bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Advances in Multidimensional Cardiac Biosensing Technologies: From Electrophysiology to Mechanical Motion and Contractile Force
Authors: Wei Xinwei , Zhuang Liujing , Li Hongbo , He Chuanjiang , Wan Hao , Hu Ning , Wang Ping 
Published: November 2020

AbstractCardiovascular disease is currently a leading killer to human, while drug‐induced cardiotoxicity remains the main cause of the withdrawal and attrition of drugs. Taking clinical correlation and throughput into account, cardiomyocyte is perfect as in vitro cardiac model for heart disease modeling, drug discovery, and cardiotoxicity assessment by accurately measuring the physiological multiparameters of cardiomyocytes. Remarkably, cardiomyocytes present both electrophysiological and biomechanical characteristics due to the unique excitation–contraction coupling, which plays a significant role in studying the cardiomyocytes. This review mainly focuses on the recent advances of biosensing technologies for the 2D and 3D cardiac models with three special properties: electrophysiology, mechanical motion, and contractile force. These high‐performance multidimensional cardiac models are popular and effective to rebuild and mimic the heart in vitro. To help understand the high‐quality and accurate physiologies, related detection techniques are highly demanded, from microtechnology to nanotechnology, from extracellular to intracellular recording, from multiple cells to single cell, and from planar to 3D models. Furthermore, the characteristics, advantages, limitations, and applications of these cardiac biosensing technologies, as well as the future development prospects should contribute to the systematization and expansion of knowledge.
The impact of SARS‐CoV‐2 in dementia across Latin America: A call for an urgent regional plan and coordinated response
Authors: Ibanez Agustin , Santamaria‐Garcia Hernando , Guerrero Barragan Alejandra , Kornhuber Alexander , Ton Alyne Mendonca Marques , Slachevsky Andrea , Teixeira Antonio Lucio , Mar Meza Beatriz Marcela , Serrano Cecilia M. , Cano Carlos , Arias Gonzalez Carolina , Gonzalez‐Billault Christian , Butler Christopher , Bustin Julian , Duran‐Aniotz Claudia , Acosta Daisy , Matallana Diana L. , Acosta‐Alvear Diego , Trépel Dominic , Resende Elisa De Paula França , de Oliveira Fabricio Ferreira , Ibanez Francisco , De Felice Fernanda G. , Navarrete Gorka , Tarnanas Ioannis , Meier Irene B. , Smid Jerusa , Llibre‐Guerra Jorge , Llibre‐Rodriguez Juan J. , Fajersztajn Laís , Takada Leonel Tadao , Duque Lissette , Okada de Oliveira Maira , Bicalho Maria Aparecida Camargos , Behrens María Isabel , Pintado‐Caipa Maritza , Parra Mario , Wilson Maxwell Z. , De La Cruz Puebla Myriam , Custodio Nilton , Santibanez Rodrigo , Serafim Rodrigo Bernardo , Tavares Ronnielly Melo , Piña Escudero Stefanie Danielle , Leon Rodriguez Tomas , Dawson Walter , Miller Bruce L. , Kosik Kenneth S. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe SARS‐CoV‐2 global pandemic will disproportionately impact countries with weak economies and vulnerable populations including people with dementia. Latin American and Caribbean countries (LACs) are burdened with unstable economic development, fragile health systems, massive economic disparities, and a high prevalence of dementia. Here, we underscore the selective impact of SARS‐CoV‐2 on dementia among LACs, the specific strain on health systems devoted to dementia, and the subsequent effect of increasing inequalities among those with dementia in the region. Implementation of best practices for mitigation and containment faces particularly steep challenges in LACs. Based upon our consideration of these issues, we urgently call for a coordinated action plan, including the development of inexpensive mass testing and multilevel regional coordination for dementia care and related actions. Brain health diplomacy should lead to a shared and escalated response across the region, coordinating leadership, and triangulation between governments and international multilateral networks.
