bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Role of Vacuolar Membrane Transport Systems in Plant Salinity Tolerance
Authors: Mansour Mohamed Magdy F. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAbout 20% of all irrigated land is adversely affected by salinity hazards and therefore understanding plant defense mechanisms against salinity will have great impact on plant productivity. In the last decades, comprehension of salinity resistance at molecular level has been achieved through the identification of key genes encoding biomarker proteins underpinning salinity tolerance. Implication of the vacuolar transport systems in plant salinity tolerance is one example of these central mechanisms rendering tolerance to saline stress. One important organelle in plant cells is the central vacuole that plays pivotal multiple roles in cell functioning under normal and stress conditions. This review thus attempts to address different lines of evidence supporting the role of the vacuolar membrane transport systems in plant salinity tolerance. Vacuolar transport systems include Na+(K+)/H+antiporters, V-ATPase, V-PPase, Ca2+/H+exchangers, Ca2+-ATPase, ion channels, aquaporins, and ABC transporters. They contribute essentially in retaining a high cytosolic K+/Na+ratio, K+level, sequestrating Na+and Cl−into vacuoles, as well as regulation of other salinity responsive pathways. However, little is known about the regulation and functions of some of the vacuolar transporters under salinity stress and therefore need more exploration and focus. Numerous studies demonstrated that the activities of the vacuolar transporters are upregulated in response to salinity stress, confirming their central roles in salinity tolerance mechanism. The second line of evidence is that manipulation of one of the genes encoding the vacuolar transport proteins results in some successful improvement of plant salinity tolerance. Therefore, transgene pyramiding of more than one gene for developing genotypes with better and strong salinity tolerance and productivity should gain more attention in future research. In addition, we should move step further and verify the experimental data obtained from either a greenhouse or controlled environment into field trials in order to support our claims.
Tissue chaperoning—the expanded functions of fetuin-A beyond inhibition of systemic calcification
Authors: Rudloff Stefan , Jahnen-Dechent Willi , Huynh-Do Uyen 
Published: April 2022

