bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Large-
N
solution and effective action of a twisted-mass deformed
CP(N−1)
model
Authors: Ievlev E. , Sumbatian G. , Yung A.
Published: April 2024

We study effective dynamics of the nonsupersymmetric two-dimensional CP(N−1) model in the large N limit. This model is deformed by a mass term m preserving ZN symmetry of the Lagrangian. At small m the theory is strongly coupled and resembles the undeformed CP(N−1) model, while at large m it is in a weakly coupled Higgs phase with spontaneously broken ZN. We find the phase transition point and discuss the fate of the kink-antikink “mesons” at strong coupling. We also resolve an issue of instability that arose in previous studies of this model.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
New Constraints on Exotic Spin-Spin-Velocity-Dependent Interactions with Solid-State Quantum Sensors
Authors: Huang Yue , Liang Hang , Jiao Man , Yu Pei , Ye Xiangyu , Xie Yijin , Cai Yi-Fu , Duan Chang-Kui , Wang Ya , Rong Xing , Du Jiangfeng
Published: April 2024

We report new experimental results on exotic spin-spin-velocity-dependent interactions between electron spins. We designed an elaborate setup that is equipped with two nitrogen-vacancy (NV) ensembles in diamonds. One of the NV ensembles serves as the spin source, while the other functions as the spin sensor. By coherently manipulating the quantum states of two NV ensembles and their relative velocity at the micrometer scale, we are able to scrutinize exotic spin-spin-velocity-dependent interactions at short force ranges. For a T-violating interaction, V6, new limits on the corresponding coupling coefficient, f6, have been established for the force range shorter than 1 cm. For a P,T-violating interaction, V14, new constraints on the corresponding coupling coefficient, f14, have been obtained for the force range shorter than 1 km.

Published by the American Physical Society
2024
Characterization of hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity of 18CrNiMo7-6 alloy steel surface-modified layer based on scratch method
Authors: Wang Gang , Wang Mian , Wang ZiHan , Xu GuangTao , Zhao MingHao , Li Lingxiao
Published: April 2024

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to assess the hydrogen embrittlement sensitivity of carbon gradient heterostructure materials and to verify the reliability of the scratch method.

Design/methodology/approach

The surface-modified layer of 18CrNiMo7-6 alloy steel was delaminated to study its hydrogen embrittlement characteristics via hydrogen permeation, electrochemical hydrogen charging and scratch experiments.

Findings

The results showed that the diffusion coefficients of hydrogen in the surface and matrix layers are 3.28 × 10−7 and 16.67 × 10−7 cm2/s, respectively. The diffusible-hydrogen concentration of the material increases with increasing hydrogen-charging current density. For a given hydrogen-charging current density, the diffusible-hydrogen concentration gradually decreases with increasing depth in the surface-modified layer. Fracture toughness decreases with increasing diffusible-hydrogen concentration, so the susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement decreases with increasing depth in the surface-modified layer.

Originality/value

The reliability of the scratch method in evaluating the fracture toughness of the surface-modified layer material is verified. An empirical formula is given for fracture toughness as a function of diffused-hydrogen concentration.
Determinants of approach behavior for ChatGPT and their configurational influence in the hospitality and tourism sector: a cumulative prospect theory
Authors: Han Heesup , Kim Seongseop (Sam) , Hailu Tadesse Bekele , Al-Ansi Amr , Loureiro Sandra Maria Correia , Kim Jinkyung Jenny
Published: April 2024

Purpose

This research paper aims to explore the concerns and determinants of travelers’ behavior toward ChatGPT in the hospitality and tourism context. It also examines the weight of risk factors versus that of motivation and innovation characteristics influencing travelers’ approach behaviors toward ChatGPT.

Design/methodology/approach

A cumulative prospect theory was used to determine travelers’ responses to ChatGPT. This study, using a fuzzy-set qualitative approach, explored risk, motivation and innovation factors as determinants of approach behaviors for ChatGPT.

Findings

Findings revealed that risk, motivation and innovation factors were the key triggers of approach behaviors for ChatGPT. An intricate combination effect of the perceived risk, motivation and innovation characteristics was found, and the necessary predictors were determined.

Practical implications

The findings of this study will expand our current knowledge and offer practical insights for the development of ChatGPT in the hospitality and tourism sector.

Originality/value

This study makes a significant contribution to the existing literature by providing a nuanced understanding of the intricate interplay between the various factors that shape customer behavior in the context of technology adoption in hospitality and tourism studies.
Researching on practice through lesson study: developing prospective teachers’ knowledge of student learning
Authors: Vieira Raquel , Ponte João Pedro da
Published: April 2024

Purpose

This paper focuses on prospective teachers’ (PTs) participation in a lesson study (LS) that prompted them to research their own practice. We seek to describe the dimensions of PTs’ knowledge of student learning developed during the process and the LS features fostering it.

Design/methodology/approach

The participants were two PTs, a teacher educator, a cooperating teacher and a researcher. The LS was integrated into a Portuguese initial elementary teacher education program. Following a qualitative approach, we used participant observation.

