Data Portal @ linkeddatafragments.org

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

• 01GK7MJBYVJDW45QCM01NK44YC abstract "Based on administrative data on unemployed in Belgium, we estimate the labour market effects of three training programmes at various aggregation levels using Modified Causal Forests, a causal machine learning estimator. While all programmes have positive effects after the lock-in period, we find substantial heterogeneity in effectiveness across programmes and unemployed. Simulations show that “black-box” reassignment rules that respect capacity constraints on average, increase, respectively decrease, the time spent in employment, respectively unemployment, by more than one month within 30 months of programme start. A shallow policy tree delivers a simple rule that realizes about 85% of this gain.".
• 01GK8Y8S56KE6DBQXF0J76NFJM abstract "We compute the closure ordinals of hyperarithmetical inductive definitions of sets of integers and of locally hyperarithmetical inductive definitions of sets of integers.".
• 01GK8YBNPKCXKAZVS677850GFR abstract "Given a set A of reals, the indiscernibility spectrum of A is the set of countable ordinals which are simultaneously indiscernible in L[a] for every a(#) is an element of A. Under large-cardinal assumptions, we construct sets of sharps with countable spectrum, and with spectra of every finite cardinality.".
• 01GK8YBVKVMD398D5Y6JAPVTHY abstract "Warm and humid climatic conditions coupled with poor agricultural practices in sub-Saharan Africa favor the contamination of food and feed by Aspergillus flavus and Fusarium verticillioides fungi, which subsequently may produce aflatoxins (AFs) and fumonisins (FBs), respectively. The growth of fungi and the production of mycotoxins are influenced by physical (temperature, pH, water activity, light and aeration), nutritional, and biological factors. This study aimed at optimizing the conditions for the laboratory production of large quantities of AFs and FBs for use in the animal experiments. A. flavus and F. verticillioides strains, previously isolated from maize in Kenya, were used. Levels of AFB1 and total FBs (FB1, FB2, and FB3) in different growth substrates were screened using ELISA methods. Maize kernels inoculated with three different strains of A. flavus simultaneously and incubated at 29 °C for 21 days had the highest AFB1 level of 12,550 ± 3397 μg/kg of substrate. The highest level of total FBs (386,533 ± 153,302 μg/kg of substrate) was detected in cracked maize inoculated with three different strains of F. verticillioides and incubated for 21 days at temperatures of 22–25 °C in a growth chamber fitted with yellow light. These two methods are recommended for the mass production of AFB1 and FBs for animal feeding trials.".
• 01GK8YE1S53CHHN83QD8VQFV6J abstract "It is shown that the determinacy of Gi, games of length w2 is equivalent to the existence of a transitive model of KP + AD + containing R. Here, III-MIio is the axiom asserting that every monotone Hi operator on the real numbers has an inductive fixpoint.".
• 01GK95ECA9EPW3E4T674V87V67 abstract "Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is associated with asthma, particularly of late onset. Current treatment options for CRSwNP have limitations, and there is an unmet need for other safe and effective therapies. Objective: The aim of the THUNDER study was to determine the efficacy and safety of the prostaglandin D-2 receptor 2 (DP2) antagonist fevipiprant in patients with CRSwNP and concomitant asthma, measured by improvement in nasal polyp score (primary end point), nasal congestion score, Sinonasal Outcome Test 22 score, and University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test score. Methods: THUNDER was a phase 3b, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, 16-week study of fevipiprant 150 mg or 450 mg once daily versus placebo. All patients received intranasal mometasone furoate 200 mu g daily. Results: Ninety-eight patients were randomly assigned to fevipiprant 150 mg (n = 32), fevipiprant 450 mg (n = 34), or placebo (n = 32). Mean (SE) change from baseline in nasal polyp score at week 16 was 0.20 (0.224) for fevipiprant 150 mg, -0.10 (0.216) for fevipiprant 450 mg, and 0.14 (0.233) for placebo. Mean treatment difference was 0.05 (95% confidence interval, -0.59, 0.70; adjusted P = .979) for fevipiprant 150 mg versus placebo and -0.25 (95% confidence interval, -0.88, 0.39; adjusted P = .656) for fevipiprant 450 mg versus placebo. There was no meaningful difference in the secondary end points for fevipiprant versus placebo. Conclusions: THUNDER provided no evidence of a role for fevipiprant in the treatment of patients with CRSwNP and asthma; future studies may establish a role for other DP2 antagonists, specifically in patients with aspirin-exacerbated respiratory disease.".
• 01GK96C5RZ6ET1Z14Y14NWG19N abstract "Background: Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) frequently remains uncontrolled despite maximal medical therapy and sinonasal surgery, presenting several unmet needs and challenges. Omalizumab previously demonstrated efficacy in CRSwNP in duplicate phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled trials (POLYP 1, POLYP 2). Objective: This open-label extension evaluated the continued efficacy, safety, and durability of response of omalizumab in adults with CRSwNP who completed POLYP 1 or 2. Methods: After 24 weeks of omalizumab or placebo in POLYP 1 and 2, patients (n = 249) received open-label omalizumab plus background nasal mometasone therapy for 28 weeks and were subsequently followed for 24 weeks after omalizumab discontinuation. Efficacy end points assessed change from baseline for the coprimary end points, Nasal Polyp Score and Nasal Congestion Score, and the secondary end points of Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 22, Total Nasal Symptom Score and its components, and University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test scores. Safety objectives included incidence of adverse events and adverse events leading to omalizumab discontinuation. Results: Patients who continued omalizumab experienced further improvements across coprimary end points and secondary end points through 52 weeks. Patients who switched from placebo to omalizumab experienced favorable responses across end points through week 52 that were similar to POLYP 1 and 2 at week 24. After omalizumab discontinuation, scores gradually worsened over the 24-week follow-up, but remained improved from pretreatment levels for both groups. The safety profile was similar to previous reports. Conclusions: The efficacy and safety profile from this study supports extended omalizumab treatment up to 1 year for CRSwNP with inadequate response to nasal corticosteroids.".
• 01GK970Q4E357N6BDSSB97HJFX abstract "Immunoglobulin E (IgE) is a well-known key factor in allergic airway disease; however, its central role in non-allergic airway inflammation is often underestimated. In some airway diseases, IgE is produced as a result of allergic sensitization. However, in others, IgE production occurs despite the lack of a specific allergen. Although multiple pathways contribute to the production of IgE in airway disease, it is its activity in mediating the inflammatory response that is associated with disease. Therefore, an understanding of IgE as the unifying component of upper and lower airway diseases has important implications for both diagnosis and treatment. Understanding the role of IgE in each upper and lower airway disease highlights its potential utility as a diagnostic marker and therapeutic target. Further classification of these diseases by whether they are IgE mediated or non-IgE mediated, rather than by the existence of an underlying allergic component, accounts for both systemic and localized IgE activity. Improvements in diagnostic methodologies and standardization of clinical practices with this classification in mind can help identify patients with IgE-mediated diseases. In doing so, this group of patients can receive optimal care through targeted anti-IgE therapeutics, which have already demonstrated efficacy across numerous IgE-mediated upper and lower airway diseases.".
• 01GK97KB7VKM5WR1M6WQ12KPND abstract "The discourse surrounding the Anthropocene is rich in references to literary genres, tropes and plotlines. In this article, we examine the way in which these references surface in the interviews with leading Anthropocene Working Group scientists featured in Steve Bradshaw’s 2015 documentary Anthropocene. Thinking about the Anthropocene as a “tragedy” or a “fable” (to name two genres mentioned by the interviewees) is more than a rhetorical device: these literary templates enable scientists to conceptualise the Anthropocene, determine its ethical relevance, and create an affective trajectory. Put otherwise, the literary form of the Anthropocene matters. Our article discusses the limitations of tragedy and fable, with regard to human agency and environmental futures. We turn to contemporary experimentation with narrative, concluding that experimental practices are better suited than established genres to represent the complexity of the Anthropocene, and that science communication would benefit from closer engagement with creative uses of storytelling.".
• 01GK99ET2KK1JPNY8E276MG0ND abstract "Purpose Organizations implement corporate social responsibility (CSR) to act, or present themselves as, sustainable. Yet, CSR efforts by organizations can be negatively received by stakeholders. The increased skepticism by stakeholders toward organizations' CSR programs has led to a growing interest in the influence of CSR authenticity. The purpose of this study is to provide valuable insights into the complex role CSR authenticity plays in stimulating desirable employee attitudes and behaviors. Design/methodology/approach A sample of 482 employees working in the Belgian banking sector allows the authors to test this study’s theoretical model using structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings Empirical findings demonstrate that CSR authenticity positively relates to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Extending this notion, we find evidence for organizational identification to mediate the relationship between CSR authenticity and OCB. Further, this study highlights that organizational justice mediates the relationship between CSR authenticity and organizational identification. Finally, the importance of ethical leadership is underlined as a boundary condition to the relationship between CSR authenticity and OCB. Practical implications For managers, this study provides insights into the importance of CSR authenticity in fostering positive employee outcomes. It offers guidance on how to incorporate CSR authentically, addressing the importance of the organization's core values and supervisors' alignment with these values. Originality/value This study distinguishes itself from existing micro-level research, which mainly focuses on employees' evaluation of the organization's attention to CSR, by investigating the outcomes of employees' perceptions of CSR authenticity. Previous research shows that perceptions of CSR authenticity produce positive outcomes among consumers, but that, so far, we know very little about which specific perceptions or behaviors it might elicit among employees. Furthermore, this study provides evidence for interlinkage between leadership, CSR and beneficial outcomes such as OCB, through the integration of ethical leadership behaviors.".
• 01GK9C7ZH4D2H82WY2B0BA9VSJ abstract "The book Behind the Green Door is a richly illustrated critical portrait of the concrete consequences and paradoxes of sustainability as a dominating paradigm within architecture and urban planning. Drawing on a one-year long investigation carried out for the Oslo Architecture Triennale, Rotor presents and contextualizes the 600 objects gathered for its main exhibition (building models, samples, specialized construction tools, campaign posters, footage of lobbyist gatherings, etc.). As a secondary layer of content, the book contains 300 short comments by prominent architects, critics and scholars from around the world. The publication is presented in an accessible, visually compelling and thought-provoking manner, and will interest engaged citizens, experts, practitioners, activists and politicians alike. "In popular consciousness there are two main camps in the sustainability debate: the moralists who want us to forsake all pleasures, and the cynics who want to earn money on quick-fix technological solutions. In Behind the Green Door, Rotor present a third position in the form of an undogmatic inquiry, open to all the paradoxes and dilemmas of the contemporary crisis." - Mari Hvattum, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Norway "Both as an exhibition and as a publication Behind The Green Door manages to pinpoint the contradictions and dilemmas contained within the contemporary understanding of ‘sustainability’. It provides a most appropriate reference for those of us interested in the continuous evolution of this term." - Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, founding partner, Snøhetta, Oslo, Norway".
• 01GK9CTSM83M5AC2CEG0HSZ6Q4 abstract "Saussure’s observations on 'synonymie' in "De la double essence du langage" (Saussure 2011) cast an interesting light on his general account of linguistic meaning. Synonymie covers three distinct concepts for Saussure: 1) semantic similarity of words in a particular language, based on the contrasts between (and mutual demarcation of) meanings in the lexicon, 2) semantic identity of different words in a particular language, by definition impossible in natural language, and 3) multifunctionality of a word in a particular language, to be understood in terms of a hierarchical relationship between a word’s encoded language-particular meaning and its instances of use (including figurative uses). As well as tracing the connections between these three concepts, this article calls attention to the internal consistency of Saussure’s explanations and underscores their importance for a coherent and unified approach to the linguistic sign in accordance with Saussure’s basic theoretical assumptions.".
• 01GK9D3SAAJ9WG2SFQBR8FV56V abstract "In deze bijdrage wordt beargumenteerd dat endogene zelf-legitimering bepaalde kerneigenschappen van ‘de politiecultuur’ oproept, hetzij versterkt, of in stand houdt. Zelf-legitimiteit handelt over de mate waarin machthebbers overtuigd zijn van de morele rechtvaardigheid van hun macht. De endogene aard stelt dat zelf-legitimeringsprocessen verlopen via identificatie met de professionele identiteit en met de politieorganisatie, en benadrukt dat zelf-legitimiteit wordt bewerkstelligd doordat machthebbers zichzelf unieke karakteristieken toeschrijven en bekrachtiging daarvan opzoeken bij een binnencirkel van gelijkaardige machthebbers. Daarmee wordt tegenkracht gegeven aan de dominante exogene of dialogische visie op zelf-legitimering. Vanuit de opgemaakte analyse worden suggesties aangereikt over hoe politiecultuur beïnvloed kan worden.".
• 01GK9FCAM9E111NWKS6WWC0F9B abstract "Social workers must often decide about priority at a case level, in a context of scarce resources. These decisions are disputable and controversial, which raises the question on what grounds are they made in practice. This article addresses that question through an empirical study of real-life case discussions in youth care in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Toulmin's argumentation model is used to analyse the data. The study finds that most case discussions are processed in a rather technical manner. But where there is active deliberation, key incidents show that the decision-makers undertake active and personal interpretation of the situation at hand, and that they also take a personal stance on the criteria for assigning priority. In other words, their practice can be understood as a hermeneutical activity. The article's main conclusion is that the prioritisation process illustrates the moral-political core that is present in any social work decision-making practice. As this moral-political core seems to be hidden most of the time behind a technical-rational approach, questions remain whether the professionals involved are aware that it characterises their own judgements and whether insights into its nature are stimulated.".
• 01GK9FKXBNWMSHNVJF3XXGNNSB abstract "Primaire preventie van cardiovasculaire ziekten (CVZ) is mogelijk en nodig. De keuze van de meest optimale strategie om dit te realiseren hangt af van het totale risico op CVZ van een gegeven individu. Om dit in te schatten, maakt men het best gebruik van een geschikt risicomodel. Tot op heden werd in België het SCORE-België-risicomodel aanbevolen. Recent is er een nieuw model ontwikkeld (SCORE 2) dat heel wat voordelen biedt. Voor België raadt men het SCORE 2-laagrisicomodel aan. Het gebruik ervan is eenvoudig en laat toe om de ogenschijnlijk gezonde volwassen populatie in te delen in subgroepen met een laag tot matig verhoogd, verhoogd en sterk verhoogd cardiovasculair (CV) risico waaraan navenant de preventiestrategie kan worden aangepast. Een rekalibratie van het SCORE 2-laagrisicomodel lijkt voor België niet nodig, maar algemeen kan men stellen dat dit model het totale CV-risico in dit land ietwat onderschat, hetgeen volledig in overeenstemming is met de plaats van België binnen de landen die aanzien worden als een laag CV-risico.".
• 01GK9JMJF23PMN5HXG8SZYD1C4 abstract "This article presents the advances made for the construction of the ‘Annotated and Parsed Audible Corpus of Spoken Rural Spanish’. The methodology for building a treebank to evaluate the accuracy of state-of-the-art part of speech taggers: spaCy, Stanza and UDPipe is presented. It is shown that, when oral data is tagged the accuracy is 0.90-0.93; none of the regional varieties presents a significant difference in accuracy over the others. Regarding the grammatical categories, interjections, proper nouns, adjectives, and auxiliaries have the lowest F value. Finally, some examples of the polyfunctionality of some grammatical categories and the fuzzy boundaries between them are discussed, like the passive participle, and the ambiguity between adverbs and subordinate conjunctions that might affect accuracy.".
