bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Large language models and linguistic intentionality
Authors: Grindrod Jumbly 
Published: August 2024

AbstractDo large language models like Chat-GPT or Claude meaningfully use the words they produce? Or are they merely clever prediction machines, simulating language use by producing statistically plausible text? There have already been some initial attempts to answer this question by showing that these models meet the criteria for entering meaningful states according to metasemantic theories of mental content. In this paper, I will argue for a different approach—that we should instead consider whether language models meet the criteria given by our best metasemantic theories of linguistic content. In that vein, I will illustrate how this can be done by applying two such theories to the case of language models: Gareth Evans’ (1982) account of naming practices and Ruth Millikan’s (1984, 2004, 2005) teleosemantics. In doing so, I will argue that it is a mistake to think that the failure of LLMs to meet plausible conditions for mental intentionality thereby renders their outputs meaningless, and that a distinguishing feature of linguistic intentionality—dependency on a pre-existing linguistic system—allows for the plausible result that LLM outputs are meaningful.
Occurrence and analysis of microplastics in municipal wastewater, Poland
Authors: Ormaniec Paulina 
Published: August 2024

AbstractMicroplastics are a growing environmental threat and wastewater treatment plants have been identified as significant conduits for these pollutants. This study addresses microplastic loading in the influent of a large urban wastewater treatment plant, presenting a detailed analysis of their prevalence and characteristics. Our findings reveal a concentration of 4.09 microplastic particles per litre in the tributary. We performed a detailed statistical comparison of the microplastic particles, categorising them by shape, size, colour, and polymer type. Using Fourier transform total reflectance infrared spectroscopy, we identified 13 different polymer types, with polyethylene terephthalate, rubber, and polyethylene predominating. The analysis showed that textile fibres, mainly from clothing, are the most prevalent form of microplastic in wastewater, followed by fragments from the breakdown of larger plastic objects and films. This research highlights the critical need for strategic interventions to mitigate microplastic pollution at municipal sources.
Motivation in online course design using self-determination theory: an action research study in a secondary mathematics course
Authors: Shank Emily , Tang Hengtao , Morris William 
Published: August 2024

AbstractWith continued growth in online learning, motivation remains a key factor in persistence and achievement. Online mathematics students struggle with self-regulation and self-efficacy. As reported by Ryan and Deci (Self-determination theory: basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness, Guilford Press, 2017, https://doi.org/10.3233/EFI-2004-22201), in their well-established self-determination theory, contended that satisfying the psychological needs of autonomy (involving self-regulation), competence (involving self-efficacy), and relatedness (involving a sense of belonging) creates a suitable environment for integrated extrinsic and intrinsic motivation to thrive. The purpose of this action research was to implement a self-determination theory-based online unit for mathematics students to improve their motivation levels. A convergent mixed methods action research design was employed to identify changes in the levels of autonomy, competence, and relatedness of the participants in an Algebra 2 course (n = 50) at a fully online school in the northeastern United States. Results from the motivation questionnaire and student interviews indicated a significant increase in competence and relatedness after completing the intervention. While no significant increase in autonomy was evident in the quantitative results, the qualitative findings showed some support for improved autonomy. Recommendations for online mathematics course design to support increased motivation are provided.
How to close the loop with citizen scientists to advance meaningful science
Authors: Hall Damon M. , Avellaneda-Lopez Pedro M. , Ficklin Darren L. , Knouft Jason H. , Lowry Christopher 
Published: August 2024