Findings

The PTs developed their knowledge of students’ learning of the concept of area in four dimensions: theories; students’ interests and expectations; ways students interact with the content and students’ strengths and weaknesses in learning the concept. To support this development, the LS design considered follow-up sessions and emphasised collaborative work.

Originality/value

This study focuses on PTs researching their practice and disseminating the results, which has been overlooked in previous research of LS with PTs. The results highlight the potential of LS to motivate PTs to research their practice and emphasise the importance of involving them in disseminating LS results.
Talent management through organizational socialization: making it relevant
Authors: Chou Shih Yung
Published: April 2024

Purpose

This paper aims to explore approaches that organizations can implement to manage talents through organizational socialization.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper is conducted based on relevant human resources (HR) work experiences in various organizations and the HR literature.

Findings

Organizations need to systematically and periodically review and modify their organizational socialization process. A one-size-fits-all organizational socialization process is unhelpful and ineffective.

Originality/value

This paper provides value to HR managers and talent management specialists involved in designing and implementing organizational socialization.
Body size responses to urban temperature variations are driven by life history traits in spiders
Authors: Cabon Valentin , Quénol Hervé , Deletre Benoît , Copin Louis , Dubreuil Vincent , Bergerot Benjamin
Published: April 2024

Urban ecosystems exhibit altered environmental conditions compared to the rural surroundings, including higher temperatures, the so‐called urban heat island (UHI) effect. Along urbanisation gradients, temperature variations occur at various scales ranging from the landscape to the microhabitat, with possible consequences on living organisms. As ectothermic animals, arthropods are particularly affected by UHIs because warming may directly induce physiological effects on their metabolism.

Body size is a commonly used metric to investigate arthropod responses to thermal stress, but the scale‐dependent role of temperature variation as predictor of body size remains unclear. To assess temperature–size relationships across spatial scales and test if a common pattern to several species emerges, we performed morphological measurements on 2283 individuals representing 11 spider species belonging to Hahniidae, Linyphiidae, Lycosidae and Tetragnathidae. Spiders were collected on 36 grasslands distributed along a broad UHI gradient.

Intraspecific shifts in body size were related to temperature in the Lycosids Pardosa prativaga and Pardosa pullata at the landscape and local scales, respectively, whereas no clear effects were observed regarding the other examined species. In both species, sex was an important endogenous factor that modulated individual responses; females were more affected than males by temperature.

The contrasting amplitudes of the responses observed among Lycodids and the other species indicate that large, low dispersive and univoltine species are under a stronger influence of temperature than small bivotline species that can disperse aerially. Our results on spiders highlight that considering species‐specific life history traits helps to understand contrasting responses among species, and this may be essential for drawing general patterns of phenotypic changes among arthropods under anthropogenic warming.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Forest stand dynamics of a short‐stature tree species: Ecological knowledge for sustainable forest management
Authors: Fajardo Alex , Moreno‐Meynard Paulo , Soto Daniel P.
Published: April 2024

Worldwide, the implementation of forest management guidelines has tried to mimic natural forest dynamics. The Oliver forest stand dynamics model has been successful in bridging natural forest dynamics associated with the disturbances of various spatial scales and silviculture also related to various spatial scales of management. However, the application of this model (and others) is restricted to tall forests.

We claim here that the general research and commercial interest bias towards tall tree species has permeated silviculture and forest management, and that both the stand dynamics of short‐stature tree species and their treatment have remained largely unexplored and unknown.

Using one short‐stature tree species, Nothofagus antarctica, as a model system, we show that this species indeed follows a stand dynamic different from other tall Nothofagus‐dominated forests in southern South America. This species forms short, mature, even‐aged stands without large canopy gaps that promote tree regeneration. With this in mind, we propose a conceptual ecology‐based silvicultural guideline focusing on the creation of strip cuts or gaps along with topsoil scarification to ensure regeneration and forest reorganization after disturbances.

Policy implications. The acknowledgement that short‐stature tree species follow a stand dynamic different from tall tree species necessarily implies that they must be managed differently. This recognition, along with the implementation of ecology‐based silvicultural recommendations, represents strong arguments to make modifications to forest legislation that, together, must be aimed at conservation and sustainable forest management.
Why do local governments privatize? Political representation and contagion in the privatization of welfare services in Sweden
Authors: Goossen Mikael
Published: April 2024

