bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Who makes it all the way? Participants vs. decliners, and completers vs. drop-outs, in a 6-month exercise trial during cancer treatment. Results from the Phys-Can RCT
Authors: Strandberg Emelie , Bean Christopher , Vassbakk-Svindland Karianne , Brooke Hannah L. , Sjövall Katarina , Börjeson Sussanne , Berntsen Sveinung , Nordin Karin , Demmelmaier Ingrid
Published: September 2021

Purpose

To compare sociodemographic, health- and exercise-related characteristics of participantsvs.decliners, and completersvs.drop-outs, in an exercise intervention trial during cancer treatment.

Methods

Patients with newly diagnosed breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer were invited to participate in a 6-month exercise intervention. Background data for all respondents (n = 2051) were collected at baseline by questionnaire and medical records. Additional data were collected using an extended questionnaire, physical activity monitors, and fitness testing for trial participants (n = 577). Moreover, a sub-group of decliners (n= 436) consented to additional data collection by an extended questionnaire . Data were analyzed for between-group differences using independentt-tests and chi2-tests.

Results

Trial participants were younger (59 ± 12yrsvs.64 ± 11yrs,p < .001), more likely to be women (80%vs.75%,p = .012), and scheduled for chemotherapy treatment (54%vs.34%,p < .001), compared to decliners (n = 1391). A greater proportion had university education (60%vs40%,p < .001), reported higher anxiety and fatigue, higher exercise self-efficacy and outcome expectations, and less kinesiophobia at baseline compared to decliners. A greater proportion of trial participants were classified as ‘not physically active’ at baseline; however, within the group who participated, being “physically active” at baseline was associated with trial completion. Completers (n = 410) also reported less kinesiophobia than drop-outs (n = 167).

Conclusion

The recruitment procedures used in comprehensive oncology exercise trials should specifically address barriers for participation among men, patients without university education and older patients. Individualized efforts should be made to enroll patients with low exercise self-efficacy and low outcome expectations of exercise. To retain participants in an ongoing exercise intervention, extra support may be needed for patients with kinesiophobia and those lacking health-enhancing exercise habits at baseline.
Emotionally charged text classification with deep learning and sentiment semantic
Authors: Huan Jeow Li , Sekh Arif Ahmed , Quek Chai , Prasad Dilip K.
Published: September 2021

Text classification is one of the widely used phenomena in different natural language processing tasks. State-of-the-art text classifiers use the vector space model for extracting features. Recent progress in deep models, recurrent neural networks those preserve the positional relationship among words achieve a higher accuracy. To push text classification accuracy even higher, multi-dimensional document representation, such as vector sequences or matrices combined with document sentiment, should be explored. In this paper, we show that documents can be represented as a sequence of vectors carrying semantic meaning and classified using a recurrent neural network that recognizes long-range relationships. We show that in this representation, additional sentiment vectors can be easily attached as a fully connected layer to the word vectors to further improve classification accuracy. On the UCI sentiment labelled dataset, using the sequence of vectors alone achieved an accuracy of 85.6%, which is better than 80.7% from ridge regression classifier—the best among the classical technique we tested. Additional sentiment information further increases accuracy to 86.3%. On our suicide notes dataset, the best classical technique—the Naíve Bayes Bernoulli classifier, achieves accuracy of 71.3%, while our classifier, incorporating semantic and sentiment information, exceeds that at 75% accuracy.
In Situ Stress State of the Ruhr Region (Germany) and Its Implications for Permeability Anisotropy
Authors: Kruszewski Michal , Montegrossi Giordano , Backers Tobias , Saenger Erik H.
Published: September 2021

In this study, we carried out reactivation potential analysis of discontinuities revealed from four exploration boreholes penetrating heavily faulted and folded Upper Carboniferous rock strata of the Ruhr region. We performed this study based on the notion that slip is controlled by the ratio of shear to effective normal stresses acting on a pre-existing plane of weakness in the prevailing stress field configuration. The results of this analysis were supported by indicators of localized fluid flow, both on micro- and macro-scales, which confirm relationship between secondary permeability and in situ stress state in the Ruhr region. Findings from this study, in conjunction with results of destructive laboratory testing, indicate that the steep NW–SE- and NNE–SSW-striking planar discontinuities are likely to be either close to the critical state or critically stressed in the in situ stress configuration in the Ruhr region. These planar structures, as evidenced by indicators of localized permeability, are the main fluid pathways in the studied region. The NE–SW-striking discontinuities, on the other hand, are most likely to be closed and hydraulically inactive in the prevailing stress state. Based on results gained from this study, implications for utilization of deep geothermal energy in the region were discussed.
The significance of monitoring high mountain environments to detect heavy precipitation hotspots: a case study in Gredos, Central Spain
Authors: Morán-Tejeda Enrique , Llorente-Pinto José Manuel , Ceballos-Barbancho Antonio , Tomás-Burguera Miquel , Azorín-Molina César , Alonso-González Esteban , Revuelto Jesús , Herrero Javier , López-Moreno Juan Ignacio
Published: September 2021

