bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multidimensional Quality of Life of Older Adults in South Africa
Authors: Kopylova Natalia , Greyling Talita , Rossouw Stephanié
Published: June 2022

It is estimated that by 2050, the world population over the age of 65 will reach 1.5 billion. The United Nations predicts that the fastest growth will be in Africa, which suffers from extreme poverty and inequalities. Therefore, older people who play an essential role in African culture face significant well-being challenges. To mitigate these challenges and improve quality of life (QoL), we must first assess their well-being levels. Well-being is a multidimensional concept and needs a multidimensional measure. However, the dimensions that explain older people’s QoL differ from other age groups and between developed and developing countries. We construct a unique index applicable to Africa. We functionalised the index using the South African National Income Dynamic Study dataset. By applying the new index empirically, we determine the level of QoL of older adults. Additionally, we establish which dimensions explain the most variance signalling areas for policy intervention. Furthermore, analysing panel data allows us to follow older individuals’ well-being over time to determine the trend. Lastly, we analyse different demographic groups’ well-being to establish the most vulnerable. We find the dimensions that explain the most variance are household services, economic status, safety, mental and physical health. The well-being of older adults increased over time, likely due to policy interventions, and the most vulnerable group is black African women in traditional and farming areas. Other developing countries could adopt our QoL index to measure the well-being of older people at a micro-level.
Italian High-Speed Railway Stations and the Attractivity Index: the Downscaling Potential to Implement Coworking as Service in Station
Authors: Castaldo Anna Giulia , di Martino Ferdinando , Cardone Barbara , Domenico Moccia Francesco
Published: June 2022

This article introduces a methodology to evidence the current attractiveness level of Italian high-speed railway stations in a GIS environment, involving station services and flow parameters. The model has been relevant to detect stations with lower attractive capacity, and afterward, to implement the station attractivity, the work proposed employing a coworking spaces strategy as a service in station. Coworking spaces produce benefits both for the traveler and the transport company. These places became part of the services offered within railway stations since they are flow providers able to change appearance and idea of experience at station. In France, a coworking strategy has been created from the collaboration of Regus, leader company in coworking spaces supply, and the French railway group (SNCF). The Italian railway company (Ferrovie dello Stato) does not consider the attractiveness potential of coworking in the management of station resources; coworking spaces in Italy are placed outside stations. Accordingly, Torino Porta Susa station has been identified as one of the stations with low attractivity capacity from the methodology implemented, and it has been chosen as the case study to implement the coworking strategy. The choice of Torino Porta Susa is accurate also for showing the value of associating coworking as urban policies support. The coworking strategy can implement attractiveness levels and, in a long-term future perspective, encourage sustainable mobility targets.
Facial impression of trustworthiness biases statement credibility unless suppressed by facemask
Authors: Marini Marco , Paglieri Fabio , Ansani Alessandro , Caruana Fausto , Viola Marco
Published: June 2022

The impression of trustworthiness based on someone’s facial appearance biases our subsequent behavior toward that subject in a variety of contexts. In this study, we investigated whether facial trustworthiness also biases the credibility of utterances associated with that face (H1). We explored whether this bias is mitigated by utterances eliciting reasoning, i.e. explanations (as opposed to factual statements; H2). Moreover, we hypothesized that overimposing facemasks on those faces could enhance/reduce utterance credibility due to social value of mask-wearing (H3), and that facemasks could counter the putative credibility bias introduced by facial trustworthiness (H4). If so, this may be either because facemasks remove the visual information necessary for trustworthiness impression (H4a), or because information is less salient, although it can be retrieved under different circumstances (H4b). An online study (N = 159) was conducted to test these hypotheses. In the first task, subjects saw 48 facial pictures coupled with one utterance and judged the truthfulness/falsity of this utterance. In the second task, they saw again 16 of the faces from the previous tasks and were asked to recall whether the associated utterance was true or false. Findings from the first task support H1 and H4, but not H2 and H3. However, in the second task, where the face is the only available cue, the credibility-mitigation bias exerted by facemask disappears, supporting H4b over H4a. Our results confirm the pervasivity of facial trustworthiness impressions in social cognition, and suggest that facemask can mitigate them, or at least their salience.
Resilience, stress and anxiety in pregnancy before and throughout the pandemic: a structural equation modelling approach
Authors: Puertas-Gonzalez Jose A. , Mariño-Narvaez Carolina , Romero-Gonzalez Borja , Vilar-López Raquel , Peralta-Ramirez Maria Isabel
Published: June 2022

