bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Valuing the ubiquitous: Resource availability and landscape value among the Classic period Maya of western Belize
Authors: Horowitz Rachel A.
Published: February 2022

Studies of materials' value in past societies have examined a wide variety of causes for value including, but not limited to, labor, skill, access, cultural associations, and scarcity and abundance. This article examines how scholars can determine which of these causes of value relate to values of landscapes and the materials extracted from those locations, particularly for abundant materials. It draws on an archaeological case study of the availability of chert raw materials for making lithic, or stone, tools for the Late Classic period Maya of western Belize (600–900 CE). In western Belize, chert resources are common but distributed unevenly across the landscape. Despite the ease of access, chert was a valued raw material, and households relied on its extraction as a key economic activity. The economic logic behind resource value can be examined based on a lithic extraction and production area, Callar Creek Quarry. This article, based on excavations of quarry and household contexts and analysis of the resultant materials, finds that the widespread availability of chert resources in the Maya lowlands did not result in these resources being less valuable but that the skill added to the materials through extraction and production increased their value.
Merchants of the north: Infrastructure and indebtedness along Brazil's Amazon estuary
Authors: Abel Matthew
Published: February 2022

Drawing on fieldwork with riverine householders in the Amazonian municipality of Abaetetuba, this article recounts an ongoing struggle against the construction of a fluvial grain terminal by Cargill, the global grain‐trading giant. Over the past two decades, grain‐trading firms have engaged in a publicly subsidized bidding war to expand export infrastructure in the Amazon, harnessing the world's largest river system to flush agricultural commodities on the global market. The so‐called Northern Arc consists of a regional network of private grain terminals, ports, roads, and railways connecting disparate places within a broader landscape of value. This article overlays ethnography with historical analysis to examine the confrontation between a regional project of commodity chain integration and a set of valuations derived from the long‐standing role of commodity exchange in the Amazon. I suggest that the Northern Arc articulates with the sociological legacy of theaviamento: a system of debt‐peonage that structured the circulation of commodities in the basin during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By connecting local understandings of power, circulation, and authority to a new structural position within the global food system, the Northern Arc has galvanized old antagonisms and reflects the history of social conflict along the Amazon estuary.
Robust inference on effects attributable to mediators: A controlled‐direct‐effect‐based approach for causal effect decomposition with multiple mediators
Authors: Tai An‐Shun , Du Yi‐Juan , Lin Sheng‐Hsuan
Published: February 2022

Effect decomposition is a critical technique for mechanism investigation in settings with multiple causally ordered mediators. Causal mediation analysis is a standard method for effect decomposition, but the assumptions required for the identification process are extremely strong. Moreover, mediation analysis focuses on addressing mediating mechanisms rather than interacting mechanisms. Mediation and interaction for mediators both contribute to the occurrence of disease, and therefore unifying mediation and interaction in effect decomposition is important to causal mechanism investigation. By extending the framework of controlled direct effects, this study proposes the effect attributable to mediators (EAM) as a novel measure for effect decomposition. For policymaking, EAM represents how much an effect can be eliminated by setting mediators to certain values. From the perspective of mechanism investigation, EAM contains information about how much a particular mediator or set of mediators is involved in the causal mechanism through mediation, interaction, or both. EAM is more appropriate than the conventional path‐specific effect for application in clinical or medical studies. The assumptions of EAM for identification are considerably weaker than those of causal mediation analysis. We develop a semiparametric estimator of EAM with robustness to model misspecification. The asymptotic property is fully realized. We applied EAM to assess the magnitude of the effect of hepatitis C virus infection on mortality, which was eliminated by controlling alanine aminotransferase and treating hepatocellular carcinoma.
Regulating Interfacial Ion Migration via Wool Keratin Mediated Biogel Electrolyte toward Robust Flexible Zn‐Ion Batteries
Authors: Shao Yanyan , Zhao Jin , Hu Wenguang , Xia Zhou , Luo Jinrong , Zhou Yijing , Zhang Liang , Yang Xianzhong , Ma Ning , Yang Dongzi , Shi Qiuwei , Sun Jingyu , Zhang Lei , Hui Jingshu , Shao Yuanlong
Published: February 2022

Aqueous Zn‐ion batteries (ZIBs) have emerged as a promising energy supply for next‐generation wearable electronics, yet they are still impeded by the notorious growth of zinc dendrite and uncontrollable side reaction. While the rational design of electrolyte composition or separator decoration can effectively restrain zinc dendrite growth, synchronously regulating the interfacial electrochemical performance by tackling the physical delamination venture between electrode and electrolyte remains a major obstacle for high‐performance wearable aqueous ZIB. Herein, a category of hybrid biogel electrolyte containing carrageenan and wool keratin (CWK) is put forward to regulate the interfacial electrochemistry in aqueous ZIB. Systematic electrochemical kinetics analyses and ex situ scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) characterizations achieve comprehensive understanding of the keratin enhanced interfacial Zn2+ redox reaction. Thanks to the keratin triggered selective ion permeability, the as‐designed CWK hybrid biogel electrolyte manifests a promoted Zn2+ transference number and excellent reversibility of Zn plating/stripping and outstanding Zn utilization (average Coulombic efficiency ≈98%). More impressively, the CWK hybrid biogel electrolyte also demonstrates cathode side‐reaction depression and strengthened interfacial adhesion while assembled into a quasi‐solid‐state flexible ZIB. This work offers a strategy to synchronously solve concurrent challenges for both of Zn anode and cathode toward realistic wearable aqueous ZIB.
Torsional behavior ofI‐steel–concretecomposite beam considering the composite effects
Authors: Zhang Jingke , Liu Peng , He Chang , Ding Faxing , Hu Mingwen , Shen Jingtao , Lin Qitao , Liu Xiaoyong , Yang Jian , Qiu Yuanguang , Yang Jianjun
Published: February 2022

