bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Nb, Ta, and Ti on the Oxidation of a New Polycrystalline Ni-Based Superalloy
Authors: Wo J. W. X. , Hardy M. C. , Stone H. J. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe effect of variations in Nb, Ta, and Ti concentrations in exchange for Al on the oxidation resistance of a new polycrystalline Ni-based superalloy (C19) was studied in air at 800 °C for up to 1000 h. An external scale of Ti-doped Cr2O3 and a sub-scale of discontinuous Al2O3 intrusions formed on the surface of all the studied alloys. Contrary to other reports, increasing the Nb concentration improved the oxidation performance and may have promoted the formation of a CrTaO4 layer, thereby reducing oxygen ingress. The addition of Ta also significantly improved oxidation resistance and reduced the depth of the Al2O3 intrusions. Increasing the Ti concentration did not significantly affect the oxidation performance, potentially due to the relatively low Ti concentrations investigated. Several of the studied alloys with modified Ta and Ti concentrations showed regions of continuous Al2O3 scale formation, suggesting that the compositions are in a transition regime between Cr2O3-forming and Al2O3-forming behaviour. The findings suggested that part of the Ti content in C19 could potentially be replaced with Nb, Ta and/or other elements to further enhance oxidation resistance and other desirable properties. Overall, the insights gained could serve as a guide to optimise the composition of C19 and similar alloys for enhanced oxidation resistance.
Signal, error, or bias? exploring the uses of scores from observation systems
Authors: White Mark , Klette Kirsti 
Published: January 2024

AbstractScores from observational measures of teaching have recently been put to many uses within school systems, including communicating a standard of practice and providing teacher feedback, identifying teachers for professional development, monitoring system equity, and making employment decisions. In each of these uses, observation scores are interpreted as representing some aspect of the enacted instruction or teachers’ capacity to enact instruction, as seen through the observation systems lens for understanding teaching quality. The quality of these interpretations, or the extent to which observation scores are composed of a signal that accurately reflects the interpretation, has important implications for the overall validity of uses of observation systems. Starting from an explicit conceptualization of instruction, this paper combines generalizability theory and hierarchical linear modelling approaches to decompose observation scores to explore the extent to which scores from observation systems are composed of signal, error, and bias across four different uses (i.e., teacher feedback, professional development, monitoring system equity, and employment decisions) of scores. We show that the quality of observation scores may depend more on what scores are interpreted as representing (i.e., the proposed use) than on the specific observation rubric being used. Further, we show that rater errors and biases are a major threat to any attempt to interpret observation scores as capturing the observation system’s understanding of teaching quality. We discuss implications for using scores from observation systems.
Understanding STEM Outcomes for Autistic Middle Schoolers in an Interest-Based, Afterschool Program: A Qualitative Study
Authors: Murthi Kavitha , Chen Yu-Lun , Martin Wendy , Riccio Ariana , Patten Kristie 
Published: January 2024

AbstractCurrent research underscores that there are only a few evidence-based programs that teach STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) as part of their curriculum, especially for autistic students. Even fewer programs focus on engineering and design learning. Hence, we developed an informal afterschool maker program to develop autistic and non-autistic students’ interests in engineering to understand their experiences learning STEM concepts and values while applying the engineering mindset to develop projects. This qualitative study aimed to explore and understand students’ experiences participating in STEM activities in the maker club. We interviewed twenty-six students (seventeen autistic and nine non-autistic), nine teachers, and thirteen parents representing diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds across three public middle schools in a large urban metropolitan city between 2018 and 2019. Our thematic analysis yielded four themes: (1) active participation in STEM; (2) curiosity about STEM topics, concepts, and practices, (3) capacity-building to engage in STEM learning; and 4) understanding of the importance of STEM education in daily life. The results of this study enabled us to understand that students were deeply engaged with the content and curriculum of our program, expanded their knowledge base about scientific concepts, used engineering-specific scientific terminologies, and engaged with the engineering design process to conceptualize, test, improvise, and problem-solve. Furthermore, this afterschool engineering education program created a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment for students to build engineering readiness skills.
Entrepreneurial governance and the nature of the entrepreneurial firm
Authors: Grandori Anna 
Published: January 2024

