bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Sustainability analysis of biorefineries applying biotechnological routes to convert bagasse from non-centrifugal sugar production for rural economic development in Colombia
Authors: Ortiz-Sanchez Mariana , Piedrahita-Rodríguez Sara , Solarte-Toro Juan Camilo , Moustakas Konstantinos , Cardona Alzate Carlos Ariel 
Published: March 2024

AbstractPanela is the second most important rural agro-industry after coffee in Colombia. This agro-industry produces a large amount of bagasse from non-centrifugal sugar (B-NCSP) without valorization. B-NCSP is used in combustion boilers in panela production, causing greenhouse gas emissions and health problems. This research aims to compare the sustainability of two B-NCSP biorefineries considering the current residue use. The sustainability of the biorefinery scenarios was analyzed to promote rural economic development in Colombia. In both biorefinery scenarios, biogas was evaluated as an energy vector to meet the energy demand of panela production. Two biorefinery scenarios were considered: (i) saccharification, bioethanol, and biogas production and (ii) acid pretreatment, saccharification, xylitol, bioethanol, and biogas production. Experimental data of the pretreatment, saccharification, and anaerobic digestion stages were used as input information in simulations. Technical, economic, environmental, and social metrics were used to estimate a sustainability index. The experimental glucose yield in scenario 2 was 0.42 ± 0.03 (31.52 ± 2.36 g/L) g/g B-NCSP, 1.8 times greater than scenario 1. The biogas yield in scenario 2 was 504.23 ± 21.68 (71.16% CH4) L/kg B-NCSP, 3.3 times greater than scenario 1. Scenario 1 was unfeasible at different scales. Xylitol production helps to improve the economic feasibility in scenario 2 since the payback period was 15 years. This scenario can create 36 job positions with a wage 18% higher than the minimum wage in Colombia (highest sustainability index of 72.44%). Finally, biogas produced in scenario 2 supplies 62.76% of the energy demand needed in the panela production process, reducing the environmental impact.
Resistance Exercise Minimal Dose Strategies for Increasing Muscle Strength in the General Population: an Overview
Authors: Nuzzo James L. , Pinto Matheus D. , Kirk Benjamin J. C. , Nosaka Kazunori 
Published: March 2024

AbstractMany individuals do not participate in resistance exercise, with perceived lack of time being a key barrier. Minimal dose strategies, which generally reduce weekly exercise volumes to less than recommended guidelines, might improve muscle strength with minimal time investment. However, minimal dose strategies and their effects on muscle strength are still unclear. Here our aims are to define and characterize minimal dose resistance exercise strategies and summarize their effects on muscle strength in individuals who are not currently engaged in resistance exercise. The minimal dose strategies overviewed were: “Weekend Warrior,” single-set resistance exercise, resistance exercise “snacking,” practicing the strength test, and eccentric minimal doses. “Weekend Warrior,” which minimizes training frequency, is resistance exercise performed in one weekly session. Single-set resistance exercise, which minimizes set number and session duration, is one set of multiple exercises performed multiple times per week. “Snacks,” which minimize exercise number and session duration, are brief bouts (few minutes) of resistance exercise performed once or more daily. Practicing the strength test, which minimizes repetition number and session duration, is one maximal repetition performed in one or more sets, multiple days per week. Eccentric minimal doses, which eliminate or minimize concentric phase muscle actions, are low weekly volumes of submaximal or maximal eccentric-only repetitions. All approaches increase muscle strength, and some approaches improve other outcomes of health and fitness. “Weekend Warrior” and single-set resistance exercise are the approaches most strongly supported by current research, while snacking and eccentric minimal doses are emerging concepts with promising results. Public health programs can promote small volumes of resistance exercise as being better for muscle strength than no resistance exercise at all.
