bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Microplastics: Omnipresent and an ongoing challenge for medical science
Authors: Hutter Hans-Peter , Weitensfelder Lisbeth , Poteser Michael 
Published: May 2024

Summary
Micro- and nanoplastics are omnipresent not only in the environment, but have also been detected in human body fluids and tissue. The subsequent commentary provides a perspective about potential risks for human health as well as resulting challenges for medical science.
Local uniqueness of ground states for the generalized Choquard equation
Authors: Georgiev Vladimir , Tarulli Mirko , Venkov George 
Published: May 2024

AbstractWe consider the generalized Choquard equation of the type $$\begin{aligned} -\Delta Q + Q = I(|Q|^p)|Q|^{p-2} Q, \end{aligned}$$

-
Δ
Q
+
Q
=

I
(
|
Q
|

p

)
|
Q
|

p
-
2

Q
,

for $$3\le n\le 5$$

3
≤
n
≤
5

, with $$Q \in H^1_{rad}(\mathbb {R}^n),$$

Q
∈

H

rad

1

(

R

n

)

,

where the operator I is the classical Riesz potential defined by $$I(f)(x) =(-\Delta )^{-1}f(x)$$

I

(
f
)

(
x
)

=

(
-
Δ
)

-
1

f

(
x
)

and the exponent $$p \in (2,1+4/(n-2))$$

p
∈
(
2
,
1
+
4
/
(
n
-
2
)
)

is energy subcritical. We consider Weinstein-type functional restricted to rays passing through the ground state. The corresponding real valued function of the path parameter has an appropriate analytic extension. We use the properties of this analytic extension in order to show local uniqueness of ground state solutions. The uniqueness of the ground state solutions for the case $$p=2$$

p
=
2

, i.e. for the case of Hartree–Choquard, is well known. The main difficulty for the case $$p > 2$$

p
>
2

is connected with a possible lack of control on the $$L^p$$

L
p

norm of the ground states as well on the lack of Sturm’s comparison argument.
Strain localization instabilities and the genesis of multiple axes of seafloor spreading in the Carmen basin, southern Gulf of California
Authors: Julià-Miralles Marc , Yarbuh Ismael , Spelz Ronald M. , Negrete-Aranda Raquel , Contreras Juan , Fletcher John M. , González-Fernández Antonio , Zierenberg Robert , Caress David W. 
Published: May 2024

AbstractWe present new insight into the tectonic evolution of the Carmen basin (CB) in the southern Gulf of California (GC) from high-resolution bathymetry and two-dimensional seismic reflection data. Our goal is to document the seafloor morphology and sub-surface acoustic characteristics to understand the structure and crustal lithology across the CB. We identify three sub-basins with distinct geometries and evolutionary histories, with basement structures displaying a strong affinity with highly reflective, sigmoidal-shaped layers and the emplacement of high-amplitude tabular material underlying sediments with varying stratigraphic thicknesses. From the extent of new oceanic crust accreted along the CB, we estimate the age of the basin using a seafloor spreading rate of 52 mm/year, which is the average velocity of the relative plate motion between the Baja California microplate and the North American plate, as documented by previous authors. The southern and central sub-basins of the CB are mainly abandoned, while the northern one is currently the locus of seafloor spreading. This is evidenced by the juxtaposition of oceanic crust younger than ~ 1.9 Ma against older oceanic crust correlating in age with the adjacent Guaymas and Farallon basins to the northeast and southwest, respectively. We propose that mantle upwelling beneath the CB is a northward continuation of the East Pacific Rise, resulting in a fast-evolving system with sharp variations in strain localization within the seafloor spreading centers of the CB.
Graphical Abstract
Long-term outcomes after surgery for subaxial cervical spine injuries in octogenarians, a matched population-based cohort study
Authors: El-Hajj Victor Gabriel , Singh Aman , Fletcher-Sandersjöö Alexander , Buwaider Ali , Gharios Maria , Habashy Karl J. , Blixt Simon , Stenimahitis Vasilios , Nilsson Gunnar , Gerdhem Paul , Edström Erik , Elmi-Terander Adrian 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Purpose
We aimed to investigate surgical outcomes in octogenarians with subaxial cervical spine injuries and determine the predictors of complications and mortality.

