bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Patient experience when self‐introducing gel into the vagina for assessment of deep endometriosis: A pilot study
Authors: Truong Tracy , Kennedy Narelle , Kaushik Vasundhara , Alphonse Jennifer , Quinton Ann 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIntroductionWhen scanning for deep endometriosis a 20 mL syringe is used to insert gel into the vagina for a gel sonovaginography (SVG) examination. This is invasive and can cause discomfort. The aim of this study is to compare participant experience with the self‐administration of 20 mL of gel total using a 10 mL syringe versus 20 mL syringe for participants undergoing a gel SVG ultrasound to assess for any participant discomfort.MethodologyThis study was a quantitative pilot study with 31 participants. Consenting participants were instructed to insert a total of 20 mL of gel divided equally into one 20 mL and one 10 mL syringe, into their own vagina prior to SVG. After the SVG, a questionnaire was provided to determine the level of discomfort experienced.ResultsOverall participants found the instructions clear and the insertion of either syringe tolerable. The results demonstrated that 22/31 (71%) of participants had no discomfort inserting the 10 mL syringe. In comparison, 17/31 (55%) reported slight or mild discomfort inserting the 20 mL syringe. The majority of participants preferred inserting one 20 mL syringe rather than two 10 mL syringes.ConclusionParticipants found the gel insertion using either syringe tolerable with most participants finding the 10 mL syringe more comfortable but would overall prefer inserting one 20 mL syringe instead of two 10 mL syringes. Future studies on larger numbers of multicultural participants using variable syringe sizes with varying amounts of gel should be considered.
Children build their vocabularies in noisy environments: The necessity of a cross‐disciplinary approach to understand word learning
Authors: Gordon Katherine R. , Grieco‐Calub Tina M. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractResearch within the language sciences has informed our understanding of how children build vocabulary knowledge especially during early childhood and the early school years. However, to date, our understanding of word learning in children is based primarily on research in quiet laboratory settings. The everyday environments that children inhabit such as schools, homes, and day cares are typically noisy. To better understand vocabulary development, we need to understand the effects of background noise on word learning. To gain this understanding, a cross‐disciplinary approach between researchers in the language and hearing sciences in partnership with parents, educators, and clinicians is ideal. Through this approach we can identify characteristics of effective vocabulary instruction that take into account the background noise present in children's learning environments. Furthermore, we can identify characteristics of children who are likely to struggle with learning words in noisy environments. For example, differences in vocabulary knowledge, verbal working memory abilities, and attention skills will likely influence children's ability to learn words in the presence of background noise. These children require effective interventions to support their vocabulary development which subsequently should support their ability to process and learn language in noisy environments. Overall, this cross‐disciplinary approach will inform theories of language development and inform educational and intervention practices designed to support children's vocabulary development.This article is categorized under:
Psychology > Language
Psychology > Learning
Psychology > Theory and Methods
Influence of soil plasticity models on offshore wind turbine response
Authors: Ryan Gerard V. , Adcock Thomas A. A. , McAdam Ross A. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractWhile recent numerical modelling advances have enabled robust simulation of foundation hysteresis behaviour, uptake of these models has been limited in the offshore wind industry. This is partially due to modelling complexity and the unknown influence of including such soil constitutive models within a design philosophy. This paper addresses this issue by outlining a framework of an aero‐hydro‐servo‐elastic offshore wind turbine model that is fully coupled with a multisurface plasticity 1D Winkler foundation model. Comparisons between this model and industry standard aeroelastic tools, such as OpenFAST, are shown to be in good agreement. The hysteretic soil predictions are also shown to be in good agreement with CM6 Cowden PISA test piles, in terms of secant stiffness and loop shape. This tool has then been used to address the unknown influence of hysteretic soil reactions on the design of monopile supported offshore wind turbines against extreme conditions. This study demonstrates that a significant reduction in ultimate and service limit state utilization is observed when a multisurface plasticity foundation model is adopted, as opposed to industry standard pile–soil interaction models.
Urban Scenes as Community Practices
Authors: Klekotko Marta 
Published: December 2023

