bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effective grading refinement for locally linearly independent LR B-splines
Authors: Patrizi Francesco 
Published: June 2022

AbstractWe present a new refinement strategy for locally refined B-splines which ensures the local linear independence of the basis functions. The strategy also guarantees the spanning of the full spline space on the underlying locally refined mesh. The resulting mesh has nice grading properties which grant the preservation of shape regularity and local quasi uniformity of the elements in the refining process.
Networks of happiness: applying a Network Approach to Well-Being in the General Population
Authors: Woerkom Marianne van , Constantin Mihai , Janssens Mayke , Reijnders Jennifer , Jacobs Nele , Lataster Johan 
Published: June 2022

AbstractEven though well-being can be seen as a multidimensional construct, made up of a variety of interacting aspects, most studies examine total scores on well-being measures, treating well-being as a latent variable. This so-called common cause perspective assumes that aspects of well-being are mere effects of a common cause, namely well-being itself. The network approach moves away from this approach by suggesting that research should no longer focus only on the mean level of psychological constructs, but on the relations between the different aspects of a construct over time. Instead of a static, common cause approach to well-being, the network perspective views thoughts and feelings not as reflections but as constituents of well-being, treating them as agents in a causal system instead of passive indicators. In this paper, we applied the network approach to investigate how fluctuations in specific symptoms of well-being are associated with fluctuations in other symptoms of well-being. Based on a sample of 151 working adults with on average 32.66 data points collected over a five-day period, we found that in general, the low arousal emotion of feeling satisfied played a central role in the dynamics between various aspects of well-being in the momentary context of daily life. This means that feeling satisfied cannot just be seen as a passive indicator of well-being, but also as an active agent in a causal system that brings about other aspects of well-being. These results provide insight into daily dynamic processes related to the development of well-being over time and contribute to our understanding of well-being and how to improve it.
Novel Strategy for Hazardous Cement Bypass Dust Removal: Structural, Optical and Nuclear Radiation Shielding Properties of CBD-Bismuth Borate Glass
Authors: Abdel Maksoud M. I. A. , Sallam O. I. , Kassem Said M. , Fahim Ramy Amer , Awed A. S. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractHerein, this study introduced a novel strategy for hazardous cement bypass dust (CBD) removal via incorporated it into glassy system having the chemical formula 10Li2O–10Bi2O3–(80 − x)B2O3–xCBD, where x = 0, 10, 20 and 30%. The doped glass samples with the CBD were used as a radiation shielding material. The structural, optical and nuclear radiation shielding properties of CBD-lithium bismuth borate (LBB) glass were investigated. The optical energy gap increases from 2.22 eV for LBB + 0% CBD glass sample to 2.66 eV for LBB + 30% CBD glass sample. Also, a comparative study between the experimental data and theoretical interpretation for the attenuation coefficients was addressed via the Phy-X software database. The outcomes unveiled that the shielding parameters such as the linear attenuation coefficient, mass attenuation coefficient, and the effective atomic number were enhanced as CBD content increases. In the same time, the half-value layer, the tenth value layer, and the mean free path are reduced with the enrichment in the CBD content. Furthermore, the exposure build-up factor is inversely related to equivalent atomic numbers. Based on these findings, it was determined that the manufactured bismuth lithium-borate glass system doped cement bypass dust can be used for radiation shielding purposes.
World-class interpretable poker
Authors: Bertsimas Dimitris , Paskov Alex 
Published: June 2022

AbstractWe address the problem of interpretability in iterative game solving for imperfect-information games such as poker. This lack of interpretability has two main sources: first, the use of an uninterpretable feature representation, and second, the use of black box methods such as neural networks, for the fitting procedure. In this paper, we present advances on both fronts. Namely, first we propose a novel, compact, and easy-to-understand game-state feature representation for Heads-up No-limit (HUNL) Poker. Second, we make use of globally optimal decision trees, paired with a counterfactual regret minimization (CFR) self-play algorithm, to train our poker bot which produces an entirely interpretable agent. Through experiments against Slumbot, the winner of the most recent Annual Computer Poker Competition, we demonstrate that our approach yields a HUNL Poker agent that is capable of beating the Slumbot. Most exciting of all, the resulting poker bot is highly interpretable, allowing humans to learn from the novel strategies it discovers.
Goals and guesses as reference points: a field experiment on student performance
Authors: Sabater-Grande Gerardo , Georgantzís Nikolaos , Herranz-Zarzoso Noemí 
Published: June 2022

