bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Psychometric validation of the celiac disease-specific quality of life survey (CD-QOL) in adults with celiac disease in the United States
Authors: Dochat Cara , Afari Niloofar , Arigo Danielle
Published: March 2023

Purpose

Celiac disease and its treatment negatively impact quality of life, indicating potential need for measurement of disease-specific quality of life domains to inform interdisciplinary intervention. The Celiac Disease Quality of Life Survey (CD-QOL) has been used in clinical research; however, its factor structure has not been confirmed and psychometric properties have not been evaluated in English-speaking adults in the U.S. Aims: (1) Confirm the factor structure of the 20-item English CD-QOL; (2) assess psychometric properties including internal consistency reliability, convergent validity, known groups validity, and incremental validity.

Methods

453 adults with self-reported Celiac disease (Mage = 40.57; 88% female; 92% White) completed the CD-QOL and validated measures of generic health-related quality of life (SF-36), gluten-free diet adherence (CDAT), anxiety and depression symptoms (PROMIS), and physical symptoms (CSI) as part of the iCureCeliac® patient-powered research network.

Results

Confirmatory factor analysis found superior fit for a bifactor structure with one general factor and four group factors. Ancillary bifactor analyses suggest the CD-QOL can be considered primarily unidimensional. Total and three subscale scores demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability. Convergent and known groups validity were supported. The CD-QOL demonstrated some incremental validity over the SF-36.

Conclusion

The English CD-QOL can be used as a measure of disease-specific quality of life among adults with Celiac disease in the U.S. Compared to generic instruments, the CD-QOL appears to better capture specific cognitive and affective aspects of living with Celiac disease. Use of a total score is recommended. Its utility as a screening and outcome measurement tool in clinical settings should be examined.
Psychosocial health and quality of life in ICSI and naturally conceived adolescents: a cross-sectional comparison
Authors: Eisemann N. , Schnoor M. , Rakusa E. , Braren-von Stülpnagel C. C. , Katalinic A. , Ludwig M. , Sonntag B. , Ludwig A. K. , Elsner S. A.
Published: March 2023

Purpose

Psychosocial health (PH) and quality of life (QoL) are important health outcomes. We compared PH and QoL of adolescents conceived with intrazytoplasmatic sperm injection (ICSI) and of naturally conceived controls. The impact of disclosure of ICSI-conception on QoL and PH was quantified.

Methods

The cross-sectional sample consisted of 545 ICSI-conceived adolescents and 427 unmatched singleton controls aged 14–18 years. Adolescents reported PH with the ‘Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire’ (low values indicating high PH), and QoL with the KINDL questionnaire (high values indicating high QoL). Because of clustering of multiples within families, adjusted linear regressions with generalized estimating equations were used to compare ICSI- and naturally conceived adolescents. Missing values were treated by multiple imputation. Minimal importance was defined as half a standard deviation.

Results

Both ICSI and control adolescents had high PH (low mean ‘total difficulties’ score: 9 of 40) and high QoL (mean ‘total KINDL’ score: 75 of 100). Differences were generally in favour of the ICSI group. Significant differences occurred for ‘impact of behavioural problems’ (p = 0.033), the ‘total KINDL’ score (p = 0.021) and the dimensions ‘physical wellbeing’ (p = 0.031) and ‘school’ (p = 0.005), but all differences were far below minimal importance. About 80% of ICSI adolescents were informed about their mode of conception. PH and QoL were slightly higher in informed adolescents; behavioural difficulties (‘total behavioural problems’ and ‘conduct problems’) were significantly lower (p = 0.013 and p = 0.003), behavioural strengths (‘prosocial behaviour’) and ‘physical QoL’ significantly higher (p = 0.004 and p = 0.018), but differences remained clearly below minimal importance.

Conclusions

Our results are reassuring for parents using ICSI and their children. Speaking openly about an ICSI conception in the family may be beneficial.
Spelling processing during handwriting and typing and the role of reading and visual-motor skills when typing is less practiced than handwriting
Authors: Cerni Tania , Job Remo
Published: March 2023

The automatization of handwriting and typing is sustained by both sensorimotor and linguistic abilities that support the integration of central-linguistic processes with modality-specific peripheral-motor programs. How this integration evolves when handwriting and, especially, typing is not fully automatized has not been well-understood yet. In the present work, we had two main aims: (1) to understand how spelling processing affects handwriting and typing word production in a sample of 9th-grade Italian students who have extensive handwriting practice but less experience with typing, and (2) to unveil if reading and visual-motor integration skills of the writer/typists have a role in integrating spelling processing and motor execution. Thirty-six 9th-grade participants handwrote and typed to dictation words and pseudowords of different lengths and orthographic complexity. To test spelling processing during handwriting and typing, we collected measures of latency (RTs)—i.e. the interval between spoken stimulus availability and starting to write—, of interletter interval mean—i.e., the mean of the intervals between consecutive letters—, and whole response duration—i.e. the execution time of the entire stimulus. We further assessed participants’ reading and visual-motor integration skills to analyze their impact on the chronometric measures as a function of the linguistic proprieties of the stimuli. Our findings show a different pattern of processing for handwriting, the automatized process for our participants, and for typing, for which stronger lexical and sublexical effects emerged. Furthermore, reading and visual-motor skills interacted differently with the two transcription modalities unveiling a modality-specific role of individual skills according to the automatization of handwriting and typing.
The influence of start-up motivation on entrepreneurial performance
Authors: Caliendo Marco , Kritikos Alexander S. , Stier Claudia
Published: March 2023

