bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Using high-resolution LiDAR-derived canopy structure and topography to characterise hibernaculum locations of the hazel dormouse
Authors: Gubert Leonardo , Mathews Fiona , McDonald Robbie , Wilson Robert J. , Foppen Ruud P. B. , Lemmers Pim , La Haye Maurice , Bennie Jonathan 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe hazel dormouse is predominantly an arboreal species that moves down to the ground to hibernate in the autumn in temperate parts of its distributional ranges at locations not yet well understood. The main objective of this study is to test whether environmental characteristics surrounding hazel dormouse hibernacula can be identified using high-resolution remote sensing and data collected in situ. To achieve this, remotely sensed variables, including canopy height and cover, topographic slope, sky view, solar radiation and cold air drainage, were modelled around 83 dormouse hibernacula in England (n = 62) and the Netherlands (n = 21), and environmental characteristics that may be favoured by pre-hibernating dormice were identified. Data on leaf litter depth, temperature, canopy cover and distance to the nearest tree were collected in situ and analysed at hibernaculum locations in England. The findings indicated that remotely sensed data were effective in identifying attributes surrounding the locations of dormouse hibernacula and when compared to in situ information, provided more conclusive results. This study suggests that remotely sensed topographic slope, canopy height and sky view have an influence on hazel dormice choosing suitable locations to hibernate; whilst in situ data suggested that average daily mean temperature at the hibernaculum may also have an effect. Remote sensing proved capable of identifying localised environmental characteristics in the wider landscape that may be important for hibernating dormice. This study proposes that this method can provide a novel progression from habitat modelling to conservation management for the hazel dormouse, as well as other species using habitats where topography and vegetation structure influence fine-resolution favourability.
Improving unified named entity recognition by incorporating mention relevance
Authors: Ji Lijun , Yan Danfeng , Cheng Zhuoran , Song Yan 
Published: August 2023

AbstractNamed entity recognition (NER) is a fundamental task for natural language processing, which aims to detect mentions of real-world entities from text and classifying them into predefined types. Recently, research on overlapped and discontinuous named entity recognition has received increasing attention. However, we note that few studies have considered both overlapped and discontinuous entities. In this paper, we proposed a novel sequence-to-sequence model that is capable of recognizing both overlapped and discontinuous entities based on machine reading comprehension. The model utilizes machine reading comprehension formulation to encode significant inferior information about the entity category. Then input sequence passes through a question-answering model to predict the mention relevance of the given source sentences to the query. Finally, we incorporate the mention relevance into the BART-based generation model. We conducted experiments on three type of NER datasets to show the generality of our model. The experimental results demonstrate that our model beats almost all the current top-performing baselines achieves a vast amount of performance boost over current SOTA models on overlapped and discontinuous NER datasets.
Degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis: review of current classifications and proposal of a novel classification system
Authors: Rangwalla Khuzaima , Filley Anna , El Naga Ashraf , Gendelberg David , Baldwin Avionna , Maziad Ali , Arora Ayush , Wague Aboubacar , O’Donnell Jennifer , Chryssikos Timothy , Kasir Rafid , Shah Jay , Theologis Alekos , Tan Lee , Mummaneni Praveen , Alamin Todd , Berven Sigurd H. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Purpose
To review existing classification systems for degenerative spondylolisthesis (DS), propose a novel classification designed to better address clinically relevant radiographic and clinical features of disease, and determine the inter- and intraobserver reliability of this new system for classifying DS.

Methods
The proposed classification system includes four components: 1) segmental dynamic instability, 2) location of spinal stenosis, 3) sagittal alignment, and 4) primary clinical presentation. To establish the reliability of this system, 12 observers graded 10 premarked test cases twice each. Kappa values were calculated to assess the inter- and intraobserver reliability for each of the four components separately.

Results
Interobserver reliability for dynamic instability, location of stenosis, sagittal alignment, and clinical presentation was 0.94, 0.80, 0.87, and 1.00, respectively. Intraobserver reliability for dynamic instability, location of stenosis, sagittal alignment, and clinical presentation were 0.91, 0.88, 0.87, and 0.97, respectively.

Conclusion
The UCSF DS classification system provides a novel framework for assessing DS based on radiographic and clinical parameters with established implications for surgical treatment. The almost perfect interobserver and intraobserver reliability observed for all components of this system demonstrates that it is simple and easy to use. In clinical practice, this classification may allow subclassification of similar patients into groups that may benefit from distinct treatment strategies, leading to the development of algorithms to help guide selection of an optimal surgical approach. Future work will focus on the clinical validation of this system, with the goal of providing for more evidence-based, standardized approaches to treatment and improved outcomes for patients with DS.
The association between sleep duration and muscle sympathetic nerve activity
Authors: Tai Bryan W. S. , Dawood Tye , Macefield Vaughan G. , Yiallourou Stephanie R. 
Published: August 2023

Abstract
Purpose
Sleep duration is associated with risk of hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. It is thought that shorter sleep increases sympathetic activity. However, most studies are based on acute experimental sleep deprivation that have produced conflicting results. Furthermore, there are limited data available on habitual sleep duration and gold-standard measures of sympathetic activation. Hence, this study aimed to assess the association between habitual sleep duration and muscle sympathetic nerve activity.