Previous research has highlighted that decentralization is key to understanding the marketization of the Swedish welfare state, while local political factors are important to explaining the subnational differences in actual degrees of welfare service privatization. Other research has highlighted the impact of pragmatism rather than ideology in local government's decisions to outsource welfare services, including policy diffusion through geographical proximity to highly privatized municipalities. However, little research has been done on the role or type of political representation and whether this matters to the diffusion of welfare service privatization. Thus, there is little knowledge about whether local governments are primarily responsive to public preferences, the ideological position of the local government, or influences from neighboring municipalities. Drawing on the literature on political representation and policy diffusion, I test three hypotheses: that the local governments are primarily responsive to public preferences (sanction representation), that local governments are primarily responsive to their own ideological position (gyroscopic representation), or that local governments are primarily influenced by outsourcing in neighboring municipalities (contagion). Using a time‐lagged correlational design with survey data covering both local politicians and ordinary municipal residents, as well as public accounts of municipal outsourcing, I find that public preferences play a negligible role to the privatization process. A minor part of the between‐municipal variation in welfare service privatization can be attributed to the preferences of local politicians (gyroscopic representation), while a more substantial part is due to pressures from outsourcing among municipal neighbors (contagion).
Genome‐wide identification of yellow gene family in Hermetia illucens and functional analysis of yellow‐y by CRISPR/Cas9
Authors: Dong Yongcheng , Xu Xiaomiao , Qian Lansa , Kou Zongqing , Andongma Awawing A. , Zhou Lijun , Huang Yongping , Wang Yaohui
Published: April 2024

The yellow gene family plays a crucial role in insect pigmentation. It has potential for use as a visible marker gene in genetic manipulation and transgenic engineering in several model and non‐model insects. Sadly, yellow genes have rarely been identified in Stratiomyidae species and the functions of yellow genes are relatively unknown. In the present study, we first manually annotated and curated 10 yellow genes in the black soldier fly (BSF), Hermetia illucens (Stratiomyidae). Then, the conserved amino acids in the major royal jelly proteins (MRJPs) domain, structural architecture and phylogenetic relationship of yellow genes in BSF were analyzed. We found that the BSF yellow‐y, yellow‐c and yellow‐f genes are expressed at all developmental stages, especially in the prepupal stage. Using the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR‐associated protein 9 (Cas9) system, we successfully disrupted yellow‐y, yellow‐c and yellow‐f in the BSF. Consequently, the mutation of yellow‐y clearly resulted in a pale‐yellow body color in prepupae, pupae and adults, instead of the typical black body color of the wild type. However, the mutation of yellow‐c or yellow‐f genes did not result in any change in color of the insects, when compared with the wild type. Our study indicates that the BSF yellow‐y gene plays a role in body pigmentation, providing an optimal marker gene for the genetic manipulation of BSF.
Estimation of maternal and foetal risk of radiation‐induced cancer from a survey of computed tomography pulmonary angiography and ventilation/perfusion lung scanning for diagnosing pulmonary embolism during pregnancy
Authors: McLean Donald , Delfino Olivia , Vozzo Marie , Moorin Rachael
Published: April 2024

Introduction

While there are many papers on maternal and foetal radiation doses from computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) and ventilation/perfusion (V/Q) lung scanning examinations for diagnosing pulmonary embolism in pregnant patients, few have used clinical data to examine the patient lifetime attributable risk (LAR) of different cancer types. This paper aims to estimate the cancer risk from maternal radiation doses from CTPA and V/Q examinations and associated foetal doses.

Methods

Dosimetric data were determined for 267 pregnant patients who received CTPA and/or V/Q examinations over 8 years. Organ and foetal doses were determined using software allowing patient size variations for CTPA and using two different activity‐to‐organ dose conversion methods for V/Q scans. The LAR of cancer incidence was estimated using International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) modelling including estimates of detriment.

Results

Estimated total cancer incidence was 23 and 22 cases per 100,000 for CTPA and V/Q examinations, respectively, with detriment estimates of 18 and 20 cases. Cancer incidence was evenly divided between lung and breast cancer for CTPA with lung cancer being 80% of all cancer for V/Q. The median foetal doses were 0.03 mSv for CTPA and 0.29 mSv for V/Q. Significant differences in estimated foetal dose for V/Q scans were obtained by the two different methods used. The differences in dose between the modes of CTPA scan acquisition highlight the importance of optimisation.

Conclusion

Maternal cancer incidence and detriment were remarkably similar for each examination. Optimisation of examinations is critical for low‐dose outcomes, particularly for CTPA examination.
Nanocarriers for natural polyphenol senotherapeutics
Authors: Joma Natali , Bielawski Patrick‐Brian , Saini Anjali , Kakkar Ashok , Maysinger Dusica
Published: April 2024

Senescence is a heterogenous and dynamic process in which various cell types undergo cell‐cycle arrest due to cellular stressors. While senescence has been implicated in aging and many human pathologies, therapeutic interventions remain inadequate due to the absence of a comprehensive set of biomarkers in a context‐dependent manner. Polyphenols have been investigated as senotherapeutics in both preclinical and clinical settings. However, their use is hindered by limited stability, toxicity, modest bioavailability, and often inadequate concentration at target sites. To address these limitations, nanocarriers such as polymer nanoparticles and lipid vesicles can be utilized to enhance the efficacy of senolytic polyphenols. Focusing on widely studied senolytic agents—specifically fisetin, quercetin, and resveratrol—we provide concise summaries of their physical and chemical properties, along with an overview of preclinical and clinical findings. We also highlight common signaling pathways and potential toxicities associated with these agents. Addressing challenges linked to nanocarriers, we present examples of senotherapeutic delivery to various cell types, both with and without nanocarriers. Finally, continued research and development of senolytic agents and nanocarriers are encouraged to reduce the undesirable effects of senescence on different cell types and organs. This review underscores the need for establishing reliable sets of senescence biomarkers that could assist in evaluating the effectiveness of current and future senotherapeutic candidates and nanocarriers.
Impact of the disruption in supply of varenicline since 2021 on smoking cessation in England: A population study
Authors: Jackson Sarah E. , Brown Jamie , Tattan‐Birch Harry , Shahab Lion
Published: April 2024

