bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A simple eco‐friendly carbon paste modified electrode using chitosan‐CaO nanocomposite for the voltammetric detection of the antibiotic ornidazole in real samples
Authors: Shamroukh Ahmed A. , Rabie E. , Assaf H. , Khodari M.
Published: May 2024

Herein, an eco‐friendly, simple, inexpensive electrochemical sensor for the antibiotic ornidazole (ORN) was developed based on a carbon paste electrode modified by chitosan‐CaO nanocomposite (Chi‐CaO‐NC/CPE). Eggshell waste was utilized to prepare CaO‐NPs which were then combined with chitosan (Chi) to obtain Chi‐CaO‐NC/CPE. The prepared Chi‐CaO‐NC/CPE was characterized by different techniques such as XRD, FTIR, SEM, and EDX. The produced sensor showed higher electrocatalytic activity toward ORN in (0.1 M) PBS (pH 7.0) than the unmodified CPE. The influence of pH and scanning rate on the reduction peak of ORN implies that the reduction process of ORN at the Chi‐CaO‐NC/CPE surface was a diffusion‐controlled reaction with four electrons and four protons. Additionally, under ideal conditions, differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) revealed that the cathodic current was directly proportional to ORN concentrations within two various detection ranges of 0.015–0.3 μM and 0.3–4.5 μM. The limit of quantification (LOQ), and the limit of detection (LOD) were 0.0138 μM and 4.13×10−3 μM, respectively. Moreover, the fabricated sensor provided acceptable selectivity towards ORN, good stability, and repeatable response, with recoveries ranging from 95.8 %–102.0 %; this electrode was also successful in detecting ORN in commercial tablets and milk samples.
Global oral health initiative: World Health Organization strategic action plan
Authors: Ben Yahya Ihsane
Published: May 2024

Dentistry today is a profession which is facing several challenges:

Oral health is less good than thirty years ago, especially in thelow social-economic level countries and emerging countries.

A reduced or poorly distributed number of professionals, which necessarily implies unequal access to care.

Multiple social determinants which are more and more impacting oral health.

To tackle these challenges, WHO launched the WHO Global Oral Health strategy which it goal is to guide Member States to:

develop ambitious national responses to promote oral health

reduce oral diseases, other oral conditions and oral health inequalities

strengthen efforts to address oral diseases and conditions as part of universal health coverage; and consider the development of targets and indicators, based on national and subnational contexts, building on the guidance to be provided by the WHO global action plan 2023–2030 on oral health.
Comparative analysis of gene and disease selection in genomic newborn screening studies
Authors: Betzler Isabel R. , Hempel Maja , Mütze Ulrike , Kölker Stefan , Winkler Eva , Dikow Nicola , Garbade Sven F. , Schaaf Christian P. , Brennenstuhl Heiko
Published: May 2024

Genomic newborn screening (gNBS) is on the horizon given the decreasing costs of sequencing and the advanced understanding of the impact of genetic variants on health and diseases. Key to ongoing gNBS pilot studies is the selection of target diseases and associated genes to be included. In this study, we present a comprehensive analysis of seven published gene–disease lists from gNBS studies, evaluating gene–disease count, composition, group proportions, and ClinGen curations of individual disorders. Despite shared selection criteria, we observe substantial variation in total gene count (median 480, range 237–889) and disease group composition. An intersection was identified for 53 genes, primarily inherited metabolic diseases (83%, 44/53). Each study investigated a subset of exclusive gene–disease pairs, and the total number of exclusive gene–disease pairs was positively correlated with the total number of genes included per study. While most pairs receive “Definitive” or “Strong” ClinGen classifications, some are labeled as “Refuted” (n = 5) or “Disputed” (n = 28), particularly in genetic cardiac diseases. Importantly, 17%–48% of genes lack ClinGen curation. This study underscores the current absence of consensus recommendations for selection criteria for target diseases for gNBS resulting in diversity in proposed gene–disease pairs, their coupling with gene variations and the use of ClinGen curation. Our findings provide crucial insights into the selection of target diseases and accompanying gene variations for future gNBS program, emphasizing the necessity for ongoing collaboration and discussion about criteria harmonization for panel selection to ensure the screening's objectivity, integrity, and broad acceptance.
Greater sage‐grouse chick mortality risk relative to livestock grazing management, environmental factors, and morphometric measurements
Authors: Berkeley Lorelle I. , Szczypinski Mark , Coons Shea P. , Dreitz Victoria J. , Gude Justin A.
Published: May 2024

