bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sulfate resistance of alkali-activated flyash-slag-lime concrete: comparative study of drying-wetting cycles and conventional exposure
Authors: Jagadisha H M , Prashant Shreelaxmi , Pandit Poornachandra , G S Sandeep , Kamat Raghavendra 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Sulfate resistance of concrete is a crucial parameter for design of offshore structures. Of late alkali-activated materials are been given due consideration for infrastructure projects. In this context, the present study aims to assess the sulfate resistance of Alkali-Activated Concrete (AAC) with ternary blend of flyash-Ground Granulated Blast furnace Slag (GGBS) and limestone as the principal binder. The first phase of the study includes, the optimization of AAC ternary mix with the inclusion of limestone as a potential binder to popularly used flyash slag blends. The inclusion of 5% limestone powder into the binder matrix is found to have beneficial effect on the mechanical properties of the ternary blended AAC. Further, an increase in the limestone powder content is not found to influence mechanical properties positively. The AAC mix with 5% limestone of total binder content was therefore selected for further evaluation of sulfate resistance. The sulfate resistance is evaluated under the alkaline media by subjecting AAC specimens to constant immersion and alternative drying and wetting cycles. The mechanical characteristics and mass reduction of the exposed samples were tested and compared with the conventional Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) specimens. Evaluations were conducted over periods of 30, 45, 120, and 365 days of exposure. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS) were also used to determine the surface morphology and mineral composition of samples after 365 days of exposure periods. The Flyash-Slag-Lime AAC exhibits denser morphology in comparison to OPC-based concrete, which in turn offers enhanced sulfate resistance.
Effect of the particle shape on the shear mechanical behavior of coral sand
Authors: Zhang Xin , Ma Linjian , Ke Jiewei , Yan Zhiqiang , Feng Zheyan , Zong Limingxin 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Coral sand particles exhibit a wide range of shapes, which can be divided into four shapes, e.g., blocky, dendritic and rodlike, flaky, and shell debris. The particle shape of these mixtures is defined by the sphericity, concavity, aspect ratio, flatness and overall regularity, which ranges from 0 to 1. The effect of particle shape on the strength, crushing characteristics, and critical state parameter is systematically investigated through a series of triaxial drainage shear tests under different confining pressures. And the relationship between critical state parameters and mechanical parameters is established. The test results demonstrate the existence of an evident strain-hardening phenomenon in the stress–strain curve of coral sand, accompanied by a strain-softening phenomenon when the bias stress reaches its peak value. The sample is initially subjected to shear shrinkage, followed by shear expansion. The volumetric deformation of the coral sand decreased with increasing peripheral pressure. The particles are transformed from rough irregular shapes to smooth spheres as evidenced by an increase in the shape parameter. The greater the degree of irregularity in the shape of the particles, the more pronounced the resulting change in size reduction. In addition, the critical state parameter was found to be influenced by the shape of the coral sand particles and the mode of particle accumulation. The overall shear resistance of coral sand particles was found to depend on particle rearrangement in addition to particle surface roughness and interparticle friction. It is proposed that the general regularity critical state parameter equation relates the particle shape of coral sand to its critical state mechanical properties, which is of great importance to the practical application and research of coral sand in engineering, and provides an effective means of predicting mechanical properties granular materials.
Climate action on Twitter: perceived barriers for actions and actors, and sentiments during COP26
Authors: Wang Xinran , Judge Madeline , Steg Linda 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
We studied public perceptions of what climate actions are needed, which actors should and can act, and which factors inhibit or enable those actions using the naturally occurring discourse on climate actions on Twitter during COP26. By incorporating big data computational methods with a theory-based qualitative analysis, we aimed to identify climate actions and actors at the international, national, local, and individual levels, and systematically evaluate the perceived barriers and enablers in taking action and related public sentiments. We find that political and industry leaders are widely perceived as the most responsible and capable of taking action. Yet, their current inaction is perceived as inhibiting net-zero transitions and triggers anger, fear, and blame. In contrast, discourse on citizens and local communities demonstrates hope and solidarity in enacting pro-environmental changes from the bottom up, signaling strong public demand for ambitious climate policies and actions. These findings highlight the importance of removing institutional barriers and catalyzing socio-cultural support to accelerate collective climate progress. Overall, our mixed-method approach provides a more comprehensive understanding of how to step up societal-wide climate actions, paving the way for much-needed communications and collaborations across society to achieve a sustainable future.
Valuation of tourists’ willingness to pay for ecological conservation towards a sustainable financial mechanism for national parks: an empirical case of Cuc Phuong National Park, Red River delta, Vietnam
Authors: Lan Bui Thi Hoang , Truong Dinh Duc , Huy Huan Le , Hang Nguyen Dieu 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
National Parks (NPs) play an important role in preserving the ecological values of nature, while also bringing economic benefits to the community. However, current NPs in developing countries are facing the challenge of lacking financial resources for conservation goals. This study estimated tourists’ willingness to pay for ecological conservation in Cuc Phuong National Park (CPNP), Vietnam as well as factors affecting willingness to pay. Using dichotomous contingent valuation model and a research sample of 650 randomly selected tourists in Cuc Phuong, the study showed that tourists’ willingness to pay for conservation through additional entry fee was about 47,070 VND in the parametric model and 42,123 VND in the non-parametric model. Factors that influence the probability of accepting payments included income, education level, conservation attitude and awareness of ecological values and travel distance. From there, the study discussed and proposed implications that contribute to mobilizing finance for conservation from the community and financial mechanisms for conservation in NPs in Vietnam and developing countries in Asia.
Circular Bragg grating single-photon source design exploiting extreme dielectric confinement
Authors: Zhou Yueguang , Kountouris George , Wang Yujing , Yvind Kresten , Mørk Jesper , Gregersen Niels , Pu Minhao 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
We theoretically propose a single-photon source design based on a circular Bragg grating microcavity incorporating two air triangles in a bowtie configuration. Our proposed design allows for extreme light confinement with a Purcell factor of approximately 166 with a bandwidth of ~9 nm for a triangle separation of 5 nm combined with a collection efficiency above 80