To investigate the mechanical behavior of composite beams under pure torsion, considering the torsional contribution of the steel beam flanges, we established finite element models of I‐steel–concrete composite beams. The nonlinear material constitutive relationship of concrete and steel was adopted in the model, and we validated the relationship by tests. Afterward, parametric analyses were carried out to study the main factors affecting the torsional performance of the composite beam. Our primary investigation focused on the composite effects and load sharing ratio of the steel beam and the concrete slab under pure torsion. We established the formulas for obtaining the maximum shear stresses in the concrete slab and the steel beam based on the composite effects and superposition principle. From these tests and our calculations, we proposed a model defining the torsional bearing capacity and the torsional stiffness of the I‐steel–concrete composite beam; thus, the torsional contribution of the concrete slab and the steel beam were a primary concern in this research. Bearing capacity formulas are also proposed herein and are comparable with those in the literature, demonstrating that our formulas, with simple forms, are highly reliable when predicting the torsional behavior of the composite beam.
Effect of water‐to‐cement ratio on internal relative humidity and autogenous shrinkage of early‐age concrete internally cured by superabsorbent polymers
Authors: Kang Jiacheng , Shen Dejian , Li Chengcai , Li Ming , Wang Xudong , Hu Haijiang
Published: February 2022

Self‐desiccation is one common phenomenon of concrete with low water‐to‐cement (w/c) ratios, which may lead to the decrease of internal relative humidity (IRH), and therefore causing autogenous shrinkage (AS). Superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are used as a kind of internal curing material to mitigate AS of concrete. The IRH and AS are significantly affected by the w/c ratio, and several attempts have been made to investigate the IRH or AS of concrete with different w/c ratios. However, the prediction model of AS considering IRH and w/c ratio of internally cured (IC) concrete is limited. In the present study, the effect of w/c ratio on IRH and AS of IC concrete was investigated, and a two‐stage prediction model of AS based on the results of IRH for IC concrete considering the effect of w/c ratio was proposed. The experiment results and analysis indicated that IRH of IC concrete increased as increase of w/c ratio, and development of IRH experienced two stages: a water‐vapor saturated stage with 100% RH (stage I), and a gradually reducing stage in which IRH decreased gradually (stage II); critical time of IC concrete increased as increase of w/c ratio; expansion peak of IC concrete increased as increase of w/c ratio; AS and AS rate of IC concrete decreased as increase of w/c ratio; IRH, critical time, and expansion peak of IC concrete were higher than that of ordinary concrete; AS and AS rate of IC concrete were lower than that of ordinary concrete.
A closed‐form shear resistance model for regions of prestressed beams without flexural cracks
Authors: Roosen Marco A. , Yang Yuguang , van der Veen Cor , Schaafsma Dick G. , Hendriks Max A. N.
Published: February 2022

When the shear resistance of prestressed beams with stirrups is determined with the current Eurocode, no distinction is made between regions with and without flexural cracks. This while it may be expected that a region without flexural cracks will have a higher shear resistance. This is due to the lower longitudinal strains and the narrow crack widths, resulting in a higher contribution of aggregate interlock. Also, the Eurocode does not take into account that in regions without flexural cracks, a significant part of the shear force is transferred through the uncracked flanges. This article proposes therefore a shear resistance model, based on Modified Compression Field Theory (MCFT), that does consider the low longitudinal strains and shear transfer through the uncracked flanges. From a comparison it was found that the proposed model can determine shear resistance as accurately as the most comprehensive level III approach of the Model Code 2010. However, the proposed model was found to be much easier to use in engineering practice as no iterations are necessary.
Multicomponent Reactions (MCRs) with o‐Quinone Methides
Authors: Martins Maria Tereza M. , Dias Flaviana Rodrigues F. , de Moraes Raphael Silva M. , da Silva Marcos Felipe V. , Lucio Kaio R. , D'Oliveira Góes Karina , do Nascimento Patrick A. , da Silva André S. S. , Ferreira Vitor F. , Cunha Anna C.
Published: February 2022

