bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Elevated systolic pulmonary artery pressure is a substantial predictor of increased mortality after transcatheter aortic valve replacement in males, not in females
Authors: Boxhammer Elke , Dienhart Christiane , Kletzer Joseph , Ramsauer Susanne , Kopp Kristen , Prinz Erika , Wintersteller Wilfried , Blessberger Hermann , Hammerer Matthias , Steinwender Clemens , Lichtenauer Michael , Hoppe Uta C. 
Published: September 2023

Abstract
Background
While pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with severe aortic valve stenosis (AS) is associated with increased mortality after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), there is limited data on gender differences in the effects on long-term survival.

Objective
The aim of this retrospective, multicenter study was to investigate the prognostic impact of pre-interventional PH on survival of TAVR patients with respect to gender.

Methods
303 patients undergoing TAVR underwent echocardiography to detect PH prior to TAVR via measurement of systolic pulmonary artery pressure (sPAP). Different cut-off values were set for the presence of PH. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality at 1, 3 and 5 years.

Results
Kaplan–Meier analysis by gender showed that only males exhibited significant increased mortality at elevated sPAP values during the entire follow-up period of 5 years (sPAP ≥ 40 mmHg: p ≤ 0.001 and sPAP ≥ 50 mmHg: p ≤ 0.001 in 1- to 5-year survival), whereas high sPAP values had no effect on survival in females. In Cox regression analysis based on the selected sPAP thresholds, male gender was an independent risk factor for long-term mortality after TAVR in all time courses.

Conclusion
Male gender was an isolated risk factor for premature death after TAVR in patients with echocardiographic evidence of PH and severe AS. This could mean that, the indication for TAVR should be discussed more critically in men with severe AS and an elevated sPAP, while in females, PH should not be an exclusion criterion for TAVR.

Graphical abstract
Graphical abstract of the study (Created with BioRender.com)
Image material of CoreValve™ Evolut™ was kindly provided by © Medtronic Inc.
Comparison of MILP and CP models for balancing partially automated assembly lines
Authors: Dimény Imre , Koltai Tamás 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe objective of Assembly Line Balancing (ALB) is to find the proper assignment of tasks to workstations, taking into consideration various types of constraints and defined management goals. Early research in the field focused on solving the Simple Assembly Line Balancing problem, a basic simplified version of the general problem. As the production environment became more complex, several new ALB problem types appeared, and almost all ALB problems are NP-hard, meaning that finding a solution requires a lot of time, resources, and computational power. Methods with custom-made algorithms and generic approaches have been developed for solving these problems. While custom-made algorithms are generally more efficient, generic approaches can be more easily extended to cover other variations of the problem. Over the past few decades, automation has played an increasingly important role in various operations, although complete automation is often not possible. As a result, there is a growing need for partially automated assembly line balancing models. In these circumstances, the flexibility of a generic approach is essential. This paper compares two generic approaches: mixed integer linear programming (MILP) and constraint programming (CP), for two types of partially automated assembly line balancing problems. While CP is relatively slower in solving the simpler allocation problems, it is more efficient than MILP when an increased number of constraints is applied to the ALB and an allocation and scheduling problem needs to be solved.
Biosilica as a New Stationary Phase in HILIC Mode
Authors: Al Saoud Hussam A. , Szumski Michał , Sprynskyy Myroslav , Bocian Szymon , Buszewski Bogusław 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe aim of this work was to use the biosilica obtained from diatoms (microalgae) cultivated under laboratory conditions as a new stationary phase to fill the chromatographic column and test it in high-performance liquid chromatography. Biosilica is an inorganic polymer consisting of orthosilicate units formed by organisms such as diatoms or siliceous sponges. The results showed that the prepared columns were characterized by relatively high efficiency, comparable to a commercially available material HALO HILIC of dp = 2.7 μm. The retention of polar compounds under a high acetonitrile content was worse than that on HALO HILIC, but it was proportionally lower when the surface area of both materials was compared. As model test solutes, nucleosides and nucleobases have undergone testing. They were examined separately for retention, and attempts to separate test mixtures were successful.
Temporal changes in the beetle and spider communities in a Hessian (German) strict forest reserve
Authors: Schneider Alexander , Blick Theo , Dorow Wolfgang H. O. , Köhler Frank , Meyer Peter , Pauls Steffen U. 
Published: September 2023

