bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Irradiation of VFAT3: a 128-channel charge-sensitive front-end device for the CMS GEM phase-2 upgrade
Authors: Irshad A. , Aspell P. , De Lentdecker G. , Licciulli F. , Robert F. , De Robertis G.
Published: April 2022

VFAT3 is a 128-channel charge-sensitive front-end ASIC explicitly designed for the CMS GEM phase-2 upgrades. LHC is undergoing major upgrades for HL-LHC, where the particle rate is expected to increase up to 5 times with respect to the nominal LHC luminosity of 1034 cm−2 s−1. It is, therefore, necessary to monitor the evolution of the VFAT3 response due to aging in the radiation environment by total ionizing dose (TID) test. The device operation could also be interrupted by a single high-energy particle. Thus, the estimation of the single event upset (SEU) cross-section is essential as well. We summarize irradiation test results that validate the suitability of VFAT3 for CMS GEM upgrade.
The charge sensitivity calibration of the upgraded ALICE Inner Tracking System
Authors: Yuan S. , Alme J. , Keil M. , Ravasenga I. , Richter M. , Röhrich D.
Published: April 2022

The ALICE detector is undergoing an upgrade for run 3 at the LHC. A new Inner Tracking System (ITS) is part of this upgrade. The upgraded ALICE ITS features the ALPIDE, a monolithic active pixel sensor. Due to IC fabrication variations and radiation damage, the threshold values for the ALPIDE chips in the ITS need to be measured and adjusted periodically to ensure the quality of data. The calibration is implemented within the ALICE Online-Offline (O2) computing system, thus it runs in the same framework as the normal operations. This paper describes the concept and first implementation of the charge sensitivity scanning procedures for the upgraded ALICE ITS in the ALICE O2 system, and demonstrates the first results of the scanning of the data taken from the installed ITS.
Design of detectors at the electron ion collider with artificial intelligence
Authors: Fanelli C.
Published: April 2022

Artificial Intelligence (AI) for design is a relatively new but active area of research across many disciplines. Surprisingly when it comes to designing detectors with AI this is an area at its infancy. The electron ion collider is the ultimate machine to study the strong force. The EIC is a large-scale experiment with an integrated detector that extends for about ±35 meters to include the central, far-forward, and far-backward regions. The design of the central detector is made by multiple sub-detectors, each in principle characterized by a multidimensional design space and multiple design criteria also called objectives. Simulations with Geant4 are typically compute intensive, and the optimization of the detector design may include non-differentiable terms as well as noisy objectives. In this context, AI can offer state of the art solutions to solve complex combinatorial problems in an efficient way. In particular, one of the proto-collaborations, ECCE, has explored during the detector proposal the possibility of using multi-objective optimization to design the tracking system of the EIC detector. This document provides an overview of these techniques and recent progress made during the EIC detector proposal. Future high energy nuclear physics experiments can leverage AI-based strategies to design more efficient detectors by optimizing their performance driven by physics criteria and minimizing costs for their realization.
Study of the dosimetric properties of CaSO4:Dy using OSL technique
Authors: Gasparian P.B.R. , Malthez A.L.M.C. , Yoshimura E.M. , Umisedo N.K. , Campos L.L.
Published: April 2022

Calcium sulfate doped with dysprosium (CaSO4:Dy) has been used for personal dosimetry using the thermoluminescence (TL) technique for decades and its TL properties are well-known. Considering the advantages of the OSL technique (relatively simple and faster readout and detector reusability) and the potential application
of CaSO4:Dy as an OSL detector, this study aimed to investigate the dosimetric properties of CaSO4:Dy using the OSL technique. The present study was carried out using CaSO4:Dy pellets prepared at IPEN irradiated and read in a TL/OSL Risø reader with blue light stimulation and Hoya U-340 filter. OSL dosimetric properties essentially dose response, reproducibility, and fading characteristics were evaluated. Moreover, TL and OSL signals were compared to study the correlation between OSL signals and TL peaks. CaSO4:Dy OSL response is linear from 0.1 to 10 Gy and shows reproducibility better than 5%. The low-temperature TL peak is unstable; however, the OSL signal seems to be associated with higher-temperature peaks.
Sharjah Lunar Impact Observatory (SLIO)
Authors: Talafha M.F. , Abdulla A.E.M. , Azmi M.M. , Al-Naimiy H.M. , Al-Wardat M.A.
Published: April 2022

We present a detailed description of Sharjah Lunar Impact Observatory (SLIO), the only source of lunar impact observations in the Middle East and North Africa region. The Observatory was established on February 29th, 2020. It is located inside the campus of the Sharjah Academy of Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology (SAASST), which is part of the University of Sharjah (UoS), Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The coordinates of the Observatory are 25°17'02.1"N 55°27'48.4"E, with an altitude of 80 m above the sea level.

It is equipped with a 14" LX 200 ACF Schmidt-Cassegrain Meade telescope with a focal ratio of 10 (f/10). The camera is a high-sensitivity Watec video camera of the model 902H Ultimate utilizing a 0.5" monochrome CCD Sony ICX439ALL sensor. It can record 25 fps with a resolution of 720 × 576 pixels.

