bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Robot Ego‐Noise Suppression with Labanotation‐Template Subtraction
Authors: Jaroslavceva Jekaterina , Wake Naoki , Sasabuchi Kazuhiro , Ikeuchi Katsushi 
Published: November 2021

AbstractIn this study, we aim to improve automatic‐speech‐recognition (ASR) accuracy in the presence of robot ego‐noise toward a better human‐robot interaction. Although several noise reduction methods have been proposed to increase ASR accuracy or signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) by predicting ego‐noises through a short‐time motion‐template subtraction or a neural network, these methods showed poor performance in some practical use cases, such as attenuating long‐term motion‐associated ego‐noise. Based on the motion‐template subtraction method, we address the problem of creating ego‐noise templates associated with a wide variety of robot motions. For representing robot motions, we employ a dance notation referred to as Labanotation. The rationales behind our approach are: (i) Labanotation allows quantizing infinite motion patterns using a finite number of Labanotation combinations; (ii) Labanotation‐based motion description is hardware‐independent; and (iii) long‐time noise templates facilitate the localization of noise templates in a speech‐with‐noise signal compared to short‐time templates. The effectiveness of the Labanotation‐template subtraction (LTS) method was tested for five commercial ASRs in terms of ASR accuracy, SNR, and source‐to‐distortion ratio. We show that LTS leads to a reasonable performance, comparable to the other methods. The contribution of this study is (i) to propose to use Labanotation to reasonably collect noise templates, (ii) to demonstrate the practical effectiveness of LTS as well as examples of Labanotations for household actions. © 2021 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.
MicroRNA‐577 aggravates bone loss and bone remodeling by targeting thyroid stimulating hormone receptor in hyperthyroid‐associated osteoporosis
Authors: Xu Tongdao , Zhou Ping , Li Huihua , Ding Qun , Hua Fei 
Published: November 2021

AbstractTraditionally, hyperthyroid‐associated osteoporosis has been considered to be the result of increased thyroid hormone levels. The pathogenesis of hyperthyroid‐associated osteoporosis remains unclear. Thyroid stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) is closely associated with osteoporosis. Our study aimed to explore the role of TSHR and its upstream microRNA (miRNA) in hyperthyroid‐associated osteoporosis. Bioinformatics analysis (starBase and Targetscan) and a wide range of experiments including reverse‐transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction, luciferase reporter, western blot analysis of osteogenic differentiation markers including OSX, OCN, ALP, OPN, and COL1, hematoxylin and eosin staining, Alizarin Red staining assays were used to explore the function and mechanism of TSHR in hyperthyroid‐associated osteoporosis. First, we observed that TSHR was downregulated in bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) isolated from rats after culture in osteogenic medium for 7 days. Functionally, overexpression of TSHR accelerates BMSC osteogenic differentiation. Mechanistically, we predicted four potential miRNAs for TSHR. MiR‐577 was validated to bind with TSHR. Rescue assays showed that miR‐577 overexpression inhibited BMSC osteogenic differentiation via targeting TSHR. In vivo experiments showed that miR‐577 aggravated bone loss and bone remodeling and our data showed that it is achieved by targeting TSHR in hyperthyroid‐associated osteoporosis. This finding may deep our understanding of the pathogenesis of hyperthyroid‐associated osteoporosis.
Quantitative and population genomics suggest a broad role of stay‐green loci in the drought adaptation of sorghum
Authors: Faye Jacques M. , Akata Eyanawa A. , Sine Bassirou , Diatta Cyril , Cisse Ndiaga , Fonceka Daniel , Morris Geoffrey P. 
Published: November 2021

