bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Managing demand by upgrade programs and markdown pricing with a product rollover
Authors: Xiao Yongbo , Hu Chen , Liu Qian 
Published: September 2023

AbstractIt has been challenging for firms to effectively manage demand when they release products of one generation after another one. Motivated by the observations from the smartphone industry, this paper investigates the effectiveness of two demand management strategies in the presence of a product rollover: the upgrade program and price markdown policy. Under an upgrade program, a firm allows customers to upgrade their on‐hand product to a new generation product that will be released in a future time. Under a markdown pricing policy, the firm offers a discount for the currently available product so as to induce waiting customers to make immediate purchases. The two demand management strategies target different groups of customers and have distinct impacts on customers' choices. Starting from the time‐varying choice behavior of a heterogeneous group of customers, we study the optimal pricing decisions involved in the two strategies. Specifically, when customers are myopic in the sense that they only make a one‐time purchasing decision upon arrival, we show that the firm should offer the upgrade program only when the innovation level of the new product is relatively high, and the firm's optimal upgrade price can increase over time. Generally, the firm should offer the upgrade program during the early selling period and adopt markdown pricing as the release date of the new product approaches. Numerical experiments reveal that the dynamic upgrade program and markdown pricing policies can help improve profit significantly. When customers are strategic in the sense that they can monitor the selling prices and make dynamic purchasing decisions until they buy a unit of product, we examine two coping strategies that a firm can adopt, and investigate how the strategic monitoring behavior may influence a firm's optimal selling decisions and profit.
Evaluation of nutrition components within prehabilitation programs in gastrointestinal cancers: Is prehab worth the hype?
Authors: Yaceczko Shelby , Baltz Jami 
Published: September 2023

AbstractNutrition impact symptoms and unintended weight loss are prevalent in patients with gastrointestinal cancers, especially during the perioperative period or while prescribed anticancer treatments. Because patients may experience loss of lean body mass and malnutrition, aggressive nutrition intervention prior to surgery should be considered. Cancer prehabilitation is a process spanning the care continuum from diagnosis to the time of surgery encompassing nutrition support, psychological and physical assessment, and targeted interventions. Thirteen studies published between 2013 and 2023 were included in this review and evaluated prehabilitation programs’ impact on postoperative outcomes in patients with gastrointestinal cancers. Literature continues to emerge supporting the integration of nutrition into a prehabilitation program because of its potential to contribute to improved clinical outcomes, quality of life, and cost‐effectiveness, but considerable variation exists with respect to the specific recommendations provided by current prehabilitation programs.
Communal focused or market focused: Moral judgment on business practices in nonprofit organizations
Authors: Xu Chengxin 
Published: September 2023

AbstractAlthough the adoption of business‐like practices, such as commercialization and managerialization, may enhance the capacity and sustainability of nonprofit organizations, these practices may elicit negative reactions from the general public. This tension poses a challenge for nonprofit organizations as they seek to strike a balance between implementing practices that promote growth and survival and maintaining public support. This study focuses on people's moral judgment of nonprofits' practices and offers a social psychological explanation for why some business‐like practices may be viewed as inappropriate by the public. Specifically, we illuminate the significance of people's normative preferences for communal‐ or market‐focused principles as a basis for determining how an organization should operate and deliver its services. Using an online experiment with a sample size of 1255 participants, we found that: (1) people express a relatively high level of moral acceptance of business‐like practices, but this level is significantly lower than that of nonprofits' societal practices; (2) individuals are more likely to rate business‐like practices that have revenue‐seeking intentions as less acceptable when they believe that an organization should operate and deliver services based on communal principles. Moreover, our findings reveal that people's normative preferences differ more based on the service (e.g., health, microfinance, art) than on the organizational ownership (nonprofit vs. for‐profit).
Geometrical design modes of dynamic structures
Authors: Ghasemi Seyed Ali , Liedmann Jan , Barthold Franz‐Joseph 
Published: September 2023

