bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Autoantibody-Mediated Depletion of IL-1RA in Still’s Disease and Potential Impact of IL-1 Targeting Therapies
Authors: Hoffmann Marie-Christin , Cavalli Giulio , Fadle Natalie , Cantoni Eleonora , Regitz Evi , Fleser Octavian , Klemm Philipp , Zaks Marina , Stöger Elisabeth , Campochiaro Corrado , Tomelleri Alessandro , Baldissera Elena , Bittenbring Jörg Thomas , Zimmer Vincent , Pfeifer Jochen , Fischer Yvan , Preuss Klaus-Dieter , Bewarder Moritz , Thurner Bernhard , Fuehner Sabrina , Foell Dirk , Dagna Lorenzo , Kessel Christoph , Thurner Lorenz 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Background
Adult-onset Still’s disease (AOSD) and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA) resemble a continuum of a rare, polygenic IL-1β-driven disease of unknown etiology.

Objective
In the present study we sought to investigate a potential role of recently described autoantibodies neutralizing the interleukin-1(IL-1)-receptor antagonist (IL-1-Ra) in the pathogenesis of Still’s disease.

Methods
Serum or plasma samples from Still’s disease patients (AOSD, n = 23; sJIA, n = 40) and autoimmune and/or inflammatory disease controls (n = 478) were analyzed for autoantibodies against progranulin (PGRN), IL-1Ra, IL-18 binding protein (IL-18BP), and IL-36Ra, as well as circulating IL-1Ra and IL-36Ra levels by ELISA. Biochemical analyses of plasma IL-1Ra were performed by native Western blots and isoelectric focusing. Functional activity of the autoantibodies was examined by an in vitro IL-1β-signaling reporter assay.

Results
Anti-IL-1-Ra IgG were identified in 7 (27%) out of 29 Still’s disease patients, including 4/23 with AOSD and 3/6 with sJIA and coincided with a hyperphosphorylated isoform of endogenous IL-1Ra. Anti-IL-36Ra antibodies were found in 2 AOSD patients. No anti-PGRN or anti-IL-18BP antibodies were detected. Selective testing for anti-IL-1Ra antibodies in an independent cohort (sJIA, n = 34) identified 5 of 34 (14.7%) as seropositive. Collectively, 8/12 antibody-positive Still’s disease patients were either new-onset active disease or unresponsive to IL-1 blocking drugs. Autoantibody-seropositivity associated with decreased IL-1Ra plasma/serum levels. Seropositive plasma impaired in vitro IL-1Ra bioactivity, which could be reversed by anakinra or canakinumab treatment.

Conclusion
Autoantibodies neutralizing IL-1Ra may represent a novel patho-mechanism in a subgroup of Still’s disease patients, which is sensitive to high-dose IL-1 blocking therapy.
Synthesis of Poly(styrene)-g-Poly(oleic acid) Graft Copolymers via Reversible Addition/Fragmentation Transfer (RAFT) Polymerization Using a Poly Oleic Acid Macro-RAFT Agent
Authors: Göktaş Melahat , Aykaç Cengiz , Hazer Baki , Ashby Richard D. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractIn this study, a new polymeric oleic acid-derived macro addition/fragmentation transfer agent was utilized to produce a poly(styrene)-g-poly(oleic acid) graft copolymer. The double bond of oleic acid was initially saturated with bromine and the condensation polymerization between the carboxylic acid and the bromide resulted in polyoleic acid with pendant bromide groups. Xanthate groups were exchanged with the bromide groups to obtain the poly(oleic acid) macro RAFT agent (Pole-Xa). Poly(styrene)-g-poly(oleic acid) (PS-g-Pole) graft copolymers were synthesized via reversible addition fragmentation transfer (RAFT) polymerization of styrene and the reaction was evaluated in view of the polymerization kinetics. The effects of polymerization temperature and reaction time on graft copolymer yield, conversion and molecular weight were investigated. In the RAFT polymerization of styrene, the rate constant (k) was found to be 1.83 × 10–3 L/mol/dk and 7.27 × 10–4 L/mol/dk for the polymerization temperatures of 80 and 90 °C, respectively. The structural characteristics and thermal properties of the obtained products were characterized using FT-IR, 1H-NMR, GPC, TGA, DSC and SEM–EDX.
Evaluation of Thermodynamic Model of Pd(II) Complex Formation with Isosaccharinic Acid
Authors: Kimuro Shingo , Taneichi Yayoi , Iwata Hajime , Ishidera Takamitsu , Kitamura Akira , Tachi Yukio , Tanaka Takeru , Hirano Kana , Hieda Manami , Miyabe Shunsuke , Kawamoto Daisuke 
Published: January 2024

