bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Unconstrained face mask and face-hand interaction datasets: building a computer vision system to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19
Authors: Eyiokur Fevziye Irem , Ekenel Hazım Kemal , Waibel Alexander 
Published: July 2022

AbstractHealth organizations advise social distancing, wearing face mask, and avoiding touching face to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Based on these protective measures, we developed a computer vision system to help prevent the transmission of COVID-19. Specifically, the developed system performs face mask detection, face-hand interaction detection, and measures social distance. To train and evaluate the developed system, we collected and annotated images that represent face mask usage and face-hand interaction in the real world. Besides assessing the performance of the developed system on our own datasets, we also tested it on existing datasets in the literature without performing any adaptation on them. In addition, we proposed a module to track social distance between people. Experimental results indicate that our datasets represent the real-world’s diversity well. The proposed system achieved very high performance and generalization capacity for face mask usage detection, face-hand interaction detection, and measuring social distance in a real-world scenario on unseen data. The datasets are available at https://github.com/iremeyiokur/COVID-19-Preventions-Control-System.
Intelligent tutoring systems for word problem solving in COVID-19 days: could they have been (part of) the solution?
Authors: del Olmo-Muñoz Javier , González-Calero José Antonio , Diago Pascual D. , Arnau David , Arevalillo-Herráez Miguel 
Published: July 2022

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic led to the lockdown of schools in many countries, forcing teachers and students to carry out educational activities remotely. In the case of mathematics, developing remote instruction based on both synchronous and asynchronous technological solutions has proven to be an extremely complex challenge. Specifically, this was the case in topics such as word problem solving, as this domain requires intensive supervision and feedback from the teacher. In this piece of research, we present an evaluation of how technology is employed in the teaching of mathematics, with particular relevance to learning during the pandemic. For that purpose, we conducted a systematic review, revealing the almost complete absence of experiments in which the use of technology is not mediated by the teacher. These results reflect a pessimistic vision within the field of mathematics education about the possibilities of learning when the student uses technology autonomously. Bringing good outcomes out of a bad situation, the pandemic crisis may represent a turning point from which to start directing the research gaze towards technological environments such as those mediated by artificial intelligence. As an example, we provide a study illustrating to what extent intelligent tutoring systems can be cost-effective compared to one-to-one human tutoring and mathematic learning-oriented solutions for intensive supervision in the teaching of word problem solving, especially appropriate for remote settings. Despite the potential of these technologies, the experience also showed that student socioeconomic level was a determining factor in the participation rate with an intelligent tutoring system, regardless of whether or not the administration guaranteed students' access to technological resources during the COVID-19 situation.
Quantifying changes in ambient NOx, O3 and PM10 concentrations in Austria during the COVID-19 related lockdown in spring 2020
Authors: Staehle C. , Mayer M , Kirchsteiger B. , Klaus V. , Kult-Herdin J. , Schmidt C. , Schreier S. , Karlicky J. , Trimmel H. , Kasper-Giebl A. , Scherllin-Pirscher B. , Rieder H. E. 
Published: July 2022

AbstractDuring spring 2020, unprecedented changes in local and regional emissions have occurred around the globe due to governmental restrictions associated with COVID-19. Many European countries including Austria issued partial curfews or stay-at-home order policies, which have impacted ambient air quality through reductions in non-essential transportation and energy consumption of industrial sites and work places. Here, we analyse the effect of these measures on ambient concentrations of nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM10) during the first nationwide lockdown in Austria (16.03.2020 to 14.04.2020). To ensure a robust analysis, the Austrian domain is divided into four individual subsectors contingent on regional climate. For air quality analysis a novel method is applied for filtering days with comparable weather conditions during the 2020 lockdown and spring 2017 to 2019. In general, our analysis shows decreasing pollutant concentrations, although in magnitude dependent on pollutant and regional subdomain. Largest reductions are found for NOx reaching up to −68% at traffic sites reflecting the substantial decrease in non-essential transport. Changes in the O3 concentrations at background sites show a rather weak response to NOx declines varying between roughly −18 to +8% for both the median and the upper tail of the distribution. Occasional site level increases in O3 concentrations can be attributed to comparably weak titration during night-time. PM10 concentrations show the smallest response among air pollutants, attributable to manifold precursor sources not affected by the lockdown measures. However, our analysis indicates also a shift of PM10 distributions at traffic sites closer to distributions observed at background sites.
DArTseq molecular markers associated with the piping leaf margin phenotype in pineapple (Ananas comosus L.)
Authors: Sanewski Garth M. 
Published: July 2022