Methods
Twenty-four participants aged ≥ 18 years were included in the study. Sleep was assessed using at-home 7-day/night actigraphy (ActiGraph™ GT3X-BT) and sleep questionnaires (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Epworth Sleepiness Scale). Microelectrode recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity were obtained from the common peroneal nerve. Participants were categorised into shorter or longer sleep duration groups using a median split of self-report and actigraphy sleep measures.

Results
Compared to longer sleepers, shorter sleepers averaged 99 ± 40 min and 82 ± 40 min less sleep per night as assessed by self-report and objective measures, respectively. There were no differences in age (38 ± 18 vs 39 ± 21 years), sex (5 male, 7 female vs 6 male, 6 female), or body mass index (23 ± 3 vs 22 ± 3 kg/m2) between shorter and longer sleepers. Expressed as burst frequency, muscle sympathetic nerve activity was higher in shorter versus longer sleepers for both self-report (39.4 ± 12.9 vs 28.4 ± 8.5 bursts/min, p = 0.019) and objective (37.9 ± 12.4 vs 28.1 ± 8.8 bursts/min, p = 0.036) sleep duration.

Conclusions
Shorter sleep duration assessed in a home setting was associated with higher muscle sympathetic nerve activity. Sympathetic overactivity may underlie the association between short sleep and hypertension.
Recycling food and agriculture by-products to mitigate climate change: a review
Authors: Rashwan Ahmed K. , Bai Haotian , Osman Ahmed I. , Eltohamy Kamel M. , Chen Zhonghao , Younis Hala A. , Al-Fatesh Ahmed , Rooney David W. , Yap Pow-Seng 
Published: August 2023

AbstractFood loss and waste is a major issue affecting food security, environmental pollution, producer profitability, consumer prices, and climate change. About 1.3 billion tons of food products are yearly lost globally, with China producing approximately 20 million tons of soybean dregs annually. Here, we review food and agricultural byproducts with emphasis on the strategies to convert this waste into valuable materials. Byproducts can be used for animal and plant nutrition, biogas production, food, extraction of oils and bioactive substances, and production of vinegar, wine, edible coatings and organic fertilizers. For instance, bioactive compounds represent approximately 8–20% of apple pomace, 5–17% of orange peel, 10–25% of grape seeds, 3–15% of pomegranate peel, and 2–13% of date palm seeds. Similarly, the pharmaceutical industry uses approximately 6.5% of the total output of gelatin derived from fish bones and animal skin. Animals fed with pomegranate peel and olive pomace improved the concentration of deoxyribonucleic acid and protein, the litter size, the milk yield, and nest characteristics. Biogas production amounts to 57.1% using soybean residue, 53.7% using papaya peel, and 49.1% using sugarcane bagasse.
No interaction of fluctuating or constant temperature and virulence of entomopathogenic fungi in two noctuid species
Authors: Meissle Michael , Grabenweger Giselher , Romeis Jörg 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe potential interaction of fluctuating temperature and the virulence of entomopathogens has implications for biological control. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of entomopathogenic fungi (Metarhizium brunneum, Beauveria bassiana) on noctuid pest caterpillars (Spodoptera littoralis, Heliothis virescens) under constant and fluctuating temperature regimes. The results revealed similar virulence of entomopathogenic fungi under fluctuating temperature (20–30 °C or 15–35 °C) compared with constant temperature (25 °C). Experiments with cotton leaves as food confirmed that S. littoralis was less susceptible to entomopathogenic fungi (M. brunneum) than H. virescens. Results of additional experiments with H. virescens larvae, B. bassiana, and artificial diet were comparable to experiments with M. brunneum and cotton leaves, despite that susceptibility to B. bassiana was three orders of magnitude lower than to M. brunneum. The fact that both fungus species showed reduced growth on medium under fluctuating temperatures when compared to constant temperatures did not translate to an interaction of temperature regime and the virulence against noctuid larvae. Our study implies that virulence studies with noctuid larvae under constant temperatures using plant material or artificial diet might be fair models also for environments with fluctuating temperatures.
Steady Bi-dimensional Crossflow Plasma Jets in Turbulent Channel Flows
Authors: Serpieri Jacopo , Hehner Marc T. , Kriegseis Jochen 
Published: August 2023

