bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Cognitive effort in human translation and machine translation post-editing processes
Authors: Wang Yu , Jalalian Daghigh Ali
Published: July 2023

Due to the inaccuracies of Machine Translation (MT), Post-Editing (PE) is inevitable. This poses questions over whether human effort to polish an MT is worthwhile or whether it would be more efficient to translate manually. However, to date, fewer attempts have been made to compare the cognitive effort in the PE process and the sub-phases (orientation, drafting, and revision) of PE with that of Human Translation (HT). To fill this gap, the current study aims to investigate and compare cognitive effort in HT and PE processes in translation from Chinese to English. Data were collected via eye-tracking and keyboard-logging approaches from 25 participants recruited to fulfil three HT and three PE tasks respectively. The comparison of cognitive effort was made from the processes of HT and PE, and their different sub-phases. The study reveals a significant difference in cognitive effort, orientation duration, and drafting duration between HT and PE.
Dialogic negotiations of children’s narratives in classroom workshops
Authors: Amadasi Sara
Published: July 2023

This article investigates how dialogic negotiations contribute to the enhancement of pupils’ epistemic authority. The analysis was based on two interactions collected in a primary school and a higher secondary school in Italy, as part of a European research project promoting dialogue-based activities. The aim of the research was to investigate children’s agency and participation in changing their social and cultural conditions of hybrid integration. Their participation was promoted in different ways to facilitate dialogue, which enhanced dialogic negotiations and narrative interlacement. The analysis demonstrates that, through dialogic negotiations, children and adults shape the meanings of children’s personal stories together and create a network of interlaced narratives. Both these conditions impact on children’s participation in knowledge production and identity construction.
Meschonnic, Wittgenstein and translation as form of life
Authors: Mendes Galvão Maíra
Published: July 2023

Henri Meschonnic famously gives specific usage to a repertoire of terms such as subjectivity, continuous,
rhythm, historicity, recitative and enunciation. Behind them, there is a project to overcome what he
calls the “chain of dualisms” (1988), or the tendency toward dichotomy in theoretical thinking, represented in the language fields by the
separations between signifier and signified, oral and written, form and content, and others. Following Philip Wilson’s (2012) initiative of applying Ludwig Wittgenstein’s concepts of language
games and forms of life to translation studies, we seek to draw an analogy between the
Wittgensteinian leap from analytics to pragmatics and the Meschonnician leap from sign to discourse, with the aim of investigating
the viability of a synthesis of the two authors’ ideas as a theoretical and methodological proposition for Translation Studies.
Meschonnic proposes that the sign (enunciate) be overcome in favor of discourse (enunciation), which he views as a relationship
between language and body. We argue that the linguistic experience, in that light, is akin to a performance and that Wittgenstein,
by focusing on the use of language, also favors this idea, which may be a possible key for a theoretical practice
of translation.
Finnish and French public signs from commercial premises during the
Covid-19 pandemic
Authors: Isosävi Johanna
Published: July 2023

This paper studies 200 signs displayed in commercial premises
during the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Finland and in France. The
data were collected through crowdsourcing via social media platforms and
analysed from the perspective of cross-cultural pragmatics. The vast majority of
Finnish and French directives were direct, but cross-cultural differences
emerged in relation to perspective and mitigation. Specifically, French signs
preferred an impersonal perspective, whereas Finnish signs favoured a hearer
perspective, and Finnish signs were more often mitigated than French signs. The
signs balanced between attracting customers and imposing safety measures on them
through the justification of measures, the presentation of measures taken by
businesses themselves, as well as by addressing clients and thanking them. The
findings suggest that the directives in Covid-19 signs differ from directives in
other data types.
Solidarity and support in Belgian residential linguistic landscapes during the Covid-19 outbreak
Authors: Vandenbroucke Mieke , De Malsche Fien
Published: July 2023

This article examines the role played by signs in the public space of two socio-economically stratified residential neighbourhoods of Ghent (Belgium) during the first Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. On the basis of fieldwork, we explore the potential of public signs as a resourceful strategy for communicating solidarity and support and the discursive construction of a community affected by this crisis. We show that in times of lockdown and social distancing, the residential linguistic landscape in both neighbourhoods became strategically appropriated by local inhabitants to communicate with neighbours and strangers and was operationalised as a vehicle to serve new communicative functions such as the conveying of solidarity and support as well as gratitude, and collective belonging. Some differences related to emplacement, language use and quantity of signs were also observed. Overall, the article documents the affective appropriation of space through Covid-19 signs during the Covid-19 outbreak and periods of lockdown in Flanders, Belgium.
Substitution of Zn for Cu in Mg–Y–Zn alloys designed for fracturing ball
Authors: Xi Guoqiang , Xiong Ju , Ma Yanlong , Chen Jie , Mao Zhongyu , Lin Jiaju , Chai Linjiang , Wang Jingfeng
Published: July 2023

