bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Launching the Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature on the 250th Anniversary of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries
Authors: Denecke Wiebke , Klein Lucas
Published: April 2023

This article takes the inauguration of the Hsu-Tang Library of Classical Chinese Literature as an opportunity to reflect on today's role of classical literatures and their importance to the transformation of the humanities. Edited by Wiebke Denecke and Lucas Klein and published by Oxford University Press, the library was established by a gift from Oscar L. Tang and Hsin-Mei Agnes Hsu-Tang—a descendant of Ji Yun, chief compiler of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries (Siku quanshu), and of Xu Guangqi, China's “first convert.” After detailing how the Library carries on the legacies of both the Complete Library and the Jesuit project of cross-cultural dialogue and translation, the essay showcases how the Loeb Classical Library of Greek and Roman literatures, established a century ago, is both a model and radically different enterprise from recently endowed bilingual classical libraries, including the Murty Classical Library of India. The article then outlines the vision and hopes for the Hsu-Tang Library, namely, to publish translations of Chinese literature that are both intelligently scholarly and eminently readable and thus deepen and broaden the possibilities of what Chinese literature can mean—also in and for the English language. Responses to the essay will be considered for publication in a future forum.
Single-Session Gamma Knife Radiosurgery for Patients With 20 or More Brain Metastases
Authors: Wei Zhishuo , Luy Diego D. , Jose Shalini , Deng Hansen , Yavan Sila , Worrell Stephen , Belkhir J. Raouf , Tang Lilly W. , Niranjan Ajay , Lunsford L. Dade
Published: April 2023

BACKGROUND:

Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is a widely accepted treatment modality for brain metastases. The role of SRS in patients with higher numbers of metastases remains controversial.

OBJECTIVES:

To define outcomes in patients with ≥20 brain metastases managed using single-session SRS.

METHODS:

This single-institution retrospective cohort study studied 75 patients (26 non–small-cell lung cancer, 21 small-cell lung cancer, 14 breast cancer, and 14 melanoma) undergoing single-session SRS. The median number of tumors per patient was 24, and the median cumulative tumor volume was 3.70 cc. The median margin dose prescribed to each individual tumor was 16 Gy. The median integral cranial dose was 5492 mJ. The median beam on time was 160 minutes. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed with significance set at P < .05.

RESULTS:

The median overall survival after SRS was 8.8 months (patients with non–small-cell lung cancer), 4.6 months (patients with small-cell lung cancer), 11.3 months (patients with breast cancer), and 4.1 months (patients with melanoma). Primary cancer type, number of brain metastases, and concurrent immunotherapy were significant factors in predicting survival. Local tumor control rate per patient was 97.3% and 94.6% at 6 and 12 months after SRS, respectively. Thirty-six patients underwent additional SRS for new tumor development with a median time after SRS of 5 months. Three patients experienced adverse radiation events.

CONCLUSION:

Single-session SRS is a well-tolerated palliative treatment option even in patients with ≥20 brain metastases, achieving local control rate >90% with low risks of neurotoxicity while continuing concurrent systemic oncological care.
Blood Pressure Responses to Postexercise Circulatory Occlusion Are Attenuated After Exercise-Induced Muscle Weakness
Authors: LEE JORDAN B. , KATERBERG CARLIN , BOMMARITO JULIAN C. , POWER GEOFFREY A. , MILLAR PHILIP J.
Published: April 2023

Purpose

Exercise blood pressure (BP) responses are thought to be determined by relative exercise intensity (percent maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) strength). However, cross-sectional studies report that during a static contraction, higher absolute force is associated with greater BP responses to relative intensity exercise and subsequent muscle metaboreflex activation with postexercise circulatory occlusion (PECO). We hypothesized that a bout of unaccustomed eccentric exercise would reduce knee extensor MVC and subsequently attenuate BP responses to PECO.

Methods

Continuous BP, heart rate, muscle oxygenation, and knee extensor electromyography were recorded in 21 young healthy individuals (female, n = 10) during 2 min of 20% MVC static knee extension exercise and 2 min of PECO, performed before and 24 h after 300 maximal knee extensor eccentric contractions to cause exercise-induced muscle weakness. As a control, 14 participants repeated the eccentric exercise 4 wks later to test whether BP responses were altered when exercise-induced muscle weakness was attenuated via the protective effects of the repeated bout effect.

Results

Eccentric exercise reduced MVC in all participants (144 ± 43 vs 110 ± 34 N·m, P < 0.0001). BP responses to matched relative intensity static exercise (lower absolute force) were unchanged after eccentric exercise (P > 0.99) but were attenuated during PECO (systolic BP: 18 ± 10 vs 12 ± 9 mm Hg, P = 0.02). Exercise-induced muscle weakness modulated the deoxygenated hemoglobin response to static exercise (64% ± 22% vs 46% ± 22%, P = 0.04). When repeated after 4 wks, exercise-induced weakness after eccentric exercise was attenuated (−21.6% ± 14.3% vs −9.3 ± 9.7, P = 0.0002) and BP responses to PECO were not different from control values (all, P > 0.96).