One of SLIO's results is recording a lunar impact detection on March 1st, 2020, at 16:54:22.969 UT, which was confirmed by the NELIOTA project in Greece. The flash magnitude of the impact was found to be 7.94 ± 0.36. The analysis estimated the mass of the impactor as 1.919 kg with a cometary origin, with a radius of 17.36 cm, and create a crater with a diameter around 2.84 m.
Development of a real-time cavity-based injection efficiency monitor system at SSRF
Authors: Cao S. , Lai L. , Gao B. , Leng Y. , Yuan R. , Zhou W. , Chen J.
Published: April 2022

Injection efficiency is a critical parameter for synchrotron
radiation facilities, especially those operating in top-up mode. The
Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF) started top-up
operation in 2012 committed to providing users with higher-quality
light sources. During the top-up operation, a regular injection from
the booster to the storage ring is required. A low-efficiency
injection system will massively increase the radiation dose and
seriously threaten the health of users. To evaluate the performance
of the injection system, a real-time injection efficiency
measurement system with high-resolution and high reliability is
indispensable. Instead of using an integrating current transformer
(ICT) that requires extremely careful shielding and grounding, a new
system uses a novel dual-cavity monitor that can generate a high
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and narrowband signal to detect bunch
charges. It aims to reduce the influence of electromagnetic
interference on the system and improve the reliability and
resolution of the system. This paper describes the establishment of
a cavity-based injection efficiency measurement system and focuses
on bunch charge calibration and tests of the system resolution and
injection efficiency. The test results show that the system
resolution is 0.34% and the average injection efficiency is close
to 90% at regular top-up operation.
Hybrid electrospun scaffolds based on polylactic acid/ PAMAM dendrimer/gemini surfactant for enhancement of synergistic antibacterial ability for biomedical application
Authors: Shabanloo Rasool , Akbari Somaye , Mirsalehi Marjan
Published: April 2022

Hybrid electrospun scaffolds based on poly (L-lactic acid) (PLLA)/poly (amidoamine) (PAMAM-G2) dendrimer/gemini surfactant were fabricated for the enhancement of synergistic antibacterial activities. The second generation of poly (amidoamine) (PAMAM-G2) and cationic gemini surfactant were utilized to functionalize the optimum electrospun scaffolds. The gelatination process was utilized to improve the wettability of PLLA scaffolds to extend cell attachment and cell proliferation. PLLA nanofibrous scaffolds were characterized by energy dispersion x-ray, scanning electron microscopy images, mechanical properties, water contact angle, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, zeta potential and antibacterial assessment. In vitro cell biocompatibility was evaluated by 3-(4, 5- dimethylthiazoyl-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and morphology of PC-12 cells cultured on hybrid nanofibrous scaffolds and gelatinized ones. The results indicated that the optimum scaffolds could successfully modify the characteristics of PLLA scaffolds leading to much more appropriate physical and chemical properties. In addition, gelatinized nanofibrous scaffolds reveal more wettability enhancing cell attachment and proliferation. Furthermore, using poly (amidoamine) (PAMAM-G2) and gemini surfactant reveals synergetic antibacterial activity due to the competition between both cationic groups of PAMAM and gemini surfactant. Finally, improved cell adhesion and cell viability on modified scaffolds were confirmed. These favorable properties give a chance for these scaffolds to be used in a wide variety of biomedical applications.
Transmission of coherent information at the onset of interactions
Authors: Kendall Emily , Šoda Barbara , Kempf Achim
Published: April 2022

In this work, we investigate the parameters governing the rate at which a quantum channel arises at the onset of an interaction between two systems, A and B. In particular, when system A is pre-entangled with an ancilla,

A

~

, we quantify the early-time transmission of pre-existing entanglement by calculating the leading order change in coherent information of the complementary channel (A → B′). We show that, when A and B are initially unentangled and B is pure, there is no change in coherent information to first order, while the leading (second) order change is divergent. However, this divergence may be regulated by embedding the conventional notion of coherent information into what we call the family of n-coherent informations, defined using n-Rényi entropies. We find that the rate of change of the n-coherent information at the onset of the interaction is governed by a quantity, which we call the n-exposure, which captures the extent to which the initial coherent information of A with

A

~

is exposed to or ‘seen by’ the interaction Hamiltonian between A and B. We give examples in qubit systems and in the light–matter interaction.
Optimal bounds on the speed of subspace evolution*
Authors: Albeverio Sergio , Motovilov Alexander K
Published: April 2022