AbstractIn this paper, we study overconfidence and goal-setting in academic performance, with and without monetary incentives. Students enrolled in a microeconomics course were offered the possibility of setting their own target grade before taking part in the final exam. They were also asked to guess their grade immediately after they had taken the exam (“post-diction”). In general, students overestimated their performance, both at the goal-setting and at the post-diction stages. Controlling for several sources of this bias (cognitive abilities, academic record and self-reported academic confidence), we find that the use of monetary rewards mitigates the overestimation of potential achievements and eliminates overestimation of actual achievements through the improvement of actual performance. Our results suggest that monetary incentives do not cause subjects to put more effort into correct guesses but make them put more effort into academic performance. Using students’ academic records to measure overall skill, we find a strong Dunning–Kruger bias which is intensified in the presence of monetary rewards.
Multi-center federated learning: clients clustering for better personalization
Authors: Long Guodong , Xie Ming , Shen Tao , Zhou Tianyi , Wang Xianzhi , Jiang Jing 
Published: June 2022

AbstractPersonalized decision-making can be implemented in a Federated learning (FL) framework that can collaboratively train a decision model by extracting knowledge across intelligent clients, e.g. smartphones or enterprises. FL can mitigate the data privacy risk of collaborative training since it merely collects local gradients from users without access to their data. However, FL is fragile in the presence of statistical heterogeneity that is commonly encountered in personalized decision making, e.g., non-IID data over different clients. Existing FL approaches usually update a single global model to capture the shared knowledge of all users by aggregating their gradients, regardless of the discrepancy between their data distributions. By comparison, a mixture of multiple global models could capture the heterogeneity across various clients if assigning the client to different global models (i.e., centers) in FL. To this end, we propose a novel multi-center aggregation mechanism to cluster clients using their models’ parameters. It learns multiple global models from data as the cluster centers, and simultaneously derives the optimal matching between users and centers. We then formulate it as an optimization problem that can be efficiently solved by a stochastic expectation maximization (EM) algorithm. Experiments on multiple benchmark datasets of FL show that our method outperforms several popular baseline methods. The experimental source codes are publicly available on the Github repository (GitHub repository: https://github.com/mingxuts/multi-center-fed-learning).
TOPK Activation Exerts Protective Effects on Cisplatin-induced Acute Kidney Injury
Authors: Zhang Hui , Dong Qing-qing , Shu Hua-pan , Tu Yu-chi , Liao Qian-qian , Yao Li-jun 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Objective
T-LAK-cell-originated protein kinase (TOPK), a PSD95-Disc large-ZO1 (PDZ) binding kinase (PBK), is a novel member of the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) family. Studies have shown that TOPK plays a critical role in the function of tumor cells, including apoptosis and mitosis. However, little is known on the effect of TOPK in cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury (CP-AKI). This study aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of TOPK in CP-AKI.

Methods
Cisplatin was administered to C57BL/6 mice and cultured kidney tubular epithelial cells (TECs) to establish the CP-AKI murine or cellular models. TECs were then stimulated with the specific inhibitor of TOPK OTS514 or transfected with the recombinant-activated plasmid TOPK-T9E to inhibit or activate TOPK. The TECs were treated with AKT inhibitor VIII following stimulation with OTS514 or cisplatin. Western blotting and flow cytometry were used to evaluate the cell cycle and apoptosis of TECs.

