bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison between 200 μg and 800 μg of vaginal misoprostol for cervical ripening before operative hysteroscopy: A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Maior Maria da Conceição Farias Souto , Souza Alex Sandro Rolland , Souza Gustavo Fonseca de Albuquerque , da Costa Aurélio Antônio Ribeiro
Published: October 2021

Objective

To compare between 200 and 800 μg of vaginal misoprostol for cervical ripening before operative hysteroscopy.

Methods

Quadruple‐blind randomized clinical trial conducted between November 2019 and September 2020 involving 76 patients undergoing cervical dilatation before surgical hysteroscopy at teaching hospitals in Pernambuco, Brazil. Women received the vaginal misoprostol dosage of 200 or 800 μg,10–12 h before operative hysteroscopy. The cervical width was the primary outcome, and secondary outcomes were patient satisfaction, adverse effects, surgical complications, and duration of cervical dilatation. Chi‐square tests of association, Fisher's exact and Mann–Whitney U tests were used with an α error of <5%.

Results

There was no statistical difference between the groups in the mean of the cervical width (800 μg: 6.5 ± 1.6 mm vs 200 μg: 5.8 ± 1.8 mm, P = 0.055), patient satisfaction, and surgical findings, but the duration of cervical dilatation was lower in the 800‐μg group (28.16 ± 28.5 s vs 41.97 ± 31.0 s, P = 0.035). Among the adverse effects, diarrhea was more frequent in the 800‐μg group with statistical difference (100% vs 0%; P = 0.01).

Conclusion

For cervical ripening, 200 μg misoprostol is equally effective with fewer adverse effects than 800 μg before operative hysteroscopy. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04152317. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04152317.
Uniformly locally o‐minimal open core
Authors: Fujita Masato
Published: October 2021

This paper discusses sufficient conditions for a definably complete expansion of a densely linearly ordered abelian group to have uniformly locally o‐minimal open cores of the first/second kind and strongly locally o‐minimal open core, respectively.
A review on synthetic strategies and gas sensing approach for polypyrrole‐based hybrid nanocomposites
Authors: Sood Yuvika , Pawar Varsha S. , Mudila Harish , Kumar Anil
Published: October 2021

Polypyrrole (PPy)‐based hybrid nanocomposites of organic and inorganic hybrid materials are not restricted for academic research, but nowadays, they are useful to design innovative industrial applications such as fuel cell, solar cell, catalysts, sensors, energy, and medical applications. In recent applications, PPy and its hybrid composites have been emerged as promising sensors due to their unique physical and chemical properties. In this article, the role of PPy‐based hybrid nanocomposites for the improvement in sensing applications has been discussed in detail. Along with this is the systematic discussion of the synthesis techniques of PPy sensory hybrid nanocomposites that provides a better understanding of this research area. Finally, certain limitations of PPy and its hybrid nanocomposites‐based sensor are also discussed for sensing.
Bright Structural Color and High Hydrophobic Properties of Photonic Crystal Films on the Ceramic Glaze Layer via Vertical Deposition Self‐Assembly Method
Authors: Wu Yuan‐ting , Liu Qiu‐jun , Li Meng‐long , Zhang Xin‐meng , Hei Xi‐ping
Published: October 2021

In this work, structural color films on ceramic substrate were prepared through vertical deposition self‐assembly. The morphology, optical property and hydrophobicity of the films were characterized by field‐emission scanning electron microscopy (FE‐SEM), optical photos and contact angle meter. The results show that the SiO2 colloidal crystals with ordered arrangement are successfully immersed into the ceramic glaze after sintered, and the structural color films prepared on the ceramic glaze layer show a periodically ordered structure. Compared with the structural color films on alumina substrate, further researches on the structural color films on ceramic substrate were carried out, and the hydrophobic property and stability of the structural color films on ceramic substrate are better, which is attributed to the combination of SiO2 photonic crystal and ceramic glaze. Moreover, the structural color films on the ceramic glaze layer show excellent hydrophobic performance when the sintering temperature was 600 °C.
Temperature‐Dependent Diels‐Alder Cycloaddition on Polyoxometalate‐Supported Single‐Atom Catalysts M1/PTA (M=Mn, Fe, Co, Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir and Pt; PTA=[PW1240]3−)
Authors: Chen Dandan , Cao Yingying , Zhang Li‐Long , Li Hu
Published: October 2021

