bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Effect of zirconium doping on the mechanical properties of $$W_{1-x}Zr_{x}B_2$$ on the basis of first-principles calculations and magnetron sputtered films
Authors: Maździarz Marcin , Psiuk Rafał , Krawczyńska Agnieszka , Lewandowska Małgorzata , Mościcki Tomasz 
Published: August 2022

Abstract
Potentially superhard

$$W_{1-x}Zr_{x}B_2$$

W

1
-
x

Z

r
x

B
2

polymorphs, hP6-P6

$$_{3}$$

3

/mmc-WB

$$_2$$

2

and hP3-P6/mmm-WB

$$_2$$

2

, were thoroughly analyzed with zirconium doping in the range of x=0-25%, within the framework of the first-principles density functional theory, from both a structural and a mechanical point of view. The obtained results were subsequently compared with the properties of material deposited by the magnetron sputtering method. All predicted structures are mechanically and thermodynamically stable. Theoretical calculations suggest a decrease in hardness

$$H_v$$

H
v

and fracture toughness

$$K_{\text {IC}}$$

K
IC

of the hP6 phase with zirconium doping but no such effect on the hP3 phase. It was observed that an additional defect in the analyzed structure significantly weakens the hP6 phase but strengthens the hP3 phase. The deposited films are characterized by greater hardness but lower fracture toughness. The results of experiments show that not only is solid solution hardening responsible for strengthening the predicted new material but also the change in microstructure, the Hall–Petch effect and vacancies.
Nonlinear optimal control for the 4-DOF underactuated robotic tower crane
Authors: Rigatos G. , Abbaszadeh M. , Pomares J. 
Published: August 2022

AbstractTower cranes find wide use in construction works, in ports and in several loading and unloading procedures met in industry. A nonlinear optimal control approach is proposed for the dynamic model of the 4-DOF underactuated tower crane. The dynamic model of the robotic crane undergoes approximate linearization around a temporary operating point that is recomputed at each time-step of the control method. The linearization relies on Taylor series expansion and on the associated Jacobian matrices. For the linearized state-space model of the system a stabilizing optimal (H-infinity) feedback controller is designed. To compute the controller’s feedback gains an algebraic Riccati equation is repetitively solved at each iteration of the control algorithm. The stability properties of the control method are proven through Lyapunov analysis. The proposed control approach is advantageous because: (i) unlike the popular computed torque method for robotic manipulators, the new control approach is characterized by optimality and is also applicable when the number of control inputs is not equal to the robot’s number of DOFs, (ii) it achieves fast and accurate tracking of reference setpoints under minimal energy consumption by the robot’s actuators, (iii) unlike the popular Nonlinear Model Predictive Control method, the article’s nonlinear optimal control scheme is of proven global stability and convergence to the optimum.
Challenges, perceptions, and future preferences for post-secondary online education given experiences in the COVID-19 outbreak
Authors: Asgari Hamidreza , Gupta Rajesh , Titiloye Ibukun , Jin Xia 
Published: August 2022

AbstractTo gain a better understanding of online education status during and after the pandemic outbreak, this paper analyzed the data from a recent survey conducted in the state of Florida in May 2020. In particular, we focused on college students’ perception of productivity changes, benefits, challenges, and their overall preference for the future of online education. Our initial exploratory analysis showed that in most cases, students were not fully satisfied with the quality of the online education, and the majority of them suffered a plummet in their productivities. Despite the challenges, around 61% believed that they would prefer more frequent participation in online programs in the future (compared to the normal conditions before the pandemic). A structural equation model was developed to identify and assess the factors that contribute to their productivity and future preferences. The results showed that lack of sufficient communication with other students/ instructor as well as lack of required technology infrastructure significantly reduced students’ productivity. On the other hand, productivity was positively affected by perceived benefits such as flexibility and better time management. In addition, productivity played a mediating role for a number of socio-economic, demographic, and attitudinal attributes: including gender, income, technology attitudes, and home environment conflicts. Accordingly, females, high income groups, and those with home environment conflicts experienced lower productivity, which indirectly discouraged their preference for future online education. As expected, a latent pro-online education attitude increased both the productivity and the future online-education preference. Last but not the least, Gen-Xers were more likely to adopt online-education in the post pandemic conditions compared to their peers.
Management of Multiple Myeloma in the Middle East: Unmet Needs, Challenges and Perspective
Authors: Ibrahim Ahmad , Chamseddine Nabil , El-cheikh Jean , Hanna Colette , Moukadem Walid , Nasr Fady , Younis Ahmad , Bazarbachi Ali 
Published: August 2022

