bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Barriers and facilitators to prescribing medicinal cannabis in New Zealand
Authors: Withanarachchie Vinuli , Rychert Marta , Wilkins Chris 
Published: March 2023

Introduction The New Zealand Medicinal Cannabis Scheme (NZMCS) was established in April 2020 with the aim of expanding access to quality controlled medicinal cannabis products and developing a domestic medicinal cannabis industry. Yet, two years later, many patients report challenges in utilising the NZMCS, including physicians’ reluctance to provide prescriptions for products. Aim To explore the barriers and facilitators to prescribing medicinal cannabis in New Zealand. Methods We conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 New Zealand physicians (general practitioners, specialists, and cannabis clinicians) who had discussed medicinal cannabis with patients in the last 6 months. Results Physicians reported the principal barrier to prescribing medicinal cannabis was the limited clinical evidence to support cannabis therapy. Further barriers included: a perceived lack of knowledge of medicinal cannabis; concerns over professional reputation; social stigma; and the price of products. Conversely, the factors that facilitated cannabis prescribing included patients’ and physicians’ knowledge of medicinal cannabis; some physicians’ desire to avoid patients having to engage with private cannabis clinics; and the timing of prescription requests (ie considering medicinal cannabis after other treatments had been exhausted). Discussion Further clinical research of medicinal cannabis medications, education and training, and information would support physicians to deliver more informed advice to patients and enhance professional confidence with cannabis therapies.
DFT with corrections for an efficient and accurate description of strong electron correlations in NiO
Authors: Gebhardt Julian , Elsässer Christian 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
An efficient and accurate description of the electronic structure of a strongly correlated metal-oxide semiconductor like NiO has been notoriously difficult. Here, we study the capabilities and limitations of two frequently employed correction schemes, a DFT+U on-site correction and a DFT+1/2 self-energy correction. While both methods individually are unable to provide satisfactory results, in combination they provide a very good description of all relevant physical quantities. Since both methods cope with different shortcomings of common density-functional theory (DFT) methods (using local-density or generalized-gradient approximations), their combination is not mutually dependent and remains broadly applicable. The combined approach retains the computational efficiency of DFT calculations while providing significantly improved predictive power.
Ballistic transport and surface scattering in (In,Ga)As-InP heterostructure narrow channels
Authors: Aleksandrova A , Golz Christian , Weidlich H , Semtsiv Mykhaylo , Masselink W T , Takagaki Y 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
Narrow conduction channels are fabricated from an In0.75Ga0.25As-InP heterostructure using electron-beam lithography and dry etching. The etched surface is realized to be smooth by employing a reactive ion etching. The etching-induced surface conduction is eliminated by removing the damaged surface layer using a diluted HCl solution. The negligible surface depletion for the In-rich quantum well enables to create conducting channels in arbitrary geometries such as in a circular shape. We evidence the presence of a ballistic contribution in the electron transport by demonstrating a rectification of rf excitations that is achieved by the magnetic-field-tuned transmission asymmetry in the circularly-shaped channels. The absence of the surface depletion is shown to cause, on the other hand, a surface scattering for the electrons confined in the channels. An increase of the resistance, including its anomalous enhancement at low temperatures, is induced by the gas molecules attached to the sidewalls of the channels. We also report a large persistent photoconduction, which occurs as a parallel conduction in the undoped InP barrier layer.
Analysis and microcontroller implementation of Josephson junction driven by Wien bridge circuit
Authors: Sriram Balakrishnan , Godonou Daniel Maoussi , Ainamon Cyrille , Ngongiah Isidore Komofor , Rajagopal Karthikeyan 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThis paper recounts the dynamical investigations and microcontroller validation of Josephson junction (JJ) driven by Wien bridge circuit (WBC). Relying on the stability analysis of two equilibrium points found in JJ driven by WBC (JJDWBC), it is revealed that one equilibrium point is unconditionally stable while the other equilibrium point is unstable. The JJDWBC exhibits reverse period-doubling bifurcation, periodic attractors, period-doubling bifurcation, bistable chaotic attractors, and different presentations of monostable chaotic attractors. Partial and total amplitude controls are achieved by adding two controller parameters into the rate equations of JJDWBC. Finally, the microcontroller implementation is used to validate the dynamical behaviors found in JJDWBC.
Primordial black holes and gravitational waves from non-canonical inflation
Authors: Papanikolaou Theodoros , Lymperis Andreas , Lola Smaragda , Saridakis Emmanuel N. 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
Primordial black holes (PBHs) can generically form in inflationary setups through the
collapse of enhanced cosmological perturbations, providing us access to the early Universe through
their associated observational signatures. In the current work we propose a new mechanism of PBH
production within non-canonical inflation, using a class of steep-deformed inflationary potentials
compatible with natural values for the non-canonical exponents. In particular, requiring
significant PBH production we extract constraints on the non-canonical exponents. Additionally, we
find that our scenario can lead to the formation of asteroid-mass PBHs, which can account for the
totality of the dark matter, as well as to production of solar-mass PBHs within the LIGO-VIRGO
detection band. Finally, we find that the enhanced cosmological perturbations which collapse to