AbstractIn this study, the possibility of reducing the friction drag exerted by turbulent flows by means of wall-mounted plasma actuators is experimentally investigated. Two large plasma actuators (PAs) arrays were operated in a channel-flow facility. They were conceived to replicate, the flow control approach investigated by Mahfoze and Laizet (Int J Heat Fluid Flow 66:83–94, 2017) by means of numerical simulations. Namely, steady and relatively largely spaced (378 wall units) actuators were lain down such to induce stationary crossflow-directed fluid motions. Different actuation parameters (actuators’ configurations and supplied voltages) and flow Reynolds numbers were tested. Flow static pressure measurements were performed along with the actuators mechanical and electrical characterization. The resulting values of drag manipulation and actuation efficiency are reported. The tested flow actuation led to overall higher values of flow friction drag, whereas values overcoming the value of 30% of drag reduction were measured at the more downstream actuation positions. The discrepancy with the above reference is deemed to be mainly due to the finite flow actuation hereby considered. Nevertheless, a slightly different Reynolds number was here considered while the actuators effect was measured to be considerably weaker.
RUN-AS: a novel approach to annotate news reliability for disinformation detection
Authors: Bonet-Jover Alba , Sepúlveda-Torres Robiert , Saquete Estela , Martínez-Barco Patricio , Nieto-Pérez Mario 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe development of the internet and digital technologies has inadvertently facilitated the huge disinformation problem that faces society nowadays. This phenomenon impacts ideologies, politics and public health. The 2016 US presidential elections, the Brexit referendum, the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war have been ideal scenarios for the spreading of fake news and hoaxes, due to the massive dissemination of information. Assuming that fake news mixes reliable and unreliable information, we propose RUN-AS (Reliable and Unreliable Annotation Scheme), a fine-grained annotation scheme that enables the labelling of the structural parts and essential content elements of a news item and their classification into Reliable and Unreliable. This annotation proposal aims to detect disinformation patterns in text and to classify the global reliability of news. To this end, a dataset in Spanish was built and manually annotated with RUN-AS and several experiments using this dataset were conducted to validate the annotation scheme by using Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL) algorithms. The experiments evidence the validity of the annotation scheme proposed, obtaining the best $$\textbf F_\textbf 1\textbf m$$

F
1

m

, 0.948, with the Decision Tree algorithm.
Estimation of the non-linear parameter in Generalised Diversity-Interactions models is unaffected by change in structure of the interaction terms
Authors: Vishwakarma Rishabh , Byrne Laura , Connolly John , de Andrade Moral Rafael , Brophy Caroline 
Published: August 2023

AbstractMany approaches for modelling the biodiversity and ecosystem function (BEF) relationship have been developed over recent decades. Diversity-Interactions modelling, a regression-based approach, models the BEF relationship by expressing ecosystem functions as a linear combination of species-specific effects, species’ proportions, and species’ interactions. The species interactions in a Diversity-Interactions model can take different forms (e.g., a unique interaction term for each pair of species, or a single interaction term foranypair of species) and may include a non-linear parameter ($$\theta$$θ) as an exponent to the species interactions to capture non-linear relationships, giving rise to Generalized Diversity-Interactions (GDI) modelling. The structure of the interaction terms describes the underlying biological processes in the ecosystem, while the value of$$\theta$$θcan determine the shape of the BEF relationship. When fitting GDI models, it is unclear whether one should choose the interaction structure first and then estimate θ, or vice versa. It is also unknown whether the estimate of$$\theta$$θis robust to changes in the structure of the linear interaction terms of the model. Using a simulation study, we test the robustness of$$\theta$$θand compare multiple model selection approaches to identify an optimal and computationally efficient model selection procedure for GDI models. Results show that the estimate of$$\theta$$θis robust and remains unbiased regardless of changes in the underlying structure of interaction terms, and that the most efficient model selection procedure is to first estimate$$\theta$$θfor one interaction structure and then reuse this estimate for the other interaction structures.
Law, human capital, and the emergence of free city-states in medieval Italy
Authors: Belloc Marianna , Drago Francesco , Galbiati Roberto 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThis paper considers how the foundation of the first universities in Italy affected the emergence of free city-states (the communes) in the period 1000–1300 CE. Exploiting a panel dataset of 121 cities, we show that the time variant distance of the sample cities to their closest university is inversely correlated with the probability of their transition to communal institutions. Our evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that the medieval universities provided the useful juridical knowledge and skills for building legal capacity and developing communal institutions.
Enhancing active model learning with equivalence checking using simulation relations
Authors: Yogananda Jeppu Natasha , Melham Tom , Kroening Daniel 
Published: August 2023