By a quantum speed limit one usually understands an estimate on how fast a quantum system can evolve between two distinguishable states. The most known quantum speed limit is given in the form of the celebrated Mandelstam–Tamm inequality that bounds the speed of the evolution of a state in terms of its energy dispersion. In contrast to the basic Mandelstam–Tamm inequality, we are concerned not with a single state but with a (possibly infinite-dimensional) subspace which is subject to the Schrödinger evolution. By using the concept of maximal angle between subspaces we derive optimal bounds on the speed of such a subspace evolution. These bounds may be viewed as further generalizations of the Mandelstam–Tamm inequality. Our study includes the case of unbounded Hamiltonians.
Breath biomarkers associated with nontuberculosis mycobacteria disease status in persons with cystic fibrosis: a pilot study
Authors: Mani-Varnosfaderani Ahmad , Gao Antao , Poch Katie R , Caceres Silvia M , Nick Jerry A , Hill Jane E
Published: April 2022

Pulmonary infections caused by mycobacteria cause significant mortality and morbidity in the human population. Diagnosing mycobacterial infections is challenging. An infection can lead to active disease or remain indolent with little clinical consequence. In patients with pulmonary nontuberculosis mycobacteria (PNTM) identification of infection and diagnosis of disease can take months to years. Our previous studies showed the potential diagnostic power of volatile molecules in the exhaled breath samples to detect active pulmonary M. tuberculosis infection. Herein, we demonstrate the ability to detect the disease status of PNTM in the breath of persons with cystic fibrosis (PwCF). We putatively identified 17 volatile molecules that could discriminate between active-NTM disease (n = 6), indolent patients (n = 3), and those patients who have never cultured an NTM (n = 2). The results suggest that further confirmation of the breath biomarkers as a non-invasive and culture-independent tool for diagnosis of NTM disease in a larger cohort of PwCF is warranted
Light localization in a linearly graded-index substrate covered by intensity dependent nonlinear self-focusing cladding
Authors: Savotchenko S
Published: April 2022

The new features of the light localization along the graded-index substrate covered by the cladding characterized by a self-focusing nonlinearity are described theoretically. In the model of nonlinearity the dielectric function in substrate depends linearly on the distance from the cover-substrate interface. The optical characteristics of Kerr type positive nonlinear response in the cover is changed abruptly with an increasing light intensity. The light intensity distribution in across interface direction described by exact solution to nonlinear wave equation is calculated and analyzed. It is found that increasing the width of the graded-index layer leads to a shift in the position of the maximum intensity. The intensity maximum appears in the graded-index substrate after the effective refractive index reaches the critical value. The thickness of nonlinear near-surface layer, which is formed after the light intensity reaches the critical value, monotonically decreases with increasing width of the graded-index layer. The possibility of realizing a multimode regime of the light propagation, which can be realized with an increasing width of the graded-index layer and it is characterized by a deep penetration of the light field into the substrate, is derived. The possibility of control the distribution of the light power between the cover and substrate by change in the effective refractive index and the width of the graded-index layer is described.
Implementation and application of PyNE sub-voxel R2S for shutdown dose rate analysis
Authors: ZHANG Xiaokang , SHRIWISE Patrick C , LIU Songlin , WILSON Paul P H
Published: April 2022

PyNE R2S is a mesh-based R2S implementation with the capability of performing shutdown dose rate (SDR) analysis directly on CAD geometry with Cartesian or tetrahedral meshes. It supports advanced variance reduction for fusion energy systems. However, the assumption of homogenized materials of PyNE R2S with a Cartesian mesh throughout a mesh voxel introduces an approximation in the case where a voxel covers multiple non-void cells. This work implements a sub-voxel method to add fidelity to PyNE R2S with a Cartesian mesh during the process of activation and photon source sampling by performing independent inventory calculations for each cell within a mesh voxel and using the results of those independent calculations to sample the photon source more precisely. PyNE sub-voxel R2S has been verified with the Frascati Neutron Generator (FNG)-ITER and ITER computational shutdown dose rate benchmark problems. The results for sub-voxel R2S show satisfactory agreement with the experimental values or reference results. PyNE sub-voxel R2S has been applied to the shutdown dose rate calculation of the Chinese Fusion Engineering Testing Reactor (CFETR). In conclusion, sub-voxel R2S is a reliable tool for SDR calculation and obtains more accurate results with the same voxel size than voxel R2S.
The two-sided Pompeiu problem for discrete groups
Authors: Linnell Peter , Puls Michael
Published: April 2022

We consider a two-sided Pompeiu type problem for a discrete group

G
G

. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for a finite subset

K
K

of

G
G

to have the

F

(
G
)

\mathcal {F}(G)

-Pompeiu property. Using group von Neumann algebra techniques, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for

G
G

to be an

ℓ
2

(
G
)

\ell ^2(G)

-Pompeiu group.
Effectiveness of BNT162b2 and ChAdOx-1 vaccines in residents of long-term care facilities in England using a time-varying proportional hazards model
Authors: Paranthaman Karthik , Subbarao Sathyavani , Andrews Nick , Kirsebom Freja , Gower Charlotte , Lopez-Bernal Jamie , Ramsay Mary , Copas Andrew
Published: April 2022

Introduction

residents of long-term care facilities (LTCFs) are at high risk of adverse outcomes from SARS-CoV-2. We aimed to estimate the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of one and two doses of BNT162b2 and ChAdOx-1 against SARS CoV-2 infection and COVID-19-related death in residents of LTCFs.