In 2015, a new automatic weather station (AWS) was installed in a high elevation site in Gredos mountains (Central System, Spain). Since then, a surprisingly high number of heavy precipitation events have been recorded (55 days with precipitation over 50 mm, and a maximum daily precipitation of 446.9 mm), making this site a hotspot in Spain in terms of annual precipitation (2177 mm year) and extreme precipitation events. The neighboring stations available in the region with longer data series, including the closest ones, already informed of wet conditions in the area, but not comparable with such anomaly behavior detected in the new station (51% higher). In this study, we present the temporal variability of detected heavy precipitation events in this mountain area, and its narrow relation with atmospheric patterns over the Iberian Peninsula. Results revealed that 65% of the events occurred during advections from West, Southwest, South and cyclonic situations. A regression analysis showed that the precipitation anomaly is mostly explained by the location windward to the Atlantic wet air masses and the elevation. However, the variance explained by the models is rather low (average R2 for all events > 50 mm is 0.21). The regression models underestimate on average a 60% intensity of rainfall events. Oppositely, the high-resolution weather forecast model AROME at 0.025° was able to point out the extraordinary character of precipitation at this site, and the underestimation of observed precipitation in the AWS was about 26%. This result strongly suggests the usefulness of weather models to improve the knowledge of climatic extremes over large areas, and to improve the design of currently available observational networks.
Universality of High-Strength Tensors
Authors: Bik Arthur , Danelon Alessandro , Draisma Jan , Eggermont Rob H.
Published: September 2021

A theorem due to Kazhdan and Ziegler implies that, by substituting linear forms for its variables, a homogeneous polynomial of sufficiently high strength specialises to any given polynomial of the same degree in a bounded number of variables. Using entirely different techniques, we extend this theorem to arbitrary polynomial functors. As a corollary of our work, we show that specialisation induces a quasi-order on elements in polynomial functors, and that among the elements with a dense orbit there are unique smallest and largest equivalence classes in this quasi-order.
A new taper index based on form-factor: application to three bamboo species (Phyllostachys spp.)
Authors: Inoue Akio , Sato Motohiro , Shima Hiroyuki
Published: September 2021

The form-factor for the stem surface area is directly proportional to the square root of the form-factor for the stem volume, i.e., the square root law of the form-factor. Although the square root law addresses the stems of coniferous trees, the nature of the proportional coefficient of the law has not been discussed. In this study, we demonstrated that the coefficient indicates the stem taper; therefore, it is named “Taper Index based on Form-Factor (TIFF).” We also examined the relationship between the form-factor for the culm surface area and the form-factor for the apparent culm volume of 570 culms across three bamboo species (Phyllostachys pubescensMazel ex Houz.,P.bambusoidesSieb. et Zucc., andP.nigravar.henonis). The square root law held true for all three bamboo species. The species-specific TIFF was determined to be 0.873 forP. pubescens, 0.897 forP. bambusoides, and 0.901 forP. nigra. This result implied thatP. pubescenshad a more tapering culm form compared to the other two species, while culm taper was similar betweenP. bambusoidesandP. nigra. Our findings align with empirical observations of the culm taper of the bamboo species. Intra-species variation in TIFF was considerably small, allowing us to evaluate the species-specific culm taper from a small number of samples. Therefore, we conclude that TIFF provides a simple and useful method for quantifying species-specific culm or stem taper, and facilitates the estimation of merchantable or total volume.
Complications of influenza in 272 adult and pediatric patients in a German university hospital during the seasonal epidemic 2017–2018
Authors: Geerdes-Fenge Hilte F. , Klein Saskia , Schuldt Hans-Martin , Löbermann Micha , Köller Kerstin , Däbritz Jan , Reisinger Emil Christian
Published: September 2021

Background

The influenza season 2017–2018 of the northern hemisphere was the highest since 2001 and was caused predominantly by influenza B virus.

Methods

We performed a retrospective analysis of all patients in a university hospital in northern Germany with laboratory-confirmed influenza during the winter season 2017–2018 and analyzed underlying conditions, complications, and outcome.

Results

A total of 272 cases of influenza were diagnosed: 70 influenza A (25.7%), 201 influenza B (73.9%), and 1 co-infection. Of 182 adults, 145 were hospitalized, 73 developed pneumonia, 11 developed myocardial infarction, two a transient ischemic attack, one a stroke, and one perimyocarditis. Eleven of the 145 hospitalized adult patients (7.6%) died, ten of them because of pneumonia. All of them had preexisting diseases. Pneumonia was associated with a mortality of 13.7%. Underlying cardiac insufficiency was correlated with higher mortality (7/51 with versus 4/126 patients without cardiac insufficiency; p < 0.05). Ninety cases of influenza were diagnosed in 89 children (30 A, 60 B), one child had first influenza B, then influenza A. Twenty-eight children (31%) were hospitalized, 15 children developed one or more complications (lower respiratory tract infections, meningeal irritations, febrile seizures, otitis media, myositis). No child died. Influenza vaccination status was known in 149 adult patients, pneumonia occurred more frequently in non-vaccinated individuals (43/90; 47.8%) than in vaccinated patients (18/59; 30.5%, p < 0.05).