form PBHs can produce a stochastic gravitational-wave (GW) background induced by second-order
gravitational interactions. Very interestingly, we obtain a GW signal detectable by future GW
experiments, in particular by SKA, LISA and BBO.
Modification of the roughness of 304 stainless steel by laser surface texturing (LST)
Authors: Lazov Lyubomir , Teirumnieks Edmunds , Angelov Nikolay , Yankov Emil 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
Surface texturing is one of the most effective approaches to modifying the surface to improve many properties: tribological, corrosion resistance, microhardness and others characteristics of a number of engineering materials. Among the surface texturing techniques developed in recent years, the most widely used method is the laser surface texturing method (LST) due to its high flexibility, superior texturing accuracy and good process controllability and reproducibility. With its rapid development, LST has attracted considerable attention in various industries such as automotive, biomedical and aerospace. The present study considers the changes in roughness in different modes of laser texturing of stainless steel specimens 304. The effects and role of individual laser parameters on the change in roughness are analyzed as a main characteristic of the surface properties of the processed material. Heating and its surface melting is one of the studied effects and its role in changing the roughness. The focus of the study is on the process of laser–material interaction as a function of absorbed energy density, pulse frequency, scan rate, and overlap coefficients leading to different effects of LST parameters. It has been found that increasing the energy density, accompanied by a decrease in the frequency and speed of scanning, can increase the surface roughness.
Potential changes in cooling degree day under different global warming levels and shared socioeconomic pathways in West Africa
Authors: Odou Oluwarotimi Delano Thierry , Ursula Heidi Heinrichs , Adamou Rabani , Godjo Thierry , Moussa Mounkaila S 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
Increasing levels of climatic warming are expected to affect the global development of energy consumption. The cooling degree day (CDD) is one of the climate-driven indices that captures the impact of climate on energy demand. However, little is known about the spatiotemporal trends of CDD in relation to a changing climate and economy in West Africa and its main implications. Hence, in order to analyze how energy demand could evolve, this study aims to assess the changes in CDD under 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, and 3.0 °C global warming levels (GWLs), with and without population exposure and trends under the two representative concentration pathways (RCPs) of RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 for West Africa. A climate-reflective base temperature (T-base) is used and was determined using a piecewise linear regression method. Seasonal electricity consumption was derived using a decomposition feature. An ensemble of seven Global Climate Models (GCMs) were used for the future temperature projections. The future population was based on shared socioeconomic pathway outputs. Based on the analysis, the reported average T-base for the West African region is 24 °C. An increasing CDD trend was identified in all of the RCP scenarios, but is more pronounced in RCP8.5. RCP8.5 departs from the mean historical period of approximately 20% by 2100 with the standardized value. The same trend is observed under different GWLs as the warming level increased and was most striking in the Sahelian zone. Population exposure to CDD (labelled CDDP) increases with warming levels, but is more pronounced in highly agglomerated areas. The CDDP index best captures the spatial representation of areas with high cooling demand potential with respect to the demographic distribution. This study can serve to inform better energy demand assessment scenarios and supply planning against the backdrop of changing climate conditions in West Africa.
Stationary measures of the KPZ equation on an interval from Enaud–Derrida’s matrix product ansatz representation
Authors: Barraquand Guillaume , Le Doussal Pierre 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
The stationary measures of the Kardar–Parisi–Zhang equation on an interval have been computed recently. We present a rather direct derivation of this result by taking the weak asymmetry limit of the matrix product ansatz for the asymmetric simple exclusion process. We rely on the matrix product ansatz representation of Enaud and Derrida, which allows to express the steady-state in terms of re-weighted simple random walks. In the continuum limit, its measure becomes a path integral (or re-weighted Brownian motion) of the form encountered in Liouville quantum mechanics, recovering the recent formula.
Quantum transport efficiency in noisy random-removal and small-world networks
Authors: Kurt Arzu , Rossi Matteo A C , Piilo Jyrki 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
We report the results of an in-depth study of the role of graph topology on quantum transport efficiency in random removal and Watts–Strogatz networks. By using four different environmental models—noiseless, driven by classical random telegraph noise (RTN), thermal quantum bath, and bath + RTN—we compare the role of the environment and of the change in network topology in determining the quantum transport efficiency. We find that small and specific changes in network topology is more effective in causing large change in efficiency compared to that achievable by environmental manipulations for both network classes. Furthermore, we have found that noise dependence of transport efficiency in Watts–Strogatz networks can be categorized into six classes. In general, our results highlight the interplay that network topology and environment models play in quantum transport, and pave the way for transport studies for networks of increasing size and complexity—when going beyond so far often used few-site transport systems.
Compact and robust deep learning architecture for fluorescence lifetime imaging and FPGA implementation
Authors: Zang Zhenya , Xiao Dong , Wang Quan , Jiao Ziao , Chen Yu , Li David Day Uei 
Published: March 2023