This article presents a comprehensive overview of multicomponent reactions (MCRs) that proceed via ortho‐quinone methide intermediates (o‐QM) generated in the reaction medium. Examples of applications involving these highly reactive intermediates in organic synthesis and biological processes (e. g., biosynthetic pathways, prodrug cleavage and electrophilic capture of biological nucleophiles) are also described. QMs are often generated by eliminative processes of phenol derivatives or by photochemical reactions, including reversible generation in photochromic substances. This class of compounds can undergo various reaction types, including nucleophilic attack at the methide carbon, with subsequent rearomatization, and react with electron‐rich dienophiles in inverse‐electron demand hetero‐Diels‐Alder reactions. Its versatile reactivity has been explored in the context of cascade reactions for the construction of several classes of substances, including complex natural products.
Transformative experience in an informal science learning program about climate change
Authors: Littrell Megan K. , Gold Anne U. , Koskey Kristin L. K. , May Toni A. , Leckey Erin , Okochi Christine
Published: February 2022

The Transformative Experience Questionnaire (TEQ) has previously been used only in formal science learning environments to examine how students' learning experiences extend beyond the classroom into their daily lives. In the present study, an example of how this tool can be useful to assess transformative experiences in an informal learning program is provided. The Lens On Climate Change (LOCC) program combined a place‐based approach to learning with creative expression through storytelling, as middle and high school participants created short films about the impacts of climate change in their communities. Our findings suggest the LOCC participants had a transformative experience with regards to their learning about climate change as illustrated in greater post‐program TEQ scores over a comparison group of research participants who did not engage in the LOCC program. The program was also transformative for both middle and high school students. Results are discussed within theoretical frameworks for designing informal transformative science learning experiences.
A large‐scale epidemiological investigation on trematode infections in small ruminants in Bangladesh
Authors: Dey Anita Rani , Begum Nurjahan , Anisuzzaman  , Islam Md Taohidul , Alam Mohammad Zahangir
Published: February 2022

Background

The important trematode species in small ruminants:Paramphistomumsp.,Fasciolaspp. andSchistosomaspp. seriously affect the productivity of domestic ruminants in endemic areas.

Methods

In the present study, we identified the potential risk factors associated with trematodes infections in small ruminants in seven topographic zones of Bangladesh using simple sedimentation and modified Stoll’ ova counting technique.

Results

A total of 2440 samples were examined, where 965 were found positive with one or more trematode species with an overall prevalence of 39.5% (95% CI, 37.6%–41.5%) and intensity of infection was 264.77 ± 9.86 egg per gram of faeces. Three trematode species were identified namelyParamphistomumsp. (34.1%, 32.2%–36.0%),Fasciolaspp. (7.5%, 6.5%–8.6%) andSchistosomaspp. (2.7%, 2.1%–3.5%). Prevalence of co‐infection was 4.8%. The spatial distribution of trematode infections varied from 29.5% to 53.6%. Univariate analysis revealed that physiological condition of females, body condition, farming system, deworming and season were significantly (p < 0.05) associated with trematodes infections in small ruminants. By multiple logistic regression model, three factors such as physiological condition of females (pregnant and lactating), poor body condition and animals without deworming were identified as potential risk factors for trematodes infection in small ruminants.

Conclusion

Trematode infections are prevalent in the study areas andParamphistomumsp. is most common in different areas among the identified trematodes species.

Government should take necessary action to appraise an effective control strategy of trematode infections in small ruminants.
Feminist Storytellers Imagining New Stories to Tell
Authors: de Nooijer Rosa , Sol Cueva Lillian
Published: February 2022

Feminist scholars such as Donna Haraway (Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium. FemaleMan©Meets_OncoMouse™: Feminism and technoscience, Routledge, 1997, Making oddkin: Story telling for earthly survival, YaleUniversity, 2017, a/b: Auto/Biography Studies 34(3): 565–575, 2019) have been using storytelling in their research, challenging dominant thinking and writing practices in academic work. To counter dominant knowledge practices, storytelling interweaves a plurality of voices and knowledges which speak to one another in order to move toward the imagination and creation of new words, therefore new worlds. Our chapter explores the rich opportunities and challenges that narrative approaches provide for feminist research. We discuss what we could learn from the varied engagements with storytelling as an alternative methodological approach. To do so, creatively and in a dialogue, we bring together literature and insights from feminist narrative studies. At the same time, we ask each other questions, thinking through and reflecting on the use of this method.
Mulai Leave—datang Arrive—pulang Return. Working the Field Together: A Feminist Mother–Son Journey in Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Authors: Padmanabhan Martina
Published: February 2022

In the chapter I reflect on ten months of research in Yogyakarta, Indonesia undertaken in the company of an 8/9-year-old boy as a single mother. By unpacking the shared journey, how it felt and what we had to consider, I place this social adventure and professional challenge within a feminist assessment of academic, family and parenthood institutions. I highlight the epistemic gains when recognising myself as both mother and academic. Engaging with the growing literature on fieldwork accompanied by children, I focus on the dimensions that construct the field as a parent and researcher showing what I learnt because I was accompanied by a child as part of feminist intellectual and emotional enquiry.
Embodied Urban Cartographies: Women’s Daily Trajectories on Public Transportation in Guadalajara, Mexico
Authors: Gollaz Morán Azucena
Published: February 2022