AbstractCitizen science yields increased scientific capacity in exchange for science literacy and promises of a more responsive science to society’s needs. Yet, citizen science projects are criticized for producing few scientific outputs and having exploitative relationships with the citizens who participate. In the eagerness to capture new data, scientists can fail to see the value of citizen scientists’ expertise beyond data generation and can forget to close the loop with outputs that benefit the public interest. Citizen scientists are experts in their local environments who, when asked, can improve scientific processes and products. To the degree that citizen scientists are relegated to data collection, we shortchange opportunities to advance science. Rather than merely critique, we present an evidence-based engagement approach for listening to citizen scientist participants and incorporating their input into science processes and products that can be retrofitted onto existing citizen science projects or integrated from a project’s inception. We offer this adaptable blueprint in four steps and illustrate this approach via a crowdsourced hydrology project on the Boyne River, USA. We show how engaging voices of citizen scientists at key points in the project improves both the products of science (a real-time ecohydrological model) and the process of conducting the science (adaptations to help improve data collection). Distinct from outreach or education, considering citizen scientists as an equally interesting site of inquiry can improve the practice and outputs of science.
Subsequent fracture risk in Norwegians and immigrants with an index forearm fracture: a cohort study
Authors: Semsarian Sepideh , Omsland Tone K. , Heen Espen , Madar Ahmed Ali , Frihagen Frede , Gjertsen Jan-Erik , Solberg Lene B. , Figved Wender , Stutzer Jens-Meinhard , Borgen Tove T. , Andreasen Camilla , Hansen Ann Kristin , Bjørnerem Åshild , Dahl Cecilie 
Published: August 2024

Abstract

Summary

The current study investigated subsequent fracture risk following a forearm fracture in three country of birth categories: Norway, Europe and North America, and other countries. Subsequent fracture risk was modestly higher in Norwegian-born individuals compared to the two other groups. Secondary fracture prevention should be recommended regardless of country background.

Background
Fracture risk is higher in patients with a previous fracture, but whether subsequent fracture risk differs by origin of birth is unknown. This study explores subsequent fracture risk in patients with an index forearm fracture according to region of birth.

Methods
Nationwide data on forearm fractures in patients ≥ 18 years in 2008–2019 were obtained from the Norwegian Patient Registry and Statistics Norway. Index fractures were identified by ICD-10 code S52, whereas subsequent fractures included any ICD-10 fracture code. Data on country of birth were from Statistics Norway and included three regional categories: (1) Norway, (2) other Europe and North America and (3) other countries. Direct age standardization and Cox proportional hazard regression were used to analyse the data.

Results
Among 143,476 individuals with an index forearm fracture, 35,361 sustained a subsequent fracture. Norwegian-born forearm fracture patients had the highest subsequent fracture rates (516/10,000 person-years in women and 380 in men). People born outside Europe and North America had the lowest rates (278/10,000 person-years in women and 286 in men). Compared to Norwegian-born individuals, the hazard ratios (HRs) of subsequent fracture in individuals from Europe and North American were 0.93 (95% CI 0.88–0.98) in women and 0.85 (95% CI 0.79–0.92) in men. The corresponding HRs in individuals from other countries were 0.76 (95% CI 0.70–0.84) in women and 0.82 (95% CI 0.74–0.92) in men.

Conclusion
Individuals born outside Norway had a lower subsequent fracture risk than Norwegian-born individuals; however, subsequent fracture risk increased with age in all groups. Our results indicate that secondary fracture prevention should be recommended regardless of region of origin.
Effect of thinning intensity on the carbon sequestration of natural mixed coniferous and broadleaf forests in Xiaoxing’an Mountains, China
Authors: Qu Hangfeng , Dong Xibin , Liu Hui , Zhang Baoshan , Gao Tong , Meng Yuan , Ren Yunze , Zhang Ying 
Published: August 2024

AbstractTo study the effect of thinning intensity on the carbon sequestration by natural mixed coniferous and broadleaf forests in Xiaoxing’an Mountains, China, we established six 100 m × 100 m experimental plots in Dongfanghong Forest that varied in thinning intensity: plot A (10%), B (15%), C (20%), D (25%), E (30%), F (35%), and the control sample area (0%). A principal component analysis was performed using 50 different variables, including species diversity, soil fertility, litter characteristics, canopy structure parameters, and seedling regeneration parameters. The effects of thinning intensity on carbon sequestration were strongest in plot E (0.75), followed by D (0.63), F (0.50), C (0.48), B (0.22), A (0.11), and the control (0.06). The composite score of plot E was the highest, indicating that the carbon sequestration effect was strongest at a thinning intensity of 30%. These findings provide useful insights that could aid the management of natural mixed coniferous and broadleaf forests in Xiaoxing’an Mountains, China. This information has implications for future studies of these forests, and the methods used could aid future ecological assessments of the natural forests in Xiaoxing’an Mountains, China.
The training pathway for residents: ‘Robotic Curriculum for young Surgeons’ (RoCS) does not impair patient outcome during implementation into clinical routine
Authors: Stockheim Jessica , Andriof S. , Andric M. , Al-Madhi S. , Acciuffi S. , Franz M. , Lorenz E. , Peglow S. , Benedix F. , Perrakis A. , Croner R. S. 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe “Robotic Curriculum for young Surgeons” (RoCS) was launched 03/2020 to address the increasing importance of robotics in surgical training. It aims to provide residents with foundational robotic skills by involving them early in their training. This study evaluated the impact of RoCS’ integration into clinical routine on patient outcomes. Two cohorts were compared regarding the implementation of RoCS: Cohort 1 (before RoCS) included all robot-assisted procedures between 2017 and 03/2020 (n = 174 adults) retrospectively; Cohort 2 (after RoCS) included all adults (n = 177) who underwent robotic procedures between 03/2020 and 2021 prospectively. Statistical analysis covered demographics, perioperative parameters, and follow-up data, including mortality and morbidity. Subgroup analysis for both cohorts was organ-related (upper gastrointestinal tract (UGI), colorectal (CR), hepatopancreaticobiliary system (HPB)). Sixteen procedures were excluded due to heterogeneity. In-hospital, 30-, 90-day morbidity and mortality showed no significant differences between both cohorts, including organ-related subgroups. For UGI, no significant intraoperative parameter changes were observed. Surgery duration decreased significantly in CR and HPB procedures (p = 0.018 and p < 0.001). Estimated blood loss significantly decreased for CR operations (p = 0.001). The conversion rate decreased for HPB operations (p = 0.005). Length of hospitalization decreased for CR (p = 0.015) and HPB (p = 0.006) procedures. Oncologic quality, measured by histopathologic R0-resections, showed no significant changes. RoCS can be safely integrated into clinical practice without compromising patient safety or oncologic quality. It serves as an effective training pathway to guide robotic novices through their first steps in robotic surgery, offering promising potential for skill acquisition and career advancement.
Heterogeneous empathic reactions and their associations with adherence and prosocial behaviors during a pandemic
Authors: Israelashvili Jacob , Perry Anat 
Published: August 2024

AbstractThe present research utilized the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study to explore the motives driving individuals to adhere to recommended health standards. One month into the first lockdown and eight months before the availability of vaccinations, a large sample of 1,263 individuals completed measures of empathic concern and personal distress in response to a person who contracted the virus. In addition, we measured their COVID-related behaviors, relating to benefitting another person (i.e., donation), the self (i.e., physical hygiene), or both self and other (i.e., physical distancing). Consistent with the Empathy-Altruism Hypothesis (Batson et al., 2015), we found that individuals who experience higher empathic concern, maintain greater physical distance and physical hygiene and act more generously. We further found that individuals who experienced high personal distress were less likely to act generously, albeit more likely to maintain personal hygiene and physical distance. These findings suggest that compliance with health recommendations can be encouraged by eliciting empathic concern or personal distress. Yet, compliance per se is not prosocial behavior. Any intervention aiming to increase prosocial motivation should focus on enhancing empathic concern while minimizing personal distress.
Cognitive-Inspired Deep Learning Models for Aspect-Based Sentiment Analysis: A Retrospective Overview and Bibliometric Analysis
Authors: Chen Xieling , Xie Haoran , Qin S. Joe , Chai Yaping , Tao Xiaohui , Wang Fu Lee 
Published: August 2024