The microstructure, mechanical properties and degradation behaviour of Mg95Y3Zn2 (MYZ), Mg95Y3Zn1Cu1 (MYZC), and Mg95Y3Cu2 (MYC) (at.-%) alloys have been studied. All the alloys mainly contain α-Mg matrix and LPSO phase. By substituting Zn for Cu, the composition of the LPSO phase transformed from Mg–Y–Zn to Mg–Y–Zn–Cu, and then to Mg–Y–Cu. The ultimate compressive strength is 227, 231 and 238 MPa, respectively. The MYC alloy exhibited much higher degradation rate than MYZC and MYZ alloys. The strong galvanic coupling effect between LPSO phase and the matrix, the grain size refinement and the weak protection from the corrosion product layer are responsible for the high degradation rate. It is suggested that the newly developed MYC alloy is promising for fracturing ball application.
Inverse problem for a nonlocal diffuse optical tomography equation
Authors: Zimmermann Philipp
Published: July 2023

In this article a nonlocal analogue of an inverse problem in diffuse optical tomography is considered. We show that whenever one has given two pairs of diffusion and absorption coefficients

(

γ
j

,

q
j

)

,

j
=
1
,
2

, such that there holds

q
1

=

q
2

in the measurement set W and they generate the same DN data, then they are necessarily equal in

R

n

and Ω, respectively. Additionally, we show that the condition

q
1

|

W

=

q
2

|

W

is optimal in the sense that without this restriction one can construct two distinct pairs

(

γ
j

,

q
j

)

,

j
=
1
,
2

generating the same DN data.
A piezoelectric buckling beam-type bistable energy harvester under rotational excitations
Authors: Du Houfan , Yang Zhichun , Zhou Shengxi
Published: July 2023

This paper proposes a novel piezoelectric buckling beam-type bistable energy harvester (PBBEH), which aims to efficiently harvest energy from rotational motions. The designed PBBEH is most made up of a piezoelectric buckling beam and a rotational disk which is used to provide low-speed rotational motions. A lumped parameter model is used for numerical analysis and the energy harvesting features of the PBBEH are analyzed. More importantly, experiments indicate that the PBBEH has excellent energy harvesting performance in the frequency range of 1–9 Hz, and experimental results indicate that the presented PBBEH has the output power of 28 μW. Additionally, the PBBEH has obvious nonlinear broadband dynamic characteristics. Both experimental and numerical results show that the output power curve has the tendency to increase and then decrease. Overall, in this paper, a good performance of this proposed harvester in ultra-low frequency rotational motions is verified, and it provides a possible design for self-powered wireless sensors used for structural heath monitoring in the wind turbine, the automobile wheel and other rotational machines.
Revealing the inner structure of the newly observed η
1(1855) via photoproduction
Authors: Huang Yin , Zhu Hong Qiang
Published: July 2023

Very recently, a new hadronic exotic state η
1(1855) at the invariant mass spectrum of

η

η

′

was observed by the BESIII Collaboration. According to its properties, such as the mass and decay width, the η
1(1855) have been suggested to be a compact multi-quark state, a hadron molecule, or a hybrid meson. In order to distinguish the various interpretations of the η
1(1855), a Reggeized model combined with the vector dominance model for η
1(1855) photoproduction on the proton target is presented. The η
1(1855) photoproduction is dominated by the t-channel vector mesons ρ, ω, and ϕ exchange. If the η
1(1855) is a

s

s

¯

g

hybrid meson, the Primakoff effect also should be included. Our calculations show that the total cross section of the η
1(1855) production via γ
p reaction can reach up to 0.276 pb for θ = 15° or 0.119 pb for θ = 0°, about 0.0297% or 0.0128% of the total cross section obtained by considering the η
1(1855) as an S-wave

K

K

¯

1

(
1400
)

molecule. We also find their line shapes are sizably different. If the η
1(1855) is a molecular state, the photoproduction of η
1(1855) near the threshold offers a nice place to test its molecular nature. However, it should be better to take high energy, at least above E

γ
= 16.97 GeV, to observe the production of η
1(1855) if η
1(1855) is a

s

s

¯

g

hybrid meson. These results can be measured in the GlueX experiment or electron-ion collider in China to test the nature of the η
1(1855).
The spontaneous disorder according to flat bands
Authors: Zhang Dian-Cheng
Published: July 2023

A bosonic Creutz–Hubbard ladder is studied by solving the interacting Bose–Hubbard model, with the help of exact diagonalization method. Under certain parameters, a single-particle energy spectrum possessing two flat energy bands is obtained. Due to these flat bands, we identify the spontaneous disorder in the presence of interaction, which breaks the translational symmetry of lattice system. Out of flat bands and taking a flux quanta as

π

/

2

, the checkerboard phase associated with Meissner currents can be observed, as well as the regular biased ladder (BL) phase, which particularly presents a novel type of interlaced chiral current. We further figure out a modulated BL phase, whose imbalance on the occupancies between two legs is constant, whereas the density distribution on either leg oscillates periodically, followed by compound currents.
Structural phases of classical 2D clusters with competing two-body and three-body interactions
Authors: Correia Matheus V , Freitas Emerson J , Cabral Leonardo R E , de Souza Silva Clécio C
Published: July 2023