In my chapter I discuss the process of creating comprehensive embodied urban cartographies of women’s daily trajectories to work by public transportation in Guadalajara, Mexico. I argue that mapping methods can be used as a feminist tool to reveal the power structures that shape women’s urban experience and to analyse how those assemblages are lived from an embodied and intersectional perspective. I underline the relevance of such a perspective showing how feminist cartographies help to re-draw more equitable urban geographies.
On the short-range behavior of neutrino forces beyond the Standard Model: from 1/r5 to 1/r4, 1/r2, and 1/r
Authors: Xu Xun-Jie , Yu Bingrong
Published: February 2022

Abstract

The exchange of a pair of neutrinos between two objects, seperated by a distance r, leads to a long-range effective potential proportional to 1/r5, assuming massless neutrinos and four-fermion contact interactions. In this paper, we investigate how this known form of neutrino-mediated potentials might be altered if the distance r is sufficiently short, corresponding to a sufficiently large momentum transfer which could invalidate the contact interactions. We consider two possible scenarios to open up the contact interactions by introducing a t-channel or an s-channel mediator. We derive a general formula that is valid to describe the potential in all regimes as long as the external particles remain non-relativistic. In both scenarios, the potential decreases as 1/r5 in the long-range limit as expected. In the short-range limit, the t-channel potential exhibits the Coulomb-like behavior (i.e. proportional to 1/r), while the s-channel potential exhibits 1/r4 and 1/r2 behaviors.
Flavor and CP violation from a QCD-like hidden sector
Authors: Bensalem Wafia , Stolarski Daniel
Published: February 2022

Abstract

Confining hidden sectors at the GeV scale are well motivated by asymmetric dark matter and naturalness considerations and can also give interesting collider signatures. Here we study such sectors connected to the Standard Model by a TeV scale mediator charged under both QCD and the dark force. Such a mediator admits a Yukawa coupling between quarks and dark quarks which is generically flavour and CP violating. We show that in contrast to expectation, electric dipole moments do not place a strong constraint on this scenario even with O(1) CP-violating phases. We also quantitatively explore constraints from ∆F = 1, 2 processes as a function of the number of dark quark flavours. Finally, we describe the reach of upcoming measurements at Belle-II and KOTO, and we propose new CP-odd observables in rare meson decays that may be sensitive to the CP-violating nature of the dark sector.
Reliability of a novel approach for reference-based cell type estimation in human placental DNA methylation studies
Authors: Dieckmann Linda , Cruceanu Cristiana , Lahti-Pulkkinen Marius , Lahti Jari , Kvist Tuomas , Laivuori Hannele , Sammallahti Sara , Villa Pia M. , Suomalainen-König Sanna , Rancourt Rebecca C. , Plagemann Andreas , Henrich Wolfgang , Eriksson Johan G. , Kajantie Eero , Entringer Sonja , Braun Thorsten , Räikkönen Katri , Binder Elisabeth B. , Czamara Darina
Published: February 2022

The placenta is a central organ during early development, influencing trajectories of health and disease. DNA methylation (DNAm) studies of human placenta improve our understanding of how its function relates to disease risk. However, DNAm studies can be biased by cell type heterogeneity, so it is essential to control for this in order to reduce confounding and increase precision. Computational cell type deconvolution approaches have proven to be very useful for this purpose. For human placenta, however, an assessment of the performance of these estimation methods is still lacking. Here, we examine the performance of a newly available reference-based cell type estimation approach and compare it to an often-used reference-free cell type estimation approach, namely RefFreeEWAS, in placental genome-wide DNAm samples taken at birth and from chorionic villus biopsies early in pregnancy using three independent studies comprising over 1000 samples. We found both reference-free and reference-based estimated cell type proportions to have predictive value for DNAm, however, reference-based cell type estimation outperformed reference-free estimation for the majority of data sets. Reference-based cell type estimations mirror previous histological knowledge on changes in cell type proportions through gestation. Further, CpGs whose variation in DNAm was largely explained by reference-based estimated cell type proportions were in the proximity of genes that are highly tissue-specific for placenta. This was not the case for reference-free estimated cell type proportions. We provide a list of these CpGs as a resource to help researchers to interpret results of existing studies and improve future DNAm studies of human placenta.
The complexity of approximating the complex-valued Potts model
Authors: Galanis Andreas , Goldberg Leslie Ann , Herrera-Poyatos Andrés
Published: February 2022

