bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of isolated and unattractive crops on honeybee foraging: A case study using radio frequency identification and hybrid carrot seed crops
Authors: Warren Ryan J. , Colin Théotime , Quarrell Stephen R. , Barron Andrew B. , Allen Geoff R.
Published: December 2023

Hybrid vegetable varieties have become essential for global agricultural production, offering key advantages for yield, quality and disease resistance. The production of hybrid seeds is however limited by pollination challenges, with these systems commonly associated with unattractive and low‐quality floral resources, isolated growing environments and frequent insecticide applications.

Here, we utilise commercial carrot seed crops to investigate the impact of hybrid pollination on the behaviour of the honey bee (Apis mellifera).

Six full‐strength bee colonies were equipped with solar powered radio frequency identification systems and over 900 tagged bees per season. These colonies were deployed to commercial hybrid seed crops over two consecutive seasons. The colonies were allocated to either an on‐crop or off‐crop group. Individual bees were autonomously monitored for the pollination period to assess key parameters such as survival, age at foraging and the number and duration of orientation and foraging trips.

Hybrid carrots were found to have a significant impact on bee foraging behaviour. Bees situated on the carrot crop undertook less frequent yet longer foraging trips, resulting in less total time outside of the colony compared to off‐crop bees. However, bees placed in carrot fields survived to an older age, orientated successfully, became foragers later and collected more pollen by weight, despite only 2% originating from carrot. We hope that the improved behavioural understanding can be utilised to enhance both pollinator health and hybrid seed production globally.
The exploitation of women: Narrative of oppressed women in movies
Authors: Alam Iftekhar , Lakshmi Seetha
Published: December 2023

The status of women in Indian society has been paradoxical emanating from a deeply embedded socially construed gender‐based exploitation owing to historical and sociological reasons. Moreover, the intersectionality of gender and caste has made them one of the marginalized social groups who experience discrimination, exclusion, and exploitation. Plethora of Bollywood movies, and regional cinema narrate the humiliation and exploitation of women in various spheres of their life. Some of the recent Bollywood and regional cinema has successfully attempted to highlight the gender‐based exploitation and exclusion. Therefore, drawing upon an Amazon web series ‘Dahad’ and a movie ‘Kathal‐a jackfruit mystery’ the paper tries to explore the struggle, exploitation, discrimination, aspiration, and assertion of women against existing social oppression. Taking the inferences from these two movies, the paper endeavors to seek the answer to the following questions: What are the nature and pattern of gender and caste‐based humiliation of women? How gender and caste intersect in their humiliation and social exclusion? How are women making their own struggle against gender oppression and exploitation in society? What is the tactic they use to negotiate gender discrimination? How are they asserting against gender‐based discrimination? How are they asserting their ‘agency’ in patriarchal and hierarchical society? What aspire and motivate them to fight for their dignity?
Staple food and possible famine food in Han Dynasty Guanzhong: Archeobotanical and stable isotopic perspectives
Authors: Tao Dawei , Zou Huilin , Chen Qinlong , Zhang Guowen , Guo Yongqi
Published: December 2023

Agricultural yield fluctuations caused by environmental and social factors in ancient China have been well recorded in extensive ancient documents; however, comparatively little is known archaeologically. This study revealed the consumption and utilization of staple cereal and possible famine food by Han Dynasty inhabitants in the Guanzhong area based on archeobotanical evidence, including plant macro‐remains and phytoliths uncovered from pottery granaries and isotopic evidence from human bone collagen from Miaojiazhai cemetery. This preliminary multidisciplinary research with clear archaeological contexts provides archaeological evidence to reveal the food diversification and indicate that the possible occurrence and coping strategies to mitigate fluctuations in agricultural yields in Han Dynasty Guanzhong and broaden the understanding of the Han Dynasty agricultural economies and society.
Interhemispheric inhibition between dorsal premotor and primary motor cortices is released during preparation of unimanual but not bimanual movements
Authors: Denyer Ronan , Greeley Brian , Greenhouse Ian , Boyd Lara A.
Published: December 2023

Previous research applying transcranial magnetic stimulation during unimanual reaction time tasks indicates a transient change in the inhibitory influence of the dorsal premotor cortex over the contralateral primary motor cortex shortly after the presentation of an imperative stimulus. The degree of interhemispheric inhibition from the dorsal premotor cortex to the contralateral primary motor cortex shifts depending on whether the targeted effector representation in the primary motor cortex is selected for movement. Further, the timing of changes in inhibition covaries with the selection demands of the reaction time task. Less is known about modulation of dorsal premotor to primary motor cortex interhemispheric inhibition during the preparation of bimanual movements. In this study, we used a dual coil transcranial magnetic stimulation to measure dorsal premotor to primary motor cortex interhemispheric inhibition between both hemispheres during unimanual and bimanual simple reaction time trials. Interhemispheric inhibition was measured early and late in the ‘pre‐movement period’ (defined as the period immediately after the onset of the imperative stimulus and before the beginning of voluntary muscle activity). We discovered that interhemispheric inhibition was more facilitatory early in the pre‐movement period compared with late in the pre‐movement period during unimanual reaction time trials. In contrast, interhemispheric inhibition was unchanged throughout the pre‐movement period during symmetrical bimanual reaction time trials. These results suggest that there is greater interaction between the dorsal premotor cortex and contralateral primary motor cortex during the preparation of unimanual actions compared to bimanual actions.
Cross‐sectional associations between sedentary time with cognitive engagement and brain volume among community‐dwelling vulnerable older adults
Authors: Kurita Satoshi , Tsutsumimoto Kota , Kiuchi Yuto , Nishimoto Kazuhei , Harada Kenji , Shimada Hiroyuki
Published: December 2023

