bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Earnings myopia and private equity takeovers
Authors: Hribar Paul , Kravet Todd , Krupa Trent
Published: June 2024

We examine the role of private equity in alleviating earnings myopia induced by public markets. We first construct a measure of earnings myopia and show that this measure varies as predicted with determinants and effects of myopia. Then we show that public firms exhibiting earnings myopia realize an increased likelihood of takeover by private equity buyers. Cross-sectional analyses indicate that this relation is strongest when costs of earnings myopia are likely higher. Following private equity takeovers, firms exhibiting greater measures of earnings myopia realize improvements to R&D investment and productivity. The results add to the understanding of the role of private equity in identifying and alleviating earnings myopia within U.S. capital markets. This is important given the increasing size of private equity assets under management. Takeover premiums paid for myopic firms suggest a cost of earnings myopia at approximately 6.9% of firm value.
Government procurement contracts, external audit certification, and financing of small- and medium-sized enterprises
Authors: Kinyua Kelvin Mugambi , Changwony Frederick Kibon , Campbell Kevin
Published: June 2024

Entrepreneurs worldwide often face obstacles in financing their businesses, hindering their ability to grow. Government procurement offers an opportunity to access lucrative contracts and benefit from a procurement auditing process that could enhance access to finance. Likewise, externally audited financial statements can enhance credibility and lessen financing hurdles. We examine whether government procurement contracts and external audit certifications jointly influence financing access and whether ownership, size, and firm age matter. We find that access to finance is more likely to be an obstacle to the operations of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with government procurement contracts than those without such contracts, regardless of whether they seek external audit certification. Additionally, the effect of external audit certification on the likelihood of access to finance being an obstacle to SME operations reduces sharply with foreign ownership, size, and age for SMEs involved in government procurement. We also find that the impact of government procurement contracts reverses for SMEs in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Our findings have policy implications, especially with the growing implementation of affirmative action programs to promote the involvement of SMEs in government procurement.
Comparison of datasets citation coverage in Google Scholar, Web of Science, Scopus, Crossref, and DataCite
Authors: Gerasimov Irina , KC Binita , Mehrabian Armin , Acker James , McGuire Michael P.
Published: June 2024

The rapid increase of Earth science data from remote sensing, models, and ground-based observations highlights an urgent need for effective data management practices. Data repositories track provenance and usage metrics which are crucial for ensuring data integrity and scientific reproducibility. Although the introduction of Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for datasets in the late 1990s has significantly aided in crediting creators and enhancing dataset discoverability (akin to traditional research citations), considerable challenges persist in establishing linkage of datasets used with scholarly documents. This study evaluates the citation coverage of datasets from NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) across several major bibliographic sources ‒ namely Google Scholar (GS), Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, Crossref, and DataCite—which helps data managers in making informed decisions when selecting bibliographic sources. We provide a robust and comprehensive understanding of the citation landscape, crucial for advancing data management practices and advancing open science. Our study searched and analyzed temporal trends across the bibliographic sources for publications that cite approximately 11,000 DOIs associated with EOSDIS datasets, yielding 17,000 unique journal and conference articles, reports, and book records linked to 3,000 dataset DOIs. GS emerged as the most comprehensive source while Crossref lagged significantly behind the other major sources. Crossref’s record references revealed that the absence of dataset DOIs and shortcomings in the Crossref Event data interface likely contributed to its underperformance. Scopus initially outperformed WoS until 2020, after which WoS began to show superior performance. Overall, our study underscores the necessity of utilizing multiple bibliographic sources for citation analysis, particularly for exploring dataset-to-document connections.
Gender and the h-index in epidemiology
Authors: Horney Jennifer A. , Bitunguramye Adam , Shaukat Shazia , White Zackery
Published: June 2024

Gender-Based differences in h-indices across fields, including psychology, social work, and the biomedical sciences have been reported. These differences are persistent across all faculty ranks, including assistant, associate, and full professors, but may be larger for early career and senior faculty. Even with these known biases, the h-index remains a widely used metric of the productivity and impact of research scientists and university faculty. Recently, several studies have drawn attention to the potential for a widening gender gap in academic metrics given the ways in which gendered roles, and thus research productivity, were inequitably impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We describe the association between gender and h-index among a sample of tenured faculty from epidemiology departments in Schools and Programs of Public Health. Gender explained 1.2% of the variance in h-indices; after adjustment for professional age, gender explained only 0.1% of the variance. There was also crossover interaction for professional age and gender, with women having lower h-indices in early career yet overtaking males later. If h-indices are utilized as metrics for promotion and tenure, or as criteria for appointments to leadership or other roles, gender bias will continue to limit early- and mid-career women’s inclusion and advancement.
Exploring in vitro oryzalin-induced polyploidy in Astragalus membranaceus: implications for gene expression
Authors: Šenkyřík Josef Baltazar , Navrátilová Božena , Fišerová Barbora , Kobrlová Lucie , Ondřej Vladan
Published: June 2024