Predicting entrepreneurial development based on individual and business-related characteristics is a key objective of entrepreneurship research. In this context, we investigate whether the motives of becoming an entrepreneur influence the subsequent entrepreneurial development. In our analysis, we examine a broad range of business outcomes including survival and income, as well as job creation, and expansion and innovation activities for up to 40 months after business formation. Using the self-determination theory as conceptual background, we aggregate the start-up motives into a continuous motivational index. We show – based on a unique dataset of German start-ups from unemployment and non-unemployment – that the later business performance is better, the higher they score on this index. Effects are particularly strong for growth-oriented outcomes like innovation and expansion activities. In a next step, we examine three underlying motivational categories that we term opportunity, career ambition, and necessity. We show that individuals driven by opportunity motives perform better in terms of innovation and business expansion activities, while career ambition is positively associated with survival, income, and the probability of hiring employees. All effects are robust to the inclusion of a large battery of covariates that are proven to be important determinants of entrepreneurial performance.
WSMP: a warp scheduling strategy based on MFQ and PPF
Authors: Fang Juan , Zhao Li’ang , Cai Min , Yang Huijing
Published: March 2023

Normally, threads in a warp do not severely interfere with each other. However, the scheduler must wait until all the threads within complete before scheduling the next warp, resulting in memory divergence. The crux of the problem is scheduling the warp in a more reasonable order. Therefore, we propose a new warp scheduling strategy called WSMP, which is based on multi-level feedback queue (MFQ) and perceptron-based prefetch filtering (PPF). All the warps are sorted beforehand according to the latency tolerance of the warps and pushed into a certain queue in MFQ. We also remold PPF to enhance the modified underlying prefetcher. We are able to strike a balance between cache hit rate and prefetch coverage then. We verify its feasibility using GPGPU-Sim, along with exclusive GPGPU workload. The results show that compared to the baseline, WSMP improves IPC by 26.45% and reduces L2 cache miss rate by 9.54% on average.
Fault-tolerant quantum algorithm for dual-threshold image segmentation
Authors: López Luis O. , Orts Francisco , Ortega Gloria , González-Ruiz Vicente , Garzón Ester M.
Published: March 2023

The intrinsic high parallelism and entanglement characteristics of quantum computing have made quantum image processing techniques a focus of great interest. One of the most widely used techniques in image processing is segmentation, which in one of their most basic forms can be carried out using thresholding algorithms. In this paper, a fault-tolerant quantum dual-threshold algorithm has been proposed. This algorithm has been built using only Clifford+T gates for compatibility with error detection and correction codes. Because fault-tolerant implementation of T gates has a much higher cost than other quantum gates, our focus has been on reducing the number of these gates. This has allowed adding noise tolerance, computational cost reduction, and fault tolerance to the state-of-the-art dual-threshold segmentation circuits. Since the dual-threshold image segmentation involves the comparison operation, as part of this work we have implemented two full comparator circuits. These circuits optimize the metrics T-count and T-depth with respect to the best circuit comparators currently available in the literature.
Vice epistemology, norm-maintenance and epistemic evasiveness
Authors: Piovarchy Adam
Published: March 2023

Vice epistemology studies how character traits, attitudes, or thinking styles systematically get in the way of knowledge, while doxastic responsibility is concerned with what kinds of responses are appropriate towards agents who believe badly. This paper identifies a new connection between these two fields, arguing that our propensity to take responsibility for our doxastic failures is directly relevant for vice epistemology, and in particular, understanding the social obstacles to knowledge that epistemic vices can create. This is because responses to norm violations are an important mechanism by which norms are upheld, and maintaining epistemic norms is crucial for our collective epistemic successes. This paper then identifies a new kind of vice, one which is bad precisely because of the way it undermines the epistemic norms that our blaming practices help maintain, and thus the benefits that said norms create. I call this vice epistemic evasiveness, and it concerns the attitude that one takes towards their own performance as an epistemic agent. Evasiveness is bad because it creates uncertainty about which agents are reliable, it prevents holders of this attitude from learning from their mistakes, and it signals to third parties that the norm is not being upheld, making them less likely to follow the norm.
Two approaches to naturalistic social ontology
Authors: Sarkia Matti , Kaidesoja Tuukka
Published: March 2023