Aims

Vulnerable older adults tend to decrease physical activity (PA) and increase sedentary time (ST). Previous research on the associations between ST and brain volume have yielded inconsistent findings, without considering the impact of cognitive engagement (CE) on cognitive function. We aimed to examine the association between ST with CE and brain volume.

Methods

A structural magnetic resonance imaging survey was conducted among community‐dwelling vulnerable older adults. Brain volumetric measurements were obtained using 3T magnetic resonance imaging and pre‐processed using FreeSurfer. ST with low or high CE was assessed using a 12‐item questionnaire. PA was assessed by the frequency of light and moderate levels of physical exercise according to the Japanese version of the Cardiovascular Health Study criteria. Participants were categorized into a low PA group and a moderate‐to‐high PA group.

Results

Among 91 participants (83.1 ± 5.2 years old, 61.5% female), 26 were low PA. The overall sample and moderate‐to‐high PA group did not show significant positive associations with brain volume for ST with high CE. In the low PA group, isotemporal substitution models showed that replacing ST with low CE by ST with high CE was significantly associated with increased brain volume in some areas, including the rostral and caudal anterior cingulate (β = 0.486–0.618, all P < 0.05, adjusted R2 = 0.344–0.663).

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that replacing ST with low CE by ST with high CE is positively associated with brain volume in vulnerable older adults with low PA. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2024; 24: 82–89.
GHANAIAN FOLK THOUGHT, AKAN RELIGION AND AN ETHIC OF CARE IN SHARON DODUA OTOO'S ADAS RAUM*
Authors: Cha Kyung‐Ho
Published: December 2023

In this article I will analyse how cosmological myths, proverbs and pictorial symbols from Ghanaian folk thought and religion are adapted in Sharon Dodua Otoo's novel Adas Raum. I will focus primarily on the idea of the transmigration of the soul, which comes from the religion of the Akan people, and on the Sankofa symbol, which stands for a certain attitude towards history. In the novel, Ghanaian wisdom poetry, which traditionally deals with the boundary between life and death and the development of the self within the community, is translated into German prose. I aim to explore the significance of Ghanaian religion and philosophy in shaping the overarching ethical idea underlying Adas Raum. At the heart of this ethical idea is learning from history, which is presented not only as a history of catastrophe but also as a history of mutual care between human beings who support each other in times of inhumanity.
Exploring the effects of packaging on consumer experience and purchase behaviour: insights from eye tracking and facial expressions on orange juice
Authors: Mehta Annu , Serventi Luca , Kumar Lokesh , Torrico Damir D.
Published: December 2023

Packaging is crucial in attracting consumer attention, conveying product identity, influencing product perception and affecting approach‐based consumer behaviours. The present exploratory study aimed to gain insights into the effects of packaging on consumer experiences and the factors driving willingness to buy different orange juice products based on packaging. Eye tracking and facial expressions were used to capture the consumer perception journey, from the initial interaction to the final product evaluation. The study also examined hedonic liking, explicit emotions and different label attributes in the evaluation stage, and the importance of texture, price and the New Zealand (NZ)‐made logo in the validation stage. Results showed that the packaging's physical features significantly affected consumer's attention during the initial interaction stage. Implicit emotions provided deeper insights into consumers' preferences in the orientation stage. Nutritional information gained maximum visual attention (fixation counts = 0.40) in the evaluation stage, while the NZ‐made logo (odds ratio = 15.62) drove purchase intention. The study revealed that the packaging that attracted the maximum attention was not necessarily the one with the highest liking score. Moreover, consumers may not pay much visual attention to attributes (price, r = −0.22) that they reported to be important. By advancing our knowledge in this field, marketers and product designers can refine their strategies and create packaging that captures visual attention and evokes positive emotional responses, ultimately influencing consumer behaviours.
Mechanical properties of Al2O3–LaPO4 composites with eutectic microstructure produced by flash sintering
Authors: Yang Yingjie , Motley Nadjia B. , Mecartney Martha L. , Mumm Daniel R.
Published: December 2023

