bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Could a careful clinical examination distinguish physiologic phimosis from balanitis xerotica obliterans in children?
Authors: Ghidini Filippo , Virgone Calogero , Pulvirenti Rebecca , Trovalusci Emanuele , Gamba Piergiorgio 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe diagnosis of balanitis xerotica obliterans (BXO) in children may be challenging, since clinical examination only could lead to an underestimation of its incidence. The aim of this retrospective and single-centre study is to assess the diagnostic performance of clinical examination, together with clinical history, in identifying BXO. Ninety-seven children underwent circumcision for phimosis from 2015 to 2019. Histology was routinely performed. Cohen’s kappa coefficient, sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, likelihood ratios and accuracy of macroscopic appearance of the foreskin, steroid administration and past medical history were estimated. Forty-eight patients (50%) were affected by BXO; 31 of them (69%) presented with suggestive clinical signs. A strictured or whitish urethral meatus was detected during surgery in nine cases (19%); this was associated to allergic or immune diseases (p = 0.046). Foreskin appearance alone mildly correlated with histology (k = 0.494; p < 0.001) and it showed a diagnostic accuracy of 75%. The specificity and positive predictive value of abnormal macroscopic findings at examination, together with a positive clinical history for other allergic or immune diseases, and/or for balanitis, were 100% and the positive likelihood ratio was greater than 10. Conversely, sensitivity decreased to 4.5% (95% CI 0–11%).Conclusion: Foreskin appearance together with clinical history could predict BXO with certainty. However, since the absence of a positive medical history could not exclude the diagnosis, foreskin histology is still highly recommended.

What is Known:• Occurrence of balanitis xerotica obliterans may be underestimated in children and it could lead to long-term complications.• The diagnostic accuracy of clinical examination is controversial.

What is New:• Clinical signs together with patients’ medical history present high specificity and positive predictive values but low sensitivity.• When suggestive clinical aspects are present, patient should be referred to surgery avoiding prolonged conservative treatment; and preputial histology is highly recommended.
Zu Fragen der Charakterisierung und Aufarbeitung metallhaltiger Rest- und Kreislaufstoffe aus aufbereitungstechnischer Sicht – Vorstellung eines Dissertationsvorhabens
Authors: Marousek Lukas , Öfner Wolfgang , Flachberger Helmut 
Published: November 2020