AbstractDrought is a major constraint on plant productivity globally. Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] landraces have evolved in drought‐prone regions, but the genetics of their adaptation is poorly understood. Here we sought to identify novel drought‐tolerance loci and test hypotheses on the role of known loci including those underlying stay‐green (Stg) postflowering drought tolerance. We phenotyped 590 diverse sorghum accessions from West Africa in 10 environments, under field‐based managed drought stress [preflowering water stress (WS1), postflowering water stress (WS2), and well‐watered (WW)] and rainfed (RF) conditions over 4 yr. Days to 50% flowering (DFLo), aboveground dry biomass (DBM), plant height (PH), and plant grain yield components (including grain weight [GrW], panicle weight [PW] and grain number [GrN] per plant, and 1000‐grain weight [TGrW]) were measured, and genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) was conducted. Broad‐sense heritability for biomass and plant grain yield was high (33–92%) across environments. There was a significant correlation between stress tolerance index (STI) for GrW per plant across WS1 and WS2. Genome‐wide association studies revealed that SbZfl1 and SbCN12, orthologs of maize (Zea mays L.) flowering genes, likely underlie flowering time variation under these conditions. Genome‐wide association studies further identified associations (n = 134; common between two GWAS models) for STI and drought effects on plant yield components including 16 putative pleiotropic associations. Thirty of the associations colocalized with Stg1, Stg2, Stg3, and Stg4 loci and had large effects. Seven lead associations, including some within Stg1, overlapped with positive selection outliers. Our findings reveal previously undescribed natural genetic variation for drought‐tolerance‐related traits and suggest a broad role of Stg loci in drought adaptation of sorghum.
Consequences of cervical pessary for subsequent pregnancy: follow‐up of randomized clinical trial (ProTWIN)
Authors: van Limburg Stirum E. V. J. , Zegveld S. J. , Simons N. E. , de Boer M. A. , Pajkrt E. , Mol B. W. J. , Oudijk M. A. , van 't Hooft J. 
Published: November 2021

ABSTRACTObjectiveTo evaluate the effect of cervical pessary, as a strategy to prevent preterm birth (PTB), on the outcome of subsequent pregnancy and maternal quality of life 4 years after the index twin pregnancy.MethodsBetween 2009 and 2012, the ProTWIN trial randomized women with a multiple pregnancy to pessary use vs standard care for the prevention of PTB. The trial showed no benefit in unselected women with a twin pregnancy, but showed a 60% reduction in poor perinatal outcomes in favor of the pessary group in the subgroup of women with a mid‐trimester short cervix (cervical length < 38 mm). All women were invited to participate in a follow‐up study 4 years after their participation in the ProTWIN trial. In this follow‐up study, maternal quality of life was assessed using the EQ‐5D‐3L questionnaire and women were asked separate questions about subsequent pregnancies. Results were compared between women who were randomized to the pessary vs the control group in the ProTWIN trial by calculating relative risk (RR) and 95% CI. Subgroup analysis was performed for women with a mid‐trimester short cervix (cervical length < 38 mm).ResultsOf the 813 women included in the ProTWIN trial, 408 (50.2%) participated in this follow‐up study, comprising 228 randomized to the pessary group and 180 to the control group in the original trial. The median interval between participation in the ProTWIN trial and participation in this follow‐up study was 4.1 (interquartile range (IQR), 3.9–7.1) years. Ninety‐eight (24.0%) participants tried to conceive after their participation in the ProTWIN trial. Of those, 22 (22.4%) women did not have a subsequent pregnancy (no difference between pessary and control groups), seven (7.1%) women had at least one miscarriage but no live birth, and 67 (68.4%) women had at least one live birth (35 in the pessary vs 32 in the control group; RR, 0.93 (95% CI, 0.8–1.07)). In two women, the pregnancy outcome was unknown. Preterm delivery (< 37 weeks of gestation) of the first live birth occurred in three women in the pessary vs one woman in the control group (all singleton; RR, 2.57 (95% CI, 0.28–23.44)). No differences were found between the pessary and control groups in the subgroup of women with mid‐trimester short cervix, but the numbers analyzed were small. The median health state index score was 0.95 (IQR, 0.82–0.95), with no difference between the pessary and control groups.ConclusionOur findings suggest that there are no long‐term effects of pessary use on the outcome of subsequent pregnancies and maternal quality of life. Data on obstetric outcome were limited due to the small numbers. © 2021 The Authors. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Comparison of postmortem whole‐body contrast‐enhanced microfocus computed tomography and high‐field magnetic resonance imaging of human fetuses
Authors: Dawood Y. , Honhoff C. , van der Post A.‐S. , Roosendaal S. D. , Coolen B. F. , Strijkers G. J. , Pajkrt E. , de Bakker B. S. 
Published: November 2021

