bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Adsorption characteristics of pristine and defective SWCNTs towards F and Cl species: A density functional theory investigation towards water quality monitoring applications
Authors: Elakia M. , Sarath Kumar C. B. , Reji Rence P. , Sivalingam Y. , Surya V. J.
Published: December 2023

To keep drinking water safe and of high quality, levels of fluorine and chlorine must be continuously monitored. In this study, we have used density functional theory (DFT) simulations to evaluate the mono/di fluorine and chlorine sensing ability of pristine and defective armchair (5, 5) and zigzag (10, 0) single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) in different sites and orientations. Water molecules are taken into consideration as co-adsorbents to assess their impact on the halogenated SWCNTs. Specifically, the potent chemisorption of F and the dissociative adsorption of F2 on armchair/zigzag SWCNTs (ASWCNTs/ZSWCNTs) indicate that CNTs may be useful in the desalination of water. According to the computed adsorption energies, Cl/Cl2 adsorbed on SWCNTs appears to be advantageous, which qualifies them as sensor candidates. Water interaction studies have shown that chlorinated SWCNTs have shown higher interaction with it when compared to fluorinated counterparts. Hence, water may act as a co-player to improve SWCNTs’ ability to sense chlorine. Finally, it has been demonstrated by ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations that the co-adsorbed systems of water molecules and halogens are stable at ambient temperature. Overall, our results demonstrate that both ASWCNTs and ZSWCNTs can be used as room-temperature chlorine sensors for water quality monitoring applications.
Exploring Degree-Based Topological Co-Indices and Their Statistical Analysis for Cubic Zirconia Network
Authors: Shi Longmei , Hilali Shreefa O , Alhagyan Mohammed , Hanif Muhammad Farhan , Siddiqui Muhammad Kamran , Noor Tayyaba
Published: December 2023

Cubic Zirconia (CZ) has emerged as a critical material with diverse applications, ranging from high-performance ceramics to electronic devices. Designing CZ-based systems with improved functions necessitates a thorough understanding of its topological characteristics. The topological co-indices are numerical descriptors that offer important details about the local atomic configurations and connectivity inside the CZ lattice. In this study, we present a methodical approach to compute and assess the distribution of these co-indices throughout the CZ network using advanced computational approaches. The distribution patterns of topological co-indices inside the CZ network are significantly better understood as a result of our statistical investigation. The basic knowledge of the topological properties of the CZ network and how they relate to physical properties is improved by this study.
A novel approach to establishing uniqueness of solutions in linear complementarity problems
Authors: Achik Yamna , Agmour Imane , El Foutayeni Youssef
Published: December 2023

Linear complementarity problems are fundamental in various mathematical fields, and it is widely recognized that these problems have a unique solution if and only if the matrix related to them is a P-matrix. However, determining whether a matrix is a P-matrix can be extremely challenging or even impossible, especially for large matrices. In this paper, we present a method for establishing the existence and uniqueness of the solution to linear complementarity problems without the need for P-matrix verification.
On Mining User-Item Interactions via Knowledge Graph for Recommendation
Authors: Liu Shenghao , Lu Lingyun , Wang Bang
Published: December 2023

Introducing Knowledge Graph (KG) to facilitate recommender system has become a tendency in recent years. Many existing methods leverage KG to obtain side information of items to promote item representation learning for enhancing recommendation performance. However, they ignore that KG also may contribute to better user representation learning. To solve the above issue, we propose a novel algorithm, KIGR (Knowledge-awareInteractionGraph forRecommendation), to mine user-item interactions via Knowledge Graph for assisting user representation learning. Specifically, a user-item interaction is encoded by attentively summing up the relation embedding about the item in KG. Then an unsupervised learning method is used to group the user-item interactions into different latent types. Further, a user-item interaction graph is divided into several subgraphs, which is referred to as Knowledge-aware Interaction Graph, making each subgraph only contains one latent type of interactions. Finally, user representation is the fusion of user interest embedding, which is learned on knowledge-aware interaction graph; While item representation is learned on KG. Experimental results on MovieLens, LastFM and Amazon-Book validate that the proposed KIGR has a superior performance compared with the SOTA algorithms.
Hypergraph Neural Network for Emotion Recognition in Conversations
Authors: Zheng Cheng , Xu Haojie , Sun Xiao
Published: December 2023

Modeling conversational context is an essential step for emotion recognition in conversations. Existing works still suffer from insufficient utilization of local context information and remote context information. This article designs a hypergraph neural network, namely HNN-ERC, to better utilize local and remote contextual information. HNN-ERC combines the recurrent neural network with the conventional hypergraph neural network to strengthen connections between utterances and make each utterance receive information from other utterances better. The proposed model has empirically achieved state-of-the-art results on three benchmark datasets, demonstrating the effectiveness and superiority of the new model.
Context-aware Optimization for Bandwidth-Efficient Image Analytics Offloading
Authors: Chen Bo , Yan Zhisheng , Nahrstedt Klara
Published: December 2023

