bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Clinical capability of modern brain tumor segmentation models
Authors: Berkley Adam , Saueressig Camillo , Shukla Utkarsh , Chowdhury Imran , Munoz‐Gauna Anthony , Shehu Olalekan , Singh Ritambhara , Munbodh Reshma 
Published: February 2023

AbstractPurposeState‐of‐the‐art automated segmentation methods achieve exceptionally high performance on the Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) challenge, a dataset of uniformly processed and standardized magnetic resonance generated images (MRIs) of gliomas. However, a reasonable concern is that these models may not fare well on clinical MRIs that do not belong to the specially curated BraTS dataset. Research using the previous generation of deep learning models indicates significant performance loss on cross‐institutional predictions. Here, we evaluate the cross‐institutional applicability and generalzsability of state‐of‐the‐art deep learning models on new clinical data.MethodsWe train a state‐of‐the‐art 3D U‐Net model on the conventional BraTS dataset comprising low‐ and high‐grade gliomas. We then evaluate the performance of this model for automatic tumor segmentation of brain tumors on in‐house clinical data. This dataset contains MRIs of different tumor types, resolutions, and standardization than those found in the BraTS dataset. Ground truth segmentations to validate the automated segmentation for in‐house clinical data were obtained from expert radiation oncologists.ResultsWe report average Dice scores of 0.764, 0.648, and 0.61 for the whole tumor, tumor core, and enhancing tumor, respectively, in the clinical MRIs. These means are higher than numbers reported previously on same institution and cross‐institution datasets of different origin using different methods. There is no statistically significant difference when comparing the dice scores to the inter‐annotation variability between two expert clinical radiation oncologists. Although performance on the clinical data is lower than on the BraTS data, these numbers indicate that models trained on the BraTS dataset have impressive segmentation performance on previously unseen images obtained at a separate clinical institution. These images differ in the imaging resolutions, standardization pipelines, and tumor types from the BraTS data.ConclusionsState‐of‐the‐art deep learning models demonstrate promising performance on cross‐institutional predictions. They considerably improve on previous models and can transfer knowledge to new types of brain tumors without additional modeling.
Numerical analysis of energy piles in a hypoplastic soft clay under cyclic thermal loading
Authors: Iodice Chiara , Di Laora Raffaele , Tamagnini Claudio , Viggiani Giulia M.B. , Mandolini Alessandro 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThis work is a numerical investigation of the effect of thermally induced volumetric collapse of normally consolidated clays on the performance of energy piles. A series of coupled thermo‐hydro‐mechanical Finite Element simulations were carried out using the commercial software ABAQUS. These examined a single free‐head energy pile embedded in a normally consolidated clay layer subjected to a constant mechanical load and to a number of heating/cooling cycles, to reproduce operating conditions. The soil behaviour was described with two advanced hypoplastic constitutive models for clays, one of which incorporates the thermally induced volumetric collapse using an ad‐hoc algorithm developed by the authors. Both models predict a cyclic accumulation of settlement and excess pore water pressure, especially when the thermal collapse effect is considered. While the excess pore pressure distribution stabilises within a few cycles, the rate of settlement of the pile head does not show any tendency to decrease from one cycle to another. These results are in agreement with data from small scale tests on an isolated energy pile in normally consolidated clay, indicating that the numerical model developed in this study can be used to investigate the complex soil/pile/raft interaction processes occurring in real piled foundations incorporating energy piles.
The raptor lockdown menu—Shifts in prey composition suggest urban peregrine diets are linked to human activities
Authors: Mak Brandon , Drewitt Edward J. A. , Francis Robert A. , Chadwick Michael A. 
Published: February 2023

Abstract

Raptors can thrive in cities where food supplies are abundant and seasonally stable. The availability of such resources may be linked to spatiotemporally predictable human activities generating reliable food subsidies for both raptors and their prey, capable of sustaining large populations. However, raptors may become affected by shifts in human behaviour.

