bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
German newborn screening for Cystic fibrosis: Parental perspectives and suggestions for improvements
Authors: Gapp Simon , Garbade Sven F. , Feyh Patrik , Brockow Inken , Nennstiel Uta , Hoffmann Georg F. , Sommerburg Olaf , Gramer Gwendolyn 
Published: November 2022

AbstractPurposeCystic fibrosis (CF) was added to the German newborn bloodspot screening (NBS) panel in 2016. This study assesses parental perceptions of CF‐NBS and confirmatory testing.MethodsProspective questionnaire‐based survey administered to parents of children with positive CF‐NBS over 40 months after initiation of CF‐NBS in Southwest Germany. Parental perceptions were compared to results from Bavaria and Switzerland.ResultsQuestionnaires with 29 standardized questions were sent to 343 families with children born between October 2016 and January 2020. A total of 178 (51.9%) replied. Although required by law, only a minority were informed about CF‐NBS by a physician. The information provided about NBS was sufficient for 78% of parents. Regarding the information about positive CF‐NBS, 52.9% were satisfied but the majority expressed negative emotions (89.5%). While most of these were resolved after confirmatory diagnostics, 17% of parents of children with false‐positive CF‐NBS and 66.7% of children confirmed with CF remained anxious. Waiting time for sweat testing was >3 days in 56.1%, considerably longer than in more centralized screening systems. Parents who waited for a maximum of 3 days were significantly more satisfied. 70.7% of parents were satisfied with the information given during confirmatory diagnostics and 91.4% were satisfied with participating in CF‐NBS.ConclusionsCF‐NBS stands in high regard with parents. Smooth organization, timely initiation of confirmatory testing, and professional communication are most important to limit parental anxiety. A more centralized system of confirmatory diagnostics appears advantageous in several regards as it reduces time from positive NBS to final diagnosis and increases parental satisfaction.
Retracted: Study on Optimization of Interior Ballistic Performance of Cased Telescoped Ammunition Based on Improved Firefly Algorithm
Authors: He Xin‐Jia , Li Chao 
Published: November 2022

AbstractConsidering that the evolution operators of common optimization algorithms such as genetic algorithm has a poor convergence speed and solution accuracy in the interior ballistic performance optimization of artillery, an improved firefly algorithm is selected for the interior ballistic performance optimization of cased telescoped ammunition (CTA). It is applied to the interior ballistic mathematical model of CTA to carry out single‐objective optimization and multi‐objective optimization respectively. The results show that in the single‐objective optimization, the muzzle velocity obtained by using the improved firefly algorithm is larger than other commonly used optimization algorithms. Under the constraints of maximum chamber pressure and relative burnout point, the muzzle velocity can be increased by about 30 m/s. In the multi‐objective optimization, three sub‐objectives of muzzle velocity, ballistic efficiency and muzzle pressure are considered respectively, and the multi‐objective firefly algorithm is applied to comprehensively optimize the interior ballistic performance of CTA. Then, the results are compared with the commonly used multi‐objective optimization algorithms, such as non‐dominated sorting genetic algorithm version II (NSGA‐II) and non‐dominated sorting genetic algorithm version III (NSGA‐III), the solution results are a series of Pareto optimal solutions. The obtained optimization results improved the interior ballistic performance and launch safety, providing reference for the reasonable matching of charge structure parameters and the selection of optimization algorithm upon the interior ballistic performance optimization of CTA to some extent.
Longevity of colloidal activated carbon for in situ PFAS remediation at AFFF‐contaminated airport sites
Authors: Carey Grant R. , Hakimabadi Seyfollah G. , Singh Mantake , McGregor Rick , Woodfield Claire , Van Geel Paul J. , Pham Anh Le‐Tuan 
Published: November 2022

AbstractA review of state per‐ and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) guidelines indicates that four long‐chain PFAS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid [PFOS] and perfluorooctanoic acid [PFOA] followed by perfluorohexanesulfonic acid [PFHxS] and perfluorononanoic acid [PFNA]) are the most frequently regulated PFAS compounds. Analysis of 17 field‐scale studies of colloidal activated carbon (CAC) injection at PFAS sites indicates that in situ CAC injection has been generally successful for both short‐ and long‐chain PFAS in the short‐term (0.3–6 years), even in the presence of low levels of organic co‐contaminants. Freundlich isotherms were determined under competitive sorption conditions using a groundwater sample from an aqueous film‐forming foam (AFFF)‐impacted site. The median concentrations for these PFAS of interest at 96 AFFF‐impacted sites were used to estimate influent concentrations for a CAC longevity model sensitivity analysis. CAC longevity estimates were shown to be insensitive to a wide range of potential cleanup criteria based on modeled conditions. PFOS had the greatest longevity even though PFOS is present at higher concentrations than the other species because the CAC sorption affinity for PFOS is considerably higher than PFOA and PFHxS. Longevity estimates were directly proportional to the CAC fraction in soil and the Freundlich Kf, and were inversely proportional to the influent concentration and average groundwater velocity.
State‐tracking iterative learning control in frequency domain design for improved intersample behavior
Authors: Ohnishi Wataru , Strijbosch Nard , Oomen Tom 
Published: November 2022

