bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Optimal non-pharmaceutical pandemic response strategies depend critically on time horizons and costs
Authors: Nowak Sarah A. , Nascimento de Lima Pedro , Vardavas Raffaele 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has called for swift action from local governments, which have instated non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to curb the spread of the disease. The swift implementation of social distancing policies has raised questions about the costs and benefits of strategies that either aim to keep cases as low as possible (suppression) or aim to reach herd immunity quickly (mitigation) to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic. While curbing COVID-19 required blunt instruments, it is unclear whether a less-transmissible and less-deadly emerging pathogen would justify the same response. This paper illuminates this question using a parsimonious transmission model by formulating the social distancing lives vs. livelihoods dilemma as a boundary value problem using calculus of variations. In this setup, society balances the costs and benefits of social distancing contingent on the costs of reducing transmission relative to the burden imposed by the disease. We consider both single-objective and multi-objective formulations of the problem. To the best of our knowledge, our approach is distinct in the sense that strategies emerge from the problem structure rather than being imposed a priori. We find that the relative time-horizon of the pandemic (i.e., the time it takes to develop effective vaccines and treatments) and the relative cost of social distancing influence the choice of the optimal policy. Unsurprisingly, we find that the appropriate policy response depends on these two factors. We discuss the conditions under which each policy archetype (suppression vs. mitigation) appears to be the most appropriate.
Flat variable liquid crystal diffractive spiral axicon enabling perfect vortex beams generation
Authors: Pereiro-García Javier , García-de-Blas Mario , Geday Morten Andreas , Quintana Xabier , Caño-García Manuel 
Published: February 2023

AbstractA transparent variable diffractive spiral axicon (DSA) based on a single LC cell is presented. The manufactured DSA can be switched between 24 different configurations, 12 convergent and 12 divergent, where the output angle is varied as a function of the applied topological charge. The active area of the device is created using a direct laser writing technique in indium-tin oxide coated glass substrates. Liquid crystal is used to modulate the phase of the incoming beam generating the different DSA configurations. The DSA consists in 24 individually driven transparent spiral shaped electrodes, each introducing a specific phase retardation. In this article, the manufacture and characterization of the tunable DSA is presented and the performance of the DSA is experimentally demonstrated and compared to the corresponding simulations.
Growth-uncoupled propanediol production in a Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum strain engineered for high ethanol yield
Authors: Herring Christopher D. , Ajie Maulana Permana , Lynd Lee R. 
Published: February 2023

AbstractCocultures of engineered thermophilic bacteria can ferment lignocellulose without costly pretreatment or added enzymes, an ability that can be exploited for low cost biofuel production from renewable feedstocks. The hemicellulose-fermenting species Thermoanaerobacterium thermosaccharolyticum was engineered for high ethanol yield, but we found that the strains switched from growth-coupled production of ethanol to growth uncoupled production of acetate and 1,2-propanediol upon growth cessation, producing up to 6.7 g/L 1,2-propanediol from 60 g/L cellobiose. The unique capability of this species to make 1,2-propanediol from sugars was described decades ago, but the genes responsible were not identified. Here we deleted genes encoding methylglyoxal reductase, methylglyoxal synthase and glycerol dehydrogenase. Deletion of the latter two genes eliminated propanediol production. To understand how carbon flux is redirected in this species, we hypothesized that high ATP levels during growth cessation downregulate the activity of alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities. Measurements with cell free extracts show approximately twofold and tenfold inhibition of these activities by 10 mM ATP, supporting the hypothesized mechanism of metabolic redirection. This result may have implications for efforts to direct and maximize flux through alcohol dehydrogenase in other species.
Model experiment research on HPTL anchoring technology for coal-rock composite roof in deep roadway
Authors: Xie Zhengzheng , Li Yongle , Zhang Nong , He Zhe , Cao Chuang , Li Wei 
Published: February 2023