Conclusions

BP responses to muscle metaboreflex activation, but not exercise, are attenuated by exercise-induced muscle weakness, indicating a contribution of absolute exercise intensity on muscle metaboreflex activation.
Encarceramento em massa e práticas extensionistas no Rio Grande do Norte
Authors: Jesus Cláudio Roberto de , Ratton Júnior José Luiz de Amorim , Campos Thayane Silva
Published: April 2023

O objetivo geral deste artigo é discutir o papel da extensão universitária na formação dos discentes do Campo de Públicas por meio de sua inserção no sistema penitenciário. Para tanto, analisa-se a experiência do projeto de extensão Motyrum Penitenciário: Educação Popular em Direitos Humanos no Sistema Prisional do Rio Grande do Norte. O Motyrum foi criado em 2005, originalmente chamado de Lições de Cidadania, eprocura trabalhar com as temáticas dos direitos humanos e da cidadania pela perspectiva freireana. Inicialmente, o núcleo penitenciário do Motyrum privilegiava a atuação dos alunos do curso de Direito e visava à atenção jurídica. Atualmente, o projeto está vinculado ao curso de Gestãode Políticas Públicas da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte e conta com uma equipe multidisciplinar. A experiência do Motyrum fez-se no contexto do encarceramento em massa no Brasil e no Rio Grande do Norte e ajuda a refletir sobre os desafios da gestão penitenciária, bem como a importância da vivência extensionista para os discentes do Campo de Públicas. Sendo assim, o artigo está estruturado em três partes.Em primeiro lugar é feito um breve apanhado do processo do encarceramento em massa e de seus impactos na sociedade. Depois se discutem os problemas da gestão prisional decorrentes do Estado penal. Por fim, é feita uma análise da experiência do Motyrum Penitenciário, destacando a relevância da extensão para o Campo de Públicas e para a formação discente. Como conclusão, percebe-se que a gestão prisional é fortementeimpactada pelo encarceramento em massa, bem como pela seletividade penal. A atividade extensionista permite aos discentes do Campo de Públicas conhecer de forma sistemática tais impactos, especialmente no que diz respeito às contradições entre a formulação de políticas e ações e os processos de implementação. Além disso, a articulação entre extensão, ensino e pesquisa propicia problematizar os fundamentos da política de segurança pública, revelando outras possibilidades que não o encarceramento indiscriminado.
A trajetória institucional do programa nacional de formação em administração pública na Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto
Authors: Ricardo de Oliveira Breynner , Pena Maria Tereza , Fichter Filho Gustavo Adolf
Published: April 2023

Este artigo analisa a trajetória institucional do Programa Nacional de Formação em Administração Pública (PNAP) na Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (Ufop) e a percepção dos alunos sobre a formação recebida. Ofertado na modalidade a distância dentro das ações da Universidade Aberta do Brasil por meio de uma rede de implementação multinível, o programa pretende formar pessoas que atuam ou tenham interesse na área. A metodologia de pesquisa envolveu: análise documental e dados das cinco turmas ofertadas entre 2009 e 2016 e sobre a turma de 2021; análise dos questionários virtuais enviados para os 242 alunos da turma de 2021 em dezembro de 2021 e julho de 2022; e entrevistas com quatro professores em função de gestão entre julho e agosto de 2022. Os dados foram analisados em quatro dimensões: perspectivas sobre a formação e inserção no campo profissional; tecnologias e o ambiente virtual de aprendizagem, Moodle; o desenho pedagógico: disciplinas e currículo; e a equipe polidocente: gestão pedagógica e acadêmico-administrativa. As análises revelaram que as elevadas taxas de evasão no PNAP na Ufop refletem o seu enfraquecimento, resultado dos sucessivos cortes em seu orçamento e das constantes mudanças nas regras para novas ofertas. Apesar de os discentes terem expectativas positivas de inserção no campo, os dados demonstraram que a percepção dos alunos sobre o curso e a formação piorou, o que pode ser reflexo do contingenciamento orçamentário, que reduz os incentivos à adesão e o aprimoramento das estratégias de formação das instituições.
Campo de Públicas no Brasil: Avanços e perspectivas no ensino, na pesquisa e na extensão
Authors: Almeida Lindijane , Abrucio Fernando , Lúcio Magda Lima , Tavares Edgilson , Rodrigues Maria Isabel
Published: April 2023

Este número especial da Cadernos de Gestão Pública e Cidadania contribui decisivamente para contar história do Campo de Públicas, que ganhou um enorme impulso com a transformação do Estado e da sociedade brasileira em prol da profissionalização da Administração Pública e da expansão das políticas públicas como mecanismo de garantia da cidadania e combate às desigualdades. Tal processo maior começou com a Constituição de 1988 e foi beneficiado por uma série de transformações nas políticas sociais e de gestão ocorridos por mais de duas décadas. Num plano mais direto, o Campo ganhou envergadura com o Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais (Reuni) e com ações dos governos estaduais. Os novos cursos alimentaram-se das poucas experiências já existentes e adicionaram novos olhares para as estruturas curriculares e acadêmicas de cursos, gerando inovadores processos formativos interdisciplinares. Pensar, formar e agir diferente para confrontar problemas públicos persistentes, este foi o leitmotiv.
Effectiveness of atorvastatin on the levels of nitric oxide and serum lipids in coronary artery disease patients: Response to clopidogrel resistance
Authors: Aldallal Ali A. R. , Mohammad Bassim I , Rgeeb Ahmed N. , Jamil Dina A , Al-Aubaidy Hayder A
Published: April 2023