Farm-Level Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Reductions for the Predominant Production Systems in Northern Nigeria
Authors: Ayinde Taiwo B. , Ahmed Benjamin , Nicholson Charles F. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis chapter summarizes the sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from different economic sectors in Nigeria and emphasizes those arising from agriculture and forestry. The impacts of climate change on agricultural systems in Nigeria are likely to be large, motivating the need for additional knowledge to assess current practices and formulate appropriate modifications for both mitigation and adaptation. Some current farming practices are believed to be adaptive, but further study would provide better assessments. We also analyzed the trade-offs between household income and GHG emissions at two contrasting sites in northern Nigeria. A farm optimization model maximizing the value of crop, livestock, and tree production activities in a single representative year assessed the potential impacts for GHG reductions of 10% and 25% and the maximum allowable reductions of 26% and 30% on farm activities and income. Emissions reductions of 10% reduced annual household incomes by less than 5% but required substantive changes, especially in livestock owned. Maximum possible GHG emissions reductions (while still meeting minimum household consumption needs) would require marked changes in production pattern and would lower household incomes by 22–44%. We did not assess effects over longer periods, where the role of livestock as a key asset may imply additional negative impacts. Productivity-enhancing technologies that would simultaneously reduce GHG emissions and increase incomes are needed for smallholder farms to play a larger role in climate change mitigation without the burden of reduced incomes and greater risk. This suggests the need for programmatic and policy actions both by national agricultural research systems and the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).
Greenhouse Gases Emissions in Agricultural Systems and Climate Change Effects in sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Ntinyari Winnie , Gweyi-Onyango Joseph P. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractClimate change has been viewed to result from anthropogenic human activities that have significantly altered the Nitrogen (N) cycle and carbon cycles, increasing the risks of global warming and pollution. A key cause of global warming is the increase in greenhouse gas emissions including methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon among others. The context of this chapter is based on a comprehensive desktop review on published scientific papers on climate change, greenhouse emissions, agricultural fertilizer use, modeling and projections of greenhouse gases emissions. Interestingly, sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the least emissions of the greenhouses gases accounting for only 7% of the total world’s emissions, implying that there is overall very little contribution yet it has the highest regional burden concerning climate change impacts. However, the values could be extremely higher than this due to lack of proper estimation and measurement tools in the region and therefore, caution needs to be taken early enough to avoid taking the trend currently experienced in developed nations. In SSA, agricultural production is the leading sector in emissions of N compound to the atmosphere followed by energy and transportation. The greatest challenge lies in the management of the two systems to ensure sufficiency in food production using more bioenergy hence less pollution. Integrating livestock and cropping systems is one strategy that can reduce methane emissions. Additionally, developing fertilizer use policy to improve management of fertilizer and organic manure have been potentially considered as effective in reducing the effects of agriculture activities on climate change and hence the main focus of the current chapter.
Surgical and embryological perspective of a big loop of internal carotid artery extending laterally beyond internal jugular vein
Authors: Nayak Satheesha B. , Shetty Surekha D. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractKnowledge of variations of the internal carotid artery is significant to surgeons and radiologists. The internal carotid artery normally runs a straight course in the neck. Its anomalies can lead to its iatrogenic injuries. We report a case of a large loop of the internal carotid artery in a male cadaver aged about 75 years. The common carotid artery terminated by dividing it into the external carotid artery and internal carotid arteries at the level of the upper border of the thyroid cartilage. From the level of origin, the internal carotid artery coursed upwards, backwards and laterally, and formed a large loop behind the internal jugular vein. The variation was found on the left side of the neck and was unilateral. The uncommon looping of the internal carotid artery might result in altered blood flow to the brain and may lead to misperceptions in surgical, imaging, and invasive procedures.