• 01GK9KS8ZVBPJEMK4GYXTKKB3S abstract "The notion of circularity is more and more present in the debates about sustainable buildings. Reusing construction elements is often considered as a good strategy to achieve an important decrease in the environmental impact of construction industry. However, a lot of challenges need to be overcome in order to implement reused elements in ambitious architectural projects: cultural, economical and social ones. The book examines these questions and how they could be answered. It develops an historical perspective on reuse practices, gives an insight on current trends and examines future perspectives.".
• 01GK9M5KMECZ9T8SYB5ZEXNC0V abstract "Because of the increasing challenges the global food system is facing on a social, economic and environmental level, and the need to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030, agri-food systems are in-creasingly required to become more sustainable. Life cycle tools, such as a life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle cost analysis (LCC) to evaluate the environmental and economic performance respectively, play an important role in sustainability research. Contrary to LCA, the LCC methodology is not standardized for agri-food products. This study aims to obtain insights into the use of LCC in the agri-food sector using a systematic review approach. Data related to the methodology and findings of life cycle cost analyses of agri-food products were extracted from 92 articles, cov-ering a wide range of products (crops: 59, food/drinks: 22, other: 11) and purposes. Currently, there is no consensus about LCC type definitions and the definition of different types of system boundaries amongst researchers. Further-more, these and other methodological choices are often not reported in the analyzed studies. The data collection itself can also differ across studies, especially with regards to the inclusion of different cost categories. It is important to in-clude each cost category since all categories have been identified as a costs hotspot in our list of studies (inputs: 84 %, labor: 62 %, machinery: 27 %, other: 39 %). Standardizing the LCC methodology is recommended to ensure compara-bility and enhance the scientific impact of studies. Integrating LCC results with findings from other life cycle tools, as done in 29 studies, can further support decision-making. The most common methods for integrating results are eco-efficiency analysis and multi-criteria decision analysis methods. In conclusion, it is clear that LCC is a very valuable tool, as a method on its own or complemented by other life cycle tools.".
• 01GK9NK8AG9MF868RBX5CV9VM7 abstract "This study surveyed 669 plant scientists globally to elicit how (which outcomes of gene editing), where (which continent) and what (which crops) are most likely to benefit from CRISPR research and if there is a consensus about specific barriers to commercial adoption in agriculture. Further, we disaggregated public and private plant scientists to see if there was heterogeneity in their views of the future of CRISPR research. Our findings suggest that maize and soybeans are anticipated to benefit the most from CRISPR technology with fungus and virus resistance the most common vehicle for its implementation. Across the board, plant scientists viewed consumer perception/knowledge gap to be the most impeding barrier of CRISPR adoption. Although CRISPR has been hailed as a technology that can help alleviate food insecurity and improve agricultural sustainability, our study has shown that plant scientists believe there are some large concerns about the consumer perceptions of CRISPR.".
• 01GK9PJYRM4GXDYSM2B7NYM1ST abstract "The Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI), initiated in 2014, is a long-term research programme that aims to develop a comprehensive overview of the language situation in Iran, with attention to the distribution of language varieties, their structural characteristics, and relationships among the varieties. The Atlas deals with all languages of Iran, and since Turkic-speaking communities are found in most provinces, the Turkic language family features prominently. In this article, we look at three important issues relating to Turkic in the Atlas, in the order that they have been initiated in the research process. First, we present the ongoing classification of Turkic languages in Iran as a scientific frame, serving as both foundation and key goal of the research. Second, we describe our initial approach to Turkic language communities through a systematic inquiry into language distribution and the collection of local place names. Third, we provide an inventory of Turkic linguistic questionnaire data collected and analyzed up to now, along with an overview of results. The paper concludes with reflections on progress, challenges, and future directions in the documentation of Iran's Turkic languages in the context of the ALI programme.".
• 01GK9Q020Z52WSD4DAC7Q1AXS5 abstract "Most studies on language contact in Iran have focused on the effects of Persian on the country's minority languages. There are also many cases where large regional languages such as Azeri, Kurdish, Balochi, Lori and Bakhtiari exert an influence on smaller regional languages, and a few studies have appeared on this topic. This paper examines the effects of language contact in the city of Juneqan in Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province, Iran, where the position of two minority languages-Bakhtiari and Qashqai Turkic-appears to be evenly balanced. The analysis is based on a comparison of L1 and L2 speech from two bilingual individuals with a different L1, as found in responses to theAtlas of the Languages of Iran(ALI) questionnaire. Drawing on examples from lexicon, phonology and morphosyntax, the article argues that the equivalent influence of each language on the first- and second-language speech of members of the other language community is likely achieved not by simple equal status, but through the counterbalancing of regional Bakhtiari dominance with majority mother-tongue Turkic population in this city.".
• 01GK9QF2EPRYRR6APJHBJ8WTDB abstract "This paper investigates effects of language contact on a previously undocumented variety of Turkic (Southern West Oghuz) spoken by sedentarized nomads in the city of Boldaji, Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari Province, south-west Iran. Located in an area of high linguistic diversity including the Iranic language Bakhtiari and the Charmahali variety of Persian, Boldaji Turkic exhibits numerous contact-induced features. Here, drawing on data collected using the Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI) questionnaire, we focus on variation in five primarily morphosyntactic features, several of which have not figured prominently in the literature on contact-induced change in Turkic: (i) restructuring of vowel harmony; (ii) the postposed emphatic definiteness marker jogaz; (iii) an additional oblique pronominal stem based on bela- + possessive suffix; (iv) `can/be able' expressions; and (v) a reduplicated progressive verbal form. In line with well-established criteria from contact linguistics, we assess the probability of contact-induced change for these five features by considering differences with other West Oghuz languages outside the area, namely Turkish and Azeri, to rule out an internal explanation. Unlike previous studies, which use standard-type Persian as the contact language, we show the importance of considering model structures in geographically contiguous languages, with a focus on Bakhtiari and the local Persian variety, to account for areal convergence. Finally, we consider the plausibility of various contact-based explanations in the light of our knowledge of related Turkic varieties in the area. Our data bring into question the common view that contact-induced change is preferentially associated with simplification; rather, we find a mix of structural changes involving both loss and gain of morphological matter, and patterns.".
• 01GKA0G3WDMB3AH5KTC204PH02 abstract "Motivated by the need for higher torque density actuators in novel (quasi-)direct-drive robotics applications, a Yokeless and Segmented Armature Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Synchronous machine with anodised aluminium foil conductors instead of enamelled copper wire is considered in this work. Based on a requirements analysis of (quasi-)direct-drive actuators, a prototype axial flux machine is designed. Several design aspects are discussed keeping the application requirements in mind. It could be concluded that the combination of the machine topology and conductor material results in a high fill factor and excellent thermal properties, making it particularly promising for high torque density, low speed applications. A prototype was manufactured to demonstrate the feasibility of the design. The interconnection of aluminium foil to copper wire appeared to be challenging, two interconnection methods were tested and compared qualitatively.".
• 01GKACF8375TQ4HGE4FEXPC3XV abstract "Heritable thoracic aortic diseases (HTAD) are rare pathologies associated with thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissection, which can be syndromic or non-syndromic. They may result from genetic defects. Associated genes identified to date are classified into those encoding components of the (a) extracellular matrix (b) TGF beta pathway and (c) smooth muscle contractile mechanism. Timely diagnosis allows for prompt aortic surveillance and prophylactic surgery, hence improving life expectancy and reducing maternal complications as well as providing reassurance to family members when a diagnosis is ruled out. This document is an expert opinion reflecting strategies put forward by medical experts and patient representatives involved in the HTAD Rare Disease Working Group of VASCERN. It aims to provide a patient pathway that improves patient care by diminishing time to diagnosis, facilitating the establishment of a correct diagnosis using molecular genetics when possible, excluding the diagnosis in unaffected persons through appropriate family screening and avoiding overuse of resources. It is being recommended that patients are referred to an expert centre for further evaluation if they meet at least one of the following criteria: (1) thoracic aortic dissection (<70 years if hypertensive; all ages if non-hypertensive), (2) thoracic aortic aneurysm (all adults with Z score >3.5 or 2.5-3.5 if non-hypertensive or hypertensive and <60 years; all children with Z score >3), (3) family history of HTAD with/without a pathogenic variant in a gene linked to HTAD, (4) ectopia lentis without other obvious explanation and (5) a systemic score of >5 in adults and >3 in children. Aortic imaging primarily relies on transthoracic echocardiography with mag-netic resonance imaging or computed tomography as needed. Genetic testing should be considered in those with a high suspicion of underlying genetic aortopathy. Though panels vary among centers, for patients with thoracic aortic aneurysm or dissection or systemic features these should include genes with a definitive or strong asso-ciation to HTAD. Genetic cascade screening and serial aortic imaging should be considered for family screening and follow-up. In conclusion, the implementation of these strategies should help standardise the diagnostic work -up and follow-up of patients with suspected HTAD and the screening of their relatives.".
• 01GKBBSMF4FEE7YWDVD3SZP4GP abstract "This paper presents the application of a new Shrimp and Goby Association Search algorithm (SGA) to solve large-scale global optimization problems. The performance of SGA is assessed using 13 benchmark high-dimensional functions, 10 classical benchmark functions, and several real-world engineering applications. For the first time, an efficient optimization approach for structural health monitoring (SHM) in truss-like structures is presented. The proposed approach is applied for damage identification of complex structures. A real structure, namely Canton Tower in Guangzhou, China, is served as an example for damage detection. Interestingly, this tower was the tallest structure in the world in 2009 with a height of 610 m. The great merit of this example is that it provides a real complex structure with a high-dimensional problem to assess the performance of SGA in the real world. The results show that SGA can deal with this problem effectively, at the same time, it operates better to escape from local optima with faster convergence rate than population-based algorithms.".
• 01GKBPB97S3HH4FZVFPWMMY0C5 abstract "This study examines whether Dutch L1 listeners adapt to Italian accented Dutch vowels, and how short-term experience with one L2 speaker’s accent might help these listeners to understand novel words and other L2 speakers with a similar accent. 100 Belgian Dutch L1 listeners were exposed to 40 Dutch target words, in which the front vowel had been replaced by an ambiguous sound in between /ɪ/ and /i/. These stimuli were produced by a female Italian speaker of Dutch. To assess perceptual adaptation and generalization, participants were asked to identify the vowel in five Dutch /ɪ/-/i/ minimal pairs across two speaker conditions: stimuli were either produced by the same female speaker or by a digitally generated male-sounding speaker. For neither speaker did we find perceptual adaptation, hence no generalization to novel situations could be observed. The results highlight the importance of stimulus selection and the need for a detailed background questionnaire for listeners, including information on their familiarity with L2 accents.".
• 01GKC43E7VNN6RZJSRFVXPK9MZ abstract "Complex cognition requires binding together of stimulus, action, and other features, across different time scales. Several implementations of such binding have been proposed in the literature, most prominently synaptic binding (learning) and synchronization. Biologically plausible accounts of how these different types of binding interact in the human brain are still lacking. To this end, we adopt a computational approach to investigate the impact of learning and synchronization on both behavioral (reaction time, error rate) and neural (θ power) measures. We train four models varying in their ability to learn and synchronize for an extended period of time on three seminal action control paradigms varying in difficulty. Learning, but not synchronization, proved essential for behavioral improvement. Synchronization however boosts performance of difficult tasks, avoiding the computational pitfalls of catastrophic interference. At the neural level, θ power decreases with practice but increases with task difficulty. Our simulation results bring new insights in how different types of binding interact in different types of tasks, and how this is translated in both behavioral and neural metrics.".
• 01GKC4MJDN745580JQHJJ5ANH1 abstract "Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by uncontrollable repetitive actions thought to rely on abnormalities within fundamental instrumental learning systems. We investigated cognitive and computational mechanisms underlying Pavlovian biases on instrumental behavior in both clinical OCD patients and healthy controls using a Pavlovian-Instrumental Transfer (PIT) task. PIT is typically evidenced by increased responding in the presence of a positive (previously rewarded) Pavlovian cue, and reduced responding in the presence of a negative cue. Thirty OCD patients and thirty-one healthy controls completed the Pavlovian Instrumental Transfer test, which included instrumental training, Pavlovian training for positive, negative and neutral cues, and a PIT phase in which participants performed the instrumental task in the presence of the Pavlovian cues. Modified Rescorla-Wagner models were fitted to trial-by-trial data of participants to estimate underlying computational mechanism and quantify individual differences during training and transfer stages. Bayesian hierarchical methods were used to estimate free parameters and compare the models. Behavioral and computational results indicated a weaker Pavlovian influence on instrumental behavior in OCD patients than in HC, especially for negative Pavlovian cues. Our results contrast with the increased PIT effects reported for another set of disorders characterized by compulsivity, substance use disorders, in which PIT is enhanced. A possible reason for the reduced PIT in OCD may be impairment in using the contextual information provided by the cues to appropriately adjust behavior, especially when inhibiting responding when a negative cue is present. This study provides deeper insight into our understanding of deficits in OCD from the perspective of Pavlovian influences on instrumental behavior and may have implications for OCD treatment modalities focused on reducing compulsive behaviors.".
• 01GKCEMZAK8H4P4WNWCRPC9ERT abstract "In the present study, alginate-pectin (Al–P) hydrogel particles containing varied total gum concentrations (TGC) at a constant Al:P ratio of 80:20 were formed utilizing an innovative extrusion-based 3D food printing (3DFOODP) approach. The 3DFOODP conditions, namely, TGC (1.8, 2.0, and 2.2 wt%) and nozzle size (0.108, 0.159, and 0.210 mm) were investigated. The 3DFOODP approach was compared with the conventional bead formation method via a peristaltic pump. All Al–P printing inks exhibited a shear-thinning behavior. The increased apparent viscosity, loss and storage moduli were associated with the increase in the TGC. The size of the wet 3D-printed Al–P hydrogel particles ranged between 1.27 and 1.59 mm, which was smaller than that produced using the conventional method (1.44–1.79 mm). Freeze-dried Al–P particles showed a porous structure with reduced crystallinity. No chemical interaction was observed between alginate and pectin. This is the first report on generating Al–P-based beads using a 3DFOODP technique that can create delivery systems with high precision and flexibility.".
• 01GKEWTQJ0QT2AW4Y9KCANQZ3F abstract "This article presents an attempt to reconstruct the interiors of the triennial salons in Brussels, based on various archival sources, visual material and contemporary reviews. These triennial salons, which were organised alternately in Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent, were important and well-attended events aimed at promoting contemporary art and cultural life in Belgium. The Brussels salon did not have its own exhibition space and was thus organised in different locations during the nineteenth century: on various occasions this included a temporary building constructed specially for the exhibition. The most important requirements for the location were sufficient space and adequate natural light. The furnishing and decoration of the salon were kept quite sober as the artworks themselves were the main decoration. Yet attention was also paid to the overall design: the colours used for the walls, the route, the furniture and the decor. There are also clear similarities between the design of the Brussels salon and that of exhibitions abroad, especially with regard to the colours used for the walls. The triennial salon in Brussels continued tobe organised into the early twentieth century and hardly changed in its design.".