%

. The Purcell factor is enhanced by a factor of 8 relative to the reference cavity thanks to the reduction of the mode volume. Furthermore, we demonstrate the critical role of the dipole emitter polarization orientation and spatial position in achieving optimal Purcell enhancement.
Estimating vegetation structure and aboveground carbon storage in Western Australia using GEDI LiDAR, Landsat and Sentinel data
Authors: Lutz Natasha , Rodriguez-Veiga Pedro , Oliveras Menor Imma 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Worsening climate change impacts are amplifying the need for accurate estimates of vegetation structure and aboveground biomass density (AGBD) to assess changes in biodiversity and carbon storage. In Australia, increasing wildfire frequency and interest in the role of forests in the carbon cycle necessitates biomass mapping across large geographic extents to monitor forest change. The availability of spaceborne Light Detection and Ranging optimised for vegetation structure mapping through the Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) provides an opportunity for large-scale forest AGBD estimates of higher accuracy. This study assessed the use of the GEDI canopy height product to predict woody AGBD across five vegetation types in Western Australia: tall eucalypt forests, eucalypt open‒woodlands, low-lying heathland, tropical eucalypt savannas, and tussock and hummock grasslands. Canopy height models were developed using random forest regressions trained on GEDI canopy height discrete point data. Predictor variables included spectral bands and vegetation indices derived from synthetic aperture radar Sentinel‒1 data, and multispectral Landsat and Sentinel‒2 data. AGBD was subsequently estimated using power-law models derived by relating the predicted canopy heights to field AGBD plots. Mapping was conducted for 2020 and 2021. The accuracy of canopy height predictions varied with height quantiles; models underestimated the height of taller trees and overestimated the height of smaller trees. A similar underestimation and overestimation trend was observed for the AGBD estimates. The mean carbon stock was estimated at 69.0 ± 12.0 MgCha−1 in the tall eucalypt forests of the Warren region; 33.8 ± 5.0 MgCha−1 for the open eucalypt woodlands in the South Jarrah region; 7.1 ± 1.4 MgCha−1 for the heathland and shrublands in the Geraldton Sandplains region; 43.9 ± 4.9 MgCha−1 for the Kimberley eucalypt savanna; and 3.9 ± 1.0 MgCha−1 for the Kimberley savanna grasslands. This approach provides a useful framework for the future development of this process for fire management, and habitat health monitoring.
Ultra-complex specialty medications: Meeting the challenges of significant medication requirements through an integrated specialty pharmacy model
Authors: Renfro Chelsea P , Donald Dustin R , Kibbons Amanda M , Littlejohn Monica D , Danielle Bryan E , Nix Ryan , Cherry Elizabeth , Zuckerman Autumn D 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Purpose
There is a growing number of specialty medications with accompanying requirements that exceed standard characteristics, which may be referred to as “ultra complex.” This article details examples of ultra-complex specialty medications, including the characteristics that make them ultra complex, and strategies implemented by an integrated health-system specialty pharmacy (IHSSP) to maintain an optimal patient journey.

Summary
Before therapy initiation, ultra-complex specialty medications often require additional steps that go beyond what is required of traditional specialty treatments, such as ensuring patients have appointments scheduled and attended and coordinating medical procedures. At the time of initiation, ultra-complex therapy might require additional immunizations or dosing based on specific tests. Finally, specialty pharmacists managing ultra-complex medications often have to dedicate more time and effort to medication monitoring to ensure patients are able to stay on appropriate doses without treatment interruption. Manufacturers of ultra-complex medications must consider the resources and requirements that will be needed to ensure the success of these medications in the real world. Health systems must be aware of resource and staffing requirements necessary to ensure the success of ultra-complex medications. One consideration is the addition of a dedicated risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) pharmacist whose primary role is to ensure compliance with REMS requirements.

