bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The value of collision feedback in robotic surgical skills training
Authors: Postema Roelf , Hardon Hidde , Rahimi A. Masie , Horeman Roel , Nickel Felix , Dankelman Jenny , Bloemendaal Alexander L. A. , van der Elst Maarten , van der Peet Donald L. , Daams Freek , Hardon Sem F. , Horeman Tim 
Published: February 2024

AbstractCollision feedback about instrument and environment interaction is often lacking in robotic surgery training devices. The PoLaRS virtual reality simulator is a newly developed desk trainer that overcomes drawbacks of existing robot trainers for advanced laparoscopy. This study aimed to assess the effect of haptic and visual feedback during training on the performance of a robotic surgical task. Robotic surgery-naïve participants were randomized and equally divided into two training groups: Haptic and Visual Feedback (HVF) and No Haptic and Visual Feedback. Participants performed two basic virtual reality training tasks on the PoLaRS system as a pre- and post-test. The measurement parameters Time, Tip-to-tip distance, Path length Left/Right and Collisions Left/Right were used to analyze the learning curves and statistically compare the pre- and post-tests performances. In total, 198 trials performed by 22 participants were included. The visual and haptic feedback did not negatively influence the time to complete the tasks. Although no improvement in skill was observed between pre- and post-tests, the mean rank of the number of collisions of the right grasper (dominant hand) was significantly lower in the HVF feedback group during the second post-test (Mean Rank = 8.73 versus Mean Rank = 14.27, U = 30.00, p = 0.045). Haptic and visual feedback during the training on the PoLaRS system resulted in fewer instrument collisions. These results warrant the introduction of haptic feedback in subjects with no experience in robotic surgery. The PoLaRS system can be utilized to remotely optimize instrument handling before commencing robotic surgery in the operating room.
Social VR design features and experiential outcomes: narrative review and relationship map for dyadic agent conversations
Authors: Mulvaney Pat , Rooney Brendan , Friehs Maximilian A. , Leader John Francis 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe application of virtual reality to the study of conversation and social interaction is a relatively new field of study. While the affordances of VR in the domain compared to traditional methods are promising, the current state of the field is plagued by a lack of methodological standards and shared understanding of how design features of the immersive experience impact participants. In order to address this, this paper develops a relationship map between design features and experiential outcomes, along with expectations for how those features interact with each other. Based on the results of a narrative review drawing from diverse fields, this relationship map focuses on dyadic conversations with agents. The experiential outcomes chosen include presence & engagement, psychological discomfort, and simulator sickness. The relevant design features contained in the framework include scenario agency, visual fidelity, agent automation, environmental context, and audio features. We conclude by discussing the findings of the review and framework, such as the multimodal nature of social VR being highlighted, and the importance of environmental context, and lastly provide recommendations for future research in social VR.
Sensorimotor adaptation in virtual reality: Do instructions and body representation influence aftereffects?
Authors: Wähnert Svetlana , Schäfer Ulrike 
Published: February 2024

AbstractPerturbations in virtual reality (VR) lead to sensorimotor adaptation during exposure, but also to aftereffects once the perturbation is no longer present. An experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of different task instructions and body representation on the magnitude and the persistence of these aftereffects. Participants completed the paradigm of sensorimotor adaptation in VR. They were assigned to one of three groups: control group, misinformation group or arrow group. The misinformation group and the arrow group were each compared to the control group to examine the effects of instruction and body representation. The misinformation group was given the incorrect instruction that in addition to the perturbation, a random error component was also built into the movement. The arrow group was presented a virtual arrow instead of a virtual hand. It was hypothesised that both would lead to a lower magnitude and persistence of the aftereffect because the object identity between hand and virtual representation would be reduced, and errors would be more strongly attributed to external causes. Misinformation led to lower persistence, while the arrow group showed no significant differences compared to the control group. The results suggest that information about the accuracy of the VR system can influence the aftereffects, which should be considered when developing VR instructions. No effects of body representation were found. One possible explanation is that the manipulated difference between abstract and realistic body representation was too small in terms of object identity.
Towards an EKG for SBO: A Neural Network for Detection and Characterization of Bowel Obstruction on CT
Authors: Murphy Paul M. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractA neural network was developed to detect and characterize bowel obstruction, a common cause of acute abdominal pain. In this retrospective study, 202 CT scans of 165 patients with bowel obstruction from March to June 2022 were included and partitioned into training and test data sets. A multi-channel neural network was trained to segment the gastrointestinal tract, and to predict the diameter and the longitudinal position (“longitude”) along the gastrointestinal tract using a novel embedding. Its performance was compared to manual segmentations using the Dice score, and to manual measurements of the diameter and longitude using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). ROC curves as well as sensitivity and specificity were calculated for diameters above a clinical threshold for obstruction, and for longitudes corresponding to small bowel. In the test data set, Dice score for segmentation of the gastrointestinal tract was 78 ± 8%. ICC between measured and predicted diameters was 0.72, indicating moderate agreement. ICC between measured and predicted longitude was 0.85, indicating good agreement. AUROC was 0.90 for detection of dilated bowel, and was 0.95 and 0.90 for differentiation of the proximal and distal gastrointestinal tract respectively. Overall sensitivity and specificity for dilated small bowel were 0.83 and 0.90. Since obstruction is diagnosed based on the diameter and longitude of the bowel, this neural network and embedding may enable detection and characterization of this important disease on CT.
Impact of prolonged storage time on homograft ultrastructures: an attempt to find optimal guidelines for homograft processing
Authors: von Konow Ida , Eliasson Angeline , Nilsson Johan , Malm Torsten 
Published: February 2024

