bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Daridorexant treatment for chronic insomnia: a real-world retrospective single-center study
Authors: Fernandes Mariana , Placidi Fabio , Mercuri Nicola Biagio , Liguori Claudio
Published: January 2024

Introduction

Chronic insomnia disorder (CID) significantly impacts well-being and daily functioning. Daridorexant, a double orexin receptor blocker, has shown efficacy in randomized clinical trials and has been recently approved for the treatment of CID in adult patients. This retrospective observational study aimed to describe real-world data on daridorexant effectiveness and safety in adult patients with CID.

Methods

Consecutive patients initiating on-label daridorexant at the Sleep Medicine Centre, University Hospital of Rome Tor Vergata were enrolled. Baseline and 30-day follow-up (FU) evaluations included patients’ and CID characteristics, comorbidities, and clinicians’ and patients’ subjective ratings of changes with the Clinical and Patient Global Impression-Improvement scores (CGI-Is and PGI-Is), as well as Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) scores in a subgroup of patients.

Results

Sixty-nine patients initiated 50-mg daily dosage. At FU, 58% of both patients and clinicians rated CID as improved on CGI-Is and PGI-Is, with no differences based on comorbidities, sex, or number of previous medications. No significant predictors of CGI-Is and PGI-Is improvement were identified. At FU, ISI scores (n = 24) significantly decreased from 18.25 ± 3.21 to 12.08 ± 6.12 (Z = 8.000; p < 0.001). Of these, eight patients (33.3%) had absence of insomnia symptoms, and no patients reported a worsening in ISI score categories.

Conclusions

This study suggests daridorexant to be effective and safe in real-world CID treatment whether used as a first-ever treatment, switch, or add-on, as reflected by subjective and objective measures and the absence of serious treatment-related adverse events. Future research on larger cohorts should explore daridorexant potential across diverse patient characteristics.
Therapeutic efficacy and safety of home-based portable laser irradiation on patients with wrist pain: a single-blinded randomized controlled trial
Authors: Yun Young-Ji , Kim Da-Sol , Won Yu Hui , Park Sung-Hee , Ko Myoung-Hwan , Seo Jeong-Hwan , Kim Gi-Wook
Published: January 2024

The purpose of this study is to confirm the effect of small, portable low-level laser therapy (light sources in square configuration: 830 nm GaAs diode 3.2 mW at the center, 4 × 650 nm InGaAIP diodes over the corners) treatment in reducing and enhancing hand function in patients with wrist pain. This study was a prospective, randomized, sham-controlled, and home-based self-therapy trial. A total of thirty subjects with wrist pain were enrolled. All participants received low-level laser therapy on painful area at the wrist. The experimental group (n = 15) received laser stimulation, while the control group (n = 15) received sham stimulation using identical equipment that generated only a red light without the laser output. Both groups self-treated for 30 min a day, 5 days per week for 3 weeks, total of 15 sessions. The primary outcome was assessed using a visual analogue scale (VAS) for wrist pain from 0 (painless) to 10 (extreme pain). The secondary outcomes were measured with patient-rated wrist evaluation (PRWE), grip strength, lateral, palmar, and tip pinch strength. Measures were taken before and after treatment. A total of thirty participants provided outcome data. After the intervention, both groups showed a significant decrease in VAS score, from 4.93 to 3.67 in experimental group, from 5.53 to 4.00 in control group (the experiment group: p = 0.020, the control group: p = 0.003). The experimental group showed a significant improvement in function scale score (p = 0.012), the control group did not. Lateral and pinch strength was significantly improved in the experimental group (p = 0.017) and in the control group (p = 0.034) respectively. There were no side effects in the patients. Medical laser irradiation is a portable and easy-to-use laser irradiator without side effects. Clinical Trial Registration number: KCT0006604.
Effects of topically administered 0.6% hyaluronic acid on the healing of labial frenectomy in conventional and 940-nm indium gallium arsenide phosphide (InGaAsP) diode laser techniques in pediatric patients: a randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study
Authors: Doğan Suat Serhan Altintepe , Karakan Nebi Cansın , Doğan Özgür
Published: January 2024

This study aimed to investigate the effects of 0.6% hyaluronic acid (HA) gel on the healing process and postoperative pain levels after diode laser-assisted labial frenectomy in pediatric patients. Ninety-six pediatric patients (females, 50 and males, 46) aged 8–14 years were randomly divided into four groups as follows: (1) conventional frenectomy with 0.6% topically administered HA (CFH, n = 24); (2) conventional frenectomy with placebo gel (CFP, n = 24); (3) frenectomy performed by diode laser with 0.6% topically administered HA (DLH, n = 24); and (4) frenectomy performed by diode laser with placebo gel (DLP, n = 24). HA application was continued for 1 week thrice daily after the frenectomy. Visual analog scale forms were collected from patients 1 week after the operation. In addition, the plaque index, gingival index, periodontal probing depth, and keratinized tissue width and thickness were recorded. This process was repeated 1 and 3 months after the first visit. The DLH group revealed significant differences in the probing depth, bleeding on probing, keratinized gingiva width, and attached gingiva width according to dual comparisons of the initial, first, and third-month values (p = 0.010, p = 0.007, p<0.001, and p = 0.001, respectively). Significant differences were observed between the CFP and CFH groups according to the initial and initial third-month values with regard to the bleeding on probing (p=0.019 and p = 0.019, respectively). The attached gingival thickness revealed significant differences between the CFP and CFH groups for the initial and initial-third-month comparisons (p = 0.005 and p = 0.007, respectively). The mean values of the initial and initial-third-month differences were significantly higher in the CFH group than those in the CFP group. HA- and laser-assisted labial frenectomies revealed better outcomes in terms of the probing depth, attached gingiva width, keratinized gingiva width, healing process, and postoperative comfort.
Humoral and cellular immune response in patients of liver cirrhosis and immunocompetent recipient of ChAdOx1nCoV-19 Vaccine (Covishield)
Authors: Dandu Himanshu , Goel Amit , Kumar Manish , Malhotra Hardeep Singh , Katiyar Harshita , Agarwal Monica , Kumar Neeraj , Pandey Pragya , Rani Shivani , Yadav Geeta
Published: January 2024

