bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Involuntary PFM Contractions in Comparison with Existing Literature and IUGA/ICS Terminology Reports
Authors: de Jong J. , Burkhard F. , Zwahlen M. , Junginger B. , Dumoulin C. 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Introduction and Hypothesis
Involuntary pelvic floor muscle (PFM) contractions are thought to occur during an increase in intra-abdominal pressure (IAP). Although no studies have assessed their presence in women with normal pelvic floor (PF) function, existing literature links the absence of involuntary PFM contractions to various PF dysfunctions. This study rectifies this lacuna by evaluating involuntary PFM contractions during IAP in healthy nulliparous women with no PF dysfunction, using visual observation and vaginal palpation. Results were compared with the literature and the IUGA/ICS Terminology Reports.

Methods
Nulliparous (n=149) women performed three sets of three maximal coughs. Visual observation and vaginal palpation were conducted in the standing and supine positions. The women were not instructed to contract their PFMs. Occurrence rates were calculated for each assessment method and position; differences between positions were analyzed using the Chi-squared test.

Results
Rates of occurrence of involuntary PFM contraction were low across both assessments and positions (5–17%). Significant differences were found between standing (5%) and supine (15%) positions for visual observation, but not vaginal palpation (15%, 17% respectively). Occurrence rates also differed compared with the literature and terminology reports.

Conclusions
Contrary to clinical expectations, rates of occurrence of involuntary PFM contraction among our cohort of nulliparous women were extremely low. Digital palpation results showed high agreement with the terminology reports, but only partial agreement was observed for the visual observation results. Our study underscores the need for more research aimed at defining normal involuntary PF functions, a review of our understanding of involuntary PFM contractions, and better standardized guidelines for involuntary PFM assessment methods.
Adjuvant holmium-166 radioembolization after radiofrequency ablation in early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma patients: a dose-finding study (HORA EST HCC trial)
Authors: Hendriks Pim , Rietbergen Daphne D. D. , van Erkel Arian R. , Coenraad Minneke J. , Arntz Mark J. , Bennink Roel J. , Braat Andries E. , Crobach Stijn , van Delden Otto M. , Dibbets-Schneider Petra , van der Hulle Tom , Klümpen Heinz-Josef , van der Meer Rutger W. , Nijsen J. Frank W. , van Rijswijk Catharina S. P. , Roosen Joey , Ruijter Bastian N. , Smit Frits , Stam Mette K. , Takkenberg R. Bart , Tushuizen Maarten E. , van Velden Floris H. P. , de Geus-Oei Lioe-Fee , Burgmans Mark C. ,   Dutch Hepatocellular and Cholangiocarcinoma Group
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study was to investigate the biodistribution of (super-)selective trans-arterial radioembolization (TARE) with holmium-166 microspheres (166Ho-MS), when administered as adjuvant therapy after RFA of HCC 2–5 cm. The objective was to establish a treatment volume absorbed dose that results in an absorbed dose of ≥ 120 Gy on the hyperemic zone around the ablation necrosis (i.e., target volume).

Methods
In this multicenter, prospective dose-escalation study in BCLC early stage HCC patients with lesions 2–5 cm, RFA was followed by (super-)selective infusion of 166Ho-MS on day 5–10 after RFA. Dose distribution within the treatment volume was based on SPECT-CT. Cohorts of up to 10 patients were treated with an incremental dose (60 Gy, 90 Gy, 120 Gy) of 166Ho-MS to the treatment volume. The primary endpoint was to obtain a target volume dose of ≥ 120 Gy in 9/10 patients within a cohort.

Results
Twelve patients were treated (male 10; median age, 66.5 years (IQR, [64.3–71.7])) with a median tumor diameter of 2.7 cm (IQR, [2.1–4.0]). At a treatment volume absorbed dose of 90 Gy, the primary endpoint was met with a median absorbed target volume dose of 138 Gy (IQR, [127–145]). No local recurrences were found within 1-year follow-up.

Conclusion
Adjuvant (super-)selective infusion of 166Ho-MS after RFA for the treatment of HCC can be administered safely at a dose of 90 Gy to the treatment volume while reaching a dose of ≥ 120 Gy to the target volume and may be a favorable adjuvant therapy for HCC lesions 2–5 cm.