Social ontological inquiry has been pursued in analytic philosophy as well as in the social scientific tradition of critical realism. These traditions have remained largely separate despite partly overlapping concerns and similar underlying strategies of argumentation. They have also both been the subject of similar criticisms based on naturalistic approaches to the philosophy of science, which have addressed their apparent reliance on a transcendental mode of reasoning, their seeming distance from social scientific practice, and their (erroneous?) tendency to advocate global solutions to local and pragmatic problems. Two approaches aiming to naturalize these two traditions of social ontology have been proposed in recent years: one drawing on a Gierean, model-based approach to scientific practice, the other drawing on inference to the best explanation. In our paper, we compare and contrast these naturalistic approaches to social ontology in terms of their capacity to respond to the aforementioned challenges. We also defend a form of methodological pluralism, according to which there are multiple different naturalistically acceptable approaches to social ontology, which emphasize contrasting procedural continuities between social scientific research and philosophical practice.
Early- and Late-Time Prediction of Counter-Current Spontaneous Imbibition, Scaling Analysis and Estimation of the Capillary Diffusion Coefficient
Authors: Andersen Pål Østebø
Published: March 2023

Solutions are investigated for 1D linear counter-current spontaneous imbibition (COUSI). It is shown theoretically that all COUSI scaled solutions depend only on a normalized coefficient $${\Lambda }_{n}\left({S}_{n}\right)$$

Λ
n

S
n

with mean 1 and no other parameters (regardless of wettability, saturation functions, viscosities, etc.). 5500 realistic functions $${\Lambda }_{n}$$

Λ
n

were generated using (mixed-wet and strongly water-wet) relative permeabilities, capillary pressure and mobility ratios. The variation in $${\Lambda }_{n}$$

Λ
n

appears limited, and the generated functions span most/all relevant cases. The scaled diffusion equation was solved for each case, and recovery vs time $$RF$$

RF

was analyzed. RF could be characterized by two (case specific) parameters $$RFtr$$

RFtr

and $$lr$$

lr

(the correlation overlapped the 5500 curves with mean $${R}^{2}=0.9989$$

R

2

=
0.9989

): Recovery follows exactly $$\mathrm{RF}={T}_{n}^{0.5}$$

RF
=

T

n

0.5

before water meets the no-flow boundary (early time) but continues (late time) with marginal error until $$RFtr$$

RFtr

(highest recovery reached as $${T}_{n}^{0.5}$$

T

n

0.5

) in an extended early-time regime. Recovery then approaches 1, with $$lr$$

lr

quantifying the decline in imbibition rate. $$RFtr$$

RFtr

was 0.05 to 0.2 higher than recovery when water reached the no-flow boundary (critical time). A new scaled time formulation $${T}_{n}=t/\tau {T}_{\mathrm{ch}}$$

T
n

=
t
/
τ

T
ch

accounts for system length $$L$$
L
and magnitude $$\overline{D }$$

D
¯

of the unscaled diffusion coefficient via $$\tau ={L}^{2}/\overline{D }$$

τ
=

L

2

/

D
¯

, and $${T}_{\mathrm{ch}}$$

T
ch

separately accounts for shape via $${\Lambda }_{n}$$

Λ
n

. Parameters describing $${\Lambda }_{n}$$

Λ
n

and recovery were correlated which permitted (1) predicting recovery (without solving the diffusion equation); (2) predicting diffusion coefficients explaining experimental recovery data; (3) explaining the challenging interaction between inputs such as wettability, saturation functions and viscosities with time scales, early- and late-time recovery behavior.
Nature and Agency: Towards a Post-Kantian Naturalism
Authors: Gambarotto Andrea , Nahas Auguste
Published: March 2023

We outline an alternative to both scientific and liberal naturalism which attempts to reconcile Sellars’ apparently conflicting commitments to the scientific accountability of human nature and the autonomy of the space of reasons. Scientific naturalism holds that agency and associated concepts are a mechanical product of the realm of laws, while liberal naturalism contends that the autonomy of the space of reason requires that we leave nature behind. The third way we present follows in the footsteps of German Idealism, which attempted to overcome the Kantian chasm between nature and agency, and is thus dubbed ‘post-Kantian.’ We point to an overlooked group of scholars in the naturalism debate who, along with recent work in biology and cognitive science, offer a path to overcome the reductive tendencies of empiricism while avoiding the dichotomy of logical spaces. We then bring together these different streams of research, by foregrounding and expanding on what they share: the idea of organisms as living agents and that of a continuity without identity between life and mind. We qualify this as a bottom-up transformative approach to rational agency, which grounds cognition in the intrinsically purposive nature of organisms, while emphasizing the distinction between biological agency and full-fledged mindedness.
The role of microhabitat for bryophyte establishment in reclamation of boreal wetlands
Authors: Vitt Dale H. , House Melissa , Glaeser Lilyan C.
Published: March 2023