GITPose: going shallow and deeper using vision transformers for human pose estimation
Authors: Aidoo Evans , Wang Xun , Liu Zhenguang , Abbam Abraham Opanfo , Tenagyei Edwin Kwadwo , Ejianya Victor Nonso , Kodjiku Seth Larweh , Aggrey Esther Stacy E. B. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn comparison to convolutional neural networks (CNN), the newly created vision transformer (ViT) has demonstrated impressive outcomes in human pose estimation (HPE). However, (1) there is a quadratic rise in complexity with respect to image size, which causes the traditional ViT to be unsuitable for scaling, and (2) the attention process at the transformer encoder as well as decoder also adds substantial computational costs to the detector’s overall processing time. Motivated by this, we propose a novelGoing shallow and deeper with vIsionTransformers for humanPose estimation (GITPose) without CNN backbones for feature extraction. In particular, we introduce a hierarchical transformer in which we utilize multilayer perceptrons to encode the richest local feature tokens in the initial phases (i.e., shallow), whereas self-attention modules are employed to encode long-term relationships in the deeper layers (i.e., deeper), and a decoder for keypoint detection. In addition, we offer a learnable deformable token association module (DTA) to non-uniformly and dynamically combine informative keypoint tokens. Comprehensive evaluation and testing on the COCO and MPII benchmark datasets reveal that GITPose achieves a competitive average precision (AP) on pose estimation compared to its state-of-the-art approaches.
Performance characteristics of the airlift pump under vertical solid–water–gas flow conditions for conveying centimetric-sized coal particles
Authors: Enany Parviz , Drebenshtedt Carsten 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn this study, the installation of an airlift pump with inner diameter of 102 mm and length of 5.64 m was utilized to consider the conveying process of non-spherical coal particles with density of 1340 kg/m3 and graining 25–44.5 mm. The test results revealed that the magnitude of increase in the solid transport rate due to the changes in the three tested parameters between compressed air velocity, submergence ratio, and feeding coal possibility was not the same, which are stand in range of 20%, 75%, and 40%, respectively. Hence, creating the optimal airlift pump performance is highly dependent on submergence ratio. More importantly, we measured the solid volume fraction using the method of one-way valves in order to minimize the disadvantages of conventional devices, such as fast speed camera and conductivity ring sensor. The results confirmed that the volume fraction of the solid phase in the transfer process was always less than 12%. To validate present experimental data, the existing empirical correlations together with the theoretical equations related to the multiphase flow was used. The overall agreement between the theory and experimental solid delivery results was particularly good instead of the first stage of conveying process. This drawback can be corrected by omitting the role of friction and shear stress at low air income velocity. It was also found that the model developed by Kalenik failed to predict the performance of our airlift operation in terms of the mass flow rate of the coal particles.
Determining rock crack stress thresholds using ultrasonic through-transmission measurements
Authors: He Jiangwan , Serati Mehdi , Veidt Martin , De Alwis Arthur 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThe crack initiation stress threshold is widely used in excavation industries as rock spalling strength when designing deep underground structures to avoid unwanted brittle failures. While various strain-based methods have been developed for the estimation of this critical design parameter, such methods are destructive and often requires subjective interpretations of the stress–strain curves, particularly in rocks with pre-existing microcracks or high porosity. This study explore the applicability of non-destructive ultrasonic through-transmission methods for determining rock damage levels by assessing the changes in transmitted signal characteristics during loading. The change in velocity, amplitude, dominant frequency, and root-mean-square voltage are investigated with four different rock types including marble, sandstone, granite, and basalt under various stress levels. Results suggest the rate of signal variations can be reliably used to estimate crack closure and crack initiation stress levels across the tested rocks before failure. Comparison of the results between the conventional techniques and the new proposed methods based on ultrasonic monitoring are further discussed.