In modeling systems of interacting particles, many-body terms beyond pairwise interactions are often overlooked. Nevertheless, in certain scenarios, even small contributions from three-body or higher-order terms can disrupt significant changes in their collective behavior. Here we investigate the effects of three-body interactions on the structure and stability of 2D, harmonically confined clusters. We consider clusters with three distinct pairwise interactions:

log
r

,

1

/

r

, and

e

−
κ
r

/

r

, thus covering a wide range of condensed and soft matter systems, such as vortices in mesoscopic superconductors, charged colloids, and dusty plasma. In each case, we evaluate the energetics and normal mode spectra of equilibrium and metastable configurations as the intensity of an attractive, Gaussian three-body potential is varied. We demonstrate that, above a threshold value of the three-body energy strength, the cluster shrinks and eventually becomes self-sustained, that is, it remains cohesive after the confinement potential is shut down. Depending on the strengths of the two-body and three-body interaction terms, this compaction can be continuous or abrupt. The latter case is characterized by a discontinuous jump in the particle density and coexsitence of the compact and non-compact phases as metastable states, as in a first-order phase transition. For some values of the particle number, the compaction is preceded by one or more structural changes, resulting in configurations not usually seen in purely pairwise-additive clusters.
A portable primary-standard level graphite calorimeter for absolute dosimetry in clinical pencil beam scanning proton beams
Authors: Lourenço A , Lee N , Charlwood F , Lambert J , Vera-Sánchez J A , Hussein M , Shipley D , Romano F , Lowe M , Clarke M , Lorentini S , Mazal A , Pettingell J , Palmans H , Thomas R
Published: July 2023

Objective. To report the use of a portable primary standard level graphite calorimeter for direct dose determination in clinical pencil beam scanning proton beams, which forms part of the recommendations of the proposed Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine (IPEM) Code of Practice (CoP) for proton therapy dosimetry. Approach. The primary standard proton calorimeter (PSPC) was developed at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) and measurements were performed at four clinical proton therapy facilities that use pencil beam scanning for beam delivery. Correction factors for the presence of impurities and vacuum gaps were calculated and applied, as well as dose conversion factors to obtain dose to water. Measurements were performed in the middle of 10 × 10 × 10 cm3 homogeneous dose volumes, centred at 10.0, 15.0 and 25.0 g·cm−2 depth in water. The absorbed dose to water determined with the calorimeter was compared to the dose obtained using PTW Roos-type ionisation chambers calibrated in terms of absorbed dose to water in 60Co applying the recommendations in the IAEA TRS-398 CoP. Main results. The relative dose difference between the two protocols varied between 0.4% and 2.1% depending on the facility. The reported overall uncertainty in the determination of absorbed dose to water using the calorimeter is 0.9% (k = 1), which corresponds to a significant reduction of uncertainty in comparison with the TRS-398 CoP (currently with an uncertainty equal or larger than 2.0% (k = 1) for proton beams). Significance. The establishment of a purpose-built primary standard and associated CoP will considerably reduce the uncertainty of the absorbed dose to water determination and ensure improved accuracy and consistency in the dose delivered to patients treated with proton therapy and bring proton reference dosimetry uncertainty in line with megavoltage photon radiotherapy.
ETucker: a constrained tensor decomposition for single trial ERP extraction
Authors: TaghiBeyglou Behrad , Shamsollahi Mohammad Bagher
Published: July 2023

Objective. In this paper, we propose a new tensor decomposition to extract event-related potentials (ERP) by adding a physiologically meaningful constraint to the Tucker decomposition. Approach. We analyze the performance of the proposed model and compare it with Tucker decomposition by synthesizing a dataset. The simulated dataset is generated using a 12th-order autoregressive model in combination with independent component analysis (ICA) on real no-task electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings. The dataset is manipulated to contain the P300 ERP component and to cover different SNR conditions, ranging from 0 to −30 dB, to simulate the presence of the P300 component in extremely noisy recordings. Furthermore, in order to assess the practicality of the proposed methodology in real-world scenarios, we utilized the brain-computer interface (BCI) competition III-dataset II. Main results. Our primary results demonstrate the superior performance of our approach compared to conventional methods commonly employed for single-trial estimation. Additionally, our method outperformed both Tucker decomposition and non-negative Tucker decomposition in the synthesized dataset. Furthermore, the results obtained from real-world data exhibited meaningful performance and provided insightful interpretations for the extracted P300 component. Significance. The findings suggest that the proposed decomposition is eminently capable of extracting the target P300 component’s waveform, including latency and amplitude as well as its spatial location, using single-trial EEG recordings.
Measuring stopping power in warm dense matter plasmas at OMEGA
Authors: Lahmann B , Saunders A M , Döppner T , Frenje J A , Glenzer S H , Gatu-Johnson M , Sutcliffe G , Zylstra A B , Petrasso R D
Published: July 2023

A platform has been developed for accurately measuring the stopping power of high energy protons through warm dense matter (WDM) plasmas characterized by x-ray Thomson scattering. In this work stopping power measurements were successfully made through both WDM Beryllium and Boron plasmas. In the Boron experiments, an increase in stopping was observed over their cold target counter-parts. This increase in stopping was shown to agree well with models that account for the partial ionization of the plasma.
Revise Thermal Winds of Remnant Neutron Stars in Gamma-Ray Bursts
Authors: Du Shuang , Lin Tingting , Hou Shujin , Xu Renxin
Published: July 2023