AbstractIterative learning control (ILC) yields perfect output‐tracking performance at sampling instances for systems that perform repetitive tasks. The aim of this article is to develop a framework for a state‐tracking ILC that mitigates oscillatory intersample behavior, which is often encountered in output tracking ILC. As a framework for the analysis, the stability of the iterative domain including the robustness filter and the asymptotic signal is formulated. In addition, as a framework for the design, the design method using frequency response data to reduce the modeling effort, the learning filter design based on inversion, and the specific design procedure of the robustness filter are presented. The designed method is successfully applied to a motion system and it is shown that the presented state‐tracking ILC provides better intersample behavior than the standard output‐tracking ILC.
A survey of Japanese people's attitude to and experience of Kampo medicines
Authors: Chuang Cheng‐Yu , Chung Hui‐Yu , Uehara Chika , Taira Masayo , Takeda Osami , Nagashima Yoshiaki , Honda Masayuki , Chen Fu‐Shih , Arai Ichiro 
Published: November 2022

AbstractAimKampo medicine is traditional Japanese herbal medicine derived from ancient Chinese medicine. In the past, the Japan Kampo Medicines Manufacturers Association conducted surveys and reported on the awareness and experience of Kampo medicines among those participating in Kampo workshops as well as the local community. Here, we investigated the Japanese public's awareness and experience of using Kampo medicines through an online questionnaire. In addition, we analyzed how Kampo medicines are perceived and presented a favorable prospect for Kampo medicines.MethodsIn 2020, we conducted an online survey of registered Japanese members (aged over 25 years) of a research company.ResultsA total of 2060 respondents answered the questionnaire. Of these, 71% had taken Kampo medicines. Among this group, 63.5% obtained Kampo medicines through a doctor's prescription, 46.3% purchased Kampo medicines through pharmacies, drugstores, over the Internet, or by mail order, and only 11.3% had purchased Kampo medicines at Kampo specialty pharmacies. Although many people have taken Kampo medicines, they do not always have an accurate understanding of Kampo medicines as medicines. Especially in the case of Kampo medicines for prescription, people take them passively and do not have a strong awareness of Kampo medicines. In contrast, over‐the‐counter Kampo medicines are widely recognized as drugs.ConclusionMedical personnel, manufacturers, and pharmacists need to provide accurate information about Kampo medicines.
Introduction: NATO in Its Seventh Decade—A Reappraisal
Authors: de Leonardis Massimo 
Published: November 2022

AbstractAfter the Cold War, the Atlantic Alliance played various roles, which were unthinkable in the first decades of its history. NATO performed crisis management, peacekeeping, humanitarian intervention, fight against international terrorism; all these operations took place out-of-area. Since the Ukrainian crisis in 2014, NATO re-discovered its ancient enemy, Russia, and has re-focused mainly on its traditional task, the defence of the member states’ territory. Adaptation is a constant feature of the Atlantic Alliance’s history and became more imperative and frequent in the post-Cold War. A perusal of the North Atlantic Treaty’s text helps to understand how the Alliance worked in different periods. However, large parts of the public opinion in the member states have no clear idea of the Alliance’s purpose and roles. Hence the necessity of a full and scholarly assessment of NATO’s performance during and particularly after the Cold War.
The Historical Roots of the Atlantic Alliance Between Values and Interests
Authors: de Leonardis Massimo 
Published: November 2022

AbstractWhile certainly the Atlantic Alliance was a product of the Cold War, its historical and cultural foundations were much older. This chapter considers both the short-term path which in the early Cold War years brought to the Atlantic Pact and the long-term history of the relations between Europe and the United States, focusing in particular on the Anglo-American special relationship. The chapter also re-examines isolationism, arguing that since its origins the American nation envisaged for itself a future of world domination. After the Second World War, a marriage of convenience took place between the United States and most countries of Western Europe. The Preamble and art. 2 of the Atlantic Treaty of 1949 expressed the aspiration to building something more than a mere military alliance, but as a matter of fact, these provisions were never put into practice. Considering the values, these were never identical and the differences widened after the Cold War. However, from this point of view Europe and North America remain the geopolitical area in the world with the closest interests and affinities.
The Impact of Scalp’s Temperature in the Predicted LMiPD in the Tumor During TTFields Treatment for Glioblastoma Multiforme
Authors: Gentilal Nichal , Naveh Ariel , Marciano Tal , Bomzon Zeev , Telepinsky Yevgeniy , Wasserman Yoram , Miranda Pedro Cavaleiro 
Published: November 2022