Introduction and aim: Lipid lower drugs have been widely used to prevent atherosclerosis in patients with heart disease. This study aims to compare the findings between the efficacy of 20 mg/day and 40 mg/day atorvastatin supplementation for 16 weeks, on nitric oxide level and lipid profile in clopidogrel resistant and non-resistant patients with coronary heart disease (CAD).

Methods: This retrospective study included two hundred and eighty-four participants with CAD. Patients were subjected to platelets function to determine the clopidogrel resistance. 88 patients were included into the clopidogrel resistant group, and 196 patients were included into the clopidogrel non-resistant group. Each group was subdivided into two subgroups depending on the daily dose of atorvastatin therapy (daily intake of 20 mg and 40 mg, orally).

Results: Irrelevant to the study group, there was significant increase in serum levels of NO following 40 mg/day clopidogrel supplementation for 16 weeks as compared to 20 mg/day clopidogrel supplementation, P ≤ 0.05. This was associated with a significant reduction in serum lipids (total cholesterol and LDL-C), P ≤ 0.05.

Conclusion: Atorvastatin supplementation improves serum nitric oxide level, and serum lipid profile in patients with CAD with and without clopidogrel resistance.
The role of institutions in controlling compliance with the obligation to conclude contracts for the supply of agricultural products
Authors: Bieniek-Majka Maryla
Published: April 2023

Motivation: In order to protect the interests of farmers (agricultural producers) in 2015 an obligation to conclude contracts for the supply of agricultural products was introduced, and since 2017 has been in force to impose fines on buyers of agricultural products if they purchase without a contract or if the contract is defective. The National Center for Agricultural Support (KOWR) is an institution whose tasks include control of compliance with this law. Observation of transactions in agriculture allows us to believe that the established legal regulations do not solve the problem of abuse of market power by recipients and the institutional solution does not shape economic processes.Aim: The aim of this article is to present the activity of the KOWR as an institution controlling the observance of the obligation to conclude contracts for the supply of agricultural products and its evaluation.Results: Analysis of the KOWR’s reports showed that between February 2017 and March 2022, a total of 465 controls were carried out, resulting in fines of PLN 6 670 428,19 for purchases of agricultural products without a contract or due to a defective contract (about 93% of this amount was imposed on purchasers in 2021). The relatively small number of checks carried out is due to the lack of complete information on the actual purchaser of agricultural products who is obliged to purchase agricultural products under contract. In the analyzed period, inspections were carried out based on notifications of suspected breach of contractual obligations and at market entities designated for inspection (mainly milk purchasers). In conclusion information asymmetries on the market for agricultural products do not only occur in “classical” forms. Incomplete information may be available to both parties, but also from the body responsible for monitoring compliance with the rules governing the conclusion of such transactions.
TGVx: Dynamic Personalized POI Deep Recommendation Model
Authors: Wang Xiao-Jun , Liu Tao , Fan Weiguo
Published: April 2023

Personalized points-of-interest (POI) recommendation is very important for improving the service quality of location-based social network applications. It has become one of the most popular research directions in the industry and academia. However, the realization of high-quality personalized POI recommendation faces three major challenges: (i) the interest drift issue caused by the spatiotemporal dynamics of user check-in behavior, (ii) how to integrate as much heterogeneous information as possible to alleviate data sparseness and cold start issues, and (iii) how to use implicit feedback to model complex high-order nonlinear user-POI interactions. To jointly address all these challenges, we propose the TGVx recommendation framework and establish a dynamic personalized POI deep recommendation model, where T and G respectively represent time and geographic factors, V represents out-of-town visitors, and x represents time slot number. TGVx is composed of x parallel TGV models where the TG module mines high-order nonlinear user-POI interaction relationships and integrates multisource heterogeneous information, and the V module transfers the check-in records of out-of-town visitors in hometowns and generates pseudo check-in records in the target city. Technically, we design a new unsupervised deep learning network T-SemiDAE for the TG module. We built a POI-word heterogeneous network for the V module and used graph embedding technology to match the most similar POIs across cities and transfer check-in records. The experimental results on the actual datasets show that the TGVx model is always better than other advanced models in terms of accuracy and diversity for local and out-of-town recommendation scenarios. Compared with the best baseline model semi-deep auto-encoder with a conditional layer the average improvement rates of accuracy and diversity of TGVx are 17.1% to 58.6% and 2.25% to 28.86%, respectively. In theory, our research effectively uses data science and analysis methods to design a recommender system. In practice, our research is motivated by practical problems, and the research results have high practical promotion value.