AbstractIn this work, a hybrid, that is, discrete in time and continuous in space, sensitivity analysis for dynamic structures using isogeometric analysis is presented. The main focus is placed on using a direct differentiation technique to derive sensitivity matrices for displacement, velocity and acceleration. To gain further understanding of the sensitivity information, a singular value decomposition is used to decompose these sensitivity matrices. The findings are exemplified on an academic example.
An improved development process of production plants using digital twins with extended dynamic behaviour in virtual commissioning and control – Simulation@Operations
Authors: Pfeifer Denis , Scheid Jonas , Kneifl Jonas , Fehr Jörg 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe challenges in automation system development are driven by short development cycles and individualization along with resource‐constraints. State of the art solutions do not provide the necessary digital tools to apply model‐based methods in automation engineering to achieve higher performing systems. To overcome these issues this paper presents a novel approach to address some of the current challenges in automation systems development using digital twins with extended dynamic behaviour. The study underscores how dynamic models can be imported through standardised interfaces into virtual commissioning (VC) tools, improving the development process by effectively utilising domain‐specific expertise. The paper highlights how these digital twins enhance not only the VC process but can also be applied to model‐based control methods. Initial experiments showcase the utility of digital twins in calculating dynamic acceleration limits during trajectory planning of CNC control and enhancing feed‐forward control. Further, the importance of parameter identification in achieving accurate system models is stressed. The initial results are promising, and future work aims to combine these methods in an industrial application involving a newly developed, individual lightweight robot, demonstrating the potential for enhanced design, accelerated development, and resource efficiency in automation systems.
Conditional loss ofUbe3din the retinal pigment epithelium accelerates age‐associated alterations in the retina of mice
Authors: Tao Tianchang , Xu Ningda , Li Jiarui , Zhao Mingwei , Li Xiaoxin , Huang Lvzhen 
Published: September 2023

AbstractSeveral studies have suggested a correlation between the ubiquitin‐proteasome system (UPS) and age‐related macular degeneration (AMD), with its phenotypic severity ranging from mild visual impairment to blindness, but the mechanism for UPS dysfunction contributing to disease progression is unclear. In this study, we investigated the role of ubiquitin protein ligase E3D (UBE3D) in aging and degeneration in mouse retina. Conditional knockout ofUbe3din the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) of mice led to progressive and irregular fundus lesions, attenuation of the retinal vascular system, and age‐associated deterioration of rod and cone responses. Simultaneously, RPE‐specificUbe3dknockout mice also presented morphological changes similar to the histopathological characteristics of human AMD, in which a defective UPS led to RPE abnormalities such as phagocytosis or degradation of metabolites, the interaction with photoreceptor outer segment, and the transport of nutrients or waste products with choroidal capillaries via Bruch's membrane. Moreover, conditional loss ofUbe3dresulted in aberrant molecular characterizations associated with the autophagy–lysosomal pathway, oxidative stress damage, and cell‐cycle regulation, which are implicated in AMD pathology. Thus, our findings strengthen and expand the impact of UPS dysfunction on retinal pathophysiology during aging, indicating that geneticUbe3ddeficiency in the RPE could lead to the abnormal formation of pigment deposits and secondary fundus alterations. © 2023 The Authors.The Journal of Pathologypublished by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
Curved woven lattice truss sandwich panels strengthened by foams: Designing, manufacturing, and testing
Authors: Wang He , Bai Cuiping , Yan Qu , Shi Hougai , Fan Hualin 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe woven lattice truss sandwich panels (WLTSPs) have been studied much, and this article proposes a new structure (curved woven lattice truss sandwich [CWLTS] panels). CWLTS were designed, made, and tested. The foam‐filling technique was applied to strengthen the CWLTS. Curving and foam‐filling effects to the deformation, damage, failure, and energy absorption under cylindrical and plated loadings were revealed by three‐point bending experiments. Under cylindrical loading, foam‐filling can effectively increase the load capacity, especially the CWLTS‐A. The load‐bearing capacity of the plated loading is greater than that of the cylindrical loading, and the phenomenon is significantly improved after foam filling, except for the central angle of 60° and the CWLTS‐A of 44.05°. Foam‐filling changes failure from core‐shearing to face fracture. For foam‐filled panels, the change in loading pattern results in energy absorption increase of 2.45 times for CWLTS‐B and 2.86 times for CWLTS‐A. Plated loading approximately doubles the peak load and energy absorption with two plastic hinges. The effect of foam filling on the mean crush force of the CWLTS plated loading is greater. The mechanical and energy absorption properties of the CWLTS can be improved by changing the loading mode and using foam filling, effectively increasing the applicability.Highlights
Curved woven lattice truss sandwich panels were designed, made, and tested.
Foam‐filling method greatly improves the bearing capacity of the CWLTS panels.
Plated loading much increases the bearing capacity and energy absorption.
The impact of curvature on mechanical performances is not immediately apparent.
Machine learning‐based prediction of mechanical and thermal properties of nickel/cobalt/ferrous and dried leaves fiber‐reinforced polymer hybrid composites
Authors: Mohit H. , Sanjay M. R. , Siengchin Suchart , Kanaan Belal , Ali Vakkar , Alarifi Ibrahim M. , El‐Bagory Tarek M. A. A. 
Published: September 2023