AbstractPalladium-107 is one of the selected radionuclides in the safety assessment of geological disposal of radioactive waste. Although isosaccharinic acid (ISA) forms strong complexes with many elements and enhances element solubility, the thermodynamic evaluation of the complex of Pd with ISA has not been conducted. In this study, the solubility of Pd(OH)2 at pH 8.5–12.5 in the presence of ISA was investigated under inert gas (N2) atmosphere. Furthermore, the coordination state of aqueous Pd and ISA was investigated by X-ray absorption and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, respectively. According to experimental results, the number of OH ligands in the mixed complex depends on pH. The thermodynamic model and conditional equilibrium constants of the Pd-ISA complex were estimated by slope analyses of solubility experiments at different pH levels and ionic strengths based on the specific ion interaction theory. Hence, the impact of complexation with ISA on Pd(II) solubility under disposal conditions could be quantified using the proposed thermodynamic models in this study.
Investigating heat exchanger tube performance: second law efficiency analysis of a novel combination of two heat transfer enhancement techniques
Authors: Mertaslan Onur Metin , Keklikcioglu Orhan 
Published: January 2024

AbstractIn the study, the focus was on evaluating the second law efficiency of a heat exchanger tube operating under continuous heat flux and turbulent flow conditions. The evaluation involved the use of a hybrid GnP and Fe3O4 and modified coiled wire as passive heat transfer enhancement techniques. The primary objective was to investigate the impact of these combined techniques on thermal and hydraulic performance, entropy generation number, Bejan number and second law efficiency. To achieve this, different mass fractions of GnP and Fe3O4 nanoparticles were used in the hybrid nanofluid, along with two forms of modified coiled wire: barrel type and hourglass type. The experimental results indicated that the utilization of hybrid nanofluids and modified helical inserts led to a noticeable improvement in the second law efficiency of the heat exchanger tube. However, it was observed that the differences in entropy generation number and Bejan number between the barrel and hourglass types were not significant, mainly due to higher frictional losses associated with the latter. The highest recorded second law efficiency was 0.416, while the lowest entropy generation number was 0.118. These values were achieved through the combined use of GnP and Fe3O4 with a mass fraction of 0.4% and a barrel-type coiled wire insert with a pitch ratio of 0.5.
Habitat configuration influences mammal populations at a wider spatial extent than habitat composition: a meta-analysis of forest mammal datasets
Authors: Gengler Nicholas W. , Acevedo Miguel A. , Branch Lyn C. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractContextThe spatial extent at which landscape variables most strongly influences wildlife populations (i.e., scale of effect) is of key importance to ecology and conservation. Many factors can influence scales of effect, but these relationships are poorly understood. In particular, the way scales of effect vary with different landscape metrics has not been extensively tested.ObjectivesOur study tested whether metrics of landscape configuration have wider or narrower scales of effect than habitat composition. We also examined how species traits and landscape context influence the magnitude of differences in scales of effect between metrics.MethodsWe calculated scales of effect for four metrics of habitat configuration and one metric of composition directly from species presence/absence data in online repositories including 102 species of forest mammals from 33 studies across the globe. We then compared the magnitudes and variability of scales of effect using Hedge’s g.ResultsTwo metrics of configuration (flux and patch density) had significantly wider scales of effect than habitat composition, while the differences between the other two metrics of configuration and composition were not statistically significant. The magnitude of the difference between metrics varied among samples, but none of the factors tested explained this variability.ConclusionsFor forest mammals, the scale of effect of a configuration metric can be expected to be 15–20% wider than a composition metric. However, this pattern may not hold for metrics of configuration that do not quantify attributes of the landscape that mediate species dispersal or that are correlated with the metric of composition.
On-the-fly image-level oversampling for imbalanced datasets of manufacturing defects
Authors: Theodoropoulos Spyros , Zajec Patrik , Rožanec Jože M. , Kyriazis Dimosthenis , Tsanakas Panayiotis 
Published: January 2024