Despite the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccination in reducing the severity of the disease, the demand for booster is increasing in vulnerable populations like elderly and immunocompromised individuals especially with each new wave of COVID-19 in different countries. There is limited data on the sustained immunity against COVID-19 in patients with liver cirrhosis. The study was aimed to compare the T cell and humoral immune response after 1 year of ChAdOx1nCoV-19 Vaccine in patients with liver cirrhosis and healthy health care workers (HCW). This was a prospective observational study including 36 HCW, 19 liver cirrhosis patients and 10 unvaccinated individuals. Anti-SARS-CoV-2S antibody, neutralizing antibody and memory T cell subsets were evaluated by ELISA and flow cytometry, respectively, in all three groups after 1 year of initial vaccination. Compared to HCW and unvaccinated individuals, liver cirrhosis patients had significantly depleted T cells, although CD4:CD8 + T cell ratio was normal. Both cirrhotic patients and HCW developed memory T cell subset [effector memory RA (P = 0.141, P < 0.001), effector memory (P < 0.001, P < 0.001), central memory (P < 0.001, P < 0.01), stem cell memory (P = 0.009, P = 0.08) and naïve (P < 0.001, P = 0.02)] compared to unvaccinated unexposed individuals of CD4 + T and CD8 + T, respectively. However, among HCW and cirrhotic group no difference was noted on central memory and stem cell memory cells on T cells. Patients with liver cirrhosis developed comparable memory T cells after vaccination which can evoke sustainable immune response on reinfection. Therefore, additional vaccine doses may not be necessary for cirrhosis patients.
Systematic review of mortality and survival rates for APDS
Authors: Hanson Jennifer , Bonnen Penelope E.
Published: January 2024

Activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta syndrome (APDS) is a rare genetic disorder that presents clinically as a primary immunodeficiency. Clinical presentation of APDS includes severe, recurrent infections, lymphoproliferation, lymphoma, and other cancers, autoimmunity and enteropathy. Autosomal dominant variants in two independent genes have been demonstrated to cause APDS. Pathogenic variants in PIK3CD and PIK3R1, both of which encode components of the PI3-kinase, have been identified in subjects with APDS. APDS1 is caused by gain of function variants in the PIK3CD gene, while loss of function variants in PIK3R1 have been reported to cause APDS2. We conducted a review of the medical literature and identified 256 individuals who had a molecular diagnosis for APDS as well as age at last report; 193 individuals with APDS1 and 63 with APDS2. Despite available treatments, survival for individuals with APDS appears to be shortened from the average lifespan. A Kaplan–Meier survival analysis for APDS showed the conditional survival rate at the age of 20 years was 87%, age of 30 years was 74%, and ages of 40 and 50 years were 68%. Review of causes of death showed that the most common cause of death was lymphoma, followed by complications from HSCT. The overall mortality rate for HSCT in APDS1 and APDS2 cases was 15.6%, while the mortality rate for lymphoma was 47.6%. This survival and mortality data illustrate that new treatments are needed to mitigate the risk of death from lymphoma and other cancers as well as infection. These analyses based on real-world evidence gathered from the medical literature comprise the largest study of survival and mortality for APDS to date.
Vaccination protects against acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in hospitalized patients with COVID-19
Authors: Madrid Julian , Agarwal Prerana , Müller-Peltzer Katharina , Askani Marvin , Benning Leo , Selig Mischa , Diehl Philipp , Kalbhenn Johannes , Trummer Georg , Utzolino Stefan , Wengenmayer Tobias , Busch Hans-Jörg , Stolz Daiana , Rieg Siegbert , Panning Marcus , Schlett Christopher L. , Bamberg Fabian , Askani Esther
Published: January 2024

