bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
A deep learning-based approach for axle counter in free-flow tolling systems
Authors: Souza Bruno José , da Costa Guinther Kovalski , Szejka Anderson Luis , Freire Roberto Zanetti , Gonzalez Gabriel Villarrubia 
Published: February 2024

AbstractEnhancements in the structural and operational aspects of transportation are important for achieving high-quality mobility. Toll plazas are commonly known as a potential bottleneck stretch, as they tend to interfere with the normality of the flow due to the charging points. Focusing on the automation of toll plazas, this research presents the development of an axle counter to compose a free-flow toll collection system. The axle counter is responsible for the interpretation of images through algorithms based on computer vision to determine the number of axles of vehicles crossing in front of a camera. The You Only Look Once (YOLO) model was employed in the first step to identify vehicle wheels. Considering that several versions of this model are available, to select the best model, YOLOv5, YOLOv6, YOLOv7, and YOLOv8 were compared. The YOLOv5m achieved the best result with precision and recall of 99.40% and 98.20%, respectively. A passage manager was developed thereafter to verify when a vehicle passes in front of the camera and store the corresponding frames. These frames are then used by the image reconstruction module which creates an image of the complete vehicle containing all axles. From the sequence of frames, the proposed method is able to identify when a vehicle was passing through the scene, count the number of axles, and automatically generate the appropriate charge to be applied to the vehicle.
Anti-biofilm properties of laser-synthesized, ultrapure silver–gold-alloy nanoparticles against Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Heine Nils , Doll-Nikutta Katharina , Stein Frederic , Jakobi Jurij , Ingendoh-Tsakmakidis Alexandra , Rehbock Christoph , Winkel Andreas , Barcikowski Stephan , Stiesch Meike 
Published: February 2024

AbstractStaphylococcus aureus biofilm-associated infections are a common complication in modern medicine. Due to inherent resilience of biofilms to antibiotics and the rising number of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, new treatment options are required. For this purpose, ultrapure, spherical silver–gold-alloy nanoparticles with homogenous elemental distribution were synthesized by laser ablation in liquids and analyzed for their antibacterial activity on different stages of S. aureus biofilm formation as well as for different viability parameters. First, the effect of nanoparticles against planktonic bacteria was tested with metabolic activity measurements. Next, nanoparticles were incubated with differently matured S. aureus biofilms, which were then analyzed by metabolic activity measurements and three dimensional live/dead fluorescent staining to determine biofilm volume and membrane integrity. It could be shown that AgAu NPs exhibit antibacterial properties against planktonic bacteria but also against early-stage and even mature biofilms, with a complete diffusion through the biofilm matrix. Furthermore, AgAu NPs primarily targeted metabolic activity, to a smaller extend membrane integrity, but not the biofilm volume. Additional molecular analyses using qRT-PCR confirmed the influence on different metabolic pathways, like glycolysis, stress response and biofilm formation. As this shows clear similarities to the mechanism of pure silver ions, the results strengthen silver ions to be the major antibacterial agent of the synthesized nanoparticles. In summary, the results of this study provide initial evidence of promising anti-biofilm characteristics of silver–gold-alloy nanoparticles and support the importance of further translation-oriented analyses in the future.
Pre-existing structural control on the recent Holuhraun eruptions along the Bárðarbunga spreading center, Iceland
Authors: Døssing Arne , Kolster Mick Emil , da Silva Eduardo L. S. , Muxworthy Adrian R. , Petersen Jacob Thejll , Riishuus Morten S. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe active rift zones in Iceland provide unique insight into the geodynamic processes of divergent plate boundaries. The geodynamics of Iceland are studied intensively, particularly, by geophysical methods sensitive to active and/or visible structures such as earthquake seismic and Synthetic Aperture Radar observations or aerial photographs. However, older and less active structures, that may exert a strong control on the presently active geodynamics, are often buried beneath recent volcanic or sedimentary deposits and are—due to their passive mode—overseen by the typical geophysical investigations. Aeromagnetic surveys provide spatial information about subsurface magnetization contrasts relating to both active and inactive structures. However, the aeromagnetic data in Iceland were collected in the 1970-80s and are relevant only to large-scale regional rift studies. With the availability of reliable drones and light-weight atomic scalar sensors, high-quality drone magnetic surveys can provide an unprecedented spatial resolution of both active and passive structures of rift systems as compared to conventional airborne surveys. Here, we present the results of a drone-towed magnetic scalar field and scalar gradiometry study of the north-northeast trending Bárðarbunga spreading center to the north of the Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland. Our results provide new information about the structural complexity of rift zones with evidence of densely-spaced, conjugate and oblique faults throughout the area. Evidence is shown of a hitherto unknown and prominent east-northeast trending fault structure that coincides with the northern tip of the main eruption edifice of the 1797 and 2014-15 Holuhraun volcanic events. We suggest that this pre-existing structure controlled the locus of vertical magma migration during the two Holuhraun events.
The mediating effect of the need for cognition between aesthetic experiences and aesthetic competence in art
Authors: Świątek Agata H. , Szcześniak Małgorzata , Stempień Michał , Wojtkowiak Karolina , Chmiel Marianna 
Published: February 2024