Here, we explore how urban peregrine falcon Falco peregrinus diets respond to changes in human activity levels amidst COVID‐19 pandemic social restrictions. We used online nest cameras to study peregrine diets and reproduction across 31 sites in 27 UK cities over three breeding seasons, including one during lockdown.

Prey composition changed significantly between years, and these differences varied by region. During lockdown, London peregrines took a lower proportion of pigeons (−14.5%), offset by a greater proportion of starlings Sturnus vulgaris (+6.9%) and ring‐necked parakeets Psittacula krameri (+3.2%). In other cities, lockdown diets showed no change for pigeons (+0.3%), starlings comprised a lower prey proportion (−4.3%), while non‐dominant corvid prey (+2.3%) and waterbirds (+2%) had greater importance. Racing pigeon prey also decreased during lockdown, significantly outside London.

However, breeding parameters (number of eggs, hatchlings, fledglings) were not significantly different, suggesting urban peregrines may not have experienced food shortages amidst restrictions.

Thus, our study demonstrates that human activity can influence urban peregrine predation opportunities but is unlikely to be more important than other factors like habitat availability. It also highlights how impacts can vary regionally, which may have been driven by social and geographical differences between the capital and other cities.

Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
Enhancing thermal conductivity of epoxy composites via f‐BN@f‐MgO hybrid fillers assisted by hot pressing
Authors: Wu Xudong , Yu Haojie , Wang Li , Meng Xingguang , Huang Zhikun , Liu Xiaowei , Gong Xiaodan , Liu Jinyi 
Published: February 2023

AbstractHigh thermal conductive polymeric composites are extremely desired for the thermal management of electronic devices due to the rapid development of the modern microelectronic industry. Herein, the functionalized boron nitride (BN) and magnesium oxide (MgO) hybrid fillers (f‐BN@f‐MgO) were synthesized and used to prepare the enhanced thermal conductive epoxy (EP) composites through the hot‐pressing method. The results demonstrated that the covalent binding of BN and MgO in the hybrid fillers reduced the interface thermal resistance effectively between fillers and matrix and the hot‐pressing induced force facilitated the construction of the continuous thermal conduction paths. Consequently, the as‐prepared epoxy composite at 40 wt% hybrid fillers loading had high thermal conductivity (TC) (1.97 W/[m·K]), outstanding insulating performance (6.9 × 1015 Ω cm) and excellent thermal stability. Furthermore, a probable thermal conduction mechanism was proposed to illustrate the high TC of the epoxy composite. Therefore, this study provides a new approach to preparing epoxy composites with outstanding performances.
Comparison of Semen Aesculi species from different geographical origins and horse chestnut based on metabolomics and chemometrics analysis
Authors: Wang Wei‐Wei , Liu Zi‐Wei , Sun Ya‐Zhe , Liu Li‐Fang 
Published: February 2023

AbstractBackgroundSemen Aesculi, a traditional Chinese herbal medicine, has a long history of use for treating chest and abdominal pain with distension. In addition, the horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.) is another species of Aesculus in Europe and has notable clinical significance in alleviating chronic venous insufficiency, hemorrhoids, and postoperative edema. Thus, highlighting the comparative study of Semen Aesculi and horse chestnut may broaden clinical applications.ObjectivesTo conduct a comprehensive comparative analysis on the chemical profiling of these two varieties and determine whether they have equivalent clinical efficacy by integrating plant metabolomics and multivariate statistical methods.MethodsInitially, a comprehensive characterisation was performed using ultra‐performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time‐of‐flight tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC‐QTOF‐MS/MS) platform, and in total 44 active ingredients were identified. Then, untargeted metabolomics combined with principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares‐discriminant analysis (PLS‐DA) was applied for the discrimination of a German species and three official Chinese species. Next, 24 marker compounds responsible for the discrimination of different species were screened out and used to predict the species of unknown samples by genetic algorithm‐optimised support vector machine (GA‐SVM) with a high prediction accuracy. Finally, a heatmap visualisation was employed for clarifying the distribution of the identified active ingredients.ResultsThe three species of Chinese Semen Aesculi showed distinct separation from each other, while European horse chestnut and Aesculus chinensis Bunge were similar in chemical composition.ConclusionsThis work provided experimental evidence for further expanding the clinical application of Chinese Semen Aesculi and promoted the species identification and quality control of Semen Aesculi.
Interplay between nitrogen oxides and ozone in a filamentary dielectric barrier discharge at various frequencies
Authors: Remy Antoine , De Geyter Nathalie , Reniers François 
Published: February 2023