We study the complexity of approximating the partition function of
the q-state Potts model and the closely related Tutte polynomial
for complex values of the underlying parameters. Apart from the
classical connections with quantum computing and phase transitions
in statistical physics, recent work in approximate counting has
shown that the behaviour in the complex plane, and more precisely
the location of zeros, is strongly connected with the complexity of
the approximation problem, even for positive real-valued parameters.
Previous work in the complex plane by Goldberg and Guo focused on
q = 2, which corresponds to the case of the Ising model; for q > 2,
the behaviour in the complex plane is not as well understood and
most work applies only to the real-valued Tutte plane. Our main
result is a complete classification of the complexity of the
approximation problems for all non-real values of the parameters, by
establishing #P-hardness results that apply even when restricted to
planar graphs. Our techniques apply to all q $$\geq$$
≥
2 and further
complement/refine previous results both for the Ising model and the
Tutte plane, answering in particular a question raised by Bordewich,
Freedman, Lovász and Welsh in the context of quantum
computations.
Ways to improve guideline adherence in the emergency department: an interview study on the management of traumatic brain injuries
Authors: Vestlund Sebastian , Vedin Tomas , Edelhamre Marcus , Lindén Magnus , Larsson Per-Anders
Published: February 2022

Purpose

The aim was to explore factors affecting guideline adherence among doctors in the emergency department and to explore the general perception about local guidelines for traumatic brain injuries.

Methods

Thirty semi-structured interviews were conducted with doctors with experience working in the emergency department regarding different aspects of guideline use, with emphasis on the management of traumatic brain injuries. Twenty-eight interviews were included for analysis. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analysed iteratively. Emergent codes were identified and organised into themes and subthemes.

Results

Eight themes were identified. Barriers were centred on low availability of local guidelines and guideline document design. Facilitating factors included a concise document, appropriate visual aids, high accessibility, and encouragement by management and senior peers. The local guidelines on traumatic brain injuries were regarded as distinct, but it was occasionally difficult to determine when they were applicable. Mandatory admission of patients on anticoagulants was sometimes perceived as excessive. Biomarker S100b was believed to sometimes lead to delayed care.

Conclusion

The participants believed that guideline adherence would increase by facilitating guideline availability, by providing concise, easy-to-understand, and well-illustrated guidelines available in printed form, as well as establishing a culture that promotes guideline use. The local guidelines for traumatic brain injuries were appreciated, but could be improved.
On the computation of confidence regions and error ellipses: a critical appraisal
Authors: Zaminpardaz S. , Teunissen P. J. G.
Published: February 2022

Customary confidence regions do not truly reflect in the majority of our geodetic applications the confidence one can have in one’s produced estimators. As it is common practice in our daily data analyses to combine methods of parameter estimation and hypothesis testing before the final estimator is produced, it is their combined uncertainty that has to be taken into account when constructing confidence regions. Ignoring the impact of testing on estimation will produce faulty confidence regions and therefore provide an incorrect description of estimator’s quality. In this contribution, we address the interplay between estimation and testing and show how their combined non-normal distribution can be used to construct truthful confidence regions. In doing so, our focus is on the designing phase prior to when the actual measurements are collected, where it is assumed that the working (null) hypothesis is true. We discuss two different approaches for constructing confidence regions:Approach Iin which the region’s shape is user-fixed and only its size is determined by the distribution, andApproach IIin which both the size and shape are simultaneously determined by the estimator’s non-normal distribution. We also prove and demonstrate that the estimation-only confidence regions have a poor coverage in the sense that they provide an optimistic picture. Next to the provided theory, we provide computational procedures, for both Approach I and Approach II, on how to compute confidence regions and confidence levels that truthfully reflect the combined uncertainty of estimation and testing.
Head-to-head evaluation of [18F]FDG and [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT in recurrent soft tissue sarcoma
Authors: Gu Bingxin , Liu Xin , Wang Shuoer , Xu Xiaoping , Liu Xiaosheng , Hu Silong , Yan Wangjun , Luo Zhiguo , Song Shaoli
Published: February 2022

Purpose

We aimed to evaluate the value of [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT for the diagnosis of recurrent soft tissue sarcoma (STS), compared with [18F]FDG PET/CT.

Methods

A total of 45 patients (21 females and 24 males; median age, 46 years; range, 18–71 years) with 13 subtypes of STS underwent [18F]FDG and [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT examination within 1 week for assessment local relapse or distant metastasis. Positive lesions on PET/CT images were verified by biopsy or 3-month follow-up. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed-rank test was used to compare the semiquantitative values (SUVmax and TBR) of [18F]FDG and [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 in tumor lesions, and McNemar test was applied to test for differences of both tracers.

Results

Among the 45 patients, 282 local relapses and distant metastases were identified. Compared to [18F]FDG, [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT detected more lesions (275 vs. 186) and outperformed in sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV, and accuracy for the diagnosis of recurrent lesions (P < 0.001). [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 demonstrated significantly higher values of SUVmax and TBR than [18F]FDG PET/CT in liposarcoma (P = 0.011 and P < 0.001, respectively), malignant solitary fibrous tumor (MSFT) (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively), and interdigitating dendritic cell sarcoma (IDCS) (P < 0.001and P < 0.001, respectively). While mean SUVmax and TBR presented favorable uptake of [18F]FDG over [68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 in undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) (P = 0.003 and P < 0.001, respectively) and rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively).

