bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
RETRACTED ARTICLE: Industrial bio-based plant aggregates as hygric and insulating construction materials for energy efficient building
Authors: Jiang Yunhong , Lawrence Mike , Zhang Meng , Cui Jiandong
Published: September 2020

The authors have retracted this article because it overlaps with a previously published article [1]. All authors agree to this retraction. The online version of this article contains the full text of the retracted article as electronic supplementary material.
Imaging for Diagnosis, Monitoring, and Outcome Prediction of Large Vessel Vasculitides
Authors: Schäfer Valentin Sebastian , Jin Lei , Schmidt Wolfgang Andreas
Published: September 2020

Purpose of Review

To discuss and summarize the latest evidence on imaging techniques in giant cell arteritis (GCA) and Takayasu arteritis (TAK). This is a report on the performance of ultrasound (US), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (18-FDG-PET), and other emerging imaging techniques in diagnosis, outcome prediction, and monitoring of disease activity.

Recent Findings

Imaging techniques have gained an important role for diagnosis of large vessel vasculitides (LVV). As signs of vasculitis, US, MRI, and CT show a homogeneous arterial wall thickening, which is mostly concentric. PET displays increased FDG uptake in inflamed artery walls. US is recommended as the initial imaging modality in GCA. MRI and PET/CT may also detect vasculitis of temporal arteries. For TAK, MRI is recommended as the first imaging modality as it provides a good overview without radiation. Extracranial LVV can be confirmed by all four modalities. In addition, MRI and PET/CT provide consistent examination of the aorta and its branches. New techniques such as contrast-enhanced ultrasound, PET/MRI, and auxiliary methods such as “computer-assisted quantitative analysis” have emerged and need to be further validated.

Imaging has partly replaced histology for confirming LVV. Provided experience and adequate training, US, MRI, CT, or PET provide excellent diagnostic accuracy. Imaging results need to complement history and clinical examination. Ongoing studies are evaluating the role of imaging for monitoring and outcome measurement.
Evaluation Challenges in the Validation of B7-H3 as Oral Tongue Cancer Prognosticator
Authors: Sieviläinen Meri , Wirsing Anna Maria , Hyytiäinen Aini , Almahmoudi Rabeia , Rodrigues Priscila , Bjerkli Inger-Heidi , Åström Pirjo , Toppila-Salmi Sanna , Paavonen Timo , Coletta Ricardo D. , Hadler-Olsen Elin , Salo Tuula , Al-Samadi Ahmed
Published: September 2020

B7-H3 was the only molecule identified with prognostic potential from a recent systematic review of the prognostic value of immune checkpoints in oral cancer. We aimed to validate this finding in a multicenter international cohort. We retrospectively retrieved 323 oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma (OTSCC) samples from three different countries (Brazil, Finland, and Norway) for immunostaining and scoring for B7-H3. We evaluated tumor immunogenicity by analyzing the amount of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes and divided the tumors into immune hot and cold. To increase the reliability of the results, both digital and manual visual scoring were used. Survival curves were constructed based on the Kaplan-Meier method, and the Cox proportional hazard model was utilized for univariate and multivariate survival analysis. B7-H3 expression was not significantly associated with overall or disease-specific survival in the whole OTSCC cohort. When divided into immune hot and cold tumors, high B7-H3 expression was significantly associated with poor disease-specific and overall survival in the immune hot group, depending on the scoring method and the country of the cohort. This was achieved only in the univariate analysis. In conclusion, B7-H3 was a negative prognosticator for OTSCC patient survival in the subgroup of immune hot tumors, and was not validated as a prognosticator in the full cohort. Our findings suggest that the immune activity of the tumor should be considered when testing immune checkpoints as biomarkers.
Hot liquid extrusion assisted drug-cyclodextrin complexation: a novel continuous manufacturing method for solubility and bioavailability enhancement of drugs
Authors: Manne Alekhya Sri Nagini , Hegde Aswathi R , Raut Sushil Yadaorao , Rao Rajat Radhakrishna , Kulkarni Vijay Induvadan , Mutalik Srinivas
Published: September 2020

In this study, drug-cyclodextrin (CD) complexes were prepared using hot liquid extrusion (HLE) process with an aim to improve solubility and bioavailability of carbamazepine. Saturation solubility studies of CBZ in water and different pH media showed a pH-independent solubility. Phase solubility studies of CBZ at different molar concentrations of beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) indicated AL-type solubility profile with stability constants of 574 M−1 and 899 M−1 for β-CD and HP-β-CD. Drug-β-CD and drug-HP-β-CD complexes were prepared using HLE process and conventional methods (such as physical mixture, kneading method, and solvent evaporation) as well. Optimized complexes prepared using HLE viz. CBP-4 and CHP-2 showed a solubility of 4.27 ± 0.09 mg/mL and 6.39 ± 0.09 mg/mL as compared to plain CBZ (0.140 ± 0.007 mg/mL). Formation of drug-CD inclusion complexes was confirmed using DSC, FTIR, and XRD studies. Drug release studies indicated highest release of CBZ from CHP-2 (98.69 ± 2.96%) compared to CBP-4 (82.64 ± 2.45%) and plain drug (13.47 ± 0.54%). Complexes prepared using kneading showed significantly lesser drug release (KMB 75.52 ± 2.68% and KMH 85.59 ± 2.80%) as that of CHP-2 and CBP-4. Pre-clinical pharmacokinetic studies in Wistar rats indicated a significant increase in Cmax, Tmax, AUC, and mean residence time for CHP-2 compared to KMH and plain CBZ. All these results suggest that HLE is an effective method to increase the solubility of poorly water-soluble drugs.
The Effect of Points Fattening on del Pezzo Surfaces
Authors: Lampa-Baczyńska Magdalena
Published: September 2020