Methods

this observational study used testing, vaccination and mortality data for LTCF residents aged ≥ 65 years who were regularly tested regardless of symptoms from 8 December 2020 to 30 September 2021 in England. Adjusted VE, calculated as one minus adjusted hazard ratio, was estimated using time-varying Cox proportional hazards models for infection and death within 28 days of positive test result. Vaccine status was defined by receipt of one or two doses of vaccine and assessed over a range of intervals.

Results

of 197,885 LTCF residents, 47,087 (23.8%) had a positive test and 11,329 (5.8%) died within 28 days of a positive test during the study period. Relative to unvaccinated individuals, VE for infection was highest for ChAdOx-1 at 61% (40–74%) at 1–4 weeks and for BNT162b2 at 69% (52–80%) at 11–15 weeks following the second dose. Against death, VE was highest for ChAdOx-1 at 83% (58–94%) at 1–4 weeks and for BNT162b2 at 91% (75–97%) at 11–15 weeks following second dose.

Conclusions

compared with unvaccinated residents, vaccination with one dose of BNT162b2 or ChAdOx-1 provided moderate protection against infection and death in residents of LTCFs. Protection against death improved after two doses. However, some waning of protection over time was noted.
V—Commanders and Scientific Labourers: Nietzsche on the Relationship between Philosophy and Science
Authors: Cristy Rachel
Published: April 2022

Nietzsche’s attitude toward science is ambivalent: he remarks approvingly on its rigorous methodology and adventurous spirit, but also points out its limitations and rebukes scientists for encroaching onto philosophers’ territory. What does Nietzsche think is science’s proper role and relationship with philosophy? I argue that, according to Nietzsche, philosophy should set goals for science. Philosophers’ distinctive task is to ‘create values’, which involves two steps: (1) envisaging ideals for human life, and (2) turning those ideals into prescriptions for behaviour and societal organization. To accomplish step (2), philosophers should delegate scientists to investigate what moral rules and social arrangements have best advanced this ideal in the past or might in the future.
IV—Wittgenstein, Anscombe and the Need for Metaphysical Thinking
Authors: Wiseman Rachael
Published: April 2022

Metaphysicians are in the business of making and defending modal claims—claims about how things must, or could or could not be. Wittgenstein’s opposition to necessity claims, along with his various negative remarks about ‘metaphysical’ uses of language, makes it seem almost a truism that Wittgenstein was opposed to metaphysics. In this paper I want to make a case for rejecting that apparent truism. My thesis is that it is illuminating to characterize what Wittgenstein and Anscombe are doing in their philosophical writing as metaphysics without manufactured necessities. Doing so helps to articulate a sharper, more interesting, critique of contemporary metaphysical practices than therapeutic or linguistic framings of Wittgenstein’s method make possible. It also allows us to place Anscombe in the context of a tradition of British metaphysics that emerged in the 1940s in an attempt to reverse the devastating impact on ethics of the new ‘analytical’ philosophy.
A Markov random field model-based approach for differentially expressed gene detection from single-cell RNA-seq data
Authors: Zhu Biqing , Li Hongyu , Zhang Le , Chandra Sreeganga S , Zhao Hongyu
Published: April 2022

The development of single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) technologies has offered insights into complex biological systems at the single-cell resolution. In particular, these techniques facilitate the identifications of genes showing cell-type-specific differential expressions (DE). In this paper, we introduce MARBLES, a novel statistical model for cross-condition DE gene detection from scRNA-seq data. MARBLES employs a Markov Random Field model to borrow information across similar cell types and utilizes cell-type-specific pseudobulk count to account for sample-level variability. Our simulation results showed that MARBLES is more powerful than existing methods to detect DE genes with an appropriate control of false positive rate. Applications of MARBLES to real data identified novel disease-related DE genes and biological pathways from both a single-cell lipopolysaccharide mouse dataset with 24 381 cells and 11 076 genes and a Parkinson’s disease human data set with 76 212 cells and 15 891 genes. Overall, MARBLES is a powerful tool to identify cell-type-specific DE genes across conditions from scRNA-seq data.
fastDRH: a webserver to predict and analyze protein–ligand complexes based on molecular docking and MM/PB(GB)SA computation
Authors: Wang Zhe , Pan Hong , Sun Huiyong , Kang Yu , Liu Huanxiang , Cao Dongsheng , Hou Tingjun
Published: April 2022

