bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
An open-source low-cost sensor for SNR-based GNSS reflectometry: design and long-term validation towards sea-level altimetry
Authors: Fagundes M. A. R. , Mendonça-Tinti I. , Iescheck A. L. , Akos D. M. , Geremia-Nievinski F. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractMonitoring sea level is critical due to climate change observed over the years. Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) has been widely demonstrated for coastal sea-level monitoring. The use of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) observations from ground-based stations has been especially productive for altimetry applications. SNR records an interference pattern whose oscillation frequency allows retrieving the unknown reflector height. Here we report the development and validation of a complete hardware and software system for SNR-based GNSS-R. We make it available as open source based on the Arduino platform. It costs about US$200 (including solar power supply) and requires minimal assembly of commercial off-the-shelf components. As an initial validation towards applications in coastal regions, we have evaluated the system over approximately 1 year by the Guaíba Lake in Brazil. We have compared water-level altimetry retrievals with independent measurements from a co-located radar tide gauge (within 10 m). The GNSS-R device ran practically uninterruptedly, while the reference radar gauge suffered two malfunctioning periods, resulting in gaps lasting for 44 and 38 days. The stability of GNSS-R altimetry results enabled the detection of miscalibration steps (10 cm and 15 cm) inadvertently introduced in the radar gauge after it underwent maintenance. Excluding the radar gaps and its malfunctioning periods (reducing the time series duration from 317 to 147 days), we have found a correlation of 0.989 and RMSE of 2.9 cm in daily means. To foster open science and lower the barriers for entry in SNR-based GNSS-R research and applications, we make a complete bill of materials and build tutorials freely available on the Internet so that interested researchers can replicate the system.
Genetic diversity of whitefly (Bemisia spp.) on crop and uncultivated plants in Uganda: implications for the control of this devastating pest species complex in Africa
Authors: Mugerwa Habibu , Colvin John , Alicai Titus , Omongo Christopher A. , Kabaalu Richard , Visendi Paul , Sseruwagi Peter , Seal Susan E. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractOver the past three decades, highly increased whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) populations have been observed on the staple food crop cassava in eastern Africa and associated with ensuing viral disease pandemics and food insecurity. Increased whitefly numbers have also been observed in other key agricultural crops and weeds. Factors behind the population surges on different crops and their interrelationships are unclear, although in cassava they have been associated with specific populations within the Bemisia tabaci species complex known to infest cassava crops in Africa. This study carried out an in-depth survey to understand the distribution of B. tabaci populations infesting crops and uncultivated plant hosts in Uganda, a centre of origin for this pest complex. Whitefly samples were collected from 59 identified plant species and 25 unidentified weeds in a countrywide survey. Identities of 870 individual adult whiteflies were determined through mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase 1 sequences (651 bp) in the 3′ barcode region used for B. tabaci systematics. Sixteen B. tabaci and five related whitefly putative species were identified based on > 4.0% nucleotide divergence, of which three are proposed as novel B. tabaci putative species and four as novel closely related whitefly species. The most prevalent whiteflies were classified as B. tabaci MED-ASL (30.5% of samples), sub-Saharan Africa 1 (SSA1, 22.7%) and Bemisia Uganda1 (12.1%). These species were also indicated to be the most polyphagous occurring on 33, 40 and 25 identified plant species, respectively. Multiple (≥ 3) whitefly species occurred on specific crops (bean, eggplant, pumpkin and tomato) and weeds (Sida acuta and Ocimum gratissimum). These plants may have increased potential to act as reservoirs for mixed infections of whitefly-vectored viruses. Management of whitefly pest populations in eastern Africa will require an integration of approaches that consider their degree of polyphagy and a climate that enables the continuous presence of crop and uncultivated plant hosts.
Unraveling the Effects of Tropical Cyclones on Economic Sectors Worldwide: Direct and Indirect Impacts
Authors: Kunze Sven 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThis paper examines the current, lagged, and indirect effects of tropical cyclones on annual sectoral growth worldwide. The main explanatory variable is a new damage measure for local tropical cyclone intensity based on meteorological data weighted for individual sectoral exposure, which is included in a panel analysis for a maximum of 205 countries over the 1970–2015 period. I find a significantly negative influence of tropical cyclones on two sector aggregates including agriculture, as well as trade and tourism. In subsequent years, tropical cyclones negatively affect the majority of all sectors. However, the Input–Output analysis shows that production processes are sticky and indirect economic effects are limited.
A New Class of A Stable Summation by Parts Time Integration Schemes with Strong Initial Conditions
Authors: Ranocha Hendrik , Nordström Jan 
Published: March 2021

