bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Spinal cord injury as an indicator of abuse in forensic assessment of abusive head trauma (AHT)
Authors: Colombari Michela , Troakes Claire , Turrina Stefania , Tagliaro Franco , De Leo Domenico , Al-Sarraj Safa 
Published: February 2021

AbstractAbusive head trauma (AHT) in children is notoriously one of the most challenging diagnoses for the forensic pathologist. The pathological “triad”, a combination of intracranial subdural haematoma, cerebral oedema with hypoxic-ischaemic changes and retinal haemorrhages, is frequently argued to be insufficient to support a corroborated verdict of abuse. Data from all available English-language scientific literature involving radiological and neuropathological spinal cord examination is reviewed here in order to assess the contribution of spinal cord changes in differentiating abusive from accidental head trauma. In agreement with the statistically proven association between spinal subdural haemorrhage (SDH) and abuse (Choudhary et al. in Radiology 262:216–223, 2012), spinal blood collection proved to be the most indicative finding related to abusive aetiology. The incidence of spinal blood collection is as much as 44–48% when all the spinal cord levels are analysed as opposed to just 0–18% when the assessment is performed at cervical level only, in agreement with the evidence of the most frequent spinal SDH location at thoracolumbar rather than cervical level. In this review, the source of spinal cord blood collection and how the age of the child relates to the position of spinal cord lesions is also discussed. We concluded that the ante mortem MRI examination and post mortem examination of whole-length spinal cord is of fundamental interest for the assessment of abuse in the forensic setting.
Gas exchange, vine performance and modulation of secondary metabolism in Vitis vinifera L. cv Barbera following long-term nitrogen deficit
Authors: Squeri Cecilia , Miras-Moreno Begoña , Gatti Matteo , Garavani Alessandra , Poni Stefano , Lucini Luigi , Trevisan Marco 
Published: February 2021

AbstractMain ConclusionA reprogramming of secondary metabolism to acclimate to nitrogen deficiency was seen in grapevine eliciting an accumulation of strigolactones and jasmonate. This response links with photosynthetic compensation and enhanced ripening.In addition to the metabolism directly related to nitrogen assimilation, long-term nitrogen depletion may affect plant secondary metabolism, in turn affecting grapevine performance. In this work, the effect of nitrogen deficit was investigated inV. viniferacv. Barbera potted vines following three years of deprivation, using a combination of morpho-physiological assessments and mass spectrometry-based untargeted metabolomics. Plants grown under nitrogen limitation showed reduced growth and even more curtailed yields, lowered SPAD values, and a quite preserved leaf gas exchange, compared to plants grown under non-limiting nitrogen availability. Ripening was decidedly accelerated, and berry composition improved in terms of higher sugar and phenolic contents under nitrogen-limiting conditions. Metabolomics showed the broad involvement of secondary metabolism in acclimation to nitrogen deficiency, including a distinctive modulation of the phytohormone profile. Several nitrogen-containing metabolites were down accumulated under nitrogen-limiting conditions, including alkaloids, glucosinolates, hypoxanthine, and inosine. On the other hand, phenylpropanoids showed an accumulation trend. Concerning the recruitment of hormones, nitrogen deprivation elicited an accumulation of strigolactones and jasmonate. Noteworthy, both strigolactones and jasmonates have been previously related to increased photosynthetic efficiency under abiotic stress. Furthermore, the severe reduction of lateral shoot development we recorded in N-deprived vines is consistent with the accumulation of strigolactones. Overall, our results suggest that nitrogen deprivation induced a rather broad metabolic reprogramming, mainly including secondary metabolism and hormones profile, reflected in the modulation of photosynthetic performance, canopy growth, and possibly fruit quality.
60-year record of stem xylem anatomy and related hydraulic modification under increased summer drought in ring- and diffuse-porous temperate broad-leaved tree species
Authors: Zimmermann Jorma , Link Roman M. , Hauck Markus , Leuschner Christoph , Schuldt Bernhard 
Published: February 2021

