bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Optimizing flood susceptibility assessment in semi-arid regions using ensemble algorithms: a case study of Moroccan High Atlas
Authors: Bammou Youssef , Benzougagh Brahim , Igmoullan Brahim , Ouallali Abdessalam , Kader Shuraik , Spalevic Velibor , Sestras Paul , Billi Paolo , Marković Slobodan B. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis study explores and compares the predictive capabilities of various ensemble algorithms, including SVM, KNN, RF, XGBoost, ANN, DT, and LR, for assessing flood susceptibility (FS) in the Houz plain of the Moroccan High Atlas. The inventory map of past flooding was prepared using binary data from 2012 events, where “1” indicates a flood-prone area and “0” a non-flood-prone or extremely low area, with 762 indicating flood-prone areas. 15 different categorical factors were determined and selected based on importance and multicollinearity tests, including slope, elevation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Terrain Ruggedness Index, Stream Power Index, Land Use and Land Cover, curvature plane, curvature profile, aspect, flow accumulation, Topographic Position Index, soil type, Hydrologic Soil Group, distance from river and rainfall. Predicted FS maps for the Tensift watershed show that, only 10.75% of the mean surface area was predicted as very high risk, and 19% and 38% were estimated as low and very low risk, respectively. Similarly, the Haouz plain, exhibited an average surface area of 21.76% for very-high-risk zones, and 18.88% and 18.18% for low- and very-low-risk zones respectively. The applied algorithms met validation standards, with an average area under the curve of 0.93 and 0.91 for the learning and validation stages, respectively. Model performance analysis identified the XGBoost model as the best algorithm for flood zone mapping. This study provides effective decision-support tools for land-use planning and flood risk reduction, across globe at semi-arid regions.
Cultural Threat, Outgroup Discrimination, and Attitudes toward Transgender Rights
Authors: Lewis Daniel C. , Flores Andrew R. , Haider-Markel Donald P. , Miller Patrick R. , Taylor Jami K. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractScholars often highlight the roles that group threat and intergroup solidarity play in shaping attitudes toward outgroups. Competition among social groups, including over values and culture, can underlie negative attitudes toward outgroups. Meanwhile, perceptions of discrimination against outgroups can drive feelings of solidarity, sympathy, or empathy, which may foster more positive attitudes. These social identity concepts are often studied in the context of racial, ethnic, and religious prejudice, with less attention to how they apply to attitudes toward transgender and gender diverse people. Using a 2022 national survey, we assess how respondents’ perceptions of cultural threat from the LGBTQ community and perceptions of discrimination among a range of outgroups are related to attitudes about transgender rights policies, including access to public restrooms, participation in school sports, and medical transition care. We find that cultural threat is consistently associated with support for policies that restrict the rights of transgender people, but perceived outgroup discrimination tends not to show a significant relationship with these attitudes.
Minoritized pupils’ reflections on their student-teacher relationship in mainstream and supplementary schools
Authors: Steenwegen Julia , Clycq Noel , Vanhoof Jan 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis paper investigates the student-teacher relationship among minoritized primary school pupils in Flanders, Belgium, who attend both mainstream and supplementary schools, educational initiatives organized by their communities in the weekend. Despite the recognized significance of this relationship, research often overlooks the experiences of students with migration backgrounds, and especially those of primary school pupils. This study aims to comprehensively understand the student-teacher dynamic by exploring both the academic and the affective side of the relationship from the perspective of the children. While prior research mainly focuses on secondary school students and mainly uses quantitative data, this qualitative study delves into the primary school context. Minoritized pupils, who attend supplementary schools in addition to their mainstream schools, provide a unique opportunity to examine student-teacher relationships across varied educational settings. Through 13 open ended in-depth interviews with a total of 29 pupils aged 9 to 12 attending both types of schools, the study uncovers which aspects of their student-teacher relationships the pupils perceive as supportive, in each setting. The findings reveal both shared and distinct experiences within different contexts, shedding light on the intricate interplay of expectations, teacher attitudes, and relationships. By investigating affective and academic dimensions of the student-teacher relationship from the experience of minoritized pupils, this paper adds to our understanding of the student teacher relationship. The insights emphasize the need to support the diverse needs of minoritized pupils in complex educational environments, offering recommendations for policymakers and suggesting future research directions.
Parallelization with load balancing of the weather scheme WSM7 for heterogeneous CPU-GPU platforms
Authors: Jakobs Thomas , Klöckner Oliver , Rünger Gudula 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThis article provides an enhanced parallelization of the WSM7 microphysics scheme for the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). The parallelization is designed to maximize the utilization of a heterogeneous computing system consisting of CPUs, GPUs or both. Therefore the reference implementation of the WSM7 scheme is re-implemented for the heterogeneous execution model. For each time step, a dynamic load distribution is introduced which balances the computational load between the two components aiming for an overall minimum execution time. The evaluation of the parallelized implementation is done for a specific weather situation. Specifically, the precipitation of the low-pressure zone “Bernd” from July 2021 is simulated using an Intel Core i7-7700 CPU and a NVIDIA GTX 1070 GPU. The results show a speedup of up to 28.51 for the GPU version in comparison with the reference implementation. The heterogeneous dynamic load balancing increases the speedup achieved even further by introducing a distribution factor that is updated for each time step.
Shaping Social Media Minds: Scaffolding Empathy in Digitally Mediated Interactions?
Authors: Mossner Carmen , Walter Sven 
Published: March 2024

