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

• 01GTKE0N0RCBZR1BAGWGAJCMCX abstract "The increasing popularity of gene editing in plants has prompted research on stakeholder views. Gene edited foods are often more accepted than genetically modified foods, though differences occur within target groups, regions, and products. Nevertheless, marketing challenges related to a lack of familiarity with the technology, labeling, and risk perception remain.".
• 01GTKF1WX4KNDX0KCQZD7WDS5W abstract "To shed light on how prosody patterns used by parents to motivate their children, the current study investigated which acoustic features define motivational speech. In particular, we focused on instances in which a controlling versus autonomy- supportive tone of voice was used by parents. To this aim, Dutch parent-child interactions were analyzed acoustically. Results of a hierarchical linear modelling analysis showed that the acoustic parameters intensity and speech rate differed significantly for both types of motivational speech. More specifically, controlling messages were uttered with a louder voice and faster rate than autonomy-supportive messages, which were conveyed using a quieter voice and slower rate. Findings support earlier research on motivational prosody and extend them to more spontaneous interactions, as well as to another language group.".
• 01GTKFPYSXX8R9Q72WW3GHEV6Z abstract "Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic posed new challenges for integrated health care worldwide. Our study aimed to describe newly implemented structures and procedures of psychosocial consultation and liaison (CL) services in Europe and beyond, and to highlight emerging needs for co-operation. Methods: Cross-sectional online survey from June to October 2021, using a self-developed 25-item questionnaire in four language versions (English, French, Italian, German). Dissemination was via national professional societies, working groups, and heads of CL services. Results: Of the participating 259 CL services from Europe, Iran, and parts of Canada, 222 reported COVID-19 related psychosocial care (COVID-psyCare) in their hospital. Among these, 86.5% indicated that specific COVID-psyCare co-operation structures had been established. 50.8% provided specific COVID-psyCare for patients, 38.2% for relatives, and 77.0% for staff. Over half of the time resources were invested for patients. About a services, were reported as most useful. Concerning emerging needs, 58.1% of the CL services providing COVIDpsyCare expressed wishes for mutual information exchange and support, and 64.0% suggested specific changes patients, their relatives, or staff. Mostly, resources were committed to patient care and specific interventions".
• 01GTKGW83PDBWZ222T1CRD3PB4 abstract "Intellectual disability (ID) and hearing loss are frequent comorbid conditions, although otological problems often go unnoticed until picked up by screening. In the hearing program of Special Olympics (SO), athletes with ID are screened for otological problems. By retrospective analysis of all SO meetings between 2007 and 2017, more than 100,000 screenings could be included. Cerumen impaction was found in 40.7%, middle ear problems in 29.5% of those who failed hearing screening, and hearing loss confirmation in 26.9%. Prevalences for different world regions and country income groups are provided. The results emphasize the high prevalence of hearing loss in this ID population. Awareness among health care workers and active screening are required to reduce health disparities among this disadvantaged population.".
• 01GTKHCZP2TZ447B7B5BJYVVJX abstract "Appendices to the PhD research by Ewoud Deschepper, entitled ''House and yard in Early Medieval northern Francia. An archaeological study into the types, development and meanings of rural settlement and domestic architecture". Carried out at Ghent University (2017-2021) and funded by the Research Foundation Flanders under grant nr. FWO17/ASP/023.".
• 01GTKHM8M0FTAE904TB02VFZJC abstract "Over the past few decades, scholars have paid attention to how PI (parental involvement) impacts children's performance at school. Hence, PI is often reduced to school-centric involvement. Moreover, several studies have shown social class differences in PI, but relatively little attention has been paid to social class differences in culturally diverse contexts. In this article, we contribute to this discussion by reflecting upon how parents conceptualize preschool and their involvement and exploring class differences in the culturally diverse context of rural China. Drawing on data from eight focus group interviews, this article explores rural parents' perceptions of the relationships with teachers, hereby asking what is good for their children and the utilization of guanxi (a specific form of social capital). The findings indicate parents are anxious about their child's education, particularly their early learning. Furthermore, parents want to build good relations with teachers, and they emphasize tinghua (children to be unconditionally respectful, compliant, and obedient) and the strategic use of guanxi for their child's education. We conclude with a discussion of the findings and reflection on the inequality in rural China.".
• 01GTKHT6HJ6PEFXWWN9V6RJN5R abstract "Susac syndrome (SuS) is a rare immune-mediated endotheliopathy that affects the brain, retina and inner ear and is characterised by the variable clinical triad of encephalopathy, visual and vestibulocochlear dysfunction. Here, we present clinical and paraclinical data of 19 SuS patients followed at Ghent University Hospital and highlight some atypical clinical and novel radiological findings. Our findings suggest that spinal involvement expands the clinical phenotype of SuS. We further introduce dark blood sequences as a more sensitive technique to detect radiological disease activity in SuS. Our data add to the current understanding of the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of SuS.".
• 01GTKHVEHWCBF1HPVD69AZBFX0 abstract "Public welfare actors struggle with the question how they can guarantee children's wellbeing. The answer to this question depends on the countries' perspective concerning its responsibility for the care of its citizens. In the Flemish context, a maximalist child protection logic - with a focus on the realisation of rights - is adopted. In this article, we focus on the so-called 'bottleneck cases' and use the case of Zoe as a concrete application of the legislative framework that regulates the bottleneck case system. By analysing the case of Zoe, we show that a maximalist policy discourse that is based on commitment towards complex situations sometimes masks a minimalist policy logic. The issue that prompts itself is that this does not mean that a maximalist practice is not realised, but that it is realised because social practitioners deviate from the policy plans, while pretending 'as if' they follow them.".
• 01GTKHZAMRT7ZB4ZHDHCJWGD9K abstract "Efficient wound repair is crucial for mammalian survival. Healing of skin wounds is severely hampered in diabetic patients, resulting in chronic non-healing wounds that are difficult to treat. High-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) is an important signaling molecule that is released during wounding, thereby delaying regenerative responses in the skin. Here, we show that dissolving glycyrrhizin, a potent HMGB1 inhibitor, in water results in the formation of a hydrogel with remarkable rheological properties. We demonstrate that these glycyrrhizin-based hydrogels accelerate cutaneous wound closure in normoglycemic and diabetic mice by influencing keratinocyte migration. To facilitate topical application of glycyrrhizin hydrogels on cutaneous wounds, several concentrations of glycyrrhizinic acid in water were tested for their rheological, structural, and biological properties. By varying the concentration of glycyrrhizin, these hydrogel properties can be readily tuned, enabling customized wound care.".
• 01GTKJFJ534X9SX561TZKZ8HMW abstract "Objectives:Although vestibular deficits can have severe repercussions on the early motor development in children, vestibular assessment in young children has not yet been routinely integrated in clinical practice and clear diagnostic criteria to detect early vestibular deficits are lacking. In young children, specific adjustments of the test protocol are needed, and normative data are age-dependent as the vestibular pathways mature through childhood. Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of an extensive age-dependent vestibular test battery, to provide pediatric normative data with the concurrent age trends, and to offer a clinical framework for pediatric vestibular testing. Design:This normative study included 133 healthy children below the age of 4 years (mean: 22 mo, standard deviation: 12.3 mo, range: 5-47 mo) without history of hearing loss or vestibular symptoms. Children were divided into four age categories: 38 children younger than 1 year old, 37 one-year olds, 33 two-year olds, and 25 three-year olds. Children younger than 3 years of age were examined with the video Head Impulse Test (vHIT) of the horizontal semicircular canals, cervical vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) with bone conduction stimuli, and the rotatory test at 0.16, 0.04, and 0.01 Hz. In 3-year old children, the vHIT of the vertical semicircular canals and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (oVEMP) using a minishaker were added to the protocol. Results:The horizontal vHIT appeared to be the most feasible test across age categories, except for children younger than 1-year old in which the success rate was the highest for the cVEMP. Success rates of the rotatory test varied the most across age categories. Age trends were found for the vHIT as the mean vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain increased significantly with age (r = 0.446, p < 0.001). Concerning the cVEMP, a significant increase with age was found for latency P1 (r = 0.420, p < 0.001), rectified interpeak amplitude P1-N1 (r = 0.574, p < 0.001), and averaged electromyographic (EMG) activity (r = 0.430, p < 0.001), whereas age trends for the latency N1 were less pronounced (r = 0.264, p = 0.004). Overall, the response parameters of the rotatory test did not show significant age effects (p > 0.01), except for the phase at 0.01 Hz (r = 0.578, p < 0.001). Based on the reported success rates and age-dependent normative vestibular data, straightforward cutoff criteria were proposed (vHIT VOR gain < 0.7, cVEMP rectified interpeak amplitude < 1.3, oVEMP interpeak amplitude < 10 mu V) with accompanying clinical recommendations to diagnose early vestibular impairment. Conclusions.In this large cohort of typically developing children below the age of 4 years, the vHIT and cVEMP were the most feasible vestibular tests. Moreover, the age-dependent normative vestibular data could specify age trends in this group of young children. Finally, based on the current results and clinical experience of more than ten years at the Ghent University Hospital (Belgium), a clinical framework to diagnose early vestibular deficits in young patients is proposed.".
• 01GTKJMA0BGWG2VYBXMEY455VN abstract "Objective Falls can be highly debilitating and have an important negative impact on the quality of life of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to provide an up-to-date overview of the prevalence of >= 1 fall and >= 2 falls in idiopathic PD. Data Sources MEDLINE, Web of Science, Embase and Cinahl databases were systematically searched until 04 July 2022 for prospective studies reporting fall prevalence in persons with idiopathic PD. Methods Pooled prevalence rates with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed using random-effects models. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed using the I-2 statistic. Results A total of 54 studies (7546 participants) were included, and random-effects meta-analysis yielded a pooled proportional fall rate of 0.48 (95% CI [0.43-0.52], I-2 = 93%, 46 studies, 6874 participants) for classification 1 (>= 1 fall) and a pooled proportional fall rate of 0.32 (95% CI [0.27-0.37], I-2 = 78%, 31 studies, 5672 participants) for classification 2 (>= 2 falls). Subgroup analysis on the classification of falls, and length and method of monitoring falls did not reveal significant differences and did not reduce between-study variability. Conclusion Pooled estimates suggest that one in two persons with PD fall at least once, and one in three fall at least twice within the registered time period. Substantial variability remains after pooling fall prevalence rates according to the length and method of monitoring. Therefore, no recommendations can be made concerning these methodological aspects. Future research on falls in PD is encouraged to implement best practice recommendations to monitor and report fall data.".
• 01GTKK0R12Q3YD4C3S83J9M4FP abstract "Objectives To compare the response rate and response parameters of cervical and ocular vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (c&oVEMP) elicited by narrowband (NB) and broadband (BB) CE-Chirp, with the more classical tone burst (TB) and click VEMPs. Design The response rate, latency, amplitude and asymmetry ratio of c&oVEMPs elicited by 95 dB nHL air conducted (AC) 500 Hz NB CE-chirp, BB CE-chirp, 500 Hz TB and click stimuli were recorded bilaterally. Study sample 20 male and 38 female participants (19-39 years). Results For the cVEMP, the highest response rate was found for NB chirp (100%), followed by TB (91%), BB chirp (87%) and finally click (85%). A similar order was seen for oVEMP with percentages of 100%; 57%, 57%, and 43%. The 500 Hz NB CE-Chirp elicited significantly shorter cVEMP P1 and N1 latencies and significantly larger c&oVEMP amplitudes compared to all other stimuli. BB CE-Chirp elicited significantly shorter c&oVEMP P1 and N1 latencies with smaller amplitudes compared to TB. Asymmetry ratios were not statistically significant for all comparisons. Conclusion The 500 Hz NB CE-chirp provides the highest response rates, shorter latencies and larger amplitudes, and therefore seem a promising stimulus for reliably measuring c&oVEMPs in clinical practice.".
• 01GTKK2C74HT16704QZBQ5C84T abstract "Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are considered promising candidates to treat various infections in soft tissues and skin. However, no effective treatment based on AMPs has been reached to clinics due to their instability in serum and wounds. Biosurfactants such as acidic sophorolipids (ASLs) of very high concentrations (equal or above 5 mg/mL) have been demonstrated to be antimicrobial agents, however these concentrations might induce cytotoxic effects to human cells. Here, we have demonstrated the synergistic antimicrobial effect of ASL nanoparticles (NPs) and LL37 peptides (below their minimum inhibitory concentrations; MICs) to eradicate Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in human serum (HS) and in the presence of trypsin. The formulations containing ASL NPs (500 mu g/mL) and LL37 peptides (15-25 mu g/mL) effectively kill wide strains of bacteria in 5 % HS and the presence of trypsin. Moreover, the combination of ASL NPs (500 mu g/mL) and LL37 peptides (15 mu g/mL) prevents the formation of S. aureus biofilm and eradicates the one-day old biofilm. Importantly, the combination of ASL NPs and LL37 peptides severely damages the cell membrane of Escherichia coli (E. coli) as shown by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The combination of ASL NPs and LL37 peptides rapidly damages the outer (OM) and inner membrane (IM) of E. coli, while ASL NPs (1000 mu g/mL) alone slowly compromise the integrity of the bacterial membrane. Importantly, the combination of ASL NPs and LL37 peptides is biocompatible to human keratinocyte cells (HaCaTs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), and induces the expression of antiinflammatory cytokine in macrophages. Overall, ASL NPs in combination with LL37 peptides might be developed as an effective topical formulation to prevent bacterial infections in the skin.".
• 01GTKK630A8WBTBMGG0Z05XT70 abstract "A clinical review is presented of basic allometric scaling theory and its application to pharmacokinetic models in anesthesia and other fields in the biologic sciences.".
• 01GTKKHGYFSNWHBP6QTRCWXMDN abstract "This study contributes to ongoing debates on the protection of teens' privacy on social media. While ample research is focused on teens' privacy management, less is known about their attitude toward data protection. Drawing from cross-sectional survey data, this study examines whether predictors of privacy management, namely privacy literacy, privacy concern, and perceptions of data control, also predict teens' attitude toward data protection. Structural equation modeling indicates that all three factors positively predict this facet of privacy. No significant differences were found in the strength of predictors for boys versus girls for privacy management, although the findings do suggest some gender differences for attitude toward data protection that call for further research.".