This study aimed to analyze the effect of COVID-19 vaccination on the occurrence of ARDS in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. The study population of this retrospective, single-center cohort study consisted of hospitalized COVID-19 patients with known vaccination status and chest computed tomography imaging between July 2021 and February 2022. The impact of vaccination on ARDS in COVID-19 patients was assessed through logistic regression adjusting for demographic differences and confounding factors with statistical differences determined using confidence intervals and effect sizes. A total of 167 patients (69% male, average age 58 years, 95% CI [55; 60], 42% fully vaccinated) were included in the data analysis. Vaccinated COVID-19 patients had a reduced relative risk (RR) of developing ARDS (RR: 0.40, 95% CI [0.21; 0.62]). Consequently, non-vaccinated hospitalized patients had a 2.5-fold higher probability of developing ARDS. This risk reduction persisted after adjusting for several confounding variables (RR: 0.64, 95% CI [0.29; 0.94]) in multivariate analysis. The protective effect of COVID-19 vaccination increased with ARDS severity (RR: 0.61, 95% CI [0.37; 0.92]). Particularly, patients under 60 years old were at risk for ARDS onset and seemed to benefit from COVID-19 vaccination (RR: 0.51, 95% CI [0.20; 0.90]). COVID-19 vaccination showed to reduce the risk of ARDS occurrence in hospitalized COVID-19 patients, with a particularly strong effect in patients under 60 years old and those with more severe ARDS.
Improving GNSS PPP-RTK through global forecast system zenith wet delay augmentation
Authors: Gao Rui , Liu Zhizhao , Odolinski Robert , Zhang Baocheng
Published: January 2024

The precise point positioning real-time kinematic (PPP-RTK) is a high-precision global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning technique that combines the advantages of wide-area coverage in precise point positioning (PPP) and of rapid convergence in real-time kinematic (RTK). However, the PPP-RTK convergence is still limited by the precision of slant ionospheric delays and tropospheric zenith wet delay (ZWD), which affects the PPP-RTK network parameters estimation and user positioning performance. The present study aims to construct a PPP-RTK model augmented with a priori ZWD values derived from the global forecast system (GFS) product (a global numerical weather prediction (NWP) model) to improve the PPP-RTK performance. This study gives a priori ZWD values and conversion based on the GFS products, and the full-rank GFS-augmented undifferenced and uncombined (UDUC) PPP-RTK network model is derived. To verify the performance of GFS-augmented UDUC PPP-RTK, a comprehensive evaluation using 10-day GNSS observation data from three different GNSS station networks in the United States (US), Australia, and Europe is conducted. The results show that with the GFS ZWD a priori information, PPP-RTK performance significantly improves at the initial filtering stage, but this advantage gradually decays over time. Based on 10-day positioning results for all user stations, the GFS ZWD-augmented PPP-RTK approach reduces the average convergence time by 46% from 10.0 to 5.4 min, the three-dimensional root-mean-square (3D-RMS) error by 5.7% from 3.5 to 3.3 cm, and the time to first fix (TTFF) value by 35.8% from 6.7 to 4.3 min, all when compared to the traditional PPP-RTK without GFS ZWD constraints.
The health benefits of the JOBS Program Germany for unemployed people: A 6-month follow-up study
Authors: Jahn Heiko Juergen , Hollederer Alfons
Published: January 2024

Aim

The “JOBS Program” is an intervention for the unemployed to promote health and labor market integration and has shown positive effects in the USA and Finland. The aim of this confirmatory study was to investigate whether the JOBS Program produces similar effects in Germany.

Subject and methods

We applied a multicenter randomized controlled trial to compare an intervention group (IVG) with a waiting control group (WCG) before (T0; n = 94) and about 6 months after (T2; n = 43) the intervention.

Results

Although the proportion of long-term unemployed (≥ 12 months) in the intervention group at T2 was high (88.4 %; n = 38), the JOBS Program was beneficial concerning our primary outcomes: Compared to the WCG, the regression estimated that the IVG had (1) a 3.48-point higher level of self-esteem (p = 0.032; scale range: 10–50 points), (2) a 4.93-point higher level of generalized self-efficacy expectations (p = 0.002; scale range: 10–50 points), (3) a 0.41-point higher level of general health (p = 0.016; scale range: 1–5 points), and (4) a 2.04-point lower level of unemployment-related mental burden (p = 0.028; scale range: 10–40 points).

Conclusion

This study provides evidence for the effectiveness of the JOBS Program with respect to the above outcomes, and for older and long-term unemployed, suggesting the benefit of regular implementation for different groups of unemployed people in Germany.
Enhancing maternity protection at work: assessing the contribution of a specialized occupational medicine consultation for pregnant employees in Switzerland
Authors: Abderhalden-Zellweger Alessia , Vonlanthen Julien , Renteria Saira-Christine , Wild Pascal , Moschetti Karine , Brunner Loïc , Mediouni Zakia , Probst Isabelle , Krief Peggy
Published: January 2024

Aim

Occupational exposures may harm the health of pregnant workers and their future children. While Switzerland has established specific regulations to safeguard pregnant employees while enabling them to pursue their job, there are limitations in implementing these provisions. This study aims to evaluate the contribution of an occupational medicine consultation (PregOH-consultation) in protecting pregnant workers and facilitating their safe return to work. Pregnant employees were referred to the consultation by their attending physicians in need of support in applying pregnancy protective legislation.

Subject and methods

Between 2015 and 2021, indicators were collected from pregnant workers who sought the consultation, as well as from their employers. Descriptive and correlational statistical analyses were performed.