Diels‐Alder (D−A) reaction shaped both the art and science of total synthesis to some degree, while the effect of temperature on D−A activity over polyoxometalates supported single‐atom catalysts (SACs) has been infrequently studied and simulated using theoretical calculations. Herein, cycloaddition of 1,3‐butadiene (C4H6) and ethylene (C2H4) was employed as a model D−A reaction. The multitudes of SACs M1/PTA (M=Mn, Fe, Co, Ru, Rh, Pd, Os, Ir and Pt; PTA=[PW12O40]3−) were examined by DFT‐M06l computations to understand the reaction mechanism on a molecular level. The adsorption energies of reactant and product, and activation energy barriers for all the studied SAC systems have the same variation trends with the temperature variations. Considering that the adsorption for C4H6 is always stronger than that of C2H4 in all the studied systems, the initial adsorption configurations is the M1/PTA SACs adsorbed one C4H6 molecule. Three SACs, namely the Co1/PTA and Rh1/PTA at 100 K, Rh1/PTA at 300 K were identified, which show predominant catalytic activity and the corresponding activation energy barriers are 4.21, 8.51 and 5.11 kcal mol−1, respectively. The bonding interaction between adsorbate C4H6 and SACs arises from the occupied molecular orbitals (MOs) with a mixture of π orbitals of C4H6 and d atomic orbitals of the metal single atom. These theoretical calculations give new guidelines to develop high catalytic activity and cost‐effective SACs towards the D−A reaction.
Recent Progress in Quantum Dots Modified g‐C3N4‐based Composite Photocatalysts
Authors: Hu Xing , Guo Rui‐tang , Hong Long‐fei , Ji Xiang‐yin , Pan Wei‐guo
Published: October 2021

Graphite carbon nitride (g‐C3N4), as a non‐metallic photocatalyst, possesses special band structure, excellent stability and unique surface properties, which has become a focus of attention for photocatalytic application. However, pure g‐C3N4 is subject to the limit of visible light response, small specific surface area and rapid recombination of photogenerated carriers, which leads to its low photocatalytic efficiency. Due to the unique electronic structure, various quantum dots (QDs) can be applied to modify g‐C3N4 to improve the photocatalytic activity. Thus, we highlight these QDs modified g‐C3N4‐based composites by emphasizing their synthesis, their physicochemical properties as well as their photocatalytic applications in CO2 reduction, hydrogen production and pollutants degradation in this review. At last, critical summaries and some perspectives on the challenges and directions in this research field are also presented.
Investigating the Role of Natural Deep Eutectic Low Melting Mixtures for the Synthesis of Symmetrical Bisamides
Authors: Rather Ishfaq Ahmad , Ali Rashid
Published: October 2021

Keeping in view the fundamental significance of bisamides in nature, medicine, and biological systems in addition to their utility in chemistry of synthons, there is a tremendous need to develop environmentally benign synthetic methodologies for the construction of bisamides and their congeners. Herein, for the first time, we report a green and highly efficient method for the synthesis of diverse symmetrical bisamides in good to excellent yields through the condensation of diverse aromatic aldehydes with amides under operationally simple reaction conditions. The present strategy involves a renewable, biodegradable, and reusable, natural deep eutectic mixture of choline chloride and L‐(+)‐tartaric acid in the ratio of 2 : 1 at 100 °C for the generation of a range of bisamides. Moreover, we have fruitfully assembled diverse urea‐based symmetrical bisamides with the usage of a low melting mixture of L‐(+)‐tartaric and urea (1 : 4) in decent yields. On large scale synthesis, both the methods were also found to be quite effective which leads to the formation of desired bisamides without significant decrease in the yields, thereby revealing their significance from industrial as well as academic viewpoint.
Factors influencing the sustainable consumer behavior concerning the recycling of plastic waste
Authors: Hameed Irfan , Khan Kamran , Waris Idrees , Zainab Bibi
Published: October 2021

The consumption of products made up of plastic or packaged in plastic are an integral part of our modern life. This study used a continuum of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and social influence theory (SIT) to discuss the possible factors that may lead to scrubbing plastic waste in the country. For this purpose, a sample of 353 was finalized using the purposive sampling technique. Partial least square structural equation modeling was used to test the data. The findings of the study suggested that consumer attitude, subjective norms, and perceived behavior control lead to recycling intentions. Moreover, informational and normative social influences (NSI) also play significant roles in affecting recycling intentions. The results further suggest that recycling intention is the true predictor of the recycling behavior for plastic waste. The findings of the study can be used by government officials and organizations to instigate pro‐environmental consumer behavior.
Page curve from defect extremal surface and island in higher dimensions
Authors: Chu Jinwei , Deng Feiyu , Zhou Yang
Published: October 2021

Abstract

Defect extremal surface (DES) is defined by minimizing the Ryu-Takayanagi surface corrected by the quantum theory localized on the defect, which is useful when the RT surface crosses or terminates on the defect. Based on the decomposition procedure of an AdS bulk with a defect brane, proposed in [69], we derive Page curve in a time dependent set up of AdS3/BCFT2, and find that the result from island formula agrees with defect extremal surface formula precisely. We then extend the study to higher dimensions and find that the entropy computed from bulk defect extremal surface is generally less than that from island formula in boundary low energy effective theory, which implies that the UV completion of island formula gives a smaller entropy.
Teaching as a system: COVID-19 as a lens into teacher change
Authors: Brunetto Domenico , Bernardi Giulia , Andrà Chiara , Liljedahl Peter
Published: October 2021