Trial registration
Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03437382. (registered: 19-02-2018)
Phaseless Sampling on Square-Root Lattices
Authors: Grohs Philipp , Liehr Lukas 
Published: February 2024

AbstractDue to its appearance in a remarkably wide field of applications, such as audio processing and coherent diffraction imaging, the short-time Fourier transform (STFT) phase retrieval problem has seen a great deal of attention in recent years. A central problem in STFT phase retrieval concerns the question for which window functions$$g \in {L^2({\mathbb R}^d)}$$g∈L2(Rd)and which sampling sets$$\Lambda \subseteq {\mathbb R}^{2d}$$Λ⊆R2dis every$$f \in {L^2({\mathbb R}^d)}$$f∈L2(Rd)uniquely determined (up to a global phase factor) by phaseless samples of the form$$\begin{aligned} |V_gf(\Lambda )| = \left\{ |V_gf(\lambda )|: \lambda \in \Lambda \right\} , \end{aligned}$$|Vgf(Λ)|=|Vgf(λ)|:λ∈Λ,where$$V_gf$$Vgfdenotes the STFT offwith respect tog. The investigation of this question constitutes a key step towards making the problem computationally tractable. However, it deviates from ordinary sampling tasks in a fundamental and subtle manner: recent results demonstrate that uniqueness is unachievable if$$\Lambda $$Λis a lattice, i.e$$\Lambda = A{\mathbb Z}^{2d}, A \in \textrm{GL}(2d,{\mathbb R})$$Λ=AZ2d,A∈GL(2d,R). Driven by this discretization barrier, the present article centers around the initiation of a novel sampling scheme which allows for unique recovery of any square-integrable function via phaseless STFT-sampling. Specifically, we show that square-root lattices, i.e., sets of the form$$\begin{aligned} \Lambda = A \left( \sqrt{{\mathbb Z}} \right) ^{2d}, \ \sqrt{{\mathbb Z}} = \{ \pm \sqrt{n}: n \in {\mathbb N}_0 \}, \end{aligned}$$Λ=AZ2d,Z={±n:n∈N0},guarantee uniqueness of the STFT phase retrieval problem. The result holds for a large class of window functions, including Gaussians
What’s metacognition got to do with the relationship between test anxiety and mathematics achievement?
Authors: Aydın Utkun , Özgeldi Meriç 
Published: February 2024

AbstractResearch examining the joint relationships between test anxiety, metacognition, and mathematics achievement revealing the mediational role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and mathematics achievement is sparse. A mediation study was designed to redress this imbalance. The Children’s Test Anxiety Scale (CTAS), Junior Metacognitive Awareness Inventory (Jr. MAI), and Mathematics Achievement Test (MAT) were distributed to 943 (442 males and 501 females) Grade 7 (n = 477) and Grade 8 (n = 466) students aged between 11–12 (Mage = 11.5, SD = .88) and 11–13 (Mage = 12, SD = .91) years, respectively. In this study, multiple mediation models were tested to explore the role of metacognition as a mediator of the effect of test anxiety on mathematics achievement. Results indicate that although both test anxiety and metacognition were significantly related to mathematics achievement, metacognition was not a statistically significant mediator in the relationship between test anxiety and mathematics achievement. Specifically, the knowledge of cognition component of metacognition was the only significant mediator, mediating the relationship between off-task behaviors and mathematics achievement. Findings support the beneficial role of metacognition with the rewarding side of a key implication that without developing metacognitive knowledge, efforts at alleviating test anxiety to maximize achievement in mathematics may well be fruitless. Educational and practical implications are discussed.
Learning team-based navigation: a review of deep reinforcement learning techniques for multi-agent pathfinding
Authors: Chung Jaehoon , Fayyad Jamil , Younes Younes Al , Najjaran Homayoun 
Published: February 2024

