bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
XIORT‐MC: A real‐time MC‐based dose computation tool for low‐ energy X‐rays intraoperative radiation therapy
Authors: Ibáñez Paula , Villa‐Abaunza Amaia , Vidal Marie , Guerra Pedro , Graullera Sergio , Illana Carlos , Udías José Manuel 
Published: October 2021

AbstractPurposeThe INTRABEAM system is a miniature accelerator for low‐energy X‐ray Intra‐Operative Radiation Therapy (IORT), and it could benefit from a fast and accurate dose computation tool. With regards to accuracy, dose computed with Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are the gold standard, however, they require a large computational effort and consequently they are not suitable for real‐time dose planning. This work presents a comparison of the implementation on Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) of two different dose calculation algorithms based on MC phase‐space (PHSP) information to compute dose distributions for the INTRABEAM device within seconds and with the accuracy of realistic MC simulations.MethodsThe MC‐based algorithms we present incorporate photoelectric, Compton and Rayleigh effects for the interaction of low‐energy X‐rays. XIORT‐MC (X‐ray Intra‐Operative Radiation Therapy Monte Carlo) includes two dose calculation algorithms; a Woodcock‐based MC algorithm (WC‐MC) and a Hybrid MC algorithm (HMC), and it is implemented in CPU and in GPU. Detailed MC simulations have been generated to validate our tool in homogeneous and heterogeneous conditions with all INTRABEAM applicators, including three clinically realistic CT‐based simulations. A performance study has been done to determine the acceleration reached with the code, in both CPU and GPU implementations.ResultsDose distributions were obtained with the HMC and the WC‐MC and compared to standard reference MC simulations with more than 95% voxels fulfilling a 7%‐0.5 mm gamma evaluation in all the cases considered. The CPU‐HMC is 100 times more efficient than the reference MC, and the CPU‐WC‐MC is about 50 times more efficient. With the GPU implementation, the particle tracking of the WC‐MC is faster than the HMC, with the extraction of the particle's information from the PHSP file taking a major part of the time. However, thanks to the variance reduction techniques implemented in the HMC, up to 400 times less particles are needed in the HMC to reach the same level of noise than the WC‐MC. Therefore, in our implementation for INTRABEAM energies, the HMC is about 1.3 times more efficient than the WC‐MC in an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti card and about 5.5 times more efficient in an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090. Dose with noise below 5% has been obtained in realistic situations in less than 5 s with the WC‐MC and in less than 0.5 s with the HMC.ConclusionsThe XIORT‐MC is a dose computation tool designed to take full advantage of modern GPUs, making possible to obtain MC‐grade accurate dose distributions within seconds. Its high speed allows a real‐time dose calculation that includes the realistic effects of the beam in voxelized geometries of patients. It can be used as a dose‐planning tool in the operating room during a XIORT treatment with any INTRABEAM device.
Single‐shell NODDI using dictionary‐learner‐estimated isotropic volume fraction
Authors: Faiyaz Abrar , Doyley Marvin , Schifitto Giovanni , Zhong Jianhui , Uddin Md Nasir 
Published: October 2021

Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) enables the assessment of intracellular, extracellular, and free water signals from multi‐shell diffusion MRI data. It is an insightful approach to characterize brain tissue microstructure. Single‐shell reconstruction for NODDI parameters has been discouraged in previous studies caused by failure when fitting, especially for the neurite density index (NDI). Here, we investigated the possibility of creating robust NODDI parameter maps with single‐shell data, using the isotropic volume fraction (fISO) as a prior. Prior estimation was made independent of the NODDI model constraint using a dictionary learning approach. First, we used a stochastic sparse dictionary‐based network (DictNet), which is trained with data obtained from in vivo and simulated diffusion MRI data, to predict fISO. In single‐shell cases, the mean diffusivity and raw T2 signal with no diffusion weighting (S0) was incorporated in the dictionary for the fISO estimation. Then, the NODDI framework was used with the known fISO to estimate the NDI and orientation dispersion index (ODI). The fISO estimated using our model was compared with other fISO estimators in the simulation. Further, using both synthetic data simulation and human data collected on a 3 T scanner (both high‐quality HCP and clinical dataset), we compared the performance of our dictionary‐based learning prior NODDI (DLpN) with the original NODDI for both single‐shell and multi‐shell data. Our results suggest that DLpN‐derived NDI and ODI parameters for single‐shell protocols are comparable with original multi‐shell NODDI, and the protocol with b = 2000 s/mm2 performs the best (error ~ 5% in white and gray matter). This may allow NODDI evaluation of studies on single‐shell data by multi‐shell scanning of two subjects for DictNet fISO training.
