bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Retinal Architecture in Autosomal Recessive Spastic Ataxia of Charlevoix‐Saguenay (ARSACS): Insights into Disease Pathogenesis and Biomarkers
Authors: Rezende Filho Flávio Moura , Bremner Fion , Pedroso José Luiz , de Andrade João Brainer Clares , Marianelli Bruna Ferraço , Lourenço Charles Marques , Marques‐Júnior Wilson , França Marcondes C. , Kok Fernando , Sallum Juliana M.F. , Parkinson Michael H. , Barsottini Orlando G. , Giunti Paola 
Published: April 2021

ABSTRACTBackgroundAutosomal recessive spastic ataxia of Charlevoix‐Saguenay (ARSACS) causes unique retinal abnormalities, which have not been systematically investigated.ObjectiveTo deeply phenotype the retina in ARSACS in order to better understand its pathogenesis and identify potential biomarkers.MethodsWe evaluated 29 patients with ARSACS, 66 with spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA), 38 with autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia (ATX), 22 with hereditary spastic paraplegia (SPG), 21 cases of papilledema, and 20 healthy controls (total n = 196 subjects). Participants underwent visual acuity assessment, intraocular pressure measurement, fundoscopy, and macular and peripapillary optical coherence tomography (OCT). Macular layers thicknesses in ARSACS were compared with those of age‐matched healthy controls. Ophthalmologists analyzed the scans for abnormal signs in the different patient groups. Linear regression analysis was conducted to look for associations between retinal changes and age, age at onset, disease duration, and Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA) scores in ARSACS.ResultsOnly patients with ARSACS exhibited peripapillary retinal striations (82%) on fundoscopy, and their OCT scans revealed foveal hypoplasia (100%), sawtooth appearance (89%), papillomacular fold (86%), and macular microcysts (18%). Average peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) was thicker in ARSACS than in SCA, ATX, SPG, and controls; a cut‐off of 121 μm was 100% accurate in diagnosing ARSACS. All macular layers were thicker in ARSACS when compared to healthy controls. RNFL thickness in the inferior sector of the macula positively correlated with SARA scores.ConclusionsRetinal abnormalities are highly specific for ARSACS, and suggest retinal hyperplasia due to abnormal retinal development. OCT may provide potential biomarkers for future clinical trials. © 2021 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
A deep learning‐based model for characterization of atherosclerotic plaque in coronary arteries using optical coherence tomography images
Authors: Abdolmanafi Atefeh , Duong Luc , Ibrahim Ragui , Dahdah Nagib 
Published: April 2021