Conclusion

Patients with influenza should be monitored for secondary pneumonia and myocardial infarction, and vaccination should be enforced especially in patients with coronary heart disease and cardiac insufficiency.
Hierarchical learning from human preferences and curiosity
Authors: Bougie Nicolas , Ichise Ryutaro
Published: September 2021

Recent success in scaling deep reinforcement algorithms (DRL) to complex problems has been driven by well-designed extrinsic rewards, which limits their applicability to many real-world tasks where rewards are naturally extremely sparse. One solution to this problem is to introduce human guidance to drive the agent’s learning. Although low-level demonstrations is a promising approach, it was shown that such guidance may be difficult for experts to demonstrate since some tasks require a large amount of high-quality demonstrations. In this work, we explore human guidance in the form of high-level preferences between sub-goals, leading to drastic reductions in both human effort and cost of exploration. We design a novel hierarchical reinforcement learning method that introduces non-expert human preferences at the high-level, and curiosity to drastically speed up the convergence of subpolicies to reach any sub-goals. We further propose a strategy based on curiosity to automatically discover sub-goals. We evaluate the proposed method on 2D navigation tasks, robotic control tasks, and image-based video games (Atari 2600), which have high-dimensional observations, sparse rewards, and complex state dynamics. The experimental results show that the proposed method can learn significantly faster than traditional hierarchical RL methods and drastically reduces the amount of human effort required over standard imitation learning approaches.
Sexual Behaviors and HIV/STI Prevention Strategies Among Sexual Minority Men in Ecuador Who Use Geosocial Networking Apps
Authors: Hermosa-Bosano Carlos , Paz Clara , Hidalgo-Andrade Paula , Aguayo-Romero Rodrigo
Published: September 2021

Around the world, geosocial networking apps have become widely popular among sexual minority men (SMM). This research analyzed the sexual behaviors and HIV and STI prevention strategies (HIV/STI testing, HIV/STI inquiry, and HIV/STI disclosure) of an online-recruited sample of 284 SMM living in Ecuador. Sexting and oral sex were the most common sexual behaviors among SMM in the sample. Most participants had low perceptions of HIV and STI risk; 85% reported being tested for HIV and 70% for STIs. Being older predicted higher odds of being tested for either HIV or STIs at least once. Being single also predicted HIV testing. Future interventions in the country should explore apps’ utility as intervention tools to spread information about sexual health and HIV prevention strategies, such as condom use and event-driven PrEP. Apps can also facilitate connections to sexual health services, including programs for PrEP initiation and linkage to HIV treatment. They should also focus on promoting sexual harm reduction conversations among potential app-met sexual partners.
The Cost of Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder in Swedish Youth
Authors: Lenhard Fabian , Aspvall Kristina , Andersson Erik , Ahlen Johan , Serlachius Eva , Lavner Malin , Brodin Anna , Mataix-Cols David
Published: September 2021

The economic impact of pediatric obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) on society is unknown. We compared a wide range of individual-level cost data of children 7–17 years with OCD (n = 152) with a control group from the general population in Sweden (n = 768). The total annual cost in the OCD group wasM = 11941€ (95%CI[9915–13966]), compared to the control groupM = 6380 € (95%CI[5461–7299]), corresponding to an estimated marginal mean cost of OCD of 5560 € per person and year (z = 4.99,p < .001). OCD was associated with significantly higher healthcare costs, parental absence from work and school productivity loss. OCD symptom severity was positively associated with higher costs. The total societal burden of pediatric OCD in Sweden was estimated to be 94.3 € million per year (95%CI[56.9–131.8]). These results have important implications for policy makers and for the allocation of healthcare resources. Similar studies are needed in other countries in order to estimate the global cost of the disorder.
Cost-sensitive ensemble learning: a unifying framework
Authors: Petrides George , Verbeke Wouter
Published: September 2021

Over the years, a plethora of cost-sensitive methods have been proposed for learning on data when different types of misclassification errors incur different costs. Our contribution is a unifying framework that provides a comprehensive and insightful overview on cost-sensitive ensemble methods, pinpointing their differences and similarities via a fine-grained categorization. Our framework contains natural extensions and generalisations of ideas across methods, be it AdaBoost, Bagging or Random Forest, and as a result not only yields all methods known to date but also some not previously considered.
By chance or by choice? Biased attribution of others’ outcomes when social preferences matter
Authors: Erkal Nisvan , Gangadharan Lata , Koh Boon Han
Published: September 2021