The mechanical properties of Al2O3–LaPO4 composites with varying microstructures produced by flash sintering and conventional sintering are evaluated. Specifically, Vickers and Knoop hardness values were measured and calculated for different resultant microstructures, including eutectic microstructures with varying layer thickness, polycrystalline (noneutectic) microstructures, and single‐phase samples of Al2O3, LaPO4, and 8YSZ. The findings indicate that eutectic microstructures exhibited higher hardness values than polycrystalline counterparts on the flash‐sintered sample. However, the hardness values of eutectic microstructures with varying layer thicknesses show no significant or systematic variation. The grain size, indentation size, eutectic colony size, indentation shape (elastic recovery in Knoop indentations), and crack propagation pathways in the indented samples are also discussed. Overall, the results suggest that Al2O3–LaPO4 eutectic composites have higher hardness than their polycrystalline counterparts and have great potential as abradable coatings with high machinability and durability.
MASSIVE PREHISTORIC PIT SITES IN SOUTHERN IBERIA: CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND LESSONS LEARNED
Authors: Armenteros‐Lojo María José , Jiménez‐Jáimez Víctor
Published: December 2023

Archaeological sites characterized by significant concentrations of pits (‘pit sites’) were widespread in prehistoric Europe. In southern Iberia, many pit sites date back to the Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods (fourth‐third millennia BCE), and often display massive numbers of pits. Deciphering the social, economic, and symbolic significance of such sites, composed of hundreds or even thousands of pits, holds deep historical implications. What do these pits mean, and how were they used? If they functioned as grain storage pits, as many believe, did they represent a substantial economic surplus? Unfortunately, many of these sites have been inadequately published and remain poorly known north of the Pyrenees. This paper aims to contribute to the broader understanding of prehistoric pit sites in Europe by providing an overview of southern Iberian pit sites, and of the debates that have developed around their interpretation.
Understanding progression from pre‐school wheezing to school‐age asthma: Can modern data approaches help?
Authors: Custovic Darije , Fontanella Sara , Custovic Adnan
Published: December 2023

Preschool wheezing and childhood asthma create a heavy disease burden which is only exacerbated by the complexity of the conditions. Preschool wheezing exhibits both “curricular” and “aetiological” heterogeneity: that is, heterogeneity across patients both in the time‐course of its development and in its underpinning pathological mechanisms. Since these are not fully understood, but clinical presentations across patients may nonetheless be similar, current diagnostic labels are imprecise—not mapping cleanly onto underlying disease mechanisms—and prognoses uncertain. These uncertainties also make a identifying new targets for therapeutic intervention difficult. In the past few decades, carefully designed birth cohort studies have collected “big data” on a large scale, incorporating not only a wealth of longitudinal clinical data, but also detailed information from modalities as varied as imaging, multiomics, and blood biomarkers. The profusion of big data has seen the proliferation of what we term “modern data approaches” (MDAs)—grouping together machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data science—to make sense and make use of this data. In this review, we survey applications of MDAs (with an emphasis on machine learning) in childhood wheeze and asthma, highlighting the extent of their successes in providing tools for prognosis, unpicking the curricular heterogeneity of these conditions, clarifying the limitations of current diagnostic criteria, and indicating directions of research for uncovering the etiology of the diseases underlying these conditions. Specifically, we focus on the trajectories of childhood wheeze phenotypes. Further, we provide an explainer of the nature and potential use of MDAs and emphasize the scope of what we can hope to achieve with them.
Natural history of cow's milk allergy in children aged 6–12 years
Authors: Kubota Kei , Nagakura Ken‐ichi , Ejiri Yuki , Sato Sakura , Ebisawa Motohiro , Yanagida Noriyuki
Published: December 2023

Background

Approximately 50%–90% of children with immediate‐type cow's milk allergy (CMA) acquire tolerance by pre‐school age. We aimed to investigate the acquisition rate of CMA tolerance in children aged 6–12 years.

Methods

We included children with CMA who persisted until the age of 6. Tolerance was defined as passing an oral food challenge with 200 mL of unheated cow's milk (CM) or consuming 200 mL of CM without symptoms, whereas persistent CMA was defined as fulfilling neither of these criteria by 12 years old. Children receiving oral immunotherapy (OIT) were excluded from the primary analysis. Risk factors associated with persistent CMA were assessed using Cox regression analysis.

Results

Of 80 included children, 30 (38%) had previous CM anaphylaxis, and 40 (50%) had eliminated CM completely from their diet. The median CM‐specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) level at 6 years old was 12.0 kUA/L. Tolerance was acquired by 25 (31%) and 46 (58%) children by the age of 9 and 12 years, respectively. At baseline, persistent CMA was associated with higher CM‐sIgE levels (hazard ratio 2.29, 95% confidence interval 1.41–3.73, optimal cutoff level 12.7 kUA/L), previous CM anaphylaxis (2.07, 1.06–4.02), and complete CM elimination (3.12, 1.46–6.67). No children with CMA who had all three risk factors (n = 14) acquired tolerance.

