bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Clinical dimensions of people with co-occurring obsessive-compulsive and related disorders and multiple sclerosis: a scoping review protocol
Authors: Freedman David Eli , Sawicka Katherine M , Oh Jiwon , Main Emilia , Campbell Karen A , Feinstein Anthony
Published: May 2024

Introduction

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an immune-mediated demyelinating disease with a significant burden of neuropsychiatric sequelae. These symptoms, including depression and anxiety, are predictors of morbidity and mortality in people with MS. Despite a high prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder in MS, potentially shared pathophysiological mechanisms and overlap in possible treatments, no review has specifically examined the clinical dimensions of people with obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRD) and MS. In this scoping review, we aim to map the available knowledge on the clinical dimensions of people with co-occurring OCRD and MS. Understanding the characteristics of this population in greater detail will inform more patient-centred care and create a framework for future studies.

Methods and analysis

We developed a search strategy to identify all articles that include people with co-occurring OCRD and MS. The search strategy (extending to the grey literature) was applied to MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, Web of Science and ProQuest Dissertations & Theses. Records will undergo title and abstract screening by two independent reviewers. Articles meeting inclusion criteria based on title and abstract screening will go on to full-text review by the two independent reviewers. After reaching a consensus about articles for inclusion in the final review, data will be extracted using a standardised extraction form. The extracted data will include clinical characteristics of patients such as age, gender, medication use and severity of MS, among others.

Ethics and dissemination

This scoping review does not require research ethics approval. Results will be shared at national and/or international conferences, in a peer-reviewed journal publication, in a plain language summary and in a webinar for the general public.
Effects of primary or secondary prevention with vitamin A supplementation on clinically important outcomes: a systematic review of randomised clinical trials with meta-analysis and trial sequential analysis
Authors: Bjelakovic Goran , Nikolova Dimitrinka , Bjelakovic Milica , Pavlov Chavdar S , Sethi Naqash J , Korang Steven Kwasi , Gluud Christian
Published: May 2024

Objectives

This systematic review with meta-analyses of randomised trials evaluated the preventive effects of vitamin A supplements versus placebo or no intervention on clinically important outcomes, in people of any age.

Methods

We searched different electronic databases and other resources for randomised clinical trials that had compared vitamin A supplements versus placebo or no intervention (last search 16 April 2024). We used Cochrane methodology. We used the random-effects model to calculate risk ratios (RRs), with 95% CIs. We analysed individually and cluster randomised trials separately. Our primary outcomes were mortality, adverse events and quality of life. We assessed risks of bias in the trials and used Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluations (GRADE) to assess the certainty of the evidence.

Results

We included 120 randomised trials (1 671 672 participants); 105 trials allocated individuals and 15 allocated clusters. 92 trials included children (78 individually; 14 cluster randomised) and 28 adults (27 individually; 1 cluster randomised). 14/105 individually randomised trials (13%) and none of the cluster randomised trials were at overall low risk of bias. Vitamin A did not reduce mortality in individually randomised trials (RR 0.99, 95% CI 0.93 to 1.05; I²=32%; p=0.19; 105 trials; moderate certainty), and this effect was not affected by the risk of bias. In individually randomised trials, vitamin A had no effect on mortality in children (RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.88 to 1.04; I²=24%; p=0.28; 78 trials, 178 094 participants) nor in adults (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.97 to 1.13; I²=24%; p=0.27; 27 trials, 61 880 participants). Vitamin A reduced mortality in the cluster randomised trials (0.84, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.93; I²=66%; p=0.0008; 15 trials, 14 in children and 1 in adults; 364 343 participants; very low certainty). No trial reported serious adverse events or quality of life. Vitamin A slightly increased bulging fontanelle of neonates and infants. We are uncertain whether vitamin A influences blindness under the conditions examined.

Conclusions

Based on moderate certainty of evidence, vitamin A had no effect on mortality in the individually randomised trials. Very low certainty evidence obtained from cluster randomised trials suggested a beneficial effect of vitamin A on mortality. If preventive vitamin A programmes are to be continued, supporting evidence should come from randomised trials allocating individuals and assessing patient-meaningful outcomes.

PROSPERO registration number

CRD42018104347.
Light exposure profiles differ between myopes and non-myopes outside school hours
Authors: Dhakal Rohit , Lawrenson John G , Huntjens Byki , Shah Rakhee , Verkicharla Pavan Kumar
Published: May 2024

Purpose

Considering the putative role of light in myopia, and variations in socioeconomic, lifestyle, educational and environmental factors across ethnicities, we objectively investigated light exposure patterns in Indian school children.

Methods

The light exposure profile of 143 school children (9–15 years, 50 myopes) recorded using a validated wearable light tracker for six continuous days was analysed. Additional data for non-school days were available for 87 children (26 myopes). The illuminance exposure levels, time spent outdoors and epoch (number of times participant is exposed to a predefined range of lux level per day) were compared between myopes and non-myopes across different light conditions: ≥1000, ≥3000, ≥5000 and ≥10 000 lux. For school days, light exposure profiles during (1) before school, school and after school hours; and (2) class, break and transition (when a student travels to and from school) time were analysed.