• 01GKEYHJMW5HVEH593QG3C7JZN abstract "Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are an emerging class of porous organic polymers that have been utilized as scaffolds for anchoring metal active species to act as heterogeneous catalysts. Though several examples of such COFs exist, a thorough experimental and computational analysis on such catalysts is limited. In this work, a series of two-dimensional (2D) imine COFs (TTA-DFB COF (N), TTA-TBD COF (N perpendicular to O), and TTA-DFP COF(N perpendicular to N)) were synthesized by using suitable building units to obtain three different coordination sites (N, N perpendicular to O, and N perpendicular to N). These were post-modified with Pd(II) to catalyze the Suzuki-Miyaura coupling reaction. Pd@TTA-DFB COF, where Pd(II) was coordinated to N sites, showed the fastest reactivity and lower stability. Pd@TTA-DFP COF showed highest stability but slowest reactivity. Pd@TTA-TBD COF was the best among the three with both high stability and fast reactivity. By combining both experimental and computational results, we conclude that the Pd(II) to Pd(0) reduction is a key step in the difference between the catalytic reactivities of the three COFs. This study demonstrates the importance of the building block approach to design COFs for efficient heterogeneous catalysis and to understand the fate of the reaction profile.".
• 01GKF7CK54J080ZWAA8TZ6AYAS abstract "“Word sense awareness” is a feature which is not yet implemented in most corpus query tools, Intelligent Computer-Assisted Language Learning (ICALL) environments or computer-readable didactic resources such as graded word lists (Alfter and Graën, 2019; Pilán et al., 2016; Tack et al., 2018). The present paper aims to contribute to filling this lacuna by presenting a word sense disambiguation (WSD) method for ICALL purposes. The method, which is targeted at Spanish as a foreign language (SFL), takes a few prototypical example sentences as input, converts these sentences into “sense vectors”, and integrates part of the training data collection process into interactive vocabulary exercises. The evaluation of the method is based on a selection of 50 ambiguous items related to the domain of economics and compares different types of input data. With a top weighted F1 score of 0.8836, the present study shows that the currently available NLP tools, resources and methods provide all the necessary building blocks for developing a WSD method which can be integrated into interactive ICALL environments.".
• 01GKFEEBY5DYGVHJFQBJWG7CWM abstract "BackgroundThe present study aims to investigate one of the major causes of traffic accidents: drivers' unsafe behaviors while driving. MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, the behaviors of 946 drivers at traffic lights were observed in the morning, at noon, and in the evening using direct in-field observation. The unsafe behaviors of the drivers included not fastening the seat belt, using a cellphone or handsfree device, smoking, being distracted by a child, talking with passengers, not observing the stop line, eating and drinking, and getting out of the car, letting out a passenger, or arguing with a passenger at the traffic light. ResultsOf the drivers at the traffic light, 60% did not obey the stop line, and 72% did not fasten their seat belt. Also, 13.6% used their cellphones, and 22% talked with passengers. The frequency of the other unsafe behaviors was <3%. For wearing seat belts, drivers aged 41-50 years wore seat belts almost five times more than drivers under 25 years of age (4.94 [2.36-10.320]; p < 0.001), and drivers aged 50 years and older were almost three times likelier to wear seat belts than drivers under 25 years of age (2.8 [1.31-6.08]; p < 0.001). The results showed that the drivers were significantly likelier to wear seat belts on Saturdays (after the weekend) (0.56 [0.40-0.78]; p = 0.001). Regarding using mobile phones while driving, women were twice as likely to use mobile phones as men (2.20 [1.30-3.72]; p < 0.001). Drivers aged 26-40 years used mobile phones significantly less than drivers under 25 years of age (0.24 [0.14-0.43]; p < 0.001) and drivers aged 41-50 years were significantly less likely to use mobile phones than drivers under 25 years of age (0.19 [1.31-6.08]; p < 0.001). ConclusionThe results showed that the occurrence of wearing a seat belt in Shahin Dej was low. We observed a significant association between wearing a seat belt, age, whether it was Saturday (a day after weekend for Iranians). Additionally, similar associations were observed between using mobile phones and gender, age, and day of the week.".
• 01GKGMTWHAA7SQFZX1FQ555GC7 abstract "Background/Aims Nursing home residents are at higher risk of developing pressure ulcers as a result of comorbidities, changes in skin texture and function, incontinence, and limited mobility, such as residents who are mostly bedbound. The aim of this study was to evaluate the introduction and use of a static air-foam hybrid mattress based on the experiences of nurses and to assess the incidence of pressure ulcers in a nursing home population at risk for developing pressure ulcers over a 14-day period. Methods A multicentre clinical trial, followed by focus group interviews with nurses, was conducted between August and October 2020 to evaluate the implementation and use of a static air-foam hybrid mattress. Residents (n=29) at risk of developing pressure ulcers were placed on the mattress for 14 days. Skin and risk assessments were performed daily. At the end of the study, nurses (n=9) were invited to participate in focus group interviews to share their experiences. Results During the study period, none of the residents developed stage 2–4 pressure ulcers. Based on nurses' experiences with the mattress, five themes were identified: design and guidance, pump use, mobility and positioning, mattress appearance and clinical opinion. Results indicated that the mattress provided a clinically effective support surface in the prevention of pressure ulcers and was easy to use. Conclusions A static air-foam hybrid mattress provides a clinically effective support surface in the prevention of pressure ulcers. Nurses preferred the mattress to an alternating pressure mattress and a static air mattress overlay.".
• 01GKGPKQ0S6KW8WSE0MKTJBH13 abstract "Before magnetic tape recording was common, acetate discs were the main audio storage medium for radio broadcasters. Acetate discs only had a capacity to record about ten minutes. Longer material was recorded on overlapping discs using (at least) two recorders. Unfortunately, the recorders used were not reliable in terms of recording speed, resulting in audio of variable speed. To make digitized audio originating from acetate discs fit for reuse, (1) overlapping parts need to be identified, (2) a precise alignment needs to be found and (3) a mixing point suggested. All three steps are challenging due to the audio speed variabilities. This paper introduces the ideas behind DiscStitch: which aims to reassemble audio from overlapping parts, even if variable speed is present. The main contribution is a fast and precise audio alignment strategy based on spectral peaks. The method is evaluated on a synthetic data set.".
• 01GKGQHMASF17G84KAHGVWT3XQ abstract "Identity is often used in political discourse to develop a frame of who’s in and who’s out in our contemporary, super diverse society. Within this context of super diversity, adolescents are developing a sense of who they are as well as of how they belong and relate to others around them (Verkuyten et al., 2019). This dissertation aimed to address specific gaps identified in the current literature on ethnic identity. First, ethnicity was approached as an umbrella term that could be used as a steppingstone to study the multiple ethnic identities of adolescents with or without a migration background (i.e. their national, regional, religious and heritage identities). A broad, inclusive definition of ethnicity enabled us to grasp the added value of the multiplicity and multidimensionality of individuals’ ethnic identity. Second, by combining insights from different disciplines (i.e. political theory, social psychology, anthropology and sociology of education), this dissertation employed a socio-ecological approach towards identity, diversity and intergroup relations. Third, this dissertation illustrated the importance of also considering intranational contexts (e.g. regions in a federal state) as an alternative to the nation state as a common unit of analysis. This thesis was guided by one overarching research question: How does the Belgian regional and educational context relate to the ethnic identities of adolescents and their academic, psychological and intercultural functioning? In general terms, we found that adolescents incorporate the distinction between nation and region into their multiple identifications. The distinction between the regional and the national identification seemed particularly relevant for adolescents of Turkish and Moroccan origin (see Empirical Chapter 2). The differences between the Belgian regions became also clear when we focused on students’ hierarchical thinking about identification and intergroup relations. More specifically, the Francophone context appears to be a macro context that is more hierarchically attenuating than hierarchically enhancing when compared to the Flemish context (see Empirical Chapters 4 and 5). Those two macro contexts are however not determinative because schools have the freedom to formulate their own policy. In short, we observed that schools with a culturally sensitive environment via policy and teaching have also student populations with positive ingroup identities as well as positive outgroup attitudes (see Empirical Chapters 4 and 5). Furthermore, we focused on the role of peer victimisation and identity in relation to students’ perception of peer norms (see Empirical Chapter 3) and depressive feelings (see Empirical Chapter 2). These studies illustrate that adolescents’ ethnic group or integrated identity can serve as a promotive factor.".
• 01GKGQWDWNNVYGM17Q4MVV1ZSB abstract "Net ecosystem exchange (NEE) is an important indicator of carbon cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. Many previous studies have combined flux observations and meteorological, biophysical, and ancillary predictors using machine learning to simulate the site-scale NEE. However, systematic evaluation of the performance of such models is limited. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis of these NEE simulations. A total of 40 such studies and 178 model records were included. The impacts of various features throughout the modeling process on the accuracy of the model were evaluated. Random forests and support vector machines performed better than other algorithms. Models with larger timescales have lower average R-2 values, especially when the timescale exceeds the monthly scale. Half-hourly models (average R-2 = 0.73) were significantly more accurate than daily models (average R-2 = 0.5). There are significant differences in the predictors used and their impacts on model accuracy for different plant functional types (PFTs). Studies at continental and global scales (average R-2 = 0.37) with multiple PFTs, more sites, and a large span of years correspond to lower R 2 values than studies at local (average R-2 = 0.69) and regional (average R-2 = 0.7) scales. Also, the site-scale NEE predictions need more focus on the internal heterogeneity of the NEE dataset and the matching of the training set and validation set.".
• 01GKGR9EGW8BZDEQKMT94XYCE5 abstract "Cultural heritage institutions maintain digital artefacts of their collections using Collection Management Software (CMS). In order to attract new audiences, these data should be interoperable with and reusable within other Web APIs. In this article, we explain how we applied Flemish Linked Data Standards (OSLO) to make the data within the Axiell Collections CMS interoperable, and how we applied the method of Linked Data Event Streams (LDES) for making the data reusable. The LDES has been successfully adopted by third parties to then host subject pages, a SPARQL endpoint, a substring fragmentation for autocompletion purposes, and a IIIF enriched LDES. To this end, we see LDES as the core Web API of a CMS, allowing third parties to take up other querying and processing tasks on their own machines.".
• 01GKGR9TZJ76SK8HD9CG6J2MGH abstract "Urban parks are important public places that provide an opportunity for city dwellers to interact with nature. In recent years, social media data have become a promising data source for the assessment of cultural ecosystem services (CES) and landscape features in urban parks. However, it is a challenging task to identify and classify the CES and landscape features from social media photos by manual content analysis. In addition, relatively few studies focused on the differences in landscape preferences between tourists and locals in urban parks. In this study, we used geotagged social media photos from Flickr and computer vision methods (scene recognition, image clustering and image labeling) based on the convolutional neural networks (CNN) and the Google Cloud Vision platform to assess the spatial preferences and landscape preferences (cultural ecosystem services and landscape features) of tourists and locals in the urban parks of Brussels. The spatial analysis results showed that the tourists' photos were spatially concentrated on well-known parks located in the city center while the locals' photos were rather spatially dispersed across all parks of the city. We identified 10 main landscape themes (corresponding to 4 CES categories and 10 landscape feature categories) from 20 image clusters by automated image analysis on social media photos. We also noticed that tourists paid more attention to the place identity featured by symbolic sculptures and buildings, while locals showed more interest in local species of plants, flowers, insects, birds, and animals. This research contributes to social media-based user preferences analysis and CES assessment, which could provide insights for urban park planning and tourism management.".
• 01GKGRJJ8HSPCX3BZT5AP56FJ2 abstract "The discharge of wastewater and waste rock in mining production activities is a significant hidden cause of soil heavy metal pollution. The accumulation of heavy metals in soil occurs through a variety of processes, and exposure to these metals can permanently damage the human body. Due to multiple factors, such as the for-mation causes, sources, and distribution trends of heavy metals in mineral resources, reasonably applying different machine learning methods to monitor and evaluate heavy metal pollution remains challenging. In this paper, we choose the copper mining area in the southern Altai Mountains of China as the study area, and 19 different types of spatial data are uniformly managed in a distributed database to improve monitoring efficiency. Furthermore, we propose a heavy metal pollution evaluation framework based on a stacked long short-term memory (LSTM) model, which considers spatial data correlations and extracts spatial clustering features. In-formation is screened through state updating in the framework, the short-term memory features of long se-quences are extracted, and an effective prediction model is established. The results show that 26 of the 31 mining occurrences in the study area are in moderate-and high-pollution-risk grids, suggesting that the spatial distri-bution of copper mines is consistent with the predicted spatial distribution of pollution risk. Overall, these results show that using the optimized stacked LSTM model to integrate multisource geological features and mine the internal rules of feature information has a positive effect on improving the risk assessment of heavy metal pollution.".
• 01GKGRXRNPJTXVCP2B09JG112G abstract "The recession of the South Aral Sea over the last few decades has become a great environmental challenge in Central Asia. Due to declining inflow and irrigation exhaustion, the Amu Darya River vanishes before reaching the South Aral Sea. Therefore, groundwater (GW) has become the vital water source for the South Aral Sea surface water and the local ecosystem. To develop feasible adaptation strategies for water resource management, it is necessary to quantify the GW flux into the South Aral Sea under ongoing climate change. Based on numerical models (MODFLOW and SWAT) and with the support of observed data, remote sensing data, reanalysis data, and the output of Global Circulation Models (GCMs) of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), the hydraulic connection between a shallow aquifer and the lake was investigated and projected for future change. The GW model was calibrated by one in-situ GW well and six Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) derived GW heads. The root mean square error (RMSE) of the GW flow field simulation (MODFLOW) was lower than 0.21 m from 2005 to 2016. Under three shared socioeconomic pathways (sustainable pathway, medium pathway, and fossil-fueled development), the GCMs indicate that the evapotranspiration (ET) experiences the greatest change, and will potentially rise to 602.6 mm/yr by 2100 in fossil-fueled development. While the precipitation and the runoff of the Amu Darya River will both rise slightly, and with the range of 146.4-163.3 mm/yr and 107.8-118.4 m(3)/s from 2021 to 2100 separately, and the increase is mainly during winter. With climate change signals forcing on the historical hydrometeorological data, the simulation result revealed that the GW contributes to more than 78 % of the total influx of water into the lake during 2021-2100, and the predicted GW flux into the lake will slightly rise over time. However, the ET will also increase due to rising temperatures and may gradually outpace the recharge growth. The simulation results indicate that the South Aral Sea may maintain a surface area of 4.47 x 10(3)km(2) in fossil-fueled development, which means it will continue to shrink if there is no human intervention. Therefore, a set of sustainable water resource management methods is urgently needed to preserve the ecological environment of the South Aral Sea and prevent ecological disasters.".