AbstractMultiple myeloma (MM) is a prevalent hematological malignancy. Resource-constrained settings such as the Middle East are particularly burdened by the increasing trends in MM morbidity and mortality in addition to challenges in the management of MM. It thus becomes necessary to identify and address debatable areas of current practice and gaps in the management of MM in the Middle East. With a special focus on the Lebanese situation, the first-line treatment of the very elderly (> 80 years old) is discussed, in addition to the impact of relapse type (biochemical or clinical relapse) on maintenance therapy, the choice of first relapse therapy in relation to maintenance therapy, and the role of MRD in the MM treatment landscape. The need for realistic management guidelines accounting for local resources and expertise, in addition to the reflection of drug accessibility and cost on clinical practice are recognized.
Thyroid Dysfunction Among Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in Saudi Arabia
Authors: AL-Homood Ibrahim A. , Alkhathami Reem A. , Alenazi Sultan K. , Mohammed AbdelGaffar A. 
Published: August 2022

AbstractSystemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease that may be associated with other autoimmune disorders. To date, limited data are available on thyroid dysfunction and SLE in Saudi Arabia. In this retrospective study, we reviewed the cases of 151 patients with SLE. The prevalence of thyroid dysfunction was 17.2%: 4% in the hyperthyroid group and 11.9% in the hypothyroid group. Euthyroid sick syndrome was found in 1.3% of patients. Moreover, 57% of patients with hypothyroidism were positive for antibodies to thyroglobulin and thyroid peroxidase. No correlation was found between the presence of thyroid dysfunction and higher SLE disease activity, according to the Safety of Estrogens in Lupus National Assessment–Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (SELENA-SLEDAI) score.
Does the Inverse Farm Size-Productivity Hypothesis Hold Beyond Five Hectares? Evidence from Ghana
Authors: Debrah Godwin , Adanu Kwami 
Published: August 2022

AbstractWe contribute to the inverse farm size-productivity puzzle (IR) literature by examining the relationship using a unique data set from southern Ghana that covers farms between 5 and 70 ha. The study uses an instrumental variable (IV) for land size to mitigate some effects of measurement error in land size. The inverse relationship between farm size and farm productivity is upheld when ordinary least squares estimators (OLS) are applied but becomes insignificant although still negative in the IV estimation. The results show that measurement error in land size attenuates the IR. While some studies found the IR to flatten and then become positive, this study finds that in Ghana, the IR only flattens.
Novel approach for tracking interdisciplinary research productivity using institutional databases
Authors: Bengert E. , Towle-Miller L. , Boccardo J. , Mercene G. , Ohtake P.J. , Balkundi P. , Elkin P.L. , Balthasar J. , Murphy T.F. , Noyes K. 
Published: August 2022

Abstract
This study proposes a new practical approach for tracking institutional changes in research teamwork and productivity using commonly available institutional electronic databases such as eCV and grant management systems. We tested several definitions of interdisciplinary collaborations based on number of collaborations and their fields of discipline. We demonstrated that the extent of interdisciplinary collaboration varies significantly by academic unit, faculty appointment and seniority. Interdisciplinary grants constitute 24% of all grants but the trend has significantly increased over the last five years. Departments with more interdisciplinary grants receive more research funding. More research is needed to improve efficiency of interdisciplinary collaborations.
Development and evaluation of a novel training program to build study staff skills in equitable and inclusive engagement, recruitment, and retention of clinical research participants
Authors: Cranfill Jessica R. , Freel Stephanie A. , Deeter Christine E. , Snyder Denise C. , Naggie Susanna , Barrett Nadine J. , Roberts Jamie N. 
Published: August 2022

Abstract

Background:
Adequate equitable recruitment of underrepresented groups in clinical research and trials is a national problem and remains a daunting challenge to translating research discoveries into effective healthcare practices. Engagement, recruitment, and retention (ER&R) training programs for Clinical Research Professionals (CRPs) often focus on policies and regulations. Although some training on the importance of diversity and inclusion in clinical research participation has recently been developed, there remains a need for training that couples critical equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) concepts with skill development in effective recruitment and retention strategies, regulations, and best practices.

Approach and methods:
We developed the ER&R Certificate program as a holistic approach to provide Duke University CRPs the opportunity to build competency in gap areas and to increase comfort in championing equitable partnerships with clinical research participants. The thirteen core and elective courses include blended learning elements, such as e-learning and wiki journaling prompts, to facilitate meaningful discussions. Pre- and post-assessments administered to CRP program participants and their managers assessed program impact on CRP skills in ER&R tasks and comfort in equitable, diverse, and inclusive engagement of clinical research participants.