AbstractPursuing more efficient nitrogen fixation in the context of the current climate crisis is of prime importance. The Haber‐Bosch process (NH3 production) accounts for at least 2% of the yearly released greenhouse gases. Alternatively, different atmospheric nonthermal discharges have proven their ability to convert nitrogen and oxygen from the air into nitrogen oxides (NO, NO2, and HNO3 hereafter referred as NOx). Among them, dielectric barrier discharges (DBDs) in N2/O2 are very interesting as they are characterized by microdischarges (MDs) developing into filaments under specific conditions (gap length, voltage, frequency, nature of the dielectrics). In this work, we used a sinusoidal voltage at 4, 12, 17.5, and 30 kHz as a key parameter to manipulate the MDs behaviors in an N2/O2 DBD and tailor the chemistry of the discharge. We characterized the MDs distribution by high‐speed camera imaging. Two different nitrogen emission systems, that is, the second positive system (SPS) and the first negative system (FNS), were used to assess the filament temperature and what we define as the delayed‐glow temperature, respectively. The influence of the filament's distribution on the overall discharge temperature has also been evaluated, by using a novel approach allowing the generation of heat distribution maps directly on a thermosensitive paper exposed to the discharge. Finally, the effect of the filaments on ozone (O3) and NOx production has been monitored by in situ Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR). The DBD can be tuned between homogenously distributed MDs at 4 and 12 kHz to highly localized filaments at 17.5 and 30 kHz. A high filament temperature combined with a cold delayed‐glow is observed at 17.5 kHz while both the filament and the delayed‐glow temperature are high at 30 kHz. Low frequencies lead to heat spreading into the whole discharge volume, while localization of heat along the filament's paths is observed at high frequencies. High‐temperature filaments in the 30 kHz discharge and in the globally heated discharge at low frequencies quickly remove O3 from the discharge and consequently limit the overall NOx production by removing important oxidation pathways. On the contrary, filaments surrounded by cold gas observed at 17.5 kHz allowed to maintain a high concentration of O3 necessary for a faster oxidation of NO and thus increase the HNO3 production, even after 250 s, by avoiding backward reactions.
Comparison of direct and indirect low‐temperature plasma triggering immunogenic cell death in B16F10 melanoma
Authors: Wang Xiangni , Liu Na , Liu Jinren , Cui Yixin , Wang Xiying , Lu Jiajia , Kang Chuchu , Gao Lingge , Shi Xingmin , Zhang Guanjun 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThe potential antitumor application of low‐temperature plasma (LTP) in immunotherapy has attracted wide attention from researchers. The induction of immunogenic cell death (ICD) is one of the possible mechanisms underlying this event. In this work, the immunogenicity of B16F10 melanoma cells treated with direct and indirect LTP protocols was investigated. The results revealed the concentrations of H2O2, NO, and NO2− increased as LTP treatment time was longer, while the cell viability decreased. By comparison, the direct treatment induced a stronger expression of ICD markers. In vivo, the LTP‐treated B16F10 reduced tumor burden in C57BL/6 mice. This study demonstrated both direct and indirect LTP treatments triggered immunogenic cell death and were expected to provide an effective immunotherapy strategy.
Adding the X‐ray Bragg reflection physical process in crystal to the Geant4 Monte Carlo simulation toolkit, part I: reflection from a crystal slab
Authors: Guan Fada , Asai Makoto , Bartkoski Dirk A. , Kleckner Michael , Harel Ze'ev , Salehpour Mohammad 
Published: February 2023