Background and aims

Varenicline is one of the most effective smoking cessation treatments. Its supply in England was disrupted in July 2021 due to nitrosamine impurities found by its supplier, Pfizer. This study measured the impact of this disruption on smoking cessation in England.

Design, setting and participants

The study used repeated cross‐sectional surveys conducted monthly, from June 2018 to December 2022. Set in England, it comprised a total of 3024 adults who reported smoking during the past year and had made at least one serious attempt to quit in the past 6 months.

Measurements

Generalized additive models analyzed the association of the varenicline supply disruption with the trend in self‐reported varenicline use in the most recent quit attempt. We used these results to estimate the population‐level impact of the disruption on smoking cessation.

Findings

Before July 2021, the proportion of past 6‐month quit attempts using varenicline was stable at approximately 3.9% [risk ratio (RR)trend = 1.034, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.823–1.298]. The trend in varenicline use has changed sharply since the supply disruption (RRΔtrend = 0.297, 95% CI = 0.120–0.738), with prevalence falling by 69.3% per year since; from 4.1% in June 2021 to 0.8% in December 2022. Convergently, National Health Service general practitioner prescribing data reported that just 0.1% of prescriptions for smoking cessation treatments in December 2022 were for varenicline. Assuming that varenicline does not return to the market, we estimate that this could result in ~8400 fewer people stopping smoking for at least 6 months, ~4200 fewer long‐term ex‐smokers and ~1890 more avoidable deaths each year.

Conclusions

In England, the disruption in supply of varenicline since 2021 has coincided with a substantial fall in the use of varenicline in attempts to quit smoking.
Implementation of a day‐stay joint replacement pathway in an Australian regional public hospital: A descriptive study
Authors: Tutty Amanda , Martin Sam , Scholes Corey , Genon Michel , Linton Jane , Davidson Simon , Williams Christopher
Published: April 2024

Objective

To describe the implementation, feasibility and safety of a day‐stay joint replacement pathway in a regional public hospital in Australia.

Method

Over a 12‐month pilot period, a prospective descriptive analysis of consecutive patients undergoing total knee and hip arthroplasty was conducted. The number of eligible day‐stay patients, proportion of successful same‐day discharges and reasons for same‐day failure to discharge were recorded. Outcome measures captured for all joint replacements across this period included length of stay (LoS), patient reported outcomes, complications and patient satisfaction. The implementation pathway as well as patient and staff identified success factors derived from interviews were outlined.

Results

Forty‐one/246 (17%) patients booked for joint replacement surgery were eligible for day‐stay and 21/41 (51%) achieved a successful same‐day discharge. Unsuccessful same‐day discharges were due to time of surgery too late in the day (7/20), no longer meeting same‐day discharge criteria (11/20) and declined discharge same‐day (2/20). Over the implementation period 65% (162/246) of all patients were discharged with a LoS of 2 days or less. Patient satisfaction for the day‐stay pathway was high. Complication rates and patient‐reported outcomes were equivalent across LoS groups.

Conclusion

The day‐stay joint replacement surgery pathway was feasible to implement, safe and acceptable to patients. Day‐stay pathways have potential patient and system‐level efficiency benefits.
Gratitude research: Review and future agenda using bibliometric analysis of the studies published in the last 20 years
Authors: Garg Naval
Published: April 2024

Although there is an exponential rise in the literature on gratitude research, there is no attempt to systematically identify the historical development and recent trends in gratitude research. Gratitude has been defined diversely as an emotion, an attitude, a moral virtue, a habit, a personality trait or a coping response. As an emotion, people experience gratitude when they receive something valuable from someone else. As a trait, it is defined as a tendency to recognise and respond to goodness in others. The present study uses bibliometric analysis to review gratitude publications from the last 20 years, that is from 2001 to September 2023. WoS (Web of Science) identified 2982 publications referring to gratitude in title, abstract or keywords. It comprised 2860 articles and 122 review papers. The extracted data were analysed and visualised with the help of two analytical tools, that is the WoS analysis and VOSviewer (version 1.6.16). This study elicits the number of publications and citations from 2001 to September 2023, and most cited publications, and the most influential authors, articles, publishers, universities and countries as performance analysis. Furthermore, collaboration among countries, keyword co‐occurrence and recent trend analysis are employed through science mapping. The results reveal that the major research areas of gratitude research are psychology, social sciences, business economics, psychiatry and public environmental and occupational health. The keywords co‐occurrence suggest five major research clusters: evolutionary studies of gratitude, gratitude and health, gratitude and positive psychology, gratitude among children and adolescent and mediating and moderating studies of gratitude. Also, the analysis of recent 5‐year studies highlights a clear trend of scientific explorations of gratitude against earlier trends of articles on philosophical and religious connotations of gratitude.
Performance of a simplified strategy for formula constant optimisation in intraocular lens power calculation
Authors: Langenbucher Achim , Wendelstein Jascha , Szentmáry Nóra , Cayless Alan , Hoffmann Peter , Debellmaniere Guillaume , Gatinel Damien
Published: April 2024