AbstractKey messageBy combining dendrochronological time-series analysis with radial vessel features, we show that the reconstruction of hydraulic properties improves our understanding of tree species’ acclimation potential to climate change.AbstractThe vascular architecture plays a crucial role in the productivity and drought tolerance of broadleaf trees, but it is not yet fully understood how the hydraulic system is acclimating to a warmer and drier climate. Because vessel features may record temporal and spatial variability in climatic signals of the past better than tree-ring width, we combined dendrochronological time-series analysis with the calculation of stem hydraulic properties derived from radial vessel features. We aimed to reconstruct the development and sensitivity of the hydraulic system over six decades and to identify climatic control of xylem anatomy for five co-existing broad-leaved diffuse- and ring-porous tree species (generaAcer,Fagus,FraxinusandQuercus) across three sites covering a precipitation gradient from 548 to 793 mm. We observed a significant influence of the climatic water balance (CWB) on the vessel features of all species, but the time lag, magnitude and direction of the response was highly species-specific. All diffuse-porous species suffered a decline in vessel diameter in dry years, and increase in vessel density in dry years and the year following. However,F. sylvaticawas the only species with a significant long-term change in anatomical traits and a significant reduction in potential hydraulic conductivity (Kp) after dry winters and in dry summers, accompanied with the largest long-term decline in tree-ring width and the largest growth reduction in and after years with a more negative CWB. In contrast, the comparison across the precipitation gradient did not reveal any significant vessel-climate relationships. Our results revealed considerable plasticity in the hydraulic system especially ofF. sylvatica, but also evidence of the drought-sensitivity of this species in accordance with earlier dendroecological and physiological studies. We conclude that the long-term reconstruction of hydraulic properties can add substantially to the understanding of the acclimation potential of different tree species to climate change.
Accreditation in Europe: benchmarking the operations of European accreditation bodies using an innovative management tool
Authors: Denkler Tilman 
Published: February 2021

AbstractAccreditation is one of the pillars of a national Quality Infrastructure, as the competence of conformity assessment bodies is assured through accreditation performed by accreditation bodies. To compare the operation of accreditation bodies in Europe and to identify best practices, a management tool, the Process Maturity Benchmarking Tool, was developed and validated by applying it to European accreditation bodies. The benchmarking project comprised two major phases: in the first phase, the processes of accreditation bodies were systematically analyzed. A process map was developed, and processes of special relevance were identified and underpinned by indicators. In the second phase, the practical applicability of the theoretical model was demonstrated by analyzing the processes of eight European accreditation bodies. The results of this comparative assessment were subsequently discussed in a workshop with experts from those accreditation bodies, giving the opportunity to identify best practices. This article has a twofold objective. First, to present a method to benchmark European accreditation bodies, based on the European Foundation for Quality Management excellence model. The successful application of the Process Maturity Benchmarking Tool gives evidence that it is a suitable and capable management tool to assess the processes of the European accreditation bodies and to benchmark them. Second, the article presents the results of the first adaption of the Process Maturity Benchmarking Tool. A general trend of process maturity was identified: while processes based on stakeholder involvement tend to have an overall lower maturity on average, internal processes are more mature.
Interactions among Norway spruce, the bark beetle Ips typographus and its fungal symbionts in times of drought
Authors: Netherer Sigrid , Kandasamy Dineshkumar , Jirosová Anna , Kalinová Blanka , Schebeck Martin , Schlyter Fredrik 
Published: February 2021