• 01GTKNPVNK2B0GN3ZXV51DB5K5 abstract "A good set of cognitive and psycho-behavioural skills are beneficial for young athletes to overcome and benefit from developmental challenges. Unfortunately, there is still a dearth of knowledge on how both these cognitive (i.e., executive functions; EF) and psycho-behavioural (i.e., psychological characteristics of developing excellence; PCDE) skills develop in youth athletes. Especially for athletes in early specialisation sports such as artistic gymnastics, the early EF and PCDE development might be important to be able to cope with the pressure and challenges that comes with a transition to the next stage. In the current study, artistic gymnasts between 9 and 22 years old were tested twice with a 12-month interval to investigate the changes in EF and PCDE. Results showed that EF developed within the youngest stage, but plateaued at the later stages. Most PCDE did not seem to change over time within each stage. Furthermore, the transition to a new stage does not seem to coincide with an increased improvement of PCDE. However, with a case study approach in the oldest stages, still inter-individual differences in EF and PCDE scores over time were observed. This study shows that EF and PCDE develop over time, albeit in a non-linear way, and along a variety of developmental trajectories.".
• 01GTKNRHFB88B86C9197BV2QWX abstract "In this study, the preparation of 4-imidoyl-, 4-oxiranyl-, and 4-propargyloxyphenyl-substituted beta-lactams as versatile building blocks in heterocyclic chemistry was realized. Efforts were made to deploy these polyvalent compounds for ensuing cyclization reactions en route to new bi- or polycyclic frameworks, which, in the case of a 3-chloro-4-propargyloxyphenyl-beta-lactam substrate, enabled the preparation of an unprecedented beta-lactam-fused benzotriazolo-oxazocane scaffold. The chemical structure of the latter polyheterocycle was unequivocally secured by means of X-ray analysis.".
• 01GTKNTQHD5BNDZ92CBXPXA20Z abstract "During the talent development (TD) process in sport, cognitive and psycho-behavioural skills are necessary to successfully overcome TD-specific challenges. This cross-sectional study explored executive functions (EF) and psycho-behavioural skills (PCDE), in male and female high-level artistic gymnasts between 9 and 26 years old. The first objective was to investigate if an ideal profile would emerge for these gymnasts. In the youngest age group (9–12yo), a general improvement with age for EF was observed, and gymnasts scored higher on imagery use than the quasi-control group. The older age group showed that gymnasts had significantly higher scores on inhibition, imagery use and self-directed control and management than the quasi-control group. The second objective was to conduct a person-centred approach, investigating the individual profiles of a selected group of four high-level gymnasts. The radar charts revealed a relatively similar profile in all four gymnasts and the quasi-control group for the EF components, while there was a pronounced within group and between groups variation for the PCDE profiles. This study showed that inhibition, imagery use and self-directed control and management could be potential performance indicators in gymnastics. The radar charts support the idea that, once an athlete scores above a specific threshold on all variables, there is no necessity for trying to maximise each and every of these skills but rather, it might be better to leave room for individual profile variation. Since individually different profiles were indeed observed, we recommend an athlete-centred approach in all TD phases from a young age onwards.".
• 01GTKP00NF5F16790C2APTN10R abstract "There is a need to revise current healthcare organization due to the ever-rising costs and variation in quality of delivered care. Over the past decades there have been several strategic frameworks attempting to tackle this problem. Value-based healthcare (VBHC) is one those frameworks which has gained increasing popularity the last years. The framework is formulated on the premise that the healthcare sector should deliver integrated care, using integrated practice units (IPUs), and strive to maximize the value created. Value in this context is defined as the health outcomes achieved per costs made. We have designed a lean IPU called PsoPlus in which psoriasis patients are managed by a multidisciplinary team which has all the expertise and skill to manage psoriasis and its associated conditions. In addition, we have developed and implemented guidelines for the management of psoriasis associated comorbidities enabling us to deliver integrated care in the Belgian healthcare setting. Finally, we have designed a supporting information technology platform, called PsoSmart, that brings data from patients and healthcare providers together and provides actionable insights for clinical decision making. The created value is documented and captured using a value-based outcome set. Cost assessments at the individual patient level are also performed. To conclude, we describe here a comprehensive IPU setting for psoriasis which incorporates the VBHC principles. This IPU goes further and delivers a higher level of integrated care than other multidisciplinary psoriasis clinics. Monitoring outcomes and costs provides us with further insights to optimize psoriasis care. In addition, a software program designed to enhance psoriasis care is being developed further, however, advances in healthcare technology are needed.".
• 01GTKQ276ACMXK2W9ME4TYZ8ST abstract "Wave overtopping is a critical parameter in the design of coastal defense structures. Nowadays, several empirical formulations based on small-scale experiments are available in the literature to predict the mean overtopping discharge at dikes on shallow foreshores. Although the accuracy of the predictions has improved due to each approach's contributions, the formulations' performance depends on their range of applicability. In engineering applications, it is important to know the performance and limitations of the different formulas. This work presents a new experimental dataset focused on very shallow and extremely shallow foreshore conditions for a range of foreshore slopes (i.e., 1/20, 1/35, 1/50, and 1/80) and relative water depths. The recent developments in wave overtopping research on very shallow and extremely shallow foreshore conditions have been reviewed using this dataset to reflect the existing uncertainties and challenges in the wave-overtopping literature. We find that predicting wave overtopping for extremely shallow foreshore conditions still requires improvement. Additional research is needed to understand the (residual) influence on the wave overtopping of the foreshore slope and relative magnitude of the infragravity wave height to the sea-swell wave height at the dike toe, especially for extremely shallow foreshore conditions. The variation in performance of the formulas for different foreshore slopes is demonstrated. Finally, some of the remaining uncertainties that need further exploration are discussed.".
• 01GTKQT5WGT1X59PZDRMKTYGY8 abstract "The uniqueness of MALT1 protease activity in controlling several aspects of immunity in humans has made it a very attractive therapeutic target for multiple autoimmune diseases and lymphoid malignancies. Despite several encouraging preclinical studies with MALT1 inhibitors, severe reduction in regulatory T cells and immune-mediated pathology seen in MALT1 protease-dead (MALT1-PD) mice and some, but not all, studies analysing the effect of prolonged pharmacological MALT1 protease inhibition, indicates the need to further unravel the mechanism of MALT1 protease function. Notably, the contribution of individual MALT1 substrates to the immune defects seen in MALT1-PD mice is still unclear. Previous in vitro studies indicated a role for MALT1-mediated cleavage of the E3 ubiquitin ligase HOIL-1 in the modulation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-kappa B) signalling and inflammatory gene expression in lymphocytes. Here, we addressed the immunological consequences of inhibition of HOIL-1 cleavage by generating and immunophenotyping MALT1 cleavage-resistant HOIL-1 knock-in (KI) mice. HOIL-1 KI mice appear healthy and have no overt phenotype. NF-kappa B activation in T or B cells, as well as IL-2 production and in vitro T-cell proliferation, is comparable between control and HOIL-1 KI cells. Inhibition of HOIL-1 cleavage in mice has no effect on thymic T-cell development and conventional T-cell homeostasis. Likewise, B-cell development and humoral immune responses are not affected. Together, these data exclude an important role of MALT1-mediated HOIL-1 cleavage in T- and B-cell development and function in mice.".
• 01GTKR2WQZ6N1JFGDX3SVTYF5Y abstract "The third-generation (3G) of gravitational wave observatories, such as the Einstein Telescope (ET) and Cosmic Explorer, aim for an improvement in sensitivity of at least a factor of ten over a wide frequency range compared to the current advanced detectors. In order to inform the design of the 3G detectors and to develop and qualify their subsystems, dedicated test facilities are required. ETpathfinder prototype uses full interferometer configurations and aims to provide a high sensitivity facility in a similar environment as ET. Along with the interferometry at 1550 nm and silicon test masses, ETpathfinder will focus on cryogenic technologies, lasers and optics at 2090 nm and advanced quantum-noise reduction schemes. This paper analyses the underpinning noise contributions and combines them into full noise budgets of the two initially targeted configurations: (1) operating with 1550 nm laser light and at a temperature of 18 K and (2) operating at 2090 nm wavelength and a temperature of 123 K.".
• 01GTKRGVAATDT2612S4MZPZHT1 abstract "The characteristic that describes the extent to which buildings and their systems maintain their performance during shocks is called resilience. Building policies in the EU have already addressed the resilience of buildings against possible hazards (i.e., natural disasters, extreme weathers, fires). However, with increasing overheating risks (e.g., climate change) accompanied by their detrimental health and economic impacts, the thermal per-formance of nearly zero energy buildings (nZEB) is not guaranteed. This study aims to assess the impact of shocks and combinations on the thermal resilience of educational nZEB against heatwaves (HW) and system shocks (SS) including failure of indirect evaporative cooling (IEC), natural night ventilation (NNV) and solar shading failure (SF). A Modelica model of the building was developed and experimentally validated. Shocks were classified and quantified using the novel normalized degree of shock (doS) index. Heatwaves (HWs) had 20 x to 93 x more critical impact than the worst SS (NNV failure). Additionally SS occurring at the start of the operational period is 1.2 x more critical than SS occurring later in the day as it allowed for significant heat build-up in both class-rooms. In future climate scenarios a combination of HWs and power outages will become frequent. This study showed that a combination of a full day of cooling strategy and shading failure occurring on the hottest day of a 6-day long HW, is 10% more critical on both lecture rooms than an individual 10-day long HW. Classroom with heavy thermal mass prolongs the absorptivity of the shocks but delays recovery.".
• 01GTKRPRB1EH37FWBK0S701A4A abstract "This joint statement by the European Society for Emergency Paediatrics and European Academy of Paediatrics aims to highlight recommendations for dealing with refugee children and young people fleeing the Ukrainian war when presenting to emergency departments (EDs) across Europe. Children and young people might present, sometimes unaccompanied, with either ongoing complex health needs or illnesses, mental health issues, and injuries related to the war itself and the flight from it. Obstacles to providing urgent and emergency care include lack of clinical guidelines, language barriers, and lack of insight in previous medical history. Children with complex health needs are at high risk for complications and their continued access to specialist healthcare should be prioritized in resettlements programs. Ukraine has one of the lowest vaccination coverages in the Europe, and outbreaks of cholera, measles, diphtheria, poliomyelitis, and COVID-19 should be anticipated. In Ukraine, rates of multidrug resistant tuberculosis are high, making screening for this important. Urgent and emergency care facilities should also prepare for dealing with children with war-related injuries and mental health issues. Ukrainian refugee children and young people should be included in local educational systems and social activities at the earliest opportunity.".
• 01GTKRTS4XSQEF5000G8QQP8R8 abstract "Recently, the twin-pipe pumping (TPP) system has been developed for 3D concrete printing which involves pumping two mixtures, typically a Portland cement-based mixture and a pure limestone powder-based mixture that contains an accelerator. Following this, the two mixtures are allowed to be intermixed in a static mixer placed just prior to the nozzle which causes immediate stiffening and a very high buildability for the printed concrete post-extrusion. However, the flow division pattern produced by the mixing baffles of the static mixer results in striations consisting of unmixed limestone powder resulting in weak zones that lower the mechanical strength of the printed element. In this study, we present a TPP system consisting of Portland cement-based mixtures and a borated calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) cement-based mixture. The mixtures are capable of reacting independently with water as compared to the pure limestone powder-based mixture. After getting blended in the static mixer right before extrusion, the retardation in the borated CSA cement is destroyed by the alkaline component contained in the other stream, leading to the rapid hardening and a high construction rate post extrusion from the nozzle. The hydration characteristics were studied using a Vicat penetrometer, isothermal calorimetry, and ultrasonic pulse velocimetry, while the early age mechanical behavior was char-acterized by using uniaxial unconfined compression and slow penetration tests. Results indicate that Portland cement alone cannot produce enough alkalinity to destroy the ulexite phase and reinitiate the hydration of CSA cement, while adding a nominal dosage of calcium hydroxide can provide enough increase in pH to design a system suitable for the stiffening control. However, abundant calcium hydroxide would reduce the hydration rate at later ages due to the dilution effect, as indicated by the P-wave velocity evolution and yield stress evolution. In addition, the hardened behavior of printed elements was studied by performing compression and flexural tests. Results show that the CSA-Portland cement binary binder system avoids the formation of weak zones and hence improves the mechanical behavior.".
• 01GTKRXBNK2CHKH4CWWV23NXJP abstract "Origin-based identification and awards are used by craft chocolate makers as cues to signify superior quality and more inclusive practices. However, there is a lack of consumer choice and willingness to pay (WTP) literature that explores the impact of sensory and external cues, particularly award and origin labels, of craft chocolates. Thus, this study aims to combine hedonic and WTP measurements through an experimental auction of three Philippine tablea (cocoa liquor) variants from three origins (i.e., Bohol, Bicol, and Davao) in the Philippines. Information was revealed in a four-round second-price auction: blind condition, award or origin label (ran-domized order), and informed condition. Results indicated that participants were willing to pay a premium to switch their endowed tablea to the three auctioned tablea. Hedonic and WTP measurements resulted in an overall consistency of the hierarchy of preference between tablea variants. Award and origin significantly improved sensory ratings and WTP premiums for the three variants. Econometric analyses revealed that taste positively influenced the propensity to exchange and WTP premiums for all variants. In conclusion, this study found that taste was the most vital factor in choosing tablea, while award and origin labels may be used to further enhance perceived quality and value.".
• 01GTKS8CGASCVY56KGMQG867YE abstract "The kinase Receptor-interacting serine/threonine protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) and its substrate mixed lineage kinase domain-like (MLKL) are critical regulators of necroptosis, an inflammatory form of cell death with important antiviral functions. Autophosphorylation of RIPK3 induces phosphorylation and activation of the pore-forming executioner protein of necroptosis MLKL. Trafficking and oligomerization of phosphorylated MLKL at the cell membrane results in cell lysis, characteristic of necroptotic cell death. The nucleic acid sensor ZBP1 is activated by binding to left-handed Z-form double-stranded RNA (Z-RNA) after infection with RNA and DNA viruses. ZBP1 activation restricts virus infection by inducing regulated cell death, including necroptosis, of infected host cells. Immunofluorescence microscopy permits the visualization of different signaling steps downstream of ZBP1-mediated necroptosis on a per-cell basis. However, the sensitivity of standard fluorescence microscopy, using current commercially available phospho-specific antibodies against human RIPK3 and MLKL, precludes reproducible imaging of these markers. Here, we describe an optimized staining procedure for serine (S) phosphorylated RIPK3 (S227) and MLKL (S358) in human HT-29 cells infected with herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1). The inclusion of a tyramide signal amplification (TSA) step in the immunofluorescent staining protocol allows the specific detection of S227 phosphorylated RIPK3. Moreover, TSA greatly increases the sensitivity of the detection of S358 phosphorylated MLKL. Together, this method enables the visualization of these two critical signaling events during the induction of ZBP1-induced necroptosis.".
• 01GTKSRQ9XDD8Y2Y01202PG6VN abstract "Background National initiatives launched to improve the quality of care have grown exponentially over the last decade. Public reporting, accreditation and governmental inspection form the basis for quality in Flemish (Belgian) hospitals. Due to the lack of evidence for these national initiatives and the questions concerning their sustainability, our research aims to identify cornerstones of a sustainable national quality policy for acute-care hospitals based on international expert opinion. Methods A qualitative study was conducted using in-depth semi-structured interviews with 12 renowned international quality and patient safety experts selected by purposive sampling. Interviews focussed on participants' perspectives and their recommendations for a future, sustainable quality policy. Inductive analysis was carried out with themes being generated from the data using the constant comparison method. Results Three major and five minor themes were identified and integrated into a framework as a basis for national quality policies. Quality culture, minimum requirements for quality education and quality control as well as continuous learning and improvement act as cornerstones of this framework. Conclusions Complementary to the current national policy, this study demonstrated the need for profound attention to quality cultures in acute-care hospitals. Policymakers need to provide a control system and minimum requirements for quality education for all healthcare workers. A model for continuous learning and improvement with data feedback loops has to be installed in each hospital to obtain a sustainable quality system. This framework can inspire policymakers to further develop bottom-up initiatives in co-governance with all relevant stakeholders adapted to individual hospitals' context.".
• 01GTKTNTPKBZVFTBX3RD8TH4J9 abstract "Studying what factors influence the ability to resonate with the pain of others in the aftermath of a genocide and how this extends to the following generation is critical to better understand the perpetuation of conflicts. In the present study conducted in Rwanda, we recruited former genocide perpetrators and survivors, and their respective children and investigated how their neural response to the pain of others is modulated when they visualized pictures of former perpetrators or survivors, or their offspring. We further evaluated how the impact of the genocide and psychological factors associated with trauma influenced the results. Results showed that the intergroup empathy bias-that is, a reduced neural response to the pain of the outgroup-is present for both individuals alive during the genocide and their offspring. We also observed that a higher number of stressors experienced during the genocide was associated with a higher reduction of the neural response to the pain of others, even toward the children of one's own ingroup. Finally, we observed that a deliberate and free decision to reconcile is associated with a higher neural response to the pain of others. The results may be central to encouraging reconciliation in peacebuilding programs and to fostering empathic repair after trauma. Public Significance Statement In the present research conducted on former genocide perpetrators, survivors, and their children in Rwanda, we showed that the intergroup empathy bias is still present 27 years after the genocide and that children display the same biases as their parents. These findings are important to better understand the perpetuation of conflicts.".
• 01GTKVARXQ91J23JB6QGJ11KMP abstract "Agonistic aCD40 therapy has been shown to inhibit cancer progression in only a fraction of patients. Understanding the cancer cell-intrinsic and microenvironmental determinants of aCD40 therapy response is therefore crucial to identify responsive patient populations and to design efficient combinatorial treatments. Here, we show that the therapeutic efficacy of aCD40 in subcutaneous melanoma relies on preexisting, type 1 classical dendritic cell (cDC1)-primed CD8 thorn T cells. However, after administration of aCD40, cDC1s were dispensable for antitumor efficacy. Instead, the abundance of activated cDCs, potentially derived from cDC2 cells, increased and further activated antitumor CD8 thorn T cells. Hence, distinct cDC subsets contributed to the induction of aCD40 responses. In contrast, lung carcinomas, characterized by a high abundance of macrophages, were resistant to aCD40 therapy. Combining aCD40 therapy with macrophage depletion led to tumor growth inhibition only in the presence of strong neoantigens. Accordingly, treatment with immunogenic cell death-inducing chemotherapy sensitized lung tumors to aCD40 therapy in sub-cutaneous and orthotopic settings. These insights into the micro -environmental regulators of response to aCD40 suggest that dif-ferent tumor types would benefit from different combinations of therapies to optimize the clinical application of CD40 agonists.Significance: This work highlights the temporal roles of different dendritic cell subsets in promoting CD8 thorn T-cell-driven responses to CD40 agonist therapy in cancer.".
• 01GTKVY5KZQWKRDZ91N8618NRV abstract "After achieving a resounding victory in the local elections of November 2022 over the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of incumbent Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) started its preparations for Taiwan’s general (legislative and presidential) elections scheduled for January 2024 in earnest. Chances that the KMT's eventual nominee will be a traditional “true Blue” (zheng lan) stalwart who will enjoy the full approval of the party’s conservative leadership seem slim, however.".
• 01GTKWF8VMQY8H4QPPYBNX1R1H abstract "Epidemiological evidence links muscle-strengthening exercise (MSE: using weights or own bodyweight) to a reduced risk of non-communicable diseases. However, few studies have examined factors that influence MSE participation beyond frequency. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate likely factors influencing MSE participation, including three components (i.e., frequency, muscle groups, and intensity) in adults. English-speaking adults aged >= 18 years (n = 435) completed the previously validated Muscle-Strengthening Exercise Questionnaire (MSEQ) including MSE components (frequency, muscle groups, intensity) and agreement with 13 statements of potential behavioural correlates of physical activity. Adjusted multiple-factor logistic regression analyses were conducted. Participants having positive perceptions of time availability; sufficient energy; confidence in their skills and knowledge; and who prioritise and enjoy MSE are more likely to report health-enhancing MSE (>= 2 times/week). Moreover, these influencing factors remained irrespective of the MSE components (frequency, muscle groups, intensity). Among the sample of highly active participants, we identified five behavioural correlates that appear to have significant associations with meeting the MSE guidelines. Public health approaches to increase MSE participation within currently inactive populations may benefit from focusing on these specific enabling factors.".
• 01GTKWVCKJPAD3TE3KWX394NBN abstract "De oceanen bevatten een enorme hoeveelheid golfenergie die zou kunnen omgezet worden in bruikbare elektriciteit met golfenergieconvertoren, of GECs. Momenteel ligt de ontwikkelingskost van GECs te hoog in vergelijking met andere vormen van hernieuwbare energie zoals offshore wind of zonne-energie, dus blijft verder onderzoek noodzakelijk. Om de kost de reduceren zullen GECs in grote aantallen moeten geïnstalleerd worden, in zogenaamde GEC parken. Deze doctoraatsthesis behandelt de nauwkeurige numerieke modellering van GECs en GEC parken. De numerieke modellering gebeurt a.d.h.v. de nauwkeurige Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics methode, of SPH. In deze doctoraatsthesis is onderzoek verricht naar het testen en uitbreiden van de toepasbaarheid van SPH voor het modelleren van GECs en verankerde drijvende structuren. Nodige stappen werden ondernomen om GEC ontwerp te optimalizeren en om hun kost te reduceren, zoals het numeriek modelleren van een GEC park met nauwkeurig Power take-off (of PTO) systeem. Dit PTO systeem verricht de omzetting van golfenergie naar bruikbare elektriciteit en veroorzaakt een kracht op de GEC. De behaalde resultaten werden gevalideerd met experimentele data. Als resultaat pakt dit onderzoek cruciale kennishiaten in het domein van offshore hernieuwbare energietechnologieën en SPH modellering aan.".
• 01GTKWXJJY87DREZ2ZN9WC9CH6 abstract "Background: Learning to cycle is an important milestone for children, but the popularity of cycling and the environmental factors that promote the development and practice of this foundational movement skill vary among cultures and across time. This present study aimed to investigate if country of residence and the generation in which a person was born influence the age at which people learn to cycle. Methods: Data were collected through an online survey between November 2019 and December 2020. For this study, a total of 9,589 responses were obtained for adults (self-report) and children (parental report) living in 10 countries (Portugal, Italy, Brazil, Finland, Spain, Belgium, United Kingdom, Mexico, Croatia, and the Netherlands). Participants were grouped according to their year of birth with 20-year periods approximately corresponding to 3 generations: 1960-79 (generation X; n = 2,214); 1980-99 (generation Y; n = 3,994); 2000-2019 (generation Z; n = 3,381). Results: A two-way ANOVA showed a significant effect of country, F-(9,F-8628) = 90.17, p < 0.001, eta(2)(p) = 0.086, and generation, F-(2,F-8628) = 47.21, p < 0.001, eta(2)(p) = 0.122, on the age at which individuals learn to cycle. Countries with the lowest learning age were the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium and countries with the highest learning age were Brazil and Mexico. Furthermore, the age at which one learns to cycle has decreased across generations. There was also a significant country x generation interaction effect on learning age, F-(18,F-8628) = 2.90, p < 0.001; however, this effect was negligible (eta(2)(p) = 0.006). Conclusions: These findings support the socio-ecological perspective that learning to cycle is a process affected by both proximal and distal influences, including individual, environment and time.".
• 01GTKX92N7AMCF40J6P4ZYDHBT abstract "This Ph.D. thesis examines the colonial efforts aimed at increasing and physically improving the native population in Portuguese Angola from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century. It argues that, throughout this period, these / thus far under-researched / efforts were diverse and inextricably linked to the pervasive idea of a demographic crisis: due to alarming reports on epidemic and endemic diseases, high infant mortality rates and mounting emigration flows, many colonialists feared that the native population was declining, and that this endangered both the economic development of the colony and the legitimacy of Portuguese colonial rule. While critically assessing this depopulation discourse and the role played in it by scarce but widely used demographic knowledge, my analysis focuses on the ideas, policies and practices that were conceived and implemented by colonial administrators, doctors, missionaries and scientists in order to 'stem the tide'. I pay particular attention to the colonial response to sleeping sickness from the late nineteenth century onwards and the establishment of a broader system of African healthcare after the First World War. I also look at colonial attempts to resettle the rural population into model villages, to reduce long-distance labour migration and to curtail emigration to neighbouring colonies. This study reveals that the impact of population politics in Angola often remained more modest than planned, insofar as their implementation was severely hampered by the 'weakness' of the colonial state and by the attitudes and actions of many Africans themselves. These last did often not approve of Portuguese goals and methods and sought to evade medical and administrative control. Moreover, this dissertation consistently argues that both the discourse of population decline and the particular policies conceived and implemented were not unique to Angola. They were embedded in and shaped by broader contemporary debates and practices that transcended colonial and imperial boundaries.".
• 01GTKY2WYTPQHH59VBV4GBMBHW abstract "Regulated cell death (RCD) relies on activation and recruitment of pore-forming proteins (PFPs) that function as executioners of specific cell death pathways: apoptosis regulator BAX (BAX), BCL-2 homologous antagonist/killer (BAK) and BCL-2-related ovarian killer protein (BOK) for apoptosis, gasdermins (GSDMs) for pyroptosis and mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL) for necroptosis. Inactive precursors of PFPs are converted into pore-forming entities through activation, membrane recruitment, membrane insertion and oligomerization. These mechanisms involve protein-protein and protein-lipid interactions, proteolytic processing and phosphorylation. In this Review, we discuss the structural rearrangements incurred by RCD-related PFPs and describe the mechanisms that manifest conversion from autoinhibited to membrane-embedded molecular states. We further discuss the formation and maturation of membrane pores formed by BAX/BAK/BOK, GSDMs and MLKL, leading to diverse pore architectures. Lastly, we highlight commonalities and differences of PFP mechanisms involving BAX/BAK/BOK, GSDMs and MLKL and conclude with a discussion on how, in a population of challenged cells, the coexistence of cell death modalities may have profound physiological and pathophysiological implications.".
• 01GTKZAA283Q7VP03D5AKPZYWP abstract "Target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1) is a protein kinase controlling cell homeostasis and growth in response to nutrients and stresses. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, glucose depletion triggers a redistribution of TORC1 from a dispersed localization over the vacuole surface into a large, inactive condensate called TOROID (TORC1 organized in inhibited domains). However, the mechanisms governing this transition have been unclear. Here, we show that acute depletion and repletion of EGO complex (EGOC) activity is sufficient to control TOROID distribution, independently of other nutrient-signaling pathways. The 3.9-angstrom-resolution structure of TORC1 from TOROID cryo-EM data together with interrogation of key interactions in vivo provide structural insights into TORC1-TORC1' and TORC1-EGOC interaction interfaces. These data support a model in which glucose-dependent activation of EGOC triggers binding to TORC1 at an interface required for TOROID assembly, preventing TORC1 polymerization and promoting release of active TORC1.".
• 01GTKZX5J3KR99EQNKCKX2GZRV abstract "IntroductionThe importance of employability within organizations is increasing, due to various developments that initiate organizational changes. This study focuses on the employability in the public sector. While there seems to be a clear need for an employable public sector workforce, up until now there is little empirical research into the employability of workers in this sector, and into which specific individual and organizational characteristics influence it. MethodsWe conducted structural equation modeling, using data from Dutch public sector employees (n = 13.471). ResultsOur outcomes show that public sector employees consider themselves to be reasonably employable internally, and that they rate their external employability slightly higher. Moreover, it was found that both individual (personality and risk-taking behavior) and organizational characteristics (transformational leadership and red tape) influence their employability. DiscussionThese results underline the dual responsibility of the employee and the organization in influencing workers' employability within the public sector.".
• 01GTM085NNMWMAV1RSQYDHB9G0 abstract "Drawing inspiration from discussions on the relationship between archaeology and video games (“archaeogaming”), this article argues that contemporary games address three central concepts of archaeological theory: the uncertain materiality of archaeological finds, the way in which caring for artifacts complicates a linear or chronological understanding of history, and the open-ended quality of archaeological interpretation. The “archaeogames” I examine—which include Heaven’s Vault (Inkle, 2019), Outer Wilds (Mobius Digital, 2019), The Forgotten City (Modern Storyteller, 2021), and Elden Ring (FromSoftware, 2022)—capture these concepts by implementing a variety of gameplay and narrative mechanics. In addition to embedding archaeological objects at the level of representation, these games turn archaeological theory into a gameplay practice—a process potentially leading to the emergence of collaborative and creative storytelling within what I call archaeological fandom.".
• 01GTM0G8BSPP0VV587MJHP59VT abstract "Natural killer (NK) cells kill virus-infected or transformed target cells by delivering cytotoxic proteases called granzymes to the target cell cytosol. One of these proteases, granzyme M, is specifically expressed in NK cells and is thought to instigate a form of cell death distinct from that mediated by granzyme A or granzyme B. However, the mechanism of granzyme M-induced cell death is unclear at present, and few substrates for this granzyme have been reported to date. Here we show that the abundant nucleolar phosphoprotein, nucleophosmin (NPM), is cleaved and inactivated by granzyme M. NPMis essential for cell viability as RNA interference-mediated ablation of NPM expression in human cells resulted in spontaneous apoptosis. Significantly, overexpression of wild-type NPM rescued cells treated with NPM small interference RNA, whereas overexpression of the granzyme M-cleaved form of NPM did not. Because NPMis essential for cell viability, these data suggest that targeting of NPM by granzyme M may contribute to tumor cell eradication by abolishing NPM function.".
• 01GTM0G8C08VCGMYZFABQWKX8C abstract "The caspase family of cysteine proteases becomes activated in response to diverse cellular insults and coordinates apoptosis through proteolysis of hundreds of cellular substrates. Cytotoxic lymphocytes are adept at promoting apoptosis of virally infected or transformed cells through delivery of cytotoxic enzymes, such as granzyme B, into target cells via the granule exocytosis pathway. Granzyme B promotes apoptosis of target cells through direct processing of certain caspases, which leads to their autoactivation. Granzyme B can also activate caspases indirectly through proteolysis of Bid, a protein that promotes mitochondrial permeabilization and consequent activation of the apoptosome pathway to caspase activation. Evidence also indicates that granzyme B may contribute to antiviral immunity by directly suppressing viral replication through direct proteolysis of viral proteins that are essential for pathogenicity. Recent reports also suggest that granzyme B may have additional non-cytotoxic roles under certain circumstances and may also function in the extracellular space. Here, we discuss the cytotoxic and putative non-cytotoxic functions of granzyme B within the immune system.".
• 01GTM0G8C42BFCNHE5WA9HT5HZ abstract "Granzyme B is a cytotoxic lymphocyte-derived protease that plays a central role in promoting apoptosis of virus-infected target cells, through direct proteolysis and activation of constituents of the cell death machinery. However, previous studies have also implicated granzymes A and B in the production of proinflammatory cytokines, via a mechanism that remains undefined. Here we show that IL-1 alpha is a substrate for granzyme B and that proteolysis potently enhanced the biological activity of this cytokine in vitro as well as in vivo. Consistent with this, compared with full-length IL-1 alpha, granzyme B-processed IL-1 alpha exhibited more potent activity as an immunoadjuvant in vivo. Furthermore, proteolysis of IL-1 alpha within the same region, by proteases such as calpain and elastase, was also found to enhance its biological potency. Thus, IL-1 alpha processing by multiple immune-related proteases, including granzyme B, acts as a switch to enhance the proinflammatory properties of this cytokine.".
• 01GTM0G8C821D9KTQEBZM2FT40 abstract "Inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) play a major role in determining whether cells undergo apoptosis in response to TNF as well as other stimuli. However, TNF is also highly proinflammatory through its ability to trigger the secretion of multiple inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, which is arguably the most important role of TNF in vivo. Indeed, deregulated production of TNF-induced cytokines is a major driver of inflammation in several autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis. Here, we show that IAPs are required for the production of multiple TNF-induced proinflammatory mediators. Ablation or antagonism of IAPs potently suppressed TNF- or RIPK1-induced proinflammatory cytokine and chemokine production. Surprisingly, IAP antagonism also led to spontaneous production of chemokines, particularly RANTES, in vitro and in vivo. Thus, IAPs play a major role in influencing the production of multiple inflammatory mediators, arguing that these proteins are important regulators of inflammation in addition to apoptosis. Furthermore, small molecule IAP antagonists can modulate spontaneous as well as TNF-induced inflammatory responses, which may have implications for use of these agents in therapeutic settings.".
• 01GTM0MMAJ5M120CW3XCHYPTNT abstract "Ammonia oxidation, as the first step of nitrification, constitutes a critical process in the global nitrogen cycle. However, fundamental knowledge of its key enzyme, the copper-dependent ammonia monooxygenase, is lacking, in particular for the environmentally abundant ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA). Here the structure of the enzyme is investigated by blue-native gel electrophoresis and proteomics from native membrane complexes of two AOA. Besides the known AmoABC subunits and the earlier predicted AmoX, two new protein subunits, AmoY and AmoZ, were identified. They are unique to AOA, highly conserved and co-regulated, and their genes are linked to other AMO subunit genes in streamlined AOA genomes. Modeling and in-gel cross-link approaches support an overall protomer structure similar to the distantly related bacterial particulate methane monooxygenase but also reveals clear differences in extracellular domains of the enzyme. These data open avenues for further structure-function studies of this ecologically important nitrification complex.".
• 01GTM0NGQ2PVMKTCFTCA0VRZQP abstract "Employability is core to our understanding of career sustainability, and at an individual level, identifying the personal resources that support employability in the achievement of career success is warranted. This study builds on the conservation of resources theory, examining the role of employability as a mediator in the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success. To test our hypotheses, we utilised a context-specific practitioner sample of 135 individuals with UK-accredited occupational psychology qualifications. Employability was conceptualised using the competence-based model, underpinned by occupational expertise. Psychological capital and employability were measured using self-report questionnaires, whilst career success was determined via gross annual salary and practitioner status, ensuring objective measures of this outcome variable. Structural equation modelling identified that the relationship between psychological capital and objective career success was fully mediated by employability. These novel findings have important theoretical and practical implications for the role of psychological capital as a personal resource in achieving career success via its influence on employability.".
• 01GTM2WSZR5ADFCP3EG5NE6BX5 abstract "Despite their vast relevance to democracy, scholars have paid little systematic attention to the scrutiny function of local councils. To stimulate such research, this study theorises the concept of council scrutiny. First, we outline the rationale, wider policy context, and conceptualisations. Next, we present and discuss an actor-centred institutionalist approach to introduce an analytical framework that depicts council scrutiny as a loop comprising eight interrelated parts. These parts include the institutional context and policy environment, intrinsic motivations and actor properties, scrutiny objects, objectives, constellations, the scrutiny process as such, and its effects and personal rewards. Finally, we explain how this analytical framework may serve as a vehicle for a more comprehensive and detailed study of the various aspects of council scrutiny.".
• 01GTM3WVHQZE15QEPQ7CP7XZ03 abstract "We present the implementation and validation of the Hartree-Fock continuum random phase approximation (HF-CRPA) model in the GENIE neutrino-nucleus interaction event generator and a comparison of the subsequent predictions to experimental measurements of lepton kinematics from interactions with no mesons in the final state. These predictions are also compared to those of other models available in GENIE. It is shown that, with respect to these models, HF-CRPA predicts a significantly different evolution of the cross section when moving between different interaction targets, when considering incoming antineutrinos compared to neutrinos and when changing neutrino energies. These differences are most apparent for interactions with low -energy and momentum transfer. It is also clear that the impact of nucleon correlations within the HF-CRPA framework is very different than in GENIE's standard implementation of RPA corrections. Since many neutrino oscillation experiments rely on their input model to extrapolate between targets, flavors, and neutrino energies, the newly implemented HF-CRPA model provides a useful means to verify that such differences between models are appropriately covered in oscillation analysis systematic error budgets.".
• 01GTMF7JQ8A0XSDQD6XMT1VZ0S abstract "When converting a signal from the digital domain into the analog domain through a digital-to-analog converter (DAC), spurious image components appear in the DAC output signal. In the typical case where the DAC uses a zero-order-hold (non-return-to-zero) pulse, these images are only attenuated by a sine filter. In this work we present a technique to implement an analog first-order-hold filter to greatly improve the image rejection of the DAC output signal. After deriving the architecture on the system level, an actual transistor level circuit is designed in 180 nm CMOS for a sampling frequency of 300 MHz. This circuit is evaluated through extensive simulations and it is found that its image rejection ratio is 20 dB better than the conventional zero-order-hold and 10-dB better than a 1st-order lowpass. Instead its performance is close to that of a 2nd-order lowpass filter.".
• 01GTMF7JQFRJT58AT151DZZZEB abstract "An offset reduction loop (ORL) is an efficient technique to remove large offset in systems with high gain, for example sensor readout amplifiers. In this paper a new ORL is proposed that is based on an analog bilinear integrator. We show that this introduces an additional level of freedom in designing and accurately controlling the shape of the overall system's transfer function. Advantages of this ORL include the freedom to set the notch bandwidth of the ORL based on the 1/f-noise corner frequency. The ORL can thus be made fast enough to be able to remove 1/f-noise up to the 100 kHz range and even beyond. A prototype of the proposed ORL is applied to a Hall plate readout based on an in-the-loop sampling amplifier (ILSA) and implemented in 0.18 mu m CMOS. The measurements on the experimental chip confirm that the transfer function behaves as expected.".
• 01GTMHJGS7HYXFCWVFP024F0VT abstract "Process mining is growing to a billion-dollar market, focusing on dedicated techniques for improving existing business processes. With the increasing popularity and application of process mining, most scholars have focused on technical research while the organizational and people-related aspects remain underinvestigated. To partly fill the gap, this paper explores current job market demands in process mining by means of an empirical and analytical study of vacancies on LinkedIn platform. Our dataset uncovers a wide variety of vacancies from 47 countries, including organizations of different sizes and 12 sectors. The vacancies are issued by end-user companies, vendors or consultancy firms and include a combination of technical or business orientation. Given this wide variety among process mining vacancies, future research can also benefit from better complying with companies’ needs.".
• 01GTMHXR340J4AFEBMFHQJVJGB abstract "This doctoral dissertation offers an in-depth and nuanced view of survey research on digital inequalities and digital exclusion. First, by developing a new way to measure who is excluded from internet services and their associated benefits (e.g., finding a job). Second, by examining heterogeneity in inequalities in internet attitudes, access, skills, use experience, and digital exclusion within populations considered homogeneously vulnerable and non-vulnerable. Third, by investigating the role of socio-economic resources in digital exclusion in addition to inequalities in internet attitudes, access, skills and use experience.".
• 01GTMP5YS9BKZENWHJQGAYTH7D abstract "The first part of this PhD shows that the ancient recommendation letter should be seen against the background of broader epistolary practice. Therefore it is meaningful to first have a closer look at this practice, before embarking on a discussion of the recommendation letter. The justification lies in the fact that the ancient letter should be considered as a multifaceted cultural phenomenon characterised by long-standing habits and norms. The first chapter takes into account different angles from which a letter can be studied. It views the letter as a way of connecting people and transmitting information, often over a large distance. Letters are regularly regarded as a substitute for the letter writer’s presence. Also, an epistolographer can reach people who are not the primary reader of the document. Further, a letter is shaped by epistolary theory, and can be included in a letter collection, which aim is very often at variance with the original letter. In the second chapter the focus is narrowed down to recommendation letters. After a first section in which the main features, functions and uses of a recommendation letter are analysed, the discussion turns to actual recommendation letters of Latin and Greek epistolographers (including fictional letters and papyrus letters). Classified by author, this wide analysis seeks to reveal the typical features of a recommendation letter and understand to what extent friendship and reciprocal services play a role in these letters. Where applicable, special attention is paid to recommendation letters written for the same recommendee to different addressees. This comparison of epistolographers shows that the differences are mainly situated in the area of the number of addressees, extension and depth of network, the arguments presented and the use of friendship in recommendation letters. A third section investigates the extent to which the letter writer is able to exert influence by means of his recommendation letters. Finally, an answer is given to the question of whether the placement of recommendation letters in a letter collection would give additional significance to this collection. Although this chapter includes authors from different historical and geographical contexts, epistolographers from the fourth century AD, as Libanius’ contemporaries, are analysed in more depth. A third chapter demonstrates that the activity of recommending an individual cannot be limited to the recommendation letter itself. Examples from various epistolographers show that such a process comprises several stages, which, moreover, extends over a longer period. The second part of this thesis almost exclusively looks into the recommendation letters of Libanius, in contrast to the first part, which is primarily devoted to the epistolary practice and recommendation letters of other epistolographers. The fourth chapter, a short introduction to Libanius’ recommendation letters, explores this kind of letter from the perspective of a petitioner, Libanius himself or an addressee, by analysing the possible reactions that such a letter might elicit in them. Likewise, it pays attention to the ideas of friendship and reciprocal favours, as such notions often constitute the basis of Libanius’ support for his petitioners. This chapter concludes by noting that the arrangement of individual (recommendation) letters in the collection points to a high degree of organisation. The subsequent chapter links Libanius’ recommendation letters to a significantly larger recommendation process. Such a process permits to grasp the status, power, and influence, not only of the addressee, but also of the letter writer. This chapter also demonstrates the parallels with similar processes visible in other letter writers. The final chapter constitutes the main focus of my research. In this chapter, representing half of my thesis, I analyse 62 letter sets written to several letter recipients for the same recommendee. Half of the discussed letter sets are situated in a single quinquennium of Libanius’ epistolary activity (360–365). Each of the sets comprises between two and twelve letters. Most letter sets probably cover a relatively short time frame (one year), although some groups containing a large number of letters typically extends over a longer period. In a majority of cases the purpose of the letter is more than a mere introduction. The letters ask for an appointment or intervene in judicial proceedings. Other documents concern an inheritance or estate issue, or aim at obtaining membership of the senate in Constantinople. The letters are mainly sent to officials belonging to the imperial administration and other high-level contacts in Eastern provinces. The analysis of the 62 letter sets mainly deals with the kind of arguments adduced by Libanius, the influence that the letter writer, the addressee or an opponent can deploy, the travel route of a letter carrier, the way of approaching an addressee, the kind of ties that links an addressee or petitioner to Libanius and Antioch, the extension of Libanius’ network, and the rhetorical devices. Not all research questions can equally be applied to every single letter set, since much depends on the nature of the case that is discussed. On numerous occasions I challenge, correct or complement previous research. An assessment from the perspective of the recommendee reveals a distinction between an introduction for a new governor, a judicial intervention and a recommendation for a student to a teacher within the mass of letters. Numerous letters demonstrate that Libanius has different strategies as to how he would approach an addressee. Not only does he turn to a key office holder and a member of staff or another individual living in the same city, but he also writes a subsequent letter to the same addressee or asks others to intervene on his behalf. In the interactions between Libanius and his addressee, much revolves around persuasion, influence, and information transmitted to an addressee. When dealing with an addressee, Libanius adduces diverse arguments to stir his addressee to action. It is, however, possible to subsume these arguments into some broad categories: rhetorical qualities, administrative or governing competences, prominent role and influence, ensuing honour and prestige, ascendancy over an addressee. Moreover, Themistius’ self-image as a philosopher is skilfully manipulated. The analysis makes clear that Libanius interacts less with his recommendees than with letter recipients. Libanius’ epistolary practice also shows that he has several strategies to circumvent the obstacle posed by the fact that his influence is not identical in every single case. A few letters demonstrate that Libanius refrains from giving too much information in a letter. Finally, the analysis of the letters according to the precepts of ancient rhetorical theory undoubtedly shows that rhetoric pervades almost every recommendation letter. More particularly, letters seem to have been influenced by epideictic rhetoric. The inventio of arguments, and specifically those belonging to special topics, clearly points to such influence. In general, the style level can be considered fairly high, since rhetorical figures are present in almost every letter.".
• 01GTNFEZDQAPQ0NJ1ZFTZXJBMD abstract "Materials enabling high mobility of water on their surfaces are desirable for many applications. However, almost all slippery surfaces are hydrophobic and require rigorous micro/nanoscale protrusions. It is counter-intuitive and challenging for water to move and slide on a smooth water-loving material. This preview highlights a design in a recent issue of Matter for a novel non-textured slippery hydrophilic surface, which makes water sliding on a water-loving material possible. Such an emerging surface shows tremendous application potential in a broad spectrum of technological landscapes from thermofluidics to biofluidics and others.".
• 01GTP2HJC7PX8831MMSJBN7CA7 abstract "We investigate international consumption risk sharing in a panel of 15 industrial economies over the historical period 1875-2016. By considering a rich empirical consumption-income framework, we document time variation in the sensitivity of consumption growth to idiosyncratic and common shocks but even more so in the size of these shocks. We therefore suggest to measure risk sharing through the use of encompassing variance ratios that take into account all sources of time variation, rather than using the conventional measure that only considers the sensitivity of consumption to idiosyncratic income growth. Using these more encompassing measures, we estimate degrees of international risk sharing that lie above those typically reported the literature and find a closer connection with the trends in trade and financial globalization.".
• 01GTPPG8WGD26B9BJSMRW29PHX abstract "Introduction: The study is based on the Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT) constructs to explore the role of policy actors in the implementation of Social Distancing (SD) through structural equation modeling (SEM). In the various sections of the study, we discuss the CIT as a realistic approach, operationalization of the variables, model formation, and finally, the model assessment to understand the multi-actor process involved in the implementation of SD, ultimately understanding the role of actors motivation, information, and resources while implementing SD in the local context. Methods: We adopted a systematic literature search strategy within the web of science for contextual factors (30359), policy actors (551), papers published from 2012 to 2022 (283), in journals of health policy services, healthcare services, political sciences, and public administration and finally extracted 90 papers for a full review. Data were collected through a survey in three sections having questions on information, motivation, and resources from the policy actors involved in the implementation of SD in the local context in Multan-Pakistan. For data analysis, we adopted structural equation modeling in partial least squares (PLS) software through a stepwise evaluation process, including the convergent validity and individual item validity, discriminant validity, structural model relationship, and Goodness of fit. Results: The path coefficient values of the latent variables or the theoretical constructs from highest to lowest are motivation (…….), information (…….), and power (…….). Resultantly motivation possesses the highest value reflecting that it has maximum impact. However, the power exerts minimum impact. Conclusively, the deleted items for the final iteration represent weak relationships, so we can deduce that the latent variables of CIT, such as information and power, are weak in implementing SD in the local context of Pakistan. Research Novelty: The analysis of actor’s information, motivation, and resources through PLS-SEM in a complex healthcare intervention is a unique work that has never done before. So, the work is unique and will contribute in the PLS-SEM, policy actors, and implementation literature. Policy institutions and other low or middle-income countries can learn from this research and improve the implementation of SD by working on the variables with weak significance levels identified in this research.".
• 01GTPPN9BZH3V1F26N9YY5NEGE abstract "One of the crucial factors in achieving a higher level of autonomy of self-driving vehicles is a sensor capable of acquiring accurate and robust information about the environment and other participants in traffic. In the past few decades, various types of sensors have been used for this purpose, such as cameras registering visible, near-infrared, and thermal parts of the spectrum, as well as radars, ultrasonic sensors, and lidar. Due to their high range, accuracy, and robustness, lidars are gaining popularity in numerous applications. However, in many cases, their spatial resolution does not meet the requirements of the application. To solve this problem, we propose a strategy for better utilization of the available points. In particular, we propose an adaptive paradigm that scans the objects of interest with increased resolution, while the background is scanned using a lower point density. Initial region proposals are generated using an object detector that relies on an auxiliary camera. Such a strategy improves the quality of the representation of the object, while retaining the total number of projected points. The proposed method shows improvements compared to regular sampling in terms of the quality of upsampled point clouds.".
• 01GTPR3WXDWGFVF16ZTC3MJRJX abstract "As an emerging automated construction technology, 3D concrete printing opens the opportunity for the construction of hard rock tunnel linings. However, very limited studies were carried out in this regard, especially the adhesion between freshly printed cementitious materials and the excavated rock wall deserves further attention. In this study, the adhesive performance of the fresh cementitious material at two representative surface inclinations, including the overhead position (inclination of 180°) and the side position (inclination of 90°), was explored by a tack test and a shear test. This was further studied by two series of 3D concrete printing tests including horizontal printing at the underside of a supported slab and vertical printing against an upright slab. Results demonstrated the adhesion at the overhead position was limited by both the shear resistance of the fresh cementitious material and the property of the material-to-substrate interface, while the adhesion at the side position was mainly constrained by the shear resistance of the fresh cementitious material. Moreover, the stress state analysis of the printed layers at the overhead position and the side position indicated that the tack test and shear test gave a good prediction about the printing capacity of the fresh cementitious material for hard rock tunnel linings.".
• 01GTRKJWABH23MJ57FS8AG2B59 abstract "Satisfaction with the detection process of autism and its determinants was investigated using data from the Autism Spectrum Disorder in the European Union (2015-2018) network. A total of 1342 family members, including 1278 parents, completed an online survey collecting information about their experience and satisfaction with the early detection of autism in their child. Overall, the level of satisfaction varied considerably from one respondent to another. Difficulty in finding information about detection services, lack of professional guidance and support in response to first concerns, finding a diagnostic service on one's own, and a delay of more than 4 months between the confirmation of concerns and the first appointment with a specialist were all experiences individually associated with greater odds of being less satisfied. Using a dominance analysis approach, we further identified professional guidance and support in response to first concerns as the most important predictor of the level of satisfaction. These findings highlight the aspects of the process that need to be improved to enhance the experience of the detection process and are therefore relevant to guide health administrations toward actions to be implemented to this effect. Lay abstract Professional guidance and support in response to first concerns appears to be an important predictor of the level of satisfaction with the detection process of autism in young children. In this study, we analyzed the views of 1342 family members, including 1278 parents, who completed an online survey form collecting information about their experience and satisfaction with the early detection of autism in their child. Specifically, we were interested in how specific experiences with the detection process relate to the satisfaction with it and whether we could identify important predictors of satisfaction. The detection process is an emotionally charged period for parents, often described as painful, chaotic, and lengthy. A better understanding of their experiences is important to take appropriate action to improve the detection process. In our sample, the level of satisfaction with the detection process varied greatly from one respondent to another. Among the different experiences we considered, whether or not respondents received professional guidance and support in response to first concerns explained most of this variation. We also found that difficulty finding information about detection services, lack of professional guidance and support in response to first concerns, having to find a diagnostic service on one's own, and longer delays between confirmation of concerns and first appointment with a specialist were experiences associated with a greater likelihood of being unsatisfied. The findings of this study highlight the importance of the parent-professional relationship in the detection process and have important practical implications for health administrations to improve the detection process.".
• 01GTRMD2KABTCR441098YCVQDR abstract "Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by behavioral features that appear early in life. Although studies have shown that atypical brain functional and structural connectivity are associated with these behavioral traits, the occurrence and initial alterations of brain networks have not been fully investigated. The current study aimed to map early brain network efficiency and information transferring in infants at elevated likelihood (EL) compared to infants at typical likelihood (TL) for ASD in the first year of life. This study used a resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) approach to obtain the length and strength of functional connections in the frontal and temporal areas in 45 5-month-old and 38 10-month-old infants. Modular organization and small-world properties were detected in both EL and TL infants at 5 and 10 months. In 5-month-old EL infants, local and nodal efficiency were significantly greater than age-matched TL infants, indicating overgrown local connections. Furthermore, we used a support vector machine (SVM) model to classify infants with or without EL based on the obtained global properties of the network, achieving an accuracy of 77.6%. These results suggest that infants with EL for ASD exhibit inefficiencies in the organization of brain networks during the first year of life. Lay Summary The brain networks of 5- and 10-month-old infants are able to support efficient communication of information in the brain. Neural networks of 5-month-old with an elevated likelihood (EL) for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) show an overgrowth in local functional connection, which may not support efficient communication between distant brain regions, while we found no such differences in 10-month-old infants with or without EL for ASD.".
• 01GTRWPN3RD6PECHS10P19BB81 abstract "Structural damage identification plays a crucial role in structural health monitoring. In this study, a novelty method for structural damage identification is developed, which employs an advanced surrogate modelling technique to drive a new hybrid optimization strategy, namely a combination of K-means clustering optimizer and genetic algorithm (HKOGA). The core of this method is using the reliable sparse polynomial chaos expansion model as a cost-effective substitute for the computationally expensive structural finite element models, thus greatly improving the efficiency of the optimization strategy in finding the optimal value of the objective function. To evaluate the performance of this hybrid optimization strategy, seven optimization algorithms are selected and compared with it for 23 classical benchmark functions, and the comparative results show that the HKOGA has the best performance. Taking a small-scaled laboratory dam as an example, the efficiency and reliability of the proposed method to cope with the problems concerning finite element model updating and structural damage identification are explored. Two important findings are as follows. (i) For finite element model updating, compared to the conventional method based on iterative optimization, the proposed method improves computational efficiency by a factor of 59 while maintaining computational accuracy. (ii) For structural damage identification, leaving aside the huge leap in computational efficiency, the HKOGA has a faster convergence rate, stronger robustness, and higher accuracy than its sub-algorithm K-means clustering optimizer (KO). The results show that this method can be severed as an extremely efficient and potential tool to identify damage in large and complex structures.".
• 01GTRZ25DBRKPPMAFJ7ME97HQ6 abstract "In this paper, the feasibility of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) employing a novel Fibonacy Sequence (FS)-based Optimization Algorithms (OAs) and up-to-date computing techniques is investigated for a large-scale railway bridge. During recent decades, numerous metaheuristic intelligent OAs have been proposed and immediately gained a lot of momentum. However, the major concern is how to employ OAs to deal with real-world problems, especially the SHM of large-scale structures. In addition to the requirement of high accuracy, a high computational cost is putting up a major barrier to the real application of OAs. Therefore, this article aims at addressing these two aforementioned issues. First, we propose employing the optimal ability of the golden ratio formulated by the well-known FS to remedy the shortcomings and improve the accuracy of OAs, specifically, a recently proposed new algorithm, namely Salp Swarm Algorithm (SSA). On the other hand, to deal with the high computational cost problems of OAs, we propose employing an up-to-date computing technique, termed superscalar processor to conduct a series of iterations in parallel. Moreover, in this work, the vectorization technique is also applied to reduce the size of the data. The obtained results show that the proposed approach is highly potential to apply for SHM of real large-scale structures.".
• 01GTSBE048D73RQK50T43ZXSYG abstract "Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an effective tool to investigate biomass fast pyrolysis in fluidized bed reactor for bio-oil production, while it requires huge computational time when optimizing operating conditions or simulating large/industrial units. Machine learning (ML) is a promising approach to achieving both accuracy and efficiency. In this work, a reduced-order model including long short-term memory (LSTM) layer, pooling layer, and fully connected layer was established to predict future mass flow rates by training the historical CFD data. Unsteady mass flow rates, which are normally used to determine product yields, were treated as data of time series in ML. Influencing factors, such as sequence length, number of neurons, learning rate, subsequences order (shuffle or not), number of LSTM layers, and ratio of testing set, were evaluated to obtain their optimal values. The developed LSTM model framework and training process showed good applicability for the dataset of different species and temperatures. Product yields predicted by the derived LSTM were in good agreement with those obtained by CFD, while nearly 30% computational effort was saved. Thus, it is clearly seen that the well-predicted fluctuating characteristics and final product yields are helpful to improve accuracy of process simulation for digitalizing key reactors and building smart factories.".
• 01GTSNFMFF2GK3WK8RM342XT6V abstract "Recent estimates have reiterated that non-fatal causes of disease, such as low back pain, headaches and depressive disorders, are amongst the leading causes of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). For these causes, the contribution of years lived with disability (YLD) - put simply, ill-health - is what drives DALYs, not mortality. Being able to monitor trends in YLD closely is particularly relevant for countries that sit high on the socio-demographic spectrum of development, as it contributes more than half of all DALYs. There is a paucity of data on how the population-level occurrence of disease is distributed according to severity, and as such, the majority of global and national efforts in monitoring YLD lack the ability to differentiate changes in severity across time and location. This raises uncertainties in interpreting these findings without triangulation with other relevant data sources. Our commentary aims to bring this issue to the forefront for users of burden of disease estimates, as its impact is often easily overlooked as part of the fundamental process of generating DALY estimates. Moreover, the wider health harms of the COVID-19 pandemic have underlined the likelihood of latent and delayed demand in accessing vital health and care services that will ultimately lead to exacerbated disease severity and health outcomes. This places increased importance on attempts to be able to differentiate by both the occurrence and severity of disease.".
• 01GTSWJ32MCT1NVJTYRVTCG675 abstract "Language acquisition in the first year of life plays an important role in human development. Although recent research has increased our knowledge of early language development, the origins and developmental trajectories of language processing during infancy are still being debated. One important issue is whether the infant brain has already developed adult-like functional cortical specialization and lateralization for speech and language processing. Although a relatively large number of previous studies have investigated the cortical specialization for speech processing in newborns by comparing responses to normal speech with responses to time-reversed speech as a control, the subsequent development of this differential response is less well understood. In the current study, our primary goal was, therefore, to expand our knowledge of functional speciali-zation for speech during the first year of life. By using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), we examined the hemodynamic responses in the temporal cortex to forward-going speech in the native language, Dutch, and backward Dutch in seventy-eight infants aged 5 and 10 months. We observed that five-month-old infants show bilateral activation to both forward and backward speech without obvious hemispheric lateralization for language, while ten-month-old infants show greater left-lateralized inverted responses (e.g., reduction in oxyhaemoglobin and increase in deoxyhaemoglobin) to forward speech than to backward speech. Overall, our findings indicate that the neural correlates of language processing undergo developmental changes in the first year of life.".