Methods
Eligible for inclusion were all patients surgically treated between 2006 and 2018, with either anterior or posterior fixation for subaxial spine injuries. A cohort of octogenarians was identified and matched 1:1 to a corresponding cohort of younger adults. Primary outcomes were perioperative complications and mortality.

Results
Fifty-four patients were included in each of the octogenarian and younger groups (median age: 84.0 vs. 38.5). While the risks for surgical complications, including dural tears and wound infections, were similar between groups, the risks of postoperative medical complications, including respiratory or urinary tract infections, were significantly higher among the elderly (p < 0.05). Additionally, there were no differences in operative time (p = 0.625) or estimated blood loss (p = 0.403) between groups. The 30 and 90-day mortality rates were significantly higher among the elderly (p = 0.004 and p < 0.001). These differences were due to comorbidities in the octogenarian cohort as they were revoked when propensity score matching was performed to account for the differences in American Society of Anesthesiology (ASA) grade. Multivariable logistic regression revealed age and ASA score to be independent predictors of complications and the 90-day mortality, respectively.

Conclusions
Octogenarians with comorbidities were more susceptible to postoperative complications, explaining the increased short-term mortality in this group. However, octogenarians without comorbidities had similar outcomes compared to the younger patients, indicating that overall health, including comorbidities, rather than chronological age should be considered in surgical decision-making.
Arterial oxygen pressure during veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation may be increased by advancing the tip of the drainage cannula into the superior vena cava: a case report
Authors: Nakamura Tomoyuki , Kuriyama Naohide , Hara Yoshitaka , Komura Hidefumi , Hoshino Naoki , Miyamoto Soshi , Sawada Ken , Kawaji Takahiro , Komatsu Satoshi , Nishida Osamu 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
A simple and robust method for veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (V–V ECMO) involves a drainage cannula into the inferior vena cava via the femoral vein (FV) and a reinfusion cannula into the right atrium (RA) via the internal jugular vein (IJV) (F–J configuration). However, with this method, the arterial oxygen (PaO2) is said to remain below 100 mmHg.
Since recently, in our ICU, to prevent drainage failure, we apply a modification from the commonly practiced F–J configuration by advancing the tip of the drainage cannula inserted via the FV into the superior vena cava (SVC) and crossing the reinfusion cannula inserted via the IJV in the RA (F(SVC)–J(RA) configuration). We experienced that this modification can be associated with unexpectedly high PaO2 values, which here we investigated in detail.
Veno-arteriovenous ECMO was induced in a 65-year-old male patient who suffered from repeated cardiac arrest due to acute respiratory distress syndrome. His chest X-ray images showed white-out after lung rest setting, consistent with near-absence of self-lung ventilation. Cardiac function recovered and the system was converted to F(SVC)–J(RA) configuration, after which both PaO2 and partial pressure of pulmonary arterial oxygen values remained high above 200 mmHg. Transesophageal echocardiography could not detect right-to-left shunt, and more efficient drainage of the native venous return flow compared to common F–J configuration may explain the increased PaO2.
Although the F(SVC)-J(RA) configuration is a small modification of the F–J configuration, it seems to provide a revolutionary improvement in the ECMO field by combining robustness/simplicity with high PaO2 values.
Speech emotion recognition systems and their security aspects
Authors: Gurowiec Itzik , Nissim Nir 
Published: May 2024