PurposeCoronary artery events are mainly associated with atherosclerosis in adult population, which is recognized as accumulation of plaques in arterial wall tissues. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a light‐based imaging system used in cardiology to analyze intracoronary tissue layers and pathological formations including plaque accumulation. This state‐of‐the‐art catheter‐based imaging system provides intracoronary cross‐sectional images with high resolution of 10‐15 µm. But interpretation of the acquired images is operator dependent, which is not only very time‐consuming but also highly error prone from one observer to another. An automatic and accurate coronary plaque tagging using OCT image post‐processing can contribute to wide adoption of the OCT system and reducing the diagnostic error rate.MethodIn this study, we propose a combination of spatial pyramid pooling module with dilated convolutions for semantic segmentation to extract atherosclerotic tissues regardless of their types and training a sparse auto‐encoder to reconstruct the input features and enlarge the training data as well as plaque type characterization in OCT images.ResultsThe results demonstrate high precision of the proposed model with reduced computational complexity, which can be appropriate for real‐time analysis of OCT images. At each step of the work, measured accuracy, sensitivity, specificity of more than 93% demonstrate high performance of the model.ConclusionThe main focus of this study is atherosclerotic tissue characterization using OCT imaging. This contributes to wide adoption of the OCT imaging system by providing clinicians with a fully automatic interpretation of various atherosclerotic tissues. Future studies will be focused on analyzing atherosclerotic vulnerable plaques, those coronary plaques which are prone to rupture.
Hydrologic Effects on Growth and Hatching Success of Age-0 Channel Catfish in the Tallapoosa River Basin: Implications for Management in Regulated Systems
Authors: Erickson Keith A. , Sakaris Peter C. , Conner Hannah , Irwin Elise R. 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
We assessed the effects of hydrology on growth and hatching success of age-0 Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus in regulated and unregulated reaches of the Tallapoosa River basin, Alabama. Age-0 Channel Catfish (N = 91) were collected from sites in both the Coastal Plain and Piedmont regions in fall 2003 and fall 2005. Lapillus otoliths were used to estimate the daily ages of age-0 Channel Catfish, for which hatch dates were back-calculated. We performed growth analysis to determine growth histories of each fish at 20-d increments from hatch. Across the 2 years of sampling, Channel Catfish hatches were documented from June 7 to September 15. Ages and growth rates of age-0 Channel Catfish ranged from 20 to 126 d and 0.60 to 1.5 mm/d, respectively. In general, growth was highest among age-0 Channel Catfish from unregulated sites in the lower Coastal Plain, lowest among fish from unregulated sites in the Piedmont, and intermediate from regulated sites in the Piedmont. Successful hatching typically occurred during periods when mean discharges were in the upper two quartiles of flows for each site but not during exceptionally high peaks in flow. Physiographic province, the frequency of high pulses, and the number of flow reversals were the most important factors influencing the growth of recently hatched Channel Catfish. Results suggest that a low to moderate frequency of high pulses (25–150 pulses per 20-d increment) and a moderate number of flow reversals (~100–175 reversals per 20-d increment) enhances early growth of Channel Catfish in the Tallapoosa River system. Managing flow, when possible, to minimize large releases of water that result in exceptionally high pulses and providing minimal hydropeaking may improve hatching success during the Channel Catfish spawning season.
Improved mechanical properties of in situ microfibrillar polypropylene/polyamide6 composites through constructing strong interfacial adhesion
Authors: Wang Bin , Sun Canchen , Wang Yuanyuan , Wang Jianfeng , Yang Yanyu , Cao Yanxia , Song Yihu , Wang Wanjie 
Published: April 2021

In situ fibrillation technology can effectively improve the mechanical properties of low compatibility polymer blends, but the enhancement effect is greatly reduced due to the weak interfacial adhesion of such blends. In this work, a novel compatibilizer polypropylene grafted graphene oxide was synthesized and added to a typical low compatibility blends polypropylene/nylon 6 by a two‐step method. Comparing with no compatibilizer or adding traditional compatibilizer by a one‐step method, polypropylene grafted graphene oxide not only enhances the fibrils strength, but also reduces the interfacial tension, resulting in a fine and uniform network structure of polypropylene. Especially the profiled fibrils with a large number of nodules on the surface were obtained, which can increase the interfacial adhesion. With the addition of 0.6 wt% of polypropylene grafted graphene oxide, the tensile and flexural strength of the blends were enhanced by 19.77% and 42.19%, respectively, compared with pure polypropylene This enhancement effect is 3‐16% higher than adding traditional compatibilizer (2.5‐8 wt%) by a one‐step method. Furthermore, the maximum tensile strength of in situ microfibrillar polypropylene/polyamide6 composites correlated with the rheological gel points by adding polypropylene grafted graphene oxide. This study sheds light on the preparation of in situ microfibrillar composites with high mechanical strength and broadens the effective way of reinforcing universal plastics with engineering plastic.
He knew more than we wanted him to know: Parent perceptions about their children's sense of pediatric cancer‐related financial problems
Authors: Santacroce Sheila Judge , Killela Mary K. , Kamkhoad Donruedee , Leckey Jill A. , Hubbard Grace 
Published: April 2021