Results

Out of the 328 work situations analysed, 98% presented at least one occupational hazard. Among the 272 companies contacted, only 14% had conducted a risk analysis, and 39% had implemented job adaptations. Among the pregnant workers whose employers were involved in the PregOH-consultation, 44% were able to return to work safely. Early referral to the consultation and pre-existing preventive measures within the company were identified as potential predictors of successul of the consultation in terms of safe return to work. The impact of the consultation was found to be less pronounced for women of foreign nationality.

Conclusion

The observed companies have insufficient measures in place to adequately protect pregnant employees, potentially jeopardizing their health or leading to premature job withdrawal. The PregOH-consultation serves as an effective intervention by facilitating hazard identification and enabling pregnant workers to safely continue their employment.
Progress in physical modeling of compressible wall-bounded turbulent flows
Authors: Cheng Cheng , Chen Xianliang , Zhu Wenkai , Shyy Wei , Fu Lin
Published: January 2024

Understanding, modeling and control of the high-speed wall-bounded transition and turbulence not only receive wide academic interests but also are vitally important for high-speed vehicle design and energy saving because transition and turbulence can induce significant surface drag and heat transfer. The high-speed flows share some fundamental similarities with the incompressible counterparts according to Morkovin’s hypothesis, but there are also significant distinctions resulting from multi-physics coupling with thermodynamics, shocks, high-enthalpy effects, and so on. In this paper, the recent advancements on the physics and modeling of high-speed wall-bounded transitional and turbulent flows are reviewed; most parts are covered by turbulence studies. For integrity of the physical process, we first briefly review the high-speed flow transition, with the main focus on aerodynamic heating mechanisms and passive control strategies for transition delay. Afterward, we summarize recent encouraging findings on turbulent mean flow scaling laws for streamwise velocity and temperature, based on which a series of unique wall models are constructed to improve the simulation accuracy. As one of the foundations for turbulence modeling, the research survey on turbulent structures is also included, with particular focus on the scaling and modeling of energy-containing motions in the logarithmic region of boundary layers. Besides, we review a variety of linear models for predicting wall-bounded turbulence, which have achieved a great success over the last two decades, though turbulence is generally believed to be highly nonlinear. In the end, we conclude the review and outline future works.
Natural language processing analysis of online reviews for small business: extracting insight from small corpora
Authors: McCloskey Benjamin J. , LaCasse Phillip M. , Cox Bruce A.
Published: January 2024

Receiving and acting on customer input is essential to sustaining and growing any service organization, particularly a small family business whose livelihood depends on strong relationships with its customers. The competitive advantage offered by advanced analytical approaches for supporting decisions is not trivial, and enterprises across virtually all domains of society are investing heavily in this emerging discipline. Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a subset of computer science that employs computational approaches to analyze human language; it is effective at extracting insight from text data but frequently requires large corpora to train its models, in the scale of thousands or millions of documents. This restricts its accessibility to those large enterprises with the capability to capture, store, manage, and analyze such corpora. This research explores a pilot study that applies NLP approaches, specifically topic modeling and large language models (LLM), to assist a small, family-owned business in assessing its strengths and weaknesses based on customer reviews. The relevant corpora of online Facebook, Google Reviews, TripAdvisor, and Yelp reviews is far smaller than ideal, numbering only in the hundreds. Results demonstrate that coherent and actionable insights from big-data approaches are obtainable and that small organizations are not automatically excluded from the benefits of these advanced analytical approaches, with complementary employment of both topic modeling and LLM presenting the greatest potential for similarly-positioned organizations to exploit.
Breaking out of the box: increasing the representation of disability within archive science
Authors: Pearson Abigail , Griffith Miro , Rakoska Burgandi , Harrison Christian , Schuitema Karian , Taşcıoğlu Ezgi
Published: January 2024

This article explores the value of archives in increasing the representation of disabled people in social policy, and research narratives, as well as building an identity of the Disabled People’s Movement beyond traditional activism, and the inclusion of young people and marginalised groups within archives. To achieve this, it is vital that archival studies and archival science engage with the conceptual understanding of disability and the different needs of disabled people, beyond the traditional focus on the medical model, to an understanding of the Social and Rights Models. This understanding will help to unify approaches to disability within the archive from both an archival science and humanities perspective to make sure that polices and approaches facilitate the participation and recognition of the wide experiences of disability. This will require re-evaluation of approaches to policy issues such as safeguarding and vulnerability, social media use and whose voice is worthy of preservation. Engagement with the broader field of disability studies in theory and practice offers a way for the field of archive science to address these issues.
Transcriptome Sequencing and Mass Spectrometry Reveal Genes Involved in the Non-mendelian Inheritance-Mediated Feather Growth Rate in Chicken
Authors: Qiu Mohan , Zhang Zengrong , Zhu Shiliang , Liu Siyang , Peng Han , Xiong Xia , Chen Jialei , Hu Chenming , Yang Li , Song Xiaoyan , Xia Bo , Yu Chunlin , Yang Chaowu
Published: January 2024