AbstractDried leaves are the outstanding origin of cellulosic plant matter, and it is securing reputation as a renewable resource. Dried leaves fiber is suggested to possess the capability to substitute synthetic fibers in polymer laminates as a reinforcing component. The novelty of the present study reveals the effect of dried leaves fiber, cobalt, nickel, and ferrous reinforcement on the physical, mechanical, and thermal characteristics of epoxy, vinyl‐ester, and polyester polymers using artificial neural network (ANN) technique. These composites were fabricated using ultrasonication bath‐assisted wet layup method under ambient condition. The outcomes of this research exhibit that the dried leaves‐cobalt fillers reinforced in all three polymers possess higher mechanical and thermal stability characteristics when compared with other samples. The reason may be assigned to producing novel hydroxyl functional groups and strong interfacial bonding of fillers within the matrix as observed from Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and scanning electron microscope (SEM) micrographs, respectively. Moreover, as observed from the thermogravimetric analysis, the dried leaves‐ferrous filler‐reinforced polymer hybrid composites provided higher thermal stability. Statistical analysis was performed using the one‐way ANOVA technique and found that outcomes were significant statistically under the confidence level of 95%. Hence, this investigation not only emphasize the significance of investigating new polymer composites but also highlight the benefits of engaging advanced modeling to forecast the material characteristics precisely.Highlights
Dried leaves and cobalt/nickel/ferrous are applied reinforcement to polymers.
Composites fabricated using ultrasonication bath‐assisted wet layup technique.
LM Algorithm‐based ANN selected for predicting the best composite.
Higher mechanical and thermal stability with dried leaves‐cobalt filler.
One‐way ANOVA proved statistically significant within the material properties.
Experimental and simulation studies of hybrid MWCNT/montmorillonite reinforced FDM based PLA filaments with multifunctional properties enhancement
Authors: Yohannan Alex , Vincent Sumi , Divakaran Nidhin , Pottikadavath Venugopal Ajay Kumar , Patra Swagata , Ashish Kommaji , Mohanty Smita 
Published: September 2023