In the spring of 2020, schools and universities around the world were closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The relative lockdown affected more than 1.5 billion learners as teachers and students sheltered at home for several weeks. As schooling moved online, teachers were forced to change how they taught. In the research presented here, we focus on university mathematics professors, and we analyze how their practice, knowledge, and beliefs intertwine and change under these circumstances. More specifically, the context of the pandemic and the relative lockdown provides us with the experimental basis to argue that the new practice affected both knowledge and beliefs of mathematics teachers and that practice, knowledge, and beliefs form a system. Being part of a system, the reactions to change in practice can be of two types, namely, the system as a whole tries to resist change, or the system as a whole changes — and it changes significantly. The research presented here proposes a model for describing and analyzing what we called a teaching system and examines three cases that help to better depict the systemic nature of teaching.
Pastoralist Dilemmas: Where to Go and When to Move, or with Whom to Talk?
Authors: Finke Peter
Published: October 2021

Pastoralists in Western Mongolia face a range of challenges during their annual grazing cycle due to the simultaneous but conflicting needs for secure allocation rules and a high degree of flexibility. In this paper, I analyze the seasonal arrangements and corresponding strategies that households adopt to deal with unpredictable environmental conditions and the demands of supplying livestock with sufficient forage throughout the year. In contrast to game theory simulations, I argue that dilemmas are: a) often not a question of cooperating or not, but form continua of more or less; and b) socially embedded as people operate in a multitude of relationships that influence their decision-making. Therefore, sharing information in a manner that prioritizes the requirements of individual households while not jeopardizing social reputation is crucially important. Rhetorical skills play an important role in this regard, but there are also situations when herders blatantly ignore state law or local institutional arrangements and risk confrontation to ensure the survival of livestock leading to a situation where free-riding may at times become the dominant strategy.
Moth species richness and diversity decline in a 30-year time series in Norway, irrespective of species’ latitudinal range extent and habitat
Authors: Burner Ryan C. , Selås Vidar , Kobro Sverre , Jacobsen Rannveig M. , Sverdrup-Thygeson Anne
Published: October 2021

Introduction

Insects are reported to be in decline around the globe, but long-term datasets are rare. The causes of these trends are elusive, with changes in land use and climate among the top candidates. Yet if species traits can predict rates of population change, this can help identify underlying mechanisms. If climate change is important, for example, high-latitude species may decline as temperate species expand. Land use changes, however, may impact species that rely on certain habitats.

Aims and methods

We present 30 years of moth captures (comprising 97,032 individuals of 808 species) from a site in southeast Norway to test for population trends that are correlated with species traits. We use time series analyses and joint species distribution models combined with local climate and habitat data.

Results and discussion

Species richness declined by 8.2% per decade and total abundance appeared to decline as well (−9.4%, p = 0.14) but inter-annual variability was high. One-fifth of species declined, although 6% increased. Winter and summer weather were correlated with annual rates of abundance change for many species. Opposite to general expectation, many species responded negatively to higher summer and winter temperatures. Surprisingly, species’ northern range limits and the habitat in which their food plants grew were not strong predictors of their time trends or their responses to climatic variation. Complex and indirect effects of both land use and climate change may play a role in these declines.

Implications for insect conservation

Our results provide additional evidence for long-term declines in insect abundance. The multifaceted causes of population changes may limit the ability of species traits to reveal which species are most at risk.
Altered Plasma Fatty Acids Associate with Gut Microbial Composition in Common Variable Immunodeficiency
Authors: Skarpengland Tonje , Macpherson Magnhild E. , Hov Johannes R. , Kong Xiang Y. , Bohov Pavol , Halvorsen Bente , Fevang Børre , Berge Rolf K. , Aukrust Pål , Jørgensen Silje F.
Published: October 2021

Purpose

Fatty acid (FA) abnormalities are found in various inflammatory disorders and have been related to disturbed gut microbiota. Patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) have inflammatory complications associated with altered gut microbial composition. We hypothesized that there is an altered FA profile in CVID patients, related to gut microbial dysbiosis.

Methods

Plasma FAs were measured in 39 CVID patients and 30 healthy controls. Gut microbial profile, a food frequency questionnaire, and the effect of the oral antibiotic rifaximin were investigated in CVID patients.

Results

The n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) (1.4 [1.0–1.8] vs. 1.9 [1.2–2.5], median (IQR), P < 0.05), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) (3.2 [2.4–3.9] vs. 3.5 [2.9–4.3], P < 0.05), all values expressed as weight percent of total plasma FAs, were reduced in CVID compared to controls. Also, n-6 PUFAs (34.3 ± 3.4 vs. 37.1 ± 2.8, mean ± SD, P < 0.001) and linoleic acid (LA) (24.5 ± 3.3 vs. 28.1 ± 2.7, P < 0.0001) and the FA anti-inflammatory index (98.9 [82.1–119.4] vs. 117.0 [88.7–153.1], median (IQR), P < 0.05) were reduced in CVID. The microbial alpha diversity was positively associated with plasma n-6 PUFAs (r = 0.41, P < 0.001) and LA (r = 0.51, P < 0.001), but not n-3 PUFAs (P = 0.78). Moreover, a 2-week course of rifaximin significantly reduced the proportion of n-6 PUFAs (P = 0.04, UNIANOVA). Serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels correlated with plasma n-3 PUFAs (rho = 0.36, P = 0.03) and DHA (rho = 0.41, P = 0.009).