Minerogenous peatlands that accumulate deep deposits of organic matter (fens) were an important part of the pre-disturbance landscape across Alberta’s oil sands mining area. Bryophytes occupy 80–100% of the ground layer in these site types and form an important part of the accumulated organic matter. Bryophytes are small plants that occur in microhabitats that are an integral part of the surrounding plant community. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the establishment of bryophytes at an experimental wetland (Sandhill Wetland-SHW) by assessing the changing vegetation and substrate regimes over eight years after wet-up. Included in this analysis is an account of the ground layer flora between 2014 and 2021 along with evaluation of associated environmental factors. At SHW, a number of peatland bryophytes initially established in numerous areas across the wetland. However, in subsequent years increasing water tables with expanding Typha-dominating areas, high sedge productivity along with increasing vascular plant cover, and increasing sodicity have reduced the microhabitats available for bryophytes, with the result being a much-diminished set of peatland bryophyte species. We suggest that future reclamation designs for fens should include microhabitats for bryophytes, as bryophytes are foundational species and integral to fen development. In comparison, reclamation designs for non-peat forming ecosystems that do not have abundant bryophytes, such as marshes and saline wetlands, do not require these microhabitat conditions. Installing a recently harvested peat substrate appears to provide suitable conditions for early establishment of bryophytes.
Using Neural Networks to Detect Fire from Overhead Images
Authors: Kurasinski Lukas , Tan Jason , Malekian Reza
Published: March 2023

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is increasing in our everyday applications. One emerging field within AI is image recognition. Research that has been devoted to predicting fires involves predicting its behaviour. That is, how the fire will spread based on environmental key factors such as moisture, weather condition, and human presence. The result of correctly predicting fire spread can help firefighters to minimise the damage, deciding on possible actions, as well as allocating personnel effectively in potentially fire prone areas to extinguish fires quickly. Using neural networks (NN) for active fire detection has proven to be exceptional in classifying smoke and being able to separate it from similar patterns such as clouds, ground, dust, and ocean. Recent advances in fire detection using NN has proved that aerial imagery including drones as well as satellites has provided great results in detecting and classifying fires. These systems are computationally heavy and require a tremendous amount of data. A NN model is inextricably linked to the dataset on which it is trained. The cornerstone of this study is based on the data dependencieds of these models. The model herein is trained on two separate datasets and tested on three dataset in total in order to investigate the data dependency. When validating the model on their own datasets the model reached an accuracy of 92% respectively 99%. In comparison to previous work where an accuracy of 94% was reached. During evaluation of separate datasets, the model performed around the 60% range in 5 out of 6 cases, with the outlier of 29% in one of the cases.
Implementation and Evaluation of IPv6 with Compression and Fragmentation for Throughput Improvement of Internet of Things Networks over IEEE 802.15.4
Authors: Haggag Ayman
Published: March 2023

There is a large number of connected devices in the Internet of Things (IoT) networks that are typically several orders of magnitude bigger than enterprise networks and campus networks. The exponential increase in the number of interconnected smart devices is expected to exceed 60 billion smart objects shortly. The requirements needed for IoT networks are scalability, low power consumption, and simplified routing and security protocols. IoT networks are also heterogeneous, composing different types of networks together. Legacy network protocols like IPv4 has deemed to be inefficient for IoT networks. As the number of IPv4 addresses is almost consumed with regular network devices, we propose the use of IPv6 addressing for IoT-connected devices as IPv4 cannot accommodate the scalability requirement of IoT. IPv6 provides extended address space and enhanced mobility which are very essential for IoT networks. In this research, we apply IPv6 to IoT networks to avoid the scalability bottleneck of the IPv4 subnet. IPv6 accommodates a large number of connected devices and solves issues resulting from the heterogeneous nature and access methods of IoT devices. However, IPv6 is a large protocol that does not suit itself well in the IoT world. The Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) permitted for IEEE 802.15.4 MAC data frames with their encapsulated IPv6 packet is limited to 127 bytes. We need 40 bytes for the uncompressed IPv6 header and 8 bytes are needed for the uncompressed UDP header. As a result, there are either 54 bytes left for the payload when security is not considered or 33 bytes when security is considered. We investigate throughput improvement for IoT networks by applying adaptation to IPv6 through header compression with UDP header compression. We also apply fragmentation for MAC frames that exceed the 127 bytes MTU limit. Simulation results showed that IPv6 compression with or without fragmentation serves toward adapting IPv6 packets to IoT networks. In the case of applying fragmentation, the technique of fragment forwarding greatly enhances the performance. Network traffic within the same network can be compressed to 2 bytes. On leaving the 802.15.4 network, the header increases to 12 bytes if the network prefix is known or to 20 bytes if the network prefix is unknown. Two evaluation metrics, namely, Compression Gain and Packet Delivery Ratio were applied to our proposed implementation method to prove the validity and the efficiency of our proposal.
Do changes in Lactuca sativa metabolic performance, induced by mycorrhizal symbionts and leaf UV-B irradiation, play a role towards tolerance to a polyphagous insect pest?
Authors: Santin Marco , Zeni Valeria , Grassi Arianna , Ricciardi Renato , Pieracci Ylenia , Di Giovanni Filippo , Panzani Sofia , Frasconi Christian , Agnolucci Monica , Avio Luciano , Turrini Alessandra , Giovannetti Manuela , Ruffini Castiglione Monica , Ranieri Annamaria , Canale Angelo , Lucchi Andrea , Agathokleous Evgenios , Benelli Giovanni
Published: March 2023