AbstractBackgroundTreatment for pediatric cancer generates costs that place sizeable demands on family finances relative to household income. Little is known about whether children sense that their cancer has created financial problems for the family. The study purpose was to describe parents’ perceptions about whether their child sensed that pediatric cancer created financial problems for their family.ProcedureFamily Communications Theory informed our study. We used descriptive statistics and content analysis to examine parents' (n = 417) responses to questions about the child's sense of pediatric cancer‐related financial problems from a larger survey study.ResultsApproximately 56.2% of parents indicated that their child had no sense of the pediatric cancer‐related financial problems and 44.1% indicated their child had some. Proportions of children perceived to sense these financial problems steadily increased with age grouping, while proportions perceived to have none declined. With content analysis, we identified cognitive capacity as the key child factor influencing children's sense of these problems. Influential context factors included social norms, observed changes in family routines and spending patterns, and overheard conversations between adults. Child psychological outcomes included guilt, anxiety about money, and feelings of being a burden.ConclusionPediatric oncology professionals and staff should be mindful of parent preferences about burdening children with sensitive financial information, and modify their behaviors and processes accordingly. They can also provide anticipatory guidance and psycho‐education about psychological responses related to the effects of pediatric cancer on family finances and the role of cognitive development in the evolution of children's awareness of those effects.
Enhancement of PUR/PIR foam thermal stability after addition of Zostera marina biomass component investigated via thermal analysis and isoconversional kinetics
Authors: Olejnik Adrian , Kosmela Paulina , Piszczyk Łukasz 
Published: April 2021

AbstractIn the present work, a thorough thermogravimetric (TG) analysis of bio‐based polyurethane–polyisocyanurate (PUR–PIR) foams in both nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere is performed. A sustainable element of the foam is a biopolyol obtained via acid‐catalyzed liquefaction of Zostera marina and Enteromorpha Algae biomass. Based on isoconversional analysis and apparent activation energies, several conclusions are obtained. In contradiction to the common understanding, biopolyol based foams exhibit enhanced stability in both oxidative atmosphere and in nitrogen compared to purely petrochemical foams. Relationships between thermal stability and structure of the foams are established. Enhanced stability of bio‐based foams in oxygen is attributed to two factors. First is an increased cross‐linking density due to higher hydroxyl number of biopolyol compared to petrochemical one. Possibly the presence of more amount of aromatic compounds in the structure of polyols that come from lignin or aromatic ketones contribute to further enhancement of thermal stability. Those results suggest that the studied biobased foams are prospective alternatives to standard petrochemical PUR foams.
Synthesis of polymer microsphere‐supported chiral pyrrolidine catalysts by precipitation polymerization and their application to asymmetric Michael addition reactions
Authors: Debnath Mithun Kumar , Oyama Wako , Ono Yuya , Sugimoto Takuya , Watanabe Rina , Haraguchi Naoki 
Published: April 2021

AbstractPolymer microsphere‐supported chiral pyrrolidine catalysts were successfully synthesized by a precipitation polymerization incorporating a methacrylate monomer bearing chiral N‐Boc‐pyrrolidine moiety, followed by removal of the N‐Boc groups. The resulting polymeric catalysts were applied to the asymmetric Michael addition reactions of aldehydes with alkyl vinyl ketones. The effects of the comonomer, the molar ratios within the catalyst, the catalyst loading, the temperature, and the solvent on the catalytic performance were investigated in detail. The reactions were found to proceed smoothly in the absence of a solvent. A hydrophobic polystyrene‐based chiral pyrrolidine catalyst exhibited high reactivity (up to 97% yield) and enantioselectivity (up to 95% ee) during these reactions. The catalyst could also be recovered and reused up to five times without significant loss of activity.
Process Safety Boot Camp, a Center for Chemical Process Safety success story
Authors: Nara Louisa , Murphy John 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis article tells the history of Process Safety Boot Camp (PSBC), also known as Foundations of Risk Based Process Safety (RBPS) globally, CCPS's flagship course based on the (RBPS) Management approach, featured in the CCPS book Guidelines for Risk Based Process Safety. This history includes why the course was developed, how the initial course was developed, and the continuous improvement of the course over the past 10 years.
The effect of curcumin and zinc co‐supplementation on glycemic parameters in overweight or obese prediabetic subjects: A phase 2 randomized, placebo‐controlled trial with a multi‐arm, parallel‐group design
Authors: Karandish Majid , Mozaffari‐khosravi Hassan , Mohammadi Seyed Mohammad , Cheraghian Bahman , Azhdari Maryam 
Published: April 2021

