bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Anticipating Protein Evolution with Successor Sequence Predictor
Authors: Khan Rayyan Tariq , Kohout Pavel , Musil Milos , Rosinska Monika , Damborsky Jiri , Mazurenko Stanislav , Bednar David
Published: June 2024

The quest to predict and understand protein evolution has been hindered by limitations on both the theoretical and the experimental fronts. Most existing theoretical models of evolution are descriptive, rather than predictive, leaving the final modifications in the hands of researchers. Existing experimental techniques to help probe the evolutionary sequence space of proteins, such as directed evolution, are resource-intensive and require specialised skills. We present the Successor Sequence Predictor (SSP) as an innovative solution. Successor Sequence Predictor is anin silicomethod that mimics laboratory-based protein evolution by reconstructing a protein’s evolutionary history and suggesting future amino acid substitutions based on trends observed in that history through carefully selected physicochemical descriptors. This approach enhances specialised proteins by predicting mutations that improve desired properties, such as thermostability, activity, and solubility. Successor Sequence Predictor can thus be used as a general protein engineering tool to develop practically useful proteins. The code of the Successor Sequence Predictor is provided, and the design of mutations will be also possible via an easy-to-use web serverhttps://loschmidt.chemi.muni.cz/fireprotasr/.

Graphical Abstract

Tracing Evolution’s Pathway to the Future
Engineering ERα degraders with pleiotropic ubiquitin ligase ligands maximizes therapeutic efficacy by co-opting distinct effector ligases
Authors: Shemorry Anna , Besten Willem den , Mulvihill Melinda M. , Essenburg Curt J. , Blaquiere Nicole , Kleinheinz Tracy , Villemure Elisia , Peale Frank , Deshmukh Gauri , Maddalo Danilo , Levy Elizabeth , Yu Kebing , Tovar Elizabeth A. , Wolfrum Emily , Blake Robert A. , Nagapudi Karthik , Forrest William F. , Staben Steven T. , Graveel Carrie R. , Fairbrother Wayne J. , Wertz Ingrid E.
Published: June 2024

Proximity-inducing compounds that modulate target protein homeostasis are an emerging therapeutic strategy [1]. While the inherent complexity of these bifunctional compounds poses challenges for rational design and bioavailability, their composition also provides opportunities to co-opt specific cellular proteins to maximize therapeutic impact. Here, we systematically evaluate the cellular efficacy, biophysical mechanisms, and therapeutic benefits of a series of bifunctional degrader compounds, that are all engineered with the Estrogen Receptor-alpha (ERα)-inhibitor endoxifen linked to different bioactive ubiquitin ligase ligands. Bifunctional ERα degraders that incorporate CRL4-CRBN-binding ligands promoted the most potent ERα degradation, whereas those incorporating either CRL2-VHL- or IAP-binding ligands maximized the depth of ERα degradation. Notably, ERα degraders containing pan-IAP antagonist ligands significantly decreased the proliferation of ERα-dependent cells relative to clinical-stage ERα-degraders, including the SERDs fulvestrant and GDC-9545 and the bifunctional degrader ARV-471. Mechanistic studies revealed that pan-IAP antagonist-based ERα degraders uniquely promote TNFα-dependent cell death, unlike the clinical-stage comparators. Remarkably, the pan-IAP antagonist-ERα-degraders co-opt distinct effector ligases to achieve dual therapeutic effects: they harness XIAP within tumor cells to promote ERα degradation, and activate cIAP1/2 within tumor and immune cells to induce TNFα that drives tumor cell death. Our studies demonstrate a broader concept that co-opting the discrete functions of a selected set of cellular effectors, while simultaneously modulating therapeutic target protein homeostasis, are dual strategies that can be leveraged to maximize the efficacy of induced proximity therapeutics.
A robust protocol for the systematic collection and expansion of cells from ER+breast cancer tumors and their matching tumor-adjacent tissues
Authors: Topolnitska Diana , Moreno Camila Lopez , Paiva Alen , Buchel Edward , Safneck Janice , Raouf Afshin
Published: June 2024