Decision makers in positions of power often make unobserved choices under risk and uncertainty. In many cases, they face a trade-off between maximizing their own payoff and those of other individuals. What inferences are made in such instances about their choices when only outcomes are observable? We conduct two experiments that investigate whether outcomes are attributed to luck or choices. Decision makers choose between two investment options, where the more costly option has a higher chance of delivering a good outcome (that is, a higher payoff) for the group. We show that attribution biases exist in the evaluation of good outcomes. On average, good outcomes of decision makers are attributed more to luck as compared to bad outcomes. This asymmetry implies that decision makers get too little credit for their successes. The biases are exhibited by those individuals who make or would make the less prosocial choice for the group as decision makers, suggesting that a consensus effect may be shaping both the belief formation and updating processes.
Identification of house price bubbles using robust methodology: evidence from Polish provincial capitals
Authors: Tomal Mateusz
Published: September 2021

This article aims to check whether there has been a price bubble in the Polish major housing markets in recent years. To accomplish this goal, the log price-to-rent ratios in Polish provincial cities were analysed. In order to avoid incorrect conclusions, the log price-to-rent ratio using the instrumental variable estimation and ordinary least squares methods was decomposed into two components: fundamental and non-fundamental. The latter was then examined using the Phillips, Shi, and Yu procedure to detect explosive and downward movements. The results of the study showed that, in general, over 2011, actual log price-to-rent ratios in the analysed cities were below their fundamental values, i.e., a negative price bubble existed. However, more or less since the beginning of 2013, the surveyed markets have seen an increasing level of the non-fundamental component of the index under study, and its particularly explosive movements are visible in the first quarters of 2014. Finally, this analysis indicated future research directions and study implications for Polish policy-makers, housing investors, and households.
Not-for-Profit Performance Reporting: A Reflection on Methods, Results and Implications for Practice and Regulation
Authors: McConville Danielle , Cordery Carolyn
Published: September 2021

This paper presents a critical analysis of present approaches to studying not-for-profit performance reporting, and implications of research in this area. Focusing on three approaches: content analysis of publicly available performance reporting; quantitative analysis of financial data; and (rarer) mixed/other methods, we consider the impact of these on our knowledge of not-for-profit performance reporting, highlighting gaps and suggesting further research questions and methods. Our analysis demonstrates the important role of regulation in determining the research data available, and the impact of this on research methods. We inter-connect the methods, results and prevailing view of performance reporting in different jurisdictions and argue that this reporting has the potential to influence both charity practices and regulators’ actions. We call for further research in this interesting area. Contribution is made to the methodological literature on not-for-profits, and ongoing international conversations on regulating not-for-profit reporting.
Lipid droplet evolution gives insight into polyaneuploid cancer cell lipid droplet functions
Authors: Kostecka Laurie G. , Pienta Kenneth J. , Amend Sarah R.
Published: September 2021

Lipid droplets (LDs) are found throughout all phyla across the tree of life. Originating as pure energy stores in the most basic organisms, LDs have evolved to fill various roles as regulators of lipid metabolism, signaling, and trafficking. LDs have been noted in cancer cells and have shown to increase tumor aggressiveness and chemotherapy resistance. A certain transitory state of cancer cell, the polyaneuploid cancer cell (PACC), appears to have higher LD levels than the cancer cell from which they are derived. PACCs are postulated to be the mediators of metastasis and resistance in many different cancers. Utilizing the evolutionarily conserved roles of LDs to protect from cellular lipotoxicity allows PACCs to survive otherwise lethal stressors. By better understanding how LDs have evolved throughout different phyla we will identify opportunities to target LDs in PACCs to increase therapeutic efficiency in cancer cells.
Multi-scale Modeling of Polymeric Composites Including Nanoporous Fillers of Milled Anodic Alumina
Authors: Rafiee Roham , Eskandariyun Amirali , Larosa Claudio , Salerno Marco
Published: September 2021

A polymer composite based on an innovative filler consisting of microscale powder of nanoporous alumina is modeled. The passing-through nanoscale pores in this system—roughly columnar cylindrical, with diameter of the order of 100 nm—are fully penetrated by the resin, which is not bonded to the inner pore walls by any chemical agent. This system, previously assessed by laboratory experiments, is modeled here for the first time, based on a computational multi-scale hierarchical approach. First, microscale representative volume element (RVE) is modeled in two steps using finite element modeling. Then, the macro-scale RVE is characterized, using a combination of micromechanical rules. The elastic response of the composite is simulated to predict its Young’s modulus. This simulation confirms the former experimental results and helps to shed light on the response of the investigated material, which may represent a novel system for use in disparate composite applications. In particular, the nanoporous microfillers composite is compared with a composite material containing the fillers of the same material yet nonporous, bonded to the matrix. It appears that, with respect to this standard concept of three-phase composites, the presence of the nanopores can compensate for the absence of the bonding agent.
Beta-Pix-dynamin 2 complex promotes colorectal cancer progression by facilitating membrane dynamics
Authors: Keum Seula , Yang Soo Jung , Park Esther , Kang TaeIn , Choi Jee-Hye , Jeong Jangho , Hwang Ye Eun , Kim Jung-Woong , Park Dongeun , Rhee Sangmyung
Published: September 2021

Purpose

Spatiotemporal regulation of cell membrane dynamics is a major process that promotes cancer cell invasion by acting as a driving force for cell migration. Beta-Pix (βPix), a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for Rac1, has been reported to be involved in actin-mediated cellular processes, such as cell migration, by interacting with various proteins. As yet, however, the molecular mechanisms underlying βPix-mediated cancer cell invasion remain unclear.