Purpose

To investigate the performance of a simple prediction scheme for the formula constants optimised for a mean refractive prediction error.

Methods

Analysis based on a dataset of 888 eyes before and after cataract surgery with IOL implantation (Hoya Vivinex). IOLMaster 700 biometric data, power of the implanted lens and postoperative spherical equivalent refraction were used to calculate the optimised constants (.)opt for SRKT, HofferQ, Holladay and Haigis formula with an iterative nonlinear optimisation. For detuning start values by ±1.5 from (.)opt, the predicted formula constants (.)pred were calculated and compared with (.)opt. Formula performance metrics mean (MPE), median (MEDPE), mean absolute (MAPE), median absolute (MEDAPE), root mean squared (RMSPE) and standard deviation (SDPE) of the formula prediction error were analysed for (.)opt and (.)pred.

Results

(.)pred – (.)opt showed a 2nd order parabolic behaviour with maximal deviations up to 0.09 at the tails of detuning and a minimal deviation up to −0.01 for all formulae. The performance curves of different metrics of PE as functions of detuning variations show that the formula constants for zeroing MPE and MEDPE yield almost identical formula constants, optimisation for MAPE, MEDAPE and RMSPE yielded formula constants very close to (.)opt, and optimisation for SDPE could result in formula constants up to 0.5 off (.)opt which is unacceptable for clinical use.

Conclusion

This simple prediction scheme for formula constant optimisation for zero mean refraction error performs excellently in our monocentric dataset, even for larger deviations of the start value from (.)opt. Further studies with multicentric data and larger sample sizes are required to investigate the performance in a clinical setting further.
Decreased RNA‐binding protein heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U improves multiple myeloma sensitivity to lenalidomide
Authors: Lin Zhimei , Zhang Yue , Liu Xiang , Luo Hongmei , Li Qian , Gao Qianwen , Wang Xin , Wen Jingjing , Li Linfeng , Feng Yu , Wang Fangfang , Huang Jingcao , Zhai Xinyu , Zhang Li , Niu Ting , Zheng Yuhuan
Published: April 2024

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable plasma cell cancer in the bone marrow. Immunomodulatory drugs, such as lenalidomide (LEN) and pomalidomide, are backbone agents in MM treatment, and LEN resistance is commonly seen in the MM clinic. In this study, we presented that heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U (hnRNPU) affected MM resistance to LEN via the regulation of target mRNA translation. hnRNPULow MM cells exhibited upregulated CRBN and IKZF1 proteins, stringent IKZF1/3 protein degradation upon LEN addition and increased sensitivity to LEN. RNA pulldown assays and RNA electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that hnRNPU bound to the 3′‐untranslated region of CRBN and IKZF1 mRNA. A sucrose gradient assay suggested that hnRNPU specifically regulated CRBN and IKZF1 mRNA translation. The competition of hnRNPU binding to its target mRNAs by small RNAs with hnRNPU‐binding sites restored MM sensitivity to LEN. hnRNPU function in vivo was confirmed in an immunocompetent MM mouse model constructed by the inoculation of Crbn‐humanized murine 5TGM1 cells into CrbnI391V/+ mice. Overall, this study suggests a novel mechanism of LEN sensitivity in which hnRNPU represses CRBN and IKZF1 mRNA translation.
Heritability of cancers in Japanese population: Estimation from recent cohort data
Authors: Nagao Yoshiro , Takeshita Kei
Published: April 2024

Cancers are genetically categorized into common diseases showing a so‐called multifactorial inheritance except for rare familial cancers. And as a measure to estimate the strength of genetic factors in the multifactorial diseases, heritability (h2) is generally used. However, there have been few reports on the estimation of heritability for cancers. We calculated the heritability from the incidence in subject population and the familial recurrence rate in first‐degree relatives of the affected for cancers quoting the data from a large‐scale prospective cohort study by Hidaka et al. published in 2020. This is the first report for heritability of any cancers in Japanese population. The results showed that heritability of overall cancers in Japanese population is 0.064, which is much lower than Nordic population reported by Mucci et al. that was 0.33. For individual cancers, stomach cancer (h2 = 0.14), colorectum cancer (0.006), lung cancer (0.08) and uterine cancer (0.16) accounted for half of the total patients, and each heritability tends to be lower than previously reported for the European descent. The results of this study suggest that heritability of cancers varies greatly by ethnicity. And these results should be important in terms of cancer genetics and in the genetic counseling for cancers.
Wavelet Potentials: An Efficient Potential Recovery Technique for Pointwise Incompressible Fluids
Authors: Lyu Luan , Ren Xiaohua , Cao Wei , Zhu Jian , Wu Enhua , Yang Zhi‐Xin
Published: April 2024