AbstractResilience and functionality of European Norway spruce forests are increasingly threatened by mass outbreaks of the bark beetle Ips typographus promoted by heat, wind throw and drought. Here, we review current knowledge on Norway spruce and I. typographus interactions from the perspective of drought-stressed trees, host selection, colonisation behaviour of beetles, with multi-level effects of symbiotic ophiostomatoid fungi. By including chemo-ecological, molecular and behavioural perspectives, we provide a comprehensive picture on this complex, multitrophic system in the light of climate change. Trees invest carbon into specialised metabolism to produce defence compounds against biotic invaders; processes that are strongly affected by physiological stress such as drought. Spruce bark contains numerous terpenoid and phenolic substances, which are important for bark beetle aggregation and attack success. Abiotic stressors such as increased temperatures and drought affect composition, amounts and emission rates of volatile compounds. Thus, drought events may influence olfactory responses of I. typographus, and further the pheromone communication enabling mass attack. In addition, I. typographus is associated with numerous ophiostomatoid fungal symbionts with multiple effects on beetle life history. Symbiotic fungi degrade spruce toxins, help to exhaust tree defences, produce beetle semiochemicals, and possibly provide nutrition. As the various fungal associates have different temperature optima, they can influence the performance of I. typographus differently under changing environmental conditions. Finally, we discuss why effects of drought on tree-killing by bark beetles are still poorly understood and provide an outlook on future research on this eruptive species using both, field and laboratory experiments.
Endowing Robots with Longer-term Autonomy by Recovering from External Disturbances in Manipulation Through Grounded Anomaly Classification and Recovery Policies
Authors: Luo Shuangqi , Wu Hongmin , Duan Shuangda , Lin Yijiong , Rojas Juan 
Published: February 2021

AbstractRobots are poised to interact with humans in unstructured environments. Despite increasingly robust control algorithms, failure modes arise whenever the underlying dynamics are poorly modeled, especially in unstructured environments. We contribute a set of recovery policies to deal with anomalies produced by external disturbances. The recoveries work when various different types of anomalies are triggered any number of times at any point in the task, including during already running recoveries. Our recovery critic stands atop of a tightly-integrated, graph-based online motion-generation and introspection system. Policies, skills, and introspection models are learned incrementally and contextually over time. Recoveries are studied via a collaborative kitting task where a wide range of anomalous conditions are experienced in the system. We also contribute an extensive analysis of the performance of the tightly integrated anomaly identification, classification, and recovery system under extreme anomalous conditions. We show how the integration of such a system achieves performances greater than the sum of its parts.
Cardiovascular risk and testosterone – from subclinical atherosclerosis to lipoprotein function to heart failure
Authors: Gencer Baris , Bonomi Marco , Adorni Maria Pia , Sirtori Cesare R. , Mach François , Ruscica Massimiliano 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe cardiovascular (CV) benefit and safety of treating low testosterone conditions is a matter of debate. Although testosterone deficiency has been linked to a rise in major adverse CV events, most of the studies on testosterone replacement therapy were not designed to assess CV risk and thus excluded men with advanced heart failure or recent history of myocardial infarction or stroke. Besides considering observational, interventional and prospective studies, this review article evaluates the impact of testosterone on atherosclerosis process, including lipoprotein functionality, progression of carotid intima media thickness, inflammation, coagulation and thromboembolism, quantification of plaque volume and vascular calcification. Until adequately powered studies evaluating testosterone effects in hypogonadal men at increased CV risk are available (TRAVERSE trial), clinicians should ponder the use of testosterone in men with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and discuss benefit and harms with the patients.
Sapling and coppice biomass heritabilities and potential gains from Eucalyptus polybractea progeny trials
Authors: Spencer Beren , Mazanec Richard , Gibberd Mark , Zerihun Ayalsew 
Published: February 2021