Conclusion

We found a potentially unfavorable FA profile in CVID, related to low IgG levels. High plasma n-6 PUFAs were related to increased gut microbial diversity and altered by rifaximin therapy.
The Role and Value of Chaplains in the Ambulance Service: Paramedic Perspectives
Authors: Tunks Leach Katie , Simpson Paul , Lewis Joanne , Levett-Jones Tracy
Published: October 2021

Chaplains are employed by ambulance services in many states across Australia as one element in a suite of initiatives to support the health and wellness of paramedics. The aim of this paper is to present key findings from a study that explored paramedic perspectives on the role and value of chaplains in the ambulance service. Seventeen paramedics participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using framework analysis. Two themes were identified: scope of the chaplain’s role and organisational factors influencing the chaplain’s role. Paramedics highly valued what they believed to be proactive and reactive support provided by ambulance chaplains, regardless of paramedics’ personal spiritual or religious beliefs.
On the usability of digital sleep interventions in sports
Authors: Klier Kristina , Seiler Kirstin , Wagner Matthias
Published: October 2021

High sleep quality is highly related to better health and peak performance. Nowadays, multiple applications and platforms are available to track activity, to monitor heart rate, or to evaluate sleep quality. While activity tracking and heart rate monitoring are widely used, little is known about the potentials of digital tools to optimize sleep quality. Especially among athletes, who often suffer from reduced sleep quality because of full schedules and high competition performance pressure, interventions to maximize performance by optimizing recovery and sleep quality seem to be promising. In the present paper, we give an overview on existing research focusing on the potentials of digital interventions to enhance sleep quality among athletes. In particular, mindfulness-based digital interventions seem to be promising as they evidently foster high sleep quality and related health and performance patterns. Further, athletes can time- and cost-effectively integrate them into their daily routines. Future research is needed to empirically test the usability of digital features and suitable interventions to optimize sleep.
Quantitative characterization of pore network and influencing factors of methane adsorption capacity of transitional shale from the southern North China Basin
Authors: Liu Wen , Xu Qiuchen , Wang Haizhou , Liu Peng , Guo Ruiliang , Zhang Yang , Wei Keyi
Published: October 2021

Quantitative characterization of pore structure and analysis of influencing factors of methane adsorption are important segments in shale gas reservoir and resources evaluation and have not been systematically carried out in marine–continental shale series. A series of integrated methods, including total organic carbon (TOC) contents, Rock-Eval pyrolysis, mineral composition analysis, pore structure measurement, high-pressure CH4 adsorption analysis and FE-SEM observation, were conducted on 12 transitional shale samples of well WBC-1 in the southern North China Basin (SNCB). The results indicate that TOC contents of the transitional shales range from 1.03 to 8.06% with an average of 2.39%. The transitional shale consists chiefly of quartz, white mica and clay minerals. Interparticle pore, intraparticle pore, dissolution pore and microfracture were observed in the FE-SEM images. The specific surface area (SSA) of BET for the samples ranges from 3.3612 to 12.1217 m2/g (average: 6.9320 m2/g), whereas the DR SSA for the samples ranges from 12.9844 to 35.4267 m2/g (average: 19.67 m2/g). The Langmuir volume (VL) ranges from 2.05 to 4.75 cm3/g (average = 2.43 cm3/g). There is unobvious correction between BET and DR SSA with TOC contents, which means inorganic pores are the main component of pore space in the transitional shale from the SNCB. The relationship of SSA and pore volume shows that micropore has a greater impact on the CH4 adsorption capacity than mesopore–macropore in the transitional shale. Different from shales in other petroliferous basin, clay minerals are the primary factor affecting adsorption capacity of CH4 for transitional shale in this study. The pore structure of the transitional shale for this study is characterized by higher fractal dimension and more heterogeneous pore structure compared to shale in other petroliferous basin. This study provides an example and new revelation for the influencing factors of pore structure and methane adsorption capacity of marine–continental transitional shale.
Common fixed points for $$(\psi -\varphi )$$-weak contractions type in b-metric spaces
Authors: Morales José R. , Rojas Edixon M.
Published: October 2021

The aim of this paper is to prove the existence and uniqueness of common fixed points for a pair of $$(\psi -\varphi )$$

(
ψ
-
φ
)

-weak contractive self-maps in the setting of b-metric spaces satisfying the minimal requirement of weakly compatibility, and other weak commuting properties as compatibility, R-weakly commuting and R-weakly commuting of types ($$A_T$$

A
T

), ($$A_S$$

A
S

) and ($$A_P$$

A
P

). Also, we will analyze the convergence and stability of the Jungck-Noor iterative scheme for this class of pairs of mappings on b-metric spaces endowed with a convex structure.
Active Living Becomes Achievable (ALBA): An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Behaviour Change Intervention at Promoting Physical Activity for Improved Mental Wellbeing
Authors: Peddie Nicola , Snowden Austyn , Westbury Tony
Published: October 2021