This study investigates the effects of artificial in vitro polyploidisation of Astragalus membranaceus, focusing specifically on gene expression and metabolic pathway associated with the biosynthesis of calycosin and calycosin-7-O-β-D-glucoside. Using oryzalin as an antimitotic agent, we have systematically investigated different genotypic lines, under both in vitro and ex vitro conditions. Amid cases of reduced gene expression in certain lines, results showed a significant upregulation in specific lines, particularly in genotypes 16, 54, and 74. Genotype 54 showed an exceptional response, manifesting a statistically significant upregulation in all investigated genes studied under in vitro conditions (i.e. AmPAL, AmC4H and AmI3′H). Interestingly, even under ex vitro conditions after two years of greenhouse cultivation, certain lines showed significant variations in gene expression. The genotype 16, although no longer tetraploid, exhibited the highest expression levels among the examined genotypes, with statistically significant upregulation of both the AmPAL and AmC4H genes. In addition, the induced autotetraploid genotype 74 showed a significant upregulation of the AmI3′H gene and a concomitant downregulation of the AmC4H gene. These results highlight the complex regulatory mechanisms affected by the polyploidisation of A. membranaceus and provide promising avenues for manipulating gene expression to enhance the production of pharmacologically significant compounds.

Key message

This study investigates the effects of artificial polyploidisation on gene expression of Astragalus membranaceus, suggesting diverse regulatory influences for potential plant bioactive compound production.
Minimizing cache usage with fixed-priority and earliest deadline first scheduling
Authors: Sun Binqi , Kloda Tomasz , Garcia Sergio Arribas , Gracioli Giovani , Caccamo Marco
Published: June 2024

Cache partitioning is a technique to reduce interference among tasks running on the processors with shared caches. To make this technique effective, cache segments should be allocated to tasks that will benefit the most from having their data and instructions stored in the cache. The requests for cached data and instructions can be retrieved faster from the cache memory instead of fetching them from the main memory, thereby reducing overall execution time. The existing partitioning schemes for real-time systems divide the available cache among the tasks to guarantee their schedulability as the sole and primary optimization criterion. However, it is also preferable, particularly in systems with power constraints or mixed criticalities where low- and high-criticality workloads are executing alongside, to reduce the total cache usage for real-time tasks. Cache minimization as part of design space exploration can also help in achieving optimal system performance and resource utilization in embedded systems. In this paper, we develop optimization algorithms for cache partitioning that, besides ensuring schedulability, also minimize cache usage. We consider both preemptive and non-preemptive scheduling policies on single-processor systems with fixed- and dynamic-priority scheduling algorithms (Rate Monotonic (RM) and Earliest Deadline First (EDF), respectively). For preemptive scheduling, we formulate the problem as an integer quadratically constrained program and propose an efficient heuristic achieving near-optimal solutions. For non-preemptive scheduling, we combine linear and binary search techniques with different fixed-priority schedulability tests and Quick Processor-demand Analysis (QPA) for EDF. Our experiments based on synthetic task sets with parameters from real-world embedded applications show that the proposed heuristic: (i) achieves an average optimality gap of 0.79% within 0.1× run time of a mathematical programming solver and (ii) reduces average cache usage by 39.15% compared to existing cache partitioning approaches. Besides, we find that for large task sets with high utilization, non-preemptive scheduling can use less cache than preemptive to guarantee schedulability.
When large language models meet personalization: perspectives of challenges and opportunities
Authors: Chen Jin , Liu Zheng , Huang Xu , Wu Chenwang , Liu Qi , Jiang Gangwei , Pu Yuanhao , Lei Yuxuan , Chen Xiaolong , Wang Xingmei , Zheng Kai , Lian Defu , Chen Enhong
Published: June 2024

The advent of large language models marks a revolutionary breakthrough in artificial intelligence. With the unprecedented scale of training and model parameters, the capability of large language models has been dramatically improved, leading to human-like performances in understanding, language synthesizing, common-sense reasoning, etc. Such a major leap forward in general AI capacity will fundamentally change the pattern of how personalization is conducted. For one thing, it will reform the way of interaction between humans and personalization systems. Instead of being a passive medium of information filtering, like conventional recommender systems and search engines, large language models present the foundation for active user engagement. On top of such a new foundation, users’ requests can be proactively explored, and users’ required information can be delivered in a natural, interactable, and explainable way. For another thing, it will also considerably expand the scope of personalization, making it grow from the sole function of collecting personalized information to the compound function of providing personalized services. By leveraging large language models as a general-purpose interface, the personalization systems may compile user’s requests into plans, calls the functions of external tools (e.g., search engines, calculators, service APIs, etc.) to execute the plans, and integrate the tools’ outputs to complete the end-to-end personalization tasks. Today, large language models are still being rapidly developed, whereas the application in personalization is largely unexplored. Therefore, we consider it to be right the time to review the challenges in personalization and the opportunities to address them with large language models. In particular, we dedicate this perspective paper to the discussion of the following aspects: the development and challenges for the existing personalization system, the newly emerged capabilities of large language models, and the potential ways of making use of large language models for personalization.
Barriers and Unmet Educational Needs Regarding Implementation of Medication Adherence Management Across Europe: Insights from COST Action ENABLE
Authors: Hafez Gaye , Aarnio Emma , Mucherino Sara , Kamusheva Maria , Qvarnström Miriam , Potočnjak Ines , Trečiokiene Indre , Mihajlović Jovan , Ekenberg Marie , van Boven Job F. M. , Leiva-Fernández Francisca ,   European Network to Advance Best Practices Technology on Medication AdherencE (ENABLE)
Published: June 2024