Results

The overall median (IQR) daily illuminance exposure level, time spent outdoors and epochs at outdoors (≥1000 lux) were 807 (507–1079) lux/day, 46 (30–64) min/day and 9 (6–12) times/day, respectively. The daily illuminance exposure on non-school days was significantly higher in non-myopes than myopes (6369 (4508–9112) vs 5623 (2616–6929) lux/day, p=0.04). During transition time (school days), non-myopes had significantly higher illuminance exposure (910 (388–1479) vs 550 (263–1098) lux/day, p=0.04), spent more time outdoors (25 (10–43) vs 14 (4–29) min/day, p=0.01) and had higher outdoor epochs (6 (4–11) vs 5 (2–8) times/day, p=0.01) than myopes.

Conclusions

A small but significant difference in illuminance exposure, time spent outdoors and epoch was noted between myopes and non-myopes during transition time, which may have implications in myopia control.
Factors that influence mental health and well-being of high-performance athletes from Olympic or Paralympic sport who have transitioned out of national-level or international-level sport: a mixed methods approach
Authors: Brockett Camilla L , Stansen Caroline , Bourke Matthew , Pascoe Michaela , Clements Matti , Parker Alexandra G
Published: May 2024

Transitioning out of elite sports can be a challenging time for athletes. To illuminate the gaps and opportunities in existing support systems and better understand which initiatives may have the greatest benefit in supporting athletes to transition out of elite sport, this study examined the lived experience of retired elite Australian athletes. Using a sequential mixed-methods approach, quantitative data were collected via a self-report online survey, while qualitative data were collected via semistructured interviews. In total 102 retired high-performance athletes (M=27.35, SD=7.25 years) who competed in an Olympic or Paralympic recognised sport at the national and/or international-level participated in the online survey, providing data across domains of well-being and athletic retirement. Eleven survey respondents opted in for the semistructured interview (M=28.9, SD=6.9 years) providing in-depth responses on their retirement experiences. Using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), latent variables were identified from the survey data and associations between retirement support, retirement difficulties, retirement experiences, well-being and mental health were determined. Interview data were thematically analysed. The structural model had good predictive validity for all nine latent variables, describing positive and negative associations of retirement experiences, mental health and well-being. Building an identity outside of sport, planning for retirement, and having adaptive coping strategies positively impacted retirement experiences. Feeling behind in a life stage and an abrupt loss of athletic identity had a negative impact on retirement experiences. Implications for sports policymakers are discussed, including support strategies that could better assist athletes in successfully transitioning from elite sports.
Interactions between LAMP3+ dendritic cells and T-cell subpopulations promote immune evasion in papillary thyroid carcinoma
Authors: Wang Zhiyuan , Ji Xiaoyu , Zhang Ye , Yang Fan , Su Hongyue , Zhang Hao , Li Zhendong , Zhang Wenqian , Sun Wei
Published: May 2024

Background

The incidence of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) continues to rise all over the world, 10–15% of the patients have a poor prognosis. Although immunotherapy has been applied in clinical practice, its therapeutic efficacy remains far from satisfactory, necessitating further investigation of the mechanism of PTC immune remodeling and exploration of novel treatment targets.

Methods

This study conducted a single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis using 18 surgical tissue specimens procured from 14 patients diagnosed with adjacent tissues, non-progressive PTC or progressive PTC. Key findings were authenticated through spatial transcriptomics RNA sequencing, immunohistochemistry, multiplex immunohistochemistry, and an independent bulk RNA-seq data set containing 502 samples.

Results

A total of 151,238 individual cells derived from 18 adjacent tissues, non-progressive PTC and progressive PTC specimens underwent scRNA-seq analysis. We found that progressive PTC exhibits the following characteristics: a significant decrease in overall immune cells, enhanced immune evasion of tumor cells, and disrupted antigen presentation function. Moreover, we identified a subpopulation of lysosomal associated membrane protein 3 (LAMP3+) dendritic cells (DCs) exhibiting heightened infiltration in progressive PTC and associated with advanced T stage and poor prognosis of PTC. LAMP3+DCs promote CD8+T cells exhaustion (mediated by NECTIN2-TIGIT) and increase infiltration abundance of regulatory T cells (mediated by chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 17 (CCL17)-chemokine (C-C motif) receptor 4 (CCR4)) establishing an immune-suppressive microenvironment. Ultimately, we unveiled that progressive PTC tumor cells facilitate the retention of LAMP3+DCs within the tumor microenvironment through NECTIN3-NECTIN2 interactions, thereby rendering tumor cells more susceptible to immune evasion.