The present study explored and compared the link between resilience and pregnancy-related stress, perceived stress, and anxiety, employing two structural equation models. One model focused on pregnant women before the outbreak of the pandemic, and the other on pregnancies throughout the pandemic. For this purpose, a total sample of 690 women during their pregnancy were collected: the Pre-Pandemic Group (P-PG) was composed of 341 pregnant women evaluated prior to the pandemic; and 349 pregnant women assessed at the time of the pandemic constituted the Pandemic Group (PG). The resilience, pregnancy-related stress, perceived stress, and anxiety symptomatology of the women were assessed. For both samples, resilience was found to lower levels of pregnancy-specific stress, as well as general perceived stress, and anxiety symptomatology. Furthermore, pregnancy-specific stress and perceived stress showed a covariance relationship and, that these, in turn, increased the anxiety. Moreover, the PG showed greater levels of pregnancy-specific stress, anxiety, somatisations, and obsessions-compulsions, while the P-PG presented higher perceived stress levels.
Ungewöhnliche Flavoenzyme steuern die Bildung von Troponen in Bakterien
Authors: Toplak Marina , Höing Lars , Teufel Robin
Published: June 2022

Bacterial tropone natural products play important roles in symbiotic interactions, e. g., as protective antibiotics or toxins. Remarkably, their biosynthesis relies on an interweaving of primary and secondary metabolism. Accordingly, the sequestration of a shunt product from aromatic catabolism by a non-canonical flavoenzyme leads to an advanced biosynthetic intermediate. The enzyme hereby operates as a novel dioxygenase that activates O2 for CoA thioester bond cleavage and ring epoxidation.
Wie Kochsalz Mitochondrien beeinflusst
Authors: Geisberger Sabrina
Published: June 2022

Dietary high salt (HS) is a major risk factor for cardio-vascular and chronic inflammatory diseases. Sodium can increase postprandially but can also accumulate in diverse tissues. Immune cells, such as macrophages, sense this salty environment and adapt accordingly, shifting towards a more pro-inflammatory state. Mechanistically, HS inhibits complex II of the electron transport chain and thereby reduces mitochondrial function. In two independent clinical studies, an HS-diet transiently impaired human monocytic mitochondrial function.
A multilevel, multi-mode framework for standardization in digital B2B platform eco-systems in international cargo transportation—A multiple case study
Authors: Tessmann Ruben , Elbert Ralf
Published: June 2022

Standardization is gaining importance for digital platform eco-systems as they try to balance both stability and flexibility of their core as well as their boundary resources. Our knowledge on which factors influence standardization processes in business-to-business (B2B) focused digital platform eco-systems remains limited. Using three B2B platform eco-systems from the cargo transportation and seaport eco-system context, we apply a multiple case study to investigate which factors affect the standardization mode and the standard adoption. Based on 19 interviews and a systematic coding procedure, we identified 24 factors and cluster them into four overarching themes. We show the relatedness between standardization and innovation research, identify standard characteristics as the most important theme of factors and show that standardization has to be seen as a dynamic and interconnected process, as some factors are interdependent but the controllability varies between factors. Lastly, implications of these results and future research directions are discussed.
Biodiversity and distribution of corals in Chile
Authors: Addamo Anna Maria , Sellanes Javier , Häussermann Vreni , Försterra Günter , Machordom Annie
Published: June 2022

The present review investigates our current knowledge of the richness and distribution of coral species inhabiting diverse habitats in Chilean coastal and marine waters, including the oceanic islands. Information, such as the spatial-temporal coverage, taxonomic resolution, and bathymetry of species, was extracted from published articles, geodatabases, and unpublished data. Our analyses of these data highlight major gaps in knowledge on corals in Chile, indicating this region remains poorly studied. The results show that the previous studies focused mostly on coastal and shallow-water habitats, with the continental slope, oceanic islands, and seamounts remaining mainly unexplored. Furthermore, high coral species richness was observed in the Magellanic Province compared with the northern Intermediate Area and Peruvian Province, and the temporal distribution of occurrence records was discontinuous, with peaks observed for the years 1876–1877, 1960–1967, and 2001–2016. We also report a new location and an extension of the known geographic distribution for Bathycyathus chilensis. Despite the progress in scientific knowledge achieved in the last decades, coral research still suffers from significant knowledge gaps, especially of the deep-sea benthic biodiversity in Chile. Further exploration of Chilean coastal and marine waters is therefore necessary to increase the knowledge of the coral biodiversity of this vast region.
‘God will protect us’: Belief in God/Higher Power's ability to intervene and COVID-19 vaccine uptake
Authors: DiGregorio Bernard D. , Corcoran Katie E. , Scheitle Christopher P.
Published: June 2022

Background

Vaccines represent one of the best ways to counter the COVID-19 pandemic. However, vaccine hesitancy among the population limits the effectiveness of vaccines. Recent research has explored the role of religion in vaccine hesitancy, but in doing so has encountered a “black box” problem. There is a relationship between religion and vaccine hesitancy, but the explanation for why remains unclear.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between religion and vaccine hesitancy. We propose that how an individual conceptualizes God/a higher power is associated with getting vaccinated for COVID-19.

Methods

We use data from a nationally representative survey of U.S. adults, collected using the Amerispeak® probability-based panel via the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. We examine the association between individuals’ views of God/a higher power as both a supervisory and an intervening figure on vaccine uptake and likelihood of getting vaccinated through logistic regressions.

