems (DBMS) requires special adaptations of the generally available guidance for software testing and requires to solve specific challenges that may not be relevant for other areas or smaller software projects. We therefore discuss the testing of SAP HANA, a very large software project with millions of lines of code, to share insights about our approach, best practices, and unsolved challenges that are open for further research.
CArdiac and REspiratory adaptive Computed Tomography (CARE-CT): a proof-of-concept digital phantom study
Authors: Morton Natasha , Keall Paul , O’Brien Ricky , Reynolds Tess
Published: November 2022

Current respiratory 4DCT imaging for high-dose rate thoracic radiotherapy treatments are negatively affected by the complex interaction of cardiac and respiratory motion. We propose an imaging method to reduce artifacts caused by thoracic motion, CArdiac and REspiratory adaptive CT (CARE-CT), that monitors respiratory motion and ECG signals in real-time, triggering CT acquisition during combined cardiac and respiratory bins. Using a digital phantom, conventional 4DCT and CARE-CT acquisitions for nineteen patient-measured physiological traces were simulated. Ten respiratory bins were acquired for conventional 4DCT scans and ten respiratory bins during cardiac diastole were acquired for CARE-CT scans. Image artifacts were quantified for 10 common thoracic organs at risk (OAR) substructures using the differential normalized cross correlation between axial slices (ΔNCC), mean squared error (MSE) and sensitivity. For all images, on average, CARE-CT improved the ΔNCC for 18/19 and the MSE and sensitivity for all patient traces. The ΔNCC was reduced for all cardiac OARs (mean reduction 21%). The MSE was reduced for all OARs (mean reduction 36%). In the digital phantom study, the average scan time was increased from 1.8 ± 0.4 min to 7.5 ± 2.2 min with a reduction in average beam on time from 98 ± 28 s to 45 s using CARE-CT compared to conventional 4DCT. The proof-of-concept study indicates the potential for CARE-CT to image the thorax in real-time during the cardiac and respiratory cycle simultaneously, to reduce image artifacts for common thoracic OARs.
Two-stream temporal enhanced Fisher vector encoding for skeleton-based action recognition
Authors: Tang Jun , Liu Baodi , Guo Wenhui , Wang Yanjiang
Published: November 2022

The key to skeleton-based action recognition is how to extract discriminative features from skeleton data. Recently, graph convolutional networks (GCNs) are proven to be highly successful for skeleton-based action recognition. However, existing GCN-based methods focus on extracting robust features while neglecting the information of feature distributions. In this work, we aim to introduce Fisher vector (FV) encoding into GCN to effectively utilize the information of feature distributions. However, since the Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) is employed to fit the global distribution of features, Fisher vector encoding inevitably leads to losing temporal information of actions, which is demonstrated by our analysis. To tackle this problem, we propose a temporal enhanced Fisher vector encoding algorithm (TEFV) to provide more discriminative visual representation. Compared with FV, our TEFV model can not only preserve the temporal information of the entire action but also capture fine-grained spatial configurations and temporal dynamics. Moreover, we propose a two-stream framework (2sTEFV-GCN) by combining the TEFV model with the GCN model to further improve the performance. On two large-scale datasets for skeleton-based action recognition, NTU-RGB+D 60 and NTU-RGB+D 120, our model achieves state-of-the-art performance.
Effect of some bee bread quality on protein content and antioxidant system of honeybee workers
Authors: Tawfik Amer I. , Ahmed Zeinab H. , Abdel-Rahman M. F. , Moustafa A. M.
Published: November 2022

Protein content and antioxidants in both bee bread and honeybee workers were analyzed investigating the relationships between those two parameters. Results indicated significant differences between both protein and antioxidant content [total antioxidant content (TAX), glutathione (GSH) and lipid peroxidation (LPO) levels] of bee bread types. Generally, workers fed sugar syrup only (control) had significantly lower protein content, superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and GSH in comparison to bees fed bee bread at all studied ages. On the other hand, LPO levels in control worker bees were significantly higher than those of bees fed fennel, maize, cucumber, clover, and broad bean bee bread. Results also showed a positive relationship between protein content and antioxidants in bee bread and between protein content and the antioxidant system of honeybees, respectively. There was a negative correlation between protein content and antioxidants. In addition, the present study showed that both the protein quantity and quality of bee bread are important for honeybees. To our knowledge, this study is the first to report the relationship between antioxidant content in bee bread and antioxidant system of honeybees. The present study showed a causal link between antioxidant system and protein content in honeybees, and the contents of both antioxidants and protein in bee bread.
Credit Scoring with Drift Adaptation Using Local Regions of Competence
Authors: Nikolaidis Dimitrios , Doumpos Michalis
Published: November 2022