AbstractThe recent investigation in the development of novel multifunctional thermoplastic polymer‐based filaments has contributed to the extensive use of hybrid nanofiller combinations. Montmorillonite (MMT) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) are nanofillers with exceptional properties and their combination tends to induce synergistic property enhancement on incorporation within the polymer matrix. In our current study, CNT‐MMT hybrid has been synthesized, while XRD, FTIR, Raman, and TEM confirmed its successful formation. Different wt% (0.5–2) of CNT‐MMT were reinforced into polylactic acid (PLA) matrix and their inclusive properties were analyzed in order to obtain percolation threshold concentration. The tensile strength analysis of PLA with 1% CNT‐MMT displayed 47.4% enhancement as compared to virgin PLA, while DMA analysis confirmed storage modulus enhancement. These results were also corroborated with simulation studies using ANSYS. However, with 2% addition of CNT‐MMT, the tensile strength reduced due to nanofiller agglomeration, which was also verified with SEM studies. The thermal and electrical properties of nanocomposites also augmented considerably due to CNT‐MMT reinforcement with electrical conductivity of PLA + 1% CNT‐MMT enhanced by 9 orders of magnitude. These multifunctional filaments tend to produce refined 3D printed structure using FDM and could be harnessed toward advanced 3D printing applications for commercial devices.Highlights
Different wt% of CNT‐MMT were reinforced into polylactic acid (PLA) matrix and their inclusive properties were analyzed.
The tensile strength analysis of PLA with 1% CNT‐MMT displayed 47.4% enhancement as compared to virgin PLA, simulation studies using ANSYS confirmed it.
The thermal and electrical properties of nanocomposites also augmented considerably due to CNT‐MMT reinforcement.
These multifunctional filaments tend to produce refined 3D printed structure using FDM.
This could be harnessed toward advanced 3D printing applications for commercial devices.
Quantitively evaluation of fillers' alignment for targeted manufacturing of functional composite materials
Authors: Zhang Xinfeng , Ye Zekun , Yang Xuan , Fan Yiwen , Hu Run , Xie Bin , Luo Xiaobing 
Published: September 2023

AbstractFiller‐reinforced composite materials are widely used in numerous domains such as energy, optoelectronics, chemistry, and so forth, owing to their versatile microstructures, excellent properties, and low fabrication cost. By finely regulating the distribution and orientation of fillers in the base material, composite materials with fantastic thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties have been demonstrated, which are also known as “metamaterials”. For the anisotropic fillers, the orientation of fillers is crucial for designing and predicting the properties of composite materials. However, accurate and efficient evaluation of fillers' orientation remains a challenge, which severely hinders the microstructural design and topological optimization of composite materials. To solve this problem, a bidirectional pixel‐traversal method which combines with microscopic image processing was developed to evaluate the orientation of fillers in composite materials. Specifically, a vertical orientation maximization algorithm was designed to evaluate the oriented degree and oriented direction of the whole fillers, and a crossing traversal algorithm was designed to evaluate the oriented angle of individual filler. Further, this method was applied to the evaluation of microscopic images from different researches. The evaluated results show a high accuracy (average error is less than 2%) and wide applicability in the evaluation of different types of fillers. This method reveals the underlying relationship between microscopic filler orientation and macroscopic composites properties, which paves a new way for the direct optimization and processing of composite materials.
Trajectories of P2Y12 inhibitor adherence in patients with acute coronary syndromes
Authors: Moon Jungyeon , Ozaki Aya F. , Chong Alice , Sud Maneesh , Fang Jiming , Austin Peter C. , Ko Dennis T. , Jackevicius Cynthia A. 
Published: September 2023

AbstractPurposeP2Y12 inhibitors (P2Y12i) reduce cardiac events after acute coronary syndromes (ACS). However, suboptimal P2Y12i adherence persists. We aimed to examine P2Y12i non‐adherence using group‐based trajectory methods and to identify adherence predictors.MethodsWe conducted a population‐based, retrospective cohort study using administrative data in Ontario, Canada of patients ≥65 years admitted for ACS between April 2014 and March 2018 with a P2Y12i dispensed within 7 days of discharge. We used group‐based trajectory models to characterize longitudinal 1‐year adherence patterns. Predictors associated with each adherence trajectory were identified by multinomial logistic regression.ResultsWe included 11 917 patients using clopidogrel and 9763 using ticagrelor, aged [mean ± SD]: 77.33 ± 8.31/73.59 ± 6.79 years; men: 56.2%/65.4%, respectively. We identified 3 longitudinal adherence trajectories, that differed by agent: 75% of clopidogrel and 68% of ticagrelor patients showed a consistently adherent trajectory, while 13%/17% were gradually, and 12%/15% were rapidly non‐adherent, respectively (p < 0.001). Differing baseline characteristics in each cohort were associated with observed adherence trajectories. Concomitant atrial fibrillation and prior bleeding history were associated with non‐adherence among clopidogrel users. Among ticagrelor users, women and older persons were more likely to be rapidly non‐adherent, adherence declining steeply starting 1 month post‐ACS.ConclusionsWe identified distinct adherence trajectories for clopidogrel and ticagrelor post‐ACS, with 3 out of 4 clopidogrel patients but only 2 out of 3 ticagrelor patients in the consistently adherent trajectory. Intensive interventions targeted to the period of steep adherence decline post‐ACS, particularly for women and older persons initiating ticagrelor, and patients with atrial fibrillation on clopidogrel should be considered and investigated further.
Belgian medication exposure during pregnancy (BeMeP), a new nationwide linked database: Linkage methods and prevalence of medication use
Authors: Larcin Lionel , Neven Anouk , Damase‐Michel Christine , Kirakoya‐Samadoulougou Fati 
Published: September 2023