We introduce an efficient technique for recovering the vector potential in wavelet space to simulate pointwise incompressible fluids. This technique ensures that fluid velocities remain divergence‐free at any point within the fluid domain and preserves local volume during the simulation. Divergence‐free wavelets are utilized to calculate the wavelet coefficients of the vector potential, resulting in a smooth vector potential with enhanced accuracy, even when the input velocities exhibit some degree of divergence. This enhanced accuracy eliminates the need for additional computational time to achieve a specific accuracy threshold, as fewer iterations are required for the pressure Poisson solver. Additionally, in 3D, since the wavelet transform is taken in‐place, only the memory for storing the vector potential is required. These two features make the method remarkably efficient for recovering vector potential for fluid simulation. Furthermore, the method can handle various boundary conditions during the wavelet transform, making it adaptable for simulating fluids with Neumann and Dirichlet boundary conditions. Our approach is highly parallelizable and features a time complexity of O(n), allowing for seamless deployment on GPUs and yielding remarkable computational efficiency. Experiments demonstrate that, taking into account the time consumed by the pressure Poisson solver, the method achieves an approximate 2x speedup on GPUs compared to state‐of‐the‐art vector potential recovery techniques while maintaining a precision level of 10−6 when single float precision is employed. The source code of ‘Wavelet Potentials’ can be found in https://github.com/yours321dog/WaveletPotentials.
Polygon Laplacian Made Robust
Authors: Bunge A. , Bukenberger D. R. , Wagner S. D. , Alexa M. , Botsch M.
Published: April 2024

Discrete Laplacians are the basis for various tasks in geometry processing. While the most desirable properties of the discretization invariably lead to the so‐called cotangent Laplacian fortrianglemeshes, applying the same principles topolygonLaplacians leaves degrees of freedom in their construction. From linear finite elements it is well‐known how the shape of triangles affects both the error and the operator's condition. We notice that shape quality can be encapsulated as the trace of the Laplacian and suggest that trace minimization is a helpful tool to improve numerical behavior. We apply this observation to the polygon Laplacian constructed from a virtual triangulation [BHKB20] to derive optimal parameters per polygon. Moreover, we devise a smoothing approach for the vertices of a polygon mesh to minimize the trace. We analyze the properties of the optimized discrete operators and show their superiority over generic parameter selection in theory and through various experiments.
Stylized Face Sketch Extraction via Generative Prior with Limited Data
Authors: Yun Kwan , Seo Kwanggyoon , Seo Chang Wook , Yoon Soyeon , Kim Seongcheol , Ji Soohyun , Ashtari Amirsaman , Noh Junyong
Published: April 2024

Facial sketches are both a concise way of showing the identity of a person and a means to express artistic intention. While a few techniques have recently emerged that allow sketches to be extracted in different styles, they typically rely on a large amount of data that is difficult to obtain. Here, we propose StyleSketch, a method for extracting high‐resolution stylized sketches from a face image. Using the rich semantics of the deep features from a pretrained StyleGAN, we are able to train a sketch generator with 16 pairs of face and the corresponding sketch images. The sketch generator utilizes part‐based losses with two‐stage learning for fast convergence during training for high‐quality sketch extraction. Through a set of comparisons, we show that StyleSketch outperforms existing state‐of‐the‐art sketch extraction methods and few‐shot image adaptation methods for the task of extracting high‐resolution abstract face sketches. We further demonstrate the versatility of StyleSketch by extending its use to other domains and explore the possibility of semantic editing. The project page can be found inhttps://kwanyun.github.io/stylesketch_project.
CharacterMixer: Rig‐Aware Interpolation of 3D Characters
Authors: Zhan Xiao , Fu Rao , Ritchie Daniel
Published: April 2024

We present CharacterMixer, a system for blending two rigged 3D characters with different mesh and skeleton topologies while maintaining a rig throughout interpolation. CharacterMixer also enables interpolation during motion for such characters, a novel feature. Interpolation is an important shape editing operation, but prior methods have limitations when applied to rigged characters: they either ignore the rig (making interpolated characters no longer posable) or use a fixed rig and mesh topology. To handle different mesh topologies, CharacterMixer uses a signed distance field (SDF) representation of character shapes, with one SDF per bone. To handle different skeleton topologies, it computes a hierarchical correspondence between source and target character skeletons and interpolates the SDFs of corresponding bones. This correspondence also allows the creation of a single “unified skeleton” for posing and animating interpolated characters. We show that CharacterMixer produces qualitatively better interpolation results than two state‐of‐the‐art methods while preserving a rig throughout interpolation. Project page: https://seanxzhan.github.io/projects/CharacterMixer.
Text‐to‐3D Shape Generation
Authors: Lee H. , Savva M. , Chang A. X.
Published: April 2024