Background

Medication adherence is essential for the achievement of therapeutic goals. Yet, the World Health Organization estimates that 50% of patients are nonadherent to medication and this has been associated with 125 billion euros and 200,000 deaths in Europe annually.

Objective

This study aimed to unravel barriers and unmet training needs regarding medication adherence management across Europe.

Design

A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online survey. The final survey contained 19 close-ended questions.

Participants

The survey content was informed by 140 global medication adherence experts from clinical, academic, governmental, and patient associations. The final survey targeted healthcare professionals (HCPs) across 39 European countries.

Main Measures

Our measures were barriers and unmet training needs for the management of medication adherence across Europe.

Key Results

In total, 2875 HCPs (pharmacists, 40%; physicians, 37%; nurses, 17%) from 37 countries participated. The largest barriers to adequate medication adherence management were lack of patient awareness (66%), lack of HCP time (44%), lack of electronic solutions (e.g., access to integrated databases and uniformity of data available) (42%), and lack of collaboration and communication between HCPs (41%). Almost all HCPs pointed out the need for educational training on medication adherence management.

Conclusions

These findings highlight the importance of addressing medication adherence barriers at different levels, from patient awareness to health system technology and to fostering collaboration between HCPs. To optimize patient and economic outcomes from prescribed medication, prerequisites include adequate HCP training as well as further development of digital solutions and shared health data infrastructures across Europe.
NOx Prediction of Supersonic Coherent Jets for Electric Arc Steelmaking Furnace
Authors: Pandey Gopal , Brooks Geoffrey , Naser Jamal , Liang Daniel
Published: June 2024

Supersonic coherent jets are widely in practice in steelmaking processes including electric arc furnaces (EAF). Injecting oxygen through such coherent jets plays a vital role in enhancing the liquid gas mixing and reaction rates leading to boosting energy efficiency. Several experiments and numerical simulations have been carried out to understand the physical phenomenon of the coherent jets and to predict the behavior of the jets. However, the research on pollutant formation in the coherent jets for steelmaking is limited. As the industry transitions toward reducing emissions, prediction of pollutant formation is crucial. This numerical study analyzes both methane shrouding coherent jets and hydrogen shrouding coherent jets and predicts the NOx (oxides of nitrogen) formation. It has been found that NO concentration dominates over N2O and NO2 and has the highest concentration around the jet. Although the NO concentration reaches as high as 1070 ppm at high-temperature region around the jet, it remains below 225 ppm along the fuel inlet axis. Also, it has found that the NOx concentrations increase along the radial direction up to $$1.5{\text{De}}$$

1.5
De

from the jet central line and gradually decreases, whereas the NO concentration peaks at $$15{\text{D}}_{{\text{e}}}$$

15

D
e

along the jet axis in the downstream direction.
Blusher mushroom (Amanita rubescens Pers.): A Study of Mercury Content in Substrate and Mushroom Samples from Slovakia with Respect to Locality and Developmental Stages
Authors: Demková Lenka , Šnirc Marek , Jančo Ivona , Harangozo Ľuboš , Hauptvogl Martin , Bobuľská Lenka , Kunca Vladimír , Árvay Július
Published: June 2024

The edible mushroom Amanita rubescens Pers., regularly collected and consumed in Slovakia, was assessed for health risk due to the mercury content in its fruiting body parts. For this purpose, 364 both from the soil/substrate and mushroom samples from 40 localities in Slovakia were evaluated. At the same time, 21 samples of 7 developmental stages of the fruiting body of A. rubescens were taken in the Žakýlske pleso locality. The total mercury content in the soil and mushroom samples was determined using an AMA-254 analyzer. The contamination factor (Cf) and index of geoaccumulation (Igeo) were used to detect the level of soil pollution by mercury. The ability of A. rubescens to accumulate mercury from the soil environment was evaluated using the bioconcentration factor (BCF), and the distribution of mercury in the mushroom body was evaluated using the translocation quotient (Qc/s). To determine the health risks resulting from mushroom consumption, the percentages of provisional tolerable weekly intake (%PTWI) and target hazard quotient (THQ) were used. The obtained results have confirmed serious content of mercury soil pollution, especially in former mining areas, where the situation is alarming from a health risk point of view. Consumption of A. rubescens was found to be risky, not only in former mining areas, but higher values of mercury were also detected in other parts of Slovakia. Evaluation of the developmental stages of the fruiting body of A. rubescens showed that the highest bioconcentration factor was determined at developmental stage no. VI for caps with a value of 2.47 mg kg−1 and developmental stage VII for stipes with a value of 1.65 mg kg−1 DW.
Neonatal Cardiac Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Promote Recovery of Infarcted Myocardium through CD44 Mediated FoxP3+ T-Regulatory Cells after Vascular Infusion
Authors: Saha Progyaparamita , Guru Sameer Ahmad , Ge Zhi-Dong , Simms Lydia , Chen Ling , Bolli Roberto , Kaushal Sunjay
Published: June 2024