Conclusion
Ultra-complex specialty medications provide unprecedented therapeutic advancements but demand multidisciplinary resources and workflows to enable safe medication initiation, appropriate dosing and monitoring, and achievement of desired therapeutic goals. IHSSPs are integrated into the care team and provide advanced monitoring capabilities, making them an ideal setting for managing ultra-complex specialty medications. External IHSSP partnerships working together before and after the launch of ultra-complex specialty medications allow for an optimal patient and provider journey from medication initiation through ongoing care coordination and monitoring.
Can recent evolutionary history promote resilience to environmental change?
Authors: Bladon Eleanor K , Pascoal Sonia , Kilner Rebecca M 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Principles of social evolution have long been used retrospectively to interpret social interactions, but have less commonly been applied predictively to inform conservation and animal husbandry strategies. We investigate whether differences in developmental environment, facilitated by divergent social conditions, can predict resilience to environmental change. Upon exposure to harsh novel environments, populations that previously experienced more benign social environments are predicted either to suffer fitness losses (the “mutation load hypothesis” and “selection filter hypothesis”) or maintain fitness (the “beneficial mutation hypothesis”). We tested these contrasting predictions using populations of burying beetles Nicrophorus vespilloides we had evolved experimentally for 45 generations under contrasting social environments by manipulating the supply of post-hatching parental care. We exposed sexually immature adults from each population to varying heat stress and measured the effect on survival and reproduction. The greater the level of parental care previously experienced by a population, the better its survival under heat stress during sexual maturation. Although this is consistent with the “beneficial mutation hypothesis,” it is also possible that populations that had evolved without post-hatching care were simply more prone to dying during maturation, regardless of their thermal environment. Overall, we suggest that stochastic genetic variation, probably due to founder effects, had a stronger influence on resilience. We discuss the implications for translocation and captive breeding programs.
OligoFormer: an accurate and robust prediction method for siRNA design
Authors: Bai Yilan , Zhong Haochen , Wang Taiwei , Lu Zhi John 
Published: September 2024

Abstract

Motivation
RNA interference (RNAi) has become a widely used experimental approach for post-transcriptional regulation and is increasingly showing its potential as future targeted drugs. However, the prediction of highly efficient siRNAs (small interfering RNAs) is still hindered by dataset biases, the inadequacy of prediction methods, and the presence of off-target effects. To overcome these limitations, we propose an accurate and robust prediction method, OligoFormer, for siRNA design.

Results
OligoFormer comprises three different modules including thermodynamic calculation, RNA-FM module, and Oligo encoder. Oligo encoder is the core module based on the transformer encoder. Taking siRNA and mRNA sequences as input, OligoFormer can obtain thermodynamic parameters, RNA-FM embedding, and Oligo embedding through these three modules, respectively. We carefully benchmarked OligoFormer against six comparable methods on siRNA efficacy datasets. OligoFormer outperforms all the other methods, with an average improvement of 9% in AUC, 6.6% in PRC, 9.8% in F1 score, and 5.1% in PCC compared to the best method among them in our inter-dataset validation. We also provide a comprehensive pipeline with prediction of siRNA efficacy and off-target effects using PITA score and TargetScan score. The ablation study shows RNA-FM module and thermodynamic parameters improved the performance and accelerated convergence of OligoFormer. The saliency maps by gradient backpropagation and base preference maps show certain base preferences in initial and terminal region of siRNAs.

Availability and implementation
The source code of OligoFormer is freely available on GitHub at: https://github.com/lulab/OligoFormer. Docker image of OligoFormer is freely available on the docker hub at https://hub.docker.com/r/yilanbai/oligoformer.
Causal inference using multivariate generalized linear mixed-effects models
Authors: Xu Yizhen , Kim Ji Soo , Hummers Laura K , Shah Ami A , Zeger Scott L 
Published: September 2024

ABSTRACT
Dynamic prediction of causal effects under different treatment regimens is an essential problem in precision medicine. It is challenging because the actual mechanisms of treatment assignment and effects are unknown in observational studies. We propose a multivariate generalized linear mixed-effects model and a Bayesian g-computation algorithm to calculate the posterior distribution of subgroup-specific intervention benefits of dynamic treatment regimes. Unmeasured time-invariant factors are included as subject-specific random effects in the assumed joint distribution of outcomes, time-varying confounders, and treatment assignments. We identify a sequential ignorability assumption conditional on treatment assignment heterogeneity, that is, analogous to balancing the latent treatment preference due to unmeasured time-invariant factors. We present a simulation study to assess the proposed method’s performance. The method is applied to observational clinical data to investigate the efficacy of continuously using mycophenolate in different subgroups of scleroderma patients.
Planning cost-effective operational forest inventories
Authors: Karppinen Santeri , Ene Liviu , Engberg Sundström Lovisa , Karvanen Juha 
Published: September 2024

