bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Informational Masking in Aging and Brain-lesioned Individuals
Authors: Farahbod Haleh , Rogalsky Corianne , Keator Lynsey M. , Cai Julia , Pillay Sara B. , Turner Katie , LaCroix Arianna , Fridriksson Julius , Binder Jeffrey R. , Middlebrooks John C. , Hickok Gregory , Saberi Kourosh
Published: December 2022

Auditory stream segregation and informational masking were investigated in brain-lesioned individuals, age-matched controls with no neurological disease, and young college-age students. A psychophysical paradigm known as rhythmic masking release (RMR) was used to examine the ability of participants to identify a change in the rhythmic sequence of 20-ms Gaussian noise bursts presented through headphones and filtered through generalized head-related transfer functions to produce the percept of an externalized auditory image (i.e., a 3D virtual reality sound). The target rhythm was temporally interleaved with a masker sequence comprising similar noise bursts in a manner that resulted in a uniform sequence with no information remaining about the target rhythm when the target and masker were presented from the same location (an impossible task). Spatially separating the target and masker sequences allowed participants to determine if there was a change in the target rhythm midway during its presentation. RMR thresholds were defined as the minimum spatial separation between target and masker sequences that resulted in 70.7% correct-performance level in a single-interval 2-alternative forced-choice adaptive tracking procedure. The main findings were (1) significantly higher RMR thresholds for individuals with brain lesions (especially those with damage to parietal areas) and (2) a left–right spatial asymmetry in performance for lesion (but not control) participants. These findings contribute to a better understanding of spatiotemporal relations in informational masking and the neural bases of auditory scene analysis.
Real-world clinical outcomes of treatment with molnupiravir for patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 during the Omicron variant pandemic
Authors: Suzuki Yasuhito , Shibata Yoko , Minemura Hiroyuki , Nikaido Takefumi , Tanino Yoshinori , Fukuhara Atsuro , Kanno Ryuzo , Saito Hiroyuki , Suzuki Shuzo , Inokoshi Yayoi , Sando Eiichiro , Sakuma Hirofumi , Kobayashi Tatsuho , Kume Hiroaki , Kamimoto Masahiro , Aoki Hideko , Takama Akira , Iizuka Taku , Kamiyama Takamichi , Nakayama Masaru , Saito Kiyoshi , Tanigawa Koichi , Sato Masahiko , Waragai Yuichi , Kambe Toshiyuki , Kanzaki Norio , Azuma Teruhisa , Okamoto Hiromasa , Sakamoto Keiji , Nakamura Yuichi , Ohtani Hiroshi , Waragai Mitsuru , Maeda Shinsaku , Ishida Tokiya , Sugino Keishi , Abe Wataru , Tsukada Yasuhiko , Lee Tomoyoshi , Yamada Ryuki , Sato Riko , Onuma Takumi , Tomita Hikaru , Saito Mikako , Watanabe Natsumi , Rikimaru Mami , Kawamata Takaya , Morimoto Julia , Togawa Ryuichi , Sato Yuki , Saito Junpei , Kanazawa Kenya , Hamaguchi Sugihiro , Iseki Ken
Published: December 2022

It is unclear whether molnupiravir has a beneficial effect on vaccinated patients infected with the Omicron variant of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We here evaluated the efficacy of molnupiravir in patients with mild-to-moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) during the Omicron variant surge in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. We enrolled patients with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 who were admitted to hospitals between January and April, 2022. Clinical deterioration after admission was compared between molnupiravir users (n = 230) and non-users (n  = 690) after 1:3 propensity score matching. Additionally, we performed forward stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis to evaluate the association between clinical deterioration after admission and molnupiravir treatment in the 1:3 propensity score-matched subjects. The characteristics of participants in both groups were balanced as indicated by covariates with a standardized mean difference of < 0.1. Regarding comorbidities, there was no imbalance between the two groups, except for the presence of hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes mellitus, and cardiac disease. The clinical deterioration rate was significantly lower in the molnupiravir users compared to the non-users (3.90% vs 8.40%; P = 0.034). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that receiving molnupiravir was a factor for preventing deterioration (odds ratio 0.448; 95% confidence interval 0.206–0.973; P = 0.042), independent of other covariates. This real-world study demonstrates that molnupiravir contributes to the prevention of deterioration in COVID-19 patients after hospitalization during the Omicron variant phase.
Automaton-based comparison of Declare process models
Authors: Schützenmeier Nicolai , Käppel Martin , Ackermann Lars , Jablonski Stefan , Petter Sebastian
Published: December 2022

The Declare process modeling language has been established within the research community for modeling so-called flexible processes. Declare follows the declarative modeling paradigm and therefore guarantees flexible process execution. For several reasons, declarative process models turned out to be hard to read and comprehend. Thus, it is also hard to decide whether two process models are equal with respect to their semantic meaning, whether one model is completely contained in another one or how far two models overlap. In this paper, we follow an automaton-based approach by transforming Declare process models into finite state automatons and applying automata theory for solving this issue.
Interruptible Nodes: Reducing Queueing Costs in Irregular Streaming Dataflow Applications on Wide-SIMD Architectures
Authors: Timcheck Stephen , Buhler Jeremy
Published: December 2022