AbstractTumor Treating Fields (TTFields) is a cancer treatment technique used for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). It consists in the application of an electric field (EF) in two perpendicular directions alternately by placing transducer arrays on the patient’s scalp. In-vitro studies showed that the higher the electric field in the tumor, the better are the outcomes of the therapy. Therefore, these arrays are strategically placed in positions that can optimize the EF, based on the results of computational simulations. However, due to the required daily usage of this technique, at least 18 hours per day, the temperature of head tissues increases inevitably. To ensure patient’s safety, the temperature of the scalp is monitored and kept around 39.5 °C by changing the injected current, which consequently changes the EF in the tumor. In this work, we studied the impact that accounting for the temperature of the scalp might have in the choice of which layout should be used during TTFields planning. We used both a simplified and a realistic head model in our studies. We solved Laplace’s equation for the electric potential and Pennes’ equation for the temperature distribution using COMSOL Multiphysics. The electric field in the tumor was evaluated using the local minimum power density (LMiPD) both when the temperature of the scalp was considered in treatment planning and when it was not. We concluded that the values of the LMiPD significantly decrease when the temperature is considered. Furthermore, layouts in which two pairs of different arrays are very close to each other lead to the appearance of a common temperature hotspot, and consequently to the most significant variations in the predicted LMiPD values. In future, TTFields treatment planning studies, considering the temperature of the scalp might be beneficial to improve the predictions of treatment effectiveness.
Experimental Verification of a Computational Real-Time Neuronavigation System for Multichannel Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Authors: Daneshzand Mohammad , Navarro de Lara Lucia I. , Meng Qinglei , Makarov Sergey , Uluç Işıl , Ahveninen Jyrki , Raij Tommi , Nummenmaa Aapo 
Published: November 2022

AbstractMultichannel Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (mTMS) provides the capability of stimulating multiple cortical areas simultaneously or in rapid succession by electronic shifting of the E-field hotspots. However, in order to target the desired brain region with intended intensity, the intracranial E-field distribution for all coil elements needs to be determined and subsequently combined to electronically synthesize a ‘hot spot’. Here, we assessed the performance of a computational TMS navigation system that was used to track the position of a 2×3-axis TMS coil array with respect to subject’s head and was integrated with a real-time high-resolution E-field calculation engine to predict the activated cortical regions as the array is moved around the subject’s head. For fast evaluation of the E-fields with high-resolution head models, we employed our previously proposed Magnetic Stimulation Profile (MSP) approach. Our preliminary tests demonstrated the capability of this system to precisely calculate and render E-fields with a frame rate of 6 Hz (6 frames/second). Furthermore, we utilized two z-elements from the 3-axis coils to form a figure of eight coil type and utilized it for suprathreshold stimulation of the hand first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle on a healthy human. The recorded motor evoked potentials (MEPs) showed clear activation of the FDI muscle comparable to the activation elicited by a commercial TMS coil. The estimated cortical E-field distributions showed a good agreement between the commercial TMS coil and the two z-elements of the 2×3-axis array.
Interplay Between Electrical Conductivity of Tissues and Position of Electrodes in Transcutaneous Spinal Direct Current Stimulation (tsDCS)
Authors: Fernandes Sofia R. , Pereira Mariana , Elbasiouny Sherif M. , Dhaher Yasin Y. , de Carvalho Mamede , Miranda Pedro C. 
Published: November 2022

