bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Associations between walking limitations and reported activity destinations among older adults
Authors: Tuomola Essi-Mari , Keskinen Kirsi E. , Rantanen Taina , Portegijs Erja 
Published: May 2024

AbstractIn old age, walking difficulty may reduce opportunities to reach valued activity destinations. Walking modifications, e.g., slower pace or using a walking aid, may enable individuals to continue going where they wish, and hence postpone the consequences of the onset of walking difficulties. We studied visited activity destinations (type, distance) among older people with varying degrees of walking limitations. Community-dwelling 75–85-year-old people living in Jyväskylä (N = 901) were asked to state whether they had no difficulty walking 2 km, had modified their walking, or had difficulty walking. On a digital map, participants located physical exercise, attractive, and regular destinations they had visited during the past month. Destination counts and median distance to destinations from home were computed. Participants with intact walking reported higher counts of physical exercise (IRR = 1.45, 95% CI [1.31, 1.61]) and attractive destinations (IRR = 1.23, 95% CI [1.10, 1.40]) than those with walking difficulty and also visited these destinations further away from home than the others (b = 0.46, 95% CI [0.20, 0.71]). Those with walking modifications reported higher counts of physical exercise destinations than those with walking difficulty (IRR = 1.23, 95% CI [1.09, 1.40]). Counts of regular destinations and distance traveled were not associated with walking limitations. Walking modifications may help people with walking difficulty reach destinations further away from home, potentially contributing to their sense of autonomy. For those with walking difficulty, a low count of destinations other than regular destinations, e.g., shops or healthcare facilities, may signal their abandonment of recreational activities and a decrease in their life space, potentially leading to reduced well-being.
Commodity cycles and financial instability in emerging economies
Authors: Andreev Mikhail , Peiris M. Udara , Shirobokov Alexander , Tsomocos Dimitrios P. 
Published: May 2024

AbstractCommodity-exporting economies display procyclicality with the price of commodity exports. However, the evidence for the relative importance of commodity price shocks for aggregate fluctuations remains inconclusive. Using Russian data from 2001 to 2018 we estimate a small open economy New Keynesian model with a banking system and leveraged domestic firms who default on their unsecured domestic debt. We show that allowing default rates to vary endogenously over the business cycle amplifies the estimated contribution of commodity price shocks. Endogenous default introduces time-varying wedges that amplify the response of commodity price shocks through demand and income effects rather than the relative price effects that are found in the country risk-premium, balance sheet, and financial accelerator channels. We find that the contribution of commodity prices to explaining fluctuations in GDP rises from 2.5 to 33.6% while for deposits and non-performing loans, it increases from 5.3% and 1.6% to 71.3% and 60.4%, respectively.
Dietary Cyanus depressus (M. Bieb.) Soják plant extract enhances growth performance, modulates intestinal microbiota, and alters gene expression associated with digestion, antioxidant, stress, and immune responses in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
Authors: Karataş Boran 
Published: May 2024

AbstractThis study aimed to assess the effects of dietary Cyanus depressus (CD) extract on rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) physiology and health. Fish with an average weight of 3.29 ± 0.34 g were allocated to four feeding groups, receiving diets containing CD extract at doses of 0 (Control), 0.5 (CD05), 1 (CD1), and 2 (CD2) g kg−1 for a period of 60 days. Results revealed significant improvements in final body weight, weight gain, and specific growth rate in groups supplemented with 1 and 2 g/kg of CD extract. Lipase activity increased notably in fish fed with CD0.5, CD1, and CD2 diets. The CD1 group exhibited the highest trypsin activity, while the groups receiving 1 g/kg and 2 g/kg of CD extract displayed the highest amylase activity. Analysis of gene expression levels for superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) showed marked increases across all groups compared to the control, with the most significant enhancement observed in fish fed with 2 g/kg of CD extract. Significant variations were observed in the expression of immunity-related genes among the treatments, with the highest expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β) found in groups fed a diet enriched with CD extract. The increased activity of immune-related genes was more prominent in fish fed 2 g/kg of CD extract than in the control group. Notably, in fish fed with CD extract, heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene expression increased in the CD2 group, decreased in the CD05 group, and remained statistically unchanged in the CD1 group compared to the control. Additionally, supplementation with CD extract altered the composition and abundance of the intestinal microbiota in rainbow trout. In conclusion, our study suggests that Cyanusdepressus extract has significant potential for enhancing various physiological and health aspects of rainbow trout, particularly when supplemented at 2 g/kg.
Greenhouse Gas Disclosure: Evidence from Private Firms
Authors: Grahn Aline 
Published: May 2024