Intravenous infusion has been used as the method of cell delivery in many preclinical studies as well as in some early clinical trials. Among its advantages are broad distribution, ability to handle a large-volume infusion, and ease of access. Progenitor cells used in cell-based therapy act through their secretomes, rather than their ability to differentiate into lineage-specific cell type. Since not all progenitor cells have similar secretome potency, the innate abilities of the secretome of cells used in clinical trials will obviously dictate their effectiveness. We previously found that cardiac neonatal mesenchymal stromal cells (nMSCs) are more effective in repairing the infarcted myocardium compared to adult mesenchymal stromal cells (aMSCs) due to their robust secretome (Sharma et al Circulation Research 120:816–834, 2017). In this study, we explored the efficacy of intravenous (IV) delivery of nMSCs for myocardial recovery. Six-week-old male Brown Norway rats underwent acute MI by ligation of the left anterior descending artery, followed by IV infusion of cell dose 5 × 106 nMSCs/rat body weight (kg) or saline on days 0 and 5. We found that cardiac parameters in the rodent ischemia model improved 1 month after nMSCs infusion, and the result is comparable with the intramyocardial injection of nMSCs. Tracking the infused cells in target organ revealed that their movement after IV delivery was mediated by the cell surface receptor CD44. Systemic injection of nMSCs stimulated immunomodulatory responses specifically by increasing FoxP3+ T-regulatory cell influenced anti-inflammatory macrophages (M2) in heart. These data demonstrate that nMSCs promote immunogenic tolerance via CD44-driven T-reg/M2 stimulation that helps nMSCs for longer viability in the injured myocardium for better functional recovery. Our data also demonstrate a rationale for a clinical trial of IV infusion of nMSCs to promote cardiac function improvement in the ischemic patients.

Graphical Abstract
Activation of lncRNA DANCR by H3K27 acetylation regulates proliferation of colorectal cancer cells
Authors: Han Yue , Shan Ti-Dong , Huang Hai-Tao , Song Ming-Quan , Chen Li , Li Qian
Published: June 2024

The long noncoding DANCR functions as a tumor oncogene in many cancers, including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the molecular mechanism of DANCR in CRC has not been explored. This study probed the function and potential mechanism by which DANCR contributes to the progression of CRC. The obtained data indicated that DANCR is overexpressed in CRC tissues and cell lines. Knockdown of DANCR hindered CRC cell proliferation, which was mediated by cyclin D1 and CDK4. Bioinformatic analysis, luciferase reporter assays and subcellular fractionation verified that DANCR directly binds to miR-508-5p. Moreover, DANCR acts as a miR-508-5p ceRNA to regulate expression of ATF1. In addition, upregulation of DANCR is attributed to H3K27 acetylation at the promoter region. In conclusion, our study confirmed that activation of lncRNA DANCR by H3K27 acetylation has an oncogenic role in CRC progression and provides a potential therapeutic target for CRC.
Determination of the amount of oxygen required for each function in the bacterial cell during phenol biodegradation in wastewater: a unique concept
Authors: Lotfy Hesham R.
Published: June 2024

The goal of this study is to provide more in-depth study into the biodegradation of phenol and to determine the amount of oxygen required for each function in the bacterial cell which is fundamental in understanding of cell metabolism and biology. The total amount of oxygen consumed by bacteria is determined using manometric technique. In the biodegradation of phenol (less than 150 mg/L) the oxygen consumed up to the plateau (the stage associated with the termination of carbon) is found to be composed of three portions, one is used to directly oxidize portion of the substrate to produce energy to allow normal cell functions to sustain life which is estimated to be 50% of the plateau BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), the second portion is to oxidize energy storage intermediate (most probably carbon mono oxide, CO, is oxidized to CO2) to release energy which is then used to power reproduction which is estimated to be 41.75% of the plateau BOD, third portion is incorporated into the produced new cells which is estimated to be 8.25% of the plateau BOD. The correlation coefficient between the initial phenol concentration and the ultimate BOD values is found to be r = 0.9999. This value of correlation coefficient, r, may indicate that microbes are, in a way, estimating the amount of food available and they grow and reproduce accordingly. This article provides a better understanding of cell metabolism and biology. This understanding of cell metabolism may offer better understanding of human cells. The results of this research paves the way for a similar research on human cells where abnormal oxygen uptake may assist in early prediction of cells dysfunction and diseases and may help in early taking the necessary precautions to avoid illness.
ProxMetrics: modular proxemic similarity toolkit to generate domain-adaptable indicators from social media
Authors: Masson Maxime , Roose Philippe , Sallaberry Christian , Bessagnet Marie-Noelle , Le Parc Lacayrelle Annig , Agerri Rodrigo
Published: June 2024

