bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Comparison of summer raindrop size distribution characteristics in the western and central Tianshan Mountains of China
Authors: Jiang Yufei , Yang Lianmei , Zeng Yong , Tong Zepeng , Li Jiangang , Liu Fan , Zhang Jinru , Liu Jin 
Published: May 2022

AbstractThe microphysical processes of cloud and precipitation in the Tianshan Mountains still remain unclear due to the complex terrain and the lack of ground‐based observational data. In this study, the characteristics of summer raindrop size distribution (RSD) in the western and central Tianshan Mountains of China were investigated in 2020 and 2021. According to the average raindrop spectra, the RSD characteristics exhibit significant differences that the concentration of medium and large particles is relatively higher at Zhaosu than that at Tianchi. Weak precipitation prevails in the Tianshan Mountains most of the time, yet moderate rainfall and heavy rainfall have a great impact on the accumulated rainfall amount. For each rainfall rate class, raindrops of diameter less than 0.75mm have a lower concentration and raindrops of diameter greater than 3 mm have a higher concentration at Zhaosu as compared to those at Tianchi. Compared with Tianchi, Zhaosu has a larger mass‐weighted mean diameter (Dm) and a lower normalized intercept parameter (log10Nw). Compared with the classical convective spectrum, the RSDs at both Zhaosu and Tianchi are similar to the continental convective cluster. The relationships between the shape and slope (μ–Λ), and radar reflectivity and rainfall rate (Z–R) exhibit a significant difference in the western and central Tianshan Mountains of China.
A system‐based operational assessment of external beam radiotherapy
Authors: Wong Lawrence M. , Pawlicki Todd 
Published: May 2022

AbstractPurposeAdvanced technologies have led to improvements in modern radiotherapy over the years. However, adoption of advanced technologies can present challenges to existing clinical operations and negatively impact safety. The purpose of this work is to perform an assessment of modern radiotherapy for the operational objectives of safety, efficiency, and financial viability.MethodsThis work focuses on external beam radiotherapy (EBRT). The operational assessment included department management, treatment planning, treatment delivery, and associated workflows for three equipment configurations of Ethos, Halcyon, and TrueBeam with the ARIA information system, Eclipse treatment planning, and IDENTIFY surface guidance. Systems‐theoretic process analysis (STPA) was used to analyze the related workflows. Control actions, unsafe contexts of those control actions, and associated causal scenarios that can lead to unsafe radiation and non‐radiation physical injury (safety objective), reduced treatment capacity (efficiency objective), and costs that exceed budget (financial viability objective) were identified.ResultsThe number of control actions (and causal scenarios) were 18 (254), 18 (267), and 20 (267) for the equipment configurations of Halcyon, TrueBeam, and Ethos, respectively. The extent that safety, efficiency, and financial viability were impacted is similar across the different equipment configurations, but there were some noteworthy differences related to information transfer and workflow bottlenecks potentially impacting access to care. Seventy‐five percent of the scenarios across all three configurations were related to safety. Overall, 29% of the scenarios impacted more than one operational objective and 48% were related to human decisions during the process of care. Planned or unplanned process changes were responsible for 8% of the causal scenarios.ConclusionsBroad‐based clinical improvements may be realized by addressing causal scenarios that impact multiple objectives. Redesigning the roles and responsibilities of the clinical team and some aspects of the radiotherapy workflow may be helpful to fully realize the benefits of advanced technologies. Radiotherapy may benefit from additional tools to improve the consistency between decisions and actions when system or process changes occur.
Data‐driven motion‐corrected brain MRI incorporating pose‐dependent B0 fields
Authors: Brackenier Yannick , Cordero‐Grande Lucilio , Tomi‐Tricot Raphael , Wilkinson Thomas , Bridgen Philippa , Price Anthony , Malik Shaihan J. , De Vita Enrico , Hajnal Joseph V. 
Published: May 2022