Abstract
Existing literature on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions disclosure has paid little attention to private firms, despite the fact that this type of firm is responsible for significant GHG emissions. This study empirically analyzes the GHG disclosure of German private firms. The results suggest that more pronounced information asymmetries due to a more dispersed ownership structure and/or multiple bank relationships are associated with more extensive GHG disclosure. This aligns with arguments from agency and stakeholder theory. While this result is not new for public firms, it is for private firms. Given the specific characteristics of this type of firms (no separation of ownership and control, private communication channels, close bank–borrower relationships), it is not a straightforward assumption that observations from public firms can be transferred to private firms one-to-one. Moreover, higher levels of actual GHG emissions are also associated with more GHG disclosure, indicating that legitimacy theory arguments hold for private firms as well.
Chaotic marine predator optimization algorithm for feature selection in schizophrenia classification using EEG signals
Authors: Garip Zeynep , Ekinci Ekin , Serbest Kasım , Eken Süleyman 
Published: May 2024

AbstractSchizophrenia is a chronic mental illness that can negatively affect emotions, thoughts, social interaction, motor behavior, attention, and perception. Early diagnosis is still challenging and is based on the disease’s symptoms. However, electroencephalography (EEG) signals yield incredibly detailed information about the activities and functions of the brain. In this study, a hybrid algorithm approach is proposed to improve the search performance of the marine predator algorithm (MPA) based on chaotic maps. For evaluating the performance of the proposed chaotic-based marine predator algorithm (CMPA), benchmark datasets are used. The results of the suggested variation method on the benchmarks show that the Sine Chaotic-based MPA (SCMPA) significantly outperforms the other MPA variants. The algorithm was verified using a public dataset consisting of 14 subjects. Moreover, the proposed SCMPA is essential for EEG electrode selection because it minimizes model complexity and selects the best representative features for providing optimal solutions. The extracted features for each subject were used in the decision tree (DT), random forest (RF), and extra tree (ET) methods. Performance measures showed that the proposed model was successful at differentiating schizophrenia patients (SZ) from healthy controls (HC). In the end, it was demonstrated that the feature selection technique SCMPA, which is the subject of this research, performs significantly better in regard to classification using EEG signals.
MADESANT: malware detection and severity analysis in industrial environments
Authors: Jayalaxmi P. L. S. , Chakraborty Manali , Saha Rahul , Kumar Gulshan , Conti Mauro 
Published: May 2024

AbstractMalware remains a persistent threat to industrial operations, causing disruptions and financial losses. Traditional malware detection approaches struggle with the increasing complexity of false positives and negatives. However, existing Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) often lack the capability to assess the severity of detected malware, crucial for effective threat mitigation. This paper presents a novel model, MAlware DEtection and Severity Analysis for eNcrypted Traffic (MADESANT), designed to detect and analyze malware severity in encrypted traffic data. MADESANT combines Deep Learning (DL)-based intrusion detection with Machine Learning (ML)-based severity analysis, specifically customized for the minutiae of IoT systems and assets. Notably, MADESANT introduces a cascading model integrating a Cascading Forward Back Propagation Neural Network (CFBPNN) with the J48 tree to systematically assess risk factors in network traffic. Our assessment, conducted on diverse encrypted datasets including UNSW-NB15, IoT23, and XIIoTID, highlights the remarkable efficacy of MADESANT. Impressively, it achieves a flawless 0% false positive rate in detecting binary attack instances, surpassing benchmarks set by conventional models. Additionally, MADESANT excels in accurately estimate malware severity, providing invaluable insights into the factors contributing to the risk. To further validate its efficiency, we compared MADESANT against prevalent Neural Network models like FeedForward and Recurrent Neural Networks, with MADESANT emerging as the superior choice. The experimentation encompasses both the entire dataset and subsets generated through meticulous risk factor analysis. These results underscore MADESANT’s prowess in not only identifying malware but also in evaluating its potential impact, signifying a significant leap forward in industrial cybersecurity.
Optimal Time Varying Parameters in Yield Curve Modeling and Forecasting: A Simulation Study on BRICS Countries
Authors: Castello Oleksandr , Resta Marina 
Published: May 2024

AbstractThe term structure of interest rates is a fundamental decision–making tool for various economic activities. Despite the huge number of contributions in the field, the development of a reliable framework for both fitting and forecasting under various market conditions (either stable or very volatile) still remains a topical issue. Motivated by this problem, this study introduces a methodology relying on optimal time–varying parameters for three and five factor models in the Nelson–Siegel class that can be employed for an effective in-sample fitting and out–of–sample forecasting of the term structure. In detail, for the in–sample fitting we discussed a two–step estimation procedure leading to optimal models parameters and evaluated the performances of this approach in terms of flexibility and fitting accuracy gains. For what it concerns the forecasting, we suggest an approach overcoming the well–known issue between the stability of factor models’ parameters and the optimal dynamic decay terms. To such aim, we use either autoregressive or machine learning techniques as local data generating processes based on the optimal parameters time series derived in the in–line fitting step. The so–obtained values are then employed to get day–ahead predictions of the yield curve. We assessed the proposed framework on daily spot rates of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) bond market. The experimental analysis illustrated that (i) time–varying parameters ensure a significant boost in the models fitting power and a more faithful representation of the yield curves dynamics; (ii) the proposed approach provides also stable and accurate predictions.
Evolving or immutable - phase I solid tumor trials in the era of precision oncology
Authors: Stockton Shannon S. , Ayers G. Dan , Lee Cody , Laferriere Heather , Das Satya , Berlin Jordan 
Published: May 2024

AbstractIn the era of precision oncology (PO), systemic therapies for patients (pts) with solid tumors have shifted from chemotherapy (CT) to targeted therapy (TT) and immunotherapy (IO). This systematic survey describes features of trials enrolling between 2010 and 2020, focusing on inclusion criteria, type of dose escalation scheme (DES) utilized, and use of expansion cohorts (ECs). A literature search identified phase I studies in adults with solid tumors published January 1, 2000– December 31, 2020 from 12 journals. We included only studies enrolling between 2010 and 2020 to better capture the PO era. Two reviewers abstracted data; a third established concordance. Of 10,744 studies, 10,195 were non-topical or enrolled prior to 2010; 437 studies were included. The most common drug classes were TT (47.6%), IO (22%), and CT (6.9%). In studies which reported race, patients were predominantly white (61.7%) or Asian (25.7%), followed by black (6.5%) or other (6.1%). Heterogeneity was observed in the reporting and specification of study inclusion criteria. Only 40.1% of studies utilized ECs, and among the studies which used ECS, 46.6% were defined by genomic selection. Rule-based DES were used in 89% of trials; a 3+3 design was used in 80.5%. Of all drugs tested, 37.5% advanced to phase II, while 10.3% garnered regulatory licensure (for an indication tested in phase I). In the era of PO, TT and IO have emerged as the most studied agents in phase I trials. Rule-based DES, which are more relevant for escalating CT, are still chiefly utilized.
The Normative Power of Consent and Limits on Research Risks
Authors: Segal Aaron Eli , Wendler David S. 
Published: May 2024