AbstractIn this chapter, a new praxeological, relational and cultural approach to the analysis of communal phenomena in contemporary cities is developed and discussed. The chapter begins with a presentation of theories which are two pillars of the approach: the theory of scenes developed by the new Chicago school (Silver and Clark, Scenescapes, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2016) and the social practice theory (in particular social ontology and model of practice developed by Theodor Schatzki [1996, 2002]). Then, a concept of urban community as a nexus of cultural and aesthetic practices embedded in the scene as well as a concept of socio-cultural opportunity structure is developed, providing an explanation of the scene mechanisms in community building processes. The chapter provides also a typology of communal practices.
Is the performance of acute appendectomy at different times of day equal, in terms of postoperative complications, readmission, death, and length of hospital stay? A Swedish retrospective cohort study of 4950 patients
Authors: Nyström Petter , Nordberg Martin , Boström Lennart 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
Purpose
Appendicitis is one of the most common acute surgical conditions globally, and hence appendectomy is a common procedure performed around the clock in many hospitals. The aim of the current study was to determine whether acute appendectomy due to acute appendicitis performed during day, evening, and night was equally safe, in terms of postoperative complications, readmission, death, and length of hospital stay.

Methods
A retrospective single-center cohort study, using a local quality register of all consecutive acute appendectomies performed at the Department of Surgery, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden. During the study period from December 2015 to August 2022, 4950 patients were included. Risk of complications, readmission, and death were determined using multivariable logistic regression models. Association with length of hospital stay was determined using multiple linear regression.

Results
There was no significant difference in the associated risk of postoperative complications, readmission within 30 days, or death, regardless of when appendectomy was performed. Using daytime surgery as reference, hospital stay was shortened by 4.21 h (P = 0.008) for evening surgery and by 6.71 h (P < 0.001) for nightly surgery.

Conclusion
Risks of postoperative complications, readmission, and death were similar regardless of when acute appendectomy was performed. However, surgery during evening and night was associated with shortened hospital stay, as compared to daytime surgery.
Radiological evaluation before and after treatment with an osseointegrated bone-anchor following major limb amputation—a guide for radiologists
Authors: Kang Norbert , Al-Ajam Yazan , Keen Phyllis , Woollard Alexander , Steinitz Hannah , Farrant Joanna , Chow Geoffrey 
Published: December 2023

AbstractOsseointegrated implants have been developed to allow direct skeletal fixation of a prosthesis as an alternative to traditional socket-fitted prostheses for patients who have suffered from a major limb amputation. The implants contribute to improvements in functional outcome and quality of life and radiological evaluation plays a crucial role in pre- and post-operative assessment. This article acts as a guide for radiologists who may be tasked with providing the radiological information required by surgeons and prosthetists. We also look at the radiological appearances of complications that may arise in patients treated with an osseointegrated implant. Plain X-rays are used to screen patients who wish to undergo treatment. Limb-length X-rays are then used to measure the length of any residual bone, and comparisons can be made with the normal side (if present). From this, decisions about the likely size of the implant and the need for further amputation can be made. CT scans enable accurate assessment of the medullary cavity and cortical thickness. Post-operatively, plain X-rays form the mainstay of the routine monitoring of the bone-implant interface. Potential complications include infection, aseptic loosening, mechanical fracture of the implant and periprosthetic fracture. Infection and aseptic loosening can be seen as a lucency at the bone-implant interface which (if left untreated) can lead to loss of the implant. Implant and periprosthetic fractures are radiographically obvious. Radiologists involved in the care of patients undergoing treatment with an osseointegrated implant should become familiar with the imaging requirements so they can contribute to optimal patient outcomes.
Retrospective analysis of decision-making in post-traumatic posterior shoulder instability
Authors: Bovenkerk Simon , Englert Carsten 
Published: December 2023

Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the clinical outcomes in the management of post-traumatic posterior shoulder instability (PSI) with a focus on the decision-making process for operative and conservative treatments.