Streaming dataflow applications are an attractive target to parallelize on wide-SIMD processors such as GPUs. These applications can be expressed as a pipeline of compute nodes connected by edges, which feed outputs from one node to the next. Streaming applications often exhibit irregular dataflow, where the amount of output produced for one input is unknown a priori. Inserting finite queues between pipeline nodes can ameliorate the impact of irregularity and improve SIMD lane occupancy. The sizing of these queues is driven by both performance and safety considerations- relative queue sizes should be chosen to reduce runtime overhead and maximize throughput, but each node’s output queue must be large enough to accommodate the maximum number of outputs produced by one SIMD vector of inputs to the node. When safety and performance considerations conflict, the application may incur excessive memory usage and runtime overhead. In this work, we identify properties of applications that lead to such undesirable behaviors, with examples from applications implemented in our MERCATOR framework for irregular streaming on GPUs. To address these issues, we propose extensions to support interruptible nodes that can be suspended mid-execution if their output queues fill. We illustrate the impacts of adding interruptible nodes to the MERCATOR framework on representative irregular streaming applications from the domains of branching search and bioinformatics.
Strategic Directions in Preventive Intervention Research to Advance Health Equity
Authors: Boyd Rhonda C. , Castro Felipe González , Finigan-Carr Nadine , Okamoto Scott K. , Barlow Allison , Kim Bo-Kyung Elizabeth , Lambert Sharon , Lloyd Jacqueline , Zhang Xinzhi , Barksdale Crystal L. , Crowley Daniel M. , Maldonado-Molina Mildred , Obasi Ezemenari M. , Kenney Anne
Published: December 2022

As commissioned by the Society for Prevention Research, this paper describes and illustrates strategic approaches for reducing health inequities and advancing health equity when adopting an equity-focused approach for applying prevention science evidence-based theory, methodologies, and practices. We introduce an ecosystemic framework as a guide for analyzing, designing, and planning innovative equity-focused evidence-based preventive interventions designed to attain intended health equity outcomes. To advance this process, we introduce a health equity statement for conducting integrative analyses of ecosystemic framework pathways, by describing the role of social determinants, mechanisms, and interventions as factors directly linked to specific health equity outcomes. As background, we present health equity constructs, theories, and research evidence which can inform the design and development of equity-focused intervention approaches. We also describe multi-level interventions that when coordinated can produce synergistic intervention effects across macro, meso, and micro ecological levels. Under this approach, we encourage prevention and implementation scientists to apply and extend these strategic directions in future research to increase our evidence-based knowledge and theory building. A general goal is to apply prevention science knowledge to design, widely disseminate, and implement culturally grounded interventions that incrementally attain specific HE outcomes and an intended HE goal. We conclude with recommendations for conducting equity-focused prevention science research, interventions, and training.
BCV bentonite hydromechanical behaviour and modelling
Authors: Svoboda Jiří , Mašín David , Najser Jan , Vašíček Radek , Hanusová Irena , Hausmannová Lucie
Published: December 2022

It is assumed that clay materials such as bentonites will be used as the buffer and backfill of high-level radioactive waste disposal. Due to the very long timescale, the design can be based only on mathematical models that have been thoroughly validated via the use of high-quality laboratory data. The presentation of an extensive laboratory dataset, accompanied by the validation of a bentonite constitutive model, comprises the main topic of this paper. The objectives of the laboratory research were to determine the basic hydromechanical properties of BCV bentonite and to study the stress path behaviour of this bentonite. The laboratory results revealed that the hydromechanical behaviour is highly dependent on the stress path assumed, as well as the method of water introduction into the sample. The results further indicate that the micro- and macrostructures are constantly evolving, which exerts a significant impact on the determination of the material properties and the development of mathematical models. Moreover, it was demonstrated that swelling pressure tests, although they are typically considered to be element tests (with constant fields of state variables), when adopted by researchers for the calibration of constitutive models, do not in fact constitute element tests. A hypoplastic model of the behaviour of bentonite was implemented and validated using the experimental data obtained. It was demonstrated that the hypoplastic model accurately predicted the main behavioural features of bentonite that are important in terms of the prediction of the behaviour of the buffer in nuclear waste repositories.
Work Addiction and Its Relation with Dark Personality Traits: A Cross-sectional Study with Private Sector Employees
Authors: Kızıloğlu Mehmet , Kircaburun Kagan , Özsoy Emrah , Griffiths Mark D.
Published: December 2022

Personality traits have been extensively studied to understand different behavioral addictions. However, less is known about the relationship of employees’ dark personality traits and work addiction. The purpose of the present study was to examine the associations between the Big Five personality traits (i.e., extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness) and dark personality traits (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, sadism, and spitefulness) with work addiction. A total of 514 private sector employees completed a survey that included psychometric assessment tools for the aforementioned variables. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that lower extroversion, lower openness to experience, higher narcissism, and higher spitefulness were positively associated with work addiction among private sector employees. The findings of the present study suggest that dark personality traits should also be taken into account in order to better understand work addiction among employees.
Kreative Methoden in der Online-Supervision
Authors: Wendt Janette
Published: December 2022