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have given rise to numerous visual analytics applications at the edge of the Internet. The image is typically captured by cameras and then live-streamed to edge servers for analytics due to the prohibitive cost of running CNN on computation-constrained end devices. A critical component to ensure low-latency and accurate visual analytics offloading over low bandwidth networks is image compression which minimizes the amount of visual data to offload and maximizes the decoding quality of salient pixels for analytics. Despite the wide adoption, JPEG standards and traditional image compression techniques do not address the accuracy of analytics tasks, leading to ineffective compression for visual analytics offloading. Although recent machine-centric image compression techniques leverage sophisticated neural network models or hardware architecture to support the accuracy-bandwidth tradeoff, they introduce excessive latency in the visual analytics offloading pipeline. This article presents CICO, a Context-aware Image Compression Optimization framework to achieve low-bandwidth and low-latency visual analytics offloading. CICO contextualizes image compression for offloading by employing easily-computable low-level image features to understand the importance of different image regions for a visual analytics task. Accordingly, CICO can optimize the tradeoff between compression size and analytics accuracy. Extensive real-world experiments demonstrate that CICO reduces the bandwidth consumption of existing compression methods by up to 40% under comparable analytics accuracy. Regarding the low-latency support, CICO achieves up to a 2× speedup over state-of-the-art compression techniques.
CrowdGraph: Weakly supervised Crowd Counting via Pure Graph Neural Network
Authors: Zhang Chengyang , Zhang Yong , Li Bo , Piao Xinglin , Yin Baocai
Published: December 2023

Most existing weakly supervised crowd counting methods utilize Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) or Transformer to estimate the total number of individuals in an image. However, both CNN-based (grid-to-count paradigm) and Transformer-based (sequence-to-count paradigm) methods take images as inputs in a regular form. This approach treats all pixels equally but cannot address the uneven distribution problem within human crowds. This challenge would lead to a decline in the counting performance of the model. Compared with grid and sequence, the graph structure could better explore the relationship among features. In this article, we propose a new graph-based crowd counting method named CrowdGraph, which reinterprets the weakly supervised crowd counting problem from a graph-to-count perspective. In the proposed CrowdGraph, each image is constructed as a graph, and a graph-based network is designed to extract features at the graph level. CrowdGraph comprises three main components: a dynamic graph convolutional backbone, a multi-scale dilated graph convolution module, and a regression head. To the best of our knowledge, CrowdGraph is the first method that is completely formulated based on the Graph Neural Network (GNN) for the crowd counting task. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed CrowdGraph outperforms pure CNN-based and pure Transformer-based weakly supervised methods comprehensively and achieves highly competitive counting performance.
Hemopexin reverses activation of lung eIF2α and decreases mitochondrial injury in chlorine-exposed mice
Authors: Matalon Sadis , Yu Zhihong , Dubey Shubham , Ahmad Israr , Stephens Emily M. , Alishlash Ammar Saadoon , Meyers Ashley , Cossar Douglas , Stewart Donald , Acosta Edward P. , Kojima Kyoko , Jilling Tamas , Mobley James A.
Published: December 2023

Herein, we demonstrate that exposure of mice to chlorine gas causes significant changes in the lung proteome 24 h post-exposure. Systems biology analysis of the proteomic data is consistent with damage to mitochondria and activation of eIF2, the master regulator of transcription and protein translation. Post-exposure injection of hemopexin, which scavenges free heme, attenuated mtDNA injury, eIF2α phosphorylation, decreased lung injury, and increased survival.
Small airway fibroblasts from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exhibit cellular senescence
Authors: Wrench Catherine L. , Baker Jonathan R. , Monkley Sue , Fenwick Peter S. , Murray Lynne , Donnelly Louise E. , Barnes Peter J.
Published: December 2023

Fibroblasts and senescence are thought to play key roles in the pathogenesis of small airway disease and COPD; however, the characteristics of small airway-derived fibroblasts are not well explored. In this study we isolate and enrich the senescent small airway-derived fibroblast (SAF) population from COPD lungs and explore the pathways driving this phenotype using bulk RNA-seq.
Viral airway injury promotes cell engraftment in an in vitro model of cystic fibrosis cell therapy
Authors: Lee Rhianna E. , Mascenik Teresa M. , Major Sidra C. , Galiger Jacob R. , Bulik-Sullivan Emily , Siesser Priscila F. , Lewis Catherine A. , Bear James E. , Le Suer Jake A. , Hawkins Finn J. , Pickles Raymond J. , Randell Scott H.
Published: December 2023

Cell therapy is a potential treatment for cystic fibrosis (CF). Here, we model cell engraftment by injuring CF air–liquid interface cultures and delivering non-CF cells. Successful engraftment required severe epithelial injury. Intentionally injuring the lungs to this extent would be dangerous. However, naturally occurring events like viral infection induce similar epithelial damage. We found that viral preconditioning promoted the engraftment of cells primed for viral resistance leading to CFTR functional recovery to 20% of the wildtype.
Breaking the Silence: Investigating the Prevalence and Key Risk Factors of Child Maltreatment among Male Working Children in a Rural Community in Bangladesh
Authors: Haque Md Atiqul , Ratan Zubaier Ahmed , Anjum Afifa , Fatema Khandakar , Mashreky Saidur Rahman , Moniruzzaman Syed
Published: December 2023