History: Accepted by Ram Ramesh, Area Editor for Data Science & Machine Learning.

Funding: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [Grants 71831003, 72293563, and 72172025], the Dalian Science and Technology Talent Innovation Support Policy Project [The High-level Talent Innovation Team Project 2022RG17], and the Liaoning Provincial Department of Education [Basic Scientific Research Project LJKMZ20221582].

Supplemental Material: The software that supports the findings of this study is available within the paper and its Supplemental Information ( https://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/suppl/10.1287/ijoc.2023.1286 ) as well as from the IJOC GitHub software repository ( https://github.com/INFORMSJoC/2021.0010 ) at ( http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7407123 ).
Who’s Watching TV?
Authors: Clark Jessica , Paiement Jean-François , Provost Foster
Published: April 2023

This work addresses the problem of “user disambiguation”—estimating the likelihood of each member of a small group using a shared account or device. The specific focus is on television set-top box (STB) viewership data in multiperson households, in which it is impossible to tell with certainty which household members watch what. We formulate user disambiguation as a predictive problem and develop a solution for estimating the likelihood that each individual in a multiperson household watches each TV segment. This method learns priors for viewership in single-person households and then adapts them to the specifics of each multiperson household’s viewership history. We formalize two ad hoc heuristics that are currently used in industry (and research) for estimating audience composition of STB data and conduct a comparative analysis using three data sources: simulated data, real large-scale viewership data, and fully labeled panel data. The results show that our method has superior performance. This approach has practical value for both advertisers and researchers who seek better understanding of TV viewership. It also has applications beyond TV advertising, such as detecting the sharing of streaming passwords among multiple households or any other situation in which multiple users share devices or accounts.
Drug Breakdown: Infliximab
Authors: Rees Sharon
Published: April 2023

In this column, Sharon Rees aims to refresh knowledge and interest in some of the commonly used drugs in a series of tweets. This month she is talking about #Infliximab
What is bronchitis and how is it managed?
Authors: Duncan Debbie , McCartney Catherine
Published: April 2023

Debbie Duncan and Catherine McCartney discuss the diagnosis and management of bronchitis, looking at when pharmaceutical intervention should, and should not, be considered
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDINGS CONDITION ASSESSMENT: CASE OF PRIMORJE-GORSKI KOTAR COUNTY (CROATIA)
Authors:   University of Rijeka, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Construction Management and Technology, Rijeka, Croatia, Tijanić Štrok Ksenija , Car-Pušić Diana ,   University of Rijeka, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Department of Construction Management and Technology, Rijeka, Croatia, Marenjak Saša ,   PPP Centar, Zagreb, Croatia
Published: April 2023

This study deals with the condition examination of elementary school buildings in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, Croatia. For schools to be functional and of high quality, adequate maintenance is mandatory. Therefore, school maintenance programs need information on the building's condition based on systematic and comprehensive assessments as a primary input. This study aims to establish a framework for assessing the condition of school buildings, based on which information can be obtained quickly and practically regarding the condition of all critical facility elements. To this end, a database on schools and their conditions was created. The conditions of school buildings in terms of damage and defects and their causes were determined. Descriptive and inferential statistical operations were performed on the collected data. A condition assessment of the buildings was performed using a questionnaire survey among the principals, based on the school buildings division model developed in this study; the model presents building elements and a systematic visual condition rating scale. According to the available data, this is Croatia's first condition assessment on elementary school buildings. The main results show that on average, the examined schools are in good condition. Moreover, according to the results, the school building condition is most affected by dilapidation and lack of financial resources.
Emotional demands in children’s transition from kindergarten to school
Authors: Weiland Willaa Katrine
Published: April 2023

This article aims to explore how children are exposed to emotional demands in the transition from kindergarten to school. Psychosocial research and Hochschild’s work provide the underlying theoretical inspiration for the study. Hochschild’s concepts are used to frame the emotional demands children experience in everyday life in kindergarten and school, settings that can be seen as a workplace, albeit for children. Hochschild’s concepts and researchers inspired by her are often referred to when the work-life of adults is being studied, also when exploring stress and burnout at work. My study shows how children react to the emotional demands in their everyday lives in and across kindergarten and school and indicates that the emotion work they perform can sometimes cause emotional dissonance for children, just as it does for adults. The empirical basis for the discussion and conclusions consists of participatory observations conducted with children in the transition from kindergarten to primary school in the context of the Danish welfare state.
‘Friends are those who can help you out’: unpacking the understanding and experiences of friendship among young migrant workers in China
Authors: Mao Jingyu , Zhu Yan
Published: April 2023