AbstractIn the context of the Hessian strict forest program, the reserve Hasenblick was set aside from forest management in 1988. The program aims to document the faunas of forest reserves in unprecedented detail, using a set of many different sampling methods. Here data on ground dwelling spiders and beetles that were sampled with pitfall traps in 2000 and 2001 and again in 2012 and 2013 are analyzed to assess temporal changes. In light of putative insect declines, we hypothesized a significant decrease in abundance, biomass, diversity, and trait composition of the arthropod communities. No substantial changes in community trait composition were observed in any species group. Abundance, biomass, and functional diversity of beetles and spiders were higher in the second survey, with exception of the beetle biomass, when Anoplotrupes stercorosus was excluded, and the functional diversity of spiders showed only a tendency to be higher in the second survey. Additionally, the extrapolated number of ground dwelling beetle species was higher during the second survey. However, in all tested measures, the observed differences between the surveys were not significantly higher than differences observed between consecutive years. Therefore, we are not able to detect directed long-term trends of (functional) diversity or biomass in our dataset. The results rather indicate high stability of the arthropod communities in this naturally developing forest, although short-term fluctuations in populations are high. And while climatic factors affected abundance and biomass of beetles and spiders overall, the timespan of about 10 years may be too short to clearly detect effects of climate change or changes in forest structure on the trait composition of the beetle or spider communities.
Meteorological influences on airborne pollen and spores in Johannesburg (Gauteng), South Africa
Authors: Ajikah Linus B. , Roffe Sarah J. , Neumann Frank H. , Bamford Marion K. , Esterhuizen Nanike , Berman Dilys , Peter Jonny 
Published: September 2023

AbstractAirborne fungal spores and pollen (aerospora), synergistic with air pollution, are key triggers of allergic respiratory diseases. Effective diagnosis and treatment requires up-to-date location-specific knowledge on the temporal variability of aerospora types and levels. Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa and has grown substantially in three decades, with changes in ground cover, population density and air pollution, yet until now, no continuous aerospora sampling has occurred. We present a daily two-year (August 2019–July 2021) aerospora assemblage for Johannesburg and explore temporal characteristics of 13 dominant aerospora in relation to daily meteorological variables (pressure, rainfall, relative humidity, temperature and wind characteristics). February–July, July–September and January-July represent high-risk periods for fungal spores [(Alternaria alternata (Fries. ex Keissler), Ascospores, Aspergillus niger (Van Tieghem), Penicillium chrysogenum (Thom), Cladosporium graminum (Corda), Epicoccum nigrum (Link), Helminthosporium solani (Durieu and Montagne) Nigrospora sphaerica (Saccardo ex. Mason), Smuts Ustilago nuda (Jensen ex. Rostrup) and Torula herbarum (Link)], trees (Cupressus, Morus and Platanus) and grass (Poaceae), respectively. Using a generalised additive model, results show that daily meteorological characteristics explained 7–32% of daily aerospora variability, with the largest effect on tree pollen. Rainfall, relative humidity and temperature influenced daily fungal spore and Poaceae counts, with moderate/low rainfall (< 20 mm), higher/mid-ranging relative humidity (~ 40–60%) and temperatures of ~ 15–20 °C associated with higher counts during high-risk periods. Rainfall predominantly influenced tree counts during high-risk periods, with higher counts occurring on low rainfall (<10 mm) days. These results update the aerospora profile of Johannesburg, South Africa, providing important information to inform allergy care.
Expression of toxic genes in Methylorubrum extorquens with a tightly repressed, cumate-inducible promoter
Authors: Pöschel Laura , Gehr Elisabeth , Jordan Paulina , Sonntag Frank , Buchhaupt Markus 
Published: September 2023