The increased ultraviolet radiation (UV) due to the altered stratospheric ozone leads to multiple plant physiological and biochemical adaptations, likely affecting their interaction with other organisms, such as pests and pathogens. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and UV-B treatment can be used as eco-friendly techniques to protect crops from pests by activating plant mechanisms of resistance. In this study, we investigated plant (Lactuca sativa) response to UV-B exposure and Funneliformis mosseae (IMA1) inoculation as well as the role of a major insect pest, Spodoptera littoralis. Lettuce plants exposed to UV-B were heavier and taller than non-irradiated ones. A considerable enrichment in phenolic, flavonoid, anthocyanin, and carotenoid contents and antioxidant capacity, along with redder and more homogenous leaf color, were also observed in UV-B-treated but not in AMF-inoculated plants. Biometric and biochemical data did not differ between AMF and non-AMF plants. AMF-inoculated plants showed hyphae, arbuscules, vesicles, and spores in their roots. AMF colonization levels were not affected by UV-B irradiation. No changes in S. littoralis-feeding behavior towards treated and untreated plants were observed, suggesting the ability of this generalist herbivore to overcome the plant chemical defenses boosted by UV-B exposure. The results of this multi-factorial study shed light on how polyphagous insect pests can cope with multiple plant physiological and biochemical adaptations following biotic and abiotic preconditioning.
Analysis of coniferous tree growth gradients in relation to regional pollution and climate change in the Miyun Reservoir Basin, China
Authors: Fu Li , Xu Yan , Zhao Dan , Wu Bingfang , Xu Zhihong
Published: March 2023

Forests play a crucial role in regulating regional climate and mitigating local air pollution, but little is known about their responding to such changes. This study aimed to examine the potential responses of Pinus tabuliformis, the major coniferous tree species in the Miyun Reservoir Basin (MRB), along an air pollution gradient in Beijing. Tree rings were collected along a transect, and ring width (basal area increment, BAI) and chemical characteristics were determined and related to long-term climatic and environmental records. The results showed that Pinus tabuliformis showed an overall increase in intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE) at all sites, but the relationships between iWUE and BAI differed among the sites. The contribution of atmospheric CO2 concentration (ca) to tree growth was significant at the remote sites (> 90%). The study found that air pollution at these sites might have caused further stomatal closure, as evidenced by the higher δ13C levels (0.5 to 1‰ higher) during heavy pollution periods. The analysis of tree ring δ15N also revealed the potential of using δ15N to fingerprint major nitrogen (N) deposition, as shown in the increasing tree ring δ15N, and major nitrogen losses due to denitrification and leaching, as shown in the higher δ15N in tree rings during heavy rainfall events. Overall, the gradient analysis indicated the contributions of increasing ca, increasing water deficit and elevated air pollution to tree growth and forest development. The different BAI trajectories suggested that Pinus tabuliformis has the ability to adapt to the harsh environment in the MRB.
Eutrophication history and organic carbon burial rate recorded in sediment cores from the Mar Piccolo of Taranto (Italy)
Authors: Dominik Janusz , Leoni Simone , Cassin Daniele , Guarneri Irene , Bellucci Luca Giorgio , Zonta Roberto
Published: March 2023

During the second half of the twentieth century, coastal lagoons in densely populated regions experienced eutrophication due to excessive nutrient inputs. Detrimental effects, including hypoxia/anoxia and harmful algae blooms, have occurred in many Mediterranean lagoons, but their trophic evolution is poorly documented. The lack of adequate monitoring data can partly be offset by examining sedimentary records. In the Mar Piccolo, a lagoon comprising two basins near Taranto (Italy), eutrophication has followed population growth and pollution resulting from naval activities and massive industrialisation. Based on 210Pb-dated sediment cores, continuous in situ density profiles obtained with computed tomography, organic carbon (OC) and total nitrogen (TN) content and OC and TN isotopic signatures, this paper reconstructs the history of eutrophication, discusses the sources of organic matter and provides an estimate of the OC burial rate before and during the eutrophic period. OC burial increased in the period 1928–1935 and peaked in the decade 1960–1970. OC and TN content were still high in the surface sediments collected in 2013, despite partial diversion of sewage outfalls in the period 2000–2005. The divergent δ13C and δ15N signatures of the two basins during the eutrophic period suggest they were affected by different nutrient sources. The OC burial rate during the eutrophic phase (≈ 46 g m−2 y−1) was close to the world median value for lagoon sediments, and was about twice the burial rate recorded in the preceding oligotrophic phase.
Mediation of gaseous emissions and improving plant productivity by DCD and DMPP nitrification inhibitors: Meta-analysis of last three decades
Authors: Tufail Muhammad Aammar , Irfan Muhammad , Umar Wajid , Wakeel Abdul , Schmitz Ruth A.
Published: March 2023