AbstractSince the western region of China, which is typical of extraordinary resource endowments, has gradually emerged as the major mining zone in China, the mining of thick coal seams and roadways with coal-rock composite roof have become more and more common in this region. However, it is extremely difficult to realize safe and effective maintenance and control of such roadways due to the differences in natural endowments of coal-rock masses. With the roadway with coal-rock composite roof of Hulusu Coal Mine in western China as the engineering background, experiment research on large-scale similarity model was conducted through comprehensive measures such as the pneumatic loading system, the surrounding rock stress monitoring system, the roadway deformation monitoring system, the bolt load monitoring system, and the displacement field monitoring system in this paper. According to the results of the experiment, the control effects of the three support systems on the roadway with coal-rock composite roof were significantly different. When the single support of short anchor bolts was applied, the comparatively low initial anchor-hold failed to constrain the initial micro deformation of the roof. Consequently, wide-range fractures of the roof were triggered at a loading pressure of 0.8 MPa. In the meanwhile, the deep surrounding rocks witnessed a downward inflection point in stress, accompanied by the possibility of the collapse of the thin-layer anchorage zone at any time. As for the support combining both short anchor bolts and long anchor cables, though a reinforced effect on the bolt anchorage zone could be achieved with the help of the cables, the active reinforcement capacity of the bolt was limited. The bolt anchorage zone was the first to be damaged at a loading pressure of 0.9 MPa, which would subsequently affect the effective bearing capacity of the deep surrounding rocks. In the application of the single support of high-strength long anchor bolts, the long bolts with high pre-tightening force were able to lock multiple groups of coal-rock strata to form a thick-layer anchorage bearing structure capable of withstanding a load as high as 1.0 MPa. The crash and collapse of the coal wall eventually caused the subsidence of the roof. Based on the intense dynamic load experiment and the feedbacks of engineering application outcomes in the field, it was concluded that the high-pretension thick-layer (HPTL) anchoring technology can effectively constrain the deformation of roadways with coal-rock composite roof with favorable application outcomes.
Situational pathogen avoidance mediates the impact of social connectedness on preventive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Taubert Frederike , Sprengholz Philipp , Korn Lars , Eitze Sarah , Wiedermann Marc , Betsch Cornelia 
Published: February 2023

AbstractDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, physical distancing was one of the more important behaviours for reducing the spread of the virus. The present study investigated the influence on pathogen avoidance of familiarity with other people at private gatherings. Based on the social identity model of risk taking and the theory of the behavioural immune system, we assumed that greater familiarity with others would make people feel more connected with one another and decrease situational pathogen avoidance. This could result in lower perceptions of the risk of contracting COVID-19 and fewer protective behaviours. Two experiments (n1 = 1022, n2 = 994) showed that the negative influence of greater familiarity on the perceived risk of infection and protective behaviour is explained by an increased feeling of connectedness and less feeling of situational pathogen avoidance. In an additional survey, the participants (n = 23,023) rated the quality of their past social contacts. The correlational analyses showed that the familiarity of the other person was more important in explaining variance in protective behaviours than attitudes toward those behaviours or the pandemic situation itself. Understanding the process that result in an explosive increase in infection after social gatherings can improve infection control in the future.
A study on motion reduction for suspended platforms used in gravitational wave detectors
Authors: Koehlenbeck Sina M. , Mow-Lowry Conor M. , Bergmann Gerald , Kirchoff Robin , Koch Philip , Kühn Gerrit , Lehmann Johannes , Oppermann Patrick , Wöhler Janis , Wu David S. 
Published: February 2023

AbstractWe report a reduction in motion for suspended seismic-isolation platforms in a gravitational wave detector prototype facility. We sense the distance between two seismic-isolation platforms with a suspension platform interferometer and the angular motion with two optical levers. Feedback control loops reduce the length changes between two platforms separated by $$11.65\,\textrm{m}$$

