bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
25 years of SUITMAs: Urban soils - a new research field in soil science. What makes these soils and the interest in these soils so special?
Authors: Burghardt Wolfgang 
Published: August 2024

Abstract
Purpose
Since the occurrence of humans, soil has been affected by them. Thus, rural areas have been modified. Currently, urban areas are increasing extensively. They are locations with a high population density that are impacted by settlements and industrial technologies. This paper shows how soils are further discriminated by urbanization.

Material and methods
A collection of observations and conclusions about the characteristics of natural and urban soils and the discrimination by interpretation of the particularities of discovered soils are presented. This view is enlarged by the specific features of the mode of human action and their effects on soil formation.

Results and discussion
The effects of humans on soils in rural areas are numerous. They concern effects from soil use, evolving soil fertility and raw material supply by mining. Changes in soil formation occur due to natural factors in the landscapes. Discussions about the nature of soils in urban areas stress the situation of a low soil age, that they become relicts, are highly disturbed, contain artifacts, and are mostly byproducts of human decisions. Based on the specific urban climate, there are zonal soils. Perceptions about what qualifies these soils to be separately designated as urban soils are presented. The new view of the differentiation of artifacts by their origin from heat-treated products allows a more precise definition of soils in urban areas. Soil formation can occur quickly.

Conclusion
Urban soil research is a wide field for discovering new modes of soil formation and the relationship between humans and soils.
Unravelling stakeholder narratives on nature-based solutions for hydro-meteorological risk reduction
Authors: Han Sungju , Luo Anran 
Published: August 2024

AbstractDespite growing scholarly consensus on the need for nature-based solutions (NBS) as holistic and sustainable alternatives to traditional engineering solutions, stakeholder acceptance and implementation of NBS remain low. This study investigates stakeholder narratives on implementing nature-based solutions (NBS) for mitigating hydro-meteorological risks across five European river basin sites in Eastern and Central Europe. Utilising the Q-methodology and narrative analysis, we identified three ideal–typical narratives: idealist, reformist, and sceptic—each providing distinct perspectives on evidence-based policy formation and NBS integration. Our results demonstrate that: (1) idealists’ optimistic outlook risks overlooking critical engagement with implementation challenges; (2) neglecting sceptic concerns may impede NBS adoption and invite accusations of green-washing, and (3) reformists promote evidence-based approaches and transparent stakeholder engagement to bridge narrative divides. The study underscores the importance of identifying shared values, stakeholder collaboration, and a nuanced understanding of contextual factors in fostering NBS implementation. The study contributes to a practical framework aligning NBS projects with prevailing narratives, offering guidance for navigating the complex landscape of NBS implementation. Future research should prioritize in-depth analysis of agent perspectives, place-specific influences on narratives, and the application of narrative analysis to other emerging technologies and environmental topics (e.g. circular economy), deepening our understanding of the socio-political dynamics shaping the acceptance and implementation of sustainable solutions.
Interpretation of acid–base metabolism on arterial blood gas samples via machine learning algorithms
Authors: Ozdemir Habib , Sasmaz Muhammed Ikbal , Guven Ramazan , Avci Akkan 
Published: August 2024

Abstract

Background
Arterial blood gas evaluation is crucial for critically ill patients, as it provides essential information about acid–base metabolism and respiratory balance, but evaluation can be complex and time-consuming. Artificial intelligence can perform tasks that require human intelligence, and it is revolutionizing healthcare through technological advancements.

Aim
This study aims to assess arterial blood gas evaluation using artificial intelligence algorithms.

Methods
The study included 21.541 retrospective arterial blood gas samples, categorized into 15 different classes by experts for evaluating acid–base metabolism status. Six machine learning algorithms were utilized; accuracy, balanced accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, and F1 values of the models were determined; and ROC curves were drawn to assess areas under the curve for each class. Evaluation of which sample was estimated in which class was conducted using the confusion matrices of the models.

Results
The bagging classifier (BC) model achieved the highest balanced accuracy with 99.24%, whereas the XGBoost model reached the highest accuracy with 99.66%. The BC model shows 100% sensitivity for nine classes and 100% specificity for 10 classes, and the model correctly predicted 6438 of 6463 test samples and achieved an accuracy of 99.61%, with an area under the curve > 0.9 in all classes on a class basis.

