bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Deletion of the Npr3 gene increases severity of acute lung injury in obese mice
Authors: Guarino Brianna D. , Dado Christopher D. , Kumar Ashok , Braza Julie , Harrington Elizabeth O. , Klinger James R. 
Published: July 2023

AbstractPrevious studies have shown that atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) attenuates agonist‐induced pulmonary edema and that this effect may be mediated in part by the ANP clearance receptor, natriuretic peptide receptor‐C (NPR‐C). Obesity has been associated with lower plasma ANP levels due to increased expression of NPR‐C, and with decreased severity of acute lung injury (ALI). Therefore, we hypothesized that increased expression of NPR‐C may attenuate ALI severity in obese populations. To test this, we examined ALI in Npr3 wild‐type (WT) and knockout (KO) mice fed normal chow (NC) or high‐fat diets (HFD). After 12 weeks, ALI was induced with intra‐tracheal administration of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain 103 (PA103) or saline. ALI severity was determined by lung wet‐to‐dry ratio (W/D) along with measurement of cell count, protein levels from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction was performed on whole lung to measure cytokine/chemokine and Npr3 mRNA expression. ANP levels were measured from plasma. PA103 caused ALI as determined by significant increases in W/D, BALF protein concentration, and whole lung cytokine/chemokine expression. PA103 increased Npr3 expression in the lungs of wild‐type (WT) mice regardless of diet. There was a nonsignificant trend toward increased Npr3 expression in the lungs of WT mice fed HFD versus NC. No differences in ALI were seen between Npr3 knockout (KO) mice and WT‐fed NC, but Npr3 KO mice fed HFD had a significantly greater W/D and BALF protein concentration than WT mice fed HFD. These findings support the hypothesis that Npr3 may help protect against ALI in obesity.
Robot‐assisted minimally invasive liver surgery in elderly patients: A single‐centre, propensity score‐ matched study
Authors: Fukumori Daisuke , Tschuor Christoph , Penninga Luit , Hillingsø Jens , Svendsen Lars Bo , Larsen Peter Nørgaard 
Published: July 2023

AbstractBackgroundThe aim was to evaluate the short‐term results of robot‐assisted minimally invasive liver surgery(Robot‐assisted liver surgery (RLS)) in elderly patients.MethodsBetween November 2019 and July 2022, RLS was performed on 100 consecutive patients. Patients were divided into a middle‐aged group (Group1:＜75years) and an elderly group(Group2:≧75years). A propensity score matching(PSM) analysis with a ratio of 1:1 was performed.ResultsAfter PSM, there were 28 patients in each group. There were no significant differences in clinicopathologic characteristics, type of resection and intraoperative variables. Postoperative complications and length of hospital stay were comparable in Groups 1 and 2. In a comparison between minor and major hepatectomy in Group 2, there were no significant differences in any of the factors.ConclusionsThe study showed that RLS for patients over 75years had similar short‐term outcomes as for younger patients down to middle‐aged, especially the risk of perioperative complications was comparable.
Effect of the type of posttensioning anchorage on the behavior of anchorage zones
Authors: Marchão Carla , Marreiros Rui , Ribeiro Filipe 
Published: July 2023