AbstractThis study sought to understand the genetic basis of the piping leaf margin phenotype in pineapple. To achieve this aim, a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using mixed linear regression and logistic regression analysis was conducted on three pineapple diversity panels including seedling populations segregating for spiny, spiny-tip and piping leaf margins. This study identified single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers associated with the piping and spiny-tip leaf margin phenotypes. A broad quantitative trait locus (QTL) positioned on chromosome 23 between positions 240,475 and 2,369,197 bp was the most highly associated with piping leaf margin in all analyses. Major candidate genes proposed are a Zinc finger protein 2, a Zinc finger protein 3, a WUSCHEL-related homeobox 2, a WUSCHEL-related homeobox 1 and a Zinc finger protein CONSTANS-like. Some other genes of a lower association, linked or nearby genes of interest, are also considered potentially involved to varying degrees. All candidate genes are known to be involved in aspects of stem cell maintenance, cell proliferation, epidermal cell differentiation, organogenesis, leaf polarity, cell wall modification or hormone signalling. It is possible each plays a role in either differentiation or morphological aspects of the spiny-tip and piping leaf margin phenotypes. It is expected the relative role of each associated gene might vary with genetic background.
Motorcycle Taxis, Extended Lockdown and Inequality at Work in Kampala, Uganda
Authors: Mallett Richard , Asingura Lillian , Ndhogezi Geofrey , Byarugaba Disan , Sseviiri Hakimu 
Published: July 2022

AbstractAfter two years of extended lockdown, Kampala’s vast workforce of motorcycle taxi riders today looks a little different. Though the sector has long constituted a vital source of labour and income for many thousands of urban residents cut off from more decent opportunities elsewhere in the economy, a recent combination of lockdown pressures and digital transitions has created new forms of dependency upon the sector whilst simultaneously stripping some old ones away. In this article, we draw on in-depth qualitative data from interviews with riders, carried out at different stages of the pandemic, to show how the composition of labour within the sector has been reworked by a series of ‘selective exits’ and ‘substitution effects’ over the past two years. In exploring the nature and nuances of these parallel movements, our analysis not only reveals considerable socio-economic unevenness within the city’s motorcycle taxi sector itself but also sheds light on a new, broader configuration of urban inequality in the making.
Dispersal distances and cultural effects in the spread of the Neolithic along the northern Mediterranean coast
Authors: Fort Joaquim 
Published: July 2022

Abstract
We estimate a spread rate of 7.5–10.6 km/year for the Neolithic expansion along the northern shore of the western Mediterranean. Comparing to theory and numerical simulations of demic-cultural waves of advance, we find that the length of coastal jumps was $$240\le \Delta \le 427$$

240
≤
Δ
≤
427

km. We also derive what we believe are the first analytical equations for spread rates of waves of advance along a coast, and they agree with the simulation results. We show that the importance of cultural diffusion in this Neolithic spread was less than 21%, so demic diffusion was responsible for at least 79% of the observed spread rate. We argue that these results suggest that the spread took place using boats, and also a limited interaction between the incoming farmers and the autochthonous hunter-gatherers.
Analyses of Methanogenic Population as Key Indicator for Anaerobic Digestion: A Case-Study in the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste Treatment
Authors: Negro V. , Mainero D. , Caredda C. , Anedda E. , Franchitti E. , Traversi D. 
Published: July 2022

Abstract
Purpose
The anaerobic digestion of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) is a treatment biologically optimizable. The analysis of the microbial balance within the digester allows not only to describe and improve the efficiency of the system but also to foresee potential variations after biochemical interventions. This work aims to highlight methanogenic population variations in two similar parallel digesters to identify bio-indicators for digestion performance after the inclusion of an additive.