AbstractEmpathy is an integral aspect of human existence. Without at least a basic ability to access others’ affective life, social interactions would be well-nigh impossible. Yet, recent studies seem to show that the means we have acquired to access others’ emotional life no longer function well in what has become our everyday business – technologically mediated interactions in digital spaces. If this is correct, there are two important questions: (1) What makes empathy for frequent internet users so difficult? and (2) What can we do to alleviate the negative consequences? Correspondingly, the aim of this paper is twofold. First, we identify structural differences between offline and technologically mediated interactions that can explain why digital empathy is harder to achieve. Second, drawing on the literature on ‘situated affectivity,’ we consider the idea of modifying digital spaces in ways specifically designed to ‘scaffold’ empathy where our evolved mechanisms fail. Section 2 argues that empathy is requires interpreting the behavior of embodied subjects. Section 3 identifies three factors that are crucial for this interpretative endeavor: the empathizer’s affective repertoire, their perceptual input, and their background knowledge. Section 4 argues that technologically mediated interactions differ from face-to-face interactions with regard to these factors in ways which render our evolved empathy mechanisms less effective in the digital world. Section 5 introduces the idea that situational factors can serve as ‘empathic scaffolds,’ i.e., as ‘tools’ that can ‘shape’ people’s empathic reactions. Section 6 wraps up the main line of reasoning, responds to objections and invites further scholarship.
Adsorption of azo dye by biomass and immobilized Yarrowia lipolytica; equilibrium, kinetic and thermodynamic studies
Authors: Hassan Ibrahim Amal Hajo , Cihangir Nilüfer , Idil Neslihan , Aracagök Y. Doruk 
Published: March 2024