Conclusion

Except for OIT patients, more than half of children with CMA at 6 years old acquired tolerance by 12 years old. Children with CMA who have the risk factors are less likely to acquire tolerance.
Meritocracy in the Political and Economic Spheres
Authors: Sachs‐Cobbe Benjamin , Douglas Alexander
Published: December 2023

The idea that our economic institutions should be designed meritocratically is back as a hot topic in western academic circles. At the same time political meritocracy is once again a subject of philosophical discussion, with some Western philosophers embracing epistocracy and Confucianism being revived among Eastern philosophers. This survey has the ambition, first, of putting differing strands of this literature into dialogue with each other: the economic with the political, and the Western with the Eastern. Second, we seek here to impose order on the debates over meritocracy by carefully separating out the four steps that must be traversed on the journey to a meritocratic conclusion. Third we want to promote a more productive debate moving forward by cleanly pulling apart three kinds of purported merit base.
Noise annoys—But personal choice can attenuate noise effects on cardiac response reflecting effort
Authors: Falk Johanna R. , Gollwitzer Peter M. , Oettingen Gabriele , Gendolla Guido H. E.
Published: December 2023

Since personal choice fosters commitment and shields action execution against potentially conflicting influences, two laboratory experiments with university students (N = 228) tested whether engaging in action by personal choice versus external assignment of task characteristics moderates the effect of irrelevant acoustic noise on cardiovascular responses reflecting effort. Participants who could personally choose the stimulus color of moderately difficult cognitive tasks were expected to be shielded against the irrelevant noise. By contrast, when the stimulus color was externally assigned, we predicted receptivity for the irrelevant noise to be high. As expected, in both experiments, participants in the assigned color condition showed stronger cardiac pre‐ejection period reactivity during task performance when exposed to noise than when working in silence. On the contrary, participants who could choose the stimulus color were shielded against the noise effect on effort. These findings conceptually replicate and extend research on the action shielding effect by personal choice and hold practical implications for occupational health.
How tyrannical leadership relates to workplace bullying and turnover intention over time: The role of coworker support
Authors: Trépanier Sarah‐Geneviève , Peterson Clayton , Fernet Claude , Austin Stéphanie
Published: December 2023

Introduction

In light of the deleterious consequences associated with workplace bullying, it is important to identify the work‐related factors that can contribute to the presence of bullying behaviors over time. Up to now, most research on the topic has investigated job characteristics (presence of job demands, absence of job resources) as contributing factors of workplace bullying. Given the key role leadership plays in shaping employees' work environment, this study aims to better understand how harmful forms of leadership relate to bullying behaviors over time and, subsequently, to employee functioning.

Methods

More specifically, this longitudinal study (two data collections over a 3‐month period) conducted among a sample of Canadian employees (T1 n = 600, T2 n = 422) assesses the temporal relationship between tyrannical leadership, exposure to bullying behaviors, and turnover intention, as well as the moderating role of perceived coworker support in the relationship between tyrannical leadership and bullying behaviors.

Results

Results from cross‐lagged analyses show that, controlling for baseline effects, T1 tyrannical leadership positively predicts T2 exposure to bullying behaviors and that T1 bullying behaviors positively predict T2 turnover intention. T1 coworker support did not significantly buffer the relationship between T1 tyrannical leadership and T2 exposure to bullying behaviors, although it did significantly predict, negatively so, T2 turnover intention.

Conclusion

The present study provides valuable insight into the social contextual determinants of bullying behaviors and highlights the destructive nature of tyrannical leadership. Furthermore, this study illustrates the importance of fostering supportive behaviors between colleagues, as this important social resource can play a key role in reducing turnover intention over time.
Ex‐vivo evaluation of a percutaneous looped thread desmotomy of the accessory ligament of the deep digital flexor tendon in horses
Authors: Orozco Lopez David , Mochal‐King Cathleen , Fontenot Robin , O'Shea Caitlin M.
Published: December 2023

Objective

To determine the ability to completely transect the equine accessory ligament of the deep digital flexor tendon (AL‐DDFT) via an ultrasonographically‐guided, percutaneous looped thread desmotomy using FiberWire suture as a cutting device.

Study design

Ex‐vivo study.

Sample population

A total of 24 normal equine distal forelimb specimens.

Methods

Under ultrasonographic guidance, a Jamshidi needle was placed between the suspensory ligament and the AL‐DDFT, and between the AL‐DDFT and the deep digital flexor tendon, through two stab incisions. FiberWire suture was fed through the needle and looped around the AL‐DDFT. Using a sawing motion, the ligament was transected, and the suture exited through the lateral incision. Surgical sites were dissected and assessed for completeness of transection, iatrogenic injuries, and suture remnants. Descriptive statistics were reported.

Results

The procedure met the successful criteria in 18/24 (75%) of the limbs. The median surgical time was 11 min (range 7–25). No suture failure or suture remnants were noted in any of the specimens. Complications included iatrogenic injury to the medial and lateral neurovascular bundles in 4/24 and 1/24 specimens, respectively.

Conclusion

Complete transection of the AL‐DDFT was achieved in 22/24 (92%) of the specimens; however, the neurovascular bundles were injured in 5/24 (21%) of the specimens.