AbstractEveryone uses—but no one defines—the term “entrepreneurial firm.” Nobel laureate Oliver Williamson described the entrepreneurial firm as “a special challenge” to the theory of the firm. Organization scholars struggle with the “evergreen problem” of whether “entrepreneurial organizations are distinct from established organizations.” Building on a rarely used distinction in early transaction cost economics between “capitalist,” “entrepreneurial,” and “collective” enterprises, an entrepreneurial governance mode is here dimensionalized and distinguished from other modes of governing an enterprise. The critical dimension is the allocation of property rights, whereby entrepreneurial governance can be characterized as a hybrid between capital governance and labor governance. This notion is then used to derive the conditions that other relevant legal and organizational traits of the entrepreneurial firm should satisfy to be compatible with this hybrid character. The conclusions indicate three main trails for a new research agenda in a structural view of entrepreneurship: new organizational dimensions and forms; the design of ownership structures; and entrepreneurship and law.
Don’t get it wrong! On understanding and its negative phenomena
Authors: Yu Haomiao , Petkov Stefan 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThis paper studies the epistemic failures to reach understanding in relation to scientific explanations. We make a distinction between genuine understanding and its negative phenomena—lack of understanding and misunderstanding. We define explanatory understanding as inclusive as possible, as the epistemic success that depends on abilities, skills, and correct explanations. This success, we add, is often supplemented by specific positive phenomenology which plays a part in forming epistemic inclinations—tendencies to receive an insight from familiar types of explanations. We define lack of understanding as the epistemic failure that results from a lack of an explanation or from an incorrect one. This can occur due to insufficient abilities and skills, or to fallacious explanatory information. Finally, we characterize misunderstanding by cases where one’s epistemic inclinations do not align with an otherwise correct explanation. We suggest that it leads to potential debates about the explanatory power of different explanatory strategies. We further illustrate this idea with a short meta-philosophical study on the current debates about distinctively mathematical explanations.
Predictors of acute kidney injury after percutaneous nephrolithotomy in adult patients: prospective observational study
Authors: Hasan Ahmed Mahmoud , Riyad Ahmed Mahmoud , Ahmed Mostafa AbdelRazek 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Purpose
To assess the frequency and the predictive factors of Acute Kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PNL).

Methods
A prospective observational work. Demographic, preoperative laboratory data, stone characteristics, and intraoperative and postoperative data were gathered. Perioperative AKI had been defined as an elevation in serum creatinine by ≥ 0.3 mg/dl within 48 h, or ≥ 1.5 times baseline, or urine volume less than 0.5 ml/ kg/hour for 6 hours. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine the predictive factors of AKI. ROC curves were utilized to determine the cutoff values of the risk variables. P-values were deemed statistically significant when they were less than 0.05.

Results
A total of 418 participants had been involved. The frequency of AKI was 13.9, and 17.2% of patients with AKI developed CKD. The risk factors were age > 46.5 years, smoking, BMI > 28.5 kg/m2, hypertension, diabetes, utilization of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI), haemoglobin < 10.8 gm/dl, baseline creatinine > 1.41 mg/dl, eGFR < 65.2 ml/min./1.73 m2, serum uric acid > 5.2 mg/dl, stone volume > 1748 mm3, large tract size, long operative time, and intra-operative bleeding. Patients with AKI had a notably extended duration of hospitalization (3.2 days ± 0.45 vs 2.1 ± 0.42, p < 0.001).

Conclusions
Perioperative AKI occurred in 13.9% of individuals undergoing PNL. Identification and optimization of the risk factors and meticulous technique during PNL procedures should be attempted to decrease the risk of AKI.
Rethinking Polyp Segmentation From An Out-of-distribution Perspective
Authors: Ji Ge-Peng , Zhang Jing , Campbell Dylan , Xiong Huan , Barnes Nick 
Published: January 2024

AbstractUnlike existing fully-supervised approaches, we rethink colorectal polyp segmentation from an out-of-distribution perspective with a simple but effective self-supervised learning approach. We leverage the ability of masked autoencoders–self-supervised vision transformers trained on a reconstruction task–to learn in-distribution representations, here, the distribution of healthy colon images. We then perform out-of-distribution reconstruction and inference, with feature space standardisation to align the latent distribution of the diverse abnormal samples with the statistics of the healthy samples. We generate per-pixel anomaly scores for each image by calculating the difference between the input and reconstructed images and use this signal for out-of-distribution (i.e., polyp) segmentation. Experimental results on six benchmarks show that our model has excellent segmentation performance and generalises across datasets. Our code is publicly available at https://github.com/GewelsJI/Polyp-OOD.
Research Progress on the Use of Metformin in Leukemia Treatment
Authors: Wang Qian , Wei Xudong 
Published: January 2024