Der Artikel liefert Einblicke in das Erfahrungswissen und methodische Vorgehen von online tätigen Supervisor:innen, deren Expertise vor allem die kreativen Zugänge sind. Hierfür wurden Interviews mit Expert:innen zu folgender Fragestellung geführt: Wie gestalten online tätige Kolleg:innen den videobasierten Supervisionsprozess mittels kreativer, handlungsorientierter und erlebnisaktivierender Methoden? Was sind Gelingensbedingungen supervisorischer Prozesse in diesem methodischen Segment? Der Fokus richtet sich auf die Anwendung verschiedener Beratungsmethoden. Ziel ist es, interessierten Kolleg:innen Anregungen für die Gestaltung eigener Online-Supervisionen zu bieten. Es zeigte sich, dass ganzheitliches Arbeiten auch im virtuellen Raum möglich ist.
Data-driven development of the nationwide hip fracture registry in the Netherlands
Authors: Würdemann Franka S. , Voeten Stijn C. , Wilschut Janneke A. , Schipper Inger B. , Hegeman Johannes H.
Published: December 2022

Summary

Additional variables for a nationwide hip fracture registry must be carefully chosen to prevent unnecessary registry load. A registry pilot in seven hospitals resulted in recommending polypharmacy, serum hemoglobin at admittance, and questions screening for risk of delirium to be used in case-mix correction and for development of quality indicators.

Purpose

Clinical registries help improve the quality of care but come at the cost of registration load. Datasets should therefore be as compact as possible; however, variables are usually chosen empirically. This study aims to evaluate potential variables with additional value to improve the nationwide Dutch Hip Fracture Audit (DHFA).

Methods

An expert panel selected eleven new variables for the DHFA, which were tested in a prospective cohort of all hip fracture patients treated in 2018 and 2019 in seven pilot hospitals participating in the DHFA. The association of these eleven variables with complications, mortality, and functional outcomes at 3 months was analyzed using multivariable logistic regression analysis. Based on the results, a proposal for variables to add to the dataset of the DHFA was made.

Results

In 4.904 analyzed patients, three tested variables had significant associations (p < 0.01) with outcomes: polypharmacy with complications (aOR 1.34), serum hemoglobin at admittance with complications (aOR 0.63) and mortality (aOR for 30-day mortality 0.78), and a set of questions screening for risk of delirium with complications in general (aOR 1.55), e.g., delirium (aOR 2.98), and decreased functional scores at three months (aOR 1.98).

Conclusion

This study assesses potential new variables for a hip fracture registry. Based on the results of this study, we recommend polypharmacy, serum hemoglobin at admittance, and questions screening for risk of delirium to be used in case-mix correction and for the development of quality indicators. Incorporating these variables in the DHFA dataset may contribute to better and clinically relevant quality indicators.
Sensitive and effective electrochemical determination of butenafine in the presence of itraconazole using titanium nanoparticles-ionic liquid based nanocomposite sensor
Authors: Mohamed Mona A. , Salama Nahla N. , Sultan Maha A. , Manie Hadeer F. , El-Alamin Maha M. Abou
Published: December 2022

The evaluation of the bioavailability of topically applied medications that act inside or under the skin is a challenging task. Herein, the current study describes a simple, quick, and low-cost electrochemical platform for determining butenafine hydrochloride (BTH) that is mainly prescribed as a treatment of dermatophytosis, applying titanium nanoparticles and an ionic liquid as outstanding mediators. In terms of low detection limits (61.63 nM) and extensive range of 2.21 × 10–7–13.46 × 10–5 M, the established electrochemical technique provided worthy analytical performance for butenafine hydrochloride sensing. The suggested sensor's practical applicability was effectively demonstrated in pharmaceutical preparations, actual stratum corneum samples, and simultaneous detection of butenafine hydrochloride and Itraconazole in pharmaceutical preparation for the first time. All of the experimental factors, like the pH and scan rate, have been investigated and optimized. Diffusion coefficients of butenafine hydrochloride at bare and modified sensors were calculated.
Spermatozoa, acts as an external cue and alters the cargo and production of the extracellular vesicles derived from oviductal epithelial cells in vitro
Authors: Reshi Qurat Ul Ain , Godakumara Kasun , Ord James , Dissanayake Keerthie , Hasan Mohammad Mehedi , Andronowska Aneta , Heath Paul , Fazeli Alireza
Published: December 2022

The oviduct provides optimum physiological and biochemical milieu essential for successful fertilization, early embryo development and facilitates functional maturation of spermatozoa.
A study has revealed that spermatozoa alters the gene expression in bovine oviductal epithelial cells (BOECs) remotely via bio-active particles, thus acting as a cue to the oviduct prior to their arrival. However, very little attention has been paid to the question of whether spermatozoa could alter the cargo of extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from BOECs. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the alterations in small non-coding RNAs in EVs cargo derived from BOECs when incubated with spermatozoa in contact and non-contact co-culture models. After 4 h of incubation the EVs were isolated from the conditioned media, followed by small non-coding sequencing of the BOEC derived EVs. Our results revealed that EVs from both co-culture models contained distinct cargo in form of miRNA, fragmented mRNA versus control. The pathway enrichment analysis revealed that EV miRNA from direct co-culture were involved in the biological processes associated with phagocytosis, macroautophagy, placenta development, cellular responses to TNF and FGF. The mRNA fragments also varied within the different groups and mapped to the exonic regions of the transcriptome providing vital insights regarding the changes in cellular transcriptome on the arrival of spermatozoa. The findings of this study suggest that spermatozoa, in contact as well as remotely, alter the EV cargo of female reproductive tract epithelial cells which might be playing an essential role in pre and post-fertilization events.