AbstractTraditionally, fetuin-A embodies the prototype anti-calcification protein in the blood, preventing cardiovascular calcification. Low serum fetuin-A is generally associated with mineralization dysbalance and enhanced mortality in end stage renal disease. Recent evidence indicates that fetuin-A is a crucial factor moderating tissue inflammation and fibrosis, as well as a systemic indicator of acute inflammatory disease. Here, the expanded function of fetuin-A is discussed in the context of mineralization and inflammation biology. Unbalanced depletion of fetuin-A in this context may be the critical event, triggering a vicious cycle of progressive calcification, inflammation, and tissue injury. Hence, we designate fetuin-A as tissue chaperone and propose the potential use of exogenous fetuin-A as prophylactic agent or emergency treatment in conditions that are associated with acute depletion of endogenous protein.
Stacked ResNet-LSTM and CORAL model for multi-site air quality prediction
Authors: Cheng Xiangwei , Zhang Wenwen , Wenzel Adrian , Chen Jia 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAs the global economy is booming, and the industrialization and urbanization are being expedited, particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) turns out to be a major air pollutant jeopardizing public health. Numerous researchers are committed to employing various methods to address the problem of the nonlinear correlation between PM2.5 concentration and several factors to achieve more effective forecasting. However, a considerable space remains for the improvement of forecasting accuracy, and the problem of missing air pollution data on certain target areas also needs to be solved. Our research work is divided into two parts. First, this study presents a novel stacked ResNet-LSTM model to enhance prediction accuracy for PM2.5 concentration level forecast. As revealed from the experimental results, the proposed model outperforms other models such as boosting algorithms or general recurrent neural networks, and the advantage of feature extraction through residual network (ResNet) combined with a model stacking strategy is shown. Second, to solve the problem of insufficient air quality and meteorological data on some research areas, this study proposes the use of a correlation alignment (CORAL) method to carry out a prediction on the target area by aligning the second-order statistics between source area and target area. As indicated from the results, this model exhibits a considerable accuracy even in the absence of historical PM2.5 data in the target forecast area.
A mathematical model for managing the multi-dimensional impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in supply chain of a high-demand item
Authors: Paul Sanjoy Kumar , Chowdhury Priyabrata , Chakrabortty Ripon Kumar , Ivanov Dmitry , Sallam Karam 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc across supply chain (SC) operations worldwide. Specifically, decisions on the recovery planning are subject to multi-dimensional uncertainty stemming from singular and correlated disruptions in demand, supply, and production capacities. This is a new and understudied research area. In this study, we examine, SC recovery for high-demand items (e.g., hand sanitizer and face masks). We first developed a stochastic mathematical model to optimise recovery for a three-stage SC exposed to the multi-dimensional impacts of COVID-19 pandemic. This allows to generalize a novel problem setting with simultaneous demand, supply, and capacity uncertainty in a multi-stage SC recovery context. We then developed a chance-constrained programming approach and present in this article a new and enhanced multi-operator differential evolution variant-based solution approach to solve our model. With the optimisation, we sought to understand the impact of different recovery strategies on SC profitability as well as identify optimal recovery plans. Through extensive numerical experiments, we demonstrated capability towards efficiently solving both small- and large-scale SC recovery problems. We tested, evaluated, and analyzed different recovery strategies, scenarios, and problem scales to validate our approach. Ultimately, the study provides a useful tool to optimise reactive adaptation strategies related to how and when SC recovery operations should be deployed during a pandemic. This study contributes to literature through development of a unique problem setting with multi-dimensional uncertainty impacts for SC recovery, as well as an efficient solution approach for solution of both small- and large-scale SC recovery problems. Relevant decision-makers can use the findings of this research to select the most efficient SC recovery plan under pandemic conditions and to determine the timing of its deployment.
Social Change and the Health of Sexual Minority Individuals: Do the Effects of Minority Stress and Community Connectedness Vary by Age Cohort?
Authors: Frost David M. , Meyer Ilan H. , Lin Andy , Wilson Bianca D. M. , Lightfoot Marguerita , Russell Stephen T. , Hammack Phillip L. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThis study examined the extent to which social stress stemming from a stigmatized social status (i.e., minority stress) was associated with three domains of health in younger as compared with older age cohorts of sexual minority individuals. Data were analyzed from the Generations Study, a longitudinal study using a probability sample (N = 1518) of age cohorts of sexual minority individuals in the USA. Exposure to a variety of minority stressors was associated with poorer health for all age cohorts. We hypothesized that because of improved social and legal environments in recent years, the associations between minority stress and health would be diminished in the younger cohort. As expected, we found that the associations between some minority stressors and health outcomes were diminished in the younger cohort compared to older cohorts. Positive associations between community connectedness and mental health and social well-being were observed for all participants but were attenuated in the younger cohort. Findings demonstrate the continuing negative association between minority stress and health among sexual minorities, which, despite some attenuation, persists even for young cohorts of sexual minority individuals in a more equal and accepting social climate.
Practical algebraic calculus and Nullstellensatz with the checkers Pacheck and Pastèque and Nuss-Checker
Authors: Kaufmann Daniela , Fleury Mathias , Biere Armin , Kauers Manuel 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAutomated reasoning techniques based on computer algebra have seen renewed interest in recent years and are for example heavily used in formal verification of arithmetic circuits. However, the verification process might contain errors. Generating and checking proof certificates is important to increase the trust in automated reasoning tools. For algebraic reasoning, two proof systems, Nullstellensatz and polynomial calculus, are available and are well-known in proof complexity. A Nullstellensatz proof captures whether a polynomial can be represented as a linear combination of a given set of polynomials by providing the co-factors of the linear combination. Proofs in polynomial calculus dynamically capture that a polynomial can be derived from a given set of polynomials using algebraic ideal theory. In this article we present the practical algebraic calculus as an instantiation of the polynomial calculus that can be checked efficiently. We further modify the practical algebraic calculus and gain LPAC (practical algebraic calculus + linear combinations) that includes linear combinations. In this way we are not only able to represent both Nullstellensatz and polynomial calculus proofs, but we are also able to blend both proof formats. Furthermore, we introduce extension rules to simulate essential rewriting techniques required in practice. For efficiency we also make use of indices for existing polynomials and include deletion rules too. We demonstrate the different proof formats on the use case of arithmetic circuit verification and discuss how these proofs can be produced as a by-product in formal verification. We present the proof checkers Pacheck, Pastèque, and Nuss-Checker. Pacheck checks proofs in practical algebraic calculus more efficiently than Pastèque, but the latter is formally verified using the proof assistant Isabelle/HOL. The tool Nuss-Checker is used to check proofs in the Nullstellensatz format.
Development of scaffold-free vascularized pancreatic beta-islets in vitro models by the anchoring of cell lines to a bioligand-functionalized gelatine substrate
Authors: Perugini Valeria , Flaherty Samuel M. , Santin Matteo 
Published: April 2022