AbstractX‐ray diffraction from a solid crystal shows the wave nature of photons. It is an important electromagnetic (EM) physics process when X‐ray photons interact with a crystal. Bragg diffraction, often called Bragg reflection, is a special case of the general form of X‐ray diffraction, known as Laue diffraction. When the Bragg's law is met, the incident photon beam is reflected from the crystal plane behaving as a specular reflection at the Bragg angle. However, the Bragg reflection physical process has not been integrated into the general‐purpose Monte Carlo simulation toolkit Geant4 for particle physics. In the current study, we developed a new EM physical process class “G4CrystalBraggReflection” and a new EM physical model class “G4DarwinDynamicalModel” for modeling the Bragg reflection physical process within a crystal. We added the Bragg reflection physical process to the EM physics category of Geant4. The preliminary results of photon tracking in a silicon crystal slab have shown the feasibility of simulating the Bragg reflection process in addition to the standard EM processes in the framework of Geant4.
Scoring methodology for comparing the environmental performance of food packaging
Authors: Frojan Julia , Bisquert Pierre , Buche Patrice , Gontard Nathalie , Boone Lieselot , Nhu Thuy Trang , Vermeulen An , Ragaert Peter , Dewulf Jo , Guillard Valérie 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThe objective of this work was to propose an environmental scoring tool for food packaging based on the assessment of three key pillars of packaging sustainability: Materials, Functionality and Post‐Usage fate. A participatory process involving relevant food‐packaging experts and end users was applied to define the relevant criteria for each pillar. Each criterion was translated into a question for users, and the answers are converted into a score between 0 (worst option) and 1 (best option) per pillar. For the Materials pillar, two scores were computed from a streamlined calculation of resource (CEENE) and carbon footprints (IPCC) while for the Functionality and Post‐Usage pillars, scores were computed from Yes/No answers provided by the users. A fourth pillar considers the potential risk of long‐term environmental pollution. Then, the packaging options for the same food are ranked according to the Borda voting rule, considering the individual rankings obtained for the various pillars. The proposed methodology was applied to three commercial (milk and sugar) and non‐commercial (strawberry) packaging case studies. The obtained ranking is discussed with respect to current knowledge in the field. The provided methodology is easy to understand, science based, and combines quantitative and qualitative assessments. The developed tool could be handled by non‐experts in environmental sciences such as food manufacturers, packaging converters and policy makers. The resulting indicators provide answers to user concerns regarding the environmental impacts of food packaging and guide their choice of the most sustainable option. The proposed scoring method considers the functionality of the packaging with respect to preserving food and reducing food waste, which is rarely considered in packaging environmental assessments.
Acute kidney injury following autoimmune hemolytic anemia due to simultaneous use of ciprofloxacin and hydrochlorothiazide: A case report and review of the literature
Authors: Yaghoubi Fatemeh , Tavakoli Farnaz , Dalil Davood , Jamaloo Hoda 
Published: February 2023

AbstractIntroductionRare cases of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AHA) associated with using ciprofloxacin or hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) alone have been reported before. However, simultaneous use of both drugs could lead to a severe clinical condition. This study presents the combination of acute kidney injury (AKI) and AHA following the simultaneous use of ciprofloxacin and HCTZ for three days.Case DescriptionA 42‐year‐old Iranian woman presented to the emergency department with symptoms of fatigue, lethargy, nausea and vomiting, ataxia, oliguria, dark urine, and jaundice. The patient reported using HCTZ due to high blood pressure and ciprofloxacin for a urinary tract infection three days before presentation. Early laboratory findings revealed hemolytic anemia with a hemoglobin of 7 g/dl, the strongly positive direct and indirect Coombs test, high level of lactate dehydrogenase (820 IU/L), and hyperbilirubinemia (total: 3 mg/dL and direct: 1.2 mg/dL). Furthermore, hyperkalemia (5.2 mEq/L), hyperphosphatemia (6.2 mg/dL), high levels of BUN (100 mg/dL), and creatinine rise (6.8 mg/dL) were found. Urine analysis showed 2+ blood, 4‐6 red blood cells, and cola‐colored urine. Based on the findings, drug‐induced AHA, followed by AKI, was diagnosed. Following, the drugs were stopped and steroid therapy was initiated. The patient underwent four sessions of hemodialysis to improve the AKI.ConclusionHealthcare providers should be aware of the life‐threatening adverse effects of commonly used drugs such as ciprofloxacin or HCTZ. The timely diagnosis of the offending drugs leads to avoiding the persistence of the risk factor and the deterioration of the patient's clinical condition.
Through a glass, darkly: Gazing into the field of carers in academia
Authors: Moreau Marie‐Pierre , Wheeler Lucie 
Published: February 2023