AbstractAlthough the role of aesthetics and aesthetic education in everyday life was discussed as early as the ancient philosophers, the psychological mechanisms shaping the aesthetic quotient have hardly been investigated by empirical studies. The aim of this study was to examine the direct relationship between experience and aesthetic competence, and the mediating role of need for cognition. The study involved 201 Polish adults, aged 18 to 76 (M = 26.40; SD = 11.89), 65% of whom were women. The respondents completed anonymous questionnaires on an online platform. The surveys included a metric, the Aesthetic Competence Scale (ACS), the Aesthetic Experience Questionnaire (AEQ) and the Need for Cognition Scale (NCS). A positive correlation coefficient was obtained between all three variables studied, with need for cognition acting as a mediator in the relationship between experience and aesthetic competence. The findings indicate that individuals reporting intense aesthetic experiences have a higher aesthetic competence if this relationship is mediated by a high need for cognitive effort.
An empirical study of indoor air quality in badminton stadiums in hot summer and cold winter regions of China during spring and fall seasons
Authors: Liu Lin , Ma Yong , Huang Ruifeng , Lin Shijie , Jia Mengyao , Liu Gan , Zheng Weitao 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe indoor air quality has a direct impact on human health. In order to obtain the current status of indoor air quality in typical sports buildings in hot summer and cold winter climate zones in China, indoor badminton courts in 10 cities in Hubei Province in this climate zone were selected as research objects for field testing of indoor environmental parameters in spring and autumn, and predict air quality parameters for non-testing times. All the tested stadiums are naturally ventilated in non-event conditions, and the average daily indoor CO2 concentration was 526.78 ppm in spring and 527.63 ppm in autumn, and the average daily PM2.5 concentration was 0.035 mg/m3 in spring and 0.024 mg/m3 in autumn, all of which met the requirements of GB/T 18883-2022, the average concentration of CO2 ≤ 1000 ppm and PM2.5 ≤ 0.05 mg/m3. The indoor CO2 concentration and PM2.5 concentration of the tested badminton halls under natural ventilation gradually increased with the accumulation of exercise time, making the indoor air quality of the badminton halls decrease, which would negatively affect the health of the people exercising in this environment.
Fast insights into chitosan-cleaving enzymes by simultaneous analysis of polymers and oligomers through size exclusion chromatography
Authors: Hellmann Margareta J. , Moerschbacher Bruno M. , Cord-Landwehr Stefan 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe thorough characterization of chitosan-cleaving enzymes is crucial to unveil structure–function relationships of this promising class of biomolecules for both, enzymatic fingerprinting analyses and to use the enzymes as biotechnological tools to produce tailor-made chitosans for diverse applications. Analyzing polymeric substrates as well as oligomeric products has been established as an effective way to understand the actions of enzymes, but it currently requires separate, rather laborious methods to obtain the full picture. Here, we present ultra high performance size exclusion chromatography coupled to refractive index and mass spectrometry detection (UHPSEC-RI-MS) as a straightforward method for the semi-quantitative analysis of chitosan oligomers of up to ten monomers in length. Additionally, the method allows to determine the average molecular weight of the remaining polymers and its distribution. By sampling live from an ongoing enzymatic reaction, UHPSEC-RI-MS offers the unique opportunity to analyze polymers and oligomers simultaneously—i.e., to monitor the molecular weight reduction of the polymeric substrate over the course of the digestion, while at the same time analyzing the emerging oligomeric products in a semi-quantitative manner. In this way, a single simple analysis yields detailed insights into an enzyme’s action on a given substrate.
The effects of OPRM1 118A>G on methadone response in pain management in advanced cancer at end of life
Authors: Haupt Larisa M. , Haywood Alison , Sutherland Heidi G. , Yu Chieh , Albury Cassie L. , Pharasi Anushka , Zunk Mathew , George Rani , Griffiths Lyn R. , Good Phillip , Hardy Janet 
Published: February 2024