ZusammenfassungDie überaus komplexen Zusammensetzungen und die sich daraus ergebenden wechselnden Eigenschaften von metallhaltigen Rest- und Kreislaufstoffen aus den unterschiedlichsten Stadien der Wertschöpfungskette verlangen nach fachübergreifenden Kenntnissen und Fertigkeiten zur Charakterisierung und Verarbeitung dieser Stoffgemenge. Das Potenzial solcher sekundären Lagerstätten liegt in ihren vergleichsweise hohen Metallgehalten. Eine Investitionsentscheidung kann jedoch nur auf der Basis einer Evaluierung ihrer Verarbeitbarkeit getroffen werden. Für Unternehmen und Investoren ist es eine große Herausforderung, derartige Reststoffe mit ausreichender Sicherheit bewerten zu können. Für primäre Lagerstätten der Rohstoffindustrie haben sich dafür bereits Zertifizierungsschemen wie der „JORC Code“ oder „NI 43-101“ etabliert, diese sind jedoch für sekundäre Reststoffe aufgrund ihrer i. d. R. ausgesprochen heterogenen Zusammensetzungen kaum praktikabel anwendbar.Drei Lehrstühle der Montanuniversität Leoben – „Geologie und Lagerstättenlehre“, „Nichteisenmetallurgie“ und „Aufbereitung und Veredlung“ – bildeten dazu eine Forschungsgemeinschaft im Rahmen des COMET-Projektes „Competence network for the assessment of metal bearing by-products“ (Kurzbezeichnung COMMBY). Durch die Zusammenführung der speziellen Kompetenzen dieser Lehrstühle soll ein standardisiertes Zertifizierungsschema für Reststoffe aus der metallproduzierenden Industrie entwickelt werden.Der Forschungsgegenstand der in dieser Veröffentlichung vorgestellten Dissertation ist die Charakterisierung dieser Reststoffe aus aufbereitungstechnischer Sichtweise, darauf aufbauend das Aufzeigen von zur Trennung nutzbarer Merkmalsunterschiede, sowie die Mitarbeit an für die jeweilige Aufgabenstellung bestmöglich geeigneten Verfahrenskonzepten. Die zu untersuchenden Stoffe stammen zum Beispiel aus der Eisen, Blei, Zink und Aluminium verarbeitenden Industrie und haben ihren Ursprung entweder in primären Bergbautätigkeiten oder sekundären Kreislaufprozessen.
Large deflection and post-buckling of thin-walled structures by finite elements with node-dependent kinematics
Authors:   Mul Group, Carrera E. , Pagani A. , Augello R. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractIn the framework of finite elements (FEs) applications, this paper proposes the use of the node-dependent kinematics (NDK) concept to the large deflection and post-buckling analysis of thin-walled metallic one-dimensional (1D) structures. Thin-walled structures could easily exhibit local phenomena which would require refinement of the kinematics in parts of them. This fact is particularly true whenever these thin structures undergo large deflection and post-buckling. FEs with kinematics uniform in each node could prove inappropriate or computationally expensive to solve these locally dependent deformations. The concept of NDK allows kinematics to be independent in each element node; therefore, the theory of structures changes continuously over the structural domain. NDK has been successfully applied to solve linear problems by the authors in previous works. It is herein extended to analyze in a computationally efficient manner nonlinear problems of beam-like structures. The unified 1D FE model in the framework of the Carrera Unified Formulation (CUF) is referred to. CUF allows introducing, at the node level, any theory/kinematics for the evaluation of the cross-sectional deformations of the thin-walled beam. A total Lagrangian formulation along with full Green–Lagrange strains and 2nd Piola Kirchhoff stresses are used. The resulting geometrical nonlinear equations are solved with the Newton–Raphson linearization and the arc-length type constraint. Thin-walled metallic structures are analyzed, with symmetric and asymmetric C-sections, subjected to transverse and compression loadings. Results show how FE models with NDK behave as well as their convenience with respect to the classical FE analysis with the same kinematics for the whole nodes. In particular, zones which undergo remarkable deformations demand high-order theories of structures, whereas a lower-order theory can be employed if no local phenomena occur: this is easily accomplished by NDK analysis. Remarkable advantages are shown in the analysis of thin-walled structures with transverse stiffeners.
Accounting for adaptation and its effectiveness in International Environmental Agreements
Authors: Furini Francesco , Bosello Francesco 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThis paper analyses, within a standard International Environmental Agreement game, the effect of the introduction of adaptation on climate negotiation. The model expands the existing literature by considering a double relation between the two strategies. The common assumption that higher mitigation decreases the marginal benefit of adaptation and vice versa is enriched allowing for the possibility that mitigation, leading to lower and more manageable damages, determines a greater effectiveness of adaptive measures. We find the possibility for adaptation and mitigation to be strategic complements and not, as commonly believed, substitutes. Yet, as already known from the literature, the presence of adaptation can determine upward-sloping mitigation reaction functions regardless of the strategic relationship between mitigation and adaptation. When this is the case, the grand coalition can form. Nonetheless, large participation can induce substantive welfare gains only if adaptation and mitigation are strategic complements.
The extracellular lactate-to-pyruvate ratio modulates the sensitivity to oxidative stress-induced apoptosis via the cytosolic NADH/NAD+ redox state
Authors: Go Simei , Kramer Thorquil T. , Verhoeven Arthur J. , Oude Elferink Ronald P. J. , Chang Jung-Chin 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe advantages of the Warburg effect on tumor growth and progression are well recognized. However, the relevance of the Warburg effect for the inherent resistance to apoptosis of cancer cells has received much less attention. Here, we show here that the Warburg effect modulates the extracellular lactate-to-pyruvate ratio, which profoundly regulates the sensitivity towards apoptosis induced by oxidative stress in several cell lines. To induce oxidative stress, we used the rapid apoptosis inducer Raptinal. We observed that medium conditioned by HepG2 cells has a high lactate-to-pyruvate ratio and confers resistance to Raptinal-induced apoptosis. In addition, imposing a high extracellular lactate-to-pyruvate ratio in media reduces the cytosolic NADH/NAD+ redox state and protects against Raptinal-induced apoptosis. Conversely, a low extracellular lactate-to-pyruvate ratio oxidizes the cytosolic NADH/NAD+ redox state and sensitizes HepG2 cells to oxidative stress-induced apoptosis. Mechanistically, a high extracellular lactate-to-pyruvate ratio decreases the activation of JNK and Bax under oxidative stress, thereby inhibiting the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Our observations demonstrate that the Warburg effect of cancer cells generates an anti-apoptotic extracellular environment by elevating the extracellular lactate-to-pyruvate ratio which desensitizes cancer cells towards apoptotic insults. Consequently, our study suggests that the Warburg effect can be targeted to reverse the lactate-to-pyruvate ratios in the tumor microenvironment and thereby re-sensitize cancer cells to oxidative stress-inducing therapies.
DiaBLa: a corpus of bilingual spontaneous written dialogues for machine translation
Authors: Bawden Rachel , Bilinski Eric , Lavergne Thomas , Rosset Sophie 
Published: November 2020