In this paper, we study the fattening effect of points over the complex numbers for del Pezzo surfaces $$\mathbb {S}_r$$

S
r

arising by blowing-up of $$\mathbb {P}^2$$

P

2

at r general points, with $$ r \in \{1, \dots , 8 \}$$

r
∈
{
1
,
⋯
,
8
}

. Basic questions when studying the problem of points fattening on an arbitrary variety are what is the minimal growth of the initial sequence and how are the sets on which this minimal growth happens characterized geometrically. We provide a complete answer for del Pezzo surfaces.
MRI Predictors of Cognitive Training Outcomes
Authors: Baykara Ebru , Könen Tanja , Unger Kerstin , Karbach Julia
Published: September 2020

The prospect of improving or maintaining cognitive functioning has provoked a steadily increasing number of cognitive training interventions over the last years, especially for clinical and elderly populations. However, there are discrepancies between the findings of the studies. One of the reasons behind these heterogeneous findings is that there are vast inter-individual differences in how people benefit from the training and in the extent that training-related gains are transferred to other untrained tasks and domains. In this paper, we address the value of incorporating neural measures to cognitive training studies in order to fully understand the mechanisms leading to inter-individual differences in training gains and their generalizability to other tasks. Our perspective is that it is necessary to collect multimodal neural measures in the pre- and post-training phase, which can enable us to understand the factors contributing to successful training outcomes. More importantly, this understanding can enable us to predict who will benefit from different types of interventions, thereby allowing the development of individually tailored intervention programs.
Oxygen-deficient perovskites for oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media: a review
Authors: Badreldin Ahmed , Abusrafa Aya E. , Abdel-Wahab Ahmed
Published: September 2020

Oxygen vacancies in complex metal oxides and specifically in perovskites are demonstrated to significantly enhance their electrocatalytic activities due to facilitating a degree of control in the material’s intrinsic properties. The reported enhancement in intrinsic OER activity of oxygen-deficient perovskites surfaces has inspired their fabrication via a myriad of schemes. Oxygen vacancies in perovskites are amongst the most favorable anionic or Schottky defects to be induced due to their low formation energies. This review discusses recent efforts for inducing oxygen vacancies in a multitude of perovskites, including facile and environmentally benign synthesis strategies, characterization techniques, and detailed insight into the intrinsic mechanistic modulation of perovskite electrocatalysts. Experimental, analytical, and computational techniques dedicated to the understanding of the improvement of OER activities upon oxygen vacancy induction are summarized in this work. The identification and utilization of intrinsic activity descriptors for the modulation of configurational structure, improvement in bulk charge transport, and favorable inflection of the electronic structure are also discussed. It is our foresight that the approaches, challenges, and prospects discussed herein will aid researchers in rationally designing highly active and stable perovskites that can outperform noble metal-based OER electrocatalysts.
Intubation of emergency traumatic head injury patient outside the operation theatre: Cross-sectional study
Authors: Eshetie Denberu , Getinet Habtamu , Abdissa Zewditu , Mollalign Mamaru
Published: September 2020

ABSTRACT

Introduction:

Immediate and effective airway management is a priority to save the victim's life. Maintaining a patent airway and ensuring adequate oxygenation is vital to protect the patient from secondary injury due to hypoxia.

This study was aimed to assess the practice of emergency traumatic brain injury patient intubation outside the operation theatre.

Methods:

This study was conducted from 1st September 2018 to February 28, 2019. All trauma patients that were admitted to the emergency department were included. The data was collected by a standardized questionnaire prepared from the recommendations of an Eastern Association for the surgery of trauma practice, by direct observation while performing the procedure and reviewing the patient's chart for any drug given and any documented procedure.

Result:

A total of 75 trauma patients intubation was observed during the study period. All of the patients were successfully intubated but the standards of maintaining hemodynamic stability, administration of vomiting prophylaxis, and application of capnograph had nil performance. Rapid sequence intubation and maintenance of cervical spine mobility were underperformed.

Conclusion:

Even though emergency intubations were successfully performed most of the standards of intubation did not meet the criteria, and it needs improvement. Regarding the findings of this audit emergency, traumatic patient intubation needs to be improved in line with the standards for a better patient outcome to avoid secondary injury.