AbstractCancer pain is the most feared symptom at end of life. Methadone has advantages over other opioids but is associated with significant variability in clinical response, making dosing challenging in practice. OPRM1 is the most studied pharmacogene associated with the pharmacodynamics of opioids, however reports on the association of the A118G polymorphism on opioid dose requirements are conflicting, with no reports including methadone as the primary intervention. This association study on OPRM1 A118G and response to methadone for pain management, includes a review of this genetic factor’s role in inter-patient variability. Fifty-four adult patients with advanced cancer were recruited in a prospective, multi-centre, open label dose individualization study. Patient characteristics were not shown to influence methadone response, and no significant associations were observed for methadone dose or pain score. The findings of our review of association studies for OPRM1 A118G in advanced cancer pain demonstrate the importance of taking ancestry into account. While our sample size was small, our results were consistent with European populations, but in contrast to studies in Chinese patients, where carriers of the A118G polymorphism were associated with higher opioid dose requirements. Pharmacogenetic studies in palliative care are challenging, continued contribution will support future genotype-based drug dosing guidelines.
Machine learning optimization of bio-sandcrete brick modelling using response surface methodology
Authors: Ganasen Nakkeeran , Krishnaraj L. , Onyelowe Kennedy C. , Stephen Liberty U. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIn this study, raw grinded groundnut shell (RGGNS) was used as a fine aggregate in the brick industry to reuse agricultural waste in building materials. In this study, an experimental approach was used to examine a new cement brick with raw groundnut shells integrated with compressive strength, water absorption and dry density optimization utilizing response surface methodology (RSM). The raw ground-nut shell content improved the fine aggregate performance of the 40%, 50%, and 60% samples. The 28-day high compressive strength with the raw ground-nut shell was 6.1 N/mm2 maximum, as needed by the technical standard. Samples made from 40%, 50%, and 60% raw groundnut shells yielded densities of 1.7, 2.2, and 1.9 kg/cm3 for groundnut shell (GNS) brick, respectively. A product's mechanical properties meet the IS code standard’s minimum requirements. RSM was then utilized to develop a model for the addition of raw groundnut shell to concrete. R-square and Adeq precision values indicated that the results are highly significant, and equations for predicting compressive strength, water absorption, and dry density have been developed. In addition, optimization was performed on the RSM findings to determine the efficiency optimization of the model. Following the optimization results, experiments were conducted to determine the applicability of the optimized model.
Weakly supervised instance segmentation via peak mining and filtering
Authors: Huang Zuxian , Pan Dongsheng , Wu Gangshan 
Published: February 2024