Introduction. Child labor is widely regarded as one of the most severe forms of child maltreatment (CM), but little is known about how working children, especially in low-income countries like Bangladesh, experience different forms of CM. This paper explores the extent of physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and neglect experienced by working children and determines the important risk factors for these forms of CM among them. Methods. This cross-sectional study included 398 working children from four local Bazars (rural marketplace) of Raiganj Upazila, Sirajganj district, who were enrolled in this study in March and April of 2017, through a snowball approach, due to a lack of a list of working children. The International Child Abuse Screening Tools for Children (ICAST-C) was used to estimate the different forms of CM in this study. Results. Lifetime prevalence of psychological abuse (PsyA), physical abuse (PA), neglect, and sexual abuse (SA) were 100%, 100%, 82.7%, and 13.5%, while the past year prevalence rates were 100%, 84.2%, 67.1%, and 9.9%, respectively. Common forms of PsyA experienced by children include shouting, yelling, or screaming, as well as restrictions on outings and time-outs. PA typically involves slapping on the face or head, hitting with objects (excluding the buttocks), and ear twisting. Watching pornography is the primary form of SA, while the leading form of neglect is unmet medical needs. The prevalence of PsyA, PA, SA, and neglect was higher among children who lived with individuals other than their parents. Both PsyA and PA were found to be associated with family violence, such as the presence of weapons in the household and adults engaging in frightening screaming behavior. Additionally, children who were bullied by their siblings, had a parent with a primary level of education or less, and always felt safe at home were at an increased risk of experiencing PA. Children who did not feel safe at home all the time were more likely to experience SA. Furthermore, for every one-year increase in schooling, the likelihood of experiencing neglect decreased by 8.3% (B: -.157,Pvalue < .003). Conclusion. Nearly all male working children in rural areas of Bangladesh experienced PsyA and PA, and adult negligence was also prevalent. Although male SA is not a widely discussed issue in Bangladesh, the results of this study are alarming.
Synchrophasor-Based Out-of-Step Prediction in Large Grids
Authors: Alnassar Zainab , Nagarajan S. T.
Published: December 2023

Out-of-step (OOS) condition is a potential problem in the power system and uncontrolled islanding is one of the severe consequences of out-of-step condition which leads to cascaded tripping of the system. To avoid this undesired cascaded tripping, early prediction of out-of-step condition is essential before losing the synchronization of generators and between the system areas. Controlled islanding is the last emergency action that can be taken by splitting the system intentionally into coherent islands. Conventionally, OOS condition has been detected with impedance-based measurement techniques which have their own limitations. With the implementation of a wide-area measurement system with synchrophasor measurement units (PMUs) in the power system, it is now possible to measure the bus voltage angle at a much faster rate than with SCADA. In this paper, synchrophasor-based bus voltage angle measurement has been used for early prediction of OOS condition in power systems. A new algorithm has been formulated for both generator and tie lines based on the trajectory of first and second derivatives of the bus voltage phase angle for early detection of OOS condition. The prediction speed of proposed method is found to be between 5% and 70% of time to OOS, after disturbance clearance. The proposed algorithm has been mathematically formulated and evaluated with three benchmark systems in real-time simulation environment with an OPAL-RT real-time simulator and a HYPERSIM platform.
GABAA Receptor Availability in Relation to Cortical Excitability in Depressed and Healthy: A Positron Emission Tomography and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study
Authors: Steinholtz Linda , Thörnblom Elin , Bodén Robert , Wall Anders , Axelson Hans W. , Lubberink Mark , Fällmar David , Persson Jonas
Published: December 2023

Introduction: Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) deficiency is suggested in depressive disorders, along with alterations in cortical excitability. However, whether these excitability changes are related to GABAA receptor availability is largely unknown. Our aim was to assess the correlation between these measures in depressed patients and healthy controls. Methods: Twenty-eight patients with a major depressive episode, measured before and after participating in a clinical trial with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and 15 controls underwent [11C]flumazenil positron emission tomography to assess GABAA receptor availability and paired pulse TMS (ppTMS) to evaluate cortical excitability. Both whole-brain voxel-wise GABAA receptor availability and mean values from left hand motor cortex and left paracentral lobule were correlated to the ppTMS outcomes: short-interval intracortical inhibition reflecting GABAA receptor activity, long-interval intracortical inhibition representing GABAB receptor activity, intracortical facilitation reflecting glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate-receptor activity, as well as the resting motor threshold (rMT), considered a global measure of corticospinal excitability. Results: No significant differences in baseline GABAA receptor availability or cortical excitability were found between patients and controls. Additionally, no correlations were observed between baseline measurements of GABAA receptor availability and TMS outcomes. Changes in GABAA receptor availability in the hand motor cortex, between pre- and post-assessments, were inversely related to pre-post changes in hand rMT. Conclusion: We found that a change in GABAA receptor availability was inversely related to a change in rMT, suggesting a link between GABA deficiency and increased rMT previously observed in depressive episodes. The results highlight the complex mechanisms governing cortical excitability measures and offer new insight into their properties during the depressive state.
Importance of NK Cells in Cellular and Humoral Responses Triggered by Pneumococcus Vaccination
Authors: Gazi Umut , Tosun Ozgur , Kursat Derici Mehmet , Karasartova Djursun , Semra Gureser Ayse , Taylan Ozkan Aysegul
Published: December 2023