Quantum-inspired learning vector quantizers for prototype-based classification
Authors: Villmann Thomas , Engelsberger Alexander , Ravichandran Jensun , Villmann Andrea , Kaden Marika 
Published: November 2020

AbstractPrototype-based models like the Generalized Learning Vector Quantization (GLVQ) belong to the class of interpretable classifiers. Moreover, quantum-inspired methods get more and more into focus in machine learning due to its potential efficient computing. Further, its interesting mathematical perspectives offer new ideas for alternative learning scenarios. This paper proposes a quantum computing-inspired variant of the prototype-based GLVQ for classification learning. We start considering kernelized GLVQ with real- and complex-valued kernels and their respective feature mapping. Thereafter, we explain how quantum space ideas could be integrated into a GLVQ using quantum bit vector space in the quantum state space$${\mathcal {H}}^{n}$$Hnand show the relations to kernelized GLVQ. In particular, we explain the related feature mapping of data into the quantum state space$${\mathcal {H}}^{n}$$Hn. A key feature for this approach is that$${\mathcal {H}}^{n}$$Hnis an Hilbert space with particular inner product properties, which finally restrict the prototype adaptations to be unitary transformations. The resulting approach is denoted as Qu-GLVQ. We provide the mathematical framework and give exemplary numerical results.
Unearthing the entangled roots of urban agriculture
Authors: London Jonathan K. , Cutts Bethany B. , Schwarz Kirsten , Schmidt Li , Cadenasso Mary L. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis study examines urban agriculture (UA) in Sacramento, California (USA), the nation's self-branded “Farm-to-Fork Capital,” in order to highlight UA’s distinct yet entangled roots. The study is based on 24 interviews with a diverse array of UA leaders, conducted as part of a five-year transdisciplinary study of UA in Sacramento. In it, we unearth three primary “taproots” of UA projects, each with its own historical legacies, normative visions, and racial dynamics. In particular, we examine UA projects with “justice taproots,” “health taproots,” and “market taproots.” We use this analysis to understand how different kinds of UA projects are embedded in racial capitalism in ways that transform relationships between people, the city, and food systems. Unearthing these entangled roots helps illuminate UA’s underlying politics, showing how these roots grow in both competitive and symbiotic ways within the soil matrix of racial capitalism. We argue that these roots interact differently with racial capitalism, creating disparities in their growth trajectories. In particular, UA projects associated with the justice taproot are historically underrepresented and undervalued. However, we argue that there are some prospects for building alliances between the UA movement’s three roots, and that these are both promising and problematic.
Seismic reliability analysis of steel moment-resisting frames retrofitted by vertical link elements using combined series–parallel system approach
Authors: Mohsenian Vahid , Hajirasouliha Iman , Filizadeh Reza 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe eccentric bracing system equipped with vertical links is capable of providing high levels of stiffness, strength and ductility, and therefore, can be efficiently used for seismic retrofit of existing structures. This study aims to investigate the seismic reliability of steel moment-resisting frames retrofitted by this system using a novel combined series–parallel system approach. The seismic response of 4, 8 and 12-storey steel moment-resisting frames (MRFs) are evaluated under a set of design basis earthquakes (DBE) before and after retrofitting intervention. Adopting an engineering demand parameter approach (EDP-Based) for reliability assessment and development of analytical models for the frames using systems consisting of the series–parallel elements are the major distinctions between the present study and the other similar works. To estimate the global reliability of the frames, first, the reliability of each storey is individually derived based on various probable damage levels for the lateral-load resisting members. Then, the seismic reliability of the frame is globally obtained by combining the reliability of each storey for different damage levels in the lateral load-resisting subsystems. The results indicate significant impact of this type of bracing system on improvement of the performance level and load-carrying capacity of the frames along with reduction of the lateral displacements. It is shown that application of the vertical links can reduce the maximum inter-storey drifts by at least 60%, while it leads to at most 17% increase in the base shear. All retrofitted frames exhibited a performance level higher than the Life Safety (LS) when subjected to the DBE hazard level records (earthquakes with return period of 475 years). At the same level of earthquake intensity, in the cases when the drift corresponding to the LS performance level is used as the target, the reliability of the retrofitted frames was improved by more than 90% compared to the original frames for all damage states developed in the vertical links.