AbstractVisual defect recognition and its manufacturing applications have been an upcoming topic in recent AI research. Defect datasets are often severely imbalanced and can be additionally burdened with separating classes of high visual similarity. Although various methods of data augmentation have been proposed to mitigate the class imbalance, they often fail to cope with tinier minority classes or have fidelity issues with smaller defects while, at the same time, needing significant computational resources to train. Also, augmentation based on vector-based oversampling struggles to produce high-fidelity inputs and is hard to apply on custom CNN architectures, which often perform better for this type of problem. Our work presents an image-level oversampling method based on an instance-based image generator that can be applied to any CNN directly during the training process without increasing the order of training time required. It is based on identifying a small number of the most uncertain base samples close to the estimated class boundaries and using them as seeds for augmentation. The resulting images are of high visual quality preserving small class differences, and they also improve the classifier boundary leading to higher recall scores than other state-of-the-art approaches.
Multibody Models Generated from Natural Language
Authors: Gerstmayr Johannes , Manzl Peter , Pieber Michael 
Published: January 2024

AbstractComputational models are conventionally created with input data, script files, programming interfaces, or graphical user interfaces. This paper explores the potential of expanding model generation, with a focus on multibody system dynamics. In particular, we investigate the ability of Large Language Model (LLM), to generate models from natural language. Our experimental findings indicate that LLM, some of them having been trained on our multibody code Exudyn, surpass the mere replication of existing code examples. The results demonstrate that LLM have a basic understanding of kinematics and dynamics, and that they can transfer this knowledge into a programming interface. Although our tests reveal that complex cases regularly result in programming or modeling errors, we found that LLM can successfully generate correct multibody simulation models from natural-language descriptions for simpler cases, often on the first attempt (zero-shot).After a basic introduction into the functionality of LLM, our Python code, and the test setups, we provide a summarized evaluation for a series of examples with increasing complexity. We start with a single mass oscillator, both in SciPy as well as in Exudyn, and include varied inputs and statistical analysis to highlight the robustness of our approach. Thereafter, systems with mass points, constraints, and rigid bodies are evaluated. In particular, we show that in-context learning can levitate basic knowledge of a multibody code into a zero-shot correct output.
Trends in the Incidence of Disseminated Cryptococcosis in Japan: A Nationwide Observational Study, 2015–2021
Authors: Akazawa Hidemasa , Hagiya Hideharu , Koyama Toshihiro , Otsuka Fumio 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Background
Cryptococcus species can cause severe disseminated infections in immunocompromised hosts. This study investigated the epidemiological features and trends in disseminated cryptococcosis in Japan.

Methods
We used publicly available Infectious Diseases Weekly Reports to obtain data on the incidence of disseminated cryptococcosis in Japan from 2015 to 2021. Patient information, including age, sex, and regional and seasonal data, were extracted. The Joinpoint regression program was used to determine the age-adjusted incidence rate (AAR) per 100,000 population, annual percentage change (APC), and average APC (AAPC).

Results
A total of 1047 cases of disseminated cryptococcosis were reported, of which those aged ≥ 70 years accounted for 68.8%. The AAR in men was significantly higher than that in women (median: 0.13 vs. 0.09: p = 0.0024). APC for the overall cases increased by 9.9% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] − 5.4–27.7) from 2015 to 2018 and then decreased by 3.3% (95% CI − 15.5–10.7) from 2018 to 2021. AAPC for the entire study period was 3.1% (95% CI − 1.5–8.0), indicating a possible increase in its number, although not statistically significant. In terms of regional distribution, the average AAR was highest in Shikoku District (0.17) and lowest in Hokkaido District (0.04). Northern Japan exhibited a significantly lower median AAR (median [interquartile range]: 0.06 [0.05, 0.08]) than the Eastern (0.12 [0.12, 0.13]), Western (0.11 [0.10, 0.13]), and Southern (0.14 [0.12, 0.15]) regions. No seasonal variation in incidence was observed.