Results

We find that belief in God's/a higher power's supervision is not significantly associated with the odds of COVID-19 vaccine uptake or vaccination intent. However, belief in God's/a higher power's ability to intervene in the world is significantly and negatively associated with the odds of COVID-19 vaccine uptake and the odds of having received or planning to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, in models where belief in the ability of God/a higher power to intervene are included, Christian nationalism ceases to have a statistically significant association with intent to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

Conclusions and implications

These findings suggest that how individuals conceptualize God/a higher power is associated with their willingness to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Given this, those who see God/a higher power as more involved in the world may contribute to delays in achieving herd immunity. This information benefits those working on vaccination campaigns in understanding the beliefs of some of those who are most hesitant to get vaccinated. In addition, this intervention mechanism could also mediate other negative relationships between religion and other science and health-related concerns.
A wear-resistant metastable CoCrNiCu high-entropy alloy with modulated surface and subsurface structures
Authors: Ren Yue , Jia Qian , Du Yin , Zhou Qing , Greiner Christian , Hua Ke , Wang Haifeng , Wang Jian
Published: June 2022

Sliding friction-induced subsurface structures and severe surface oxidation can be the major causes influencing the wear resistance of ductile metallic materials. Here, we demonstrated the role of subsurface and surface structures in enhancing the wear resistance of an equiatomic metastable CoCrNiCu high-entropy alloy (HEA). The CoCrNiCu HEA is composed of a CoCrNi-rich face-centered cubic (FCC) dendrite phase and a Cu-rich FCC inter-dendrite phase. Copious Cu-rich nano-precipitates are formed and distributed uniformly inside the dendrites after tuning the distribution and composition of the two phases by thermal annealing. Although the formation of nano-precipitates decreases the hardness of the alloy due to the loss of solid solution strengthening, these nano-precipitates can be deformed to form continuous Cu-rich nanolayers during dry sliding, leading to a self-organized nano-laminated microstructure and extensive hardening in the subsurface. In addition, the nano-precipitates can facilitate the formation of continuous and compacted glaze layers on the worn surface, which are also beneficial for the reduction of the wear rate of CoCrNiCu. The current work can be extended to other alloy systems and might provide guidelines for designing and fabricating wear-resistant alloys in general.
Halting COVID-19 Requires Collective, Decentralized, and Community-Led Responses
Authors: Bhandari Sudip , Frimpong Shadrack Osei , Bhirgoo Priya Darshini
Published: June 2022

Many global health organizations are reliant on the funding provided by a few dozen high-income countries, making them fiscally insecure and fragile, especially during times of global crises. The COVID-19 pandemic could be an opportunity to move away from this status quo to a more decentralized, multipolar, and community-led approach. The global health community can take four immediate steps in response to the pandemic to start that paradigm shift now: support more regional and country-specific responses, convince national and regional business houses and philanthropies to make up for response funding shortfalls, leverage public health advocacy to improve investments in public health infrastructure, and put community leaders and members at the frontlines of mitigation efforts.
Students’ evaluation of the trustworthiness of historical sources: Procedural knowledge and task value as predictors of student performance
Authors: van der Eem Maartje , van Drie Jannet , Brand-Gruwel Saskia , van Boxtel Carla
Published: June 2022

Evaluating the trustworthiness of sources is important in today’s society. However, research has shown that students struggle when applying this skill. This study in history education aims to gain insight into students’ procedural knowledge about evaluating the trustworthiness of sources and into the value students attach to learning this skill. Grade 9 students (N = 132) performed tasks and filled out a questionnaire. Students applied more correct criteria of trustworthiness than they reported knowing. They considered this skill somewhat important and useful, but less interesting. Procedural knowledge and task value were significant predictors of students’ task performance. Therefore, it is important to make students aware of the knowledge they implicitly possess and to make learning this skill more interesting for students.
Mechanisms in Science
Authors: Ioannidis Stavros , Psillos Stathis
Published: June 2022

In recent years what has come to be called the 'New Mechanism' has emerged as a framework for thinking about the philosophical assumptions underlying many areas of science, especially in sciences such as biology, neuroscience, and psychology. This book offers a fresh look at the role of mechanisms, by situating novel analyses of central philosophical issues related to mechanisms within a rich historical perspective of the concept of mechanism as well as detailed case studies of biological mechanisms (such as apoptosis). It develops a new position, Methodological Mechanism, according to which mechanisms are to be viewed as causal pathways that are theoretically described and are underpinned by networks of difference-making relations. In contrast to metaphysically inflated accounts, this study characterises mechanism as a concept-in-use in science that is deflationary and metaphysically neutral, but still methodologically useful and central to scientific practice.
Judgement and Sense in Modern French Philosophy
Authors: Somers-Hall Henry
Published: June 2022