Management of prediabetes is a critical step to prevent type‐2 diabetes. Curcumin and zinc have been studied as an antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and antidiabetic agents. In this clinical trial, 84 subjects were randomized into curcumin (500 mg), zinc (30 mg), zinc and curcumin, and placebo groups for 90 days. At the baseline and the end of the study, the outcomes (fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2‐hour postprandial glucose (2hpp), HbA1C, insulin, insulin sensitivity (IS), insulin resistance (IR), β‐cell function (BCF), weight, body mass index (BMI), dietary intake, and physical activity (PA)) were measured. A hypocaloric diet and PA were recommended for all subjects. In total, 82 subjects completed the study. After the intervention, dietary intake, PA, weight, and BCF% did not show a significant difference among the groups. However, subjects taking only zinc and zinc and curcumin groups experienced decreased BMI compared to the placebo (p = .01 and .007, respectively). The three treated groups had improved FPG (p = .01), 2hpp (p = .003), HbA1C (p = .004), insulin (p = .001), IS% (p = .001), and IR (p < .001) compared to the placebo. Based on these results, zinc and curcumin supplementation exerted a beneficial effect on several key glycemic parameters.
Event‐triggered model predictive control for multi‐vehicle systems with collision avoidance and obstacle avoidance
Authors: Yang Hongjiu , Li Qing , Zuo Zhiqiang , Zhao Hai 
Published: April 2021

AbstractIn this article, event‐triggered model predictive control is used for simultaneous tracking and formation of a multi‐vehicle system with collision avoidance and obstacle avoidance. An event‐triggered mechanism is established to reduce computational burden in the model predictive control strategy. A compatibility constraint is proposed to guarantee collision avoidance and convergence for the multi‐vehicle system by limiting an uncertainty deviation of each vehicle. Between each vehicle and obstacles, a safe distance is ensured by a robust obstacle avoidance constraint. Finally, effectiveness and advantages of the proposed strategy are shown by two simulation examples.
Profit‐enhancing entries in mixed oligopolies
Authors: Haraguchi Junichi , Matsumura Toshihiro 
Published: April 2021

AbstractMixed oligopolies are characterized by private and public enterprises. Previously, entry into these markets was restrictive. It has since been relaxed by deregulations, and as a result, private firms have entered mixed oligopolies. An increase in the number of private firms increases competition among them and reduces the profit of incumbent private firms, given the privatization policy remains unchanged. However, an increase in the number of private firms may affect privatization policy, and thus, indirectly affect private firms' profits. Therefore, the overall effect on private firms' profit is ambiguous. In this study, we investigate how the number of private firms affects the profit of each private firm in mixed oligopolies. We use a linear‐quadratic production cost function, which covers two popular model formulations in the mixed oligopoly literature. We show that if the degree of privatization is exogenous, the profit of each private firm decreases with the number of private firms. However, if the degree of privatization is endogenous, the relationship between the number of private firms and profit takes an inverted‐U shape under a plausible range of cost parameters. Our results imply that there can exist multiple equilibria in free‐entry markets with different degrees of privatization.
Prelimbic prefrontal cortical encoding of reward predictive cues
Authors: Spring Mitchell G. , Soni Karan R. , Wheeler Daniel S. , Wheeler Robert A. 
Published: April 2021

AbstractAnimals appoint incentive value and learn to approach otherwise behaviorally inert stimuli if these stimuli come to predict the delivery of reward. Interestingly, this adaptive Pavlovian learning process has been implicated in behavioral control disorders, such as drug addiction. One brain region implicated in directing conditioned approach behavior is the prelimbic region of the prefrontal cortex. The present study employed in vivo electrophysiology in the prelimbic cortex to characterize the distribution of neural responses to the presence of a cue that had acquired incentive value after being associated with a primary reward. Male rats were trained in a Pavlovian autoshaping task in which a lever was presented prior to reward delivery. Following repeated pairings of lever availability and reward delivery, rats pressed the lever even though reward delivery was not contingent on any interaction with the lever. Neurons in the prelimbic cortex selectively encoded the presentation of the reward‐predicting lever. Although the response was heterogeneous, most responsive neurons decreased their firing rate in response to the presence of the lever. These findings characterize the varied responses of prelimbic cortical neurons to reward cues and are consistent with evidence that the role of the prelimbic cortex in reward learning depends on the downstream target.
Grundlagen des Metallrecyclings
Authors: Schäfer Philipp 
Published: April 2021