Conclusion
The machine learning models developed exhibited remarkable accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in predicting the status of acid–base metabolism. However, implementing these models can aid clinicians, freeing up their time for more intricate tasks.
Novel genetic variants in the NLRP3 inflammasome-related PANX1 and APP genes predict survival of patients with hepatitis B virus-related hepatocellular carcinoma
Authors: Liu Yingchun , Fan Yuman , Gong Rongbin , Qiu Moqin , Wei Xiaoxia , Lin Qiuling , Zhou Zihan , Cao Ji , Jiang Yanji , Chen Peiqin , Chen Bowen , Yang Xiaobing , Wei Yuying , Zhang RuoXin , Wen Qiuping , Yu Hongping 
Published: August 2024

Abstract

Background
The nod-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) is one of the most characterized inflammasomes involved in the pathogenesis of several cancers, including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the effects of genetic variants in the NLRP3 inflammasome-related genes on survival of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC patients are unclear.

Methods
We performed multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis to evaluate associations between 299 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 16 NLRP3 inflammasome-related genes and overall survival (OS) of 866 patients with HBV-related HCC. We further performed expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis using the data from the GTEx project and 1000 Genomes projects, and performed differential expression analysis using the TCGA dataset to explore possible molecular mechanisms underlying the observed associations.

Results
We found that two functional SNPs (PANX1 rs3020013 A > G and APP rs9976425 C > T) were significantly associated with HBV-related HCC OS with the adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.83 [95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.73–0.95, P = 0.008], and 1.26 (95% CI = 1.02–1.55, P = 0.033), respectively. Moreover, the eQTL analysis revealed that the rs3020013 G allele was correlated with decreased mRNA expression levels of PANX1 in both normal liver tissues (P = 0.044) and whole blood (P < 0.001) in the GTEx dataset, and PANX1 mRNA expression levels were significantly higher in HCC samples and associated with a poorer survival of HCC patients. However, we did not observe such correlations for APP rs9976425.

Conclusions
These results indicated that SNPs in the NLRP3 inflammasome-related genes may serve as potential biomarkers for HBV-related HCC survival, once replicated by additional larger studies.
Retrospective isotope analysis of ancient remains to distinguish between tamed and wild animals
Authors: Matsubayashi Jun , Tsutaya Takumi , Sato Takao 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe origin and process of the domestication of wild animals have long fascinated scientists. However, there are no reliable methods to distinguish between tamed and wild animals. Here, we present a new method to identify tamed and wild juvenile brown bears (Ursus arctos) using retrospective isotope analysis of the femur. We used femurs from the nine bear cubs and the tibia from one domesticated dog excavated from the Nijibetsu Shuwan Kumaokuriba site, Hokkaido Islands, Japan (late 19th century–1939 AD). These bears were potentially tamed by indigenous Ainu people, and the domesticated dog was used as a reference of a tamed animal. We subdivided these bones into 10 sections along the growing axis, extracted collagen and measured the stable nitrogen isotope ratios (δ15N). The bone sections of the domesticated dog had constant δ15N values that were as high as that of salmon, suggesting that tamed animals exclusively consumed a marine diet fed to them by the Ainu. Notably, two of nine brown bear cubs showed a temporal elevation of δ15N to the similar isotope ratios of the dog tibia, which is unlikely to occur in the wild condition, strongly suggesting that they were tamed and fed by the Ainu people.
Meaning of home attenuates the relationship between functional limitations and active aging
Authors: Slaug Björn , Zingmark Magnus , Granbom Marianne , Björk Jonas , Rantanen Taina , Schmidt Steven M. , Iwarsson Susanne 
Published: August 2024

Abstract
Background and aims
Active aging is the process through which people strive to maintain wellbeing when growing old. Addressing the lack of research on active aging in the context of housing, the aim was to describe active aging among people aged 55 and older considering relocation and investigate whether perceived housing moderates the relationship between functional limitations and active aging.

Methods
We utilized cross-sectional data from a sub-sample (N = 820; mean age = 69.7; 54% women) of the Prospective RELOC-AGE. Functional limitations were reported using 10 dichotomous questions. Active aging was assessed with the University of Jyvaskyla Active Aging Scale (UJACAS; 17 items, self-rated for four perspectives). Perceived housing was self-rated with four usability questions and meaning of home (MOH; 28 items). Cross-sectional associations and interactions were analysed using linear regression models, adjusting for gender and educational level.

Results
Each functional limitation decreased the active aging score by almost five points (p < 0.001). Usability did not moderate that relationship while MOH significantly attenuated the association between functional limitations and active aging (p = 0.039). Those with high MOH had two points less decrease in active aging score compared to those with low MOH.