AbstractSpeech emotion recognition (SER) systems leverage information derived from sound waves produced by humans to identify the concealed emotions in utterances. Since 1996, researchers have placed effort on improving the accuracy of SER systems, their functionalities, and the diversity of emotions that can be identified by the system. Although SER systems have become very popular in a variety of domains in modern life and are highly connected to other systems and types of data, the security of SER systems has not been adequately explored. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of potential cyber-attacks aimed at SER systems and the security mechanisms that may prevent such attacks. To do so, we first describe the core principles of SER systems and discuss prior work performed in this area, which was mainly aimed at expanding and improving the existing capabilities of SER systems. Then, we present the SER system ecosystem, describing the dataflow and interactions between each component and entity within SER systems and explore their vulnerabilities, which might be exploited by attackers. Based on the vulnerabilities we identified within the ecosystem, we then review existing cyber-attacks from different domains and discuss their relevance to SER systems. We also introduce potential cyber-attacks targeting SER systems that have not been proposed before. Our analysis showed that only 30% of the attacks can be addressed by existing security mechanisms, leaving SER systems unprotected in the face of the other 70% of potential attacks. Therefore, we also describe various concrete directions that could be explored in order to improve the security of SER systems.
The Hadamard decomposition problem
Authors: Ciaperoni Martino , Gionis Aristides , Mannila Heikki 
Published: May 2024

AbstractWe introduce the Hadamard decomposition problem in the context of data analysis. The problem is to represent exactly or approximately a given matrix as the Hadamard (or element-wise) product of two or more low-rank matrices. The motivation for this problem comes from situations where the input matrix has a multiplicative structure. The Hadamard decomposition has potential for giving more succint but equally accurate representations of matrices when compared with the gold-standard of singular value decomposition (svd). Namely, the Hadamard product of two rank-$$h$$
h
matrices can have rank as high as $${h}^2$$

h

2

. We study the computational properties of the Hadamard decomposition problem and give gradient-based algorithms for solving it approximately. We also introduce a mixed model that combines svd and Hadamard decomposition. We present extensive empirical results comparing the approximation accuracy of the Hadamard decomposition with that of the svd using the same number of basis vectors. The results demonstrate that the Hadamard decomposition is competitive with the svd and, for some datasets, it yields a clearly higher approximation accuracy, indicating the presence of multiplicative structure in the data.
A method for constructing quaternary Hermitian self-dual codes and an application to quantum codes
Authors: Harada Masaaki 
Published: May 2024

AbstractWe introduce quaternary modified four $$\mu $$
μ
-circulant codes as a modification of four circulant codes. We give basic properties of quaternary modified four $$\mu $$
μ
-circulant Hermitian self-dual codes. We also construct quaternary modified four $$\mu $$
μ
-circulant Hermitian self-dual codes having large minimum weights. Two quaternary Hermitian self-dual [56, 28, 16] codes are constructed for the first time. These codes improve the previously known lower bound on the largest minimum weight among all quaternary (linear) [56, 28] codes. In addition, these codes imply the existence of a quantum [[56, 0, 16]] code.
Estimation of return levels with long return periods for extreme sea levels in a time-varying framework
Authors: Rydén Jesper 
Published: May 2024

AbstractAt nuclear power plants, risk analysis concerning environmental extremes is crucial. Based on historical data, estimation of return levels is usually performed. For long return periods, a problem is that the related uncertainties of the return levels often get large. Moreover, models need to take into account possible effects of climate change. In this paper, extreme sea levels close to Swedish nuclear power plants are considered. Non-stationary statistical models and the related results of conditional prediction during a typical time horizon of an infrastructure are studied. The influences of parameters in extreme-value distributions and the lengths of observation records are discussed. The effect of land uplift in parts of the Baltic Sea is seen.
A multistart and recombination algorithm for finding many unique solutions to spatial aggregation problems
Authors: Xiao Ningchuan , Kim Myung Jin , Lin Yue 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Spatial aggregation is essential for applications where data at low level spatial units such as census blocks are grouped into larger regions. This type of problem can be formulated as spatial optimization problems where the goal is to minimize the difference between the grouped regions. These problems are difficult to solve because of their computational intensity. In addition, these problems often have multiple, instead of singular, optimal solutions that have the same or similar objective function values but exhibit different spatial configurations. Existing solution methods often aim to find single solutions to these problems. In this paper, we discuss a new heuristic method that can be used to find a set of unique optimal or near-optimal solutions to spatial aggregation problems. The algorithm consists of two phases. A multistart phase first generates a pool of random solutions to a problem. The size of the pool is specified by the user and contains the number of solutions desired to be found. Each random solution is then improved using an efficient algorithm called give-and-take. The second phase uses a recombination algorithm to create new solutions based on solutions randomly selected from the pool. The worst solution in the pool will be replaced by the new solution if the latter is better and does not exist in the pool. We test this multistart and recombination algorithm (MSRA) using a variety of problems with different sizes and the results suggest the effectiveness of the algorithm in finding multiple unique optimal or near-optimal solutions.
A generalization of the Hawking black hole area theorem
Authors: Kontou Eleni-Alexandra , Sacchi Veronica 
Published: May 2024