Predicting the native or near-native binding pose of a small molecule within a protein binding pocket is an extremely important task in structure-based drug design, especially in the hit-to-lead and lead optimization phases. In this study, fastDRH, a free and open accessed web server, was developed to predict and analyze protein–ligand complex structures. In fastDRH server, AutoDock Vina and AutoDock-GPU docking engines, structure-truncated MM/PB(GB)SA free energy calculation procedures and multiple poses based per-residue energy decomposition analysis were well integrated into a user-friendly and multifunctional online platform. Benefit from the modular architecture, users can flexibly use one or more of three features, including molecular docking, docking pose rescoring and hotspot residue prediction, to obtain the key information clearly based on a result analysis panel supported by 3Dmol.js and Apache ECharts. In terms of protein–ligand binding mode prediction, the integrated structure-truncated MM/PB(GB)SA rescoring procedures exhibit a success rate of >80% in benchmark, which is much better than the AutoDock Vina (~70%). For hotspot residue identification, our multiple poses based per-residue energy decomposition analysis strategy is a more reliable solution than the one using only a single pose, and the performance of our solution has been experimentally validated in several drug discovery projects. To summarize, the fastDRH server is a useful tool for predicting the ligand binding mode and the hotspot residue of protein for ligand binding. The fastDRH server is accessible free of charge at http://cadd.zju.edu.cn/fastdrh/.
Two acquired mouse Y chromosome-linked genes,Prssly andTeyorf1, are dispensable for male fertility
Authors: Holmlund Hayden , Yamauchi Yasuhiro , Durango Gerald , Fujii Wataru , Ward Monika A
Published: April 2022

Prssly (Protease, serine-like, Chr Y) and Teyorf1 (Testis expressed, chromosome Y open reading frame 1) are two acquired single-copy genes located on the distal tip of the non-pairing short arm of the mouse Y chromosome adjacent to telomeric sequence. Both genes lack X chromosome-linked homologues and are expressed in testicular germ cells. We first performed analysis of Prssly and Teyorf1 genomic sequences and demonstrated that previously reported Prssly sequence is erroneous and the true Prssly sequence is longer and encodes a larger protein than previously estimated. We also confirmed that both genes encode pseudogenes that are not expressed in testes. Next, using CRISPR/Cas9 genome targeting, we generated Prssly and Teyorf1 knockout (KO) mice and characterized their phenotype. To create Prssly KO mice, we targeted the conserved exon 5 encoding a trypsin domain typical for serine proteases. The targeting was successful and resulted in a frame shift mutation that introduced a premature stop codon, with the Prssly KO males retaining only residual transcript expression in testes. The Teyorf1 targeting removed the entire open reading frame of the gene, which resulted in no transcript expression in KO males. Both Prssly KO and Teyorf1 KO males were fertile and had normal testis size and normal sperm number, motility, and morphology. Our findings show that Prssly and Teyorf1 transcripts with potential to encode proteins are dispensable for male fertility.
Understanding Technology’s Impact on Youth: Attachment Theory as a Framework for Conceptualizing Adolescents’ Relationship with Their Mobile Devices
Authors: Hodge David R , Gebler-Wolfe Molly M
Published: April 2022

Most adolescents have mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) and daily access to the internet. Scholars, however, have only recently begun to consider the impact of this technology on youth. This article draws on attachment theory to explain how adolescents’ attachment styles may be represented in their attachment to technology. The authors posit that the attachment framework used to describe the relationship between infants and their primary caregivers can also be used to explain the relationship between adolescents and their mobile devices, and then describe and illustrate what secure and insecure attachment to these devices may look like for adolescents. By providing a theoretical lens through which to view this emerging topic, interventions at the micro and macro levels can be created to counter the detrimental effects of technology use on youth. For instance, at the micro level, practitioners might work with parents to cocreate strategies to facilitate salutary smartphone use. At the macro level, social workers might consider advocating for policies that protect children from the application of technologies that are designed to exploit their developmental, psychological, and neurobiological vulnerabilities.
Different predictors of intimate partner and natal family violence against women
Authors: Campbell Olympia L K , Mace Ruth
Published: April 2022

Background

Violence against women is often studied in the context of violence from intimate partners. However, women receive violence from a wider range of individuals—such as their natal kin—including their siblings, parents, uncles and cousins. Applying insights from evolutionary theory, we examine whether cousin marriage, which has been hypothesized to both reduce the risk of partner violence but increase the risk of natal family violence, associates differently with each type of violence. Second, we test whether common risk factors for partner violence, such as wealth, associate similarly with natal violence.

Methodology

We analyse over 16 000 Jordanian women from three cohorts of the Jordan Demographic Health Surveys. Predictor variables include type of cousin marriage (patrilateral or matrilateral), education, wealth, number of children, urban living and polygyny. Outcome variables include whether a woman’s husband or her natal family has ever been physically violent towards her.

Results

Being married to a patrilateral cousin but not a matrilateral cousin is associated with a reduced risk of reporting intimate partner violence (IPV). By contrast being married to a matrilateral cousin but not a patrilateral one is associated with a reduced risk of reporting natal family violence. As expected, wealth is negatively associated with reporting partner violence, but we find no association with reports of natal family violence. Finally, individuals with more children are more likely to report IPV.

Conclusions and implications

Findings indicate the importance of distinguishing between types of cousin marriage and highlight substantial differences in risk factors for intimate partner compared to natal family violence.