Methods
The analysed industrial case study involved the two parallel, pilot-scale, bio-digesters of ACEA Pinerolese Industriale. They had analogous design and fed by the same OFMSW except for an additive inclusion. The analyses by qRT-PCR, on both bio-digesters, have been performed to determine an impact of the additive on the growth and metabolic activity of total methanogens, Methanosarcina spp., Methanocorpuscolum spp., and Methanospirillus spp.

Results
Collected data showed that the addition of biopolymers extracted from compost produced both total methanogens and Methanosarcina decrease (7.67 vs. 7.48 and 6.05 vs. 5.69 Log gene copies/mL sludge respectively, T-test p < 0.01) affecting slightly the methane yield (-8%). Methanosarcina was the highest expressed methanogen; however, the results suggested the involvement of a highly complex and heterogeneous methanogen community.

Conclusions
Total methanogens and active Methanosarcina modulations are able to highlight major bio-methane production even if their shift is slight. Globally only 3–4% of the present and 12–13% of the active methanogens were described. However, biological approach can supply a proxy of production performance of the digester also concerning the feeding peculiarities.

Graphical abstract
Survival analysis for user disengagement prediction: question-and-answering communities’ case
Authors: Abedi Firouzjaei Hassan 
Published: July 2022

AbstractWe used survival analysis to model user disengagement in three distinct questions-and-answering communities in this work. We used the complete historical data from domains including Politics, Data Science, and Computer Science from Stack Exchange communities from their inception until May 2021, including information about all users who were members of one of these three communities. Furthermore, in formulating the user disengagement prediction as a survival analysis task, we employed two survival analysis techniques (Kaplan–Meier and random survival forests) to model and predicted the probabilities of members of each community becoming disengaged. Our main finding is that the likelihood of users with even a few contributions staying active is noticeably higher than those who were making no contributions; this distinction may widen as time passes. Moreover, the results of our experiments indicate that users with more favourable views toward the content shared on the platform may stay engaged longer. Finally, regardless of their themes, the observed pattern holds for all three communities.
Creation of SnxNb1−xO2 solid solution through heavy Nb-doping in SnO2 to boost its photocatalytic CO2 reduction to C2+ products under simulated solar illumination
Authors: Gao Shuang , Guan Haitao , Wang Hongyang , Yang Xinhe , Yang Weiyi , Li Qi 
Published: July 2022

AbstractPhotocatalytic CO2 reduction driven by green solar energy could be a promising approach for the carbon neutral practice. In this work, a novel defect engineering approach was developed to form the SnxNb1−xO2 solid solution by the heavy substitutional Nb-doping of SnO2 through a robust hydrothermal process. The detailed analysis demonstrated that the heavy substitution of Sn4+ by a higher valence Nb5+ created a more suitable band structure, a better photogenerated charge carrier separation and transfer, and stronger CO2 adsorption due to the presence of abundant acid centers and excess electrons on its surface. Thus, the SnxNb1−xO2 solid solution sample demonstrated a much better photocatalytic CO2 reduction performance compared to the pristine SnO2 sample without the need for sacrificial agent. Its photocatalytic CO2 reduction efficiency reached ∼292.47 µmol/(g·h), which was 19 times that of the pristine SnO2 sample. Furthermore, its main photocatalytic CO2 reduction product was a more preferred multi-carbon (C2+) compound of C2H5OH, while that of the pristine SnO2 sample was a one-carbon (C1) compound of CH3OH. This work demonstrated that, the heavy doping of high valence cations in metal oxides to form solid solution may enhance the photocatalytic CO2 reduction and modulate its reduction process, to produce more C2+ products. This material design strategy could be readily applied to various material systems for the exploration of high-performance photocatalysts for the solar-driven CO2 reduction.
Il linfonodo sentinella nel carcinoma differenziato della tiroide
Authors: Urso Luca , Panareo Stefano 
Published: July 2022

