bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Altered corpus callosum structure in adolescents with cerebral palsy: connection to gait and balance
Authors: Jaatela Julia , Nurmi Timo , Vallinoja Jaakko , Mäenpää Helena , Sairanen Viljami , Piitulainen Harri 
Published: August 2023

AbstractCerebral palsy (CP) is the most common motor disorder in childhood. Recent studies in children with CP have associated weakened sensorimotor performance with impairments in the major brain white-matter (WM) structure, corpus callosum (CC). However, the relationship between CC structure and lower extremity performance, specifically gait and balance, remains unknown. This study investigated the transcallosal WM structure and lower limb motor stability performance in adolescents aged 10–18 years with spastic hemiplegic (n = 18) or diplegic (n = 13) CP and in their age-matched controls (n = 34). The modern diffusion-weighted MRI analysis included the diffusivity properties of seven CC subparts and the transcallosal lower limb sensorimotor tract of the dominant hemisphere. Children with CP had comprehensive impairments in the cross-sectional area, fractional anisotropy, and mean diffusivity of the CC and sensorimotor tract. Additionally, the extent of WM alterations varied between hemiplegic and diplegic subgroups, which was seen especially in the fractional anisotropy values along the sensorimotor tract. The diffusion properties of transcallosal WM were further associated with static stability in all groups, and with dynamic stability in healthy controls. Our novel results clarify the mechanistic role of the corpus callosum in adolescents with and without CP offering valuable insight into the complex interplay between the brain’s WM organization and motor performance. A better understanding of the brain basis of weakened stability performance could, in addition, improve the specificity of clinical diagnosis and targeted rehabilitation in CP.
A solution for resource allocation through complex systems in fog computing for the internet of things
Authors: Faraji Fatimah , Javadpour Amir , Sangaiah Arun Kumar , Zavieh Hadi 
Published: August 2023

AbstractTo manage the IoT resources to process the massive amount of collected data in complex systems, Allocation of tasks to nodes to increase user satisfaction has been noticed by researchers. In allocating tasks, the necessity of a powerful auxiliary platform is felt. Cloud and fog networks are two suitable options for performing and completing tasks on the Internet of Things. In the cloud network, due to offloading tasks to remote computing centers, problems such as increasing complete time, increasing traffic in the network, and high energy consumption for the Internet of Things network occur. The fog network solves the problem of completing tasks due to reducing the geographical distance between Internet of Things devices and processor nodes. The devices in the fog network cooperate with the Internet of Things network’s diverse and variable nodes with time computing, storage, and processing resources. In this heterogeneous environment, the non-cooperation and dishonesty of malicious fog nodes through misrepresentation of shared resources and non-completion of tasks can disrupt the performance of the Internet of Things network. As a result, two fundamental challenges in the heterogeneous fog network include providing resources to allocate tasks and recognizing valid fog nodes. This paper focuses on creating a resource provider network to allocate tasks to authentic fog nodes with appropriate resources. When an Internet of Things node faces a shortage of resources and link prediction, it can form a resource supply network with neighboring nodes to solve the two stated challenges. For this purpose, in the first stage, efforts are made to select the most appropriate options among the neighboring nodes based on specific criteria. In the second step, reliable nodes are identified based on a trust mechanism, including resource trust and entity trust. In the last step, tasks are divided among reliable devices with sufficient resources. The evaluation of the proposed method in the OMNET++ simulator shows that the trust mechanism can lead to the identification of reliable sources and, as a result, reduce the time to complete tasks.
Stochastic-based vulnerability curves for the out-of-plane seismic safety assessment of URM walls
Authors: Bernardo Vasco , Campos Costa Alfredo , Lourenço Paulo B. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractEarthquakes are a major cause of damage and human losses to the built environment, including cultural heritages, monumental buildings and historical centers. In the last decades, the seismic performance of buildings has received special attention due to the interest in the built heritage conservation and protection of human life, particularly with respect to masonry structures which have shown evidence of poor behavior once subjected to seismic loads. The present work contributes to the seismic safety assessment of the out-of-plane behavior of unreinforced masonry walls through a displacement-based approach, providing the capacity for different out-of-plane geometric indexes and its seismic response in different earthquake-prone regions. The analyses are conducted using a seismic probabilistic framework, considering the most common out-of-plane mechanisms, different material properties, various slenderness ratios, and a wide range of seismicity levels to cover the seismic hazard in Europe. The results presented can be useful for seismic safety assessment and to incorporate vulnerability models for seismic risk analysis.
Revising vulnerability assessments of montane birds in the colombian páramo to account for threats from climate change
Authors: Wheatley Christopher J , Beale Colin M , White Piran C L , Villaseñor Adrián , Sanchez Adriana , Cunningham Charles A , Hill Jane K 
Published: August 2023