Lay Summary

Sociodemographic risk factors, such as wealth, may associate differently with intimate partner and natal family violence. Results suggest that whether cousin marriage is protective of violence may depend on the type of cousin and secondly, that violence can have fitness relevant outcomes.
Putting the Nursing and Home in Nursing Homes
Authors: Grabowski David C
Published: April 2022

As the late Robert Kane observed, the term nursing home is often a misnomer. Most U.S. nursing homes lack adequate nursing staff, and they are typically not very homelike in either their physical structure or culture. These problems were magnified during the pandemic. The underlying reasons for these longstanding issues are that most state Medicaid payment systems reimburse nursing homes at a relatively low level and the government does not hold nursing homes accountable for spending dollars on direct resident care. To encourage increased staffing and more homelike models of care, policymakers need to reform how nursing homes are paid and hold facilities accountable for how they spend government dollars. With these reforms, the term nursing home will become more appropriate in the United States.
Copyright Meets Consumer Data Portability Rights: Inevitable Friction between IP and the Remedies in the Digital Content Directive
Authors: Geiregat Simon
Published: April 2022

The 2019 Digital Content Directive harmonizes the remedies of consumers in case of a lack of conformity of digital content or a digital service supplied to them by a professional party. Although the Directive is ‘without prejudice’ to intellectual property (IP), there are inherent overlaps with copyright in scenarios where consumers are entitled to terminate the contract. On the one hand, Art. 16(4) provides consumers with a restricted right at the time of termination to retrieve any nonpersonal content which was provided or created by them when using the digital content or service. It is argued that exercising that right can entail infringements of third-party copyright, depending on the circumstances, and that IP may often undermine the very regulatory concept and objectives of this ‘portability right’, particularly when cocreated content is involved. By contrast, traders should not be allowed to reject portability requests by waiving their own IP rights, as this would hamper the effectiveness of the consumer’s remedy. On the other hand, directive-based termination does not necessarily affect the fate of terms licensing or transferring IP rights in consumer content to traders, service providers or their (sub)licensees, because this is primarily a matter for national law. However, it is argued that traders, service providers and remaining service users can only keep relying on those licenses if their uses are within the scope of Art. 16(3) of the Directive, notwithstanding any deviating agreement to the detriment of the consumer.
Sex-related Differences in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: The Potential Role of Sex Hormones
Authors: Xu Leiqi , Huang Gang , Cong Yingzi , Yu Yanbo , Li Yanqing
Published: April 2022

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract, is a global health care problem. Compelling evidence shows sex differences regarding the prevalence, pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and treatment outcome of IBD. Sex hormones, including estrogen, progesterone, and androgen, have been proposed to have a role in the pathogenesis of sexual dimorphism in IBD. Clinical and experimental data support the modulatory effects of sex hormones on various clinical characteristics of the disease, including intestinal barrier dysfunction and mucosal immune activation. Additionally, the potential role of sex hormones in the modulation of gut microbiota is attracting increasing attention. Here, we discuss the sex dimorphic disease profile and address the potential mechanisms involved in the sex-specific pathogenesis of IBD. Improved understanding of these sex differences in the clinic could improve the knowledge of patients with IBD with heterogeneous disease profiles.
Reply to Stafford's (2022) comment on “Seaweed ecosystems may not mitigate CO2 emissions” by Gallagheret al. (2022)
Authors: Gallagher John Barry , Shelamoff Victor
Published: April 2022

The comment qualitatively suggests that seaweed ecosystems are global carbon sinks. This was in contradiction to the article that showed that seaweed ecosystems are on average measurably carbon sources within the canopy. Furthermore, this was amplified by the remineralization of a large fraction of exported seaweed production, as estimated from published parameters. It appeared that the comments’ conclusion was mistaken from two standpoints. First, a view that the article did not consider the impact of the phytoplanktonic assemblage on the seaweed ecosystems’ global sequestration rate. This had been previously calculated as likely, not significant. Second, a view that the consumption and subsequent respiration of exported material cannot be included in ecosystems that are generally open to allochthonous organic carbon subsidies. Nevertheless, the comment does raise the importance of a more holistic view in assessing sequestration services. The response expands the article's arguments from different standpoints and consequences to illustrate where the comment has been mistaken, and points out where the article was misread. We also expand on the comments’ call for a more holistic approach by being more explicit on what drives both sequestration and mitigation through the extreme circumstances where this could be maximized, including phytoplankton contributions.
Hall–Littlewood Polynomials, Boundaries, and p-Adic Random Matrices
Authors: Van Peski Roger
Published: April 2022

