bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Automated segmentation of leukocyte from hematological images—a study using various CNN schemes
Authors: Kadry Seifedine , Rajinikanth Venkatesan , Taniar David , Damaševičius Robertas , Valencia Xiomara Patricia Blanco 
Published: November 2021

AbstractMedical images play a fundamental role in disease screening, and automated evaluation of these images is widely preferred in hospitals. Recently, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) supported medical data assessment is widely adopted to inspect a set of medical imaging modalities. Extraction of the leukocyte section from a thin blood smear image is one of the essential procedures during the preliminary disease screening process. The conventional segmentation needs complex/hybrid procedures to extract the necessary section and the results achieved with conventional methods sometime tender poor results. Hence, this research aims to implement the CNN-assisted image segmentation scheme to extract the leukocyte section from the RGB scaled hematological images. The proposed work employs various CNN-based segmentation schemes, such as SegNet, U-Net, and VGG-UNet. We used the images from the Leukocyte Images for Segmentation and Classification (LISC) database. In this work, five classes of the leukocytes are considered, and each CNN segmentation scheme is separately implemented and evaluated with the ground-truth image. The experimental outcome of the proposed work confirms that the overall results accomplished with the VGG-UNet are better (Jaccard-Index = 91.5124%, Dice-Coefficient = 94.4080%, and Accuracy = 97.7316%) than those of the SegNet and U-Net schemes Finally, the merit of the proposed scheme is also confirmed using other similar image datasets, such as Blood Cell Count and Detection (BCCD) database and ALL-IDB2. The attained result confirms that the proposed scheme works well on hematological images and offers better performance measure values.
Gemeinsamer Unterricht auf Kosten der sozialen Inklusion? Analyse der sozialen Lage in inklusiven Schulen am Beispiel der Schwerpunktschulen in Rheinland-Pfalz
Authors: Helbig Marcel , Steinmetz Sebastian 
Published: November 2021

ZusammenfassungRheinland-Pfalz ist das einzige deutsche Bundesland, welches zur Umsetzung der schulischen Inklusion vollständig auf Schwerpunktschulen setzt und Kinder und Jugendliche mit sonderpädagogischem Förderbedarf ausschließlich in ausgewählten Standorten unterrichtet. Mit Daten der amtlichen Schulstatistik können wir erstens zeigen, dass Schwerpunktschulen im Grundschulbereich vor allem an Standorten eingerichtet wurden, an denen der Anteil von Kindern aus einkommensschwachen Haushalten überproportional hoch war. Im Vergleich zu anderen Grundschulen steigt zudem die Armutsquote an Schwerpunktschulen zwischen den Jahren 2012–2019 überproportional an. Dieser Effekt zeigt sich besonders deutlich in städtischen Gebieten, in denen in räumlicher Nähe Wahlalternativen im Grundschulbereich vorhanden sind. In der Konsequenz sind inklusive Schulen in Rheinland-Pfalz zunehmend durch sozial ungünstige Entwicklungsmilieus geprägt, mit Folgen für die Chancengerechtigkeit und das soziale Miteinander.
A Comparative Study on Soft Law: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: BOSCHETTI Barbara , POLI Maria Daniela 
Published: November 2021

AbstractThis article aims to map how soft law tools have complemented and supported the overall regulatory strategies implemented by European countries to counter the Covid-19 crisis (the soft law atlas), to shed light on some key topics of general interest for legal theory and practice: how soft law tools interact and complement one another including on different levels (the soft law web), how soft law tools interact and complement the sources of pandemic law (the interplay between soft and hard law), and the positive and negative impacts on governance and policy-making of soft law tools during the pandemic and beyond (soft law bright and dark sides).
TransubstantiatingMiserere: James MacMillan’s Compositional Theology
Authors: PHILLIPS-HUTTON ARIANA 
Published: November 2021