In this paper, we introduce ProxMetrics, a novel toolkit designed to evaluate similarity among social media entities through proxemic dimensions. Proxemics is the science that studies the organization of space and the effects of distances on behavior and interactions. It encompasses 5 core dimensions: Distance, Identity, Location, Movement, and Orientation. Adapting the principles of traditional physical proxemics to the digital world of social media, we present a method and a modular similarity function to determine proxemic similarity scores across heterogeneous social media entities (users, groups, places, themes and times) based on these dimensions. The approach used is intended to be modular and generic, ensuring adaptability across various application domains and requirements. The calculated scores act as indicators and offer valuable insights for stakeholders, aligning with distinct domain requirements. Empirical testing in the tourism domain highlights the toolkit’s extensive applicability across a variety of requirements.
The effect of friction block hole configurations on the brake tribological performance of high-speed trains
Authors: Wu Yuanke , Chen Wei , Zhu Youguang , Xiang Zaiyu , Qian Honghua , Mo Jiliang , Zhou Zhongrong
Published: June 2024

Three triangular friction block configurations are commonly employed in high-speed train brake systems, namely, unperforated, perforated configuration with one circular hole, and perforated with three circular holes. In this study, we adopted these friction block types to investigate the effect of perforated friction block configurations on the brake performance of high-speed trains based on a self-developed brake test rig. The results indicate the significant impact of the number of the holes on the wear behavior, temperature distribution, and vibration characteristics of the brake interface. The friction surface of the unperforated block is covered by wear debris, while the perforated blocks produce less wear debris. Furthermore, the one-hole block exhibits a more uniform temperature distribution and better vibration behavior than that with three holes. The friction brake is a dynamic process, during which separation and attachment between the pad and disc alternatively occur, and the perforated structure on the friction block can both trap and expel the wear debris.
Boundary controllability for a 1D degenerate parabolic equation with drift, a singular potential, and a Neumann boundary condition
Authors: Galo-Mendoza Leandro , López-García Marcos
Published: June 2024

We prove the null controllability of a one-dimensional degenerate parabolic equation with drift and a singular potential. Here, we consider a weighted Neumann boundary control at the left endpoint, where the potential arises. We use a spectral decomposition of a suitable operator, defined in a weighted Sobolev space, and the moment method by Fattorini and Russell to obtain an upper estimate of the cost of controllability. We also obtain a lower estimate of the cost of controllability using a representation theorem for analytic functions of exponential type.
May and Bay: Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Southeast Asia — Using Digital Games in Preventative Education
Authors: Reeves Emerita Jane , Jones Stephanie E. , Kosaraju Aravinda , Shemmings David , Rigby Paul , Scharf Kristen , Soutar Emma
Published: June 2024

This article follows the journey of creating a digital preventative education programme for combating online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA) and child sex trafficking in Thailand and Cambodia. Created and rolled out over 2 years as part of the End Violence Against Children (EVAC) grant during the COVID-19 global pandemic, this article sets out how the programme was designed, with direct input from children and professionals, and underpinned by human rights and contextual safeguarding principles. It outlines how collaborative approaches between children, academia, expert NGO’s, and professionals have resulted in a thought-provoking digital programme (May and Bay) that sensitively tackles sexual grooming and promotes child safeguarding. The article highlights how the game focuses on the interplay between children’s choices online and the environmental constraints they face, with the lead characters May (aged 11) and Bay (aged 13) making ‘risky’ and ‘safe’ choices against interacting aspects of their social and digital environments. The game supports the development of digital competence among children and professionals by promoting awareness of online harms emanating from the interplay of technology with children’s micro, meso, and macro environments against a range of people whose interaction with them may be ‘safe’ or ‘unsafe’. It recognises children, peers, parents, carers, professionals responsible for safeguarding, media, legislators, and local non-governmental and international aid organisations as potential ‘attractors’ or ‘agents within the system’ whose combined efforts can change how child safeguarding systems respond.
Empathisches Textverstehen und Transportation von Grundschulkindern in Abhängigkeit von ihren Eingangsvoraussetzungen, motivationalen Merkmalen und Formen der Textpräsentation
Authors: Heyne Nora , Hermann Hanna
Published: June 2024