Recent years have seen an explosion of work and interest in text‐to‐3D shape generation. Much of the progress is driven by advances in 3D representations, large‐scale pretraining and representation learning for text and image data enabling generative AI models, and differentiable rendering. Computational systems that can perform text‐to‐3D shape generation have captivated the popular imagination as they enable non‐expert users to easily create 3D content directly from text. However, there are still many limitations and challenges remaining in this problem space. In this state‐of‐the‐art report, we provide a survey of the underlying technology and methods enabling text‐to‐3D shape generation to summarize the background literature. We then derive a systematic categorization of recent work on text‐to‐3D shape generation based on the type of supervision data required. Finally, we discuss limitations of the existing categories of methods, and delineate promising directions for future work.
Recent Trends in 3D Reconstruction of General Non‐Rigid Scenes
Authors: Yunus Raza , Lenssen Jan Eric , Niemeyer Michael , Liao Yiyi , Rupprecht Christian , Theobalt Christian , Pons‐Moll Gerard , Huang Jia‐Bin , Golyanik Vladislav , Ilg Eddy
Published: April 2024

Reconstructing models of the real world, including 3D geometry, appearance, and motion of real scenes, is essential for computer graphics and computer vision. It enables the synthesizing of photorealistic novel views, useful for the movie industry and AR/VR applications. It also facilitates the content creation necessary in computer games and AR/VR by avoiding laborious manual design processes. Further, such models are fundamental for intelligent computing systems that need to interpret real‐world scenes and actions to act and interact safely with the human world. Notably, the world surrounding us is dynamic, and reconstructing models of dynamic, non‐rigidly moving scenes is a severely underconstrained and challenging problem. This state‐of‐the‐art report (STAR) offers the reader a comprehensive summary of state‐of‐the‐art techniques with monocular and multi‐view inputs such as data from RGB and RGB‐D sensors, among others, conveying an understanding of different approaches, their potential applications, and promising further research directions. The report covers 3D reconstruction of general non‐rigid scenes and further addresses the techniques for scene decomposition, editing and controlling, and generalizable and generative modeling. More specifically, we first review the common and fundamental concepts necessary to understand and navigate the field and then discuss the state‐of‐the‐art techniques by reviewing recent approaches that use traditional and machine‐learning‐based neural representations, including a discussion on the newly enabled applications. The STAR is concluded with a discussion of the remaining limitations and open challenges.
State of the Art on Diffusion Models for Visual Computing
Authors: Po R. , Yifan W. , Golyanik V. , Aberman K. , Barron J. T. , Bermano A. , Chan E. , Dekel T. , Holynski A. , Kanazawa A. , Liu C.K. , Liu L. , Mildenhall B. , Nießner M. , Ommer B. , Theobalt C. , Wonka P. , Wetzstein G.
Published: April 2024

The field of visual computing is rapidly advancing due to the emergence of generative artificial intelligence (AI), which unlocks unprecedented capabilities for the generation, editing, and reconstruction of images, videos, and 3D scenes. In these domains, diffusion models are the generative AI architecture of choice. Within the last year alone, the literature on diffusion‐based tools and applications has seen exponential growth and relevant papers are published across the computer graphics, computer vision, and AI communities with new works appearing daily on arXiv. This rapid growth of the field makes it difficult to keep up with all recent developments. The goal of this state‐of‐the‐art report (STAR) is to introduce the basic mathematical concepts of diffusion models, implementation details and design choices of the popular Stable Diffusion model, as well as overview important aspects of these generative AI tools, including personalization, conditioning, inversion, among others. Moreover, we give a comprehensive overview of the rapidly growing literature on diffusion‐based generation and editing, categorized by the type of generated medium, including 2D images, videos, 3D objects, locomotion, and 4D scenes. Finally, we discuss available datasets, metrics, open challenges, and social implications. This STAR provides an intuitive starting point to explore this exciting topic for researchers, artists, and practitioners alike.
Cues to fast‐forward collaboration: A Survey of Workspace Awareness and Visual Cues in XR Collaborative Systems
Authors: Assaf R. , Mendes D. , Rodrigues R.
Published: April 2024

Collaboration in extended reality (XR) environments presents complex challenges that revolve around how users perceive the presence, intentions, and actions of their collaborators. This paper delves into the intricate realm of group awareness, focusing specifically on workspace awareness and the innovative visual cues designed to enhance user comprehension. The research begins by identifying a spectrum of collaborative situations drawn from an analysis of XR prototypes in the existing literature. Then, we describe and introduce a novel classification for workspace awareness, along with an exploration of visual cues recently employed in research endeavors. Lastly, we present the key findings and shine a spotlight on promising yet unexplored topics. This work not only serves as a reference for experienced researchers seeking to inform the design of their own collaborative XR applications but also extends a welcoming hand to newcomers in this dynamic field.
The role of intrinsic reward in adolescent word learning
Authors: Bains Amrita , Barber Annaliese , Nell Tau , Ripollés Pablo , Krishnan Saloni
Published: April 2024