Therapy resistance and tumor recurrence are major challenges in the clinical management of breast cancer. Current data indicates that the breast tumor microenvironment (TME) and the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) are important modulators of breast cancer cell response to chemotherapies and the development of therapy resistance. To this end, the ability to recreate the tumor microenvironment in the laboratory using autologous primary cells that make up the breast TME has become an indispensable tool for cancer researchers as it allows the study of tumor immunobiology in the context of therapy resistance. Moreover, the clinical relevance of data obtained from single cell transcriptomics and proteomics platforms would be greatly improved if primary autologous tumor cells were used. In this article, we report a robust and efficient workflow to obtain autologous cancer cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts, and tumor-infiltrating immune cells from primary human breast cancer tumors obtained from mastectomy procedures. As well, we show that this protocol can be used to obtain normal-like epithelial cells, fibroblasts, and immune cells from the matching tumor-adjacent breast tissue samples. Also, a robust methodology to expand each of these primary cell typesin vitrois presented that allows the maintenance of the primary tumor cell phenotype. The availability of a large number of autologous primary human breast tumor cells and their matching tumor-adjacent tissues will facilitate the study of differential and cancer cell-specific gene expression patterns that will further our understanding of how the TME and TIME influence therapy resistance in the breast tumor context.
Detangling the quantum tapestry of intrachannel interference in below-threshold nonsequential double ionization with few-cycle laser pulses
Authors: Hashim S. , Tenney R. , Figueira de Morisson Faria C.
Published: June 2024

We perform a systematic analysis of single-channel quantum interference in laser-induced nonsequential double ionization with few-cycle pulses, using the strong-field approximation. We focus on a below-threshold intensity for which the recollision-excitation with subsequent ionization (RESI) mechanism is prevalent. We derive and classify several analytic interference conditions for single-channel RESI in arbitrary driving fields and address specific issues for few-cycle pulses. Since the cycles in a short pulse are no longer equivalent, there are several events whose dominance varies. We quantify this dominance for single excitation channels by proposing a dominance parameter. Moreover, there will be many types of superimposed interference fringes that must be taken into consideration. We find an intricate tapestry of patterns arising from phase differences related to symmetrization, temporal shifts and a combination of exchange and event interference.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Theory of Correlated Chern Insulators in Twisted Bilayer Graphene
Authors: Wang Xiaoyu , Vafek Oskar
Published: June 2024

Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene is the best-studied physical platform featuring moiré potential-induced narrow bands with nontrivial topology and strong electronic correlations. Despite their significance, the Chern insulating states observed at a finite magnetic field—and extrapolating to a band filling s at zero field—remain poorly understood. Unraveling their nature is among the most important open problems in the province of moiré materials. Here, we present the first comprehensive study of interacting electrons in finite magnetic field while varying the electron density, twist angle, and heterostrain. Within a panoply of correlated Chern phases emerging at a range of twist angles, we uncover a unified description for the ubiquitous sequence of states with the Chern number t for (s,t)=±(0,4), ±(1,3), ±(2,2), and ±(3,1). We also find correlated Chern insulators at unconventional sequences with s+t≠±4, as well as with fractional s, and elucidate their nature.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Internet search algorithms: use of metadata, literacy and algorithmic education in the human–computer interaction
Authors: Barragán-Perea Efraín Alfredo , Tarango Javier
Published: June 2024

Purpose

This paper aims to identify alternatives for citizens to get out of the bubble when interacting with the information provided by the internet through search engines. This situation arises because there is extensive ignorance about the way search engines operate and the way advanced search algorithms operate, both situations based on the specific segmentation of the public, which creates difficulties in obtaining vast information that allows the contrast and development of diverse perspectives, which do not necessarily lead to the use of critical thinking.

Design/methodology/approach

To achieve this contribution, a documentary-type investigation was carried out based on the review of the scientific literature on the subject, and the nature of this investigation, due to its purpose, being descriptive. The study takes as document selection criteria those original articles whose content relevance is linked to the purposes of this research proposal, published in scientific databases (SciELO, RedAlyC, Dialnet, ScienceDirect, WoS and Scopus) mostly between the years 2018 and 2023, in Spanish and English, that described the impact of bubble filters on full access to information and data privacy, for which the topics were addressed: internet search algorithms, bubble filters, search engines, privacy policies in search engines and management of personal data.

Findings

At the beginning, this paper clarifies the concepts of search algorithms on the Internet, bubble filters, search engines and privacy policies in search engines, which made it possible to identify alternatives that would allow the user to face the silent reality of the algorithms and avoid the bias in the information that the algorithm provides, in addition, the need to generate algorithmic literacy mechanisms, training in the use of metasearch engines and education in algorithms is proposed, with which citizens can exercise critical thinking in the way they interact on the internet.

Research limitations/implications

This is a theoretical proposal, in which various inferences are made from theoretical knowledge without fieldwork.

Originality/value

It is considered a document of important value in the training processes of librarians and information professionals in the training of users and in the ways of interaction with technology.
Modelling the impact of turbulent economic conditions on non-audit services provision and audit quality during the global financial crisis
Authors: Kyriakou Maria I.
Published: June 2024

Purpose

Motivated by concerns and the ongoing debate regarding auditors’ independence and impartiality, this paper aims to examine the impact of the financial crisis on non-audit services (NAS) provision and audit quality (main and robust variables) in the four largest Eurozone countries together during the global financial crisis (GFC).

