bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Chance‐constrained operation of the water‐energy nexus with conflicting objectives
Authors: Gao Ning , Wang Cheng , Liu Nian , Bi Tianshu 
Published: April 2021

AbstractThis paper focuses on the short‐term operation of the water‐energy nexus, where the energy sectors include electricity, natural gas, and heating power. The uncertainties of the renewable generation outputs and the heterogeneous load demands are considered, and their impacts on the operation of the water‐energy nexus are characterised through chance‐constrained modelling. Meanwhile, to achieve a reasonable trade‐off among different conflicting operation goals, such as the out‐of‐the‐pocket energy production costs and the water consumption amount, a bi‐objective decision‐making framework is established. The intractable chance constraints are converted into tractable ones under practical assumptions on the distributions of the uncertainties, where the Gaussian Mixture Model is used to fit the probability density distribution of wind power generation. The nonlinearities and nonconvexities in the proposed model are replaced by their convex approximations. An iterative penalty method is devised to recover the solution feasibility with respect to the original model. A fair compromise between the two conflicting objectives is obtained by the means of Nash bargaining. Simulation results verify the necessity and effectiveness of the proposed model and methods.
Performance analysis and optimization of polarized on‐body relay channels
Authors: Liu Lingfeng , Jin Jiabin , Zhang Peng , Xia Qin , Jiang Nan , Liu Zhiwei , Zhang Xiaoyan 
Published: April 2021

AbstractOn‐body propagation channels show significant polarization selectivity that has dominant impacts on the on‐body link quality in wireless body area networks. For on‐body relay channels over long distances across the body, the antenna polarization configurations of the relaying nodes are crucial to determine the relay performance, thereby requiring polarization optimization schemes. In this article, narrow band flat‐fading on‐body channels at 2.484 GHz are measured to analyse their polarization distribution above the skin under static postures. The measured on‐body channels show full‐space polarization convergence and dispersion, which are modelled by an extended 3 by 3 channel polarization matrix, and a statistical channel model is also proposed. Multi‐hop polarized on‐body relay channels are analysed on the relay link capacity, which shows polarization dependency between adjacent hop channels when relaying nodes are mounted by linearly polarized antennas. Both regular and iterative polarization selection algorithms are then designed to optimise the antenna polarization configuration of the nodes. Simulations based on the proposed polarization distribution model show significant link capacity increases for two‐hop and tfhree‐hop on‐body relay channels by the optimization algorithms. The results confirm the necessity of proper polarization selection schemes for on‐body relay channels.
Patientin mit Schwangerschaft, Borderline-Organisation und schwerer Polytoxikomanie
Authors: Brokatzky Stefan 
Published: April 2021