AbstractAs cognitive-inspired computation approaches, deep neural networks or deep learning (DL) models have played important roles in allowing machines to reach human-like performances in various complex cognitive tasks such as cognitive computation and sentiment analysis. This paper offers a thorough examination of the rapidly developing topic of DL-assisted aspect-based sentiment analysis (DL-ABSA), focusing on its increasing importance and implications for practice and research advancement. Leveraging bibliometric indicators, social network analysis, and topic modeling techniques, the study investigates four research questions: publication and citation trends, scientific collaborations, major themes and topics, and prospective research directions. The analysis reveals significant growth in DL-ABSA research output and impact, with notable contributions from diverse publication sources, institutions, and countries/regions. Collaborative networks between countries/regions, particularly between the USA and China, underscore global engagement in DL-ABSA research. Major themes such as syntax and structure analysis, neural networks for sequence modeling, and specific aspects and modalities in sentiment analysis emerge from the analysis, guiding future research endeavors. The study identifies prospective avenues for practitioners, emphasizing the strategic importance of syntax analysis, neural network methodologies, and domain-specific applications. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of DL-ABSA research dynamics, providing a roadmap for practitioners and researchers to navigate the evolving landscape and drive innovations in DL-ABSA methodologies and applications.
Anisotropy of surface morphology of carbonate rocks after reaction with acid
Authors: Yang Jian , Min Jian , Peng Junliang , Li Qin , Wang Zhouyang 
Published: August 2024

AbstractIn acid fracturing, acid is injected into artificial fracture to dissolve the rock, and the rock surface is shaped into the non-uniform morphology. This non-uniform morphology is the main cause of fracture conductivity after acid etching. The effects of acid type, flow rate, contact time and rock type on the non-uniform morphology of acid-etched rock surface have been studied. However, when the direction of acid flow is determined, the difference of dissolution characteristics in different directions of rock surface is not investigated. In this paper, acid rock reaction experiment and analysis of rock surface morphology after acid etching are carried out by using rock samples with flat surface. The difference of morphological characteristic parameters of rock surface in different directions under the condition of acid flow is discussed. It was found that the mean drop height, drop height range and roughness coefficient increase with the increase of acid rock reaction rate on flat rock surface. The morphological characteristic parameters of acid-etched rock face of limestone are greater than those of dolomite, which is conducive to forming acid-etched channels. According to the statistics of all experimental data, the larger average drop height of rock surface is distributed in the direction of parallel acid flow, the larger drop height range is distributed in the direction of vertical acid flow and other directions, and the larger roughness coefficient is distributed in other directions.
RecStitchNet: Learning to stitch images with rectangular boundaries
Authors: Zhang Yun , Lai Yu-Kun , Nie Lang , Zhang Fang-Lue , Xu Lin 
Published: August 2024

AbstractIrregular boundaries in image stitching naturally occur due to freely moving cameras. To deal with this problem, existing methods focus on optimizing mesh warping to make boundaries regular using the traditional explicit solution. However, previous methods always depend on hand-crafted features (e.g., keypoints and line segments). Thus, failures often happen in overlapping regions without distinctive features. In this paper, we address this problem by proposing RecStitchNet, a reasonable and effective network for image stitching with rectangular boundaries. Considering that both stitching and imposing rectangularity are non-trivial tasks in the learning-based framework, we propose a three-step progressive learning based strategy, which not only simplifies this task, but gradually achieves a good balance between stitching and imposing rectangularity. In the first step, we perform initial stitching by a pre-trained state-of-the-art image stitching model, to produce initially warped stitching results without considering the boundary constraint. Then, we use a regression network with a comprehensive objective regarding mesh, perception, and shape to further encourage the stitched meshes to have rectangular boundaries with high content fidelity. Finally, we propose an unsupervised instance-wise optimization strategy to refine the stitched meshes iteratively, which can effectively improve the stitching results in terms of feature alignment, as well as boundary and structure preservation. Due to the lack of stitching datasets and the difficulty of label generation, we propose to generate a stitching dataset with rectangular stitched images as pseudo-ground-truth labels, and the performance upper bound induced from the it can be broken by our unsupervised refinement. Qualitative and quantitative results and evaluations demonstrate the advantages of our method over the state-of-the-art.
Perceptibility and Pain Thresholds in Low- and High-Frequency Alternating Current Stimulation: Implications for tACS and tTIS
Authors: Thiele Carsten , Tamm Cornelius , Ruhnau Philipp , Zaehle Tino 
Published: August 2024