AbstractWe present a new active model-learning approach to generating abstractions of a system from its execution traces. Given a system and a set of observables to collect execution traces, the abstraction produced by the algorithm is guaranteed to admit all system traces over the set of observables. To achieve this, the approach uses a pluggable model-learning component that can generate a model from a given set of traces. Conditions that encode a certain completeness hypothesis, formulated based on simulation relations, are then extracted from the abstraction under construction and used to evaluate its degree of completeness. The extracted conditions are sufficient to prove model completeness but not necessary. If all conditions are true, the algorithm terminates, returning a system overapproximation. A condition falsification may not necessarily correspond to missing system behaviour in the abstraction. This is resolved by applying model checking to determine whether it corresponds to any concrete system trace. If so, the new concrete trace is used to iteratively learn new abstractions, until all extracted completeness conditions are true. To evaluate the approach, we reverse-engineer a set of publicly available Simulink Stateflow models from their C implementations. Our algorithm generates an equivalent model for 98% of the Stateflow models.
The global impact of public and private funding on cultural and economic movie success: evidence from German film funding
Authors: Weber Nicolas R. , Marchand André , Kunz Reinhard E. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractEntertainment products such as movies are risky investments but contribute to societal welfare through their cultural and economic value. Therefore, movie production receives financial support from both private investors and public institutions, in the form of subsidies. Noting the ongoing debate about the actual impact of such funding, in research and practice, this study reviews a large sample of 1984 movies (co-) produced in Germany and released to cinemas over a 10-year period. The findings demonstrate the positive impact of public funding on movie success: indirectly by attracting private funding, and directly by increasing local and global box office revenues. However, public funding does not directly improve movie quality, which contradicts one of the aims of public funding. The analyses reveal different correlations and interaction effects with regard to financing and quality signals generated by the cast, directors, and producers of movies. Public funding emerges not only as relevant for the economic success of movies but also as a factor that supports their cultural contribution.
Process Evaluation of Food Game: A Gamified School-Based Intervention to Promote Healthier and More Sustainable Dietary Choices
Authors: Aresi Giovanni , Giampaolo Martina , Chiavegatti Benedetta , Marta Elena 
Published: August 2023

AbstractFood Game is a gamified school-based intervention that aims to promote healthier dietary choices (i.e., adherence to the Mediterranean diet) and more sustainable behaviors among high school students in an urban area in Northern Italy. The program consists of an offline and online competition in which groups of students participate in peer-led activities to design and communicate products promoting health and sustainability. This study aimed to examine how the program works in practice, understand its mechanisms of change and assess any variation in student outcomes. A mixed methods process evaluation was conducted. Students completed a three-wave longitudinal survey and participated in focus groups. Program staff and teachers were also interviewed. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses indicate that Food Game?s gamification strategy was successful in engaging students, who felt stimulated by the game, its embedded competition and the self-organized group work. Although no significant change in adherence to the Mediterranean diet was found, pro-environmental behaviors, attitudes and perceived peer approval on healthy eating increased over time. Findings provide preliminary support for Food Game as an acceptable and engaging intervention though there is yet not sufficient evidence that it is also promotes healthier and more sustainable behaviors. The results contribute to the limited evidence base for offline gamified school-based interventions and offer insight into the applicability of the gamification approach as a key motivational strategy in other prevention settings and contexts. Suggestions on how to strengthen the program include dosage increase and addition of activities to promote change on relevant school and community factors.
Impact of Equity in Social Protection Spending on Income Poverty and Inequality
Authors: Popova Daria 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThis study aims to investigate whether higher equity in government social protection spending strongly predicts positive changes in income poverty and inequality. Our approach was to regress the measures of absolute poverty and inequality on the indicators of equity in social protection spending at the country level, controlling for the level of spending and the country wealth measured by per capita GDP. For that purpose, we have compiled a dataset of 535 observations from 101 countries over years 1998–2017, including 199 observations for 70 low- and middle-income countries from Europe, Asia, North and South America, and Africa. Our findings support the proposition that equity in social spending (measured by the share of social protection spending going to the bottom quintile) is a significant and strong predictor of improved distributional outcomes (poverty measured at Int$1.90 a day and inequality measured by the Gini index). Moreover, in low- and middle-income countries in our sample the poverty and inequality reducing impact of this equity measure is stronger than in the sample including all countries. The presence of a significant gap in equity of social protection spending between the high-income countries and the rest of countries included in the study signifies that there is a large potential in improving equity in social protection spending in low- and middle-income countries. Social protection reforms in these countries should be focused on extending the coverage of social protection programs and improving access to social protection for the poorest segments of the population.