AbstractHawking’s black hole area theorem was proven using the null energy condition (NEC), a pointwise condition violated by quantum fields. The violation of the NEC is usually cited as the reason that black hole evaporation is allowed in the context of semiclassical gravity. Here we provide two generalizations of the classical black hole area theorem: first, a proof of the original theorem with an averaged condition, the weakest possible energy condition to prove the theorem using focusing of null geodesics. Second, a proof of an area-type result that allows for the shrinking of the black hole horizon but provides a bound on it. This bound can be translated to a bound on the black hole evaporation rate using a condition inspired from quantum energy inequalities. Finally, we show how our bound can be applied to two cases that violate classical energy conditions.
Expression patterns and evidence of the expansion of Nicotiana tabacum L. TALE genes in the Solanaceae family
Authors: Song Yanru , Kong Decai , Dai Youqing , Song Kangkang , Li Bin , Jiang Jiazhu , Xiao Chunyan , Yang Long 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
The three-amino-acid-loop-extension (TALE) proteins are a class of transcription factors that regulate meristem differentiation during plant growth and development. In this study, we identified a total of 45 members of the tobacco TALE (NtTALE) transcription factor family. Based on domain type, the NtTALE genes were divided into BELL subfamily and KNOX subfamily. Cis-acting element analysis showed that the NtTALE gene promoters had a variety of response elements, including light-responsive elements, hormonal and abiotic stresses responsive elements, plant development related elements. Among the 45 NtTALE genes, the expression patterns of various plant tissues at different stages were different, 10 responded to alkali stress, 19 responded to dehydration treatment, 14 responded to cold stress, two responded to salt stress, and 17 responded to Ralstonia solanacearum infection. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the number of TALE genes in Nicotiana was significantly expanded compared with that in other Solanaceae. The KNOXIII subfamily members (NtTALE29, NtTALE45) were found only in Nicotiana tabacum. This study provides a theoretical basis for further research on the biological function of NtTALE genes.
Economic Alternatives for the Provision of URLLC and eMBB Services Over a 5G Network
Authors: Moreno-Cardenas Edison , Sacoto-Cabrera Erwin J. , Guijarro Luis 
Published: May 2024

AbstractThis research work analyzes economic alternatives for the provision of ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC) and enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services by mobile network operators over the same fifth-generation (5G) network. Two business models are proposed to provide the two services to end users. Concretely, a monopoly is a single operator who offers both services, and a duopoly is two different operators that share network resources and offer one service each. In addition, two types of network scenarios for resource sharing are studied. Specifically, a shared network (SN) is a type of network scenario allowing resources to be shared between the two services without priority. A differentiated network (DN) is a type of network scenario that allows resources to be shared between the two services with a priority to URLLC service using network slicing (NS). Regarding the economic aspects, the incentive is modeled through the user’s utility and the operator’s benefit. At the same time, game theory is used to model the strategic interaction between users and operators, and queuing theory is used to model the interaction between the two services. We conclude that the monopoly social welfare (SW) is closer to the SW of the social optimum than the duopoly SW. In addition, the DN scenario to offer the services through NS is more suitable than the SN scenario since the point of view of service prices, user utilities, and operator benefit.
Different impacts of urbanization on ecosystem services supply and demand across old, new and non-urban areas in the ChangZhuTan urban agglomeration, China
Authors: Li Jiayu , Wang Jing , Zhou Weiqi 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Context
Rapid urbanization has brought substantial changes in structure and function of ecosystems, significantly impacting ecosystem services (ESs) supply and demand, and thereby landscape sustainability.