SommarioLa ricerca del linfonodo sentinella con iniezione di radiocolloidi nel carcinoma differenziato della tiroide (DTC) è ancora oggi una tecnica dibattuta e non comunemente impiegata nella pratica clinica, in quanto attualmente non contemplata dalle linee guida ATA. Obiettivo di questa rassegna è, pertanto, quello di raccogliere attuali luci e ombre della tecnica linfoscintigrafica nel DTC, per stimolare la futura raccolta di nuove evidenze scientifiche che contribuiscano a trovare una standardizzazione procedurale della metodica e una sua più precisa collocazione nel percorso diagnostico-terapeutico dei pazienti con DTC.
The Dynamics of the Gender Gap at Retirement in Italy: Evidence from SHARE
Authors: Abatemarco Antonio , Russolillo Maria 
Published: July 2022

AbstractWe investigate the dynamics of the gender gap at retirement in Italy—by cohort and by year of retirement—for individuals retiring from 1980 to 2027 using data from SHARELIFE (wave 3 and wave 7). Most importantly, we disentangle the opposite effects on the gender gap originating respectively from (i) improving labor market conditions for women, and (ii) increasing actuarial fairness of the pension plan due to the progressive transition from a defined-benefit to a notional defined-contribution scheme. To capture the impact of these two driving forces, we implement a counterfactual analysis by which the gender gap at retirement is measured both in the actual and in the virtual distribution of pension benefits, with the latter being obtained under the hypothesis of an actuarially fair pension scheme. We observe a U-shaped pattern since the actual gender gap at retirement is found to be decreasing up to 2016 but increasing after this date. Specifically, the increasing pattern for the gender gap at retirement after 2016 is shown to be driven by (i) decreasing redistributive impact of the pension scheme, and (ii) women’s penalization in the pro-rata mechanism due to lower contributions paid in the early working life.
Anisotropic hemp-stem-derived biochar supported phase change materials with efficient solar-thermal energy conversion and storage
Authors: Yang Ruiying , Guo Xiran , Wu Haotian , Kang Weizhi , Song Kun , Li Yaqiong , Huang Xiubing , Wang Ge 
Published: July 2022

AbstractAs cheap and renewable sources, the exploitation of biomass resources was of great value in phase change energy storage. In this study, hemp stems were converted into biochars with three-dimensional multi-level anisotropic pores through a temperature-controlled charring process, which were used as supports for polyethylene glycol (PEG6000) to form shape-stable composite phase change materials (ss-CPCMs). It is shown that the ss-CPCMs using anisotropic hemp-stem-derived biochar obtained at a carbonization temperature of 900 °C as a support has high PEG6000 loading rate (88.62wt%), large latent heat (170.44 J/g) and favorable thermal stability owning to its high surface area and hierarchical pores. The biochar-based ss-CPCM also has good light absorption ability with a maximum solar-thermal conversion efficiency of 97.70%. In addition, the different thermal conductivities in the transverse and longitudinal directions of ss-CPCMs reflect the unique anisotropic structure. This work can not only improve the high-value utilization of biochars, but also provide the ss-CPCMs with excellent performance for solar-thermal conversion and storage systems.
Graphical Abstract
Mental health in young adults born extremely preterm or extremely low birthweight with contemporary neonatal intensive care
Authors: Burnett Alice C. , Mainzer Rheanna M. , Doyle Lex W. , Lee Katherine J. , Anderson Peter J. , Zannino Diana , Duff Julianne , Patton George C. , Cheong Jeanie L. Y. ,   for the Victorian Infant Collaborative Study Group
Published: July 2022