AbstractAccording to guidelines, total ischemic time for homografts at processing must be kept short to avoid degeneration. Many homografts are discarded due to practical inability to finish all steps from procurement to cryopreservation within the time limit. Although, several studies have shown that homografts with prolonged ischemic time show adequate quality and performance. Twenty aortic and 12 pulmonary homografts were collected and biopsies were retrieved at preparation (day 0) and after 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 14, 21, 28, and 60 days in antibiotic decontamination at 4 °C. Biopsies were prepared for light microscopy (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Assessment generated scores for cells, elastin, and collagen. Relative differences between times were compared with Wilcoxon signed rank test. Bonferroni corrected p value of 0.0056 was considered significant. LM could only reveal decrease in cell count at 60 days in aortic homografts, no other differences was detected. TEM showed affected cell appearance in day 3 and day 4 and beyond for aortic and pulmonary homografts respectively. Elastin appearance was affected at day 60 for aortic and day 21 for pulmonary homografts. Collagen appearance was affected at day 28 for aortic homografts, with no significant differences in pulmonary homografts. Cell degeneration starts early after homograft procurement, but elastic and collagen fibers are more resistant to degeneration. Overall structure integrity as seen in LM was not affected at all, while TEM could reveal small degeneration signs in individual elastic fibers and collagen bundles at 21 and 28 days respectively.
eDNA metabarcoding reveals a rich but threatened and declining elasmobranch community in West Africa’s largest marine protected area, the Banc d’Arguin
Authors: de la Hoz Schilling Carolina , Jabado Rima W. , Veríssimo Ana , Caminiti Luca , Sidina Ebaye , Gandega Cheikhna Yero , Serrão Ester A. 
Published: February 2024

AbstractElasmobranchs (sharks and rays) are the most threatened marine vertebrates, particularly in tropical and subtropical areas. Their population status is often poorly understood due to insufficient information. Despite reportedly harbouring critical elasmobranch habitats, the Banc d’Arguin National Park (PNBA) in Mauritania lacks comprehensive and updated information on the diversity of elasmobranch species in the area. We developed a baseline inventory based on morphological and molecular identification and metabarcoding. DNA barcoding of tissue samples from elasmobranch processing sites and freshly sampled specimens was used to build a genetic reference database of local elasmobranch species. The richness and diversity of species in the PNBA were described via metabarcoding of seawater eDNA samples using an elasmobranch-specific assay and our reference database. We detected 27 species, including 12 new species records for the PNBA. We further uncover potentially undescribed species of Gymnura and Torpedo, while taxonomic corrections are noted for previously reported species. In particular, the reportedly abundant Mustelus mustelus was absent from tissue and eDNA samples, while M. punctulatus was detected instead. Taxa that have anecdotally become regionally extinct or rare (e.g., sawfishes, wedgefishes, lemon sharks) were not detected, highlighting local species diversity shifts within the last few decades. Results show that 67.9% of elasmobranch species in the PNBA are threatened with extinction according to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This study emphasises the importance of taxonomic identification in support of species management and provides a baseline to inform future studies and conservation measures to avoid further species losses.
Analyzing source code vulnerabilities in the D2A dataset with ML ensembles and C-BERT
Authors: Pujar Saurabh , Zheng Yunhui , Buratti Luca , Lewis Burn , Chen Yunchung , Laredo Jim , Morari Alessandro , Epstein Edward , Lin Tsungnan , Yang Bo , Su Zhong 
Published: February 2024

