bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Challenges of a GIS-based physical-geographical regionalization of Poland
Authors: Piniarski Witold 
Published: August 2023

AbstractPoland’s traditional, i.e., non-GIS, regionalization needed to be updated for landscape audit purposes. Its spatial accuracy appeared insufficient, which led to the verification and adjustment of the existing physical-geographical mesoregions using GIS and high-resolution spatial data. In Poland, provincial landscape audits are part of implementing the European Landscape Convention to Polish law order, which led to the renewal of interest in the natural spatial division of the country. To date, there is no unified division of the entire country into microregions, which in Poland are commonly perceived as the most appropriate natural spatial units for local-scale landscape analysis and management. Microregions are lower-rank spatial units than already existing mesoregions. Both are distinguished by a homogenous landscape defined within the specific area by common physical-geographical characteristics of the land. Nevertheless, each is recognized at different scales and levels of generality. This paper focuses on reviewing the current challenges of the physical-geographical regionalization of Poland. Their fundamentals were identified through a systematic literature review. It also presents all the problems encountered within implementing GIS in the microregionalization procedure, which was already used for the Greater Poland Voivodeship landscape audit. In general, all traditional methodologies related to the physical-geographical regionalization of Poland require the introduction of GIS solutions to meet the current expectations from the country’s contemporary natural spatial division. The landscape contrast analysis method proved to be a promising method of GIS-based regionalization. It has the potential to become a universal solution to the existing problems with a unified physical-geographical microregionalization of Poland. However, some hard-to-overcome obstacles are related to the availability, collection, and processing of all required thematic spatial data. Nonetheless, it is highly expected to develop a universal procedure of microregionalization and distinguish low-rank units for the entire country.
Effects of Intensity of Teleworking and Creative Demands on the Cynicism Dimension of Job Burnout
Authors: Santiago-Torner Carlos , Tarrats-Pons Elisenda , Corral-Marfil José-Antonio 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe study of the effect of virtual work environments on the emotional health of employees has received considerable attention in recent years. However, there has been insufficient research on how uninterrupted exposure to high job demands can lead to permanent stress, which deteriorates interpersonal relationships, to the point of draining them of affection. The study aims to examine the impact of telework intensity on cynicism (second dimension of burnout or depersonalisation) through two indirect effects: creativity and the number of days teleworked per week. A sample of 448 university-educated employees from the Colombian electricity sector was selected, who completed an online survey. The data were statistically analysed using a simple moderation model. In general, the results show that telework intensity favours employee behavioural adaptation, which buffers potential depersonalisation, through key characteristics such as: perceived social support, participation in decision-making, sense of autonomy, gender equality and reduced work-family conflict. However, when the tasks associated with teleworking require creative solutions continuously, and the employee’s resources are not properly managed, recurrent stress can lead to an emotional fracture that deteriorates the employee’s well-being. In conclusion, the protection of the employee’s emotional health depends on a balanced workplace structure that avoids a constant mismatch between available resources and creative demands.
Investigating accelerated carbonation for alkali activated slag stabilized sandy soil
Authors: Razeghi Hamid Reza , Safaee Fatemeh , Geranghadr Armin , Ghadir Pooria , Javadi Akbar A. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractPortland cement as a commonly used material in soil stabilization projects, releases considerable amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere, highlighting the need to use green binders such as ground granulated blast furnace slag as a substitute for cement. On the other side, extensive research is being conducted on accelerated carbonation treatment to decrease the industry’s carbon footprint. Carbonation transforms CO2 into carbonate minerals. This study investigates the influence of accelerated carbonation on the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of soil stabilized with alkali-activated slag under ambient and oven curing conditions. Effects of curing time, binder content, relative density, and carbonation pressure (100, 200, and 300 kPa) were also studied. Furthermore, a calcimeter test was conducted to determine the amount of carbonate generated, which reflects CO2 sequestration in soil. The results showed that the carbonated samples achieved higher strength than the non-carbonated samples. However, a slight decrease in UCS was observed with the increase in CO2 pressure. The generated carbonate content directly correlated with the UCS of the samples, which explained the higher strength of carbonated samples. Also, the ambient curing condition was more favorable for the samples stabilized with GGBS, which can be attributed to the supply of required moisture. Results from XRD, SEM, and FTIR indicated that the strength development was due mainly to the formation of carbonation products (CaCO3), which facilitated the densification of solidified materials.
Internationalization of Portuguese Academia: the impact on academic engagement and collaboration with society
Authors: Queirós Anabela , Carvalho Teresa , Manatos Maria , Diogo Sara 
Published: August 2023