This book proposes a radical new reading of the development of twentieth-century French philosophy. Henry Somers-Hall argues that the central unifying aspect of works by philosophers including Sartre, Foucault, Merleau-Ponty, Deleuze and Derrida is their attempt to provide an account of cognition that does not reduce thinking to judgement. Somers-Hall shows that each of these philosophers is in dialogue with the others in a shared project (however differently executed) to overcome their inheritances from the Kantian and post-Kantian traditions. His analysis points up the continuing relevance of German idealism, and Kant in particular, to modern French philosophy, with novel readings of many aspects of the philosophies under consideration that show their deep debts to Kantian thought. The result is an important account of the emergence, and essential coherence, of the modern French philosophical tradition.
Hegel's Logic and Marx's Concept of Capital
Authors: Smith Tony
Published: June 2022

Arash Abazari's Hegel's Ontology of Power is a superb study of the relevance of Hegel's logic to Marx's theory. Hegel is often dismissed by Marxists as an ‘idealist’ denying the reality of the world, as if Hegel were Bishop Berkeley with a German accent.1 Abazari recognizes this is not the case: ‘(T)he logical categories are not self-standing, but shadow, or track, the empirical world’ (Abazari 2020: 7). But the world in its full actuality does not simply consist of the objects we sense or perceive. It is intrinsically intelligible, and its intelligibility can be comprehended only in thought. When it is, the ‘idealist’ thesis of the identity (in difference) of thought and being holds. Anyone asserting a truth claim implicitly asserts this identity. In so far as Marx asserts that Capital comprehends the capitalist mode of production, he too is an ‘idealist’ in the Hegelian sense of the term.
Affective partisan polarization and moral dilemmas during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Stoetzer Lukas F. , Munzert Simon , Lowe Will , Çalı Başak , Gohdes Anita R. , Helbling Marc , Maxwell Rahsaan , Traunmüller Richard
Published: June 2022

Recent scholarship on affective polarization documents partisan animosity in people's everyday lives. But does partisan dislike go so far as to deny fundamental rights? We study this question through a moral dilemma that gained notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic: triage decisions on the allocation of intensive medical care. Using a conjoint experiment in five countries we analyze the influence of patients’ partisanship next to commonly discussed factors determining access to intensive medical care. We find that while participants’ choices are consistent with a utilitarian heuristic, revealed partisanship influences decisions across most countries. Supporters of left or right political camps are more likely to withhold support from partisan opponents. Our findings offer comparative evidence on affective polarization in non-political contexts.
HUMAN DIET DURING THE STONE AGE AND EARLY METAL PERIOD (7000–1 CAL BC) IN LITHUANIA: AN UPDATE
Authors: Simčenka Edvardas , Kozakaitė Justina , Piličiauskienė Giedrė , Gaižauskas Lukas , Piličiauskas Gytis
Published: June 2022

In this study we present new carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotope data of human (n=13) and animal (n=40) bone and/or dentine collagen samples, alongside accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon (AMS 14C) dates of human remains (n=16). The studied material was sampled from Lithuanian sites dating from the Late Mesolithic to the pre-Roman Iron Age. For the first time, we present δ13C and δ15N data from Lithuanian freshwater fish as well as AMS 14C, δ13C, and δ15N measurements of human remains from six disturbed graves at the Donkalnis cemetery and from two pre-Roman Iron Age graves. According to the new results, human diet derived protein from the Late Mesolithic to Subneolithic (ca. 7000–2900 cal BC) was primarily based on freshwater fish. While previous macrobotanical and stable isotope studies has suggested that C4 plants, i.e., millet, became more widely used from the Late Bronze Age (1100–500 cal BC), our data suggests that millet consumption may have decreased during the pre-Roman Iron Age (500–1 cal BC) in the southeastern Baltic.
Lamplighter groups, median spaces and Hilbertian geometry
Authors: Genevois Anthony
Published: June 2022

From any two median spaces $X$ and $Y$, we construct a new median space $X \circledast Y$, referred to as the diadem product of $X$ and $Y$, and we show that this construction is compatible with wreath products in the following sense: given two finitely generated groups $G,\,H$ and two (equivariant) coarse embeddings into median spaces $X,\,Y$, there exist a(n equivariant) coarse embedding $G\wr H \to X \circledast Y$. The construction offers a unified point of view on various questions related to the Hilbertian geometry of wreath products of groups.
Endoscopic approach for orbital apex lesions: case series and review of the literature
Authors: Shemesh R , Yakirevitch A , Abergel A , Leibovitch I , Ben Simon G J , Ben Cnaan R
Published: June 2022

Objective

The transnasal endoscopic approach may provide better visualisation and a safer approach to the orbital apex. This study presents a case series of orbital apex lesions managed by this approach.

Method

This study was an eight-year retrospective analysis of seven patients who were operated on for orbital apex lesions in two tertiary medical centres.

Results

Complete tumour removal was performed in three patients and partial removal was performed in four patients. Visual acuity improved in three patients, remained stable in one patient and decreased in the other two patients. The visual field improved in four patients and did not change in two patients. Complications included worse vision and visual fields in 28.6 per cent of patients and late enophthalmos (of −1.25 ± 4.6 mm) in 2 patients.