Probabilistic learning on manifolds (PLoM) with partition
Authors: Soize Christian , Ghanem Roger 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe probabilistic learning on manifolds (PLoM) introduced in 2016 has solved difficult supervised problems for the “small data” limit where the numberNof points in the training set is small. Many extensions have since been proposed, making it possible to deal with increasingly complex cases. However, the performance limit has been observed and explained for applications for whichNis very small and for which the dimension of the diffusion‐map basis is close toN. For these cases, we propose a novel extension based on the introduction of a partition in independent random vectors. We take advantage of this development to present improvements of the PLoM such as a simplified algorithm for constructing the diffusion‐map basis and a new mathematical result for quantifying the concentration of the probability measure in terms of a probability upper bound. The analysis of the efficiency of this extension is presented through two applications.
Analysis and mitigation of nonuniform soiling distribution on utility‐scale photovoltaic systems
Authors: Micheli Leonardo , Fernández Eduardo F. , Fernández‐Solas Álvaro , Bessa João Gabriel , Almonacid Florencia 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe present paper evaluates the soiling losses of a 3.25‐MW photovoltaic (PV) system installed in central Chile, 200 km north of Santiago, and analyzes the nonuniform soiling deposition between the various strings for a period of 3 years. A robust methodology is developed to extract, in the most systematic way, 142 reliable soiling profiles from the 256 PV power time series recorded on site. It is found that, if unmitigated, soiling would reduce the annual DC energy generation by 8%, with a factor of 2× between the losses of the most and least affected strings. Most of the losses are registered on the edges of the plant, closer to traffic and unpaved roads. The most soiling intense months are in summer, result of the infrequent rainfalls and of the high concentrations of suspended particles that characterize this season. The revenues and the costs of different manual cleaning frequencies are evaluated and compared to identify the optimal soiling mitigation strategy for this site. Three cleanings per year are found to return the highest profits for the economic conditions considered in this study. However, a sensitivity analysis shows how different cleaning costs and electricity prices would affect the soiling mitigation strategy. In addition, in light of the nonuniform soiling deposition distribution, the possibility of cleaning only selected strings rather than the full PV plant is discussed.
Near surface defects: Cause of deficit between internal and external open‐circuit voltage in solar cells
Authors: Sood Mohit , Urbaniak Aleksander , Kameni Boumenou Christian , Weiss Thomas Paul , Elanzeery Hossam , Babbe Finn , Werner Florian , Melchiorre Michele , Siebentritt Susanne 
Published: October 2021

AbstractInterface recombination in a complex multilayered thin‐film solar structure causes a disparity between the internal open‐circuit voltage (VOC,in), measured by photoluminescence, and the external open‐circuit voltage (VOC,ex), that is, a VOC deficit. Aspirations to reach higher VOC,ex values require a comprehensive knowledge of the connection between VOC deficit and interface recombination. Here, a near‐surface defect model is developed for copper indium di‐selenide solar cells grown under Cu‐excess conditions. These cell show the typical signatures of interface recombination: a strong disparity between VOC,in and VOC,ex, and extrapolation of the temperature dependent q·VOC,ex to a value below the bandgap energy. Yet, these cells do not suffer from reduced interface bandgap or from Fermi‐level pinning. The model presented is based on experimental analysis of admittance and deep‐level transient spectroscopy, which show the signature of an acceptor defect. Numerical simulations using the near‐surface defects model show the signatures of interface recombination without the need for a reduced interface bandgap or Fermi‐level pinning. These findings demonstrate that the VOC,in measurements alone can be inconclusive and might conceal the information on interface recombination pathways, establishing the need for complementary techniques like temperature dependent current–voltage measurements to identify the cause of interface recombination in the devices.
