bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Towards flexibility and robustness of LSM trees
Authors: Huynh Andy , Chaudhari Harshal A. , Terzi Evimaria , Athanassoulis Manos 
Published: January 2024

AbstractLog-structured merge trees (LSM trees) are increasingly used as part of the storage engine behind several data systems, and are frequently deployed in the cloud. As the number of applications relying on LSM-based storage backends increases, the problem of performance tuning of LSM trees receives increasing attention. We consider both nominal tunings—where workload and execution environment are accurately known a priori—and robust tunings—which consider uncertainty in the workload knowledge. This type of workload uncertainty is common in modern applications, notably in shared infrastructure environments like the public cloud. To address this problem, we introduce Endure, a new paradigm for tuning LSM trees in the presence of workload uncertainty. Specifically, we focus on the impact of the choice of compaction policy, size ratio, and memory allocation on the overall performance. Endure considers a robust formulation of the throughput maximization problem and recommends a tuning that offers near-optimal throughput when the executed workload is not the same, instead in a neighborhood of the expected workload. Additionally, we explore the robustness of flexible LSM designs by proposing a new unified design called K-LSM that encompasses existing designs. We deploy our robust tuning system, Endure, on a state-of-the-art key-value store, RocksDB, and demonstrate throughput improvements of up to 5$$\times $$
×
in the presence of uncertainty. Our results indicate that the tunings obtained by Endure are more robust than tunings obtained under our expanded LSM design space. This indicates that robustness may not be inherent to a design, instead, it is an outcome of a tuning process that explicitly accounts for uncertainty.
A multicenter evaluation of the QIAstat-Dx meningitis-encephalitis syndromic test kit as compared to the conventional diagnostic microbiology workflow
Authors: Boers Stefan A. , van Houdt Robin , van Sorge Nina M. , Groot Jelle , van Aarle Yvette , van Bussel Mario J. A. W. M. , Smit Louise F. E. , Wessels Els , Claas Eric C. J. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Purpose
Rapid diagnosis and treatment of infectious meningitis and encephalitis (ME) is critical to minimize morbidity and mortality. Recently, Qiagen introduced the CE-IVD QIAstat-Dx ME panel (QS-ME) for syndromic diagnostic testing of meningitis and encephalitis. Some data on the performance of the QS-ME in comparison to the BioFire FilmArray ME panel are available. In this study, the performance of the QS-ME is compared to the current diagnostic workflow in two academic medical centers in the Netherlands.

Methods
A total of 110 cerebrospinal fluid samples were retrospectively tested with the QS-ME. The results obtained were compared to the results of laboratory-developed real-time PCR assays (LDTs), IS-pro, bacterial culture, and cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) testing. In addition, the accuracy of the QS-ME was also investigated using an external quality assessment (EQA) panel consisting of ten samples.

Results
Four of the 110 samples tested failed to produce a valid QS-ME result. In the remaining 106 samples, the QS-ME detected 53/53 viral targets, 38/40 bacterial targets, and 7/13 Cryptococcus neoformans targets. The discrepant bacterial results consisted of two samples that were previously tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes (CT 35.8) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (CT 40), respectively. The QS-ME detected one additional result, consisting of a varicella-zoster virus signal (CT 35.9), in a sample in which both techniques detected Streptococcus pyogenes. Finally, 100% concordance was achieved in testing a blinded bacterial ME EQA panel.