The feather growth rate in chickens included early and late feathering. We attempted to characterize the genes and pathways associated with the feather growth rate in chickens that are not in agreement with Mendelian inheritance. Gene expression profiles in the hair follicle tissues of late-feathering cocks (LC), early-feathering cocks (EC), late-feathering hens (LH), and early-feathering hens (EH) were acquired using RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), mass spectrometry (MS), and quantitative reverse transcription PCR (qRT‑PCR). A total of 188 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were ascertained in EC vs. LC and 538 DEGs were identified in EH vs. LH. We observed that 14 up-regulated genes and 9 down-regulated genes were screened both in EC vs. LC and EH vs. LH. MS revealed that 41 and 138 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) were screened out in EC vs. LC and EH vs. LH, respectively. Moreover, these DEGs and DEPs were enriched in multiple feather-related pathways, including JAK-STAT, MAPK, WNT, TGF-β, and calcium signaling pathways. qRT-PCR assay showed that the expression of WNT8A was decreased in LC compared with EC, while ALK and GRM4 expression were significantly up-regulated in EH relative to LH. This study helps to elucidate the potential mechanism of the feather growth rate in chickens that do not conform to genetic law.
Randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial of nanoemulsion curcumin in women with aromatase inhibitor-induced arthropathy: an Alliance/NCORP pilot trial
Authors: Lustberg Maryam , Fan-Havard Patty , Wong F. Lennie , Hill Kasey , Phelps Mitch A. , Herrera Kevin W. , Tsai Ni-Chun , Synold Timothy , Feng Ye , Kalu Chidimma , Sedrak Mina S. , Yee Lisa D.
Published: January 2024

Purpose

Aromatase inhibitor (AI) therapy reduces risk of recurrence and death for postmenopausal women with breast cancer (BC); however, AI-induced arthralgia (AIIA) can lead to discontinuation of treatment. Curcumin, a bioactive polyphenolic substance, may help ameliorate inflammation-related conditions including osteoarthritis and pain.

Methods

We conducted a multisite randomized placebo-controlled, double-blind pilot trial (Alliance A22_Pilot9) to evaluate the effects of nanoemulsion curcumin (NEC, 200 mg/day) in postmenopausal women experiencing AIIA for ≥ 3 months. The primary objective was to determine the feasibility of using Functional Assessment of Cancer Treatment-Endocrine Symptoms (FACT-ES) to detect changes from 0 (T0) to 3 months (T3) of NEC treatment in AI-induced symptoms and well-being; secondary objectives included evaluation of changes in Disabilities of the Shoulder, Arm, and Hand (DASH), Brief Pain Inventory-short form (BPI-SF), grip strength, and biomarkers at T0 and T3.

Results

Forty-two patients were randomized to NEC or placebo; 34 women completed the 3-month study. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs: FACT-ES, DASH, BPI-SF) and biospecimens were collected at T0-T3 in > 80% of participants. Adherence was ≥ 90% for both arms. PROMs and grip strength did not differ significantly by treatment arm. Plasma curcumin was detected only in NEC arm participants. Serum estradiol and estrone levels were below detection or low on study agent. Gastrointestinal adverse effects were commonly reported in both arms.

Conclusion

NEC versus placebo in a multisite randomized trial is feasible and well-tolerated. Additional studies with larger sample size are needed to further evaluate the efficacy and safety of NEC in treatment of AIIA.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03865992, first posted March 7, 2019.
A First Principles Mechanistic Study of Higher Alcohol Synthesis from Syngas on a Stepped Rhodium Surface
Authors: Arevalo Ryan Lacdao , Nakanishi Hiroshi
Published: January 2024

The mechanism of higher alcohol synthesis (HAS) from syngas on a stepped Rhodium surface was explored using first principles calculations based on density functional theory. Results showed that the activation of CO proceeds most energetically feasible via a sequential hydrogenation towards CH2OH, followed by the C–OH bond cleavage yielding CHx species. Because the initial CO hydrogenation step is highly activated, the cascade of elementary steps toward methane formation is highly favored. The formation of C2 oxygenates toward ethanol production is kinetically favored by CO insertion to CH2, or alternatively, by a lower activation barrier CHO insertion to CH3. On the other hand, the C3 species is formed more preferably by CO rather than CHO insertion to a CH3CH2 fragment, indicating the effect of a more extended carbon structure on the reaction mechanism. The overall reaction mechanism for HAS points to a cycle of CO insertion, hydrogenation, and OH elimination steps.

Graphical Abstract
Discrete Beta and Shifted Beta-Binomial models for rating and ranking data
Authors: Sciandra Mariangela , Fasola Salvatore , Albano Alessandro , Di Maria Chiara , Plaia Antonella
Published: January 2024

Ranking and rating methods for preference data result in a different underlying organization of data that can lead to manifold probabilistic approaches to data modelling. As an alternative to existing approaches, two new flexible probability distributions are discussed as a modelling framework: the Discrete Beta and the Shifted Beta-Binomial. Through the presentation of three real-world examples, we demonstrate the practical utility of these distributions. These illustrative cases show how these novel distributions can effectively address real-world challenges, with a particular focus on data derived from surveys concerning environmental issues. Our analysis highlights the new distributions’ capability to capture the inherent structures within preference data, offering valuable insights into the field.
Against Symmetry Fundamentalism
Authors: Lopez Cristian
Published: January 2024