Conclusion

[68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-FAPI-04 PET/CT is a promising new imaging modality for recurrent surveillance of STS, and compares favorably with [18F]FDG for identifying recurrent lesions of liposarcoma, MSFT, and IDCS.
Card-Based Cryptographic Protocols with Malicious Players Using Private Operations
Authors: Manabe Yoshifumi , Ono Hibiki
Published: February 2022

This paper shows new card-based cryptographic protocols using private operations that are secure against malicious players. Physical cards are used in card-based cryptographic protocols instead of computers. Operations that a player executes in a place where the other players cannot see are called private operations. Using several private operations, calculations of two variable Boolean functions and copy operations were realized with the minimum number of cards. Though private operations are very powerful in card-based cryptographic protocols, there is a problem that it is very hard to prevent malicious actions during private operations. Though most card-based protocols are discussed in the semi-honest model, there might be cases when the semi-honest model is not enough. Thus, this paper shows new protocols that are secure against malicious players. We show logical XOR, logical AND, n-variable Boolean function, and copy protocols. We can execute any logical computations with a combination of these protocols. We use envelopes as an additional tool that can be easily prepared and used by people.
Time to onset and duration of botulinum toxin efficacy in movement disorders
Authors: Ledda Claudia , Artusi Carlo Alberto , Tribolo Antonella , Rinaldi Domiziana , Imbalzano Gabriele , Lopiano Leonardo , Zibetti Maurizio
Published: February 2022

Background

Botulinum toxin (BoNT) is a valuable treatment in movement disorders; however, time to onset and duration of efficacy may widely differ among patients. We aimed to clarify the impact of main demographic and clinical features on time to onset and duration of BoNT efficacy.

Methods

We analyzed time-to-onset and duration of BoNT efficacy in 186 consecutive patients treated with BoNT for blepharospasm, cervical dystonia, facial hemispasm, oromandibular dystonia, limb dystonia, and sialorrhea due to Parkinsonism. The following factors were considered as potential efficacy predictors: doses and types of toxin, sex, age, years of treatment, and clinical condition. Kruskall–Wallis, Spearman correlation, and multivariate linear regression were used for statistical analysis.

Results

The average time to onset was 6.7 ± 5 days and duration of BONT efficacy 78.5 ± 28.4 days. Both time to onset and duration of efficacy were correlated with BoNT doses (p: 0.007 and p: 0.02). The multiple regression analysis showed that sex, age, years of BoNT treatment, doses, type of toxin, and clinical condition significantly predicted time to onset (F(11, 171) = 2.146, p: 0.020) with age being the strongest predictor (p: 0.004).

The same model explained 20.1% of the variance of duration of BoNT efficacy, showing a significant prediction of the outcome (F(11, 164) = 3.754, p < 0.001), with doses (p < 0.001), type of toxin (p: 0.017), and clinical condition (p < 0.001) being the strongest predictors.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that age, type of toxin, clinical condition and especially doses may account for the variability of BoNT efficacy in terms of time to onset and duration.
Resources and predation: drivers of sociality in a cyclic mesopredator
Authors: Erlandsson Rasmus , Hasselgren Malin , Norén Karin , Macdonald David , Angerbjörn Anders
Published: February 2022

In socially flexible species, the tendency to live in groups is expected to vary through a trade-off between costs and benefits, determined by ecological conditions. The Resource Dispersion Hypothesis predicts that group size changes in response to patterns in resource availability. An additional dimension is described in Hersteinsson’s model positing that sociality is further affected by a cost–benefit trade-off related to predation pressure. In the arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), group-living follows a regional trade-off in resources’ availability and intra-guild predation pressure. However, the effect of local fluctuations is poorly known, but offers an unusual opportunity to test predictions that differ between the two hypotheses in systems where prey availability is linked to intra-guild predation. Based on 17-year monitoring of arctic fox and cyclic rodent prey populations, we addressed the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis and discuss the results in relation to the impact of predation in Hersteinsson’s model. Group-living increased with prey density, from 7.7% (low density) to 28% (high density). However, it remained high (44%) despite a rodent crash and this could be explained by increased benefits from cooperative defence against prey switching by top predators. We conclude that both resource abundance and predation pressure are factors underpinning the formation of social groups in fluctuating ecosystems.
Reading order detection on handwritten documents
Authors: Quirós Lorenzo , Vidal Enrique
Published: February 2022

Recent advances in Handwritten Text Recognition and Document Layout Analysis have made it possible to convert digital images of manuscripts into electronic text. However, providing this text with the correct structure and context is still an open problem that needs to be solved to actually enable extracting the relevant information conveyed by the text. The most important structure needed for a set of text elements is their reading order. Most of the studies on the reading order problem are rule-based approaches and focus on printed documents. Much less attention has been paid so far to handwritten text documents, where the problem becomes particularly important—and challenging. In this work, we propose a new approach to automatically determine the reading order of text regions and lines in handwritten text documents. The task is approached as a sorting problem where the order-relation operator is automatically learned from examples. We experimentally demonstrate the effectiveness of our method on three different datasets at different hierarchical levels.
On a game of chance in Marc Elsberg’s thriller “GREED”
Authors: Göll Tamara , Hug Daniel
Published: February 2022