Methods

The clinical significance of βPix was analyzed in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) using public clinical databases. Pull-down and immunoprecipitation assays were employed to identify novel binding partners for βPix. Additionally, various cell biological assays including immunocytochemistry and time-lapse video microscopy were performed to assess the effects of βPix on CRC progression. A βPix-SH3 antibody delivery system was used to determine the effects of the βPix-Dyn2 complex in CRC cells.

Results

We found that the Src homology 3 (SH3) domain of βPix interacts with the proline-rich domain of Dynamin 2 (Dyn2), a large GTPase. The βPix-Dyn2 interaction promoted lamellipodia formation, along with plasma membrane localization of membrane-type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP). Furthermore, we found that Src kinase-mediated phosphorylation of the tyrosine residue at position 442 of βPix enhanced βPix-Dyn2 complex formation. Disruption of the βPix-Dyn2 complex by βPix-SH3 antibodies targeting intracellular βPix inhibited CRC cell invasion.

Conclusions

Our data indicate that spatiotemporal regulation of the Src-βPix-Dyn2 axis is crucial for CRC cell invasion by promoting membrane dynamics and MT1-MMP recruitment into the leading edge. The development of inhibitors that disrupt the βPix-Dyn2 complex may be a useful therapeutic strategy for CRC.
Influence of Al2O3 content on mechanical properties of silica-based ceramic cores prepared by stereolithography
Authors: Zheng Wen , Wu Jia-Min , Chen Shuang , Wang Chang-Shun , Liu Chun-Lei , Hua Shuai-Bin , Yu Kang-Bo , Zhang Jie , Zhang Jing-Xian , Shi Yu-Sheng
Published: September 2021

Silica ceramic cores have played an important part in the manufacture of hollow blades due to their excellent chemical stability and moderate high-temperature mechanical properties. In this study, silica-based ceramics were prepared with Al2O3 addition by stereolithography, and the influence of Al2O3 content on mechanical properties of the silica-based ceramics was investigated. The Al2O3 in silica-based ceramics can improve the mechanical properties by playing a role as a seed for the crystallization of fused silica into cristobalite. As a result, with the increase of Al2O3 content, the linear shrinkage of the silica-based ceramics first decreased and then increased, while the room-temperature flexural strength and the high-temperature flexural strength first increased and then decreased. As the Al2O3 content increased to 1.0 vol%, the linear shrinkage was reduced to 1.64% because of the blocked viscous flow caused by Al2O3. Meanwhile, the room-temperature flexural strength and the high-temperature flexural strength were improved to 20.38 and 21.43 MPa with 1.0 vol% Al2O3, respectively, due to the increased α-cristobalite and β-cristobalite content. Therefore, using the optimal content of Al2O3 in silica-based ceramics can provide excellent mechanical properties, which are suitable for the application of ceramic cores in the manufacturing of hollow blades.
A peduncle detection method of tomato for autonomous harvesting
Authors: Rong Jiacheng , Dai Guanglin , Wang Pengbo
Published: September 2021

For automating the harvesting of bunches of tomatoes in a greenhouse, the end-effector needs to reach the exact cutting point and adaptively adjust the pose of peduncles. In this paper, a method is proposed for peduncle cutting point localization and pose estimation. Images captured in real time at a fixed long-distance are detected using the YOLOv4-Tiny detector with a precision of 92.7% and a detection speed of 0.0091 s per frame, then the YOLACT +  + Network with mAP of 73.1 and a time speed of 0.109 s per frame is used to segment the close-up distance. The segmented peduncle mask is fitted to the curve using least squares and three key points on the curve are found. Finally, a geometric model is established to estimate the pose of the peduncle with an average error of 4.98° in yaw angle and 4.75° in pitch angle over the 30 sets of tests.
A novel deep learning method for detection and classification of plant diseases
Authors: Albattah Waleed , Nawaz Marriam , Javed Ali , Masood Momina , Albahli Saleh
Published: September 2021