Experimental study of the effect of crack distribution on the failure mechanism of sandstone specimens based on inclination angles and number of parallel flaws
Authors: Pang Jiewen , He Yongliang , Han Qiaoyun , Ba Deyang , Sun Xiaoyuan 
Published: March 2024

AbstractDiscontinuous joints are prevalent in engineered rock masses and play a significant role in the stability of the rock mass. This study aims to analyze the impact of the inclination angle and number of prefabricated flaws on the crack evolution and failure pattern of sandstone specimens. Uniaxial compression tests, along with acoustic emission technology and digital image technology, were employed to monitor and analyze the effects. The findings indicate that: (1) With the increase in the flaw inclination angle, the damage mode of the specimen transitions from tensile to compressive-shear failure. The localized high-strain region on the surface of the specimen predicts the propagation path for the formation of macroscopic cracks. (2) When the number of prefabricated flaws is small, the flaws mainly expand through tensile wing cracks. As the number of flaws increases, the inner flaw tip does not produce cracks. Instead, the failure of the entire specimen occurs along the direction of the outer flaw's tensile wing crack, with the inner flaw running through it. (3) The winged tensile crack is the first crack to appear in all rock samples, regardless of the flaw initiation angles. Finally, the stress intensity factor at the crack tip under uniaxial compression conditions, without considering the closure effect, was expressed based on fracture mechanics theory. The crack initiation angle was then calculated. The results of the theoretical calculation of the initiation angle were found to be consistent with the test results. These research findings can serve as theoretical references and provide insights into the failure mechanisms of cracked rocks and the development of disaster control methods in rock engineering.
Heterogeneity and agency in the contemporary food regime in Switzerland: among the food from nowhere, somewhere, and here sub-regimes
Authors: Stotten Rike 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis study empirically illuminates the contemporary food regime in Switzerland to understand the organisation of food production, distribution, and consumption. From the perspective of food regime theory, it highlights in detail the (inter)relationships in the food regime between the food from nowhere, somewhere, and here sub-regimes using empirical means. Heterogeneous structures, processes, and relations that coexist within an umbrella food regime are examined. To address the criticisms of food regime theory ignoring social agency, this study further reveals collective agency and addresses the role of alternative food systems within the food regime in Switzerland. In-depth document analysis and subsequent qualitative data collection relying on expert interviews were performed. This study illustrates the collective agency shaping the contemporary food regime in Switzerland, encompassing private companies, relevant media, as well as associations and unions involved in farming, processing, and consumption. These influential entities and actor-networks advance different sub-regimes of food from nowhere, somewhere, and here that reflect the heterogeneity of the contemporary food regime in Switzerland. However, the data did not provide sufficient information to determine the collective agency of actors within the alternative food system. The dynamics of the food regime are shaped by contested social practices, which are influenced and interpreted through social agency. This results in an overlap of the sub-regimes that has led to strong counter-movements within the contemporary food regime in Switzerland.
Contrasting Regulation of Phaseolus vulgaris Root Hydraulic Properties Under Drought and Saline Conditions by Three Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungal Species From Soils with Divergent Moisture Regime
Authors: Erice Gorka , Cano Custodia , Bago Alberto , Ruíz-Lozano Juan Manuel , Aroca Ricardo 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Purpose
Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) may help plants to overcome abiotic stresses, in part by improving their water uptake capacity. However how different AMF isolated from different climatic regions regulate plant abiotic stress tolerance and water uptake capacity is barely studied. The aim of this study was to reveal how three AMF isolated from two Mediterranean climate locations contrasting in annual precipitation, modify bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) root hydraulic properties facing drought and salinity.

Methods
Rhizophagus intraradices (Ri) and Funneliformis mosseae (Fm) were isolated from a humid area, whereas Claroideoglomus etunicatum (Ce) was isolated from a dry location. All plants (inoculated or not) were subjected to four days of withholding water or salt treatment. Root hydraulic properties including root hydraulic conductivity and aquaporin expression and abundance were determined.

Results
All three AMF isolate induced significant differences in plant physiology regardless their different mycorrhizal colonization extent. Drought treatment diminished root hydraulic conductivity and only Fm inoculated plants featured measurable amount of sap exudate. After salt irrigation, AMF inoculation counterbalanced the drop of root hydraulic conductivity. In such situation two AMF, Fm and Ce, presented lowered phosphorylated (Ser-283) PIP2 AQP amount. AQP gene expression highlighted the importance of PvPIP1;2 and PvPIP2;3 plasticity in plants facing osmotic stress. After drought treatment AMF species from the humid location, Ri and Fm, improved plant water status and Fm enhanced root hydraulic conductivity, whereas all AMF performed similarly after salt irrigation, enhancing stomatal conductance and root hydraulic conductivity.