AbstractSince integration by parts is an important tool when deriving energy or entropy estimates for differential equations, one may conjecture that some form of summation by parts (SBP) property is involved in provably stable numerical methods. This article contributes to this topic by proposing a novel class of A stable SBP time integration methods which can also be reformulated as implicit Runge-Kutta methods. In contrast to existing SBP time integration methods using simultaneous approximation terms to impose the initial condition weakly, the new schemes use a projection method to impose the initial condition strongly without destroying the SBP property. The new class of methods includes the classical Lobatto IIIA collocation method, not previously formulated as an SBP scheme. Additionally, a related SBP scheme including the classical Lobatto IIIB collocation method is developed.
Minimizing Uniformly Convex Functions by Cubic Regularization of Newton Method
Authors: Doikov Nikita , Nesterov Yurii 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIn this paper, we study the iteration complexity of cubic regularization of Newton method for solving composite minimization problems with uniformly convex objective. We introduce the notion of second-order condition number of a certain degree and justify the linear rate of convergence in a nondegenerate case for the method with an adaptive estimate of the regularization parameter. The algorithm automatically achieves the best possible global complexity bound among different problem classes of uniformly convex objective functions with Hölder continuous Hessian of the smooth part of the objective. As a byproduct of our developments, we justify an intuitively plausible result that the global iteration complexity of the Newton method is always better than that of the gradient method on the class of strongly convex functions with uniformly bounded second derivative.
ReNovRisk: a multidisciplinary programme to study the cyclonic risks in the South-West Indian Ocean
Authors: Tulet Pierre , Aunay Bertrand , Barruol Guilhem , Barthe Christelle , Belon Remi , Bielli Soline , Bonnardot François , Bousquet Olivier , Cammas Jean-Pierre , Cattiaux Julien , Chauvin Fabrice , Fontaine Idriss , Fontaine Fabrice R. , Gabarrot Franck , Garabedian Sabine , Gonzalez Alicia , Join Jean-Lambert , Jouvenot Florian , Nortes-Martinez David , Mékiès Dominique , Mouquet Pascal , Payen Guillaume , Pennober Gwenaelle , Pianezze Joris , Rault Claire , Revillion Christophe , Rindraharisaona Elisa J. , Samyn Kevin , Thompson Callum , Vérèmes Hélène 
Published: March 2021

AbstractToday, resilience in the face of cyclone risks has become a crucial issue for our societies. With climate change, the risk of strong cyclones occurring is expected to intensify significantly and to impact the way of life in many countries. To meet some of the associated challenges, the interdisciplinary ReNovRisk programme aims to study tropical cyclones and their impacts on the South-West Indian Ocean basin. This article is a presentation of the ReNovRisk programme, which is divided into four areas: study of cyclonic hazards, study of erosion and solid transport processes, study of water transfer and swell impacts on the coast, and studies of socio-economic impacts. The first transdisciplinary results of the programme are presented together with the database, which will be open access from mid-2021.
On the escape of a resonantly excited couple of particles from a potential well
Authors: Genda Attila , Fidlin Alexander , Gendelman Oleg 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThe escape dynamics of a damped system of two coupled particles in a truncated potential well under biharmonic excitation are investigated. It is assumed that excitation frequencies are tuned to the modal natural frequency of the relative motion and to the modal frequency of the centre of mass on the bottom of the potential well. Although the escape is essentially a non-stationary process, the critical force strongly depends on the stationary amplitude of the relative vibrations within the pair of masses. The characteristic escape curve for the critical force moves up on the frequency-escape threshold plane with increasing relative vibrations, which can be interpreted as a stabilizing effect due to the high-frequency excitation. To obtain the results, new modelling techniques are suggested, including the reduction in the effect of the high-frequency excitation using a probability density function-based convolution approach and an energy-based approach for the description of the evolution of the slow variables. To validate the method, the coupled pair of particles is investigated with various model potentials.
An autonomous performance testing framework using self-adaptive fuzzy reinforcement learning
Authors: Moghadam Mahshid Helali , Saadatmand Mehrdad , Borg Markus , Bohlin Markus , Lisper Björn 
Published: March 2021

AbstractTest automation brings the potential to reduce costs and human effort, but several aspects of software testing remain challenging to automate. One such example is automated performance testing to find performance breaking points. Current approaches to tackle automated generation of performance test cases mainly involve using source code or system model analysis or use-case-based techniques. However, source code and system models might not always be available at testing time. On the other hand, if the optimal performance testing policy for the intended objective in a testing process instead could be learned by the testing system, then test automation without advanced performance models could be possible. Furthermore, the learned policy could later be reused for similar software systems under test, thus leading to higher test efficiency. We propose SaFReL, a self-adaptive fuzzy reinforcement learning-based performance testing framework. SaFReL learns the optimal policy to generate performance test cases through an initial learning phase, then reuses it during a transfer learning phase, while keeping the learning running and updating the policy in the long term. Through multiple experiments in a simulated performance testing setup, we demonstrate that our approach generates the target performance test cases for different programs more efficiently than a typical testing process and performs adaptively without access to source code and performance models.
Ambient fine particulate matter of diameter ≤ 2.5 μm and risk of hemorrhagic stroke: a systemic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies
Authors: Zhao Kai , Li Jing , Du Chaonan , Zhang Qiang , Guo Yu , Yang Mingfei 
Published: March 2021