Based on lengthy ethnographic fieldwork in Southwest China, this article unpacks how precarity and migration have deeply shaped young migrant workers’ understanding and experiences of friendship. The precarious work and living conditions compel young migrants to put more emphasis on the instrumental aspects of friendship, in which they deeply value friends’ help and practical support, which also intertwine closely with the emotional aspects of friendship. High mobility does not mean that migrants are not able to form and maintain ‘meaningful’ social relationships; rather, it is friends’ support and help which sustain migrants’ precarious and highly mobile ways of living. This article also discusses the burdens and risks that are associated with such friendship practices, and how, despite these ‘dark sides of friendship’, young migrant workers still largely rely on their friends to survive and keep going in the city.
Who is the real fraud here? Neo-liberal social work and the imposter phenomenon
Authors: Urwin Jessica
Published: April 2023

The neo-liberalisation of social work has been heavily criticised, with value conflicts and different interpretations of the purpose of social work being key aspects of this. However, little research has considered the impact of the neo-liberalisation of social work on an individual level, understanding how this ideology impacts day-to-day practice. This article uses the imposter phenomenon as a proxy issue to understand the impact of neo-liberalism on social workers. Factors that contribute to, and diminish experiences of, the imposter phenomenon are identified, and links are made between these and the key aspects of neo-liberalism. Through establishing the impact of the imposter phenomenon on individuals, strategies to overcome this are suggested. However, it is argued that without structural and ideological development, the tensions within social work will remain.
Unidirectional light emission in a deformed circular-side triangular microresonator
Authors: Wang Wei , Chen You-Ling , Shen Zheng-Zheng , Yang Ke , Sheng Meng-Wei , Hao You-Zeng , Yang Yue-de , Xiao Jin-Long , Huang Yong-Zhen
Published: April 2023

A waveguide-connected deformed circular-side triangular microresonator is proposed and fabricated. Room temperature unidirectional light emission is experimentally demonstrated in the far-field pattern with a divergence angle of 38°. Single mode lasing at 1545.4 nm is realized at an injection current of 12 mA. The emission pattern changes drastically upon the binding of a nanoparticle with radius down to several nanometers, predicting applications in electrically pumped, cost-effective, portable and highly sensitive far-field detection of nanoparticles.
Visible to near-infrared single pixel microspectrometer using electrothermal MEMS grating
Authors: Jeon Jaehun , Park Jung-Woo , Kim Gi Beom , Ahn Myeong-Su , Jeong Ki-Hun
Published: April 2023

Compact spectrometers facilitate non-destructive and point-of-care spectral analysis. Here we report a single-pixel microspectrometer (SPM) for visible to near-infrared (VIS-NIR) spectroscopy using MEMS diffraction grating. The SPM consists of slits, electrothermally rotating diffraction grating, spherical mirror, and photodiode. The spherical mirror collimates an incident beam and focuses the beam on the exit slit. The photodiode detects spectral signals dispersed by electrothermally rotating diffraction grating. The SPM was fully packaged within 1.7 cm3 and provides a spectral response range of 405 nm to 810 nm with an average 2.2 nm spectral resolution. This optical module provides an opportunity for diverse mobile spectroscopic applications such as healthcare monitoring, product screening, or non-destructive inspection.
Dual camera snapshot high-resolution-hyperspectral imaging system with parallel joint optimization via physics-informed learning
Authors: Xie Hui , Zhao Zhuang , Han Jing , Xiong Fengchao , Zhang Yi
Published: April 2023

The hardware architecture of the coded aperture snapshot spectral imaging (CASSI) system is based on a coded mask design, resulting in a poor spatial resolution of the system. Therefore, we consider the use of a physical model of optical imaging and a jointly optimized mathematical model to design a self-supervised framework to solve the high-resolution-hyperspectral imaging problem. In this paper, we design a parallel joint optimization architecture based on a two-camera system. This framework combines the physical model of optical system and a joint optimization mathematical model, which takes full advantage of the spatial detail information provided by the color camera. The system has a strong online self-learning capability for high-resolution-hyperspectral image reconstruction, and gets rid of the dependence of supervised learning neural network methods on training data sets.
Two-color unidirectional reflections by modulating the spatial susceptibility in a homogeneous atomic medium
Authors: Pei Xiao-shan , Zhang Han-xiao , Pan Meng-mei , Geng Yue , Li Tian-ming , Yang Hong
Published: April 2023

Non-reciprocal reflections of optical signals are unusual yet fascinating to achieve the imminent applications of non-reciprocal photonic devices and circuits. The complete non-reciprocal reflection (unidirectional reflection) was recently found to be achievable in a homogeneous medium, if the real and imaginary parts of the probe susceptibility satisfy the spatial Kramers-Kronig (KK) relation. We propose a coherent four-level tripod model for realizing dynamically tunable two-color non-reciprocal reflections by applying two control fields with linearly modulated intensities. We found that, the unidirectional reflection can be obtained if the non-reciprocal frequency regions are located in the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) windows. This mechanism is to break the spatial symmetry by the spatial modulation of susceptibility to induce unidirectional reflections, the real and imaginary parts of the probe susceptibility are no longer required to satisfy the spatial KK relation.
Sub-kHz linewidth 1.6-µm single-frequency fiber laser based on a heavily erbium-doped silica fiber
Authors: Yang Qiubai , Wang Yafei , Yu Chunlei , Wang Fan , Wang Meng , Zhang Lei , Hu Lili
Published: April 2023