Conclusion

Our findings expound valuable insights into the role of the interaction between LAMP3+DCs and T-cell subpopulations and offer new and effective ideas and strategies for immunotherapy in patients with progressive PTC.
Intracranial thrombus composition is associated with occlusion location and endovascular treatment outcomes: results from ITACAT multicenter study
Authors: Juega Jesus , Requena Manuel , Piñana Carlos , Rodriguez Maite , Camacho Jessica , Vidal Marta , Moliné Teresa , Serna Garazi , Palacio-Garcia Carlos , Rubiera Marta , Garcia-Tornel Alvaro , Rodriguez-Villatoro Noelia , Rodriguez-Luna David , Muchada Marian , Olive Gadea Marta , Rizzo Federica , Rodrigo-Gisbert Marc , Lazaro Carlos , Hernandez David , de Dios Lascuevas Marta , Diana Francesco , Dorado Laura , Hernández-Pérez María , Quesada Helena , Cardona Portela Pere , De La Torre Carolina , Ramon-y-Cajal Santiago , Tomasello Alejandro , Ribo Marc , Molina Carlos A , Pagola Jorge
Published: May 2024

Background

The impact of thrombolytics directed towards different thrombus components regarding site of occlusion in combination with mechanical thrombectomy (MT) to achieve endovascular complete recanalization is unclear.

Methods

Retrospective analysis of a prospective database in two stroke centers. Intracranial thrombi retrieved by MT were analyzed using hematoxylin–eosin staining for fibrin and red blood cell proportions, and CD61 immunostaining for platelets proportion in thrombus (PLTPT) assessment. Thrombi composition, baseline variables, etiology, treatment features and occlusion location were analyzed.

Results

Overall, 221 patients completed the per protocol analysis and 110 cases achieved a final expanded Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (eTICI) 3 (49%) of which 70 were MT (32%) by first pass effect (FPE). Thrombi from medium distal vessel occlusions had higher PLTPT compared with thrombi from proximal large vessel occlusions (68% vs 61%, P=0.026). In particular, middle cerebral artery M2–M3 segment thrombi had the highest PLTPT (70%), and basilar artery thrombi the lowest PLTPT (41%). After logistic regression analysis adjusted for occlusion location and intravenous fibrinolysis, lower baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score (adjusted OR (aOR) 0.95, 95% CI 0.913 to 0.998) and PLTPT (aOR 0.97, 95% CI 0.963 to 0.993) were independently associated with FPE. Fewer MT passes (aOR 0.67, 95% CI 0.538 to 0.842) and platelet poor thrombus (<62% PLTPT; aOR 2.39, 95% CI 1.288 to 4.440) were independently associated with final eTICI 3.

Conclusions

Occlusion location might be a surrogate parameter for thrombus composition. Platelet poor clots and fewer MT passes were independently associated with complete endovascular recanalization. Clinical trials testing the benefits of combining selective intra-arterial platelet antagonists with MT to improve endovascular outcomes are warranted.
Inherent versus random variation in fitness of elephant seals: offspring quality and quantity
Authors: Condit Richard , Reiter Joanne , Morris Patricia A. , Oliver Guy W. , Robinson Patrick W. , Costa Daniel P. , Beltran Roxanne S. , Le Boeuf Burney J.
Published: May 2024

Variation in reproductive success is the basis of evolution and allows species to respond to the environment, but only when it is based on fixed individual variation that is heritable. Several recent studies suggest that observed variation in reproduction is due to chance, not inherent individual differences. Our aim was to quantify inherent versus neutral variation in fitness of northern elephant seal ( Mirounga angustirostris (Gill, 1866)) females, including both quality and quantity of their offspring. Using 44 years of observations at Año Nuevo in California, we assembled lifetime pup production of 1065 individual females and mass at weaning for 2120 of their pups. Females varied significantly in mean lifetime mass of their pups, with 28% of the variance due to fixed individual differences among mothers. Variation was repeatable over 6 years of a mother’s lifetime and heritable ( h = 0.48). Moreover, pup mass at weaning was associated with future lifetime fitness, since larger pups had a higher chance of surviving to breed. Larger pups, however, did not produce more offspring once breeding, and lifetime pup production was not heritable. Traits related to offspring quality in elephant seals were inherently different among females, but variation in pup production was neutral.
A review and risk analysis on potential impacts of riverine recreational activities on Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) in eastern Canada
Authors: Reid Connor H. , Taylor Jessica J. , Rytwinski Trina , Possémé Carl , Lennox Robert J. , April Julien , Cooke Steven J.
Published: May 2024