AbstractEucalyptus polybractea has been planted as a short-rotation coppice crop for bioenergy in Western Australia. Historical breeding selections were based on sapling biomass and despite a long history as a coppice crop, the genetic parameters of coppicing are unknown. Here, we assessed sapling biomass at ages 3 and 6 from three progeny trials across southern Australia. After the second sapling assessment, all trees were harvested. Coppice biomass was assessed 3.5 years later. Mortality following harvest was between 1 and 2%. Additive genetic variance for the 6-sapling estimate at one site was not significant. Sapling heritabilities were between 0.06 and 0.36 at 3 years, and 0.18 and 0.20 at 6 years. The heritability for the coppice biomass was between 0.07 and 0.17. Within-site genetic and phenotypic correlations were strong between all biomass assessments. Cross-site correlations were not different from unity. Selections based on net breeding values revealed positive gains in sapling and coppice biomass. Lower or negative gains were estimated if 3-year sapling selections were applied to the coppice assessments (−7.1% to 3.4%) with useful families culled. Positive gains were obtained if 6-year sapling selections were applied to the coppice assessment (6.4% to 9.3%) but these were lower than those obtained by applying coppice selections to the coppice assessment (8.4% to 14.8%). Removal of poor performing families and families that displayed fast sapling growth rates but under-performed as coppice will benefit potential coppice production. These results indicate that selections should be made using coppice data.
Aktinische Keratosen
Authors: Borik-Heil L. , Geusau A. 
Published: February 2021

ZusammenfassungAktinische Keratosen (AKs) sind definiert als intraepidermale Proliferation atypischer Keratinozyten auf UV-geschädigter Haut mit dem Potenzial, in ein invasives kutanes Plattenepithelkarzinom (PEK) fortzuschreiten. AKs zählen zu den häufigsten Dermatosen im dermatologischen Alltag mit hoher Morbidität insbesondere bei älteren oder immunsupprimierten Patienten. Eine frühe und konsequente Therapie von AKs spielt eine Schlüsselrolle in der Prävention invasiver PEKs der Haut. Ziel dieses Artikels ist es, den aktuellen Wissensstand bezüglich der Pathogenese, der Klassifikationen und verfügbarer Therapieoptionen darzustellen, um zu einer optimalen Betreuung dieser Patienten beizutragen.
Local singular characteristics on $$\mathbb {R}^2$$
Authors: Cannarsa Piermarco , Cheng Wei 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThe singular set of a viscosity solution to a Hamilton–Jacobi equation is known to propagate, from any noncritical singular point, along singular characteristics which are curves satisfying certain differential inclusions. In the literature, different notions of singular characteristics were introduced. However, a general uniqueness criterion for singular characteristics, not restricted to mechanical systems or problems in one space dimension, is missing at the moment. In this paper, we prove that, for a Tonelli Hamiltonian on $$\mathbb {R}^2$$

R

2

, two different notions of singular characteristics coincide up to a bi-Lipschitz reparameterization. As a significant consequence, we obtain a uniqueness result for the class of singular characteristics that was introduced by Khanin and Sobolevski in the paper [On dynamics of Lagrangian trajectories for Hamilton-Jacobi equations. Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal., 219(2):861–885, 2016].
Duality of capacities and Sobolev extendability in the plane
Authors: Zhang Yi Ru-Ya 
Published: February 2021

AbstractWe reveal relations between the duality of capacities and the duality between Sobolev extendability of Jordan domains in the plane, and explain how to read the curve conditions involved in the Sobolev extendability of Jordan domains via the duality of capacities. Finally as an application, we give an alternative proof of the necessary condition for a Jordan planar domain to be $$W^{1,\,q}$$

W

1
,

q

-extension domain when $$2<q<\infty$$

2
<
q
<
∞

.
Multi-constrained cooperative path planning of multiple drones for persistent surveillance in urban environments
Authors: Wu Yu , Wu Shaobo , Hu Xinting 
Published: February 2021