We present a single-frequency erbium-doped fiber laser operated at 1608.8 nm using a homemade, heavily erbium-doped silica fiber as gain medium. The laser configuration is based on a ring cavity, which is combined with a fiber saturable absorber to achieve single-frequency operation. The measured laser linewidth is less than 447 Hz and the optical signal-to-noise ratio exceeds 70 dB. The laser exhibits an excellent stability, without any instance of mode-hopping during 1-hour observing. The fluctuations in both wavelength and power were measured to be 0.002 nm and less than 0.09 dB in a 45-minutes period. The laser produces over 14 mW of output power with a slope efficiency of 5.3%, which, to the best of our knowledge, is currently the highest power directly obtained from a single-frequency cavity based on an erbium-doped silica fiber above 1.6 µm.
Cost-effectiveness of Hepatitis C virus self-testing in four settings
Authors: Walker Josephine G. , Ivanova Elena , Jamil Muhammad S. , Ong Jason J. , Easterbrook Philippa , Fajardo Emmanuel , Johnson Cheryl Case , Luhmann Niklas , Terris-Prestholt Fern , Vickerman Peter , Shilton Sonjelle
Published: April 2023

Globally, there are approximately 58 million people with chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) but only 20% have been diagnosed. HCV self-testing (HCVST) could reach those who have never been tested and increase uptake of HCV testing services. We compared cost per HCV viraemic diagnosis or cure for HCVST versus facility-based HCV testing services. We used a decision analysis model with a one-year time horizon to examine the key drivers of economic cost per diagnosis or cure following the introduction of HCVST in China (men who have sex with men), Georgia (men 40–49 years), Viet Nam (people who inject drugs, PWID), and Kenya (PWID). HCV antibody (HCVAb) prevalence ranged from 1%-60% across settings. Model parameters in each setting were informed by HCV testing and treatment programmes, HIV self-testing programmes, and expert opinion. In the base case, we assume a reactive HCVST is followed by a facility-based rapid diagnostic test (RDT) and then nucleic acid testing (NAT). We assumed oral-fluid HCVST costs of $5.63/unit ($0.87-$21.43 for facility-based RDT), 62% increase in testing following HCVST introduction, 65% linkage following HCVST, and 10% replacement of facility-based testing with HCVST based on HIV studies. Parameters were varied in sensitivity analysis. Cost per HCV viraemic diagnosis without HCVST ranged from $35 2019 US dollars (Viet Nam) to $361 (Kenya). With HCVST, diagnosis increased resulting in incremental cost per diagnosis of $104 in Viet Nam, $163 in Georgia, $587 in Kenya, and $2,647 in China. Differences were driven by HCVAb prevalence. Switching to blood-based HCVST ($2.25/test), increasing uptake of HCVST and linkage to facility-based care and NAT testing, or proceeding directly to NAT testing following HCVST, reduced the cost per diagnosis. The baseline incremental cost per cure was lowest in Georgia ($1,418), similar in Viet Nam ($2,033), and Kenya ($2,566), and highest in China ($4,956). HCVST increased the number of people tested, diagnosed, and cured, but at higher cost. Introducing HCVST is more cost-effective in populations with high prevalence.
A cryopreservation method to recover laboratory- and field-derived bacterial communities from mosquito larval habitats
Authors: Zhao Serena Y. , Hughes Grant L. , Coon Kerri L.
Published: April 2023

Mosquitoes develop in a wide range of aquatic habitats containing highly diverse and variable bacterial communities that shape both larval and adult traits, including the capacity of adult females of some mosquito species to transmit disease-causing organisms to humans. However, while most mosquito studies control for host genotype and environmental conditions, the impact of microbiota variation on phenotypic outcomes of mosquitoes is often unaccounted for. The inability to conduct reproducible intra- and inter-laboratory studies of mosquito-microbiota interactions has also greatly limited our ability to identify microbial targets for mosquito-borne disease control. Here, we developed an approach to isolate and cryopreserve bacterial communities derived from lab and field-based larval rearing environments of the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti–a primary vector of dengue, Zika, and chikungunya viruses. We then validated the use of our approach to generate experimental microcosms colonized by standardized lab- and field-derived bacterial communities. Our results overall reveal minimal effects of cryopreservation on the recovery of both lab- and field-derived bacteria when directly compared with isolation from non-cryopreserved fresh material. Our results also reveal improved reproducibility of bacterial communities in replicate microcosms generated using cryopreserved stocks over fresh material. Communities in replicate microcosms further captured the majority of total bacterial diversity present in both lab- and field-based larval environments, although the relative richness of recovered taxa as compared to non-recovered taxa was substantially lower in microcosms containing field-derived bacteria. Altogether, these results provide a critical next step toward the standardization of mosquito studies to include larval rearing environments colonized by defined microbial communities. They also lay the foundation for long-term studies of mosquito-microbe interactions and the identification and manipulation of taxa with potential to reduce mosquito vectorial capacity.
A snapshot of mid Eocene landscapes in the southern Central Andes: Spore-pollen records from the Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, Argentina)
Authors: Tapia Mariano J. , Farrell Ezequiel E. , Mautino Lilia R. , del Papa Cecilia , Barreda Viviana D. , Palazzesi Luis
Published: April 2023