AbstractHigher Education Institutions are expected to stimulate the innovation system and to contribute to the development of societies in a global perspective. Within this context, there is an increasing focus on internationalization. HEIs are developing institutional mechanisms to support internationalization while academics are expected to carry specific practices that allow them to improve the internationalization of knowledge production. At the same time, they are encouraged to engage with non-academic partners to co-produce and transfer knowledge, contributing, in this way, to economic and social development. Although there is some research on the impact of internationalization on academic entrepreneurship, studies on the effects in other dimensions of academic engagement with society are almost absent. This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between academics’ internationalization practices and perceptions and the development of different types of academic engagement. Our analysis draws on quantitative analysis with data provided by an international survey (APIKS) and explores the Portuguese context. Findings show that the different practices and perspectives on internationalization impact differently on the way scientists engage. While there are positive effects of internationalization of research on engagement, the time academics stay abroad and the high focus on publishing in internationally high-rated journals may negatively affect academics’ orientation towards the local community. This paper contributes to the debate on the role of the internationalization in the context of a knowledge-based society, considering different dimensions and a broad spectrum of knowledge-based engagement activities.
Electrochemical determination of budesonide: a common corticosteroid used to treat respiratory diseases such as COVID-19 and asthma
Authors: Jedlińska Katarzyna , Trojanowska Katarzyna , Strus Magdalena , Baś Bogusław 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the most important areas of the modern world. One of the challenges related to counteracting the effects of the pandemic it was necessary to develop methods for the quantitative determination of pharmaceuticals used in the treatment of patients suffering from this disease and its long-term effects. Budesonide (BUD) is a widely available and inexpensive corticosteroid used extensively not only among people suffering from COVID-19, but also asthma and other respiratory diseases. A significant increase in the consumption of drugs containing this component requires the development of new BUD determination methods, especially in real samples. This paper presents a new voltammetric method for BUD determination at renewable silver amalgam film electrode (Hg(Ag)FE). The electrochemical measurements were conduced in the supporting electrolyte containing 80% of methyl alcohol, 0.04 mol L−1 Britton–Robinson buffer (pH 3.0) and 20 mg mL−1 of NaClO4 under optimized differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) parameters. Detailed studies of the behaviour of the BUD on the surface of Hg(Ag)FE demonstrated the quasi-irreversible nature of the diffusion-controlled, two electrons and two protons reduction process. A calibration curve in the range from 1.0 to 290 µg mL−1 shows limit of detection and limit of quantification equal to 0.06 and 0.21 µg mL−1, respectively. The impact of numerous interferences over a wide range of concentrations on BUD signals was analysed and evaluated. The utility of the proposed method was verified by the quantitative analysis of BUD in two pharmaceutical products and the spiked water samples.
Graphical abstract
Families Navigating Macroeconomic Hard Times: The Experiences of Portuguese Emerging Adults and Their Parents in the Aftermath of the Great Recession
Authors: Fonseca Gabriela , Lourenço Daniela , Francisco Rita , Crespo Carla , Relvas Ana Paula 
Published: August 2023

AbstractAmidst today’s complex financial world, understanding how family adaptation may be fostered in contexts of macroeconomic adversity is paramount. The present qualitative study sought to investigate how Portuguese families with emerging adult children have been managing macroeconomic-related demands since the Great Recession. Specifically, we aimed at uncovering the processes that may have facilitated their adaptation to macroeconomic stress over the last decade. Fourteen two-parent families with at least one emerging adult child (N = 48 participants) participated in semi-structured interviews in late 2010s. Thematic analysis yielded three key themes: (i) Appraisal, capturing family beliefs regarding their macroeconomic contexts since early to late 2010s; (ii) Demands and Impact, reflecting the macroeconomic challenges with which families were confronted; (iii) Capabilities, including coping behaviors – such as financial cutbacks implemented during the recession – and resources – such as family cohesion and parental emotional and instrumental support to emerging adults – that facilitated families’ demand management, potentially constituting key family processes in resilience during macroeconomic hard times. Despite their positive adaptation to macroeconomic demands during the most complicated years of recession, families continued to perceive great instability in their macroeconomic contexts in late 2010s, displaying concerns related to the future of emerging adults. These results highlighted that macroeconomic crises entail long-lasting impacts for individuals and families, alerting researchers, clinicians and politicians to the increased challenges currently faced by young people and their families. In addition, findings from this study can inform clinical practice and the development of multisystemic interventions aiming at helping financially stressed families.
Relationship between decay resistance and moisture properties in wood modified with phenol formaldehyde and sorbitol-citric acid
Authors: Belt Tiina , Kyyrö Suvi , Kilpinen A. Topias 
Published: August 2023