ABSTRACTObjectiveAlthough fetal autopsy is generally recommended to confirm or refute the antemortem diagnosis, parental acceptance of the procedure has fallen over time, mainly due to its invasiveness. Contrast‐enhanced microfocus CT (micro‐CT) and high‐field magnetic resonance imaging (HF‐MRI, ≥ 3 Tesla) have both been suggested as non‐invasive alternatives to conventional fetal autopsy for fetuses < 20 weeks of gestation. The aim of this study was to compare these two modalities in postmortem whole‐body fetal imaging.MethodsIn this study, the imaging process and quality of micro‐CT and HF‐MRI were compared using both qualitative and quantitative assessments. For the qualitative evaluation, fetal anatomy experts scored 56 HF‐MRI and 56 micro‐CT images of four human fetuses aged 13–18 gestational weeks on two components: overall image quality and the ability to recognize and assess 21 anatomical structures. For the quantitative evaluation, participants segmented manually three organs with increasing complexity to assess interobserver variability. In addition, the signal‐to‐noise and contrast‐to‐noise ratios of five major organs were determined.ResultsBoth imaging techniques were able to reach submillimeter voxel size. The highest resolution of micro‐CT was 22 µm (isotropic), while the highest resolution of HF‐MRI was 137 µm (isotropic). The qualitative image assessment form was sent to 45 fetal anatomy experts, of whom 36 (80%) responded. It was observed that micro‐CT scored higher on all components of the qualitative assessment compared with HF‐MRI. In addition, the quantitative assessment showed that micro‐CT had lower interobserver variability and higher signal‐to‐noise and contrast‐to‐noise ratios.ConclusionsOur findings show that micro‐CT outperforms HF‐MRI in postmortem whole‐body fetal imaging in terms of both quantitative and qualitative outcomes. Combined, these findings suggest that the ability to extract diagnostic information is greater when assessing micro‐CT compared with HF‐MRI images. We, therefore, believe that micro‐CT is the preferred imaging modality as an alternative to conventional fetal autopsy for early gestation and is an indispensable tool in postmortem imaging services. © 2021 The Authors. Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology.
What memory is—Not!
Authors: Fritzman J. M. , Rottschaefer William A. 
Published: November 2021

AbstractRejecting the received account, which includes procedural and semantic memory, Stanley B. Klein claims that only episodic memory is genuine memory. This is so, he asserts, because only episodic memory is partly constituted by a quale, a Nagelian “what it is like” feeling of the past. However, his actual position reveals a very different set of claims about memory, one that involves a distinctive feel, distinct from Nagelian qualia and other versions of what qualia are. We argue that Klein's actual position significantly differs from what he claims memory is. And we try to describe what Kleinian qualia should feel like. We suspect that they might not feel like anything at all.This article is categorized under:
Psychology > Memory
Philosophy > Consciousness
Philosophy > Psychological Capacities
Designing nanoformulation for the nose‐to‐brain delivery in Parkinson's disease: Advancements and barrier
Authors: Kiran Pallavi , Debnath Sujit Kumar , Neekhra Suditi , Pawar Vaishali , Khan Amreen , Dias Faith , Pallod Shubham , Srivastava Rohit 
Published: November 2021