Zusammenfassung
Zielsetzung Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, die Komplexität von Schwangerschaft und Sucht durch ein Fallbeispiel einer Patientin mit schwerer Polytoxikomanie, Borderline-Organisation sowie den Verlauf der Schwangerschaft und die frühe Phase nach der Geburt vorzustellen. Dabei ging es v. a. um die Frage, wie eine langfristige Behandlung mit einem mehrstufigen, multiprofessionellen und multimodalen Setting aussehen könnte. Die Arbeit zeigt zudem Konflikte an Schnittstellen auf und wie wichtig die Kommunikation innerhalb des Teams und fachübergreifend war.
Intervention Qualifizierte stationäre Entgiftungsbehandlung von Benzodiazepinen, Phenothiazin, Lyrica Venlafaxin und Reduktion von Methadon mit anschließender Umstellung auf Buprenorphin sowie ergänzender kombinierter ärztlicher, psychodynamischer Einzel- und Gruppentherapie und einem pflegerischen DBT-S Einzel- und Gruppensetting. Außerdem wurde schon während der Schwangerschaft zusätzlich zum stationären Behandlungsteam ein fächerübergreifendes Behandlungsteam aus Gynäkologen, Kinderärzten, Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatern sowie der Kinder- und Erwachsenenschutzbehörde (KESB, in Deutschland Jugendamt) zusammengestellt und schon zu Beginn wurde eine langfristige Behandlung mit stationärem, teilstationärem und ambulantem Intervall geplant.
Ergebnis Im Laufe der fast 3-jährigen Behandlung und 5 Jahre späteren katamnestischen Nachuntersuchung konnte zunächst unter 8 mg Buprenorphin eine Abstinenz von illegalen Substanzen erzielt werden. Im Verlauf sogar vollständige Abstinenz ohne Substitution. Dies konnte durch ein erneutes Interview und Drogenscreening im Jahr 2020 bestätigt werden. Außerdem konnte im Rahmen der fächerübergreifenden Arbeit ein stabiles soziales Umfeld und ein Wiedereinstieg ins Berufsleben erreicht werden.
Diskussion Trotz der anfänglich häufigen Rückfälle konnte durch den Erhalt der therapeutischen Beziehung (z. B. mittels Time-out auf die Akutstation, Verlängerung einer Wochenendbeurlaubung oder Neuverhandlung der Behandlungsvereinbarung) unter Fortsetzung der Einzelpsychotherapie und Bezugspflege mit Einbezug der Rückfälle, gegenseitiges Vertrauen und Wertschätzung geschaffen werden. Dafür war allerdings viel supervisorische Arbeit innerhalb des Teams, aber auch fächerübergreifend notwendig, da sich die extreme innerer Welt der Patientin häufig in unterschiedlicher Art und Weise im multiprofessionellen Team zeigte und dadurch zu Konflikten führte, die passager das Verlassen der Neutralität verlangten. Ferner waren für diese Art der Behandlung enorme Ressourcen notwendig sowohl zeitlich als auch personell.
White Sage (Salvia apiana)–a Ritual and Medicinal Plant of the Chaparral: Plant Characteristics in Comparison with Other Salvia Species
Authors: Krol Agata , Kokotkiewicz Adam , Luczkiewicz Maria 
Published: April 2021

AbstractSalvia apiana, commonly known as white sage, is an aromatic evergreen subshrub of the chaparral, commonly found in coastal plains in California and Baja California. It has been traditionally used by the Chumash people as a ritual and medicinal plant and used as a calmative, a diuretic, and a remedy for the common cold. However, until recently, relatively little has been known about the composition and biological activity of white sage. Phytochemical studies on S. apiana revealed the presence of substantial amounts of essential oil, accompanied by a variety of triterpenes, C23 terpenoids, diterpenes, and flavonoids. Extracts of the plant have been shown to exhibit antioxidative, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic effects. The influence of white sage constituents on the nervous system, including GABA, opioid, and cannabinoid receptors, has also been documented. The review aimed to compile information on the taxonomy, botany, chemical composition, and biological activities of S. apiana. White sage was compared with other representatives of the genus in terms of chemical composition. The differences and similarities between S. apiana and other sage species were noted and discussed in the context of their therapeutic applications. Reports on ethnomedicinal uses of white sage were confronted with reports on chemistry, bioactivity, and bioavailability of S. apiana constituents. Finally, a critical assessment of the available data was made and perspectives for the use of white sage preparations in modern phytomedicine were discussed.
Production, composition, and mode of action of the painful defensive venom produced by a limacodid caterpillar,
Doratifera vulnerans
Authors: Walker Andrew A. , Robinson Samuel D. , Paluzzi Jean-Paul V. , Merritt David J. , Nixon Samantha A. , Schroeder Christina I. , Jin Jiayi , Goudarzi Mohaddeseh Hedayati , Kotze Andrew C. , Dekan Zoltan , Sombke Andy , Alewood Paul F. , Fry Bryan G. , Epstein Marc E. , Vetter Irina , King Glenn F. 
Published: April 2021

Significance
Venoms of limacodid caterpillars evolved independently to those of previously studied animals, and analysis of their venom therefore provides an opportunity to examine patterns of molecular convergence and divergence underlying the evolution of venom use. We report remarkable convergence in the recruitment of venom peptides between limacodids and other venomous taxa. Like scorpions and spiders, limacodids have weaponized immune system peptides to deter potential predators, although these cecropin-derived venom peptides are more similar in structure and mode of action to the venom peptides of hymenopteran insects. This study reveals a venom system with a unique combination of features not previously reported in other venomous animals and provides insights into the functional basis of venoms of the Limacodidae.
Evolutionary and functional analysis of an NRPS condensation domain integrates β-lactam, ᴅ-amino acid, and dehydroamino acid synthesis
Authors: Wheadon Michael J. , Townsend Craig A. 
Published: April 2021