Despite the advances in machine learning (ML) methods which have been extensively applied in credit scoring with positive results, there are still very important unresolved issues, pertaining not only to academia but to practitioners and the industry as well, such as model drift as an inevitable consequence of population drift and the strict regulatory obligations for transparency and interpretability of the automated profiling methods. We present a novel adaptive behavioral credit scoring scheme which uses online training for each incoming inquiry (a borrower) by identifying a specific region of competence to train a local model. We compare different classification algorithms, i.e., logistic regression with state-of-the-art ML methods (random forests and gradient boosting trees) that have shown promising results in the literature. Our data sample has been derived from a proprietary credit bureau database and spans a period of 11 years with a quarterly sampling frequency, consisting of 3,520,000 record-months observations. Rigorous performance measures used in credit scoring literature and practice (such as AUROC and the H-Measure) indicate that our approach deals effectively with population drift and that local models outperform their corresponding global ones in all cases. Furthermore, when using simple local classifiers such as logistic regression, we can achieve comparable results with the global ML ones which are considered “black box” methods.
Sonophotocatalytic degradation of malachite green in aqueous solution using six competitive metal oxides as a benchmark
Authors: El-Sawy Abdelhamid M. , Salem Mohamed A. , Salem Ibrahim A. , Hydara Mahmoud M. , Zaki Ahmed B.
Published: November 2022

A comparison study examines six different metal oxides (CuO, ZnO, Fe3O4, Co3O4, NiO, and α-MnO2) for the degradation of malachite green dye using four distinct processes. These processes are as follows: sonocatalysis (US/metal oxide), sonocatalysis under ultra-violet irradiation (US/metal oxide/UV), sonocatalysis in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (US/metal oxide/H2O2), and a combination of all these processes (US/metal oxide/UV/H2O2). The effective operating parameters, such as the dosage of metal oxide nanoparticles (MONPs), the type of the process, and the metal oxides’ efficiency order, were studied. At the same reaction conditions, the sonophotocatalytic is the best process for all six MOsNPs, CuO was the better metal oxide than other MOsNPs, and at the sonocatalysis process, ZnO was the best metal oxide in other processes. It was found that the metal oxide order for sonocatalytic process is CuO > α-MnO2 ≥ ZnO > NiO ≥ Fe3O4 ≥ Co3O4 within 15–45 min. The order of (US/metal oxide/UV) process is ZnO ≥ NiO ≥ α-MnO2 > Fe3O4 ≥ CuO ≥ Co3O4 within 5–40 min. The order of (US/ MOsNPs/ H2O2) process is ZnO ≥ CuO ≥ α-MnO2 ≥ NiO > Co3O4 > Fe3O4 within 5–20 min. The maximum removal efficiency order of the sonophotocatalytic process is ZnO ≥ CuO > α-MnO2 > NiO > Fe3O4 ≥ Co3O4 within 2–8 min. The four processes degradation efficiency was in the order US/MOsNPs ˂ US/MOsNPs/UV ˂ US/MOsNPs/H2O2 ˂ (UV/Ultrasonic/MOsNPs/H2O2). Complete degradation of MG was obtained at 0.05 g/L MONPs and 1 mM of H2O2 using 296 W/L ultrasonic power and 15 W ultra-violet lamp (UV-C) within a reaction time of 8 min according to the MOsNPs type at the same sonophotocatalytic/H2O2 reaction conditions. The US/metal oxide/UV/H2O2 process is inexpensive, highly reusable, and efficient for degrading dyes in colored wastewater.

Graphical abstract
Abdominal Aortic Wall Cross-coupled Stiffness Could Potentially Contribute to Aortic Length Remodeling
Authors: Karlsson Jerker , Stålhand Jonas , Carlhäll Carl-Johan , Länne Toste , Engvall Jan
Published: November 2022

Background

Wall stiffness of the abdominal aorta is an important factor in the cardiovascular risk assessment. We investigated abdominal aortic wall stiffness divided in direct and cross-coupled stiffness components with respect to sex and age.

Methods

Thirty healthy adult males (n = 15) and females were recruited and divided into three age groups: young, middle aged and elderly. Pulsatile diameter changes were determined noninvasively by an echo-tracking system, and intra-aortic pressure was measured simultaneously. A mechanical model was used to compute stress and stiffness in circumferential and longitudinal directions.

Results

Circumferential stretch had a higher impact on longitudinal wall stress than longitudinal stretch had on circumferential wall stress. Furthermore, there were an age-related and sex-independent increase in circumferential and longitudinal direct and cross-coupled stiffnesses and a decrease in circumferential and longitudinal stretch of the abdominal aortic wall. For the young group, females had a stiffer wall compared to males, while the male aortic wall grew stiffer with age at a higher rate, reaching a similar level to that of the females in the elderly group.

Conclusion

Temporal changes in aortic stiffness suggest an age-related change in wall constituents that is expressed in terms of circumferential remodeling impacting longitudinal stress. These mechanisms may be active in the development of aortic tortuosity. We observed an age-dependent increase in circumferential and longitudinal stiffnesses as well as decrease in stretch. A possible mechanism related to the observed changes could act via chemical alterations of wall constituents and changes in the physical distribution of fibers. Furthermore, modeling of force distribution in the wall of the human abdominal aorta may contribute to a better understanding of elastin–collagen interactions during remodeling of the aortic wall.
Adaptive Parameter Tuning for Constructing Storage Tiers in an Autonomous Distributed Storage System
Authors: Nunome Atsushi , Hirata Hiroaki
Published: November 2022

We are developing an autonomous distributed storage system to make effective use of networked heterogeneous storage devices. It dynamically configures the storage tiers using effective performance values measured during operation, rather than static performance indicators of the storage device. Data blocks are transferred to a more appropriate storage tier according to their read/write tendencies. In the previous paper, the storage tiers were set using statically defined thresholds, but in this paper, we propose a method to set the thresholds adaptively. This method eliminates the need to adjust the runtime parameters for threshold setting according to the runtime environment. It has also been improved so that appropriate parameter values can be set for individual storage, rather than applying a single parameter value to the entire system. In the previous system, the administrator had to readjust the parameter values periodically to match the usage status of the storage device and the behavior of the process. However, in the proposed method, the parameter values are fine-tuned during operation to reduce the workload of the administrator. The simulation results show that the proposed method can reduce the execution time by up to about 30% compared to the previous method with optimum parameters configured statically.
Signatures of geography, climate and foliage on given names of baby girls
Authors: Huey Raymond B. , Miles Donald B.
Published: November 2022

Parents often weigh social, familial and cultural considerations when choosing their baby's name, but the name they choose could potentially be influenced by their physical or biotic environments. Here we examine whether the popularity of month and season names of girls covary geographically with environmental variables. In the continental USA, April, May and June (Autumn, Summer) are the most common month (season) names: April predominates in southern states (early springs), whereas June predominates in northern states (later springs). Whether April's popularity has increased with recent climate warming is ambiguous. Autumn is most popular in northern states, where autumn foliage is notably colourful, and in eastern states having high coverage of deciduous foliage. On a continental scale, Autumn was most popular in English-speaking countries with intense colouration of autumn foliage. These analyses are descriptive but indicate that climate and vegetation sometimes influence parental choice of their baby's name.
Impact of obesity, lifestyle factors and health interventions on breast cancer survivors
Authors: Campbell Nicola J. , Barton Charlotte , Cutress Ramsey I. , Copson Ellen R.
Published: November 2022

The incidences of both breast cancer and obesity are rising in the UK. Obesity increases the risk of developing breast cancer in the postmenopausal population and leads to worse outcomes in those of all ages treated for early-stage breast cancer. In this review we explore the multifactorial reasons behind this association and the clinical trial evidence for the benefits of physical activity and dietary interventions in the early and metastatic patient groups. As more people with breast cancer are cured, and those with metastatic disease are living longer, cancer survivorship is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, ensuring the long-term implications of cancer and cancer treatment are addressed is vital. Although there remains a lack of definitive evidence that deliberate weight loss after a diagnosis of breast cancer reduces disease recurrence, a number of studies have reported benefits of weight loss and of physical activity. However, the limited data currently available mean that clinicians remain unclear on the optimal lifestyle advice to give their patients. Further high-quality research is needed to provide this evidence base, which will be required to optimise clinical care and for the commissioning of lifestyle interventions in the UK in breast cancer survivors.
Exploring market-based wildlife trade dynamics in Bangladesh
Authors: Uddin Nasir , Islam Ariful , Akhter Tania , Ara Tasnim , Hossain Delower , Fullstone Craig , Enoch Sam , Hughes Alice C.
Published: November 2022

Wildlife markets are hotspots for illegal wildlife trade, with traders operating as a result of weak monitoring and law enforcement. Knowledge of species traded, sources, and routes used for transport is needed to identify illegal wildlife trade markets and intervene to stem trade. We conducted surveys in 13 wildlife markets across Bangladesh every month during January-December 2019 to assess the abundance and diversity of wildlife taxa traded and the factors driving this trade. Passeriformes, Columbiformes, Psittaciformes, Artiodactyla, Carnivora and Testudines were the most traded orders. Wildlife markets were also centres of trade for high-value species, including the tigerPanthera tigris, crocodileCrocodylus porosusand tortoises. In hill markets and peri-urban markets the most commonly sold species originated from nearby forests, whereas urban markets included both native species and exotic species sourced internationally. Market type, road links to the market, the presence of law enforcement agencies, proximity to a port and form of sale (live animals or byproducts) all significantly influenced what is being traded. Trade of mammals, reptiles, high-value wildlife species and threatened species was less common in markets proximal to law enforcement agencies. Markets close to seaports or airports were more likely to sell mammals, threatened species and high-value wildlife. Based on our results, we recommend a set of interventions to help reduce market-based wildlife trade in Bangladesh.
Rediscovery of the Critically Endangered Primula esquirolii, a karst cave species with an extremely small population endemic to China
Authors: Wu Zhikun , Wu Yuan , Zhang Na
Published: November 2022

The rare plant Primula esquirolii, a karst cave species in the family Primulaceae, endemic to Guizhou, China, and with a presumed extremely small population, had not previously been observed since 1910. It is categorized as Endangered on the China Species Red List. In surveys during 2018–2022, we were unable to locate the species in its type location in Pingba county, but we discovered a previously unrecorded population of 44 mature individuals, 37 of which were long homostylous and seven of which were heterostylous. These individuals were discovered in Xiuwen county in February 2022, in an area of c. 50 m2, c. 40 km from the type location. All seven heterostylous individuals showed the short-styled morph. The almost homostylous P. esquirolii potentially faces the same high genetic load as other homostylous plants, and this may have led to its small population size and potential sensitivity to habitat destruction. Field surveys and informal interviews with local people indicated that the main threats to this species are its small population size and the loss of suitable habitat as a result of human activities. The most urgent requirement for the conservation of this species is to protect the habitat of this single known extant population and to carry out ex situ conservation. Further field surveys and research are also required to improve our understanding of the status of this species.
Songs that live in the bones
Authors: Vergano Rina , Vilk Roxana
Published: November 2022

In conversation with playwright and theatre journalist Rina Vergano, multidisciplinary artist and musician Roxana Vilk unpicks her own experience of diaspora and the ways in which her cultural, familial and political roots have informed her artistic practice and inspired her current project about the power of lullabies.
Swarm A and C Accelerometers: Data Validation and Scientific Interpretation
Authors: Iorfida Elisabetta , Daras Ilias , Haagmans Roger , Strømme Anja
Published: November 2022

The fourth European Space Agency Earth Explorer (Swarm) was launched in 2013 and it comprises a constellation of three identical satellites. The primary mission objective is analyzing and modeling the geomagnetic field and its temporal evolution, based on the measurements of a vector and a scalar magnetometer on board. Each spacecraft (A, B, and C) carries an accelerometer, supposed to measure the non‐gravitational forces. However, this instrument did not work as expected; the processing of the related data sets has a significant latency. The focus was primarily on Swarm C, because its signal‐to‐noise ratio is the best amongst the three spacecrafts. For this satellite, the data are available for the whole mission timeline. At the end of 2021, a batch of Swarm A accelerometer data set was disseminated. Swarm A and C have flown side‐by‐side for most of the mission and, therefore, their measurements are supposed to be nearly identical after calibration. The work presented in this paper shows that such a correspondence occurs: at high frequency similar signatures are visible in both accelerometer data sets, near the equator and the poles. These features agree with measurements of other instruments on board and with earlier findings based on CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload and Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment data. The equatorial structures show a correlation between the equatorial mass anomaly and the equatorial ionization anomaly. At the poles, the data are related to the polar cap index and to field‐aligned‐currents enhancements measured by the magnetometers on board. This research shows, for the first time, scientific results obtained from the Swarm accelerometers.