AbstractMulti-agent pathfinding (MAPF) is a critical field in many large-scale robotic applications, often being the fundamental step in multi-agent systems. The increasing complexity of MAPF in complex and crowded environments, however, critically diminishes the effectiveness of existing solutions. In contrast to other studies that have either presented a general overview of the recent advancements in MAPF or extensively reviewed Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) within multi-agent system settings independently, our work presented in this review paper focuses on highlighting the integration of DRL-based approaches in MAPF. Moreover, we aim to bridge the current gap in evaluating MAPF solutions by addressing the lack of unified evaluation indicators and providing comprehensive clarification on these indicators. Finally, our paper discusses the potential of model-based DRL as a promising future direction and provides its required foundational understanding to address current challenges in MAPF. Our objective is to assist readers in gaining insight into the current research direction, providing unified indicators for comparing different MAPF algorithms and expanding their knowledge of model-based DRL to address the existing challenges in MAPF.
Operads, Operadic Categories and the Blob Complex
Authors: Batanin Michael , Markl Martin 
Published: February 2024

AbstractWe will show that the Morrison–Walker blob complex appearing in Topological Quantum Field Theory is an operadic bar resolution of a certain operad composed of fields and local relations. As a by-product we develop the theory of unary operadic categories and study some novel and interesting phenomena arising in this context.
Associations Between Distinct Trauma Classes and Mental Health Care Utilization in Norwegian Adolescents: A National Registry Study
Authors: Skandsen Annika , Nilsen Sondre Aasen , Hysing Mari , Teicher Martin H. , Sand Liv , Bøe Tormod 
Published: February 2024

AbstractAdolescents who experience potentially traumatic experiences (PTEs) have an increased risk of psychopathology. PTEs often co-occur and may form interrelated patterns of exposure. This study investigated underlying classes of PTE exposure among Norwegian adolescent participants in the youth@hordaland study, and whether such classes were associated with contact with child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and psychiatric diagnoses. The data stem from the population-based youth@hordaland study conducted in 2012 which was linked to the Norwegian Patient Registry (NPR, n = 8845). Exposure to PTEs was assessed by adolescent self-report whereas psychiatric disorders (Axis 1) were derived from the NPR. Latent Class Analysis was used to identify distinct classes of PTE exposure-patterns in the data. Logistic regression analyses were performed to investigate associations between classes of PTEs and contact with CAMHS and psychiatric diagnoses. Three classes of PTE exposure were identified based on model fit indices and theoretical considerations. Compared with participants in the low trauma class (88% of participants), those in the Situational-(6%) and Interpersonal trauma class (6%) had higher odds-ratios (ORs) for contact with CAMHS (OR = 2.27 (95% CI [1.78, 2.87])) and (OR = 3.26 (95% CI [2.61, 4.04])) respectively, and for being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder in CAMHS (ORs ranged from 2.19 – 10.4) after adjusting for sex and parental education. There were more participants diagnosed with ADHD within the Interpersonal trauma class compared to the Situational trauma class when adjusting for sex and parental education (OR = 2.22 (95% CI [1.17, 4.40])). Three relatively homogeneous PTE classes, consisting of distinct patterns of trauma exposure were associated with a higher odds of contact with CAMHS and of being diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder in CAMHS. The study highlights the co-occurrence of PTEs and their impact across the diagnostic spectrum.
Screening Smarter, Not Harder: A Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Screening Algorithms and Heuristic Stopping Criteria for Systematic Reviews in Educational Research
Authors: Campos Diego G. , Fütterer Tim , Gfrörer Thomas , Lavelle-Hill Rosa , Murayama Kou , König Lars , Hecht Martin , Zitzmann Steffen , Scherer Ronny 
Published: February 2024

AbstractSystematic reviews and meta-analyses are crucial for advancing research, yet they are time-consuming and resource-demanding. Although machine learning and natural language processing algorithms may reduce this time and these resources, their performance has not been tested in education and educational psychology, and there is a lack of clear information on when researchers should stop the reviewing process. In this study, we conducted a retrospective screening simulation using 27 systematic reviews in education and educational psychology. We evaluated the sensitivity, specificity, and estimated time savings of several learning algorithms and heuristic stopping criteria. The results showed, on average, a 58% (SD = 19%) reduction in the screening workload of irrelevant records when using learning algorithms for abstract screening and an estimated time savings of 1.66 days (SD = 1.80). The learning algorithm random forests with sentence bidirectional encoder representations from transformers outperformed other algorithms. This finding emphasizes the importance of incorporating semantic and contextual information during feature extraction and modeling in the screening process. Furthermore, we found that 95% of all relevant abstracts within a given dataset can be retrieved using heuristic stopping rules. Specifically, an approach that stops the screening process after classifying 20% of records and consecutively classifying 5% of irrelevant papers yielded the most significant gains in terms of specificity (M = 42%, SD = 28%). However, the performance of the heuristic stopping criteria depended on the learning algorithm used and the length and proportion of relevant papers in an abstract collection. Our study provides empirical evidence on the performance of machine learning screening algorithms for abstract screening in systematic reviews in education and educational psychology.
Less variability when growing faster? Experimental assessment of the relationship of growth rate with functional traits of the marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum
Authors: Klip Helena Cornelia Laurentia , Meunier Cédric Léo , Boersma Maarten 
Published: February 2024