AbstractBackgroundFor infants born in the contemporary era of neonatal care, little is known about adult mental health outcomes of extremely preterm birth (EP; <28 weeks' gestation) or extremely low birthweight (ELBW; <1000 g). This study aimed to compare attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anxiety, mood, and substance use disorder prevalence in young adults born EP/ELBW and normal birthweight (NBW; >2499 g) controls, and to compare change in prevalence of mental health symptoms and disorders from 18 to 25 years.MethodsParticipants were a prospective geographical cohort of 297 consecutive survivors born EP/ELBW during 1991–1992 and 260 NBW controls. At age 25 years, 174 EP/ELBW and 139 NBW participants completed the Adult ADHD Rating Scale, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale-Revised. Data from follow-up at 18 years were also utilized. Multiple imputation was used to account for attrition.ResultsMental health outcomes at 25 years were similar between groups: prevalence rates were ADHD 7% v. 5%; anxiety 32% v. 27%; mood 38% v. 35%; substance use 12% v. 14% in the EP/ELBW and NBW groups, respectively. In both groups, ADHD declined between 18 and 25 years [odds ratio (OR) per year = 0.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.79–0.95], and generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive episode became more common (OR 1.22, 95% CI 1.10–1.35 per year; OR 1.20, 95% CI 1.10–1.30 respectively).ConclusionsThis contemporary EP/ELBW cohort has comparable young adult mental health outcomes to controls, and similar patterns of change in mental health from late adolescence.
The Sceptical Muslim
Authors: Aijaz Imran 
Published: July 2022

AbstractMany Muslims take the position that religious doubts constitute a serious problem for anyone who regards himself or herself as a Muslim, arguing that such a predicament may even result in apostasy. According to this position, the main problem with a Muslim who harbours religious doubts, a ‘Sceptical Muslim’, is that he or she is culpable for failing to respond appropriately to epistemic certainty about fundamental Islamic doctrine, primarily the existence of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad. I shall argue that, contrary to what many Muslims have asserted, the position of the ‘Sceptical Muslim’ is a viable one in an Islamic context.
Fault diagnosis of robot joint based on BP neural network
Authors: Hu Ming , Wu Jianguo , Yang Jing , Zhang Lijian , Yang Fan 
Published: July 2022

AbstractAiming at the problem of low accuracy of robot joint fault diagnosis, a fault diagnosis method of robot joint based on BP neural network is designed. In this paper, the UR10 robot is taken as the research object, and the end pose data of the robot are collected in real time. By injecting different joint errors and changing the sampling frequency, the joint fault database is collected and established, and the BP neural network is used for training to obtain the robot neural network fault diagnosis model. The fault diagnosis model can output the joint fault of the input end pose data. And we analyzed the influence of different joint angle errors and different training sets on the accuracy of joint fault diagnosis of the robot. The results show that when the sampling frequency is 250 Hz, the simulation result of joint fault diagnosis accuracy with the fault degree of 0.5° is 99.17%, and the experimental result is 97.87%. Compared with traditional data-driven methods, it has higher accuracy and diagnostic efficiency, and compared with existing machine learning methods, it also achieves a high accuracy while reducing the network complexity. The effectiveness of the BP neural network robot joint fault diagnosis method is verified by experiments.
A brief report informing the adaptation of a behavioural activation intervention for delivery by non-mental health specialists for the treatment of perinatal depression
Authors: Pinar Semra , Ersser Steven , McMillan Dean , Bedford Helen 
Published: July 2022

AbstractBackground:Behavioural activation (BA) is recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines for the treatment of perinatal depression; however, there is limited evidence about whether it is effective when delivered by non-mental health specialists (NMHS) in a perinatal setting in the UK.Aims:This study aimed to adapt a BA intervention manual and guided self-help booklet intended for delivery by NMHSs for the treatment of perinatal depression.Method:Interviews were conducted with 15 women and 19 healthcare professionals (HCP) within the first study element. Four experience-based co-design (EBCD) workshops were held, with the involvement of 14 women and three HCPs, to modify the BA documents for the specific needs of perinatal women. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Findings:The findings from the study elements were presented with themes. The co-designers (women and HCPs) pointed out that having sleeping problems, changes in appetite, feeling exhausted and feeling emotional, may be experienced by non-depressed mothers as well during pregnancy or in the postpartum period, especially around the fourth day after giving birth. Therefore, it was important to differentiate these feelings from depression. The women also wanted to see an example for each activity before being asked to do it. Having examples would help them to see the possibilities before creating their own diary sheets or tables of activities.Conclusions:Aside of the tool adaptation, the findings of this study provide a foundation to assess the effectiveness of the adapted intervention in a subsequent feasibility trial.