Symmetry fundamentalism claims that symmetries should be taken metaphysically seriously as part of the fundamental ontology. The main aim of this paper is to bring some novel objections against this view. I make two points. The first places symmetry fundamentalism within a broader network of philosophical commitments. I claim that symmetry fundamentalism entails idealization realism which, in turn, entails the reification of further theoretical structures. This might lead to an overloaded ontology as well as open the way to criticisms from metaphysical frameworks that reject such reifications. The second point contrasts symmetry fundamentalism with the now common view that regards symmetries as stipulations guiding empirical research and theory construction. I claim that both views clash each other and cannot be held together. I finish the paper with a more positive prospect that will be developed in future work—symmetry deflationism.
Diversity and language technology: how language modeling bias causes epistemic injustice
Authors: Helm Paula , Bella Gábor , Koch Gertraud , Giunchiglia Fausto
Published: January 2024

It is well known that AI-based language technology—large language models, machine translation systems, multilingual dictionaries, and corpora—is currently limited to three percent of the world’s most widely spoken, financially and politically backed languages. In response, recent efforts have sought to address the “digital language divide” by extending the reach of large language models to “underserved languages.” We show how some of these efforts tend to produce flawed solutions that adhere to a hard-wired representational preference for certain languages, which we call language modeling bias. Language modeling bias is a specific and under-studied form of linguistic bias were language technology by design favors certain languages, dialects, or sociolects with respect to others. We show that language modeling bias can result in systems that, while being precise regarding languages and cultures of dominant powers, are limited in the expression of socio-culturally relevant notions of other communities. We further argue that at the root of this problem lies a systematic tendency of technology developer communities to apply a simplistic understanding of diversity which does not do justice to the more profound differences that languages, and ultimately the communities that speak them, embody. Drawing on the concept of epistemic injustice, we point to the broader ethico-political implications and show how it can lead not only to a disregard for valuable aspects of diversity but also to an under-representation of the needs of marginalized language communities. Finally, we present an alternative socio-technical approach that is designed to tackle some of the analyzed problems.
High amount of fertility reducing tumors and procedures, but no evidence for premature ovarian failure in female Lynch syndrome patients
Authors: Biermann Sabine , Knapp Michael , Wieacker Peter , Aretz Stefan , Steinke-Lange Verena
Published: January 2024

Lynch syndrome (LS; HNPCC) patients carry heterozygous pathogenic germline variants in mismatch repair (MMR) genes, which have also been shown to play an important role in meiosis. Therefore, it was hypothesized, that LS might be associated with a higher risk for premature ovarian failure (POF) or earlier menopause. Data on medical gynaecological history, cancer diagnoses and therapy were collected from 167 female LS patients and compared to a population-based control cohort. There was no difference between the age of menopause in patients compared to controls and no evidence for a higher risk of POF in LS patients. However, around one third (35%) of the probands have already had premenopausal cancer and mostly cancer-related treatment affecting fertility before the age of 45 years. Therefore, childbearing time might still be limited in these patients, especially due to the premenopausal cancer risk. LS patients should be informed in time about the elevated premenopausal cancer risks and the possible impact on family planning. This is particularly relevant since the average childbearing age has increased during the last decades.
Brexit and the War for Talents: Push & pull evidence about competitiveness
Authors: Marini Giulio
Published: January 2024

Brexit raised the question of whether the UK will continue to attract internationals. Here the focus is on academic staff – a critical component of the “War for Talents” discourse and current geopolitics in the field. Despite a clear trend of loss of EU internationals, at least among western EU countries, the UK more than compensates for this fall with extra-EU internationals. This is even more evident among younger generations. However, the most notable effect, also having a long-term impact as far as it deals with newer generations, is about average quality of such talents (in this study: salaries at parity of age). Brexit is reducing the capacity to attract/retain the best academics. This happens especially among younger cohorts, and if they come from countries that perform better in GDP per capita, R&D investment, but also national ranking in tolerance and creative class scores. Overall, Brexit is detrimental to the UK in relation to attraction of talents, cutting through a long-term pattern of success.
Understanding the growing contributions of China to leading international higher education journals
Authors: Zhao Kai , Liang Huiqing , Li Jiali
Published: January 2024

International publications in social sciences by scholars based in mainland China have been increasing in volume, but little is known about the characteristics of China’s contribution. This study examines the characteristics and patterns of international publications by Chinese scholars in higher education research. Data from three internationalized higher education journals were analyzed from 2000 to 2022. The results show a consistent pattern of continuous growth in the annual number of published articles with Chinese affiliations, with a marked increase since 2016. International collaborations are the most common type of publication, a pattern that contrasts with other articles in the same journal. In addition, returnee scholars have made significant contributions to international publications. Finally, the research of Chinese scholars is as influential as that of their international peers in terms of citation counts. These findings highlight the constrained agency of Chinese actors in the center-periphery structure of the global knowledge production networks.
Optimal commodity taxation when households earn multiple incomes
Authors: Spiritus Kevin
Published: January 2024