AbstractMethylorubrum extorquens is an important model methylotroph and has enormous potential for the development of C1-based microbial cell factories. During strain construction, regulated promoters with a low background expression level are important genetic tools for expression of potentially toxic genes. Here we present an accordingly optimised promoter, which can be used for that purpose. During construction and testing of terpene production strains harbouring a recombinant mevalonate pathway, strong growth defects were observed which made strain development impossible. After isolation and characterisation of suppressor mutants, we discovered a variant of the cumate-inducible promoter PQ2148 used in this approach. Deletion of 28 nucleotides resulted in an extremely low background expression level, but also reduced the maximal expression strength to about 30% of the original promoter. This tightly repressed promoter version is a powerful module for controlled expression of potentially toxic genes in M. extorquens.
Influence of Ridge Spacing, Ridge Width, and Reynolds Number on Secondary Currents in Turbulent Channel Flow Over Triangular Ridges
Authors: Zhdanov Oleksandr , Jelly Thomas O. , Busse Angela 
Published: September 2023

AbstractMost studies of secondary currents (SCs) over streamwise aligned ridges have been performed for rectangular ridge cross-sections. In this study, secondary currents above triangular ridges are systematically studied using direct numerical simulations of turbulent channel flow. The influence of ridge spacing on flow topology, mean flow, and turbulence statistics is investigated at two friction Reynolds numbers, 550 and 1000. In addition, the effects of ridge width on SCs, which have not previously been considered for this ridge shape, are explored. The influence of SCs on shear stress statistics increases with increased ridge spacing until SCs fill the entire channel. One of the primary findings is that, for ridge configurations with pronounced secondary currents, shear stress statistics exhibit clear Reynolds number sensitivity with a significant growth of dispersive shear stress levels with Reynolds number. In contrast to rectangular ridges, no above-ridge tertiary flows are observed for the tested range of ridge widths. Flow visualisations of SCs reveal the existence of corner vortices that form at the intersection of the lateral ridge sides and the smooth-wall sections. These are found to gradually disappear as ridges increase in width. Premultiplied spectra of streamwise velocity fluctuations show strong dependency on the spanwise sampling location. Whereas spanwise averaged spectra show no strong modifications by SCs, a significant increase of energy levels emerges at higher wavelengths for spectra sampled at the spanwise locations that correspond to the centres of the secondary currents.
Computing Quantiles of Functions of the Agent Distribution Using t-Digests
Authors: Kirkby Robert 
Published: September 2023

AbstractWe introduce t-Digests as an accurate and computationally efficient way to calculate the quantiles of functions of the agent distribution for models in which the full distribution is too large to work with directly; e.g., to calculate the Top 1% of the wealth distribution. When it is possible to fit the entire agent distribution (and a function evaluation on it) into memory, the quantiles can easily be calculated directly. Evaluating a function on the agent distribution can be done much faster using a GPU, however this frequently introduces a memory bottleneck as GPU memory is typically an order of magnitude smaller than CPU memory. For Heterogeneous Agent models the full distribution of agents may fit in CPU memory, but not in GPU memory. We partition the agent distribution into (non-overlapping) subspaces and because these subspaces are much smaller we can fit the subspaces in GPU memory one at a time. For each subspace we then evaluate the function and calculate a t-Digest. t-Digests are a form of data structure that are fast to compute, require less memory, and provide high accuracy for the quantiles of the distribution; t-Digests are a ’sketch’ of the subspace. Having computed and stored a t-Digest for each subspace we can then merge them to get a t-Digest for the full agent distribution. The resulting t-Digest is an accurate representation of the quantiles and can form the basis of Lorenz Curves as well as many other distributional and inequality statistics of interest in Economics.
Objective detection of visual field defects with multifrequency VEPs
Authors: Crux Katja , Huchzermeyer Cord , Kremers Jan , Horn Folkert K. 
Published: September 2023

Abstract
Purpose
To correlate multifrequency pattern reversal VEPs in quadrants (QmfrVEPs) with perimetric field losses for objective detection of visual field losses.