Introduction: Despite the success of vaccination in reducing overall rate of pneumococcal pneumonia, Streptococcus pneumoniae is still held responsible for high mortality and modality rates worldwide. Our study aimed to investigate the potential role played by NK cells in immune response generated by pneumococcal vaccination, which could contribute to the development of more effective vaccines. Methods: The study included mice with and without NK cell depletion which were immunized with pneumococcus polysaccharide-conjugated vaccine followed by pneumococcus polysaccharide vaccine (PPV). Serum samples and splenocytes were collected from mice sacrificed 4 weeks after the last PPV dose. Serum samples were used for antibody level quantification by ELISA assay, while splenocytes were treated with PPV in vitro before monitoring CD4+ T-cell subsets (TH1, TH2, and TH17) and cytokine (IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-17) secretion levels by flow cytometry and ELISA analysis, respectively. Results: Results demonstrated reduced pneumococcal IgG and TH1 cell levels due to NK cell depletion. Nevertheless, in contrast to these observations, IFN-γ secretion levels after in vitro PPV-23 treatment of splenocytes did not exhibit any statistically significant difference between the two mice groups. Conclusions: The data indicate a positive contribution of NK cells to both T-cell and B-cell responses triggered against pneumococcal vaccination. Further studies are required to confirm our data and investigate the potential benefit of NK cell targeting in promoting vaccine efficacy, especially in the elderly population who continues to be affected significantly by pneumococcal pneumonia.
Spotlight on Compounded Bioidentical Hormones
Authors: Santangelo Giusi , Lagana Antonio Simone , Giannini Andrea , Murina Filippo , Di Dio Camilla , Ruggiero Gianfilippo , Di Donato Violante , Perniola Giorgia , Fischetti Margherita , Casorelli Assunta , Clemente Francesco , Minnetti Marianna , Lombardo Francesco , Benedetti Panici Pierluigi , Muzii Ludovico , Bogani Giorgio
Published: December 2023

Background: The role of hormonal replacement therapy in menopause is under debate. The premature closure of the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) study in 2002 is still a source of concern among treating physicians. Objectives: The interest in alternatives to conventional hormone therapy has significantly increased. The adoption of personalized steroid hormone galenic preparations, formulated by compounding pharmacies, has recently spread. Methods: In June 2023, an extensive literature search was conducted by different authors to identify relevant studies in various databases (MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Cochrane). The studies that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were further analyzed, and relevant data were extracted and analyzed for each paper. Any discrepancies between the investigators were resolved through a consensus approach. Outcomes: The primary outcomes observed included the clinical utility of CBHT. This study reviewed the current evidence on the utility of compounded bioidentical hormones, concluding that improving knowledge and awareness of bioidentical hormones is necessary to consider their use in clinical practice. Conclusion and Outlook: These formulations might provide effective options to best tailor therapies to each patient.
Kawi-samaya: Towards an Ecocritical Theory of Kakawin literature
Authors: Chen-Kleinman Danielle , Keerthi Naresh
Published: December 2023

There is not much by way of literary theory for kakawin—the classical literature of Java. This article proposes a semiotic model for the study of belletristic texts in Old Javanese: one that is based on the study of literary commonplaces that we have called kawi-samayas. Given the way the mental world of kakawin is deeply enmeshed with the external, natural world, we focus on the ecoliterary treatment of Kapat, the fourth month in the Javanese calendar. By studying the poetic elaboration of motifs related to Kapat in several kakawin texts, beginning with Monaguṇa’s Sumanasāntaka, we discuss the notions of poetic memory and literary tradition. The idea of poetic memory also helps in chalking out the active role of literary audiences in shaping the allusive and reflexive aesthetics of kakawin literature.
Paying for Legitimacy: Autocracy, Nonmarket Strategy, and the Liability of Foreignness
Authors: Kim Jin Hyung , Siegel Jordan I.
Published: December 2023

Although the liability of foreignness has been shown to present real economic barriers for foreign firms in various contexts around the globe, scholars continue to debate what drives this liability in different market contexts: lack of information due to institutional distance, lack of social embeddedness, discrimination, or something else. In this study, we propose a new theory, that in corporate lobbying within the nonmarket strategy context, the liability of foreignness is driven in no small part by a values-based ideological conflict stemming from the divide between democracy and autocracy. Private-sector firms from autocratic countries face costs of illegitimacy in Washington, D.C., and professional corporate lobbyists charge such firms a fee premium, in effect, to pay for legitimacy. We conduct an empirical study of the lobbying fees charged by professional corporate lobbyists in Washington, D.C., to their domestic and foreign firm clients, and the results strongly support the predictions of our theory. We also show that the liability of foreignness in this context endures for foreign firms from autocratic countries over the 15-year length of our sample period. Offering a new theoretical perspective as well as new empirical findings regarding the liability of foreignness, our study has practical implications for managers of foreign firms and may also generalize to other market contexts.
The relational preconditions of trust in collective action fields
Authors: Diani Mario
Published: December 2023