Graphical abstract
The Pathology of Primary Familial Brain Calcification: Implications for Treatment
Authors: Xu Xuan , Sun Hao , Luo Junyu , Cheng Xuewen , Lv Wenqi , Luo Wei , Chen Wan-Jin , Xiong Zhi-Qi , Liu Jing-Yu
Published: December 2022

Primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder mainly characterized by progressive calcium deposition bilaterally in the brain, accompanied by various symptoms, such as dystonia, ataxia, parkinsonism, dementia, depression, headaches, and epilepsy. Currently, the etiology of PFBC is largely unknown, and no specific prevention or treatment is available. During the past 10 years, six causative genes (SLC20A2,PDGFRB,PDGFB,XPR1,MYORG, andJAM2) have been identified in PFBC. In this review, considering mechanistic studies of these genes at the cellular level and in animals, we summarize the pathogenesis and potential preventive and therapeutic strategies for PFBC patients. Our systematic analysis suggests a classification for PFBC genetic etiology based on several characteristics, provides a summary of the known composition of brain calcification, and identifies some potential therapeutic targets for PFBC.
Effects of magnetized municipal effluent on some physical properties of soil in furrow irrigation
Authors: Ramesh Amin , Ostad-Ali-Askari Kaveh
Published: December 2022

Due to the water crisis, effluent reuse is an effective method in order to supply crop water requirements. In order to study the impact of treated and magnetic effluent on the soil properties, this research was conducted in randomized complete block design with three irrigation treatments; including "effluent", "magnetic effluent" and "normal water" in four replications. Soil samples were taken from two surface and subsurface soil layers and at the upper and the downstream of each furrow. Evaluating the apparent specific gravity of soil in different water quality treatments showed that this soil property was increased effectively at the upstream part of the furrow. Similar results were also observed in the field capacity but more fluctuations were observed. Simultaneously, effluent treatment showed decreasing effects on soil water holding capacity during the time, which can be attributed to the increasing of soil organic matters. It seems that the high fluctuations between different design blocks are related to the gravelly nature of soil. However, intensification or weakening effect of these changes was not even found by magnetic.
Diversification improves the performance of cereals in European cropping systems
Authors: Reckling Moritz , Albertsson Johannes , Vermue Anthony , Carlsson Georg , Watson Christine A. , Justes Eric , Bergkvist Göran , Jensen Erik Steen , Topp Cairistiona F. E.
Published: December 2022

In the face of climate change, cropping systems need to achieve a high performance, providing food and feed and adapting to variable environmental conditions. Diversification of cropping systems can support ecosystem services and associated biodiversity, but there is little evidence on which temporal field arrangement affects the performance of crop yields (productivity and stability), partly due to a lack of long-term data and appropriate indicators. The objectives of this study were to quantify the effect of cropping system diversification on yield stability, environmental adaptability, and the probability of diversified systems to outperform less diverse cereal-based systems in Europe. Spring and winter cereal yields were analyzed from long-term field experiments from Sweden, Scotland, and France. We investigated diversification through (i) introduction of perennial leys, (ii) increasing the proportion of ley in the rotation, (iii) varying the order in which crops are positioned in the rotation, (iv) introduction of grain legumes, and (v) introduction of cover crops. The results showed that cereal crops within cropping systems incorporating perennial leys outperformed systems without leys in 60–94% of the comparisons with higher probabilities at low fertilizer intensities. The yield stability of oat did not differ, but mean yields were 33% higher, when grown directly after the ley compared to oat grown two years later in the crop sequence under similar management. Durum wheat grown in a cropping system with grain legumes had higher yields in lower-yielding environmental conditions compared to rotations without legumes. Diversification with cover crops did not significantly affect yield stability. We conclude that diverse cropping systems can increase cereal productivity and environmental adaptability and are more likely to outperform less diverse systems especially when introducing perennial forage legumes into arable systems. Effects of diversification on cereal yield stability were inconsistent indicating that higher productivity is achievable without reducing yield variability. These novel findings can support the design of more diverse and high-performing cropping systems.
Modification of waste sugarcane bagasse fly ash for CO2 capture application
Authors: Sukkathanyawat Hussanai , Bampenrat Akarasingh , Jarunglumlert Teeraya , Prommuak Chattip
Published: December 2022