• 01GTSX3F4VQCFS4PSKWK2CN16M abstract "Objectives Research on typically developing (TD) children and those with neurodevelopmental disorders and genetic syndromes was targeted. Specifically, studies on autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, Rett syndrome, fragile X syndrome, cerebral palsy, Angelman syndrome, tuberous sclerosis complex, Williams-Beuren syndrome, Cri-du-chat syndrome, PraderWilli syndrome, and West syndrome were searched. The objectives are to review observational and computational studies on the emergence of (pre-)babbling vocalisations and outline findings on acoustic characteristics of early verbal functions. Methods A comprehensive review of the literature was performed including observational and computational studies focusing on spontaneous infant vocalisations at the pre-babbling age of TD children, individuals with genetic or neurodevelopmental disorders. Results While there is substantial knowledge about early vocal development in TD infants, the pre-babbling phase in infants with neurodevelopmental and genetic syndromes is scarcely scrutinised. Related approaches, paradigms, and definitions vary substantially and insights into the onset and characteristics of early verbal functions in most above-mentioned disorders are missing. Most studies focused on acoustic low-level descriptors (e.g. fundamental frequency) which bore limited clinical relevance. This calls for computational approaches to analyse features of infant typical and atypical verbal development. Conclusions Pre-babbling vocalisations as precursor for future speech-language functions may reveal valuable signs for identifying infants at risk for atypical development. Observational studies should be complemented by computational approaches to enable in-depth understanding of the developing speech-language functions. By disentangling features of typical and atypical early verbal development, computational approaches may support clinical screening and evaluation.".
• 01GTTNRXZWXTDD69D7E9HY84JG abstract "This international analysis of theatrical case studies illustrates the ways that theater was an arena both of protest and, simultaneously, racist and imperialist exploitations of the colonized and enslaved body. By bringing together performances and discussions of theater culture from various colonial powers and orbits—ranging from Denmark and France to Great Britain and Brazil—this book explores the ways that slavery and hierarchical notions of "race" and "civilization" manifested around the world. At the same time, against the backdrop of colonial violence, the theater was a space that also facilitated reformist protest and served as evidence of the agency of Black people in revolt. Staging Slavery considers the implications of both white-penned productions of race and slavery performed by white actors in blackface makeup and Black counter-theater performances and productions that resisted racist structures, on and off the stage. With unique geographical perspectives, this volume is a useful resource for undergraduates, graduates, and researchers in the history of theater, nationalism and imperialism, race and slavery, and literature.".
• 01GTTP77G4P8K97Q6MDA9ZBTZY abstract "This chapter explores the ways in which Dutch authors, thespians, and audiences envisioned slave-led resistance through a comparative examination of Nicolaas Simon van Winter's infinitely popular tragedy Monzongo, of de koningklyke slaaf (1774), the anonymously written De verlossing der slaaven door de Franschen (1794), and Johannes Kisselius’ De blanke en de zwarte (1798). If slave-led opposition in the Atlantic was viciously curbed by white officials, militias, or colonial policies, this chapter will demonstrate that dramatists and spectators alike, despite their antislavery beliefs, disparaged nonwhite protesters and thwarted their role as crucial actors both on and off the (political) stage of 1800. This thwarting contrasted sharply with the violent ways in which the Dutch Patriots sought to overthrow the oligarchic yoke of the Stadtholderate during the Batavian Revolution in the very same decades.".
• 01GTV00CMBWHH4B8KJ71BYSYV9 abstract "AimTo assess the impact of mucoperiosteal flap elevation for single immediate implant placement (IIP) on buccal hard and soft tissue changes, and on clinical, aesthetic and patient-reported outcomes. Materials and MethodsTwo independent reviewers conducted an electronic literature search in Pubmed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane databases as well as a manual search to identify eligible clinical studies up to June 2022. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing IIP without flap elevation to IIP with flap elevation were included for a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The primary outcome was horizontal buccal bone change. Secondary outcomes were implant survival, vertical buccal bone change, pain, and clinical and aesthetic parameters. ResultsOut of 1029 records, 5 RCTs were selected reporting on 140 patients who received 140 single immediate implants (flapless: 68; flap: 72). Patients had a mean age ranging from 30 to 67 years and were followed between 6 and 12 months. Four RCTs pertained to (nearly) intact alveoli. Risk of bias assessment yielded low risk for two RCTs and high risk for three RCTs. Meta-analysis demonstrated a mean difference of 0.48 mm (95% confidence interval [CI] [0.13, 0.84], p = .007) in horizontal buccal bone change between surgical approaches, favouring flapless surgery. Meta-analysis failed to demonstrate a significant difference in implant survival between the groups (RR 1.00, 95% CI [0.93, 1.07], p = .920). Given the scarcity of data, meta-analyses could not be performed on other secondary outcomes. Available studies were consistent in the direction of the effect favouring flapless surgery for vertical buccal bone change as well as for pain. Clinical and aesthetic parameters were underreported. ConclusionsBased on CBCT data, flapless surgery resulted in more buccal bone preservation at immediate implants. However, the clinical relevance of this finding is unclear, since clinical and aesthetic outcomes were underreported.".
• 01GTV0RDEHYGK1VFXGRXS4ZBNP abstract "Artikel 1315 BW en artikel 870 Ger.W. spelen een belangrijke rol bij de vaststelling van de feiten van een zaak. Ze duiden aan op welke partij het bewijsrisico rust. Indien de rechter aan het einde van een procedure nog steeds twijfelt over een bepaald feit, zal hij de partij die het bewijsrisico draagt, in het ongelijk stellen. Nu zijn er situaties denkbaar waarin een partij er niet in slaagt om het vereiste bewijs te leveren, terwijl dit niet aan haar eigen gedrag te wijten is. Men spreekt dan van een toestand van bewijsnood. Die situaties van bewijsnood vormen het uitgangspunt van dit boek. Aan de hand van talrijke voorbeelden uit het domein van de aansprakelijkheid uit onrechtmatige daad illustreert het boek hoe diep dit fenomeen ingeworteld zit in ons rechtssysteem. Toch blijft de opzet niet beperkt tot een bewustmaking en conceptualisering. Er is ook een ruime aandacht voor oplossingen. Zo biedt het boek een vernieuwende kijk op tal van mechanismen die een belangrijke rol spelen in de dagelijkse rechtspraktijk (zoals de bewijsmedewerkingsplichten, de onderzoeksmaatregelen en de vermoedens). Verder biedt het de rechtspractici ook de mogelijkheid om onontgonnen paden te betreden. Het zet de bakens uit voor de introductie van een aantal nieuwe rechtsfiguren in het Belgische rechtssysteem (zoals de verlaging van de bewijsstandaard en de omkering van het bewijsrisico). ".
• 01GTV28XNHSAJX7B9101FX42Q9 abstract "Background: IL-33 plays a major role in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis. Upon its release from lung epithelial cells, IL-33 primarily drives type 2 immune responses, accompanied by eosinophilia and robust production of IL-4, IL-5 and IL-13. However, several studies show that IL-33 can also drive a type 1 immune response. Objective: Important questions remain regarding the mechanisms that determine whether IL-33 induces a type 1 or type 2 immune response. Here we focus on the role of A20 in the regulation of IL-33 signalling in macrophages and IL-33-induced lung immunity. Methods: We studied the immunological response in lungs of IL-33-treated mice that specifically lack A20 in myeloid cells. We also analysed IL-33 signalling in A20-deficient bone marrow derived macrophages. Results: IL-33-induced lung ILC2 expansion, type 2 cytokine production and eosinophilia was drastically reduced in the absence of macrophage A20 expression, while neutrophils and interstitial macrophages in lung were increased. In vitro, IL-33-mediated NF-kB activation was only weakly affected in A20-deficient macrophages. However, in the absence of A20, IL-33 gained the ability to activate STAT1 signalling and STAT1-dependent gene expression. Surprisingly, A20-deficient macrophages produced IFN-gamma in response to IL-33, which was fully STAT1-dependent. Furthermore, STAT1 deficiency partially restored the ability of IL-33 to induce ILC2 expansion and eosinophilia in myeloid cell-specific A20 knockout mice. Conclusion: We reveal a novel role for A20 as a negative regulator of IL-33-induced STAT1 signalling and IFN-gamma production in macrophages, which determines lung immune responses. Clinical implications: Our findings may eventually help to identify strategies that allow a better stratification of patients, leading to enhanced treatment efficacy.".
• 01GTV2V5SYTR8N0F5FTCNT3RJ5 abstract "Installing audio-based applications exposes users to the risk of the data processor extracting additional information beyond the task the user permitted. To solve these privacy concerns, we propose to integrate an on-edge data obfuscation between the audio sensor and the recognition algorithm. We introduce a novel privacy loss metric and use adversarial learning to train an obfuscator. Contrary to existing work, our technique does not require users to specify which sensitive attributes they want to protect (opt-out) but instead only provide permission for specific tasks (opt-in). Moreover, we do not require retraining of recognition algorithms, making the obfuscated data compatible with existing methods. We experimentally validate our approach on four voice datasets and show that we can protect several attributes of the speaker, including gender, identity, and emotional state with a minimal recognition accuracy degradation.".
• 01GTV3SEZ6PMF277V90MRTDCB3 abstract "Purpose The dynamic employee engagement framework visually delineates employee engagement from its antecedents and responds to the debates regarding how employee engagement is positioned within the academic literature. Design/methodology/approach A narrative literature review was conducted. Findings The new framework visually demonstrates the impact of contextual changes on employee engagement. Additionally, it positions employee engagement as a psychological state (psychological presence) and as a behaviour. Research limitations/implications The new framework promotes the study of behavioural engagement when the incorporation of context and/or multiple voices is required. Accordingly, studying behavioural engagement may help scholars understand more about the dynamics of employee engagement within and across different settings, reduce the reliance on self-reported studies and help bridge the employee engagement academic and practitioner discourses. Practical implications Human resource management/development practitioners and line managers may use the new structured framework in several ways to help them foster employee engagement. Originality/value The new framework extends five integrated employee engagement models by incorporating the macro and micro external context, and repositioning trust and feedback. In doing so, it more accurately conveys diagrammatically the dynamic nature of employee engagement following significant contextual changes. It also visually separates out the antecedents to employee engagement thus respecting construct boundaries and positions employee engagement as a multi-dimensional construct comprised of psychological state (psychological presence) and behavioural engagement. Building on this, we also argue that double-loop learning is an example of behavioural engagement.".
• 01GTV467PEGD4E9RXVCXDAWQB1 abstract "This article illustrates how lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) entrepreneurs engage in identity construction from an intersectionality perspective. Our empirical findings suggest that the sexual identities of our interviewees are essential aspects of their daily business lives in terms of their entrepreneurial identities and their motivations, key success factors and the barriers they face. By analysing their experiences from an intersectionality perspective, we illustrate how the sexual minority entrepreneurs in our study internalise and respond to dominant societal ideas characterising ‘the entrepreneur’ as masculine, heterosexual and male, vis-à-vis ‘the homosexual’, constructed as feminine, weak and different. We discuss two predominant manifestations of their responses to these contextual forces, portrayed in their identities as entrepreneurs and sexual minorities simultaneously and the ways these identities are experienced. Our study contributes to the literature on minority entrepreneurship, specifically the LGBT entrepreneurship literature, and on intersectionality and career sustainability, focusing on how LGBT entrepreneurs conduct entrepreneurship at the intersection of their sexuality and gender.".
• 01GTV4G8TXVH3SKNA5121R5ERC abstract "The aim of this study was to empirically investigate differences in role expectations, among the stakeholders involved, about the devolved personnel management role of front-line managers (FLMs). In particular, we researched the role expectation differences between FLMs, their middle managers, and Human Resource (HR) practitioners. In total, nineteen semi-structured interviews have been conducted involving eleven FLMs, eight middle managers, and two HR practitioners working at the same Dutch hospital. Most discovered role expectation differences were related to how FLMs should execute their HR tasks (i.e., process ambiguity). FLMs were often uncertain if their role enactment met those of their middle managers and/or HR practitioners, herewith indicating role stress. Our findings underline the importance of paying attention to role expectations’ differences in aligning components of the HRM-performance relationship. Future research could include the role expectations of other important stakeholders, such as: subordinates and top management. The outcomes of this empirical work are translated into four interventions to diminish FLMs’ role stress.".
• 01GTV4ZGZHVV2V8N60N4E1YDF7 abstract "The capacity to deal with digital transformation is a valuable asset for established organizations, and employees play a crucial role in this process. This study contributes to the understanding of employees’ sensemaking of digital transformation in the tour operating industry. Using prior digital transformation research, construal-level theory (CLT), and dynamic change perspectives, our scholarly work focuses on the complexities of organizational change in a digital transformation context. Although employees generally support digital transformation, our findings show that their perceptions change over time across a range of specific challenges experienced during the employee change journey. Our findings stress the importance of adopting a social exchange lens in digital transformation knowledge as this represents deep structure change that might cause well-designed transformation processes to fail. Implications for hospitality and tourism management are discussed.".
• 01GTV528Y0V62B49JJCAYGKR4Y abstract "Two dimensional radioluminescence (RL) films were investigated for application in proton and carbon therapy dosimetry. The films are made of Al2O3:C,Mg micro powder in two sizes (38 mu m and 7 mu m) mixed with a water -equivalent binder. The films were irradiated behind different thicknesses of solid slabs and behind wedge shaped plastic absorbers. Bragg curves presented quenching effect attributed to the non-linear response of the RL signal as a function of proton linear energy transfer (LET). Experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations were utilized to acquire a quenching correction method, adapted from Birks' formula, to restore the linear dose response for particle therapy beams. The method for quenching correction was applied, reaching an agreement at the Bragg peak of 3 % for films with 38 mu m median grain size phosphor and 1.5 % for films with 7 mu m median grain size phosphor for the proton beams; and 2 % for films with 38 mu m median grain size phosphor and 3 % for films with 7 mu m median grain size phosphor for the carbon charged particles.".
• 01GTV6GEMZSXBV09ZJZT5JT38M abstract "While atypical sensory processes have become central to scientific explanatory models of autism, such models usually do not explicitly address first-person experiences of sensory processes by autistic individuals. Detailed phenomenological research of this subjective domain is nonetheless essential to ground explanatory accounts in the actual experiences and challenges faced by autistic individuals. Therefore, our study consisted of an interpretative phenomenological analysis of 18 semi-structured interviews with autistic individuals about their experiences of hypersensitivity. Overall, our analysis showed how hypersensitivity pertained to disturbances at a basic level of bodily self-experience and also affected other crucial phenomenological experiential dimensions such as the subjective perception of time and space, sense-making processes, intersubjectivity, and moods. Hypersensitivities were described by participants as intrusive experiences of being vulnerably exposed to overwhelming stimuli that invaded their bodies and were simultaneously related to an invasive, chaotic, unpredictable or threatening perception of the (social) environment. Our study highlights the impact of hypersensitivities on experiential domains outside the strict sensory register, thereby providing further evidence for altered sensory processing as a potential core mechanism involved in a variety of autistic symptoms. Our study also indicates the clinical importance of therapeutic interventions that act on a fragile sense of embodiment in autism.".
• 01GTV6NYPMMXKYS6MHKVKRP3QP abstract "The introduction, transmission, and persistence of Listeria monocytogenes in Belgian beef slaughterhouses was investigated using genetic characterization. During slaughter, samples were taken of the hide, carcass, and environment to detect the pathogen. Remarkably, L. monocytogenes was massively present on the hide of incoming animals (93%; 112/120), regardless of their visual cleanliness, which implies high contamination pressure levels entering the slaughterhouses. Pathogen transfer via cross-contamination was conclusively confirmed in this study, with the same pulsotypes isolated from the hide, carcass, and environmental samples. Despite the important bacterial presence on the hide of incoming animals, most slaughterhouses succeeded in limiting the transfer as cause of carcass contamination. Persistence along the slaughter line seemed to be a more significant problem, as it was clearly linked to most of the L. monocytogenes positive carcasses. In one slaughterhouse, whole genome sequencing (WGS) revealed that the carcass splitter had been contaminating carcasses with the same strain belonging to CC9 for more than one year.".
• 01GTV6T1DXB4CTCVGJR5HRX3G7 abstract "A financialized real estate market is both an abstraction of global capital flows and a localized driver of gentrification. Under this premise, architectural form and urban design become a performance of contradicting value formations. Drawing on the methods of urban history, geography, architectural criticism and performative writing strategies, this paper develops a theoretical perspective on the architecture of financialized rental housing based on a relational understanding of architecture and social space. The paper's point of departure is the financialization of Germany's social rental housing stock. Recent housing projects undertaken in the metropolitan region of Berlin by the real estate investment companies Vonovia SE and Deutsche Wohnen SE serve as case studies. The analysis identifies five strategies for cost-optimization that, taken together, outline the characteristics of an ideal city of financialization which promotes the destruction of social cohesion in the interests of shareholders.".
• 01GTV6X5XQVE26Z239XT3H78W0 abstract "This article compares how state-initiated mass housing urbanization has contributed to processes of peripheralization in three very different historical and geopolitical settings: in Paris from the 1950s to the 1990s in Hong Kong from the 1950s to 2010s and in Mexico City from the 1990s to the 2010s. We understand mass housing urbanization as large-scale industrial housing production based on the intervention of state actors into the urbanization process which leads to the strategic reorganization of urban territories. In this comparison across space and time we focus particularly on how, when and to what degree this urbanization process leads to the peripheralization of settlements and entire neighbourhoods over the course of several decades. This long-term perspective allows us to evaluate not only the decisive turns and ruptures within governmental rationales but also the continuities and contradictions of their territorial effects. Finally, we develop a taxonomy of different modalities of peripheralization that might serve as a conceptual tool for further urban research.".
• 01GTV7RSKD5PJCQFT03RVKB65E abstract "Objective: To investigate pre-bereavement collaboration with healthcare professionals and its association with emotional well-being of family caregivers of people with serious illness post-bereavement.Methods: Population-based cross-sectional survey of bereaved family caregivers of people with serious illness (N = 3000) who died two to six months before the sample was drawn (November 2019), identified through three sickness funds in Belgium.Results: Response rate was 55%. As measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), family caregivers scored lower on positive affect (PA) and higher on negative affect (NA) compared to a normative sample. Most family caregivers evaluated the pre-bereavement collaboration with healthcare professionals positively. Family caregivers' evaluation of collaboration with healthcare professionals pre-bereavement was positively associated with PA and negatively with NA, also when controlling for confounding effects of socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the bereaved family caregiver and the deceased person.Conclusion: There is a positive association between perceived quality of collaboration at the end of life between healthcare professionals and family caregivers and post-bereavement emotional well-being of family caregivers. Practice implications: Our findings suggest the pertinence of attention from healthcare professionals to effective collaboration with family caregivers.".
• 01GTV7YBGKN0JM4HV2GK3P1Z7E abstract "Background: A recent review shows an interdependence between healthcare providers and relatives in the context of euthanasia. Belgian guidelines do focus on the role of certain healthcare providers (physicians, nurses, and psychologists), yet they hardly specify bereavement care services before, during and after the euthanasia.Purpose: A conceptual model showing underlying mechanisms of healthcare providers' experiences regarding the interaction with and the provision of bereavement care to relatives of cancer patients throughout a euthanasia process. Methods: 47 semi-structured interviews with Flemish physicians, nurses and psychologists working in hospitals and/ or homecare, conducted from September 2020 to April 2022. Transcripts were analyzed using the Constructivist Grounded Theory Approach.Results: Participants experienced the interaction with relatives as very diverse, which can be visualized as a continuum ranging from negative to positive, depending on each unique case. The achieved degree of serenity was the main contributor in determining their position on the aforementioned continuum. To create this serene atmosphere, healthcare providers undertook actions underpinned by two attitudes (wariness and meticulousness), which are guided by different considerations. These considerations can be categorized into three groups: 1) ideas about a good death and its importance, 2) having the situation well under control and 3) self-reassurance.Conclusions: If relatives were not at peace, most participants said that they deny a request or formulate additional requirements. Moreover, they wanted to ensure relatives can cope with the loss, which was often experienced as intense and time-consuming. Our insights shape needs-based care from healthcare providers' perspective in the context of euthanasia. Future research should explore the relatives' perspective regarding this interaction and the provision of bereavement care.Tweetable abstract: Professionals strive for a serene atmosphere throughout a euthanasia process to ensure relatives can cope with the loss, and the way in which the patient died.(c) 2023 The Author(s).Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).".
• 01GTV7YS96X6M1JJ0V52792XJT abstract "It has been demonstrated that acute vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) improves word recognition memory in epilepsy patients. Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has gained interest as a non-invasive alternative to improve cognition. In this prospective randomized cross-over study, we investigated the effect of both invasive VNS and taVNS on verbal memory performance in 15 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. All patients conducted a word recognition memory paradigm in 3 conditions: VNS ON, VNS OFF and taVNS (3-period 3-treatment cross-over study design). For each condition, patients memorized 21 highlighted words from text paragraphs. Afterwards, the intervention was delivered for 30 s. Immediate recall and delayed recognition scores were obtained for each condition. This memory paradigm was repeated after 6 weeks of VNS therapy in 2 conditions: VNS ON and VNS OFF (2-period 2-treatment cross-over study design). Acute VNS and taVNS did not improve verbal memory performance. Immediate recall and delayed recognition scores were significantly improved after 6 weeks of VNS treatment irrespective of the acute intervention. We can conclude that the previously described positive effects of invasive VNS on verbal memory performance could not be replicated with invasive VNS and taVNS. An improved verbal memory performance was seen after 6 weeks of VNS treatment, suggesting that longer and more repetitive stimulation of the vagal pathway is required to modulate verbal memory performance. Clinical trial registration number: NCT05031208.".
• 01GTV8M1JY10K8JP8A55J01A22 abstract "We investigate how information flows within bank networks facilitate syndicate formation and lending in the leveraged buyout (LBO) market, where relationships between banks and borrowers are scarce and borrower opacity is high. Using novel measures that characterize a bank's ability to source and disseminate information within its loan syndication network, we show that the extent of this capability influences which banks join the syndicate, the share the lead bank holds, and LBO borrowing terms. Banks' ability to source and disseminate network-based information is particularly useful when ties to prospective borrowers are lacking, with the information flows extending beyond knowledge on PE firms and LBO targets.".
• 01GTV8MBR021J6N6CPHWPHWMAF abstract "Introduction: Although the detrimental effects of a controlling coaching style on athletes’ mental health have been widely demonstrated, many coaches still rely on such a style, hoping to push athletes towards exceptional performances. Some coaches are convinced that, if they simultaneously adopt a warm and relatedness-supportive approach, their controlling practices will not yield detrimental effects on their athletes. Based on the Self-Determination Theory and Skinner’s coping framework, this study examined whether these coaches’ convictions hold true. Methods: A total of 203 volleyball players (67% female; age = 21.20 ± 4.67 years) completed assessments of perceived controlling and relatedness-supportive coaching styles, their coping strategies (accommodation, compulsive compliance), and their self-reported engagement, performance, competitive anxiety, and burn-out. Results: Results showed that athletes who perceived their coach as more controlling, reported reduced performance, and higher levels of competitive anxiety and burn-out. Relatedness support exaggerated the detrimental effects of a controlling coaching approach. At higher levels of relatedness support the relation between controlling coaching and compulsive compliance (i.e., a maladaptive coping strategy) became stronger. This in turn yielded a more detrimental pattern of outcomes including reduced performance and higher levels of anxiety and burnout. Conclusion: The combination of a controlling and relatedness-supportive coaching style relates to more undesirable outcomes, such as more maladaptive coping through compulsive compliance, and in turn worse performance, and mental well-being as measured by athletes’ feelings of anxiety and burnout. It thus seems better to not use a controlling coaching style, than trying to counteract the detrimental effects by also investing in a warm and caring bond.".
• 01GTV8NMG7AWWNBBQ9MK2A0P9A abstract "Advance care planning (ACP) is a continuous, early initiated process of communication between healthcare providers, patients and families about the goals for future care. Although its timely initiation is considered an important part of routine nursing home care, especially for people living with dementia, its implementation remains difficult in practice. Through the theory-informed development and evaluation of an ACP intervention, using qualitative and quantitative research methods, the ACP+ project aimed to contribute to improving ACP in nursing homes in Belgium. ACP+ is aimed at training and supporting staff in implementing ACP in routine practice through a train-the-trainer approach. It includes multiple components and tools. This chapter summarises (i) how we developed the intervention, (ii) how we evaluated its effects on care staff’s knowledge and self-efficacy via a cluster randomised controlled trial and (iii) how we conducted an embedded mixed-methods process evaluation to evaluate implementation, mechanisms of change and contextual factors. ACP+ was able to improve staff’s self-efficacy in performing ACP, not their associated knowledge. Potential reasons are explored based on preliminary process evaluation results. Conclusions call upon researchers to sufficiently reflect upon rationales for selecting intervention components, to iteratively test and adjust them as more knowledge comes along.".
• 01GTV8PYC0SK9QX10BZ1T91DPA abstract "Neuropathic pain is difficult to treat, and an understanding of the risk factors for its onset and resolution is warranted. This study aimed to develop and externally validate two clinical risk models to predict onset and resolution of chronic neuropathic pain. Participants of Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS; general Scottish population; n = 20,221) and Genetic of Diabetes Audit and Research in Tayside Scotland (GoDARTS; n = 5236) were sent a questionnaire on neuropathic pain and followed- -up 18 months later. Chronic neuropathic pain was defined using DN4 scores (>= 3/7) and pain for 3 months or more. The models were developed in GS using logistic regression with backward elimination based on the Akaike information criterion. External validation was conducted in GoDARTS and assessed model discrimination (ROC and Precision-Recall curves), calibration and clinical utility (decision curve analysis [DCA]). Analysis revealed incidences of neuropathic pain onset (6.0% in GS [236/3903] and 10.7% in GoDARTS [61/571]) and resolution (42.6% in GS [230/540] and 23.7% in GoDARTS [56/236]). Psychosocial and lifestyle factors were included in both onset and resolved prediction models. In GoDARTS, these models showed adequate discrimination (ROC = 0.636 and 0.699), but there was evidence of miscalibration (Intercept = - 0.511 and - 0.424; slope = 0.623 and 0.999). The DCA indicated that the models would provide clinical benefit over a range of possible risk thresholds. To our knowledge, these are the first externally validated risk models for neuropathic pain. The findings are of interest to patients and clinicians in the community, who may take preventative or remedial measures.".
• 01GTV9A8J7Q0YWHEQEH3JDAAP4 abstract "A controlling coaching style is evident in the conditional use of rewards, and the presence of intimidation, excessive personal control, and negative conditional regard. The detrimental effects of a controlling style on athletes’ anxiety, perfectionism and self-esteem have already been widely demonstrated. Similarly, literature on psychological athlete harassment and abuse from coaches is growing rapidly and shows detrimental results. Psychological athlete harassment and abuse refers to a pattern of deliberate, prolonged, and repeated non-contact deteriorated interactions within a power-differentiated relationship. Even though, the constructs of controlling coaching and psychological athlete harassment and abuse show great conceptual overlap (e.g., coaches trying to control athletes’ spare time), both fields of research exist separately from each other. This study looked at the relation between controlling coaching and psychological athlete harassment and abuse, and how controlling coaching and psychological athlete harassment and abuse relate to athletes’ outcomes (anxiety, perfectionism, and self-esteem). In total, 565 Belgian (former) gymnasts (91.2% female; 33.7% active; age = 21.70 ± 4.26) reported perceived coach's controlling style, coach's psychological athlete harassment and abuse, feelings of anxiety, perfectionism, and self-esteem. Controlling coaching positively correlated with psychological athlete harassment and abuse, and the highest correlations were found with intimidation. Results also showed that more controlling coaching and psychological athlete harassment and abuse related to more anxiety and perfectionism in athletes. No relations with self-esteem were found. As psychological harassment and abuse may from a gateway to other forms of abuse (i.e., physical; sexual), adopting a controlling coaching style may do the same. Equipping coaches through evidence-based safeguarding education with suitable alternative coaching styles may help protect athletes from psychological harassment and abuse.".
• 01GTV9F1Z9MGB09PP0X4HXRYNK abstract "Background: Legalization of assisted dying (AD), including euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide, remains a highly contentious issue as more jurisdictions around the world consider AD laws. Important concerns exist related to legalization of AD with regard to vulnerable populations and monitoring and reporting systems.Methods: A selective literature review was performed to explore the developments under assisted dying laws globally. An array of issues and key publications were selected based on the authors' previous research and knowledge.Results: The experience in Belgium can provide an instructive example about the evolution of AD laws. Since legalization, AD practice has increased gradually (0.2% of all deaths in 2002-2003 to 2.4% in 2021), accompanied by a diversification of the patient groups and by broadening acceptance among physicians and the public. Fears relating to disregard of regulatory safeguards and thwarted palliative care development have largely been allayed. Nonetheless, there are important points that require continued attention, for which ongoing monitoring and research is essential.Conclusion: Research in Belgium has not found evidence of suicide contagion, expansion to minors, or an increase in non-voluntary forms of life-ending. AD legislation should always be accompanied by careful consideration for integration into the health care system, physician training and support, possible conscientious objection, availability of palliative care services, clinical guidelines, public education, and monitoring systems.".
• 01GTVA5099ZZHWT02F5RMXQY4N abstract "Despite the overwhelming evidence for global warming and recommendations to respond to the climate chal-lenges, the implementation of pro-environmental behavior (PEB) remains difficult for many individuals. One key notion in this context is that the reconfiguration of behavior generally requires cognitive effort. In a preregistered study entailing both laboratory and online samples we tested in how far participants are willing to invest cognitive effort for a pro-environmental cause (eco reward) and how this differs from cognitive effort for per-sonal outcomes (own reward). Both eco and own reward led to response speeding and reduction of interference compared to no reward trials in a cognitive control task. However, the speeding effect was significantly smaller for eco reward trials, resonating with the notion that pro-environmental outcomes have a lower motivational value than personal ones - despite equal probability and magnitude of the associated monetary incentive. While present in the full sample, this difference was most pronounced in the online sample, which might reflect a weaker contribution of social desirability in this context. By singling out cognitive effort and the inherent costs thereof (rather than temporal and/or financial costs), the current paradigm can be used to test which factors and interventions might increase or decrease the willingness to allocate cognitive resources towards pro -environmental goals - which is key for initiating and also maintaining behavioral change.".
• 01GTVAP9P1Z2AHZ57H6MSNPVNR abstract "Novel events catch our attention, which can influence performance of a task. Whether this attentional capture by novelty benefits or impairs performance depends on several factors, such as the relevance of the stimulus, task requirements, and the timing of the event. Additionally, it has been argued that novel stimuli can hold intrinsic reward value, which may directly affect approach motivation, similar to positive valence stimuli. This link between novelty and approach/avoid behaviour has not been investigated directly. Here, we investigated whether stimulus novelty interacts with response behaviour in an approach/avoidance task, and whether these effects depend on the task relevance of novelty and stimulus timing. In experiment 1, participants gave an approach or avoid response dependent on a shape (diamond or square) presented at different stimulus onset asynchronies (SOA) following a novel or familiar scene (target -irrelevant novelty). In experiment 2, participants had to approach or avoid a novel or familiar image depending on the content (indoor/outdoor; target-related novelty). A shape was presented at different SOA. Results of a linear mixed model showed novelty-induced performance costs as demonstrated by longer RT and lower accuracy when novelty was target-relevant, likely due to attentional lingering at novel images. When images were target-irrelevant, approach but not avoid responses were faster for familiar versus novel images at 200 ms SOA only. Thus, novelty had a differentially pronounced detrimental effect on performance. These observations confirm that processing of novel stimuli generally depends on stimulus relevance, and tentatively suggests that differential processing of novel and familiar images is intensified by motivated approach behaviour.".
• 01GTVB2JDW0ENQPZY0XW39Q2CT abstract "Between July and August 2020 – several months after the global lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic – Anne Kockelkorn and Reinhold Martin engaged in a transatlantic email conversation, focusing on how the inequalities revealed by the pandemic have impacted American society and how this, in turn, impacts the conceptualization of architectural history. The conversation begins with the situation in New York in early July. It investigates the modalities of biopolitical infrastructures of care and violence, traces histories of inequality in the United States back to the Reconstruction era, and, finally, reflects on the need for common histories of redistribution.".
• 01GTVCS0KST6X71B8WW5CJ5QEF abstract "In article number 1807434, Dagmar R. D'hooge, Karen De Clerck, and co-workers develop a direct route to control the interfacial bonding between two polymeric materials through molecular diffusion during in situ chemical formation of one of those materials. This route is used to create nanofibrous hybrid materials that have excellent toughness. The image shows a nanofibre ligament bridging a microcrack, resulting in highly toughened hybrid materials.".
• 01GTVE4WV276ASFZ6XCT0X8P5S abstract "People with type 1 diabetes experience challenges in managing blood glucose around exercise. Previous studies have examined glycaemic responses to different exercise modalities but paid little attention to participants' prandial state, although this is an important consideration and will enhance our understanding of the effects of exercise in order to improve blood glucose management around activity. This review summarises available data on the glycaemic effects of postprandial exercise (i.e. exercise within 2 h after a meal) in people with type 1 diabetes. Using a search strategy on electronic databases, literature was screened until November 2022 to identify clinical trials evaluating acute (during exercise), subacute (<= 2 h after exercise) and late (>2 h to <= 24 h after exercise) effects of postprandial exercise in adults with type 1 diabetes. Studies were systematically organised and assessed by exercise modality: (1) walking exercise (WALK); (2) continuous exercise of moderate intensity (CONT MOD); (3) continuous exercise of high intensity (CONT HIGH); and (4) interval training (intermittent high-intensity exercise [IHE] or high-intensity interval training [HIIT]). Primary outcomes were blood glucose change and hypoglycaemia occurrence during and after exercise. All study details and results per outcome were listed in an evidence table. Twenty eligible articles were included: two included WALK sessions, eight included CONT MOD, seven included CONT HIGH, three included IHE and two included HIIT. All exercise modalities caused consistent acute glycaemic declines, with the largest effect size for CONT HIGH and the smallest for HIIT, depending on the duration and intensity of the exercise bout. Pre-exercise mealtime insulin reductions created higher starting blood glucose levels, thereby protecting against hypoglycaemia, in spite of similar declines in blood glucose during activity between the different insulin reduction strategies. Nocturnal hypoglycaemia occurred after higher intensity postprandial exercise, a risk that could be diminished by a post-exercise snack with concomitant bolus insulin reduction. Research on the optimal timing of postprandial exercise is inconclusive. In summary, individuals with type 1 diabetes exercising postprandially should substantially reduce insulin with the pre-exercise meal to avoid exercise-induced hypoglycaemia, with the magnitude of the reduction depending on the exercise duration and intensity. Importantly, pre-exercise blood glucose and timing of exercise should be considered to avoid hyperglycaemia around exercise. To protect against late-onset hypoglycaemia, a post-exercise meal with insulin adjustments might be advisable, especially for exercise in the evening or with a high-intensity component.".
• 01GTVEVQZD7F81ABPK5JB7YWE1 abstract "Even though Dutch has been the official language of government and education in Suriname since 1876 and about 50% of the Surinamese households reports speaking Dutch at home, defining or delineating Surinamese Dutch remains highly problematic. ‘Typical’ Surinamese Dutch lexical, phonetic, morphological and syntactic features have been identified, but it is unclear to what degree these features are used (cf. de Kleine 2013, 855), by whom, how they correlate with social, stylistic and other parameters and whether they are accepted as standard Dutch by the Surinamese. The present study addresses this lacuna by quantitatively analyzing a feature often considered to be typical of Surinamese Dutch: the use of the subordinating conjunction als in dependent yes/no¬-clauses (e.g. Ik weet niet als hij komt, ‘I don’t know whether he's coming’). While in Netherlandic and Belgian Standard Dutch the conjunction of is expected, the conjunction als is said to be typical of Surinamese Dutch. An analysis of the distribution of als in two corpora – a new corpus of spoken Surinamese Dutch and the Surinamese component of the Corpus Hedendaags Nederlands – however indicates that the subordinator of is actually dominant in Suriname: in the written corpus, with mainly texts of linguistic professionals, als is attested in only 7% of 7722 relevant clauses, whereas in the spoken corpus – which contains the speech of 22 highly educated Creole women – its frequency is higher, viz. 44% (n=161). Machine learning based multivariate analyses show that the variation between als and of is mostly individually determined. In the spoken dataset, the individual speaker emerged as overpowering predictor, and interestingly, the interspeaker variation could not be explained in terms of the speakers’ language backgrounds or age. Linguistic variables such as the matrix verb, the polarity of the sentence and the frequency of the matrix verb had little predictive power. In the written dataset, the interauthor variation could not be estimated due to methodological issues, but here too, the studied linguistic variables had hardly any explanatory power. In the discussion, it is argued that the considerable individual variation might be a sign of endoglossic standardization, whereby the conjunction als is establishing itself slowly as part of the Surinamese Dutch standard norm.".
• 01GTVGME3WZTYWKP2Z5JCPEZ0D abstract "Laboratory tools for diagnosing taeniosis/cysticercosis in non-endemic countries are available; however, there is little data on their performance. To provide information on the sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility of these tools, inter-laboratory studies were organized within the EU COST-Action CYSTINET (TD1302). Two serological and one coprological Ring Trials (RTs) were organized to test a panel of human-derived sera and stool samples using assays routinely conducted by the participating laboratories to detect Taenia spp. infections. Four Western blots (WBs) and five ELISAs were used by nine laboratories for cysticercosis diagnosis. In the first serological RT, the overall sensitivity was 67.6% (95% CI, 59.1-75.4), whereas specificity was 97% (95% CI, 89.8-99.6). WBs recorded the best accuracy. A second serological RT was organized, to assess the three tests most frequently used during the first RT. Two out of six laboratories performed all the three tests. The overall sensitivity and specificity were 52.8% (95% CI, 42.8-62.7) and 98.1% (95% CI, 93.2-99.7), respectively. Laboratory performance strongly affected test results. Twelve laboratories participated in the coprological RT using conventional microscopy and six laboratories used molecular assays. Traditional diagnosis by microscopy yielded better results than molecular diagnosis. This may have been influenced by the lack of standardization of molecular tests across participating laboratories.".
• 01GTVGME43QAEV1YRDRNK1ETDJ abstract "Rabies is efficiently controlled through mass vaccination of dogs. In an area of South Africa where free vaccination campaigns were implemented following rabies re-emergence, the required 70% vaccination coverage was challenging to reach. Understanding the factors affecting the efficiency of mass vaccination is helpful in guiding long-term rabies control efforts. This study aimed to assess the communities' knowledge and perceptions of dogs, rabies and the related risk, and control behaviors in a rural rabies-endemic interface area. Combined with informal discussions and participative observations, we organized 18 focus group discussions with men, women, and children - stratified by dog ownership status - in three villages in the Mnisi community in the Mpumalanga Province in north-east South Africa. This community highly valued hunting dogs despite hunting of wildlife being illegal. Although people did not have a clear idea of how dogs acquire rabies, they were aware of the presence of the disease and its zoonotic nature. A dog bite was always associated with rabies risk but was also a source of conflict between dog owners and bite victims, hampering bite health care management. Dog vaccination was perceived as a means to prevent diseases from spreading to humans and other animals, not only to protect dogs from diseases but also to cure disease. Lack of awareness, misinterpretation of health promotion messages, and specific beliefs among adults seemed to hinder participation in rabies vaccination campaigns. Involving and educating staff from clinics and wildlife reserves during vaccination campaigns would tackle rumors, clarify dog bite and dog vaccination procedures, and improve the relationship among stakeholders. Further anthropological studies, focusing on people owning dogs for hunting, may provide a better understanding of rabies transmission patterns and risk factors in this community.".
• 01GTVGME486JRA651RKQ9MQP7W abstract "Certain influenza strains and SARS-CoV-2 gain access to cells by means of the ACE2 receptor. In this database study in the United Kingdom, investigators observed a null-to-protective effect on influenza susceptibility among those taking ACE inhibitors or angiotensin-receptor blockers, possibly owing to mechanisms relevant to infection with coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2.".
• 01GTVJ5RT43AQB7PM2T5KE01FX abstract "Eukaryotic mRNA has long been considered monocistronic, but nowadays, alter-native proteins (AltProts) challenge this tenet. The alternative or ghost proteome has largely been neglected and the involvement of AltProts in biological pro-cesses. Here, we used subcellular fractionation to increase the information about AltProts and facilitate the detection of protein-protein interactions by the identi-fication of crosslinked peptides. In total, 112 unique AltProts were identified, and we were able to identify 220 crosslinks without peptide enrichment. Among these, 16 crosslinks between AltProts and Referenced Proteins (RefProts) were identified. We further focused on specific examples such as the interaction be-tween IP_2292176 (AltFAM227B) and HLA-B, in which this protein could be a po-tential new immunopeptide, and the interactions between HIST1H4F and several AltProts which can play a role in mRNA transcription. Thanks to the study of the interactome and the localization of AltProts, we can reveal more of the impor-tance of the ghost proteome.".
• 01GTVJ8PCTPZQ654S7BPPF6DCZ abstract "Alternative splicing is a key posttranscriptional gene regulatory process, acting in diverse adaptive and basal plant processes. Splicing of precursor-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA) is catalyzed by a dynamic ribonucleoprotein complex, designated the spliceosome. In a suppressor screen, we identified a nonsense mutation in the Smith (Sm) antigen protein SME1 to alleviate photorespiratory H2O2-dependent cell death in catalase deficient plants. Similar attenuation of cell death was observed upon chemical inhibition of the spliceosome, suggesting pre-mRNA splicing inhibition to be responsible for the observed cell death alleviation. Furthermore, the sme1-2 mutants showed increased tolerance to the reactive oxygen species inducing herbicide methyl viologen. Both an mRNA-seq and shotgun proteomic analysis in sme1-2 mutants displayed a constitutive molecular stress response, together with extensive alterations in pre-mRNA splicing of transcripts encoding metabolic enzymes and RNA binding proteins, even under unstressed conditions. Using SME1 as a bait to identify protein interactors, we provide experimental evidence for almost 50 homologs of the mammalian spliceosome-associated protein to reside in the Arabidopsis thaliana spliceosome complexes and propose roles in pre-mRNA splicing for four uncharacterized plant proteins. Furthermore, as for sme1-2, a mutant in the Sm core assembly protein ICLN resulted in a decreased sensitivity to methyl viologen. Taken together, these data show that both a perturbed Sm core composition and assembly results in the activation of a defense response and in enhanced resilience to oxidative stress.".

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