• 01GKGSCSEAN1NPPJN49S4YMN6N abstract "The massive desiccation of the Aral Sea, the fourth largest lake in the world, has led to severe ecological problems, expansion of cropland was thought to be the main factor driving that shrinkage. But this study performed a long-term land cover and use change assessment for Aral Sea Basin (ASB) to show that the cropland has stopped expanding in 2000, of which the cropland in the ASB plain area has decreased significantly (-140 km(2)/year) from 2001 to 2019. By contrast, this study finds the hydrological cycle in the ASB has intensified through a spatial and temporal scale approach based on Earth observation. Specifically, there is a 7.21 % (+304.56 x 10(8) m(3)) increase in annual total precipitation and a 10.13 % (+376.21 x 10(8) m(3)) increase in annual total actual evapotranspiration (AET) for the whole ASB during 1980-2019. In particular, the total annual AET in the ASB plain area has increased by 37.81 % (+718.92 x 10(8) m(3)), which almost depletes the water that should have flowed into the Aral Sea. Therefore, the Aral Sea shrank by 5625 x 10(8) m(3) (or 42,944.32km(2)) from 1980 to 2019. Changing climate and increasing AET have accelerated the desiccation of the Aral Sea, and the expansion of cropland is no longer the main factor of that shrinkage. After more water was conserved in the ASB plain area, evapotranspiration plays a more vital role in the Aral Sea shrinkage. Reducing AET and unproductive water losses are key initiatives in future projects to save the Aral Sea. This study explores the causes of Aral Sea shrinkage from an integrated perspective of climate-land-water-ecological change across the ASB, bridging the limitations of previous studies that have focused on Aral Sea waters and subbasins.".
• 01GKGSDR6F8ZX3SZKXRQ1HR82P abstract "In this work, an in vitro model of the simulated spaceflight environment was developed and applied to investigate the contribution of dermal fibroblasts in the wound healing process after exposure to simulated microgravity, ionizing radiation, and psychological stress. Besides, fibroblasts have been exposed to hypergravity and gravitational alterations between simulated microgravity and hypergravity, with or without stress hormones. After exposure to a combination of the aforementioned simulated spaceflight stressors, fibroblasts’ expression of cytokines and growth factors as well as dermal matrix proteins were measured. Additionally, measures of migration capacity and cytoskeletal remodeling were obtained as well. Finally, the effect of different radiation qualities on DNA damage and repair with or without the addition of stress hormones was investigated. The results show that the wound healing capacity of dermal fibroblasts is sensitive for exposure to simulated spaceflight stressors. Moreover, it was shown that the different spaceflight stressors can interfere with the wound healing process at any stage. Additionally, several interaction effects between the different spaceflight stressors have been identified. Taken together, the insights of this work highlight the need of investigating the combined effect of simulated spaceflight stressors on the wound healing capacity of the skin.".
• 01GKGSG2SWY4DSMAZ4R38FD5JP abstract "Biofilms represent a serious problem for food industries due to their persistence in processing surfaces, from which they can cause food spoilage or, even worse, lead to foodborne diseases. Microorganisms immersed in biofilms are more resistant to biocides. The search for natural effective alternatives for the prevention and the control of biofilms has increased lately. The aim of this research was to test the antibacterial and the anti-biofilm activities of cinnamon, onion, and garlic essential oils againstListeria monocytogenes. The methodology highlighted first the effect of these essential oils onL. monocytogenesusing disc diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) methods and then on initial cell attachment and six hours preformed biofilms. The inhibition of biofilms was assessed by crystal violet assay. Sulfides were the most abundant compounds present in onion and garlic essential oils, while cinnamaldehyde was predominant in cinnamon essential oil. MIC values were of 0.025 mg mL(-1)for onion essential oil and 0.100 mg mL(-1)for cinnamon and garlic. Onion essential oil inhibited initial cell attachment by 77% at 0.5 of the MIC dose, while at MIC, cinnamon and garlic essential oils inhibited the initial microbial adhesion completely. All three essential oils completely inhibited initial cell attachment when applied at 2 MIC. On the contrary, preformed biofilms were more resistant, and the inhibition rate ranged from 33% to 78%. In summary, this investigation revealed that the essential oils of garlic, onion, and cinnamon show an effective antibiofilm activity againstL. monocytogenesand are promising natural antimicrobial alternatives for food processing facilities.".
• 01GKGSTX40QV3HAARNWF5R258Q abstract "With the rapid accumulation of water flux observations from global eddy-covariance flux sites, many studies have used data-driven approaches to model water fluxes, with various predictors and machine learning algorithms used. However, it is unclear how various model features affect prediction accuracy. To fill this gap, we evaluated this issue based on records of 139 developed models collected from 32 such studies. Support vector machines (SVMs; average R-squared = 0.82) and RF (random forest; average R-squared = 0.81) outperformed other evaluated algorithms with sufficient sample size in both cross-study and intra-study (with the same data) comparisons. The average accuracy of the model applied to arid regions is higher than in other climate types. The average accuracy of the model was slightly lower for forest sites (average R-squared = 0.76) than for croplands and grasslands (average R -squared = 0.8 and 0.79) but higher than for shrubland sites (average R-squared = 0.67). Using R-n/ R-s, precipitation, T-a, and the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (FA-PAR) improved the model accuracy. The combined use of T-a and R-n/ R-s is very effective, especially in forests, while in grasslands the combination of W-s and R-n/ R-s is also fective. Random cross-validation showed higher model accuracy than spatial cross-validation and temporal cross-validation, but spatial cross-validation is more important in spatial extrapolation. The findings of this study are promising to guide future research on such machine-learning-based modeling.".
• 01GKGV23J21X9TMK5YHAKKMZ57 abstract "Spatial redistribution of nutrients by atmospheric transport and deposition could theoretically act as a continental-scale mechanism which counteracts declines in soil fertility caused by nutrient lock-up in accumulating biomass in tropical forests in Central Africa. However, to what extent it affects carbon sinks in forests remains elusive. Here we use a terrestrial biosphere model to quantify the impact of changes in atmospheric nitrogen and phosphorus deposition on plant nutrition and biomass carbon sink at a typical lowland forest site in Central Africa. We find that the increase in nutrient deposition since the 1980s could have contributed to the carbon sink over the past four decades up to an extent which is similar to that from the combined effects of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide and climate change. Furthermore, we find that the modelled carbon sink responds to changes in phosphorus deposition, but less so to nitrogen deposition. The pronounced response of ecosystem productivity to changes in nutrient deposition illustrates a potential mechanism that could control carbon sinks in Central Africa. Monitoring the quantity and quality of nutrient deposition is needed in this region, given the changes in nutrient deposition due to human land use.".
• 01GKGV7V8S0KR03GCN8NEBBGD4 abstract "The rapid growth of Earth observation (EO) data poses a challenge to the way of data management. An efficient framework based on big data technology can bring new solutions. Some excellent frameworks have been proposed, which provide efficient organization and management of EO data. However, they are not optimized for data distribution in the storage environment. In this letter, an optimized EO data management strategy is proposed. Different horizontal scaling strategies are designed to explore the optimal scheme of EO data distribution. The MapReduce parallel computing model was used to test the performance of data retrieval in the experiment. The results show that the proposed strategy contributes to the efficient organization and arrangement of data. Remote sensing (RS) data blocks can be evenly distributed to different shards according to the time characteristics and hash characteristics of the strategy, and the logical index of the data reduces the time consumed by the routing process. This distributed management mode that achieves load balancing provides a framework foundation for parallel computing. Therefore, the framework with an efficient strategy can improve the performance of data management.".
• 01GKGVFRZ297P84VV9ZVDAJE40 abstract "Visible Light Positioning (VLP) is a promising indoor localization technology for providing highly accurate positioning. In this work, a VLP implementation is employed to estimate the position of a vehicle in a room using the Received Signal Strength (RSS) and fixed LED-based light transmitters. Classical VLP approaches use lateration or angulation based on a wireless propagation model to obtain location estimations. However, previous work has shown that machine learning models such as Gaussian processes (GP) achieve better performance and are more robust in general, particularly in presence of non-ideal environmental conditions. As a downside, Machine Learning (ML) models require a large collection of RSS samples, which can be time-consuming to acquire. In this work, a sampling scheme based on active learning (AL) is proposed to automate the vehicle motion and to accelerate the data collection. The scheme is tested on experimental data from a RSS-based VLP setup and compared with different settings to a simple random sampling.".
• 01GKGW99BJ9JS7PQXTCXA64AAV abstract "Pseudorabies virus (PRV) is a member of the alphaherpesvirus subfamily and the causative agent of Aujeszky’s disease in pigs. Driven by the large economic losses associated with PRV infection, several vaccines and vaccine programs have been developed. To this day, the attenuated Bartha strain, generated by serial passaging, represents the golden standard for PRV vaccination. However, a proteomic comparison of the Bartha virion to wild-type (WT) PRV virions is lacking. Here, we present a comprehensive mass spectrometry-based proteome comparison of the attenuated Bartha strain and three commonly used WT PRV strains: Becker, Kaplan, and NIA3. We report the detection of 40 structural and 14 presumed nonstructural proteins through a combination of data-dependent and data-independent acquisition. Interstrain comparisons revealed that packaging of the capsid and most envelope proteins is largely comparable in-between all four strains, except for the envelope protein pUL56, which is less abundant in Bartha virions. However, distinct differences were noted for several tegument proteins. Most strikingly, we noted a severely reduced incorporation of the tegument proteins IE180, VP11/12, pUS3, VP22, pUL41, pUS1, and pUL40 in Bartha virions. Moreover, and likely as a consequence, we also observed that Bartha virions are on average smaller and more icosahedral compared to WT virions. Finally, we detected at least 28 host proteins that were previously described in PRV virions and noticed considerable strain-specific differences with regard to host proteins, arguing that the potential role of packaged host proteins in PRV replication and spread should be further explored.".
• 01GKGWWXTWKRR3MZZRT6TZMQXP abstract "Muconic acid has gained interest as a bio-based platform chemical to produce value-added compounds including adipic acid and terephthalic acid. In this study, a fermentation strategy based on in situ product recovery was established to boost process performance and counteract product inhibition. An optimized reactive extraction mixture for muconic acid was developed consisting of 12.5% (v/v) CYTOP 503 in canola oil and showing high extraction capacity as well as biocompatibility. By integrating the reactive extraction into the fermentation at shake flask level, growth and muconic acid titer could be increased by 44% and 18%, respectively. The process was successfully transferred to a fed-batch fermentation in a 10 L bioreactor with a final muconic acid titer of 4.33 g L−1 and maximum productivity of 0.053 g L−1, demonstrating the potential of this strategy to enhance challenging fermentation processes for industrial biochemicals.".
• 01GKGXZX4QDTMMXFEYF7ZC0SNS abstract "Dual-fuel (DF) operation with methanol-diesel allows to reduce CO2 emissions, increase efficiency and decrease NOx and soot. This paper describes the experimental results with methanol-water (MeOH-W) blends as a fuel, and has three objectives: (1) whether water acts as a knock suppressant, enabling higher diesel substitution ratios, (2) if water can be a measure to control engine-out NOx emissions given its cooling effect, and (3) to test the effect on brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of a blend of 90% methanol and 10% water by weight, which is interesting from a methanol fuel production cost perspective. Experiments were conducted on a dual-fuel marine Volvo Penta engine with methanol/water weight by weight shares of 50%/50% (MeOH-50), 64%/36% (MeOH-64), 90%/ 10% (MeOH-90) and 100%/0% (pure methanol, MeOH-100). A maximal increase in BTE of 3.3% and 4.9% were observed when going from respectively MeOH-100 and diesel-only operation to MeOH-50. The maximum methanol energy fraction (MEF) was obtained with pure methanol, equal to 76%, and decreased with increasing water content. NOx emissions decreased with pure methanol compared to diesel-only operation, and further decreased with increasing water content. It is concluded that MeOH-90 does not harm the BTE of the tested dual-fuel engine; and that MeOH-50 and MeOH-64 were able to reach IMO Tier III NOx legislation, but at the same time score worse for greenhouse gas reduction potential as less diesel can be substituted by methanol with these blends.".
• 01GKGY4591VZTS6BZQNSJZY0HN abstract "Ectopic calcification (EC) is characterized by an abnormal deposition of calcium phosphate crystals in soft tissues such as blood vessels, skin, and brain parenchyma. EC contributes to significant morbidity and mortality and is considered a major health problem for which no effective treatments currently exist. In recent years, growing emphasis has been placed on the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of EC. Impaired mitochondrial respiration and increased levels of reactive oxygen species can be directly linked to key molecular pathways involved in EC such as adenosine triphosphate homeostasis, DNA damage signaling, and apoptosis. While EC is mainly encountered in common diseases such as diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease, studies in rare hereditary EC disorders such as pseudoxanthoma elasticum or Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome have been instrumental in identifying the precise etiopathogenetic mechanisms leading to EC. In this narrative review, we describe the current state of the art regarding the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in hereditary EC diseases. In-depth knowledge of aberrant mitochondrial metabolism and its local and systemic consequences will benefit the research into novel therapies for both rare and common EC disorders.".
• 01GKGYZNZN48A2V1P1FBZ51M65 abstract "Soil moisture (SM) is essential for controlling terrestrial carbon uptake, as it directly provides moisture for photosyn-thesis, especially in arid and semiarid regions. We selected the arid and semiarid Ili River basin (IRB) of Xinjiang as the study area, and investigated the spatial and temporal characteristics and interrelationships with SM and photosynthe-sis from 2000 to 2018 using the ERA5 products and solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF). SM and photosynthe-sis showed a decreasing trend during the study period. Compared with those in spring and autumn, the variation of summer SM and SIF was more consistent with the interannual variation. Anomaly analysis showed that negative SM anomalies were most profound in 2012-2015, 2008, and 2014. Additionally, we quantified the effect of seasonal SM deficits on photosynthesis by performing model-based experiments. The results indicated that the gross primary productivity (GPP) simulated by the P-model could capture the characteristics of photosynthesis in the IRB, which had a high correlation with SIF (R2 = 0.82, p < 0.001). In 2012-2015, 2008, and 2014, SM deficits caused more GPP reduction in the summers than in the springs or the autumns. The trends were mainly visible in the northern IRB, where GPP was below 40 % of the multi-year mean, and SM was below 23 %. GPP decreased more significantly in grassland than in the forest under the influence of SM deficit. This study reveals seasonal differences in the effects of SM deficit on photosynthesis and emphasizes that the summer SM deficit was the main factor responsible for decreases in GPP in the IRB during the study period. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the relationships be-tween photosynthesis and environmental factors, and provide a reference for an accurate assessment of the regional carbon cycle.".
• 01GKGZG85FBQ1K1JM39CYP34DW abstract "Many phospholipid membranes in the cell have a high curvature; for instance, in caveolae, mitochondrial crystae, nanotubes, membrane pearls, small liposomes, or exosomes. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are a computational tool to gain insight in the transport behavior at the atomic scale. Membrane permeability is a key kinetic property that might be affected in these highly curved membranes. Unfortunately, the geometry of highly curved membranes creates ambiguity in the permeability value, even with an arbitrarily large factor purely based on geometry, caused by the radial flux not being a constant value in steady state. In this contribution, the ambiguity in permeability for liposomes is countered by providing a new permeability definition. First, the inhomogeneous solubility diffusion model based on the Smoluchowski equation is solved analytically under radial symmetry, from which the entrance and escape permeabilities are defined. Next, the liposome permeability is defined guided by the criterion that a flat and curved membrane should have equal permeability, in case these were to be carved out from an imaginary homogeneous medium. With this criterion, our new definition allows for a fair comparison of flat and curved membranes. The definition is then transferred to the counting method, which is a practical computational approach to derive permeability by counting complete membrane crossings. Finally, the usability of the approach is illustrated with MD simulations of diphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) bilayers, without or with some cholesterol content. Our new liposome permeability definition allows us to compare a spherically shaped membrane with its flat counterpart, thus showcasing how the curvature effect on membrane transport may be assessed.".