AbstractAmbient fine particulate matter of 2.5 μm or less in diameter (PM2.5) of environment contamination is deemed as a risk factor of cerebrovascular diseases. Yet there is still no explicit evidence strongly supporting that PM2.5 with per unit increment can increase the risk of hemorrhagic stroke (HS). Literatures were searched from PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase. After the systemic review of relevant studies, random effects model was used to perform meta-analysis and to evaluate the association between PM2.5 and risk of HS. Seven cohort studies were finally included, involving more than 6 million people and 37,667 endpoint events (incidence or mortality of HS). Total scores of quality assessment were 50. Pooled hazard ratio (HR) for crude HRs was 1.13 (95%CI: 1.09–1.17) (CI for confidence interval). Pooled HR of subgroup analysis for current smoking with exposure to growing PM2.5 was 1.14 (95%CI: 0.92–2.15) and for never and former smoking was 1.04 (95%CI: 0.74–1.46). Ambient PM2.5 level is significantly associated with the risk of HS, which might be a potential risk factor of HS. Smoking does not further increase the risk of HS under exposure of PM2.5.
Combining CNN and LSTM for activity of daily living recognition with a 3D matrix skeleton representation
Authors: Ercolano Giovanni , Rossi Silvia 
Published: March 2021

AbstractIn socially assistive robotics, human activity recognition plays a central role when the adaptation of the robot behavior to the human one is required. In this paper, we present an activity recognition approach for activities of daily living based on deep learning and skeleton data. In the literature, ad hoc features extraction/selection algorithms with supervised classification methods have been deployed, reaching an excellent classification performance. Here, we propose a deep learning approach, combining CNN and LSTM, that exploits both the learning of spatial dependencies correlating the limbs in a skeleton 3D grid representation and the learning of temporal dependencies from instances with a periodic pattern that works on raw data and so without requiring an explicit feature extraction process. These models are proposed for real-time activity recognition, and they are tested on the CAD-60 dataset. Results show that the proposed model behaves better than an LSTM model thanks to the automatic features extraction of the limbs’ correlation. “New Person” results show that the CNN-LSTM model achieves$$95.4\%$$95.4%of precision and$$94.4\%$$94.4%of recall, while the “Have Seen” results are$$96.1\%$$96.1%of precision and$$94.7\%$$94.7%of recall.
From Stress to Psychopathology: Relationship with Self-Reassurance and Self-Criticism in Czech University Students
Authors: Kotera Yasuhiro , Dosedlova Jaroslava , Andrzejewski Denise , Kaluzeviciute Greta , Sakai Makoto 
Published: March 2021

AbstractPsychological stress has become a major concern, potentially leading to diverse health problems including psychopathology such as depression and anxiety. Transactional Model of Stress and Coping is an established model, conceptualizing stressful experiences via person–environment relationship. This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the pathway from stress to depression/anxiety, with a focus on self-criticism (inadequate-self and hated-self) and self-reassurance (reassured-self) in Czech students who suffered from high prevalence of mental health problems. Convenience sample of 119 undergraduates completed the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 and the Forms of the Self-Criticizing/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale. Correlation and path analyses were conducted. The Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology guidelines were used to aid an accurate and complete report of the study. Depression, anxiety, and stress were positively associated with inadequate-self and hated-self while negatively associated with reassured-self. Both inadequate-self and hated-self partially mediated the stress–depression and stress–anxiety relationships, whereas reassured-self only partially mediated the stress–depression relationship. Inadequate-self had greater impact on the stress–depression/anxiety pathways than hated-self and reassured-self. Findings indicate that clinical treatment may benefit from targeting the feelings of inadequacy to prevent stress progressing to psychopathology. This is particularly relevant as stress levels are rising globally. Our findings offer developments to the Transactional Model, and help practitioners and educators identify solutions to protect mental health of Czech university students.
Discordance Between Patient-Reported Outcomes and Physician-Rated Motor Symptom Severity in Early-to-Middle-Stage Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 3
Authors: Maas Roderick P. P. W. M. , Schutter Dennis J. L. G. , van de Warrenburg Bart P. C. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractAssessment of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) in spinocerebellar ataxias (SCAs) could provide valuable insights into self-perceived health status. Although they are considered additional endpoints in future clinical trials, determinants and interactions of different PROMs in early disease stages remain largely unknown. The aims of the present study were to evaluate health-related quality of life, depressive symptoms, fatigue, and physical activity in mildly to moderately affected SCA3 patients and to examine interrelations between these PROMs and objective disease severity indices. Twenty SCA3 patients and twenty healthy controls of comparable age and sex completed the EQ-5D-5L, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Profile of Mood States, and International Physical Activity Questionnaire. Disease severity was quantified by the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) and Inventory of Non-Ataxia Signs (INAS). Mildly to moderately affected SCA3 patients reported lower quality of life (p = 0.049), more depressive symptoms (p = 0.028), and higher levels of fatigue (p = 0.001) than healthy controls. The amount of physical activity did not differ between both groups. Linear regression analyses revealed that quality of life was primarily determined by fatigue and not by ataxia severity, while physical activity was independently associated with SARA score and INAS count but not fatigue. Depressive symptoms were related to disease duration and fatigue but not to markers of motor disease progression. Taken together, decreased quality of life, increased levels of fatigue, and a higher number of depressive symptoms do not merely reflect motor impairment in early-to-middle-stage SCA3 patients. The observed discordance between patient-reported and clinician-based outcomes indicates that these measures genuinely evaluate distinct aspects of disease and emphasizes their complementariness in therapeutic trials. By contrast, the volume of self-reported physical activity is not associated with fatigue, reflects both ataxia severity and extracerebellar involvement, and could therefore represent a useful marker of motor impairment in a home setting.
Islet organoid as a promising model for diabetes
Authors: Zhang Xiaofei , Ma Zhuo , Song Eli , Xu Tao 
Published: March 2021