Discussion and conclusions
Having a home with more personal meaning attached to it seems to provide more ability and opportunity for meaningful activities, thus supporting active aging despite functional limitations. This sheds new light on the known association between MOH and different aspects of wellbeing in old age and has relevance for theory development, housing policies and housing counselling targeting younger older adults.
Latent-SDE: guiding stochastic differential equations in latent space for unpaired image-to-image translation
Authors: Zhang Xianjie , Li Min , He Yujie , Gou Yao , Zhang Yusen 
Published: August 2024

AbstractScore-based diffusion models have shown promising results in unpaired image-to-image translation (I2I). However, the existing methods only perform unpaired I2I in pixel space, which requires high computation costs. To this end, we propose guiding stochastic differential equations in latent space (Latent-SDE) that extracts domain-specific and domain-independent features of the image in the latent space to calculate the loss and guides the inference process of a pretrained SDE in the latent space for unpaired I2I. To refine the image in the latent space, we propose a latent time-travel strategy that increases the sampling timestep. Empirically, we compare Latent-SDE to the baseline of the score-based diffusion model on three widely adopted unpaired I2I tasks under two metrics. Latent-SDE achieves state-of-the-art on Cat $$\rightarrow $$
→
Dog and is competitive on the other two tasks. Our code will be freely available for public use upon acceptance at https://github.com/zhangXJ147/Latent-SDE.
Sexual Orientation, Sexual Attraction, and Income
Authors: Carpenter Christopher S. , Martin Joshua C. , Shahid Hasan 
Published: August 2024

AbstractWe provide new evidence on sexual orientation, sexual attraction, and income using data from the 2015–2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). These data ask individuals about both orientation and attraction, allowing us to describe a sexual minority group that has been hidden in prior research: people who identify as heterosexual but who concurrently report some same-sex attraction. We show that this population is much larger than the sample of self-identified gay, lesbian, or bisexual people, and we show that relative to heterosexual people who report exclusively different-sex attraction, heterosexual people who report some same-sex attraction are younger, less likely to be married, and much more highly educated. We document that, controlling for observables, heterosexual men who report same-sex attraction experience robust and statistically significant employment and income penalties relative to heterosexual men who are exclusively different-sex attracted. These penalties are larger for non-Hispanic White men than for non-Hispanic Black men. We find no similar penalty for heterosexual women who report same-sex attraction. Our results indicate that prior research has overlooked one of the largest groups of sexual minorities—heterosexual people who report some same-sex attraction—who experience systematically different economic outcomes than heterosexual individuals who are exclusively different-sex attracted.
Eco-friendly freestanding superhydrophobic thin films and coatings for corrosion protection
Authors: Saleem Junaid , Moghal Zubair Khalid Baig , Fayyaz Osama , Nawaz Muddasir , Shakoor R. A. , McKay Gordon 
Published: August 2024

AbstractSuperhydrophobic surfaces and coatings have gained significant attention for their potential in anti-corrosion applications, yet they present several challenges. These coatings typically lack the flexibility to function as freestanding films, limiting their ease of application and removal. Additionally, existing techniques often involve complex chemical processes and utilize materials that are costly and environmentally hazardous. In this study, waste polyethylene is valorized to produce flexible superhydrophobic films and coatings with anticorrosive properties. The process employs thermally induced phase separation using a bio-solvent and spin-casting. The resulting films demonstrate dual functionality as both anti-corrosion coatings and freestanding films. The maximum contact angle of anticorrosive film was found to be 148o. The maximum charge transfer resistances Rct of carbon steel and polymer coated film were 0.184 and 173 kΩ.cm2, respectively. The electrochemical impedance spectrometry (EIS) shows a corrosion inhibition efficiency of 99.39%, which confirms the superior anticorrosive properties of the coating. Importantly, the use of waste polyethylene offers a cost-effective and environmentally friendly solution to conventional superhydrophobic coatings, contributing to the circular economy and reducing plastic waste. Overall, this study presents an alternate strategy to develop anticorrosive superhydrophobic films, providing a template for utilizing waste polyethylene in corrosion protection applications.
Graphical Abstract
Numerical Analysis of the Impact of Process Parameters on the Residual Stress of a Flat Composite Part
Authors: Zappino E. , Santori M. , Masia R. , Zobeiry N. , Petrolo M. 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThis paper presents a numerical approach to assess the influence of process parameters on a composite part’s mechanical properties. A one-dimensional thermochemical model is used to predict the curing progress of the resin during the curing cycle. Material properties are derived using the cure hardening instantaneous linear elastic model, and a refined one-dimensional model derived within the Carrera Unified Formulation framework is used to obtain accurate results concerning process-induced stresses. Various process parameters, such as the holding temperature and heating rate, are evaluated. The results show that some process parameters, such as the fiber volume fraction and holding temperature, significantly influence composite characteristics and process-induced stresses. It is also shown that modifications to curing cycles leading to reduced energy overhead may not affect performances.
Follicular Fluid Metabolomics: Tool for Predicting IVF Outcomes of Different Infertility Causes
Authors: Zhang Yijing , He Chenyan , He Yuedong , Zhu Zhongyi 
Published: August 2024