AbstractThis paper reports a bespoke adder-based deep learning network for time-domain fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM). By leveraging thel1-norm extraction method, we propose a 1D Fluorescence Lifetime AdderNet (FLAN) without multiplication-based convolutions to reduce the computational complexity. Further, we compressed fluorescence decays in temporal dimension using a log-scale merging technique to discard redundant temporal information derived as log-scaling FLAN (FLAN+LS). FLAN+LS achieves 0.11 and 0.23 compression ratios compared with FLAN and a conventional 1D convolutional neural network (1D CNN) while maintaining high accuracy in retrieving lifetimes. We extensively evaluated FLAN and FLAN+LS using synthetic and real data. A traditional fitting method and other non-fitting, high-accuracy algorithms were compared with our networks for synthetic data. Our networks attained a minor reconstruction error in different photon-count scenarios. For real data, we used fluorescent beads’ data acquired by a confocal microscope to validate the effectiveness of real fluorophores, and our networks can differentiate beads with different lifetimes. Additionally, we implemented the network architecture on a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with a post-quantization technique to shorten the bit-width, thereby improving computing efficiency. FLAN+LS on hardware achieves the highest computing efficiency compared to 1D CNN and FLAN. We also discussed the applicability of our network and hardware architecture for other time-resolved biomedical applications using photon-efficient, time-resolved sensors.
Preparing high-strength and osteogenesis-induced Mg-Gd alloy with ultra-fine microstructure by equal channel angular pressing
Authors: Wu Jiajun , Shen Chao , Zhou Xiaoxiao , Wang Xiuhui , Zhang Linyuan 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
Mechanical strength and corrosion resistance are needed for Mg based BMs in the application of biomedical fields. In the present study, a high-strength biodegradable Mg-Gd alloys with an ultrafine microstructure successfully were prepared by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP). The high tensile strength of ECAPed Mg-Gd alloys was attributed to ultrafine DRX grains and fragmented secondary phases. During ECAP, the grain structure was refined by dynamic recrystallization (DRX), and the size of the DRX grains was approximately 300 nm. The secondary phase with lamellar structures was fragmented into fine particles of submicrometer size after ECAP process. As the number of ECAP passes increased, the distribution of the fragmented secondary phase has been changed into a uniform distribution. The corrosion rates calculated from the hydrogen evolution test demonstrated that the 8p-ECAP Mg-Gd alloy with an ultrafine microstructure possessed better corrosion resistance. Cell and osteogenesis induction experiments confirmed that Mg-Gd alloys processed by ECAP exhibited good biocompatibility. This study provides a new method for preparing high-strength Mg alloys with good corrosion resistance and biocompatibility.
Dynamics of the judgment of tactile stimulus intensity
Authors: Yousefi Darani Z , Hachen I , Diamond M E 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
In the future, artificial agents will need to make assessments of tactile stimuli in order to interact intelligently with the environment and with humans. Such assessments will depend on exquisite and robust mechanosensors, but sensors alone do not make judgments and choices. Rather, the central processing of mechanosensor inputs must be implemented with algorithms that produce ‘behavioral states’ in the artificial agent that resemble or mimic perceptual judgments in biology. In this study, we consider the problem of perceptual judgment as applied to vibration intensity. By a combination of computational modeling and simulation followed by psychophysical testing of vibration intensity perception in rats, we show that a simple yet highly salient judgment—is the current stimulus strong or weak?—can be explained as the comparison of ongoing sensory input against a criterion constructed as the time-weighted average of the history of recent stimuli. Simulations and experiments explore how judgments are shaped by the distribution of stimuli along the intensity dimension and, most importantly, by the time constant of integration which dictates the dynamics of criterion updating. The findings of this study imply that judgments made by the real nervous system are not absolute readouts of physical parameters but are context-dependent; algorithms of this form can be built into artificial systems.
Association of Retrospectively Reported Concussion Symptoms with Objective Cognitive Performance in Former American-Style Football Players
Authors: Strong Roger W , Grashow Rachel , Roberts Andrea L , Passell Eliza , Scheuer Luke , Terry Douglas P , Cohan Sarah , Pascual-Leone Alvaro , Weisskopf Marc G , Zafonte Ross D , Germine Laura T 
Published: March 2023