Conclusion
The QS-ME is a relevant addition to the syndromic testing landscape to assist in diagnosing infectious ME.
Exploring user editing preferences in electronic forms: an empirical study
Authors: Breitmayer Marius , Arnold Lisa , Winter Michael , Reichert Manfred 
Published: January 2024

AbstractElectronic forms, such as order entry or tax declarations, frequently serve as the primary point of contact between users and information systems. Given their significance, it’s crucial that these forms are intuitive and not burdensome for users to complete. One key aspect influencing the intuitiveness of forms is the sequence in which individual fields must be filled. This article reports on an empirical study involving 162 participants, which explored the intuitiveness of user forms across diverse scenarios. The study had two main objectives. Firstly, it sought to understand how users perceive different sequences of form fields in terms of intuitiveness. Secondly, it investigated the possibility of an intuitive sequence for form fields. The study found significant differences in intuitiveness among various ways of organizing form field sequences. Furthermore, it revealed a common understanding among users about the (sub-)sequence in which form fields should be arranged, notably that fields requiring file uploads should be located at the end of the form. The findings of this study provide valuable insights for developing more intuitive user forms in process-aware information systems, thereby enhancing the overall user-friendliness of such systems.
Dominance of non-wetland-dependent pollinators in a plant community in a small natural wetland in Shimane, Japan
Authors: Watazu Tomohiro , Hiraiwa Masayoshi K. , Inoue Masahito , Mishima Hideo , Ushimaru Atushi , Hosaka Tetsuro 
Published: January 2024

AbstractMany wetland plants rely on insects for pollination. However, studies examining pollinator communities in wetlands remain limited. Some studies conducted in large wetlands (> 10 ha) have suggested that wetland-dependent flies, which spend their larval stage in aquatic and semi-aquatic habitats, dominate as pollinators. However, smaller wetlands surrounded by secondary forests are more prevalent in Japan, in which pollinators from the surrounding environment might be important. Additionally, information regarding floral traits that attract specific pollinator groups in wetland communities is scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to understand the characteristics of insect pollinators in a small natural wetland (2.5 ha) in Japan. We examined the major pollinator groups visiting 34 plant species and explored the relationship between the flower visitation frequency of each pollinator group and floral traits. Overall, flies were the most dominant pollinators (42%), followed by bees and wasps (33%). Cluster analysis indicated that fly-dominated plants were the most abundant among 14 of the 34 target plant species. However, 85% of the hoverflies, the most abundant flies, and 82% of the bees were non-wetland-dependent species, suggesting that these terrestrial species likely originated from the surrounding environment. Therefore, pollinators from the surrounding environment would be important in small natural wetlands. Flies tend to visit open and white/yellow flowers, whereas bees tended to visit tube-shaped flowers, as in forest and grassland ecosystems. The dominance of flies in small wetlands would be due to the dominance of flowers preferred by flies (e.g., yellow/white flowers) rather than because of their larval habitats.
Immigrant employment and the contract enforcement costs of offshoring
Authors: Hatzigeorgiou Andreas , Karpaty Patrik , Kneller Richard , Lodefalk Magnus 
Published: January 2024