Systematic review of single case design meta‐analyses for school‐age students with autism spectrum disorders: Current trend and future direction
Authors: Zeng Songtian , Zhao Hongxia , Hu Xiaoyi , Pereira Brittany A. , Pan Qichao , Meng Chen , Reyes Arazeliz , Stone‐MacDonald Angela 
Published: October 2021

AbstractAlthough numerous meta‐analyses of single‐case design (SCD) research have been published, no systematic review has been conducted to holistically reveal the trends in content focus, and the state‐of‐the‐art practices in conducting SCD meta‐analyses for school‐aged students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study synthesized the intervention/practices and participant characteristics, and identified the trends and limitations in previous SCD meta‐analyses. Systematic review of meta‐analyses can contribute to the summary of current evidence and further identify ways to improve SCD meta‐analyses. We conducted a systematic literature search and identified 30 articles that met the inclusion criteria. Findings suggest that multiple interventions may be employed to improve various outcomes for school‐aged students with ASD. Researchers may use our findings to map out the intervention and targeted outcomes and identify underresearched areas. Meanwhile, findings suggest several measures to improve the quality of future SCD meta‐analysis practices and publication, such as documenting racial/ethnicity information, using a set of potential moderators to conduct heterogenetic analysis, and effects in reducing publication bias. Future research directions are also provided.
Enhancing high schoolers' creative thinking and complex problem‐solving abilities: Examining the effectiveness of spirituality
Authors: Pandya Samta P. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractHigh schoolers' creative thinking and complex problem‐solving abilities are important for determining achievement. There is a need to investigate whether spiritual training delivered via a microblogging social networking platform would be effective. This article reports a study that examines the impact of Twitter‐based spiritual posts on high school students' (Npre‐test = 272; Npost‐test = 234) creativity and problem‐solving abilities. Results indicated that spiritual posts were effective as compared with the control condition comprising general creativity‐enhancement posts. Post‐test outcomes were higher for girls, middle class, who had mothers as primary caregivers, whose primary caregivers were highly qualified, living in standard family arrangements, scoring high on conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience personality characteristics, and whose intervention compliance in terms of reading/liking posts and homework was above threshold (>30). Intervention adherence mediated the association between demographic and personality characteristics and outcomes. Latent class analysis indicated eight clusters/subgroups of participants reporting maximum post‐test gains: female, middle class, with mothers as primary caregivers, whose primary caregivers were higher qualified, who were highly conscientious and open to experience, and whose intervention compliance was above threshold.
Structure of Aedes aegypti carboxypeptidase B1‐inhibitor complex uncover the disparity between mosquito and non‐mosquito insect carboxypeptidase inhibition mechanism
Authors: Gavor Edem , Choong Yeu Khai , Jobichen Chacko , Mok Yu Keung , Kini R. Manjunatha , Sivaraman J. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractMetallocarboxypeptidases (MCPs) in the mosquito midgut play crucial roles in infection, as well as in mosquito dietary digestion, reproduction, and development. MCPs are also part of the digestive system of plant‐feeding insects, representing key targets for inhibitor development against mosquitoes/mosquito‐borne pathogens or as antifeedant molecules against plant‐feeding insects. Notably, some non‐mosquito insect B‐type MCPs are primarily insensitive to plant protease inhibitors (PPIs) such as the potato carboxypeptidase inhibitor (PCI; MW 4 kDa), an inhibitor explored for cancer treatment and insecticide design. Here, we report the crystal structure of Aedes aegypti carboxypeptidase‐B1 (CPBAe1)‐PCI complex and compared the binding with that of PCI‐insensitive CPBs. We show that PCI accommodation is determined by key differences in the active‐site regions of MCPs. In particular, the loop regions α6‐α7 (Leu242‐Ser250) and β8‐α8 (Pro269‐Pro280) of CPBAe1 are replaced by α‐helices in PCI‐insensitive insect Helicoverpa zea CPBHz. These α‐helices protrude into the active‐site pocket of CPBHz, restricting PCI insertion and rendering the enzyme insensitive. We further compared our structure with the only other PCI complex available, bovine CPA1‐PCI. The potency of PCI against CPBAe1 (Ki = 14.7 nM) is marginally less than that of bovine CPA1 (Ki = 5 nM). Structurally, the above loop regions that accommodate PCI binding in CPBAe1 are similar to that of bovine CPA1, although observed changes in proteases residues that interact with PCI could account for the differences in affinity. Our findings suggest that PCI sensitivity is largely dictated by structural interference, which broadens our understanding of carboxypeptidase inhibition as a mosquito population/parasite control strategy.