AbstractBioengineered pancreatic β-islets have been widely advocated for the research and treatment of diabetes by offering both suitable cell culture models for the study of the pathology and the testing of new drugs and a therapy in those patients no longer responding to insulin administration and as an alternative to the shortage of donors for organ and islet transplantation. Unlike most of the studies published so far where pancreatic islets of pancreatic β-cells are encapsulated in hydrogels, this study demonstrate the formation of bioengineered pancreatic islets through cell anchoring to a gelatine-based biomaterial, PhenoDrive-Y, able to mimic the basement membrane of tissues. Through simple culture conditions, PhenoDrive-Y led human pancreatic β-cell lines and human umbilical endothelial cell lines to form organized structures closely resembling the natural vascularized pancreatic islets. When compared to gelatine, the cultures in presence of PhenoDrive-Y show higher degree of organization in tissue-like structures, a more pronounced endothelial sprouting and higher expression of typical cell markers. Noticeably, when challenged by hyperglycaemic conditions, the cells embedded in the PhenoDrive-Y assembled spheroids responded with higher levels of insulin production. In conclusion, the present work demonstrates the potential of PhenoDrive-Y as substrate for the development of bioengineered vascularized pancreatic islets and to be particularly suitable as a model for in vitro studies and testing of new therapeutics.
Minimizing Aliasing in Multiple Frequency Harmonic Balance Computations
Authors: Lindblad Daniel , Frey Christian , Junge Laura , Ashcroft Graham , Andersson Niklas 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThe harmonic balance method has emerged as an efficient and accurate approach for computing periodic, as well as almost periodic, solutions to nonlinear ordinary differential equations. The accuracy of the harmonic balance method can however be negatively impacted by aliasing. Aliasing occurs because Fourier coefficients of nonlinear terms in the governing equations are approximated by a discrete Fourier transform (DFT). Understanding how aliasing occurs when the DFT is applied is therefore essential in improving the accuracy of the harmonic balance method. In this work, a new operator that describe the fold-back, i.e. aliasing, of unresolved frequencies onto the resolved ones is developed. The norm of this operator is then used as a metric for investigating how the time sampling should be performed to minimize aliasing. It is found that a time sampling which minimizes the condition number of the DFT matrix is the best choice in this regard, both for single and multiple frequency problems. These findings are also verified for the Duffing oscillator. Finally, a strategy for oversampling multiple frequency harmonic balance computations is developed and tested.
Online algorithms to schedule a proportionate flexible flow shop of batching machines
Authors: Hertrich Christoph , Weiß Christian , Ackermann Heiner , Heydrich Sandy , Krumke Sven O. 
Published: April 2022