AbstractTranscranial electrical stimulation (tES) has emerged as a promising tool for neuromodulation, but its application is often limited by the discomfort associated with higher stimulation intensities. Newer variants like transcranial temporal interference stimulation (tTIS) utilize high-frequency alternating currents (≥ 500 Hz) to penetrate deeper brain regions while mitigating perceptual discomfort. This study sought to examine sensation and pain thresholds across various stimulation frequencies of alternating currents, aiming to explore the boundaries of comfortable intensities. Additionally, we sought to evaluate the efficacy of an anesthetizing topical cream in increasing participant comfort and potentially extending the range of tolerable stimulation levels. We recruited 37 participants and applied alternating current stimulation to the head at various frequencies (10 Hz, 20 Hz, 500 Hz, 1000 Hz, and 2000 Hz) to determine intensity-dependent perception and pain thresholds. Additionally, thresholds were determined under the influence of a topical anesthetic. Our findings confirm that as stimulation frequency increases, perceptibility decreases, with higher frequencies allowing a manyfold increase in stimulation intensity before becoming perceptible or causing pain. Additionally, the anesthetizing cream was efficacious in further reducing perceptibility and pain sensations across all frequencies. This study lays the groundwork for future research by establishing comfortable limits for stimulation intensities, particularly in the context of high-frequency stimulation. The reduced perceptibility of high-frequency stimulation, coupled with the effectiveness of anesthetizing creams, enables the administration of higher stimulation intensities for more potent neuromodulatory interventions without causing discomfort.
Development and characterisation of a novel complex triple cell culture model of the human alveolar epithelial barrier
Authors: Mitchell Sarah M. , Meldrum Kirsty , Bateman Joshua W. P. , Tetley Teresa D. , Doak Shareen H. , Clift Martin J. D. 
Published: August 2024

AbstractOwing to increased pressure from ethical groups and the public to avoid unnecessary animal testing, the need for new, responsive and biologically relevant in vitro models has surged. Models of the human alveolar epithelium are of particular interest since thorough investigations into air pollution and the effects of inhaled nanoparticles and e-cigarettes are needed. The lung is a crucial organ of interest due to potential exposures to endogenous material during occupational and ambient settings. Here, an in vitro model of the alveolar barrier has been created in preparation for use in the quasi-air liquid interface (qALI) and (aerosol) air–liquid interface (ALI) exposures. The model consists of an alveolar type 1-like cell line (TT1), an alveolar type 2-like cell line (NCI-H441) and a model of (alveolar) macrophages (dTHP-1). The model formulates a complex, multi-cellular system, cultured at the air–liquid interface, that mimics the apical layer of the alveolar epithelial region in the human lung. Characterisation data has shown that both TT1 and NCI-H441 epithelial cells are able to be cultured together in addition to dTHP-1 cells through imaging (morphology), pro-inflammatory response and viability measurements. This dataset also demonstrates evidence of a reasonable barrier created by the cell culture in comparison to negative controls. Furthermore, it shows that while maintaining a low baseline of (pro)-inflammatory mediator expression during normal conditions, the model is highly responsive to inflammatory stimuli. This model is proposed to be suitable for use in toxicology testing of inhaled exogenous agents.