Nitrification inhibitors (NIs), especially dicyandiamide (DCD) and 3,4-dimethylpyrazole phosphate (DMPP), have been extensively investigated to mitigate nitrogen (N) losses from the soil and thus improve crop productivity by enhancing N use efficiency. However, to provide crop and soil-specific guidelines about using these NIs, a quantitative assessment of their efficacy in mitigating gaseous emissions, worth for nitrate leaching, and improving crop productivity under different crops and soils is yet required. Therefore, based upon 146 peer-reviewed research studies, we conducted a meta-analysis to quantify the effect of DCD and DMPP on gaseous emissions, nitrate leaching, soil inorganic N, and crop productivity under different variates. The efficacy of the NIs in reducing the emissions of CO2, CH4, NO, and N2O highly depends on the crop, soil, and experiment types. The comparative efficacy of DCD in reducing N2O emission was higher than the DMPP under maize, grasses, and fallow soils in both organic and chemical fertilizer amended soils. The use of DCD was linked to increased NH3 emission in vegetables, rice, and grasses. Depending upon the crop, soil, and fertilizer type, both the NIs decreased nitrate leaching from soils; however, DMPP was more effective. Nevertheless, the effect of DCD on crop productivity indicators, including N uptake, N use efficiency, and biomass/yield was higher than DMPP due to certain factors. Moreover, among soils, crops, and fertilizer types, the response by plant productivity indicators to the application of NIs ranged between 35 and 43%. Overall, the finding of this meta-analysis strongly suggests the use of DCD and DMPP while considering the crop, fertilizer, and soil types.

Graphical Abstract
Use of life cycle assessment to evaluate circular economy business models in the case of Li-ion battery remanufacturing
Authors: Wrålsen Benedikte , O’Born Reyn
Published: March 2023

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to advance and illustrate how life cycle assessment (LCA) can assess circular economy business models for lithium-ion batteries to verify potential environmental benefits compared to linear business models. Scenarios for battery repurpose are assessed to support future decision-makers regarding the choice of new versus second life batteries for stationary energy storage. A procedure to determine the substitution coefficient for repurpose and reuse of batteries is proposed.

Methods

Two different circular economy business models are assessed by applying primary data from two Norwegian companies for the development of a new life cycle inventory. With this new data, the authors compare second life battery (from first life in electric vehicle) scenarios and avoided production potential by performing a complete consequential LCA. Building on earlier work, a procedure to identify the substitution coefficient (i.e., potential for avoided production) for battery life cycle assessments is proposed. Interviews during factory visits were performed to identify a technical and a market factor affecting the substitution coefficient.

Results and discussion

This study illustrates how life cycle assessment methodology can detect and thus enhance the potential environmental benefits and trade-offs of circular economy business models. Results show that the CBMs which use second life batteries correspond to 16% (for global warming potential) of manufacturing a new battery. This means that a second life battery must avoid > 16% production of a new battery to become the preferred alternative. Hence, circular economy business models with second life batteries can generate net environmental benefits while the remaining battery capacity and market price are identified factors that can alter the potential environmental benefits. The findings suggest that assumptions concerning the avoided production emissions are crucial for understanding the overall impacts of battery value chains.

Conclusions

Circular economy business models which enable second life batteries show lower environmental impacts compared to a new battery when it can partly avoid production of a new battery. Based on the identified technical and market factor affecting this potential, a key message to industry and other organizations is that second life batteries should be chosen over new batteries. This depends on the remaining capacity being satisfactory for the new application, and the investment is not performed because of a low price compared to a new battery. Consequential LCA practitioners adopting a market approach while evaluating battery reuse and repurpose should model and account for the avoided production potential.
An artificial intelligence-driven learning analytics method to examine the collaborative problem-solving process from the complex adaptive systems perspective
Authors: Ouyang Fan , Xu Weiqi , Cukurova Mutlu
Published: March 2023

Collaborative problem solving (CPS) enables student groups to complete learning tasks, construct knowledge, and solve problems. Previous research has argued the importance of examining the complexity of CPS, including its multimodality, dynamics, and synergy from the complex adaptive systems perspective. However, there is limited empirical research examining the adaptive and temporal characteristics of CPS, which may have led to an oversimplified representation of the real complexity of the CPS process. To expand our understanding of the nature of CPS in online interaction settings, the present research collected multimodal process and performance data (i.e., speech, computer screen recordings, concept map data) and proposed a three-layered analytical framework that integrated AI algorithms with learning analytics to analyze the regularity of groups’ collaboration patterns. The results surfaced three types of collaborative patterns in groups, namely the behaviour-oriented collaborative pattern (Type 1) associated with medium-level performance, the communication-behaviour-synergistic collaborative pattern (Type 2) associated with high-level performance, and the communication-oriented collaborative pattern (Type 3) associated with low-level performance. This research further highlighted the multimodal, dynamic, and synergistic characteristics of groups’ collaborative patterns to explain the emergence of an adaptive, self-organizing system during the CPS process. According to the empirical research results, theoretical, pedagogical, and analytical implications were discussed to guide the future research and practice of CPS.
When nudges promote neutral behavior: an experimental study of managerial decisions under risk and uncertainty
Authors: Renz Erich , Müller Marvin M. , Böhm Kim Leonardo
Published: March 2023