AbstractImpregnation modifications improve the decay resistance of wood, but the mechanisms behind improved resistance are not yet fully understood. In this study, Scots pine sapwood samples were impregnation modified to investigate the relationship between moisture properties, decay resistance and chemical changes caused by decay. The samples were modified with phenol formaldehyde (PF) and sorbitol-citric acid (SCA) at different solids contents to study the effects of two different types of resins. The anti-swelling efficiency (ASE) and moisture exclusion efficiency (MEE) of the samples were measured, after which they were exposed to the brown rot fungi Coniophora puteana and Rhodonia placenta to determine their mass losses, moisture contents and chemical changes due to decay. The results showed that both modifications were able to increase ASE, MEE and decay resistance, and that neither modification was appreciably degraded by the fungi. However, no uniform relationship was found between mass loss and ASE or MEE for the two modifications, and there was a clear increase in the moisture contents of the decayed samples and sterile controls under decay test conditions with increasing modification degree. Overall, the results showed that modification with PF and SCA increases decay resistance, but the relationship between resistance and moisture properties requires further investigation.
Uranium speciation and spatial distribution in the bottom sediments along the Uzynbulak creek at the Semipalatinsk test site
Authors: Mukhamediyarov N. Zh. , Makarychev S. V. , Umarov M. A. , Dyuisembaeva M. T. , Shakenov Ye. Z. , Kolbin V. V. , Yesilkanov G. M. , Temirzhanova A. Ye. , Tashekova A. Zh. , Zhamaldinov F. F. , Nurekenova A. N. , Sapakova A. K. , Baigazinov Zh. A. , Kovacs T. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractUranium concentrations in the water and bottom sediments along the Uzynbulak creek at the Semipalatinsk Test Site are high, possibly implying anthropogenic contamination. These concentrations were measured by ICP-MS and the environmental mobility of uranium was determined by sequential extraction. Activity concentration in bottom sediments ranged from 20 to 6000 Bq/kg with a median of 156 Bq/kg, while that of water did not exceed 0.4 Bq/l. Uranium accumulated in sedimentary environments, up to 73% of which was bound to Fe and Mn oxides and hydroxides, while isotopic compositions indicated natural uranium. Anthropogenic uranium was not observed in the samples.
Hyperparameter importance and optimization of quantum neural networks across small datasets
Authors: Moussa Charles , Patel Yash J. , Dunjko Vedran , Bäck Thomas , van Rijn Jan N. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractAs restricted quantum computers become available, research focuses on finding meaningful applications. For example, in quantum machine learning, a special type of quantum circuit called a quantum neural network is one of the most investigated approaches. However, we know little about suitable circuit architectures or important model hyperparameters for a given task. In this work, we apply the functional ANOVA framework to the quantum neural network architectures to analyze which of the quantum machine learning hyperparameters are most influential for their predictive performance. We restrict our study to 7 open-source datasets from the OpenML-CC18 classification benchmark, which are small enough for simulations on quantum hardware with fewer than 20 qubits. Using this framework, three main levels of importance were identified, confirming expected patterns and revealing new insights. For instance, the learning rate is identified as the most important hyperparameter on all datasets, whereas the particular choice of entangling gates used is found to be the least important on all except for one dataset. In addition to identifying the relevant hyperparameters, for each of them, we also learned data-driven priors based on values that perform well on previously seen datasets, which can then be used to steer hyperparameter optimization processes. We utilize these priors in the hyperparameter optimization method hyperband and show that these improve performance against uniform sampling across all datasets by, on average, $$0.53 \%$$

0.53
%

, up to $$6.11 \%$$

6.11
%

, in cross-validation accuracy. We also demonstrate that such improvements hold on average regardless of the configuration hyperband is run with. Our work introduces new methodologies for studying quantum machine learning models toward quantum model selection in practice. All research code is made publicly available.
Fruit ripeness identification using YOLOv8 model
Authors: Xiao Bingjie , Nguyen Minh , Yan Wei Qi 
Published: August 2023

AbstractDeep learning-based visual object detection is a fundamental aspect of computer vision. These models not only locate and classify multiple objects within an image, but they also identify bounding boxes. The focus of this paper's research work is to classify fruits as ripe or overripe using digital images. Our proposed model extracts visual features from fruit images and analyzes fruit peel characteristics to predict the fruit's class. We utilize our own datasets to train two "anchor-free" models: YOLOv8 and CenterNet, aiming to produce accurate predictions. The CenterNet network primarily incorporates ResNet-50 and employs the deconvolution module DeConv for feature map upsampling. The final three branches of convolutional neural networks are applied to predict the heatmap. The YOLOv8 model leverages CSP and C2f modules for lightweight processing. After analyzing and comparing the two models, we found that the C2f module of the YOLOv8 model significantly enhances classification results, achieving an impressive accuracy rate of 99.5%.
WebLabel: OpenLABEL-compliant multi-sensor labelling
Authors: Urbieta Itziar , Mujika Andoni , Piérola Gonzalo , Irigoyen Eider , Nieto Marcos , Loyo Estibaliz , Aginako Naiara 
Published: August 2023