Objectives
Revealing differences impacts of urbanization on ESs supply and demand across old, new and non-urban areas.

Methods
First, we quantified the supply and demand of four ESs, namely food production (FP), water retention (WR), carbon sequestration (CS), and habitat quality (HQ) within the ChangZhuTan urban agglomeration from 2000 to 2020. Then impacts of urbanization on ESs supply–demand ratio (ESDR)were investigated by OLS linear regression, alongside assessing sensitivities with Random Forest models. The differences in these impacts and sensitivities were compared across old, new, and non-urban areas, utilizing the proportional cover of construction land (CLP), population density (PD), and GDP density (GDPD) as urbanization indicators.

Results
(1) Urban expansion resulted in the increase of areas with low ESs supply but high demand, and thereby increased ESs deficits in urban edges. (2) CLP, PD and GDPD mostly had negative associations with ESDRs, especially in non-urban areas. Notably, they had positive impacts on ESDRs of CS and WR in old urban areas. (3) The sensitivity of ESDRs to urbanization differs in three areas. ESDRs were sensitive to GDPD and CLP in old and new urban areas, with only CLP emerging as the most sensitive indicator in non-urban areas, indicating the necessity for place-based strategies.

Conclusions
Urbanization exerted diverse impacts on ESDRs across old, new, and non-urban areas, and showed significantly negative impacts in new urban areas. This underscores the need for enhanced landscape management to balance ESs and urbanization. Results from this study can enhance understanding of relationships between urbanization and ESs, and provide insights for landscape sustainability in an increasingly urbanizing planet.
Elasto-viscoplastic model for rayon yarns
Authors: Moscatelli Marco , Pires da Costa Lucas , Caracino Paola , Agresti Simone , Novati Giorgio , Comi Claudia 
Published: May 2024

AbstractIn this paper we develop a new model for the simulation of the mechanical behavior of rayon twisted yarns, at macroscopic level. A yarn with its continuous filaments is represented by an equivalent three-dimensional solid of cylindrical shape, discretized by finite elements, with properly defined local anisotropic material properties. The new constitutive model, inspired by experimental results on rayon untwisted yarns, is formulated in the framework of the thermodynamics of irreversible processes and includes visco-elastic and visco-plastic dissipation mechanisms. The effect of twist is taken into account by including the direction of the fibers in the free energy definition. The overall model is validated comparing numerical and experimental results on twisted rayon yarns.
Enhanced energy recovery in municipal wastewater treatment plants through co-digestion by anaerobic membrane bioreactors: current status and future perspectives
Authors: Cengiz Ali Izzet , Guven Huseyin , Ozgun Hale , Ersahin Mustafa Evren 
Published: May 2024

AbstractToday, the transition to renewable energy from conventional energy practices is more important than ever to establish energy security and mitigate climate change. The wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) consume a remarkable amount of energy and cause significant greenhouse gas emissions. The energy balance of WWTP can be improved by implementing energy-efficient applications such as anaerobic digestion. However, most of the existing WWTPs utilize only sewage sludge in conventional anaerobic digesters (CAD) which results in low biogas generation. Generally, co-digestion is indicated as an effective solution for the low biogas generation faced in mono-digestion. Moreover, recently, anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR) have been promoted as a prominent alternative to CADs. This paper overviews the current situation of co-digestion applications by AnMBRs for municipal WWTPs. Furthermore, the environmental and economic aspects of these applications were reviewed. Lastly, challenges and future perspectives related to the co-digestion applications by AnMBR were thoroughly discussed.
Graphical Abstract