PurposeTo develop a fully data‐driven retrospective intrascan motion‐correction framework for volumetric brain MRI at ultrahigh field (7 Tesla) that includes modeling of pose‐dependent changes in polarizing magnetic (B0) fields.Theory and MethodsTissue susceptibility induces spatially varying B0 distributions in the head, which change with pose. A physics‐inspired B0 model has been deployed to model the B0 variations in the head and was validated in vivo. This model is integrated into a forward parallel imaging model for imaging in the presence of motion. Our proposal minimizes the number of added parameters, enabling the developed framework to estimate dynamic B0 variations from appropriately acquired data without requiring navigators. The effect on data‐driven motion correction is validated in simulations and in vivo.ResultsThe applicability of the physics‐inspired B0 model was confirmed in vivo. Simulations show the need to include the pose‐dependent B0 fields in the reconstruction to improve motion‐correction performance and the feasibility of estimating B0 evolution from the acquired data. The proposed motion and B0 correction showed improved image quality for strongly corrupted data at 7 Tesla in simulations and in vivo.ConclusionWe have developed a motion‐correction framework that accounts for and estimates pose‐dependent B0 fields. The method improves current state‐of‐the‐art data‐driven motion‐correction techniques when B0 dependencies cannot be neglected. The use of a compact physics‐inspired B0 model together with leveraging the parallel imaging encoding redundancy and previously proposed optimized sampling patterns enables a purely data‐driven approach.
Electrochemical performance study of Ag/AgCl and Au flexible electrodes for unobtrusive monitoring of human biopotentials
Authors: Kurniawan Jonas F. , Allegra Alexis B. , Pham Timothy , Nguyen Andrew K. L. , Sit Nathan L. J. , Tjhia Boris , Shin Andrew J. , Coleman Todd P. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractFlexible and stretchable electronics are a logical choice for the recording of biopotentials, due to their improved patient comfort and customizability. There is, however, significant variance in the signal quality received from these electrodes based on material, size, and target recording frequency. Here we develop a methodology based on Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) and circuit modeling for optimizing electrodes for a specific application. We use EIS to measure the frequency dependent impedance characteristics of gold (Au) and silver/silver chloride (Ag/AgCl) electrodes of different diameters. Additionally, we use a Randles circuit model and perform model fitting with our data to extrapolate results to arbitrary frequencies and diameters. We found that at low frequencies (<1 Hz), Ag/AgCl had lower overall magnitude impedance than Au and at higher frequencies (1–1000 Hz), Au and Ag/AgCl performed similarly. Further, the magnitude impedance of the electrodes decreased linearly as electrode diameter increased. The methodology described in this study can be applicable to any customizable stretchable electronics fabrication process and enables design optimization for a target frequency, electrode size, and material.
GPR denoising via shearlet transformation and a data‐driven tight frame
Authors: Zhang Liang , Tang Jingtian , Li Yaqi , Liu Zhengguang , Chen Wenjie , Li Guang 
Published: May 2022

ABSTRACTGround‐penetrating radar (GPR) is commonly used to detect buried and near‐surface geophysical structures. GPR denoising is necessary because some level of interference, such as from clutter, random noise and/or the column artefact, are inevitable and can cause false geological interpretations. Existing sparse representation methods, including wavelet transformation, curvelet transformation and dictionary learning, are critical in GPR denoising. However, they perform poorly in some cases because GPR data cannot be represented efficiently under severe interference. Thus, this study proposes an approach that combines shearlet transformation (ST) and a data‐driven tight frame (DDTF) to improve data sparsity. The ST can provide the prior information of GPR data to the DDTF, while the DDTF can self‐adaptively represent GPR data. First, we separate significant reflections and interferences using ST. Second, we apply the DDTF to further suppress the interferences by setting different thresholds in different ST scales and directions. Finally, we adopt inverse transformations to recover the GPR data. In the experiments, ST is used to show the differences between the significant reflections and interferences of the synthetic GPR data. We also sequentially remove each interference of the synthetic GPR data to clearly highlight the performance of the method. To ensure the effectiveness of the ST‐DDTF approach, we test the method using synthetic GPR data from different models, along with some example field GPR data. The ST‐DDTF method, which is aimed at improving data sparsity, shows state‐of‐the‐art results relative to more standard GPR denoising methods. Although our approach is time consuming, it is useful in processing small GPR data and obtaining accurate denoising results.
Flexible micro–nano composite membranes based on a two‐step strategy: charge recovery and efficient gradient air filtration
Authors: Fan Yujia , Li Ting‐Ting , Ge Wankai , Lou ChingWen , Lin Jia‐Horng 
Published: May 2022

AbstractA two‐step strategy is used to produce micro–nano composite filters that are flexible and exhibit charge recovery. Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) electret powders are incorporated during the process to provide melt‐blown micro–nano membranes with good charge recovery and improved fiber fineness. Then the advantages of the nanofiber membrane are utilized to load the PTFE suspension onto the surface of melt‐blown microfiber membranes to construct a composite filtration membrane with a micro–nano structure, to achieve high‐efficiency and gradient filtration. The test results indicate that the gradient filtration composite membranes exhibit 100% filtration efficiency against 2.5 μm particles, 94.96% filtration efficiency against 0.200–2.5 μm particles and 95.39% filtration efficiency against 0.200–4.595 μm particles, which is 232.02% higher than that of polypropylene membranes. In addition, the gradient filtration composite membranes have a pressure drop that is only 86 Pa and a quality factor of 0.0358 Pa−1. Featuring excellent electret property and charge recovery rate, the gradient filtration micro–nano composite membranes are outstanding filters that have high filtration efficiency, low pressure drop, stable surface potential and excellent thermal stability. © 2022 Society of Industrial Chemistry.
Effect of radiotherapy and chemotherapy on the survival rate of Asian Americans with nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Authors: Chen Allen M. , Qi Lihong , Cress Rosemary D. , Li Yueju , Beckett Laurel , Li Baoqing 
Published: May 2022