Methods
QmfrVEP measurements were performed using four LED-based checkerboard stimulators to stimulate the four quadrants of the visual field. QmfrVEPs were measured monocularly in 5 normal subjects and in 5 glaucoma patients who showed losses in conventional Octopus perimetry. The pattern reversal frequency varied slightly between the stimulators: (11.92, 12.00, 12.08 and 12.16 reversals/sec). The responses to the different stimuli were identified by discrete Fourier analysis. VEPs were recorded using different electrode configurations, and the recording with the highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was used for further analysis.

Results
QmfrVEP responses from the different quadrants can be reliably measured and separated using the 0.08 reversals/sec interstimulus reversal frequency differences. The signal-to-noise ratio in the four quadrants was significantly correlated with the equivalent visual field losses obtained with perimetry (Spearman rank correlation: P < 0.001). In the five glaucoma patients, the SNR was reduced in 15 out of the 16 quadrants with a perimetric defect, in comparison to the results in quadrants of healthy subjects. This confirms the sensitivity of the procedure.

Conclusion
QmfrVEP responses can be measured reliably. This pilot study suggests that high SNR values exclude visual field defects and that focal defects can be identified in glaucoma patients.

Trial registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov. NCT00494923.
Spaced Retrieval Practice: Can Restudying Trump Retrieval?
Authors: Higham Philip A. , Fastrich Greta M. , Potts Rosalind , Murayama Kou , Pickering Jade S. , Hadwin Julie A. 
Published: September 2023

AbstractWe investigated spaced retrieval and restudying in 3 preregistered, online experiments. In all experiments, participants studied 40 Swahili–English word pair translations during an initial study phase, restudied intact pairs or attempted to retrieve the English words to Swahili cues twice in three spaced practice sessions, and then completed a final cued-recall test. All 5 sessions were separated by 2 days. In Experiment 1, we manipulated the response format during retrieval (covert vs. overt) and the test list structure (blocked vs. intermixed covert/overt retrieval trials). A memory rating was required on all trials (retrieval: “Was your answer correct?”; restudy: “Would you have remembered the correct translation?”). Response format had no effect on recall, but surprisingly, final test performance for restudied items exceeded both the overt and covert retrieval conditions. In Experiment 2, we manipulated the requirement to make a memory rating. If a memory rating was required, final test restudy performance exceeded retrieval performance, replicating Experiment 1. However, the pattern was descriptively reversed if no rating was required. In Experiment 3, the memory rating was removed altogether, and we examined recall performance for items restudied versus retrieved once, twice, or thrice. Performance improved with practice, and retrieval performance exceeded restudy performance in all conditions. The reversal of the typical retrieval practice effect observed in Experiments 1 and 2 is discussed in terms of theories of reactivity of memory judgments.
Do RESTful API design rules have an impact on the understandability of Web APIs?
Authors: Bogner Justus , Kotstein Sebastian , Pfaff Timo 
Published: September 2023

Abstract
Context
Web APIs are one of the most used ways to expose application functionality on the Web, and their understandability is important for efficiently using the provided resources. While many API design rules exist, empirical evidence for the effectiveness of most rules is lacking.

Objective
We therefore wanted to study 1) the impact of RESTful API design rules on understandability, 2) if rule violations are also perceived as more difficult to understand, and 3) if demographic attributes like REST-related experience have an influence on this.