Relatively little work has focused on why we are motivated to learn words. In adults, recent experiments have shown that intrinsic reward signals accompany successful word learning from context. In addition, the experience of reward facilitated long‐term memory for words. In adolescence, developmental changes are seen in reward and motivation systems as well as in reading and language systems. Here, in the face of this developmental change, we ask whether adolescents experience reward from word learning, and how the reward and memory benefit seen in adults is modulated by age. We used a naturalistic reading paradigm, which involved extracting novel word meanings from sentence context without the need for explicit feedback. By exploring ratings of enjoyment during the learning phase, as well as recognition memory for words a day later, we assessed whether adolescents show the same reward and learning patterns as adults. We tested 345 children between the ages of 10–18 (N > 84 in each 2‐year age‐band) using this paradigm. We found evidence for our first prediction: children aged 10–18 report greater enjoyment for successful word learning. However, we did not find evidence for age‐related change in this developmental period, or memory benefits. This work gives us greater insight into the process of language acquisition and sets the stage for further investigations of intrinsic reward in typical and atypical development.

Research Highlights

We constantly learn words from context, even in the absence of explicit rewards or feedback.

In adults, intrinsic reward experienced during word learning is linked to a dopaminergic circuit in the brain, which also fuels enhancements in memory for words.

We find adolescents also report enhanced reward or enjoyment when they successfully learn words from sentence context.

The relationship between reward and learning is maintained between the ages of 10 and 18.

Unlike in adults, we did not observe ensuing memory benefits.
Factors associated with treatment responses to pioglitazone in patients with steatotic liver disease: A 3‐year prospective cohort study
Authors: Chang Ming‐Ling , Tai Jennifer , Cheng Jur‐Shan , Chen Wei‐Ting , Yang Sien‐Sing , Chiu Cheng‐Hsun , Chien Rong‐Nan
Published: April 2024

Aim

The response rate to pioglitazone and the predictive factors for its effects on improving liver biochemistry in patients with steatotic liver disease (SLD) remain elusive, so we aimed to investigate these issues.

Methods

A 3‐year prospective cohort study of 126 Taiwanese patients with SLD treated with pioglitazone (15‐30 mg/day) was conducted. Phospholipase domain‐containing protein 3 I148M rs738409, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase rs1801133, aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) rs671 and lipoprotein lipase rs10099160 single nucleotide polymorphisms were assessed in the patients.

Results

Of 126 patients, 78 (61.9%) were men, and the mean and median ages were 54.3 and 56.5 years, respectively. Pioglitazone responders were defined as those with decreased alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels at 6 months post‐treatment, and 105 (83.3%) patients were responders. Compared with non‐responders, responders were more frequently women and had higher baseline ALT levels. The proportion of patients with the ALDH2 rs671 GG genotype was lower among responders (38.6% vs. 66.6%, p = .028). Female sex [odds ratio (OR): 4.514, p = .023] and baseline ALT level (OR: 1.015, p = .046; cut‐off level: ≥82 U/L) were associated with pioglitazone response. Among responders, the liver biochemistry and homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance improved from 6 to 24 months post‐treatment. The total cholesterol levels decreased within 6 months, while increases in high‐density lipoprotein cholesterol levels and decreases in triglyceride levels and fibrosis‐4 scores were noted only at 24 months post‐treatment. The 2‐year cumulative incidences of cardiovascular events, cancers and hepatic events were similar between responders and non‐responders.

Conclusions

Regarding liver biochemistry, over 80% of Taiwanese patients with SLD had a pioglitazone response, which was positively associated with female sex and baseline ALT levels. Insulin resistance improved as early as 6 months post‐treatment, while liver fibrosis improvement was not observed until 24 months post‐treatment. The link between the pioglitazone response and the ALDH2 genotype warrants further investigation.
Changes to business faculty perceived skills with online teaching tools and educational practices: The pandemic effect
Authors: Churchill Christina , Warren Scott J. , Grotewold Kimberly S.
Published: April 2024

In the spring of 2020, universities worldwide closed their campuses and transitioned their face‐to‐face courses to remote teaching with educational technologies due to the COVID‐19 pandemic. This unprecedented transition to online instruction created a unique learning environment for students and faculty. Our case‐based, qualitative study explores the perceived skill level changes of professors who implemented (with minimal training) online educational technologies to deliver business courses at a business school in the southwest United States. Business faculty completed a Likert‐scale survey instrument that used the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) teacher competency framework, which includes digitally communicating with students, delivering asynchronous material, delivering synchronous classes, using the learning management system, and providing digital assessments and feedback (2018). Study outcomes indicate that instructors’ perceived skill sets in most topics grew due to the adoption of online educational technologies at the onset of the pandemic. Further study might focus on determining the long‐term implications of the growing integration of educational technology on business faculty instruction in both online and face‐to‐face classrooms.