AbstractIn order to study the cracking behavior and the bearing strength of anchorage zones of posttensioning tendons using different types of anchorages, an experimental research has been performed using concrete prismatic specimens. The studied variables included the type of anchorage and the cross‐section dimensions, so the experimental program included eight prismatic specimens, four with 265 mm × 265 mm × 580 mm and four with 300 mm × 300 mm × 600 mm, reinforced with spirals and stirrups, and with two different types of anchorages. The concrete strains were measured to monitor cracking and to assess the relation between all the different variables involved on cracking and on the ultimate loads. The experimental cracking and ultimate loads were compared with models found in the literature. From the presented work, it can be concluded that the use of simple anchorage bearing plates leads to higher cracking and failure loads. This difference is more significant for cases with smaller cross‐sections.
Depth and hierarchies in the predictive brain: From reaction to action
Authors: Muzik Otto , Diwadkar Vaibhav A. 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThe human brain is a prediction device, a view widely accepted in neuroscience. Prediction is a rational and efficient response that relies on the brain's ability to create and employ generative models to optimize actions over unpredictable time horizons. We argue that extant predictive frameworks while compelling, have not explicitly accounted for the following: (a) The brain's generative models must incorporate predictive depth (i.e., rely on degrees of abstraction to enable predictions over different time horizons); (b) The brain's implementation scheme to account for varying predictive depth relies on dynamic predictive hierarchies formed using the brain's functional networks. We show that these hierarchies incorporate the ascending processes (driven by reaction), and the descending processes (related to prediction), eventually driving action. Because they are dynamically formed, predictive hierarchies allow the brain to address predictive challenges in virtually any domain. By way of application, we explain how this framework can be applied to heretofore poorly understood processes of human behavioral thermoregulation. Although mammalian thermoregulation has been closely tied to deep brain structures engaged in autonomic control such as the hypothalamus, this narrow conception does not translate well to humans. In addition to profound differences in evolutionary history, the human brain is bestowed with substantially increased functional complexity (that itself emerged from evolutionary differences). We argue that behavioral thermoregulation in humans is possible because, (a) ascending signals shaped by homeostatic sub‐networks, interject with (b) descending signals related to prediction (implemented in interoceptive and executive sub‐networks) and action (implemented in executive sub‐networks). These sub‐networks cumulatively form a predictive hierarchy for human thermoregulation, potentiating a range of viable responses to known and unknown thermoregulatory challenges. We suggest that our proposed extensions to the predictive framework provide a set of generalizable principles that can further illuminate the many facets of the predictive brain.This article is categorized under:
Neuroscience > Behavior
Philosophy > Action
Psychology > Prediction
Operations
Authors: Slama Dirk 
Published: July 2023

AbstractProviding efficient and effective service operations will be a key success factor for any AIoT-enabled product or solution. Depending on the specific nature of the system, service operations setup can potentially take very different shapes. For complex, industrial assets, service operations will most likely include direct customer interactions via a call center, as well as on-site maintenance or repair services. For mass-market consumer products, service operations will most likely be highly automated and provide only limited field services, if any. Most Field Service Management (FSM) organizations will be able to greatly benefit from AIoT-enabled features, which provide real-time access and advanced analytics of asset-related field data, or even support for predictive or preventive maintenance services.
Hardware 101
Authors: Slama Dirk 
Published: July 2023

AbstractAIoT hardware includes all the physical components required to build an AIoT product or retrofit solution. For the retrofit solution, this will usually include sensors, as well as edge and cloud (or on-premises) compute resources. Most retrofit solutions will not include actuators. Products, on the other hand, must not only provide IT-related hardware plus sensors, actuators and AI compute resources but also all the mechanical components for the product, as well as the product chassis, body and housing. Finally, both AIoT products and solutions will usually require specialized IT hardware for AI inferencing and AI training. The concepts developed for Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) will also be of relevance here. The following will look at both the AIoT product and retrofit solution perspective before discussing details of the hardware requirements and options for edge/cloud/AI (Fig. 6.1).
Australia
Authors: Stewart Miranda 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThis chapter discusses Australia’s unique brand of fiscal federalism, which has evolved under a Constitution that is more than 120 years old. While Australia’s fiscal federation is stable, Australia has high vertical fiscal imbalance with strong centralisation of taxing power and revenues at the national level, while many expenditure and governance responsibilities remain with subnational States and Territories. Vertical equalisation is delivered through unconditional and conditional grants from the federal government to subnational governments, and horizontal equalisation by a formula based on taxing capacity and spending needs, combined with conditional grants, politicised in various ways. The Chapter recommends reform to establish a new fiscal bargain supporting sharing of income tax and GST by both levels of government and to update fiscal arrangements to recognise and support Indigenous sovereignty self-government in the federation.
Spain
Authors: López-Laborda Julio , Martínez-Vázquez Jorge , Monasterio-Escudero Carlos 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThis chapter reviews the main features of the Spanish model of fiscal federalism and its evolution over the last four decades. It begins by describing the allocation of expenditure responsibilities among the three levels of government in the country: central, regional and local. The allocation of taxes between levels of government is then presented, followed by a discussion of the role of intergovernmental transfers, with particular reference to equalization transfers. Next, we address the macroeconomic coordination and control of the subcentral deficit and indebtedness. The chapter concludes by setting out the challenges for fiscal federalism in Spain in the coming years.
Circular Business Models for SMEs in the Fishing Gear Industry
Authors: Al Ahmed Sardar Wasi Uddin , Glavee-Geo Richard , Grimstad Siv Marina Flø , Engeseth Markus Andre Hånes 
Published: July 2023