AbstractOne of the major environmental problems we have today is dye pollution, primarily caused by the textile industry. This pollution has detrimental effects on aquatic life, soil fertility, and human health. Many microbial biosorbents have been documented in the literature for the removal of a wide range of azo dyes commonly employed in the textile industry. However, Yarrowia lipolytica NBRC1658 is firstly used as both free and immobilized sorbents for the removal of Reactive yellow 18 (RY18), acid red 18 (AR18) and basic blue 41 (BB41) in this study. The effect of experimental conditions such as pH, biosorbent quantity, dye concentration, contact time, and temperature on dye removal capacity are examined. The research findings demonstrate that the adsorption capacity is higher in biomass compared to immobilized cells. The highest adsorption capacities are observed at pH 2 for RY18 and AR18, while pH 9 is optimal for BB41. Increasing the adsorbent dosage and initial concentration significantly improves the adsorption capacity. The Langmuir model best describes the adsorption process, indicating that the dye attaches to the biosorbent in a single layer, with a uniform biosorbent surface. The removal of the dye occurs through a chemical process on the biosorbent surface, as evidenced by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. According to thermodynamic analysis, higher temperatures promote greater adsorption of dyes. Our study shows the effectiveness of Yarrowia lipolyica NBRC1658 as a biosorbent in the removal of a wide range of industrial dyes.
Graphical Abstract
Non-enzymatic reactions in biogenesis of fungal natural products
Authors: Kishimoto Shinji 
Published: March 2024

AbstractFungi have long been regarded as abundant sources of natural products (NPs) exhibiting significant biological activities. Decades of studies on the biosynthesis of fungal NPs revealed that most of the biosynthetic steps are catalyzed by sophisticated enzymes encoded in biosynthetic gene clusters, whereas some reactions proceed without enzymes. These non-enzymatic reactions complicate biosynthetic analysis of NPs and play important roles in diversifying the structure of the products. Therefore, knowledge on the non-enzymatic reactions is important for elucidating the biosynthetic mechanism. This review focuses on non-enzymatic reactions we recently encountered during biosynthetic studies of four types of NPs (viridicatins, Sch210972, lentopeptins, and lentofuranine).
Graphical abstract
Development of a simple screening method for analyzing cereulide toxin in fried rice using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry
Authors: Koike Hiroshi , Kanda Maki , Monma Chie , Yoshikawa Souichi , Hayashi Hiroshi , Matsushima Yoko , Ohba Yumi , Hayashi Momoka , Furuta Natsumi , Okada Wakaba , Nagano Chieko , Yokoyama Keiko , Yokoyama Tomoko , Sasamoto Takeo 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Purpose
The presence of cereulide, an emetic toxin produced by Bacillus cereus, in fried rice samples is critical evidence of food poisoning even in situations where B. cereus could not be detected. This study aims to develop a screening method for analyzing cereulide in fried rice using the QuEChERS procedure and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS).

Methods
Cereulide was identified and quantified in fried rice samples using the QuEChERS extraction method and LC–MS/MS. The accuracies of the methods were determined by analyzing fortified blank samples at two concentrations (10 and 50 µg/kg) conducted on three samples daily for five days.

Results
The QuEChERS procedure removed matrix compounds from fried rice. Characteristic MS/MS spectra enabled the identification of cereulide. As the matrix effects in seven fried rice samples were within ± 6%, an external solvent calibration curve could be used for quantification. This method exhibited good accuracy ranging from 88 to 89%. The relative standard deviations for both repeatability and intra-laboratory reproducibility were < 4%. These standard deviations satisfied the criteria of the Japanese validation guidelines for residues (MHLW 2010, Director Notice, Syoku-An No. 1224–1). The limit of quantification was 2 μg/kg. The applicability of this method was confirmed using the analysis of cereulide in fried rice samples incubated with emetic Bacillus cereus.