AbstractDifferent from the usual surveillance task in which the goal is to achieve complete coverage of the specified area, the cooperative path planning problem of drones for persistent surveillance task is studied in this paper considering multiple constraints of the covered area. The goal is to maximize the combinational coverage area of drones while giving preference to the area that hasn’t been visited beyond a certain time interval. The influence of shooting resolution and blocking of buildings are considered, and the state information of each grid is defined to record the visit information of the ground area. Considering the characteristic of the established model, the multi-constrained cooperative path planning (MCCPP) algorithm is developed. The grids which have not been visited for a long time are received special attentions, and the drone is led to reducing the flight height to cover the gird which has a special requirement on the shooting resolution. The cooperation mechanism among drones is also set to ensure that all the drones can determine the next path point synchronously. An emergency path planning algorithm with the continuous checking strategy is designed for a drone to fly to the specified area and finish a complete coverage of it.
Can the Plight of the European Banking Structural Reforms be a Blessing in Disguise?
Authors: Nabilou Hossein 
Published: February 2021

AbstractOne of the problems perceived to be at the heart of the global financial crisis was an amalgamation of various commercial and investment banking activities under one entity, as well as the interconnectedness of the banking entities with other financial institutions, investment funds, and the shadow banking system. This paper focuses on various measures that aim to structurally separate the banking entities and their core functions from riskier financial activities such as (proprietary) trading or investments in alternative investment funds. Although banking structural reforms in the EU, the UK, and the US have taken different forms, their common denominator is the separation of core banking functions from certain trading or securities market activities. Having reviewed the arguments for and against banking structural reforms and their varieties in major jurisdictions, including the EU, UK, US, France, and Germany, the paper argues that a more nuanced approach to introducing such measures at the EU level is warranted. Given the different market structures across the Atlantic and the lack of conclusive evidence of the beneficial impact of banking structural reforms, the paper concludes that the withdrawal of the banking structural reforms proposal by the European Commission has been a prudent move. It seems that in the absence of concrete evidence, experimenting with structural reforms at the Member-State level would be less costly and would provide for opportunities for learning from smaller experiments that could pave the way for a more optimal approach to banking structural reforms at the European level in the future.
Robust nonsingular sliding mode control of the maglev train system: case study
Authors: Alain Kammogne Soup Tewa , Fabien Kenmogne , Martin Siewe Siewe , Bertrand Fotsin Hilaire 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThis paper deals with a new approach to explore the precise dynamic response of the maglev system train and its control. Magnetic-suspension systems are characterized by high nonlinearity and open-loop instability which are the core components of maglev vehicles. Firstly, we use the electromagnetics and mechanics laws to derive the mathematical expressions of the proposed maglev system. Analytical investigation and theoretical calculation show that for the specific values of the control system parameters, the maglev system train can be significantly improved. It points out that the inherent nonlinearity, the inner coupling, misalignments between the sensors and actuators, and external disturbances are the main issues that should be considered for maglev engineering. Secondly, a control strategy based on the precise model of a nonsing ular robust sliding mode control is designed to reduce the upper bound of both the uncertainty and interference of the sliding mode controller. This approach presents an added value compared to the new sliding control methods in terms of overshoot and speed of convergence which is designed to control the vertical position of the proposed system. By using rigorous mathematical transformation associated with the adaptation laws in the frequency domain, a sufficient condition is drawn for the stability of the dynamical error based on the Lyapunov theory. This allows us a great possibility for interpreting the operation of the maglev train system. Numerical results are presented to show the effectiveness of our proposed control scheme.
Variational quantum Boltzmann machines
Authors: Zoufal Christa , Lucchi Aurélien , Woerner Stefan 
Published: February 2021

AbstractThis work presents a novel realization approach to quantum Boltzmann machines (QBMs). The preparation of the required Gibbs states, as well as the evaluation of the loss function’s analytic gradient, is based on variational quantum imaginary time evolution, a technique that is typically used for ground-state computation. In contrast to existing methods, this implementation facilitates near-term compatible QBM training with gradients of the actual loss function for arbitrary parameterized Hamiltonians which do not necessarily have to be fully visible but may also include hidden units. The variational Gibbs state approximation is demonstrated with numerical simulations and experiments run on real quantum hardware provided by IBM Quantum. Furthermore, we illustrate the application of this variational QBM approach to generative and discriminative learning tasks using numerical simulation.