AbstractRecycling plastic materials including fishing nets, ropes, and components (FNRCs) through the business models of SMEs and microenterprises can ensure both economic and environmental benefits. The aim of this chapter is to explore how a circular business model for SMEs in the fishing gear industry can be realised and to provide increased understanding of the circular business model processes. The study examined the development of circular business models and practices of circularity by companies in the fishing gear industry. We applied a qualitative research design and developed frameworks to evaluate the practice of circularity. The qualitative analysis and findings of the cases provided unique insights on the level of circularity of SMEs within the marine plastic recycling value chain in the north-western part of Norway. The main outcome of this research was the proposed framework for a circular business model for the fishing gear industry.
Opportunities for Circular Business Models and Circular Design Related to Fishing Gear
Authors: Charter Martin 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThere is growing interest in circularity and fishing gear-driven emerging legislative, standards, NGO interest and other stakeholder pressures. At present, there has been little focus on new circular business models (CBM) or circular design of fishing gear. The chapter will overview fishing gear, highlight key legislation and introduce CBMs and circular design in this context providing: (i) description of fishing gear used for fishing, (ii) European Commission (EC) Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive and the related Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) legislation as it relates to waste fishing gear, (iii) opportunities for more circular business models (CBMs) from fishing gear and (iv) design strategies to the improve the product circularity of fishing gear (circular design).
Homomorphic Encryption
Authors: Hubaux Jean-Pierre 
Published: July 2023

AbstractHomomorphic encryption is a technique in cryptography that allows for performing operations on encrypted data. The encrypted result can then be decrypted to obtain the operation result, making it possible to perform computations on sensitive data without revealing it. homomorphic encryption was first proved possible in 2009, and since then, many improvements have been made to increase performance, though it still has limitations. With recent advancements and the increasing demand for data protection, homomorphic encryption is expected to become more relevant and be used in multiple industries. In Switzerland, IBM, Inpher, and Tune Insight are among the companies that have developed homomorphic libraries and offer solutions for secure computation. These solutions can provide better protection and reduce the data vulnerability entrusted to companies and governments.
Epilogue: Asylum Law and Linguistic Fragility
Authors: Gill Nick 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThis paper provides an overview of the contributions of the special issue, using these to arrive at an inventory of five ways in which we can critically approach the role of legal language in the systems of asylum determination in rich countries. It also draws out a series of broader lessons from the special issue and concludes by reflecting on the influence of scholarly work amongst the judges, lawyers, interpreters, and others involved in administering asylum processes.
Adapted forest management to improve the potential for reindeer husbandry in Northern Sweden
Authors: Eggers Jeannette , Roos Ulrika , Lind Torgny , Sandström Per 
Published: July 2023