Conclusion

The transnasal approach to orbital apex lesions in selected cases may provide a rational alternative to transorbital surgery. Complete tumour removal should be weighed against the risk of damage to the optic nerve.
Cumulative lifetime acute stressor exposure interacts with reward responsiveness to predict longitudinal increases in depression severity in adolescence
Authors: Burani Kreshnik , Brush C. J. , Shields Grant S. , Klein Daniel N. , Nelson Brady , Slavich George M. , Hajcak Greg
Published: June 2022

Background

Life stress and blunted reward processing each have been associated with the onset and maintenance of major depressive disorder. However, much of this work has been cross-sectional, conducted in separate lines of inquiry, and focused on recent life stressor exposure, despite the fact that theories of depression posit that stressors can have cumulative effects over the lifespan. To address these limitations, we investigated whether acute and chronic stressors occurring over the lifespan interacted with blunted reward processing to predict increases in depression over time in healthy youth.

Method

Participants were 245 adolescent girls aged 8–14 years old (Mage = 12.4, s.d. = 1.8) who were evaluated at baseline and two years later. The reward positivity (RewP), an event-related potential measure of reward responsiveness, was assessed at baseline using the doors task. Cumulative lifetime exposure to acute and chronic stressors was assessed two years later using the Stress and Adversity Inventory for Adolescents (Adolescent STRAIN). Finally, depressive symptoms were assessed at both baseline and follow-up using the Children's Depression Inventory.

Results

As hypothesized, greater lifetime acute stressor exposure predicted increases in depressive symptoms over two years, but only for youth exhibiting a blunted RewP. This interaction, however, was not found for chronic stressors.

Conclusions

Lifetime acute stressor exposure may be particularly depressogenic for youth exhibiting a blunted RewP. Conversely, a robust RewP may be protective in the presence of greater acute lifetime stressor exposure.
Psychopathology in children: The transdiagnostic contribution of affiliative capacity and inhibitory control
Authors: Palumbo Isabella M. , Patrick Christopher J. , Latzman Robert D.
Published: June 2022

Recent initiatives have focused on integrating transdiagnostic biobehavioral processes or dispositions with dimensional models of psychopathology. Toward this goal, biobehavioral traits of affiliative capacity (AFF) and inhibitory control (INH) hold particular promise as they demonstrate transdiagnostic stability and predictive validity across developmental stages and differing measurement modalities. The current study employed data from different modes of measurement in a sample of 1830 children aged 5–10 years to test for associations of AFF and INH, individually and interactively, with broad dimensions of psychopathology. Low AFF, assessed via parent-report, evidenced predictive relations with distress- and externalizing-related problems. INH as assessed by cognitive-task performance did not relate itself to either psychopathology dimension, but it moderated the effects observed for low AFF, such that high INH protected against distress symptoms in low-AFF participants, whereas low INH amplified distress and externalizing symptoms in low-AFF participants. Results are discussed in the context of the interface of general trait transdiagnostic risk factors with quantitatively derived dimensional models of psychopathology.
Adverse childhood experiences, sleep problems, low self-control, and adolescent delinquency: A longitudinal serial mediation analysis
Authors: Fava Nicole M. , Meldrum Ryan C. , Villar Michelle G. , Zucker Robert A. , Trucco Elisa M.
Published: June 2022

Several studies link adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to delinquency. Yet, developmental sequalae accounting for this association remain unclear, with previous research limited by cross-sectional research designs and investigations of singular mediating processes. To redress these shortcomings, this study examines the longitudinal association between ACEs and delinquency as mediated by both sleep problems and low self-control, two factors which past research implicates as potentially important for understanding how ACEs contribute to antisocial behavior. Data collected from 480 adolescents (71.3% boys; 86.3% White) and their parents participating in the Michigan Longitudinal Study was used to conduct a serial mediation analysis. The association between ACEs (prior to age 11) and delinquency in late adolescence was found to operate indirectly via sleep problems in early adolescence and low self-control in middle adolescence. Nonetheless, a direct association between ACEs and later delinquency remained. Pathways through which ACEs contribute to later delinquency are complex and multiply determined. Findings indicate that early behavioral interventions, including improving sleep and self-control, could reduce later delinquency. Still, more research is needed to identify additional avenues through which the ACEs–delinquency association unfolds across development.
Reduced basis methods for time-dependent problems
Authors: Hesthaven Jan S. , Pagliantini Cecilia , Rozza Gianluigi
Published: June 2022

Numerical simulation of parametrized differential equations is of crucial importance in the study of real-world phenomena in applied science and engineering. Computational methods for real-time and many-query simulation of such problems often require prohibitively high computational costs to achieve sufficiently accurate numerical solutions. During the last few decades, model order reduction has proved successful in providing low-complexity high-fidelity surrogate models that allow rapid and accurate simulations under parameter variation, thus enabling the numerical simulation of increasingly complex problems. However, many challenges remain to secure the robustness and efficiency needed for the numerical simulation of nonlinear time-dependent problems. The purpose of this article is to survey the state of the art of reduced basis methods for time-dependent problems and draw together recent advances in three main directions. First, we discuss structure-preserving reduced order models designed to retain key physical properties of the continuous problem. Second, we survey localized and adaptive methods based on nonlinear approximations of the solution space. Finally, we consider data-driven techniques based on non-intrusive reduced order models in which an approximation of the map between parameter space and coefficients of the reduced basis is learned. Within each class of methods, we describe different approaches and provide a comparative discussion that lends insights to advantages, disadvantages and potential open questions.
On the peel number and the leaf-height of Galton–Watson trees
Authors: Devroye Luc , Goh Marcel K. , Zhao Rosie Y.
Published: June 2022