Atlantic salmon populations face a number of significant, human-driven threats such as overfishing and thermal stress from anthropogenically-accelerated climate change. A considerable body of research has been devoted to such large-scale threats as well as catch-and-release fishing, while the potential impacts of other recreational activities on Atlantic salmon while in rivers have been largely overlooked. Here, we undertook a systematic literature review of the effects that recreational activities (excluding direct impacts of catch-and-release angling) might have on the welfare and survival of Atlantic salmon in riverine systems at all relevant life history stages. Examples of relevant activities examined here include swimming, all-terrain vehicle (ATV) use, and underwater photography. We also performed a relative risk assessment of such activities based on the likelihoods of their occurrence and the severities of their potential impacts. For the most part, the impacts of non-angling recreational activities on Atlantic salmon are likely widespread but largely temporary. Redds, eggs, and juveniles were generally found to be more susceptible to most threats than smolts and adults. However, some activities have significant destructive potential such as ATV use in or around spawning habitats. Significant risks also remain concerning pathogen and invasive species transfer via angling gear, waders, canoes, and other equipment that may be moved across systems without proper cleaning. Although we focused primarily on risks to native Atlantic salmon populations in eastern Canada, the risk assessment framework developed here is broadly applicable and easily adaptable for management in other contexts and jurisdictions with populations of riverine Atlantic salmon and potentially other migratory salmonids too.
Analytical study of MHD stagnation point flow with the impact of thermal radiation and viscous dissipation over stretching surface
Authors: Rehman Ali , Ahmad Sohail , AlQahtani Salman A. , Inc Mustafa , Rezapour Shahram , AlQahtani Nouf F. , Pathak Pranavkumar
Published: May 2024

This study examines the analytical study of magnetic hydrodynamic stagnation point flow with the impact variable viscosity on a movable surface along with the impact of thermal radiation. The problem is modeled with the help of momentum and energy conservation laws in the form of NLPDEs. The novelty of this study is the combined impact of variable viscosity and thermal radiation with the analytical method. Aluminum oxide nanoparticles and water are used as base fluids in this research work. The authors applied appropriate transformations to convert a collection of dimension forms of NLPDEs to dimensionless forms of NODEs. The transformed NODEs are solved with the help of an approximate analytical method known as the HAM. The effects of different parameters, including electric field, magnetic field, stagnation point flow, thermal radiation PN, and EN on energy and momentum profiles intended, and the results are planned with the help of graphs.
Stochastic Runge–Kutta for numerical treatment of dengue epidemic model with Brownian uncertainty
Authors: Anwar Nabeela , Ahmad Iftikhar , Javaid Hijab , Kiani Adiqa Kausar , Shoaib Muhammad , Raja Muhammad Asif Zahoor
Published: May 2024

The current challenge faced by the global research community is how to effectively address, manage, and control the spread of infectious diseases. This research focuses on conducting a dynamic system analysis of a stochastic epidemic model capable of predicting the persistence or extinction of the dengue disease. Numerical methodology on deterministic procedures, i.e. Adams method and stochastic/probabilistic schemes, i.e. stochastic Runge–Kutta method, is employed to simulate and forecast the spread of disease. This study specifically employs two nonlinear mathematical systems, namely the deterministic vector-borne dengue epidemic (DVBDE) and the stochastic vector-borne dengue epidemic (SVBDE) models, for numerical treatment. The objective is to simulate the dynamics of these models and ascertain their dynamic behavior. The VBDE model segmented the population into the following five classes: susceptible population, infected population, recovered population, susceptible mosquitoes, and the infected mosquitoes. The approximate solution for the dynamic evolution for each population is calculated by generating a significant number of scenarios varying the infected population’s recovery rate, human population birth rate, mosquitoes birth rate, contaminated people coming into contact with healthy people, the mortality rate of people, mosquitos population death rate and infected mosquito contact rate with population that is not infected. Comparative evaluations of the deterministic and stochastic models are presented, highlighting their unique characteristics and performance, through the execution of numerical simulations and analysis of the results.
Multi-Interest Sequential Recommendation with Simplified Graph Convolution and Multiple Item Features
Authors: Sun Kelei , He Mengqi , Zhou Huaping , Wang Yingying , Sun Sai
Published: May 2024

Multi-interest sequential recommendations leverage users’ historical behavior to provide recommendations that match multiple interests. Most of these methods have not fully extracted higher-order information hidden in users’ interactions and have overlooked the multiple features of items. To this end, this paper proposes a multi-interest model called “multi-interest sequential recommendation with simplified graph convolution and item multi-features (SGCMF)”. Firstly, a simplified graph convolution module is designed based on bipartite graphs, which utilizes mean pooling to aggregate neighboring information and employs a feedforward neural network (FNN) for nonlinear transformations and combinations. This method reduces redundant information and captures higher-order relationships, thereby simplifying the complexity of modeling high-order interactions and improving prediction accuracy. Secondly, an item multi-feature extraction module is proposed, which represents item features with multiple vectors, and analyzes each feature from multiple perspectives while preserving important relationships between features. The model correlates multiple features of the item with user interests, thereby achieving a fine-grained analysis of user interests. Extensive experiments are conducted on five real-world scenarios, and the results are compared with state-of-the-art methods. The experimental results show that SGCMF outperforms other baselines.
A Péclet-robust Discontinuous Galerkin method for nonlinear diffusion with advection
Authors: Beirão da Veiga Lourenço , Di Pietro Daniele A. , Haile Kirubell B.
Published: May 2024