AbstractThe Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan (b. 1959) is a vocal proponent of contemporary sacred music, yet little scholarly analysis looks beyond the surface to explore how theological themes and language influence his work. This article offers a fresh perspective on the relationship between theology and music via an analysis of MacMillan’s characterization of his compositional process as ‘transubstantiation’. Far from being merely an evocative description, transubstantiation is a conceptual metaphor that signifies a distinctively eucharistic logic and practice in music. I trace these implications through MacMillan’sMiserere(2009), which reinscribes past music and rituals as part of refashioning the contemporary imagining of religion.
Demosponges from Ascension Island with a description of nine new species
Authors: Goodwin Claire , Brown Judith , Downey Rachel , Trieu Nhu , Brewin Paul E. , Brickle Paul 
Published: November 2021

AbstractWe surveyed the shallow-water sponges of Ascension Island using scuba diving. In total, we collected 58 sponge specimens from 17 locations at depths of 0.5–30 m. In addition, we compiled historical records of sponges. We describe nine species new to science:Niphates verityaesp. nov.,Petrosia(Petrosia)ernestisp. nov.,Monanchora downesaesp. nov.,Svenzea weberorumsp. nov.,Erylus williamsaesp. nov.,Ircinia nolanaesp. nov.,Ircinia richardsonisp. nov.,Ircinia simaesp. nov. andChondrosia browningorumsp. nov. We provide molecular sequences for three of the new species. We have added 50% to the number of known species and added two new genera and one family to the known Ascension Island sponge fauna. Twenty-six species, from 16 genera, and 13 families, are now reported from Ascension's shallow waters. Many of these may be endemic to the island. We discuss the biogeographic affinities of Ascension Island and emphasize the need for additional survey of the sponge fauna of remote islands such as Ascension.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the WHO African region: the first year (February 2020 to February 2021)
Authors: Impouma Benido , Mboussou Franck , Farham Bridget , Wolfe Caitlin M. , Johnson Krys , Clary Catherine , Mihigo Richard , Nsenga Ngoy , Talisuna Ambrose , Yoti Zabulon , Flahault Antoine , Keiser Olivia , Gueye Abdou Salam , Cabore Joseph , Moeti Matshidiso 
Published: November 2021

Abstract
The World Health Organization African region recorded its first laboratory-confirmed coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) cases on 25 February 2020. Two months later, all the 47 countries of the region were affected. The first anniversary of the pandemic occurred in a changed context with the emergence of new variants of concern (VOC) and growing COVID-19 fatigue. This study describes the epidemiological trajectory of COVID-19 in the region, summarises public health and social measures (PHSM) implemented and discusses their impact on the pandemic trajectory. As of 24 February 2021, the African region accounted for 2.5% of cases and 2.9% of deaths reported globally. Of the 13 countries that submitted detailed line listing of cases, the proportion of cases with at least one co-morbid condition was estimated at 3.3% of all cases. Hypertension, diabetes and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection were the most common comorbid conditions, accounting for 11.1%, 7.1% and 5.0% of cases with comorbidities, respectively. Overall, the case fatality ratio (CFR) in patients with comorbid conditions was higher than in patients without comorbid conditions: 5.5% vs. 1.0% (P < 0.0001). Countries started to implement lockdown measures in early March 2020. This contributed to slow the spread of the pandemic at the early stage while the gradual ease of lockdowns from 20 April 2020 resulted in an upsurge. The second wave of the pandemic, which started in November 2020, coincided with the emergence of the new variants of concern. Only 0.08% of the population from six countries received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. It is critical to not only learn from the past 12 months to improve the effectiveness of the current response but also to start preparing the health systems for subsequent waves of the current pandemic and future pandemics.
Contribution of Ekman Transport to the ENSO Periodicity Estimated With an Extended Wyrtki Index
Authors: Iwakiri Tomoki , Watanabe Masahiro 
Published: November 2021