Design/methodology/approach

The authors used a time trend OLS model with a dummy variable as well as a baseline model with a dummy and control variables accounting for multicollinearity, considering the characteristics of the GFC.

Findings

It documented a positive (negative) relationship between NAS provision (audit quality) and crisis in four Eurozone countries, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, in the context of a baseline approach, supporting the hypotheses that there are higher non-audit fees and a lower audit quality. Moreover, it is revealed that NAS provision and audit quality behave similarly, using a time trend approach, during the GFC. Considering the role of the auditor specialization or not (Big4 vs non-Big4) in companies, a significant effect from crisis on non-audit fees and audit quality for the four countries under the baseline approach is found. In general, the findings persist for NAS provision and audit quality using the robust methods of the time trend and panel OLS approaches. Multicollinearity was not found to affect the findings of the regressions.

Practical implications

The study provides important implications for firm managers, auditors and regulatory authorities.

Originality/value

To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first time that the impact of the crisis on non-audit fees and audit quality is investigated during the GFC with two sets of OLS models (a time trend OLS with a dummy and a panel OLS with a dummy and control variables) in four largest Eurozone countries together.
Impact of product vs brand storytelling on online customer experience
Authors: Garczarek-Bak Urszula , Szymkowiak Andrzej , Jaks Zuzanna , Jansto Erik
Published: June 2024

Purpose

In this study, the effects are investigated of brand and product storytelling on customer assessments of perceived attitude, quality, experience, recommendation and purchase intention based on narrative transportation theory within the domain of winery e-commerce.

Design/methodology/approach

In the research, two distinct constructs are introduced for brand and product storytelling, and multivariate analysis of variance is applied to analyze data collected from 391 respondents from the UK.

Findings

It is indicated in the study that embedding storytelling into elements, such as age verification screens on e-commerce sites, notably improves evaluations for both brands and products. Product storytelling broadly boosts customer appraisals in every evaluated aspect, while brand storytelling shows effectiveness in more limited cases. This suggests that narratives focused on products may have a wider appeal in enhancing the online customer experience.

Originality/value

This research underscores the strategic significance of balancing the focus between brand and product in crafting storytelling narratives for e-commerce contexts. It offers new insights into tailoring storytelling to meet individual consumer needs online, enriching the existing body of literature on storytelling’s application in digital commerce. Importantly, the study provides actionable guidance for wineries and other businesses aiming to enhance their online customer engagement through targeted narrative strategies.
Ijara of specified benefits and forward Ijara as a form of finance in Islamic banks in the virtual era
Authors: Musleh Aladdin , Ahmad Sohail
Published: June 2024

Purpose

Ijara is one of the exchange contracts that is based on selling benefits and services. There are several forms of Ijara: Ijara specified objects, specified work and hiring a private or joint employee. The target of all these is obtaining a benefit. For instance, in the specified Ijara, the lessee desires to obtain a benefit from a specified person in particular, and in the forward Ijara, the purpose is obtaining the benefit in accordance with specified specifications. Indeed, Islamic banks can obtain these benefits through Ijara them from their providers and re-Ijara them to customers upon request. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to determine the Shariah ruling of the Islamic law of Ijara persons' benefits. Moreover, it aims to determine to what extent is it possible to consider Ijara and selling the benefits prescribed in disclosure and as a financing instrument in Islamic banks aiming at providing citizens with services, mainly in the virtual era.

Design/methodology/approach

The current research is framed within the descriptive and analytical research through illustrating the nature of Ijara, its conditions, pillars, evidence of its legitimacy and its kinds as well. The methodology used attributes the Quranic verses to their contexts in the Holy Quran and authenticates the noble hadiths of the Prophet.

Findings

The current research concludes that it is legally permissible to lease these benefits and re-lease them. However, in the specified Ijara, the hired person must perform the work himself and it is not permissible to be replaced by a third party, whereas in the forward Ijara, the contracted work is permitted to be carried out by a third party as long as it complies with the specifications required and contracted.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the current literature by providing a guide to Islamic banking regulators to promote Ijara in Islamic banking.
A bibliometric review on sustainable human resource management (1982–2023)
Authors: Siddique Nida , Naveed Shabana , Inam Aneeq
Published: June 2024

Purpose

This paper examines the growth trajectory, documents, journals, worldwide distribution authors, scientific production and thematic focus in the field of sustainable HRM.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 765 publications (between 1982 and 2023) were chosen from the Scopus database that were diligently examined to reach insightful results. To aid the investigation, the Biblioshiny tool was used.