Incorporation of organic acids turns classically brittle zein films into flexible antimicrobial packaging materials
Authors: Sözbilen Gözde Seval , Çavdaroğlu Elif , Yemenicioğlu Ahmet 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThis study aimed to turn classically brittle zein films into flexible antimicrobial ones by the use of lactic (LA), malic (MA) and tartaric acids (TA). The most effective plasticizer was LA (400% elongation at break [EB] at 4%), while MA (189% EB at 4.5%) and TA (68% EB at 5%) showed moderate and limited plasticizing effects, respectively. The LA‐ and MA‐loaded films maintained their flexibility during 30‐day storage at 4°C or 25°C. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis suggested that the plasticization of LA and MA could be related to secondary structural changes in zein such as increased α‐helix and random coils (mainly by MA) and spaced/modified intermolecular (only by LA) and intramolecular (mainly by MA) β‐sheets. Atomic force and scanning electron microscopy showed that LA and MA gave more homogenous and smoother films than TA. Films with LA showed the highest water vapour permeability followed by those of control, MA‐ and TA‐loaded films. Films with 3%–4% LA or MA formed clear zones on Listeria innocua and Klebsiella pneumonia, but only films with LA formed clear zones on Escherichia coli. All OA‐loaded films gave unclear zones on Staphylococcus aureus in disc‐diffusion tests, but this bacterium was inactivated rapidly in antimicrobial tests based on surface inoculation tests. LA is the best OA to develop flexible antimicrobial films from zein, an industrial by‐product that films could not have been utilized as a widespread packaging material due to their brittleness.
Dry and moist atmospheric circulation with uniform sea‐surface temperature
Authors: Suhas D. L. , Sukhatme Jai , Harnik Nili 
Published: October 2021

AbstractThe steady and transient response of “dynamically” dry and moist atmospheres to uniform sea‐surface temperature (SST) is studied using an aquaplanet general circulation model (GCM). Specifically, the latent heat () of water vapour is varied, so that for small , water substance is essentially a passive tracer from a dynamical point of view. Despite the lack of SST gradients, Hadley and Ferrel cells in the same direction as that on present‐day Earth are observed for relatively stronger moist coupling. Organized convergence by equatorial waves drives tropical overturning, and along with the equatorial deformation radius, the Hadley cell width increases with coupling strength. An abrupt switch to a much shallower tropical cell is noted when the system becomes completely passive. Moist static energy is transported equatorward in the tropics and a larger amount is directed poleward in the midlatitudes. As a whole, there is an almost invariant poleward transport of moist static energy for relatively strong coupling of water substance. Transient extratropical activity is seen in the form of intense warm‐core vortices for strong coupling, and these systems become weaker and smaller as decreases. The drift of these moist vortices results in the observed poleward energy transport in the midlatitudes. In the tropics, intraseasonal variability is dominant and systematically shifts to longer time periods with stronger coupling. In fact, large‐scale, low‐frequency Kelvin waves and MJO‐like modes disappear as water vapour becomes passive in nature. Further, the direction of tropical overturning reverses as decreases due to the off‐equatorial convergence imposed by tropical Rossby waves. Finally, extreme rainfall events associated with cyclonic storms vanish as water vapour becomes dynamically inactive, however, moderate precipitation events increase leading to higher total precipitation for weaker coupling of water substance. Tropospheric heating due to a saturation of the outgoing longwave radiation results in an increase in the stability of the atmosphere for strong coupling, and provides a plausible physical mechanism for interpreting the behaviour of precipitation.