11.65

m

to $$10\,\mathrm {pm\,Hz}^{-1/2}$$

10

pm

Hz

-
1
/
2

at $$100\,\textrm{mHz}$$

100

mHz

, and the angular motion of each platform is reduced to $$1\,\mathrm {nrad\, Hz}^{-1/2}$$

1

nrad

Hz

-
1
/
2

at $$100\,\textrm{mHz}$$

100

mHz

. As a result, the length fluctuations in a suspended optical resonator on top of the platforms is reduced by three orders of magnitude. This result is of direct relevance to gravitational wave detectors that use similar suspended optics and seismic isolation platforms.
Random embedded calibrated statistical blind steganalysis using cross validated support vector machine and support vector machine with particle swarm optimization
Authors: Shankar Deepa D. , Azhakath Adresya Suresh 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThe evolvement in digital media and information technology over the past decades have purveyed the internet to be an effectual medium for the exchange of data and communication. With the advent of technology, the data has become susceptible to mismanagement and exploitation. This led to the emergence of Internet Security frameworks like Information hiding and detection. Examples of domains of Information hiding and detection are Steganography and steganalysis respectively. This work focus on addressing possible security breaches using Internet security framework like Information hiding and techniques to identify the presence of a breach. The work involves the use of Blind steganalysis technique with the concept of Machine Learning incorporated into it. The work is done using the Joint Photographic Expert Group (JPEG) format because of its wide use for transmission over the Internet. Stego (embedded) images are created for evaluation by randomly embedding a text message into the image. The concept of calibration is used to retrieve an estimate of the cover (clean) image for analysis. The embedding is done with four different steganographic schemes in both spatial and transform domain namely LSB Matching and LSB Replacement, Pixel Value Differencing and F5. After the embedding of data with random percentages, the first order, the second order, the extended Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) and Markov features are extracted for steganalysis.The above features are a combination of interblock and intra block dependencies. They had been considered in this paper to eliminate the drawback of each one of them, if considered separately. Dimensionality reduction is applied to the features using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Block based technique had been used in the images for better accuracy of results. The technique of machine learning is added by using classifiers to differentiate the stego image from a cover image. A comparative study had been during with the classifier names Support Vector Machine and its evolutionary counterpart using Particle Swarm Optimization. The idea of cross validation had also been used in this work for better accuracy of results. Further parameters used in the process are the four different types of sampling namely linear, shuffled, stratified and automatic and the six different kernels used in classification specifically dot, multi-quadratic, epanechnikov, radial and ANOVA to identify what combination would yield a better result.
Spiders’ digestive system as a source of trypsin inhibitors: functional activity of a member of atracotoxin structural family
Authors: Neto Oscar Bento Silva , Valladão Rodrigo , Coelho Guilherme Rabelo , Dias Renata , Pimenta Daniel Carvalho , Lopes Adriana Rios 
Published: February 2023

AbstractSpiders are important predators of insects and their venoms play an essential role in prey capture. Spider venoms have several potential applications as pharmaceutical compounds and insecticides. However, transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of the digestive system (DS) of spiders show that DS is also a rich source of new peptidase inhibitor molecules. Biochemical, transcriptomic and proteomic data of crude DS extracts show the presence of molecules with peptidase inhibitor potential in the spider Nephilingis cruentata. Therefore, the aims of this work were to isolate and characterize molecules with trypsin inhibitory activity. The DS of fasting adult females was homogenized under acidic conditions and subjected to heat treatment. After that, samples were submitted to ion exchange batch and high-performance reverse-phase chromatography. The fractions with trypsin inhibitory activity were confirmed by mass spectrometry, identifying six molecules with inhibitory potential. The inhibitor NcTI (Nephilingis cruentata trypsin inhibitor) was kinetically characterized, showing a KD value of 30.25 nM ± 8.13. Analysis of the tertiary structure by molecular modeling using Alpha-Fold2 indicates that the inhibitor NcTI structurally belongs to the MIT1-like atracotoxin family. This is the first time that a serine peptidase inhibitory function is attributed to this structural family and the inhibitor reactive site residue is identified. Sequence analysis indicates that these molecules may be present in the DS of other spiders and could be associated to the inactivation of prey trypsin (serine peptidase) ingested by the spiders.
Looking at the upper facial half enlarges the range of holistic face processing
Authors: Wang Zhe , Ni Hao , Zhou Xin , Yang Xiteng , Zheng Ziyi , Sun Yu-Hao P. , Zhang Xiaohui , Jin Haiyang 
Published: February 2023