Greater sage‐grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus; sage‐grouse) populations in the western United States have declined, necessitating conservation efforts. The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and livestock producers implemented the Sage Grouse Initiative (SGI) to improve sage‐grouse habitat using regional‐specific management actions such as rotational grazing. We assessed the effect of SGI grazing management, the influence of brood female and chick morphometric traits, and multiple environmental and anthropogenic disturbance factors on chick mortality risk in a sage‐grouse population in central Montana, USA, from 2011–2019. We used a Kaplan‐Meier survival function to evaluate chick survival, Cox proportional hazards models to evaluate chick mortality risk as a function of brood female and chick morphometric traits, and the Andersen‐Gill formulation of the Cox proportional hazards model to assess the effects of time‐dependent habitat characteristics on chick mortality risk. Survival to 45 days post‐hatch for 510 chicks varied annually from 0.26 ± 0.07 (SE) to 0.69 ± 0.07. The 45‐day survival rate for all years combined was 0.51 ± 0.03. Chick mortality risk was not affected by changes in livestock grazing management implemented through the SGI grazing program. Brood female age and body condition, sex of chicks, vegetation, and anthropogenic variables were also unassociated with chick mortality risk. There were small protective effects of chick mass adjusted for age and mean minimum monthly temperature; greater chick mass and lower monthly temperatures correlated with reduced mortality risk. Overall, our study suggests the SGI grazing program does not confer additional benefits to sage‐grouse chicks beyond existing grazing practices. Incentivizing grazing practices that adhere to fundamental principles of rangeland ecology and maintain intact rangelands may be more effective than specific prescribed grazing systems for sage‐grouse conservation in this region.
Mental health awareness effort targets Latinx youths to break stigma
Authors: Enos Gary
Published: May 2024

Momentum to break down the historical barriers that have impeded mental health treatment access in the Latinx population is coming from a committed group of young people with rich lived experiences.
A survey of the Sli gene in wild and cultivated potato
Authors: Ames Mercedes , Hamernik Andy , Behling William , Douches David S. , Halterman Dennis A. , Bethke Paul C.
Published: May 2024

Inbred‐hybrid breeding of diploid potatoes necessitates breeding lines that are self‐compatible. One way of incorporating self‐compatibility into incompatible cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum) germplasm is to introduce the S‐locus inhibitor gene (Sli), which functions as a dominant inhibitor of gametophytic self‐incompatibility. To learn more about Sli diversity and function in wild species relatives of cultivated potato, we obtained Sli gene sequences that extended from the 5′UTR to the 3′UTR from 133 individuals from 22 wild species relatives of potato and eight diverse cultivated potato clones. DNA sequence alignment and phylogenetic trees based on genomic and protein sequences show that there are two highly conserved groups of Sli sequences. DNA sequences in one group contain the 533 bp insertion upstream of the start codon identified previously in self‐compatible potato. The second group lacks the insertion. Three diploid and four polyploid individuals of wild species collected from geographically disjointed localities contained Sli with the 533 bp insertion. For most of the wild species clones examined, however, Sli did not have the insertion. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that Sli sequences with the insertion, in wild species and in cultivated clones, trace back to a single origin. Some diploid wild potatoes that have Sli with the insertion were self‐incompatible and some wild potatoes that lack the insertion were self‐compatible. Although there is evidence of positive selection for some codon positions in Sli, there is no evidence of diversifying selection at the gene level. In silico analysis of Sli protein structure did not support the hypothesis that amino acid changes from wild‐type (no insertion) to insertion‐type account for changes in protein function. Our study demonstrated that genetic factors besides the Sli gene must be important for conditioning a switch in the mating system from self‐incompatible to self‐compatible in wild potatoes.
Bond stresses in post‐installed reinforcing bars derived via fiber optic sensors
Authors: Croppi José I. , Ahrens Mark Alexander , Genesio Giovacchino , Piccinin Roberto , Casucci Daniele , Mark Peter
Published: May 2024

A novel application of fiber optic sensing aimed at understanding the tensile behavior of post‐installed reinforcing bars in normal‐strength concrete is presented in this paper. To comply with established assumptions of cast‐in reinforcement, such as the uniform bond stress distribution, the design bond strength of post‐installed configurations is limited. In this study, pull‐out tests in confined conditions were conducted using two high‐performance mortars. Cast‐in‐place anchorages were tested for reference. The proposed fiber optic sensors and post‐processing techniques enable to continually measure and evaluate the bond stress distribution and monitor rebar deformation. Compared to cast‐in rebars, post‐installed rebars exhibit significantly higher bond resistance, particularly due to higher bond stresses at the beginning of the embedment length. These results highlight the potential for reducing the embedment length of post‐installed rebar. Moreover, variations in stiffness and bond stress distribution are found to significantly affect the slip and rebar deformation of both cast‐in‐place and post‐installed rebar.
Martin William Moore Prentice
Authors: Weir Cameron , Kirkpatrick Kenneth
Published: May 2024

Initially a practitioner, he later joined the Meat Hygiene Service inspecting and approving slaughterhouses. After retirement he was ordained in the Church of Scotland and served remote island communities.
Experimental validation of a Kalman observer using linearized OpenFAST and a fully instrumented 1:70 model
Authors: Ammerman Ian , Alkarem Yuksel , Kimball Richard , Huguenard Kimberly , Hejrati Babak
Published: May 2024

To enable real‐time monitoring and control strategies for floating offshore wind turbines, accurate information about the state of the system is needed. This paper details the application of a Kalman filter to the UMaine VolturnUS‐S floating wind platform to provide accurate state estimates in real time using minimal system measurements. The midfidelity nonlinear simulation tool OpenFAST was used to generate the underlying linear state‐space model for the Kalman filter. This linear model and its limitations are demonstrated through comparison with experimental data collected on a 1:70 froude‐scaled model of the floating platform and tower. Using a selection of five measurements from the real system, a Kalman filter was developed to provide estimates for the remaining system states and measurements. These estimates were then validated against the experimental values collected from testing of the scale model. Validation of the Kalman filter produced accurate estimates of surge, heave, and tower base bending moment, measurements of which were not available to the Kalman filter. Performance of the Kalman filter was tested and validated over a range of sea conditions from rated wind speed to storm events and demonstrated robustness in the Kalman filter to maintain accuracy across all operating conditions despite significant error in the underlying linear model for extreme conditions.
Disagreement and Religious Relevance
Authors: Rähme Boris
Published: May 2024