AbstractOffshoring continues to be an important dimension of firms’ internationalization choices. However, offshoring also increases contract enforcement costs by inhibiting the coordination and monitoring of performance. Immigrant employees may reduce such costs through their specific knowledge of the employer, their country of birth and access to foreign networks. In this paper, we investigate the role of immigrant employees within firms on firm offshoring, employing rich administrative Swedish microlevel data that include specific information about the characteristics of employees, manufacturing firms and their bilateral offshoring. Our results support the hypothesis that immigrant employees increase offshoring by lowering contract enforcement costs. Hiring one additional immigrant employee is linked to a relatively larger increase in offshoring at the intensive than the extensive margin, on average. The association to offshoring is considerably stronger for skilled immigrant employees and for contract and R&D intensive offshoring. Instrumental variable estimations demonstrate qualitatively similar results, while a placebo test with randomized immigrant employment does not generate any link between immigrants and offshoring.
Global zenith wet delay modeling with surface meteorological data and machine learning
Authors: Li Qinzheng , Böhm Johannes , Yuan Linguo , Weber Robert 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe tropospheric delay is a major error source for space geodetic techniques, and the performance of its modeling is significantly limited due to the high spatiotemporal variability of the moisture in the lower atmosphere. In this study, global modeling of the tropospheric zenith wet delay (ZWD) was realized based on surface meteorological data obtained from radiosondes and Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) measurements through the random forest (RF) and backpropagation neural network (BPNN) regression analysis. The modeling performance was further validated based on two kinds of global atmospheric profiles for the year 2020. Our results show that the ZWD modeling accuracy gained by two machine learning regression approaches is significantly improved by taking into account surface meteorological parameters, especially the surface water vapor pressure when compared to the Global Pressure and Temperature 3 (GPT3) model. When surface meteorological data are available, the RF-B model yields ZWD estimations with an overall agreement of 3.1 cm in comparison with the sounding profiles and 2.4 cm in contrast to the GPS RO atmospheric profiles. The RF-B is superior to other models based on surface meteorological parameters for ZWD calculation, e.g., the accuracy improves by 21.8–23.8% against the approach by Saastamoinen and 7–12.2% against the formula by Askne and Nordius.
Modern methods and materials used to treat root perforation: effectiveness comparison
Authors: Ma XiaoLan , Xu Hua , Chen Xuefang , Zou Qian , Wang Junrong , Da Yunmeng , Yin Huisu 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThis study aims to experimentally compare the efficacy of different endodontic materials (iRoot BP Plus, Biodentine, MTA, Rootdent, and Trioxide) in the treatment of pulpitis and perforations on extracted tooth specimens. Additionally, the study aims to investigate the influence of iRoot BP Plus endodontic material on the regenerative processes following pulp amputation in laboratory animals. The secondary goal is to evaluate the effect of iRoot BP Plus on the restoration process in laboratory animals after pulp removal. The study presents a micropermeability analysis of the selected biomaterials performed on a sample of 50 single-rooted apical teeth in 2022. All teeth underwent endodontic treatment. Changes in molar morphology were investigated with eight laboratory animals (rabbits, 3 months old, all males) after simulated pulp removal and subsequent treatment with the iRoot BP Plus biomaterials. iRoot BP Plus appeared to be more effective in retrograde apical root filling than other biomaterials, as evidenced by its higher sealing effect. An experiment involving animal participants revealed the presence of protective adaptive mechanisms, which manifested in the form of an inflammatory process within 6 weeks after the dental pulp was removed. The connective tissue replaced the necrosis, and new capillaries began to form intensively. These dental outcomes suggest that iRoot BP Plus enables hermetical sealing in tooth restoration with good adhesion. Thus, it may have the ability to promote more active tissue regeneration after pulp removal.
Graphical Abstract
Adaptively Enhancing Facial Expression Crucial Regions via a Local Non-local Joint Network
Authors: Shi Guanghui , Mao Shasha , Gou Shuiping , Yan Dandan , Jiao Licheng , Xiong Lin 
Published: January 2024

AbstractFacial expression recognition (FER) is still challenging due to the small interclass discrepancy in facial expression data. In view of the significance of facial crucial regions for FER, many existing studies utilize the prior information from some annotated crucial points to improve the performance of FER. However, it is complicated and time-consuming to manually annotate facial crucial points, especially for vast wild expression images. Based on this, a local non-local joint network is proposed to adaptively enhance the facial crucial regions in feature learning of FER in this paper. In the proposed method, two parts are constructed based on facial local and non-local information, where an ensemble of multiple local networks is proposed to extract local features corresponding to multiple facial local regions and a non-local attention network is addressed to explore the significance of each local region. In particular, the attention weights obtained by the non-local network are fed into the local part to achieve interactive feedback between the facial global and local information. Interestingly, the non-local weights corresponding to local regions are gradually updated and higher weights are given to more crucial regions. Moreover, U-Net is employed to extract the integrated features of deep semantic information and low hierarchical detail information of expression images. Finally, experimental results illustrate that the proposed method achieves more competitive performance than several state-of-the-art methods on five benchmark datasets.
Disentangling the effects of management and climate change on habitat suitability for saproxylic species in boreal forests
Authors: Ekman Ellinoora , Triviño María , Blattert Clemens , Mazziotta Adriano , Potterf Maria , Eyvindson Kyle 
Published: January 2024