It seems that the wealth of information revealed by the multi-messenger observations of the binary neutron star (NS) merger event, GW170817/GRB 170817A/kilonova AT2017gfo, places irreconcilable constraints to models of the prompt emission of this gamma-ray burst (GRB). The observed time delay between the merger of the two NSs and the trigger of the GRB and the thermal tail of the prompt emission can hardly be reproduced by these models simultaneously. We argue that the merger remnant should be an NS (last for, at least, a large fraction of 1 s), and that the difficulty can be alleviated by the delayed formation of the accretion disk due to the absorption of high-energy neutrinos emitted by the NS and the delayed emergence of effective viscosity in the disk. Further, we extend the consideration of the effect of the energy deposition of neutrinos emitted from the NS. If the NS is the central object of a GRB with a distance and duration similar to that of GRB 170817A, thermal emission of the thermal bubble inflated by the NS after the termination of accretion may be detectable. If our scenario is verified, it would be of interest to investigate the cooling of nascent NSs.
Impact study of numerical discretization accuracy on parameter reconstructions and model parameter distributions
Authors: Plock Matthias , Hammerschmidt Martin , Burger Sven , Schneider Philipp-Immanuel , Schütte Christof
Published: July 2023

In optical nano metrology numerical models are used widely for parameter reconstructions. Using the Bayesian target vector optimization method we fit a finite element numerical model to a Grazing Incidence x-ray fluorescence data set in order to obtain the geometrical parameters of a nano structured line grating. Gaussian process, stochastic machine learning surrogate models, were trained during the reconstruction and afterwards sampled with a Markov chain Monte Carlo sampler to determine the distribution of the reconstructed model parameters. The numerical discretization parameters of the used finite element model impact the numerical discretization error of the forward model. We investigated the impact of the polynomial order of the finite element ansatz functions on the reconstructed parameters as well as on the model parameter distributions. We showed that such a convergence study allows to determine numerical parameters which allows for efficient and accurate reconstruction results.
Towards self-consistent modelling of negative ion beam acceleration
Authors: Pimazzoni A. , Sartori E. , Serianni G. , Veltri P.
Published: July 2023

Neutral beams are a valuable option to provide heat and current drive to a magnetically confined plasma. In addition they can be used as a diagnostics for the positive ion temperature and, in case of nuclear fusion reactions, for the amount of helium ash. In the case of ITER, stringent requirements are set on the acceptable beam divergence and aiming in order to propagate such beams up to the tokamak itself. Besides the well-known dependence of the beamlet optics on the beam energy and perveance, other important features affecting the optics are the ion spatial and velocity distribution at the plasma boundary facing the extractor, the so-called plasma meniscus. In a caesiated negative ion source, this distribution is influenced both by the birth energy of the negative ions and by the ion transport in the plasma itself. In this work we use a test particle code to investigate the negative ion transport up to the plasma meniscus and we use a standard ray-tracing code to trace the test particles that reached the meniscus inside the electrostatic accelerator. The coupling of the two codes is iterated up to numerical convergence. By this procedure, the angular distribution of the accelerated particles is found to be much more similar to the experimental ones than the one obtained by simple ray-tracing simulations.
Intrinsic timing properties of ideal 3D-trench silicon sensor with fast front-end electronics
Authors: Cossu Gian Matteo , Brundu Davide , Lai Adriano
Published: July 2023

This paper describes the fundamental timing properties of a
single-pixel sensor for charged particle detection based on the
3D-trench silicon structure. We derive the results both analytically
and numerically by considering a simple ideal sensor and the
corresponding fast front-end electronics in two different case
scenarios: ideal integrator and real fast electronics
(trans-impedance amplifier). The particular shape of the Time of
Arrival (TOA) distribution is examined and the relation between the
time resolution and the spread of intrinsic charge collection time
is discussed, by varying electronics parameters and discrimination
thresholds. The results are obtained with and without simulated
electronics noise. We show that the 3D-trench sensors are
characterized by a synchronous region, i.e. a portion of the
active volume which leads to the same TOA values when charged
particles cross it. The synchronous region size is dependent on the
front-end electronics and discrimination threshold, and the
phenomenon represents an intrinsic physical effect that leads to the
excellent time resolution of these sensors. Moreover, we show that
the TOA distribution is characterized by an intrinsic asymmetry, due
to the 3D geometry only, that becomes negligible in case of
significant electronics jitter.
Non-Hermitian superintegrable systems
Authors: Correa Francisco , Inzunza Luis , Marquette Ian
Published: July 2023

A non-Hermitian generalisation of the Marsden–Weinstein reduction method is introduced to construct families of quantum

-symmetric superintegrable models over an n-dimensional sphere Sn
. The mechanism is illustrated with one- and two-dimensional examples, related to u(2) and u(3) Lie algebras respectively, providing new quantum models with real spectra and spontaneous

-symmetric breaking. In certain limits, the models reduce to known non-Hermitian systems and complex extensions of previously studied real superintegrable systems.
Comparative coherence between layered and traditional semiconductors: unique opportunities for heterogeneous integration
Authors: Chen Zhuofan , Deng Xiaonan , Zhang Simian , Wang Yuqi , Wu Yifei , Ke Shengxian , Zhang Junshang , Liu Fucheng , Liu Jianing , Liu Yingjie , Lin Yuchun , Hanna Andrew , Li Zhengcao , Wang Chen
Published: July 2023