AbstractObjectiveSustaining concussions has been linked to health issues later in life, yet evidence for associations between contact sports exposure and long-term cognitive performance is mixed. This cross-sectional study of former professional American-style football players tested the association of several measures of football exposure with later life cognitive performance, while also comparing the cognitive performance of former players to nonplayers.MethodsIn total, 353 former professional football players (Mage = 54.3) completed both (1) an online cognitive test battery measuring objective cognitive performance and (2) a survey querying demographic information, current health conditions, and measures of past football exposure, including recollected concussion symptoms playing professional football, diagnosed concussions, years of professional play, and age of first football exposure. Testing occurred an average of 29 years after former players’ final season of professional play. In addition, a comparison sample of 5,086 male participants (nonplayers) completed one or more cognitive tests.ResultsFormer players’ cognitive performance was associated with retrospectively reported football concussion symptoms (rp = −0.19, 95% CI −0.09 to −0.29; p &lt; 0.001), but not with diagnosed concussions, years of professional play, or age of first football exposure. This association could be due to differences in pre-concussion cognitive functioning, however, which could not be estimated based on available data.ConclusionsFuture investigations of the long-term outcomes of contact sports exposure should include measures of sports-related concussion symptoms, which were more sensitive to objective cognitive performance than other football exposure measures, including self-reported diagnosed concussions.
Tofacitinib for Acute Severe Ulcerative Colitis: A Systematic Review
Authors: Steenholdt Casper , Dige Ovesen Pernille , Brynskov Jørn , Seidelin Jakob Benedict 
Published: March 2023

Abstract

Background
Tofacitinib has emerged as a new potential treatment for acute severe ulcerative colitis [ASUC]. We conducted a systematic review to assess efficacy, safety and integration in ASUC algorithms.