Introduction
PSI can result from traumatic events, impacting a patient’s quality of life. This study delves to better indicate decision-making for operative indication of post-traumatic PSI patients.

Methods
Patients who sustained posterior shoulder dislocations were selected from a single surgeon’s database within a five-year period. Cases of degenerative or genetically caused PSI were excluded, resulting in a cohort of 28. Patients were initially managed conservatively but indicated for surgery if they were unable to actively stabilize the shoulder or exhibited bony or cartilage defects confirmed through imaging. If conservative treatment did not yield significant improvements, it was classified as a failure, and operative intervention was recommended. The WOSI Score, ROM, and X-ray were employed to evaluate the success of treatment.

Results
Out of the 28 patients, 11 received conservative, seven immediate surgeries, and ten transitioned from conservative to operative treatment. The overall success rate showed 25 good to excellent results. In the persistent conservative treatment group, the initial WOSI score was significantly lower compared to the operative group.

Conclusion
This study suggests that post-traumatic PSI can be successfully managed conservatively with initial low clinical symptoms (low WOSI score) and in the absence of absolute indications for operative treatment. When surgery is necessary, arthroscopic procedures proved effective in achieving good to excellent results in 16 out of 17 cases.
Genetic-efficient fine-tuning with layer pruning on multimodal Covid-19 medical imaging
Authors: Ismail Walaa N. , Alsalamah Hessah A. , Mohamed Ebtsam A. 
Published: December 2023

AbstractMedical image analysis using multiple modalities refers to the process of analyzing and extracting information from more than one type of image in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of a given subject. To maximize the potential of multimodal data in improving and enhancing our understanding of the disease, sophisticated classification techniques must be developed as part of the integration process to classify meaningful information from different types of data. A pre-trained model, such as those trained on large datasets such as ImageNet, has learned rich representations that can be used for various downstream tasks. Fine-tuning a pre-trained model refers to the process of further developing the model using the knowledge and representations gained from a pre-existing dataset. In comparison to training a model from scratch, fine-tuning allows knowledge to be transferred from the pre-trained model to the target task, thus improving performance and efficiency. In evolutionary search, the genetic algorithm (GA) is an algorithm that emulates the process of natural selection and genetics. In this context, a population of candidate solutions is generated, fitness is evaluated and new candidate solutions are generated by applying genetic operations such as mutation and crossover. Considering the above characteristics, the present study presents an efficient architecture called Selective-COVIDNet for analyzing COVID-19 cases using a novel selective layer-pruning algorithm. To detect COVID-19 from multimodal data, the current study will use a genetic algorithm to fine-tune the performance of pre-trained models by adjusting specific layers selectively. Furthermore, the proposed approach provides flexibility in the depth of two deep learning architectures, VGG-16 and MobileNet-V2. The impact of freezing specific layers on fine-tuning performance was assessed using five different strategies, namely Random, Odd, Even, Half, and Full Freezing. Therefore, existing pre-trained models can be enhanced for Covid-19 tasks while minimizing their computational burden. For evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed framework, two multi-modal standard datasets are used, including CT-scan images and electrocardiogram (ECG) recordings of individuals with COVID-19. From the conducted experiments, it is found that the proposed framework can detect Covid-19 effectively with accuracy of 98.48% for MobileNet-V2 and 99.65% for VGG-16.
Determination of New 4-Aryl-pyrido[1,2-c]pyrimidine Derivatives, Potential Antidepressant Agents with a High Affinity to 5-Hydroxytryptamin 1A Receptor and Serotonin Transporter Protein Receptor, with Capillary Electrophoresis
Authors: Grodner Błażej , Król Marek , Ślifirski Grzegorz , Ślifirski Piotr , Herold Franciszek 
Published: December 2023