Significance
By applying phylogenetic tools, we infer the ancestral origins of a nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS) condensation (C) domain responsible for β-lactam (antibiotic) synthesis. Subsequent in vitro experiments suggest a mechanism for how this unique synthetic function likely evolved. β-Lactam synthesizing ability appears to have emerged along with an adjacent epimerization (E) domain deletion and in parallel with other C domains whose catalysis presumably share intermediates with β-lactam synthesis, including ᴅ-amino acid and dehydroamino acid synthesis. The implied mechanistic link between β-lactam formation and the latter two C-domain functions can be experimentally tested in the future to discern how evolutionary differences dictate synthetic outcome. These insights may constructively guide protein engineering efforts to introduce potentially valuable structural elements into NPRS products.
Ferroelectricity and multiferroicity in anti–Ruddlesden–Popper structures
Authors: Markov Maxime , Alaerts Louis , Miranda Henrique Pereira Coutada , Petretto Guido , Chen Wei , George Janine , Bousquet Eric , Ghosez Philippe , Rignanese Gian-Marco , Hautier Geoffroy 
Published: April 2021

Significance
Ferroelectric materials are of great interest for both applied and fundamental reasons. One of the focuses of the community has been to combine ferroelectricity with other properties such as light absorption or ferromagnetism. Unfortunately, these additional properties have been difficult to add to traditional ferroelectrics such as perovskites, and new families of ferroelectric materials are highly sought. Here, we report on a class of ferroelectric materials offering a geometric mechanism of polar instability and a unique set of properties including the extremely rare combination of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric order.
Adoretus sinicus (Chinese rose beetle).
Authors: García-Moll Alberto 
Published: April 2021

Abstract

Adoretus sinicus is a polyphagous beetle, native to parts of eastern Asia, which has been introduced (probably via the plant trade) widely throughout much of Southeast Asia and many Pacific islands, and has the potential to spread further. It feeds on a broad range of plants and can cause severe damage to crops, ornamental plants and trees in places where it has been introduced. USDA-APHIS (United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) included it on the Regulated Plant Pest List (USDA-APHIS, 2000).
Should Nigeria join the European Union’s Economic Partnership Agreement with the other ECOWAS states?
Authors: Igechi Gabriel Ozekhome 
Published: April 2021