AbstractTropical montane ecosystems are highly vulnerable to global climate change, but their species-level conservation vulnerability assessments generally do not incorporate climate threats. The Colombian páramo is a highly diverse montane ecosystem but it contains relatively few species currently identified as threatened on the IUCN Red List. We explore whether current assessments need revising to account for climate change threats for páramo species. We use a climate change vulnerability assessment framework to evaluate the risks and opportunities from climate change for 60 bird species within the Colombian páramo. We explore two potential climate change scenarios (RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5), representing best and worst-case projections. We find that more than half (52–68%, depending on the scenario) of bird species will be threatened by climate change by the end of the century, but a very poor agreement between the current conservation status of species and their climate vulnerability score. We find ~ 90% of species identified as climate-threatened are not currently identified as being of conservation concern, representing a substantial new suite of priority species within the Colombian páramo. Overall, we identify up to 34 páramo bird species that are threatened by climate change but not currently listed as being of conservation concern. Similar mismatches may also occur in other montane taxa and so updating species risk assessments to account for climate change is urgently needed. Implementation of appropriate conservation actions is also needed to reduce species’ risks from climate change.
Asymmetric Bipartite Consensus of Nonlinear Agents with Communication Noise
Authors: Mondal Sabyasachi , Tsourdos Antonios 
Published: August 2023

AbstractIn this paper, the asymmetric bipartite consensus problem of a nonlinear multi-agent system is solved using Distributed Nonlinear Dynamic Inversion (DNDI) based controller. The application of DNDI is new in the context of asymmetric bipartite consensus, and it inherits all the advantages of NDI and works efficiently to solve the asymmetric bipartite problem. The mathematical details presented provide theoretical proof of its efficiency. A realistic simulation study is performed to establish the claims. The controller’s performance has been tested in the presence of communication noise, and the results are promising.
Allogeneic HSCT for Symptomatic Female X-linked Chronic Granulomatous Disease Carriers
Authors: Tsilifis Christo , Torppa Tuulia , Williams Eleri J. , Albert Michael H. , Hauck Fabian , Soncini Elena , Kang Elizabeth , Malech Harry , Schuetz Catharina , von Bernuth Horst , Slatter Mary A. , Gennery Andrew R. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractX-linked chronic granulomatous disease (XL-CGD) is an inherited disorder of superoxide production, causing failure to generate the oxidative burst in phagocytes. It is characterized by invasive bacterial and fungal infections, inflammation, and chronic autoimmune disease. While XL-CGD carriers were previously assumed to be healthy, a range of clinical manifestations with significant morbidity have recently been described in a subgroup of carriers with impaired neutrophil oxidative burst due to skewed lyonization. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is the standard curative treatment for CGD but has rarely been reported in individual symptomatic carriers to date. We undertook a retrospective international survey of outcome of HSCT for symptomatic XL-CGD carriers. Seven symptomatic female XL-CGD carriers aged 1–56 years underwent HSCT in four centers, indicated for severe and recurrent infection, colitis, and autoimmunity. Two patients died from transplant-related complications, following donor engraftment and restoration of oxidative burst. All surviving patients demonstrated resolution of their neutrophil oxidative burst defect with concordant reduction in infection and inflammatory symptoms and freedom from further immunosuppressive therapy. In conclusion, allogeneic HSCT may cure the phagocyte defect in symptomatic XL-CGD carriers and improve their recurrent and disabling infective and inflammatory symptoms but risks transplant-related complications.
Collusion Revisited: Polyadic Collusions and Their Contextual Determinants
Authors: Stiefel F. , Saraga M , Bourquin C 
Published: August 2023