AbstractPrevious studies suggested that upper and lower facial halves might be involved in the human holistic face processing differently. In this study, we replicated and extended the finding above. In Experiment 1, we used the standard composite-face task to measure holistic face processing when participants made judgements on the upper and lower facial halves separately. Results showed that the composite-face effect was stronger for the upper facial half compared to the lower half. In Experiment 2, we investigated how facial information was integrated when participants focused on different features, using the perceptual field paradigm. Results showed that: (1) more “peripheral faces” were chosen when participants fixated at the eyes than when they fixated at the mouth; (2) less “peripheral faces” were chosen for inverted faces regardless of the fixated features. Findings from both experiments together indicate that more peripheral facial information were integrated when participants focused on the upper facial half, highlighting the significance of focusing on the upper facial half in face processing.
Effect of time-of-day on human dynamic thermal perception
Authors: Vellei Marika , Pigliautile Ilaria , Pisello Anna Laura 
Published: February 2023

AbstractImplementing heating and cooling set-point temperature modulations in buildings can promote energy savings and boost energy flexibility. However, time and time-of-day requirements in current indoor climate regulations are either overly simplified or ignored completely. A better understanding of how human thermal responses vary throughout the day is useful to effectively design and operate energy-flexible buildings. To date, only a handful of studies have looked at diurnal changes in thermal perception and mostly near steady-state neutrality without controlling for light exposure. This is the first experimental investigation aimed at understanding how the time of the day influences physiological and subjective human sensory responses to a localized dynamic thermal stimulus under constant light rich in long wavelengths (red). Results indicated that humans responded physiologically differently depending on the time of the day with a higher rate of change in the skin temperature in the evening compared with the afternoon. Furthermore, the increase of thermal sensation during the warming skin temperature transients was found to be greater in the evening. No differences were observed under steady-state thermal conditions. This evidence suggests that accounting for the time of the day is important when dynamically operating buildings, such as during demand-response programs.
Case study of a landslide continuous probability rainfall threshold analysis based on the prediction interval principle
Authors: Huang Yu , Zhao Cuizhu , Jin Xiaoyan , Zhu Yan , Peng Ming , Chen Zhiyi 
Published: February 2023

AbstractBazhong City is located on stratum dominated by red-bed conditions. This type of weak geological condition with sand and mudstone interbedding is very easily affected by climatic conditions to produce rainfall-type landslides. On the basis of landslide data statistics collected in Bazhong City from 2011 to 2019, this paper uses ERA5-Land rainfall data to statistically analyze the correlation between rainfall and landslide events in Bazhong City. The landslide events in Bazhong City are greatly affected by rainfall events lasting for 10 days. Considering the influence of rainfall seepage and other processes, an effective cumulative rainfall-duration threshold curve for Bazhong City is obtained via median nonlinear fitting. Then, on the basis of the prediction interval, the rainfall threshold formula under different landslide occurrence probabilities is obtained and the critical threshold curve with a non-exceeding probability of 1% in Bazhong City is calculated and verified. Subsequently, a continuous probability distribution fitting function of landslide occurrence is established and a continuous probability distribution surface with a good fitting effect in Bazhong City is obtained. This allows a definite probability of whether future rainfall events will induce landslides to be obtained, providing an important basis for engineering disaster prevention and mitigation.
Effects of Gamification on Assessment of Spatial Release From Masking
Authors: Bologna William J. , Carrillo Audrey A. , Clamage David S. , Coco Laura , He Yue J. , de Larrea-Mancera Esteban Sebastian Lelo , Stecker G. Christopher , Gallun Frederick J. , Seitz Aaron R. 
Published: February 2023