A (possibly illegal) game of chance, which is described in Chap. 14 of Marc Elsberg’s thriller “GREED”, seems to offer an excellent chance of winning. However, as the gambling starts and evolves over several rounds, the actual experience of the vast majority of the gamblers in a pub is strikingly different. We provide an analysis of this specific game and several of its variants by elementary tools of probability. Thus we also encounter an interesting threshold phenomenon, which is related to the transition from a profit zone to a loss area. Our arguments are motivated and illustrated by numerical calculations with Python.
Intracranial pressure monitoring in posterior fossa lesions—systematic review and meta-analysis
Authors: Won Sae-Yeon , Dubinski Daniel , Hagemeier Jonas , Behmanesh Bedjan , Trnovec Svorad , Bernstock Joshua D. , Freiman Thomas M. , Gessler Florian
Published: February 2022

Elevated intracranial pressure (ICP) with reduced cerebral perfusion pressure is a well-known cause of secondary brain injury. Previously, there have been some reports describing different supra- and infratentorial ICP measurements depending on the location of the mass effect. Therefore, we aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to clarify the issue of optimal ICP monitoring in the infratentorial mass lesion. A literature search of electronic databases (PUBMED, EMBASE) was performed from January 1969 until February 2021 according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement. Two assessors are independently screened for eligible studies reporting the use of simultaneous ICP monitoring in the supra- and infratentorial compartments. For quality assessment of those studies, the New Castle Ottawa Scale was used. The primary outcome was to evaluate the value of supra- and infratentorial ICP measurement, and the secondary outcome was to determine the time threshold until equalization of both values. Current evidence surrounding infratentorial ICP measurement was found to be low to very low quality according to New Castle Ottawa Scale. Eight studies were included in the systematic review, four of them containing human subjects encompassing 27 patients with infratentorial pathology. The pooled data demonstrated significantly higher infratentorial ICP values than supratentorial ICP values 12 h after onset (p < 0.05, 95% CI 3.82–5.38) up to 24 h after onset (p < 0.05; CI 1.14–3.98). After 48–72 h, both ICP measurements equilibrated showing no significant difference. Further, four studies containing 26 pigs and eight dogs showed a simultaneous increase of supra- and infratentorial ICP value according to the increase of supratentorial mass volume; however, there was a significant difference towards lower ICP in the infratentorial compartment compared to the supratentorial compartment. The transtentorial gradient leads to a significant discrepancy between supra- and infratentorial ICP monitoring. Therefore, infratentorial ICP monitoring is warranted in case of posterior fossa lesions for at least 48 h.
A Critique of Utilitarian Trust: The Case of the Dutch Insurance Sector
Authors: van Rietschoten Erik , van Bommel Koen
Published: February 2022

The organizational trust literature relies strongly on the notion of trust and trustworthiness as a calculative cause-and-effect relationship aimed at assessing the advantages and disadvantages between two actors. This utilitarian notion of trust has been critiqued by studies that highlight construct inconsistencies related to utilitarian trust, which, it is argued, is deficient, incomplete and misleading. Our empirical study of the Dutch insurance sector identifies and categorizes three process inconsistencies that help to explain why the calculation of trust in a utilitarian sense is seemingly impossible in practice and is a barrier to the unambiguous assessment of individual needs and individual utility. These process inconsistencies successively concern insufficient information, complex behavioural dynamics, and a convoluted pattern of stakeholder influence to assess utility in trust relationships, specifically within complex socio-economic systems. Our findings contribute to the trust literature by proposing a classification of the previous critiques on utilitarian trust, and by showing that in scenarios of systematic rather than dyadic trust, process inconsistencies may be too strong to endure a ‘leap of faith’, at least with regard to suspension and assessing utilitarian trust in these more complex socio-economic systems.
Twenty-five years of the Education and the Information Technologies journal: Past and future
Authors: Tatnall Arthur , Fluck Andrew
Published: February 2022

This article examines how research publications in education and information technologies have changed over the last twenty-five years. The authors investigate articles published in the journal: Education and Information Technologies (EAIT). To celebrate a quarter-century of this publication. They take a retrospective view of the EAIT journal, using Historical Research methodology to show some of the trends in topics covered and to interrogate the expanding cultural background of published authors. While computer technology has developed rapidly over this time, research methodologies, international collaborations, and discipline areas have multiplied quickly. Finally, this article identifies some unique papers that have appeared in print and provides glimpses into what the future may hold.
Selective laser trabeculoplasty following failed combined phacoemulsification cataract extraction and excimer laser trabeculotomy can control intraocular pressure for a limited time
Authors: Krzyzanowska Iwona , Ziegler Johanna , Meier-Gibbons Frances , Töteberg-Harms Marc
Published: February 2022

Purpose

To assess the efficacy of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) following failed phacoemulsification cataract extraction combined with excimer laser trabeculotomy (phaco-ELT).