We study several parameters of a random Bienaymé–Galton–Watson tree
$T_n$
of size
$n$
defined in terms of an offspring distribution
$\xi$
with mean
$1$
and nonzero finite variance
$\sigma ^2$
. Let
$f(s)=\mathbb{E}\{s^\xi \}$
be the generating function of the random variable
$\xi$
. We show that the independence number is in probability asymptotic to
$qn$
, where
$q$
is the unique solution to
$q = f(1-q)$
. One of the many algorithms for finding the largest independent set of nodes uses a notion of repeated peeling away of all leaves and their parents. The number of rounds of peeling is shown to be in probability asymptotic to
$\log n/\log (1/f'(1-q))$
. Finally, we study a related parameter which we call the leaf-height. Also sometimes called the protection number, this is the maximal shortest path length between any node and a leaf in its subtree. If
$p_1 = \mathbb{P}\{\xi =1\}\gt 0$
, then we show that the maximum leaf-height over all nodes in
$T_n$
is in probability asymptotic to
$\log n/\log (1/p_1)$
. If
$p_1 = 0$
and
$\kappa$
is the first integer
$i\gt 1$
with
$\mathbb{P}\{\xi =i\}\gt 0$
, then the leaf-height is in probability asymptotic to
$\log _\kappa \log n$
.
Epidemiologic study of patients after Fontan operation based on Medical Aid Program for Chronic Pediatric Diseases of Specified Categories cohort
Authors: Fujii Takanari , Moriichi Akinori , Kakee Naoko , Kato Hitoshi , Tomita Hideshi
Published: June 2022

Nationwide registry data of patients with single-ventricle physiology have been rarely reported. The Medical Aid Program for Chronic Pediatric Diseases of Specified Categories (Japan) has contributed to the financial support of medical expense for patients younger than 20 years with chronic paediatric disease, and almost all children in Japan who require disease-specific treatment voluntarily apply to this programme. The epidemiology and medium- to long-term outcome of patients following a Fontan procedure were investigated using the database. The usefulness of this epidemiologic investigation in identifying real-world objectives and clinical applications was also examined. A total of 2862 patients who underwent a Fontan operation were identified from 18,589 patients with chronic heart disease registered to the medical aid programme. The details of symptoms, treatment, and somatic growth were evaluated, from which we were able to clarify the nationwide data regarding the current status of post-Fontan patients younger than 20 years. This study elucidated the current status of post-Fontan patients under 20 years of age in Japan. Data analysis of the Medical Aid Program for Chronic Pediatric Diseases of Specified Categories cohort provided useful information towards understanding the comprehensive status of patients with chronic heart disease and contributed to improved disease management.
Ad astra or astray: Exploring linguistic knowledge of multilingual BERT through NLI task
Authors: Tikhonova Maria , Mikhailov Vladislav , Pisarevskaya Dina , Malykh Valentin , Shavrina Tatiana
Published: June 2022

Recent research has reported that standard fine-tuning approaches can be unstable due to being prone to various sources of randomness, including but not limited to weight initialization, training data order, and hardware. Such brittleness can lead to different evaluation results, prediction confidences, and generalization inconsistency of the same models independently fine-tuned under the same experimental setup. Our paper explores this problem in natural language inference, a common task in benchmarking practices, and extends the ongoing research to the multilingual setting. We propose six novel textual entailment and broad-coverage diagnostic datasets for French, German, and Swedish. Our key findings are that the mBERT model demonstrates fine-tuning instability for categories that involve lexical semantics, logic, and predicate-argument structure and struggles to learn monotonicity, negation, numeracy, and symmetry. We also observe that using extra training data only in English can enhance the generalization performance and fine-tuning stability, which we attribute to the cross-lingual transfer capabilities. However, the ratio of particular features in the additional training data might rather hurt the performance for model instances. We are publicly releasing the datasets, hoping to foster the diagnostic investigation of language models (LMs) in a cross-lingual scenario, particularly in terms of benchmarking, which might promote a more holistic understanding of multilingualism in LMs and cross-lingual knowledge transfer.
Advanced Hybrid Positioning System of SEM and AFM for 2D Material Surface Metrology
Authors: Kim Taeryong , Kim Donghwan , Kim TaeWan , Kim Hyunwoo , Shin ChaeHo
Published: June 2022