ABSTRACT
We address a Bayesian two-stage decision problem in operational forestry where the inner stage considers scheduling the harvesting to fulfill demand targets and the outer stage considers selecting the accuracy of pre-harvest inventories that are used to estimate the timber volumes of the forest tracts. The higher accuracy of the inventory enables better scheduling decisions but also implies higher costs. We focus on the outer stage, which we formulate as a maximization of the posterior value of the inventory decision under a budget constraint. The posterior value depends on the solution to the inner stage problem and its computation is analytically intractable, featuring an NP-hard binary optimization problem within a high-dimensional integral. In particular, the binary optimization problem is a special case of a generalized quadratic assignment problem. We present a practical method that solves the outer stage problem with an approximation which combines Monte Carlo sampling with a greedy, randomized method for the binary optimization problem. We derive inventory decisions for a dataset of 100 Swedish forest tracts across a range of inventory budgets and estimate the value of the information to be obtained.
Towards Digital Adaption: An Exploration of Chinese Social Workers’ Experiences of Digital Service Challenges and Coping Strategies in the Context of COVID-19
Authors: Huang Dan , Luo Yingting , Lu Jiayi 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
This study is based on interviews with sixty-three Chinese social workers to explore the challenges they faced and the strategies they adopted when using digital technology for front-line services during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Employing an ecosystem theory, thematic analysis is applied to analyse interview transcripts. The findings reveal three major challenges faced by social workers: limited digital capital, digital-mediated service predicaments and the digital burden. To address the aforementioned challenges, social workers adopted four strategies: digital empowerment, adjustment of online service processes, leveraging the advantages of digital technology and asking colleagues for support. This study suggests enhancing support for social workers through improved digital training and psychological care, integrating digital-mediated social work skills into academic curricula, and fostering interdisciplinary partnerships to develop and utilize reliable digital tools, thereby improving the quality and effectiveness of social work in the digital age.
The Impact of Political Stance on UK Newspaper Coverage of Child and Family Social Work
Authors: Worthington Jessica , Scourfield Jonathan 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Previous research has shown that news coverage of the social work profession plays an important role in influencing public opinion, and can damage staff morale if negative, affecting recruitment and retention of staff. Relatively little research has been done to ascertain how factors such as political stance of news outlet influence the way social workers are portrayed. The focus of this research is how child and family social workers are portrayed in eight UK national newspapers between 2018 and 2021 and whether the political stance of the newspapers influenced this. All mentions of social workers in 257 articles from eight major UK national newspapers were coded as either positive, negative, or neutral portrayals. Each article was also categorised for the social work topic it was reporting on. Quantitative analysis of the data found that the political stance of the newspaper was associated with the type of social work it reported on and there was a significant difference in the rate of both positive and negative mentions according to political stance, with right-leaning newspapers having a higher rate of negative mentions than left-leaning and left-leaning papers having a higher rate of positive mentions.
Reproductive biology of Aristolochia trilobata L. (Aristolochiaceae)
Authors: Nakonechnaya Olga , Nesterova Svetlana , Kalachev Alexander 
Published: September 2024

Abstract
Aristolochia trilobata is a medicinal and ornamental liana that is distributed along the Caribbean coast of Central America and all over the West Indies. This species is a valuable component of the biotope, since its leaves serve as the only food for caterpillars of the vulnerable butterfly Parides ascanius. Because of rapid deforestation, the number of A. trilobata plants is decreasing. Hence, studying of A. trilobata reproductive biology is important to preserve this valuable species. We studied reproductive biology of this species in greenhouse conditions in Vladivostok. Our results indicate that the ontogeny of A. trilobata ex situ consists of the latent, pre-reproductive, and reproductive ontogenetic periods. The plants enter the reproductive period at ~3.5 years after seedling. The flowering process of each flower includes three phases: female, intermediate, and male. Protogynous flowers are adapted to cross-pollination by insects and bloom for 3 days. Their stigmas are receptive for the first 2 days of flowering. Pollen grains are spheroidal, inaperturate. When anthers open, the pollen grains rapidly germinate and this determines the fertilization success at the female phase of the anthesis. The plants can self-pollinate by geitonogamy, but the presence of a pollination agent is required. The fruit contains about 350 seeds. Rapid and synchronous seed germination, plant development to reproductive state, the regular flowering, high percentage of normal pollen, and rapid development of fruits with a high number of viable seeds indicate the high reproductive ability of A. trilobata and plants’ ability to adapt to ex situ conditions.