AbstractOff‐equatorial wind stress curl anomalies that mainly drive geostrophic transport are essential for the phase transition of the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) induced by a recharge‐discharge process. The ENSO‐induced zonal wind stress anomaly also drives surface Ekman currents, which may counteract the geostrophic transport, but its effect on ENSO periodicity remains unclear in the recharge oscillator theory. Here, we extended an ENSO diagnostic framework, called the Bjerknes‐Wyrtki‐Jin index, to evaluate Ekman transport. The extended method applied to reanalysis data sets shows that the ENSO period lengthens by approximately 30%, reconciling the discrepancy between the observed ENSO frequency and estimates from the conventional method. This result demonstrates that the self‐inhibitory process by Ekman transport is an inherent feature of the observed ENSO periodicity. In addition, Ekman transport efficiently works with a wide meridional structure of ENSO, suggesting that the meridional width of individual ENSO events explains the difference in their duration.
Bias-corrected CMIP6 global dataset for dynamical downscaling of the historical and future climate (1979–2100)
Authors: Xu Zhongfeng , Han Ying , Tam Chi-Yung , Yang Zong-Liang , Fu Congbin 
Published: November 2021

AbstractDynamical downscaling is an important approach to obtaining fine-scale weather and climate information. However, dynamical downscaling simulations are often degraded by biases in the large-scale forcing itself. We constructed a bias-corrected global dataset based on 18 models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis 5 (ERA5) dataset. The bias-corrected data have an ERA5-based mean climate and interannual variance, but with a non-linear trend from the ensemble mean of the 18 CMIP6 models. The dataset spans the historical time period 1979–2014 and future scenarios (SSP245 and SSP585) for 2015–2100 with a horizontal grid spacing of (1.25° × 1.25°) at six-hourly intervals. Our evaluation suggests that the bias-corrected data are of better quality than the individual CMIP6 models in terms of the climatological mean, interannual variance and extreme events. This dataset will be useful for dynamical downscaling projections of the Earth’s future climate, atmospheric environment, hydrology, agriculture, wind power, etc.
High sensitivity-low cost detection of SARS-CoV-2 by two steps end point RT-PCR with agarose gel electrophoresis visualization
Authors: Figueroa Solange , Freire-Paspuel Byron , Vega-Mariño Patricio , Velez Alberto , Cruz Marilyn , Cardenas Washington B. , Garcia-Bereguiain Miguel Angel 
Published: November 2021

AbstractMore than one year since Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic outbreak, the gold standard technique for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection is still the RT-qPCR. This is a limitation to increase testing capacities, particularly at developing countries, as expensive reagents and equipment are required. We developed a two steps end point RT-PCR reaction with SARS-CoV-2 Nucleocapsid (N) gene and Ribonuclease P (RNase P) specific primers where viral amplicons were verified by agarose gel electrophoresis. We carried out a clinical performance and analytical sensitivity evaluation for this two-steps end point RT-PCR method with 242 nasopharyngeal samples using the CDC RT-qPCR protocol as a gold standard technique. With a specificity of 95.8%, a sensitivity of 95.1%, and a limit of detection of 20 viral RNA copies/uL, this two steps end point RT-PCR assay is an affordable and reliable method for SARS-CoV-2 detection. This protocol would allow to extend COVID-19 diagnosis to basic molecular biology laboratories with a potential positive impact in surveillance programs at developing countries.
Enhanced layered fog architecture for IoT sensing and actuation as a service
Authors: Alammari Abdulsalam , Moiz Salman Abdul , Negi Atul 
Published: November 2021