AbstractA novel capillary electrophoresis method was developed for the determination of new 4-aryl-pyrido[1,2-c]pyrimidine derivatives, potential antidepressant agents, in serum. The derivatives have conformationally restricted tryptamine moiety in pharmacophore portion and exhibit high affinity to molecular targets: 5-HT1A receptor and serotonin transporter protein. The separation process was conducted using an eCAP fused-silica capillary, detection wavelength 214 nm, 200 mM phosphate buffer adjusted to pH = 8.0, temperature 20 °C, voltage 5 kV. The proposed method was validated by determining its linearity in the concentration range of 200–1000 ng/mL. A satisfactory linearity was obtained for the method, with R2 from 0.9978 to 0.9999 for all five derivatives and a limit of quantification level from 287.1 to 310.1 ng/mL. The recoveries for all derivatives were in the range from 94.7 to 100%. The speed of obtaining the result of the analysis was only 3 min. The developed method allows to determine all five derivatives both in water solutions and serum.
Homotopy Sheaves on Generalised Spaces
Authors: Bunk Severin 
Published: December 2023

AbstractWe study the homotopy right Kan extension of homotopy sheaves on a category to its free cocompletion, i.e. to its category of presheaves. Any pretopology on the original category induces a canonical pretopology of generalised coverings on the free cocompletion. We show that with respect to these pretopologies the homotopy right Kan extension along the Yoneda embedding preserves homotopy sheaves valued in (sufficiently nice) simplicial model categories. Moreover, we show that this induces an equivalence between sheaves of spaces on the original category and colimit-preserving sheaves of spaces on its free cocompletion. We present three applications in geometry and topology: first, we prove that diffeological vector bundles descend along subductions of diffeological spaces. Second, we deduce that various flavours of bundle gerbes with connection satisfy $$(\infty ,2)$$

(
∞
,
2
)

-categorical descent. Finally, we investigate smooth diffeomorphism actions in smooth bordism-type field theories on a manifold. We show how these smooth actions allow us to extract the values of a field theory on any object coherently from its values on generating objects of the bordism category.
Rightsholder-Driven Remedy for Business-Related Human Rights Abuse: Case of the Fair Food Program
Authors: Shivji Alysha Kate 
Published: December 2023

AbstractThis paper investigates necessary conditions for developing a participatory, rightsholder-driven approach to remedy for business-related human rights abuses by analyzing findings from a case study with the Fair Food Program. With the inclusion of human rights into discussions of business ethics and CSR, scholars and practitioners have made calls for participatory approaches to remedy to address cases of human rights abuses. However, a gap remains in our understanding of how to operationalize participatory approaches in a manner that empowers rightsholders, particularly within contexts of severe power imbalances. The paper puts forth a rightsholder-driven theoretical framework for remedy, grounded on critical dialogic accountability principles and integrated with empirical analysis from the Fair Food Program case study. This framework defines remedy as a system comprising reinforcing aspects rather than standalone mechanisms. The critical dialogic accounting and accountability framework provides a theoretical framing of engagement that enables the inclusion of multiple, divergent voices and aims toward meaningful engagement with marginalized groups. The analysis of findings from the case study identifies enforcement and education as necessary conditions for effective and empowering rightsholder-driven approaches to remedy. The paper deconstructs these conditions to develop an understanding of the program’s unique approach to enforcement and education. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of rightsholder-driven remedy for Business and Human Rights and business accountability.
Changing preservice teacher students’ stereotypes and attitudes and reducing judgment biases concerning students of different family backgrounds: Effects of a short intervention
Authors: Lehmann-Grube Sabine K. , Tobisch Anita , Dresel Markus 
Published: December 2023