This chapter argues that recent work in philosophical epistemology of religious belief and disagreement can be meaningfully connected to related work on belief and religious diversity in religious studies, the sociology and the psychology of religion. What is required is a shift of theoretical focus from paradigmatically religious propositions to religiously relevant propositions or questions. The proposed notion of religious relevance is empirical and context-sensitive. Still, it is exclusive enough to avoid inflationary religion-spotting. Religious relevance goes hand-in-hand with non-religious relevance. Putting the focus on religious relevance can thus help explain why questions engaging some persons’ religious worldviews overlap with questions significant to others in non-religious ways.
Seeking Allies Within the Institutional Church: Reflections from South Africa on Partnership as Means to Unsettling Deadlocked Conflict?
Authors: Du Toit Nadine Bowers
Published: May 2024

One of the means that has long been proposed with regard to addressing the deadlocked conflict with regard to issues such as gender and sexuality, race and class has been to seek allies from the seemingly oppositional group in order to facilitate social change. Social movements have also made use of this approach over the years. In an era within which issues of race, class and gender are becoming seemingly more oppositional—due the re-emergence of right wing and fundamentalist discourse—this chapter seeks to explore the complexities and possible opportunities inherent in this approach from the perspective of a decolonial feminist lens.
Regulating Community Energy at the National Level Comparing Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique
Authors: Shenga Carlos , Howe Lorraine , Baptista Idalina , Bekele Getachew , Chitawo Maxon L.
Published: May 2024

There is a generalised assumption that the development of energy policy and regulation leads to increased access to energy. This paper investigates the empirical evidence to support this assumption in Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique, providing a comparative assessment of the regulatory landscape of energy in the three countries and their current status in terms of advancing towards universal energy access for both electricity and fuels. Using comparatively available data, the analysis examined the impact of extensive and dispersed bodies of regulation on energy access, as well as the extent to which pioneering community energy enhances energy access. The results are examined in the light of the current context of energy provision in the three countries. The results suggest that universal access to electricity requires an extensive body of energy policy in general and regulation of community energy in particular. However, while being a pioneer in community energy is correlated with improvements in energy access, the factors that explain such a correlation are not clear. More research needs to advance the current understanding of how regulation interacts with other drivers of infrastructure development and innovation to understand what works in a sustainable transition to provide universal access to clean energy.
Polluting Wrecks in the Baltic Sea
Authors: Hac Benedykt
Published: May 2024

The Baltic Sea is a shallow inland sea on the continental shelf of northern Europe (Fig. 7.1). The shores and bottoms in the area of Sweden, Finland, Russia and Estonia are mainly rocky with skerries, while the shores and bottoms in the area of Latvia, Lithuania, the enclave of Königsberg (Russia), Poland, Germany and Denmark are mostly flat and sandy with sand, clay and silt bottoms. Water exchange with the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean is mainly through the shallow Danish Straits, Kattegat and Skagerak, resulting in a salinity range of 2–12‰ due to intermixing from riverine input. The area of the Baltic Sea is 392,979 km2, the water volume is 21,721 km3 and the average depth is 52.3 m with a maximum depth of 459 m.
Wie Banken die Klimaziele unterstützen können
Authors: Sonvilla Lia
Published: May 2024

Zuletzt haben sich immer mehr Banken zu den Zielen des Pariser Klimaabkommens bekannt. Führt diese Selbstverpflichtung dazu, dass Banken Kredite verstärkt von verschmutzenden hin zu grünen Unternehmen lenken? Oder handelt es sich dabei in erster Linie um «Greenwashing»? Die vorliegende Studie zeigt, dass Banken mit einer solchen Selbstverpflichtung tatsächlich weniger Kredite an emissionsstarke Unternehmen vergeben. Allerdings finden die Forscher nur wenig Hinweise dafür, dass die besonders starken Emittenten ihren CO2-Ausstoss deshalb verringern.
Die Politik des Handelskriegs
Authors: Fontanet Sara
Published: May 2024

Die Vorteile des Freihandels überwiegen. Doch die Betroffenheit ist sehr unterschiedlich. Die Konsumenten gewinnen mit niedrigeren Preisen und mehr Auswahl. Die exportintensiven Unternehmen und ihre Arbeitnehmer profitieren von besserem Zugang zu Absatzmärkten und neuen Wachstumschancen. In den importkonkurrierenden Branchen dagegen fürchten die Arbeitnehmer um Jobs und gute Löhne. Die Nachteile des Freihandels sind sehr sichtbar und konkret, die Vorteile sind dagegen für den Einzelnen eher diffus. Das prägt die politischen Anreize im Handelskrieg.
Unterschätzte Wohlstandsunterschiede: Welche Rolle spielt die Arbeitszeit?
Authors: Ammann Manuel J.
Published: May 2024