The southern Central Andes–or Puna–now contains specialized plant communities adapted to life in extreme environments. During the middle Eocene (~40 Ma), the Cordillera at these latitudes was barely uplifted and global climates were much warmer than today. No fossil plant remains have been discovered so far from this age in the Puna region to attest to past scenarios. Yet, we assume that the vegetation cover must have been very different from what it looks today. To test this hypothesis, we study a spore-pollen record from the mid Eocene Casa Grande Formation (Jujuy, northwestern Argentina). Although sampling is preliminary, we found ~70 morphotypes of spores, pollen grains and other palynomorphs, many of which were produced by taxa with tropical or subtropical modern distributions (e.g., Arecaceae, Ulmaceae Phyllostylon, Malvaceae Bombacoideae). Our reconstructed scenario implies the existence of a vegetated pond surrounded by trees, vines, and palms. We also report the northernmost records of a few unequivocal Gondwanan taxa (e.g., Nothofagus, Microcachrys), about 5,000 km north from their Patagonian-Antarctic hotspot. With few exceptions, the discovered taxa–both Neotropical and Gondwanan–became extinct from the region following the severe effects of the Andean uplift and the climate deterioration during the Neogene. We found no evidence for enhanced aridity nor cool conditions in the southern Central Andes at mid Eocene times. Instead, the overall assemblage represents a frost-free and humid to seasonally-dry ecosystem that prevailed near a lacustrine environment, in agreement with previous paleoenvironmental studies. Our reconstruction adds a further biotic component to the previously reported record of mammals.
The efficacy of interventions in reducing belief in conspiracy theories: A systematic review
Authors: O’Mahony Cian , Brassil Maryanne , Murphy Gillian , Linehan Conor
Published: April 2023

Conspiracy beliefs have become a topic of increasing interest among behavioural researchers. While holding conspiracy beliefs has been associated with several detrimental social, personal, and health consequences, little research has been dedicated to systematically reviewing the methods that could reduce conspiracy beliefs. We conducted a systematic review to identify and assess interventions that have sought to counter conspiracy beliefs. Out of 25 studies (total N = 7179), we found that while the majority of interventions were ineffective in terms of changing conspiracy beliefs, several interventions were particularly effective. Interventions that fostered an analytical mindset or taught critical thinking skills were found to be the most effective in terms of changing conspiracy beliefs. Our findings are important as we develop future research to combat conspiracy beliefs.
Comparing machine learning methods for predicting land development intensity
Authors: Gu Guanhai , Wu Bin , Zhang Wenzhu , Lu Rucheng , Feng Xiaoling , Liao Wenhui , Pang Caiping , Lu Shengquan
Published: April 2023

Land development intensity is a comprehensive indicator to measure the degree of saving and intensive land construction and economic production activities. It is also the result of the joint action of natural, social, economic, and ecological elements in land development and utilization. Scientific prediction of land development intensity has particular reference significance for future regional development planning and the formulation of reasonable land use policies. Based on the inter-provincial land development intensity and its influencing factors in China, this study applied four algorithms, XGBoost, random forest model, support vector machine, and decision tree, to simulate and predict the land development intensity, and then compared the prediction accuracy of the four algorithms, and also carried out hyperparameter adjustment and prediction accuracy verification. The results show that the model with the best prediction performance among the four algorithms is XGBoost, and its R2 and MSE between predicted and valid values are 95.66% and 0.16, respectively, which are higher than the other three models. During the training process, the learning curve of the XGBoost model exhibited low fluctuation and fast fitting. Hyperparameter tuning is crucial to exploit the model’s potential. The XGBoost model has the best prediction performance with the best hyperparameter combination of max_depth:19, learning_rate: 0.47, and n_estimatiors:84. This study provides some reference significance for the simulation of land development and utilization dynamics.
Not bird-brained: Chickens use prior experience to solve novel timing problems
Authors: Wiles Lisa , Cowie Sarah , Bizo Lewis
Published: April 2023