Results and discussion:
Results from the first two cohorts indicate that CRPs perceived growth in their own comfort with program learning objectives, especially those centered on participant partnership and EDI principles, and most managers witnessed growth in competence and responsibility for ER&R-related tasks. Results suggest value in offering CRPs robust training programs that integrate EDI and ER&R training.
Restrictions on rational surfaces lying in very general hypersurfaces
Authors: Beheshti Roya , Riedl Eric 
Published: August 2022

AbstractWe study rational surfaces on very general Fano hypersurfaces in$\mathbb {P}^n$, with an eye toward unirationality. We prove that given any fixed family of rational surfaces, a very general hypersurface of degreedsufficiently close tonandnsufficiently large will admit no maps from surfaces in that family. In particular, this shows that for such hypersurfaces, any rational curve in the space of rational curves must meet the boundary. We also prove that for any fixed ratio$\alpha $, a very general hypersurface in$\mathbb {P}^n$of degreedsufficiently close tonwill admit no generically finite maps from a surface satisfying$H^2 \geq \alpha HK$, whereHis the pullback of the hyperplane class from$\mathbb {P}^n$andKis the canonical bundle on the surface.
Unified approach for solving exit problems for additive-increase and multiplicative-decrease processes
Authors: van der Hofstad Remco , Kapodistria Stella , Palmowski Zbigniew , Shneer Seva 
Published: August 2022

AbstractWe analyse an additive-increase and multiplicative-decrease (also known as growth–collapse) process that grows linearly in time and that, at Poisson epochs, experiences downward jumps that are (deterministically) proportional to its present position. For this process, and also for its reflected versions, we consider one- and two-sided exit problems that concern the identification of the laws of exit times from fixed intervals and half-lines. All proofs are based on a unified first-step analysis approach at the first jump epoch, which allows us to give explicit, yet involved, formulas for their Laplace transforms. All eight Laplace transforms can be described in terms of two so-called scale functions associated with the upward one-sided exit time and with the upward two-sided exit time. All other Laplace transforms can be obtained from the above scale functions by taking limits, derivatives, integrals, and combinations of these.
How Do Local Public Spending Decisions Shape Corruption Perceptions? Evidence from Mexico
Authors: Kahn Theodore , Zimbalist Zack 
Published: August 2022

ABSTRACTThis article studies how public investment and other types of spending by municipal governments shape perceptions of corruption in Mexico. We argue, drawing on various strands of literature, that investment in visible public works projects should lower corruption perceptions, given the well-known difficulties in directly observing corrupt acts. Contrary to our expectations and common assumptions in studies of public investment, we find that more public investment by municipal governments is associated, on average, with higher corruption perceptions. However, this effect is mediated by individuals’ education levels. For individuals with less formal education, higher public investment correlates with higher perceived corruption, while highly educated individuals perceive less corruption when municipal public investment is high. The study uses qualitative evidence from municipal audit reports to identify a possible mechanism driving this outcome: municipal investments may not be targeted to the poorer neighborhoods with greater public service deficits.
Do pandemics spawn extremism?
Authors: Chamberlain Adam , Yanus Alixandra B. 
Published: August 2022

AbstractScholars and journalists connect pandemics to a rise in support for radical political movements. In this study, we draw on this insight to investigate the relationship between the 1918–1919 Spanish influenza pandemic and political extremism—here, the rise of the second Ku Klux Klan—in the United States. Specifically, we ask whether U.S. states and cities with higher death rates from the Spanish flu also had stronger Ku Klux Klan organizations in the early 1920s. Our results do not provide evidence of such a connection; in fact, the data suggest greater Klan membership where the pandemic was less severe. This provides initial evidence that pandemic severity, as measured by mortality, is not necessarily a cause of extremism in the United States; power devaluation as a result of social and cultural change, however, does appear to spur such mobilization.
The Making and Breaking of Kinetic Empire: Mobility, Communication and Political Change in the Eastern Mediterranean, c. 900–1100 CE
Authors: Holmes Catherine 
Published: August 2022

AbstractThis paper applies the concept of ‘kinetic empire’ to the eastern Mediterranean world in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The term ‘kinetic empire’ is borrowed from Hämäläinen's analysis of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century north American Comanche Empire. It refers to the way in which trans- and supra-regional power could be created, expressed and enforced through mobile means. The article focuses primarily on the role of mobility in the expansion of the Byzantine Empire between c. 900 and 1050, but also makes comparison with the contemporaneous Fatimid caliphate and other regional polities which we might usually regard as sedentary states. Recovering the role of the kinetic not only extends our understanding of the modalities of power in this crucial region of the medieval world, it also allows us to question the nature and degree of transformation wrought by mobile newcomers, such as Normans, crusaders and Turks in the later decades of the eleventh century. In this sense of developing and exploring concepts useful for the study of the transregional in premodernity and questioning standard periodisations, this article is also a practical exercise in medieval global history.
The equivalence between rational G-sheaves and rational G-Mackey functors for profinite G
Authors: BARNES DAVID , SUGRUE DANNY 
Published: August 2022