AbstractThis paper is the first to consider online algorithms to schedule a proportionate flexible flow shop of batching machines (PFFB). The scheduling model is motivated by manufacturing processes of individualized medicaments, which are used in modern medicine to treat some serious illnesses. We provide two different online algorithms, proving also lower bounds for the offline problem to compute their competitive ratios. The first algorithm is an easy-to-implement, general local scheduling heuristic. It is 2-competitive for PFFBs with an arbitrary number of stages and for several natural scheduling objectives. We also show that for total/average flow time, no deterministic algorithm with better competitive ratio exists. For the special case with two stages and the makespan or total completion time objective, we describe an improved algorithm that achieves the best possible competitive ratio $$\varphi =\frac{1+\sqrt{5}}{2}$$

φ
=

1
+

5

2

, the golden ratio. All our results also hold for proportionate (non-flexible) flow shops of batching machines (PFB) for which this is also the first paper to study online algorithms.
SNP-PCR genotyping links alterations in the GABAA receptor (GABRG3: rs208129) and RELN (rs73670) genes to autism spectrum disorder among peadiatric Iraqi Arabs
Authors: Ali Zainab A. , Yasseen Akeel A. , McAllister Katherine A. , Al-Dujailli Arafat , Al-Karaqully Ahmed J. , Jumaah Alaa S. 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
Introduction
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is an increasing concern among the Iraqi Arab population. The genetic alterations that cause ASD are likely to converge at the synapse. This study investigated polymorphisms in the GABAA receptor subunit (GABRG3) and the RELN gene as putative biomarkers of ASD in a pediatric population in Iraq.

Methods
The case control study included 60 patients with a clinical diagnosis of ASD (mild, moderate, or severe) according to DSM-IV criteria and matched healthy controls (n = 60). Blood samples were collected for DNA genotyping of SNPs rs736707 and rs208129 for RELN and GABRG3 using allele specific PCR. Assessment of genotype and allele distributions in patient groups used odd ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals and the Chi-square test. All statistical analysis was performed used SPSS software.

Result
The patient cohort was highly consanguineous, with increased ratio (p > 0.05) of males to females (3:1) in both ASD (mean age, 6.66 ± 3.05) and controls (mean age, 5.76 ± 2.3). Both GABRG3 rs208129 genotypes TT (OR 4.33, p = 0.0015) and TA (OR 0.259, P = 0.008), and the T and A alleles were significantly associated with ASD. The RELN rs736707 TC genotype (OR 2.626, P = 0.034) was the only significant association with ASD.

Conclusion
GABRG3 SNP rs208129 is a leading biomarker to predict genetic vulnerability to ASD in Iraqi Arabs. Expanded SNP panels and increased sample sizes are required for future GABRG3 studies, and to reach a consensus on RELN utility. Future ASD screening programs in Iraq should include genetic metrics in addition to clinical phenotype assessments.
Spatially adaptive multi-scale contextual attention for image inpainting
Authors: Wang Xueting , Chen Yiyan , Yamasaki Toshihiko 
Published: April 2022

AbstractImage inpainting is the task to fill missing regions of an image. Recently, researchers have achieved a great performance by using convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with the conventional patch-matching method. Existing methods compute the attention scores, which are based on the similarity of patches between the known and missing regions. Considering that patches at different spatial positions can convey different levels of detail, we propose a spatially adaptive multi-scale attention score that uses the patches of different scales to compute scores for each pixel at different positions. Through experiments on the Paris Street View and Places datasets, our proposal shows slight improvement compared with some related methods on the quantitative evaluation metrics commonly used in the existing methods. Moreover, we found that these quantitative metrics are not appropriate enough considering the subjective impressions of the generated images. Therefore, we conducted subjective evaluation through user study for comparison, which shows that our proposal has superiority of performance generating much more detailed and subjectively plausible images.
Does a truly symmetrically transparent orthography exist? Spelling is more difficult than reading even in an orthography considered highly transparent for both reading and spelling
Authors: Babayiğit Selma 
Published: April 2022