Managers often make decisions in situations involving risk and uncertainty. To ensure the prosperity of the company, neutral behavior is desirable in such situations. However, when evaluating future-oriented managerial actions, cognitive biases can arise that are manifested as aversions towards risky and uncertain situations, leading to non-optimal decisions. In an online experiment with a convenience sample of 298 US participants, we investigate deviations from risk- and uncertainty-neutral managerial decisions and apply neutrality-promoting behavioral interventions in a business venture setting. We find that using a recommendation nudge before as well as after making an initial decision improves individual performance to achieve higher neutrality levels. In sum, we show that in managerial decision-making processes, where experience, time, and information are often lacking, simple decision-making aids lead to better decisions.
How relative competitive strength moderates stock price responses after European soccer tournaments
Authors: Schertler Andrea , van Beurden Jarmo
Published: March 2023

Stock price responses of soccer clubs to national and international tournaments have been interpreted in light of fan investors who are prone to emotions. We employ Champions League and Europa League fixtures between 2004 and 2020 to investigate whether postmatch stock price responses are driven by emotions. We argue that a soccer club’s relative competitive strength can be a proxy for investors’ emotions, such as rage and disappointment, after losing against a strong opponent, which then leads to abnormal decreases in stock prices. While we find several factors, such as the percentage of shares held by institutional investors less subject to emotions, whose effects on postmatch abnormal returns are in line with rational information processing, our evidence also suggests that the effect of a club’s relative competitive strength on stock performance is driven by investor emotion. We outline the general applicability of stock price responses arising from relative competitive strength in corporate finance settings.
New Work – Old Problem? Wie Postbürokratie die Digitalisierung erschwert
Authors: Baumgart Lene
Published: March 2023

Die Nutzung digitaler Kollaborationstools wird als Voraussetzung für eine postbürokratische New Work-Welt erachtet. Organisationale Digitalisierungsprojekte zur Einführung solcher Kollaborationssoftware sind selbst postbürokratisch strukturiert, d. h. sie arbeiten in crossfunktionalen und selbstorganisierten Teams. Während der Kooperation mit anderen Organisationseinheiten treten Konflikte auf, die sich dadurch verschärfen, dass sie nicht von der Hierarchie gelöst werden können, sondern im Sinne von New Work demokratisch ausgehandelt werden müssen. In der Folge bedarf es alternativer formaler Strukturen, die diese Herausforderung bewältigen.
Support for Strategic Voting Campaigns: Evidence from a Survey Experiment During the German General Election of 2021
Authors: Jankowski Michael
Published: March 2023

Although strategic voting is common in the first tier of the German electoral system, large-scale campaigns designed to foster strategic voting have rarely been observed in Germany. This changed in the General Election of 2021 when the left-wing organization Campact ran campaigns in several electoral districts supporting the most promising left-wing candidate in order to impede the election of a more right-wing candidate. Especially, Campact’s campaign in favor of the SPD candidate Frank Ullrich, with the goal of impeding the election of the controversial CDU candidate Hans-Georg Maaßen, received much public attention. Drawing on this case as an example, I address the question of how Green voters evaluate such campaigns. To do so, I conducted a survey experiment in which different information about the campaign of Campact is provided to Green voters. I find that providing more information about the German electoral system does not increase support for the campaign. However, Green voters react to a party cue, i.e., they become more favorable towards the campaign when they know that the Green Party supported the campaign.
Identification of representative trees in random forests based on a new tree-based distance measure
Authors: Laabs Björn-Hergen , Westenberger Ana , König Inke R.
Published: March 2023

In life sciences, random forests are often used to train predictive models. However, gaining any explanatory insight into the mechanics leading to a specific outcome is rather complex, which impedes the implementation of random forests into clinical practice. By simplifying a complex ensemble of decision trees to a single most representative tree, it is assumed to be possible to observe common tree structures, the importance of specific features and variable interactions. Thus, representative trees could also help to understand interactions between genetic variants. Intuitively, representative trees are those with the minimal distance to all other trees, which requires a proper definition of the distance between two trees. Thus, we developed a new tree-based distance measure, which incorporates more of the underlying tree structure than other metrics. We compared our new method with the existing metrics in an extensive simulation study and applied it to predict the age at onset based on a set of genetic risk factors in a clinical data set. In our simulation study we were able to show the advantages of our weighted splitting variable approach. Our real data application revealed that representative trees are not only able to replicate the results from a recent genome-wide association study, but also can give additional explanations of the genetic mechanisms. Finally, we implemented all compared distance measures in R and made them publicly available in the R package timbR (https://github.com/imbs-hl/timbR).
Phase Transition of Magnetite Ore Fines During Oxidation Probed by In Situ High-Temperature X-Ray Diffraction
Authors: Zheng Heng , Daghagheleh Oday , Ma Yan , Taferner Bernd , Schenk Johannes , Kapelyushin Yury
Published: March 2023