• 01GKGZWYXSK54H4TY4Z9MGVJTP abstract "The Ecuadorian Constitutional Court published its judgment in the case of the Los Cedros forest, a protected cloud forest of great biodiversity in the Andean mountains of Ecuador. This judgment revokes environmental permits previously granted to two mining concessions in the Bosque Protector Los Cedros reserve. The Court ruled that the mining permits in question had not only violated several constitutional rights of communities in the area but also – most remarkably – the rights of mother nature (Pacha Mama). It specifically granted these rights to the Los Cedros Reserve. While the judgment has received international recognition, there is still some uncertainty regarding future applications of this unusual, non-anthropocentric legal standard set by the Court to protect the rights of mother nature.".
• 01GKH0KCF6K64GVG7XBD2NHSGY abstract "The determining factor in the financial and fiscal history of what became the Burgundian Low Countries is the presence of a dense urban network well connected to international trade and hence receptive to the period’s most advanced financial techniques and steered by its successive economic centers over a period stretching from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries: Arras, Bruges, Antwerp and finally Amsterdam. These were central places and hubs where these financial technique permeated into broader layers of society. In the cities of the Low Countries the cities had developed a performing fiscal system, mainly based on indirect taxes levied on consumption, trade and production. From the late fourteenth century onwards the second most important factor entered the scene: the agency of an ambitious dynasty of the Valois Dukes of Burgundy and their Habsburg successors. They unified the territories (counties and duchies) and endowed them with new centralizing financial institutions, thus reducing transaction costs. However, they never succeeded in imposing a permanent fiscal system on their subjects, whose ruling elites and representatives remained both an inevitable interlocutor and an indispensable financier of their policies. The growing fiscal pressure nevertheless helped to develop a system of public debt which was to play an important if not decisive role in establishing the way a first republican state based on the big cities came into being in the Republic of the United Provinces in the Netherlands.".
• 01GKH14YD07F1TGNM2XYQ3J1WN abstract "This chapter examines the impact of Latin America on the development of ‘mixed claims commissions’, adjudication bodies founded in an ad hoc fashion by international agreements. It argues that these bodies are best understood in the context of their development during periods of crisis in Latin American nations, the majority of which were presidential states. Armed conflicts and internal revolutions led to the rise of strong executives and legal conflicts over the property of foreigners. As new governments tried to restore the internal rule of law, they engaged with international adjudication. The first part of this chapter examines the notion of ‘Latin America’ in the history of international law. I take an internal perspective on the legitimation of public authority in Latin American countries, instead of the usual external geopolitical perspective, which sees the region as largely defined by its relations with the United States and Europe. The second part analyzes the concrete evolution of ‘mixed claims commissions’, examining the first wave of such bodies, especially the Venezuelan claims commissions established after Cipriano Castro’s Revolution (1899–1908) in the 20th century.".
• 01GKH27EB6GAT1K7A8GRV21FJY abstract "On July 6, 2009, Ecuador notified the World Bank of its denunciation of the Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States (ICSID Convention). This denunciation formed part of a strategy of resistance to the international investment regime. Around that time, this South American country also began to terminate its Bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and even inserted an ‘explicit clause’ (Article 422) in the Ecuadorian Constitution to prevent future governments from entering new International Investment Agreements (IIAs) that could ‘yield sovereignty’ to international arbitration. Since that time, the Ecuadorian case has served as a textbook example of an ‘exit strategy’ in debates on Investor-State Dispute resolution (ISDS). More than a decade later, on 20 June 2021, the current President of Ecuador reversed the nation’s strategy and rejoined the ICSID convention (here). Days later, the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court (here) upheld the President’s decision, deciding that the ICSID Convention could be ratified without further approval from the National Assembly. However, Ecuador cannot sign new IIAs until the Ecuadorian Constitutional Court decides on a second case, a pending request for an interpretation of Article 422 of the Constitution. To put it bluntly, Ecuador has now landed in a gray zone, where it is neither completely inside nor outside the IIA regime.".
• 01GKH2P695R1MJDBRYHY8EJVX3 abstract "With the increasing maturity of big data technology, its application in the field of environmental assessment has become an important issue. The mining of mineral resource can affect the balance in the ecological environment surrounding mining areas and the normal life activities of humans through groundwater. To solve this problem, big data-based methods were used to evaluate the pollution risk in mining areas in this article. Based on a spatial big data management framework, in this paper, high-risk areas in eastern Tianshan were quantitatively analyzed and delineated via a new comprehensive heavy metal pollution assessment system. A distributed storage envi-ronment, unstructured management method and spatial index coding were used to uniformly manage spatial data in vector and raster formats retrieved from different sources. A system involving 18 geological environment indicators was used to evaluate the risk level in the study area and in delineated areas with a high risk of heavy metal pollution. The results indicated that the proposed framework could efficiently store and process spatial data and realize environmental pollution risk assessment in a big data environment. In addition, some of the high-pollution risk areas identified based on the assessment results were consistent with actual mine locations. Overall, the results show that integrating multi-source geological characteristics through a comprehensive evaluation system based on big data can have a positive effect on improving the accuracy of heavy metal pollution risk assessment. Heavy metal pollution assessment can provide a reference for environmental moni-toring and governance of the eastern Tianshan region and offer new solutions to large-scale heavy metal pollution assessment.".
• 01GKHCZ5ES7Z1X6223D337ERKM abstract "The product of an innovative research project realized in cooperation between three Swiss universities--École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne's School of Architecture, the College of Architecture and Technology in Fribourg, and the University of Fribourg--the smart living lab is a research and development center for the built environment of the future. This high-tech structure also serves as an emblem of the cooperative's aim to translate academic research into actual buildings. A new series of books entitled Towards 2050 will showcase the ambitious undertaking at various stages. The inaugural volume in the series, Thinking highlights preliminary research from the smart living lab and considers visions for sustainable buildings. Featuring interviews with leading experts, the book lays out the myriad challenges and opportunities the project is likely to face, as well as its considerable potential to drive change.".
• 01GKHEDEPSJJDKRH8CY9Z7KQ83 abstract "This dissertation presents doctoral research on the protection of forced migrants in Morocco. It compiles three papers, an introduction, conclusions and policy recommendations. To avoid hegemonic and Eurocentric thinking, different disciplinary approaches are taken: a doctrinal analysis of international law, a socio-legal study based on fieldwork with Congolese migrants in Rabat, and an international relations assessment of Morocco’s African migration policy. The results show the a dynamic agency in the Global South, especially among the Congolese migrants, but also the Moroccan state, within a structuring global power imbalance dominated by the North. A new concept of ‘protection consciousness’ is proposed to give expression to migrants understanding of protection. Policy recommendations are also put forth, including the further development of a binding mechanism to allocate the shared responsibility for the protection of forced migrants in proportion to the respective capacity of each state.".
• 01GKHEHXWR85175WAZHWCAMS5A abstract "In this paper we discuss the implementation of a discrete, piecewise power-law grain-size distribution method into a numerical multifluid MHD code as described in Sumpter and Van Loo (2020). Such a description allows to capture the full size range of dust grains and their dynamical effects. The only assumptions are that grains within a single discrete bin have the same velocity and charge. We test the implementation by modelling plane-parallel C-type shocks and compare the results with shock models of multispecies grain models. We find that both the discrete and multispecies grain models converge to the same shock profile. However, the convergence for the discrete models is faster than for the multispecies grain models. For the pure advection models a single discrete bin is sufficient, while the multispecies grain models need a minimum of 8 grain species. When including grain sputtering the necessary number of discrete bins increases to 4, as the grain distribution cannot be described by a single power-law as in the advection models. The multispecies grain models still need more grain species to model the distribution, but the number does not increase compared to the pure advection models. Our results show that modelling the grain distribution function using a discrete distribution reduces the computational cost needed to capture the grain physics significantly. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V.".
• 01GKHH06KRAR6W1TXW6YTG0ZKP abstract "The innate immune system is one of the body’s own defense mechanisms to battle invading pathogens and the emergence and outgrowth of malignant cells. They are the first to respond when encountering a threat. Numerous cells are involved in the innate immune response, including natural killer (NK) cells. NK cells are ‘natural-born’ killers that are specialized in the defense against viral infections and in cancer immunosurveillance. Like the majority of immune cells, NK cells develop from hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) in the bone marrow through several developmental stages in a sequential manner. During this differentiation process, progenitors become more lineage-restricted until full maturation of NK cells is achieved. Differentiation steps are followed by terminal NK cell maturation, whereafter NK cells enter the blood stream and scan the body for aberrant cells. NK cell differentiation and maturation is tightly regulated by a complex network of transcription factors. Due to the knowledge obtained from murine NK cells studies, the transcriptional network coordinating NK cell development and maturation in mice is well established. In contrast, information on the role of human transcription factors in NK cell differentiation remains rudimentary. T-BET and EOMES are two members of the T-BOX transcription factor family that play a crucial role in murine NK cell development, maturation and function. An important role for T-BET and EOMES in human NK cell differentiation is also expected, as it has been observed that reduced T-BET and EOMES expression levels result in dysfunctional NK cells and failure of controlling tumor growth after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in lymphoma patients. To obtain insight in the role of T-BET and EOMES in human NK cell differentiation, we ectopically expressed either T-BET or EOMES in human hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs). Combined transcriptome, chromatin accessibility and protein expression analyses revealed that T-BET and EOMES epigenetically repress hematopoietic stem cell quiescence and non-NK lineage differentiation genes, while activating an NK cell-specific transcriptome and thereby drastically accelerating NK cell differentiation. In this model, the effects of T-BET and EOMES are largely overlapping, yet EOMES shows a superior role in early NK cell maturation and induces enhanced CD16 expression. T-BET particularly controls transcription of terminal maturation markers and epigenetically controls strong induction of KIR expression. Finally, NK cells generated upon T-BET or EOMES overexpression display improved functionality, including increased IFN-γ production and killing, and especially EOMES overexpression NK cells have enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Our findings reveal novel insights on the regulatory role of T-BET and EOMES in human NK cell maturation and function, which is essential to further understand human NK cell biology and to optimize adoptive NK cell therapies. The innate immune systems further includes innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), a group of lymphocytes that is specialized in the production of cytokines in response to inflammatory signals. These ILCs contribute to the orchestration of the host defense against pathogens, inflammation and tissue homeostasis and are dispersed among the mucosal barrier surfaces of several tissue, such as the intestine, lung and skin. Functional differentiation of ILCs at the tissue sites is also controlled by the expression of lineage-defining transcription factors. Moreover, inflammatory conditions can induce phenotypic and functional changes in these cells, accompanied by important transcriptional alterations, whereby the ILC composition of the tissue is markedly altered, without recruitment of other cells. This is the concept of plasticity, which is well-known in mice and human. Type III ILCs (ILC3s) provide immune 6 responses against extracellular bacteria and fungi and are enriched in the intestinal lamina propria where they contribute to gut homeostasis and containment of commensal bacteria. ILC3s rely on expression of the transcription factor RORγt and are profound producers of IL22. It has been extensively demonstrated that both murine and human ILC3s convert into ILC1s to mediate appropriate immune responses. However, plasticity between human ILC3s and NK cells is less well documented. As T-BET and EOMES are key transcription factors in NK cell differentiation, we investigated whether ectopic T-BET or EOMES expression converts human ILC3s into NK cells. ILC3s with ectopic T-BET and EOMES expression downregulate RORγt expression, while T-BET overexpressing ILC3s additionally upregulate EOMES expression. High ectopic T-BET expression in ILC3s results in transdifferentiation towards CD94+ NK cells, whereas ectopic EOMES overexpression results in dedifferentiation of ILC3s into CD94-CD117-/low cells but is ineffective in NK cell generation. Dedifferentiating ILC3s from both T-BET and EOMES overexpression cultures upregulate NK cell receptors, perforin and granzyme B. Finally, IL22 secretion is completely blocked in transdifferentiating ILC3s upon both T-BET and EOMES ectopic expression, whereas only T-BET overexpression increases IFN-γ secretion and cytotoxicity. Altogether, these findings demonstrate that human ILC3s can convert into functional NK cells, wherein T-BET, and not EOMES, is the main driver. This knowledge greatly contributes to the molecular pathways implicated in human ILC plasticity. Altogether, this PhD thesis shines a new light on the regulatory role of T-BET and EOMES in human NK cell differentiation and in ILC3-NK cell plasticity. These findings contribute to the further understanding of human NK cell biology and offer possible approaches to optimize adoptive NK cell therapy. Alternatively, strategies to convert ILC3s into protective NK cells are possibly beneficial in the treatment of inflammatory disorders and cancer.".
• 01GKHPA0K5M1ZCKX0SZQ83DB3D abstract "While cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is widely being investigated, free circulating RNA (extracellular RNA, exRNA) has the potential to improve cancer therapy response monitoring and detection due to its dynamic nature. However, it remains unclear in which blood subcompartment tumour-derived exRNAs primarily reside. We developed a host-xenograft deconvolution framework, exRNAxeno, with mapping strategies to either a combined human-mouse reference genome or both species genomes in parallel, applicable to exRNA sequencing data from liquid biopsies of human xenograftmousemodels. The tool enables to distinguish (human) tumoural RNA from (murine) host RNA, to specifically analyse tumour-derived exRNA. We applied the combined pipeline to total exRNA sequencing data from 95 blood-derived liquid biopsy samples from 30 mice, xenografted with 11 different tumours. Tumoural exRNA concentrations are not determined by plasma platelet levels, while host exRNA concentrations increase with platelet content. Furthermore, a large variability in exRNA abundance and transcript content across individual mice is observed. The tumoural gene detectability in plasma is largely correlated with the RNA expression levels in the tumour tissue or cell line. These findings unravel new aspects of tumour-derived exRNA biology in xenograftmodels and open new avenues to further investigate the role of exRNA in cancer.".
• 01GKK8J1PB70FZXYTS4ZH9GBSS abstract "In a century where humans and machines-powered by artificial intelligence or not-increasingly work together, it is of interest to understand human processing of multi-sensory stimuli in relation to attention and working memory. This paper explores whether and when supporting visual information with rhythmic auditory stimuli can optimize multi-sensory information processing. In turn, this can make the interaction between humans or between machines and humans more engaging, rewarding and activating. For this purpose a novel working memory paradigm was developed where participants are presented with a series of five target digits randomly interchanged with five distractor digits. Their goal is to remember the target digits and recall them orally. Depending on the condition support is provided by audio and/or rhythm. It is expected that the sound will lead to a better performance. It is also expected that this effect of sound is different in case of rhythmic and non-rhythmic sound. Last but not least, some variability is expected across participants. To make correct conclusions, the data of the experiment was statistically analyzed in a classic way, but also predictive models were developed in order to predict outcomes based on a range of input variables related to the experiment and the participant. The effect of auditory support could be confirmed, but no difference was observed between rhythmic and non-rhythmic sounds. Overall performance was indeed affected by individual differences, such as visual dominance or perceived task difficulty. Surprisingly a music education did not significantly affect the performance and even tended toward a negative effect. To better understand the underlying processes of attention, also brain activation data, e.g., by means of electroencephalography (EEG), should be recorded. This approach can be subject to a future work.".
• 01GKK91QV94A0CGQ2E1045BRQE abstract "BACKGROUND: Traditional healthcare is centred around providing in-hospital services using hospital owned medical instruments. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that this approach lacks flexibility to insure follow-up and treatment of common medical problems. In an alternative setting adapted to this problem, participatory healthcare can be considered centred around data provided by patients owning and operating medical data collection equipment in their homes. OBJECTIVE: In order to trigger such a shift reliable and price attractive devices need to become available. Snoring, as a human sound production during sleep, can reflect sleeping behaviour and indicate sleep problems as an element of the overall health condition of a person. METHODS: The use of off-the-shelf hardware from Internet of Things platforms and standard audio components allows the development of such devices. A prototype of a snoring sound detector with this purpose is developed. RESULTS: The device, controlled by the patient and with specific snoring recording and analysing functions is demonstrated as a model for future participatory healthcare. CONCLUSIONS: Design of monitoring devices following this model could allow market introduction of new equipment for participatory healthcare, bringing a care complementary to traditional healthcare to the reach of patients, and could result in benefits from enhanced patient participation.".
• 01GKKA5NJDNA1KP5P2JWE21ED5 abstract "This paper presents a fast, memory-efficient, and worldwide map matching algorithm based on raw geographic coordinates and enriched open map data with support for trajectories on foot, by bike, and motorized vehicles. The proposed algorithm combines the Markovian behavior and the shortest path aspect while taking into account the type and direction of all road segments, information about one-way traffic, maximum allowed speed per road segment, and driving behavior. Furthermore, a self-adapting lane detection algorithm based solely on accelerometer readings is added on top of the map matching algorithm. An experimental validation consisting of 30 trajectories on foot, by bike, and by car, showed the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed algorithms, with an average F1-score and median error of 99.5% and 1.89 m for the map matching algorithm and an average F1-score of 86.7% for the lane detection algorithm, which resulted in the correctly estimated lane 93.0% of the time. Moreover, the proposed technique outperforms existing state of the art techniques with accuracy improvements up to 45.2%.".
• 01GKKCBGTWYHTD8MSA2NFXHMQC abstract "A number of auditory models have been developed using diverging approaches, either physiological or perceptual, but they share comparable stages of signal processing, as they are inspired by the same constitutive parts of the auditory system. We compare eight monaural models that are openly accessible in the Auditory Modelling Toolbox. We discuss the considerations required to make the model outputs comparable to each other, as well as the results for the following model processing stages or their equivalents: Outer and middle ear, cochlear filter bank, inner hair cell, auditory nerve synapse, cochlear nucleus, and inferior colliculus. The discussion includes a list of recommendations for future applications of auditory models.".
• 01GKKCY16P7GKN4YJ2NJ7Z95RC abstract "Pumped hydropower storage (PHS) is a costeffective and mature energy storage technology. However, it has inherently been limited to locations with suitable topographies. Therefore, the ALPHEUS project aims to implement PHS for shallow seas and coastal environments with the goal to support grid stability. To ensure optimal efficiency and fast switching times in these low-head applications, a 10 MW Contra-Rotating (CR) axial Reversible Pump-Turbine (RPT) is designed, which has a rim diameter of 6.4 m and a high efficiency - maximum 84% and 90% for pump and turbine, over a large operating range. Furthermore, the RPT is rim-driven, which averts the hydraulic impact caused by shaft-driven systems. To ensure optimal efficiency at variable speed operation, the runners are driven by two separate Axial-Flux Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines (AF-PMSMs). This paper proposes a Power Take-Off (PTO) design, where the electric machines and bearings are integrated in the rim of the CR RPT. The AF-PMSM dimensional design results in an outside diameter of 6.87 m. Next, active hydrostatic bearings are proposed due to their higher lifetime compared to roller bearings and better start-stop behaviour compared to hydrodynamic bearings. Finally, the advantages of the rim-driven PTO design with AF-PMSMs are elucidated by means of a comparison with the PTO of a shaft-driven CR RPT with similar power ratings. Next to the differences in hydraulic impact and bearing and sealing complexity, the active mass of both PTOs is examined. It is shown that the rotary mass and the total mass the rim-driven PTO is respectively three times and six times lower than that of the shaft-driven PTO, while the permanent magnet usage for both PTOs remains similar, with the total permanent magnet mass being 1.1% lower for the rim-driven PTO.".
• 01GKKDF61MGN7ZN9VN4F2D7AJJ abstract "This chapter considers what legal standards should be applied by an arbitration tribunal in the assessment of damages in the context of armed conflicts. It is argued that if a dispute arises within the context of an armed conflict, an arbitration tribunal needs to apply a different methodological approach than in times of peace. Specifically, investment arbitrators could engage with the concrete legal standard for the “economic capacity” of the host State that emerges from decisions made by the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission. The adoption of this standard could provide valuable guidance when confronting the difficult task of calculating damages in the context of armed struggles. In order to advance this argument, the chapter provides a general map of the current methods and sources applied by investment tribunals to assess damages in the absence of definitive written provisions in the relevant international investment agreements. It further discusses the “economical capacity” standard developed in the final award of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission and the way that this conceptual development could be applied to investment arbitration in times of armed conflict.".
• 01GKKE4ZNC4XMN18BG1C4MZRZG abstract "Cyclodextrins (CDs) form a family of naturally abundant, inexpensive, cyclic oligosaccharides, consisting of truncated cone-shaped molecules, with a hydrophobic internal cavity and a hydrophilic external surface. Through the coordination of CDs with alkali metal ions (Na+, Rb+, Cs+, K+,…) biocompatible, carbohydrate CD-based, porous metal-organic frameworks (CD-MOFs) can be obtained. These CD-MOFs are attractive materials for practical applications as they can be considered as biocompatible, biodegradable, inexpensive, and sustainable nanoporous MOF alternatives. Hence, CD-MOFs have already been found in a wide range of applications, such as molecular adsorption, separation and recognition, drug delivery, as host template for nanoparticle synthesis, and light emission and sensing. In this work, we first designed macro- and nanosized core, as well as core-shell, γ-cyclodextrin metal-organic frameworks (γ-CD-MOFs) and used them as platforms for the encapsulation of dye molecules to develop the first CD-MOF-based ratiometric optical thermometer materials. A novel dye combination was employed for this purpose, i.e., the duo rhodamine B (RhB) and fluorescein (FL). RhB is highly temperature-sensitive, whereas FL is less temperature-sensitive, and its luminescence emission peak is used as a reference. Promising results in terms of thermometric properties were obtained for a whole series of dye-encapsulated γ-CD-MOF materials based on this dye combination, with high relative sensitivities, even up to 5%K-1, for the dye-encapsulated 75%RhB-25%FL nanosized γ-CD-MOF, among the highest performance values reported so far for luminescent dual thermometers. In our study, we have additionally developed a simple yet effective preparation method for core−shell γ-CD MOFs, allowing effective manipulation of the γ-CD-MOF shell growth. The proposed method allows incorporation of the FL and RhB dyes in the γ-CD-MOFs in a more controlled manner, enhancing the efficiency of the developed ratiometric (macro) γ-CD-MOF thermometers. In recent years, the incorporation of metal or metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) into porous MOFs to form NP-MOF structures has attracted great interest. Although procedures for the deposition of Ag and/or Au NPs (AgNPs, AuNPs) in MOFs have already been reported, their application with CD-MOFs has not been investigated thoroughly yet. Both AgNPs and AuNPs are plasmonic, which means they could be exploited to concentrate light at a certain wavelength, providing local heating and, thus, be employed for photothermal therapy and can play a beneficial role when it comes to CD-MOFs used as drug delivery systems, as local heating can speed up the drug release. In this work, we additionally investigated different routes of depositing AuNPs and AgNPs in a quick and easy manner into nanosized CD-MOFs. The loading of the nanoparticles can be easily steered by increasing or decreasing the amount of used metal precursors. The nanoparticles can be synthesized at low temperatures which do not affect the structure nor crystallinity of the nano CD-MOFs. It was also shown that small and very uniform AuNPs and AgNPs can be obtained upon dissolving the CD-MOF template. Therefore, this is also a route to yield well water-dispersible metal nanoparticles without the use of any ligands or surfactants. Analogously to the first employed dye combination of RhB and FL, the thermometry properties of the nano CD-MOFs with deposited AuNPs and AgNPs were obtained upon embedding a mixture of a different dye combination, i.e. the RhB and rhodamine 110 (Rh110) pair in the pores of the CD-MOFs. This is the first work where CD-MOFs are proposed for the development of luminescent thermometric materials, and in combination with plasmonic AuNPs and AgNPs. By employing this approach, various fluorescent dyes can be combined, which opens new possibilities toward the future development of a wide range of ratiometric biological (plasmonic) nanothermometers.".
• 01GKKHN3A4M7PEE53Q3HTF3FC7 abstract "Aims This report from the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Atlas Project updates and expands upon the widely cited 2019 report in presenting cardiovascular disease (CVD) statistics for the 57 ESC member countries. Methods and results Statistics pertaining to 2019, or the latest available year, are presented. Data sources include the World Health Organization, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the World Bank, and novel ESC sponsored data on human and capital infrastructure and cardiovascular healthcare delivery. New material in this report includes sociodemographic and environmental determinants of CVD, rheumatic heart disease, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, left-sided valvular heart disease, the advocacy potential of these CVD statistics, and progress towards World Health Organization (WHO) 2025 targets for non-communicable diseases. Salient observations in this report: (i) Females born in ESC member countries in 2018 are expected to live 80.8 years and males 74.8 years. Life expectancy is longer in high income (81.6 years) compared with middle-income (74.2 years) countries. (ii) In 2018, high-income countries spent, on average, four times more on healthcare than middle-income countries. (iii) The median PM2.5 concentrations in 2019 were over twice as high in middle-income ESC member countries compared with high-income countries and exceeded the EU air quality standard in 14 countries, all middle-income. (iv) In 2016, more than one in five adults across the ESC member countries were obese with similar prevalence in high and low-income countries. The prevalence of obesity has more than doubled over the past 35 years. (v) The burden of CVD falls hardest on middle-income ESC member countries where estimated incidence rates are similar to 30% higher compared with high-income countries. This is reflected in disability-adjusted life years due to CVD which are nearly four times as high in middle-income compared with high-income countries. (vi) The incidence of calcific aortic valve disease has increased seven-fold during the last 30 years, with age-standardized rates four times as high in high-income compared with middle-income countries. (vii) Although the total number of CVD deaths across all countries far exceeds the number of cancer deaths for both sexes, there are 15 ESC member countries in which cancer accounts for more deaths than CVD in males and five-member countries in which cancer accounts for more deaths than CVD in females. (viii) The under-resourced status of middle-income countries is associated with a severe procedural deficit compared with high-income countries in terms of coronary intervention, ablation procedures, device implantation, and cardiac surgical procedures. Conclusion Risk factors and unhealthy behaviours are potentially reversible, and this provides a huge opportunity to address the health inequalities across ESC member countries that are highlighted in this report. It seems clear, however, that efforts to seize this opportunity are falling short and present evidence suggests that most of the WHO NCD targets for 2025 are unlikely to be met across ESC member countries.".
• 01GKKJCGD04J4MC0KW35FDW3XW abstract "The benefits of IIIF for Digital Humanities (DH) scholarship are well known: accessibility to images, metadata and annotation possibilities, and ample visual display options. However, whilst the cultural heritage sector and DH research centers have broadly adopted IIIF, its integration into teaching practices has remained rather limited. At the same time, DH scholars are calling for more extensive adoption of their field within Humanities scholarship. Teaching DH requires a hybrid approach covering various digital tools to assist research, educational, and science communication purposes, which is often accompanied by underscoring the usefulness, openness, diversity, and collaboration-possibilities of the tools in question (Batterhill & Ross, 2017). Rather than learn a fixed set of computational hard skills, students need to contextualize digital technologies, adopt a tool-critical attitude and apply them to a domain-specific context (Armaselu, 2021; Kuhn, 2019). IIIF is therefore a common denominator in Ghent Centre For Digital Humanities’ educational innovation project to structurally embed DH and sustainably enhance digital competences within the Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, including teacher education. Not only does IIIF’s flexibility and compliance with various DH applications greatly assist a provisioned hybrid approach of teaching, but the open image-standard also ‘stitches together technology’ for DH overall (Emanuel, 2018). This presentation, which is based on various classroom-case studies, focus group discussions, and questionnaires, explores how IIIF helped foster a shared faculty-wide framework for basic and advanced digital competences of students, (prospective) teachers, and faculty staff. Ranging from teacher education to art history and Lingala language, diverse courses found common ground in IIIF and compatible tools, such as Madoc, Omeka S, Storiiies and Exhibit.so. Blended learning modules that combined workshops, video tutorials, manuals, best practices, and literature provided assistance during the courses. This presentation discusses how IIIF allowed teachers and students to relate DH to their domain-specific knowledge, and how this resulted in a more widespread integration of both IIIF and DH across Ghent University.".
• 01GKKSJYFJ7F3E5XKY2M7Q4BW6 abstract "This edited volume offers up-to-date research on the interactive building and managing of relationships in organized helping. Its contributions address this core of helping in psychotherapy, coaching, doctor-patient interaction, and digital helping interaction and document and analyze essential communicative practices of relationship management. A summarizing contribution identifies common dimensions of relationship management across the different helping contexts and thereby provides a framework for understanding and researching how interactive practices and helping relationships are interconnected. The volume brings together researchers and practitioners and merges academic approaches to studying relationships with practical knowledge about verbal helping in these settings. The book is intended for scholars in the field of organized helping as well as for students and researchers of communication and discourse / conversation analysis in professional and organized contexts. It is also addressed to practitioners interested in learning more about the micro- and meso-management of their working relationships.".
• 01GKKTT6F4KMWABYQFDCGZ6VDN abstract "Over the past years, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) operations surged exponentially. Due to new air mobility concepts, industries tend to use more advanced technology to build the UASs. So, it is essential to develop regulations in the new and rapidly evolving contexts in which these new technologies are imposed. The European Union drone regulation is in the transition period, in which the existing regulations in individual European member states are replaced with a unified regulation framework across the European Union. However, this European regulatory framework is very young and will be subject to further development. In this sense, efforts must be made in the scientific literature focusing on the regulatory framework of Europe. This paper provides a solid understanding of the drone's legal framework in the European Union.".
• 01GKKTWMY6HAXPS3DJYTZRHBKZ abstract "Privateers, merchant ships and their crews between the Mediterranean and the North Sea during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1714): new insights from Southern-Netherlandish Prize Papers Our paper sheds new light on the early 18th century history of maritime trade connecting the North Sea area with the Mediterranean, via privateering and merchant ships sailing between the ports of Dunkirk and Ostend, and the Spanish ports of Cadiz and Alicante. While the history of early modern mercantile communities and trade networks connecting Spain and the Southern Netherlands has been well studied, our contribution aims at investigating the ships, their crews and the sea itself as elements enabling these connections. This paper is based on ‘Prize Papers’ captured by British privateers from Spanish and Flemish ships during the War of the Spanish Succession, a hitherto unexplored source which gives a good account of these elements. As the history of maritime trade and privateering are inextricably linked during this period, these sources form a new window into the lives, identities, and conditions of merchants, crewmembers, ships and their cargo. It will focus particularly on privateering ships and crew members, and the role played by Mediterranean captains and merchants. The cases presented in this paper form a prime example of the potential of these unexplored sources for collaborative research aimed towards global maritime connections in the early modern period. Bio VLIZ (Flanders Marine Institute, Belgium) recently initiated marine historical research with a project on the 18th century Southern Netherlandish Prize Papers. Wim De Winter has previously written on European maritime trade with Asia in the 17th and 18th century, and is now engaged in the 18th Century Prize Papers research at VLIZ. Michiel Vandegehuchte is VLIZ Research Director. Prof. dr. Michael Limberger is Associate Professor at Ghent University (Belgium), specialized in the fields of early modern maritime and commercial history, and has written on sixteenth-century Antwerp, and port cities. Dr. Jan Parmentier is curator of the maritime collections before 1830 at the MAS (Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerp).".