Lesekompetenz zu vermitteln, einschließlich der Fähigkeiten zum empathischen Textverstehen, denen für die Förderung von Lesemotivation, Lesegewohnheiten und somit von Lesefähigkeiten eine große Bedeutung zugeschrieben wird, zählt zu den zentralen Bildungszielen der Grundschule. Zu dem Stand der Fähigkeiten im empathischen Textverstehen von Grundschulkindern, ihrer Verknüpfung mit motivationalen Merkmalen und Möglichkeiten ihrer Förderung ist bislang wenig bekannt. Daher stehen in der Studie Fragen zum empathischen Textverstehen und der Transportation von Grundschulkindern sowie zu ihren Zusammenhängen mit den motivationalen Merkmalen der Kinder (Lesemotivation, Lesegewohnheiten, Leseumfang zum Vergnügen) im Mittelpunkt. Zudem wird untersucht, inwiefern sich diese Fähigkeiten in Abhängigkeit von den Eingangsvoraussetzungen der Kinder (Klassenstufe, Geschlecht, Sprachhintergrund) sowie Formen der Textpräsentation (mit versus ohne Illustrationen) unterscheiden. Dazu wurden Grundschulkinder (N = 105; Klassenstufe 3 und 4) in einer quasi-experimentellen Studie zu ihren demographischen und motivationalen Merkmalen sowie zu einer Geschichte befragt, die zuvor mit oder ohne Illustrationen in einer Lesung präsentiert wurde. Die Ergebnisse liefern einen Einblick zu den Fähigkeiten in der Transportation und im empathischen Textverstehen von Grundschulkindern. Sie zeigen, dass diese überwiegend mit den motivationalen Schülermerkmalen positiv korrelieren und in Abhängigkeit von der Klassenstufe der Kinder unterschiedlich ausfallen. Zudem werfen die Befunde Fragen nach möglichen Einflussfaktoren, wie dem emotionsbezogenen Vorwissen, und zugrundeliegenden Prozessen der untersuchten Fähigkeiten auf. Diese in zukünftigen Studien näher zu untersuchen, lässt tiefere Erkenntnisse über die Fähigkeiten beim Verstehen literarischer Texte und ihre Bedeutung für die Entwicklung von Lesemotivation und Lesekompetenz erwarten, die schließlich weitere Ansatzpunkte für die Leseförderung im Grundschulalter bieten können.
Measuring the Institutional Capacity of Older Volunteer Organizations in Japan: Comparative Study with the United States
Authors: Chen Li-Mei , Boulos Olivia
Published: June 2024

Volunteerism as a civic engagement activity for older adults has grown considerably around the world as countries face population aging and prolonged longevity. The ability to recruit older adults from diverse backgrounds and sustain their activities are some of the challenges facing a super-aging society like Japan. Whether Japanese volunteer organizations have the institutional capacity for the recruitment and retention of their older adults is not known. This study tests the measures of institutional capacity of older volunteer organizations developed in the United States and contextualizes the findings from Japan by drawing a comparative perspective with a study conducted in the United States. The findings show a nuanced development of the institutional capacity of older volunteer organizations in Japan by history, culture, and policies, and provide valuable insights and lessons that transcend borders.
Characterization of urinary metabolites associated with malaria infection using infra-red spectroscopy and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry in South Western Uganda
Authors: Birungi Grace , Achar Joan Beryl , Byamugisha Denis
Published: June 2024

Early malaria diagnosis improves outcomes during malaria treatment; routine diagnostic techniques rely on blood samples obtained invasively. Therefore, this study used infra-red (IR) spectroscopy coupled with Principle Component Analysis (PCA) to study the urinary profile of malaria patients and that of controls aimed at understanding metabolite perturbation during malaria infection so as to contribute towards development of non-invasive malaria diagnosis methods. Freeze dried human urine samples form malaria infected individuals (cases) and controls were screened in the IR region of 4000 cm−1 to 600 cm−1 and overall spectral differences were observed at wave numbers 1618 cm−1, 1679 cm−1 (amino acids). Peaks at 3030 cm−1 (NH4+) and 940 cm−1 (O–H of carboxylic acids) showed high absorbance in patients compared to controls. Liquid-chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was used to quantify amino acids in the urine samples and the results indicated a significant increase of amino acid cystine (P = 0.012). Lysine and tyrosine also increased in patients compared to controls. The use of IR-PCA differentiated clusters of urine samples from patients with malaria from control and the demonstrated amino acid perturbation is consistent with malaria infection. This data provides baseline information for application in development of a non-invasive diagnostic tests for malaria.
Understanding How British Pakistani Women Speak About Resilience Through the Lens of the Resilience Portfolio Model
Authors: Ajayi Chinyere Elsie
Published: June 2024

The aim of this study was to gain an in-depth understanding of the way British Pakistani women speak about resilience during the COVID-19 adversity. It draws upon in-depth narrative interviews with 13 British Pakistani women, aged between 38 and 69. The analysis is grounded in the Resilience Portfolio Model developed by Grych and colleagues. The Resilience Portfolio Model proposes that each individual has a unique “portfolio” of strengths and protective factors which consists of “assets” (regulatory strengths, interpersonal strengths, and meaning-making strengths) and resources available to individuals. Just like many people across the globe, women were impacted by the pandemic in different ways; nevertheless, they maintained resilience through regulatory behaviours of walking and enjoying nature, engaging in praying, and reading the Quran. Women invested in positive relationships that supported the development of social capital within their community and allowed them to connect with others in meaningful and reciprocal ways. Their religious beliefs and identity not only were key in their ability to make sense of the pandemic but also promoted a sense of belonging which enabled them to engage with their community resources. Findings show that women’s assets worked in tandem with their resources to promote their overall wellbeing during the COVID-19 adversity. This highlights the need for practitioners to combine individual “strengths” and community resources when developing preventative and responsive interventions for ethnic minority women who have experienced adversity and for policy initiatives to consider recreational resources that help to minimise isolation in ethnic minority communities.
Optimizing Crowd Counting in Dense Environments Through Curriculum Learning Training Strategy
Authors: Fotia Lidia , Percannella Gennaro , Saggese Alessia , Vento Mario
Published: June 2024