Purpose:
Difficulty understanding speech in noise is a common communication problem. Clinical tests of speech in noise differ considerably from real-world listening and offer patients limited intrinsic motivation to perform well. In order to design a test that captures motivational aspects of real-world communication, this study investigated effects of gamification, or the inclusion of game elements, on a laboratory spatial release from masking test.

Method:
Fifty-four younger adults with normal hearing completed a traditional laboratory and a gamified test of spatial release from masking in counterbalanced order. Masker level adapted based on performance, with the traditional test ending after 10 reversals and the gamified test ending when participants solved a visual puzzle. Target-to-masker ratio thresholds (TMRs) with colocated maskers, separated maskers, and estimates of spatial release were calculated after the 10th reversal for both tests and from the last six reversals of the adaptive track from the gamified test.

Results:
Thresholds calculated from the 10th reversal indicated no significant differences between the traditional and gamified tests. A learning effect was observed with spatially separated maskers, such that TMRs were better for the second test than the first, regardless of test order. Thresholds calculated from the last six reversals of the gamified test indicated better TMRs in the separated condition compared to the traditional test.

Conclusions:
Adding gamified elements to a traditional test of spatial release from masking did not negatively affect test validity or estimates of spatial release. Participants were willing to continue playing the gamified test for an average of 30.2 reversals of the adaptive track. For some listeners, performance in the separated condition continued to improve after the 10th reversal, leading to better TMRs and greater spatial release from masking at the end of the gamified test compared to the traditional test.

Supplemental Material:

https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.22028789
Isolierte Varikose unter dem Bild eines Gefäßtumors
Authors: Thieme Markus , El Jamal Bachar , Kahle Birgit 
Published: February 2023

ZusammenfassungWir berichten in diesem Fallbeispiel über einen Patienten, der nach einem Anpralltrauma prätibial rechts einen prall-elastischen Tumor am Ort der Verletzung entwickelte. Es erfolgte die Vorstellung zum Ausschluss eines malignen Gefäßtumors in unserer phlebologischen Sprechstunde. Sonografisch zeigte sich ein Varizenpolster im Bereich einer vorbestehenden Varize ohne Anhalt für Malignität am rechten Unterschenkel, entstanden durch die posttraumatische Angiogenese im Rahmen der Wundheilung. Aufgrund der exponierten Lage prätibial, der Gefahr einer Ruptur und den Beschwerden des Patienten entschieden wir uns zur Therapie mittels Schaumsklerosierung. Nach vier Anwendungen konnte die zuführende Vene verschlossen werden und die Beschwerden des Patienten besserten sich rasch.
One-Stage Revision with Cage Replacement as Treatment for Refractory Infections after Tibial Tuberosity Advancement in 7 Dogs
Authors: Onis David , Wagter Henrik , Serck Boris , Wouters Erik G.H. 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThe aim of this article was to report surgical and medical management, and to evaluate complications and outcome of dogs treated for refractory infection after tibial tuberosity advancement (TTA) with a one-stage revision surgery consisting of implant removal and replacement of a TTA cage. It was a retrospective case series. Seven cases were included in this study. Loss of advancement of the tibial tuberosity or tibial crest fractures did not occur in any case. One-stage revision surgery was successful in 5/7 cases (71%) with good long-term outcomes. Persistent infection resulted in removal of the replaced new cage in 2/7 cases (29%), of which one was associated with septic arthritis caused by multi-resistant bacteria. One-stage revision with immediate replacement of a new TTA cage successfully prevented loss of advancement of the tibial tuberosity and tibial crest fractures in this short case series. Further studies investigating possible improvements in the treatment protocol for refractory infection after TTA are warranted.