Results
The analysis revealed that the TOPK activity was significantly suppressed by cisplatin, both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, the pharmacological inhibition of TOPK by OTS514, a specific inhibitor of TOPK, exacerbated the cisplatin-induced cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase and apoptosis of cultured TECs. Moreover, the TOPK activation via the TOPK-T9E plasmid transfection could partially reverse the cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase and apoptosis of cisplatin-treated TECs. In addition, AKT/protein kinase B (PKB), as a TOPK target protein, was inhibited by cisplatin in cultured TECs. The pharmaceutical inhibition of AKT further aggravated the apoptosis of TECs induced by cisplatin or TOPK inhibition. TOPK systematically mediated the apoptosis via the AKT pathway in the CP-AKI cell model.

Conclusion
These results indicate that TOPK activation protects against CP-AKI by ameliorating the G2/M cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis.
Ginkgo Biloba Extract Ameliorates Scopolamine-induced Memory Deficits via Rescuing Synaptic Damage
Authors: Zhang Gui-jiao , Zheng Dong , Yu Huan , Luo Xiao-ping , Wu Wei 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Objective
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common age-related neurodegenerative disorder. Emerging evidence suggests that synaptic dysfunction is associated with the onset and progression of AD. Interestingly, Ginkgo biloba extract (EGb) is one of the most frequently investigated herbal medicines for enhancing cognition and alleviating neurodegenerative dementia. This study aimed to investigate the effect and the mechanism of EGb on AD-like synaptic disorders.

Methods
Scopolamine (SCO)-induced rats were used to mimic AD-like memory deficits. Morris water maze test and fear conditioning test were conducted to evaluate the memory status of rats in response to different treatments. Then, the synapse alterations were assessed by Golgi staining, and Western blotting was conducted to assess the protein expression of PSD95, GluN2B, synapsin-1, and synaptophysin. Reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction was applied to detect the mRNA expression of PSD95 and the levels of miR-1-3p/miR-206-3p.

Results
EGb supplement alleviated the learning and memory deficits induced by SCO in behavioral experiments. Moreover, EGb treatment attenuated synaptic damage elicited by SCO, manifested as increased dendritic spine density and the proportion of mushroom-type spines in hippocampal neurons. Further investigation indicated that EGb rescued the expression of synaptic-related proteins, especially PSD95, and decreased the levels of miR-1-3p/miR-206-3p in the rat hippocampus.

Conclusion
The application of EGb effectively treats SCO-induced memory impairments probably by suppressing miR-1-3p/miR-206-3p and elevating the expression of PSD95.
Debating Euthanasia and Physician-Assisted Death in People with Psychiatric Disorders
Authors: Grassi Luigi , Folesani Federica , Marella Marco , Tiberto Elisa , Riba Michelle B. , Bortolotti Lisa , Toffanin Tommaso , Palagini Laura , Belvederi Murri Martino , Biancosino Bruno , Ferrara Maria , Caruso Rosangela 
Published: June 2022

Abstract
Purpose of Review
Over the last 30 years, medical assistance in dying (MAiD) including euthanasia (EU) and physician-assisted death (or suicide, PAS) has become the center of a large debate, particularly when these practices have involved people with psychiatric illness, including resistant depression, schizophrenia, personality, or other severe psychiatric disorders. We performed a review utilizing several databases, and by including the most relevant studies in full journal articles investigating the problem of MAiD in patients with psychiatric disorders but not in physical terminal conditions (non-terminal, MAiD-NT).

Recent Findings
Literature has shown that a small percentage of people with psychiatric disorders died by MAiD-NT in comparison with patients with somatic diseases in terminal clinical conditions (e.g., cancer, AIDS). However, the problem in the field is complex and not solved yet as confirmed by the fact that only a few countries (e.g., the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg) have legalized MAiD-NT for patients with psychiatric disorders, while most have maintained the practices accessible only to people with somatic disease in a terminal phase. Also, how to make objective the criterion of irremediability of a mental disorder; how to balance suicide prevention with assisted suicide; how to avoid the risk of progressively including in requests for MAiD-NT vulnerable segments of the population, such as minors, elderly, or people with dementia, in a productive-oriented society, are some of the critical points to be discussed.