Highlights:
LSTM Response Models for Direct Marketing Analytics: Replacing Feature Engineering with Deep Learning
Authors: Sarkar Mainak , De Bruyn Arnaud
Published: September 2020

In predictive modeling, firms often deal with high-dimensional data that span multiple channels, websites, demographics, purchase types, and product categories. Traditional customer response models rely heavily on feature engineering, and their performance depends on the analyst's domain knowledge and expertise to craft relevant predictors. As the complexity of data increases, however, traditional models grow exponentially complicated. In this paper, we demonstrate that long-short term memory (LSTM) neural networks, which rely exclusively on raw data as input, can predict customer behaviors with great accuracy. In our first application, a model outperforms standard benchmarks. In a second, more realistic application, an LSTM model competes against 271 hand-crafted models that use a wide variety of features and modeling approaches. It beats 269 of them, most by a wide margin. LSTM neural networks are excellent candidates for modeling customer behavior using panel data in complex environments (e.g., direct marketing, brand choices, clickstream data, churn prediction).
Ultra-broadband near-infrared NOPAs based on the nonlinear crystals BiBO and YCOB
Authors: Galletti Mario , Pires Hugo , Hariton Victor , Alves Joana , Oliveira Pedro , Galimberti Marco , Figueira Gonçalo
Published: September 2020

We evaluate and demonstrate ultra-broadband near-infrared noncollinear optical parametric amplification in two nonlinear crystals, bismuth borate (BiBO) and yttrium calcium oxyborate (YCOB), which are not commonly used for this application. The spectral bandwidth is of the microjoule level; the amplified signal is ≥ 200 nm, capable of supporting sub-10 fs pulses. These results, supported by numerical simulations, show that these crystals have a great potential as nonlinear media in both low-energy, few-cycle systems and high peak power amplifiers for terawatt to petawatt systems based on noncollinear optical parametric chirped pulse amplification (NOPCPA) or a hybrid.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS UNDER THE BRUSSELS I REGULATION
Authors: Hartley Trevor C
Published: September 2020

This article considers recent CJEU case law on the Brussels I Regulation. Two aspects of Article 7(1) (which applies to matters relating to a contract) are considered: the first is whether the contract must be between the parties to the case; the second is whether membership of an association should be regarded as constituting implied consent to be bound by decisions of the association so that jurisdiction to enforce them may be taken under Article 7(1). The article also discusses recent case law on who counts as a ‘consumer’ in terms of Article 17.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE LIMITS OF LEGAL PERSONALITY
Authors: Chesterman Simon
Published: September 2020

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become more sophisticated and play a larger role in society, arguments that they should have some form of legal personality gain credence. The arguments are typically framed in instrumental terms, with comparisons to juridical persons such as corporations. Implicit in those arguments, or explicit in their illustrations and examples, is the idea that as AI systems approach the point of indistinguishability from humans they should be entitled to a status comparable to natural persons. This article contends that although most legal systems could create a novel category of legal persons, such arguments are insufficient to show that they should.
Trichinella spiralis:inflammation modulator
Authors: Ding Jing , Liu Xiaolei , Bai Xue , Wang Yang , Li Jian , Wang Chun , Li Shicun , Liu Mingyuan , Wang Xuelin
Published: September 2020

The hygiene hypothesis posits that the decreased incidence of parasitic infection in developed countries may underlie an increased prevalence of allergic and autoimmune diseases in these countries. As unique inflammation modulator of intracellular parasitism,Trichinella spiralis, or its excretory–secretory (ES) product, shows improved responses to allergies, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatic arthritis and autoimmune encephalomyelitis by exerting immunomodulatory effects on both innate and adaptive immune cells in animal models. Research has shown thatT. spiralisdiffers from other helminths in manipulation of the host immune response not only by well-known characteristics of its life cycle, but also by its inflammation modulation pathway. How the parasite achieves inflammation modulation has not been fully elucidated yet. This review will generalize the mechanism and focuses on ES immunomodulatory molecules ofT. spiralisthat may be important for developing new therapeutics for inflammatory disorders.
In vitro comparison of treatments and commercially available solutions on mortality of Angiostrongylus cantonensis third-stage larvae
Authors: Steel Argon , Jacob John , Klasner Ina , Howe Kathleen , Jacquier Steven H. , Pitt William C. , Hollingsworth Robert , Jarvi Susan I.
Published: September 2020

On Hawai‘i Island, an increase in human neuroangiostrongyliasis cases has been primarily associated with the accidental ingestion of Angiostrongylus cantonensis L3 in snails or slugs, or potentially, from larvae left behind in the slug's slime or feces. We evaluated more than 40 different treatments in vitro for their ability to kill A. cantonensis larvae with the goal of identifying a safe and effective fruit and vegetable wash in order to reduce the risk of exposure. Our evaluation of treatment lethality was carried out in two phases; initially using motility as an indicator of larval survival after treatment, followed by the development and application of a propidium iodide staining assay to document larval mortality. Treatments tested included common household products, consumer vegetable washes and agricultural crop washes. We found minimal larvicidal efficacy among consumer-grade fruit and vegetable washes, nor among botanical extracts such as those from ginger or garlic, nor acid solutions such as vinegar. Alkaline solutions, on the other hand, as well as oxidizers such as bleach and chlorine dioxide, did show larvicidal potential. Surfactants, a frequent ingredient in detergents that lowers surface tension, had variable results, but dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid as a 70% w/w solution in 2-propanol was very effective, both in terms of the speed and the thoroughness with which it killed A. cantonensis L3 nematodes. Thus, our results suggest promising directions for future investigation.
Parasitological and molecular detection of Trypanosoma spp. in cattle, goats and sheep in Somalia
Authors: Hassan-Kadle Ahmed A. , Ibrahim Abdalla M. , Nyingilili Hamisi S. , Yusuf Abdulkarim A. , Vieira Rafael F. C.
Published: September 2020