The agricultural production rate plays a pivotal role in the economic development of a country. However, plant diseases are the most significant impediment to the production and quality of food. The identification of plant diseases at an early stage is crucial for global health and wellbeing. The traditional diagnosis process involves visual assessment of an individual plant by a pathologist through on-site visits. However, manual examination for crop diseases is restricted because of less accuracy and the small accessibility of human resources. To tackle such issues, there is a demand to design automated approaches capable of efficiently detecting and categorizing numerous plant diseases. Precise identification and classification of plant diseases is a tedious job due because of the occurrence of low-intensity information in the image background and foreground, the huge color resemblance in the healthy and diseased plant areas, the occurrence of noise in the samples, and changes in the position, chrominance, structure, and size of plant leaves. To tackle the above-mentioned problems, we have introduced a robust plant disease classification system by introducing a Custom CenterNet framework with DenseNet-77 as a base network. The presented method follows three steps. In the first step, annotations are developed to get the region of interest. Secondly, an improved CenterNet is introduced in which DenseNet-77 is proposed for deep keypoints extraction. Finally, the one-stage detector CenterNet is used to detect and categorize several plant diseases. To conduct the performance analysis, we have used the PlantVillage Kaggle database, which is the standard dataset for plant diseases and challenges in terms of intensity variations, color changes, and differences found in the shapes and sizes of leaves. Both the qualitative and quantitative analysis confirms that the presented method is more proficient and reliable to identify and classify plant diseases than other latest approaches.
Circular Steel: How Information and Actor Incentives Impact the Recyclability of Scrap
Authors: Compañero Reinol Josef , Feldmann Andreas , Tilliander Anders
Published: September 2021

Recycling plays a vital role in preserving resources like steel and consequently in a circular economy. Scrap dealers and steel mills, the main business units in this system, often encounter opposing financial and sustainability incentives in using scrap as feedstock because regular sorting and scrap-preparation infrastructure cannot deal with the increasing complexity of steel scrap. Mismatches between the inputs and the target composition of the recycled steel result in trade-offs that favor the economics at the expense of resource efficiency. By examining literature and interviewing several actors, different scrap characteristics were identified as dimensions of scrap quality. Quality is typically associated with chemical composition, which is important, but this study aims to elaborate the concept of quality further and to connect it to the realities of scrapyard operations. Industry actors have different definitions for desired content, physical condition, shape and size, and homogeneity, based on their needs. Very few studies examine these details. Additionally, the relationship of quality and the level of information about the characteristics of the material was established. Having more definitive information on scrap increases opportunities for resource-efficient actions. This work offers an alternative perspective on how to address issues pertinent to recycling.

Graphical Abstract
Evaluation of Microfluidic Approaches to Encapsulate Cells into PEGDA Microparticles
Authors: White Kristopher A. , Chalaby Rabab , Olabisi Ronke
Published: September 2021

Purpose

Polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) is increasingly used to microencapsulate cells via a vortex-induced water-in-oil emulsion process. Herein, we evaluated methods to encapsulate cells into microparticles using microfluidic methods.

Methods

PEGDA prepolymer solution with or without cells was photopolymerized with white light under varying microfluidic parameters to form empty microspheres or cell-laden microparticles. Microparticles and entrapped cells were assessed for size and viability.

Results

PEGDA microparticles were easily formed when cells were absent; the introduction of cells resulted in aggregation that clogged microfluidic devices, resulting in a mix of empty polymer microparticles and cells that were not encapsulated. Cells that were successfully encapsulated had poor viability.

Conclusion

Microfluidic methods may work for low density microencapsulation of mammalian cells; however, when the cell density within each microparticle must be relatively high, emulsion-based methods are superior to microfluidic methods.

Lay Summary

The synthetic polymer polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) has been increasingly used to encapsulate cells into micrometer-sized hydrogel spheres (microspheres). One method to microencapsulate cells has been to form a water-in-oil emulsion with liquid polymer containing cells and then expose the suspended droplets to white light, polymerizing them into PEGDA hydrogel microspheres. Although successful, this method has poor control over the process, resulting in polydisperse microsphere sizes with varying cell density. We evaluated microfluidic methods to form both empty and cell-laden PEGDA microspheres. Although microfluidic methods resulted in monodisperse microsphere sizes, the introduction of cells resulted in clogging of microfluidic devices, non-spherical microparticles, and poor cell viability.

Future Work

Because the microfluidic approach successfully formed cell-free microspheres, the effect of reducing cell aggregation will be examined. Specifically, the use of anti-aggregation agents as well as a reduced cell density in the liquid polymer phase and their effects on polymer formation will be explored.
The psychological impact of COVID-19 quarantine on children, and the role of parental support and physical environment design
Authors: Aljunaidy Mais M. , Adi Mohamad Nadim
Published: September 2021

Coronavirus disease 2019 is a contagious infection that caused a global lockdown and affected children who needed to stay home. There is a lack of knowledge about the role of parental stress and physical environment design on children’s mental wellbeing in quarantine. We hypothesis that COVID-19 quarantine affected child mental health, and that paternal stress or support, and child physical environment including household space, colors, sunlight exposure, and natural views, impacted child mental wellbeing in the quarantine. To assess the effect of quarantine on a child’s mental health, an online survey was administered globally through scientific organizations and social media. Those over 18 years old, and guardians of children were asked to participate in the survey. The survey was filled by 114 guardians from 31 countries. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Most participants experienced stress in the quarantine and reported child anxiety symptoms including focus reduction, sleeping difficulties, and appetite changes. Family fun activities and encouraging words, were mostly successful in reducing child anxiety. Reporting anxiety symptoms in children were more common in parents who had mental hardships compared to those who did not experience mental problems or had an improved mental status. Physical environment assessment showed that households with bright walls associated with fewer reports of child mental problems compared to households with neutral wall colors, and that most guardians thought that their children’s living space was not sufficient to play and study. Architects can provide evidence-based recommendations for customers to support children’s mental health.
Law and the Invisible Hand
Authors: Malloy Robin Paul
Published: September 2021