Conclusion
The prevalence of disseminated cryptococcosis has not increased in Japan. Geographically, the incidence is lower in Northern Japan. Further investigations that incorporate detailed clinical data are required.
Disseminated Basidiobolomycosis Caused by Basidiobolus omanensis in a Child with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Al Yazidi Laila , Al Sinani Sharifa , Al Adawi Badriya , Al Riyami Marwa , Wali Yasser , Al Rawas Abdulhakeem , Al Musalhi Buthaina , Meis Jacques F. , Al Housni Saif , Al-Harrasi Ahmed , Al Hatmi Abdullah M. S. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractBasidiobolomycosis is an uncommon fungal infection caused by the genus Basidiobolus. In immunocompetent children, it usually causes cutaneous infection and rarely affects the gastrointestinal tract, and it is extremely rare for the disease to spread. The present study reports the first case of disseminated basidiobolomycosis caused by Basidiobolus omanensis in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukemia who died as a result of uncontrolled infection and multi-organ failure despite surgical and antifungal therapy with L-AMB and voriconazole. A review of the literature yielded 76 cases, including the current case with the majority of which were reported as invasive gastrointestinal infection. The median age was 4 years (61 male and 15 female) and the majority of these children were from the Middle East (80%), specifically Saudi Arabia (45%). Most patients were treated with systemic antifungal agents (mostly itraconazole and amphotericin B). Surgical intervention was done in 25% of these patients and the death rate was 12%.
A new method to characterize the nonlinear magneto-viscoelasticity behavior of magneto-active elastomers under large amplitude oscillatory axial (LAOA) loading
Authors: Vatandoost Hossein , Sedaghati Ramin , Rakheja Subhash 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe nonlinear viscoelasticity of magneto-active elastomers (MAEs) under large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) loading has been extensively characterized. A reliable and effective methodology, however, is lacking for such characterizations under large amplitude oscillatory axial (LAOA) loading. This is partly due to complexities associated with experimental compression mode characterizations of MAEs and in-part due to their asymmetric stress–strain behavior leading to different elastic moduli during extension and compression. This study proposes a set of new nonlinear measures to characterize nonlinear and asymmetric behavior of MAEs subject to LAOA loading. These include differential large/zero strain moduli and large/zero strain-rate viscosity, which could also facilitate physical interpretations of the inter- and intra-cycle nonlinearities observed in asymmetric and hysteretic stress–strain responses. The compression mode stress–strain behavior of MAEs was experimentally characterized under different magnitudes of axial strain (0.025 to 0.20), strain rate (frequency up to 30 Hz) and magnetic flux density (0 to 750mT). The measured stress–strain responses were decomposed into elastic, viscous and viscoelastic stress components using Chebyshev polynomials and Fourier series. The stress decomposition based on Chebyshev polynomials permitted determination of equivalent nonlinear elastic and viscous stress components, upon which the proposed measures were obtained. An equivalent set of Fourier coefficients was also obtained for estimating equivalent elastic/viscous stress, thereby facilitating faster calculation of the proposed material measures. The proposed methodology is considered to serve as an effective tool for deriving constitutive models for describing nonlinear and asymmetric characteristics of MAEs.
Governing shared mobility: a comparison of the public policy goals being pursued in three cities
Authors: Castellanos Sebastian , Wright Katy , Grant-Muller Susan 
Published: January 2024

AbstractShared mobility services such as shared scooters, bikes, and ridehailing services have transformed the urban mobility landscape in recent years. In this paper we identify the goals that local governments are pursuing when regulating these private services. We also analyse the circumstances and motivations that led to the pursuit of these goals. For this, we carried out three in-depth case studies of cities where private companies had deployed shared mobility services: Bogotá, Colombia; Paris, France; and Los Angeles, USA. We found that there is a wide range of goals (34 distinct goals) that the governments of these cities are pursuing when attempting to regulate shared mobility services. However, only between three and four of these goals tend to dominate most of their actions. We also identified a mix of motivations for the pursuit of these goals: from the public interest of redressing past inequities, to circumstantial motivations such as appeasing the incumbents that have seen their businesses endangered by these new technologies. The academic literature converges on sustainability and equitable access being two of the primary goals to be pursued in transport policy, but our findings suggest that practitioners and policymakers are pursuing a range of other goals that do not fit neatly into these two theoretical categories.
Is Epistemic Status Gender-Biased? Gender As a Predictor of Testimonial Reliability Assessments in Violent Crimes
Authors: Horniczak Klaudyna , Porębski Andrzej , Skoczeń Izabela 
Published: January 2024