AbstractDiversity and its drivers and consequences are at the heart of ecological research. Mostly, studies have focused on different species, but if the causes for increases or decreases in diversity are general, the observed patterns should also be observable within genotypes. As previous research shows that there is higher variability in nitrogen to phosphorus ratios (N/P) between slow-growing unicellular algal populations, compared to fast-growing ones, we expected to observe similar patterns within genetically identical strains growing at different rates. We tested this hypothesis in a laboratory experiment performed with a monoculture of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Using a growth rate gradient obtained with 10 chemostats, we were able to determine the effect of growth rate on the diatom’s elemental stoichiometry as well as on selected traits, such as cell size and shape. Our results showed indeed less intercellular variability (in the selected traits assessed on single-cell level) in the faster-growing populations, which was accompanied by a downward trend in bulk N/P ratios. We pose that this higher variability at lower growth rates potentially results in higher variability of the food sources available for higher trophic levels with potential consequences for the transfer efficiency of energy and matter in marine food webs.
How Many Digits are Needed?
Authors: Herbst Ira W. , Møller Jesper , Svane Anne Marie 
Published: February 2024

AbstractLet $$X_1,X_2,...$$

X
1

,

X
2

,
.
.
.

be the digits in the base-q expansion of a random variable X defined on [0, 1) where $$q\ge 2$$

q
≥
2

is an integer. For $$n=1,2,...$$

n
=
1
,
2
,
.
.
.

, we study the probability distribution $$P_n$$

P
n

of the (scaled) remainder $$T^n(X)=\sum _{k=n+1}^\infty X_k q^{n-k}$$

T
n

(
X
)

=

∑

k
=
n
+
1

∞

X
k

q

n
-
k

: If X has an absolutely continuous CDF then $$P_n$$

P
n

converges in the total variation metric to the Lebesgue measure $$\mu $$
μ
on the unit interval. Under weak smoothness conditions we establish first a coupling between X and a non-negative integer valued random variable N so that $$T^N(X)$$

T
N

(
X
)

follows $$\mu $$
μ
and is independent of $$(X_1,...,X_N)$$

(

X
1

,
.
.
.
,

X
N

)

, and second exponentially fast convergence of $$P_n$$

P
n

and its PDF $$f_n$$

f
n

. We discuss how many digits are needed and show examples of our results.
Macroeconomic uncertainty and earnings management: evidence from commodity firms
Authors: Rigamonti Alessandro Paolo , Greco Giulio , Pierotti Mariarita , Capocchi Alessandro 
Published: February 2024

AbstractThis study examines the relationship between macroeconomic uncertainty and earnings management, using quarterly data of US commodity firms from the period 1990–2019. The findings show that oil and iron firms use both accruals and real activities to decrease earnings in quarters with high basis risk. Earnings management is economically significant. Further investigation provides fine-grained evidence that specific types of uncertainty (economic policy, climate policy, geopolitical) have varying effects on earnings management. The study also provides evidence that earnings management is aimed at giving investors useful information about the firms’ performance during uncertain times. The study contributes to previous research on uncertainty and earnings management. It also informs market participants about the financial reporting quality of commodity firms, and has practical implications for financial reporting regulation in extracting industries.
Volumetric Parameters Derived from CXCR4-Directed PET/CT Predict Outcome in Patients with Gastrointestinal Neuroendocrine Carcinomas
Authors: Michalski Kerstin , Schlötelburg Wiebke , Hartrampf Philipp , Heinrich Marieke , Serfling Sebastian , Buck Andreas K. , Werner Rudolf A. , Kosmala Aleksander , Weich Alexander 
Published: February 2024

Abstract
Background
Gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinomas (GEP-NECs) are an aggressive subgroup of neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs). In patients affected with NEN, there is a growing body of evidence that increased C-X-C motif chemokine receptor (CXCR4) expression is linked to decreasing overall survival (OS) in an ex-vivo setting. Thus, we aimed to determine whether the in-vivo-derived CXCR4-directed whole-body PET signal can also determine GEP-NEC patients with shorter OS.