Clinical significance

A percutaneous looped thread desmotomy of the AL‐DDFT can be studied as an alternative technique for use in equine models prior to its clinical use in patients. Additional studies are required to evaluate efficacy and safety in anesthetized or standing horses.
The Spectrum of Han: Cultural Psychology in Korean National Cinema
Authors: Gao Xiaotian , Adnan Hamedi Mohd , Wang Changsong
Published: December 2023

Over the past three decades, Korean cinema has garnered increasing acclaim both domestically and globally and solidified its unique standing in the realm of filmmaking. This article delves into the intricacies of han, a cultural psychological Korean element that has significantly influenced Korean cinema. Han encompasses a distinct collective cultural psychology characterized by lingering resentment, pain, sadness, and anger. The persistent thematic exploration of han and societal darkness has played a pivotal role in shaping the trajectory of Korean national cinema. Korean national cinema is distinguished by its foundational core of collective trauma, exposing societal darkness, and expressing han in response to societal darkness. This article summarizes the significant implications of Korean national cinema’s depiction of societal darkness from the perspectives of promoting societal progress and safeguarding the Korean domestic film market. The analysis further examines how Korean national cinema strategically employs plot, theme, and ending to construct a logical progression that articulates and intensifies han towards societal darkness. Ultimately, this paper advocates for the vigilance of Korean national cinema against cultural discounts in its proactive overseas promotion.
On the existence of harmonic metrics on non‐Hermitian Yang–Mills bundles
Authors: Pan Changpeng , Shen Zhenghan , Zhang Xi
Published: December 2023

In this paper, we study the non‐Hermitian Yang–Mills (NHYM) bundles over compact Kähler manifolds. We show that the existence of harmonic metrics is equivalent to the semisimplicity of NHYM bundles, which confirms the Conjecture 8.7 in Kaledin and Verbitsky (Selecta Math. (N.S.) 4 (1998) 279–320).
REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF ANTHRAX DIAGNOSTIC TOOLS ON THE TERRITORY OF EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION
Authors: Nizkorodova A. , Maltseva E. , Berdygulova Zh. , Naizabayeva D. , Skiba Yu.
Published: December 2023

This review examines anthrax diagnostic tools registered in the national Veterinary Drugs Registers and Medicines and Medical Devices Registers of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Actually, throughout the entire territory of the EAEU, there are natural soil foci of anthrax, which causes annual cases of infection of animals and people. Continuous monitoring of the epidemiological situation in the EAEU countries should be ensured by modern diagnostic tools. All diagnostic tools used for epidemiological surveillance must be registered in the national registers of the EAEU countries. For all test systems and diagnostic kits included in the registers of the EAEU countries, the authors provide comparative characteristics that reflect the sensitivity and specificity of diagnostic tools. An analysis of various methods for identifying the anthrax pathogen, focused on modern molecular diagnostic technologies, is presented. The authors discuss the most important problems associated with improving the efficiency of modern methods for detecting the bacterium Bacillus anthracis. Some considerations about the shortcomings in certain areas of early diagnosis of the anthrax microbe are also provided. The authors present a number of proposals that should improve the efficiency of the currently available anthrax monitoring system.
Contrast of Ramsey-CPT Fringes in Quenching and Depolarizing Gases
Authors: Chuchelov D. S. , Vaskovskaya M. I. , Tsygankov E. A. , Zibrov S. A. , Sabakar K. M. , Vassiliev V. V. , Velichansky V. L.
Published: December 2023

Molecular nitrogen is often used as a buffer gas in cells with alkali metals due to its known ability to quench resonant fluorescence. It is widely believed that the suppression of spontaneous emission decreases the width of coherent population trapping resonance. However, our recent results have not confirmed this positive action of molecular nitrogen within the typical range of 87Rb concentrations and buffer gas pressures. On the opposite, we have observed the negative influence of quenching, the decrease in contrast of the coherent population trapping resonance in $${{\sigma }^{ + }}$$–$${{\sigma }^{ + }}$$ configuration. In this work, we further confirm these results implementing the Ramsey spectroscopy, and compare the characteristics of the central fringe in nitrogen and neon, and show that the latter provides a significantly better contrast-to-width ratio.
On Production of Heavy Charged Particles in γγ Fusion at Planned pp Colliders
Authors: Godunov S. I. , Karkaryan E. K. , Novikov V. A. , Rozanov A. N. , Vysotsky M. I. , Zhemchugov E. V.
Published: December 2023

Production of heavy fermions in ultraperipheral collisions ($$pp \to p + \gamma \gamma + p \to p + {{\chi }^{ + }}{{\chi }^{ - }} + p$$) and the semi-exclusive reaction ($$pp \to p + \gamma \gamma {\text{*}} + X \to p + {{\chi }^{ + }}{{\chi }^{ - }} + X$$) is considered. Differential and total cross sections for the energies of the planned pp colliders are presented.
Spectroscopic and Lasing Properties of Highly Concentrated Glasses
Authors: Ekimov A. I. , Lunter S. G. , Mironov A. N. , Fedorov Yu. K. , Shapovalov V. N. , Shumilov S. K.
Published: December 2023