Opinion statementMetformin is a first-line drug in the clinical treatment of type 2 diabetes. Its main molecular mechanism involves the activation of adenosine 5′-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), which regulates cell energy metabolism. Many clinical studies have shown that metformin can reduce the incidence and mortality of cancer in patients with or without diabetes. In vitro studies also confirmed that metformin can inhibit proliferation, promote apoptosis, and enhance the response of cells to chemical drugs and other anticancer effects on a variety of leukemia cells. In recent years, leukemia has become one of the most common malignant diseases. Although great progress has been made in therapeutic approaches for leukemia, novel drugs and better treatments are still needed to improve the therapeutic efficacy of these treatments. This article reviews the application status and possible mechanism of metformin in the treatment of leukemia to further understand the anticancer mechanism of metformin and expand its clinical application.
Differences in experiences of discrimination: an investigation of personality and person based characteristics in a twin difference design
Authors: Klatzka Christoph H. , Hahn Elisabeth , Spinath Frank M. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractAlthough discrimination experiences are widespread, experiences of discrimination are not equally distributed among potentially affected groups. Despite the fact that the empirical literature offers a broad variety of potential variables that are associated with discrimination experiences, these variables are seldom contrasted, and potential confounds are not conclusively controlled for. Especially for controlling confounds, twin difference designs constitute an advantageous approach. The aim of this study was to identify variables that lead to a higher probability to experience discrimination, and then model these variables in a twin difference design to test whether they exert quasi-causal effects. For this purpose, longitudinal data from the German Twin study TwinLife were analyzed using mixed logistic models with over 1,000 twin pairs. Migration history was the strongest predictor of discrimination experiences across all analyses. Lower self-esteem showed quasi-causal associations to discrimination experiences, underpinning the consequences discrimination experiences might have on self-evaluation. However, initial self-esteem can also function as a cognitive concept guiding future interpretations of potentially discriminating events. Although other personality based features also showed significant associations, this study casts doubt that personality factors can be conclusively regarded as antecedents of discrimination experiences.
Predicting solute transfer rate in patients initiating peritoneal dialysis
Authors: Jaques David A. , Davenport Andrew 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Background
While assessment of membrane characteristics is fundamental to peritoneal dialysis (PD) prescription in patients initiating therapy, peritoneal equilibration test has theoretical and practical drawbacks. We wished to determine whether an equation using simple clinical variables could predict fast (above population mean) peritoneal solute transfer rate without dialysate sampling.

Methods
We measured peritoneal solute transfer rate, as determined by peritoneal equilibration test using the 4-h dialysate to plasma creatinine ratio, in consecutive PD outpatients attending a single tertiary hospital for their first clinical follow-up within 3 months of dialysis initiation. An equation estimating peritoneal solute transfer rate based on readily available clinical variables was generated in a randomly selected modeling group and tested in a distinct validation group.

Results
We included 712 patients, with 562 in the modeling group and 150 in the validation group. Mean age was 58.4 ± 15.9 with 431 (60.5%) men. Mean peritoneal solute transfer rate value was 0.73 ± 0.13. An equation based on gender, race, serum sodium and albumin yielded a receiving operator characteristics (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) to detect fast peritoneal solute transfer rate (> 0.73) of 0.74 (0.67–0.82). Estimated peritoneal solute transfer rate values based on percentiles 15th (> 0.66), 20th (> 0.68), 25th (> 0.69) and 30th (> 0.70) could rule out fast peritoneal solute transfer rate with negative predictive values of 100%, 93.5%, 84.2% and 80.0%, respectively.

Conclusions
An equation based on simple clinical variables allows ruling out fast transport in a significant proportion of patients initiating PD with a high degree of confidence without requiring dialysate sampling. This could prove useful in guiding dialysis prescription of PD patients in daily clinical practice, particularly in low-resource settings.

Graphical abstract
Parameter evaluation method of tight carbonate reservoir using electrical imaging pores diameter spectrum
Authors: Jiao Shixiang , Zhao Jun , Ren Xiaofeng , Wen Xiaofeng , Liu Anpei , Cai Fang , Yu Baocai , Lai Qiang 
Published: January 2024