Methods
Systematic searching was done in MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and Clinicaltrials.gov until August 17, 2022, including all studies reporting original observations on tofacitinib for ASUC, preferably defined according to Truelove and Witts criteria. The primary outcome was colectomy-free survival.

Results
Of 1072 publications identified, 21 studies were included of which three were ongoing clinical trials. The remaining comprised a pooled cohort originating from 15 case publications [n = 42], a GETAID cohort study [n = 55], a case-control study [n = 40 cases] and a paediatric cohort [n = 11]. Of these 148 reported cases, tofacitinib was used as second-line treatment after steroid failure in previous infliximab failures or third-line after sequential steroid and infliximab or cyclosporine failure, 69 [47%] were female, median age range was 17–34 years and disease duration was 0.7–10 years. Overall, 30-day colectomy-free survival was 85% [n = 123 of 145; n = 3 without colectomy had follow-up &lt;30 days], 90-day 86% [n = 113 of 132; n = 16 follow-up &lt;90 days] and 180-day 69% [n = 77 of 112; n = 36 follow-up &lt;180 days]. Tofacitinib persistence at follow-up was 68–91%, clinical remission 35–69% and endoscopic remission 55%. Adverse events occurred in 22 patients, predominantly being infectious complications other than herpes zoster [n = 13], and resulted in tofacitinib discontinuation in seven patients.

Conclusion
Tofacitinib appears promising for treatment of ASUC with high short-term colectomy-free survival among refractory patients who are otherwise deemed to require colectomy. However, large high-quality studies are needed.
Association Between Gut Microbiota and Delirium in Acutely Ill Older Adults
Authors: Garcez Flavia Barreto , Garcia de Alencar Júlio César , Fernandez Shirley Steffany Muñoz , Avelino-Silva Vivian Iida , Sabino Ester Cerdeira , Martins Roberta Cristina Ruedas , Franco Lucas Augusto Moysés , Lima Ribeiro Sandra Maria , Possolo de Souza Heraldo , Avelino-Silva Thiago Junqueira 
Published: March 2023

Abstract
Our aim was to investigate the association between gut microbiota and delirium occurrence in acutely ill older adults. We included 133 participants 65+ years consecutively admitted to the emergency department of a tertiary university hospital, between September 2019 and March 2020. We excluded candidates with ≥24-hour antibiotic utilization on admission, recent prebiotic or probiotic utilization, artificial nutrition, acute gastrointestinal disorders, severe traumatic brain injury, recent hospitalization, institutionalization, expected discharge ≤48 hours, or admission for end-of-life care. A trained research team followed a standardized interview protocol to collect sociodemographic, clinical, and laboratory data on admission and throughout the hospital stay. Our exposure measures were gut microbiota alpha and beta diversities, taxa relative abundance, and core microbiome. Our primary outcome was delirium, assessed twice daily using the Confusion Assessment Method. Delirium was detected in 38 participants (29%). We analyzed 257 swab samples. After adjusting for potential confounders, we observed that a greater alpha diversity (higher abundance and richness of microorganisms) was associated with a lower risk of delirium, as measured by the Shannon (odds ratio [OR] = 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.60–0.99; p = .042) and Pielou indexes (OR = 0.69; 95% CI = 0.51–0.87; p = .005). Bacterial taxa associated with pro-inflammatory pathways (Enterobacteriaceae) and modulation of relevant neurotransmitters (Serratia: dopamine; Bacteroides, Parabacteroides: GABA) were more common in participants with delirium. Gut microbiota diversity and composition were significantly different in acutely ill hospitalized older adults who experienced delirium. Our work is an original proof-of-concept investigation that lays a foundation for future biomarker studies and potential therapeutic targets for delirium prevention and treatment.