A method has been advanced for the quantitative separation of the degradation channels of the electron-excitation energy of rare-earth activators, which is based on measurements of the duration of activator luminescence and of the absorption coefficient of OH-groups in concentration series of glasses. The optimal neodymium concentration has been established for obtaining the maximum gain in phosphate glasses. Preliminary lasing tests of the concentration series of phosphate and also silicate glass with a neodymium concentration of approximately 2.3 × 1020 ions cm–3 have been performed.
DPDFormer: A Coarse-to-Fine Model for Monocular Depth Estimation
Authors: Liu Chunpu , Yang Guanglei , Zuo Wangmeng , Zang Tianyi
Published: December 2023

Monocular depth estimation attracts great attention from computer vision researchers for its convenience in acquiring environment depth information. Recently classification-based MDE methods show its promising performance and begin to act as an essential role in many multi-view applications such as reconstruction and 3D object detection. However, existed classification-based MDE models usually apply fixed depth range discretization strategy across a whole scene. This fixed depth range discretization leads to the imbalance of discretization scale among different depth ranges, resulting in the inexact depth range localization. In this article, to alleviate the imbalanced depth range discretization problem in classification-based monocular depth estimation (MDE) method we follow the coarse-to-fine principle and propose a novel depth range discretization method called depth post-discretization (DPD). Based on a coarse depth anchor roughly indicating the depth range, the DPD generates the depth range discretization adaptively for every position. The depth range discretization with DPD is more fine-grained around the actual depth, which is beneficial for locating the depth range more precisely for each scene position. Besides, to better manage the prediction of the coarse depth anchor and depth probability distribution for calculating the final depth, we design a dual-decoder transformer-based network, i.e., DPDFormer, which is more compatible with our proposed DPD method. We evaluate DPDFormer on popular depth datasets NYU Depth V2 and KITTI. The experimental results prove the superior performance of our proposed method.
Long noncoding RNA lncPostn links TGF-β and p53 signaling pathways to transcriptional regulation of cardiac fibrosis
Authors: Tao Lichan , Qin Zihan , Lin Lin , Guo Haoran , Liang Zi , Wang Tingting , Xu Jiani , Xu Min , Hua Fei , Su Xiong
Published: December 2023

Cardiac fibroblasts are essential for the homeostasis of the extracellular matrix, whose remodeling in many cardiovascular diseases leads to fibrosis. Long noncoding RNAs are functional and contribute to the biological processes of cardiovascular development and disorders. Our findings identify the fibroblast-enriched lncPostn as a potent profibrotic factor and demonstrate that serum lncPostn level may serve as a potential biomarker of human cardiac fibrosis postacute myocardial infarction
Sarcomere level mechanics of the fast skeletal muscle of the medaka fish larva
Authors: Marcello Matteo , Cetrangolo Viviana , Morotti Ilaria , Squarci Caterina , Caremani Marco , Reconditi Massimo , Savarese Marco , Bianco Pasquale , Piazzesi Gabriella , Lombardi Vincenzo , Udd Bjarne , Conte Ivan , Nigro Vincenzo , Linari Marco
Published: December 2023

The suitability of the medaka fish as a model for investigating the molecular mechanisms of human myopathies caused by mutations of sarcomeric proteins is tested by combining structural analysis and sarcomere-level mechanics of the skeletal muscle of the tail of medaka larva. The mechanical performance of the medaka muscle, scaled at the level of the myosin-containing thick filament, together with its reduced genome duplication makes this model unique for investigations of the genotype/phenotype correlations in human myopathies.
Backbone search for object detection for applications in intrusion warning systems
Authors: Thuan Nguyen Duc , Huong Nguyen Thi Lan , Hong Hoang Si
Published: December 2023

In this work, we propose a novel backbone search method for object detection for applications in intrusion warning systems. The goal is to find a compact model for use in embedded thermal imaging cameras widely used in intrusion warning systems. The proposed method is based on faster region-based convolutional neural network (Faster R-CNN) because it can detect small objects. Inspired by EfficientNet, the sought-after backbone architecture is obtained by finding the most suitable width scale for the base backbone (ResNet50). The evaluation metrics are mean average precision (mAP), number of parameters, and number of multiply–accumulate operations (MACs). The experimental results showed that the proposed method is effective in building a lightweight neural network for the task of object detection. The obtained model can keep the predefined mAP while minimizing the number of parameters and computational resources. All experiments are executed elaborately on the person detection in intrusion warning systems (PDIWS) dataset. 
Advanced mask region-based convolutional neural network based deep-learning model for lung cancer detection
Authors: Krishna Bhavani , Madigondanahalli Thimmaiah Gopalakrishna
Published: December 2023

Millions of individuals are affected each year by lung cancer, a serious global health concern. It may also cause numerous potentially fatal pulmonary problems, including infections, hemorrhage, or collapse. Finding a consistent and an effective way to ascertain lung cancer using medical imaging techniques is one of the primary issues in medical image processing. The difficulty of this task stems from the fact that the regions of the lungs that are affected by cancer might differ greatly in expressions of their size, location, shape, and aesthetics. Identifying whether the identified area is benign (non-cancerous) or malignant (cancerous) is another difficult task. Finding the appropriate course of treatment for the patient will depend on this. A critical stage in the identification of lung malignancy is identifying the knobs that are expected to be malevolent. To solve these issues, in this study work we employ a deep learning methodology based on Mask region-based convolutional neural network (Mask-RCNN). For the purpose of identifying and locating infected lung regions on computed tomography (CT) scan images, model is built utilizing the customized Mask-RCNN. In accordance with the evaluation's findings, the model scored 99.32% for accuracy and 99.45% for mean DICE, respectively.
Predicting psycho-somatic disorders in online activity using multi-layer perceptron
Authors: Gadiparthi Manjunath , Reddy Edara Srinivasa
Published: December 2023