Abstract
In northern Sweden, improvements of grazing conditions are necessary for the continuation of traditional, natural pasture-based reindeer husbandry. Ground and tree lichen constitute the main fodder resource for reindeer during winter but have reached critically low levels. Using a forest decision support system, we prescribe adapted forest management to improve the preconditions for reindeer husbandry and compare outcomes with the continuation of current forest management. We found that adapted management increases the forest area with ground lichen habitat by 22% already within 15 years, while a continuation of current management would result in a further decrease in ground lichen. Tree lichen habitat can be retained and increased in all scenarios, which is important in a changing climate. Compared to a continuation of current practices, adapted management with significantly improved conditions for lichen resulted in a decrease in net revenues from wood production by 11–22%.
The Scope of City Autonomy in the Constitutions of the Netherlands and the United Kingdom: Informality, Subsidiarity, Identity
Authors: Geertjes Gert Jan A. 
Published: July 2023

AbstractOne of the main issues in the debate on urban constitutionalism is how constitutions can recognize the increasingly important role of cities in relation to the nation-state. This paper examines what we talk about when we talk about city autonomy. This is a pressing question, particularly in the context of European unitary states. This paper pays special attention to the context of two of such states, namely the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (especially England). First, it explores the notion of subsidiarity, which implies that consideration should be given to the distinctiveness of the city as regards the allocation of power to the central and regional levels respectively. However, this idea in itself cannot justify the case for city autonomy, as the claim that the attribution of autonomous powers to cities may improve the quality of decision-making in the state as a whole needs additional empirical evidence. Second, it investigates the concept of city autonomy by exploring the fuzziness of the notion of the city. In addition, it introduces the concept of ‘spatial identities’ in order to explain the interdependence of (large) cities and their surrounding (rural) areas. Lastly, it concludes that if the importance of cities as constitutional actors is to be increased, it should be done so in an informal way rather than by the introduction of formal constitutional arrangements both from a pragmatic and a normative perspective.
Synthetic Generation of Trip Data: The Case of Smart Card
Authors: Kieu Minh , Meredith Iris Brighid , Raith Andrea 
Published: July 2023

AbstractWhile individual data are key for epidemiology, social simulation, economics, and various other fields, data owners are increasingly required to protect the personally identifiable information from data. Simple data de-identification or ‘data masking’ measures are limited, because they both reduce the utility of the dataset and are not sufficient to protect individual confidentiality. This paper provides detail on the creation of a synthetic trip data in transportation, with the Smart Card data as the case study. It discusses and compares two machine learning methods, a Generative Adversarial Network and a Bayesian Network for modelling and generating this dataset. The synthetic data retain important utility of the real dataset, e.g., the origin, destination, and time of travel, while each data point does not represent a real trip in the original dataset. The synthetic dataset can be used in various applications, including microsimulation of public transport systems, analysing travel behaviours, model predictive control of transit flows, or evaluation of transport policies.
Detection and substrate portrayal on the serum phenoloxidase activity from the grub of rhinoceros beetle,Oryctes rhinoceros
Authors: Marieshwari Balashanmuga Nehru , Prithi Chandran , Nivetha Ramanathan , Bhuvaragavan Sreeramulu , Sundaram Janarthanan 
Published: July 2023