Conclusion
Under drought conditions, the AMF isolates from humid regions were the ones that most effectively improved plant water relations. However, under salt stress, all three AMF isolates exhibited similar behavior. Therefore, to some extent, the climatic origin of the AMF could have influenced the response of host plants to drought stress, suggesting that those originating from dry areas may not necessarily be the most efficient.
The ethical wisdom of AI developers
Authors: Griffin Tricia A. , Green Brian P. , Welie Jos V.M. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis paper explores ethical wisdom in the artificial intelligence (AI) developer community. Despite robust literature about the need for virtue ethics approaches in AI development, little research has directly engaged with the developer community about their progress in this regard. We have thus conducted semi-structured interviews with a worldwide cohort of 40 developers, which focused on their awareness of ethics issues, how they navigate ethical challenges, and the barriers they encounter in developing ethical wisdom. We find developers are largely aware of the ethical territories they must navigate and the moral dilemmas they personally encounter, but they face limited and inconsistent resources for ethical guidance or training. Furthermore, there are significant barriers inhibiting the development of ethical wisdom in the AI developer community, including the industry’s fixation on innovation, the narrow scope of technical practice, limited provisions for reflection and dialogue, and incentive structures that prioritize profits and prestige. The paper concludes by emphasizing the need to address the gap in domain-specific ethical skill and provides recommendations for organizations, educators, and the AI developer community.
Genome-wide analysis of the PME gene family reveals its role in suppressing fruit lignification in pear
Authors: Zhang Fanhang , Wang Qi , Yuan Kaili , Xie Zhihua , Qi Kaijie , Li Wen , Gong Xin , Zhang Shaoling , Tao Shutian 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn pears, the presence of stone cells adversely affects fruit quality. Pectin methylesterase (PME) plays various roles in plant biology, including lignin biosynthesis. However, only a limited fraction has been functionally characterized, and the distribution and function of PME in many Rosaceae trees remain unexplored. In this study, we identified 396 putative PME family candidate genes, with 81 in Pyrus bretschneideri, 92 in Malus domestica, 62 in Fragaria vesca, 65 in Prunus mume, 15 in Pyrus communis, and 81 in Pyrus pyrifolia. Leveraging insights from model plants, we categorized PME family genes into four groups. Additionally, the evolution of the PME gene family was shaped by various gene duplication events, primarily dispersed duplication, influenced by purifying selection. A specific gene, Pbr031522.1, designated PbPME35, emerged as a candidate associated with lignin biosynthesis in pear fruits, supported by RNA-seq data. The role of PbPME35 in repressing lignification was validated through its overexpression in pear callus and Arabidopsis. Overall, our findings highlight the ability of PbPME35 to reduce lignin content in pear fruit by downregulating the expression levels of lignin biosynthesis genes. These findings provide new insights into the characteristics of PME genes and their role in regulating lignification in pear fruits.
A study on the interpretation and application of the ‘International Concern Provisions’ of Chinese Coast Guard Law
Authors: Cui Haoran 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThe Chinese Coast Guard Law was adopted and came into force in 2021. This has prompted discussion in the wider international community. This paper first interprets the ‘International Concern Provisions’, including ‘areas under the jurisdiction of China’, ‘forcible measures against illegal acts of foreign warships and government vessels’, and ‘the nature of coast guard agency’. The concept of those waters under Chinese jurisdiction denotes the scope of maritime rights as authorized by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the waters it claims by historical precedent. It is concluded that the Chinese Coast Guard has the right to use weapons according to domestic law, but it should still align with international law and customs when taking forcible measures against any illegal acts committed by foreign warships or government vessels. The main duties of the Chinese Coast Guard are to protect maritime rights and enforce the law. The Chinese Coast Guard agency has the dual attributes of being part of the national armed forces and a law enforcement authority. China should improve the concept of ‘maritime rights protection and law enforcement’, promote the connection between the Chinese Coast Guard Law and other maritime domestic laws, and strive for better understanding and recognition in the international community while safeguarding extant maritime rights and interests.