Findings

Through thematic mapping, the study finds that sustainable HRM is still an emerging and contemporary concept. Moreover, the themes of sustainable HRM are underdeveloped and need conceptual clarity. Additionally, these themes have evolved internally which have made a modest contribution to the advancement of the discipline. Furthermore, topic trending, word frequency and document citations indicate that a growing body of literature on sustainable HRM focuses extensively on environmental issues, demonstrating that HRM should be given greater attention to roles related to sustainability in the workplace.

Practical implications

Sustainable HRM should be a top priority for businesses, with an emphasis on environmental and sustainability concerns. To be in line with global sustainability standards, HR training needs to be updated. Companies should develop HR policies that put sustainability first and spend money on analytical tools. Academic and industrial cooperation can improve the field more quickly. Best practices can be standardized by participation in forums. It is crucial to take a holistic approach that balances environmental, social and economic factors.

Originality/value

This study distinguishes itself by adding highlights on bibliometric insights and thematic emphasis on sustainable HRM, adding to the progress of the field's knowledge and offering insightful pathways for future research.
Inward negative emotions and brand hate in users of snow-sports’ brands
Authors: Iranzo Barreira Álvaro , Kuster Ines , Ruiz Mafe Carla
Published: June 2024

Purpose

The aims of this study are to analyse the impact of brand-centric relationships (individual and collective) and negative emotions on brand hate felt towards brands used in extreme sports and to assess whether brand hate is a driver of negative consumer behavioural intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

This study takes a quantitative approach, using a sample of 300 Spain-based users of snow-sports brands. After validating the measurement scales, the hypotheses were tested through structural equation modelling. Drawing on the cognitive perspective of emotions and the triangular theory of hate, this study posits that individual and collective consumer-brand relationships evoke inward negative emotions and brand hate, thus influencing brand avoidance, brand switching and negative word-of-mouth.

Findings

The results showed that collective and individual consumer-brand relationships (negative brand experience, consumer-based brand equity and symbolic incongruence) impact inward negative emotions towards snow-sports brands. Inward negative emotions directly influence brand hate, which in turn affects consumers’ intention to avoid brands, switch brands and engage in negative word-of-mouth.

Originality/value

This research provides novel insights into how individual and collective brand-centric relationships evoke inward negative emotions towards extreme sports’ brands, which in turn increases brand hate, and expands knowledge of how brand hate might increase the consumer’s intentions to avoid the brand, intention to switch brands and intention to engage in negative word-of-mouth.
China’s spatial and temporal position in the global research network of information behavior and its current development dynamics
Authors: Gou Yang , Li Rui , Zhuang Zhibo
Published: June 2024

Purpose

This paper aims to objectively present the research dynamics of China in the field of information behavior and its development trends. Firstly, it incorporates China’s research in the field of information behavior into the global research network of information behavior, analyzing the changes in the status of Chinese scholars and their research institutions in the global research network from 1991 to 2022, the trends in publication volume and the cooperation relationships with other countries. Then, it conducts a detailed analysis of China’s research categories, groups, theoretical models and hot topics in different information contexts in the past five years (2018–2022).

Design/methodology/approach

The study retrieved research literature related to information behavior in China from 1991 to 2022 in the Web of Science database. It then utilized a national/institutional cooperation network map to analyze the changes in the status of Chinese scholars/institutions in the global research network during this period, publication volume trends and cooperation relationships with other countries. Furthermore, it employed keyword co-occurrence network maps to analyze the key categories, groups, theories and models of China’s research in different information contexts in the past five years. Based on this, it used keyword clustering network maps to analyze the hot topics of China’s research in different information contexts in the past five years.

Findings

(1) China’s research in the field of information behavior started relatively late, but the volume of publications has grown rapidly since 2004, currently ranking second globally in cumulative publication quantity. However, the influence of the literature published by China is limited, and there is a lack of research institutions with global influence. (2) In the last five years, China has conducted extensive research in various information contexts. Among these, most research was conducted in work contexts, followed by healthcare contexts, especially studies related to epidemics. (3) Current research on information behavior in China is characterized by expanded and refined research groups, diversified research categories, continuous expansion and enrichment of research contexts, increased interdisciplinary nature of research and continuous innovation in research methods and theoretical models.

Originality/value

This study, utilizing a scientific knowledge map, elucidates China’s position in global information behavior research, with a specific emphasis on analyzing China’s research hot topics and trends in this field over the past five years. It aims to provide valuable resources for scholars interested in understanding the status of information behavior research in China and to offer some guidance for scholars currently or intending to engage in information behavior research.
Doing the homework prior to a pandemic: causation and successful micro and small enterprises
Authors: Marconatto Diego Antônio Bittencourt , Teixeira Emidio Gressler , Peixoto Gaspar Antônio , Faccin Kadigia , Lopes Luis Felipe Dias
Published: June 2024

Purpose

Little is known about the role causation plays in establishing the necessary conditions for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) to face the first stages of a major crisis. Our study aims to investigate how causation affects their ability to be successful at the onset of widespread calamities.