Physical activity (PA) has been shown to be beneficial for physical and mental wellbeing. However, there is evidence to indicate people with mental health conditions are significantly less active than the general population. The aim of the research is to evaluate the effectiveness of Active Living Becomes Achievable (ALBA), a behaviour change intervention designed to specifically target individuals with mental and physical health conditions to increase motivation and adherence to physical activity to improve physical and mental wellbeing. 318 participants were recruited through existing exercise referral schemes in three areas of Scotland. A quantitative outcome evaluation, with a before and after design was carried out to assess the effectiveness of the intervention. Participants completed 5 outcome measures—the Scottish Physical Activity Questionnaire (SPAQ), the Self-Efficacy for Exercise Scale (SEE), the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS), the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale—and wore an activity tracker for 16 weeks. Participants who opted into the long-term study were monitored for up to 12-months. ALBA significantly improved mental wellbeing, patient activation and self-efficacy. Although the intervention did not appear to increase adherence to PA. The ALBA intervention was effective at improving mental wellbeing but did not have a significant effect on PA levels. This suggests that the additional support offered through the ALBA intervention was key to improving wellbeing.
Suprapubic arc(SPARC)-Operation zur Behandlung der weiblichen Belastungsinkontinenz
Authors: Jasarevic Samra , Primus Günter
Published: October 2021

Die Belastungsinkontinenz zeigt eine hohe Prävalenz in der weiblichen Population und hat einen negativen Einfluss auf die Lebensqualität sowie die Gesundheitsökonomie. In der chirurgischen Therapie der weiblichen Belastungsinkontinenz geht der Trend in Richtung minimal-invasiver Methoden. Die mitturethralen Bänder stellen den Goldstandard in der chirurgischen Therapie der Belastungsinkontinenz dar. Die Evaluierung chirurgischer Methoden zur Behandlung der weiblichen Belastungsinkontinenz ist von eminenter Bedeutung. Suprapubic arc (SPARC) ist ein retropubisches mitturethrales Band, welches spannungsfrei suburethral platziert wird. Es wurde zwischen 2001 und 2018 erfolgreich an unserer Klinik angewendet. In unserer retrospektiven Studie wurden die Langzeitergebnisse 5–10 Jahre nach der SPARC-Operation untersucht. Hierbei erwies sich SPARC als sichere und effiziente Methode zur Behandlung der weiblichen Belastungsinkontinenz. Es kam zu einer signifikanten Reduktion des Leidensdrucks (visual analogue scale, VAS), des Vorlagengewichts im Padtest und des Vorlagenverbrauchs. Die Reduktion der maximalen Harnflussrate hatte keinen negativen Einfluss auf die subjektive Blasenentleerung.

Die Zufriedenheit der Patientinnen mit dem Operationsergebnis war zu allen Zeitpunkten im Follow-up hoch und unabhängig vom Erreichen einer kompletten Trockenheit.
Community-owned rural water supplies in Galicia (Spain): supporting role in the groundwater self-management
Authors: Naves Acacia , Varela-Álvarez Enrique José
Published: October 2021

The community-owned rural water supplies in the rural areas of Galicia developed spontaneously in response to the historical shortcomings of local administrations, which are a clear example of commons management strategies. They have developed a water self-management model integrated into a complex network of actors. More than one-quarter of the total population rely on these systems. However, a large part of supplied water does not comply with the sanitary standards due to deficiencies in the system’s design, operation, and maintenance and the water catchment protection. Furthermore, the owners face difficulties complying with basic legal requirements due to the complexity of the regulatory framework and the lack of training of the water board members. COXAPO (‘Comunidad Xeral de Augas de Galicia’), an association of 150 community-owned water supplies, advises, trains, and supports the water boards for the legal, administrative, economic, and technical systems management. As a result, it gets the systems legally compliant concerning the institutional management and quality of supplied water. The success of this network governance recommends a role to the administration in promoting the networking of water boards by supporting the existing water supply associations and encouraging their constitution or provisioning equivalent services in regions where they do not exist.
„Everything was very neat“: Abject Art zwischen Kunstgeschichte und Politik
Authors: Zimmermann Anja
Published: October 2021

Der Beitrag beleuchtet die Rezeption von Abject Art in der Kunstgeschichte und darüber hinaus. Als Kategorie, die die Kunstwissenschaft und -kritik ab den 1980er-Jahren den Schriften der französischen Psychoanalytikerin Julia Kristeva entnahm, diente sie der Kennzeichnung von Kunstwerken, die u. a. mit Repräsentationen des Körpers arbeiteten, die klassischen Idealen widersprachen. Verweise auf Verletzungen, Traumata, aber auch Körperflüssigkeiten und -grenzen waren Themen dieser Arbeiten oder wurden an ihrem Beispiel aus ästhetischer Sicht kritisch analysiert. Besonderes Augenmerk legt der Text auf politische Reaktionen auf Kunstwerke der Abject Art, die als „obszön“, „abstoßend“ oder „ekelhaft“ beschrieben und damit abgewehrt werden. Der Beitrag verdeutlicht an konkreten Beispielen, vornehmlich aus den USA, wie die künstlerischen Strategien, etwa die Verwendung bestimmter Werktitel, eine Rezeption der Werke als abjekt in Gang setzen und wie umgekehrt aber auch Werke, die bei ihrer Entstehung nicht in Bezug zu abjekten Themen gesetzt wurden, später als abjekt gedeutet wurden.
Prevalence and comparisons of alcohol, candy, energy drink, snack, soda, and restaurant brand and product marketing on Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming
Authors: Edwards Caitlyn G , Pollack Catherine C , Pritschet Sara J , Haushalter Keally , Long John W , Masterson Travis D
Published: October 2021

Objective:

To compare and evaluate the prevalence of food and beverage marketing on the livestreaming platforms Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming, as well as examine growth of food and beverage marketing on these platforms over a 17-month period of data collection.