I characterize the optimal linear commodity taxes when households differ in multiple characteristics and earn multiple incomes, in presence of an optimal non-linear tax schedule on the taxpayers’ labour incomes. The government should tax a commodity more heavily if, conditional on labour income, more deserving taxpayers consume larger quantities of that commodity. Furthermore, the government wishes to tax commodities at different rates to the extent that doing so reduces the distortions caused by the labour income tax. This is the case when households with different incomes have different consumption preferences, or when households with different labour supplies also have different consumption patterns.
Investigating the role of spatial thinking in children’s design ideation through an open-ended design-by-analogy challenge
Authors: Zhu Caiwei , Klapwijk Remke , Silva-Ordaz Miroslava , Spandaw Jeroen , de Vries Marc J.
Published: January 2024

Spatial thinking is ubiquitous in design. Design education across all age groups encompasses a range of spatially challenging activities, such as forming and modifying mental representations of ideas, and visualizing the scenarios of design prototypes being used. While extensive research has examined the cognitive processes of spatial thinking and their relationships to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics learning, there remains a knowledge gap regarding the specific spatial thinking processes needed for open-ended problems, which may differ from those assessed in close-ended, analytical spatial tasks. To address this gap, we used educational design-based research to develop a nature-inspired, design-by-analogy project and investigate the spatial thinking processes of young, novice designers. 16 children from an international school in the Netherlands participated in this five-week design project. Multimodal evidence from classroom recordings and children’s design works were triangulated to offer insight into the key spatial thinking processes involved in their creation of nature-inspired, analogy-based design prototypes. Our results revealed spatial thinking processes that might not align with those assessed in conventional spatial tests and may be unique to design or open-ended problem-solving. These processes include abstracting spatial features to infer form-function relationships, retrieving a range of relevant visual information from memory, developing multiple possible analogical matches based on spatial features and relationships, elaborating and iterating on the design concepts and representations to make creative and suitable solutions for the design challenge, as well as visualizing design prototypes in practical usage scenarios. By highlighting the nuanced differences between spatial thinking in open-ended, divergent thinking tasks and conventional spatial tasks that demand single correct solutions, our research contributes to a deeper understanding of how children utilize spatial thinking in design and open-ended problem-solving contexts. Furthermore, this case study offers practical implications for scaffolding children's analogical reasoning and nurturing their spatial thinking in design education.
Motor Control Adherence to the Two-thirds Power Law Differs in Autistic Development
Authors: Fourie Emily , Lu Szu-Ching , Delafield-Butt Jonathan , Rivera Susan M.
Published: January 2024

Autistic individuals often exhibit motor atypicalities, which may relate to difficulties in social communication. This study utilized a smart tablet activity to computationally characterize motor control by testing adherence to the two-thirds power law (2/3 PL), which captures a systematic covariation between velocity and curvature in motor execution and governs many forms of human movement. Children aged 4–8 years old participated in this study, including 24 autistic children and 33 typically developing children. Participants drew and traced ellipses on an iPad. We extracted data from finger movements on the screen, and computed adherence to the 2/3 PL and other kinematic metrics. Measures of cognitive and motor functioning were also collected. In comparison to the typically developing group, the autistic group demonstrated greater velocity modulation between curved and straight sections of movement, increased levels of acceleration and jerk, and greater intra- and inter-individual variability across several kinematic variables. Further, significant motor control development was observed in typically developing children, but not in those with autism. This study is the first to examine motor control adherence to the 2/3 PL in autistic children, revealing overall diminished motor control. Less smooth, more varied movement and an indication of developmental stasis in autistic children were observed. This study offers a novel tool for computational characterization of the autism motor signature in children’s development, demonstrating how smart tablet technology enables accessible assessment of children’s motor performance in an objective, quantifiable and scalable manner.
Multi agent reinforcement learning for online layout planning and scheduling in flexible assembly systems
Authors: Kaven Lea , Huke Philipp , Göppert Amon , Schmitt Robert H.
Published: January 2024

Manufacturing systems are undergoing systematic change facing the trade-off between the customer's needs and the economic and ecological pressure. Especially assembly systems must be more flexible due to many product generations or unpredictable material and demand fluctuations. As a solution line-less mobile assembly systems implement flexible job routes through movable multi-purpose resources and flexible transportation systems. Moreover, a completely reactive rearrangeable layout with mobile resources enables reconfigurations without interrupting production. A scheduling that can handle the complexity of dynamic events is necessary to plan job routes and control transportation in such an assembly system. Conventional approaches for this control task require exponentially rising computational capacities with increasing problem sizes. Therefore, the contribution of this work is an algorithm to dynamically solve the integrated problem of layout optimization and scheduling in line-less mobile assembly systems. The proposed multi agent deep reinforcement learning algorithm uses proximal policy optimization and consists of a decoder and encoder, allowing for various-sized system state descriptions. A simulation study shows that the proposed algorithm performs better in 78% of the scenarios compared to a random agent regarding the makespan optimization objective. This allows for adaptive optimization of line-less mobile assembly systems that can face global challenges.
Replica-Symmetry Breaking Transitions in the Large Deviations of the Ground-State of a Spherical Spin-Glass
Authors: Lacroix-A-Chez-Toine Bertrand , Fyodorov Yan V. , Le Doussal Pierre
Published: January 2024

We derive, within the replica formalism, a generalisation of the Crisanti–Sommers formula to describe the large deviation function (LDF) $$\mathcal{L}(e)$$