As the measurement scale shrinks, the reliability of nanoscale measurement is even more crucial for a variety of applications, including semiconductor electronics, optical metamaterials, and sensors. Specifically, it is difficult to measure the nanoscale morphology at the exact location though it is required for novel applications based on hybrid nanostructures combined with 2D materials. Here, we introduce an advanced hybrid positioning system to measure the region of interest with enhanced speed and high precision. A 5-axis positioning stage (XYZ, R, gripper) makes it possible to align the sample within a 10-μm field of view (FOV) in both the scanning electron microscope (SEM) and the atomic force microscope (AFM). The reproducibility of the sample position was investigated by comparing marker patterns and denting points between the SEM and AFM, revealing an accuracy of 6.5 ± 2.1 μm for the x-axis and 4.5 ± 1.7 μm for the y-axis after 12 repetitions. By applying a different measurement process according to the characteristics of 2D materials, various information such as height, length, or roughness about MoTe2 rods and MoS2 film was obtained in the same measurement area. As a consequence, overlaid two images can be obtained for detailed information about 2D materials.
High gain wideband and multi-band on-demand reconfigurable antenna for modern wireless application
Authors: Pandhare Rashmi A. , Abegaonkar Mahesh P. , Dhote Chandresh
Published: June 2022

This paper proposes a wide band and multiband frequency reconfigurable antenna that can operate in the UWB, GSM, GPS, 4G LTE, WLAN, and WiMAX bands. The antenna is made up of a trapezoidal-shaped monopole radiator, which was inspired by a rectangular monopole antenna. The ground plane is modified by embedding T and L-shaped slots to notch the desired operating frequency. The proposed antenna can switch to six different frequencies using RF PIN diodes, making it suitable for modern wireless applications. A multilayer frequency selective surface (FSS) reflector is presented to improve the gain of the proposed reconfigurable antenna. The low-profile design achieved a significant increase in gain while retaining the UWB antenna's excellent impedance bandwidth. Because of the use of the FSS reflector, the antenna's average peak gain has increased from 6 to 10.4 dBi. The proposed antenna has a wide switching capability, which validates its unique feasibility for high-speed multiple Internet of Things applications via a common embedded platform under various applications.
Effective dose of atrazine required to complement tolpyralate for annual weed control in corn
Authors: Fluttert John C. , Soltani Nader , Galla Mariano , Hooker David C. , Robinson Darren E. , Sikkema Peter H.
Published: June 2022

Tolpyralate is an herbicide that is usually mixed with atrazine for broad-spectrum weed control in corn. Previous research has provided information on the effective dose (ED) of tolpyralate applied alone and in a 1:33.3 mixture with atrazine; however, tolpyralate is commercially applied at a dose of 30 to 40 g ai ha−1 with a minimum of 560 g ai ha−1 of atrazine. Therefore, five field trials were conducted over 3 yr (2019 to 2021) to determine the ED of atrazine to complement 30 g ai ha−1 of tolpyralate to achieve 80%, 90%, and 95% control of seven weed species 2, 4, and 8 wk after application (WAA). Tolpyralate was applied alone and in a mixture with atrazine doses ranging from 50 to 2,000 g ai ha−1. At 8 WAA, the ED of atrazine for 95% control of velvetleaf, common ragweed, common lambsquarters, and wild mustard was below the minimum label dose of atrazine on the commercial tolpyralate label, ranging from 430 to 520 g ai ha−1, which supports the use of the minimum label dose of atrazine. In contrast, redroot pigweed required 1,231 g ai ha−1 of atrazine to complement tolpyralate for 95% control 8 WAA. At 8 WAA, barnyardgrass and a mixture of green foxtail and giant foxtail (Setaria spp.) were not controlled by 80%, 90%, or 95% with tolpyralate applied alone or co-applied with any dose of atrazine evaluated in this study. The results of this study conclude that tolpyralate + atrazine is highly efficacious on several weed species at atrazine doses of 40 to 130 g ai ha−1 below the label dose of 560 g ai ha−1, but the use of the higher dose of tolpyralate or another herbicide may be required to improve control of redroot pigweed and grass weed species.
Delimiting China's Urban Growth Boundaries Under Localized Shared Socioeconomic Pathways and Various Urban Expansion Modes
Authors: Huang Miao , Wang Zichen , Pan Xinhao , Gong Binghua , Tu Mengzhao , Liu Zhifeng
Published: June 2022

Delimiting the urban growth boundary (UGB) is important for limiting urban sprawl and improving urban sustainability. However, the future UGB delimitation for the entire China is still lacking. Here, we delimited China's UGBs before 2100 under localized shared socioeconomic pathways and 11 urban expansion modes (i.e., spontaneous growth, organic growth, and nine modes integrating both) and evaluated the urban shrinkage pressure and the effects on other land use/cover types and ecosystem services. The results revealed that China's urban land demand was projected to increase first and then decrease under five scenarios before 2100. The extent of UGBs was projected to be 121,199–142,982 km2, 34.14–58.25% higher than the urban area in 2020. As a result of urban population decline, China's urban land demand in 2100 was projected to be 20.83–53.41% lower than the extent of UGBs, implying that China, especially the three provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning, will face remarkable urban shrinkage pressure. Future urban expansion in China will mainly occupy cropland, and lead to a simultaneous decline in habitat quality, food production and carbon sequestration. Spontaneous growth will cause greater losses of ecosystem services than organic growth at the national scale, while in some provinces, such a difference will be reversed. To address the urban shrinkage pressure, China needs to control urban area and optimize urban spatial patterns based on UGBs. In addition, the place‐based optimal urban expansion mode is also required to reduce the negative impacts of future urban expansion on ecosystem services and promote sustainable development.
Impact of Rocket Launch and Space Debris Air Pollutant Emissions on Stratospheric Ozone and Global Climate
Authors: Ryan Robert G. , Marais Eloise A. , Balhatchet Chloe J. , Eastham Sebastian D.
Published: June 2022