AbstractInfertility affects approximately 15% of couples at child-bearing ages and assisted reproductive technologies (ART), especially in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET), provided infertile patients with an effective solution. The current paradox is that multiple embryo transfer that may leads to severe obstetric and perinatal complications seems to be the most valid measure to secure high success rate in the majority of clinic centers. Therefore, to avoid multiple transfer of embryos, it is urgent to explore biomarkers for IVF prognosis to select high-quality oocytes and embryos. Follicular fluid (FF), a typical biofluid constituted of the plasma effusion and granulosa-cell secretion, provides essential intracellular substances for oocytes maturation and its variation in composition reflects oocyte developmental competence and embryo viability. With the advances in metabolomics methodology, metabolomics, as an accurate and sensitive analyzing method, has been utilized to explore predictors in FF for ART success. Although FF metabolomics has provided a great possibility for screening markers with diagnostic and predictive value, its effectiveness is still doubted by some researchers. This may be resulted from the ignorance of the impact of sterility causes on the FF metabolomic profiles and thus its predictive ability might not be rightly illustrated. Therefore, in this review, we categorically demonstrate the study of FF metabolomics according to specific infertility causes, expecting to reveal the predicting value of metabolomics for IVF outcomes.
Psychological characteristics of environmental stakeholders and interactions in their social network
Authors: Przesdzink Felix , Sperling Nicol , Oswald Tom , Fiebelkorn Florian 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThis research explores the roles of (1) the stakeholder categories conservation association, land use association, public authority and research group, (2) Organizational Culture, operationalized by the Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument; (3) Environmental Worldview, operationalized by the New Environmental Paradigm; and (4) Environmental Risk Perception, operationalized by the Myths of Physical Nature, in shaping the interactions in the social network of environmental stakeholders in the city and district of Osnabrück in Northwest Germany. First, the study examines the stakeholder categories (1), regarding the expression of the constructs (2), (3) and (4) among them. Second, all constructs (1), (2), (3) and (4) are examined regarding possible correlations with the presence of collaboration and conflict between stakeholders. Our analysis reveals that (1) Stakeholder Categories are significantly correlated with the presence of collaboration, but not of conflict. (2) A significant correlation between membership of a stakeholder category and the dominant manifestation of a particular organizational culture is present, while no correlation between Organizational Cultures and the presence of collaborations or conflicts could be found. Moreover, the study highlights (3) a generally pro-environmental orientation across stakeholders as captured by the New Environmental Paradigm (NEP), indicating a shared foundation for potential collaborative efforts. (4) Analysis of Environmental Risk Perception, through the Cultural Theory’s myths of physical nature, uncovers a widespread preference for the hierarchical myth, suggesting a common perception of environmental risks and resilience. This study emphasizes the importance of understanding psychological and social dimensions in environmental stakeholder management to enhance collaborative efforts towards sustainable development. It highlights the need for management approaches that acknowledge the complex interplay of diverse psychological constructs in driving effective and sustainable collaborations between stakeholders of regional land use, nature conservation, public authorities, academia and other sectors depending on the context. Through its insights into stakeholder interactions, this research contributes to the broader discourse on achieving sustainable development goals through informed, cooperative stakeholder engagement.
The transition to a circular economy: different paths for international and non-international micro-manufacturing firms
Authors: Ahmadov Tarlan , Foli Samuel , Durst Susanne , Gerstlberger Wolfgang 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThis article examines how environmental awareness, stakeholder pressure, circular economy orientation and internal barriers influence circular economy practices in international and non-international micro-firms. For this, we utilised fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) using data from 128 micro firms operating in different manufacturing industries in Estonia. Three paths were identified for explaining circular economy practices in internationally operating micro-firms and two paths for explaining it in micro-firms that do not operate internationally. Our results show that understanding the impact of the four before-mentioned aspects can be beneficial for engaging in circular economy efforts in both international and non-international micro-firms. The intricate five pathways (three for international and two for non-international) through which environmental awareness, stakeholder pressure, circular economy orientation, and internal barriers shape circular economy practices in micro-firms, challenging conventional understandings and offering nuanced insights for effective engagement in sustainable business practices. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed.