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Matches in Ghent University Academic Bibliography for { ?s <http://schema.org/abstract> ?o. }

• 01GP3N1EMN4AC2A1P0RPGDMQER abstract "Compact modeling of charge trapping processes in GaN transistors is of fundamental importance for advanced circuit design. The goal of this article is to propose a methodology for modeling the dynamic characteristics of GaN power HEMTs in the realistic case where trapping/detrapping kinetics are described by stretched exponentials, contrary to ideal pure exponentials, thus significantly improving the state of the art. The analysis is based on: 1) an accurate methodology for describing stretched-exponential transients and extracting the related parameters and 2) a novel compact modeling approach, where the stretched exponential behavior is reproduced via multiple RC networks, whose parameters are specifically tuned based on the results of 1). The developed compact model is then used to simulate the transient performance of the HEMT devices as a function of duty cycle and frequency, thus providing insight on the impact of traps during the realistic switching operation.".
• 01GP3N4FKM3QHFYCR35P6XCBR0 abstract "The anti-inflammatory protein A20 serves as a critical brake on NF-kappa B signaling and NF-kappa B-dependent inflammation. In humans, polymorphisms in or near the TNFAIP3/A20 gene have been associated with several inflammatory disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and experimental studies in mice have demonstrated that myeloid-specific A20 deficiency causes the development of a severe polyarthritis resembling human RA. Myeloid A20 deficiency also promotes osteoclastogenesis in mice, suggesting a role for A20 in the regulation of osteoclast differentiation and bone formation. We show here that osteoclast-specific A20 knockout mice develop severe osteoporosis, but not inflammatory arthritis. In vitro, osteoclast precursor cells from A20 deficient mice are hyper-responsive to RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis. Mechanistically, we show that A20 is recruited to the RANK receptor complex within minutes of ligand binding, where it restrains NF-kappa B activation independently of its deubiquitinating activity but through its zinc finger (ZnF) 4 and 7 ubiquitin-binding functions. Together, these data demonstrate that A20 acts as a regulator of RANK-induced NF-kappa B signaling to control osteoclast differentiation, assuring proper bone development and turnover.".
• 01GP3NCJFGMP9VW411PDCFC0HH abstract "In this work, we demonstrate enhancement-mode regrown p-GaN gate devices with high threshold voltage as well as a robust forward time-dependent gate breakdown (TDGB) stability. The regrown p-GaN gate HEMTs are fabricated with two different AlGaN barriers. Devices with 16nm Al-0.235 GB(0.765) N yield a V-TH of 1.5V and a high threshold voltage (V-TH) of 2.7V is observed for 7nm AlGaN along with a gate breakdown voltage of more than 10V. Lastly, the regrown p-GaN gate HEMTs with 7nm AlGaN barrier demonstrate an operating V-G of 7.46V and 7V for 1% failure rate of 10-year lifetime at 150 degrees C and 25 degrees C, which is amongst the highest values compared to the reported literature for regrown p-GaN gate HEMTs.".
• 01GP3NRYH0H518T6ANJTY76NFS abstract "In this letter, we present an extensive analysis on the role of both switching frequency (ranging from 100 kHz to 1 MHz) and duty cycle (from 10% to 90%) on the time-dependent gate breakdown of high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) with Schottky metal to p-GaN gate. More specifically, results show how the gate lifetime of GaN HEMTs increases by reducing the frequency and the duty cycle of the stressing gate signal (VG). Such behavior is ascribed to the OFF-time, which is responsible to alter the electrostatic potential in the p-GaN layer during the rising phases of VG (from OFF- to ON-state). Findings of this analysis are useful both for further technology improvement and for GaN-based power circuit designers.".
• 01GP3NWSKXEC73XB8VNGTP2AGG abstract "The experimentally observed interplay between catalytic activation of methane on Fe (c) SiO2 and gas-phase free radical methane coupling under non-oxidative conditions is analyzed by mechanistic modeling as well as by experiments. For the modeling, an off-the shelf gas-phase model, AramcoMech 3.0, was used unaltered to keep the number of adjustable parameters as low as possible. It was complemented by surface reactions specifically accounting for methane activation to methyl radicals. The model was validated against an independent set of experimental data and exhibited good accordance. The model accurately captured the significant contribution of gas-phase reactions responsible for methane conversion in the post-catalytic zone, indicative of gas-phase autocatalytic methane coupling. The low-activity induction period in gas-phase methane pyrolysis can effectively be overcome by adequate catalytic activation. Results show that the catalytic reaction only influences the activity of the system, with gas-phase reactions dictating the selectivity distribution. Simulations demonstrated that the optimum catalytic conversion roughly amounts to 4 % at 1000 degrees C and 1 atm. An equivalent effect can be reached by adding ca. 2 % of ethane or ethylene to the feed. Detailed reaction-path analyses were employed to corroborate these phenomena. Gas-phase reactions were found to be very rapid at 1000 degrees C, hence determining the product selectivity, without impact from either catalyst or C2 hydrocarbon addition. Current, freely available gas-phase models lack the required accuracy for detailed kinetic modeling of the product distribution, showing the requirement for the development of a dedicate non-oxidative methane coupling model.".
• 01GP3PE29DBFFB0AEAX2QG0QFC abstract "A generalized approach to model heat transfer in an industrial-scale wall-cooled packed bed reactor with a low tube-to-particle diameter ratio (<8) is proposed and assessed in this work. The modeling approach rests on the realization of experiments carried out in absence of reaction in bench-scale as well as in industrial-scale packed beds. The approximation overcomes historical limitations identified when modeling radial heat transfer mechanisms by applying conventional approaches. The methodology leads to the reliable determination of the external wall heat transfer coefficient and pseudo-local radial effective thermal conductivity. The approach allows the quantification of heat transfer resistances through the core, the internal and the external wall of the bed indicating that approximately 30 % of the resistances are located along the internal side of the packed bed when it was operated at Particle Reynolds numbers ranging from 700 to 1400. Because of its complex impact on heat transfer, fluid dynamics is accounted for by implementing a methodology that uses pressure drop data and the mass conservation criterion to describe velocity profiles, including the determination of the viscous and inertial resistances caused by solid surfaces at the core and near the wall. Finally, the heat transfer information is transferred to a pseudo-heterogenous model to simulate the performance of an industrial-scale wall-cooled packed bed reactor for the highly exothermic oxidative dehydrogenation of ethane. Simulations demonstrate both the reliability of the proposed heat transfer approach and the limitations of the conventional approximations when describing temperature profiles in a packed bed reactor.".
• 01GP3PV72XFDSH85K4J2WF86AV abstract "Reactive extrusie is een opkomende reactortechniek waarbij een coventionele extruder gebruikt wordt als chemische reactor. Deze techniek wordt vaak gebruikt voor processen die te maken krijgen met zeer viskeuze polymeersmelten zoals het recycleren, produceren en modificeren van plastics. In deze thesis wordt stelselmatig een model opgebouwd dat in staat is om zulke processen te beschrijven en zo voorspellingen te doen over de uiteindelijke producteigenschappen. Dit model kan bijdragen tot een procesoptimalisatie voor het recycleren van bepaalde plastics, waarbij deze plastics opnieuw worden omgezet naar hun fundamentele bouwstenen. Het produceren van biologisch afbreekbare plastics behoort ook tot de mogelijkheden waarbij watergevoelige segmenten ingebouwd worden in de polymeerketens. Als laatste is ook de modificatie van plastics, vooral bio-plastics, zeer belangrijk opdat deze bio-plastics op termijn ook qua eigenschappen kunnen concurreren met conventionele plastics. Eén van deze bio-plastics is polymelkzuur (PLA) waarbij de eigenschappen sterk kunnen verhoogd worden door de lineaire polymeerketens onderling te linken met elkaar, zodat een zeer stug materiaal ontstaat. Het uiteindelijke doel is dus procesoptimalisatie voor processen die bijdragen tot een duurzamere plastic economie en de circulariteit te verhogen.".
• 01GP3PYMVT4JPWXGXT7F6VY6KH abstract "Multi-omics technologies are being increasingly utilized in angiogenesis research. Yet, computational methods have not been widely used for angiogenic target discovery and prioritization in this field, partly because (wet-lab) vascular biologists are insufficiently familiar with computational biology tools and the opportunities they may offer. With this review, written for vascular biologists who lack expertise in com-putational methods, we aspire to break boundaries between both fields and to illustrate the potential of these tools for future angiogenic target discovery. We provide a comprehensive survey of currently avail-able computational approaches that may be useful in prioritizing candidate genes, predicting associated mechanisms, and identifying their specificity to endothelial cell subtypes. We specifically highlight tools that use flexible, machine learning frameworks for large-scale data integration and gene prioritization. For each purpose-oriented category of tools, we describe underlying conceptual principles, highlight interesting applications and discuss limitations. Finally, we will discuss challenges and recommend some guidelines which can help to optimize the process of accurate target discovery.(c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Research Network of Computational and Structural Biotechnology. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creative-commons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).".
• 01GP3RRXM387DPJ4DTNEGCF3SQ abstract "BackgroundMost genital fistulas result from prolonged, obstructed labor or surgical complications. Other causes include trauma (from accidents, traditional healers, or sexual violence), radiation, carcinoma, infection, unsafe abortion, and congenital malformation. MethodsThis retrospective records review focuses on rare fistula causes among 6,787 women who developed fistula after 1980 and sought treatment between 1994 and 2017 in Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan. We compare fistula etiologies across countries and assess associations between rare causes and type of incontinence (urine, feces, or both). ResultsRare fistula accounted for 1.12% (76/6,787) of all fistulas, including traumatic accidents (19/6,787, 0.28%), traumatic sexual violence (15/6,787, 0.22%), traumatic injuries caused by traditional healers (13/6,787, 0.19%), unsafe abortion (10/6,791, 0.15%), radiation (8/6,787, 0.12%), complications of HIV infection (6/6,787, 0.09%), and congenital abnormality (5/6,787, 0.07%). Trauma caused by traditional healers was a particular problem among Somali women. ConclusionFistulas attributable to rare causes illuminate a variety of risks confronting women. Fistula repair training materials should distinguish trauma caused by traditional healers as a distinct fistula etiology. Diverse causes of fistula call for multi-pronged strategies to reduce fistula incidence.".
• 01GP3RYHDBD42WS0C8Z5DY3CGN abstract "Super-dry reforming (SDR) is an enhanced process for bio(methane) and CO2 conversion, capable of intrinsic product separation and enhanced CO production. SDR couples catalytic reforming, redox activity and CO2 sorption into one chemical looping process, using three different materials: Ni catalyst, Fe3O4 metal oxide and CaO sorbent. For next-level SDR, we aim at combining these different functionalities into one material Ni/MgCaFeAlOx to intensify the process. The interaction between the different elements and their functionalities will be explored by means of in situ characterization by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy (XAS) at the Ni and Fe edges, while also testing at the Ca edge. The use of XAS is advantageous for catalysis research as it probes the electronic state (XANES) and local environment (EXAFS) of each element in the samples under realistic reaction conditions.".
• 01GP3YE4WNV0CTB2H197GTC6KN abstract "Monitoring virus infections can be an important selection tool in honey bee breeding. A recent study pointed towards an association between the virus-free status of eggs and an increased virus resistance to deformed wing virus (DWV) at the colony level. In this study, eggs from both naturally surviving and traditionally managed colonies from across Europe were screened for the prevalence of different viruses. Screenings were performed using the phenotyping protocol of the 'suppressed in ovo virus infection' trait but with qPCR instead of end-point PCR and a primer set that covers all DWV genotypes. Of the 213 screened samples, 109 were infected with DWV, 54 were infected with black queen cell virus (BQCV), 3 were infected with the sacbrood virus, and 2 were infected with the acute bee paralyses virus. It was demonstrated that incidences of the vertical transmission of DWV were more frequent in naturally surviving than in traditionally managed colonies, although the virus loads in the eggs remained the same. When comparing virus infections with queen age, older queens showed significantly lower infection loads of DWV in both traditionally managed and naturally surviving colonies, as well as reduced DWV infection frequencies in traditionally managed colonies. We determined that the detection frequencies of DWV and BQCV in honey bee eggs were lower in samples obtained in the spring than in those collected in the summer, indicating that vertical transmission may be lower in spring. Together, these patterns in vertical transmission show that honey bee queens have the potential to reduce the degree of vertical transmission over time.".
• 01GP3YFJ87KV2ZKET1X9NH5PJ8 abstract "In this paper, we use genus theory to analyze the hardness of the decisional Diffie-Hellman problem for ideal class groups of imaginary quadratic orders acting on sets of elliptic curves through isogenies (DDH-CGA). Such actions are used in the Couveignes-Rostovtsev-Stolbunov protocol and in CSIDH. Concretely, genus theory equips every imaginary quadratic order O with a set of assigned characters chi : cl(O) -> {+/- 1}, and for each such character and every secret ideal class [a] connecting two public elliptic curves E and E' = [a] * E, we show how to compute chi([a]) given only E and E', i.e., without knowledge of [a]. In practice, this breaks DDH-CGA as soon as the class number is even. which is true for a density 1 subset of all imaginary quadratic orders. For instance, our attack works very efficiently for all supersingular elliptic curves over F-p with p 1 mod 4. Our method relies on computing Tate pairings and walking down isogeny volcanoes. We also show that these ideas carry over, at least partly, to abelian varieties of arbitrary dimension. This is an extended version of the paper that was presented at Crypto 2020.".
• 01GP3YHY593EJRDBPF8HTJH2QP abstract "We show how the Weil pairing can be used to evaluate the assigned characters of an imaginary quadratic order O in an unknown ideal class [a] is an element of cl(O) that connects two given O-oriented elliptic curves (E, iota) and (E', iota') = [a](E, iota). When specialized to ordinary elliptic curves over finite fields, our method is conceptually simpler and often somewhat faster than a recent approach due to Castryck, Sotakova and Vercauteren, who rely on the Tate pairing instead. The main implication of our work is that it breaks the decisional Diffie-Hellman problem for practically all oriented elliptic curves that are acted upon by an even-order class group. It can also be used to better handle the worst cases in Wesolowski's recent reduction from the vectorization problem for oriented elliptic curves to the endomorphism ring problem, leading to a method that always works in sub-exponential time.".
• 01GP3YPZRYXYVGXXAQBDZW9EFD abstract "It follows from a result by Friedl, Ivanyos, Magniez, Santha and Sen from 2014 that, for any fixed integer m > 0 (thought of as being small), there exists a quantum algorithm for solving the hidden shift problem in an arbitrary finite abelian group (G, +) with time complexity poly(log vertical bar G vertical bar). 2(O) ((root log vertical bar mG vertical bar)). As discussed in the current paper, this can be viewed as a modest statement of Pohlig-Hellman type for hard homogeneous spaces. Our main contribution is a somewhat simpler algorithm achieving the same run-time for m = 2(t)p, with t any non-negative integer and p any prime number, where additionally the memory requirements are mostly in terms of quantum random access classical memory; indeed, the amount of qubits that need to be stored is poly(log vertical bar G vertical bar). Our central tool is an extension of Peikert's adaptation of Kuperberg's collimation sieve to arbitrary finite abelian groups. This allows for a reduction, in said time, to the hidden shift problem in the quotient G/2(t)pG, which can then be tackled in polynomial time, by combining methods by Friedl et al. for p-torsion groups and by Bonnetain and Naya-Plasencia for 2(t) -torsion groups.".
• 01GP3YS4AB8T6F0WG2BC6B6W8R abstract "Consider a smooth projective curve C over a finite field Fq , equipped with a simply branched morphism C → P1 of degree d ≤ 5. Assume char Fq > 2 if d ≤ 4, and char Fq > 3 if d = 5. In this paper we describe how to efficiently compute a lift of C to characteristic zero, such that it can be fed as input to Tuitman’s algorithm for computing the Hasse–Weil zeta function of C/Fq . Our method relies on the parametrizations of low rank rings due to Delone and Faddeev, and Bhargava.".
• 01GP4NV69GHKXPJWK57GCMK6SE abstract "Examining Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station, 10:04, and The Topeka School (2011–2019), this article reads Lerner’s novels as centrally engaged in the (re)imagination of community. In the first two novels, this negotiation of collectivity involves essayistic reflection on poetry as an artistic mode that is strongly attuned to the collective, through the affect elicited by prosody. By contrast, in the third novel, Lerner translates the insights offered by the previous works into a narrative-level syntax that captures the intermental functioning of a community in the titular Topeka.".
• 01GP4QKQQTJ39DW67EEXY8K1AF abstract "• The territorial application of the EU’s data protection rules have been analysed in-depth by scholars. The use of soft law (i.e. self-regulation and co-regulation) in the field of data protection also has a rich scholarly history. However, the territorial aspects of soft law tools in the data protection sphere remain under-researched – also with regard to the GDPR, which encourages the use of codes of conduct in its articles 40 and 41. • Article 40.3 GDPR states that actors subject to the GDPR can adhere to codes of conduct, meaning article 3 GDPR determines which categories of potential adherents to codes exist. However, article 40.3 GDPR also states that ‘codes of conduct approved […] and having general validity […] may also be adhered to by controllers or processors that are not subject [...] pursuant to Article 3’. This raises questions regarding the interplay between the (extra)territorial features of the GDPR and codes of conduct. • This contribution first identifies three categories of potential adherents to GDPR codes. It then argues that these categories interact with the three different types of GDPR codes: national codes, transnational codes, and codes having general validity (article 40 paragraphs 5-9 GDPR). As a result, two territorial systems interact. • Finally, the contribution explores hypothetical scenarios for the types of adherents with regards to their expected commitment to (the types of) codes of conduct and the potential effects on their activities intra-EU and extra-EU.".
• 01GP5E6E1604QV77MKH7PNJ7QK abstract "The SARS-CoV-2 virus, the agent of COVID-19, caused unprecedented loss of lives and economic decline worldwide. Although the introduction of public health measures, vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics disrupted the spread of the SARS-CoV-2, the emergence of variants poses substantial threat. This study traced SARS-CoV-2 variants circulating in Uganda by July 2021 to inform the necessity for refinement of the intervention medical products. A comprehensive in silico analysis of the SARS-CoV-2 genomes detected in clinical samples collected from COVID-19 patients in Uganda revealed occurrence of structural protein variants with potential of escaping detection, resisting antibody therapy, or increased infectivity. The genome sequence dataset was retrieved from the GISAID database and the open reading frame encoding the spike, envelope, membrane, or nucleocapsid proteins was translated. The obtained protein sequences were aligned and inspected for existence of variants. The variant positions on each of the four alignment sets were mapped on predicted epitopes as well as the 3D structures. Additionally, sequences within each of the sets were clustered by family. A phylogenetic tree was constructed to assess relationship between the encountered spike protein sequences and Wuhan-Hu-1 wild-type, or the Alpha, Beta, Delta and Gamma variants of concern. Strikingly, the frequency of each of the spike protein point mutations F157L/Del, D614G and P681H/R was over 50%. The furin and the transmembrane serine protease 2 cleavage sites were unaffected by mutation. Whereas the Delta dominated the spike sequences (16.5%, 91/550), Gamma was not detected. The envelope protein was the most conserved with 96.3% (525/545) sequences being wild-type followed by membrane at 68.4% (397/580). Although the nucleocapsid protein sequences varied, the variant residue positions were less concentrated at the RNA binding domains. The dominant nucleocapsid sequence variant was S202N (34.5%, 205/595). These findings offer baseline information required for refining the existing COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.".
• 01GP5ESGCW056A7MB7W9JD6JK3 abstract "Infection caused by extracellular single-celled trypanosomes triggers a lethal chronic wasting disease in livestock and game animals. Through screening of 10 Trypanosoma evansi field isolates, exhibiting different levels of virulence in mice, the current study identifies an experimental disease model in which infection can last well over 100 days, mimicking the major features of chronic animal trypanosomosis. In this model, despite the well-controlled parasitemia, infection is hallmarked by severe trypanosomosis-associated pathology. An in-depth scRNA-seq analysis of the latter revealed the complexity of the spleen macrophage activation status, highlighting the crucial role of tissue resident macrophages (TRMs) in regulating splenic extramedullary erythropoiesis. These new data show that in the field of experimental trypanosomosis, macrophage activation profiles have so far been oversimplified into a bi-polar paradigm (M1 vs M2). Interestingly, TRMs exert a double-sided effect on erythroid cells. On one hand, these cells express an erythrophagocytosis associated signature. On another hand, TRMs show high levels of Vcam1 expression, known to support their interaction with hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). During chronic infection, the latter exhibit upregulated expression of Klf1, E2f8, and Gfi1b genes, involved in erythroid differentiation and extramedullary erythropoiesis. This process gives rise to differentiation of stem cells to BFU-e/CFU-e, Pro E, and Baso E subpopulations. However, infection truncates progressing differentiation at the orthochromatic erythrocytes level, as demonstrated by scRNAseq and flow cytometry. As such, these cells are unable to pass to the reticulocyte stage, resulting in reduced number of mature circulating RBCs and the occurrence of chronic anemia. The physiological consequence of these events is the prolonged poor delivery of oxygen to various tissues, triggering lactic acid acidosis and the catabolic breakdown of muscle tissue, reminiscent of the wasting syndrome that is characteristic for the lethal stage of animal trypanosomosis.".
• 01GP5FMY7ZJZQ30S9EZYGG7B9R abstract "Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is caused by unicellular flagellated protozoan parasites of the genus Trypanosoma brucei. The subspecies T. b. gambiense is mainly responsible for mostly chronic anthroponotic infections in West- and Central Africa, accounting for roughly 95% of all HAT cases. Trypanosoma b. rhodesiense results in more acute zoonotic infections in East-Africa. Because HAT has a two-stage pathogenesis, treatment depends on clinical assessment of patients and the determination whether or not parasites have crossed the blood brain barrier. Today, ultimate confirmation of parasitemia is still done by microscopy analysis. However, the introduction of diagnostic lateral flow devices has been a major contributor to the recent dramatic drop in T. b. gambiense HAT. Other techniques such as loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and recombinant polymerase amplification (RPA)-based tests have been published but are still not widely used in the field. Most recently, CRISPR-Cas technology has been proposed to improve the intrinsic diagnostic characteristics of molecular approaches. This will become crucial in the near future, as preventing the resurgence of HAT will be a priority and will require tools with extreme high positive and negative predicted values, as well as excellent sensitivity and specificity. As for treatment, pentamidine and suramin have historically been the drugs of choice for the treatment of blood-stage gambiense-HAT and rhodesiense-HAT, respectively. For treatment of second-stage infections, drugs that pass the blood brain barrier are needed, and melarsoprol has been effectively used for both forms of HAT in the past. However, due to the high occurrence of post-treatment encephalopathy, the drug is not recommended for use in T. b. gambiense HAT. Here, a combination therapy of eflornithine and nifurtimox (NECT) has been the choice of treatment since 2009. As this treatment requires IV perfusion of eflornithine, efforts were launched in 2003 by the drugs for neglected disease initiative (DNDi) to find an oral-only therapy solution, suitable for rural sub-Saharan Africa treatment conditions. In 2019 this resulted in the introduction of fexinidazole, with a treatment regimen suitable for both the blood-stage and non-severe second-stage T. b. gambiense infections. Experimental treatment of T. b. rhodesiense HAT has now been initiated as well.".
• 01GP5J3K215WR90H25PEN9KPNJ abstract "African trypanosomiasis is caused by salivarian trypanosomes that are extracellular parasites affecting humans, livestock and game animals around the world. There are only three salivarian trypanosomes that can infect humans. Both Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense and Trypanosoma brucei gambiense cause human African trypanosomosis (HAT) or ‘sleeping sickness’. Trypanosoma evansi is the third salivarian trypanosome that has been identified in several human patients. As for the zoonotic nature of trypanosomiasis, only T. b. rhodesiense fits the narrow definition of this classification, with the main parasite reservoir for this human pathogen found in animals. For T. b. gambiense the classification is more complex, as these trypanosomes belong either to a rather homogenous collection of ‘Group 1’ parasites or a more heterogeneous ‘Group 2’ cluster. Here, the definition of zoonosis would apply to the Group 2 trypanosomes, while Group 1 gambiense parasites are anthroponotic. T. evansi, the third salivarian trypanosome, occasionally cause atypical human trypanosomosis (aHT). This form of trypanosomiasis has so far only been reported outside Africa.".
• 01GP5WX31M99TN9MDP3J1JN5H4 abstract "Infections with Brachyspira hyodysenteriae, the etiological agent of swine dysentery, result in major economic losses in the pig industry worldwide. Even though microbial differentiation of various Brachyspira species can be obtained via PCR, no quick diagnostics for antimicrobial susceptibility testing are in place, which is mainly due to the time-consuming (4 to 7 days) anaerobic growth requirements of these organisms. Veterinarians often rely on a clinical diagnosis for initiating antimicrobial treatment. These treatments are not always effective, which may be due to high levels of acquired resistance in B. hyodysenteriae field isolates. By using long-read-only whole-genome sequencing and a custom-trained Bonito base-calling model, 81 complete B. hyodysenteriae genomes with median Q51 scores and 99% completeness were obtained from 86 field strains. This allowed the assessment of the predictive potential of genetic markers in relation to the observed acquired resistance phenotypes obtained via agar dilution susceptibility testing. Multidrug resistance was observed in 77% and 21% of the tested strains based on epidemiological cutoff and clinical breakpoint values, respectively. The predictive power of genetic hallmarks (genes and/or gene mutations) for antimicrobial susceptibility testing was promising. Sensitivity and specificity for tiamulin [tva(A) and 50SL3(N148S), 99% and 67%], valnemulin [tva(A), 97% and 92%), lincomycin (23S(A2153T/G) and lnuC, 94% and 100%), tylvalosin (23S(A2153T/G), 99% and 93%), and doxycycline (16S(G1026C), 93% and 87%) were determined. The predictive power of these genetic hallmarks is promising for use in sequencing-based workflows to speed up swine dysentery diagnostics in veterinary medicine and determine proper antimicrobial use.IMPORTANCE Diagnostics for swine dysentery rely on the identification of Brachyspira species using molecular techniques. Nevertheless, no quick diagnostic tools are available for antimicrobial susceptibility testing due to extended growth requirements (7 to 14 days). To enable practitioners to tailor antimicrobial treatment to specific strains, long-read sequencing-based methods are expected to lead to rapid methods in the future. Nevertheless, their potential implementation should be validated extensively. This mainly implies assessing sequencing accuracy and the predictive power of genetic hallmarks in relation to their observed (multi)resistance phenotypes. Diagnostics for swine dysentery rely on the identification of Brachyspira species using molecular techniques. Nevertheless, no quick diagnostic tools are available for antimicrobial susceptibility testing due to extended growth requirements (7 to 14 days).".
• 01GP5X1JHBK14XSNGEFWZN26M6 abstract "Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome (HBS) is a sporadic and fatal disease of predominantly lactating dairy cattle, characterized by segmental hemorrhage and luminal clot formation in the small intestine. Although, Clostridium perfringens and Aspergillus fumigatus have been associated with HBS, the pathogenesis and cause are currently unknown. In this study, 18 naturally occurring cases of HBS (7 necropsied immediately following euthanasia, 11 with 12-48 hour postmortem intervals) were investigated to characterize the pathology and the intestinal microbiome. Hemorrhagic bowel syndrome was characterized by a single small-intestinal, intramucosal hematoma with dissection of the lamina muscularis mucosae. In most cases necropsied immediately after euthanasia (4/7), the intestinal mucosa proximal to the hematoma contained 9 to 14, dispersed, solitary or clustered, erosions or lacerations measuring 4 to 45 mm. In 77% (37/48) of these mucosal lesions, microscopic splitting of the lamina muscularis mucosae comparable to the hematoma was present. These findings suggest the intramucosal hematoma to originate from small mucosal erosions through dissecting hemorrhage within the lamina muscularis mucosae. No invasive fungal growth was observed in any tissue. Bacteriological cultivation and nanopore sequencing showed a polymicrobial population at the hematoma and unaffected intestine, with mostly mild presence of C perfringens at selective culture. Gross and microscopic lesions, as well as the culture and sequencing results, were not in support of involvement of C perfringens or A fumigatus in the pathogenesis of HBS.".
• 01GP5XX37NMJAW9YR2YZAZR2A6 abstract "Quick thoracic ultrasonography (qTUS) is increas-ingly used as an on-farm method to diagnose clinical and subclinical pneumonia in dairy calves. The primary objective of this prospective cohort study was to de-scribe dynamics of lung consolidation in a purchase-dependent production system for male dairy calves in relation to antimicrobial therapy and respiratory diag-nostics. In addition, we studied the association of cured and uncured pneumonia with average daily gain (ADG) and cold carcass weight (CCW). The third objective was to determine the effects of arriving with lung consolidation on the probability of developing chronic unresponsive pneumonia and reduced performance. A total of 295 male dairy calves were intensively followed by qTUS and clinical scoring on 7 strategic occasions (wk 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 12) during the production cycle. Of the calves, 17.6% (52/295) arrived with a lung con-solidation >1 cm. At the first outbreak of respiratory disease (wk 1 after arrival), this incidence had risen to 30.8%. Initial therapy with tulathromycin and subse-quently doxycycline appeared ineffective, resulting in a increase to 43.8% of calves having pneumonia in wk 4. At the start of the first outbreak (wk 1), the majority (86.8%) of the pneumonia cases were subclinical. At wk 4, the outbreak became more clinical, and treatment with amoxicillin resulted in a cure risk of 52.7%. Cul-ture and nanopore sequencing diagnostics on nonendo-scopic broncho-alveolar lavage (nBAL) samples identi-fied bovine respiratory syncytial virus and Mycoplasma bovis as the dominant agents in the first outbreak. The isolated M. bovis strain showed mutations associated with macrolide resistance. The second outbreak was characterized by a Pasteurella multocida superinfection and isolation of multiple M. bovis strains from nBAL diagnostic testing. Evaluated over the complete obser-vation period, 83.4% of the calves developed consolida-tions >1 cm on qTUS. Of these calves, 53.9% (135/246) were cured by antimicrobial therapy. Chronic pneumo-nia (>30 subsequent days of pneumonia) was seen in 13.9% of the animals (n = 41). Calves with uncured or chronic pneumonia had a lower ADG (992 +/- 174 g/d and 930 +/- 146 g/d, respectively) compared with calves that never developed pneumonia (ADG = 1,103 +/- 156 g/d). In contrast, calves that did fully cure trended toward a lower ADG than calves that never developed pneumonia, but differences were no longer significant. Also, the effect of uncured pneumonia was no longer significant for CCW. Calves with lung consolidation upon arrival had a lower ADG (981 +/- 159 g/d vs. 1,045 +/- 159 g/d) and were more likely to develop chronic pneumonia [odds ratio = 4.2; 95% confidence interval = 2.1-8.6] compared with calves without consolida-tion upon arrival. Animals with chronic pneumonia, in turn, had a lower CCW than animals without chronic pneumonia (10.3 +/- 4.4 kg; 95% confidence interval: 1.6-19.1 kg). This study documents the consequences of subclinical pneumonia upon arrival and pneumonia developed later in the production cycle on production outcomes in a veal calf setting. Both qTUS and nBAL diagnostics provide important information, offering potential for better control and prevention of bovine respiratory disease in dairy calves.".
• 01GP60A0YT5G3K36SXGX91NM4Q abstract "Objective To illustrate the possibility of spontaneous involution of a pineal cyst, justifying an initial observation strategy in patients without evident mass effect. Background Pineal cysts are frequent radiological findings, with a reported overall prevalence from 0.6% to 40%. Historically, surgery has been reserved for patients with symptoms attributable to a mass effect of the cyst. Despite the high prevalence of pineal cysts, the clinical approach to patients with non-specific symptoms remains controversial. Methods We report on the spontaneous involution of a large pineal cyst in a 26-year-old female who presented in our outpatient clinic with transient symptoms of headache and nausea. PubMed and Web of Science databases were scrutinized using a predefined search strategy in accordance with the Population, Intervention, Comparison and Outcome (PICO) set-up using "pineal cyst" and "surgery" as search terms. Only peer-reviewed publications were considered eligible. Titles and abstracts of 1513 manuscripts were screened for relevance. After excluding 1420 publications evaluating non-relevant pathology, the eligibility of the remaining 93 full-text records was further assessed and included if they reported patients with pineal cysts presenting with intractable symptoms without hydrocephalus or Parinaud syndrome, and if they documented on their symptomatology and clinical management. Conclusion Recent case series and reviews report favorable results of surgery in patients with pineal cysts but also a potentially high complication rate. However, the evidence offered by these reports is limited and a placebo effect cannot be ruled out. Therefore, surgery cannot be unequivocally advocated in these patients. Instead, an initial surveillance strategy is advocated. We concur with a previously propounded surveillance strategy of a single follow-up magnetic resonance imaging at 12 months. This case report demonstrates the importance of an initial observation strategy since pineal cysts may also show a spontaneous involution.".
• 01GP69J1BRHWE3JXV4QGHSGA6E abstract " This paper reviews the classic perception that the debate on the regular origins of secular canonesses in early modern France consisted of a clash between authors who sought to legitimise the members’ current status and privileges, and prominent scholars such as Jean Mabillon whose sole aim was to present a truthful account of the past. Through a case study of the abbey of Remiremont it shows that local commentators gained a nuanced understanding of that community's past and present identities, while Mabillon and others relied on second-hand arguments and flawed methods to make a case for a regular reform.".
• 01GP83BJ3JYN7QZX1DWHRVD43N abstract "Medical images are often of huge size, which presents a challenge in terms of memory requirements when training machine learning models. Commonly, the images are downsampled to overcome this challenge, but this leads to a loss of information. We present a general approach for training semantic segmentation neural networks on much smaller input sizes called Segment-then-Segment. To reduce the input size, we use image crops instead of downscaling. One neural network performs the initial segmentation on a downscaled image. This segmentation is then used to take the most salient crops of the full-resolution image with the surrounding context. Each crop is segmented using a second specially trained neural network. The segmentation masks of each crop are joined to form the final output image. We evaluate our approach on multiple medical image modalities (microscopy, colonoscopy, and CT) and show that this approach greatly improves segmentation performance with small network input sizes when compared to baseline models trained on downscaled images, especially in terms of pixel-wise recall.".
• 01GP8TQZZQMPN38FF0HPNVMC0A abstract "Endoreplication is an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for increasing nuclear DNA content (ploidy). Ploidy frequently scales with final cell and organ size, suggesting a key role for endoreplication in these processes. However, exceptions exist, and, consequently, the endoreplication-size nexus remains enigmatic. Here, we show that prolonged tissue folding at the apical hook in Arabidopsis requires endoreplication asymmetry under the control of an auxin gradient. We identify a molecular pathway linking endoreplication levels to cell size through cell wall remodeling and stiffness modulation. We find that endoreplication is not only permissive for growth: Endoreplication reduction enhances wall stiffening, actively reducing cell size. The cell wall integrity kinase THESEUS plays a key role in this feedback loop. Our data thus explain the nonlinearity between ploidy levels and size while also providing a molecular mechanism linking mechanochemical signaling with endoreplication-mediated dynamic control of cell growth.".
• 01GP8VA0S1SY4A95H0302FN9HM abstract "Deep learning algorithms such as AlphaFold2 predict three-dimensional protein structure with high confidence. The recent release of more than 200 million structural models provides an unprecedented resource for functional protein annotation. Here, we used AlphaFold2 predicted structures of fifteen plant proteomes to functionally and evolutionary analyze cysteine residues in the plant kingdom. In addition to identification of metal ligands coordinated by cysteine residues, we systematically analyzed cysteine disulfides present in these structural predictions. Our analysis demonstrates most of these predicted disulfides are trustworthy due their high agreement (∼96%) with those present in X-ray and NMR protein structures, their characteristic disulfide stereochemistry, the biased subcellular distribution of their proteins and a higher degree of oxidation of their respective cysteines as measured by proteomics. Adopting an evolutionary perspective, zinc binding sites are increasingly present at the expense of iron-sulfur clusters in plants. Interestingly, disulfide formation is increased in secreted proteins of land plants, likely promoting sequence evolution to adapt to changing environments encountered by plants. In summary, Alphafold2 predicted structural models are a rich source of information for studying the role of cysteines residues in proteins of interest and for protein redox biology in general.".
• 01GP8WC7EA54QKE3S7QR2STPRM abstract "In the environmental and organism context, oxidative stress is complex and unavoidable. Organisms simultaneously cope with a various combination of stress factors in natural conditions. For example, excess light stress is accompanied by UV stress, heat shock stress, and/or water stress. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant molecules, coordinated by electrical signalling (ES), are an integral part of the stress signalling network in cells and organisms. They together regulate gene expression to redirect energy to growth, acclimation, or defence, and thereby, determine cellular stress memory and stress crosstalk. In plants, both abiotic and biotic stress increase energy quenching, photorespiration, stomatal closure, and leaf temperature, while toning down photosynthesis and transpiration. Locally applied stress induces ES, ROS, retrograde signalling, cell death, and cellular light memory, then acclimation and defence responses in the local organs, whole plant, or even plant community (systemic acquired acclimation, systemic acquired resistance, network acquired acclimation). A simplified analogy can be found in animals where diseases vs. fitness and prolonged lifespan vs. faster aging, are dependent on mitochondrial ROS production and ES, and body temperature is regulated by sweating, temperature-dependent respiration, and gene regulation. In this review, we discuss the universal features of stress factors, ES, the cellular production of ROS molecules, ROS scavengers, hormones, and other regulators that coordinate life and death.".
• 01GP8X24CTE8FV5VY1HWHC88XG abstract "Saururus chinensis, an herbaceous magnoliid without perianth, represents a clade of early-diverging angiosperms that have gone through woodiness-herbaceousness transition and pollination obstacles: the characteristic white leaves underneath inflorescence during flowering time are considered to be a substitute for perianth to attract insect pollinators. Here, using the newly sequenced S. chinensis genome, we revisited the phylogenetic position of magnoliids within mesangiosperms, and recovered a sister relationship for magnoliids and Chloranthales. By considering differentially expressed genes, we identified candidate genes that are involved in the morphogenesis of the white leaves in S. chinensis. Among those genes, we verified - in a transgenic experiment with Arabidopsis - that increasing the expression of the 'pseudo-etiolation in light' gene (ScPEL) can inhibit the biosynthesis of chlorophyll. ScPEL is thus likely being responsible for the switches between green and white leaves, suggesting that changes in gene expression may underlie the evolution of pollination strategies. Despite being an herbaceous plant, S. chinensis still has vascular cambium and maintains the potential for secondary growth as a woody plant, because the necessary machinery, i.e., the entire gene set involved in lignin biosynthesis, is well preserved. However, similar expression levels of two key genes (CCR and CAD) between the stem and other tissues in the lignin biosynthesis pathway are possibly associated with the herbaceous nature of S. chinensis. In conclusion, the S. chinensis genome provides valuable insights into the adaptive evolution of pollination in Saururaceae and reveals a possible mechanism for the evolution of herbaceousness in magnoliids.".
• 01GPAKBPF8P6VRZ6W9SH4NZRJG abstract "Background: Copy number determination is one of the first steps in the characterization of transgenic plant lines. The classical approach to this, Southern blotting, is time-consuming, expensive and requires massive amounts of high-quality genomic DNA. Other PCR-based techniques are either inaccurate, laborious, or expensive. Results: Here, we propose a new technique, IMPLANT (Insertion of competitive PCR calibrator for copy number estimation), a competitive PCR-based technique in which the competitor (based on an endogenous gene) is also incorporated in the T-DNA, which then gets integrated in the genome together with the gene of interest. As the number of integrated competitor molecules directly corresponds to the number of transgene copies, the transgene copy number can be determined by a single PCR reaction. We demonstrate that the results of this technique closely correspond with those obtained by segregation analysis in Arabidopsis and digital PCR In rice, indicating that it is a powerful alternative for other techniques for copy number determination. Conclusions: We show that this technique is not only reliable, but is also faster, easier, and cheaper as compared with other techniques. Accurate results are obtained in both Arabidopsis and rice, but this technique can be easily extended to other organisms and as such can be widely adopted in the field of biotechnology.".
• 01GPAN57B80PRTQM022QR7KXKF abstract "The growing world population and global increases in the standard of living both result in an increasing demand for food, feed and other plant-derived products. In the coming years, plant-based research will be among the major drivers ensuring food security and the expansion of the bio-based economy. Crop productivity is determined by several factors, including the available physical and agricultural resources, crop management, and the resource use efficiency, quality and intrinsic yield potential of the chosen crop. This review focuses on intrinsic yield potential, since understanding its determinants and their biological basis will allow to maximize the plant's potential in food and energy production. Yield potential is determined by a variety of complex traits that integrate strictly regulated processes and their underlying gene regulatory networks. Due to this inherent complexity, numerous potential targets have been identified that could be exploited to increase crop yield. These encompass diverse metabolic and physical processes at the cellular, organ and canopy level. We present an overview of some of the distinct biological processes considered to be crucial for yield determination that could further be exploited to improve future crop productivity.".
• 01GPANR86RCG5HEJK9M9P3TQ5Q abstract "The phenylpropanoid cinnamic acid (CA) is a plant metabolite that can occur under a trans- or cis-form. In contrast to the proven bioactivity of the cis-form (c-CA), the activity of trans-CA (t-CA) is still a matter of debate. We tested both compounds using a submerged rice coleoptile assay and demonstrated that they have opposite effects on cell elongation. Notably, in the tip of rice coleoptile t-CA showed an inhibiting and c-CA a stimulating activity. By combining transcriptomics and (untargeted) metabolomics with activity assays and genetic and pharmacological experiments, we aimed to explain the underlying mechanistic processes. We propose a model in which c-CA treatment activates proton pumps and stimulates acidification of the apoplast, which in turn leads to the loosening of the cell wall, necessary for elongation. We hypothesize that c-CA also inactivates auxin efflux transporters, which might cause a local auxin accumulation in the tip of the coleoptile. For t-CA, the phenotype can partially be explained by a stimulation of cell wall polysaccharide feruloylation, leading to a more rigid cell wall. Metabolite profiling also demonstrated that salicylic acid (SA) derivatives are increased upon t-CA treatment. As SA is a known antagonist of auxin, the shift in SA homeostasis provides an additional explanation of the observed t-CA-mediated restriction on cell growth.".
• 01GPAQF77VTTQ39THS5VGKQ63K abstract "CRISPR/Cas is now the standard technique to generate novel plant genotypes. However, optimizing the efficiency of the system continues to be an aspect of research and development. One of the improvements for increasing mutagenesis efficiency in different species is the application of heat stress. However, many experimental setups are limited by the requirement of using dedicated climate chambers to impose heat stress and by difficulties in the phenotyping of soil-grown plants. Here, we describe a simplified heat stress assay for in vitro-grown plants that can be completed in 6 days using commonly available laboratory equipment. We show that three 24-hr heat shocks (3×HS) at 37°C alternated with 24 hr of recovery at 21°C efficiently increases indel rates of LbCas12a and Cas9. We illustrate how visual mutant phenotypes (pds3 and gl1) can assist in quantifying genome editing efficiency, and describe how to quantify genome editing efficiency using genotyping by Sanger sequencing. We also provide a support protocol to efficiently clone a CRISPR expression vector in a single step. Together, our methods allow researchers to increase CRISPR-induced mutations using a low-tech setup in plants. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC. Basic Protocol 1: 3×HS protocol Basic Protocol 2: Genotyping by Sanger sequencing Support Protocol: One-step cloning of a CRISPR expression vector.".
• 01GPAVK5EXBW5XGPPRKE5R5N4T abstract "Een noodsituatie vereist dat betrokken partijen (lokale overheid, politie, brandweer, etc.) snel dienen samen te werken om zodoende het beslissingsproces te bevorderen. Een terroristische aanval, zoals die op de luchthaven van Zaventem in 2016, is hiervan een voorbeeld: een vreselijke situatie waarbij mensenlevens op het spel staan. Het samenbrengen van verschillende databronnen, bijv. beelden van nabijgelegen camera's, is belangrijk om snel inzicht te verwerven in de toestand van plaats delict. Aangezien deze databronnen typisch beheerd worden door verschillende organisaties, is het noodzakelijk om ze te federeren in een ad-hoc-samenwerking, bij voorkeur in een kwestie van minuten. Hoewel het met hedendaagse technologie mogelijk is om een dergelijk cluster op te zetten en services te orkestreren, is het zo dat de fundamenten van deze technieken gebaseerd zijn op het idee dat ze beheerd worden door slechts één organisatie. Doordat in dit geval dus verschillende organisaties deelnemen, die elk hun eigen belangen hebben, betekent dit dat er hierdoor vertrouwensproblemen kunnen opduiken. Organisaties kunnen dus twijfelen of ze wel in de collaboratie moeten instappen, hetgeen een groot probleem is voor deze urgente gevallen. Dit proefschrift onderzocht daarom softwarecomponenten die potentiële vertrouwensproblemen wegwerken om zo te transformeren naar een cluster dat succesvolle samenwerking mogelijk maakt.".
• 01GPAVP392EPHGAJ6V935MTEX7 abstract "Distributed-order time-fractional wave equations appear in the modeling of wave propagation in viscoelastic media. The material characteristics of the medium are modeled through constitutive functions or distributions in the distributed-order constitutive law. In this work, we propose to take positive Radon measures for the constitutive “functions.” First, we derive a thermodynamical restriction on the constitutive measures which is easy to check and therefore suitable for applications. Then, we prove that the setting with measures in combination with the derived thermodynamical restriction guarantees existence and uniqueness of solutions for the distributed-order fractional wave equation. We further discuss the support and regularity of the fundamental solution and conclude with a discussion on wave velocities.".
• 01GPAVRA7MNAXT4MNWDD9VPKVT abstract "In dit proefschrift behandelen we een zeer specifiek gebied van NLP dat het begrip van entities in tekst aanpakt. We introduceren een radicaal andere, entity-centric kijk op de informatie in tekst. We stellen dat, in plaats van individuele vermeldingen in tekst te gebruiken om hun betekenis te begrijpen, we applicaties moeten bouwen die zouden werken in termen van entiteitsconcepten. Vervolgens, presenteren we een meer gedetailleerd model over hoe de entiteitsgerichte benadering kan worden gebruikt voor de taak entity linking. In ons werk laten we zien dat deze taak kan worden verbeterd door te overwegen entiteitskoppeling uit te voeren op het coreferentieclusterniveau in plaats van op elk van de vermeldingen afzonderlijk. In ons volgende werk, bestuderen we ook hoe de informatie van entiteiten uit Knowledge Base in tekst kan worden geïntegreerd. Ten slotte analyseren we de evolutie van de entiteiten vanuit een tijdsperspectief.".
• 01GPAWM6VE8DDKJTZH84WZ9NB2 abstract "In the Fenton reaction, metal (oxide) based catalysts are used to convert hydrogen peroxide into hydroxyl radicals, which, subsequently, degrade organic pollutants in aqueous solutions. Bimetallic combinations of nanoparticles, such as ironoxide/copper-oxide, have shown synergistic effects in this reaction, reaching much higher hydrogen peroxide conversion rates than their monometallic counterparts. For the synthesis of these bimetallic catalysts, impregnation synthesis is a cheap and scalable method. Impregnation based synthesis is one of the most commonly used synthesis methods for preparing supported nanoparticles, both in industry and research. Recent research, however, has shown that final catalyst properties can be very sensitive to the synthesis conditions applied during the impregnation step. Parameters such as the pH of the impregnation solution, the concentration and type of counter-ions present, and the surface properties of the support material will impact the interactions taking placing between the dissolved metal species and support surface during impregnation. These interactions can alter both the microscopic properties (nanoparticle size and shape) and macroscopic properties (distribution of the metal throughout the support material) of the final material. During the synthesis of bimetallic materials, these interactions are further complicated by the presence of the second metal, which can either be impregnated simultaneously with the first metal, or in a separate impregnation step. In this work, the effects of the above mentionedsynthesis conditions on the macroscopic and microscopic properties of Fe2O3/CuO nanoparticles supported on Al2O3 microspheres, prepared both by simultaneous and sequential impregnation of the metals, are studied. The interactions taking place during impregnation are modelled, in order to clarify the mechanisms by which the observed variations in material properties are formed. The synthesized materials are then used as catalysts for the Fenton degradation of methyl orange, to reveal which material properties are key contributors to the catalysis and synergy between the two metal oxides.".
• 01GPAWNQ5ZS2DAY0J9JMPQHM9C abstract "A common practice within object-oriented software is using composition to realize complex object behavior in a reusable way. Such compositions can be managed by Dependency Injection (DI), a popular technique in which components only depend on minimal interfaces and have their concrete dependencies passed into them. Instead of requiring program code, this separation enables describing the desired instantiations in declarative configuration files, such that objects can be wired together automatically at runtime. Configurations for existing DI frameworks typically only have local semantics, which limits their usage in other contexts. Yet some cases require configurations outside of their local scope, such as for the reproducibility of experiments, static program analysis, and semantic workflows. As such, there is a need for globally interoperable, addressable, and discoverable configurations, which can be achieved by leveraging Linked Data. We created Components.js as an opensource semantic DI framework for TypeScript and JavaScript applications, providing global semantics via Linked Data-based configuration files. In this article, we report on the Components.js framework by explaining its architecture and configuration, and discuss its impact by mentioning where and how applications use it. We show that Components.js is a stable framework that has seen significant uptake during the last couple of years. We recommend it for software projects that require high flexibility, configuration without code changes, sharing configurations with others, or applying these configurations in other contexts such as experimentation or static program analysis. We anticipate that Components.js will continue driving concrete research and development projects that require high degrees of customization to facilitate experimentation and testing, including the Comunica query engine and the Community Solid Server for decentralized data publication.".
• 01GPAWYA08Q2EASYKXJV4N1E2E abstract "The nucleation process of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs) is, to date, not yet completely understood, making the search for tailored materials very difficult. Recently, it has been shown that, during the formation process, the symmetry of the precursors is reduced by ligand elimination and substitution reactions. The octahedral precursors with simple ligands, such as water, methanol, and/or NO3-, are transformed to five- and finally four-coordinated complexes with imidazole ligands. This reduction of symmetry, caused both by the changing coordination environment and distortions from the perfect symmetry leading to another point group, will have a large influence on the electronic structure and more specifically on the d-orbital splitting. This, in turn, will affect the d-d electronic excitations, which can be followed using UV-vis spectroscopy and which can help to unravel the formation process. In this work, we systematically investigate how the lowering of the number of ligands affects the symmetry and thus the geometry and electronic structure of Co2+ complexes with six, five, and four aqua ligands. Therefore, we first resort to qualitative techniques, such as crystal field theory (CFT) and ligand field theory (LFT), which reveal that the orbital splitting is characteristic for the number of ligands. However, as these techniques are not capable of providing quantitative results without the use of experimental data as input, we perform various computational calculations. Both average of configuration (AOC) and unrestricted density functional theory (UDFT) are thoroughly investigated, and we will determine which technique is the best suited to properly describe the ground state of these systems. To investigate the dependency on the d-orbital occupation, we also investigated V2+, Mn2+, and Ni2+ hexa-aqua-complexes and compared them to the Co systems.".
• 01GPAXAF3P6959SBB6AQEA3PM1 abstract "In this paper, a hybrid leak localization approach in WDNs is proposed, combining both model-based and data-driven modeling. Pressure heads of leak scenarios are simulated using a hydraulic model, and then used to train a machine-learning based leak localization model. A key element of the methodology is that discrepancies between simulated and measured pressures are accounted for using a dynamically calculated bias correction, based on historical pressure measurements. Data of in -field leak experiments in operational water distribution networks were produced to evaluate our approach on realistic test data. The results show that the leak localization model is able to reduce the leak search region in parts of the network where leaks induce detectable drops in pressure. When this is not the case, the model still localizes the leak but is able to indicate a higher level of uncertainty with respect to its leak predictions.".
• 01GPAYQSKHG6BAQ55JRF01HSRG abstract "To optimize the thermal conductivity of high-density polyethylene, 15 hybrid filler composites containing either aluminum oxide, graphite, expanded graphite, carbon nanotubes or a combination of the former, have been studied using an extrusion-compression processing tandem. The experimental density of the cube-shaped specimens is substantially lower than the theoretical density calculated by the linear mixing rule, mainly for the composites with high filler contents. The morphology of the composites, as studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), highlighted a good dispersion quality and random orientation of the fillers in the test specimens but also revealed air inclusions in the composites, explaining the density results. It is shown that the addition of filler(s) increases both the melt viscosity (up to ca. 270%) and the thermal conductivity (up to ca. 1000%). Hence, a very strong increase of TC can be practically hampered by a too high viscosity to enable processing. Supported by ANOVA analysis, the application of response surface methodology (RSM), assuming a perfect compression, indicates that all fillers have a significant effect on the thermal conductivity and synergistic effects can be achieved. The regression model obtained can adequately predict the thermal conductivity of composites of various compositions, as already confirmed based on three validation experiments in the present work.".
• 01GPAYX7K11M993R01HP8DGCFR abstract "Growing healthcare costs have been accompanied by increased policymakers' interest in the efficiency of healthcare systems. Network formation by hospitals as a vehicle for consolidation and achieving economies of scale has emerged as an important topic of conversation among academics and practitioners. Within networks, consolidation of particular specialties or entire campuses is expected and encouraged to take place. This paper describes the main findings of an effort to build gravity-type models to describe patient choices in inpatient and daycare hospital facilities. It analyzes the distance decay effects as a function of car travel times and great-circle distance, and it offers a method for inclusion of university hospitals. Additionally, it reviews the impact of driving and transit accessibility on hospital attraction and reviews the differences in distance decay for patient age groups and hospitalization types. In the described application, the best models achieve a Mean Absolute Percentage Error of around 10% in non-metropolitan areas, and 14.5% across different region types. Results in metropolitan areas suggest that latent factors unrelated to proximity and size have a significant role in determining hospital choices. Furthermore, the effects of relative driving and transit accessibility are found to be small or non-existent.".
• 01GPAZ4GXHRXV3N5DGCGT18FNP abstract "Purpose: Bilateral vocal fold paralysis (BVFP) is a severe disorder that can result in respiratory, swallowing, and voice-related problems. Most surgical treatments do not restore laryngeal function and often need to compromise voice quality to preserve respiratory function. Laryngeal reinnervation (LR) may offer a solution to this problem, but literature on longitudinal outcomes of this procedure is scarce. This study aims to report the longitudinal vocal outcomes of BVFP after LR and subsequent voice therapy. Method: The case of a 23-year-old man with BVFP after a traumatic dissection of both recurrent laryngeal nerves is described. Selective bilateral LR of both adductors and abductors was performed 5 months after the onset of BVFP. Voice therapy was provided after the LR procedure. Multidimensional voice assessments, including acoustic, perceptual, and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs), were conducted 2, 5, 6.5, 8, and 31 months after LR. Results: An improvement of vocal capabilities and voice quality was noticed 6.5 months after LR, after 4.5 months of voice therapy, with normative values after 2.5 years. PROMs showed an improvement of voice-related quality of life, but some limitations to activities of daily living were still present. Inspiratory arytenoid abduction was not observed on laryngeal videostroboscopic findings in this patient, but tracheostomy was not required. Conclusions: Voice therapy after LR helps establish healthy and efficient voice use without increasing compensatory hyperfunctional behavior. More research is needed to examine potential merits of voice therapy in the rehabilitation of vocal and respiratory functions after LR.".
• 01GPAZNXZGPQRPYE23SZ1B9Q27 abstract "The unexpected failure of pipes is a problem that is hitting the water networks of many cities around the world. Nowadays, many proposals based on the use of machine learning techniques are emerging to combat this problem. However, most studies focus their efforts on predicting failures in short time periods, usually a year, while longer time period predictions would be more valuable to address strategic decisions.In this study, the use of multi-label classification techniques is proposed to simultaneously predict pipe failures in water supply systems for multiple years. For this purpose, three models (discriminant analysis, logistic regression and random forest) and different prediction time periods (one, two and three years) have been analysed. As multi-label data require specific quality metrics and sampling techniques, part of this work is dedicated to their exploration and discussion.The models are evaluated on a real-world seven-year database, achieving successful results. An insightful analysis of the use of the methodology shows how the percentage of avoided pipe failures increases over time. In fact, it is demonstrated that 30.2%, 51.4% and 54.0% of the pipe failures of three consecutive years are avoided according to data from a real network.".
• 01GPAZWCV3VTSBJRBGXZEJHTAA abstract "Een interessante toepassing die complexe wiskundige modellering combineert met computersimulatie, is de studie van de tijdsevolutie van reactieve systemen om de variaties van reactanten en producten die betrokken zijn bij chemische reacties te evalueren. Kinetisch Monte Carlo (kMC) is een interessant techniek voor het gebied van polymeerreactie-engineering aangezien polymeren een geen uniek moleculair gewicht hebben maar een gewichtsdistributie.. Het belangrijkste pijnpunt in de simulatietijd bij de toepassing van kMC is het samplen van de gedistribueerde moleculen die reageren in een specifieke reactie. De belangrijkste strategieën om dit te overwinnen zijn het bestuderen en selecteren van correcte datastructuren en het zorgvuldig selecteren van een compatibele numerieke methode om de moleculen te samplen. Deze doctoraatsthesis stelt een gedetailleerd overzicht van datastructuren en samplingmethodes in kMC voor. Daarenboven worden ook nieuwe samplingmethodes en bijbehorende datastructuren voorgesteld. Daarnaast worden rekenmodellen ontwikkeld om kMC te implementeren voor het testen van verschillende samplingmethoden en datastructuren. Deze methoden worden toegepast op klassieke polymerisatieprocessen om de optimale methode per proces te selecteren. Ten slotte werden genoemde polymerisatieprocessen getest met verschillende controlevolumes om te vinden wat het minimale controlevolume is (dus de kortste simulatietijd) dat een adequate weergave van de uitgangsvariabelen mogelijk maakt.".
• 01GPAZY5JXZC1SCX81NT6RAVPB abstract "Human spaceflight is associated with several health-related issues as a result of long-term exposure to microgravity, ionizing radiation, and higher levels of psychological stress. Frequent reported skin problems in space include rashes, itches, and a delayed wound healing. Access to space is restricted by financial and logistical issues; as a consequence, experimental sample sizes are often small, which limits the generalization of the results. Earth-based simulation models can be used to investigate cellular responses as a result of exposure to certain spaceflight stressors. Here, we describe the development of an in vitro model of the simulated spaceflight environment, which we used to investigate the combined effect of simulated microgravity using the random positioning machine (RPM), ionizing radiation, and stress hormones on the wound-healing capacity of human dermal fibroblasts. Fibroblasts were exposed to cortisol, after which they were irradiated with different radiation qualities (including X-rays, protons, carbon ions, and iron ions) followed by exposure to simulated microgravity using a random positioning machine (RPM). Data related to the inflammatory, proliferation, and remodeling phase of wound healing has been collected. Results show that spaceflight stressors can interfere with the wound healing process at any phase. Moreover, several interactions between the different spaceflight stressors were found. This highlights the complexity that needs to be taken into account when studying the effect of spaceflight stressors on certain biological processes and for the aim of countermeasures development.".
• 01GPB050EM8G2FDB26JZYPJXWJ abstract "In recent years, containers have gained popularity as a lightweight virtualization technology. This rise in popularity has gone hand in hand with the adoption of microservice architectures, mostly thanks to the scalable, ethereal, and isolated nature of containers. More recently, edge devices have become powerful enough to be able to run containerized microservices, while remaining flexible enough in terms of size and power to be deployed almost anywhere. This has triggered research into several container placement strategies involving edge networks, leading to concepts such as osmotic computing. While these container placement strategies are optimal in terms of workload placement, current container orchestrators are often not suitable for running on edge devices due to their high resource requirements. In this article, FLEDGE is presented as a Kubernetes-compatible container orchestrator based on Virtual Kubelets, aimed primarily at container orchestration on low-resource edge devices. Several aspects of low-resource container orchestration are examined, such as the choice of container runtime and how to realize container networking. A number of evaluations are performed to determine how FLEDGE compares to Kubernetes and K3S in terms of resource requirements, showing that it needs around 60MiB memory and 78MiB storage to run on a Raspberry Pi 3, including all dependencies, which is significantly less than both studied alternatives.".
• 01GPB0A4QS72V5TFQ08SHRZPET abstract "Policy learning plays a significant role in shaping policy during crises. While scholarship has explored many of the mechanisms and outcomes of such learning, little is known about how policy learning takes place across different levels of a multilevel governance architecture. This is despite their prevalence and influence on crisis responses. Using a case of the Belgian COVID-19 policy response, we explore how policy learning takes place across different levels of multilevel governance within creeping crises, focusing on epistemic policy learning (learning from experts) as one of the most pronounced learning types within such contexts. By means of document analysis, supplemented by primary source data from expert and senior official interviews, we offer an exploratory account of how learning took place at the national and subnational levels. Our findings reveal how the inherent features of the COVID-19 crisis, and the existing multilevel governance architecture broke the policy learning process into smaller heterogenous learning processes at different levels. We find that decentralised approaches to learning provided the space for customised, yet often fragmented policy responses. We also find that institutional legacies, varying degrees of policymaker control over learning, and absence of common approaches to structuring and designing learning processes led policymakers in different jurisdictions to engage in varying policy learning processes. We take stock of these different learning processes and highlight their key features. We conclude by highlighting the implications of these findings for policy learning theory and practice.".
• 01GPB14QZFDBS0BJN3MT21V4HM abstract "Computerized maintenance management systems (CMMSs) contain valuable data on the maintenance opera-tions in an organization. A large part of these data consists of unstructured, written texts contained in failure notifications which are generated each time an unexpected failure occurs, enriched with structured metadata consisting of a number of labels that allow to categorize the failures, such as the type of failure, its cause or the corrective action that was taken. In this paper, we show that natural language processing techniques can be used to predict the structured metadata based on the unstructured text and even identify mislabeled notifications or ambiguous labels. Specific attention is given to the complexity that arises from the highly technical nature of the texts combined with a telegraphic writing style and heavy use of sentence fragments and abbreviations. Moreover, it is shown that exploiting dependencies between different components of the metadata, and regarding the prediction problem as a multidimensional classification problem, can improve the reliability of the predicted labels. We illustrate and test our label prediction pipeline on the CMMS data of a large pharmaceutical company.".
• 01GPB17RD1G9KK1KSCQERCBV6G abstract "Long-chain (≥C20) polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs) are physiologically important fatty acids for most animals, including humans. Although most LC-PUFA production occurs in aquatic primary producers such as microalgae, recent research indicates the ability of certain groups of (mainly marine) invertebrates for endogenous LC-PUFA biosynthesis and/or bioconversion from dietary precursors. The genetic pathways for and mechanisms behind LC-PUFA biosynthesis remain unknown in many invertebrates to date, especially in non-model species. However, the numerous genomic and transcriptomic resources currently available can contribute to our knowledge of the LC-PUFA biosynthetic capabilities of metazoans. Within our previously generated transcriptome of the benthic harpacticoid copepod Platychelipus littoralis, we detected expression of one methyl-end desaturase, one front-end desaturase, and seven elongases, key enzymes responsible for LC-PUFA biosynthesis. To demonstrate their functionality, we characterized eight of them using heterologous expression in yeast. The P. littoralis methyl-end desaturase has Δ15/17/19 desaturation activity, enabling biosynthesis of α-linolenic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) from 18:2 n−6, 20:4 n−6 and 22:5 n−6, respectively. Its front-end desaturase has Δ4 desaturation activity from 22:5 n−3 to DHA, implying that P. littoralis has multiple pathways to produce this physiologically important fatty acid. All studied P. littoralis elongases possess varying degrees of elongation activity for saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, producing aliphatic hydrocarbon chains with lengths of up to 30 carbons. Our investigation revealed a functionally diverse range of fatty acid biosynthesis genes in copepods, which highlights the need to scrutinize the role that primary consumers could perform in providing essential nutrients to upper trophic levels.".
• 01GPB1G67K4AC77VCNV7QNZEE2 abstract "N-terminal acetylation is a conserved protein modification among eukaryotes. The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a valuable model system for studying this modification. The bulk of protein N-terminal acetylation in S. cerevisiae is catalyzed by the N-terminal acetyltransferases NatA, NatB, and NatC. Thus far, proteome-wide identification of the in vivo protein substrates of yeast NatA and NatB has been performed by N-terminomics. Here, we used S. cerevisiae deleted for the NatC catalytic subunit Naa30 and identified 57 yeast NatC substrates by N-terminal combined fractional diagonal chromatography analysis. Interestingly, in addition to the canonical N-termini starting with ML, MI, MF, and MW, yeast NatC substrates also included MY, MK, MM, MA, MV, and MS. However, for some of these substrate types, such as MY, MK, MV, and MS, we also uncovered (residual) non-NatC NAT activity, most likely due to the previously established redundancy between yeast NatC and NatE/Naa50. Thus, we have revealed a complex interplay between different NATs in targeting methionine-starting N-termini in yeast. Furthermore, our results showed that ectopic expression of human NAA30 rescued known NatC phenotypes in naa30Δ yeast, as well as partially restored the yeast NatC Nt-acetylome. Thus, we demonstrate an evolutionary conservation of NatC from yeast to human thereby underpinning future disease models to study pathogenic NAA30 variants. Overall, this work offers increased biochemical and functional insights into NatC-mediated N-terminal acetylation and provides a basis for future work to pinpoint the specific molecular mechanisms that link the lack of NatC-mediated N-terminal acetylation to phenotypes of NatC deletion yeast.".
• 01GPB1JJC1C790GV7CGY5M9954 abstract "Purpose: To identify a molecular signature of macrophages exposed to clinically relevant ionizing radiation (IR) doses, mirroring radiotherapy sessions. Methods: Human monocyte-derived macrophages were exposed to 2 Gy/ fraction/ day for 5 days, mimicking one week of cancer patient’s radiotherapy. Protein expression profile by proteomics was performed. Results: A gene ontology analysis revealed that radiation-induced protein changes are associated with metabolic alterations, which were further supported by a reduction of both cellular ATP levels and glucose uptake. Most of the radiation-induced deregulated targets exhibited a decreased expression, as was the case of cathepsin D, a lysosomal protease associated with cell death, which was validated by Western blot. We also found that irradiated macrophages exhibited an increased expression of the transferrin receptor 1 (TfR1), which is responsible for the uptake of transferrin-bound iron. TfR1 upregulation was also found in tumor-associated mouse macrophages upon tumor irradiation. In vitro irradiated macrophages also presented a trend for increased divalent metal transporter 1 (DMT1), which transports iron from the endosome to the cytosol, and a significant increase in iron release. Conclusions: Irradiated macrophages present lower ATP levels and glucose uptake, and exhibit decreased cathepsin D expression, while increasing TfR1 expression and altering iron metabolism.".
• 01GPB1P5CKE0A9JWFFKEVEAMZ8 abstract "Interleukin-27 (IL-27) uniquely assembles p28 and EBI3 subunits to a heterodimeric cytokine that signals via IL-27Ra and gp130. To provide the structural framework for receptor activation by IL-27 and its emerging therapeutic targeting, we report here crystal structures of mouse IL-27 in complex with IL-27Ra and of human IL-27 in complex with SRF388, a monoclonal antibody undergoing clinical trials with oncology indications. One face of the helical p28 subunit interacts with EBI3, while the opposite face nestles into the interdomain elbow of IL-27Ra to juxtapose IL-27Ra to EBI3. This orients IL-27Ra for paired signaling with gp130, which only uses its immunoglobulin domain to bind to IL-27. Such a signaling complex is distinct from those mediated by IL-12 and IL-23. The SRF388 binding epitope on IL-27 overlaps with the IL-27Ra interaction site explaining its potent antagonistic properties. Collectively, our findings will facilitate the mechanistic interrogation, engineering, and therapeutic targeting of IL-27.".
• 01GPB25RFXN2JTR5E0F5A22EVC abstract "Binding to the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) extends serum half-life of IgG, and antagonizing this interaction is a promising therapeutic approach in IgG-mediated autoimmune diseases. Fc-MST-HN, designed for enhanced FcRn binding capacity, has not been evaluated in the context of a full-length antibody, and the structural properties of the attached Fab regions might affect the FcRn-mediated intracellular trafficking pathway. Here we present a comprehensive comparative analysis of the IgG salvage pathway between two full-size IgG1 variants, containing wild type and MST-HN Fc fragments, and their Fc-only counterparts. We find no evidence of Fab-regions affecting FcRn binding in cell-free assays, however, cellular assays show impaired binding of full-size IgG to FcRn, which translates into improved intracellular FcRn occupancy and intracellular accumulation of Fc-MST-HN compared to full size IgG1-MST-HN. The crystal structure of Fc-MST-HN in complex with FcRn provides a plausible explanation why the Fab disrupts the interaction only in the context of membrane-associated FcRn. Importantly, we find that Fc-MST-HN outperforms full-size IgG1-MST-HN in reducing IgG levels in cynomolgus monkeys. Collectively, our findings identify the cellular membrane context as a critical factor in FcRn biology and therapeutic targeting.".
• 01GPB2WF0KE58HP2ZKH21P5YG0 abstract "Background: Membrane proteins (MPs) are an important class of molecules with a wide array of cellular functions and are part of many metabolic pathways. Despite their great potential-as therapeutic drug targets or in microbial cell factory optimization-many challenges remain for efficient and functional expression in a host such as Escherichia coli. Results: A dynamically regulated small RNA-based circuit was developed to counter membrane stress caused by overexpression of different MPs. The best performing small RNAs were able to enhance the maximum specific growth rate with 123%. On culture level, the total MP production was increased two-to three-fold compared to a system without dynamic control. This strategy not only improved cell growth and production of the studied MPs, it also suggested the potential use for countering metabolic burden in general. Conclusions: A dynamically regulated feedback circuit was developed that can sense metabolic stress caused by, in casu, the overexpression of an MP and responds to it by balancing the metabolic state of the cell and more specifically by downregulating the expression of the MP of interest. This negative feedback mechanism was established by implementing and optimizing simple-to-use genetic control elements based on post-transcriptional regulation: small non-coding RNAs. In addition to membrane-related stress when the MP accumulated in the cytoplasm as aggregates, the sRNA-based feedback control system was still effective for improving cell growth but resulted in a decreased total protein production. This result suggests promiscuity of the MP sensor for more than solely membrane stress.".
• 01GPB30WC8XHBY9F0B2CJ2WD94 abstract "Glycosyltransferases (GT) catalyse the biosynthesis of complex carbohydrates which are the most abundant group of molecules in nature. They are involved in several key mechanisms such as cell signalling, biofilm formation, host immune system invasion or cell structure and this in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. As a result, research towards complete enzyme mechanisms is valuable to understand and elucidate specific structure -function relationships in this group of molecules. In a next step this knowledge could be used in GT protein engineering, not only for rational drug design but also for multiple biotechnological production processes, such as the biosynthesis of hyaluronan, cellooligosaccharides or chitooligosaccharides.Generation of these poly-and/or oligosaccharides is possible due to a common feature of several of these GTs: processivity. Enzymatic processivity has the ability to hold on to the growing polymer chain and some of these GTs can even control the number of glycosyl transfers. In a first part, recent advances in understanding the mechanism of various processive enzymes are discussed. To this end, an overview is given of possible engineering strategies for the purpose of new industrial and fundamental applications. In the second part of this review, we focused on specific chain length-controlling mechanisms, i.e., key residues or conserved regions, and this for both eukaryotic and prokaryotic enzymes.".
• 01GPB466CM9Q77QZD2HG5GAMHX abstract "Recent research has brought to light a sizeable body of archival materials relating to the presence of the seventeenth-century British rope dancers in the Low countries (Vander Motten; Vander Motten and Roscam Abbing). Apart from revealing the identity of previously unknown British performers, this evidence sheds light on the associations into which they entered with their Dutch counterparts, either as servants or as co-managers. Five Dutch rope dancer, Paulus Rijmers (born ca. 1615 – died 1696), his wife Maria Sasbout (born 1618 – died not long before 17 July 1676), Jacob Brouwer (Born ca. 1616), and the brothers Christopher and Jan Damen (fl. 1656 – 1664) were particularly active in pushing the boundaries of their profession, diversifying their performances as well as seeking out English talent, as is demonstrated by some official documents preserved in various Dutch archives.".
• 01GPB5R0N802R8XR80NKTKVDTD abstract "Due to the lack of a tool assessing the effectiveness of Financial Education Programs (FEP) imparted by the financial institutions (FI) in Ecuador by mandate, this research proposes and validates a scale to evaluate the Financial Literacy (FL) level of 314 participants (15–50 years old) after attending an FEP. The final 18-item FL scale, compounded with Financial Attitude, Financial Knowledge, and Financial Behavior dimensions, is reliable and robust according to the Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis. The average score for FL is 76 out of 100 points. The youngest scored the lowest, and the FI employees the highest. This contribution fulfills a needed FL scale to accurately measure the efforts of FI spreading the FE. It serves as a stepping stone for further research reconfirming its validity and applying the proposed FI’s FL scale as a pre–post FL evaluation.".
• 01GPB6MJS0W2Y2M0T4KB4S15A3 abstract "Background With the current trend in healthcare moving towards a more value-based approach, it is essential to understand what value encompasses. Objectives To develop an actionable value-based outcome set (VOS) for daily practice. Methods A mixed method approach was used consisting of four phases. Formerly, a systematic review was conducted, providing an overview of all patient-relevant outcomes defined in current literature. These 23 outcomes were then presented to a group of patients, using a modified nominal group technique (NGT), to establish whether these results represented all of their relevant outcomes. Subsequently, these outcomes were ranked according to importance by patients attending our academic specialized psoriasis clinic. A review of the literature was performed to assess which instruments were available and suitable to evaluate the outcomes in this VOS. Finally, a pilot feasibility test was performed amongst patients. Results Of the 23 outcomes, two were omitted from the ranking exercise after the NGT. In the ranking exercise, 120 patients participated. The median age was 50.0 (IQR 25.0) years and 36.7% were female. Median PASI score was 2.4 (IQR 5.2), and treatments varied from topicals to biologicals. The outcomes scored as most important were symptom control, treatment efficacy, confidence in care and control of disease. The least important outcomes were comorbidity control, productivity and cost of care. A significant difference was shown between the ranking of the outcomes (p < 0.001). In total, 12 instruments were selected, which are reported by both patient and provider, to measure the outcomes in this VOS. Median completion time for the patient part was 30 min (IQR 2.8). Conclusions This VOS is a first proposal to evaluate psoriasis care in a value-based manner. Measuring these outcomes can enable us to critically appraise and improve current care processes, within the reality of available resources, thereby increasing value for patients.".
• 01GPB7Y3M7ZTDH6HE6DJDE47XH abstract "Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) is a ground-based approach to rapidly acquire 3D point clouds via Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technologies. Quantifying tree-scale structure from TLS point clouds requires segmentation, yet there is a lack of automated methods available to the forest ecology community. In this work, we consider the problem of segmenting a forest TLS point cloud into individual tree point clouds. Different approaches have been investigated to identify and segment individual trees in a forest point cloud. Typically these methods require intensive parameter tuning and time-consuming user interactions, which has inhibited the application of TLS to large area research. Our goal is to define a new automated segmentation method that lifts these limitations.Our Topology-based Tree Segmentation (TTS) algorithm uses a new topological technique rooted in discrete Morse theory to segment input point clouds into single trees. TTS algorithm identifies distinctive tree structures (i.e., tree bottoms and tops) without user interactions. Tree tops and bottoms are then used to reconstruct single trees using the notion of relevant topological features. This mathematically well-established notion helps distinguish between noise and relevant tree features.To demonstrate the generality of our approach, we present an evaluation using multiple datasets, including different forest types and point densities. We also compare our TTS approach with open-source tree segmentation methods. The experiments show that we achieve a higher segmentation accuracy when performing point-by-point validation. Without expensive user interactions, TTS algorithm is promising for greater usage of TLS point clouds in the forest ecology community, such as fire risk and behavior modeling, estimating tree-level biodiversity structural traits, and above-ground biomass monitoring.".
• 01GPB9254PVGVYJN1ES6BJW2V8 abstract "The brain is protected against invading organisms and other unwanted substances by tightly regulated barriers. However, these central nervous system (CNS) barriers impede the delivery of drugs into the brain via the blood circulation and are therefore considered major hurdles in the treatment of neurological disorders. Consequently, there is a high need for efficient delivery systems that are able to cross these strict barriers. While most research focuses on the blood-brain barrier (BBB), the design of drug delivery platforms that are able to cross the bloodcerebrospinal fluid (CSF) barrier, formed by a single layer of choroid plexus epithelial cells, remains a largely unexplored domain. The discovery that extracellular vesicles (EVs) make up a natural mechanism for information transfer between cells and across cell layers, has stimulated interest in their potential use as drug delivery platform. Here, we report that choroid plexus epithelial cell-derived EVs exhibit the capacity to home to the brain after peripheral administration. Moreover, these vesicles are able to functionally deliver cargo into the brain. Our findings underline the therapeutic potential of choroid plexus-derived EVs as a brain drug delivery vehicle via targeting of the blood-CSF interface.".
• 01GPBC1BFWBZA89092X24SCDE3 abstract "Stepwise drying is an effective technique that promotes energy saving without additional capital cost. The stepwise drying mode was investigated for energy consumption and dried product qualities using a coupled heat and mass transfer model associated with kinetics equations of volume shrinkage and degradation of beta-carotene in carrot cubes. Simulations were performed using a finite element method with extension of a chemical species transport. Validation experiments were carried out under constant drying modes at 60 degrees C, 70 degrees C and 80 degrees C using a lab-scale convective hot air dryer. The verified models were subsequently employed to investigate the effects of two step-up drying modes (60 to 70 degrees C and 60 to -80 degrees C). The optimal drying condition was determined using the synthetic evaluation index (SI) with criteria of high specific moisture evaporation rate (SMER), low shrinkage ratio and beta-carotene degradation. Simulated results showed comparable agreement with experimental data of moisture content, shrinkage ratio and beta-carotene ratio. Step-up drying of 60 to 70 degrees C gave the highest SMER of 0.50 x 10(-3) kg of water evaporated per kWh, while the operation at constant temperature of 80 degrees C gave the lowest value of 0.19 x 10(-3) kg of water evaporated per kWh. Model-predicted results showed less shrinkage of carrot cubes, but higher degradation of beta-carotene under step-up drying compared to single-stage drying under temperature of 60 degrees C. Based on the highest SI value (0.36), carrot cubes were optimally dried under step-up mode of 60 to 70 degrees C.".
• 01GPBC1QRTYSM52VVKA22722MJ abstract "ObjectiveThe transition to parenthood might negatively influence health-related behavior and can result in increased adiposity. The aim of this study was to investigate how body composition in mother-father dyads changes from pregnancy up to 6 months post partum. MethodsAnthropometrics were collected from 144 nulliparous couples at 12 weeks of gestation (PG12) and 6 weeks (PP6WK) and 6 months (PP6M) post partum. A longitudinal dyadic confirmatory factor analysis model was used to analyze changes in body composition. Body composition was treated as a latent variable using BMI, body fat percentage, and waist circumference as indicators. ResultsFor women, latent means increased at 6 weeks post partum (PP6WK - PG12: +1.115, SE: 0.117, p < 0.001), decreased again at 6 months post partum (PP6M - PP6WK: -0.368, SE: 0.107, p < 0.001), but remained above baseline levels (PP6M - PG12: +0.747; SE: 0.115, p < 0.001). For men, the latent means at follow-up were higher than at baseline (PP6WK-PG12: +0.370, SE: 0.075; PP6M-PG12: +0.366, SE: 0.084, both p < 0.001). ConclusionsIncreases in latent means correspond to unfavorable changes in BMI, body fat percentage, and waist circumference. These changes were observed from the beginning of pregnancy up to 6 months post partum. Weight management for both women and men during pregnancy and the early postpartum period is recommended and fathers should be included in pre- and postnatal standard care.".
• 01GPBC3FBDDR2Z2PSAQYNV20W4 abstract "Objectives Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after exposure to multiple (childhood) trauma's is strongly associated with accelerated aging and high psychiatric and somatic comorbidity, influencing frailty and Quality of Life (QoL) in older adults. Eye Movement Desensitization therapy (EMDR) addresses psychological and physiologic symptoms stemming from adverse life events and therefore could influence frailty and QoL in older adults. Methods We conducted a multi-center feasibility study (two psychiatric hospitals) in Dutch older outpatients (N = 24; >= 60 years) with PTSD. Participants received weekly EMDR-treatment during the course of the trial (3 months to a maximum of 9 months). Frailty (Groninger Frailty Indicator) and QoL (EuroQol 5D-3L), were assessed pre- and posttreatment. Results A linear mixed-model approach showed significant reduction of frailty (F(1,23) = 9.019, p = .006) and improvement of QoL (F(1,23) = 13.787, p = .001). For both frailty and QoL, there was no significant influence of Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS-5) pre-treatment score, therapy duration, and neither an interaction effect of therapy duration x CAPS-5 pre-treatment score. Conclusions EMDR with older adults with PTSD showed a significant reduction of frailty and improvement of QoL. Randomized controlled studies are needed to more precisely study the impact of trauma-focused treatment in older adults on frailty and QoL and the implications this might have for lessening disease burden. Clinical implications Screening for PTSD in older frail adults is important to treat PTSD as a possible way to reduce frailty and improve QoL.".
• 01GPBC4V3ZNC4HCCEG3ZMVV445 abstract "A growing body of work suggests that social and activity participation (SAP) may contribute to health and well-being. Studies examining the effects of these activities largely focused on healthy older adults and older adults with more resources, not on frail older adults. On the latter, there is a lack of information about which activities contribute most and whether their effects vary between men and women given the gender-differentiated social roles. To address these gaps we extracted longitudinal data from the D-SCOPE frailty program for 380 participants aged 60 years or older residing in Belgium. Structural equation models tested the relationships between six levels of SAP based on a taxonomy of social activities (Levasseur et al., 2010) - from level 1 (for oneself) to level 6 (for others) - on longitudinal changes in physical and mental deterioration, well-being, and gender differences within these relationships. Results first show that older adults at risk of frailty benefit longitudinally from participating in activities in terms of their physical deterioration and well-being. Second, socially oriented activities were significantly associated with lower levels of physical deterioration and higher levels of subjective well-being (SWB), and volunteering with higher levels of SWB. Heterogeneity of activities, regardless of level on the taxonomy of social activities, seems to benefit SWB and counteract physical deterioration. Third, gender differences were confirmed by two activities for women (alone, task-oriented) and three activities for men (alone, being with others, task-oriented e.g. associational membership). Results imply that the activity itself may play a more important role than the nature of social involvement and social interaction in relation to health and wellbeing.".
• 01GPBC7E46R90PN6SATXJZK79Z abstract "Ply cracking is typically the first ply level damage mode in composite laminates under static and fatigue tensile loading. Ply cracks do not usually cause the final failure of a laminate, but may significantly degrade the effective properties of the composite and serve as a source for other damage modes initiation. However, the in-situ experimental detection and quantification of this damage mode is a challenging task specially under fatigue loading conditions without stopping the test. This work is focused on detection of ply cracking and calculation of crack density [1] in multidirectional symmetric composite laminates. The main objective of this work is to study whether the DIC technique [2] is reliable for automated crack detection and functional in calculation of crack density. Therefore, digital image correlation with 2D-DIC and 3D-DIC setups (Figure 1) at the edge and top surfaces of [02/902]s, [02/452]s and [902/02]s glass/epoxy laminates is utilized to detect crack density under uniaxial quasi-static and fatigue loading conditions. For fatigue, the maximum cyclic tensile stress of 90% of the first crack initiation stress, obtained from quasi-static tests, with load ratio σmin/σmax=0.1, frequency of 5 Hz and up to 200,000 cycles, is considered. An optimization analysis is implemented to evaluate the resolution and the standard uncertainty in DIC strain and displacement measurements. Next, a comparison is established between the discontinuities in both strain and displacement fields for crack detection. Consequently, the displacement field has proved to deliver better and more accurate results than strain fields in crack density calculation. The results obtained from DIC analysis are compared and validated by microscopic images which are acquired after performing each test (Figure 2). The study of the results shows that the developed DIC methodology are suited for automated crack detection in fatigue and quasi-static loadings, and as such extract the evolution of crack density vs. number of cycles.".
• 01GPBCFZCTBQFSTXG5TVPP1P7Z abstract "Mass cytometry (MC) is a powerful large-scale immune monitoring technology. To maximize MC data quality, we present a protocol for whole blood analysis together with an R package, Cyto Quality Pipeline (CytoQP), which minimizes the experimental artifacts and batch effects to ensure data reproducibility. We describe the steps to stimulate, fix, and freeze blood samples before acquisition to make them suitable for retrospective studies. We then detail the use of barcoding and reference samples to facilitate multicenter and multi-batch experiments. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Rybakowska et al. (2021a) and (2021b).".
• 01GPBCHCA4E7EFXT4J80D16MH3 abstract "Drying is the most energy-intensive operation in instant brown rice production. The effects of stepwise microwave heating on energy consumption and product qualities were investigated for combined fluidized bed microwave (FDBMW) drying. Red jasmine rice (RJR) was used as the test sample and was dried to the desired level with a variation of microwave power ranging in 0-450 W, while fluidizing air temperature was kept constant at 98 degrees C. Two drying periods in stepwise modes were predicted using the Page drying equation. An image processing technique was applied to capture the bed kinetics during convective fluidized bed drying and further used to control bed stability in the FDBMW drying process. Energy consumption was reduced by 7 to 23% when the expanded bed height was controlled as a dense fluidization regime in the heat transfer zone. Based on energy saving concerns, FDBMW drying operating with a step-down mode from 300 to 150 W and control of bed stability was the optimal condition to produce instant good-quality brown rice.".
• 01GPBD04P6HE4QF2JS4V6ZPZ0A abstract "The use of waste tires for producing valuable chemicals via fast pyrolysis necessarily involves the understanding and synthesis of catalysts. Therefore, here, a statistical-based screening of SiO2-supported metal catalysts (Ni, Pd, Co, and Fe) to produce limonene from waste tire pyrolysis (WTP) is presented. The response surface method (RSM) was integrated into a principal component analysis (PCA) to identify the catalyst and reaction conditions that maximize the limonene yields for the experiments performed in an analytical pyrolyzer. The experiments were performed in an analytical pyrolysis unit coupled to a mass spectrometer (Py-GC/MS) using the temperature, the tire-to-catalyst ratio, and the type of catalyst as independent variables. The samples were grouped using PCA into 4 clusters according to the studied experimental conditions. The RSM model demonstrates that Co/SiO2 generates the most positive influence on the selectivity towards limonene under the following operating conditions: 370 degrees C and a tire-to-catalyst ratio of 1:5. Furthermore, it is possible to maintain a high selectivity to limonene and reduce the optimal catalyst load by slightly increasing the reaction temperature.".
• 01GPBDN5YTK2BHZ69P1ZZ2TXY3 abstract "PCDH19 is a transmembrane protein and member of the protocadherin family. It is encoded by the X-chromosome and more than 200 mutations have been linked to the neurodevelopmental PCDH-clustering epilepsy (PCDH19-CE) syndrome. A disturbed cell-cell contact that arises when random X-inactivation creates mosaic absence of PCDH19 has been proposed to cause the syndrome. Several studies have shown roles for PCDH19 in neuronal proliferation, migration, and synapse function, yet most of them have focused on cortical and hippocampal neurons. As epilepsy can also be caused by impaired interneuron migration, we studied the role of PCDH19 in cortical interneurons during embryogenesis. We show that cortical interneuron migration is affected by altering PCDH19 dosage by means of overexpression in brain slices and medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) explants. We also detect subtle defects when PCDH19 expression was reduced in MGE explants, suggesting that the dosage of PCDH19 is important for proper interneuron migration. We confirm this finding in vivo by showing a mild reduction in interneuron migration in heterozygote, but not in homozygote PCDH19 knockout animals. In addition, we provide evidence that subdomains of PCDH19 have a different impact on cell survival and interneuron migration. Intriguingly, we also observed domain-dependent differences in migration of the non-targeted cell population in explants, demonstrating a non-cell-autonomous effect of PCDH19 dosage changes. Overall, our findings suggest new roles for the extracellular and cytoplasmic domains of PCDH19 and support that cortical interneuron migration is dependent on balanced PCDH19 dosage.".
• 01GPBE5VECG72P9CDECZ6XMEXK abstract "Return-to-work of trans*patients : what do we know so far? A systematic review Introduction and objectives Trans* is an umbrella term for people identifying with the spectrum of transgenderism. Although return-to-work (RTW) is nowadays a major research domain, clear information of job re-entry of trans* patients undergoing a medical transition, is lacking. The objective is to examine several RTW-outcomes (RTW-rate, time-to-RTW, sick days, RTW-experiences) of trans*patients in existing literature. Methods & sample Databases concerning health, psychosocial, psychiatric publications as well as grey literature were explored systematically (Pubmed, Embase, Ebscohost, Proquest, Scopus, and Web of Science). Studies reporting quantitative and qualitative data of adult transgenders combined with RTW outcomes are eligible for inclusion. Titles and abstracts will be independently screened by two reviewers. Agreement between the two independent reviewers will be assessed using Cohen’s Kappa statistic. Disagreement of full-text evaluations of the remaining records will be resolved by consulting a third reviewer. Data extraction will be performed in accordance to Cochrane collaboration checklist. Methodological quality will be assessed simultaneously by using the QualSyst tool for quantitative and qualitative research. The GRADE approach will be applied for an overall rating of the body of evidence. The PRISMA guidelines shall be used to report. A registration of this systematic review in the PROSPERO database is ongoing. Results Database searches identified 12201 records, whereby after deduplication 8888 records remained. Based on the first Yogyakarta principles we applied an exclusion of publications before 2006, which resulted in 6872 records for screening. Full review results are expected by summer 2019. Conclusion & recommendations To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate RTW in the trans* patients. This systematic review will serve as a foundation for a mixed methods project examining the barriers/facilitators of RTW in trans*employees and to provide preventive tools for tailored reintegration in service of occupational physicians and enterprises.".
• 01GPBEAZZHAVAZ5G2S2842N21K abstract "Introduction Standard urotherapy in children with nocturnal enuresis (NE) is first-line treatment according to the current International Children's Continence Society (ICCS) guidelines. ICCS defines standard urotherapy as information and demystification, instruction in how to resolve lower urinary tract dysfunction, lifestyle advice, registration of symptoms and void-ing habits, and support and encouragement. These interventions often are time consuming and some aspects of urotherapy, such as fluid restrictions, can be a frustrating process for a child, which empha-sizes the importance of clarifying their relevance. The purpose of this review is to perform a systematic search in literature to evaluate the use of standard urotherapy in the treatment of children with pri-mary NE (PNE). Study design A systematic literature search was conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL based on the key concepts of standard urotherapy and NE. We iden-tified 2,476 studies. After a systematic selection process using the Covidence tool, 39 studies were included. The quality of the studies was assessed by the QualSyst Checklist. Our protocol adheres to the PRISMA statement and was registered in PROSPERO database (CRD42020185611). Results Most of the 39 included studies scored low in quality. All studies combined several urotherapy in- terventions and studied different study populations. Twenty-two randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were included, which reported 0-92% of children being dry after urotherapy treatment. Three RCTs, all individualizing and optimizing drinking and void-ing during the day and practicing optimal toilet posture, scored higher in quality based on the QualSyst score, and reported few children experi-encing complete resolution of NE (5-33%). Eight studies compared the efficacy of urotherapy to a control group, however, conflicting results were found. Discussion This systematic review presents available literature in the field of standard urotherapy in the treatment of children with PNE. One possible explanation for low efficacy rates of urotherapy in NE is the large heterogeneity of the study populations and in-terventions. Additionally, the intervention period and the intensity of intervention can have an impact on the outcome. Conclusion The number of clinical studies on standard urother-apy in children with NE is limited and many of them are of poor quality. High quality research in a well-defined NE population is needed to establish the role of standard urotherapy in first-line treatment of children with NE or as an add-on to other first line treatments. We conclude that at present there is insufficient evidence for recommending standard urotherapy to children with PNE as a first line treatment modality.".
• 01GPBFRQ3SMTWFGRMAMNNHF9SY abstract "Background Coronary heart disease (CHD) can lead to loss of workability and early retirement. The aim of this study is to investigate return to work (RTW) and its associations in patients with stable CHD based on data from the EUROASPIRE IV survey (European Action on Secondary and Primary prevention through Intervention to Reduce Events). Methods EUROASPIRE IV is a cross-sectional study carried out in 24 European countries in 2012-2013 through self-administered questionnaires, structured interviews and biophysical measurements. Patients participated in the survey 6 months to 3 years after the recruiting event (CABG, PCI, infarction). Sociodemographics, discharge- and self-reported medical history were analysed. To evaluate mental distress, health-related quality of life and physical capacity, the ‘Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale’ (HADS), ‘HeartQoL’ and the ‘International Physical Activity Questionnaire’ (IPAQ ) were applied. Results Out of the 3278 employed participants, the majority (71.4%) returned to work with a small increase in part time employment (12.6 versus 7.3%). The two main reasons for non-RTW were age (52.9%) and heart disease (35.3%). Patients in the RTW-group (2339) were significantly younger, more highly educated (33.3 vs 21.0 %), predominantly treated with PCI (63.0 versus 57.6 %) and were more physically active (high IPAQ: 49.9 versus 42.0 %). The employed group displayed lower median scores on the HADS questionnaire (anxiety: 4.0 versus 5.0; depression: 3.0 versus 5.0) and higher scores on the HeartQoL instrument (2.37 versus 2.29). Through a logistic model significant higher odds for RTW were found in younger patients, higher education, PCI, lower depression and higher HeartQoL scores. Conclusions After undergoing a CHD event only three out of ten patients failed to return to the workforce, displaying worse sociodemographics (age, education) and more invasive treatment. Attention towards health promotion, improved quality of life and focus on mental factors (anxiety, depression, motivation) could help facilitate and sustain RTW.".
• 01GPBGD3DWYHJNMCVGDKXM120S abstract "Objective: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) offer a flexible method of providing education to large numbers of people around the world. This study aimed to develop and pilot test a mini MOOC in order to teach knowledge and skills in occupational epidemiology. Methods: Using instructional design principles, an open online course was developed. Results: Four modules have been designed and delivered in a pilot version requiring an 8-hour time commitment. Thirty postgraduate students evaluated different aspects of the MOOC. They appreciated the active learning approach, gave high rates of approval for learning effects and structure but would welcome more feedback and interaction. Conclusions: Although students were satisfied, developing the MOOC entailed a considerable amount of time. A multi-institutional approach and international collaboration would be beneficial to improve the present MOOC and develop new ones.".
• 01GPBH1M2PJHTWZV2SJVPEDM72 abstract "Whereas Poe’s influence on many national literatures has been the subject of serious scholarly investigation, no attention has been paid to the nineteenth-century Dutch-language imitations, adaptations, and translations of his tales in the Netherlands and Flanders. Based on unexplored evidence in contemporary journals and newspapers, this contribution fills this gap by examining the earliest of such translations, published in the first seventeen years after the author’s death. The appendix provides the first-ever catalog of recoverable translations and adaptations of Poe’s tales until 1900. While even before 1860 Poe’s name featured in literary surveys, reference works, and newspaper items, Dutch-language versions of his tales throughout the nineteenth century appeared only sporadically. For various sociolinguistic, political, and educational reasons, the versions published in the Netherlands antedated and outnumbered those produced in Flanders. Usually offered to the reading public in condensed form, the earliest translations and adaptations were derived from both intermediate source texts—French, German, and British—and from original Poe editions. Plans for the publication of selections of Poe’s prose works in the 1850s and 1860s foundered; not until the late nineteenth century were Dutch-language audiences given access to more than a sprinkling of Poe’s tales.".
• 01GPBHX5PA6MNSTVWVPTQ2Q7DG abstract "The objective of this paper is to investigate suitable topologies for the converter modules and architecture design of a modular High-Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) generator for offshore wind energy applications. The HVDC transmission has technical and economic advantages for offshore applications due to the distance between the wind farm and the coast. However, with the current wind farm configurations, it would still be necessary to use transformers and AC/DC converters to condition the Alternating Current (AC) power at the output of the generators into DC power and with high voltage values. Therefore, a modular generator architecture is proposed that directly produces HVDC power at its output using an electronic converter interface by the connection in series of modules of a segmented HVDC generator. The evaluation of converter topologies was performed through parameters such as reliability, controllability, loss, complexity, power quality, and component count. As a result, the Vienna rectifier proved to be a strong candidate for further study due to its low complexity, high power quality and low active switch count.".
• 01GPBJ840DDHSJZ62DDG5KE04R abstract "The extreme adaptation potential of the generalist herbivore Tetranychus urticae (the two-spotted spider mite) to pesticides as well as diverse host plants has been associated with clade-specific gene expansions in known detoxifying enzyme families, and with extensive and rapid transcriptional responses. However, how this broad transcriptional potential is regulated remains largely unknown. Using a parental/F1 design in which four inbred strains were crossed to a common inbred strain, we assessed the genetic basis and inheritance of gene expression variation in T. urticae. Mirroring known phenotypic variation in the progenitor strains of the inbreds, we confirmed that the inbred strains we created were genetically distinct, varied markedly in pesticide resistance, and also captured variation in host plant fitness as is commonly observed in this species. By examining differences in gene expression between parents and allele-specific expression in F1s, we found that variation in RNA abundance was more often explained in trans as compared to cis, with the former associated with dominance in inheritance. Strikingly, in a gene ontology analysis, detoxification genes of the cytochrome P450 monooxygenase (CYP) family, as well as dioxygenases (DOGs) acquired from horizontal gene transfer from fungi, were specifically enriched at the extremes of trans-driven up- and downregulation. In particular, multiple CYPs and DOGs with broad substrate-specificities for pesticides or plant specialized compounds were exceptionally highly upregulated as a result of trans-regulatory variation, or in some cases synergism of cis and trans, in the most multi-pesticide resistant strains. Collectively, our findings highlight the potential importance of trans-driven expression variation in genes associated with xenobiotic metabolism and host plant use for rapid adaptation in T. urticae, and also suggests modular control of these genes, a regulatory architecture that might ameliorate negative pleiotropic effects.".
• 01GPBK9YC0N9T5NV96SNDTX9K6 abstract "Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is a non-invasive imaging technique which allows qualitative and quantitative assessment of tissue perfusion. Although CEUS offers numerous advantages, a major challenge remains the variability in tissue perfusion quantification. This study aimed to assess intra- and inter-observer variability for quantification of renal perfusion. Two observers with different levels of expertise performed a quantitative analysis of 36 renal CEUS studies, twice. The CEUS data were collected from 12 healthy cats at 3 different time points with a 7-day interval. The inter- and intra-observer agreement was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient. Within and between observers, a good agreement was demonstrated for intensity-related parameters in the cortex, medulla, and interlobular artery. For some parameters, ICCinter was considerably lower than ICCintra, mostly when the ROI encompassed the entire kidney or medulla. With the exception of time to peak (TTP) and mean transit time (mTTI), time-related and slope-related parameters showed poor agreement among observers. In conclusion, it may be advised against having the quantitative assessment of renal perfusion performed by different observers, especially if their experience levels differ. The cortical mTTI seemed to be the most appropriate parameter as it showed a favorable inter-observer agreement and inter-period agreement.".
• 01GPBYVRW0CZGX0T2ERKCCMBG7 abstract "The tribological behavior of new green friction materials with rice husk (RH) and rice husk ash (RHA) is dis-cussed in the current paper. Two formulations developed, one with 6% RH and one with 6% RHA, were compared with a reference formulation with alumina under the AK Master test, through a braking tribometer. Formulation with RHA showed tribological performance equal to or better than the reference material, especially in high temperature applications where the RHA particles assisted in the building of the contact plateaus. Adding RH reduced the abrasive action of the composite, allowing the formation of a more homogeneous tribofilm on the disc than in the other formulations.".
• 01GPC5Y31CDQVXR9PYR9FVZTHQ abstract "Characterization, pasteurization and storage are essential steps in fruit juice processing. Watermelon, pineapple, and mango juices were pasteurized at 80 +/- 2 degrees C and held at different treatment times (1, 2.5, 5, 10, and 15 min). Juice yield, pH, proximate composition, total soluble solids, color, vitamin C, microbial quality, mineral content, enzyme activity (polyphenol oxidase (PPO), and peroxidase (POD)), total phenolic content, and antioxidant capacity were measured during pasteurization and cold storage (4 degrees C). Results showed that watermelon juice had the highest crude protein, pH, and moisture content, pineapple juice had the highest titratable acidity, vitamin C and mineral content (potassium, calcium, magnesium, manganese, and zinc) and mango juice had the highest juice yield, and total soluble solids. Regardless of the holding time, pasteurization reduced total plate counts and yeast and molds to below detectable limits (1 log CFU/mL). Vitamin C was undetectable in watermelon juice after 10 min of pasteurization compared to mango juice with a 27% reduction. Pasteurization preserved mango juice color, but watermelon juice became less red and more yellow with increasing treatment time. POD was more thermoresistant than PPO and needed a treatment time of at least 5 min to obtain 80% reduction. Storage of more than 9 days negatively affected the watermelon color, total phenolic content and antioxidant capacities of watermelon juice pasteurized at 15 min and vitamin C content of unpasteurized mango juice. Thus, pasteurization and storage affect fruit juice quality depending on the type of fruit and their composition.".
• 01GPD9KZJBHS4X63YC33MK20G9 abstract "Greed is an excessive form of self-interest that leads individuals to pursue material wealth and immaterial desires with little or no concern for the well-being of others. While the literature suggests that greed results in managers acting unethically, a situational strength perspective suggests that this may not always be the case. Therefore, this paper aims at understanding how the new venture context, particularly the role of a team member's affective and cognitive trust in the new venture team, shapes the manifestation of greed in entrepreneurs' unethical pro-organizational behavior-behavior that allows new venture team members to advance their ventures despite the violation of social norms. Consistent with our theorizing, we find that new venture team members' affective and cognitive trust in their teams shape the relationship between greed and unethical pro-organizational behavior in opposing ways. Particularly, higher levels of greed are more likely to be connected to unethical pro-organizational behavior when a member's affective trust in the team is high and cognitive trust in the team is low. Our study offers implications for the entrepreneurship and management literatures, alongside implications for practice.".
• 01GPDBNKV77HFKY5JXXBR82REV abstract "Organoid cultures could constitute a valuable in vitro model to explore new treatments for canine (c) medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). The study's objectives were to estab-lish and characterize 3D organoid cultures of cMTC using histology and immunohisto-chemistry (IHC) and to evaluate the effect of antitumor drugs on organoids' viability. Five cMTC tissue samples were used to develop organoid cultures of which one orga-noid line, named cMTC N degrees 2, could be passaged for an extended period. This cMTC N degrees 2 organoid line was further compared to the primary tumour regarding morphology and IHC expression of thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1), thyroglobulin, calcitonin, synaptophysin, vimentin, Ki-67, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), P-glycoprotein and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Quality control of the cMTC N degrees 2 organoid line was achieved by a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array of the organoids, primary tumour and healthy blood cells of the same dog. The effect of carboplatin, meloxicam and toceranib phosphate (TOC) on cMTC N degrees 2 organoids' viability was evaluated. The cMTC N degrees 2 organoid line was cultured for 94 days and showed similar histological fea-tures with the primary tumour. Immunolabelling for TTF-1, thyroglobulin, calcitonin and VEGF was similar between the primary tumour and cMTC N degrees 2 organoids. Compared to the primary tumour, organoids showed higher immunolabelling for vimentin and Ki-67, and lower immunolabelling for synaptophysin, COX-2 and P-glycoprotein. The SNP genotype was similar for each chromosome between healthy blood cells, primary tumour and cMTC N degrees 2 organoids. Carboplatin, meloxicam and TOC had no effect on cMTC N degrees 2 organoid cell viability within achievable in vivo concentration range. In conclusion, the cMTC N degrees 2 organoid line is a promising first milestone towards an established in vitro organoid model to explore pathophysiology and new treatment modalities in cMTC.".
• 01GPDC8M4TWC6QARVDN597NYRF abstract "This paper studies the problem of integrated lot-sizing and maintenance decision making in case of multiple products and stochastic demand. The problem is formulated as a Markov decision process, in which the goal is to find a joint production and maintenance policy that minimizes the long run expected total discounted cost. Therefore, the classic Q-learning algorithm is adopted, and a decomposition-based approximate Q-value heuristic is developed to obtain near-optimal solutions in a reasonable time. To accelerate the convergence of the Q-learning algorithm, a hybrid Q-learning method is proposed in which the Q-values are initiated by the output of the decomposition-based approximate Q-value heuristic. The numerical experiments reveal that the approximate Q-value heuristic is outperformed by the classic and hybrid Q-learning algorithms in terms of accuracy and that the hybrid Q-learning method converges much faster than the classic Q-learning method. However, these so-called tabular methods do not scale to larger problems with more than four products. Hence, based on the problem structure, three state aggregation schemes are developed and applied to the Q-learning algorithm to solve the large-scale problems. The numerical study demonstrates that Q-learning with the third state aggregation scheme performs nearly as good as the hybrid Q-learning method while significantly reducing the computational time and being scalable to large-scale problems.".
• 01GPDE63V2001DC4SK3P4RZJ19 abstract "The move towards a circular economy pushes (Belgian) potato processing companies to direct water reuse in high water-consuming processing steps such as blanching. To design a robust treatment for this stream, it is important to know the composition and variability through different seasons, companies and processing conditions. An extensive physicochemical and (limited) microbial characterization was done on samples taken from four different blancher types at seven companies for 1.5 years. High concentrations of organic matter, represented as chemical oxygen demand (9032 ± 4349 mg O2/L), glucose (0.26 ± 0.32 g/L) or starch (1.40 ± 1.22 g/L) and dissolved ions (348 ± 142 mg Cl−/L and 1279 ± 510 mg potassium/L) were found, at constant ranges independently of the season. This is probably due to the occurrence of a steady state over time for the physicochemical parameters in the water. Concentrations at this steady state or equilibrium could change depending on the used potatoes-to-water ratio used at the blanchers, which is specific to the company and blancher and hence influences the aforementioned equilibrium. From this study, the blanching water shows a high potential for reuse with the (potential) recuperation of thermal energy and by-products. In the case of membrane filtration as a treatment method (ultrafiltration and/or reverse osmosis), the implementation of a pre-treatment to eliminate an excess of solids is recommended together with a possible disinfection or heat exchanger as post-treatment.".
• 01GPDEWPZMRNPSAVN18PQSX75D abstract "Background & Aims: Even though evidence for the use of linguistic-phonological intervention approaches in children with a cleft (lip and) palate (CP +/- L) is still limited, these approaches are being used by speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to treat active or compensatory cleft speech disorders in clinical practice. It is, however, unknown to what extent linguistic-phonological intervention is acceptable to SLPs. The aim of this study is to investigate the retrospective acceptability of linguistic-phonological intervention in children with a CP +/- L from the perspective of SLPs using the theoretical framework of acceptability (TFA). Methods & Procedures: A total of 18 female community SLPs, aged between 23 and 63 years, were included in the study. An independent interviewer conducted semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using a deductive coding approach. Statements of the SLPs were related to the seven constructs of the TFA: affective attitude, burden, ethicality, intervention coherence, opportunity costs, perceived effectiveness and self-efficacy. Outcomes & Results: The affective attitude and perceived effectiveness of linguistic-phonological intervention differed among the SLPs: some therapists had positive attitudes towards these approaches, while others did not. Positive attitudes were related to the successful use of linguistic-phonological intervention in the past. The construct 'ethicality' revealed that negative attitudes towards these approaches were attributed to the limited available scientific evidence or negative experiences while using these approaches. In contrast, SLPs who had positive attitudes considered these interventions as 'important' and 'valuable'. Some SLPs had negative reflections on linguistic-phonological intervention as these approaches were considered demanding in terms of time needed to gain knowledge on using them in children with a CP +/- L (constructs 'burden' and 'opportunity costs'). Additionally, some SLPs doubted their self-efficacy to use these approaches in clinical practice. Conclusions & Implications: The acceptability of linguistic-phonological intervention differed between the SLPs in this sample and was most likely related to their previous experiences with these linguistic-phonological approaches. It is important to increase not only the amount of scientific evidence for linguistic-phonological approaches but also the supply of evidence-based workshops and training courses on this topic. These initiatives should distribute scientific information that is translated into guidelines that are immediately applicable in clinical practice. This may potentially reduce the time-related burden that some SLPs currently experience to gain expertise in this matter. In future research, it is necessary to investigate if there exist differences in acceptability between the different types of linguistic-phonological therapy. What This Paper Adds: What is already known on this subject Linguistic-phonological speech intervention approaches are often used by SLPs to treat active or compensatory cleft speech disorders in clinical practice. What this paper adds to existing knowledge This study investigated whether linguistic-phonological intervention cleft speech intervention is acceptable to SLPs. Some therapists had positive attitudes towards these approaches, while others did not. Positive attitudes were related to the successful use of these approaches in the past. If SLPs indicated having negative attitudes, these negative feelings were attributed to the limited available scientific evidence or negative experiences while using these approaches. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work Even though linguistic-phonological speech intervention approaches are being used in clinical practice, these approaches are not always considered acceptable by SLPs. Acceptability could be enhanced by increasing the amount of scientific evidence for linguistic-phonological approaches, but also by increasing the supply of workshops and training courses on this topic. These initiatives should distribute hands-on information that is immediately applicable in clinical practice. This may potentially reduce the time-related burden that some SLPs currently experience to gain expertise in this matter.".
• 01GPDG28TGVRM2CXJRRGC2BHNN abstract "The Inhibitor of Kappa B Kinase (IKK) complex is a critical regulator of NF-kappa B activation. More recently, IKK has also been shown to repress RIPK1 dependent extrinsic cell death pathways by directly phosphorylating RIPK1 at serine 25. In T cells, IKK expression is essential for normal development in the thymus, by promoting survival of thymocytes independently of NF-kappa B activation. RIPK1 undergoes extensive phosphorylation following TNF stimulation in T cells, though which targets are required to repress RIPK1 has not been defined. Here, we show that TNF induced phosphorylation of RIPK1 at S25 is IKK dependent. We test the relevance of this phosphorylation event in T cells using mice with a RIPK1(S25D) phosphomimetic point mutation to endogenous RIPK1. We find that this mutation protects T cells from TNF induced cell death when IKK activity is inhibited in vitro, and can rescues development of IKK deficient thymocytes in vivo to a degree comparable with kinase dead RIPK1(D138N). Together, these data show that phosphorylation of RIPK1S25 by IKK represents a key regulatory event promoting survival of T cells by IKK.".
• 01GPDG4R2RFCJY4G4M90WKQ3XA abstract "In this paper, high-frequency (HF) modelling of electric machines with random wound distributed windings is investigated to highlight the parameter variation due to the manufacturing. HF modelling of electric machines can be performed by impedance measurements of the stator windings. The random wound windings introduce variability in the motor model limiting parameter estimation accuracy. These parameters are the following: series resistance, main inductance, skin effect and capacitive coupling of individual turns in the windings and from the windings to the frame. By measuring the impedance of the 3-phase windings of seven consecutively produced induction motors the variability due to the random wound windings can be studied. These seven motors are then compared to one another and to an eighth motor that was produced at a different point in time. From this it is illustrated that the behavior varies even when motors were produced consecutively.".
• 01GPDJHVE9ESH8GJ8ABEA50S2J abstract "As emotion analysis in text has gained a lot of attention in the field of natural language processing, differences in emotion expression across languages could have consequences for how emotion detection models work. We evaluate the language-dependence of an mBERT-based emotion detection model by comparing language identification performance before and after fine-tuning on emotion detection, and performing (adjusted) zero-shot experiments to assess whether emotion detection models rely on language-specific information. When dealing with typologically dissimilar languages, we found evidence for the language-dependence of emotion detection.".
• 01GPDNCVMJ12W77N30SHNM2Y4R abstract "Wars always have had a huge impact on societies. If a war lasts for a long period of time, it is even capable of fundamentally changing economic structures. This was a factor in an evolution that took place in coastal Flanders during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In this area, large farms became larger as they were able to absorb small leasehold farms that had gone bankrupt during periods of war. This article investigates the dynamics of this process by examining a large farm in coastal Flanders. It first identifies how such a farm was operated. Subsequently I will look at the impact of war in order to identify the mechanics behind the enlargement of the farms. This article demonstrates in particular how the collection of war taxes played a crucial role in the bankruptcy of the small farms and the survival of the large ones.".
• 01GPDNEWVPR90SFCDNE3EBJ1BK abstract "Cell death induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF) can be beneficial during infection by helping to mount proper immune responses. However, TNF-induced death can also drive a variety of inflammatory pathologies. Protectives brakes, or cell-death checkpoints, normally repress TNF cytotoxicity to protect the organism from its potential detrimental consequences. Thus, although TNF can kill, this only occurs when one of the checkpoints is inactivated. Here, we describe a checkpoint that prevents apoptosis through the detoxification of the cytotoxic complex IIa that forms upon TNF sensing. We found that autophagy-related 9A (ATG9A) and 200kD FAK family kinase-interacting protein (FIP200) promote the degradation of this complex through a light chain 3 (LC3)-independent lysosomal targeting pathway. This detoxification mechanism was found to counteract TNF receptor 1 (TNFR1)-mediated embryonic lethality and inflammatory skin disease in mouse models.".
• 01GPDRJ4HB2CEMDWS9K30B7GY5 abstract "Photoluminescent molecular crystals integrated with the ability to transform light energy into macroscopic mechanical motions are a promising choice of materials for both actuating and photonic devices. However, such dynamic photomechanical effects, based on molecular organoboron compounds as well as phosphorescent crystalline materials, are not yet known. Here we present an intriguing example of photomechanical molecular single crystals of a newly synthesized organoboron containing Lewis acid-base molecular adduct (BN1, substituted triphenylboroxine and 1,2-di(4-pyridyl)ethylene) having a capsule shape molecular geometry. The single crystals of BN1 under UV light exhibit controllable rapid bending-shape recovery, delamination, violent splitting-jumping, and expanding features. The detailed structural investigation by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and 1H NMR spectroscopy reveals that the photosalient behavior of the BN1 single crystals is driven by a crystal-to-crystal [2 + 2] cycloaddition reaction, supported by four donor-acceptor type B-N bonds. The instant photomechanical reaction in the BN1 crystals occurs under UV on account of sudden release of stress associated with the strained molecular geometry, significant solid-state molecular movements (supramolecular change), and cleavage of half intermolecular B-N linkages to result in a complete photodimerized single-crystalline product via the existence of two other intermediate photoproducts. In addition, the BN1 crystals display short-lived room temperature phosphorescence, and the photodynamic events are accompanied by the enhancement of their phosphorescence intensity to yield the photoproduct. Interestingly, the molecular crystals of the final photoproduct polymerize at ambient conditions when recrystallized from the solution forming a 2D supramolecular crystalline polymer stabilized by the retention of all B-N coordination modes.".
• 01GPDSMDQPBZR3882QKHYEMFST abstract "Geosynthetic clay liners are widely used as hydraulic barrier due to their low hydraulic conductivity but bentonite in the liners loses its effectiveness due to significant thermal fluxes by both diurnal and seasonal heating and cooling cycles. Modified sodium carboxy methyl cellulose-based bentonite clay (HYPER clay) has shown better hydraulic performance in both situations. A possible reason for this improved performance of HYPER clay based geosynthetic clay liner is the improvement in the suction under changing thermal conditions. Thus, the relationship between soil suction and moisture content, also called the soil water retention curve, needs to be estimated. Therefore, we investigated the soil-water retention curve of the HYPER clay based geosynthetic clay liner and compared it with the untreated clay based geosynthetic clay liner. The article presents the suction test results on wetting path conducted on geosynthetic clay liner prototypes containing HYPER and untreated clay assessed by the contact filter paper method and the relative humidity sensor. The results showed that the geosynthetic clay liner containing HYPER clay has a high volumetric water content and thus, high water retention compared to untreated bentonite at a given suction value. In other words, the HYPER clay can be considered as a potential alternative to conventional bentonite due to its improved water retention capacity.".
• 01GPDW0DYXY4Q8M8A9K5677ZNB abstract "The lot-size problem has been studied frequently in literature. An efficient lot-size planning achieves a proper balance between setup costs, inventory holding costs, and lost sales costs. Nevertheless, a lot-size planning may turn out to be worthless when the machine that produces these products breaks down. A solution may be to add sensors to the machine, monitor the condition (degradation) of the machine, and take that condition into account in the planning problem. Although lot-size planning and condition-based maintenance have been studied by scientists, integrated lot-size and condition-based maintenance (CBM) planning is still a largely unexplored research topic. The few papers that consider this integration only consider lot-sizing in case of one product. Currently, however, machines have to produce various products due to the trend of shifting from mass production to mass customization. Therefore, we study the integrated lot-size and CBM planning problem in a multi-product setting. We develop a Markov Decision Process model where the state captures machine condition and inventory levels of the products. The objective is to obtain the optimal policy, that is the policy that minimizes the long-run discounted total cost. As the state space is exponential in the number of products, traditional dynamic programming methods are inadequate in computing the optimal policy. We, therefore, adopt reinforcement learning methods where experience is obtained through simulation.".
• 01GPDX4MWHHQCWY2EWG04AAHRM abstract "Background: The lack of reliable echocardiographic techniques to assess diastolic function in children is a ma-jor clinical limitation. Our aim was to develop and validate the intraventricular pressure difference (IVPD) calcu-lation using blood speckle-tracking (BST) and investigate the method's potential role in the assessment of diastolic function in children. Methods: Blood speckle-tracking allows two-dimensional angle-independent blood flow velocity estimation. Blood speckle-tracking images of left ventricular (LV) inflow from the apical 4-chamber view in 138 controls, 10 patients with dilated cardiomyopathies (DCMs), and 21 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathies (HCMs) <18 years of age were analyzed to study LV IVPD during early diastole. Reproducibility of the IVPD analysis was assessed, IVPD estimates from BST and color M mode were compared, and the validity of the BST-based IVPD calculations was tested in a computer flow model. Results: Mean IVPD was significantly higher in controls (-2.28 +/- 0.62 mm Hg) compared with in DCM (-1.21 +/- 0.39 mm Hg, P < .001) and HCM (-1.57 +/- 0.47 mm Hg, P < .001) patients. Feasibility was 88.3% in controls, 80% in DCM patients, and 90.4% in HCM patients. The peak relative negative pressure occurred earlier at the apex than at the base and preceded the peak E-wave LV filling velocity, indicating that it repre-sents diastolic suction. Intraclass correlation coefficients for intra-and interobserver variability were 0.908 and 0.702, respectively. There was a nonsignificant mean difference of 0.15 mm Hg between IVPD from BST and color M mode. Estimation from two-dimensional velocities revealed a difference in peak IVPD of 0.12 mm Hg (6.6%) when simulated in a three-dimensional fluid mechanics model. Conclusions: Intraventricular pressure difference calculation from BST is highly feasible and provides informa-tion on diastolic suction and early filling in children with heart disease. Intraventricular pressure difference was significantly reduced in children with DCM and HCM compared with controls, indicating reduced early dia-stolic suction in these patient groups. (J Am Soc Echocardiogr 2023;36:523-32.)".
• 01GPDXWC0B3W78X3RJXA4APWCG abstract "A frequency-dependent extension of the polarizable force field "Atom-Condensed Kohn-Sham density functional theory approximated to the second-order " (ACKS2) [Verstraelen et al., J. Chem. Phys. 141, 194114 (2014)] is proposed, referred to as ACKS2 omega. The method enables theoretical predictions of dynamical response properties of finite systems after partitioning of the frequency-dependent molecular response function. Parameters in this model are computed simply as expectation values of an electronic wavefunction, and the hardness matrix is entirely reused from ACKS2 as an adiabatic approximation is used. A numerical validation shows that accurate models can already be obtained with atomic monopoles and dipoles. Absorption spectra of 42 organic and inorganic molecular monomers are evaluated using ACKS2 omega, and our results agree well with the time-dependent DFT calculations. Also for the calculation of C-6 dispersion coefficients, ACKS2 omega closely reproduces its TDDFT reference. When parameters for ACKS2 omega are derived from a PBE/aug-cc-pVDZ ground state, it reproduces experimental values for 903 organic and inorganic intermolecular pairs with an MAPE of 3.84%. Our results confirm that ACKS2 omega offers a solid connection between the quantum-mechanical description of frequency-dependent response and computationally efficient force-field models.".
• 01GPDY5GP51X7X0GPN3KSDFA59 abstract "European agri-food systems face a number of ‘grand societal challenges’: the impacts of climate change, soil quality degradation and, more generally, the transition to more sustainable and socially just agri-food systems. These challenges are difficult to tackle due to their highly complex nature and the far-reaching and diverse impacts they have on societal actors. Often, expert knowledge on these topics is incomplete, fragmented and/or contested. Therefore, this thesis pays particular attention to ‘Knowledge and Innovation (KI) co-production partnerships’ which have a transdisciplinary character, i.e., they bring together a variety of societal actors, ranging from researchers, agricultural advisors and farmers to policy-makers or small businesses. In this way, they aim to integrate and produce knowledge and innovation and to create a shared ownership to tackle complex problems. A rich empirical foundation is used, including 200 key informant interviews with as many ‘KI co-production partnerships’ throughout Europe, 30 in-depth case studies comprising 283 in-depth interviews and 7 focus groups with actors directly or indirectly involved in these 30 partnerships. A wide and diverse range of ‘KI co-production partnerships’ are explored by integrating different theoretical and analytical approaches. In this way, insight is gained into the links and interactions between the processes within the partnerships and external factors. Throughout the thesis, a structured analytical approach is developed to account for differences in institutional, cultural and social contexts that influence the KI co-production process: the Multi-level Innovation Systems (MINOS) framework. Furthermore, the integration of a political perspective in the form of ‘power dynamics’ supported the identification of effective barriers to entry which affect the functioning and inclusivity of KI co-production processes.".
• 01GPDYF6DTEVBM6Z32HNEK8YHD abstract "In this paper we present initial efforts to study complex event-event relations or event coreference in the Dutch language. We are primarily interested in the event-subevent relations between event pairs, in which one event is part of another (larger) encompassing event. We detail how event coreference is defined and annotated in the Dutch ENCORE corpus, after which the corpus is used as training data. Two experiments are conducted in order to gauge the possibility of integrating event-event relationships in ongoing research on Dutch event coreference resolution. The first experiment consists in classifying the nature of the coreferential relations between two gold-standard events. This task is used as a stepping stone for the second experiment, in which we attempt to predict whether pairs of textual events corefer and, if so, what the nature of this coreferentialrelation is. Our baseline experiments consist of fine-tuning various transformer language models, after which model ensembles are created to gauge the combined performance. Initially, the best results were achieved with these ensembles. However, in a second step, we also applied self-ensembling and self-distillation techniques to improve the fine-tuning process of the existing monolingual language models. Here we demonstrated that adding a warmup parameter in the self-ensembling process and a temperature in the self-distillation algorithm can have a noticeable effect on model performance, leading to on par or better performance than the ensembles.".
• 01GPDZKM3V52H6BRZEBGSSG6AF abstract "This paper presents the results that were obtained from the WASSA 2021 shared task on predicting empathy and emotions. The participants were given access to a dataset comprising empathic reactions to news stories where harm is done to a person, group, or other. These reactions consist of essays, Batson empathic concern, and personal distress scores, and the dataset was further extended with news articles, person-level demographic information (age, gender, ethnicity, income, education level), and personality information. Additionally, emotion labels, namely Ekman's six basic emotions, were added to the essays at both the document and sentence level. Participation was encouraged in two tracks: predicting empathy and predicting emotion categories. In total five teams participated in the shared task. We summarize the methods and resources used by the participating teams.".

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