Counting individuals in highly crowded environments, characterized by thousands of people, has garnered significant attention in recent years, due to the high number of vertical markets wherein such algorithms can prove beneficial, ranging from smart city and transportation to retail sectors, among others. Within this context, in this paper we introduce a novel training methodology tailored for estimating the number of people, ensuring precise counting accuracy in both moderately and highly crowded scenarios. The proposed approach exploits a formulation of the problem based on point detection, where each point represents an individual’s head. Our innovative contributions center around the designing of a novel training strategy employing Curriculum Learning (CL), which aims to replicate the gradual learning process observed in human cognition, training on simpler tasks at the beginning and tackling more complex tasks as the training evolves. In order to evaluate the complexity of each sample image, we propose a novel indicator taking into account both the number of people and their distribution within the image. The experimentation phase encompassed 18 publicly available datasets; the obtained results validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, surpassing the baseline state-of-the-art point detection by 71% and 70% in terms of Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Mean Squared Error (MSE), respectively
Pufferfish gasdermin Ea is a significant player in the defense against bacterial pathogens
Authors: Xu Hang , Qin Kunpeng , Hao Kangwei , Yuan Zihao , Sun Li
Published: June 2024

Gasdermins (GSDMs) are proteins cleaved by caspase (CASP) to trigger pyroptosis. In teleosts, pyroptosis is mediated by gasdermin E (GSDME). The Pufferfish, Takifugu rubripes, possesses two GSDME orthologs: named TrGSDMEa and TrGSDMEb. TrGSDMEa is cleaved by CASP3/7 to liberate the N-terminal (NT) domain that can trigger pyroptosis in mammalian cells. However, the biological function of TrGSDMEa in pufferfish is unknown, and TrGSDMEb is poorly studied. We found that TrGSDMEb was cleaved by CASP1/3/6/7/8, but the resulting NT domain, despite its similarity to TrGSDMEa-NT domain in sequence and structure, failed to induce pyroptosis. TrGSDMEa and TrGSDMEb exhibited similar expression patterns in pufferfish under normal physiological conditions but were up- and downregulated, respectively, in expression during Vibrio harveyi and Edwardsiella tarda infection. Bacterial infection induced the activation of TrGSDMEa and CASP3/7 in pufferfish cells, resulting in pyroptosis accompanied with IL-1β production and maturation. Inhibition of TrGSDMEa-mediated pyroptosis via TrCASP3/7 reduced the death of pufferfish cells and augmented bacterial dissemination in fish tissues. Structure-oriented mutagenesis identified 16 conserved residues in teleost GSDMEa that were required for the pore formation or auto-inhibition of GSDMEa. This study illustrates the role of GSDMEa-mediated pyroptosis in teleost defense against bacterial pathogens and provides new insights into the structure-based function of vertebrate GSDME.
Interactions between metabotropic glutamate and CB1 receptors: implications for mood, cognition, and synaptic signaling based on data from mGluR and CB1R-targeting drugs
Authors: Stachowicz Katarzyna
Published: June 2024

Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are part of the G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) family. They are coupled to Gαq (group I) or Gi/o (groups II and III) proteins, which result in the generation of diacylglycerol (DAG) and inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate (IP3) or the inhibition of adenylyl cyclase, respectively. mGluRs have been implicated in anxiety, depression, learning, and synaptic plasticity. Similarly, CB1 cannabinoid receptors (CB1Rs), also GPCRs, play roles in cognitive function and mood regulation through Gαi/o–mediated inhibition of adenylyl cyclase. Both mGluRs and CB1Rs exhibit surface labeling and undergo endocytosis. Given the similar cellular distribution and mechanisms of action, this review complies with fundamental data on the potential interactions and mutual regulation of mGluRs and CB1Rs in the context of depression, anxiety, and cognition, providing pioneering insights into their interplay.
Efficient machine learning model for settlement prediction of large diameter helical pile in c—Φ soil
Authors: Shuman Nur Mohammad , Khan Mohammad Sadik , Amini Farshad
Published: June 2024