SUMMARY
This debate piece explores the possible consequences for Nigeria in the event that she signs up to the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the European Union (EU) and the other Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states. It argues that in a global firmament driven by economic conflict, the struggle for resources and realist economic nationalism – and with cut-throat competition as the norm in international political economy – it will amount to folly for the nation to embrace a partnership whose ramifications are at best murky. The author thus questions whether the EPA signed by ECOWAS with the EU will be favourable to the Nigerian people.
Investigations on piezo actuated micro XY stage for vibration-assisted micro milling
Authors: Prabhu Prasad , Rao Muralidhara 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Vibration assisted machining is an advanced non-conventional precision machining technique aiming at improving the machining performance by superimposing a small amplitude, high-frequency vibration either on the tool or on the workpiece. This article presents the mechanical design, electromechanical simulation, and experimentation on the developed prototype of the flexural hinged micro XY stage for the vibration-assisted micro-milling system. The micro XY stage comprises three layers of flexural hinge structure surrounding the central parallel kinematic structure. The finite element analysis method is adopted to evaluate the static structural stiffness and harmonic behaviour. Two multilayer piezoelectric stack actuators drive the micro XY stage in X and Y directions. The experimental results show that the micro XY stage has a vibrating work area of 17.06 µm × 17.11 µm with a hysteresis nonlinearity and cross-coupling displacements on both axes. Therefore, an electromechanical model is essential to compensate for the hysteresis behaviour and cross-coupling displacements. Open-loop tracking control experiments determine the accuracy of the developed electromechanical model. Implementing a combined hysteresis and cross-coupling displacement compensation approach into the electromechanical model resulted in an open-loop tracking error of 7% for the synchronised circular path and a maximum deviation of 0.6 µm from the linear path.
Active near-infrared wavefront engineering employing geometric phase metasurfaces combined with phase-change materials
Authors: Fan Junxing , Lei Ting , Yuan Xiaocong 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
In recent years, with the remarkable development of micro–nano technology, phase change materials (PCMs) with superior tunable and nonvolatile functionality are integrated into metasurfaces, which has aroused huge interests among scientific communities. However, the imaginary part of refractive index of PCMs in the crystalline phase is large in the near-infrared region (NIR), leading to the strong absorption of device and limiting the development of the PCMs in the NIR. Here, we propose and investigate the hybrid metasurface with asymmetric double-split rings. We use PCM and silica (SiO2) as the composite dielectric layer, which can efficiently reduce the impact of the high imaginary part of the refractive index PCM in the crystalline phase. Moreover, metasurfaces with two types can obtain two different resonances. Furthermore, by inducing the phase change of the PCM, we can move the short-wavelength resonance peak to the position of another long-wavelength resonance peak. Meanwhile, we can add two sets of different phases to two different types of metasurfaces. Thus, the active metasurface based on the PCM can be used to achieve the active wavefront in the NIR. Hence, the proposed metasurface based on the PCM can be applied in tunable beam switching, reconfigurable holography, and other reconfigurable optical components in the NIR.
Wasserstein stability estimates for covariance-preconditioned Fokker–Planck equations
Authors: Carrillo J A , Vaes U 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
We study the convergence to equilibrium of the mean field PDE associated with the derivative-free methodologies for solving inverse problems that are presented by Garbuno-Inigo et al (2020 SIAM J. Appl. Dyn. Syst.
19 412–41), Herty and Visconti (2018 arXiv:1811.09387). We show stability estimates in the Euclidean Wasserstein distance for the mean field PDE by using optimal transport arguments. As a consequence, this recovers the convergence towards equilibrium estimates by Garbuno-Inigo et al (2020 SIAM J. Appl. Dyn. Syst.
19 412–41) in the case of a linear forward model.
A semi-discrete scheme derived from variational principles for global conservative solutions of a Camassa–Holm system
Authors: Galtung Sondre Tesdal , Raynaud Xavier 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
We define a kinetic and a potential energy such that the principle of stationary action from Lagrangian mechanics yields a Camassa–Holm system (2CH) as the governing equations. After discretizing these energies, we use the same variational principle to derive a semi-discrete system of equations as an approximation of the 2CH system. The discretization is only available in Lagrangian coordinates and requires the inversion of a discrete Sturm–Liouville operator with time-varying coefficients. We show the existence of fundamental solutions for this operator at initial time with appropriate decay. By propagating the fundamental solutions in time, we define an equivalent semi-discrete system for which we prove that there exists unique global solutions. Finally, we show how the solutions of the semi-discrete system can be used to construct a sequence of functions converging to the conservative solution of the 2CH system.
Passivity of Lotka–Volterra and quasi-polynomial systems
Authors: Márton Lőrinc , Hangos Katalin M , Magyar Attila 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
This study approaches the stability analysis and controller design of Lotka–Volterra and quasi-polynomial systems from the perspective of passivity theory. The passivity based approach requires to extend the autonomous system model with a suitable input structure. The condition of passivity for Lotka–Volterra systems is less strict than the classic asymptotic stability criterion. It is shown that each Lotka–Volterra system is feedback equivalent to a passive system and a passifying state feedback controller is proposed. The passivity based approach enables the design of novel state feedback controllers to Lotka–Volterra systems. The asymptotic stability can be achieved by applying an additional diagonal state feedback having arbitrarily small gains. This result was further explored to achieve rate disturbance attenuation in controlled Lotka–Volterra systems. By exploiting the dynamical similarities between the Lotka–Volterra and quasi-polynomial systems, it was shown that the passivity related results, developed for Lotka–Volterra systems, are also valid for a large class of quasi-polynomial systems. The methods and tools developed have been illustrated through simulation case studies.
What’s inside the pink box? A nature of science activity for teachers and students
Authors: Pols Freek 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Although learning about Nature of Science (NOS) promotes a variety of important outcomes, teachers often lack suitable activities for younger students to effectively address NOS. In this article I elaborate on a NOS activity developed for a teacher professionalisation workshop. The activity is suited for younger students as well, where clear links are made between elements of the activity and how science works.
Improved low-dose positron emission tomography image reconstruction using deep learned prior
Authors: Wang Xinhui , Zhou Long , Wang Yaofa , Jiang Haochuan , Ye Hongwei 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
Positron emission tomography (PET) is a promising medical imaging technology that provides non-invasive and quantitative measurement of biochemical process in the human bodies. PET image reconstruction is challenging due to the ill-poseness of the inverse problem. With lower statistics caused by the limited detected photons, low-dose PET imaging leads to noisy reconstructed images with much quality degradation. Recently, deep neural networks (DNN) have been widely used in computer vision tasks and attracted growing interests in medical imaging. In this paper, we proposed a maximum a posteriori (MAP) reconstruction algorithm incorporating a convolutional neural network (CNN) representation in the formation of the prior. Rather than using the CNN in post-processing, we embedded the neural network in the reconstruction framework for image representation. Using the simulated data, we first quantitatively evaluated our proposed method in terms of the noise-bias tradeoff, and compared with the filtered maximum likelihood (ML), the conventional MAP, and the CNN post-processing methods. In addition to the simulation experiments, the proposed method was further quantitatively validated on the acquired patient brain and body data with the tradeoff between noise and contrast. The results demonstrated that the proposed CNN-MAP method improved noise-bias tradeoff compared with the filtered ML, the conventional MAP, and the CNN post-processing methods in the simulation study. For the patient study, the CNN-MAP method achieved better noise-contrast tradeoff over the other three methods. The quantitative enhancements indicate the potential value of the proposed CNN-MAP method in low-dose PET imaging.
Toward a comparison and an optimization of CT protocols using new metrics of dose and image quality part I: prediction of human observers using a model observer for detection and discrimination tasks in low-dose CT images in various scanning conditions
Authors: Othman Nadia , Simon Anne-Catherine , Montagu Thierry , Berteloot Laureline , Grévent David , Habib Geryes Bouchra , Benkreira Mohamed , Bigand Emeline , Capdeville Sophie , Desrousseaux Julie , Farman Bardia , Garnier Eloise , Gempp Stephanie , Nigoul Jean-Marc , Nomikossoff Natacha , Vincent Marion 
Published: April 2021