AbstractAnnotated datasets have become crucial for training Machine Learning (ML) models for developing Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) and their functions. Generating these datasets usually involves a complex coordination of automation and manual effort. Moreover, most available labelling tools focus on specific media types (e.g., images or video). Consequently, they cannot perform complex labelling tasks for multi-sensor setups. Recently, ASAM published OpenLABEL, a standard designed to specify an annotation format flexible enough to support the development of automated driving features and to guarantee interoperability among different systems and providers. In this work, we present WebLabel, the first multipurpose web application tool for labelling complex multi-sensor data that is fully compliant with OpenLABEL 1.0. The proposed work analyses several labelling use cases demonstrating the standard's benefits and the application's flexibility to cover various heterogeneous requirements: image labelling, multi-view video object annotation, point-cloud view-based labelling for 3D geometries and action recognition.
On the usefulness of flying base stations in 5G and beyond scenarios
Authors: Cumino Pedro , Luís Miguel , Rosário Denis , Cerqueira Eduardo , Sargento Susana 
Published: August 2023

AbstractConsidering that one of the goals of the future network generations is to provide ubiquitous communication in the most diverse scenarios to achieve high connection coverage, it is foreseen that the use of unmanned aerial vehicles as flying base stations (UAV-BSs) can potentially extend the network and communication range. UAVs as flying base station can bring the potential to assist user devices and vehicles by carrying communication resources that can accommodate clients that were not previously planned by the ground infrastructure design due to flash crowd events, sudden natural disasters, or any other event that let to an overloaded environment. Allocating UAVs as flying base station still poses significant challenges in their deployment and the effectiveness of information transmission through UAVs as flying base station in the context of wireless communication since it is necessary to deal with both wireless communication capability and interference in the presence of terrestrial infrastructures already present. Besides, it is essential to understand how communication resources affect network performance. This paper studies the feasibility of using UAVs as flying base station in the assistance of wireless communication in a scenario where there is a sudden demand for data transmission due to possible congestion of local infrastructure. We show how the number of communication resources provided by the UAV-BS, the interference caused by the presence of multiple next generation node Bs (gNBs), and the UAV as flying base station positioning affect the network performance. We also highlight the need for a better next generation node B (gNB) and UAVs placement criteria since the received signal power prevents the user equipments (UEs) from using most of the available resources.
Combined effects of loneliness and inflammation on depression in people with HIV
Authors: Hussain Mariam A. , Watson C. Wei-Ming , Morgan Erin E. , Heaton Robert K. , Letendre Scott L. , Jeste Dilip V. , Moore David J. , Iudicello Jennifer E. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Objective
Loneliness is prevalent in people with HIV (PWH) and associated with adverse health-related consequences, including depression. Chronic inflammation has been linked to depression in PWH, though its association with loneliness is less well established. Simultaneous examination of inflammation, loneliness and depression is needed to clarify these relationships. This study investigated the relationship between loneliness and inflammation, and the effects of loneliness and inflammation on depression in PWH.

Methods
82 PWH who were on suppressive ART (mean age [SD] = 53.2 [9.0]) completed the UCLA Loneliness Scale-Version 3 and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale as part of a comprehensive evaluation. Biomarkers of systemic inflammation (CRP, IL-6, CCL2/MCP-1, sCD14) and coagulation (D-dimer) were measured in blood using commercial immunoassays.

Results
Multivariable linear regression analyses revealed that higher D-dimer, CCL2/MCP-1, and sCD14 were significant predictors of loneliness (ps < .05) while accounting for relevant covariates. Stepwise multiple linear regression models that included loneliness, biomarkers, and their interactions as predictors of depressive symptoms revealed significant main effects of loneliness and CCL2/MCP-1 levels (ps < .05), and a significant loneliness by D-dimer interaction (p < .05) whereby higher D-dimer was associated with increased depressive symptoms only at higher levels of loneliness.

Conclusions
Increased coagulation activity is associated with loneliness, and in the context of loneliness, may increase risk for depression. Increased inflammation was associated with depression suggesting potentially dissociable underlying biological processes. To the extent that these processes are modifiable, such findings could have important implications in the treatment of loneliness and depression in PWH.