Wird in armen Ländern mehr gearbeitet als in reichen? Die vorliegende Studie zeigt erhebliche Arbeitszeitunterschiede zwischen Ländern mit hohem und niedrigem Einkommen auf. Je höher das Pro-Kopf Einkommen, desto kürzer ist die durchschnittliche Wochenarbeitszeit. Bei Wohlstandsvergleichen etwa zwischen Industrie- und Entwicklungsländern blieb dieser Unterschied allerdings meist unberücksichtigt. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass die Produktivitäts- und Wohlfahrtsunterschiede zwischen armen und reichen Ländern deutlich grösser sind, als bisher vermutet. Denn in reichen Ländern erwirtschaften Arbeitnehmer nicht nur ein höheres Einkommen, sie tun dies auch in kürzerer Zeit.
Die Heiratschancen gebildeter Frauen
Authors: Bearth Nora
Published: May 2024

Partnerschaft und Familie haben für die meisten Frauen und Männer einen hohen Wert, und ebenso berufliche Erfüllung und Karriere. Das bestimmt schon vorher auf dem Heiratsmarkt die Erwartungen an die Partner und ihre Attraktivität. Denn in der Ehe müssen sie sich über die Aufteilung der Heimarbeit und der beruflichen Prioritäten einigen. Die hochqualifizierten Frauen wollen arbeiten und können viel zum Familieneinkommen beisteuern, aber die Zeit zuhause fehlt. Da sind die Männer gefordert, in Kinderbetreuung und Heimarbeit anzupacken, um Beruf und Familie zu vereinbaren. Ihre Freiräume nehmen ab, sie müssen Kompromisse eingehen. Nehmen deshalb die Heiratschancen hochqualifizierter Frauen ab? Welchen Einfluss haben soziale Normen über die Stellung der Frau in Familie, Gesellschaft und Arbeitswelt?
Perturbative reheating and thermalization of pure Yang-Mills plasma
Authors: Mukaida Kyohei , Yamada Masaki
Published: May 2024

Abstract

We investigate the thermalization of high-energy particles injected from the perturbative decay of inflaton during the pre-thermal phase of reheating in detail. In general, thermalization takes a relatively long time in a low-temperature plasma; therefore, the instantaneous thermalization approximation is not justified, even for the reheating of the Standard Model (SM) sector. We consider a pure Yang-Mills (YM) theory as an approximation of the SM sector or a possible dark sector, considering the Landau-Pomeranchuk-Migdal effect, a quantum interference effect in a finite temperature plasma. We perform the first numerical calculation to solve the time evolution of the system, including the redshift due to the expansion of the Universe, and show the details of the temperature evolution near the maximum and the behavior of the quasi-attractors at later times. The maximal temperature Tmax and time scale tmax are determined quantitatively, such as Tmax ≃ 0.05 × $$ {\left({\Gamma}_I{M}_{\textrm{PI}}^2/{m}_I^3\right)}^{2/5}{m}_I $$

Γ
I

M
PI
2

/

m
I
3

2
/
5

m
I

and tmax ≃ 2 × 103 × $$ {\left({\Gamma}_I{M}_{\textrm{PI}}^2/{m}_I^3\right)}^{-3/5}{m}_I^{-1} $$

Γ
I

M
PI
2

/

m
I
3

−
3
/
5

m
I

−
1

in the SM-like system, where mI and ΓI are the mass and decay rate of inflaton. We also provide a similar formula for pure SU(N) and SO(N) YM theories for general values of N and coupling constant α, including Tmax ∝ α4/5 and tmax ∝ N−2α−16/5 behaviors and their numerical coefficients. The thermalization occurs in a finite time scale, resulting in a lower maximal temperature of the Universe after inflation than that under the instantaneous thermalization approximation.
Thermogravimetric investigation of anisotropy of dimensional shrinkage of softwood and hardwood during carbonization
Authors: Wang Yu , Nomura Takashi , Eljamal Ramadan , Minami Eiji , Kawamoto Haruo
Published: May 2024

Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was performed on five softwood and five hardwood thin wood samples in the longitudinal (L) and radial (R) directions. Dimensional changes were monitored using a charge-coupled device camera under a nitrogen flow. A comparison of the TG and derivative TG (DTG) curves revealed that shrinkage in the R direction began when the weight was reduced to 79–92% at 305–330 °C and 87–96% at 275–290 °C for softwoods and hardwoods, respectively. Hemicellulose is mainly degraded in this temperature range. In contrast, shrinkage in the L direction started at temperatures close to the DTG peaks, i.e., 360–380 °C and 345–370 °C, respectively, at which temperatures cellulose is mainly degraded. In general, the R/L shrinkage anisotropy was greater for hardwoods than for softwoods, but the species variation was large and the magnitude was directly related to the difference in the shrinkage onset temperatures between the R and L directions, regardless of the wood species. Therefore, shrinkage anisotropy can be attributed to the relative reactivity of hemicellulose and cellulose in wood cell walls. The shrinkage mechanism during carbonization is discussed in terms of the cell wall ultrastructure, in which cellulose microfibrils are covered by a hemicellulose–lignin matrix, and the orientation of the cells in the L and R directions.
Foliar mycobiome remains unaltered under urban air-pollution but differentially express stress-related genes
Authors: Flores-Almaraz Valeria Stephany , Truong Camille , Hernández-Oaxaca Diana , Reyes-Galindo Verónica , Mastretta-Yanes Alicia , Jaramillo-Correa Juan Pablo , Salas-Lizana Rodolfo
Published: May 2024