As Moore’s law deteriorates, the research and development of new materials system are crucial for transitioning into the post Moore era. Traditional semiconductor materials, such as silicon, have served as the cornerstone of modern technologies for over half a century. This has been due to extensive research and engineering on new techniques to continuously enrich silicon-based materials system and, subsequently, to develop better performed silicon-based devices. Meanwhile, in the emerging post Moore era, layered semiconductor materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), have garnered considerable research interest due to their unique electronic and optoelectronic properties, which hold great promise for powering the new era of next generation electronics. As a result, techniques for engineering the properties of layered semiconductors have expanded the possibilities of layered semiconductor-based devices. However, there remain significant limitations in the synthesis and engineering of layered semiconductors, impeding the utilization of layered semiconductor-based devices for mass applications. As a practical alternative, heterogeneous integration between layered and traditional semiconductors provides valuable opportunities to combine the distinctive properties of layered semiconductors with well-developed traditional semiconductors materials system. Here, we provide an overview of the comparative coherence between layered and traditional semiconductors, starting with TMDs as the representation of layered semiconductors. We highlight the meaningful opportunities presented by the heterogeneous integration of layered semiconductors with traditional semiconductors, representing an optimal strategy poised to propel the emerging semiconductor research community and chip industry towards unprecedented advancements in the coming decades.
Scdrake: a reproducible and scalable pipeline for scRNA-seq data analysis
Authors: Kubovčiak Jan , Kolář Michal , Novotný Jiří
Published: July 2023

Motivation

While the workflow for primary analysis of single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) data is well established, the secondary analysis of the feature-barcode matrix is usually done by custom scripts. There is no fully automated pipeline in the R statistical environment, which would follow the current best programming practices and requirements for reproducibility.

Results

We have developed scdrake, a fully automated workflow for secondary analysis of scRNA-seq data, which is fully implemented in the R language and built within the drake framework. The pipeline includes quality control, cell and gene filtering, normalization, detection of highly variable genes, dimensionality reduction, clustering, cell type annotation, detection of marker genes, differential expression analysis and integration of multiple samples. The pipeline is reproducible and scalable, has an efficient execution, provides easy extendability and access to intermediate results and outputs rich HTML reports. Scdrake is distributed as a Docker image, which provides a straightforward setup and enhances reproducibility.

Availability and implementation

The source code and documentation are available under the MIT license at https://github.com/bioinfocz/scdrake and https://bioinfocz.github.io/scdrake, respectively.

Supplementary information

Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics Advances online.
Ubiquitous lognormal distribution of neuron densities in mammalian cerebral cortex
Authors: Morales-Gregorio Aitor , van Meegen Alexander , van Albada Sacha J
Published: July 2023

Numbers of neurons and their spatial variation are fundamental organizational features of the brain. Despite the large corpus of cytoarchitectonic data available in the literature, the statistical distributions of neuron densities within and across brain areas remain largely uncharacterized. Here, we show that neuron densities are compatible with a lognormal distribution across cortical areas in several mammalian species, and find that this also holds true within cortical areas. A minimal model of noisy cell division, in combination with distributed proliferation times, can account for the coexistence of lognormal distributions within and across cortical areas. Our findings uncover a new organizational principle of cortical cytoarchitecture: the ubiquitous lognormal distribution of neuron densities, which adds to a long list of lognormal variables in the brain.
Rediscovering Arnold Dolmetsch: going back to the sources of the early music revival
Authors: Irving David R M
Published: July 2023

This article provides a retrospective overview of the discussion of Arnold Dolmetsch, his family, students and friends in Early Music since its first issue in 1973. It connects these cases with a broad range of other literature, suggests the need to rethink and recontextualize the lifetime of Arnold Dolmetsch and considers the significance of archival materials in the Jeanne-Marie Dolmetsch Collection newly available at Cambridge University Library (Ms. Add. 10371). In particular, it demonstrates the largely overlooked intercultural dimension of the Dolmetsch family’s contribution to the early music revival, highlighting their interactions with people and music cultures from beyond western Europe. Finally, it suggests a programme for possible future research on the Dolmetsch phenomenon.
Evaluation of a new treadmill exercise protocol to unmask type 1 Brugada electrocardiographic pattern: can we improve diagnostic yield?
Authors: Pichara Nemer L , Sacilotto Luciana , Scanavacca Maurício I , Cardoso Acácio Fernandes , Soares Beatriz Moreira Ayub Ferreira , Falcochio Paola P PN F , Falcão Andrea M G , Olivetti Natalia , da Costa Darrieux Francisco Carlos , Chalela William A
Published: July 2023

Aims

High precordial leads (HPL) on the resting electrocardiogram (ECG) are widely used to improve diagnostic detection of type 1 Brugada ECG pattern (Br1ECGp). A parasympathetic activation marks the initial recovery phase of treadmill stress testing (TET), and this can be useful for detecting the typical ECG pattern. Our study aimed to evaluate the role of a new HPL-treadmill exercise testing (TET) protocol in detecting Br1ECGp fluctuation compared to resting HPL-ECG.