Detailed examination of the impact of modern space launches on the Earth's atmosphere is crucial, given booming investment in the space industry and an anticipated space tourism era. We develop air pollutant emissions inventories for rocket launches and re‐entry of reusable components and debris in 2019 and for a speculative space tourism scenario based on the recent billionaire space race. This we include in the global GEOS‐Chem model coupled to a radiative transfer model to determine the influence on stratospheric ozone (O3) and climate. Due to recent surge in re‐entering debris and reusable components, nitrogen oxides from re‐entry heating and chlorine from solid fuels contribute equally to all stratospheric O3 depletion by contemporary rockets. Decline in global stratospheric O3 is small (0.01%), but reaches 0.15% in the upper stratosphere (∼5 hPa, 40 km) in spring at 60–90°N after a decade of sustained 5.6% a−1 growth in 2019 launches and re‐entries. This increases to 0.24% with a decade of emissions from space tourism rockets, undermining O3 recovery achieved with the Montreal Protocol. Rocket emissions of black carbon (BC) produce substantial global mean radiative forcing of 8 mW m−2 after just 3 years of routine space tourism launches. This is a much greater contribution to global radiative forcing (6%) than emissions (0.02%) of all other BC sources, as radiative forcing per unit mass emitted is ∼500 times more than surface and aviation sources. The O3 damage and climate effect we estimate should motivate regulation of an industry poised for rapid growth.
Properties, Changes, and Controls of Deep‐Convecting Clouds in Radiative‐Convective Equilibrium
Authors: Stauffer Catherine L. , Wing Allison A.
Published: June 2022

Changes in tropical high clouds associated with deep convection with warming are one of the largest sources of uncertainty in climate feedbacks. Here, we leverage an ensemble of models of many types in an idealized configuration to investigate how and why high clouds change the way they do. We find that deep‐convecting anvils, independent of how cloud fraction is defined, increase in height, increase slightly in temperature, and (generally) decrease in cloud fraction with warming sea surface temperature (SST). The controls on anvil height and temperature have well established physical reasoning, but the response of anvil cloud fraction to warming is more variable across studies and not as well understood. We test a previously published hypothesis for control of anvil coverage and find that, at least to first order, it is highly controlled by radiatively‐driven divergence, in which, with warming, anvil clouds occur in a more stable environment requiring less divergence to balance radiative cooling and, therefore, decreasing cloud coverage. We also find mid‐level clouds robustly decrease in coverage with warming SST and can be represented by a diagnostic scaling which attributes the robust decrease in mid‐level clouds to the rapid increase in the overall convective heating of the clouds compared to the much slower increase in the integrated radiative cooling rate. The robust response of deep‐convective clouds to warming and support for the underlying physical mechanisms across the spectrum of models, with both explicit and parameterized convection, increases confidence in their contribution to climate feedbacks.
An Optimal Linear Transformation for Data Assimilation
Authors: Snyder Chris , Hakim Gregory J.
Published: June 2022

Linear transformations are widely used in data assimilation for covariance modeling, for reducing dimensionality (such as averaging dense observations to form “superobs”), and for managing sampling error in ensemble data assimilation. Here we describe a linear transformation that is optimal in the sense that, in the transformed space, the state variables and observations have uncorrelated errors, and a diagonal gain matrix in the update step. We conjecture, and provide numerical evidence, that the transformation is the best possible to precede covariance localization in an ensemble Kalman filter. A central feature of this transformation in the update step are scalars, which we term canonical observation operators (COOs), that relate pairs of transformed observations and state variables and rank‐order those pairs by their influence in the update. We show for an idealized problem that sample‐based estimates of the COOs, in conjunction with covariance localization for the sample covariance, can approximate well the true values, but a practical implementation of the transformation for high‐dimensional applications remains a subject for future research. The COOs also completely describe important properties of the update step, such as observation‐state mutual information, signal‐to‐noise and degrees of freedom for signal, and so give new insights, including relations among reduced‐rank approximations to variational schemes, particle‐filter weight degeneracy, and the local ensemble transform Kalman filter.
Higher Lead Concentrations Found in Diseased Bones
Authors: Fritts Rachel
Published: June 2022

Researchers compared trace element concentrations in patients with and without osteoporosis, finding possible differences in bone geochemistry between the groups.