Air pollution caused by tropospheric ozone contributes to the decline of forest ecosystems; for instance, sacred fir,Abies religiosa(Kunth) Schltdl. & Cham. forests in the peri-urban region of Mexico City. Individual trees within these forests exhibit variation in their response to ozone exposure, including the severity of visible symptoms in needles. Using RNA-Seq metatranscriptomic data and ITS2 metabarcoding, we investigated whether symptom variation correlates with the taxonomic and functional composition of fungal mycobiomes from needles collected in this highly polluted area in the surroundings of Mexico City. Our findings indicate that ozone-related symptoms do not significantly correlate with changes in the taxonomic composition of fungal mycobiomes. However, genes coding for 30 putative proteins were differentially expressed in the mycobiome of asymptomatic needles, including eight genes previously associated with resistance to oxidative stress. These results suggest that fungal communities likely play a role in mitigating the oxidative burst caused by tropospheric ozone in sacred fir. Our study illustrates the feasibility of using RNA-Seq data, accessible from global sequence repositories, for the characterization of fungal communities associated with plant tissues, including their gene expression.
Genome-wide loss of heterozygosity predicts aggressive, treatment-refractory behavior in pituitary neuroendocrine tumors
Authors: Lin Andrew L. , Rudneva Vasilisa A. , Richards Allison L. , Zhang Yanming , Woo Hyung Jun , Cohen Marc , Tisnado Jamie , Majd Nazanin , Wardlaw Sharon L. , Page-Wilson Gabrielle , Sengupta Soma , Chow Frances , Goichot Bernard , Ozer Byram H. , Dietrich Jorg , Nachtigall Lisa , Desai Arati , Alano Tina , Ogilive Shahiba , Solit David B. , Bale Tejus A. , Rosenblum Marc , Donoghue Mark T. A. , Geer Eliza B. , Tabar Viviane
Published: May 2024

Pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs) exhibiting aggressive, treatment-refractory behavior are the rare subset that progress after surgery, conventional medical therapies, and an initial course of radiation and are characterized by unrelenting growth and/or metastatic dissemination. Two groups of patients with PitNETs were sequenced: a prospective group of patients (n = 66) who consented to sequencing prior to surgery and a retrospective group (n = 26) comprised of aggressive/higher risk PitNETs. A higher mutational burden and fraction of loss of heterozygosity (LOH) was found in the aggressive, treatment-refractory PitNETs compared to the benign tumors (p = 1.3 × 10−10 and p = 8.5 × 10−9, respectively). Within the corticotroph lineage, a characteristic pattern of recurrent chromosomal LOH in 12 specific chromosomes was associated with treatment-refractoriness (occurring in 11 of 14 treatment-refractory versus 1 of 14 benign corticotroph PitNETs, p = 1.7 × 10−4). Across the cohort, a higher fraction of LOH was identified in tumors with TP53 mutations (p = 3.3 × 10−8). A machine learning approach identified loss of heterozygosity as the most predictive variable for aggressive, treatment-refractory behavior, outperforming the most common gene-level alteration, TP53, with an accuracy of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.70–0.96). Aggressive, treatment-refractory PitNETs are characterized by significant aneuploidy due to widespread chromosomal LOH, most prominently in the corticotroph tumors. This LOH predicts treatment-refractoriness with high accuracy and represents a novel biomarker for this poorly defined PitNET category.
Profiles of motivational impairment and their relationship to functional decline in frontotemporal dementia
Authors: Shaw Siobhán R. , Horne Kristina S. , Piguet Olivier , Ahmed Rebekah M. , Whitton Alexis E. , Irish Muireann
Published: May 2024

Motivational disturbances are pervasive in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and impact negatively on everyday functioning. Despite mounting evidence of anhedonia in FTD, it remains unclear how such changes fit within the broader motivational symptom profile of FTD, or how anhedonia relates to functional outcomes. Here we sought to comprehensively characterize motivational disturbances in FTD and their respective relationships with functional impairment. A cross-sectional study design was used including 211 participants—68 behavioral-variant FTD (bvFTD), 32 semantic dementia (SD), 43 Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and 68 healthy older control participants. Anhedonia severity was measured using the Snaith–Hamilton Pleasure Scale while severity of apathy was assessed across Emotional, Executive, and Initiation dimensions using the Dimensional Apathy Scale. Functional impairment was established using the FTD Functional Rating Scale (FRS). Distinct motivational profiles emerged in each dementia syndrome: a domain-general motivational impairment in bvFTD; a predominantly anhedonic profile in SD; and more pronounced initiation and executive apathy in AD. Correlation analyses revealed differential associations between motivational symptoms and severity of functional impairment in each group. Executive apathy was associated with functional impairment in bvFTD, while anhedonia was strongly correlated with functional decline in SD. Finally, executive and emotional apathy were associated with functional decline in AD. Our study indicates distinct profiles of apathy and anhedonia in FTD syndromes, which in turn are differentially associated with functional decline. This detailed characterization of motivational phenotypes can inform patient stratification for targeted interventions to improve functional outcomes.
Perioperative outcomes of utilizing infrahepatic inferior vena cava clamping and Pringle maneuver during hepatectomy: a meta-analysis
Authors: Patel Agastya , Tan Jacob , Lambert Joel , Kitching Samuel , Iqbal Affan , Satyadas Thomas
Published: May 2024

Purpose

Intraoperative bleeding during hepatectomy is primarily controlled through anaesthesiological interventions or surgical techniques such as Pringle maneuver (PM). Infrahepatic IVC clamping (IIVCC) is an alternative surgical technique to reduce central venous pressure and prevent retrograde hepatic venous bleeding. The aim of the meta-analysis was to compare IIVCC+PM with PM alone in terms of intraoperative outcomes and perioperative complications.

Methods

Medline, Cochrane Library, Scopus, Web of Science, and EMBASE were searched for comparative studies till 16.04.2024, resulting in 679 articles, of which eight studies met inclusion criteria. Data on patient demographics, surgical technique, and perioperative outcomes was assessed. Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 (RoB 2.0) Tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) were used for risk of bias assessment.

Results

Two randomized controlled trials, one prospective, and five retrospective cohort studies with 358 patients in IIVCC+PM and 397 patients in PM alone group were included. IIVCC+PM resulted in significantly greater CVP reduction, less intraoperative blood loss (MD (95% CI) = − 233.03 (− 360.48 to − 105.58), P < 0.001), and less intraoperative blood transfusion (OR (95% CI) = 0.38 (0.25 to 0.57), P < 0.001) compared to PM alone. The two groups had comparable total operative time, transection time and total intraoperative fluid infusion. Patients undergoing IIVCC+PM had significantly shorter length of stay (MD (95% CI) = − 0.63 days (− 1.21 to − 0.05 days), P = 0.03) and overall complication rates (OR (95% CI) = 0.63 (0.43–0.92), P = 0.02) compared to PM alone group.

Conclusion

The utilization of IIVCC along with PM during liver resection may be beneficial in reducing intraoperative bleeding and blood transfusion without adversely influencing operative times or perioperative outcomes compared to PM alone.
A novel deep learning approach (Bi-xBcNet-96) considering green AI to discover breast cancer using mammography images
Authors: El-Mawla Nesma Abd , Berbar Mohamed A. , El-Fishawy Nawal A. , El-Rashidy Mohamed A.
Published: May 2024

Clinical decision support systems (CDSSs) can effectively detect illnesses such as breast cancer (BC) using a variety of medical imaging techniques. BC is a key factor contributing to the rise in the death rate among women worldwide. Early detection will lessen its impact, which may motivate patients to have quick surgical therapy. Computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems are designed to provide radiologists recommendations to assist them in diagnosing BC. However, it is still restricted and limited, the interpretability cost, time consumption, and complexity of architecture are not considered. These limitations limit their use in healthcare devices. Therefore, we thought of presenting a revolutionary deep learning (DL) architecture based on recurrent and convolutional neural networks called Bi-xBcNet-96. In order to decrease carbon emissions while developing the DL model for medical image analysis and meet the objectives of sustainable artificial intelligence, this study seeks to attain high accuracy at the lowest computing cost. It takes into consideration the various characteristics of the pathological variation of BC disease in mammography images to obtain high detection accuracy. It consists of six stages: identifying the region of interest, detecting spatial features, discovering the effective features of the BC pathological types that have infected nearby cells in a concentrated area, identifying the relationships between distantly infected cells in some BC pathological types, weighing the extracted features, and classifying the mammography image. According to experimental findings, Bi-xBcNet-96 beat other comparable works on the benchmark datasets, attaining a classification accuracy of 98.88% in DDSM dataset, 100% in INbreast dataset with 5.08% and 0.3% improvements over the state-of-the-art methods, respectively. Furthermore, a 95.79% reduction in computing complexity was achieved.
The relation between corporate social responsibility and profit shifting of multinational enterprises
Authors: Overesch Michael , Willkomm Sina
Published: May 2024

We examine the relation between corporate social responsibility [CSR] and international profit shifting. We find consistent evidence that CSR is adversely related to profit shifting within European and US multinational firms. Additional results document that less profit shifting occurs in multinational firms that show high performance in the social or corporate governance dimensions. For US multinational firms, we find that the CSR performance is negatively related to profit shifting, particularly if a multinational firm faces fewer reputational concerns or competitive threats. Our findings point to a corporate culture in which, for international tax planning through profit shifting, CSR and tax payments complement each other.
Compacted sand–bentonite mixtures for the confinement of waste landfills
Authors: Proia Robeta , Salvatore Erminio , Croce Paolo , Modoni Giuseppe
Published: May 2024

This paper illustrates the results of an experimental study on sand–bentonite mixtures for their use as confinement barriers for solid waste landfills. The mixtures have been prepared parametrically varying the percentage of bentonite. The sample preparation method was established willing to simulate the compaction processes on site. In fact, the compacted samples were tested following two different stress-wetting paths representative of the possible stress and imbibition sequences occurring on a landfill confinement barrier. In the first case, the barrier comes into contact with rainwater before being subjected to the overloading stress induced by waste disposal, while, in the second case, the barrier is overloaded by the waste before being wetted by the leachate. The compressibility and permeability of the sand–bentonite mixtures were determined, in both cases, by oedometric compression tests. The experimental results are analysed and compared in order to evaluate the influence of the bentonite content on the mechanical and hydraulic behaviour of the mixture. Interpretation of the results is also accomplished with a micro-mechanical investigation of the mixtures fabric. Suitable compositions of sand and bentonite are finally proposed for the design of effective confinement barriers.
Enhanced muscle and fat segmentation for CT-based body composition analysis: a comparative study
Authors: Hou Benjamin , Mathai Tejas Sudharshan , Liu Jianfei , Parnell Christopher , Summers Ronald M.
Published: May 2024

Purpose

Body composition measurements from routine abdominal CT can yield personalized risk assessments for asymptomatic and diseased patients. In particular, attenuation and volume measures of muscle and fat are associated with important clinical outcomes, such as cardiovascular events, fractures, and death. This study evaluates the reliability of an Internal tool for the segmentation of muscle and fat (subcutaneous and visceral) as compared to the well-established public TotalSegmentator tool.

Methods

We assessed the tools across 900 CT series from the publicly available SAROS dataset, focusing on muscle, subcutaneous fat, and visceral fat. The Dice score was employed to assess accuracy in subcutaneous fat and muscle segmentation. Due to the lack of ground truth segmentations for visceral fat, Cohen’s Kappa was utilized to assess segmentation agreement between the tools.

Results

Our Internal tool achieved a 3% higher Dice (83.8 vs. 80.8) for subcutaneous fat and a 5% improvement (87.6 vs. 83.2) for muscle segmentation, respectively. A Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that our results were statistically different with p < 0.01. For visceral fat, the Cohen’s Kappa score of 0.856 indicated near-perfect agreement between the two tools. Our internal tool also showed very strong correlations for muscle volume (R$$^2$$

2

=0.99), muscle attenuation (R$$^2$$

2

=0.93), and subcutaneous fat volume (R$$^2$$

2

=0.99) with a moderate correlation for subcutaneous fat attenuation (R$$^2$$

2

=0.45).

Conclusion

Our findings indicated that our Internal tool outperformed TotalSegmentator in measuring subcutaneous fat and muscle. The high Cohen’s Kappa score for visceral fat suggests a reliable level of agreement between the two tools. These results demonstrate the potential of our tool in advancing the accuracy of body composition analysis.
Oxidation Behaviour of Fe-28Al-5Si at.% Alloyed with Ti and Mo
Authors: Hotař Adam , Vodičková Věra , Pazourková Prokopčáková Petra , Švec Martin , Hanus Pavel , Daniš Stanislav
Published: May 2024

The high-temperature oxidation behaviour of Fe-28Al-5Si, Fe-28Al-5Si-2Mo and Fe-28Al-5Si-2Ti (in at.%) was investigated. Cyclic oxidation tests of iron aluminides were performed at 900°C and 1100°C. The oxidation kinetics and oxidation behaviour (by measuring of total weight gain, etc.) were described. The structure of the alloys’ surfaces after oxidation, as well as the composition and morphology of oxide layers, was analysed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, SEM–EDS and X-ray diffraction. The beneficial effect of alloying with titanium or molybdenum on the oxidation resistance of Fe-Al-Si-based alloys was observed at temperatures of 900°C and 1100°C. Titanium and molybdenum suppress the formation of eutectic regions of the secondary phase in the structure, which preferentially oxidize. Therefore, a thin and compact alumina layer (only minor amounts of iron oxides and ZrO2) formed on the surface of Fe-28Al-5Si-2Mo and Fe-28Al-5Si-2Ti at 900°C. These alloys maintain low weight gains even at a temperature of 1100°C. On the other hand, alloy Fe-28Al-5Si contains a high number of eutectics-like areas, which causes ingress of the oxidation (selective oxidation of eutectic areas) and breakaway oxidation is observed at 900°C and 1100°C, respectively.
Taguchi-Grey relational analysis driven multi-objective optimization of weld bead geometry and hardness in laser welded Ti6Al4V Alloy
Authors: Omoniyi Peter , Acharya Uttam , Akinlabi Stephen , Jen Tien-Chien , Akinlabi Esther
Published: May 2024

This study used Taguchi-based Grey relational analysis to optimize the bead geometry (bead width and length) and the hardness of laser welded 3 mm thick Ti6Al4V alloy sheets joined using the butt configuration. Firstly, the L9 (32) orthogonal array, with varying laser power and welding speed, was employed to optimize the input parameters (bead length, width, and hardness). The Taguchi optimization showed that the welding speed and laser power have a significant effect on the hardness of the welds and that laser power has a significant impact on the bead length. Meanwhile, the welding parameters had little effect on the bead width. These results were further affirmed with the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The Grey relational multi-objective optimization shows the optimized parameters for all responses to be 3 kW laser power and 2.2 m/min welding speed. It is important to note that the combination of Taguchi and Grey relational analysis and ANOVA is useful in optimizing welding parameters to achieve suitable weld properties.
Static Stretch Training versus Foam Rolling Training Effects on Range of Motion: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Konrad Andreas , Alizadeh Shahab , Anvar Saman Hadjizadeh , Fischer Josef , Manieu Josefina , Behm David G.
Published: May 2024

Background

Long-term static stretching as well as foam rolling training can increase a joint’s range of motion (ROM). However, to date, it is not clear which method is the most effective for increasing ROM.

Objective

The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare the effects of static stretching and foam rolling training on ROM.

Methods

The literature search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science to find the eligible studies. Eighty-five studies (72 on static stretching; and 13 on foam rolling) were found to be eligible with 204 effect sizes (ESs). For the main analyses, a random-effect meta-analysis was applied. To assess the difference between static stretching and foam rolling, subgroup analyses with a mixed-effect model were applied. Moderating variables were sex, total intervention duration, and weeks of intervention.

Results

Static stretch (ES =  − 1.006; p < 0.001), as well as foam rolling training (ES =  − 0.729; p = 0.001), can increase joint ROM with a moderate magnitude compared with a control condition. However, we did not detect a significant difference between the two conditions in the subgroup analysis (p = 0.228). When the intervention duration was ≤ 4 weeks, however, a significant change in ROM was shown following static stretching (ES =  − 1.436; p < 0.001), but not following foam rolling (ES =  − 0.229; p = 0.248). Thus, a subgroup analysis indicated a significant favorable effect with static stretching for increasing ROM compared with foam rolling (p < 0.001) over a shorter term (≤ 4 weeks). Other moderator analyses showed no significant difference between static stretch and foam rolling training on ROM.

Conclusions

According to the results, both static stretching and foam rolling training can be similarly recommended to increase joint ROM, unless the training is scheduled for ≤ 4 weeks, in which case static stretching demonstrates a significant advantage. More studies are needed with a high-volume foam rolling training approach as well as foam rolling training in exclusively female participants.
Extracting Pulmonary Nodules and Nodule Characteristics from Radiology Reports of Lung Cancer Screening Patients Using Transformer Models
Authors: Yang Shuang , Yang Xi , Lyu Tianchen , Huang James L. , Chen Aokun , He Xing , Braithwaite Dejana , Mehta Hiren J. , Wu Yonghui , Guo Yi , Bian Jiang
Published: May 2024

Pulmonary nodules and nodule characteristics are important indicators of lung nodule malignancy. However, nodule information is often documented as free text in clinical narratives such as radiology reports in electronic health record systems. Natural language processing (NLP) is the key technology to extract and standardize patient information from radiology reports into structured data elements. This study aimed to develop an NLP system using state-of-the-art transformer models to extract pulmonary nodules and associated nodule characteristics from radiology reports. We identified a cohort of 3080 patients who underwent LDCT at the University of Florida health system and collected their radiology reports. We manually annotated 394 reports as the gold standard. We explored eight pretrained transformer models from three transformer architectures including bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT), robustly optimized BERT approach (RoBERTa), and A Lite BERT (ALBERT), for clinical concept extraction, relation identification, and negation detection. We examined general transformer models pretrained using general English corpora, transformer models fine-tuned using a clinical corpus, and a large clinical transformer model, GatorTron, which was trained from scratch using 90 billion words of clinical text. We compared transformer models with two baseline models including a recurrent neural network implemented using bidirectional long short-term memory with a conditional random fields layer and support vector machines. RoBERTa-mimic achieved the best F1-score of 0.9279 for nodule concept and nodule characteristics extraction. ALBERT-base and GatorTron achieved the best F1-score of 0.9737 in linking nodule characteristics to pulmonary nodules. Seven out of eight transformers achieved the best F1-score of 1.0000 for negation detection. Our end-to-end system achieved an overall F1-score of 0.8869. This study demonstrated the advantage of state-of-the-art transformer models for pulmonary nodule information extraction from radiology reports.
Teaching in a pandemic: a comparative evaluation of online vs. face-to-face student outcome gains
Authors: Onyeaka Helen , Passaretti Paolo , Miller-Friedmann Jaimie
Published: May 2024

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the education sector to transform significantly in order to support students across the world. Technology played a crucial role in enhancing and adapting traditional learning to digital resources and networks, which are now an essential component of education. However, there is concern about the quality of teaching and its effectiveness in remote teaching due to the lack of real-life feel of more traditional face-to-face education. Our study analysed two separate groups of students enrolled in the same course but provided with either face-to-face or remote teaching. The results show that there is no statistically significant difference in students’ performance or gain, even for laboratory work and resulting reports. However, there was a statistically significant difference in Turnitin scores between these groups, with the remote students having higher levels of plagiarism compared to the traditional face-to-face students. These results support the theory that remote teaching can be a valid alternative, if not a substitute, to face-to-face teaching in the future. The study’s findings are expected to help instructors who are thinking about providing programs through blended learning in the post-pandemic era.
Optimization of topology and energy management in fuel cell cruise ship hybrid power systems
Authors: Niu Lei , Xiao Li
Published: May 2024

Current research on energy management strategies (EMSs) often neglects the impact of system topology and local control. This study tackles this issue by optimizing the topology of the hybrid power system on the ’FCS Alsterwasser’ cruise ship and enhancing EMS performance using various local controllers. First, the paper outlines the objectives of the research and provides an analysis of the current domestic and international research status. Second, the methods used in this study are introduced, including the topology optimization method and EMS. Subsequently, a model of the hybrid power system is constructed and verified through simulations. Finally, the effectiveness of different strategies is evaluated according to simulation results. Compared with an EMS based solely on a proportional-integral controller, the combination of a state machine and droop controller achieves better results, reducing battery power fluctuations by 86.5% and fuel cell power fluctuations by 16.2%.