AbstractForest degradation induced by intensive forest management and temperature increase by climate change are resulting in biodiversity decline in boreal forests. Intensive forest management and high-end climate emission scenarios can further reduce the amount and diversity of deadwood, the limiting factor for habitats for saproxylic species in European boreal forests. The magnitude of their combined effects and how changes in forest management can affect deadwood diversity under a range of climate change scenarios are poorly understood. We used forest growth simulations to evaluate how forest management and climate change will individually and jointly affect habitats of red-listed saproxylic species in Finland. We simulated seven forest management regimes and three climate scenarios (reference, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) over 100 years. Management regimes included set aside, continuous cover forestry, business-as-usual (BAU) and four modifications of BAU. Habitat suitability was assessed using a species-specific habitat suitability index, including 21 fungal and invertebrate species groups. “Winner” and “loser” species were identified based on the modelled impacts of forest management and climate change on their habitat suitability. We found that forest management had a major impact on habitat suitability of saproxylic species compared to climate change. Habitat suitability index varied by over 250% among management regimes, while overall change in habitat suitability index caused by climate change was on average only 2%. More species groups were identified as winners than losers from impacts of climate change (52%–95% were winners, depending on the climate change scenario and management regime). The largest increase in habitat suitability index was achieved under set aside (254%) and the climate scenario RCP8.5 (> 2%), while continuous cover forestry was the most suitable regime to increase habitat suitability of saproxylic species (up to + 11%) across all climate change scenarios. Our results show that close-to-nature management regimes (e.g., continuous cover forestry and set aside) can increase the habitat suitability of many saproxylic boreal species more than the basic business-as-usual regime. This suggests that biodiversity loss of many saproxylic species in boreal forests can be mitigated through improved forest management practices, even as climate change progresses.
Managing the Complication of Band Erosion in Banded Sleeve Gastrectomy: A Case Report
Authors: Hany Mohamed , Zidan Ahmed , Abouelnasr Anwar Ashraf , Ibrahim Mohamed , Torensma Bart 
Published: January 2024

AbstractWe present a case involving a patient with laparoscopic banded sleeve gastrectomy (BSG) with a 3-month history of persistent vomiting, decreased tolerance for fluids, and limited intake of soft food items. Upon investigation, an eroded band and gastric dilatation were identified. The treatment involved the removal of the eroded band and a segment of the stomach, followed by the restoration of gastric continuity through a gastrogastrostomy.
Ensuring communication redundancy and establishing a telementoring system for robotic telesurgery using multiple communication lines
Authors: Wakasa Yusuke , Hakamada Kenichi , Morohashi Hajime , Kanno Takahiro , Tadano Kotaro , Kawashima Kenji , Ebihara Yuma , Oki Eiji , Hirano Satoshi , Mori Masaki 
Published: January 2024

AbstractAssuring communication redundancy during the interruption and establishing appropriate teaching environments for local surgeons are essential to making robotic telesurgery mainstream. This study analyzes robotic telesurgery with telementoring using standard domestic telecommunication carriers. Can multiple carriers guarantee redundancy with interruptions? Three commercial optical fiber lines connected Hirosaki University and Mutsu General Hospitals, 150 km apart. Using Riverfield, Inc. equipment, Hirosaki had a cockpit, while both Mutsu used both a cockpit and a surgeon’s console. Experts provided telementoring evaluating 14 trainees, using objective indices for operation time and errors. Subjective questionnaires addressed image quality and surgical operability. Eighteen participants performed telesurgery using combined lines from two/three telecommunication carriers. Manipulation: over 30 min, lines were cut and restored every three minutes per task. Subjects were to press a switch when noticing image quality or operability changes. Mean time to task completion was 1510 (1186–1960) seconds: local surgeons alone and 1600 (1152–2296) seconds for those under remote instructor supervision, including expert intervention time. There was no significant difference (p = 0.86). The mean error count was 0.92 (0–3) for local surgeons and 0.42 (0–2) with remote instructors. Image quality and operability questionnaires found no significant differences. Results communication companies A, B, and C: the A/B combination incurred 0.17 (0–1) presses of the environment change switch, B/C had 0, and C/A received 0.67 (0–3), showing no significant difference among provider combinations. Combining multiple communication lines guarantees communication redundancy and enables robotic telementoring with enhanced communication security.
Curcumin Promotes Diabetic Foot Ulcer Wound Healing by Inhibiting miR-152-3p and Activating the FBN1/TGF-β Pathway
Authors: Cao Mei , Duan Zhisheng , Wang Xianting , Gong Pan , Zhang Limei , Ruan Bin 
Published: January 2024