African animal trypanosomiasis (AAT) affects the livestock of 12.3 million Somalis and constrains their development and wellbeing. There is missing data on AAT in the country after the civil war of the 1990s. Therefore, this study has aimed to assess the prevalence of Trypanosoma spp. in 614 blood samples from cattle (n = 202), goats (n = 206) and sheep (n = 206) in Afgoye and Jowhar districts, Somalia using parasitological and molecular methods. Twenty-one out of 614 (3.4%; 95% CI: 2.1–5.2%) and 101/614 (16.4%; 95% CI: 13.6–19.6%) ruminants were positive for Trypanosoma spp. by buffy coat technique (BCT) and internal transcribed spacer 1 (ITS1)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR), respectively. Using ITS1-PCR, the highest prevalence was observed in cattle (23.8%; 95% CI: 18.4–30.1%) followed by goats (17.5%; 95% CI: 12.9–23.3%) and sheep (8.3%; 95% CI: 5.1–12.9%). A total of 74/101 (73.3%; 95% CI: 63.5–81.6%) ruminants were shown coinfection with at least two Trypanosome species. The four T. brucei-positive samples have tested negative for T. b. rhodesiense, by the human-serum-resistance-associated-PCR. Trypanosoma evansi, T. godfreyi, T. vivax, T. brucei, T. simiae and T. congolense were the Trypanosoma species found in this study. This is the first study on the molecular detection of Trypanosoma sp. in ruminants in Somalia. Further investigations and control measures are needed to manage Trypanosomiasis spreading in the country. Studies should also focus on the detection of T. b. rhodesiense in the country.
Can elevated concentrations of ALT and AST predict the risk of ‘recurrence’ of COVID-19?
Authors: Chen L. Z. , Lin Z. H. , Chen J. , Liu S. S. , Shi T. , Xin Y. N.
Published: September 2020

‘Recurrence’ of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has triggered numerous discussions of scholars at home and abroad. A total of 44 recurrent cases of COVID-19 and 32 control cases admitted from 11 February to 29 March 2020 to Guanggu Campus of Tongji Hospital affiliated to Tongji Medical College Huazhong University of Science and Technology were enrolled in this study. All the 44 recurrent cases were classified as mild to moderate when the patients were admitted for the second time. The gender and mean age in both cases (recurrent and control) were similar. At least one concomitant disease was observed in 52.27% recurrent cases and 34.38% control cases. The most prevalent comorbidity among them was hypertension. Fever and cough being the most prevalent clinical symptoms in both cases. On comparing both the cases, recurrent cases had markedly elevated concentrations of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (P = 0.020) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) (P = 0.007). Moreover, subgroup analysis showed mild to moderate abnormal concentrations of ALT and AST in recurrent cases. The elevated concentrations of ALT and AST may be recognised as predictive markers for the risk of ‘recurrence’ of COVID-19, which may provide insights into the prevention and control of COVID-19 in the future.
Transactional relations between developmental trajectories of executive functioning and internalizing and externalizing symptomatology in adolescence
Authors: Brieant Alexis , King-Casas Brooks , Kim-Spoon Jungmeen
Published: September 2020

Adolescence is a period of social, physical, and neurobiological transitions that may leave individuals more vulnerable to the development of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. Extant research demonstrates that executive functioning (EF) is associated with psychopathology outcomes in adolescence; however, it has yet to be examined how EF and psychopathology develop transactionally over time. Data were collected from 167 adolescents (47% female, 13–14 years old at Time 1) and their primary caregiver over 4 years. At each time point, adolescents completed three behavioral tasks that capture the underlying dimensions of EF, and both adolescents and their primary caregiver completed measures of adolescent psychopathology. Latent growth curve modeling was used to test the associations between initial levels and trajectories of EF and psychopathology. Results indicated that higher initial levels of internalizing and externalizing symptomatology were associated with lower EF at Time 4 (controlling for Time 1 EF). Initial levels of EF did not predict changes in internalizing and externalizing symptomatology. These findings suggest that early psychopathology may be a risk factor for maladaptive EF development in adolescence.
Modelling Multi-Agent Epistemic Planning in ASP
Authors: BURIGANA ALESSANDRO , FABIANO FRANCESCO , DOVIER AGOSTINO , PONTELLI ENRICO
Published: September 2020