AbstractFor G a profinite group, we construct an equivalence between rational G-Mackey functors and a certain full subcategory of G-sheaves over the space of closed subgroups of G called Weyl-G-sheaves. This subcategory consists of those sheaves whose stalk over a subgroup K is K-fixed.This extends the classification of rational G-Mackey functors for finite G of Thévenaz and Webb, and Greenlees and May to a new class of examples. Moreover, this equivalence is instrumental in the classification of rational G-spectra for profinite G, as given in the second author’s thesis.
The roles of familial transmission and smoking during pregnancy on executive function skills: A sibling-comparison study
Authors: Knopik Valerie S. , Micalizzi Lauren , Marceau Kristine , Loviska Amy M. , Yu Li , Bien Alexandra , Rolan Emily , Evans Allison S. , Palmer Rohan H. C. , Heath Andrew C. 
Published: August 2022

AbstractThis research examines maternal smoking during pregnancy and risk for poorer executive function in siblings discordant for exposure. Data (N = 173 families) were drawn from the Missouri Mothers and Their Children study, a sample, identified using birth records (years 1998–2005), in which mothers changed smoking behavior between two pregnancies (Child 1 [older sibling]: Mage = 12.99; Child 2 [younger sibling]: Mage = 10.19). A sibling comparison approach was used, providing a robust test for the association between maternal smoking during pregnancy and different aspects of executive function in early-mid adolescence. Results suggested within-family (i.e., potentially causal) associations between maternal smoking during pregnancy and one working memory task (visual working memory) and one response inhibition task (color-word interference), with increased exposure associated with decreased performance. Maternal smoking during pregnancy was not associated with stop-signal reaction time, cognitive flexibility/set-shifting, or auditory working memory. Initial within-family associations between maternal smoking during pregnancy and visual working memory as well as color-word interference were fully attenuated in a model including child and familial covariates. These findings indicate that exposure to maternal smoking during pregnancy may be associated with poorer performance on some, but not all skills assessed; however, familial transmission of risk for low executive function appears more important.
Coexistence of transposition of the great arteries, coarctation of the aorta, and bilateral pulmonary artery hypoplasia
Authors: Kavgacı Akif , Terlemez Semiha , Tunç Osman , Kula Serdar 
Published: August 2022

AbstractTransposition of the great arteries is the most common cyanotic CHD in newborns. This CHD, in which the aorta arises from the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery from the left ventricle, is often accompanied by one or several defects such as atrial septal defect or patent foramen ovale, ventricular septal defect and patent ductus arteriosus, which allow the transition between both parallel circulations. Rarely, the disease may be accompanied by left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (subpulmonary obstruction) and coarctation of the aorta.We present a highly complicated and unusual transposition of the great arteries patient with critical aortic coarctation and hypoplastic pulmonary arteries with abnormal outflow and course.
Associations of environmental and lifestyle factors with spatial navigation in younger and older adults
Authors: Maybrier Hannah , Palanca Ben Julian A. , Head Denise 
Published: August 2022

AbstractObjective:Advanced age is associated with prominent impairment in allocentric navigation dependent on the hippocampus. This study examined whether age-related impairment in allocentric navigation and strategy selection was associated with sleep disruption or circadian rest-activity fragmentation. Further, we examined whether associations with navigation were moderated by perceived stress and physical activity.Method:Sleep fragmentation and total sleep time over the course of 1 week were assayed in younger (n= 42) and older (n= 37) adults via wrist actigraphy. Subsequently, participants completed cognitive mapping and route learning tasks, as well a measure of spontaneous navigation strategy selection. Measurements of perceived stress and an actigraphy-based index of physical activity were also obtained. Circadian rest-activity fragmentation was estimated via actigraphy post-hoc.Results:Age was associated with reduced cognitive mapping, route learning, allocentric strategy use, and total sleep time (ps < .01), replicating prior findings. Novel findings included that sleep fragmentation increased with advancing age (p= .009) and was associated with lower cognitive mapping (p= .022) within the older adult cohort. Total sleep time was not linearly associated with the navigation tasks (ps > .087). Post-hoc analyses revealed that circadian rest-activity fragmentation increased with advancing age within the older adults (p= .026) and was associated with lower cognitive mapping across the lifespan (p= .001) and within older adults (p= .005). Neither stress nor physical activity were robust moderators of sleep fragmentation associations with the navigation tasks (ps > .113).Conclusion:Sleep fragmentation and circadian rest-activity fragmentation are potential contributing factors to age effects on cognitive mapping within older adults.