Design:

Cross-sectional data were analysed across three livestreaming platforms and six food and beverage categories: alcohol, candy, energy drinks, snacks, sodas and restaurants.

Setting:

Stream titles of livestreamed events as well as corresponding hours watched on Twitch, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming.

Participants:

None.

Results:

There were significant differences between the use of food and beverage brand mentions in stream titles across all three studied platforms (P < 0·05), as well as hours watched across platforms (P < 0·05). Energy drinks dominated food and beverage brand mentions across platforms, followed by restaurants, soda and snacks. All platforms demonstrated growth over the 17-month data collection period. Post-hoc analyses revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic impacted both immediate and sustained growth across all platforms, with the greatest impact observed on the Twitch platform.

Conclusions:

Food and beverage marketing as measured through stream titles is widely prevalent across the three most popular livestreaming platforms, particularly for energy drinks. Food marketing on these platforms experienced growth over the past 17 months which was accelerated substantially by the COVID-19 pandemic. Future work should assess the sustained impact this growth may have on marketing practices and eating behaviour.
Energetic Intracloud Lightning in the RELAMPAGO Field Campaign
Authors: Antunes de Sá A. L. , Marshall R. , Deierling W.
Published: October 2021

A particular strength of lightning remote sensing is the variety of lightning types observed, each with a unique occurrence context and characteristically different emission. Distinct energetic intracloud (EIC) lightning discharges—compact intracloud lightning discharges (CIDs) and energetic intracloud pulses (EIPs)—produce intense RF radiation, suggesting large currents inside the cloud, and they also have different production mechanisms and occurrence contexts. A Low‐Frequency (LF) lightning remote sensing instrument array was deployed during the RELAMPAGO field campaign in west central Argentina, designed to investigate convective storms that produce high‐impact weather. LF data from the campaign can provide a valuable data set for researching the lightning context of EICs in a variety of subtropical convective storms. This paper describes the production of an LF‐CID data set in RELAMPAGO and includes a preliminary analysis of CID prevalence. Geolocated lightning events and their corresponding observed waveforms from the RELAMPAGO LF data set are used in the classification of EICs. Height estimates based on skywave reflections are computed, where prefit residual data editing is used to improve robustness against outliers. Even if EIPs occurred within the network, given the low number of very high‐peak current events and receiver saturation, automatic classification of EIPs may not be feasible using this data. The classification of CIDs, on the other hand, is straightforward and their properties, for both positive and negative polarity, are investigated. A few RELAMPAGO case studies are also presented, where high variability of CID prevalence in ordinary storms and high‐altitude positive CIDs, possibly in overshooting tops, are observed.
Prenatal phenotype of PNKP-related primary microcephaly associated with variants affecting both the FHA and phosphatase domain
Authors: Neuser Sonja , Krey Ilona , Schwan Annemarie , Abou Jamra Rami , Bartolomaeus Tobias , Döring Jan , Syrbe Steffen , Plassmann Margit , Rohde Stefan , Roth Christian , Rehder Helga , Radtke Maximilian , Le Duc Diana , Schubert Susanna , Bermúdez-Guzmán Luis , Leal Alejandro , Schoner Katharina , Popp Bernt
Published: October 2021

Biallelic PNKP variants cause heterogeneous disorders ranging from neurodevelopmental disorder with microcephaly/seizures to adult-onset Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease. To date, only postnatal descriptions exist. We present the first prenatal diagnosis of PNKP-related primary microcephaly. Pathological examination of a male fetus in the 18th gestational week revealed micrencephaly with extracerebral malformations and thus presumed syndromic microcephaly. A recessive disorder was suspected because of previous pregnancy termination for similar abnormalities. Prenatal trio-exome sequencing identified compound heterozygosity for the PNKP variants c.498G>A, p.[(=),0?] and c.302C>T, p.(Pro101Leu). Segregation confirmed both variants in the sister fetus. Through RNA analyses, we characterized exon 4 skipping affecting the PNKP forkhead-associated (FHA) and phosphatase domains (p.Leu67_Lys166del) as the predominant effect of the paternal c.498G>A variant. We retrospectively investigated two unrelated individuals diagnosed with biallelic PNKP-variants to compare prenatal/postnatal phenotypes. Both carry the splice donor variant c.1029+2T>C intrans with a variant in the FHA domain (c.311T>C, p.(Leu104Pro); c.151G>C, p.(Val51Leu)). RNA-seq showed complex splicing for c.1029+2T>C and c.151G>C. Structural modeling revealed significant clustering of missense variants in the FHA domain with variants generating structural damage. Our clinical description extends the PNKP-continuum to the prenatal stage. Investigating possible PNKP-variant effects using RNA and structural modeling, we highlight the mutational complexity and exemplify a PNKP-variant characterization framework.
Nerve-specific extracellular matrix hydrogel promotes functional regeneration following nerve gap injury
Authors: Meder T. , Prest T. , Skillen C. , Marchal L. , Yupanqui V. T. , Soletti L. , Gardner P. , Cheetham J. , Brown B. N.
Published: October 2021