Revolution, War, and Cholera in 1848–49: The Case of Hungary
Authors: Fazekas Csaba 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis paper investigates the events and lessons from the 1848–49 cholera epidemic in Hungary. For contemporaries, the ongoing revolution and civil war pushed the devastation of the cholera epidemic into the background, even though the death rate was similar to that of the earlier 1831 infection. The epidemic hit the country in a period when the revolutionary Hungarian state was waging a war of self-defense. This article strives to refute the historiographic view that the movements of the different armies had a considerable influence on the development of the epidemic. Instead, this article argues that the cholera epidemic was a demographic crisis unfolding in the background of war, but for the most part independently of it. It mattered that most people of that time had already directly experienced cholera and that the Hungarian government did not want to cause panic with restrictive measures. In 1848, cholera was not a “mobilizing factor,” but in 1849 it contributed to the demoralization of the hinterland and frequently appeared in the political propaganda of the civil war.
Thiamine deficiency as a cause of anorexia in terminally ill cancer patients: A case of possible gastrointestinal beriberi
Authors: Hayashi Eriko , Matuura Tetsuya , Takano Junko , Morofushi Kaori , Toriizuka Kaori , Onishi Hideki 
Published: March 2024

AbstractObjectivesAnorexia in cancer patients has a variety of causes and impairs patients’ quality of life. However, there have been few reports of thiamine deficiency (TD) playing a role in anorexia during palliative care. The objective of this report was to describe such a case.MethodsAn 82-year-old woman with advanced cervical cancer was admitted for palliative care because of progressive disease. One month after admission, she developed myoclonus on the left side, difficulty speaking, slurred speech, and drooping of the left corner of the mouth, with no consciousness disturbance. She also developed nausea and complained of decreased dietary intake for more than 2 weeks.ResultsThe patient’s thiamine level, which had been measured 2 weeks earlier, was 27 ng/ml, which was below the normal range, and 100 mg of thiamine was administered intravenously. After 2 hours, the patient’s neurological findings resolved, and her dietary intake improved from 30% to 40% of meals to 90% to 100%. Subsequently, the patient did not experience similar symptoms, and her clinical course was stable. Based on the patient’s clinical course, gastrointestinal beriberi was diagnosed.Significance of resultsThis case shows that TD may cause anorexia. Many patients who receive palliative care have decreased dietary intake. Consequently, such patients may present with gastrointestinal beriberi, as in the present case. Appropriate diagnosis and treatment may contribute to increasing such patients’ quality of life. It may be necessary to differentiate TD from other conditions as a cause of anorexia in patients receiving palliative care.
Snowfall Replenishes Groundwater Loss in the Great Basin of the Western United States, but Cannot Compensate for Increasing Aridification
Authors: Hall Dorothy K. , Loomis Bryant D. , DiGirolamo Nicolo E. , Forman Barton A. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThere has been an acceleration of groundwater loss in the Great Basin (GB) of the western U.S. as determined from total water storage (TWS) measurements from the GRACE/FO satellite missions. From 2002 to 2023, there was a loss of TWS in the GB of ∼68.7 km3 which is more than six times the current volume of the Lake Mead Reservoir. In this arid/semi‐arid region, groundwater is the primary factor contributing to the decade‐scale decline in TWS. Stronger declining trends are found in the western versus the eastern GB. Snow loading is the major cause of seasonal fluctuations of TWS in the GB. Despite annual replenishment of groundwater by snow, the downward trend persists even in notable snow years. Likely causes include declining snow mass, upstream water diversions and increased evaporation/sublimation due to increasing temperatures. Dire consequences for humans and wildlife are associated with this large loss of groundwater.