How Much You See Is How You Respond: The Curvilinear Relationship Between the Frequency of Observed Unethical Behavior and The Whistleblowing Intention
Authors: Kaptein Muel 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis article uses a sample of 3076 employees working in the USA to examine the relationship between the frequency of unethical behavior that employees observe in their organization and their intention to whistleblow. The results confirm the expected curvilinear relationship based on the Focus Theory of Normative Conduct. This relationship is a combination of a diminishing negative relationship between the frequency of observed unethical behavior and the intention to whistleblow internally and a linear positive relationship between the frequency of observed unethical behavior and the intention to whistleblow externally. The beliefs of employees about how supportive their management is when handling whistleblowing reports moderates the relationship between the frequency of unethical behavior employees observe and their intention to whistleblow.
Responding to COVID-19: New Trends in Social Workers’ Use of Information and Communication Technology
Authors: Mishna Faye , Milne Elizabeth , Bogo Marion , Pereira Luana F. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractCOVID-19 changed the context for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use globally. With face-to-face practice restricted, almost all communication with clients shifted to ICTs. Starting in April 2019, we conducted semi-structured interviews with social workers from four agencies serving diverse populations in a large urban centre, with the aim of exploring social workers’ informal ICT use with clients. Approximately 6 weeks after the cessation of face-to-face practice in March 2020 due to COVID-19 measures, we re-interviewed social workers (n = 11) who had participated in our study. Second interviews were based on a newly developed interview guide that explored social workers’ use of ICTs with clients in the context of COVID-19. Analysis of transcribed interviews revealed that the context of COVID-19 had generated two main themes. One, a paradigm shift for social workers was characterized by (a) diverse ICT options, (b) client-driven approach, and (c) necessary creativity. The second theme entails the impact of this transition which involved (a) greater awareness of clients’ degree of access, (b) confidentiality and privacy, and (c) professional boundaries. We discuss these themes and sub-themes and present implications for practice and research in a Post-COVID-19 world.
Connexivity and the Pragmatics of Conditionals
Authors: Kapsner Andreas 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn this paper, I investigate whether the intuitions that make connexive logics seem plausible might lie in pragmatic phenomena, rather than the semantics of conditional statements. I conclude that pragmatics indeed underwrites these intuitions, at least for indicative statements. Whether this has any effect on logic choice (and what that effect might be), however, heavily depends on one’s semantic theory of conditionals and on how one chooses to logically treat pragmatic failures.
Coordinating expectations through central bank projections
Authors: Mokhtarzadeh Fatemeh , Petersen Luba 
Published: November 2020

AbstractCentral banks are increasingly communicating their economic outlook in an effort to manage the public and financial market participants’ expectations. We provide original causal evidence that the information communicated and the assumptions underlying a central bank’s projection can matter for expectation formation and aggregate stability. Using a between-subject design, we systematically vary the central bank’s projected forecasts in an experimental macroeconomy where subjects are incentivized to forecast the output gap and inflation. Without projections, subjects exhibit a wide range of heuristics, with the modal heuristic involving a significant backward-looking component. Ex-Ante Rational dual projections of the output gap and inflation significantly reduce the number of subjects’ using backward-looking heuristics and nudge expectations in the direction of the rational expectations equilibrium. Ex-Ante Rational interest rate projections are cognitively challenging to employ and have limited effects on the distribution of heuristics. Adaptive dual projections generate unintended inflation volatility by inducing boundedly-rational forecasters to employ the projection and model-consistent forecasters to utilize the projection as a proxy for aggregate expectations. All projections reduce output gap disagreement but increase inflation disagreement. Central bank credibility is significantly diminished when the central bank makes larger forecast errors when communicating a relatively more complex projection. Our findings suggest that inflation-targeting central banks should strategically ignore agents’ irrationalities when constructing their projections and communicate easy-to-process information.