Designing agents that reason and act upon the world has always been one of the main objectives of the Artificial Intelligence community. While for planning in “simple” domains the agents can solely rely on facts about the world, in several contexts,e.g., economy, security, justice and politics, the mere knowledge of the world could be insufficient to reach a desired goal. In these scenarios,epistemicreasoning,i.e., reasoning about agents’ beliefs about themselves and about other agents’ beliefs, is essential to design winning strategies. This paper addresses the problem of reasoning in multi-agent epistemic settings exploiting declarative programming techniques. In particular, the paper presents an actual implementation of a multi-shotAnswer Set Programming-based planner that can reason in multi-agent epistemic settings, called PLATO (ePistemic muLti-agentAnswer seTprogramming sOlver). The ASP paradigm enables a concise and elegant design of the planner, w.r.t. other imperative implementations, facilitating the development of formal verification of correctness. The paper shows how the planner, exploiting an ad-hoc epistemic state representation and the efficiency of ASP solvers, has competitive performance results on benchmarks collected from the literature.
Advancing Lazy-Grounding ASP Solving Techniques – Restarts, Phase Saving, Heuristics, and More
Authors: WEINZIERL ANTONIUS , TAUPE RICHARD , FRIEDRICH GERHARD
Published: September 2020

Answer-Set Programming (ASP) is a powerful and expressive knowledge representation paradigm with a significant number of applications in logic-based AI. The traditional ground-and-solve approach, however, requires ASP programs to be grounded upfront and thus suffers from the so-called grounding bottleneck (i.e., ASP programs easily exhaust all available memory and thus become unsolvable). As a remedy, lazy-grounding ASP solvers have been developed, but many state-of-the-art techniques for grounded ASP solving have not been available to them yet. In this work we present, for the first time, adaptions to the lazy-grounding setting for many important techniques, like restarts, phase saving, domain-independent heuristics, and learned-clause deletion. Furthermore, we investigate their effects and in general observe a large improvement in solving capabilities and also uncover negative effects in certain cases, indicating the need for portfolio solving as known from other solvers.
Incremental maintenance of overgrounded logic programs with tailored simplifications
Authors: Ianni Giovambattista , Pacenza Francesco , Zangari Jessica
Published: September 2020

The repeated execution of reasoning tasks is desirable in many applicative scenarios, such as stream reasoning and event processing. When using answer set programming in such contexts, one can avoid the iterative generation of ground programs thus achieving a significant payoff in terms of computing time. However, this may require some additional amount of memory and/or the manual addition of operational directives in the declarative knowledge base at hand. We introduce a new strategy for generating series of monotonically growing propositional programs. The proposedovergrounded programs with tailoring(OPTs) can be updated and reused in combination with consecutive inputs. With respect to earlier approaches, ourtailored simplificationtechnique reduces the size of instantiated programs. A maintained OPT slowly grows in size from an iteration to another while the update cost decreases, especially in later iterations. In this paper we formally introduce tailored embeddings, a family of equivalence-preserving ground programs which are at the theoretical basis of OPTs and we describe their properties. We then illustrate an OPT update algorithm and report about our implementation and its performance.
Paarbasierte Psychotherapie: Ein Review über die Wirksamkeit kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutischer Ansätze mit Paaren bei psychischen Störungen
Authors: Fischer Melanie S. , Zietlow Anna-Lena , Ditzen Beate , Cohen Matthew J. , Baucom Donald H.
Published: September 2020

Zusammenfassung. Dieser Artikel gibt einen Überblick über die Wirksamkeit paarbasierter kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutischer Psychotherapie bei psychischen Störungen. In den vergangenen zwei Jahrzehnten wurden Ansätze aus der kognitiv-verhaltenstherapeutischen Paartherapie systematisch mit Interventionen der kognitiven Verhaltenstherapie (KVT) integriert und für die Behandlung eines breiten Spektrums individueller psychopathologischer Erkrankungen weiterentwickelt. Diese Ansätze grenzen sich deutlich von einer Paartherapie im klassischen Sinne ab und können als Psychotherapie bei einer psychischen Störung mit Krankheitswert unter Einbezug der Partnerin oder des Partners gewertet werden. Zentrale Konzepte der paarbasierten KVT werden kurz vorgestellt und die Ergebnisse klinischer Studien zusammengefasst. Insgesamt zeigen klinische Studien bei Depressionen, Substanzkonsumstörungen, Angststörungen, Zwangsstörungen, Posttraumatischen Belastungsstörungen und Essstörungen signifikante Verbesserungen der Symptomatik und sind somit mindestens ebenso wirksam, wenn nicht wirksamer, als Einzelbehandlungen. Darüber hinaus zeigen sich in der paarbasierten KVT häufig auch Verbesserungen in der Partnerschaftsqualität sowie zum Teil in Faktoren wie Expressed Emotion oder Symptomakkommodation, welches beides Risikofaktoren für den Therapieverlauf sowie für ein Wiederauftreten der Störung sind. Dringend benötigt werden zusätzliche randomisiert-kontrollierte Studien für einen direkten Vergleich mit individueller KVT, welcher für einige Störungen noch nicht vorliegt, sowie für eine genauere Untersuchung von Faktoren, die eine paarbasierte KVT vs. eine individuelle KVT indizieren würden. Abschließend werden klinische Empfehlungen bezüglich der Indikation und Durchführung einer paarbasierten KVT zusammengefasst.
A Physical Model for Volcanic Eruption Tremor
Authors: Gestrich Julia E. , Fee David , Tsai Victor C. , Haney Matthew M. , Van Eaton Alexa R.
Published: September 2020