Methods

Retrospectively, the medical records of patients with primary or secondary open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension who underwent SLT between January 2001 and February 2015 by one surgeon at a single center after a failed phaco-ELT were evaluated. Exclusion criteria were: angle-closure glaucoma, optic nerve atrophy due to disease other than glaucoma, and additional glaucoma procedures between phaco-ELT and SLT. The main outcome measures were time to failure and Kaplan–Meier survival. Complete success was defined as a reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) of  > 3 mmHg and  > 20% compared to baseline, and the number of AGM ≤ baseline.

Results

A total of 23 eyes of 21 subjects were included. Baseline IOP was 19.7 (range, 19.1–22.7) mmHg, and the number of AGM at baseline was 2.5 (range, 1.9–2.9). Median time to failure after SLT was 7.2 (range, 6.6–7.8) months. The number of antiglaucoma medications did not change during that time.

Conclusions

In eyes in which the IOP is no longer controlled following phaco-ELT, SLT could be an option to slow disease progression or prolong time until incisional filtration surgery. However, time to failure after SLT is limited. Thus, close follow-up visits are necessary in order to not delay an incisional surgery.
Comparative analysis of phycoerythrin production in cryptophytes
Authors: Mercier Léon , Peltomaa Elina , Ojala Anne
Published: February 2022

Phycobiliproteins are pigments with uses in pharmacology, cosmetics, foods, and as fluorescent probes in biochemistry. Cryptophyte microalgae are one possible source of phycobiliproteins as well as other molecules such as omega-3 fatty acids. The use of cryptophytes in biotechnology is currently very limited and especially the potential of freshwater species is poorly documented. For commercial microalgae production, it is important to find the best performing strains in terms of growth and yields of the products of interest. Phycoerythrin is a phycobiliprotein with red colour and strong yellow fluorescence. In this study, we evaluate the growth and phycoerythrin production of eight strains of freshwater cryptophytes belonging to the genus Cryptomonas, comparing them to two marine strains. The strains are grown in batch cultures under standardised conditions. Most of the studied freshwater strains have lower growth rates and all of them have lower biomass yields than the marine strains. However, most of them have much higher cellular phycoerythrin concentrations, which in the case of two strains leads them to a significantly higher overall phycoerythrin yield. There is large variation among cryptophytes in growth rates and phycoerythrin content. Our results suggest that freshwater cryptophytes of the genus Cryptomonas may be better sources of phycoerythrin than the more extensively studied marine strains.
Dissociating the phononic, magnetic and electronic contributions to thermal conductivity: a computational study in alpha-iron
Authors: Nikolov S. , Tranchida J. , Ramakrishna K. , Lokamani M. , Cangi A. , Wood M. A.
Published: February 2022

Computational tools to study thermodynamic properties of magnetic materials have, until recently, been limited to phenomenological modeling or to small domain sizes limiting our mechanistic understanding of thermal transport in ferromagnets. Herein, we study the interplay of phonon and magnetic spin contributions to the thermal conductivity in $$\alpha$$
α
-iron utilizing non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. It was observed that the magnetic spin contribution to the total thermal conductivity exceeds lattice transport for temperatures up to two-thirds of the Curie temperature after which only strongly coupled magnon-phonon modes become active heat carriers. Characterizations of the phonon and magnon spectra give a detailed insight into the coupling between these heat carriers, and the temperature sensitivity of these coupled systems. Comparisons to both experiments and ab initio data support our inferred electronic thermal conductivity, supporting the coupled molecular dynamics/spin dynamics framework as a viable method to extend the predictive capability for magnetic material properties.
Distinguishing Power-Law Uniform Random Graphs from Inhomogeneous Random Graphs Through Small Subgraphs
Authors: Stegehuis Clara
Published: February 2022

We investigate the asymptotic number of induced subgraphs in power-law uniform random graphs. We show that these induced subgraphs appear typically on vertices with specific degrees, which are found by solving an optimization problem. Furthermore, we show that this optimization problem allows to design a linear-time, randomized algorithm that distinguishes between uniform random graphs and random graph models that create graphs with approximately a desired degree sequence: the power-law rank-1 inhomogeneous random graph. This algorithm uses the fact that some specific induced subgraphs appear significantly more often in uniform random graphs than in rank-1 inhomogeneous random graphs.
Affinity Selection from Synthetic Peptide Libraries Enabled by De Novo MS/MS Sequencing
Authors: Koh Li Quan , Lim Yi Wee , Gates Zachary P.
Published: February 2022

Recently, de novo MS/MS peptide sequencing has enabled the application of affinity selections to synthetic peptide mixtures that approach the diversity of phage libraries (> 108 random peptides). In conjunction with ‘split-mix’ solid phase synthesis to access equimolar peptide mixtures, this approach provides a straightforward means to examine synthetic peptide libraries of considerably higher diversity than has been feasible historically. Here, we offer a critical perspective on this work, report emerging data, and highlight opportunities for further methods refinement. With continued development, ‘affinity selection–mass spectrometry’ may become a complimentary approach to phage display, in vitro selection, and DNA-encoded libraries for the discovery of synthetic ligands that modulate protein function.