Design/methodology/approach

We examined how 191 Brazilian MSEs utilized causation in managing different aspects of their operating cycle before the COVID-19 pandemic using a combinatory methodology.

Findings

Causation is more important than usually supposed for MSEs when facing widespread crises.

Research limitations/implications

Our study did not explore the specific interactions between the intensified use of causation practices and other factors within MSEs that may lead to superior outcomes. The limitations of our data prevented a fully assessment of sales fluctuations of firms and how they responded to the latter stages of the COVID-19 crisis.

Practical implications

Our findings underscore the significance of causation in helping MSEs navigate future crises, emphasizing the enduring value of time-tested management practices. MSE owners and managers should ensure the presence of causation-oriented practices, as these forms the foundation for well-established management principles. This strong foundation equips MSEs to effectively employ effectuation strategies when it is needed.

Social implications

Small enterprises are the backbone of every economy and play a vital role in economic recovery. Our findings offer valuable insights that can help these enterprises effectively navigate major crises and contribute to economic recovery.

Originality/value

This study is among the first to answer to the call for more research that isolates and investigates granular elements of causation. Additionally, our study is original in that we address the need to consider the temporal dimension of causality.
Breaking the trade­off: multiscale optimization for lower cost, lower residual stress LPBF of SS316L
Authors: Dilawar Shakeel , Khan Ahsan , Ur Rehman Asif , Husain Syed Zahid , Jaffery Syed Husain Imran
Published: June 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to use bridge curvature method (BCM) to quantify stress, while multiscale modeling with adaptive coarsening predicted distortions based on experimentally validated models. Taguchi method and response surface method were used to optimize process parameters (energy density, hatch spacing, scanning speed and beam diameter).

Design/methodology/approach

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) offers significant design freedom but suffers from residual stresses due to rapid melting and solidification. This study presents a novel approach combining multiscale modeling and statistical optimization to minimize residual stress in SS316L.

Findings

Optimal parameters were identified through simulations and validated with experiments, achieving an 8% deviation. This approach significantly reduced printing costs compared to traditional trial-and-error methods. The analysis revealed a non-monotonic relationship between residual stress and energy density, with an initial increase followed by a decrease with increasing hatch spacing and scanning speed (both contributing to lower energy density). Additionally, beam diameter had a minimal impact compared to other energy density parameters.

Originality/value

This work offers a unique framework for optimizing LPBF processes by combining multiscale modeling with statistical techniques. The identified optimal parameters and insights into the individual and combined effects of energy density parameters provide valuable guidance for mitigating residual stress in SS316L, leading to improved part quality and performance.
Breaking the negative cycle of age and proactive behavior: the role of job variety and future time perspective
Authors: Cao Man , Zhao Shuming , Ma Yufei , Lv Hongjiang
Published: June 2024

The industrialized world's workforce is aging. China, as one of the important representative countries in the Asia‐Pacific region, is also experiencing an aging trend. Older people are often viewed as inflexible and unwilling to proactively change their environment or themselves to some extent. Prior studies have also found a negative association between age and proactive behavior. Therefore, breaking this negative cycle of age and proactive behavior becomes significant for the literature on age and management practices regarding older employees. In this paper, we identified job variety as a critical boundary condition and suggested that it would moderate the relationship between age and future time perspective, ultimately affecting proactive behavior. Our model was tested using a multilevel and multisource sample including 36 managers and 193 employees in China. The results showed that when job variety is high, the negative relationship between age and behavior becomes nonsignificant. Further, the interaction between age and job variety influenced proactive behavior through individuals' future time perspective. By identifying the important role of job variety, our study contributes to human resource management interventions for the aging workforce in China and other Asia‐Pacific countries.
Expression profiles and phylogenetic properties of venom gland‐specific viruses in some aculeate bees and wasps
Authors: Yoon Kyungjae Andrew , Kim Woo Jin , Shin Hee Jong , Lee Si Hyeock
Published: June 2024