AbstractPhenoloxidase (PO) is a significant biomolecule involved in humoral defence mechanism of invertebrates. Spontaneous melanization of insect haemolymph is the major hinderance for studying PO activity, as haemolymph was collected devoid of phenylthiourea. In the study, no visible melanization was observed in crude serum from the grub ofOryctes rhinocerosup to 30 min of incubation amongst crude haemolymph, diluted haemolymph, crude serum and diluted serum that were subjected to visual observation for spontaneous melanization reaction. Accordingly, crude serum was taken for evaluating PO activity. At the same time, as PO substrates tend to auto-oxidize and provide false optical density value, tris-buffered saline devoid of any substrates were used as blank for PO assays. The ideal wavelength at which maximum PO activity occurred for each substrate, namely, tyrosine, tyramine, dopamine, L-dopa, DL-dopa, catechol, protocatechuic acid and pyrogallol was determined as 407, 410, 429, 465, 403, 466, 428 and 400 nm, respectively. Additionally, time course of oxidation for each phenolic substrate by the serum PO were examined and DL-dopa was identified as the specific substrate for serum PO in the grub ofO. rhinoceros. Furthermore, maximum PO activity was observed at 5 min of incubation for 10 mM of DL-dopa that was considered as optimum concentration. The ideal pH and temperature for serum PO activity was observed as 7.5 and 20°C, respectively. These results suggested that standardizing a suitable substrate is an essential prerequisite to evaluate the real PO activity of serum which might significantly fluctuate in each insect model.
THE INTERACTION OF TREATY AND CUSTOM IN THE CONCEPT OF OFFSHORE ARCHIPELAGOS
Authors: Redgwell Catherine , Tzanakopoulos Antonios 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThe law of the sea has long been a rich source of examples of the interplay, and occasional entanglement, of treaty and custom. This article discusses whether claims to close off the waters of ‘offshore archipelagos' by non-archipelagic States are consistent with international law against the background of this perennial issue. Analysis of the 1982 Law of the Sea Convention (LOSC) demonstrates quite clearly that there is no basis for such claims. ‘Going beyond the LOSC’ the article examines whether the matter remains subject to customary international law; whether subsequent practice may have established the agreement of the parties that the relevant provisions of the LOSC are to be interpreted as allowing their invocation by non-archipelagic States with offshore archipelagos; and whether there is ‘supervening custom’ that may have emerged since the adoption of the LOSC and that permits such claims by non-archipelagic States. Identifying and critically assessing the current state of international law on these fundamental questions of the relationship between treaty and custom, it is concluded that there is no basis for arguing that non-archipelagic States are able to claim any sort of special status for ‘offshore archipelagos’.
INCLUSIVE SPACE LAW: THE CONCEPT OF BENEFIT SHARING IN THE OUTER SPACE TREATY
Authors: Deplano Rossana 
Published: July 2023

AbstractThis article examines the legal principles governing the sharing of benefits deriving from the exploration and use of outer space. It shows that, over time, three strands of State practice have developed different understandings of the content of the obligation contained in Article I, paragraph 1 of the Outer Space Treaty. While drawing parallels with other areas of international law, the article examines the role of equity in the structure of the obligation and evaluates the possibility of replacing considerations of equivalence with a proportionality test to facilitate the fulfilment of the benefit sharing obligation under the Outer Space Treaty.
scRNA-seq revealed the special TCR β & α V(D)J allelic inclusion rearrangement and the high proportion dual (or more) TCR-expressing cells
Authors: Zhu Lanwei , Peng Qi , Li Jun , Wu Yingjie , Wang Jiayi , Zhou Dewei , Ma Long , Yao Xinsheng 
Published: July 2023

AbstractAllelic exclusion, one lymphocyte expresses one antigen receptor, is a fundamental mechanism of immunological self-tolerance and highly specific immune responses to pathogens. However, the phenomenon of V(D)J allelic inclusion (incomplete allelic exclusion or allelic escape) rearrangement and dual TCR T cells have been discovered by multiple laboratories. Despite continuous new discoveries, the proportion and underlying mechanism of dual TCR has been puzzling immunologists. In this study, we observed the presence of single T cells expressing multiple TCR chains in all samples, with the proportion of 15%, 10%, and 20% in the human thymus, human peripheral blood, and mouse lymphoid organs, respectively. The proportion of T cells possessing multiple T-cell receptors (TCR) varied significantly in different physiological states and developmental stages. By analyzing RSS category, RSS direction, and V(D)J gene position at TR locus of T cells which contain multiple TCR chains, we creatively found that one of TCR β (or TCR α) should originate from the transcription of V(D)J combination in T-cell receptor excision circle (TREC) formed after the twice successful rearrangement in the same chromosome. Moreover, human V30 (or mouse V31) gene may participate in reverse recombination and transcription to prevent allelic exclusion. In general, high proportion of T cells with multiple TCR at the transcriptome level was first made public, and we proposed a novel mechanism of secondary (or more) TCR rearrangement on a single chromosome. Our findings also indicated that the single-cell sequencing data should be classified according to the single, multiple, and abnormal TCR when analyzing the T-cell repertoire.