We prove that the boundary of the Hall–Littlewood $t$-deformation of the Gelfand–Tsetlin graph is parametrized by infinite integer signatures, extending results of Gorin [23] and Cuenca [15] on boundaries of related deformed Gelfand–Tsetlin graphs. In the special case when $1/t$ is a prime $p$, we use this to recover results of Bufetov and Qiu [12] and Assiotis [1] on infinite $p$-adic random matrices, placing them in the general context of branching graphs derived from symmetric functions. Our methods rely on explicit formulas for certain skew Hall–Littlewood polynomials. As a separate corollary to these, we obtain a simple expression for the joint distribution of the cokernels of products $A_1, A_2A_1, A_3A_2A_1,\ldots $ of independent Haar-distributed matrices $A_i$ over ${\mathbb {Z}}_p$, generalizing the explicit formula for the classical Cohen–Lenstra measure.
Cluster Transmission Drives Invasive Group A Streptococcus Disease Within the United States and Is Focused on Communities Experiencing Disadvantage
Authors: Metcalf Benjamin , Nanduri Srinivas , Chochua Sopio , Li Yuan , Fleming-Dutra Katherine , McGee Lesley , Beall Bernard
Published: April 2022

Background

Group A streptococci (GAS), although usually responsible for mild infections, can sometimes spread into normally sterile sites and cause invasive GAS disease (iGAS). Because both the risk of iGAS disease and occurrence of outbreaks are elevated within certain communities, such as those comprising people who inject drugs (PWID) and people experiencing homelessness (PEH), understanding the transmission dynamics of GAS is of major relevance to public health.

Methods

We used a cluster detection tool to scan genomes of 7552 Streptococcus pyogenes isolates acquired through the population-based Active Bacterial Core surveillance (ABCs) during 2015–2018 to identify genomically related clusters representing previously unidentified iGAS outbreaks.

Results

We found that 64.6% of invasive isolates were included within clusters of at least 4 temporally related isolates. Calculating a cluster odds ratio (COR) for each emm type revealed that types vary widely in their propensity to form transmission clusters. By incorporating additional epidemiological metadata for each isolate, we found that emm types with a higher proportion of cases occurring among PEH and PWID were associated with higher CORs. Higher CORs were also correlated with emm types that are less geographically dispersed.

Conclusions

Early identification of clusters with implementation of outbreak control measures could result in significant reduction of iGAS.
Cruelty and Violence in the Global South
Authors: Thakur Monika
Published: April 2022

There is limited understanding of cruelty in critical security studies. While cruelty tends to be conceptualized within the context of large-scale, violent conflicts and situations, it is helpful to consider cruelty through the lens of everyday forms of violence and subjugation. Understanding cruelty and its complex entanglements with overlapping frameworks of necropolitics, structural violence, and necrogeopolitics, and drawing on research from Nigeria, Jordan, and Myanmar, this article discusses the normalization of cruel, everyday “living death” and violence experienced by many in Global South. Overlapping marginalities of localized conflicts, political repression, gendered violence, marginalized livelihoods and precarity, climate change, and migration illustrate this entangled conceptualization of cruelty. This complex and entangled understanding of cruelty helps to better understand the lived experiences and situations of peoples and communities in the Global South. Further, everyday necropolitical violence and cruelty provide an understanding of the suffering, pain, and state of unease that many experience in the Global South and beyond, and this understanding of shared human vulnerabilities informs our common humanity. The main contribution of this analysis is to provide dialectical insights into the potential of radical empathy and compassion, rooted in decolonial humanism, as a means to ignite political consciousness, dismantle oppressive structures, and support emancipatory agency of peoples and communities globally.
VTag: a semi-supervised pipeline for tracking pig activity with a single top-view camera
Authors: Chen Chun-Peng J , Morota Gota , Lee Kiho , Zhang Zhiwu , Cheng Hao
Published: April 2022

Precision livestock farming has become an important research focus with the rising demand of meat production in the swine industry. Currently, the farming practice is widely conducted by the technology of computer vision (CV), which automates monitoring pig activity solely based on video recordings. Automation is fulfilled by deriving imagery features that can guide CV systems to recognize animals’ body contours, positions, and behavioral categories. Nevertheless, the performance of the CV systems is sensitive to the quality of imagery features. When the CV system is deployed in a variable environment, its performance may decrease as the features are not generalized enough under different illumination conditions. Moreover, most CV systems are established by supervised learning, in which intensive effort in labeling ground truths for the training process is required. Hence, a semi-supervised pipeline, VTag, is developed in this study. The pipeline focuses on long-term tracking of pig activity without requesting any pre-labeled video but a few human supervisions to build a CV system. The pipeline can be rapidly deployed as only one top-view RGB camera is needed for the tracking task. Additionally, the pipeline was released as a software tool with a friendly graphical interface available to general users. Among the presented datasets, the average tracking error was 17.99 cm. Besides, with the prediction results, the pig moving distance per unit time can be estimated for activity studies. Finally, as the motion is monitored, a heat map showing spatial hot spots visited by the pigs can be useful guidance for farming management. The presented pipeline saves massive laborious work in preparing training dataset. The rapid deployment of the tracking system paves the way for pig behavior monitoring.
Minimum Levels of Human Intervention in Autonomous Attacks
Authors: McFarland Tim
Published: April 2022