This article explores some relational mechanisms that may facilitate strong inter-organizational alliances, and the associated trust, in collective action fields. It departs from mainstream research on trust by focusing on organizations rather than individuals. The article focuses in particular on three mechanisms: embeddedness (i.e. the role of individual members’ multiple involvements as facilitators of sustained inter-organizational exchanges), familiarity (the role of previous interactions in facilitating cooperation and thus generating trust), and brokerage (the role of trusted leaders in bringing different organizations together). These mechanisms may affect trust creation in two different ways: by facilitating dyadic alliances between pairs of actors and by facilitating actors’ incumbency of the same network position, regardless of being directly connected. Illustrations come from data on environmental groups in Milan in the mid 1980s, civic organizations active on various public issues in Glasgow and Bristol in the early 2000s, and organizations active on the urban environment in Cape Town in the early 2010s. While the exercise is exploratory in nature, the relational mechanisms identified may represent some of the building blocks for a systematic explanation of alliance building and trust emergence. Moreover, data from urban polities with different levels of democratic consolidation and cleavage pacification illustrate the importance of adding a comparative element to our explorations of the relationship between trust and collective action.
Effects of di- and trifunctional chain extenders on the properties of flexible cold-cure polyurethane foams
Authors: Sohrabi Ali
Published: December 2023

In this study, effects of di- and trifunctional chain extenders including ethylene glycol (MEG), ethanolamine (MEA), diethanolamine (DEA), and glycerin (GLY) were investigated. 0.3, 0.6, and 0.9 php (parts per hundred parts of polyol mixture) of the chain extenders were added to the polyol formulation. Then, foam parts were produced by molding. The reaction profile, free rise density (FD), and mechanical properties of the specimens were tested regarding ASTM D7487 test methods. First of all, reaction profiles were affected by the chemical nature of the chain extenders. MEA and DEA which have a primary and secondary amine unit, respectively, accelerated both the polymerization and blow reactions and resulted in faster cream (CT), gel (GT), and end-of-rise time (RT) values. On the other hand, MEG also accelerated GT, but retarded CT. Finally, GLY retarded CT, GT, and RT of foam samples. FD of all samples were almost the same with a slight decrease by increasing the amount of chain extenders. Besides, force-to-crush (FTC) as a measure of closed- or open-cell structure, was investigated. Results showed that incorporating di- and trifunctional chain extenders led to a remarkable increase in FTC values. The influence was more profound with amine-based chain extenders. The effects of chain extenders on the mechanical properties were also studied according to the ASTM D3574. In the compression set test, using difunctional chain extenders up to 0.6 php, improved the performance. But higher amounts reversed the trend. On the other hand, trifunctional chain extenders declined the compression set properties of the foam. The addition of chain extenders dwindled the tensile and tear properties of the foams. However, the reduction was less with difunctional chain extenders.
Dynamic properties and plastic dissipative mechanisms of polymeric adhesive under dynamic compression at various strain rates
Authors: Sassi Sonia , Tarfaoui Mostapha
Published: December 2023

This work investigated the dynamic compression behavior of structural vinylester adhesive under dynamic compression tests using the Split Hopkinson Pressure Bars technique. The obtained results showed that the dynamic parameters were strain rate sensitive. No macroscopic damage was observed in the specimen at the different applied strain rates. However, the presence of a characteristic second peak mainly at high strain rates on the strain rate profiles was attributed to the plasticity occurrence in the polymer under impact. The non-linear response that appeared on the stress-strain curves of the adhesive had been attributed to the combined material softening and thermal softening. These results demonstrated that the studied adhesive could be considered a potential material for high-rate applications due to the combination of significant toughness with high strength and extensive plasticity. An energetic study determined the energy balance and quantified energy absorption. It was observed that used vinylester adhesive was suitable for dynamic applications because it could absorb a large amount of energy and undergo large compressive deformations without damage. This work provided a complete range of experimental data for structural adhesive, which could help the designer of an energy-absorbing adhesively bonded composite joint structure for high-strain rate applications.
Woven filter media used in wet filtration processes: investigation of pore size distribution, air and water permeability and finding correlations between them
Authors: Ängeslevä Marina , Salmimies Riina , Sihvonen Tuomas , Häkkinen Antti
Published: December 2023