AbstractAt the core of collusions are unconscious unresolved issues shared by two or more participants, interlocked in a defensive maneuver. The issue at stake is avoided at an intrapsychic level and externalized in the interpersonal space. Unresolved issues may pertain to control, intimacy, loss, dependency, domination, boundaries and so on.This critical narrative review is based on a comprehensive consultation of the psychoanalytic, general system theory, family therapy and social psychology literature and is informed by our experience as psychotherapists, supervisors, and researchers. When working with the concept of collusion, be it as a clinician, supervisor or researcher, collusions must be delineated from other group dynamics. This might not always be easy. Moreover, reports on polyadic collusions and their contextual determinants are scattered in the literature of different psychotherapeutic approaches and lack precision at times. We therefore engage in a critical dialog with the literature and define different types of polyadic collusions, helping the reader gain a quick overview of this somehow neglected concept. Collusions occur in the psychiatric, psychotherapeutic, and medical setting, but especially in settings which ignore the unconscious and the impact of the wider social determinants on collusions.Collusion is a very useful concept since it brings together different therapeutic orientations but also patients and clinicians, the personal and professional of the caregiver, as well as psychotherapy, psychiatry, medicine, and the social sciences.
Numerical investigation of thermo-hydraulic performance in an annular heat exchanger with sinusoidal vortex generators
Authors: Wang Yanru , Oon Cheen Sean , Foo Ji-Jinn , Tran Manh-Vu , Nair Sayshar Ram , Low Foo Wah 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThis study investigates thermal performance enhancement by utilizing vortex generators (VGs). VGs come in many designs, and this paper proposes optimizations for the sinusoidal vortex generator (SVG) when used in an annular conduit to improve heat transfer with minimal pressure drop. Two vital parameters of the SVG are analyzed, namely, blockage ratios (BRs) (0.1 and 0.2) and attack angles (α) (0–90°). The investigated fluid regime is turbulent, with the Reynolds number (Re) ranging from 5973 to 11,947. Three rows of SVGs are fitted on the surface of the inner pipe, where constant heat flux is applied, while the outer pipe wall is entirely insulated. The results indicate that the highest Nusselt number is enhanced by 20.4% over the smooth pipe when the case with BR = 0.2 and α = 90° is used at Re = 5973. However, the friction factor increases by 56.5% for the same case. Two types of transverse vortices are identified, where one type has its rotational axis normal to the inner pipe surface, and the other has its rotational axis parallel to the inner pipe surface. Those vortices with the axis perpendicular to the pipe surface merge with the fluid above the SVG to develop longitudinal vortices in different BRs and α. The case with BR = 0.2 and α = 15° yields the greatest average performance evaluation criterion (PEC) compared to other tested cases with a value of 1.054. This study finds that SVGs can contribute to a more efficient annular pipe-based heat transfer system.
Multi-objective structural optimization of vehicle wheels: a method for preliminary design
Authors: Stabile P. , Ballo F. , Gobbi M. , Previati G. 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe paper proposes an optimization procedure to be adopted by wheels design engineers for the identification of preliminary solutions to design lightweight and safe wheels. In particular, decisions related to the sizing of the wheel rim, to the number and type of spokes and to the spokes structural layout are addressed. The process relies on the combination of a simplified finite element model of the tire/wheel assembly and artificial neural networks used for global approximation, within a multi-objective optimization framework. Mass and compliance of the wheel are minimized at the same time, with constraints on structural safety and manufacturing. The method is applied to the preliminary design of the wheel of a lightweight electric vehicle specifically designed for energy efficiency competitions and allows to derive simple and general design guidelines for developing efficient products.
Gender differences in item nonresponse in the PISA 2018 student questionnaire
Authors: Marcq Kseniia , Braeken Johan 
Published: August 2023