We analyze a Discontinuous Galerkin method for a problem with linear advection–reaction and [Formula: see text]-type diffusion, with Sobolev indices [Formula: see text]. The discretization of the diffusion term is based on the full gradient including jump liftings and interior-penalty stabilization while, for the advective contribution, we consider a strengthened version of the classical upwind scheme. The developed error estimates track the dependence of the local contributions to the error on the local Péclet numbers. A set of numerical tests support the theoretical derivations.
DEFECT-ASSISTED TUNABLE LUMINESCENT FEATURES OF SILAR-GROWN CADMIUM OXIDE FILMS
Authors: GÜNEY HARUN , ISKENDEROĞLU DEMET , GÜLDÜREN MUHAMMED EMIN
Published: May 2024

Using the successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR) method, we successfully deposited thin films (TFs) of both pure cadmium oxide (CdO) and strontium (Sr) CdO onto glass slides. Analysis of the films’ structure and morphology, conducted via field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, revealed a polycrystalline cubic structure with porous nanoflake agglomerates. Further characterization involved ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectrum measurements to explore the optical attributes of the CdO films. Notably, we observed significant impacts of Sr doping on both optical transmittance and photoluminescence emission intensity in the CdO nanostructures. Electrical measurements, carried out using four-probe Iviumstat analysis, demonstrated variations in resistivity with different levels of Sr doping. These findings highlight the potential for controlling specific physical features of CdO through Sr doping, making it a promising candidate for various device applications.
Synthesis, structural, optical linear and nonlinear investigations of Au-doped TiO2 nanoparticles
Authors: Dakhel A. A. , Henari F. Z. , Jasim Khalil Ebrahim
Published: May 2024

Gold-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using a hydrothermal precipitation decomposition method. The synthesized Au–TiO2 NPs have two crystalline structures, anatase and rutile. The X-rays were used to investigate the structural properties of the samples. The XRD confirmed the incorporation of Au in TiO2. The diffuse reflection spectroscopy (DRS) technique was used to investigate the samples’ linear optical properties and band gaps. The optical properties revealed an extended tailing with a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) absorption peak. The bandgap was redshifted due to the Au incorporation. The reflection Z-scan (RZ-scan) technique was employed to study the nonlinear optical refraction and absorption coefficients of Au-doped TiO2 NPs at 514[Formula: see text]nm wavelength. The nonlinear reflection and absorption coefficients were calculated by fitting theoretical equations to the experimental data. Hence, the nonlinear properties of gold-doped TiO2 nanoparticles may find potential applications for optoelectronic devices such as optical switches and safety devices against high-power laser beams.
Mediating Effect of Human Capital on the Correlates of Corporate Governance, Credit Administration on Asset Quality: Evidence from Ghana Financial Industry
Authors: Ameyaw Daniel Adofo Kwakye , Peprah Williams Kwasi , Anowuo Isaac , Owusu-Yeboah Ebenezer , Narbarte Reuel Esteban
Published: May 2024

It is essential to understand the variables that affect asset quality because of their implications on the risk to financial institutions and for financial supervision and financial stability. There exist empirical studies establishing significant relationships between corporate governance and asset quality, and credit administration and asset quality. What was missing that this study investigated based on Ghanaian financial institutions was the mediating role of human capital. Based on a correlational research design and randomly selecting financial institutions and their employees as respondents. The study resulted that human capital fully and significantly mediates the relationships between corporate governance and asset quality, and credit administration and asset quality. Therefore, human capital elements of the knowledge, skills, and experience of the board members and employees are fully critical in the attainment of good asset quality. The study recommends that financial institutions must fully include the level of the human capital of their employees and board members when evaluating the factors that must exist to ensure that they have good asset quality.
Characteristics and Mechanism of Sound Radiation of Urban Railway Bridge Installed with Sound Barrier
Authors: Zhang Xiaoan , Yang Jianjin , Zhu Shengyang , Zhai Wanming
Published: May 2024

In noise-sensitive areas of urban rail transit (URT), sound barriers are often used to block the propagation of on-track noise such as the wheel–rail noise. However, the vibrations induced by passing trains can also transmit to the sound barriers. Therefore, it is necessary to study the acoustic radiation characteristics of the sound barrier under moving train loads and to evaluate whether installing sound barriers will affect the overall low-frequency noise radiation from the elevated railway. In this paper, the train–track–bridge dynamic interaction theory is adopted to establish a dynamics model for train–track–bridge-sound barrier coupled system, and the acoustic theory is employed to establish acoustic boundary element models for sound barrier, box girder bridge and sound barrier-box girder bridge coupled system, respectively. These models are then used to systematically analyze the characteristics and mechanism of vibrational noise of the sound barrier due to passing trains. The effects of sound barrier on the acoustic environment are also evaluated. Finally, the influencing mechanism of sound barrier on low-frequency acoustic radiation of elevated railway is investigated, and suggestions for future research on low-frequency acoustic radiation of elevated railway are presented. The research results show that the sound barrier can become a significant low-frequency sound source during the trains passing. Installing sound barriers on elevated railway affects the sound environment around the railway mainly through acoustic effects on the noise propagation. The installation of sound barriers has an effect on the vibration characteristics of the box girder bridge. In order to explore the characteristics of low-frequency sound radiation of elevated railways installed with sound barriers, it is necessary to reanalyze the acoustic generation mechanism of the entire structure of the bridge-sound barriers coupled system and combine it with the propagation mechanism of various sound sources.
Closed-Form Solution for Scale-Dependent Frequencies of Shear Deformable Cellular Microplates Coated by Piezoelectric Polymeric Skins Consisting of FG Distributed CNTs
Authors: Meng Jing
Published: May 2024