Assimilation of shipborne precipitable water vapour by Global Navigation Satellite Systems for extreme precipitation events
Authors: Ikuta Yasutaka , Seko Hiromu , Shoji Yoshinori 
Published: October 2021

AbstractWater vapour advection from the sea causes extremely heavy rainfall in Japan. Therefore, accurately describing the water vapour distribution over the sea in a forecast model's initial conditions should improve the prediction accuracy of heavy rainfall events. Thus, we assimilated the shipborne precipitable water vapour (PWV) observed by the Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) onboard ships to show its impact on a heavy rainfall event in July 2020. We obtained the GNSS observations during a continuous water vapour observation campaign conducted at sea, one of the few in the world. In this study, we applied the shipborne PWV, on the upwind side of the heavy rainfall, to the four‐dimensional variational data assimilation method and conducted assimilation–forecast cycles. Although the shipborne PWV is a point observation, it can be assimilated as observation data covering space and time because the ships conducting the GNSS observation sailed around Japan. In addition, in the assimilation–forecast cycle, the effect of assimilation spread widely over the forecast area. Although the ship motion affects the shipborne observations, we found that the impact on PWV assimilation is negligible for practical use. For the temporal thinning of the data assimilation slot for the shipborne PWV, an interval of 30 min is more effective than an interval of 1 hr. As a result of assimilating this shipborne PWV on the upwind side of the disastrous heavy rainfall of July 2020, the forecast accuracy of rainfall, especially rainfall amount, was improved. We also found that statistical improvements could be obtained from the water vapour profiles and wind velocity field in the lower atmosphere. We demonstrate that the assimilation of shipborne PWV observations can improve the prediction accuracy of heavy rainfall events.
Robotic‐arm assisted bicompartmental knee arthroplasty: Durable results up to 7‐year follow‐up
Authors: Gaudiani Michael A. , Samuel Linsen T. , Diana John N. , DeBattista Jennifer L. , Coon Thomas M. , Moore Ryan E. , Kamath Atul F. 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe purpose of our study was to investigate the mid‐term clinical and functional outcomes of robotic‐arm assisted Bicompartmental knee arthroplasty (BiKA).MethodsThis study reviewed a single‐centre prospectively maintained cohort of 50 patients (53 knees) who underwent BiKA (patellofemoral and medial compartment) at 5‐ and 7‐year postoperative follow‐up.ResultsMean follow‐up was 7.1 ± 0.1 years (range, 7.0–7.3). Kaplan‐Meier survivorship rates at 5 and 7 years were 96% and 93%, respectively. At 7‐year follow‐up, patient satisfaction was 76% satisfied, 13% neutral, and 11% not satisfied. Mean KSS‐FS was 80.5 ± 15.8 (range, 30–100) with 82% of patients reporting walking more than 10 blocks, 89% reporting walking without support, and 100% able to go up and down stairs with 61% requiring use of a rail. Three patients (four knees) underwent revision surgery.ConclusionsOur study reported excellent survivorship and functional outcomes, and good‐excellent satisfaction at mid‐term follow‐up for robotic‐arm assisted BiKA.
Marker‐less augmented reality based on monocular vision for falx meningioma localization
Authors: Yi Zongchao , Deng Zhen , Liu Yuqing , He Bingwei , Huang Shengyue , Hong Wenyao , Shi Jiafeng , Chen Zhongyi 
Published: October 2021

AbstractBackgroundThe existing augmented reality (AR) based neuronavigation systems typically require markers and additional tracking devices for model registration, which causes excessive preparatory steps.MethodsFor fast and accurate intraoperative navigation, this work proposes a marker‐less AR system that tracks the head features with the monocular camera. After the semi‐automatic initialization process, the feature points between the captured image and the pre‐loaded keyframes are matched for obtaining correspondences. The camera pose is estimated by solving the Perspective‐n‐Point problem.ResultsThe localization error of AR visualization on scalp and falx meningioma is 0.417 ± 0.057 and 1.413 ± 0.282 mm, respectively. The maximum localization error is less than 2 mm. The AR system is robust to occlusions and changes in viewpoint and scale.ConclusionsWe demonstrate that the developed system can successfully display the augmented falx meningioma with enough accuracy and provide guidance for neurosurgeons to locate the tumour in brain.