Seismic waves are commonly used to monitor unrest before, during, and after volcanic eruptions. The source of seismic tremor during a sustained explosive volcanic eruption is not well understood. Recent observations of the 2016 eruption of Pavlof Volcano, Alaska, revealed a change in the relationship (hysteresis) between ash plume height and seismic amplitude over time. Based on similarities in physical processes and observed seismic tremor in rivers, we explore two key sources of seismic energy in the volcanic conduit: (1) forces exerted by particle impacts and (2) dynamic pressure changes by the turbulent flow. We develop a physical model calculating the seismic power spectral density (PSD), where forces on the conduit wall are convolved with the Green's function for Rayleigh waves. Using reasonable eruption parameters, the model is able to reproduce the frequency spectrum from the Pavlof eruption, although the modeled amplitudes are generally lower. We test the relative importance of different eruption parameters, including grain size, velocity, and conduit dimensions. We find that turbulence generally dominates over particle impacts. However, to reach the PSD amplitude during the Pavlof eruption, large grain sizes are required, as they have the greatest relative influence on the modeled amplitude. The hysteresis between plume height and seismic amplitude can then potentially be explained by grain size changes. The PSD shape is mostly determined by the Rayleigh‐wave quality factor Q, and substantial variations in seismic amplitude can be modeled assuming a constant mass eruption rate.
To What Extent Are Changes in Flood Magnitude Related to Changes in Precipitation Extremes?
Authors: Do Hong Xuan , Mei Yiwen , Gronewold Andrew D.
Published: September 2020

Despite increasing evidence of intensification of extreme precipitation events associated with a warming climate, the magnitude of peak river flows is decreasing in many parts of the world. To better understand the range of relationships between precipitation extremes and floods, we analyzed annual precipitation extremes and flood events over the contiguous United States from 1980 to 2014. A low correlation (less than 0.2) between changes in precipitation extremes and changes in floods was found, attributable to a small fraction of co‐occurrence. The covariation between precipitation extremes and floods is also substantially low, with a majority of catchments having a coefficient of determination of less than 0.5, even among the catchments with a relatively high fraction of annual maxima precipitation that can be linked to floods. The findings indicate a need for more investigations into causal mechanisms driving a nonlinear response of floods to intensified precipitation extremes in a warming climate.
Energy Budget and Fast Rupture on a Near‐Excavation Fault: Implications for Mitigating Induced Seismicity
Authors: Yang Jianping , Yang Diansen , Zhang Xi , Jeffrey Robert G. , Chen Weizhong , Sheng Qian , Zhang Fengshou
Published: September 2020

Reducing seismicity during excavation is a challenge faced by mining and the associated slip development on a near‐excavation fault under deep‐mining stress conditions is considered as an analog for understanding earthquake initiation mechanisms. In this paper, the quasi‐static slipping on a dipping fault near a horizontal tunnel was numerically studied by incrementally increasing horizontal stress. The equilibrium of the fault, which obeys a slip‐weakening friction law, is formulated by a boundary integral approach. The calculated rupture size is a function of the dimensionless factors derived by scaling from geometrical, loading, and friction conditions. The results show that the rupture becomes runaway at a critical stress level and prior to this, the slip zone either extends continuously and aseismically or experiences finite rapid extensions. Energy dissipated in friction in the presence of tunnel‐induced stress heterogeneity can arrest fast rupture events resulting in regained equilibrium. The energy radiated from arrested events, using an energy budget analysis, depends on the resulting fault strength change, the rupture arrest length, and the strain energy change during the event. These preceding energy radiations can mitigate the magnitude of runaway events. As the critical slip‐weakening distance decreases, the critical stresses for nucleation of both runaway and arrested events are reduced, but the energy radiated by arrested events does not always decrease because the rupture arrest length varies. The results of this study may help identify the initiation mechanisms for runaway ruptures and assess the seismic potential of a rock mass during excavation.
Comparison of Geoacoustic Models for Unfrozen Water Content Estimation
Authors: Lyu Chuangxin , Amiri Seyed Ali Ghoreishian , Grimstad Gustav , Høyland Knut Vilhelm , Ingeman‐Nielsen Thomas
Published: September 2020

This paper reviews eight geoacoustic models applied to frozen soils: crystal growth models (grain cementing, grain coating, matrix supporting, and pore filling), the weighted equation (WE) model, Zimmerman and King's model (KT), the Biot‐Gassmann theory modified by Lee (BGTL), and a two‐end member model. We verify the capacity of these models to estimate unfrozen water content (UWC) based on “reference” UWC results and joint P and S wave velocities for different soil types. The satisfactory UWC estimates of saline unconsolidated sand and overconsolidated clay based on Vp data prove that the KT, BGTL, and two‐end member models are capable of modeling “smooth” transitions in the ice crystal growth mode, while they may provide less accurate UWC values when abrupt change of crystallization mode occurs. None of the tested soil types show a single crystallization mode throughout the freezing process, as assumed by individual crystal growth models. Vs‐based UWC estimates are less accurate due to significant but difficult‐to‐estimate influence of effective stress and soil initial cementation. All models, except pore filling and matrix supporting, can match Vs versus Vp measurement results for sands and silts but gradually provide inconsistent estimates with increasing clay content. We conclude that model validation by independent UWC measurements is necessary and that consistency between UWC values estimated from Vs and Vp is insufficient to ensure proper model validation.
Trapped Low Frequency Waves on the Northern Israeli Continental Shelf
Authors: Haim Nir , Nauri Sara , Zavadsky Andrey , Kit Eliezer , Toledo Yaron
Published: September 2020