AbstractStatic analysis tools are widely used for vulnerability detection as they can analyze programs with complex behavior and millions of lines of code. Despite their popularity, static analysis tools are known to generate an excess of false positives. The recent ability of Machine Learning models to learn from programming language data opens new possibilities of reducing false positives when applied to static analysis. However, existing datasets to train models for vulnerability identification suffer from multiple limitations such as limited bug context, limited size, and synthetic and unrealistic source code. We propose Differential Dataset Analysis or D2A, a differential analysis based approach to label issues reported by static analysis tools. The dataset built with this approach is called the D2A dataset. The D2A dataset is built by analyzing version pairs from multiple open source projects. From each project, we select bug fixing commits and we run static analysis on the versions before and after such commits. If some issues detected in a before-commit version disappear in the corresponding after-commit version, they are very likely to be real bugs that got fixed by the commit. We use D2A to generate a large labeled dataset. We then train both classic machine learning models and deep learning models for vulnerability identification using the D2A dataset. We show that the dataset can be used to build a classifier to identify possible false alarms among the issues reported by static analysis, hence helping developers prioritize and investigate potential true positives first. To facilitate future research and contribute to the community, we make the dataset generation pipeline and the dataset publicly available. We have also created a leaderboard based on the D2A dataset, which has already attracted attention and participation from the community.
On Compulsive Talkers
Authors: Kirkpatrick James Ravi 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThis paper reevaluates Kaplan’s (Themes from Kaplan, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 481–563, 1989b) infamous ‘compulsive talker’ objection to Reichenbach’s (Elements of symbolic logic,
AQ1 Macmillan, New York, 1947 )
token-reflexive theory of indexicals. It argues that Kaplan’s objection depends on the modal status of Reichenbachian tokens. On one interpretation, Kaplan’s objection stands. But on another, equally plausible interpretation, the following points hold: (i) Reichenbach’s theory effectively preempts contemporary discussion of rigid definite descriptions, (ii) Kaplan’s own analysis of indexicals in terms of dthat-terms comes extremely close to Reichenbach’s own analysis, and (iii) Kaplan’s ‘compulsive talker’ objection should be rejected.
Are increasing roosting waterbird numbers responsible for eutrophication of shallow lakes? Examples from a Danish Ramsar site
Authors: Clausen Preben , Lauridsen Torben L. , Pedersen Claus Lunde , Nielsen Henrik Haaning , Jeppesen Erik , Søndergaard Martin , Schreven Kees H. T. , Nolet Bart A. , Madsen Jesper , Fox Anthony David 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires actions from European Union Member States to reduce external nutrient loading in lakes of moderate/poor/bad ecological status and restore their good ecological status. Several poor-quality Danish lakes have been exempted from WFD criteria (and more proposed), due to suspected major imported nutrient contributions from waterbirds, without supporting evidence. Here, we estimated relative nutrient contributions from increasing numbers of roosting waterbirds compared to total nutrient loadings in four brackish lakes (43–491 ha) at an internationally important Ramsar site/EU Birds Directive Special Protection Area. Combining night- and daytime counts of roosting numbers of the most numerous species with intake and faecal output models, we estimated roosting birds (mostly geese) contributed 0.2–0.4% of all N inputs (0.3–1.2 kg N/ha/year) and 0.6–2.0% of all P inputs (0.04–0.12 kg P/ha/year) in three lakes (one of which has been proposed exempted from WFD criteria), but potentially as high as 14% and 76%, respectively, at a fourth clearwater lake without direct inflow or outlets. These results confirm the need for case-by-case assessments of avian nutrient import relative to total nutrient balance before exempting lakes from WFD conditions due to supposed natural loading from waterbirds.
Aviation Safety for Urban Air Mobility: Pilot Licensing and Fatigue Management
Authors: Shi Yuran 
Published: February 2024

AbstractUrban Air Mobility (UAM) is an emerging air traffic system designed for passengers and cargo in and around urban environments. Both the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency endorse a phased development approach for UAM, commencing with manned aviation and subsequently transitioning to remotely piloted and autonomous operations. This article focuses on legal considerations related to aviation safety, with a specific focus on pilot licensing and crew fatigue management. An analysis of existing aviation law provisions suggests that the International Civil Aviation Organization can work with local authorities to create regulations governing both on-board and remote pilots involved in UAM operations. Safety standards in air law can apply mutatis mutandis to on-board pilots until specific regulations are developed. In the longer term, there shall be domestic laws on both on-board and remote UAM pilots.
EPTAS for parallel identical machine scheduling with time restrictions
Authors: Jaykrishnan G. , Levin Asaf 
Published: February 2024