Despite differences between bird and human brain anatomy, birds have recently demonstrated capacities thought to be uniquely human, including planning and problem-solving. Many avian demonstrations of ‘complex’ behaviors rely on species-specific behavior (e.g., caching, tool use), or use birds who have evolved largely in similarly undomesticated circumstances (e.g., pigeons). In the present experiment, we asked how a species domesticated thousands of years ago, chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus), used past experience to navigate novel problems in the double-bisection task. The double-bisection task which has been used extensively with pigeons, allowing a comparison of signatures of chicken and pigeon performance on the same task. Our findings revealed chickens, like pigeons, show flexible learning that is sensitive to the broader context in which events occur. Further, as with pigeons, our chickens’ patterns of performance could be divided into two distinct categories which may reflect differences in the specific behaviors in which organisms engage during a timing task. Our findings demonstrate remarkable similarity in how chickens and pigeons use past experience to navigate novel problems. Further, these findings add to a growing body of knowledge suggesting the simplest forms of learning common across species–operant and respondent conditioning–are more flexible than is typically assumed.
Occupational inequalities in the prevalence of COVID-19: A longitudinal observational study of England, August 2020 to January 2021
Authors: Green Mark A. , Semple Malcolm G.
Published: April 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced, amplified and created new health inequalities. Examining how COVID-19 prevalence varies by measures of work and occupation may help to understand these inequalities. The aim of the study is to evaluate how occupational inequalities in the prevalence of COVID-19 varies across England and their possible explanatory factors. We used data for 363,651 individuals (2,178,835 observations) aged 18 years and over between 1st May 2020 and 31st January 2021 from the Office for National Statistics Covid Infection Survey, a representative longitudinal survey of individuals in England. We focus on two measures of work; employment status for all adults, and work sector of individuals currently working. Multi-level binomial regression models were used to estimate the likelihood of testing positive of COVID-19, adjusting for known explanatory covariates. 0.9% of participants tested positive for COVID-19 over the study period. COVID-19 prevalence was higher among adults who were students or furloughed (i.e., temporarily not working). Among adults currently working, COVID-19 prevalence was highest in adults employed in the hospitality sector, with higher prevalence for individuals employed in transport, social care, retail, health care and educational sectors. Inequalities by work were not consistent over time. We find an unequal distribution of infections relating to COVID-19 by work and employment status. While our findings demonstrate the need for greater workplace interventions to protect employees tailored to their specific work sector needs, focusing on employment alone ignores the importance of SARS-CoV-2 transmission outside of employed work (i.e., furloughed and student populations).
Food anaphylaxis diagnostic marker compilation in machine learning design and validation
Authors: Randhawa Inderpal S. , Groshenkov Kirill , Sigalov Grigori
Published: April 2023

Background

Traditional food allergy assessment of anaphylaxis remains limited in accuracy and accessibility. Current methods of anaphylaxis risk assessment are costly with low predictive accuracy. The Tolerance Induction Program (TIP) for anaphylactic patients undergoing TIP immunotherapy produced large-scale diagnostic data across biosimilar proteins, which was used to develop a machine learning model for patient-specific and allergen-specific anaphylaxis assessment. In explanation of construct, this work describes the algorithm design for assignment of peanut allergen score as a quantitative measure of anaphylaxis risk. Secondarily, it confirms the accuracy of the machine learning model for a specific cohort of food anaphylactic children.

Methods and results

Machine learning model design for allergen score prediction utilized 241 individual allergy assays per patient. Accumulation of data across total IgE subdivision served as the basis of data organization. Two regression based Generalized Linear Models (GLM) were utilized to position allergy assessment on a linear scale. The initial model was further tested with sequential patient data over time. A Bayesian method was then used to improve outcomes by calculating the adaptive weights for the results of the two GLMs of peanut allergy score prediction. A linear combination of both provided the final hybrid machine learning prediction algorithm. Specific analysis of peanut anaphylaxis within one endotype model is estimated to predict the severity of possible anaphylactic reaction to peanut with a recall of 95.2% on a dataset of 530 juvenile patients with various food allergies, including but not limited to peanut allergy. Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis yielded over 99% AUC (area under curve) results within peanut allergy prediction.

Conclusions

Machine learning algorithm design established from comprehensive molecular allergy data produces high accuracy and recall in anaphylaxis risk assessment. Subsequent design of additional food protein anaphylaxis algorithms is needed to improve the precision and efficiency of clinical food allergy assessment and immunotherapy treatment.
Between Raetia Secunda and the dutchy of Bavaria: Exploring patterns of human movement and diet
Authors: Velte Maren , Czermak Andrea , Grigat Andrea , Haas-Gebhard Brigitte , Gairhos Anja , Toncala Anita , Trautmann Bernd , Haberstroh Jochen , Päffgen Bernd , von Heyking Kristin , Lösch Sandra , Burger Joachim , Harbeck Michaela
Published: April 2023

During the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages, the Roman Empire dissolved in the West and medieval empires were founded. There has been much discussion about the role that migration played in this transition. This is especially true for the formation of the Baiuvariian tribe and the founding of this tribal dukedom, which took place from the 5thto the 6thcentury in what is now Southern Bavaria (Germany). In this study, we aimed to determine the extent of immigration during the beginning of this transformation and to shed further light on its character. To achieve this goal, we analyzed stable isotope values of strontium, carbon, and nitrogen from the teeth and bones of over 150 human remains from Southern Germany, dating from around 500 AD. This group of individuals included women with cranial modifications (ACD) which can be found sporadically in the burial grounds of this period. Our results showed an above-average migration rate for both men and women in the second half of the 5thcentury. They also indicate that a foreign background may also be assumed for the women with ACD. The demonstrably different origins of the immigrants from isotopically diverse regions, and the identification of local differences in detectable migration rate, as well as indication for different timing of residential changes, highlight the complexity of immigration processes and the need for more studies at the regional level.