This article discusses an important limitation on the degree of autonomy that may permissibly be afforded to autonomous weapon systems (AWS) in the context of an armed conflict: the extent to which international humanitarian law (IHL) requires that human beings be able to intervene directly in the operation of weapon systems in the course of an attack. As there is currently no conventional or customary law directed specifically at AWS, limits on use of autonomous capabilities in weapons, if any exist, must be inferred from the principles, rules and goals of general IHL. The process adopted herein is to look for two broad types of limitations: those which take the form of maximum permissible degrees of machine involvement in regulated activities, and those which take the form of minimum permissible degrees of human involvement. The article’s main finding is that while existing law does not impose limits of the first type, it does impose some of the second type. Specifically, legal obligations borne by individuals (commanders in charge of AWS operations, weapon system operators and others) determine the required minimum capacity for direct human intervention. The article further suggests means by which the required degree of human intervention may be determined in specific circumstances.
Mortality of Emerald Ash Borer Larvae in Small Regenerating Ash in New York Forests
Authors: Gould Juli , Fierke Melissa K , Hickin Mauri
Published: April 2022

Despite a robust biocontrol program against emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire (Coleoptera: Buprestidae), parasitoid populations cannot build quickly enough to save mature ash trees. The future of ash as a viable component of North American forests depends on survival of immature ash that were too small to be attacked during the initial outbreak. This study was designed to quantify impacts of established introduced parasitoids and native woodpeckers on the population growth of emerald ash borer infesting regenerating ash saplings in white ash forests. Most emerald ash borer larvae were killed by Tetrastichus planipennisi Yang and woodpeckers in the fourth instar. Life-table analyses revealed that the estimated net reproductive rate of emerald ash borer was R0 = 4.2 in eastern New York and R0 = 0.0 in western New York. Without mortality from parasitoids and woodpeckers, R0 values would have been 16.4 and 7.9 in eastern and western New York, respectively. We monitored the health of mature and sapling ash trees from 2012 to 2017 and found that large trees were significantly more likely to be infested with emerald ash borer and to die than smaller trees. Fifty-four percent to 81% of ash saplings contained no living emerald ash borer, and the density of emerald ash borer at all sites was very low (< 4/m2). This study adds to the growing body of evidence that emerald ash borer biocontrol is contributing to population control and can help promote survival of young ash trees as forests recover from emerald ash borer outbreaks.
Clinical Value of Early-Pregnancy Glycated Hemoglobin, Fasting Plasma Glucose, and Body Mass Index in Screening Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Lou Yanqin , Xiang Li , Gao Xuemei , Jiang Huijun
Published: April 2022

Objective

To investigate clinical values of early-pregnancy (8–13 weeks) glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and body mass index (BMI) in screening gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM).

Methods

A total of 1120 cases underwent a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), of which 216 cases with GDM were selected as the study group, and 278 cases without GDM were selected as the control group. FPG, HbA1c, and BMI in early pregnancy were measured. The correlation between FPG, HbA1c and BMI in early pregnancy and the incidence of GDM was analyzed by binary logistic regression, and the value of each index in predicting GDM alone or in combination was evaluated.

Results

FPG, HbA1c, and BMI in early pregnancy in the GDM group were higher than those in the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P < .05). Binary logistic regression analysis showed that FPG, HbA1c, and BMI were risk factors for GDM in early pregnancy (odds ratio [OR] values were 3.374 [P < .05], 4.644 [P < .001], and 1.077 [P < .001], respectively). The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of FPG, glycated hemoglobin, and BMI in screening GDM for early pregnancy were 0.647, 0.661, and 0.608, respectively, while the area under the ROC curve of the combination of these 3 indicators was 0.736.

Conclusion

We found that FPG, HbA1c, and BMI in early pregnancy might be the potential risk factors for the occurrence of GDM, and the combination of them had certain clinical predictive value for GDM. However, it is still necessary for more studies, especially prospective studies, to validate our findings in the future.
Perceptions of Self-Determination in Music Therapy for Individuals Diagnosed with Intellectual Disabilities: A Survey of Music Therapists
Authors: Beebe Katelyn
Published: April 2022

Individuals diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) experience positive outcomes and desire to participate in decisions regarding various aspects of their lives but are often less likely to access this right than their peers without a diagnosis. These individuals may be able to increase their proficiency in self-determination through practice, but it is unclear the extent to which they may be involved in healthcare-related decisions, specifically while participating in music therapy. Through a survey of board-certified music therapists currently serving individuals diagnosed with I/DD, in this study, the author sought to identify aspects of self-determination being incorporated into music therapy treatment with individuals diagnosed with I/DD and to determine the extent to which self-determination is emphasized. Results of this study indicated elements perceived by music therapists to be essential to self-determination, benefits associated with access to self-determination, methods of incorporating self-determination into music therapy sessions, relationships between work experience, attitudes about self-determination, and the frequency of self-determination being incorporated into sessions. Based on the results of this study, future research could explore potential implications of music therapists’ educational background and work setting on self-determination and should include perspectives from service users.