AbstractObjectiveTo evaluate how the addition of concurrent chemotherapy to radiation therapy (RT) affects outcomes for Asian American patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.MethodsUsing the California Cancer Registry – a population‐based, state‐sponsored database – Asian American patients with newly‐diagnosed, locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma diagnosed between 1998 and 2010 were identified. The Kaplan–Meier method was used to analyze overall survival and cancer‐specific survival. Cox proportional hazards models were constructed to investigate the association with chemotherapy. Propensity score methods were used to control for measure confounders.ResultsA total of 812 Asian Americans were included; 91 (11.2%) underwent RT alone, and 721 (88.8%) underwent RT with chemotherapy. The overall survival at 5 years was 65% with RT alone versus 72% with RT plus chemotherapy (p = 0.31). The corresponding rates of cancer‐specific survival were 70% and 78% (p = 0.35). Cox regression analysis confirmed a trend toward reduced mortality (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.62–1.25, p = 0.37) in patients receiving RT and chemotherapy.ConclusionConsistent with other studies that have been published, the addition of chemotherapy to RT was associated with improved clinical outcomes. Although this improvement did not reach statistical significance, the use of concurrent chemoradiation seems reasonable for Asian Americans with nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
Clinical annotations for prostate cancer research: Defining data elements, creating a reproducible analytical pipeline, and assessing data quality
Authors: Keegan Niamh M. , Vasselman Samantha E. , Barnett Ethan S. , Nweji Barbara , Carbone Emily A. , Blum Alexander , Morris Michael J. , Rathkopf Dana E. , Slovin Susan F. , Danila Daniel C. , Autio Karen A. , Scher Howard I. , Kantoff Philip W. , Abida Wassim , Stopsack Konrad H. 
Published: May 2022

AbstractBackgroundRoutine clinical data from clinical charts are indispensable for retrospective and prospective observational studies and clinical trials. Their reproducibility is often not assessed. We developed a prostate cancer‐specific database for clinical annotations and evaluated data reproducibility.MethodsFor men with prostate cancer who had clinical‐grade paired tumor–normal sequencing at a comprehensive cancer center, we performed team‐based retrospective data collection from the electronic medical record using a defined source hierarchy. We developed an open‐source R package for data processing. With blinded repeat annotation by a reference medical oncologist, we assessed data completeness, reproducibility of team‐based annotations, and impact of measurement error on bias in survival analyses.ResultsData elements on demographics, diagnosis and staging, disease state at the time of procuring a genomically characterized sample, and clinical outcomes were piloted and then abstracted for 2261 patients (with 2631 samples). Completeness of data elements was generally high. Comparing to the repeat annotation by a medical oncologist blinded to the database (100 patients/samples), reproducibility of annotations was high; T stage, metastasis date, and presence and date of castration resistance had lower reproducibility. Impact of measurement error on estimates for strong prognostic factors was modest.ConclusionsWith a prostate cancer‐specific data dictionary and quality control measures, manual clinical annotations by a multidisciplinary team can be scalable and reproducible. The data dictionary and the R package for reproducible data processing are freely available to increase data quality and efficiency in clinical prostate cancer research.
Does previous prostate surgery affect multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging accuracy in detecting clinically significant prostate cancer? Results from a single institution series
Authors: Pellegrino Francesco , Stabile Armando , Mazzone Elio , Sorce Gabriele , Barletta Francesco , De Angelis Mario , Brembilla Giorgio , Gandaglia Giorgio , De Cobelli Francesco , Montorsi Francesco , Briganti Alberto 
Published: May 2022