A contemporary interpretation of Adam Smith's work on jurisprudence, revealing Smith's belief that progress emerges from cooperation and a commitment to justice. In Smith's theory, the tension between self–interest and the interests of others is mediated by law, so that the common interest of the community can be promoted. Moreover, Smith informs us that successful societies do at least three things well. They promote the common interest, advance justice through the rule of law, and they facilitate our natural desire to truck, barter, and exchange. In this process, law functions as an invisible force that holds society together and keeps it operating smoothly and productively. Law enhances social cooperation, facilitates trade, and extends the market. In these ways, law functions like Adams Smith's invisible hand, guiding and facilitating the progress of humankind.
A Nation Within
Authors: Rosser Ezra
Published: September 2021

In A Nation Within, Ezra Rosser explores the connection between land-use patterns and development in the Navajo Nation. Roughly the size of Ireland or West Virginia, the Navajo reservation has seen successive waves of natural resource-based development over the last century: grazing and over-grazing, oil and gas, uranium, and coal; yet Navajos continue to suffer from high levels of unemployment and poverty. Rosser shows the connection between the exploitation of these resources and the growth of the tribal government before turning to contemporary land use and development challenges. He argues that, in addition to the political challenges associated with any significant change, external pressures and internal corruption have made it difficult for the tribe to implement land reforms that could help provide space for economic development that would benefit the Navajo Nation and Navajo tribal members.
The Economist's View of the World
Authors: Rhoads Steven E.
Published: September 2021

Released in 1984, Steven E. Rhoads' classic was considered by many to be among the best introductions to the economic way of thinking and its applications. This anniversary edition has been updated to account for political and economic developments - from the greater interest in redistributing income and the ascendancy of behaviorism to the Trump presidency. Rhoads explores opportunity cost, marginalism, and economic incentives and explains why mainstream economists - even those well to the left - still value free markets. He critiques economics for its unbalanced emphasis on narrow self-interest as controlling motive and route to happiness, highlighting philosophers and positive psychologists' findings that happiness is far more dependent on friends and family than on income or wealth. This thought-provoking tour of the economist's mind is a must read for our times, providing a clear, lively, non-technical insight into how economists think and why they shouldn't be ignored.
An experimental investigation of vortex-induced vibration of a curved flexible cylinder
Authors: Seyed-Aghazadeh Banafsheh , Benner Bridget , Gjokollari Xhino , Modarres-Sadeghi Yahya
Published: September 2021

Vortex-induced vibration of a curved flexible cylinder placed in the test section of a recirculating water tunnel and fixed at both ends is studied experimentally. Both the concave and the convex orientations (with respect to the incoming flow direction) are considered. The cylinder was hung by its own weight with a dimensionless radius of curvature of

$R/D=66$

, and a low mass ratio of

$m^{*} = 3.6$

. A high-speed imaging technique was employed to record the oscillations of the cylinder in the cross-flow direction for a reduced velocity range of

$U^{*} = 3.7 - 48.4$

, corresponding to a Reynolds number range of

$Re= 165 - 2146$

. Mono- and multi-frequency responses as well as transition from low-mode-number to high-mode-number oscillations were observed. Regardless of the type of curvature, both odd and even mode shapes were excited in the cross-flow directions. However, the response of the system, in terms of the excited modes, amplitudes and frequencies of the oscillations, was observed to be sensitive to the direction of the curvature (i.e. concave vs convex), in particular at higher reduced velocities, where mode transition occurred. Hydrogen bubble flow visualization exhibited highly three-dimensional vortex shedding patterns in the wake of the cylinder, where there existed spatial and temporal evolution of the vortex shedding modes along the length of the cylinder. The time-varying intermittent vortex shedding in the wake of the cylinder was linked to the spanwise travelling wave behaviour of the vortex-induced vibration response. The observed spatially altering wake corresponded to the multi-modal excitation and mode transition along the length of the cylinder.
Existence and nonexistence results for a class of Hamiltonian Choquard-type elliptic systems with lower critical growth on ℝ2
Authors: Maia B. B. V. , Miyagaki O. H.
Published: September 2021