To identify viruses and compare their abundance levels in the venom glands of hymenopteran species, we conducted venom gland‐specific transcriptome assemblies and analyses of 22 aculeate bees and wasps and identified the RNA genomes of picornaviruses. Additionally, we investigated the expression patterns of viruses in the venom glands over time following capture. Honeybee‐infecting viruses, including the black queen cell virus (BQCV), the deformed wing virus (DWV) and the Israeli acute paralysis virus (IAPV), were highly expressed in the venom glands of Apis mellifera and social wasps. This finding suggests that the venom of bees and wasps is likely to contain these viruses, which can be transmitted horizontally between species through stinger use. Apis mellifera exhibited an increasing pattern of abundance levels for BQCV, DWV, IAPV and Triatovirus, whereas the social wasp Vespa crabro showed increasing abundance levels of IAPV and Triatovirus over different capture periods. This suggests that the venom glands of honeybees and wasps may provide suitable conditions for active viral replication and may be an organ for virus accumulation and transmission. Some viral sequences clearly reflected the phylogeny of aculeate species, implying host‐specific virus evolution. On the other hand, other viruses exhibited unique evolutionary patterns of phylogeny, possibly caused by specific ecological interactions. Our study provides insights into the composition and evolutionary properties of viral genes in the venom glands of certain aculeate bees and wasps, as well as the potential horizontal transmission of these viruses among bee and wasp species.
Quality analysis of dough and steamed bread under various freezing conditions
Authors: Niu Mengli , Guo Jinying , Yang Xue , Li Peiyao
Published: June 2024

Freezing is a crucial step in the process of frozen foods. In this study, the effects of different freezing methods, including liquid nitrogen immersion freezing (LF), quick‐freezing machine freezing (QF), packaging immersion freezing (PF), and ultralow temperature refrigerator freezing (UF), and freezing time (0, 15, 30, and 60 days) on the textural properties, dynamic rheological properties, water distribution, and structure of dough and the quality of end steamed bread were evaluated. Freezing resulted in a decline in the physicochemical properties of dough. UF‐ and QF‐doughs had higher storage modulus and loss modulus, compared with PF‐ and LF‐doughs. LF enhanced the textural attributes of the dough, resulting in reduced hardness and increased springiness. At 15 days of freezing, QF‐ and LF‐doughs exhibited a compact and continuous structure with a smooth surface. Additionally, the correlation analysis elucidated that the weight loss rate and the bound water content of the dough had discernible impacts on the texture of both the dough and the resulting steamed bread. Overall, LF demonstrated a relatively high freezing efficiency and effectively maintained the quality of the dough for up to 15 days of freezing. These results offer valuable insights for the applications of freezing methods and time in frozen foods.
Serious outcomes among emergency department patients with presyncope: A systematic review
Authors: Mirfazaelian Hadi , Stiell Ian , Masoomi Rasoul , Garjani Khazar , Thiruganasambandamoorthy Venkatesh
Published: June 2024

Background

Syncope is transient loss of consciousness, and in presyncope, patients experience same prodromal symptoms without losing consciousness. While studies have extensively reported the risk of serious outcome among emergency department (ED) syncope, the outcome for patients with presyncope and their management are not well studied. We undertook a systematic review to assess the occurrence/identification of short‐term (30‐day) serious outcomes among ED patients with presyncope.

Methods

ED studies that enrolled patients with presyncope and reported any short‐term serious outcome were included. Studies that enrolled patients without presyncope (e.g., hypoglycemia, seizure, and stroke) were excluded. We restricted our study to only English publications and searched the MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science from the inception date to July 2023. We used SIGN 50 tool for assessment of risk of bias.

Results

In total, 1788 articles were screened by two reviewers and 32 articles were selected for full‐text assessment. Five (four prospective and one retrospective) studies with 2741 presyncope patients were included. Four studies were from North America and the fifth one was from Europe. Included studies had weaknesses due to risk of bias, but all had acceptable quality. The prevalence of overall adverse outcome varied 4.4%–26.8% for all adults and 5.5%–18.7% among older patients; arrhythmia was the most prevalent (17.4% in one study), followed by anemia/hemorrhage as reported in different studies. Among older patients, myocardial infarction was the third most common serious outcome reported in one study.

Conclusions

The prevalence of short‐term serious outcomes varies from 4% to 27% among ED patients with presyncope in our review, with arrhythmia being the most common serious outcome. Our review indicates that presyncope may carry a similar risk to syncope, and hence, the same level of caution should be exercised for ED presyncope management as syncope.
Child Maltreatment in Families Receiving Mandatory Versus Voluntary Child Protection Support: A Matched Cohort Study
Authors: Doelman Eline H. J. , Luijk Maartje P. C. M. , van der Horst Frank C. P. , Steketee Majone J.
Published: June 2024