Time series of sea level measurements from different instruments deployed around the Haifa Bay area are analyzed. All observations indicate the existence of persistent low frequency oscillations with periods corresponding to approximately 1 hour and to approximately 30 minutes. These oscillations are persistent throughout most of the year and reached maximal wave heights of around 30 cm, a comparable value to tidal variations, making these oscillations an important factor in determining the average sea level elevation. The work identifies the phenomenon as resonant trapped waves, which are normal modes of the continental shelf extending from Haifa promontory to Achziv Canyon. Their temporal and spatial characteristics are learned through field measurement data analysis, wavelet analysis, numerical simulations, and exploration of an analytic solution. Finally, possible mechanisms for the generation of these waves are discussed. Such waves, which are commonly not surveyed, can be an important factor affecting coastal dynamics such as breaker line and coast line locations. Furthermore, the resonance behavior found has the capability of increasing the deep‐to‐shallow amplitudes in up to two orders of magnitude depending on incident angle. Noting that seismic or atmospheric events can agitate oscillation with similar wave periods, the intensification poses a hazard to Haifa Bay and coastal area.
Thunderstorm Climatologies and Their Relationships to Total and Extreme Precipitation in China
Authors: Xu Weixin
Published: September 2020

This study investigates climatologies of lightning and thunderstorms in China and their relationships to total rainfall and extreme (hourly) precipitation (95th percentile) using spaceborne lightning, microwave, and radar measurements. Annually, total and extreme precipitation only weakly collocate or correlate with flash density (FLD) and thunderstorm. Also, none of these variables show significant trends during 1995–2014. FLD and precipitation are generally in phase on the monthly time scale, except over southern China (SCH), where FLD leads precipitation by 2 months. Thunderstorms contribute 40–50% of total rainfall and 70–80% of extreme precipitation over lower‐elevation regions. While correlation coefficients between extreme precipitation and flash rate are decent during April–May (AM, r = 0.75), they are significantly lower in June–July–August (JJA, r = 0.55), possibly due to larger warm cloud depth and thus greater rainfall contribution by warm‐rain process during JJA. JJA thunderstorms have markedly higher radar echo tops (MAXHT30) and induce stronger microwave ice scattering than AM thunderstorms, related to larger convective available potential energy in JJA, whereas AM thunderstorms have larger precipitation area in association with stronger vertical wind shear. Conversely, AM thunderstorms show markedly greater number/frequency of high flash rates than JJA thunderstorms (especially over SCH), consistent with their larger volumes of intense radar echo in the mixed‐phase region (VOL35). Compared to MAXHT30 (r = 0.38), VOL35 is far better correlated to flash rate (r = 0.88), as VOL35 represents the total amount of precipitation‐sized ice particles and/or supercooled liquid water in the mixed‐phase region essential for cloud electrification.
Investigating the Productivity and Sustainability of Weathered Basement Aquifers in Tropical Africa Using Numerical Simulation and Global Sensitivity Analysis
Authors: Bianchi Marco , MacDonald Alan M. , Macdonald David M. J. , Asare Enoch B.
Published: September 2020

Groundwater stored in weathered basement aquifers (WBAs) is a strategic water resource. In this study, we investigate the productivity of WBAs and sustainability of groundwater abstractions using a novel process‐based stochastic modeling approach, which is applied to simulate abstractions in the Precambrian basement aquifer in Ghana. The statistical distribution of the generated synthetic yield data was found in very good agreement with observed yield data from the same Ghanaian aquifer. Further analysis provided robust insights regarding how different hydrogeological parameters of the WBA, and their interplay, control aquifer productivity and sustainability. Results indicate that 97% of the simulated abstractions could sustain the yield of a hand pump (6 L/min), approximately 30% could also sustain yields >60 L/min, while only 1% could sustain yields greater than 300 L/min. The model indicates that an aquifer transmissivity value of approximately 1.4 m2/day is required for a successful hand‐pumped borehole, while a higher yielding source (60 L/min) requires a transmissivity value of at least 9.5 m2/day. A global sensitivity analysis of 13 model input parameters shows that the thickness of the regolith and the maximum hydraulic conductivity developed at the base of the saprolite are the critical factors controlling success and sustainability for low yielding hand‐pumped boreholes. For higher yielding supplies, the net recharge, the depth to groundwater, and the aquifer extent become increasingly significant. Results from this work have important implications for the potential for increased development of groundwater from WBAs in tropical Africa.
Drought Propagation in Contiguous U.S. Watersheds: A Process‐Based Understanding of the Role of Climate and Watershed Properties
Authors: Apurv Tushar , Cai Ximing
Published: September 2020