AbstractParkinson's disease (PD), a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons, which results in the loss of motor activity. In the management of PD, the primary aim is to increase the dopamine content in the brain either by delivering the precursors of dopamine or by inhibiting the molecules responsible for dopamine degradation. Due to the low bioavailability, a higher dosage of drugs needs to be administered repeatedly for achieving the desired therapeutic effect. This repeated high dose not only increases the severe side effects but also produces tolerance in the body. Often, direct administration of drugs fails to ameliorate the symptoms as the unmodified drugs cannot cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB). Nanotherapeutic is at the forefront of the alternative treatment against the central nervous system (CNS) disorders due to the ability to circumvents the BBB. Here, all the available treatments for PD have been discussed with their limitation. The current trends of nanotherapeutics for PD have been explored. Suitability and formulation prospects for nasal delivery have been analyzed in detail to explore new research scope. The most effective approach is the nose‐to‐brain delivery for targeting drugs directly to the brain. This delivery bypasses the BBB and concentrates more drugs at the target site. Thus, developments of nose‐to‐brain delivery of nanoformulations explicit the new scope to manage PD better.This article is categorized under:
Therapeutic Approaches and Drug Discovery > Emerging Technologies
Nanotechnology Approaches to Biology > Nanoscale Systems in Biology
Hofmann‐type Metal‐Organic Framework Based Bimetal/Carbon Nanosheets for Efficient Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution
Authors: Wang Bo , Wang Xue , Yong Jiayi , Song Zhirong , Chen Jiazhen , Wang Xusheng , Gao Junkuo 
Published: November 2021

AbstractThe development of efficient oxygen evolution reaction (OER) catalyst is the key to solve the slow reaction kinetics and is of great significance for the conversion and storage of renewable energy. In this paper, bimetallic/carbon nanosheets electrocatalysts were prepared by high temperature carbonization using Hofmann‐type metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) as precursors. It is worth noting that in this study, the morphology and structure of the catalyst was successfully adjusted by surfactant, and the Co/Fe‐Dpyz@CNC (1000) catalyst obtained has a large specific surface area (316.3 m2/g) and rich exposed active centers. In addition, the coupling effect of Co and Fe bimetal optimizes the electronic structure of the graphite layer and enhances the conductivity of the catalyst. Co/Fe‐Dpyz@CNC (1000) shows excellent OER performance, the overpotential is 318 mV@10 mA cm−2, and the Tafel slope is very small in 1 M KOH, which is 62.8 mV dec−1. The results show that bimetal/carbon nanosheets are potential catalysts for OER.
A study on nanoliquid flow with irregular heat source and realistic boundary conditions: A modified Buongiorno model for biomedical applications
Authors: Areekara Sujesh , Mackolil Joby , Mahanthesh B. , Mathew Alphonsa , Rana Puneet 
Published: November 2021

AbstractTitanium dioxide plays a vital role in cancer therapy methods (including photothermal therapy and photodynamic therapy), skincare products, heat exchangers, and car radiators. Therefore, the dynamics of the TiO2 nanomaterial with H2O as basefluid over a nonlinearly stretched surface is investigated. For realistic nanoliquid modeling, the conventional Buongiorno model has been improvised (called modified Buongiorno model [MBM]) by incorporating the effective thermophysical properties of the nanoliquid. Experimentally derived correlations of the thermal conductivity and dynamic viscosity of the nanofluid are utilized. The significance of passive control of nanoparticles is also studied. The heat transfer analysis includes the mechanism of Rosseland heat flux and exponential heat source. Similarity theory is used to obtain nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) from the governing partial differential equations which are solved numerically using bvp5c, a finite difference‐based routine in MATLAB. Further, the heat transfer rate is statistically scrutinized for the consequence of magnetic field, thermal radiation and exponential heat source by employing Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and sensitivity analysis. The temperature of nanofluid ascends with the exponential heat source, thermal radiation, and thermophoresis aspects. Furthermore, when the MBM is utilised, the thermal field of the nanofluid is greater than when the classic Buongiorno model is used. The rate of heat transfer correlates positively with radiative heat flux. The exponential heat source exhibits a negative sensitivity towards the rate of heat transfer.
Introduction
Authors: Hettich Peter , Kachi Aya 
Published: November 2021

AbstractIn 2014, the Swiss Confederation established the Swiss Competence Center for Research in Energy, Society and Transition to respond to important challenges posed by the Swiss energy transition, envisaged by the so-called “Energy Strategy 2050”. This chapter reflects on the research done by the 55 researchers within SCCER CREST that decided to conduct their work under the umbrella term “energy governance”. Given the plethora of findings and recommendations that can be derived from this research and that are compiled in this volume, the authors of this chapter have discussed extensively whether all these findings can be stitched together into an integrated narrative, thereby providing guidance on how to transform an energy industry. However, connecting the research results of this volume towards an integrated narrative would necessarily be a construct. Instead, we offer some thoughts on the urge of funding agencies to have such narratives at their disposal.
Referendum Campaigns in Swiss Energy Policy
Authors: Rinscheid Adrian , Udris Linards 
Published: November 2021