In this work, a rectangular cellular microplate is taken into consideration which is embedded between two functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced composite layers that have the piezoelectric ability. Different patterns for the carbon nanotube dispersion are considered. Moreover, an external electrical voltage is applied to them. The displacements are described based on a higher-order shear deformation theory which is called hyperbolic theory and the size influence is captured via the modified couple stress formulations. The governing motion equations are then derived using the variational technique and Hamilton’s principle. Then, for simply supported edge conditions, a closed-form solution is provided. Next, it turns to validate the results in simpler states, and after that, the effect of the most prominent parameters on the results is investigated. It is observed that by increasing the external applied voltage to the face sheets, the frequencies are reduced. Also, the natural frequencies have a tendency to decrease as the dimensionless material length scale parameter increases. This study’s outcomes may help design and manufacture micro-/nano-electro systems, sensors and actuators, small-scale devices, and other engineering structures.
Differential Game Analysis of Cross-Border Data Flow Regulation Under Technological Progress
Authors: Hu Haomiao , Gao Jinwu , Xin Yue
Published: May 2024

The issue of regulation of cross-border data flows is one of the difficulties in digital trade negotiations among countries. This paper considers three cross-border data flow regulation scenarios under technological progress: namely, unilateral, bilateral and trilateral cross-border data flow regulation. By constructing a differential game model, the game equilibrium strategies under the three scenarios are solved and analyzed. The results show that in the unilateral scenario, the higher the digital technology level of the data importing country, the lower the actual cross-border data restriction index of the data exporting country. In the bilateral scenario, when a country’s digital technology is relatively low, its government regulation is high and it tends to adopt a “defensive” cross-border data flow policy. In the trilateral case, due to the existence of double digital trade barriers and other effects, the actual cross-border data restriction index of a country in the middle of the digital technology level is much higher than that of a country at the bottom of the digital technology level; a country at the bottom of the digital technology level is more restrictive than a country in the middle of the digital technology level than a country at the top of the digital technology level.
First Principle Analysis of Borophene as an On-Chip Interconnect Material
Authors: Agarawal Vinod , Dwivedi Prabhat , Poonia Minakshi , Kumar Somesh
Published: May 2024

One of the most chemically adaptable elements is boron which is found in the periodic table between two groups, i.e., metals and nonmetals and may create more than 16 polymorphs that are bulk and made of connected boron polyhedra. Given that boron and carbon are comparable elements, it has been questioned whether two-dimensional (2D) boron could serve as a conceptual starting point for the construction of other boron nanostructures. Using boron as fundamental building blocks, boron nanosheets were synthesized known as borophenes. Borophene is found to be a crystalline form of atomic monolayer boron which was theoretically first predicted in mid-1990s and experimentally synthesized very recently in 2015. In this work, we studied both armchair and zigzag formation of borophene and presented a comparative analysis of their minimum sub-band energy, effective mean free path [Formula: see text], number of conduction channels [Formula: see text], scattering resistance per unit length. The [Formula: see text] for armchair BNR is 3,2,1 for 22[Formula: see text]nm, 13[Formula: see text]nm, 7[Formula: see text]nm, respectively, which is comparatively more than zigzag BNR. We later proposed Top-Contact BNR (TC-BNR) and Side-Contact BNR (SC-BNR). Our analysis shows that SC-BNR offers [Formula: see text] less resistance compared to TC-BNR and it is of the order of SC-GNR. Further, if we compare with copper interconnects, BNR is better in terms of performance and copper can be replaced with BNR due to high bulk mean free paths 300[Formula: see text]nm and 400[Formula: see text]nm compared to copper’s 40[Formula: see text]nm.
Dynamic analysis of a delayed pest-natural enemy model: Triple effects of non-monotonic functional response, additional food supply and habitat complexity
Authors: Yan Xinrui , Tian Yuan , Sun Kaibiao
Published: May 2024

Considering the food diversity of natural enemy species and the habitat complexity of prey populations, a pest-natural enemy model with non-monotonic functional response is proposed for biological management of Bemisia tabaci. The dynamic characteristics of the proposed model are analyzed. In addition, considering that the conversion from prey to predator has a certain time lag rather than instantaneous, a time delay is introduced into this model, and it is shown that the Hopf bifurcation occurs at the interior equilibrium when the time delay is used as the bifurcation parameter. Furthermore, the values of the parameters that determine the direction of the Hopf bifurcation as well as the stability of the periodic solution are calculated. In order to illustrate the theoretical analysis results, numerical simulations and validation are carried out to demonstrate the effects of non-monotonic functional response, additional food supply and habitat complexity.
Dynamics of a diffusive autotrophs–mixotrophs interaction model in a poorly mixed water column
Authors: Yan Yawen , Liu Yang , Rong Xinmiao
Published: May 2024