Methods and results

74 out of 163 patients of a Brugada syndrome (BrS) Brazilian cohort (GenBra Registry) underwent exercise testing with HPL-TET protocol. Precordial leads were displayed in strategic positions in the right and left parasternal spaces. The step-by-step analysis included ECG classification (as presence or absence of Br1ECGp) in standard vs. HPL leads placement in the following sequences: resting phase, maximal exercise, and the passive recovery phase (including ‘quick lay down’). For heart rate recovery (HRR) measurements and comparisons, a Student’s t-test was applied. McNemar tests compared the detection of Br1ECGp. The significance level was defined as P < 0.05. Fifty-seven patients (57/74; 77%) were male, the mean age was 49.0 ± 14, 78.4% had spontaneous BrS, and the mean Shanghai score was 4.5. The HPL-TET protocol increased Br1ECGp detection by 32.4% against resting HPL-ECG (52.7% vs. 20.3%, P = 0.001) alone.

Conclusion

Stress testing using HPL with the passive recovery phase in the supine position offers an opportunity to unmask the type 1 Br1ECGp, which could increase the diagnostic yield in this population.
Comparison of towed electromagnetic with airborne electromagnetic and electrical resistivity tomography in a hydrogeophysical context
Authors: Maurya Pradip Kumar , Foged Nikolaj , Madsen Line Meldgaard , Christiansen Anders Vest
Published: July 2023

Electrical and electromagnetic methods are well suited for mapping the top 100 m of the subsurface, particularly electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and Traseint electromagnetic (TEM). Both methods can provide comparable resolution and depth of investigation for generating continuous 2-D resistivity profiles. TEM measurements taken continuously from moving platforms, whether towed on the ground or airborne, can generate 2-D-like resistivity sections similar to those produced by ERT profiling. However, despite the fact that both ERT and TEM can map the electrical resistivity of the subsurface, their results differ due to fundamental differences in physical principles, sensitivity, system geometry and instrumentation. The main objective of this paper is to provide a one-on-one comparison of the newly developed towed TEM system, tTEM, against ERT and airborne TEM, in our case a SkyTEM system. First, we performed the comparison in terms of model resolution using synthetic data and models. For all methods, synthetic data were generated using a 1-D forward response, and inversions were carried out using smooth layered models in a laterally constrained inversion framework. Overall, the inversion results are comparable across the three methods, and they all capture the key features of the synthetic models. The ERT and tTEM cross-sections from two field cases show very comparable results even in the top 5 m where thin resistive layers (∼60 Ω·m) are clearly mapped by both methods. However, the resistivity of the resistive layer is better resolved using ERT than tTEM because of the high sensitivity close to the surface in the ERT case. In the deeper part of the section, tTEM tends to resolve the boundaries of conductive layers (resistivity < 10 Ω·m) better than the ERT method. Compared to SkyTEM, tTEM has a better vertical and horizontal resolution especially in the top 20 m. The better tTEM resolution compared to SkyTEM is primarily due to a smaller footprint and denser data sampling. Depth of investigation-wise the SkyTEM system is superior compared to tTEM due to its larger magnetic moment.
Individual-based model simulations indicate a non-linear catch equation of drifting Fish Aggregating Device-associated tuna
Authors: Nooteboom Peter D , Scutt Phillips Joe , Senina Inna , van Sebille Erik , Nicol Simon
Published: July 2023

Catch per unit of fishing effort (CPUE) is often used as an indicator of tuna abundance, where it is assumed that the two are proportional to each other. Tuna catch is therefore typically simplified in tuna population dynamics models and depends linearly on their abundance. In this paper, we use an individual-based model of tuna and their interactions with drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADs) to identify which behavioural, ocean flow, and fishing strategy scenarios lead to an emergent, non-linear dependency between catch, and both tuna and dFAD density at the ∼1○ grid scale. We apply a series of catch response equations to evaluate their ability to model associated catch rate, using tuna and dFAD density as terms. Our results indicate that, regardless of ocean flow, behavioural, or fisher strategy scenario, simulated catch is best modelled with a non-linear dependence on both tuna and dFAD abundance. We discuss how estimators of CPUE at the population scale are potentially biased when assuming a linear catch response.
Development and validation of a patient satisfaction survey for pharmaceutical service at primary care settings
Authors: Huang Ruijian , Ding Siyu , Xiao Yue , Jiang Feng , Chen Yanfei , Zhang Jingjing , Zhou Jifang
Published: July 2023

Patient satisfaction is a key quality indicator of pharmacy service. However, there are few studies that develop and validate patient satisfaction surveys applied to pharmaceutical services in primary care settings. It is imperative to establish a well-validated multidimensional instrument for evaluating the viability and sustainability of pharmacy service across geographically diverse regions in low- and middle-income countries.

To develop and validate a patient satisfaction instrument for community pharmaceutical services, we carried out a cross-sectional survey in seven provinces across China. The study was conducted in four phases: (i) literature review–based item generation, (ii) expert panel–endorsed questionnaire refinement, (iii) pilot questionnaire development, and (iv) psychometric validation. Survey respondents were standard patients recruited locally and trained to conduct unannounced visits to preselected primary care centers.