AbstractIt is rather uncontroversial that gender should have no influence on treating others as equal epistemic agents. However, is this view reflected in practice? This paper aims to test whether the gender of the testifier and the accused of assault is related to the perception of a testimony’s reliability and the guilt of the potential perpetrator. Two experiments were conducted: the subjects (n = 361, 47% females, 53% males) assessed the reliability of the testifier in four scenarios of assault accusation, in which the only difference was the gender of the people presented. During the study, we have observed dependencies of gender and ascription of reliability, but only marginal differences in guilt attribution. The results of our research may constitute an argument for the existence of different epistemic status endowed on people depending on their gender and existing gender stereotypes. Our results suggest that gender bias may be situated at a deeper level than the linguistically triggered representation.
Elastic Shakedown and Roughness Evolution in Repeated Elastic–Plastic Contact
Authors: Frérot Lucas , Pastewka Lars 
Published: January 2024

AbstractSurface roughness emerges naturally during mechanical removal of material, fracture, chemical deposition, plastic deformation, indentation, and other processes. Here, we use continuum simulations to show how roughness which is neither Gaussian nor self-affine emerges from repeated elastic–plastic contact of rough and rigid surfaces on a flat elastic–plastic substrate. Roughness profiles change with each contact cycle, but appear to approach a steady-state long before the substrate stops deforming plastically and has hence “shaken-down” elastically. We propose a simple dynamic collapse for the emerging power-spectral density, which shows that the multi-scale nature of the roughness is encoded in the first few indentations. In contrast to macroscopic roughness parameters, roughness at small scales and the skewness of the height distribution of the resulting roughness do not show a steady-state. However, the skewness vanishes asymptotically with contact cycle.
Graphical Abstract
Control of Static Friction by Designing Grooves on Friction Surface
Authors: Iwashita Wataru , Matsukawa Hiroshi , Otsuki Michio 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
This study numerically investigated the friction of viscoelastic objects with grooves. A 3D viscoelastic block with grooves on a rigid substrate is slowly pushed from the lateral side under uniform pressure on the top surface. The local friction force at the interface between the block and the substrate obeys Amontons’ law. Numerical results obtained using the finite element method reveal that the static friction coefficient decreases with increasing groove width and depth. The propagation of the precursor slip is observed before bulk sliding. Furthermore, bulk sliding occurs when the area of slow precursor slip reaches a critical value, which decreases with increasing groove size. A theoretical analysis based on a simplified model reveals that the static friction coefficient is related to the critical area of the precursor, which is determined by the instability of the precursor. A scaling law for the critical area is theoretically predicted, and it indicates that the decrease in the effective viscosity due to the formation of the grooves leads to a decrease in the static friction coefficient. The validity of the theoretical prediction is numerically confirmed.

Graphical Abstract
Genetic electro-search optimization for optimum energy consumption in edge computing-based internet of healthcare things
Authors: Köse Utku , Marmolejo-Saucedo Jose Antonio , Rodriguez-Aguilar Roman , Marmolejo-Saucedo Liliana , Rodriguez-Aguilar Miriam 
Published: January 2024

AbstractEnergy consumption is a vital issue when optimum usage and carbon footprint are all considered in today’s Internet of Things (IoT) environments. Considering edge computing, that becomes too critical in terms of wireless devices with limited battery power. Especially in healthcare applications, the defined IoHT approach requires sustainability while future massive solutions may result negative outputs in terms of carbon footprint. So, optimum energy consumption seems positive in terms of multiple ways. In the literature, one trendy method is using clustering for lowering the energy consumption within the Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT) environment on edge computing. In this study, optimization of energy consumption in IoHT was done via improved Genetic Electro-Search Optimization (GESO) algorithm. According to the obtained findings in the performed applications, GESO was effective enough in finding optimum conditions of energy consumption for an active IoHT setup.