Conclusions
The QuEChERS extraction procedure described herein showed substantial promise as a reliable screening tool for cereulide in fried rice sample.
EEG resting state alpha dynamics predict an individual’s vulnerability to auditory hallucinations
Authors: Honcamp H. , Duggirala S. X. , Rodiño Climent J. , Astudillo A. , Trujillo-Barreto N. J. , Schwartze M. , Linden D. E. J. , van Amelsvoort T. A. M. J. , El-Deredy W. , Kotz S. A. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractTask-free brain activity exhibits spontaneous fluctuations between functional states, characterized by synchronized activation patterns in distributed resting-state (RS) brain networks. The temporal dynamics of the networks’ electrophysiological signatures reflect individual variations in brain activity and connectivity linked to mental states and cognitive functions and can predict or monitor vulnerability to develop psychiatric or neurological disorders. In particular, RS alpha fluctuations modulate perceptual sensitivity, attentional shifts, and cognitive control, and could therefore reflect a neural correlate of increased vulnerability to sensory distortions, including the proneness to hallucinatory experiences. We recorded 5 min of RS EEG from 33 non-clinical individuals varying in hallucination proneness (HP) to investigate links between task-free alpha dynamics and vulnerability to hallucinations. To this end, we used a dynamic brain state allocation method to identify five recurrent alpha states together with their spatiotemporal dynamics and most active brain areas through source reconstruction. The dynamical features of a state marked by activation in somatosensory, auditory, and posterior default-mode network areas predicted auditory and auditory-verbal HP, but not general HP, such that individuals with higher vulnerability to auditory hallucinations spent more time in this state. The temporal dynamics of spontaneous alpha activity might reflect individual differences in attention to internally generated sensory events and altered auditory perceptual sensitivity. Altered RS alpha dynamics could therefore instantiate a neural marker of increased vulnerability to auditory hallucinations.
It is Not Too Late for Reconciliation Between Israel and Palestine, Even in the Darkest Hour
Authors: Komesaroff P. A. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThe conflict in Gaza and Israel that ignited on October 7, 2023 signals a catastrophic breakdown in the possibility of ethical dialogue in the region. The actions on both sides have revealed a dissolution of ethical restraints, with unimaginably cruel attacks on civilians, murder of children, destruction of health facilities, and denial of basic needs such as water, food, and shelter. There is a need both to understand the nature of the ethical singularity represented by this conflict and what, if any, options are available to allow the reconstruction of communication between the warring parties. This article seeks to address these tasks by analysing the conflict as inherently an ethical one, in the sense that it exposes a rupture in the fabric of communicative relationships that has evolved systematically out of the deep cultural structures from which all protagonists have emerged. Drawing on the work of Levinas, Habermas, Arendt, and others, and referring to the specific circumstances in the region, it examines the ethical sources of the crisis and tries to identify conditions for its resolution. The possibility of reconciliation—that is, of refiguring relationships to open up a space for dialogue to create pathways to heal the ruptures—is examined. The dark legacy of the Holocaust is identified as an abiding cultural vulnerability for both societies. It is concluded, however, that the rich history of partnerships and collaborations between Jews and Palestinians provides a robust infrastructure on the basis of which a sustainable peace might be built, providing a much-needed source of hope.
Synthesis and Optical Properties of Erbium-Doped Sodium Silicate in Sol-Gel Matrix
Authors: Mansour A. M. , Abou Hammad Ali B. , El Nahrawy Amany M. 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn this study, we investigated how the concentration of erbium (0.0, 1, 2 mol% Er) affects the structural and optical properties of thin films made from sol-gel sodium silicate doped with erbium nitrate, thermally treated at 250 °C. Through systematic investigation, we explore the structural evolution and optical behavior of the thin films across varying Er3+ concentrations. The sol-gel demonstrated effective capabilities for substantial concentrations of Er3+ oxides through doping at lower calcination temperatures. The spectroscopic characteristics were studied using visible-near infrared spectroscopy (UV–vis–NIR), transmission electron microscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Increasing the Er ratio decreased both the transmission and the energy band gap (3.6–3.34 eV) of the films while the absorption peak increased. The obtained results suggest that Er3+ activators demonstrate advantageous optical properties in the evaluated sodium silicate glass matrix. With the introduction of Er, optical transmittance ranges from 85 to 55% in the visible and near-infrared (NIR) regions, highlighting their advantageous characteristics. This research contributes to advancing the understanding of erbium-doped thin films for potential applications in optoelectronic devices and photonics.
Compounds from Agathis dammara exert hypoglycaemic activity by enhancing glucose uptake: lignans, terpenes and others
Authors: Yu Zhe-Wei , Cai Bang-Ping , Xie Su-Zhi , Zhang Yi , Wang Wen-Hui , Liu Shun-Zhi , Bin Yan-Lin , Chen Qi , Fang Mei-Juan , Qi Rong , Li Ming-Yu , Qiu Ying-Kun 
Published: March 2024