CO2 capture is a promising approach to aid in the mitigation of the global environmental crisis caused by greenhouse gas emissions. The efficiency of adsorbents is critical to the success of this approach. Sugarcane bagasse fly ash (SBA) was used in this study as a support to increase the CO2 adsorption capacity of CaO. The physical and chemical characteristics of SBA treated with various reagents (HCl, H3PO4, CH3COOH, NaOH, NH3, and H2O2) were investigated. The CaO was then loaded at 10–50 wt% on the support surface, and the modified adsorbent was tested for its potential to adsorb CO2. According to the results of the experiments, the acidic reagent increased the surface area of SBA, whereas the base reagents provided SBA with a higher pore volume and a larger pore size. The different surface characteristics of the modified SBA had a direct impact on its CO2 adsorption capacity. The adsorbent with NaOH-pretreated SBA and 50% CaO loading had the highest CO2 adsorption capacity, which was 27% higher than that of unsupported CaO due to the decent distribution of CaO found on the NaOH-treated SBA surface. For a better understanding, a graphical model was finally proposed to describe the aforementioned changes in surface characteristics and adhesion of CaO on the SBA support. These findings show that SBA, a valueless bagasse-incinerating waste material, can be used as a support to increase the CO2 adsorption capacity of adsorbents, transforming it into a more valuable and environmentally sustainable material.

Graphical abstract
Health Resource Utilisation and Disparities: an Ecological Study of Admission Patterns Across Ethnicity in England Between 2017 and 2020
Authors: Toal C. M. , Fowler A. J. , Pearse R. M. , Puthucheary Z. , Prowle J. R. , Wan Y. I.
Published: December 2022

Background and Aim

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted adverse outcomes in Asian, Black, and ethnic minority groups. More research is required to explore underlying ethnic health inequalities. In this study, we aim to examine pre-COVID ethnic inequalities more generally through healthcare utilisation to contextualise underlying inequalities that were present before the pandemic.

Design

This was an ecological study exploring all admissions to NHS hospitals in England from 2017 to 2020.

Methods

The primary outcomes were admission rates within ethnic groups. Secondary outcomes included age-specific and age-standardised admission rates. Sub-analysis of admission rates across an index of multiple deprivation (IMD) deciles was also performed to contextualise the impact of socioeconomic differences amongst ethnic categories. Results were presented as a relative ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals.

Results

Age-standardised admission rates were higher in Asian (RR 1.40 [1.38–1.41] in 2019) and Black (RR 1.37 [1.37–1.38]) and lower in Mixed groups (RR 0.91 [0.90–0.91]) relative to White. There was significant missingness or misassignment of ethnicity in NHS admissions: with 11.7% of admissions having an unknown/not-stated ethnicity assignment and ‘other’ ethnicity being significantly over-represented. Admission rates did not mirror the degree of deprivation across all ethnic categories.

Conclusions

This study shows Black and Asian ethnic groups have higher admission rates compared to White across all age groups and when standardised for age. There is evidence of incomplete and misidentification of ethnicity assignment in NHS admission records, which may introduce bias to work on these datasets. Differences in admission rates across individual ethnic categories cannot solely be explained by socioeconomic status. Further work is needed to identify ethnicity-specific factors of these inequalities to allow targeted interventions at the local level.
Lived Experiences of Mental Health Recovery in Persons of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Backgrounds within the Australian Context
Authors: Levy-Fenner E. , Colucci E. , McDonough S.
Published: December 2022

Lived experience research related to mental health recovery is advancing, but there remains a lack of narrative material from the perspectives of people from under-represented, non-dominant cultural backgrounds in this domain. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of mental health recovery in people of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in the Australian context. The current study involved a secondary analysis of audio and visual data collected during the digital storytelling project Finding our way in Melbourne, Australia. Thematic analysis was used to understand the lived experience narratives of nine participants in relation to mental health recovery. Five themes were identified through an iterative process of analysis, including Newfound opportunities and care, Family as key motivators and facilitators, Coping and generativity, Cultivating self-understanding and resilience, and Empowerment through social engagement. First person lived experience narratives offer deep insight into understanding the ways in which individuals of marginalised communities conceptualise and embody recovery. These findings further the literature and understanding on how to better serve the needs of people with mental health challenges from CALD communities through informed knowledge of what may be helpful to, and meaningful in, individuals’ recoveries.
An efficient privacy-preserving point-of-interest recommendation model based on local differential privacy
Authors: Xu Chonghuan , Mei Xinyao , Liu Dongsheng , Zhao Kaidi , Ding Austin Shijun
Published: December 2022

With the rapid development of point-of-interest (POI) recommendation services, how to utilize the multiple types of users’ information safely and effectively for a better recommendation is challenging. To solve the problems of imperfect privacy-preserving mechanism and insufficient response-ability to complex contexts, this paper proposes a hybrid POI recommendation model based on local differential privacy (LDP). Firstly, we introduce randomized response techniques k-RR and RAPPOR to disturb users’ ratings and social relationships, respectively and propose a virtual check-in time generation method to deal with the issue of missing check-in time after disturbance. Secondly, for simultaneously combining multiple types of information, we construct a hybrid model containing three sub-models. Sub-model 1 considers the effect of user preference, social relationship, forgetting feature, and check-in trajectory on similarity calculation. Sub-model 2 analyzes the geographical correlation of POIs. Sub-model 3 focuses on the categories of POIs. Finally, we generate the recommendation results. To test the performance of privacy-preserving and recommendation, we design three groups of experiments on three real-world datasets for comprehensive verifying. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms existing methods. Theoretically, our study contributes to the effective and safe usage of multidimensional data science and analytics for privacy-preserving POI recommender system design. Practically, our findings can be used to improve the quality of POI recommendation services.
Josephe Maria Asteron. Kleists koloniale Heilsgeschichte
Authors: Schuster Jana
Published: December 2022