Internet services such as social media, blogs, and websites make it possible for people to acquire knowledge instantly. Due to these websites, it is now considerably easier to communicate information. As a result, individuals increasingly devote a higher amount of time to social networking programmes. This study provides estimates about the potential future ramifications of how individuals will utilise social networks. This work presents an accurate and applicable model for forecasting undesirable consequences. The model is of sufficient quality to be useful. This has been the case throughout. Using the model that has been proposed, significant properties are identified from datasets. After recovering the properties, they are categorised using the complicated computational method of multi-layer perceptron-based (MLP) artificial neural networks (ANN). 70% of this data was utilised during the training phase of the machine learning algorithm, while the remaining 30% was utilised during the validation phase of model construction. The proposed model's results were compared to those of more standard machine learning techniques. The approach utilises social networks to predict the issue. The simulation results indicate that the suggested model generates more precise predictions than the support vector machine, logistic regression, and random forest decision tree classifier techniques combined.
Machine learning-based intrusion detection system for detecting web attacks
Authors: Abdou Vadhil Fatimetou , Lemine Salihi Mohamed , Farouk Nanne Mohamedade
Published: December 2023

The increasing use of smart devices results in a huge amount of data, which raises concerns about personal data, including health data and financial data. This data circulates on the network and can encounter network traffic at any time. This traffic can either be normal traffic or an intrusion created by hackers with the aim of injecting abnormal traffic into the network. Firewalls and traditional intrusion detection systems detect attacks based on signature patterns. However, this is not sufficient to detect advanced or unknown attacks. To detect different types of unknown attacks, the use of intelligent techniques is essential. In this paper, we analyse some machine learning techniques proposed in recent years. In this study, several classifications were made to detect anomalous behaviour in network traffic. The models were built and evaluated based on the Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity-intrusion detection systems dataset released in 2017 (CIC-IDS-2017), which includes both current and historical attacks. The experiments were conducted using decision tree, random forest, logistic regression, gaussian naïve bayes, adaptive boosting, and their ensemble approach. The models were evaluated using various evaluation metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, false positive rate, receiver operating characteristic curve, and calibration curve.
Early prediction of chronic heart disease with recursive feature elimination and supervised learning techniques
Authors: Kumar Napa Komal , Kalyan Kumar Angati , Murugan Sangeetha , Mahammad Kamaluru , Admassu Assegie Tsehay
Published: December 2023

Chronic heart disease (CHD) is a common complication among patients suffering in the cardiological intensive care unit, often resulting in poor prognosis and high mortality. Early prediction of CHD can reduce mortality by preventing the severity of the disease. This study evaluated the efficacy of on recursive feature elimination for predicting CHD using supervised learning techniques for predicting CHD. The study employed 1190 Cleveland Hungarian CHD dataset. Different supervised learning techniques (support vector machine, decision tree, k-nearest neighbor, Naive Bayes, stochastic gradient descent, adaptive boosting, and multilayer perceptron) were used to study the efficacy of the recursive feature elimination. Chest pain type, sex, blood sugar level, angina, depression, and slope were associated with CHD occurrence. The accuracy of the K-nearest neighbor and decision tree model was 89.91% for the feature-selected dataset indicating good predictive ability. Ultimately, the support vector machine and logistic regression with the selected features exhibited good discriminatory ability for early prediction of CHD. Thus, the recursive feature elimination is a good approach to develop a a model with higher accuracy to predict CHD.
Cognitive routing in software defined networks using learning models with latency and throughput constraints
Authors: Tumakuru Anadanaiah Nagaraju , Panduranga Rao Malode Vishwanatha
Published: December 2023

To address latency and throughput challenges in software defined networks (SDNs), the research investigates cognitive routing's revolutionary implications. In today's data-driven world, network performance optimisation is crucial. Cognitive routing is a dynamic and potentially disruptive network management technology. Cognitive routing, strengthened by reinforcement learning and adaptive decision-making, is crucial to network efficiency and responsiveness, according to our study. The results show that cognitive routing optimises performance by limiting delay and maximising throughput. SDN application cognitive routing engine (CRE) driving forces, design, and preliminary assessment are described in this article. The CRE finds almost optimal paths for a user's quality of service (QoS) need while minimising monitoring overhead. Instead of global monitoring to find optimal paths, local monitoring achieves this. In ad-hoc networks, finding a trustworthy path reduces latency and ensures network stability. The proposed system was simulated utilising many parameters. Compared to previous SDN-based systems, end-to-end latency and ping round-trip time were better.
Adaptive Bayesian contextual hyperband: A novel hyperparameter optimization approach
Authors: Swaminatha Rao Lakshmi Priya , Jaganathan Suresh
Published: December 2023