In this paper, we investigate the existence and nonexistence of results for a class of Hamiltonian-Choquard-type elliptic systems. We show the nonexistence of classical nontrivial solutions for the problem\[ \begin{cases} -\Delta u + u= ( I_{\alpha} \ast |v|^{p} )v^{p-1} \text{ in } \mathbb{R}^{N},\\ -\Delta v + v= ( I_{\beta} \ast |u|^{q} )u^{q-1} \text{ in } \mathbb{R}^{N}, \\ u(x),v(x) \rightarrow 0 \text{ when } |x|\rightarrow \infty, \end{cases} \]when$(N+\alpha )/p + (N+\beta )/q \leq 2(N-2)$(if$N\geq 3$) and$(N+\alpha )/p + (N+\beta )/q \geq 2N$(if$N=2$), where$I_{\alpha }$and$I_{\beta }$denote the Riesz potential. Second, via variational methods and the generalized Nehari manifold, we show the existence of a nontrivial non-negative solution or a Nehari-type ground state solution for the problem\[ \begin{cases} -\Delta u + u= (I_{\alpha} \ast |v|^{\frac{\alpha}{2}+1})|v|^{\frac{\alpha}{2}-1}v + g(v) \hbox{ in } \mathbb{R}^{2},\\ - \Delta v + v= (I_{\beta} \ast |u|^{\frac{\beta}{2}+1})|u|^{\frac{\beta}{2}-1}u + f(u), \hbox{ in } \mathbb{R}^{2},\\ u,v \in H^{1}(\mathbb{R}^{2}), \end{cases} \]where$\alpha ,\,\beta \in (0,\,2)$and$f,\,g$have exponential critical growth in the Trudinger–Moser sense.
Back to “normal”: the short-lived impact of an online NGO campaign of government discrimination in Hungary
Authors: Simonovits Gabor , Simonovits Bori , Vig Adam , Hobot Peter , Nemeth Renata , Csomor Gabor
Published: September 2021

To what extent can civil rights NGOs protect ethnic minorities against unequal treatment? We study this question by combining an audit experiment of 1260 local governments in Hungary with an intervention conducted in collaboration with a major Hungarian civil rights NGO. In the audit experiment we demonstrated that Roma individuals were about 13 percent-points less likely to receive responses to information requests from local governments, and the responses they received were of substantially lower quality. The intervention that reminded a random subset of local governments of their legal responsibility of equal treatment led to a short-term reduction in their discriminatory behavior, but the effects of the intervention dissipated within a month. These findings suggest that civil rights NGOs might face substantive difficulties in trying to reduce discrimination through simple information campaigns.
The Art of Running Away: Escapes and Flight Movements During the Great Depression in São Tomé e Príncipe, 1930–1936
Authors: Contreras Beatriz Valverde , Keese Alexander
Published: September 2021

As a coerced labour force living under repressive conditions, contract workers in São Tomé e Príncipe's cocoa plantations belong to a wider phenomenon of global plantation experience during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Flight appears as an important element of that experience and this article is an attempt to interpret the strategies of runaways in São Tomé's turbulent Great Depression years after 1930. The work set out here benefitted from a large selection of unexplored sources of the island's labour inspectorate, which can be found in the archipelago itself. Its analysis has enabled interpretation of the motives of escaping workers, and with it discussion of three principal strategic contexts of flight: the experiences of runaways who formed communities; attempts by escaped workers to hide and become part of “native” (forro) communities in rural areas or in the city of São Tomé; and the agency of workers trying to run away to subsequently renegotiate their conditions with labour inspectors or with plantation administrators sympathetic to their situation. The last part of the article attempts to locate that experience in the global history of runaways, connecting it with the types of “ecosystems of running” discussed for Atlantic slavery and later indentured labour systems.
Involuntary treatment in patients with anorexia nervosa: utilization patterns and associated factors
Authors: Mac Donald Benjamin , Bulik Cynthia M. , Larsen Janne T. , Carlsen Anders H. , Clausen Loa , Petersen Liselotte V.
Published: September 2021

Background

A subgroup of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) undergoing involuntary treatment (IT) seems to account for most of the IT events. Little is known about these patients and their treatment including the temporal distribution of IT events and factors associated with subsequent utilization of IT. Hence, this study explores (1) utilization patterns of IT events, and (2) factors associated with subsequent utilization of IT in patients with AN.

Methods

In this nationwide Danish register-based retrospective exploratory cohort study patients were identified from their first (index) hospital admission with an AN diagnosis and followed up for 5 years. We explored data on IT events including estimated yearly and total 5-year rates, and factors associated with subsequent increased IT rates and restraint, using regression analyses and descriptive statistics.

Results

IT utilization peaked in the initial few years starting at or following the index admission. A small percentage (1.0%) of patients accounted for 67% of all IT events. The most frequent measures reported were mechanical and physical restraint. Factors associated with subsequent increased IT utilization were female sex, lower age, previous admissions with psychiatric disorders before index admission, and IT related to those admissions. Factors associated with subsequent restraint were lower age, previous admissions with psychiatric disorders, and IT related to these.

Conclusions

High IT utilization in a small percentage of individuals with AN is concerning and can lead to adverse treatment experiences. Exploring alternative approaches to treatment that reduce the need for IT is an important focus for future research.