Nerve transection requires surgical intervention to restore function. The standard of care involves coaptation when a tension-free repair is achievable, or interposition of a graft or conduit when a gap remains. Despite advances, nerve gap injury is associated with unsatisfactory recovery. This study investigates the use of a decellularized, porcine nerve-derived hydrogel filler (peripheral nerve matrix, PNM) for conduits in an 8 mm rat sciatic nerve gap model. The decellularized tissue maintained multiple nerve-specific matrix components and nerve growth factors. This decellularized tissue was used to formulate hydrogels, which were deployed into conduits for nerve gap repair. Nerve recovery was assessed up to 24 weeks post injury by gait analysis, electrophysiology, and axon counting. Deployment of PNM within conduits was shown to improve electrophysiologic response and axon counts compared with those of empty conduit controls. These results indicate that PNM has potential benefits when used as a filler for conduits in nerve gap injuries.
Analysis of the Breakthrough Listen signal of interest blc1 with a technosignature verification framework
Authors: Sheikh Sofia Z. , Smith Shane , Price Danny C. , DeBoer David , Lacki Brian C. , Czech Daniel J. , Croft Steve , Gajjar Vishal , Isaacson Howard , Lebofsky Matt , MacMahon David H. E. , Ng Cherry , Perez Karen I. , Siemion Andrew P. V. , Webb Claire Isabel , Zic Andrew , Drew Jamie , Worden S. Pete
Published: October 2021

The aim of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is to find technologically capable life beyond Earth through their technosignatures. On 2019 April 29, the Breakthrough Listen SETI project observed Proxima Centauri with the Parkes ‘Murriyang’ radio telescope. These data contained a narrowband signal with characteristics broadly consistent with a technosignature near 982 MHz (‘blc1’). Here we present a procedure for the analysis of potential technosignatures, in the context of the ubiquity of human-generated radio interference, which we apply to blc1. Using this procedure, we find that blc1 is not an extraterrestrial technosignature, but rather an electronically drifting intermodulation product of local, time-varying interferers aligned with the observing cadence. We find dozens of instances of radio interference with similar morphologies to blc1 at frequencies harmonically related to common clock oscillators. These complex intermodulation products highlight the necessity for detailed follow-up of any signal of interest using a procedure such as the one outlined in this work.
Image processing techniques to estimate weight and morphological parameters for selected wheat refractions
Authors: Sharma Rohit , Kumar Mahesh , Alam M. S.
Published: October 2021

The geometric and color features of agricultural material along with related physical properties are critical to characterize and express its physical quality. The experiments were conducted to classify the physical characteristics like size, shape, color and texture and then workout the relationship between manual observations and using image processing techniques for weight and volume of the four wheat refractions i.e. sound, damaged, shriveled and broken grains of wheat variety PBW 725. A flatbed scanner was used to acquire the images and digital image processing method was used to process the images and output of image analysis was compared with the actual measurements data using digital vernier caliper. A linear relationship was observed between the axial dimensions of refractions between manual measurement and image processing method with R2 in the range of 0.798–0.947. The individual kernel weight and thousand grain weight of the refractions were observed to be in the range of 0.021–0.045 and 12.56–46.32 g respectively. Another linear relationship was found between individual kernel weight and projected area estimated using image processing methodology with R2 in the range of 0.841–0.920. The sphericity of the refractions varied in the range of 0.52–0.71. Analyses of the captured images suggest ellipsoid shape with convex geometry while the same observation was recorded by physical measurements also. A linear relationship was observed between the volume of refractions derived from measured dimensions and calculated from image with R2 in the range of 0.845–0.945. Various color and grey level co-variance matrix texture features were extracted from acquired images using the open-source Python programming language and OpenCV library which can exploit different machine and deep learning algorithms to properly classify these refractions.
Experimental evaluation and surface integrity analysis of cryogenic coolants approaches in the cylindrical plunge grinding
Authors: Abedrabbo Faruk , Soriano Denis , Madariaga Aitor , Fernández Raúl , Abolghasem Sepideh , Arrazola Pedro J.
Published: October 2021

Replacement of pollutant fluids with eco-friendly strategies in machining operations significantly contributes to protecting the environment, diminishing global warming, and ensuring a healthier workplace for employees. This study compares cryogenic coolants with conventional coolants in cylindrical plunge grinding using a Cubic Boron Nitride (CBN) wheel. Samples of 27MnCr5 steel used in the manufacture of automotive transmission components were ground using (i) Liquid Nitrogen (LN2), (ii) a combination of LN2 + Minimum Quantity Lubrication (MQL), and (iii) a conventional coolant. The effects of the different cooling methods on the surface integrity of the ground surfaces were examined in terms of surface roughness, microstructural defects, microhardness profiles, and residual stresses. In general, surface roughness was similar for the tested cooling systems, even after grinding three subsequent surfaces in which the process stability was analyzed. Interestingly, the use of eco-friendly cryogenic systems induced fewer microstructural defects than conventional systems, and particularly, LN2+MQL lead to more compressive surface residual stresses that would improve the in-service performance of components. These results show opportunities for replacing conventional pollutant systems with eco-friendly cryogenic strategies for refrigerating/lubricating grinding processes to reduce harmful effects on the environment and pose health risks to operators.
A stochastic model explains the periodicity phenomenon of influenza on network
Authors: Yang Hong , Jin Zhen
Published: October 2021