Methods
We retrospectively included 16 patients with histologically proven GEP-NEC, who underwent CXCR4-directed PET/CT for staging and therapy planning. We assessed maximum, peak, and mean standardized uptake values as well as whole-body tumor volume (TV) and total-lesion uptake (TLU = SUVmean × TV) using a semi-automatic segmentation tool with a 50% threshold. Association of PET-based biomarkers and OS or radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS; according to RECIST 1.1 criteria) was analyzed using univariable and multivariable cox regression.

Results
Median OS and rPFS was 7.5 and 7 months, respectively. A significant correlation between TV and TLU was found for OS (TV: hazard ratio (HR) 1.007 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.000–1.014, p = 0.0309; TLU: HR 1.002 95% CI 1.000–1.003, p = 0.0350) and rPFS (TV: HR 1.010 95% CI 1.002–1.021; p = 0.0275; TLU: HR 1.002 95% CI 1.000–1.004, p = 0.0329), respectively. No significant correlation with OS or rPFS was found for non-volumetric parameters (p > 0.4). TV remained a significant predictive marker for OS and rPFS in multivariable analysis (OS: HR 1.012 95%, CI 1.003–1.022, p = 0.0084; rPFS: HR 1.009, 95% CI 0.9999–1.019, p = 0.0491), whereas TLU remained only prognostic for OS (HR 1.009, 95% CI 0.9999–1.019, p = 0.0194) but narrowly failed significance for rPFS (p = 0.0559).

Conclusion
In-vivo assessment of CXCR4 PET-derived volumetric parameters is predictive for outcome of patients with GEP-NEC and could be used as a risk stratification tool, which detects patients prone to early progression.
ASD-Net: a novel U-Net based asymmetric spatial-channel convolution network for precise kidney and kidney tumor image segmentation
Authors: Ji Zhanlin , Mu Juncheng , Liu Jianuo , Zhang Haiyang , Dai Chenxu , Zhang Xueji , Ganchev Ivan 
Published: February 2024

AbstractEarly intervention in tumors can greatly improve human survival rates. With the development of deep learning technology, automatic image segmentation has taken a prominent role in the field of medical image analysis. Manually segmenting kidneys on CT images is a tedious task, and due to the diversity of these images and varying technical skills of professionals, segmentation results can be inconsistent. To address this problem, a novel ASD-Net network is proposed in this paper for kidney and kidney tumor segmentation tasks. First, the proposed network employs newly designed Adaptive Spatial-channel Convolution Optimization (ASCO) blocks to capture anisotropic information in the images. Then, other newly designed blocks, i.e., Dense Dilated Enhancement Convolution (DDEC) blocks, are utilized to enhance feature propagation and reuse it across the network, thereby improving its segmentation accuracy. To allow the network to segment complex and small kidney tumors more effectively, the Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling (ASPP) module is incorporated in its middle layer. With its generalized pyramid feature, this module enables the network to better capture and understand context information at various scales within the images. In addition to this, the concurrent spatial and channel squeeze & excitation (scSE) attention mechanism is adopted to better comprehend and manage context information in the images. Additional encoding layers are also added to the base (U-Net) and connected to the original encoding layer through skip connections. The resultant enhanced U-Net structure allows for better extraction and merging of high-level and low-level features, further boosting the network’s ability to restore segmentation details. In addition, the combined Binary Cross Entropy (BCE)-Dice loss is utilized as the network's loss function. Experiments, conducted on the KiTS19 dataset, demonstrate that the proposed ASD-Net network outperforms the existing segmentation networks according to all evaluation metrics used, except for recall in the case of kidney tumor segmentation, where it takes the second place after Attention-UNet.
Graphical Abstract