The reduction of magnetite-based iron ore fines in a hydrogen-induced fluidized bed becomes an attractive fossil-free ironmaking route. Our previous study showed that a prior oxidation treatment of magnetite was helpful to improve its fluidization and reduction behavior. However, the underlying oxidation mechanisms of magnetite ore fines remained unclear and required further investigations. In this study, two magnetite ore brands were analyzed viain situ high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD) during oxidation, to investigate the thermal transformation of Fe3O4 to α-Fe2O3 at crystal scale. The lattice constants and crystallite sizes of both phases and oxidation degree were evaluated at different temperatures based on the HT-XRD patterns. The lattice constants of Fe3O4 and α-Fe2O3 increased with an increase in temperature due to the thermal expansion and can be successfully fitted with temperature by second-order polynomials. With Fe3O4 being oxidized into Fe2O3, the Fe2O3 crystallite grew and showed a certain growth habit. The Fe2O3 crystallite grew faster along the a/b axis than the c axis. The oxidation kinetics followed the parabolic law as shown by the sigmoid-shaped oxidation degree curve, suggesting that the solid diffusion of ions was the rate-limiting step.
Impact of educational video on performance in robotic simulation training (TAKUMI-1): a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Takagi Kosei , Hata Nanako , Kimura Jiro , Kikuchi Satoru , Noma Kazuhiro , Yasui Kazuya , Fuji Tomokazu , Yoshida Ryuichi , Umeda Yuzo , Yagi Takahito , Fujiwara Toshiyoshi
Published: March 2023

The use of virtual reality for simulations plays an important role in the initial training for robotic surgery. This randomized controlled trial aimed to investigate the impact of educational video on the performance of robotic simulation. Participants were randomized into the intervention (video) group that received an educational video and robotic simulation training or the control group that received only simulation training. The da Vinci® Skills Simulator was used for the basic course, including nine drills. The primary endpoint was the overall score of nine drills in cycles 1–10. Secondary endpoints included overall, efficiency, and penalty scores in each cycle, as well as the learning curves evaluated by the cumulative sum (CUSUM) analysis. Between September 2021 and May 2022, 20 participants were assigned to the video (n = 10) and control (n = 10) groups. The video group had significantly higher overall scores than the control group (90.8 vs. 72.4, P < 0.001). Significantly higher overall scores and lower penalty scores were confirmed, mainly in cycles 1–5. CUSUM analysis revealed a shorter learning curve in the video group. The present study demonstrated that educational video training can be effective in improving the performance of robotic simulation training and shortening the learning curve.
Brand loyalty in the face of stockouts
Authors: Khan Uzma , DePaoli Alexander
Published: March 2023

An important managerial challenge is understanding consumers’ reactions to stockouts of a desired product―will they stay brand loyal or switch to competing brands? We posit that consumers are more likely to prefer substitutes from the same brand when a stockout is unexpected (vs. expected). This tendency arises as consumers feel greater negative affect upon encountering an unexpected stockout, which leads them to choose alternatives that provide greater affective value to ameliorate their negative feelings. Since the brand is a relatively affect-rich attribute compared to common non-brand attributes (e.g., price and quantity), consumers facing an unexpected stockout are more likely to choose a same-brand substitute. Five studies illustrate the effect and support the process by demonstrating that unexpected stockouts do not result in brand loyalty when non-brand attributes offer greater affective value than the brand. We further show that managers systematically mispredict how consumers’ expectations of stockouts relate to brand loyalty.
Monitoring invasive alien plants dynamics: application in restored areas
Authors: García Pilar , Sanna Mauro , Fernández García María , González Rodríguez Gil , Cires Eduardo
Published: March 2023

In environmental restoration, evaluating the effect of control actions on alien species is essential for a correct assessment of the success of the restoration. A simple method for the evaluation of the dynamics of alien plants after manual and mechanical control in restored areas is proposed in this work. This method is based on the cover-abundance of alien plants, the size of the inventoried area and subsequently corrected with the degree of invasiveness based on national catalogues. Alien plants data abundances are obtained from floristic relevés retrieved from the restoration actions, carried out in the Eo River (Spain) during the LIFE Fluvial project (2018–2021). The Invasive Alien Plants Index (IAPI) was calculated, before and after the control actions for three ecological units (fluvio-estuarine, riverbank and lake). In all cases, index decreases after the control actions and it is sensitive to the changes that may occurs as recolonization by new alien species. As a whole, in the Eo River, a decrease of 53% of the IAPI has been obtained from 2018 to 2021, which estimate the effect of alien plants control. This indicator is applicable to any type of habitat, ecosystem or region and is adapted to different administrative areas that have published an official list of invasive species.
An unusual case of a giant fetal facial tumour and review of the literature
Authors: Start Alex O. , Ryan Gillian A. , Cathcart Barbra , Geraghty Jennifer , Adams Niamh , Colleran Gabrielle , Vavasseur Claudine , Caird John , Murray Dylan , Walsh Jennifer M.
Published: March 2023

We present the case of a pregnant 32-year-old woman who presented with a giant fetal facial tumour at 22 weeks. The mass, initially 4 × 3.5 × 3 cm in size, was largely cystic with a small solid component. It subsequently increased to 9 × 9 × 10 cm. Significant compression effects on the fetal orbit, temple and infratemporal fossa, with potential compression of the optic nerve, were noted on ultrasound and MRI. The cyst required drainage twice in the pregnancy: firstly to reduce the compression effects and secondly to facilitate caesarean delivery. Postnatally, the baby had significant compression and displacement of the craniofacial skeleton from the mass effect. Postnatal histology revealed a diagnosis of a teratoma. This case highlights the complexities and challenges surrounding the diagnosis and management of a giant fetal facial tumour.