AbstractResearch regulations around the world do not impose any limits on the risks to which consenting adults may be exposed. Nonetheless, most review committees regard some risks as too high, even for consenting adults. To justify this practice, commentators have appealed to a range of considerations which are external to informed consent and the risks themselves. Most prominently, some argue that exposing consenting adults to very high risks has the potential to undermine public trust in research. This justification assumes that it is not the magnitude of the risks themselves which raises concern, but the way in which the public might respond to them. This justification thus depends on the possibility that the public will find out about the risks and respond to them in the specified way. Like the other proposed external justifications, it thereby fails to offer a reason to think that exposing consenting adults to very high risks is problematic in itself. In the present paper, we describe and endorse a different justification. Rather than appealing to external factors, we argue that limits on risks for consenting adults trace to internal limits on informed consent, to limits on the things consent can and cannot make ethically permissible. In doing so, we aim to provide a firmer conceptual basis for the view that some research risks are unacceptably high, no matter how the research is conducted.
Nutritional value, bioactive composition, physico-chemical and sensory properties of Ulva sp. and Fucus vesiculosus depending on post-harvest processing: a drying comparison study
Authors: Wirenfeldt Cecilie Bay , Hermund Ditte B. , Feyissa Aberham Hailu , Hyldig Grethe , Holdt Susan Løvstad 
Published: May 2024

AbstractDrying is an important post-harvest process to preserve seaweed as they are highly susceptible to spoilage due to their high moisture content. Drying can be performed in multiple ways by changing the temperature, pressure, air flow, and humidity. Therefore, the choice of drying method can affect the quality of the product in terms of sensory, chemical, and physicochemical properties. Seaweeds contain nutrients (protein, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals) and bioactive compounds. The compounds impact properties such as texture, taste, odor, and appearance. However, there is currently limited knowledge about how different drying methods affect the quality of seaweed products. In this paper we demonstrate, how different drying methods: i) convective drying (52 °C), ii) microwave-vacuum drying (-40 to 40 °C at 10 Pa), and iii) freeze-drying (-20 to 20 °C at 20 Pa) influence the food quality of Fucus vesiculosus and Ulva sp. by investigating physico-chemical properties such as water holding capacity, water absorption, and color, the changes in some of the chemical compounds such as macronutrients, fatty acids, amino acids, antioxidants, and pigments, as well as the taste, odor, appearance, and texture within sensory attributes. This study found that different drying methods have a species-dependent influence on the quality of seaweed, with Ulva sp. showing more similarities of using microwave-vacuum and freeze-drying methods, while the drying method for F. vesiculosus should be selected based on the desired food quality due to significant variations between the drying methods.
Exploring prospective teachers’ stances in making sense of students’ mathematical ideas
Authors: Scheiner Thorsten , Montes Miguel A. 
Published: May 2024

AbstractIn this paper, we explore the critical practice of making sense of students’ mathematical ideas. We extend previous research by studying stances prospective teachers adopt, the extent or depth to which they do so, and the types of prospective teachers making sense of students’ mathematical ideas. Analyzing the responses of 123 prospective teachers to students’ different ideas on an ambiguous mathematical task, our study identifies various stances—descriptive, evaluative, comparative, interpretive, inquiry-based, connective, and projective—and explores the complexity of attributing value, meaning, and significance to student ideas. Our findings offer insights into various types of making sense of students’ ideas and suggest that different kinds of attributions are at play for the purposes of observation, assessment, understanding and projection/prediction.
Variable Syndromic Immunodeficiency in Patients with Biallelic PRIM1 Mutations
Authors: Toskov Vasil , Kaiser-Labusch Petra , Lee-Kirsch Min Ae ,   PRIM1 study group, Wolf Christine , Speckmann Carsten , Ehl Stephan , Wegehaupt Oliver 
Published: May 2024