AbstractGender differences in item nonresponse are well-documented in high-stakes achievement tests, where female students are shown to omit more items than male students. These gender differences in item nonresponse are often linked to differential risk-taking strategies, with females being risk-averse and unwilling to guess on an item, even if it could gain them credits. In low-stakes settings, similar trends should not apply, as the students carry no consequence for their performance. Instead, test-taking motivation is argued to be the pivoting factor, with female students seen as more motivated and omitting fewer items than male students. In contrast to the high- and low-stakes achievement tests, less is known about gender differences in item nonresponse in student background questionnaires. Using cross-classified mixed effects models, we examined gender differences in item nonresponse on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018 student questionnaire across 80 countries and 71 scales. On average, the odds of male students omitting a questionnaire item were double the odds of female students, consistent with the expected trend in the low-stakes setting. However, we show that gender differences in item nonresponse are not merely a function of the stakes involved for individual students but a more complex phenomenon that is context-dependent and not necessarily stable across countries, scales’ formats, and contents. We argue that examining differences in item nonresponse patterns could serve as a source of additional information about the students’ test-taking behaviour and the quality of the questionnaire.
Laws beyond spacetime
Authors: Lam Vincent , Wüthrich Christian 
Published: August 2023

AbstractQuantum gravity’s suggestion that spacetime may be emergent and so only exist contingently would force a radical reconception of extant analyses of laws of nature. Humeanism presupposes a spatiotemporal mosaic of particular matters of fact on which laws supervene; primitivism and dispositionalism conceive of the action of primitive laws or of dispositions as a process of ‘nomic production’ unfolding over time. We show how the Humean supervenience basis of non-modal facts and primitivist or dispositionalist accounts of nomic production can be reconceived, avoiding a reliance on fundamental spacetime. However, it is unclear that naturalistic forms of Humeanism can maintain their commitment to there being no necessary connections among distinct entities. Furthermore, non-temporal conceptions of production render this central concept more elusive than before. In fact, the challenges run so deep that the survival of the investigated analyses into the era of quantum gravity is questionable.
The Revised Compound Psychological Capital Scale (CPC-12R): Validity and Cross-Cultural Invariance in an Organizational Context
Authors: Prochazka Jakub , Kacmar Pavol , Lebedova Tereza , Dudasova Ludmila , Vaculik Martin 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThis study aims to validate the revised Compound Psychological Capital scale (CPC-12R) which is a recently published inventory for measuring psychological capital across contexts. The data from three representative samples of employees from the U.S. (n = 456), the Czech Republic (n = 966), and Slovakia (n = 965) revealed a weak measurement invariance across the three cultures, a high internal consistency of all subscales and a good fit of the data to the theoretical model of psychological capital. The data obtained by means of the English version of the CPC-12R showed a very strong correlation with the established Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), medium to strong positive correlations with work engagement, job satisfaction and positive affect, and a weak negative correlation with negative affect. Therefore, this study demonstrates the reliability and factorial, concurrent and convergent validity of CPC-12R in the context of organizations. The study also provides indicative norms for measuring psychological capital in three populations and refers to the limitations of the CPC-12R, in particular, the very small residual variance in first-order factors and the lack of strong invariance across cultures, which prevents a meaningful comparison of factor means across countries.
Foreign Equity Valuations of Emerging Market Firms: The Effects of Institutional Distance and Information Spillovers
Authors: Purkayastha Anish , Filatotchev Igor 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThis paper investigates the so far unexplored theoretical tension associated with foreign investor valuations of emerging market firms (EMFs) that tap into global capital markets. One line of argument expands the liability of foreignness perspective into the capital market domain where a foreign firm faces legitimacy and unfamiliarity issues. In contrast, there is recognition of the benefits to global investors in EMFs associated with geographic portfolio diversification. Our core premise is that EMFs face a cost–benefit trade-off associated with the extent of institutional distance when venturing abroad in search of financial resources. Based on a theoretical model grounded in institutional theory, we find a curvilinear effect of institutional distance on foreign equity valuations. Furthermore, we show that information spillovers through a focal firm’s domestic capital market and international product market strategies moderate this relationship.
Adsorption limitation investigation on olefins for Cu-BTC
Authors: Yang Xiao , Wang Yunbo , Cao Weihua , Jiang Ruizheng , Xie Guoxin , Cao Yuying , Qi Xiaowen 
Published: August 2023