AbstractStudies on diabetes have long been hampered by a lack of authentic disease models that, ideally, should be unlimited and able to recapitulate the abnormalities involved in the development, structure, and function of human pancreatic islets under pathological conditions. Stem cell-based islet organoids faithfully recapitulate islet development in vitro and provide large amounts of three-dimensional functional islet biomimetic materials with a morphological structure and cellular composition similar to those of native islets. Thus, islet organoids hold great promise for modeling islet development and function, deciphering the mechanisms underlying the onset of diabetes, providing an in vitro human organ model for infection of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2, and contributing to drug screening and autologous islet transplantation. However, the currently established islet organoids are generally immature compared with native islets, and further efforts should be made to improve the heterogeneity and functionality of islet organoids, making it an authentic and informative disease model for diabetes. Here, we review the advances and challenges in the generation of islet organoids, focusing on human pluripotent stem cell-derived islet organoids, and the potential applications of islet organoids as disease models and regenerative therapies for diabetes.
Dissecting the offshore wind and mariculture multi-use discourse: a new approach using targeted SWOT analysis
Authors: Schupp Maximilian Felix , Krause Gesche , Onyango Vincent , Buck Bela H. 
Published: March 2021

AbstractCoastal seas around the world are under increasing anthropogenic pressures due to the rapid expansion of maritime industry and coastal urbanisation. Multi-use (MU) of ocean space, meaning the use of the same space by multiple resource users, has emerged as one strategy to address spatial conflicts resulting from an increasing use density. The proposed multi-use of offshore wind farms (OWF) and mariculture (MAQ) is one of the most-researched examples of such a potentially symbiotic relationship. Two decades of public and academic discourse have produced an abundance of research regarding various facets of this particular combination. Nevertheless, the latest research projects of the EUs Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme have identified a number of persistent barriers to continued multi-use development. The past and current public discourse has created a situation where technological readiness has outpaced societal readiness and the discussion is often complicated by the diversity of backgrounds and perceptions of the participants of this discourse. This study aims to dissect the common discourse on OWF and mariculture multi-use by utilising a targeted SWOT analysis approach based on stakeholder knowledge. This approach reveals two distinct narratives based around societal and economic considerations respectively. From this, we derive a set of tailor-made recommendations for policy makers and regulators as well as funding agencies, businesses and researchers.
Gaps in the protection of athletes gender rights in sport—a regulatory riddle
Authors: Patel Seema 
Published: March 2021

AbstractThis paper examines the regulatory gaps in the protection of athletes’ gender rights in sport. The regulation of human rights in sport is increasingly being scrutinised and at the same time, the societal parameters of sex and gender identity are shifting. Together, these current developments present a regulatory riddle when determining how to balance the interests of sport with the protection of non-conforming athletes’ rights, who may not strictly fit into the binary categories of sport. Despite a strong human rights framework protecting gender rights, the complex relationship between law and sport leaves athletes in a vulnerable position, with limited accountability of sports bodies and restricted access to a legal remedy. Drawing upon existing recommendations, this paper offers original insight for resolving the riddle, such as the establishment of an anti-discrimination in sport unit to enforce human rights in sport.