Summary
The application of MAiD-NT in people with psychiatric disorders should be further explored to prevent end-of-life rights from contradicting the principles of recovery-oriented care.
MEA-ToolBox: an Open Source Toolbox for Standardized Analysis of Multi-Electrode Array Data
Authors: Hu Michel , Frega Monica , Tolner Else A. , van den Maagdenberg A. M. J. M. , Frimat J. P. , le Feber Joost 
Published: June 2022

AbstractFunctional assessment of in vitro neuronal networks—of relevance for disease modelling and drug testing—can be performed using multi-electrode array (MEA) technology. However, the handling and processing of the large amount of data typically generated in MEA experiments remains a huge hurdle for researchers. Various software packages have been developed to tackle this issue, but to date, most are either not accessible through the links provided by the authors or only tackle parts of the analysis. Here, we present ‘‘MEA-ToolBox’’, a free open-source general MEA analytical toolbox that uses a variety of literature-based algorithms to process the data, detect spikes from raw recordings, and extract information at both the single-channel and array-wide network level. MEA-ToolBox extracts information about spike trains, burst-related analysis and connectivity metrics without the need of manual intervention. MEA-ToolBox is tailored for comparing different sets of measurements and will analyze data from multiple recorded files placed in the same folder sequentially, thus considerably streamlining the analysis pipeline. MEA-ToolBox is available with a graphic user interface (GUI) thus eliminating the need for any coding expertise while offering functionality to inspect, explore and post-process the data. As proof-of-concept, MEA-ToolBox was tested on earlier-published MEA recordings from neuronal networks derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) obtained from healthy subjects and patients with neurodevelopmental disorders. Neuronal networks derived from patient’s hiPSCs showed a clear phenotype compared to those from healthy subjects, demonstrating that the toolbox could extract useful parameters and assess differences between normal and diseased profiles.
Hochaufgelöste Mikrobenporträts mit hoher Tiefenschärfe
Authors: Schmidt Matthias 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThe past decade has seen the advent of a new imaging technique in the life sciences that is ideal for microbiological applications: the helium ion microscope (HIM). Its lateral resolution is better than one nanometre, it has a large depth-of-field and can image non-conductive specimens which renders the tool ideal for studying microbiological objects such as microbes attached to surfaces, microbial biofilms and viruses. Here we compare HIM with electron microscopy techniques and highlight selected examples that demonstrate the new possibilities for microbiology opened up by this technique.
Neuartige, metabolisch aktive Organellen in eukaryotischen Zellen
Authors: Tripp Joanna , Oreb Mislav , Boles Eckhard 
Published: June 2022

AbstractMicrobial production of chemicals is a sustainable alternative to conventional industrial processes. However, the implementation of exogenous metabolic pathways is hampered by slow diffusion rates, competing pathways, or secretion of intermediates. Pre-existing organelles have been harnessed to overcome these problems, but these approaches suffer from interference with endogenous pathways. We have developed a new concept for the compartmentalization of enzymatic pathways in ER-derived vesicles.
Perceived privacy risk in the Internet of Things: determinants, consequences, and contingencies in the case of connected cars
Authors: Koester Nils , Cichy Patrick , Antons David , Salge Torsten Oliver 
Published: June 2022

AbstractThe Internet of Things (IoT) is permeating all areas of life. However, connected devices are associated with substantial risks to users’ privacy, as they rely on the collection and exploitation of personal data. The case of connected cars demonstrates that these risks may be more profound in the IoT than in extant contexts, as both a user's informational and physical space are intruded. We leverage this unique setting to collect rich context-immersive interview (n = 33) and large-scale survey data (n = 791). Our work extends prior theory by providing a better understanding of the formation of users’ privacy risk perceptions, the effect such perceptions have on users’ willingness to share data, and how these relationships in turn are affected by inter-individual differences in individuals’ regulatory focus, thinking style, and institutional trust.
Algorithms for Windowed Aggregations and Joins on Distributed Stream Processing Systems
Authors: Verwiebe Juliane , Grulich Philipp M. , Traub Jonas , Markl Volker 
Published: June 2022