AbstractCarers in academia is a young but growing field, which has quickly expanded since the 2000s and has gained new momentum during the Covid‐19 pandemic and the accompanying disruptions of personal and professional lives. It is also one which, through its associations with reproductive and women's work, remains relatively marginalised. This article examines the English language research literature on carers in academia. Drawing upon feminist poststructuralist theories, we contend that, because the literature is not ‘out of the discourses’ of care and academic work and, instead, contributes to construct the objects it speaks of, the state of the field is a matter of cognitive and social justice. Following the presentation of the methodological and theoretical frameworks and a discussion of the authorial voices framing the field, we consider the relative in/visibilities of various groups of care/rs. Drawing on a review which identified 158 relevant texts, we find research in the field broadly ignores male, disabled, BME and LGBTQ+ carers, as well as ancillary workers and professional groups other than academics, and forms of care work other than parenting healthy, abled children. We then move to discussing the liminalities of care, noting the absence of studies of care work in academia related to non‐humans and to end of life. We conclude by pointing out the need for further reflexivity in terms of how processes of knowledge production include and exclude in ways that are complex and fluid.
Implementation of adaptive fault‐tolerant tracking control for robot manipulators with integral sliding mode
Authors: Liu Linzhi , Zhang Liyin , Hou Yinlong , Tang Dafeng , Liu Hui 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThis article presents an adaptive fault‐tolerant tracking control for uncertain robot manipulators. By fully considering the effects of uncertainties and actuator effectiveness faults, an integral sliding manifold with a novel auxiliary function is first proposed for tracking control of robot manipulators. Then, a novel fault‐tolerant tracking control based on the proposed integral sliding manifold is developed to acquire robustness in both reaching and sliding phase. In order to further reduce the effects of uncertainties on tracking performance, an adaptive law is performed to estimate unknown parameters of the upper bounded uncertainties, which further reduces the control torque input in case of the similar tracking performance. The stability of the proposed approaches is accomplished by Lyapunov stable theory and homogeneous technique. The key contributions of the proposed approach are as follows: (i) the reaching phase of sliding mode control is removed completely in the control design and then the tracking system enters the sliding mode from the initial states; (ii) the nominal control term is eliminated in the design of integral sliding surface and then the algebraic loop problem is also avoided in the proposed approach for robot manipulators; (iii) the simple control structure with an adaptive law is obtained better tracking performance by utilizing lower control torque input and then the effects of time‐delay and computational burden are also restrained from the proposed approach. Simulation and experimental comparisons have been accomplished for verifying the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
The double negative approach to sustainability
Authors: Feitelson Eran , Stern Eliahu 
Published: February 2023

AbstractThirty years after Bruntland there is still no consensus on how sustainability should be defined. This is due to the multiplicity of value laden meanings, tradeoffs between goals, the political aspects of goal prioritization and the variance over time and place in perceptions of challenges. In the recent two decades, a double negative approach has gradually been accepted. That is, rather than defining what sustainability is, the emphasis has shifted to definitions of what is unsustainable, thereby identifying safe and just spaces, which can be viewed as sustainable states. In this paper, we review the evolution of the double negative approach, arguing that it can be generalized. We show this approach is scalable and adaptable, as it allows for the introduction of additional dimensions as a function of scale, sector and setting. To operationalize this approach we propose a method to identify red lines that serve as benchmarks for safe and just spaces.