Between December 2020 and November 2021, the pilot survey comprised a total of 166 unannounced standard patient visits from 125 health-care facilities. The final 24-item Likert-type instrument encompassed five domains: relationship, medication counseling, empathy, accessibility, and overall satisfaction. The satisfactory survey revealed excellent internal consistency. Factor analyses resulted in a 4-factor solution that accounted for 70.7% variance.

The results suggest that the questionnaire is a valid and reliable instrument, which has been taken an important step to evaluate patient satisfaction with pharmaceutical services in Chinese primary care settings. Further research on its cross-culture adaptation and applicability in urban retail pharmacy settings is warranted.
Feeling with the Land:Llakichinaand the Emotional Life of Relatedness in Amazonian Kichwa Thinking
Authors: Swanson Tod D , Reddekop Jarrad
Published: July 2023

This article explores how traditional Kichwa people in the Ecuadorian Amazon experience and practice emotional life. In particular, we focus on the centrality accorded to acts intended to elicit compassion in others (llakichina) and on the role these acts play in holding communities together. We argue that the importance given to the eliciting of compassion is tied to the Kichwa construal of the self as inherently relational and, for this reason, precarious. Further, we show how the emotional life of relatedness encompasses relationships with land and other species (particularly birds) in multi-layered ways. Drawing on interviews, songs, and narratives, we show how an understanding of other species as transformed humans informs affective connections with the land and how these in turn mediate emotional relations.
Carrier prevalence of Clostridioides difficile in emergency departments and the association of prior antibiotic consumption: a combined cross-sectional and nested case–control study
Authors: Skjøt-Arkil Helene , Rune Nanthan Kumanan , Chen Ming , Rosenvinge Flemming S
Published: July 2023

Introduction

Clostridioides difficile infection is an urgent public health threat, and the incidence has been increasing over the last decades. Knowledge of the prevalence of C. difficile in acutely admitted patients and risk factors for colonization with C. difficile assists emergency departments (EDs) in prioritizing preventive initiatives. This national study aimed to describe prevalence and risk factors for C. difficile carriers acutely admitted to EDs, focusing on the impact of earlier antibiotic prescription.

Methods

We conducted a nationwide analytic cross-sectional study with prospective data collection combined with a nested case–control study with retrospective data collection. All adults visiting one of eight Danish EDs were interviewed and examined for C. difficile. Using a national register, we collected the antibiotic history within the 2 years prior to enrolment. The primary outcome was the prevalence of C. difficile colonization, and secondary outcomes were related to risk factors and prior antibiotic prescription. Multivariate analyses examined the association between earlier antibiotic prescription and C. difficile colonization.

Results

Of 5019 participants, 89 were colonized with C. difficile (prevalence of 1.8%). A significant and exposure-dependent association was found for penicillins [DDD/person-year(PY) > 20; OR 4.93 (95% CI 2.22–10.97)] and fluoroquinolones [DDD/PY > 20; OR 8.81 (95% CI 2.54–30.55)], but not macrolides. Timing of the prescription did not affect the association.

Conclusions

One out of 55 patients visiting a Danish ED were colonized with C. difficile. Risk factors for colonization included high age, comorbidity and prior prescription of fluoroquinolones and penicillins.
Community-Led Education among Rohingya Refugees and the Politics of Refugee Education in Bangladesh
Authors: Nilsen Marte , Olney Jessica , Maung Khin , Karim Lucky , Ahmad Shabbir , Haque Nurul , Mubarak H Roshid
Published: July 2023

The academic literature on refugee education and education in emergencies is understandably preoccupied with how to improve educational tools and learning platforms for refugees. However, political restrictions on education from host governments are among the main obstacles for quality education in many refugee settings. This article contributes to the refugee education literature by exploring ways in which refugees themselves can mitigate the denial of the right to education through a combination of traditional community mobilization and the use of new technologies. Specifically, the article analyses the educational strategies that Rohingya youths and community-based education networks manoeuvre to secure basic education in the refugee camps in Bangladesh, despite severe political restrictions. Based on qualitative interviews in 2019 and 2021 (in person and phone interviews) with 38 community teachers and 16 refugee students, and digital data collection, including reviews of learning tools of 21 online programmes, the article presents new knowledge on the strategies that Rohingya youths and adolescents pursue to access learning tools and education. It also shows how community-based education networks and teachers tackle political restrictions on education. These networks represent an educated wellspring of untapped resources with close ties to the refugee community, and insights into the grievances and aspirations of Rohingya youths, that humanitarian education providers should engage with to improve their response.
Predictors of graft failure after first detection of de novo donor-specific HLA antibodies in kidney transplant recipients
Authors: López del Moral Covadonga , Wu Kaiyin , Naik Marcel , Osmanodja Bilgin , Akifova Aylin , Lachmann Nils , Stauch Diana , Hergovits Sabine , Choi Mira , Bachmann Friederike , Halleck Fabian , Schrezenmeier Eva , Schmidt Danilo , Budde Klemens
Published: July 2023

Background

De novo donor-specific antibodies (dnDSAs) may cause antibody-mediated rejection and graft dysfunction. Little is known about the clinical course after first detection of dnDSAs during screening in asymptomatic patients. We aimed to assess the value of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and proteinuria to predict graft failure in patients with dnDSAs and their potential utility as surrogate endpoints.