Child safety is an important outcome of child protection services (CPSs); however, this is often assessed in terms of official registries (e.g., rereports). Little empirical evidence is available about how the frequency of child maltreatment changes during CPS intervention by using self‐report measures. The present study evaluates the frequency of child maltreatment experienced by children receiving mandatory child protection support compared to carefully matched children receiving voluntary child protection support. The current study is part of an ongoing Dutch longitudinal study on family violence consisting of several cohorts with similar designs. Both parents and children reported on the frequency of child maltreatment using validated questionnaires at two timepoints, 12 months apart. To facilitate careful comparison, both groups were matched using propensity scores based on background variables, resulting in two groups of N = 178 children. GLMM analyses showed a significant decrease in the mean number of child maltreatment incidents over time in the total group. However, this decrease did not differ for children receiving mandatory and voluntary child protection support. The findings indicate that, despite possible motivational challenges in the mandatory group, mandatory child protection support elicits comparable results as voluntary support. Implications for further research and practice are discussed.
Care Leavers' Perceived Well‐Being: Findings From a Co‐constructed Survey in Italy
Authors: Mauri Diletta , Sanfelici Mara , Belotti Valerio
Published: June 2024

It is now well established that young people who, for different reasons, grow up in care face particular challenges when they leave the care system. Many policies have been enacted to support them, but not enough is known about their subjective views on their situation and what their idea of well‐being is and their aspirations in its regard. The article presents the results of a survey which involved 454 Italian care leavers aged 16–25 years old. The study was constructed with them, with the aim of understanding their condition, their opinion about the child protection system (CPS) and their subjective perception of well‐being regarding different life dimensions. Findings are useful to highlight factors associated with subjective well‐being (SWB), such as economic precarity, age and gender. Children participation seems to make a difference in the largest number of life domains, including the relationship with the birth family. The research underscored the overall value of participation for care leavers: holding together the many aspects that support SWB can indeed facilitate the construction of contextualized knowledge, thus providing useful and solidly grounded instruments with which to implement policies and practices.
CUPID: Contextual Understanding of Prompt‐conditioned Image Distributions
Authors: Zhao Y. , Li M. , Berger M.
Published: June 2024

We present CUPID: a visualization method for the contextual understanding of prompt‐conditioned image distributions. CUPID targets the visual analysis of distributions produced by modern text‐to‐image generative models, wherein a user can specify a scene via natural language, and the model generates a set of images, each intended to satisfy the user's description. CUPID is designed to help understand the resulting distribution, using contextual cues to facilitate analysis: objects mentioned in the prompt, novel, synthesized objects not explicitly mentioned, and their potential relationships. Central to CUPID is a novel method for visualizing high‐dimensional distributions, wherein contextualized embeddings of objects, those found within images, are mapped to a low‐dimensional space via density‐based embeddings. We show how such embeddings allows one to discover salient styles of objects within a distribution, as well as identify anomalous, or rare, object styles. Moreover, we introduce conditional density embeddings, whereby conditioning on a given object allows one to compare object dependencies within the distribution. We employ CUPID for analyzing image distributions produced by large‐scale diffusion models, where our experimental results offer insights on language misunderstanding from such models and biases in object composition, while also providing an interface for discovery of typical, or rare, synthesized scenes.
Generating Euler Diagrams Through Combinatorial Optimization
Authors: Rottmann Peter , Rodgers Peter , Yan Xinyuan , Archambault Daniel , Wang Bei , Haunert Jan‐Henrik
Published: June 2024

Can a given set system be drawn as an Euler diagram? We present the first method that correctly decides this question for arbitrary set systems if the Euler diagram is required to represent each set with a single connected region. If the answer is yes, our method constructs an Euler diagram. If the answer is no, our method yields an Euler diagram for a simplified version of the set system, where a minimum number of set elements have been removed. Further, we integrate known wellformedness criteria for Euler diagrams as additional optimization objectives into our method. Our focus lies on the computation of a planar graph that is embedded in the plane to serve as the dual graph of the Euler diagram. Since even a basic version of this problem is known to be NP‐hard, we choose an approach based on integer linear programming (ILP), which allows us to compute optimal solutions with existing mathematical solvers. For this, we draw upon previous research on computing planar supports of hypergraphs and adapt existing ILP building blocks for contiguity‐constrained spatial unit allocation and the maximum planar subgraph problem. To generate Euler diagrams for large set systems, for which the proposed simplification through element removal becomes indispensable, we also present an efficient heuristic. We report on experiments with data from MovieDB and Twitter. Over all examples, including 850 non‐trivial instances, our exact optimization method failed only for one set system to find a solution without removing a set element. However, with the removal of only a few set elements, the Euler diagrams can be substantially improved with respect to our wellformedness criteria.
AVA: Towards Autonomous Visualization Agents through Visual Perception‐Driven Decision‐Making
Authors: Liu S. , Miao H. , Li Z. , Olson M. , Pascucci V. , Bremer P‐T.
Published: June 2024