Mit Blick auf biblische, politische und literarische Intertexte (Las Casas, Shakespeare, Marino/Brockes, Schiller) zum ideologischen Zusammenhang von Geschlecht, Gewalt, Herrschaft und Heil liest der Beitrag Kleists Erdbeben in Chili als subversive Passions- und Heilsgeschichte, deren marianische Matrix die koloniale Toponymie Chiles vorgibt: St. Jago nach dem ersten Marienseher Sankt Jakobus, La Concepción nach der unbefleckten Empfängnis Mariens und das im Text namentlich nicht genannte, aber in Szene gesetzte Valparaíso im trügerischen utopischen Zeichen der Heiligen und der Menschheitsfamilie. Ausgehend von diesem toponomastischen Inspirationskern wird der Versuch unternommen, den kolonialen Schauplatz beim Wort zu nehmen und die soziale und politische Gemengelage um Hauslehrerliebe, Strafverfolgung, Erdbeben, Gemeinschaftsutopie und Lynchmord vor dem Hintergrund der chilenischen Kolonialgeschichte schärfer zu konturieren. Protagonistin dieser anderen Heilsgeschichte, die Kleist in ein spezifisch kolonialherrschaftliches Machtgerangel von Erzbischof, Vizekönig, örtlichem Adel und spanischem Bürgertum versetzt und nach ikonographischen Vorbildern inszeniert, ist Josephe Asteron, die als Novizin den Leib Christi in einem Kind der Sünde inkarniert, als femina sacra nach dem Erdbeben zur heilsträchtigen Stillmutter avanciert und als sexuell begehrenswerte Frau einem Massaker der Beherrschten zum Opfer fällt, das die kolonialherrschaftliche Gewalt im Sinne René Girards mimetisch verkehrt, ohne deren ideologischen Horizont, die christliche Eschatologie, zu durchbrechen. Kleists Novelle wird noch in der radikalen Subversion des christlichen Heilsversprechens von dessen persuasiver Kraft befeuert.
Differential plant response to toxins and elicitor proteins released by the potato and tomato pathogens Alternaria solani and Alternaria alternata
Authors: Jones Richard W. , Perez Frances
Published: December 2022

Early blight of potato and tomato, caused principally by Alternaria solani, results in extensive damage to foliar tissues. Symptoms are seen as expanding necrotic lesions. Lesions are sometimes surrounded by a halo of chlorotic tissue, however the basis for presence or absence of the distinctive halo have not been determined. To dissect the basis for lesion development a series of Alternaria-associated toxins and potential elicitor proteins were tested in potato and tobacco. Infiltration of leaves demonstrated that, while most of the pure toxins did not have a visible effect, two anthraquinones, bostrycin and altersolanon A, elicited a strong necrosis-mediated response. Extracts of solid and liquid cultures of A. solani yielded anthraquinones that also elicited a necrotic response. Two potential elicitor proteins were identified and cloned from the potato brown spot and early blight pathogens Alternaria alternata and A. solani, respectively. Agrobacterium-mediated infiltration and expression of the A. alternata xyloglucanase cel12-A and A. solani Hrip1 revealed that cel12-A had no apparent effect, whereas Hrip1 induced expanding tissue death and development of chlorotic halos. Development of chlorotic halos was dependent on leaf age, with older leaves exhibiting halos. It is proposed that specific toxin and elicitor production, in conjunction with tissue susceptibility mediate the outcomes of early blight symptoms.
Association of Coenzyme Q10 with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency
Authors: Ma Linjuan , Li Xiaojun , Li Chunming , Chen Peiqiong , Lan Yibing , Huang Yizhou , Xu Wenxian , Zhou Jianhong
Published: December 2022

The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between levels of coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) and the risk of premature ovarian insufficiency (POI). In this cross-sectional case–control study, 32 women with POI and 58 women with normal menstrual cycles were recruited. The serum levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH), CoQ10 and total cholesterol were measured. The association of CoQ10 with POI was assessed using binary logistic regression analysis. The CoQ10/total cholesterol ratio was significantly lower in the women with POI than in the women with normal menstrual cycles (120.94 ± 25.35 nmol/mmol vs 138.97 ± 39.19 nmol/mmol, P = 0.021). The serum CoQ10/total cholesterol ratio was inversely associated with POI (the unadjusted odds ratio (OR) = 0.984, 95% CI: 0.970–0.998, P = 0.027). The same trend was found after adjusting for confounding factors (such as age, body mass index, annual household income and education) (OR = 0.976, 95% CI: 0.956–0.996, P = 0.020). The serum CoQ10/total cholesterol ratio was inversely associated with POI, indicating that antioxidant deficiency may be a risk associated with the development of POI. CoQ10 may be a protective factor for ovarian tissue.
Ultrasound detection using a thermal-assisted microcavity Raman laser
Authors: Meng Jia-Wei , Zhang Pei-Ji , Tang Shui-Jing , Xiao Yun-Feng
Published: December 2022