Currently, methods for evaluating the performance of woven filter media used for filtration processes are mainly reduced to air permeability and filtration resistance. However, filtration processes are not limited to dry filtration only. Moreover, critical performance-related factors such as the pore size distribution and liquid permeability are studied but often omitted and ignored in the characterization process. The present study aims to investigate and analyze three characteristics, namely air and liquid permeability and pore size distribution, and to examine correlations between the studied characteristics. The results of the present study show that correlations between the studied characteristics do exist. Polynomial and exponential functions could describe the correlation between the mean flow pore diameter and permeability. At the same time, the dependency between air and water permeability is characterized by a logarithmic function. Consequently, the characterization and selection of filter cloths should be done by analyzing several different parameters simultaneously. These correlations could become the basis of a system of media indexing in the future.
Reimagining hope through the political: A post-foundational reading of urban alternatives beyond postpolitics
Authors: Saleh Mohamed , Landau-Donnelly Friederike
Published: December 2023

This paper proposes hope as a lens for critical urban research for the purpose of grasping the interplay between forces of change and stability as manifested in popular uprisings, as well as in broader, self-organised spatial practices in everyday life. This hopeful lens allows for reimagining hope through the concept of ‘the political’, defined in the post-foundationalist literature as an ontological condition assuming the inherent impossibility for ‘politics’ to reach its final closure, fixation or stability. The hopes thus arising from ‘the political’ provide critical urban scholars with better tools to navigate the ever-present possibilities for emancipatory change and action, arising from an ontological lack of foundations, upon which political orders are temporarily based. In this paper, we show how theoretical notions from post-foundationalism can expand the current sense of hope by instilling a non-teleological view on inherent possibilities for matters to be otherwise, thus implying the absence of certainty about presupposed ideas of what genuine political change should look like. Through this lens, hope appears linked to concrete openings for alternatives found in everyday life. By laying out such a hopeful approach, we aim to expand the awareness of urban ‘scholars’ to ponder both mundane and radical materialisations and practices of ‘the political’ within urban settings. Ultimately, by reimagining hope to look beyond or alongside postpolitics, we unlock a future-oriented research agenda that adds nuance to an ontologically restricted conception of ‘politics’, which allows for broader empirical attunement to ever-present embodied signs of unfinished urban alternatives generated by ‘the political’.
The ripple effect of dataset reuse: Contextualising the data lifecycle for machine learning data sets and social impact
Authors: Park Jaihyun , Cordell Ryan
Published: December 2023

Although there exists a rich literature on data lifecycle, a common framework for data lifecycle depicts reuse as the last stage. However, this framework fails to explain the complex lifecycle of machine learning (ML) data sets, which can have many different afterlives. Data sets for ML can be expanded to supplement previous research, and researchers can concatenate multiple data sets to develop new models. This study discusses ML dataset reuse through the lens of the data–information–knowledge–wisdom pyramid. In social science research, researchers might reuse data to analyse a new research question that is still in the context of the data domain. By contrast, research practices in ML, where researchers layer multiple data sets for training purposes, require us to ask whether the existing data lifecycle model, ending with ‘reuse’, is appropriate for explaining such an iterative and layered lifecycle. This study introduces one case of merging computer vision data set and natural language processing data set and two cases of applying ML models from outside of the ML community (hate speech detection and politeness detection) to justify a framework for a ML dataset lifecycle. Last but not least, this study proposes a ML dataset lifecycle and provides case examples to describe each stage.
Surface roughness discrimination with the long cane: Effects of cane tips, handle, shaft rigidity, and swinging speed
Authors: Kim Dae Shik , Wall Emerson Robert , Naghshineh Koorosh
Published: December 2023

This study examined the effects of cane tip type, cane tip size, cane shaft rigidity, cane handle material, and cane swing speed on the cane user’s ability to discriminate surfaces of different roughness. A repeated-measures design with block randomization was used for each of the three studies. Blindfolded sighted and visually impaired participants attempted to identify which of the two grooved aluminum plates was rougher by swiping the plates using different cane tips, shafts, handles, and swing speeds. Participants correctly identified the rougher plate at a higher percentage with smaller cane tips (77.6% ± 8.7%) than with larger cane tips (72.1% ± 7.2%), p = .029, r = .54. Pencil tips (76.9% ± 8.4%) were more advantageous than ball tips (72.8% ± 6.5%), p = .028, r = .55. Slower cane swing speed (84.4% ± 2.6%) also allowed the participants to better discriminate the surfaces than faster swing speed (76.6% ± 6.0%), p = .002, r = .80. However, the cane shaft rigidity ( p = .499, r = .22) and cane handle material ( p = .694. w2 = 0.02) did not have a significant effect on the cane user’s ability to discriminate the surfaces of different roughness. Given these findings, a cane user may want to use a smaller and/or cylindrical cane tip as opposed to larger and/or spherical cane tip for better surface texture change detection. In addition, a cane user may not want to swing the cane too wide or walk too fast since wider cane swing and faster walking speed tend to result in faster cane swing speed, which can compromise one’s ability to detect sudden changes in walking surface texture. That being said, an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) specialist should assess each person’s traveling environment when determining which cane tip and swing speed to use in a given situation.
A novel case of acute glomerulonephritis with concurrent acute non-rheumatic myocarditis following group a streptococcal infection
Authors: Hou Shihui , Yang Jie , Xiao Fei , Dai Huanzi
Published: December 2023