Hyperparameter tuning plays a significant role when building a machine learning or a deep learning model. The tuning process aims to find the optimal hyperparameter setting for a model or algorithm from a pre-defined search space of the hyperparameters configurations. Several tuning algorithms have been proposed in recent years and there is scope for improvement in achieving a better exploration-exploitation tradeoff of the search space. In this paper, we present a novel hyperparameter tuning algorithm named adaptive Bayesian contextual hyperband (Adaptive BCHB) that incorporates a new sampling approach to identify best regions of the search space and exploit those configurations that produce minimum validation loss by dynamically updating the threshold in every iteration. The proposed algorithm is assessed using benchmark models and datasets on traditional machine learning tasks. The proposed Adaptive BCHB algorithm shows a significant improvement in terms of accuracy and computational time for different types of hyperparameters when compared with state-of-the-art tuning algorithms.
A recommender system-using novel deep network collaborative filtering
Authors: Nagaraj Shruthi , Prince Palayyan Blessed
Published: December 2023

The recommendation model aims to predict the user’s preferred items among million through analyzing the user-item relations; furthermore, Collaborative Filtering has been utilized as one of the successful recommendation approaches in last few years; however, it has the issue of sparsity. This research work develops a deep network collaborative filtering (DeepNCF), which incorporates graph neural network (GNN), and novel network collaborative filtering (NCF) for performance enhancement. At first user-item dual network is constructed, thereafter-custom weighted dual mode modularity is developed for edge clustering. Furthermore, GNN is utilized for capturing the complex relation between user and item. DeepNCF is evaluated considering the two distinctive. The experimental analysis is carried out on two datasets for Amazon and movielens dataset for recall@20 and recall@50 and the normalized discounted cumulative gain (NDCG) metric is evaluated for Amazon Dataset for NDCG@20 and NDCG@50. The proposed method outperforms the most relevant research and is accurate enough to give personalized recommendations and diversity.
Discussion of uncertainties and the impact of different neutron RBEs on all solid cancer radiation incidence risks obtained from the Japanese A-bomb survivor data
Authors: Hafner L. , Walsh L. , Rühm W.
Published: December 2023

The most recent publicly available data on all solid cancer incidence from the Life Span Study (LSS) of Japanese A-bomb survivors provides colon dose contributions weighted with a relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of 10 for neutrons, relative to gammas. However, there is evidence from several investigations that the neutron RBE for A-bomb survivors may be higher than 10. The change in the shape of the corresponding dose–response curves was evaluated by Hafner and co-workers in a previous study by applying sex-specific linear-quadratic dose models to previous LSS data for all solid cancer incidence that include separate neutron and gamma absorbed doses for several organs, in contrast to the most recent data. The resulting curvature change became significantly negative for males at an RBE of 140 for colon, 100 for liver, and 80 for organ averaged dose. For females, the corresponding RBE values were 110, 80, and 60 for colon, liver, and organ averaged doses. The present study compares three different methods to calculate the 95% confidence intervals in an analysis of the curvature with increasing RBE. Further, the impact of a higher neutron RBE on the work of the International Commission on Radiological Protection, and the importance of including uncertainties and performing sensitivity analysis of different parameters in radiation risk assessment are discussed.
Working Their Way to Young Adulthood: Labour Market Outcomes of Working in Adolescence
Authors: Herbst-Debby Anat , Kaplan Amit , Endeweld Miri
Published: December 2023

This study contributes to the theoretical and empirical debate on how adolescent employment affects later labour market resources. Specifically, we view such employment as having a complex relation with labour market outcomes in young adulthood, depending on the specific resource examined: the likelihood to be employed and the earnings level. Focusing on Israeli millennials, we used administrative longitudinal data from the Israel National Insurance Institute with respect to a representative sample of the 1991 cohort, covering ages 12–28. Findings show that while employment during adolescence increases the likelihood of working in young adulthood, once employed, it decreases earnings, suggesting that adolescent employment has relations of both inclusion and exclusion with respect to the labour market resources of young adults.
Effect of loudspeaker position and model on cognitive load, quality, clarity, and sentence recognition performance
Authors: Hedrick Mark , Braumuller Cydney , Gunning Sarah , Faulkner Kathleen , Van Peborgh Philip
Published: December 2023

We sought to determine the effects of classroom loudspeaker position, model of loudspeaker, and talker accent on mental effort or cognitive load, word clarity, sound quality, and word recognition. Thirty-one typically-developed university students whose native language is English rated and transcribed recorded sentences produced by a native English talker and a native Dutch talker speaking English. The listeners were seated in acoustically pre-calibrated locations in a classroom and were presented 10 sentences at conversational level in each of four randomized conditions: from a conventional classroom loudspeaker in front or mounted above them, and from a loudspeaker optimized for speech reproduction placed in front or mounted above them. At the front of the classroom was a muted video recording of one of the talkers delivering an online lecture. Results showed front-located speakers yielded less cognitive effort, better sound quality, and better word clarity—showing importance of congruence of loudspeaker/talker position.