AbstractThe reduced service cost offered by Sensing and Actuation as a Service paradigm, particularly in Internet of Things (IoT) era, has encouraged many establishments to start without worrying about having their own infrastructure. Such a paradigm is typically managed by a centralized cloud service provider. Fog paradigm has emerged as a mini-cloud that if designed with care to assist the cloud, together will achieve better performance. This article introduces a layered fog architecture called Sensors and Actuator Layered Fog Services Delivery (SALFSD) for IoT ecosystems. The significance of SALFSD is being fault resistant; it dynamically reassigns tasks of the failed node to the nearest active node to maintain the network connection. Besides, SALFSD monitors end users pre-specified cases closer to the physical devices hired by end users to fasten generating the actuation commands. Such node may offload its monitoring responsibility to its parent node in case it is overloaded. SALFSD is evaluated using Yet Another Fog Simulator in different scenarios (numbers of users, sensors, actuators, and areas). A comparison was made for Sensing and Actuating as a Service (SAaaS) with/without layered fog, and layered fog with/without (failure reassignment, pre-specified cases in fog nodes, and offloading). The comparison was conducted in terms of computing/communication latencies and the number of missed messages for both observations and actuation commands. Results show that failure reassignment prevented losing messages and maintained network connectivity. Also, wisely selecting the monitoring fog node per end user pre-specified cases and the offloading scheme decreased actuation latency.
Sugary drink consumption and risk of kidney and bladder cancer in Japanese adults
Authors: Leung Chi Yan , Abe Sarah Krull , Sawada Norie , Ishihara Junko , Takachi Ribeka , Yamaji Taiki , Iwasaki Motoki , Hashizume Masahiro , Inoue Manami , Tsugane Shoichiro 
Published: November 2021

AbstractGlobally, sugary drinks are widely consumed, however, few epidemiologic studies have investigated the association between sugary drink consumption and risk of kidney and bladder cancer. We examined the association of sugary drinks with risk of kidney and bladder cancer in 73,024 participants from the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study who reported no history of cancer. Sugary drink consumption was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire at study baseline (1995–1999). Individuals were followed to December 31, 2013. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). During 1,069,815 person years of follow-up, 169 kidney cancer and 297 bladder cancer cases were documented. After adjusting for potential confounders, no greater risk of kidney and bladder cancer was observed. However, sugary drink consumption was positively associated with the risk of kidney cancer (HR for 100 ml/day increase in consumption was 1.11 [95% CI 1.01–1.22]) and bladder cancer (HR for 100 ml/d increase in consumption was 1.11 [95% CI 1.01–1.22]) among women after exclusion of cases diagnosed in the first three years of follow-up. In this large prospective cohort, consumption of sugary drinks was significantly associated with a small increase in hazard ratio for kidney and bladder cancer among women after exclusion of cases diagnosed within the first three years.
Preferences and patterns of response to public health advice during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Nov Oded , Dove Graham , Balestra Martina , Lawrence Katharine , Mann Devin , Wiesenfeld Batia 
Published: November 2021

AbstractWith recurring waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, a dilemma facing public health leadership is whether to provide public advice that is medically optimal (e.g., most protective against infection if followed), but unlikely to be adhered to, or advice that is less protective but is more likely to be followed. To provide insight about this dilemma, we examined and quantified public perceptions about the tradeoff between (a) the stand-alone value of health behavior advice, and (b) the advice’s adherence likelihood. In a series of studies about preference for public health leadership advice, we asked 1061 participants to choose between (5) strict advice that is medically optimal if adhered to but which is less likely to be broadly followed, and (2) relaxed advice, which is less medically effective but more likely to gain adherence—given varying infection expectancies. Participants’ preference was consistent with risk aversion. Offering an informed choice alternative that shifts volition to advice recipients only strengthened risk aversion, but also demonstrated that informed choice was preferred as much or more than the risk-averse strict advice.
Trace of evanescent wave polarization by atomic vapor spectroscopy
Authors: Mosleh M. , Ranjbaran M. , Hamidi S. M. 
Published: November 2021

AbstractVarious efforts have been made to determine the polarization state of evanescent waves in different structures. The present study shows the reliability of magneto-optical spectroscopy of D1 and D2 lines of rubidium metal and polarization-dependent transitions to investigate and trace the changes in the polarization state of evanescent fields during total internal reflection over different angles. For this purpose, we design and fabricate atomic- evanescent Rb vapor cells and examine the effect of polarization changes of evanescent waves, depending on the propagation direction of evanescent waves in anisotropic rubidium vapor media under 88 mT external magnetic field by different configurations theoretically and experimentally. The results confirm the dependency of allowed $$\sigma^{ \pm } { }\;{\text{and}}\;\pi$$