ZusammenfassungDas Recycling von Metallen wird zwar schon jahrhundertelang praktiziert, es ist allerdings heute so umfassend und komplex wie nie zuvor. Das bedarf einiger grundlegenden Begriffsdefinitionen und Verfahrensbeschreibungen, die Abschnitt 2.1 entnommen werden können. Wo genau die Schwierigkeiten beim Metallrecycling liegen – insbesondere vor dem Hintergrund der in der Einleitung beschriebenen Entwicklungen der sekundären Quellen – ist in Abschnitt 2.2 erläutert.
Exploring properties of long-lived particles in inelastic dark matter models at Belle II
Authors: Kang Dong Woo , Ko P. , Lu Chih-Ting 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
The inelastic dark matter model is one kind of popular models for the light dark matter (DM) below O(1) GeV. If the mass splitting between DM excited and ground states is small enough, the co-annihilation becomes the dominant channel for thermal relic density and the DM excited state can be long-lived at the collider scale. We study scalar and fermion inelastic dark matter models for $$ \mathcal{O} $$
O
(1) GeV DM at Belle II with U(1)D dark gauge symmetry broken into its Z2 subgroup. We focus on dilepton displaced vertex signatures from decays of the DM excited state. With the help of precise displaced vertex detection ability at Belle II, we can explore the DM spin, mass and mass splitting between DM excited and ground states. Especially, we show scalar and fermion DM candidates can be discriminated and the mass and mass splitting of DM sector can be determined within the percentage of deviation for some benchmark points. Furthermore, the allowed parameter space to explain the excess of muon (g− 2)μ is also studied and it can be covered in our displaced vertex analysis during the early stage of Belle II experiment.
Topological obstructions to autoencoding
Authors: Batson Joshua , Haaf C. Grace , Kahn Yonatan , Roberts Daniel A. 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Autoencoders have been proposed as a powerful tool for model-independent anomaly detection in high-energy physics. The operating principle is that events which do not belong to the space of training data will be reconstructed poorly, thus flagging them as anomalies. We point out that in a variety of examples of interest, the connection between large reconstruction error and anomalies is not so clear. In particular, for data sets with nontrivial topology, there will always be points that erroneously seem anomalous due to global issues. Conversely, neural networks typically have an inductive bias or prior to locally interpolate such that undersampled or rare events may be reconstructed with small error, despite actually being the desired anomalies. Taken together, these facts are in tension with the simple picture of the autoencoder as an anomaly detector. Using a series of illustrative low-dimensional examples, we show explicitly how the intrinsic and extrinsic topology of the dataset affects the behavior of an autoencoder and how this topology is manifested in the latent space representation during training. We ground this analysis in the discussion of a mock “bump hunt” in which the autoencoder fails to identify an anomalous “signal” for reasons tied to the intrinsic topology of n-particle phase space.
Parafermionization, bosonization, and critical parafermionic theories
Authors: Yao Yuan , Furusaki Akira 
Published: April 2021

AbstractWe formulate a ℤk-parafermionization/bosonization scheme for one-dimensional lattice models and field theories on a torus, starting from a generalized Jordan-Wigner transformation on a lattice, which extends the Majorana-Ising duality atk= 2. The ℤk-parafermionization enables us to investigate the critical theories of parafermionic chains whose fundamental degrees of freedom are parafermionic, and we find that their criticality cannot be described by any existing conformal field theory. The modular transformations of these parafermionic low-energy critical theories as general consistency conditions are found to be unconventional in that their partition functions on a torus transform differently from any conformal field theory whenk >2. Explicit forms of partition functions are obtained by the developed parafermionization for a large class of critical ℤk-parafermionic chains, whose operator contents are intrinsically distinct from any bosonic or fermionic model in terms of conformal spins and statistics. We also use the parafermionization to exhaust all the ℤk-parafermionic minimal models, complementing earlier works on fermionic cases.