AbstractWe present a new English–French dataset for the evaluation of Machine Translation (MT) for informal, written bilingual dialogue. The test set contains 144 spontaneous dialogues (5700+ sentences) between native English and French speakers, mediated by one of two neural MT systems in a range of role-play settings. The dialogues are accompanied by fine-grained sentence-level judgments of MT quality, produced by the dialogue participants themselves, as well as by manually normalised versions and reference translations produceda posteriori. The motivation for the corpus is twofold: to provide (i) a unique resource for evaluating MT models, and (ii) a corpus for the analysis of MT-mediated communication. We provide an initial analysis of the corpus to confirm that the participants’ judgments reveal perceptible differences in MT quality between the two MT systems used.
Conditional variance penalties and domain shift robustness
Authors: Heinze-Deml Christina , Meinshausen Nicolai 
Published: November 2020

AbstractWhen training a deep neural network for image classification, one can broadly distinguish between two types of latent features of images that will drive the classification. We can divide latent features into (i) ‘core’ or ‘conditionally invariant’ features$$C$$Cwhose distribution$$C\vert Y$$C|Y, conditional on the classY, does not change substantially across domains and (ii) ‘style’ features$$S$$Swhose distribution$$S\vert Y$$S|Ycan change substantially across domains. Examples for style features include position, rotation, image quality or brightness but also more complex ones like hair color, image quality or posture for images of persons. Our goal is to minimize a loss that is robust under changes in the distribution of these style features. In contrast to previous work, we assume that the domain itself is not observed and hence a latent variable. We do assume that we can sometimes observe a typically discrete identifier or “$$\mathrm {ID}$$IDvariable”. In some applications we know, for example, that two images show the same person, and$$\mathrm {ID}$$IDthen refers to the identity of the person. The proposed method requires only a small fraction of images to have$$\mathrm {ID}$$IDinformation. We group observations if they share the same class and identifier$$(Y,\mathrm {ID})=(y,\mathrm {id})$$(Y,ID)=(y,id)and penalize the conditional variance of the prediction or the loss if we condition on$$(Y,\mathrm {ID})$$(Y,ID). Using a causal framework, this conditional variance regularization (CoRe) is shown to protect asymptotically against shifts in the distribution of the style variables in a partially linear structural equation model. Empirically, we show that the CoRepenalty improves predictive accuracy substantially in settings where domain changes occur in terms of image quality, brightness and color while we also look at more complex changes such as changes in movement and posture.
Application of Soft Data in Nodule Resource Estimation
Authors: Ellefmo Steinar Løve , Kuhn Thomas 
Published: November 2020