Methods

All 400 kidney transplant recipients with dnDSAs at our centre (1 March 2000–31 May 2021) were included in this retrospective study. The dates of graft loss, rejection, doubling of creatinine, ≥30% eGFR decline, proteinuria ≥500 mg/g and ≥1000 mg/g were registered from the first dnDSA appearance.

Results

During 8.3 years of follow-up, graft failure occurred in 33.3% of patients. Baseline eGFR and proteinuria correlated with 5-year graft loss (area under the receiver operating characteristics curve 0.75 and 0.80, P < .001). Creatinine doubled after a median of 2.8 years [interquartile range (IQR) 1.5–5.0] from dnDSA and the time from doubling creatinine to graft failure was 1.0 year (IQR 0.4–2.9). Analysing eGFR reduction ≥30% as a surrogate endpoint (148/400), the time from dnDSA to this event was 2.0 years (IQR 0.6–4.2), with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 45.9% to predict graft loss, which occurred after 2.0 years (IQR 0.8–3.2). The median time from proteinuria ≥500 mg/g and ≥1000 mg/g to graft failure was identical, 1.8 years, with a PPV of 43.8% and 49.0%, respectively. Composite endpoints did not improve PPV. Multivariable analysis showed that rejection was the most important independent risk factor for all renal endpoints and graft loss.

Conclusions

Renal function, proteinuria and rejection are strongly associated with graft failure in patients with dnDSA and may serve as surrogate endpoints.
A metabologenomics approach to unlock the metabolome of the novel Antarctic deep-sea isolate Lacinutrix shetlandiensis sp. nov. WUR7
Authors: Vitale Giovanni A , January Grant G , Oppong-Danquah Ernest , Della Sala Gerardo , Palma Esposito Fortunato , Tasdemir Deniz , de Pascale Donatella
Published: July 2023

The South Shetland Trough, Antarctica, is an underexplored region for microbiological and biotechnological exploitation. Herein, we describe the isolation and characterization of the novel bacterium Lacinutrix shetlandiensis sp. nov. WUR7 from a deep-sea environment. We explored its chemical diversity via a metabologenomics approach, wherein the OSMAC strategy was strategically employed to upregulate cryptic genes for secondary metabolite production. Based on hybrid de novo whole genome sequencing and digital DNA–DNA hybridization, isolate WUR7 was identified as a novel species from the Gram-negative genus Lacinutrix. Its genome was mined for the presence of biosynthetic gene clusters with limited results. However, extensive investigation of its metabolism uncovered an unusual tryptophan decarboxylase with high sequence homology and conserved structure of the active site as compared to ZP_02040762, a highly specific tryptophan decarboxylase from Ruminococcus gnavus. Therefore, WUR7's metabolism was directed toward indole-based alkaloid biosynthesis by feeding it with L-tryptophan. As expected, its metabolome profile changed dramatically, by triggering the extracellular accumulation of a massive array of metabolites unexpressed in the absence of tryptophan. Untargeted LC-MS/MS coupled with molecular networking, followed along with chemoinformatic dereplication, allowed for the annotation of 10 indole alkaloids, belonging to β-carboline, bisindole, and monoindole classes, alongside several unknown alkaloids. These findings guided us to the isolation of a new natural bisindole alkaloid 8,9-dihydrocoscinamide B (1), as the first alkaloid from the genus Lacinutrix, whose structure was elucidated on the basis of extensive 1D and 2D NMR and HR-ESIMS experiments. This comprehensive strategy allowed us to unlock the previously unexploited metabolome of L. shetlandiensis sp. nov. WUR7.
Are Richard Wagner’s operas a potential tool to teach medical students and young doctors humanities?
Authors: Wolf Gunter
Published: July 2023

There is an increasing interest in using poems and novels as a powerful resource to teach medical students ethical and professional behavior, virtues, and to illustrate the complexity of the doctor–patient relationship. This approach as part of a narrative medicine provides a framework for approaching a patient’s problems more holistically and also offers a method for addressing existential inner qualities such as grief, hope, and despair that are part of illnesses. Occasionally, operas (mainly Italian) have also been used for this purpose. I however, propose that medical students may learn a lot from a deeper confrontation with the operas from the German composer Richard Wagner (1813–1883). Certainly, Wagner had a rather self-centered personality, also known for his notorious nationalistic and anti-Semitic essays, but his complete Gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art) encompasses almost every human feeling, conflict, and psychological problem including suffering, compassion, redemption, etc. Wagner’s opera somewhat reflected his unsteady life. Wagner was convinced that his art could fill the void left by the retreat of traditional religion, suggesting that humanity may achieve freedom through the perception of beauty uniting communities through shared aesthetic experience. Not a very modest approach and not a very likable character, but a great composer. After a short biography, I will provide some (because of the complexity of the subject, naturally limited) arguments on what medical students can learn from Wagner operas, even though I am convinced that Wagner and his music are not easy to digest, even for experienced opera lovers.

Key messages