AbstractNumerous empirical findings have shown biased judgments of (future) teachers depending on students’ ethnic and social background. Furthermore, research has indicated that (future) teachers’ stereotypes and attitudes differ depending on students’ backgrounds and appear to influence (future) teachers’ judgments. Based on theories of stereotype change, attitude change, and judgment formation, a short intervention was developed to change stereotypes and attitudes and to reduce judgment biases. In an experimental study (within- and between-subject design) with N = 215 preservice teacher students, the effectiveness of the intervention on stereotype change, attitude change, and reduction of judgment distortions was tested. The results showed hypothesized effects of the intervention on stereotypes and attitudes towards students with an immigration background and students with low social status. Furthermore, the intervention showed effects on preservice teacher students’ judgments, especially for low-status students.
GenX uptake by wheat and rice in flooded and non-flooded soils: a greenhouse experiment
Authors: Al Zbedy Amnah , Müller Viktoria , Kindness Andrew , Ebel Rainer , Norton Gareth J. , Feldmann Joerg 
Published: December 2023

AbstractGenX (hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid) belongs to the group of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) compounds introduced to replace perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which has been phased out in industrial and consumer product formulations. While GenX has been investigated in lab animals, there is limited information available regarding its uptake and translocation in wheat and rice. This study reports on a greenhouse experiment in which wheat and rice grown under flooded and non-flooded conditions were exposed to two GenX concentrations in the soil (0.4 mg kg−1 and 2 mg kg−1). GenX was analysed in the soil, porewater and shoots using targeted liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy (LC-MS/MS) analysis. Extractable organic fluorine (EOF) was determined using high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-GFMAS) instrument. Results showed that different species took up different amounts of GenX. The GenX concentration in rice shoots was found to be 2.34 (± 0.45) and 4.11 (± 0.87) μg g−1 under flooded and non-flooded conditions, respectively, at a low exposure level. At high exposure, the GenX concentrations in flooded and non-flooded rice shoots increased threefold to 10.4 (± 0.41) and 13.4 (± 0.72) μg g−1, respectively. Wheat shoots showed similar concentrations and increases between low- and high-level exposure. The translocation factor was significantly higher (P = 0.013) in non-flooded rice compared to flooded rice. The GenX bioaccumulation behaviours under the same culture conditions (e.g. temperature, humidity, light, same GenX concentration in the soil) were significantly different in non-flooded and flooded rice (P < 0.001). Non-flooded rice plants displayed a higher level of GenX bioaccumulation than flooded ones. Following exposure to GenX, flooded rice plants showed a reduction in biomass (25%) compared to the control plants (P < 0.014). Our findings indicate that GenX is a bioaccumulative compound, the presence of which likely inhibits the growth of plants.
Toward sustainable waste management in small islands developing states: integrated waste-to-energy solutions in Maldives context
Authors: Wang Yao , Ruiz-Acevedo Alejandro , Rameez Eemaan , Raghavan Vijaya , Hussain Abid , Fei Xunchang 
Published: December 2023

AbstractEffective waste management is a major challenge for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Maldives due to limited land availability. Maldives exemplifies these issues as one of the most geographically dispersed countries, with a population unevenly distributed across numerous islands varying greatly in size and population density. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the unique waste management practices across different regions of Maldives in relation to its natural and socioeconomic context. Data shows Maldives has one of the highest population density and per capita waste generation among SIDS, despite its small land area and medium GDP per capita. Large disparities exist between the densely populated capital Male’ with only 5.8 km2 area generating 63% of waste and the ∼194 scattered outer islands with ad hoc waste management practices. Given Male’s dense population and high calorific waste, incineration could generate up to ∼30 GW/a energy and even increase Maldives’ renewable energy supply by 200%. In contrast, decentralized anaerobic digestion presents an optimal solution for outer islands to reduce waste volume while providing over 40%–100% energy supply for daily cooking in local families. This timely study delivers valuable insights into designing context-specific waste-to-energy systems and integrated waste policies tailored to Maldives’ distinct regions. The framework presented can also guide other SIDS facing similar challenges as Maldives in establishing sustainable, ecologically sound waste management strategies.