AbstractTranscutaneous Spinal Direct Current Stimulation (tsDCS) is a neuromodulatory technique that applies low intensity (2–4 mA) direct currents to the spinal cord through electrodes placed above or near the vertebral column. As in transcranial electric stimulation, tsDCS induces an electric field in the spinal cord that can transiently change the transmembrane potential of spinal neurons or influence synaptic communication. Anatomical features near the electrodes or in the current path can originate local variations of the electric field magnitude and orientation that result in different effects generated at neuronal and synaptic level. Accurate realistic models of the spinal cord and surrounding tissues can provide a deeper understanding on how and why these variations occur.Our research aims at studying how electrode placement interacts with electrical conductivities of the tissues located in the current path. Using a realistic human model of the spinal cord and surrounding tissues, we estimated the electric field induced by tsDCS, considering different combinations of electrode positions and electrical conductivity of relevant tissues. Our study started from a homogeneous conductivity paradigm up to a full heterogeneous model. The results show that electrode placement influences the electric field orientation, while the conductivities of vertebral bone and CSF can lead to local electric field hotspots in spinal segments located in the current path. Understanding the interplay between these two effects can provide a solid framework to target specific spinal circuits in terms of magnitude and field orientation towards a more personalized approach.
Before the Peace Process: Historical Roots of a Dysfunctional Relationship
Authors: Ricarte Joana 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis chapter offers a contextual analysis of the historical roots of what came to be a dysfunctional relationship between the Israeli and Palestinian national identities. It focuses on the first attempts developed toward peacemaking following the establishment of the Zionist Movement in Palestine in light of dehumanization and peace-less reconciliation. This chapter argues that the first attempts to accommodate opposing interests of both Palestinian and Zionist elites during the British Mandate, what can be considered the embryo of the peace process, have introduced a self-perpetuating dynamic of defining the ‘self’ as opposed to the ‘other’ that has marked greatly the process of both Israeli and Palestinian identity building. This chapter concludes that the first approaches to deal with what was still a young dispute between political elites were not only defining features for the subsequent periods, but also had deep implications in the very course of events.
The UN Approach to the ‘Question of Palestine’ During the Cold War
Authors: Ricarte Joana 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis chapter explores the first phase of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and its impact on identities in conflict by analyzing the period that starts with the Partition Plan and lasts during the Cold War, until the First Intifada (1947 to 1987). The Cold War period is considered a phase of its own as it marks an important moment in terms of the formulas for solving this conflict—the two-states solution—and the definition of actors that were deemed relevant for such solution. The argument developed is that the reinforcement of dehumanization processes in this period is connected with a defensive reaction of the two competing identities to developments in the international level related with the peace process, that was mainly restricted to elite-driven negotiations toward reaching an agreement regarding the governments and boundaries of the now partitioned territories.
Evaluating the Reasons Behind the Inefficient Implementation of ERDF Devoted to R&I in SMEs
Authors: Henriques Carla , Viseu Clara 
Published: November 2022

AbstractThis work is mainly aimed at evaluating the reasons behind the inefficient execution of Operational Programs (OPs) aimed at promoting research and innovation (R&I), especially in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To achieve this goal, we employed a three-stage slack-based measure (SBM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model combined with Stochastic Frontier analysis (SFA), which includes a multiplicity of achievement metrics and environmental factors, to evaluate 53 OPs from 19 countries. Our findings suggest that more developed regions (proxied by a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita) do not make an efficient application of European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) aimed at fostering R&I in SMEs. Also, a greater proportion of the population with a university degree does not imply an appropriate use of ERDF devoted to R&I in SMEs. Lifelong learning is positively linked with the performance of the outcomes “Researchers Working in Improved Infrastructures” and “Enterprises Supported”. Research and development (R&D) expenditures in the public sector contribute favorably to the needed improvements in “Researchers Working in Improved Infrastructures” but have the reverse effect on the number of “Enterprises Supported” and “Enterprises Working with Research Institutions”. Furthermore, because R&D expenditures in the business sector have a positive impact on the necessary development of “Enterprises Working with Research Institutions”, these results appear to demonstrate that public R&D has a weaker influence on SME innovation than private R&D. Finally, innovative SMEs collaborating with other sources of knowledge show a positive effect on both the number of “Enterprises” and “Enterprises Working with Research Institutions” supported.
EU Operational Programmes Reporting: From Basics to Practices
Authors: Amaro Ana , Henriques Carla , Viseu Clara 
Published: November 2022

AbstractWe examine the main existing challenges that currently arise in the assessment of European Union (EU) funds devoted to three thematic objectives (TOs): Research and Innovation (R&I); Low-carbon economy (LCE); and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In this regard, a literature review on the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) initiatives is performed, with a special focus on the Portuguese (PT) case, also addressing their assessment and reporting practices. Data systematization is coupled with the European Commission (EC)’s main guidelines and with the guidance recommendations brought by Management authorities (MA) for the 2014–2020 period. A bibliometric analysis is conducted to further understand the current research interest in the evaluation of EU funds, and the type of assessment methods and reporting practices employed. Most of the approaches rely on cost–benefit analysis and place less attention on data availability, variable selection, and monitoring/assessment options. The selection and application of the framework indicators, either related to their financial execution or achievement, are assumed as critical factors concerning the monitoring, reporting, and assessment processes. Our findings emphasize the need for harmonization and simplification of the reporting techniques, also highlighting the sparse data availability and some reporting conflicts.