AbstractTo utilize Cu-benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxylate (Cu-BTC) adsorbed lubricant oils in the self-lubricating field, the adsorption properties of Cu-BTC on different 1-olefins must be clarified. In this work, 1-hexene, 1-octene, 1-nonene, 1-decene, 1-undecene, and 1-dodecene were studied by the Monte Carlo method and experimentally. The adsorption limit of Cu-BTC for n-olefins was determined as 1-undecene by the adsorption isotherms. This suggested a limit for even straight-chain molecules to the adsorption of Cu-BTC. The maximum ratio of the olefin length of the largest pore diameter (L/D) of Cu-BTC was approximately 1.57. Furthermore, theoretical calculations (radial distribution function (RDF)) and experiments (infrared (IR) spectra) confirmed the interaction of n-olefin adsorbates and the Cu-BTC framework occurred between the -CH= of olefins and the Cu and O atoms of the Cu-BTC framework. This work adds to the understanding and investigation of the adsorption of liquid lubricants using Cu-BTC as a metal-organic framework (MOF).
Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells: A Comparative Review of Acidic and Alkaline Systems
Authors: Berretti Enrico , Osmieri Luigi , Baglio Vincenzo , Miller Hamish A. , Filippi Jonathan , Vizza Francesco , Santamaria Monica , Specchia Stefania , Santoro Carlo , Lavacchi Alessandro 
Published: August 2023

AbstractIn the last 20 years, direct alcohol fuel cells (DAFCs) have been the subject of tremendous research efforts for the potential application as on-demand power sources. Two leading technologies respectively based on proton exchange membranes (PEMs) and anion exchange membranes (AEMs) have emerged: the first one operating in an acidic environment and conducting protons; the second one operating in alkaline electrolytes and conducting hydroxyl ions. In this review, we present an analysis of the state-of-the-art acidic and alkaline DAFCs fed with methanol and ethanol with the purpose to support a comparative analysis of acidic and alkaline systems, which is missing in the current literature. A special focus is placed on the effect of the reaction stoichiometry in acidic and alkaline systems. Particularly, we point out that, in alkaline systems, OH− participates stoichiometrically to reactions, and that alcohol oxidation products are anions. This aspect must be considered when designing the fuel and when making an energy evaluation from a whole system perspective.
Graphical Abstract
Why Mourning for Minks Matters: Rebellious Grief as Practice of Solidarity
Authors: Honnacker Ana 
Published: August 2023

AbstractThe paper advocates the idea of grief as a key emotion for transformation. Following Judith Butler’s concept of grievability, it agues that a critical reflection on who (or what) is mourned reveals the normative orders of a society as well as its possible blind spots. As a particularly telling case, the mass culling of Danish minks that took place in 2020 as a preventive public health measure in the Covid-19 pandemic is examined. The response to the case sheds light on the various barriers of broadening the moral community. The paper explores some of the reasons for the practical disability to mourn for animals bred for use and argues that it is part misleading to focus on the species-line. Rather, it is a question of selective moral responsiveness which is dependent on the specific cultural context and way of life. In the last part of the paper, it is suggested that ecological grief work is a means to move from grief to empathy and solidarity and finally resistance. When others are discovered as grievable, they are acknowledged as vulnerable fellow beings which have to be morally considered. Grief, then, can be understood as a disruptive emotion which questions the current understanding of normality.