Streptococcal infection is a common cause of acute glomerulonephritis. Cardiac damage associated with streptococcal infection commonly occurs in acute rheumatic fever. However, cases of acute non-rheumatic streptococcal myocarditis have been reported in recent years. We report a novel case of concurrent acute glomerulonephritis and non-rheumatic myocarditis following streptococcal infection. A good prognosis was achieved with antibiotic and immunosuppressive therapy, indicating that Streptococcus causes cardiorenal syndrome type 5 via an immune-mediated response. A better understanding of post-streptococcal cardiorenal syndrome is warranted to enable the early diagnosis and treatment of affected patients.
Parameters of the mitral apparatus in patients with ischemic and nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy
Authors: Presume João , Paiva Mariana S , Guerreiro Sara , Ribeiras Regina
Published: December 2023

The mitral valve apparatus is a complex structure consisting of several coordinating components: the annulus, two leaflets, the chordae tendineae, and the papillary muscles. Due to the intricate interplay between the mitral valve and the left ventricle, a disease of the latter may influence the normal function of the former. As a consequence, valve insufficiency may arise despite the absence of organic valve disease. This is designated as functional or secondary mitral regurgitation, and it arises from a series of distortions to the valve components. This narrative review describes the normal anatomy and the pathophysiology behind the mitral valve changes in ischemic and non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathies. It also explains the value of a complete multiparametric assessment of this structure. Not only must an assessment include quantitative measures of regurgitation, but also various anatomical parameters from the mitral apparatus and left ventricle, since they carry prognostic value and are predictors of mitral valve repair success and durability.
Laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy versus open pancreaticoduodenectomy for carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater in a medium-volume center: a propensity score matching analysis
Authors: Liu Chenming , Liu Yuxing , Dong Jiaming , Chai Yingjie , Tang Haijun
Published: December 2023

Objective

To compare the efficacy of laparoscopic pancreaticoduodenectomy (LPD) and open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD) in a medium-volume medical center.

Methods

Data for patients who underwent OPD or LPD for carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater (VPC) between January 2017 and June 2022 were acquired retrospectively. Propensity score-matching (PSM) analysis was performed to balance the baseline characteristics between the groups. The primary outcome was disease-free survival (DFS). Cox regression analysis was used to explore the independent risk factors for DFS.

Results

A total of 124 patients with pathologically diagnosed VPC were included. After 1:1 matching, there were 23 cases each in the OPD and LPD groups. Kaplan–Meier survival analyses showed that the median DFS in the OPD and LPD groups was identical (16.0 months vs 16.0 months, respectively). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that low levels of alkaline phosphatase and γ-glutamyl transpeptidase, positive surgical margin, and lymph node enlargement were independent risk factors for DFS.

Conclusion

LPD in medium-volume centers with acceptable technical conditions may approach or even achieve the efficacy of LPD in large-volume centers.
A rare disease in adult women: Gaucher disease
Authors: Yu Shian , Yuan Hang , Cao Yong
Published: December 2023

Gaucher disease is a rare, autosomal recessive disorder caused by inborn errors of metabolism. Globally, more than 27 million people are born each year, and approximately 19,000 neonates are born with lysosomal storage disease. We report a rare case of Gaucher disease in an adult female patient of non-consanguineous parents in a subtropical area of Jiangxi Province, China. This area has a high prevalence of schistosomiasis. The diagnosis of this case posed a great challenge because of the possible differential diagnoses of pancytopenia with hepatomegaly and giant splenomegaly. The key component of the patient’s diagnosis was her medical history in which it was documented that her brother had died of hepatocellular carcinoma of unknown origin. We diagnosed the patient through a combination of a pathological biopsy and imaging plus the patient’s medical history.
Cytisine as a smoking cessation aid: Preliminary observations with a modified therapeutic scheme in real life
Authors: Pozzi Paolo , Boffi Roberto , Veronese Chiara , Trussardo Sara , Valsecchi Camilla , Sabia Federica , Pastorino Ugo , Apolone Giovanni , Cardani Elisa , Tarantini Francesco , Munarini Elena
Published: December 2023

Introduction:

Cigarette smoke accounts for over 90,000 deaths each year in Italy. Tobacco dependence treatment guidelines suggest adopting an integrated pharmacological-behavioral model of intervention. Cytisine is a partial agonist of nicotinic receptors. Trials conducted to date have demonstrated its good efficacy in promoting smoking cessation. The cytisine scheme of treatment consists of 25 days of treatment. A 40-day regimen, with an escalating dose and an extended duration of the treatment, has been in use in many anti-smoking centers in Italy for several years, but to date there are no reports on the use of cytisine with this scheme.

Methods:

A retrospective, real-life, observational study was conducted between January 2016 and September 2022. The 300 patients who had received at least one dose of study medication were selected. Continuous variables were compared by the Wilcoxon-Mann–Whitney test. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were implemented for self-reported seven-day point prevalence for abstinence at three, six and 12 months.