AbstractBackgroundMultiparametric MRI (mpMRI) has demonstrated high diagnostic accuracy for clinically significant PCa (csPCa). However, the accuracy of this test in men that received a previous prostatic surgery is still controversial. We aimed at assessing the effect of previous prostatic surgery on the detection of csPCa in a tertiary referral center.MethodWe relied on a cohort of 311 men with a positive mpMRI (prostate imaging ‐ reporting and data system [PI‐RADS] ≥ 3) who underwent a targeted (TBx) plus concomitant systematic random biopsy (SBx) at a single tertiary referral center between 2017 and 2020. The study outcome was to compare the detection of csPCa (Gleason score ≥ 3 + 4) between the two groups (no previous prostate surgery [Group 1] vs. previous prostate surgery [Group 2]). Multivariable logistic regression analysis (MVA) was used to assess the relationship between previous prostate surgery and the detection of csPCa at TBx, after taking into account potential clinical confounders.ResultsOverall, 24 (8%) patients received a previous prostate surgery before undergoing mpMRI. Median prostate‐specific antigen density was 0.15 versus 0.08 ng/ml/cc, in Group 1 versus 2, respectively. The most frequent finding at mpMRI was in Group 1 versus 2, PI‐RADS 4 (55%) versus PI‐RADS 3 and 4 (42% each). The majority of patients were biopsy naïve in both Groups 1 (66%) and 2 (71%). The overall detection of csPCa in Group 1 versus 2 was 83% versus 75%, respectively. Differently, the detection of csPCa at TBx in Groups 1 versus 2 was 76% versus 71%, respectively. At MVA, previous prostate surgery (odds ratio: 0.65; p = 0.02) was significantly associated with lower csPCa detection at TBx, after accounting for potential confounders.ConclusionThe presence of previous prostate surgery significantly decreases the accuracy of mpMRI in detecting csPCa. These results should be taken into account when assessing patients with a history of prostatic surgery and a suspicious lesion at mpMRI, to better select those who might avoid an unnecessary biopsy.
Gender differences in peer review of innovation
Authors: Belz Andrea P. , Graddy‐Reed Alexandra , Hanewicz Isabel , J. Terrile Richard 
Published: May 2022

AbstractResearch SummaryGender differences in peer review and the associated impact on innovation financing are well documented but less well understood. We study peer review in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Small Business Innovation Research program, a public initiative seeking to increase women's access to innovation funds. We theorize that reviewers use status characteristics inappropriately as heuristics and create gender bias. Econometric analysis shows evidence of direct bias against female applicants, an effect linked to challenges for newcomers in demonstrating individual legitimacy rather than concerns about the organizational legitimacy of the associated firm. We also demonstrate a corrective redistribution to reverse this bias and create equity in the funding outcome. As these results negatively impact diversity in innovation, we propose policy recommendations to overcome this bias.Managerial SummaryPeer review is an important mechanism to rank and select technical proposals for funding. We examine the role of gender in a government program conducting this process. Controlling for the proposal quality and other factors, we show that the gender of the proposer is linked to lower scores. This effect is associated with proposals from females who are new to the program, suggesting their challenges in demonstrating credibility as leaders of these projects, and exacerbated by the fact that women represent a disproportionately high share of newcomers. Subsequently, the program reverses this bias such that the funding outcomes do not show the same inequities. This has important implications for policies supporting gender diversity in innovation.
A pragmatic dementia risk score for patients with mild cognitive impairment in a memory clinic population: Development and validation of a dementia risk score using routinely collected data
Authors: Wang Meng , Sajobi Tolulope T. , Ismail Zahinoor , Seitz Dallas , Chekouo Thierry , Forkert Nils D. , Fischer Karyn , Mackie Aaron , Pearson Dawn , Patry David , Cieslak Alicja , Menon Bijoy , Barber Philip , McLane Brienne , Granger Robert , Hogan David B. , Smith Eric E. ,   for the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative
Published: May 2022

AbstractIntroductionThis study aimed to develop and validate a 3‐year dementia risk score in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) based on variables collected in routine clinical care.MethodsThe prediction score was trained and developed using data from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center (NACC). Selection criteria included aged 55 years and older with MCI. Cox models were validated externally using two independent cohorts from the Prospective Registry of Persons with Memory Symptoms (PROMPT) registry and the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database.ResultsOur Mild Cognitive Impairment to Dementia Risk (CIDER) score predicted dementia risk with c‐indices of 0.69 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.66–0.72), 0.61 (95% CI 0.59–0.63), and 0.72 (95% CI 0.69–0.75), for the internally validated and the external validation PROMPT, and ADNI cohorts, respectively.DiscussionThe CIDER score could be used to inform clinicians and patients about the relative probabilities of developing dementia in patients with MCI.
Communication about Alzheimer's disease and research among American Indians and Alaska Natives
Authors: Boyd Amanda D. , Railey Ashley F. , Kirkpatrick Alex W. , Hsu Ying‐Chia , Muller Clemma , Buchwald Dedra 
Published: May 2022

AbstractIntroductionAmerican Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people infrequently participate in Alzheimer's disease (AD) research, despite the rapidly increasing population of AI/AN people aged 65 and older.MethodsWe surveyed 320 adults who identified as AI/AN at two Native‐focused events and used ordinary least squares regression and logistic regression models to test associations between demographic factors and perceived risk of AD, knowledge about AD, and willingness to participate in research, along with preferred source of AD information.ResultsWillingness to participate in research was highest among those living in a city versus reservation and associated with perceived personal risk for AD. Health professionals and the internet were preferred sources of information about AD.DiscussionThese hypothesis‐generating results provide insight into perceptions of AD and willingness to participate in research. Conclusions could inform development of AD recruitment strategies for AI/ANs and influence participation in AD research.