With recent advances in multi‐modal foundation models, the previously text‐only large language models (LLM) have evolved to incorporate visual input, opening up unprecedented opportunities for various applications in visualization. Compared to existing work on LLM‐based visualization works that generate and control visualization with textual input and output only, the proposed approach explores the utilization of the visual processing ability of multi‐modal LLMs to develop Autonomous Visualization Agents (AVAs) that can evaluate the generated visualization and iterate on the result to accomplish user‐defined objectives defined through natural language. We propose the first framework for the design of AVAs and present several usage scenarios intended to demonstrate the general applicability of the proposed paradigm. Our preliminary exploration and proof‐of‐concept agents suggest that this approach can be widely applicable whenever the choices of appropriate visualization parameters require the interpretation of previous visual output. Our study indicates that AVAs represent a general paradigm for designing intelligent visualization systems that can achieve high‐level visualization goals, which pave the way for developing expert‐level visualization agents in the future.
Transmittance‐based Extinction and Viewpoint Optimization
Authors: Himmler Paul , Günther Tobias
Published: June 2024

A long‐standing challenge in volume visualization is the effective communication of relevant spatial structures that might be hidden due to occlusions. Given a scalar field that indicates the importance of every point in the domain, previous work synthesized volume visualizations by weighted averaging of samples along view rays or by optimizing a spatially‐varying extinction field through an energy minimization. This energy minimization, however, did not directly measure the contribution of an individual sample to the final pixel color. In this paper, we measure the visibility of relevant structures directly by incorporating the transmittance into a non‐linear energy minimization. For the first time, we not only perform a transmittance‐based extinction optimization, we concurrently optimize the camera position to find ideal viewpoints. We derive the partial derivatives for the gradient‐based optimization symbolically, which makes the application of automatic differentiation methods unnecessary. The transmittance‐based formulation gives a direct visibility measure that is communicated to the user in order to make aware of potentially overlooked relevant structures. Our approach is compatible with any measure of importance and its versatility is demonstrated in multiple data sets.
psudo: Exploring Multi‐Channel Biomedical Image Data with Spatially and Perceptually Optimized Pseudocoloring
Authors: Warchol S. , Troidl J. , Muhlich J. , Krueger R. , Hoffer J. , Lin T. , Beyer J. , Glassman E. , Sorger P. , Pfister H.
Published: June 2024

Over the past century, multichannel fluorescence imaging has been pivotal in myriad scientific breakthroughs by enabling the spatial visualization of proteins within a biological sample. With the shift to digital methods and visualization software, experts can now flexibly pseudocolor and combine image channels, each corresponding to a different protein, to explore their spatial relationships. We thus propose psudo, an interactive system that allows users to create optimal color palettes for multichannel spatial data. In psudo, a novel optimization method generates palettes that maximize the perceptual differences between channels while mitigating confusing color blending in overlapping channels. We integrate this method into a system that allows users to explore multi‐channel image data and compare and evaluate color palettes for their data. An interactive lensing approach provides on‐demand feedback on channel overlap and a color confusion metric while giving context to the underlying channel values. Color palettes can be applied globally or, using the lens, to local regions of interest. We evaluate our palette optimization approach using three graphical perception tasks in a crowdsourced user study with 150 participants, showing that users are more accurate at discerning and comparing the underlying data using our approach. Additionally, we showcase psudo in a case study exploring the complex immune responses in cancer tissue data with a biologist.
Exploring Classifiers with Differentiable Decision Boundary Maps
Authors: Machado A. , Behrisch M. , Telea A.
Published: June 2024

Explaining Machine Learning (ML) — and especially Deep Learning (DL) — classifiers' decisions is a subject of interest across fields due to the increasing ubiquity of such models in computing systems. As models get increasingly complex, relying on sophisticated machinery to recognize data patterns, explaining their behavior becomes more difficult. Directly visualizing classifier behavior is in general infeasible, as they create partitions of the data space, which is typically high dimensional. In recent years, Decision Boundary Maps (DBMs) have been developed, taking advantage of projection and inverse projection techniques. By being able to map 2D points back to the data space and subsequently run a classifier, DBMs represent a slice of classifier outputs. However, we recognize that DBMs without additional explanatory views are limited in their applicability. In this work, we propose augmenting the naive DBM generating process with views that provide more in‐depth information about classifier behavior, such as whether the training procedure is locally stable. We describe our proposed views — which we term Differentiable Decision Boundary Maps — over a running example, explaining how our work enables drawing new and useful conclusions from these dense maps. We further demonstrate the value of these conclusions by showing how useful they would be in carrying out or preventing a dataset poisoning attack. We thus provide evidence of the ability of our proposed views to make DBMs significantly more trustworthy and interpretable, increasing their utility as a model understanding tool.