Results:

The median age of the patients was 59 years, 57% were women. The median smoking exposure was 33.8 pack-years. Self-reported smoking abstinence at three, six and 12 months was 68.7%, 56.3% and 47.3% respectively. 84% completed the cytisine treatment, 31.3% reported adverse events and in 8.3% these led to dropping out of the treatment.

Conclusion:

Cytisine, administered with a novel therapeutic scheme in the real-life setting of a specialized anti-smoking center, significantly promotes smoking abstinence. However, more studies are needed to assess the tolerability and efficacy of this new regimen.
Are proactive employees always creative? The roles of political skill and leader-member exchange
Authors: Alikaj Albi , Ning Wei , Nguyen Cau Ngoc , Wu Bingqing , Hanke Doreen
Published: December 2023

This study examines the underlying mechanisms of the relationship between proactive personality and creative behaviors, and it does so by proposing and empirically testing a moderated mediation model that explains how the indirect effect of employees’ proactive personality on their creative behaviors via leader-member exchange is moderated by the employees’ political skill. Data collected from 153 subordinate-supervisor dyads was used to test the hypotheses. Using hierarchical linear modeling, this research finds support for the proposed hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Who’s Keeping an Eye on the Kids? Changes in Monitoring During Emerging Adulthood
Authors: Hill Jessica M. , Blokland Arjan A. J.
Published: December 2023

Previous research indicates that parental monitoring protects adolescents from delinquency. While, emerging adults spend increasing amounts of time outside the family setting, they often remain in or return to reside in the parental home, possibly prolonging the period of parental monitoring. We examine whether parental monitoring, differentiating between child disclosure, parental solicitation, and parental control, is a protective factor for delinquency for emerging adults. We also examine whether monitoring occurs in educational settings, by the partner or in employment settings, and whether this monitoring is associated with delinquency. We use data from a longitudinal survey of 970 Dutch emerging adults (18–24 years), to examine monitoring, using instruments based on Stattin and Kerr’s parental monitoring scale. Results indicate that parental monitoring is not associated with delinquency in emerging adulthood. Furthermore, we find no evidence of the protective role of monitoring in educational settings, by the partner or in employment settings. However, the negative relationship between monitoring of the self, self-control, delinquency during emerging adulthood increases in strength.
Experimental investigation and multi-objective optimization of savonius wind turbine based on modified non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II
Authors: Hosseini Seyed Ehsan , Karimi Omid , AsemanBakhsh Mohammad Ali
Published: December 2023

A numerical data set will be developed to assist in the design of Savonius wind turbines. The main objective of study is to improve Savonius turbine blade designs to increase torque coefficients, rotational speeds, and pressure coefficients. Simulating 3D models and validating them with wind tunnel data were part of the experimental design methodology. Multi-objective optimization is used to optimize turbine performance. Twist angle, aspect ratio, and overlap ratio are all important factors in determining the optimal torque and power coefficients. Data-driven objective functions were modeled using the group method of data handling (GMDH). Using an evolutionary Pareto-based optimization approach, polynomial models were used to plot Pareto fronts and TOPSIS to calculate optimal commercial points. The torque coefficient, rotational speed, and power coefficient are all improved by 13.74%, 0.071%, and 5.32%, respectively. As a result of the multi-objective optimization of the turbine, some significant characteristics of objective functions were discovered.
Research trends in testosterone deficiency and management: A bibliometric analysis approach to quality improvement in urology resident education
Authors: Mahmoud Rami H , Cardoso Osmay , Colombo Alyssa , Constantinescu David , Deebel Nicholas A
Published: December 2023

Introduction:

Previous work has demonstrated a deficiency in urology resident education when it comes to andrology and male infertility. We analyzed the top 100 most frequently cited and influential articles published on testosterone deficiency and its associated therapy, allowing trainees and clinicians to review and understand the characteristics of impactful literature for self-directed learning purposes.

Methods:

The ISI Web of Knowledge database was used to find articles on testosterone deficiency, hypogonadism, and replacement therapies. Relevant, peer-reviewed, English articles were included. Article details, including title, citation count, publication year, and more, were gathered. Articles were classified based on content (e.g. clinical outcomes, anatomy, and trends) using defined criteria.

Results:

The top 300 most cited were reviewed with 100 included. The most cited article had 774 citations, averaging 234 in the top 100. Publication years had peaks in 2003–2004 and 2006–2007. The US led in publications (56), followed by England (16), Germany (14), and Italy (13). Common affiliations included US Department of Veteran Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, RIC Research Education Clinical Center, and University of California System. Articles were categorized as LOE 2 (47), LOE 1 (22), and LOE 5 (21). Articles focused on clinical outcomes (71.7%), anatomy/biomechanics/physiology (14.1%), clinical guidelines (8.1%), and screening (4%). The “ Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism” published 26 of the top 100 cited articles.

Conclusions:

This analysis highlights influential articles regarding testosterone deficiency and management. The discussed articles have significant clinical and therapeutic implications for the practicing urologist which may bolster deficits in current resident education.