AbstractIn this study, two new kaurane diterpenes (16, 17), together with 12 lignans (1–12), a triterpene (15), and two other compounds (13, 14) were isolated from the woods of Agathisdammara. The structure of the new compound was determined by HR ESIMS and 1D/2D NMR spectroscopy, and its absolute configuration was determined by electronic circular dichroism (ECD) exciton chirality method. Compounds 5, 11, 14 exhibit significant hypoglycaemic activity in zebrafish, and their mechanism of action is to enhance glucose uptake in zebrafish.
Graphical Abstract
New q-rung orthopair fuzzy Aczel–Alsina weighted geometric operators under group-based generalized parameters in multi-criteria decision-making problems
Authors: Özlü Şerif 
Published: March 2024

AbstractThe concept of q-rung orthopair fuzzy set (q-ROF) defined as generalization of intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) and Pythagorean fuzzy set (PyFS) has more flexible structure according to several clusters. Therefore, it is a benefit tool to obtain various results for different values of q. The basic benefit of generalized concepts is to rate level of truth and falsity and reduce to error margin. Thus, while the final decision is decided by experts, the most accuracy finding is to present. Aczel–Alsina t-norm (AA-TN) and t-conorm (AA-TCN) structures were defined by Aczel and Alsina in 1982. The both concepts include parameters changing according to prefer, decision, and request of experts. In this paper, q-rung orthopair fuzzy Aczel–Alsina weighted geometric operator (q-ROFAAWG) is produced and also ordered and hybrid concepts (q-ROFAAOWG, q-ROFAAHWG) are obtained using Aczel–Alsina operators (AAOs). Hence, this operator is expanded to generalized q-rung orthopair fuzzy Aczel–Alsina weighted geometric operator (Gq-ROFAAWG), ordered and hybrid concepts (Gq-ROFAAOWG, Gq-ROFAAHWG) using single parameter. Finally, group-based generalized q-rung orthopair fuzzy Aczel–Alsina weighted geometric operator (GGq-ROFAAWG), ordered and hybrid concepts (GGq-ROFAAOWG, GGq-ROFAAHWG) are proposed and their properties are worked. Moreover, an algorithm-based multi-criteria decision-making is given and applied over a numerical example to illustrate the effective of the proposed method. The results are evaluated for different values of parameters. In addition to, comparative analysis is developed to show the superiority of proposed approach than existing methods.
Social Media and Early Psychosis Intervention: A Comprehensive Review of the Literature
Authors: Li Iris , Estafanous Abram , De Choudhury Munmun , Alvarez-Jimenez Mario , Birnbaum Michael L. 
Published: March 2024

Abstract
Purpose of Review
Early intervention (EI) is now seen as the most evidence-based approach to improving outcome for youth with first episode psychosis and youth at clinical high risk for psychosis. However, despite the established benefits of EI, several challenges persist, including lengthy and convoluted pathways to care, poor engagement in services, and high rates of relapse. There is hope that the use of technology, and specifically social media, can address some of these challenges. This review article provides a comprehensive overview of the existing literature on social media use and its implications for EI in youth experiencing early psychosis.

Recent Findings
Several studies have identified the potential roles that social media can play in early psychosis intervention including (1) as a source of objective and clinically meaningful digital information, (2) as a means to improve access to care, and (3) as a tool to enhance treatment delivery.

Summary
Despite risks, social media holds promise in enhancing early psychosis intervention though more research is needed. We outline its potential clinical applications and consider next steps for integrating social media data and use into clinical practice, aiming to maximize the benefits of social media use while minimizing associated risks.