AbstractLearning the full extent of pixel‐level instance response in a weakly supervised manner remains unsatisfactory. Peak response maps (PRMs) localizes the discriminative object regions but cannot provide complete instance information, suffering from incomplete segmentation and unreliable mask prediction by noisy proposal retrieval. This work tackles this challenging problem by mining diverse class peak responses that include more discriminative and complete object regions and retrieving more reliable proposals from noisy segment proposal galleries. First, the existing method is enhanced with two more classification branches, thus contributing to more diverse and abundant instance regions from peak response maps. The mined class peak responses from two of the branches are then merged to generate more complete peak response maps by a clustering approach in their deep feature space. Then, instance segmentation masks are retrieved from a noisy object segment proposal gallery with class confidence, which is calculated by a normal classifier to obtain cleaner mask prediction. Finally, the pseudo‐supervision can be used to train an instance segmentation network in a fully supervised manner. Experiments on the PASCAL VOC 2012 dataset and COCO dataset show that the approach works effectively and outperforms other counterparts by a margin of more than 6 %, 4%, and 3% with the mean average precision (mAP) at IoU threshold of 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75, respectively.
Harnessing brand authenticity to promote prosocial service behavior
Authors: Lim Weng Marc , Malik Nishtha , Gupta Sahil , Rai Himanshu 
Published: February 2024

AbstractIn today’s fiercely competitive, customer-centric, and service-driven marketplace, where customer satisfaction, trust, and loyalty are hard-won currencies, brand authenticity emerges as a pivotal cornerstone, potentially fostering prosocial service behavior among employees—a crucial driver of organizational success. Yet, the intricate link between brand authenticity and prosocial service behavior remains a compelling and notably understudied frontier. To address this gap, we explore how prosocial service behavior can be shaped by brand authenticity. Using partial least squares–structural equation modeling based on survey responses from a random sample of 410 frontline employees in the hospitality industry, we found that brand authenticity alone cannot spark prosocial service behavior. Instead, brands must foster psychological empowerment and organizational commitment in order to activate and harness the power of brand authenticity in nurturing prosocial service behavior. This is because employees require both a belief in their own influence (empowerment) and a strong attachment to their organization (commitment) to fully express the genuine values of a brand through prosocial actions. However, caution should be noted: introducing job autonomy might diminish the impact of psychological empowerment. This counterintuitive effect could be attributed to the perception that excessive autonomy, while meant to empower, might be seen as a lack of guidance or support. Such a scenario may potentially make employees feel isolated or overwhelmed by decision-making responsibilities.
The proposed Code of Conduct for Research in South Africa: despite good progress, unresolved issues remain
Authors: Gooden Amy , Thaldar Donrich 
Published: February 2024

AbstractAfter a 3-year development process and several drafts, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) has submitted its proposed Code of Conduct for Research (proposed CCR) to the South African Information Regulator for its consideration and approval. When approved, the proposed CCR will be an important legal instrument that will complement the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 (POPIA) in governing research activity in the country—including data sharing by South African researchers with their collaborators in other countries. The proposed CCR resolves important issues that were present in previous drafts. However, three important issues require attention: (1) how the identifiability of data subjects is to be determined in research data; (2) how research data can be repurposed for commercial use; and (3) how open access genomic databases should be established in the South African legal framework. In addition, the proposed CCR introduces a new issue: a legally unsustainable exception from POPIA application for genetic data. All these issues considered, the proposed CCR needs revision ahead of its approval by the Information Regulator. Recommendations are made on how to resolve the remaining issues.
Exploring low-carbon and sustainable urban transformation design using ChatGPT and artificial bee colony algorithm
Authors: Yu Shuhui , Yang Ya , Li Jiamin , Guo Keyu , Wang Zeyu , Liu Yuwei 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe aim of this study is to provide effective solutions to promote the transition of resource-based cities to low carbon and sustainable development. Firstly, this study investigates the background of low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities. Secondly, it introduces the application method of Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) in detail. Finally, this study proposes a comprehensive application of ChatGPT and artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm. The results show that the average energy utilization efficiency improvement index of the group using ChatGPT is 0.11. The average energy efficiency improvement index of the group using ABC algorithm is 0.02 higher than that of the control group. The integrated application of ChatGPT and ABC algorithm can further improve the low-carbon transformation effect of resource-based cities and achieve the goal of green development.
Primary and secondary care service use and costs associated with frailty in an ageing population: longitudinal analysis of an English primary care cohort of adults aged 50 and over, 2006–2017
Authors: Fogg Carole , England Tracey , Zhu Shihua , Jones Jeremy , de Lusignan Simon , Fraser Simon D S , Roderick Paul , Clegg Andy , Harris Scott , Brailsford Sally , Barkham Abigail , Patel Harnish P , Walsh Bronagh 
Published: February 2024