AbstractCurrently, high-yield gas reservoirs have been discovered by exploring Lower Paleozoic tight carbonate oil and gas reservoirs in the Changqing area. These reservoirs, however, are impacted by subsequent karstification and diagenesis processes, leading to the formation of complex pore spaces with varying pore diameters ranging from microns to millimeters. Conventional well curves, with a resolution at the decimeter level, can only provide an overview of the reservoir porosity, making it challenging to evaluate the pore structure. On the other hand, electrical imaging logging data has a sampling interval of 0.1 inches and a resolution as fine as 5 mm, providing valuable information for pore structure evaluation in tight reservoirs. Since formation resistivity is influenced by factors like porosity, mud filtrate resistivity, and cementation, the cementation index serves as a reflection of the pore structure. Therefore, by calibrating the cementation index using data obtained from experiments at different scales, the pore structure parameters of tight carbonate reservoirs can be evaluated. This study conducted a comparison between numerous core experiments at various scales and both conventional and imaging log data. A method was proposed for extracting pore size distribution characteristics and calculating the pore size spectrum based on electrical imaging logging, ultimately leading to the establishment of a quantitative evaluation model for the pore structure of tight carbonate reservoirs. The results demonstrated improved accuracy and consistency in interpretation, as confirmed by well test data.
Performance comparison of a standing-wave thermoacoustic engine with different resonator shapes with air working gas
Authors: Bouramdane Zahra , Bah Abdellah 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe resonator is one of the key components of thermoacoustic machines and the choice of its geometry is of course of crucial importance, as it determines the way the machine operates. The resonator must be designed so that the quality factor of the resonance is as high as possible and must satisfy the technological production constraints related to the high pressurization of the working fluid and the presence of temperature non-uniformities. The shape of the resonator can be modified to reduce certain loss phenomena, particularly on the walls, and to limit the formation of harmonics in the high-level acoustic field. In this work, an acoustic power losses analysis and a numerical study of a standing-wave TAE with air working gas, considering changes in resonator shape, are performed to investigate the effect of resonator geometry on the thermoacoustic energy conversion. The acoustic power dissipation in the resonator is analyzed based on the simplified thermoacoustic theory and the numerical study is conducted based on a 2D numerical model based on a CFD analysis. Results show that the shape of the resonator significantly affects the frequency, the temperature along the stack, and the acoustic pressure produced on the TAE. In addition, it is shown that the resonator composed of two different diameters showed its ability to produce a high acoustic pressure amplitude (20.5% than the iso-diameter resonator) and minimize the viscous and thermal losses.
A comparison of the use of traditional glazing and a novel concentrated photovoltaic glazing (CoPVG) for building solar gain analysis using IESVE
Authors: Chang Roma , Mondol Jayanta Deb , Smyth Mervyn , Zacharopoulos Aggelos , Pugsley Adrian 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe aim of this study is to compare the difference in solar gain for an internal space when a novel Concentrated Photovoltaic Glazing (CoPVG) unit is compared against traditional glazing modules. The CoPVG is an innovative glazing system developed by Ulster University, that takes advantage of Total Internal Reflection (TIR) to direct solar radiation into the internal space during periods of low solar altitude (around winter) harnessing the thermal contribution of solar gain and daylight. During periods of higher solar altitude (around summer), the solar radiation is mostly directed onto embedded photovoltaic cells. Previous work assessed the concept’s optical functionality, through experimental measurement and computational ray-tracing. Dynamic simulation in Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB) using a series of codes to represent the optical function of the CoPVG’s and Integrated Environmental Solutions Virtual Environment (IESVE) was validated by the experimental data. This work investigates methodologies in determining the transmissivty of the system in a dynamic simulation approach using ray tracing and Radiance in IESVE for visualisation, thereby building on the versability of this software to allow building designers and consultants to investigate energy and economic benefits of this system and systems like it in real building applications. The impact of integrating CoPVG as a replacement to traditonal glazing on a sun-facing building facade is assessed and the solar gain in the adjaciant space is compared throughout the year. During the summer months the integrated system reduces solar gain in the space by 34% but only 11% in the winter months, representing a reduction in the overall annual building energy needs. The study presents the potential economic and environmental savings provided by reduced cooling.
Resolution enhanced sea ice concentration: a new algorithm applied to AMSR2 microwave radiometry data
Authors: Rusin Jozef , Lavergne Thomas , Doulgeris Anthony P. , Scott K. Andrea 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Passive-microwave sea ice concentration (SIC) algorithms employ different frequencies and polarisations in their operational implementations. Commonly, these algorithms utilise combinations such as 19/37 GHz, yielding reduced measurement uncertainties but at a coarse spatial resolution. Alternatively, these algorithms can solely use 89 GHz, producing a higher spatial resolution but with increased measurement uncertainties. This study evaluates the application of a resolution-enhancing SIC algorithm (reSICCI3LF), initially developed for the coarser Special Sensor Microwave Imager / Sounder, on the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer. By applying reSICCI3LF, we aim to produce a 5 km SIC for 2013–2020 in the Fram Strait and the Barents and Kara Sea region that gains the benefits of both types of algorithms, high spatial resolution and low measurement uncertainty.
We present the algorithm tuning, spectral analysis of spatial resolutions, and validation against the Round Robin Data Package of 0% and 100% SIC points and SIC derived from Landsat-8. The findings demonstrate that the reSICCI3LF algorithm produces a SIC field with fine details, achieving a balance between high spatial resolution and lower measurement uncertainties compared to a 89 GHz based SIC. Consequently, this resolution-enhanced SIC technique can potentially initialise higher-resolution coupled ocean and sea ice forecasting systems through data assimilation.