AbstractWhat are the patterns in media coverage in Swiss energy policy-making, and to what extent do the media influence voters’ decisions at the ballot? In a first step, this chapter provides a comparative investigation of media coverage in the run-up to three recent energy-related referenda (2015 initiative “Energy tax instead of VAT”; 2016 nuclear phase-out initiative; 2017 referendum on the federal Energy Strategy 2050), with 31 other referenda between 2014 and 2018 as a benchmark. Based on a content analysis of articles published in 21 Swiss newspapers, our analysis demonstrates that the three energy-policy referenda are characterized by patterns similar to non-energy votes but also have distinct features. In a second step, we specifically focus on the 2016 nuclear phase-out initiative, which was characterized by balanced newspaper reporting, and explain voting behavior by linking data on media coverage and individual-level data from a panel survey (n = 1014). The analysis relies on “linkage analysis”, a method that takes media contents as quasi-experimental stimuli to explain individual-level outcomes. We find that the failure of the phase-out initiative can be partly explained by exposure to newspaper coverage: one in four left-wing voters who had initially been in favor of the popular initiative but were exposed to strongly negative coverage about it during the “hot” campaign phase changed their initial voting intention. The analysis also suggests that the media coverage may have helped center/right-wing voters to learn about their preferred party’s position so as to align their vote choice with their political predisposition.
Decentralisation of Energy Generation, Centralisation of Energy Lawmaking
Authors: Föhse Martin 
Published: November 2021

AbstractThe energy sector has been subject to regulation since ancient times. The mechanisms of regulatory activity in this sector run like a red thread through history. New regulations are often born out of necessity (for example because of limited energy resources or today because of climate objectives). Switzerland’s energy law was originally a cantonal matter. Over the course of time, more and more competences have been transferred to the federal level. This, together with the increasing complexity of the subject matter of regulation, has led to a conflicting legal framework that renders it nearly impossible, even for experts, to answer everyday questions of competence with the necessary clarity and without much effort.
Governing Decentral Energy Systems
Authors: Hettich Peter 
Published: November 2021

AbstractAgainst the backdrop of an energy system moving from vertically integrated monopolies towards a decentral system with a multitude of actors in ever-changing roles, we observe a gradual strengthening of central governance mechanisms on the nation-state and on the European level. Such a top-down approach to the governance of the energy system might have been necessary to open up energy markets to competitive processes and innovation. With social goals shifting and security of supply and environmental concerns gaining importance, the governance of the energy system has to be reshaped anew, enabling, e.g., the optimization of regional energy systems by local actors. In particular, strict unbundling rules may hinder or preclude system-serving behavior, to the detriment of all market participants and consumers. Lawmakers and regulators should provide some leeway to cooperative approaches, such as the empowerment of local actors to devise their own energy regimes.
Introduction: Stories of Science and Empire
Authors: Taylor-Pirie Emilie 
Published: November 2021

AbstractIn this introduction, Taylor-Pirie appraises the intersections of the ‘imaginative architecture of science and empire’ by examining how, as a fledging medical discipline at the fin de siècle, parasitology entered into significant encounters and exchanges with the literary and historical imagination. Introducing readers to Nobel Prize–winning parasitologist Ronald Ross (1857–1932), Taylor-Pirie lays the foundations for the rest of the book by examining how forms such as poetry and biography, genres such as imperial romance and detective fiction, and modes such as adventure and the Gothic together informed how tropical diseases, their parasites, and their vectors were understood in relation to race, gender, and nation. In addition to considering the contemporaneous public understanding of science, she also explores how parasitologists were often engaged in writing their own histories of the discipline, a practice that led to a predominantly white, predominantly male understanding of science that finds a legacy in gender disparities in STEM and biases in popular histories of medicine in favour of a mode of ‘heroic biography’. She provides a brief critical overview of the field of literature and science and places her methodology and the field in the context of contemporary topics like the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Lives Matter protests, and the heritage culture wars.