Method
We conducted a controlled Web-based experiment with 105 participants, from both industry and academia and with different levels of experience. Based on a hybrid between a crossover and a between-subjects design, we studied 12 design rules using API snippets in two complementary versions: one that adhered to a rule and one that was a violation of this rule. Participants answered comprehension questions and rated the perceived difficulty.

Results
For 11 of the 12 rules, we found that violation performed significantly worse than rule for the comprehension tasks. Regarding the subjective ratings, we found significant differences for 9 of the 12 rules, meaning that most violations were subjectively rated as more difficult to understand. Demographics played no role in the comprehension performance for violation.

Conclusions
Our results provide first empirical evidence for the importance of following design rules to improve the understandability of Web APIs, which is important for researchers, practitioners, and educators.
Social Anxiety in Autistic People: Does the Clark and Wells Model fit?
Authors: Wilson Alexander C. , Gullon-Scott Fiona 
Published: September 2023

Abstract
Purpose
Cognitive behaviour therapy based on the Clark and Wells (1995) model is a first-line treatment for neurotypical people seeking support for social anxiety. While autistic people frequently report high social anxiety, it is unclear how appropriate the model is for this population.

Methods
Over 300 autistic and non-autistic adults completed an online survey measuring key variables of the Clark and Wells model (socially-related negative thoughts, safety behaviours, self-focused attention). Using multiple regression and structural equation modelling, we assessed whether these variables accounted for the link between autism and social fears.

Results
In multiple regression, autistic people experienced greater social fears than expected based on Clark and Wells variables, and safety behaviours were less predictive of social fears in autistic people. In structural equation modelling, Clark and Wells variables only mediated half the link between autistic traits and social fears. In exploratory analysis, we found that distress relating to uncertainty was an additional variable that needed to be taken into consideration in the relationship between autistic traits and social fears.

Conclusion
The Clark and Wells variables were relevant in autism, but did not fully explain elevated social fears in autistic people, which suggests that other factors are also important in accounting for social anxiety in autistic people. This means that therapy informed by the model may not be optimal for autistic people. We recommend further research developing adapted therapy for social anxiety in autistic people.
Behaviours that Challenge in SATB2-associated Syndrome: Correlates of Self-injury, Aggression and Property Destruction
Authors: Shelley Lauren , Waite Jane , Tarver Joanne , Oliver Chris , Crawford Hayley , Richards Caroline , Bissell Stacey 
Published: September 2023

AbstractSATB2-associated syndrome (SAS) is a genetic syndrome characterised by intellectual disability, severe speech delay, and palatal and dental problems. Behaviours that challenge (BtC) are reported frequently; however, there is limited research on specific forms of BtC and the correlates of these behaviours. The current study explores correlates of well-defined BtC, self-injury, aggression, and property destruction, in SAS. Eighty-one parents/caregivers of individuals with SAS (53.1% male, Mage 10.12 years) completed questionnaire measures of health, behavioural, emotional, and autism characteristics. Individuals with SAS were grouped based on caregiver responses to the presence or absence of self-injury, aggression, and property destruction on the Challenging Behaviour Questionnaire. Rates of self-injury, aggression and property destruction were 42%, 77% and 49%, respectively. Between-group comparisons were conducted to compare characteristics between behaviour groups. Significantly differing characteristics were entered into separate hierarchical logistic regressions for each form of BtC. Behavioural comparisons indicated variation in the characteristics associated with each behaviour. All hierarchical logistic regression models were significant (p < .001): self-injury (χ2(5) = 38.46, R2 = 0.571), aggression (χ2(4) = 25.12, R2 = 0.414), property destruction (χ2(4) = 23.70, R2 = 0.346), explaining between 34.6% and 57.1% of the variance in behaviour presence. This is the first study to identify correlates of self-injury, aggression, and property destruction in SAS. Variability in the characteristics associated with each behaviour highlights the importance of specificity when examining BtC. Understanding correlates of specific forms of BtC has important implications for informing SAS-associated pathways to behavioural outcomes and the implementation of tailored behavioural interventions.