Mixotrophs can prey on micro-autotrophic algae and also can compete with autotrophs for light and nutrients, forming an intraguild predation structure. In order to capture this character of mixotrophs and describe the autotrophs–mixotrophs interactions in a poorly mixed water column, we develop a reaction–diffusion model. The dynamics of this system, including dissipation, Turing instability, existence and stability of constant steady state solutions, and existence and nonexistence of nonconstant steady state solutions, are well explored. The influence of the autotrophic behavior of mixotrophs on autotrophs and mixotrophs biomass density is also considered by using extensive simulations. The result of numerical simulation shows that the proportion of autotrophic behaviors of mixotrophs plays an important role, affecting the coexistence of autotrophs and mixotrophs, beneficial to phytoplankton biodiversity.
Propagation dynamics of a three-species nonlocal dispersal predator–prey system with two weak competing aborigine preys
Authors: Wang Meng-Lin , Zhang Guo-Bao , Hao Yu-Cai
Published: May 2024

This paper is concerned with the propagation dynamics of a three-species nonlocal dispersal predator–prey system with two weak competing aborigine preys. Precisely, our main concern is the invading process of an alien predator into the habitat of two aborigine preys, when two preys are weak competitors in the absence of predator. This invasion process can be characterized by the spreading speed of the predator as well as the traveling wave solutions connecting the predator-free state to other states. First, by applying Schauder’s fixed point theorem with the help of two pairs of upper and lower solutions, we prove that there exists a positive number [Formula: see text], when the wave speed is large than or equals to [Formula: see text], the system admits a traveling wave solution connecting the predator-free state to the co-existence state, which indicates the occurrence of invasion-coexistence phenomenon. Then the invading speed of the predator is investigated by using the comparison argument. Our results show that (i) the weak interspecific competition between two preys will not affect the phenomenon of invasive-coexistence; (ii) the invading speed of the predator coincides with the minimal wave speed [Formula: see text].
Effect of (Al3+/Ta5+) co-doped on dielectric properties of CdCu3Ti4O12 ceramics
Authors: Liu Huan , Peng Zhanhui , Chen Yulin , Chen Bi , Wu Di , Wei Lingling , Liang Pengfei , Chao Xiaolian , Yang Zupei
Published: May 2024

In this work, dense CdCu3(Al[Formula: see text]Ta[Formula: see text]Ti[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text] ceramics were prepared by a conventional solid phase method. The effect of Al[Formula: see text]/Ta[Formula: see text] dopants on the dielectric properties of CdCu3Ti4O[Formula: see text] ceramics was systematically investigated. Upon Al[Formula: see text]/Ta[Formula: see text] co-doping, the dielectric properties of CdCu3(Al[Formula: see text]Ta[Formula: see text]Ti[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text] were significantly enhanced. Particularly, the CdCu3(Al[Formula: see text]Ta[Formula: see text]Ti[Formula: see text]O[Formula: see text] material displays a decent dielectric property, where dielectric constants ([Formula: see text]), loss tangent (tan [Formula: see text]) at a test frequency of 1[Formula: see text]kHz are able to satisfy the application temperature requirement of the Y6R capacitor. Surprisingly, the refined grains resulting from Al[Formula: see text]/Ta[Formula: see text] co-doping lead to heightened resistance at grain boundaries, which is closely associated with enhanced dielectric properties. Meanwhile, the giant dielectric property of the materials can be attributed to the effect of the internal barrier layer capacitance. The obtained results are expected to provide a new idea for obtaining high dielectric constant and low loss tangent in CdCTO-based materials and promote the practical application of such materials.
Preparation and microwave absorption property of Ni/Al powder
Authors: Xu Shen , Li Pantao , Su Xiaolei , Liu Yi
Published: May 2024

As a functional composite material, nickel-coated aluminum powder has been widely used in conductive fillers, electromagnetic shielding materials and other fields due to its advantages of low density, high conductivity and low cost. In this paper, nickel-plated aluminum powder was prepared by a sodium hypophosphite system. The effects of different nickel coating amounts (the percentage of nickel-plating quality to nickel-plated aluminum powder quality) on the morphology, phase, compaction resistivity and electromagnetic parameters of nickel-plated aluminum powder coating were studied. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) results proved the successful preparation of nickel-coated aluminum powders with different nickel coating amounts. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images clearly show the coating effect under different nickel coating amounts. By plating nickel on the surface of aluminum powder, the surface characteristics of aluminum powder are changed, so as to adjust its conductivity, resistance, stability and other properties, thus affecting its electromagnetic performance and wave absorption performance. The results show that the comprehensive absorbing performance is excellent when the nickel coating amount is 40%. The reflection loss of the sample with a thickness of 2.0[Formula: see text]mm is less than [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]dB in the frequency range of 10.17–12.38[Formula: see text]GHz. When the frequency is 10.72[Formula: see text]GHz, the minimum reflection loss reaches [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]dB.
A Counting-based Approach for Efficient k-Clique Densest Subgraph Discovery
Authors: Zhou Yingli , Guo Qingshuo , Fang Yixiang , Ma Chenhao
Published: May 2024