Optical microcavities have emerged as promising platforms for ultrasound detection. One of the main tendencies in recent studies is to develop high-Q microresonators for ultrasensitive ultrasound detection, while the nonlinear optical effects become significant but are generally neglected. Here, we propose a thermal-assisted microcavity Raman laser for ultrasound detection. Acoustic waves modulate the resonant frequency of the cavity mode, altering the coupled efficiency of a fixed-wavelength input laser, and therefore the output Raman power. Experimentally, the noise equivalent pressure reaches as low as 8.1 Pa at 120 kHz in air. Besides, it is found that the thermal effect involved in high-Q microcavities can compensate for the low-frequency noises, while without degrading their sensitivity to high-frequency acoustic waves above hundreds of kilohertz. Therefore, it enables long-standing stability during the measurements due to the natural resistance to laser frequency drifts and environmental disturbances, which holds great potential in practical applications of ultrasound sensing and imaging.
Spin-orbital-angular-momentum-coupled quantum gases
Authors: Peng Shi-Guo , Jiang Kaijun , Chen Xiao-Long , Chen Ke-Ji , Zou Peng , He Lianyi
Published: December 2022

We briefly review the recent progress of theories and experiments on spin-orbital-angular-momentum (SOAM)-coupled quantum gases. The coupling between the intrinsic degree of freedom of particles and their external orbital motions widely exists in the universe and leads to a broad variety of fundamental phenomena in both classical physics and quantum mechanics. The recent realization of synthetic SOAM coupling in cold atoms has attracted a great deal of attention and stimulated a large amount of considerations on exotic quantum phases in both Bose and Fermi gases. In this review, we present a basic idea of engineering SOAM coupling in neutral atoms, starting from a semiclassical description of atom-light interaction. Unique features of single-particle physics in the presence of SOAM coupling are discussed. The intriguing ground-state quantum phases of weakly interacting Bose gases are introduced, with emphasis on a so-called angular stripe phase, which has not yet been observed at present. It is demonstrated how to generate a stable giant vortex in a SOAM-coupled Fermi superfluid. We also discuss the topological characters of a Fermi superfluid in the presence of SOAM coupling. We then introduce the experimental achievement of SOAM coupling in $$^{87}$$

87

Rb Bose gases and its first observation of phase transitions. The most recent development of SOAM-coupled Bose gases in experiments is also summarized. Regarding the controllability of ultracold quantum gases, it opens a new era, from the quantum simulation point of view, to study the fundamental physics resulting from SOAM coupling as well as newly emergent quantum phases.
Analysis of the X(3960) and related tetraquark molecular states via the QCD sum rules
Authors: Xin Qi , Wang Zhi-Gang , Yang Xiao-Song
Published: December 2022

In this work, we study the $$D\bar{D}$$

D

D

¯

, DD, $$D\bar{D}_s$$

D

D

¯

s

, $$DD_s$$

D

D
s

, $$D_s\bar{D}_s$$

D
s

D

¯

s

and $$D_sD_s$$

D
s

D
s

tetraquark molecular states with the $$J^{PC}=0^{++}$$

J

PC

=

0

+
+

via the QCD sum rules. The prediction $$M_{D_s\bar{D}_s} = 3.98\pm 0.10\, \text {GeV}$$

M

D
s

D

¯

s

=
3.98
±
0.10

GeV

is in very good agreement with the experimental value $$M_{X(3960)} = 3956 \pm 5\pm 10 \,\text {MeV}$$

M

X
(
3960
)

=
3956
±
5
±
10

MeV

from the LHCb collaboration and supports assigning the X(3960) as the $$D_s^+D_s^-$$

D
s
+

D
s
-

molecular state with the $$J^{PC}=0^{++}$$

J

PC

=

0

+
+

. We take account of our previous works on the four-quark states consisting of two color-neutral clusters and acquire the mass spectrum of the ground state hidden-charm and doubly-charm tetraquark molecular states.
Using quantum computing to solve the maximal covering location problem
Authors: Giraldo-Quintero Alejandro , Lalinde-Pulido Juan G. , Duque Juan C. , Sierra-Sosa Daniel
Published: December 2022

In this article, we present the process and results of using quantum computing (QC) to solve the maximal covering location problem proposed by Church and ReVelle. With this contribution, we seek to lay the foundations for other urban and regional scientists to begin to consider quantum technologies. We obtained promising results, but it is clear that there is a need for more capable devices with more qubits and less susceptibility to electronic noise to solve instances that currently cannot be optimally solved by traditional solvers. We foresee that QC will be of common use in urban and regional science and its applications in the years to come.
A framework for evaluating security risk in system design
Authors: Wortman Paul A. , Chandy John A.
Published: December 2022