Surface bundles over surfaces: new inequalities between signature, simplicial volume and Euler characteristic
Authors: Bucher Michelle , Campagnolo Caterina 
Published: November 2020

AbstractWe present three new inequalities tying the signature, the simplicial volume and the Euler characteristic of surface bundles over surfaces. Two of them are true for any surface bundle, while the third holds on a specific family of surface bundles, namely the ones that arise through ramified coverings. These are among the main known examples of bundles with non-zero signature.
The use of segmented regression for evaluation of an interrupted time series study involving complex intervention: the CaPSAI project experience
Authors:   the CaPSAI Project Team, Habib Ndema , Steyn Petrus S. , Boydell Victoria , Cordero Joanna Paula , Nguyen My Huong , Thwin Soe Soe , Nai Dela , Shamba Donat , Kiarie James 
Published: November 2020

AbstractAn interrupted time series with a parallel control group (ITS-CG) design is a powerful quasi-experimental design commonly used to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention, on accelerating uptake of useful public health products, and can be used in the presence of regularly collected data. This paper illustrates how a segmented Poisson model that utilizes general estimating equations (GEE) can be used for the ITS-CG study design to evaluate the effectiveness of a complex social accountability intervention on the level and rate of uptake of modern contraception. The intervention was gradually rolled-out over time to targeted intervention communities in Ghana and Tanzania, with control communities receiving standard of care, as per national guidelines. Two ITS GEE segmented regression models are proposed for evaluating of the uptake. The first, a two-segmented model, fits the data collected during pre-intervention and post-intervention excluding that collected during intervention roll-out. The second, a three-segmented model, fits all data including that collected during the roll-out. A much simpler difference-in-difference (DID) GEE Poisson regression model is also illustrated. Mathematical formulation of both ITS-segmented Poisson models and that of the DID Poisson model, interpretation and significance of resulting regression parameters, and accounting for different sources of variation and lags in intervention effect are respectively discussed. Strengths and limitations of these models are highlighted. Segmented ITS modelling remains valuable for studying the effect of intervention interruptions whether gradual changes, over time, in the level or trend in uptake of public health practices are attributed by the introduced intervention.Trial Registration: The Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials registry.Trial registration number: ACTRN12619000378123.Trial Registration date: 11-March-2019.
Martin Ritter: Into the world: the movement of Patočka’s phenomenology
Authors: Koci Martin 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe studies of the Czech phenomenologist Jan Patočka (1907–1977) has been flourishing recently. Martin Ritter’s book Into the World: The Movement of Patočka’s Phenomenology(Springer 2019) offers an important contribution to the debate and a long-awaited critical presentation of Patočka’s asubjective phenomenology as well as creative re-reading of Patočka's central doctrine of the movements of existence.
Quantum Spacetime and the Universe at the Big Bang, Vanishing Interactions and Fading Degrees of Freedom
Authors: Doplicher Sergio , Morsella Gerardo , Pinamonti Nicola 
Published: November 2020

AbstractAs discussed in Bahns et al. (2015) fundamental physical principles suggests that, close to cosmological singularities, the effective Planck length diverges, hence a “quantum point” becomes infinitely extended. We argue that, as a consequence, at the origin of times spacetime might reduce effectively to a single point and interactions disappear. This conclusion is supported by converging evidences in two different approaches to interacting quantum fields on Quantum Spacetime: (1) as the Planck length diverges, the field operators evaluated at a “quantum point” converge to zero, and so do the lowest order expressions for interacting fields in the Yang Feldman approach; (2) in the same limit, we find convergence of the interacting vacuum to the free one at all perturbative orders. The latter result is obtained using the adaptation, performed in Doplicher et al. (2020), of the methods of perturbative Algebraic Quantum Field Theory to Quantum Spacetime, through a novel picture of the effective Lagrangian, which maintains the ultraviolet finiteness of the perturbation expansion and allows one to prove also the existence of the adiabatic limit. It remains an open question whether the S matrix itself converges to unity and whether the limit in which the effective Planck length diverges is a unique initial condition or an unreachable limit, and only different asymptotics matter.