• 01GKKX3VH0BWD57B3GQ9WA87K1 abstract "De aandacht voor seksueel grensoverschrijdend gedrag, geweld en misbruik en voor de beleidsmatige reactie daarop is groter dan ooit. Het is geen toeval dat in 2022 het Belgisch seksueel strafrecht werd hervormd en de EU een nieuw wetgevingsvoorstel ter bestrijding van (seksueel) gendergeweld lanceerde. Tegen die achtergrond is het van belang de nieuwste inzichten uit onderzoek beschikbaar te maken. Dat is waar dit boek op inzet, vanuit criminologisch en juridisch perspectief. Twintig hot topics passeren de revue, geclusterd in vier secties. De sectie seksuele toestemming en zelfbeschikking, scripts en normen bestudeert en evalueert het wijzigende seksueel toestemmingsconcept in post-#MeToo-tijden, zowel in België als in andere Europese landen. Ze biedt ook inzicht in de seksuele scripts van jongeren en hun percepties en attitudes in verband met seksueel grensoverschrijdend gedrag en seksuele toestemming. Verder onderzoekt deze sectie genderstereotypen en seksueel dubbele standaarden in online contexten van sexting en niet-consensuele verspreiding van naaktbeelden, en zoomt ze in op de zwakke seksuele rechtspositie van personen met een geestelijke kwetsbaarheid. De sectie sekswerk, seksuele exploitatie en mensenhandel bestudeert de nieuwste sekswerkwetgeving in Nederland en Duitsland, twee Europese landen die al geruime tijd voor een legalisering van prostitutie kozen, en trekt daar lessen uit voor de recente Belgische decriminalisering van de exploitatie van sekswerk. Ze onderzoekt inzake mensenhandel of de strafwetgeving niet te breed wordt geïnterpreteerd en de slachtofferbescherming niet te smal, en verkent hoe slachtoffers evolueren naar lovergirls of Nigeriaanse madams. De sectie porno exploreert de grondrechtelijke legitimiteit van en de publieke opinie over het strafrechtelijk verbod op extreme porno, en bestudeert (pedofiele) meningen over en doelgroepen van virtuele misbruikbeelden van kinderen versus geanimeerde volwassenpornografie. De sectie daderbehandeling en -bejegening onderzoekt ten slotte de mogelijkheden en randvoorwaarden voor een therapeutisch gebruik van virtuele misbruikbeelden van kinderen en kinderseksrobots, gaat de impact na van zelfhulp via steungroepen op niet-pedoseksuele pedofielen, meet de welzijnsbeleving van pedoseksuelen in detentie, en biedt inzicht in publieke percepties over vrouwelijke zedendelinquenten.".
• 01GKKYTASEDKSTPKS5HV4MQ3QF abstract "In this paper, we present six extensions to the multi-skilled resource-constrained project scheduling problem (MSRCPSP) by introducing hierarchical levels of skills. These hierarchical skills can impact the MSRCPSP in multiple different ways. This paper studies efficiency differences, cost differences, quality differences and more. For each of these problems we propose and analyse seven continuous and time-indexed (mixed-)integer linear programming formulations. A modular artificial dataset is generated that assembles instances of the presented problems as well as combinations of these problems. In the computational experiments, we solve these instances using the proposed mathematical formulations with the CPLEX solver. Finally, we compare the results of the different formulations for the resource-constrained project scheduling problems with hierarchical levels of skills in order to explain their inherent similarities and differences.".
• 01GKKZNGYH4BM5BD54GN0D67R0 abstract "The new Belgian criminal law on sexual offences has shifted away from moral order, in favour of the concept of self-determination regarding sexual integrity. The concomitant decision to introduce a single affirmative consent definition in respect to several punishable sexual acts, irrespective of whether they involve penetration, in which consent must be freely given and revocable and cannot be derived from mere passivity of the victim, is a significant step forward. Even better would have been to introduce an overarching notion of consent for the entirety of sexual offences, according to which sexual consent must have also been prior, informed, unambiguous and specific. Despite the new definition, the renewed sexual offending legislation lacks coherence as regards consent issues. The phrasing of the consent-related constituent element in the various sexual offences is highly variable and at times insufficiently reflects the new consent notion. Hence, the core offences – violation of sexual integrity and rape – remain within the sphere of acting against the will of a victim, while it should have sufficed that, without shifting the burden of proof, there is no indication that the victim has given affirmative consent, not even implicitly or non-verbally.".
• 01GKM09KYTX7YXB2PP9A6ZE250 abstract "Background Higher family affluence is associated with healthier behaviours in adolescents, but the strength of this association varies across countries. Differences in social mobility at the country-level, i.e. the extent to which adolescents develop a different socioeconomic status (SES) than their parents, may partially explain why the association between family affluence and adolescent health behaviours is stronger in some countries than in others. Methods Using data from adolescents aged 11-15 years from 32 different countries, participating in the 2017/2018 wave of the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study (N = 185,086), we employed multilevel regression models with cross-level interactions to examine whether country-level social mobility moderates the association between family affluence and adolescent health behaviours (i.e. moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, vigorous physical activity, healthy foods consumed, unhealthy foods consumed, having breakfast regularly, weekly smoking). Results Higher family affluence was more strongly associated with higher levels of physical activity in countries characterized by high levels of social mobility (cross-level interaction linear regression coefficient 0.34; 95% CI 0.08 to 0.60; p = 0.009 for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and 0.31; 0.11 to 0.50; p = 0.002 for vigorous physical activity). No cross-level interactions were found for any of the other health behaviours. Conclusions Our findings suggest that differences in social mobility at the country-level may contribute to cross-national variations in socioeconomic inequalities in adolescent physical activity. Further research can shed light on the mechanisms linking country-level social mobility to inequalities in adolescent physical activity to identify targets for policy and interventions. Key messages • This is one of the first studies to investigate country-level social mobility in relation to health equity. Inequalities in adolescent physical activity were steeper in socially mobile countries. • Stronger efforts to engage adolescents from low-affluent families in physical activity may be necessary in countries characterized by high levels of social mobility.".
• 01GKM0D7HRAPGC7VSB0NT44BHF abstract "More than ever in the past, climate change and the transition to carbon neutrality are at the center of many countries´ policies and research programmes. The building sector plays a crucial role in achieving these goals, considering the carbon emissions attributed to buildings’ construction and operation, and its potential for better energy performance. At the same time the COVID-19 crisis has emphasized the need to improve indoor air quality (IAQ) and ventilation in our buildings to reduce the risks of airborne virus transmission. All these challenges require a transformation of the existing building stock that at the same time achieves better IAQ and lowers environmental impact. In 2022 the Air Infiltration and Ventilation Centre organizes its first international conference since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore the conference organizers want to pay specific attention to the role of ventilation and infiltration in building decarbonization, and improvement of indoor air quality including epidemic preparedness. How can design, construction and renovation practices, innovative and digital technologies help in today’s challenges? This is the context defining the core theme of the joint 42nd AIVC, 10th TightVent and 8th venticool Conference: “Ventilation Challenges in a Changing World”. Within".
• 01GKM0FVBPAMSYC57XRXAR11K0 abstract "This research analyses the nature of online peer support for non-offending pedophiles and assesses its functions and effects by performing a qualitative content analysis of forum posts within different peer support groups. Despite the majority of participants on the websites being non-offending pedophiles, a minority reports hands-on and CSAM behaviour. This study shows that the studied websites offer both positive and negative effects. On the one hand, exchanging advice and coping mechanisms, emotional expression and building relationships enhance individuals’ general wellbeing and may serve as a protective factor against offending. On the other hand, frustrations may possibly lead to developing a more hostile position towards the outside world. A normative attitude towards sexual behaviour involving children may lead to internalising these views and create a deviant subculture. The findings also reveal different subcultures among non-offending pedophiles in online peer support groups. Further research into these different subcultures is recommended. Solely qualitative methods may be insufficient and are preferably combined with quantitative research.".
• 01GKM0WMB8WP03JFY3V3P0AVJF abstract "Virtual child pornography has been on the rise for several years, while it remains unclear to whom such material is attractive. This research investigates any overlap between watchers of animated adult pornography and of virtual child pornography. It also examines (opinions on) the reasons for consuming virtual child pornography, including how this varies for (non-)realistic virtual pornography and (non-)paedophiles. The mixed methods study consists of an online survey and a focus group with non-offending paedophiles. Results show similarities between the two types of animated pornography. There appears to be an overlap between those who have watched animated adult pornography and those who have watched virtual child pornography. Watching either types of animated pornography is associated with a higher chance of being attracted to real or fictional minors, though these associations are stronger in the case of virtual child pornography. Reasons for watching virtual child pornography encompassed a whole range of reasons, ranging from an aesthetic preference for animated (child) pornography, to it filling a therapeutic function. The latter reason partly explains the more positive opinion of paedophiles on the phenomenon compared to non-paedophiles.".
• 01GKM1BD1NSCVTDFE2K79MZXR8 abstract "As Belgium is flaunting its new legislation in sexual penal law, placing consent at the centre of sexual crimes, several European countries have also felt the need to reform. More and more countries are making a switch from the coercion model to the consent model, under the influence of both the Treaty of Istanbul and the #MeToo movement. There is, however, not one single definition of consent. It entails many variables, from ‘no means no’ to the other end of the spectrum with ‘yes means yes’. As Belgium has moved towards a middle ground, the legislation of several European countries is studied and compared using the notion of consent within the offences of rape and sexual assault. Research shows that, while France is not up for a change and Germany is only taking its first steps towards a consent model, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden are introducing more resolute changes, challenging the borders of the ‘yes means yes’-vision. Valuable lessons can be drawn from the evaluation of these changes, which could be implemented in the future.".
• 01GKM1NCA5D5DARS8K8W4WVPVT abstract "Staggering prevalence figures reveal the presence of sexual harassment among Flemish youth. Shrugging this behaviour off facilitates a culture of normalisation. When looking for the origin of this normalisation culture, researchers have come across heteronormative gender roles that can be framed in the traditional heterosexual script. The aim of this research is to uncover the role that sexual scripts play in experiencing and interpreting physical sexual harassment. By conducting 14 semi-structured in-depth interviews, the sexual scripts and perceptions of physical sexual harassment among Flemish youngsters were questioned. Results showed that most of the adolescents had internalised a mixed script that contained both elements of the traditional script as well as more modern, egalitarian scripts. There are however still strong indicators for the presence of traditional courtship strategies and the sexual double standard. Adolescents and their environment who internalised a traditional script, were more likely to normalise physical sexual harassment than youngsters with mixed scripts. However, sexual harassment at parties seems to be universally normalised to the point at least half of the girls interviewed felt unsafe. Further research needs to be conducted on this phenomenon and the ways sexual scripts can be influenced to create a shift towards more egalitarian scripts.".
• 01GKM2PW8NZF04QP9TCNR32HFH abstract "MotivationCountries of Africa have, through the Maputo and Malabo declarations and the companion Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP) committed to increased public investment in agriculture. If implemented, this should contribute substantially to realizing several development goals, including reduction of poverty and hunger and making rural populations more resilient to climate change. PurposeHow much would implementation of National Agriculture Investment Plans (NAIPs) formulated within CAADP help achieve the aims of the Sustainable Development Goals, Agenda 2063, and the Malabo Declaration-namely, to boost agricultural growth, eradicate hunger, and reduce poverty and inequality? Methods and approachWe use data from Cote d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, and Rwanda compiled in a Social Accounting Matrix. We run Computable General Equilibrium models with microeconomic models for each country to simulate the potential effect of implementation of the NAIPs. Three different methods to finance increased spending on agriculture are simulated: one that reallocates public expenditure with no overall increase in spending; a second that finances extra spending by more taxes; and one that relies on external funding to increase total spending. FindingsResults show that agriculture-led investment would significantly increase agricultural growth, raise farm productivity, reduce dependency on food imports, improve incomes of food producers, and cut poverty. In most countries, increased investment in agriculture does more to boost growth, create jobs, and cut poverty than investments in industry or services. Raising overall public spending to allow more agricultural investment is far more effective than shifting spending within a fixed budget. Policy implicationsFor the six countries modelled, an agriculture-led investment strategy appears the best way to eradicate hunger and reduce poverty and inequality while building resilience of rural households.".
• 01GKM430C2DGGZ4H6Y4Q5HF1GV abstract "Calcium Silicate fire protection boards can be used to construct fireproof ductwork for smoke extraction and/or HVAC services. In this paper, the airtightness of the duct system is evaluated. Air leakage tests are performed on smaller duct samples as well as a larger duct network. Using identical smaller duct samples, the repeatability of the building methodology is evaluated. Multiple samples with varying parameters are built, allowing us to evaluate the impact of ductwork size, board thickness and building methodology. The main leakage points are identified and related to the building methodology. Measurements on the larger duct network result in a reliable air leakage value for in-situ built ductworks. On average, an ATC leakage class 4 is obtained, which is in line with recent literature values for classical metallic ductwork.".
• 01GKM4KQ41BB15GAB5S1DR6VQ5 abstract "The textualization of literary works with an oral background such as the Homeric epics or the New Testament has come under renewed attention in recent years, but much less attention has been paid to non-literary sources. This contribu-tion focuses on the corpus of women’s letters from Egypt and suggests that the notion of “framing” is central to our un-derstanding of textualization practices. It argues for a complex, “multi-modal” understanding of the notion, making a division between linguistic and typographic framing, and relating framing features to three different levels of analysis. Proposing that the letters can be placed on a continuum ranging from maximal to minimal “discourse planning,” the chapter suggests that this is related to the social context of writing and acts as a communicative strategy, rather than see-ing it as a direct reflection of the degree of literacy of the female writers involved.".
• 01GKM5S8DF81YDTAGRXSY05N7A abstract "This introductory chapter stresses the importance of studying the social dimensions of writing in antiquity. Scholars working within a number of papyrological and epigraphical paradigms—whether materially, spatially, or linguistically oriented—have made the same point, but so far little attention has been paid to what modern-day communication the-ory has to say. This introduction argues for the relevance of one such framework in particular, social semiotics, which provides key insights towards the sorts of meaning that can be created in social contexts, and how meaning can be mapped to form. Rather than viewing social semiotics as theory that should be strictly adhered to, the argument is that the confrontation with historical data may lead to new questions and methods, thus stimulating the development of a historical social-semiotic approach. Following an outline of the contents of the volume, key challenges for future re-search are identified.".