AbstractPurposeThis study aimed to describe the implementation of a new retrospective Belgian national cohort of pregnant women, the Belgian Medication Exposure during Pregnancy (BeMeP).MethodsWe linked the national dispensing data to birth and death certificates and hospital stay data for a 7‐year period between 2010 and 2016 for the first time in Belgium. We presented the characteristics of pregnancy events associated with the mothers enrolled in the linkage study. Next, we constructed a cohort of pregnancies and compared some characteristics computed using the BeMeP database with the national statistics. Finally, we described the use of medications during pregnancy based on the first level of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification.ResultsWe included 630 457 pregnant women with 900 024 pregnancy‐related events (843 780 livebirths, 1937 stillbirths, 6402 ectopic events, and 47 905 abortions) linked to medication exposure information. Overall, 96.3% of live births and 83.5% of stillbirths (national statistics as reference) were captured from the BeMeP. During pregnancy, excluding the week of birth, 78.9% of live birth pregnancies and 79.6% of stillbirth pregnancies were exposed to at least one medication. The most frequently dispensed medications were anti‐infectives (ATC code J = 50.2%) for live births and for stillbirths (44.0%).ConclusionWe linked information on pregnancies, all reimbursed medications dispensed by community pharmacists, all medications dispensed during hospitalization, sociodemographic status, and infant health to create the BeMeP database. The database represents a valuable potential resource for studying exposure‐outcome associations for medication use during pregnancy.
Characterization of films and film‐forming solutions of chitosan/thermoplastic rice starch associations: Role of starch oxidation and plasticizer type in the molecular interactions
Authors: Horn Marilia M. , Amaro Martins Virginia C. , de Guzzi Plepis Ana Maria 
Published: September 2023

AbstractPolysaccharide films are alternative sources to replace fossil‐based compounds. This study aimed to use rice starch modified by gelatinization and oxidation processes. Different properties were observed after blending it with chitosan and polyols, as evaluated on the film‐forming solutions by rheology. The interaction between chitosan and oxidized starch appeared higher, as the plasticizers exhibited a low effect on the rheological behavior. Polyols played an essential role in chitosan/gelatinized associations, driven by the number of OH groups. Films were evaluated by thermogravimetry (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), water vapor permeability (WVP), water solubility, and tensile tests. The effect of the plasticizer type on chitosan/gelatinized starch was related to an increase in the temperature of the endothermic peak observed by DSC, confirming the role of hydroxyl groups of polyols in the polymer–polymer chain associations. The WVP and solubility decreased with starch oxidation due to increased chitosan–starch interactions. The decrease in tensile strength with adding polyols was correlated to reduced direct interactions between chitosan and starch chains. A drop of about 77% in elongation at break was observed in chitosan/oxidized starch film. On the other hand, elongation at break increased by around 14% in films with sorbitol (SO).Highlights
Starch oxidation reduces the viscosity of film‐forming solutions.
The number of OH groups influences the gelation point measured by rheology.
The WVP is reduced in oxidized starch/chitosan associations.
Plasticizers enhanced the elongation at break of polysaccharide films.