Design and development of ubiquitous computer network systems has become increasingly difficult as technology continues to grow. From the introduction of new technologies to the discovery of existing threats, weaknesses, and vulnerabilities there is a constantly changing landscape of potential risks and rewards. The cyber security community, and industry at large, is learning to account for these increasing threats by including protections and mitigations from the beginning of the design V process. However, issues still come from limitations in time for thoroughly exploring a potential design space and the knowledge base required to easily account for potential vulnerabilities in each. To address this problem we propose the G-T-S framework, which is an automated tool that allows a user to provide a set of inputs relating to the desired design space and returns a monetary security risk evaluation of each. This methodology first generates a series of potential designs, then dissects their contents to associate possible vulnerabilities to device elements, and finally evaluates the security risk poised to a central asset of importance. We exemplify the tools, provide methodologies for required background research, and discuss the results in evaluating a series of IoT Home models using the GTS framework. Through implementation of our framework we simplify the information an individual will require to begin the design process, lower the bar for entry to perform evaluating security risk, and present the risk as an easily understood monetary metric.
Plant responses to UV-B radiation: signaling, acclimation and stress tolerance
Authors: Chen Zhiren , Dong Yuan , Huang Xi
Published: December 2022

Ultraviolet-B (UV-B) light is an intrinsic part of sunlight that reaches the earth’s surface, and affects plant survival and adaptation. How plants respond to UV-B light is regulated by the wavelength, intensity and duration of UV-B radiation, and is also regulated by photosynthetically active radiation perceived by phytochrome and cryptochrome photoreceptors. Non-damaging UV-B light promotes plant photomorphogenesis and UV-B acclimation which enhances plant tolerance against UV-B stress. However, high-level UV-B radiation induces DNA damage, generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) and impairs photosynthesis. Plants have evolved efficient mechanisms to utilize informational UV-B signal, and protect themselves from UV-B stress. UV RESISTANCE LOCUS8 (UVR8) is a conserved plant-specific UV-B photoreceptor. It interacts with CONSTITUTIVELY PHOTOMORPHOGENIC1 (COP1) to initiate UV-B-specific light signaling and regulate UV-B responsive gene expression. A set of transcription factors such as ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL5 (HY5) function downstream of the UVR8-COP1 module to promote seedling de-etiolation for photomorphogenic development and biosynthesis of sunscreen flavonoids for UV-B stress tolerance. In addition to UVR8 signaling pathways, plants subjected to damaging UV-B radiation initiate stress protection and repair mechanisms through UVR8-independent pathways. In this review, we summarize the emerging mechanisms underlying UV-B stress acclimation and protection in plants, primarily revealed in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana.
Healthy Food Recommendation Using a Time-Aware Community Detection Approach and Reliability Measurement
Authors: Ahmadian Sajad , Rostami Mehrdad , Jalali Seyed Mohammad Jafar , Oussalah Mourad , Farrahi Vahid
Published: December 2022

Food recommendation systems have been increasingly developed in online food services to make recommendations to users according to their previous diets. Although unhealthy diets may cause challenging diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and premature heart diseases, most of the developed food recommendation systems neglect considering health factors in their recommendation process. This emphasizes the importance of the reliability of the recommendation from the health content perspective. This paper proposes a new food recommendation system based on health-aware reliability measurement. In particular, we develop a time-aware community detection approach that groups users into disjoint sets and utilizes the identified communities as the nearest neighbors set in rating prediction. Then, a novel reliability measurement is introduced by considering both the health and accuracy criteria of predictions to evaluate the reliability of predicted ratings. Also, the unreliable predictions are recalculated by removing ineffective users from the nearest neighbors set. Finally, the recalculated predictions are utilized to generate a list of foods as recommendations. Different experiments on a crawled dataset demonstrate that the proposed method enhances the performance around 7.63%, 6.97%, 7.37%, 15.09%, and 16.17% based on precision, recall, F1, normalized discounted cumulative gain (NDCG), and health metrics, respectively, compared to the second-best model.
Geo-fence planning for dockless bike-sharing systems: a GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis framework
Authors: Mangold Max , Zhao Pengxiang , Haitao He , Mansourian Ali
Published: December 2022

The inappropriate parking of free-floating shared bikes is a critical issue that needs to be addressed to realize the potential environmental, socioeconomic, and health benefits of this emerging green mode of transport. To address this challenge, this paper developes a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) based Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) framework for geo-fence planning of dockless bike-sharing systems based on openly accessible data. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the VIKOR (VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method are applied in the proposed framework to derive optimal geo-fence locations. The proposed framework is validated in a case study using a dataset of dockless bike-sharing trips from February 2020 in the City of Zurich and comparing the selected geo-fence locations with the existing bike-sharing stations. The assessment results show that the calculated geo-fence locations have a smaller average distance of 1395 m than that of 1692 m, and a larger demand coverage of 81% than that of 77% for bike-sharing stations. Overall, the proposed framework and the insights from the case study can help transport planners better implement shared micro-mobility hence facilitating the uptake of this sustainable mode of urban transport.