Drought impacts on the society and environment are influenced by how droughts propagate through the hydrologic cycle; however, the physical processes involved in drought propagation are not well understood. In this study, a physically based hydrologic model is used to understand the drought propagation mechanisms and their controlling factors in multiple watersheds selected from different regions of the contiguous United States (CONUS). The characteristics of hydrologic droughts are found to be significantly different in three regions of the CONUS: (1) western U.S. watersheds have long and intense streamflow droughts, (2) Great Plains and southwest U.S. watersheds have low intensity and duration of streamflow droughts, and (3) eastern U.S. watersheds have short but intense streamflow droughts. This spatial pattern of hydrologic drought characteristics is found to coincide with the pattern of climate properties. Highly seasonal recharge driven by winter precipitation or snowmelt leads to longer streamflow droughts in the western United States; whereas humid climate with low seasonality in the eastern United States leads to shorter streamflow droughts. Furthermore, the storage‐discharge relationship is identified as a key watershed property which controls the intensity of hydrologic droughts. Higher sensitivity of baseflow to watershed storage in the western and the eastern U.S. watersheds leads to more intense streamflow droughts in these regions. In the Great Plains and southwest United States, watersheds have a lower sensitivity of baseflow to catchment storage which, combined with the highly arid climate, leads to low variability in baseflow, and in turn results in low intensity of streamflow droughts in the region.
Study of Sr–Ca–Si-based scaffolds for bone regeneration in osteoporotic models
Authors: Wu Qianju , Wang Xiao , Jiang Fei , Zhu Ziyuan , Wen Jin , Jiang Xinquan
Published: September 2020

Bone tissue engineering has emerged as a promising alternative therapy for patients who suffer bone fractures or defects caused by trauma, congenital diseases or tumours. However, the reconstruction of bone defects combined with osteoporosis remains a great challenge for clinicians and researchers. Based on our previous study, Ca–Si-based bioceramics (MSCs) showed enhanced bone formation capabilities under normal conditions, and strontium was demonstrated to be therapeutic in promoting bone quality in osteoporosis patients. Therefore, in the present study, we attempted to enlarge the application range of MSCs with Sr incorporation in an osteoporotic bone regeneration model to evaluate whether Sr could assist in regeneration outcomes. In vitro readout suggested that Sr-incorporated MSC scaffolds could enhance the expression level of osteogenic and angiogenic markers of osteoporotic bone mesenchymal stem cells (OVX BMSCs). Animal experiments showed a larger new bone area; in particular, there was a tendency for blood vessel formation to be enhanced in the Sr-MSC scaffold group, showing its positive osteogenic capacity in bone regeneration. This study systematically illustrated the effective delivery of a low-cost therapeutic Sr agent in an osteoporotic model and provided new insight into the treatment of bone defects in osteoporosis patients.
Turning a hot spot into a cold spot: polarization-controlled Fano-shaped local-field responses probed by a quantum dot
Authors: Xia Juan , Tang Jianwei , Bao Fanglin , Sun Yongcheng , Fang Maodong , Cao Guanjun , Evans Julian , He Sailing
Published: September 2020

Optical nanoantennas can convert propagating light to local fields. The local-field responses can be engineered to exhibit nontrivial features in spatial, spectral and temporal domains, where local-field interferences play a key role. Here, we design nearly fully controllable local-field interferences in the nanogap of a nanoantenna, and experimentally demonstrate that in the nanogap, the spectral dispersion of the local-field response can exhibit tuneable Fano lineshapes with nearly vanishing Fano dips. A single quantum dot is precisely positioned in the nanogap to probe the spectral dispersions of the local-field responses. By controlling the excitation polarization, the asymmetry parameter q of the probed Fano lineshapes can be tuned from negative to positive values, and correspondingly, the Fano dips can be tuned across a broad spectral range. Notably, at the Fano dips, the local-field intensity is strongly suppressed by up to ~50-fold, implying that the hot spot in the nanogap can be turned into a cold spot. The results may inspire diverse designs of local-field responses with novel spatial distributions, spectral dispersions and temporal dynamics, and expand the available toolbox for nanoscopy, spectroscopy, nano-optical quantum control and nanolithography.
Root pathogen diversity and composition varies with climate in undisturbed grasslands, but less so in anthropogenically disturbed grasslands
Authors: Delavaux Camille S , Schemanski Josh L , House Geoffrey L , Tipton Alice G , Sikes Benjamin , Bever James D
Published: September 2020

Soil-borne pathogens structure plant communities, shaping their diversity, and through these effects may mediate plant responses to climate change and disturbance. Little is known, however, about the environmental determinants of plant pathogen communities. Therefore, we explored the impact of climate gradients and anthropogenic disturbance on root-associated pathogens in grasslands. We examined the community structure of two pathogenic groups—fungal pathogens and oomycetes—in undisturbed and anthropogenically disturbed grasslands across a natural precipitation and temperature gradient in the Midwestern USA. In undisturbed grasslands, precipitation and temperature gradients were important predictors of pathogen community richness and composition. Oomycete richness increased with precipitation, while fungal pathogen richness depended on an interaction of precipitation and temperature, with precipitation increasing richness most with higher temperatures. Disturbance altered plant pathogen composition and precipitation and temperature had a reduced effect on pathogen richness and composition in disturbed grasslands. Because pathogens can mediate plant community diversity and structure, the sensitivity of pathogens to disturbance and climate suggests that degradation of the pathogen community may mediate loss, or limit restoration of, native plant diversity in disturbed grasslands, and may modify plant community response to climate change.