AbstractMinerals and metals are of uttermost importance in our society, and mineral resources on and beneath the deep ocean floor represent a huge potential. Deciding whether mining from the deep ocean floor is financially, environmentally and technologically feasible requires information. Due to great depths and harsh conditions, this information is expensive and time and resource consuming to obtain. It is therefore important to use every piece of data in an optimum way. In this study, data retrieved from images and expert knowledge were used to estimate minimum and maximum nodule abundances at image locations from an area in the Clarion-Clipperton-Zone of the equatorial North East Pacific. From the minimum and maximum values, box cores and the spatial correlation quantified through variogram, a conditional expectation and associated uncertainty were obtained through the Gibbs sampler. The conditional expectation and the uncertainty were used with the assumed certain abundance data from the box cores in a kriging exercise to obtain better informed estimates of the block by block abundance. The quality assessment of the estimations was done based on distance criterion and on kriging quality indicators like the slope of regression and the weight of the mean. From the original image locations, alternative image configurations were tested, and it was shown that such alternatives produce better estimates, without extra costs. Future improvements will focus on improving the estimation of the minimum and the maximum values at image locations.
Stress Corrosion Testing of CMSX-4, CM247LC DS and IN6203DS Ni-Base Superalloys
Authors: Chapman Neil , Gray Simon , Sumner Joy , Nicholls John 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe combination of stress and hot corrosion may result in Ni-base superalloys experiencing stress corrosion cracking, of which, the mechanisms are little understood. The aim of this research was to enhance the understanding by performing a series of stress corrosion exposures, at temperatures of 550, 500 and 450 °C, on: CMSX-4, CM247LC DS and IN6203DS superalloys. After completing the exposures, the superalloys were ranked with respect to the severity of the cracking experienced (CMSX-4 showing the worst severity, followed by CM247LC DS and then IN6203DS which showed no evidence of cracking at all) and the ranking appeared to be correlated to the gamma prime volume fraction. This suggests the gamma prime volume fraction is associated with the crack mechanism with lower values increasing the resistance to stress corrosion cracking. From the findings of this research, a new crack initiation/propagation mechanism is proposed which is based on a summation of stresses that includes those associated with the gamma prime.
In-Silico Screening of Lipid-Based Drug Delivery Systems
Authors: Brinkmann Joscha , Exner Lara , Luebbert Christian , Sadowski Gabriele 
Published: November 2020

Abstract
Purpose
This work proposes an in-silico screening method for identifying promising formulation candidates in complex lipid-based drug delivery systems (LBDDS).

Method
The approach is based on a minimum amount of experimental data for API solubilites in single excipients. Intermolecular interactions between APIs and excipients as well as between different excipients were accounted for by the Perturbed-Chain Statistical Associating Fluid Theory. The approach was applied to the in-silico screening of lipid-based formulations for ten model APIs (fenofibrate, ibuprofen, praziquantel, carbamazepine, cinnarizine, felodipine, naproxen, indomethacin, griseofulvin and glibenclamide) in mixtures of up to three out of nine excipients (tricaprylin, Capmul MCM, caprylic acid, Capryol™ 90, Lauroglycol™ FCC, Kolliphor TPGS, polyethylene glycol, carbitol and ethanol).

Results
For eight out of the ten investigated model APIs, the solubilities in the final formulations could be enhanced by up to 100 times compared to the solubility in pure tricaprylin. Fenofibrate, ibuprofen, praziquantel, carbamazepine are recommended as type I formulations, whereas cinnarizine and felodipine showed a distinctive solubility gain in type II formulations. Increased solubility was found for naproxen and indomethacin in type IIIb and type IV formulations. The solubility of griseofulvin and glibenclamide could be slightly enhanced in type IIIb formulations. The experimental validation agreed very well with the screening results.