AbstractWindow aggregations and windowed joins are central operators of modern real-time analytic workloads and significantly impact the performance of stream processing systems.This paper gives an overview of state-of-the-art research in this area conducted by the Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD) and the Technische Universität Berlin. To this end, we present different algorithms for efficiently processing windowed operators and discuss techniques for distributed stream processing. Recently, several approaches have leveraged modern hardware for windowed stream processing, which we will also include in this overview. Additionally, we describe the integration of windowed operators into various stream processing systems and diverse applications that use specialized window operations.
Small modifications of Mori dream spaces arising from $$\mathbb {C}^*$$-actions
Authors: Occhetta Gianluca , Romano Eleonora A. , Solá Conde Luis E. , Wiśniewski Jarosław A. 
Published: June 2022

AbstractWe link small modifications of projective varieties with a$${\mathbb {C}}^*$$C∗-action to their GIT quotients. Namely, using flips with centers in closures of Białynicki-Birula cells, we produce a system of birational equivariant modifications of the original variety, which includes those on which a quotient map extends from a set of semistable points to a regular morphism. The structure of the modifications is completely described for the blowup along the sink and the source of smooth varieties with Picard number one with a$${\mathbb {C}}^*$$C∗-action which has no finite isotropy for any point. Examples can be constructed upon homogeneous varieties with a$${\mathbb {C}}^*$$C∗-action associated to short grading of their Lie algebras.
Solubility of Calcined Kaolinite, Montmorillonite, and Illite in High Molar NaOH and Suitability as Precursors for Geopolymers
Authors: Werling Nadja , Kaltenbach Jonas , Weidler Peter G. , Schuhmann Rainer , Dehn Frank , Emmerich Katja 
Published: June 2022

AbstractClays and clay minerals dissolve over a broad pH range, such as during sediment diagenesis and in a variety of applications, including nuclear waste storage, landfills, and geopolymer binders in the construction industry. The solubility depends on process parameters (pH, temperature, pressure, etc.) and material properties (phase content, clay mineral composition, particle size, etc.). Pretreatments such as calcination or severe grinding change the material properties and could enhance solubility, which is called activation. The aim of the current study was to determine the solubility of three different clay minerals after calcination (metakaolinite, metamontmorillonite, and metaillite) in high molar alkaline solutions (NaOH) up to 10.79 mol/L and pH = 14.73. Furthermore, the solubility of an Al(OH)3 powder in alkaline solution (NaOH) was analyzed, as it can be used to adjust the Si:Al ratio of geopolymer precursors. The residues of the clay minerals after the alkaline treatment were investigated to disclose potential alterations in their phase contents. Based on the results of the thermal and alkaline activation, conclusions about the suitability as geopolymer precursors were made. All clay minerals showed an increase in solubility proportional to the concentration of the alkaline solution. The solubility decreased in the order metakaolinite > metamontmorillonite > metaillite. Thereby, dissolution was incomplete for all three clay minerals (<90%) after 7 days and congruent for metakaolinite and metaillite but incongruent for metamontmorillonite.
Tunguska
Authors: Bruno Andy 
Published: June 2022

In 1908, thunderous blasts and blazing fires from the sky descended upon the desolate Tunguska territory of Siberia. The explosion knocked down an area of forest larger than London and was powerful enough to obliterate Manhattan. The mysterious nature of the event has prompted a wide array of speculation and investigation, including from those who suspected that aliens from outer space had been involved. In this deeply researched account of the Tunguska explosion and its legacy in Russian society, culture, and the environment, Andy Bruno recounts the intriguing history of the disaster and researchers' attempts to understand it. Taking readers inside the numerous expeditions and investigations that have long occupied scientists, he foregrounds the significance of mystery in environmental history. His engaging and accessible account shows how the explosion has shaped the treatment of the landscape, how uncertainty allowed unusual ideas to enter scientific conversations, and how cosmic disasters have influenced the past and might affect the future.