Influenza is an infectious disease with obvious periodic changes over time. It is of great practical significance to explore the non-environment-related factors that cause this regularity for influenza control and individual protection. In this paper, based on the randomness of population number and the heterogeneity of population contact, we have established a stochastic infectious disease model about influenza based on the degree of the network, and obtained the power spectral density function by using the van Kampen expansion method of the master equation. The relevant parameters are obtained by fitting the influenza data of sentinel hospitals. The results of the numerical analysis show that: (1) for the infected, the infection period of patients who go to the sentinel hospitals is particularly different from the others who do not; (2) for all the infected, there is an obvious nonlinear relationship between their infection period and the visiting rate of the influenza sentinel hospitals, the infection rate and the degree. Among them, only the infection period of patients who do not go to the sentinel hospitals decreased monotonously with the infection rate (increased monotonously with the visiting rate), while the rest had a non-monotonic relationship.
The influence of water hardness perturbations on bubble departure dynamics
Authors: Dzienis P. , Mosdorf R. , Czarnecki J.
Published: October 2021

The influence of small changes to water hardness on the nonlinear behaviour of liquid penetration into a capillary and the resulting air pressure fluctuations during air bubble formation are examined in this paper. Experiments were undertaken in which bubbles were generated both in water having a surface tensile force of σ = 72.2 mN/m and in an aqueous solution of calcium carbonate having a surface tensile force of σ = 75.4 mN/m, each contained in a glass capillary with an internal diameter of 1 mm. It is shown that both the maximum value of liquid penetration into the capillary and bubble growth time are affected by perturbations to the water hardness. The time it takes for the bubble to depart the capillary was estimated using the following nonlinear data analysis methods: time delay (τ), attractor reconstructions, correlation dimension (D), and largest Lyapunov exponent (λ). All estimates demonstrate that the pressure fluctuations in the c–c aqueous solutions and extent of liquid solution penetration into the capillary during the time between subsequent bubble departures behave chaotically. Furthermore, this work demonstrates that the dynamics of bubble formation along with the bubble waiting time are very sensitive to small perturbation in the physical properties of the liquid, and this sensitivity has a significant effect on the observed chaotic behaviour.
Aortic annulus sizing in bicuspid and tricuspid aortic valves using CT in patients with surgical aortic valve replacement
Authors: Choe Jooae , Koo Hyun Jung , Kang Joon-Won , Kim Joon Bum , Kang Hee Jun , Yang Dong Hyun
Published: October 2021

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether bicuspid anatomy affects the discrepancy between CT-derived annular size and intraoperative size. We retrospectively analyzed annular measurements in 667 patients who underwent surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR). Preoperative CT measurements of the aortic annulus were compared to surgically implanted valve sizes. To evaluate whether the bicuspid valve affects the differences between CT annulus diameter and surgical AVR size, patients with diameter larger by > 10% (CT-Lg group) on CT, compared to surgical AVR size, were compared with those having size difference < 10% (CT-Sim group). Propensity score matching yielded 183 matched patients from each group. Bicuspid aortic valve annulus parameters significantly correlated with surgical aortic valve size (r = 0.52–0.71; for all, p < 0.01). The most representative measurements corresponded to surgical aortic valve size were area-derived diameters in tricuspid aortic valve (r = 0.69, p < 0.001) and bicuspid without raphe (r = 0.71, p < 0.001), and perimeter-derived diameter in bicuspid with raphe (r = 0.63, p < 0.001). After propensity score matching, native valve type was not different between CT-Sim and CT-Lg groups. In multivariable analysis, the difference between CT-derived diameter and surgical AVR size was affected by the operator factor and types of prosthesis. Bicuspid aortic annulus diameters measured on CT showed a significant correlation with surgical aortic valve size. The difference between CT-derived diameter and surgical AVR size is affected by operator factor and the types of prosthesis but not affected by the bicuspid valve.
Molecular search by NMR spectrum based on evaluation of matching between spectrum and molecule
Authors: Kwon Youngchun , Lee Dongseon , Choi Youn-Suk , Kang Seokho
Published: October 2021

Inferring molecular structures from experimentally measured nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra is an important task in many chemistry applications. Herein, we present a novel method implementing an automated molecular search by NMR spectrum. Given a query spectrum and a pool of candidate molecules, the matching score of each candidate molecule with respect to the query spectrum is evaluated by introducing a molecule-to-spectrum estimation procedure. The candidate molecule with the highest matching score is selected. This procedure does not require any prior knowledge of the corresponding molecular structure nor laborious manual efforts by chemists. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method on molecular search using 13C NMR spectra.