L
(
e
)

for the speed-N atypical fluctuations of the intensive ground-state energy e of a generic spherical spin-glass in the presence of a random external magnetic field of variance $$\Gamma $$
Γ
. We then analyse our exact formula for the LDF in much detail for the Replica symmetric, single step Replica Symmetry Breaking (1-RSB) and Full Replica Symmetry Breaking (FRSB) situations. Our main qualitative conclusion is that the level of RSB governing the LDF may be different from that for the typical ground-state. We find that while the deepest ground-states are always controlled by a LDF of replica symmetric form, beyond a finite threshold $$e\ge e_{t}$$

e
≥

e
t

a replica-symmetry breaking starts to be operative. These findings resolve the puzzling discrepancy between our earlier replica calculations for the $$p=2$$

p
=
2

spherical spin-glass (Fyodorov and Le Doussal in J Stat Phys 154:466, 2014) and the rigorous results by Dembo and Zeitouni (J Stat Phys 159:1306, 2015) which we are able to reproduce invoking an 1-RSB pattern. Finally at an even larger critical energy $$e_{c}\ge e_{t}$$

e
c

≥

e
t

, acting as a “wall”, the LDF diverges logarithmically, which we interpret as a change in the large deviation speed from N to a faster growth. In addition, we show that in the limit $$\Gamma \rightarrow 0$$

Γ
→
0

the LDF takes non-trivial scaling forms (i) $$\mathcal{L}(e) \sim G((e-e_c)/\Gamma )$$

L

(
e
)

∼
G
(

(
e
-

e
c

)

/
Γ
)

in the vicinity of the wall (ii) $$\mathcal{L}(e) \sim \Gamma ^{\eta \nu } F((e-e_{\textrm{typ}})/\Gamma ^{\nu })$$

L

(
e
)

∼

Γ

η
ν

F

(

(
e
-

e
typ

)

/

Γ
ν

)

in the vicinity of the typical energy, characterised by two new exponents $$\eta \ge 1$$

η
≥
1

and $$\nu $$
ν
characterising universality classes. Via matching the latter allows us to formulate several conjectures concerning the regime of typical fluctuations, identified as $$e-e_{\textrm{typ}} \sim N^{-1/\eta }$$

e
-

e
typ

∼

N

-
1
/
η

and $$\Gamma \sim N^{-1/(\eta \nu )}$$

Γ
∼

N

-
1
/
(
η
ν
)

.
Structural and thermoanalytical characterization of self-healing polymer: the effect of cross-linking density
Authors: Takács Tamás , Abdelghafour Mohamed M. , Sebők Dániel , Kukovecz Ákos , Janovák László
Published: January 2024

The effect of the gradually formed cross-linked structure on the thermal properties and swelling behaviour of modified poly(vinyl alcohol) was investigated. To this aim, the semi-crystalline polymer was functionalized with aldehyde and amino moieties to produce polymers with dynamic imine cross-links, and, thus, with self-healing or curing ability. With increasing degree of functionalization (0.89–7.12%), denser polymer networks cross-linked by dynamic imine bonds were formed, the samples systematically developed thermoset-like properties compared to the pristine, initially thermoplastic PVA. As a result, the introduction of new moieties into the initial PVA lowered the glass transition (from 65.3 to 35.0 °C) and melting temperatures (from 194 to 161 °C), however, a new peak (Tcrd) with growing enthalpy values appeared on the DSC curves, which indicates that more and more energy must be supplied in order to break the imine cross-links formed between the introduced aldehyde and amino groups. The significant impact of the degree of functionalization and cross-linking density on the polymer structure was also clearly demonstrated: the crystallinity decreased as the abundance of the introduced moieties increased and the formation of cross-links proceeded. At the same time, the water desorption enthalpies of the samples increased, suggesting a stronger, chemically cross-linked thermoset-like polymer network compared to the thermoplastic poly(vinyl alcohol).

Graphical abstract
A new hybrid mobile CNN approach for crosswalk recognition in autonomous vehicles
Authors: Doğan Gürkan , Ergen Burhan
Published: January 2024

While automobile transportation is increasing worldwide, it also negatively affects the safety of road users. Along with the neglect of traffic rules, pedestrians account for 22% of all highway traffic deaths. Millions of pedestrians suffer non-fatal injuries from these accidents. Most of these injuries and deaths occur at crosswalks, where the highway and pedestrians intersect. In this study, deep learning-based a new hybrid mobile CNN approaches are proposed to reduce injuries and deaths by automatically recognizing of crosswalks in autonomous vehicles. The first of these proposed approaches is the HMCNet approach, which is a hybrid model in which the MobileNetv3 and MNasNet CNN models are used together. This model achieves approximately 2% more accuracy than the peak performance of the lean used MobileNetv3 and MNasNet models. Another proposed approach is the FHMCNet approach, which increases the success of the HMCNet approach. In the FHMCNet approach, LSVC feature selection method and SVM classification method are used in addition to HMCNet. This approach increased the classification success of HMCNet by more than approximately 2%. Finally, the proposed FHMCNet offered approximately 3% more classification accuracy than state-of-the-art methods in the literature.