σ
±

and

π

transitions on the magneto optical configuration as a tool to determine changes in the polarization of evanescent waves in more complicated wave states in anisotropic media.
Categorical Perception of Chinese Lexical Tones by Late Second Language Learners With High Proficiency: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Measures
Authors: Xi Jie , Xu Hongkai , Zhu Ying , Zhang Linjun , Shu Hua , Zhang Yang 
Published: November 2021

Purpose:
Although acquisition of Chinese lexical tones by second language (L2) learners has been intensively investigated, very few studies focused on categorical perception (CP) of lexical tones by highly proficient L2 learners. This study was designed to address this issue with behavioral and electrophysiological measures.

Method:
Behavioral identification and auditory event-related potential (ERP) components for speech discrimination, including mismatch negativity (MMN), N2b, and P3b, were measured in 23 native Korean speakers who were highly proficient late L2 learners of Chinese. For the ERP measures, both passive and active listening tasks were administered to examine the automatic and attention-controlled discriminative responses to within- and across-category differences for carefully chosen stimuli from a lexical tone continuum.

Results:
The behavioral task revealed native-like identification function of the tonal continuum. Correspondingly, the active oddball task demonstrated larger P3b amplitudes for the across-category than within-category deviants in the left recording site, indicating clear CP of lexical tones in the attentive condition. By contrast, similar MMN responses in the right recording site were elicited by both the across- and within-category deviants, indicating the absence of CP effect with automatic phonological processing of lexical tones at the pre-attentive stage even in L2 learners with high Chinese proficiency.

Conclusion:
Although behavioral data showed clear evidence of categorical perception of lexical tones in proficient L2 learners, ERP measures from passive and active listening tasks demonstrated fine-grained sensitivity in terms of response polarity, latency, and laterality in revealing different aspects of auditory versus linguistic processing associated with speech decoding by means of largely implicit native language acquisition versus effortful explicit L2 learning.
Bidirectional Associations of Childhood Stuttering With Behavior and Temperament
Authors: Koenraads Simone P. C. , Jansen Pauline W. , Baatenburg de Jong Robert Jan , van der Schroeff Marc P. , Franken Marie-Christine 
Published: November 2021

Purpose:
Behavior and temperament (e.g., emotional reactivity, self-regulation) have been considered relevant to stuttering and its developmental course, but the direction of this relation is still unknown. Knowledge of behavior difficulties and temperament in childhood stuttering can improve screening and intervention. The current study examined both directions of the relationship between stuttering and behavior difficulties and temperament and between persistent stuttering and behavior difficulties and temperament across childhood.

Method:
This study was embedded in the Generation R Study, a population-based cohort from fetal life onward in the Netherlands. We analyzed data from 145 children (4.2%) with a history of stuttering (118 recovered, 27 persistent) and 3,276 children without such a history. Behavior and temperament were repeatedly assessed using parental questionnaires (Child Behavior Checklist) and Infant/Child Behavior Questionnaire between 0.5 and 9 years of age. Multiple logistic and linear regression analyses were performed.

Results:

Six-month-old children who were less able to “recover from distress,” indicating poor self-regulation, were more likely to develop persistent stuttering later in childhood (odds ratio = 2.05, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.03, 4.05],
p
= .04). In the opposite direction, children with a history of stuttering showed more negative affectivity (β = 0.19, 95% CI [0.02, 0.37],
p
= .03) at 6 years of age than children without such a history. Stuttering persistence was associated with increased internalizing behaviors (β = 0.38, 95% CI [0.03, 0.74],
p
= .04) and higher emotional reactivity (β = 0.53, 95% CI [0.09, 0.89],
p
= .02) at the age of 9 years.

Conclusions:
Behavior and temperament were associated with stuttering persistency—seemingly as both predictor and consequence—but did not predict a history of stuttering. We suggest that children who persist in stuttering should be carefully monitored, and if behavioral or temperamental problems appear, treatment for these problems should be offered.

Supplemental Material

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16869479