AbstractAlthough we know that spelling develops more slowly than reading in asymmetrically transparent orthographies, such as Italian, we do not know whether spelling lags behind reading in orthographies considered symmetrically transparent for both spelling and reading. This is because reading and spelling skills are rarely tested on the same lexical items, which impedes their direct comparison. This study aimed to address this issue by comparing children’s reading and spelling accuracy on the same lexical items in Turkish, which is highly transparent for both reading and spelling. The study also examined an exceptional case, namely letter Ğ, which can cause phonemic ambiguity and potentially complicate spelling but not reading accuracy in Turkish. Through two experiments, children’s reading and spelling accuracy rates were tested on the same nonword and real word items at grade 1 (Experiment 1, N = 40, Mage = 80.93 months, SD = 2.79 months; Experiment 2, N = 39; Mage = 80.97 months, SD = 2.80 months). The consistent findings from nonwords and words (with Ğ or without Ğ) confirmed that spelling development lagged behind reading development in Turkish and that Ğ reduced spelling accuracy but had no effect on reading accuracy. These findings raise questions about the notion of symmetrical transparency: spelling is less transparent and cognitively more demanding than reading even in orthographies considered highly transparent for both reading and spelling. The case of Ğ highlights that even the most transparent orthographies may have exceptional cases that can differentially affect reading and spelling accuracy and therefore the developmental trajectories of reading and spelling skills. Clearly, spelling words as they are heard may not always result in accurate spellings even in Turkish and children should be explicitly taught about the phonemic ambiguity that Ğ may cause.
In the eye of the beholder? Differentiating between SMEs and Mittelstand
Authors: Pahnke André , Welter Friederike , Audretsch David B. 
Published: April 2022

Abstract
A common fallacy is that small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the translation for Mittelstand companies. Until today, no common, widely accepted, and consistently applied understanding of what constitutes the Mittelstand exists, and related international research is consequently less coherent as well as a strong evidence-base for policy makers lacking. Most empirical research has relied on data for SMEs, taking quantitative metrics on firm size as constituent features of Mittelstand companies. The paper challenges this simplified equation of Mittelstand and SMEs and provides a first comparison of different approaches to analyze Mittelstand companies. Focusing on the criteria owner-management, firm size, and a sense of belonging to the Mittelstand, we highlight systematic differences of these approaches. Consequently, we suggest a conceptualization of Mittelstand companies that paves the way for more comprehensive research by setting the distinctive company identity based on ownership and management at the core of what constitutes the Mittelstand.

Plain English Summary
Research on Mittelstand companies is faced with a dilemma. On the one hand, Germany’s Mittelstand companies have attracted increased attention in the entrepreneurship literature as well as from policy makers and media at an international level. On the other hand, there is no common, widely accepted and consistently applied understanding of what constitutes the Mittelstand. As a result, research on the Mittelstand is less coherent causing confusion in media, politics, and academia. The paper addresses this ambiguity of the term Mittelstand prevalent throughout the literature and compares different approaches to measuring, identifying, and classifying the Mittelstand. Highlighting their systematic differences, we finally suggest that research, policy makers, and practitioners should set the unity of ownership and management at the core of the Mittelstand. In this way, a more comprehensive and unified understanding of the Mittelstand and its heterogeneity should emerge at all levels.
Eigenfunction martingale estimating functions and filtered data for drift estimation of discretely observed multiscale diffusions
Authors: Abdulle Assyr , Pavliotis Grigorios A. , Zanoni Andrea 
Published: April 2022

AbstractWe propose a novel method for drift estimation of multiscale diffusion processes when a sequence of discrete observations is given. For the Langevin dynamics in a two-scale potential, our approach relies on the eigenvalues and the eigenfunctions of the homogenized dynamics. Our first estimator is derived from a martingale estimating function of the generator of the homogenized diffusion process. However, the unbiasedness of the estimator depends on the rate with which the observations are sampled. We therefore introduce a second estimator which relies also on filtering the data, and we prove that it is asymptotically unbiased independently of the sampling rate. A series of numerical experiments illustrate the reliability and efficiency of our different estimators.