• 01GKMC2R6YE5P50W210DJFJFE4 abstract "Previous scholarship has observed that the occurrence of µέν without a corresponding δέ (so-called µέν solitarium) is not an uncommon phenomenon in Post-classical Greek, including non-literary papyri. It has been suggested that such instances are best captured by considering them “elliptically antithetical” (“prospective”). In this contribution, I show that when it comes to the papyri, µέν can be found in other contexts, too. I explain the relatively frequent appearance of µέν solitarium by relating it to the semantic and syntactic extension of the µέν ... δέ construction in the Post-classical period. I conclude by drawing attention to the importance of taking into account social context when describing such a grammatical feature.".
• 01GKMDMMM1TWP16JKQ8Z7C5BWF abstract "There are a huge number of bolted joints used in engineering applications. However, unreasonable design and use may lead to degradation and failure of the connected structure. Herein, finite element analysis method is used to investigate the influence of various factors on the mechanical properties of bolted joints. To simulate the actual assembly and loading process, different analysis steps were considered, given as: tightening step, initial lose step and the loading step. In the loading step, transverse load is applied to obtain the force-displacement curve. Structural parameters, i.e. clamping force, effective clamp length and assembly clearance, and co-efficients of friction of all the contact surfaces are considered in the finite element analysis. The results showed that the performance of the bolted joint under transverse loading exhibits different stages, and this agrees well with the results of our previous experimental results. Through the analysis of the force-displacement curves, the characterization parameters for the mechanical properties of the bolted joint can be extracted, such as curve form, tangential stiffness, slip distance, transverse load threshold, etc. The characterization and evaluation of the mechanical properties integrates the process from design to service, which helps to provide reference for the reliability design and performance improvement of bolted joints.".
• 01GKMHTQTQYCXZRXSWC3C3VR0T abstract "Aims. There exists some consensus that the stellar mass surface density (Sigma(star)) and molecular gas mass surface density (Sigma(mol)) are the main quantities responsible for locally setting the star formation rate. This regulation is inferred from locally resolved scaling relations between these two quantities and the star formation rate surface density (Sigma(SFR)), which have been extensively studied in a wide variety of works. However, the universality of these relations is debated. Here, we probe the interplay between these three quantities across different galactic environments at a spatial resolution of 150 pc. Methods. We performed a hierarchical Bayesian linear regression to find the best set of parameters C-star, C-mol, and C-norm that describe the star-forming plane conformed by Sigma(star), Sigma(mol), and Sigma(SFR), such that log Sigma(SFR) = C-star log Sigma(star) + C-mol log Sigma(mol) + C-norm. We also explored variations in the determined parameters across galactic environments, focusing our analysis on the C-star and C-mol slopes. Results. We find signs of variations in the posterior distributions of C-star and C-mol across different galactic environments. The dependence of Sigma(SFR) on Sigma(star) spans a wide range of slopes, with negative and positive values, while the dependence of Sigma(SFR) on Sigma(mol) is always positive. Bars show the most negative value of C-star (-0.41), which is a sign of longer depletion times, while spiral arms show the highest C-star among all environments (0.45). Variations in C-mol also exist, although they are more subtle than those found for C-star. Conclusions. We conclude that systematic variations in the interplay of Sigma(star), Sigma(mol), and Sigma(SFR) across different galactic environments exist at a spatial resolution of 150 pc, and we interpret these variations to be produced by an additional mechanism regulating the formation of stars that is not captured by either Sigma(star) or Sigma(mol). Studying environmental variations in single galaxies, we find that these variations correlate with changes in the star formation efficiency across environments, which could be linked to the dynamical state of the gas that prevents it from collapsing and forming stars, or to changes in the molecular gas fraction.".
• 01GKMJ146JGJHK3DKCR5YM2JBX abstract "We present the CO isotopologue Line Atlas within the Whirpool galaxy Survey (CLAWS), which is based on an LRAM 30 m large programme that provides a benchmark study of numerous faint CO isotopologues in the millimetre-wavelength regime across the full disc of the nearby grand-design spiral galaxy M 51 (NGC 5194). The survey's core goal is to use the low-J CO isotopologue lines to constrain CO excitation and chemistry, and therefrom the local physical conditions of the gas. In this survey paper, we describe the CLAWS observing and data reduction strategies. We map the J = 1 -> 0 and 2 -> 1 transitions of the CO isotopologues (CO)-C-12, (CO)-C-13, (CO)-O-18, and (CO)-O-17, as well as several supplementary lines within the 1 mm and 3 mm window (CN (1-0), CS (2-1), CH3OH (2-1), N2H+ (1-0), and HC3N (10-9)) at similar to 1 kpc resolution. A total observation time of 149 h offers unprecedented sensitivity. We use these data to explore several CO isotopologue line ratios in detail, study their radial (and azimuthal) trends, and investigate whether changes in line ratios stem from changes in interstellar medium properties such as gas temperatures, densities, or chemical abundances. For example, we find negative radial trends for the (CO)-C-13/(CO)-C-12, (CO)-O-18/(CO)-C-12, and (CO)-O-18/(CO)-C-13 line ratios in their J = 1 -> 0 transitions. We also find variations with the local environment, such as higher (CO)-C-12(2-1)/(1-0) or (CO)-C-13/(CO)-C-12 (1-0) line ratios in interarm regions compared to spiral arm regions. We propose that these aforementioned variations in CO line ratios are most likely due to a variation in the optical depth, though abundance variations due to selective nucleosynthesis on a galaxy-wide scale could also play a role. We also study the CO spectral line energy distribution (SLED) using archival JCMT (CO)-C-12 (3-2) data and find a variation in the SLED shape with local environmental parameters, suggesting changes in the optical depth, gas temperatures, or densities.".
• 01GKMJ3TJCG8WQN2C8ZAN04N9Q abstract "We present a rich, multiwavelength, multiscale database built around the PHANGS-ALMA CO (2 - 1) survey and ancillary data. We use this database to present the distributions of molecular cloud populations and subgalactic environments in 80 PHANGS galaxies, to characterize the relationship between population-averaged cloud properties and host galaxy properties, and to assess key timescales relevant to molecular cloud evolution and star formation. We show that PHANGS probes a wide range of kpc-scale gas, stellar, and star formation rate (SFR) surface densities, as well as orbital velocities and shear. The population-averaged cloud properties in each aperture correlate strongly with both local environmental properties and host galaxy global properties. Leveraging a variable selection analysis, we find that the kpc-scale surface densities of molecular gas and SFR tend to possess the most predictive power for the population-averaged cloud properties. Once their variations are controlled for, galaxy global properties contain little additional information, which implies that the apparent galaxy-to-galaxy variations in cloud populations are likely mediated by kpc-scale environmental conditions. We further estimate a suite of important timescales from our multiwavelength measurements. The cloud-scale freefall time and turbulence crossing time are similar to 5-20 Myr, comparable to previous cloud lifetime estimates. The timescales for orbital motion, shearing, and cloud-cloud collisions are longer, similar to 100 Myr. The molecular gas depletion time is 1-3 Gyr and shows weak to no correlations with the other timescales in our data. We publish our measurements online, and expect them to have broad utility to future studies of molecular clouds and star formation.".
• 01GKMJ5DQM4FM8JVM1KGBZMAZX abstract "It has been suggested that gravitational potential can have a significant role in suppressing star formation in nearby galaxies. To establish observational constraints on this scenario, we investigated the connection between the dynamics - taking the circular velocity curves (CVCs) as a proxy for the inner gravitational potential - and star formation quenching in 215 non-active galaxies across the Hubble sequence from the Calar Alto Legacy Integral Field Area (CALIFA) survey. Our results show that galaxies with similar CVCs tend to have a certain star-formation quenching pattern. To explore these findings in more details, we constructed kiloparsec (kpc) resolved relations of the equivalent width of the H alpha (W-H alpha) versus the amplitude (V-c) and shape (beta = dln V-c/d ln R) of the circular velocity at given radii. We find that the W-H alpha V-c is a declining relationship, where the retired regions of the galaxies (the ones with W-H alpha values of below 3 angstrom) tend to have higher V-c. Concurrently, W-H alpha-beta is a bimodal relationship, which is characterised by two peaks: concentration of the star forming regions at a positive beta (rising CVC) and a second concentration of the retired regions with a negative beta (declining CVC). Our results show that both the amplitude of the CVC - driven by the mass of the galaxies - and its shape - which reflects the internal structure of the galaxies - play an important role in the quenching history of a galaxy.".
• 01GKMJ73ARGR1GFTSCBGXMAFXM abstract "Molecular gas disks are generally Toomre stable (Q ( T ) > 1) and yet clearly gravitationally unstable to structure formation as evidenced by the existence of molecular clouds and ongoing star formation. This paper adopts a 3D perspective to obtain a general picture of instabilities in flattened rotating disks, using the 3D dispersion relation to describe how disks evolve when perturbed over their vertical extents. By explicitly adding a vertical perturbation to an unperturbed equilibrium disk, stability is shown to vary with height above the midplane. Near z = 0, where the equilibrium density is roughly constant, instability takes on a Jeans-like quality, occurring on scales larger than the Jeans length and subject to a threshold Q ( M ) = kappa (2)/(4 pi G rho) = 1 or roughly Q ( T ) approximate to 2. Far from the midplane, on the other hand, stability is pervasive, and the threshold for the total disk (out to z = +/-infinity) to be stabilized is lowered to Q ( T ) = 1 as a consequence. In this new framework, gas disks are able to fragment through partial 3D instability even where total 2D instability is suppressed. The growth rates of the fragments formed via 3D instability are comparable to, or faster than, Toomre instabilities. The rich structure in molecular disks on the scale of tens of parsecs can thus be viewed as a natural consequence of their 3D nature and their exposure to a variety of vertical perturbations acting on roughly a disk scale height, i.e., due to their situation within the more extended galaxy potential, participation in the disk-halo flow, and exposure to star formation feedback.".
• 01GKMJ8Q1DAP5BRHGE8SX8FTSP abstract "The earliest stages of star formation, when young stars are still deeply embedded in their natal clouds, represent a critical phase in the matter cycle between gas clouds and young stellar regions. Until now, the high-resolution infrared observations required for characterizing this heavily obscured phase (during which massive stars have formed, but optical emission is not detected) could only be obtained for a handful of the most nearby galaxies. One of the main hurdles has been the limited angular resolution of the Spitzer Space Telescope. With the revolutionary capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), it is now possible to investigate the matter cycle during the earliest phases of star formation as a function of the galactic environment. In this Letter, we demonstrate this by measuring the duration of the embedded phase of star formation and the implied time over which molecular clouds remain inert in the galaxy NGC 628 at a distance of 9.8 Mpc, demonstrating that the cosmic volume where this measurement can be made has increased by a factor of > 100 compared to Spitzer. We show that young massive stars remain embedded for 5.1(-1.4)(+2.7) Myr (2.3(-1.4)(+2.7) Myr of which being heavily obscured), representing similar to 20% of the total cloud lifetime. These values are in broad agreement with previous measurements in five nearby (D < 3.5 Mpc) galaxies and constitute a proof of concept for the systematic characterization of the early phase of star formation across the nearby galaxy population with the PHANGS-JWST survey.".
• 01GKMJA50WA9DZ0HS7HRDHWTEF abstract " We combine JWST observations with ALMA CO and VLT-MUSE H$\alpha$ data to examine off-spiral arm star formation in the face-on, grand-design spiral galaxy NGC 628. We focus on the northern spiral arm, around a galactocentric radius of 3-4 kpc, and study two spurs. These form an interesting contrast, as one is CO-rich and one CO-poor, and they have a maximum azimuthal offset in MIRI 21$\mu$m and MUSE H$\alpha$ of around 40$^\circ$ (CO-rich) and 55$^\circ$ (CO-poor) from the spiral arm. The star formation rate is higher in the regions of the spurs near to spiral arms, but the star formation efficiency appears relatively constant. Given the spiral pattern speed and rotation curve of this galaxy and assuming material exiting the arms undergoes purely circular motion, these offsets would be reached in 100-150 Myr, significantly longer than the 21$\mu$m and H$\alpha$ star formation timescales (both <10 Myr). The invariance of the star formation efficiency in the spurs versus the spiral arms indicates massive star formation is not only triggered in spiral arms, and cannot simply occur in the arms and then drift away from the wave pattern. These early JWST results show that in-situ star formation likely occurs in the spurs, and that the observed young stars are not simply the `leftovers' of stellar birth in the spiral arms. The excellent physical resolution and sensitivity that JWST can attain in nearby galaxies will well resolve individual star-forming regions and help us to better understand the earliest phases of star formation. ".
• 01GKMJBJPVGVNT8SY5KXDR1YEJ abstract "The first JWST observations of nearby galaxies have unveiled a rich population of bubbles that trace the stellar feedback mechanisms responsible for their creation. Studying these bubbles therefore allows us to chart the interaction between stellar feedback and the interstellar medium, and the larger galactic flows needed to regulate star formation processes globally. We present the first catalog of bubbles in NGC628, visually identified using MIRI F770W PHANGS-JWST observations, and use them to statistically evaluate bubble characteristics. We classify 1694 structures as bubbles with radii between 6-552 pc. Of these, 31% contain at least one smaller bubble at their edge, indicating that previous generations of star formation have a local impact on where new stars form. On large scales, most bubbles lie near a spiral arm, and their radii increase downstream compared to upstream. Furthermore, bubbles are elongated in a similar direction to the spiral arm ridge-line. These azimuthal trends demonstrate that star formation is intimately connected to the spiral arm passage. Finally, the bubble size distribution follows a power-law of index p=−2.2±0.1, which is slightly shallower than the theoretical value by 1-3.5σ that did not include bubble mergers. The fraction of bubbles identified within the shells of larger bubbles suggests that bubble merging is a common process. Our analysis therefore allows us to quantify the number of star-forming regions that are influenced by an earlier generation, and the role feedback processes have in setting the global star formation rate. With the full PHANGS-JWST sample, we can do this for more galaxies.".
• 01GKMJDDBZCSQTK8MYRBAHQBPZ abstract " We present a high-resolution view of bubbles within The Phantom Galaxy (NGC 628); a nearby (~10Mpc), star-forming (~2Msun/yr), face-on (i~9deg) grand-design spiral galaxy. With new data obtained as part of the PHANGS-JWST treasury program, we perform a detailed case-study of two regions of interest, one of which contains the largest and most prominent bubble in the galaxy (The Phantom Void; over 1kpc in diameter), and the other being a smaller region that may be the precursor to such a large bubble (The Precursor Phantom Void). When comparing to matched resolution Halpha observations from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), we see that the ionized gas is brightest in the shells of both bubbles, and is coincident with the youngest (~1Myr) and most massive (~100,000Msun) stellar associations. We also find an older generation (~20Myr) of stellar associations is present within the bubble of The Phantom Void. From our kinematic analysis of the HI, H2 (CO) and HII gas across The Phantom Void, we infer a high expansion speed of around 15 to 50km/s. The large size and high expansion speed of The Phantom Void suggest that the driving mechanism is sustained stellar feedback due to multiple mechanisms, where early feedback first cleared a bubble (as we observe now in The Precursor Phantom Void), and since then SNe have been exploding within the cavity, and have accelerated the shell. Finally, comparison to simulations shows a striking resemblance to our JWST observations, and suggests that such large-scale stellar feedback-driven bubbles should be common within other galaxies. ".

• first
• previous
• next