AbstractWe consider the non-preemptive scheduling problem on identical machines where there is a parameter B and each machine in every unit length time interval can process up to B different jobs. The goal function we consider is the makespan minimization and we develop an EPTAS for this problem. Prior to our work a PTAS was known only for the case of one machine and constant values of B, and even the case of non-constant values of B on one machine was not known to admit a PTAS.
The Processing of Lexical Ambiguity: Evidence from Child and Adult Greek
Authors: Kaltsa Maria , Papadopoulou Despina 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe aim of the study is to examine the effect of sentential context on lexical ambiguity resolution in Greek adults and typically developing children. Context and word frequency are factors that can affect lexical processing, however, the role of them has not been thoroughly examined in Greek. To this aim, we assessed sentence context effects in homonym meaning activation in monolingual speakers of Greek, children and adults, using a cross-modal priming paradigm. Additionally, all participants conducted a verbal working memory task and an inhibition task so as to examine whether the use of sentential context for lexical ambiguity resolution relates to age and/or cognitive processing capacity. The data analysis showed (a) major processing differences between adults and children due to ambiguity and sentential context, (b) children’s processing times affected by cognitive skills while adults’ processing unaffected, and (c) visual word recognition intact for all participants.
Evaluation Practices of Doctoral Examination Committees: Boundary-Work Under Pressure
Authors: Elmgren Maja , Lindberg-Sand Åsa , Sonesson Anders 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThe doctorate forms the basis for academic careers and the regeneration of academia, and has increasingly become important for other sectors of society. The latter is reflected in efforts on institutional, national as well as supranational levels to change and adapt the doctoral degree to new expectations. As doctoral education is embedded in research, changes in governance and funding of research further affect the doctorate. The evaluation of the doctoral thesis appears, however, to have remained true to the academic tradition: an examination committee exercising their gatekeeping in a ceremonial setting. This study sets out to explore doctoral examination committees’ evaluation practices. Insights were gained through six focus group interviews with experienced examination committee members at three large research-intensive universities in Sweden. Of particular interest is how the object of evaluation is formed, the nature of the boundary-work conducted, and variations in examination practices related to different and changing conditions for research and doctoral education. Our results show how the object of evaluation emerges through a gradual interpretation of the thesis and defence, becoming more complex and nuanced as the process of evaluation progresses from its initial stages to the final closed discussions of the committee. The finalised object of evaluation, only fully present at the conclusion of the closed meeting and hence transient in nature, encompasses the research contribution, educational achievement, and academic competence of the candidate. Furthermore, the boundary-work conducted in this process often transcends the object of evaluation to include also supervision and the local context for doctoral education and research, and hence contributes to upholding, and potential changing, norms in research fields, educational contexts, and academia at large. This extended boundary-work intensified as problems and inconsistencies were discovered during the evaluation process. The ceremonial staging underscored the gravity of the decision and the extended boundary-work. Despite changing conditions for the doctorate, our findings highlight the importance of the practice of evaluation committees, and the disciplinary communities to which they belong, for upholding and negotiating norms in academia.
Pragmatic realism: towards a reconciliation of enactivism and realism
Authors: Legg Catherine , Sant’Anna André 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
This paper addresses some apparent philosophical tensions between realism and enactivism by means of Charles Peirce’s pragmatism. Enactivism’s Mind-Life Continuity thesis has been taken to commit it to some form of anti-realist ‘world-construction’ which has been considered controversial. Accordingly, a new realist enactivism is proposed by Zahidi (Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences,
13(3), 461–475, 2014), drawing on Ian Hacking’s ‘entity realism’, which places subjects in worlds comprised of the things that they can successfully manipulate. We review this attempt, and argue that whilst Zahidi rightly urges enactivists towards ‘internal realism’, he cannot sustain a non-negotiable aspect of realism that is crucial for scientific progress – the claim that multiple subjects inhabit the same world. We explore Peirce’s pragmatism as an alternative solution, foregrounding his distinction between existence and reality, and his inquiry-based account of cognition. These theoretical innovations, we argue, fruitfully generalize Zahidi’s manipulation-based enactivist realism to a richer, inquiry-based enactivist realism. We explore how this realism’s pan-species monism about truth encourages and supports the investigation of non-human animal cognition, and conclude by considering some implications of our discussion for long-standing realism debates within pragmatism.
Comparative analysis of soft-error sensitivity in LU decomposition algorithms on diverse GPUs
Authors: Leon German , Badia Jose M. , Belloch Jose A. , Lindoso Almudena , Entrena Luis 
Published: February 2024

AbstractGraphics processing units (GPUs) have become integral to embedded systems and supercomputing centres due to their large memory, cutting-edge technology and high performance per watt. However, their susceptibility to transient errors requires a comprehensive analysis of error sensitivity, as well as the development of error mitigation techniques and fault-tolerant algorithms. This study focuses on evaluating the soft-error sensitivity of two distinct versions of LU decomposition algorithms implemented on two very different GPUs—a low-power SoC embedded GPU and a high-performance massively parallel GPU. Through extensive fault injection campaigns on both GPUs, we examine the vulnerability of the algorithms, identify error causes, and determine critical code components requiring enhanced protection. The experiments reveal that most single bit flip fault injections in the instruction results lead to erroneous outcomes or unrecoverable errors. Notably, efficient GPU resource utilisation can increase the number of masked errors, thereby enhancing error resilience. Additionally, while different parts of the code exhibit similar error occurrence types and rates, the propagation of errors to elements within the result matrix differs significantly.