Machine learning is frequently used in various geotechnical applications nowadays. This study presents a statistics and machine learning model for settlement prediction of helical piles that relates compressive service load and soil parameters as a group with the pile parameters. Machine learning algorithms such as Decision Trees, Random Forests, AdaBoost, and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) were used to develop the predictive models. The models were validated using cross-validation techniques and tested on an independent dataset to assess their accuracy and generalizability. Numerical investigation is used here to supplement the field data by simulating various soil conditions and pile geometries that have not been tested in the field. This study compiled numerical results of 3600 models. As the models are well-calibrated and validated, the data from these models can be reasonably assumed to simulate the ground situation. At the end of this study, a comparative analysis of statistic learning and machine learning (ML) was done using the field axial load tests database and numerical investigation on helical piles. It is observed that ML models like Decision Trees and Random Forests provided the better model with R-squared values of 0.92 and 0.96, respectively, for large diameters. The authors believe this study will permit engineers and state agencies to understand this prediction model's efficacy better, resulting in a more resilient approach to designing large-diameter helical piles for the compressive load.
Circular Economy Matrix Guiding Manufacturing Industry Companies towards Circularity—A Multiple Case Study Perspective
Authors: Saari Leila , Valkokari Katri , Martins Jorge Tiago , Acerbi Federica
Published: June 2024

Manufacturing companies struggle with overwhelming expectations, disruptions and trends sweeping over their business environment. The evident climate change, together with rising sustainable development goals, is forcing companies to discover their environmental impact, in addition to the more familiar economic one. The transformation from a linear economy to a circular economy (CE) reduces waste and improves resource efficiency through the deployed R-cycles, such as recycle, reuse and repair. This transformation is feasible for multinational enterprises because they can allocate sufficient resources for their strategic development goals. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SME), any additional investment must be carefully assessed and planned. Thus, SMEs need support and tools to select their next development investments. Generally, maturity models help companies find their status (compared to others) and identify the most important development areas and actions. This paper presents the CE maturity matrix, which comprises five maturity levels mapped with seven linear manufacturing value chain phases. The matrix was piloted with nine manufacturing industry companies, four of which were from Finland, one from Italy, one from Germany and three from Ireland. The CE matrix interview results showed that none of the interviewed manufacturing industry companies remained at the linearity level. The most common levels varied between systemic material management and CE thinking. In the interviews, over 40 CE actions were identified as the argument for a company reaching a CE maturity level. The transition towards sustainable manufacturing has already started but will require efforts to accelerate and to engage companies to proceed.
CACA guidelines for holistic integrative management of anticancer treatment - induced cutaneous adverse events
Authors: Zhu Guannan , Shi Qiong , Cai Tao , Gu Dongcheng , Zhou Hang , Wang Lu , Liu Fang , Wang Ping , Xiong Jianxia , Huang Yujing , Li Chunying , Gao Tianwen ,   Committee of Melanoma Society, China Anti-Cancer Association
Published: June 2024

Purpose

The skin and mucous membrane of cancer patients can be directly or indirectly impaired during the treatment of cancers, bringing about not physical but also psychological damages to cancer patients. A practical guideline is of great significance to improve the quality of life for patients suffered from cutaneous adverse events.

Methods

This guideline was generated based on up-to-date evidence and the consensus of experts specialized in dermatology.

Results

The current guideline include the baseline screening of skin and mucosal membranes, the manifestations of injuries on skin, mucosa and appendages, along with the treatment of them. The causal anti-tumor management include chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immune therapy and surgery.

Conclusion

This guideline can be helpful to reduce the risk of cutaneous adverse events during anti-cancer treatment and improve the quality of life of patients suffered from these adverse events.
Performance evaluation and multivariate analysis of maize accessions against drought stress in Lamjung district, Nepal
Authors: Poudel Rashmi , Kandel Bishnu Prasad , Poudel Ankur , Tripathi Anubhav , Gurung Reema , Ghimire Unisha
Published: June 2024

The selection of drought-tolerant genotypes from the existing gene pool is a preliminary step for breeding for drought tolerance. Research efforts aimed at exploring the ability of crops to withstand drought stress have not yet touched the realm of reproductive drought performance of local genotypes. To examine how local crop accessions demonstrate varying reproductive performance under drought conditions, twenty accessions of maize (Zea mays L.) were evaluated for six quantitative traits in a two-factor factorial completely randomized design with two replications between February to June of 2023. All the traits under study showed significant differences among the genotypes (p < 0.05). Owing to their grain yield, ear weight, and hundred grain weight, accessions NGRC05592, NGRC05582, NGRC05564, NGRC05565, NGRC05571, and NGRC05569 performed better under drought condition than other tested accessions. Accession NGRC05592 showed the highest yield under drought condition, whereas, NGRC05573 and NGRC05576 showed poor performance. GGE Biplot analysis for grain yield revealed that NGRC05571 and NGRC05592 had the highest mean yield, with the accession NGRC05592 standing out as the stable variety under changing soil moisture levels and performing best among all the tested accessions under drought condition. The possibility of accession NGRC05592 being used as a potential genetic resource for drought breeding programs has been observed, but further studies aiming at its stability under field conditions in diverse agro-climatic regions across different years are encouraged to assure its prospect for developing cultivars suited to drought-affected regions.