Conclusion
The API solubility individually depends on the choice of excipients. The proposed in-silico-screening approach allows formulators to quickly determine most-appropriate types of lipid-based formulations for a given API with low experimental effort.
Graphical abstract
On the aromaticity of uracil and its 5-halogeno derivatives as revealed by theoretically derived geometric and magnetic indexes
Authors: Rzepiela Kacper , Buczek Aneta , Kupka Teobald , Broda Małgorzata A. 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe problem of aromaticity in heterocyclic rings of uracil and its 5-halogenoderivatives (5XU) was analyzed theoretically by calculating modified harmonic oscillator model of aromaticity (HOMA) for Heterocycle Electron Delocalization (HOMHED), nucleus-independent chemical shift parameters (NICS) and the so-called scan experiments, using helium-3 atom as a magnetic probe. The impact of halogen electronegativity on C5 atom’s NBO charges was also investigated. Water, as a polar environment, has a negligible impact on 5XU aromaticity. The most stable diketo tautomer shows a very low aromaticity while the “rare” dihydroxy form (tautomer No 6) is aromatic and resembles benzene. This is in agreement with traditional drawing of chemical formula of uracil’s six-membered ring, directly showing three alternating single and double bonds in its tautomer No 6. No good correlation between magnetic and geometric indexes of aromaticity for the studied 5XU tautomers was found. Linear correlation between the magnitude of NICS minimum, as well as the distance of the minimum above uracil ring plane center from 3He NMR chemical shift scan plot with respect to halogen electronegativity were observed. A strong linear dependence of magnetic index of aromaticity and the electronegativity of 5X substituent was observed.
Optimization research on the site selection of fire safety for mega projects sites based on multi-objective particle swarm
Authors: Xiang Yong , Cao Wuwen , Zheng Huidan , Su Yangyang 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThere are large fire safety hidden dangers in the construction site of mega-projects. In order to improve the ability of fire safety emergency response on site, in this paper, the number of demand points on the construction site are firstly determined, and through using risk assessment of operating conditions method, the risk is evaluated and the risk level is determined. Secondly, according to the construction site layout criteria and fire safety technical criteria, and taking the economy, distance, time and coverage of fire safety site selection as the basic factors, a multi-objective site selection optimization model for fire safety points is established. Multi-objective particle swarm optimization is used to solve the multi-objective site selection model, and a series of fire safety point site selection schemes are obtained. Finally, the analytic hierarchy process is used to select the best scheme from a series of schemes. The research ideas and conclusions of this paper provide a scientific and reasonable analysis framework and ideas for site selection of fire safety points for mega projects, which has certain applicability and practicability.
Road-cut Slope Stability Assessment along Himalayan National Highway NH-154A, India
Authors: Singh Kanwarpreet , Kumar Virender 
Published: November 2020

Abstract
The Himalayan range, being a complex terrain, is highly prone to slope instability in many parts because of the natural conditions and human interference. In the present study, road cut slope stability assessment has been carried out along Chamba-Bharmour Section (Chamba District, Himachal Pradesh) along Chakki (Pathankot, Punjab) - Bharmour (Chamba, Himachal Pradesh). The cut slopes with the potential of failures have been identified taking into consideration the geological and geotechnical complexities in the selected zone. Rock mass characterization methodologies have been used for the assessment of slope instability . The varying stability classes of the rock slopes have been calculated using rock mass rating (RMR) and modified slope mass rating (SMR) methods. The kinematic analysis approach has been utilized for the identification of different failure modes in heavily jointed, fractured and structurally controlled rock masses. Fourteen potentially unstable slopes were selected to assess their criticality by RMR and modified SMR approaches and their stability classes were identified.
Removal of multiple pesticide residues from water by low-pressure thin-film composite membrane
Authors: Mukherjee Ayan , Mehta Romil , Saha Soumen , Bhattacharya A. , Biswas Pabitra Kumar , Kole Ramen Kumar 
Published: November 2020

AbstractThe study evaluated removal efficiency of 43 pesticides from water by thin-film composite polyamide membrane indigenously prepared by interfacial polymerization of 1,3-phenylenediamine and 1,3,5 trimesoyl chloride coated on asymmetric polysulfone support. Membrane performance was evaluated by gas and liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy determination of multiple pesticides remaining in feed and permeated water following the application of pesticides each @ 0.02, 0.05, and 0.10 mg/L in de-ionized water. The membrane was most efficient in the rejection of persistent organochlorine insecticides, viz. endosulfans (100%), dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (95%), and hexachlorocyclohexane (92%). Out of 43 selected pesticides, 33 were removed by > 80%. Size exclusion mass transfer played a significant role for molecules to pass through the membrane as observed for endosulfan isomers, endosulfan sulphate, and difenoconazole with molecular weight > 400. Pesticide rejection was also related to hydrophobicity (Log P). Hydrophobic pesticides with log P > 4.5 were rejected by > 80%, while monocrotophos with less hydrophobicity (log P = − 0.22) exhibited poor rejection (38%). Water flux decreased with an increase in pesticide concentration. The process of pesticide filtration was optimized at 200 psi. The results indicated the potential of the membrane to remove pesticides from water.