AbstractMutations in genes of the DNA polymerase complex have been linked to impaired immunological function next to distinct syndromic features. Biallelic mutations in PRIM1 are associated with a primordial dwarfism syndrome with variable hypogammaglobulinemia. The disease is mostly lethal in infancy due to pulmonary infections as well as hepatic cirrhosis. We studied 3 novel patients with PRIM1-deficiency with a focus on immunological consequences. All three shared dysmorphic features including a prominent forehead, triangular face and bilateral cryptorchidism. P1 carried the novel homozygous PRIM1 splice variant c.103+2T>G, allowing residual protein expression and associated with a mild clinical phenotype. P2 and P3 carried the known homozygous variant c.638+36C>G and died in infancy. Paradoxically, B cell lymphopenia was most pronounced in P1. No other significant lymphocyte abnormalities were detected. Interestingly, all 3 patients showed variable, but intermittently excessive Type I interferon signatures. In summary, the B-cell deficiency in PRIM1-deficiency is markedly variable and the severity of syndromic manifestations is not predictive of the immunological phenotype. We highlight a potential contribution of pathological type I interferon activation to disease pathogenesis which warrants further investigations.
Symmetrized Dot Pattern as an Alternative Method to Visualize the Dynamics of Tokamak Plasma Radiation
Authors: Jardin Agnieszka , Jardin Axel ,   the WEST Team
Published: May 2024

AbstractThe unusual graphic representation of time series based on Symmetrized Dot Pattern (SDP) helps capturing subtle dynamics in the analyzed signals, otherwise difficult to identify when applying traditional techniques. SDP is creating features and forming a global percept easily readable and recognizable for a human observer. Thanks to this method, local correlations of the signals of any sampled data series can be visualized. This work describes the application of SDP to measurements of tokamak plasma radiation, namely the soft X-ray line-integrated brightness on WEST, where it was thus possible to analyze different phases of the discharge and in particular to identify sawtooth oscillations. In the future, the SDP method could be used to monitor the plasma state and to warn against the appearance of undesirable plasma behavior.
Prehistory to History: A New Archaeological Approach to Knowledge Transmission and the Inception of Literacy in Central Europe
Authors: Macháček Jiří 
Published: May 2024

AbstractThis paper reviews archaeological research on the transmission of writing knowledge between literate and pre-literate societies. It proposes the use of productive approaches, such as cultural epidemiology and cultural attraction theory (CAT). The case study focuses on East-Central Europe and discusses the role of writing in the construction of social group identity and the transition from local communities with a prehistoric mindset to a historically acting society during the first millennium AD. The study collects relevant archaeological records of Early Mediaeval writing and explains them using reflective archaeology. It is shown that interactions between literate and pre-literate societies are highly complex social processes that function not only at the cultural and cognitive levels of individuals but also among larger groups of people. By combining cultural attraction theory with empirical archaeological data, this study formulates a conclusive explanation for the introduction of writing among Europe’s Slavic-speaking population.
Does VS30 reflect seismic amplification? Observations from the West Bohemia Seismic Network
Authors: Mazanec Martin , Valenta Jan , Málek Jiří 
Published: May 2024

AbstractThe present study addresses verification of average seismic shear-wave velocity from the surface to a depth of 30 m (VS30) as a suitable proxy for a seismic amplification. For this purpose, we used instrumentally homogeneous and spatially dense seismic network WEBNET (West Bohemia Seismic Network), designed to monitor an intraplate earthquake swarm activity in the West Bohemia/Vogtland region (Czech Republic/Germany). Using a Multichannel analysis of surface waves (MASW) shear-wave velocity models and parameters VS30 and H800 (depth of Vs > 800 m/s) were obtained at 17 WEBNET sites. VS30 were compared with (i) H800 and (ii) determined bedrock densities. To understand the relation between VS30 and site amplification, VS30 values were correlated with amplitudes of two earthquakes: (1) Mw 6.4 Petrinja, Croatia (12/2020) and (2) Mw 4.2 SE of Vienna, Austria (03/2021) both recorded by the WEBNET. The correlation analysis examined four categories of seismic waves in nine frequency windows and described the relation between amplification and VS30 using newly defined regression model. The results show that for the regression model, the frequency window with the highest correlation is in the 1–3 Hz range, and this dependence is statistically best observed in the full wave record. The amplification generally decreases with increasing VS30. However, a large scatter in amplification within Eurocode 8 category B is observed. Based on the observations a new general approach is put forward to finely indicate the relation between amplification and VS30 and the use of other site proxies is discussed.