AbstractThe objective of this study was to investigate the mechanism of curcumin in diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) wound healing. A DFU rat model was established, and fibroblasts were cultured in a high-glucose (HG) environment to create a cell model. Various techniques, including Western blot, RT‒qPCR, flow cytometry, Transwell, cell scratch test and H&E staining, were employed to measure the levels of relevant genes and proteins, as well as to assess cell proliferation, apoptosis, migration, and pathological changes. The results showed that miR-152-3p was overexpressed in DFU patients, while FBN1 was underexpressed. Curcumin was found to inhibit fibroblast apoptosis, promote proliferation, migration, and angiogenesis in DFU rats, and accelerate wound healing in DFU rats. In addition, overexpression of miR-152-3p weakened the therapeutic effect of curcumin, while overexpression of FBN1 reversed the effects of the miR-152-3p mimic. Further investigations into the underlying mechanisms revealed that curcumin expedited wound healing in DFU rats by restoring the FBN1/TGF-β pathway through the inhibition of miR-152-3p. In conclusion, curcumin can suppress the activity of miR-152-3p, which, in turn, leads to the rejuvenation of the FBN1/TGF-β pathway and accelerates DFU wound healing.
Comparative Growth Outcomes in Very Low Birth Weight Infants: Evaluating Different Feeding Strategies
Authors: Pedaveeti Mounika , Iqbal Faiza , Purkayastha Jayashree , Bharadwaj Shruthi K. , Patil Anand Kumar , Lewis Leslie Edward S. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Objectives
To assess the growth pattern of preterm, very low birth weight (VLBW) appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants on three different feeding regimens.

Methods
This prospective open label three-arm parallel randomized controlled trial was conducted at neonatal intensive care unit, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal. One hundred twenty VLBW (weight between 1000–1500 g and gestational age 28–32 wk) preterm AGA infants admitted from April 2021 through September 2022 were included. Three feeding regimens were compared: Expressed breast milk (EBM); EBM supplemented with Human milk fortifier (HMF); EBM supplemented with Preterm formula feed (PTF). Primary outcome measure was assessing the growth parameters such as weight, length, head circumference on three different feeding regimens at birth 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 wk/discharge. Secondary outcomes included incidence of co-morbidities and cost-effectiveness.

Results
Of 112 infants analyzed, Group 2 supplemented with HMF showed superior growth outcomes by 6th wk/discharge of intervention, with mean weight of 2053±251 g, mean length of 44.6±1.9 cm, and mean head circumference of 32.9±1.4 cm. However, infants in Group 3, supplemented with PTF, registered mean weight of 1968±203 g, mean length of 43.6±2.0 cm, and mean head circumference of 32.0±1.6 cm. Infants exclusively on EBM presented with mean weight of 1873±256 g, mean length of 43.0±2.0 cm and mean head circumference of 31.4±1.6 cm.

Conclusions
Addition of 1 g of HMF to 25 ml of EBM in neonates weighing 1000–1500 g showed better weight gain and head circumference at 6 wk/discharge, which was statistically significant. However, no significant differences in these parameters were observed at postnatal or 2, 3, 4, and 5 wk.