Densest subgraph discovery (DSD) is a fundamental topic in graph mining. It has been extensively studied in the literature and has found many real applications in a wide range of fields, such as biology, finance, and social networks. As a typical problem of DSD, the k-clique densest subgraph (CDS) problem aims to detect a subgraph from a graph, such that the ratio of the number of k-cliques over the number of its vertices is maximized. This problem has received plenty of attention in the literature, and is widely used in identifying larger ''near-cliques''. Existing CDS solutions, either k-core or convex programming based solutions, often need to enumerate almost all the k-cliques, which is very inefficient because real-world graphs usually have a vast number of k-cliques. To improve the efficiency, in this paper, we propose a novel framework based on the Frank-Wolfe algorithm, which only needs k-clique counting, rather than k-clique enumeration, where the former one is often much faster than the latter one. Based on the framework, we develop an efficient approximation algorithm, by employing the state-of-the-art k-clique counting algorithm and proposing some optimization techniques. We have performed extensive experimental evaluation on 14 real-world large graphs and the results demonstrate the high efficiency of our algorithms. Particularly, our algorithm is up to seven orders of magnitude faster than the state-of-the-art algorithm with the same accuracy guarantee.
Certain and Approximately Certain Models for Statistical Learning
Authors: Zhen Cheng , Aryal Nischal , Termehchy Arash , Chabada Amandeep Singh
Published: May 2024

Real-world data is often incomplete and contains missing values. To train accurate models over real-world datasets, users need to spend a substantial amount of time and resources imputing and finding proper values for missing data items. In this paper, we demonstrate that it is possible to learn accurate models directly from data with missing values for certain training data and target models. We propose a unified approach for checking the necessity of data imputation to learn accurate models across various widely-used machine learning paradigms. We build efficient algorithms with theoretical guarantees to check this necessity and return accurate models in cases where imputation is unnecessary. Our extensive experiments indicate that our proposed algorithms significantly reduce the amount of time and effort needed for data imputation without imposing considerable computational overhead.
Faster Algorithms for Fair Max-Min Diversification in R
d
Authors: Kurkure Yash , Shamo Miles , Wiseman Joseph , Galhotra Sainyam , Sintos Stavros
Published: May 2024

The task of extracting a diverse subset from a dataset, often referred to as maximum diversification, plays a pivotal role in various real-world applications that have far-reaching consequences. In this work, we delve into the realm of fairness-aware data subset selection, specifically focusing on the problem of selecting a diverse set of size k from a large collection of n data points (FairDiv). The FairDiv problem is well-studied in the data management and theory community. In this work, we develop the first constant approximation algorithm for FairDiv that runs in near-linear time using only linear space. In contrast, all previously known constant approximation algorithms run in super-linear time (with respect to n or k) and use super-linear space. Our approach achieves this efficiency by employing a novel combination of the Multiplicative Weight Update method and advanced geometric data structures to implicitly and approximately solve a linear program. Furthermore, we improve the efficiency of our techniques by constructing a coreset. Using our coreset, we also propose the first efficient streaming algorithm for the FairDiv problem whose efficiency does not depend on the distribution of data points. Empirical evaluation on million-sized datasets demonstrates that our algorithm achieves the best diversity within a minute. All prior techniques are either highly inefficient or do not generate a good solution.
FeatureLTE: Learning to Estimate Feature Importance
Authors: Zhang Tianping , Wang Zhaoyang , Qian Chen , Li Jian , Lou Yin
Published: May 2024

Feature importance scores (FIS) estimation is an important problem in many data-intensive applications. Traditional approaches can be divided into two types; model-specific methods and model-agnostic methods. In this work, we present FeatureLTE, a novel learning-based approach to FIS estimation. For the first time, as we demonstrate through extensive experiments, it is possible to build general-purpose pre-trained models for FIS estimation. Therefore, FIS estimation reduces to prediction outputs from a pre-trained FeatureLTE model. Pre-trained FeatureLTE models enjoy several desired advantages, including accuracy, robustness, efficiency, and evolvability, and FeatureLTE models really begin to shine on large datasets where traditional methods often find themselves unable to scale. We build our pre-trained models for binary classification and regression problems using observations from nearly 1,000 public datasets. We systematically evaluate various design choices of FeatureLTE model construction and carefully design meta features to make sure that they are computationally lightweight. Based on our evaluation, FeatureLTE is on par with the best existing FIS estimators in terms of FIS quality, and achieves up to 339.48x speedup without sacrificing the quality of FIS estimates on large-scale datasets. Finally, we release two pre-trained FeatureLTE models for binary classification and regression problems that are ready to use on almost all tabular datasets, along with the repository of 701 binary classification datasets and 256 regression datasets with pre-computed feature importance scores to promote future research along this direction.