Abstract

Background
Frailty becomes more prevalent and healthcare needs increase with age. Information on the impact of frailty on population level use of health services and associated costs is needed to plan for ageing populations.

Aim
To describe primary and secondary care service use and associated costs by electronic Frailty Index (eFI) category.

Design and Setting
Retrospective cohort using electronic health records. Participants aged ≥50 registered in primary care practices contributing to the Oxford Royal College of General Practitioners Research and Surveillance Centre, 2006–2017.

Methods
Primary and secondary care use (totals and means) were stratified by eFI category and age group. Standardised 2017 costs were used to calculate primary, secondary and overall costs. Generalised linear models explored associations between frailty, sociodemographic characteristics. Adjusted mean costs and cost ratios were produced.

Results
Individual mean annual use of primary and secondary care services increased with increasing frailty severity. Overall cohort care costs for were highest in mild frailty in all 12 years, followed by moderate and severe, although the proportion of the population with severe frailty can be expected to increase over time. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, compared to the fit category, individual annual costs doubled in mild frailty, tripled in moderate and quadrupled in severe.

Conclusions
Increasing levels of frailty are associated with an additional burden of individual service use. However, individuals with mild and moderate frailty contribute to higher overall costs. Earlier intervention may have the most potential to reduce service use and costs at population level.
Gradualism, bifurcation and fading qualia
Authors: Sebastián Miguel Ángel , Martínez Manolo 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
When reasoning about dependence relations, philosophers often rely on gradualist assumptions, according to which abrupt changes in a phenomenon of interest can result only from abrupt changes in the low-level phenomena on which it depends. These assumptions, while strictly correct if the dependence relation in question can be expressed by continuous dynamical equations, should be handled with care: very often the descriptively relevant property of a dynamical system connecting high- and low-level phenomena is not its instantaneous behaviour but its stable fixed points (those in the vicinity of which it spends most of the time, after comparatively short transitory periods), and stable fixed points can change abruptly as a result of infinitesimal changes of the low-level phenomenon. We illustrate this potential gradualist trap by showing that Chalmers’ fading qualia argument falls into it.
Network propagation for GWAS analysis: a practical guide to leveraging molecular networks for disease gene discovery
Authors: Visonà Giovanni , Bouzigon Emmanuelle , Demenais Florence , Schweikert Gabriele 
Published: February 2024

AbstractMotivationGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled large-scale analysis of the role of genetic variants in human disease. Despite impressive methodological advances, subsequent clinical interpretation and application remains challenging when GWAS suffer from a lack of statistical power. In recent years, however, the use of information diffusion algorithms with molecular networks has led to fruitful insights on disease genes.ResultsWe present an overview of the design choices and pitfalls that prove crucial in the application of network propagation methods to GWAS summary statistics. We highlight general trends from the literature, and present benchmark experiments to expand on these insights selecting as case study three diseases and five molecular networks. We verify that the use of gene-level scores based on GWAS P-values offers advantages over the selection of a set of ‘seed’ disease genes not weighted by the associated P-values if the GWAS summary statistics are of sufficient quality. Beyond that, the size and the density of the networks prove to be important factors for consideration. Finally, we explore several ensemble methods and show that combining multiple networks may improve the network propagation approach.