Abstract
In the context of reducing the patient dose coming from CT scanner examinations without penalizing the diagnosis, the assessment of both patient dose and image quality (IQ) with relevant metrics is crucial. The present study represents the first stage in a larger work, aiming to compare and optimize CT protocols using dose and IQ new metrics. We proposed here to evaluate the capacity of the Non-PreWhitening matched filter with an eye (NPWE) model observer to be a robust and accurate estimation of IQ. We focused our work on two types of clinical tasks: a low contrast detection task and a discrimination task. We designed a torso-shaped phantom, including Plastic Water® slabs with cylindrical inserts of different diameters, sections and compositions. We led a human observer study with 13 human observers on images acquired in multiple irradiation and reconstruction scanning conditions (voltage, pitch, slice thickness, noise level of the reconstruction algorithm, energy level in dual-energy mode and dose), to evaluate the behavior of the model observer compared to the human responses faced to changing conditions. The model observer presented the same trends as the human observers with generally better results. We rescaled the NPWE model on the human responses by scanning conditions (kVp, pitch, slice thickness) to obtain the best agreement between both observer types, estimated using the Bland-Altman method. The impact of some scanning parameters was estimated using the correct answer rate given by the rescaled NPWE model, for both tasks and each insert size. In particular, the comparison between the dual-energy mode at 74 keV and the single-energy mode at 120 kVp showed that, if the 120 kVp voltage provided better results for the smallest insert at the lower doses for both tasks, their responses were equivalent in many cases.