A document by Jan Philip Wahle. Click on the document to view its contents.

This paper presents CS-Insights, an interactive web application to analyze computer science publications from DBLP through multiple perspectives. The dedicated interfaces allow its users to identify trends in research activity , accessibility, author's productivity, venues, statistics, topics of interest, and the impact of computer science research on other fields. CS-Insights is publicly available, and its modular architecture can be easily adapted to domains other than computer science.

Neural language models such as BERT allow for human-like text paraphrasing. This ability threatens academic integrity, as it aggravates identifying machine-obfuscated plagiarism. We make two contributions to foster the research on detecting these novel machine-paraphrases. First, we provide the first large-scale dataset of documents paraphrased using the Transformer-based models BERT, RoBERTa, and Longformer. The dataset includes paragraphs from scientific papers on arXiv, theses, and Wikipedia articles and their paraphrased counterparts (1.5M paragraphs in total). We show the paraphrased text maintains the semantics of the original source. Second, we benchmark how well neural classification models can distinguish the original and paraphrased text. The dataset and source code of our study are publicly available.

A document by Jan Philip Wahle. Click on the document to view its contents.

The drifting fish eggs are more likely to collide with ships, rocks etc. as they hatch while migrating through the river. For fish resources protection and waterway management, it’s important to clarify the upper threshold of hitting velocity and the effect of the hitting shock on their hatching. Thus, natural spawned and domesticated fish eggs were studied and compared. The effects of hitting objects, hitting velocity and the developmental level of the fish eggs on their hatching was also studied. The developmental stage was the most sensitive factor to hitting shock. Almost 70% of natural spawned semi-buoyant fish eggs can’t hatch successfully when the hitting velocity was 4.4 m s-1 and collided with rock, and this hatching rate was about 10%-30% higher than that of farmed ones at the same conditions. The results are of great significance for the protection of fish resources in the high-velocity rivers.

1. High latitude ecosystems are experiencing the most rapid warming on earth, expected to trigger a diverse array of ecological responses. Climate warming affects the ecophysiology of fish, and fish close to the cold end of their thermal distribution are expected to increase somatic growth from increased temperatures and a prolonged growth season, which in turn affects maturation schedules, reproduction and survival, boosting population growth. Accordingly, fish species living in ecosystems close to their northern range edge should increase in numerical importance and possibly displace cold-water adapted species. 2. We aim to document if and how population level effects of warming mediated by individual level responses to increased temperatures, shift community structure and composition in high latitude ecosystems. 3. We studied 11 cool-water adapted freshwater fish populations in communities dominated by cold-water adapted species to investigate changes in the relative importance of cool-water fish during the last 30 years of rapid warming in high latitude lakes. In addition, we studied the individual level responses to warming to clarify the potential mechanisms underlying the population effects. 4. Our long-term series‘ (1991-2020) reveal a marked increase in numerical importance of the cool-water fish species, perch, in ten out of eleven populations, and in most fish communities the cool-water species is now dominant. Moreover, we show that climate warming affects population level processes via direct and indirect temperature effects on the individuals. Specifically, the increase in abundance arises from increased survival of 0+ individuals, faster juvenile growth and ensuing earlier maturation, all boosted by climate warming. 5. The speed and magnitude of the response to warming in these high latitude fish communities strongly suggest that cold-water fish will be displaced by fish adapted to warmer water. Consequently, management should focus on climate adaptation limiting future introductions and invasions of cool-water fish and mitigating harvesting pressure on cold-water fish.

A simpler and more efficient method for preparing sophorolipids (SLs) facilitates the application of SLs. In this study, a new preparation method for SLs named SLs-WpH was designed firstly: the SLs in fermentation broth were separated by sedimentation in a separatory funnel, then dissolved in distilled water by adjusting the pH to 6-7 and centrifuged to remove the yeast brought in the sedimentation process, and the supernatant was vacuum freeze-dried. Secondly, the purity, composition, and antimicrobial activity of SLs-WpH were compared with the other two types SLs purified by ethanol and ethyl acetate (SLs-EtOH, SLs-EAC) in order to evaluate the feasibility of this preparation process. The purity of SLs-WpH was between that of SLs-EtOH and SLs-EAC and there was no difference in the composition, mainly lactonic SLs by TLC and HPLC analysis. SLs-WpH showed broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against bacteria, fungi and actinomyces. In addition, both the diameter of the inhibition zone (15 to 18 mm) against Staphylococcus aureus and the mycelium inhibition rate (70 to 78%) against Phytophthora infestans were not significantly different among these three types SLs; SLs-WpH had better inhibitory effect against Streptomyces scab and S. bottropensis with MICs of 32 μg mL-1 than the other two types with MICs ≥64 μg mL-1, which is the first reported that SLs had inhibitory activity against actinomyces. The results of this study indicated that the new preparation process of SLs is feasible and SLs have great application potential in the prevention of potato common scabs caused by pathogenic Streptomyces.

Figure S1. (A) LED & PD placement of the fish-shaped waveguide sensor. (B) Sandwiched PDMS structure of the soft waveguide sensor, where opaque and semi-opaque layers are silicone-dyed to enable internal reflection.

Forensic science is all about seeking the truth and justice through a weaved web of minor details. In the status quo, forensic science is almost completely dependent on the microscopic but unique molecules, DNA. Forensic DNA analysis is the key element to the current convictions and exonerations of suspects and identifying victims, accidents and crimes, through collecting evidence and going through presumptive tests, DNA analysis, profiling and going through the justice system.

A document by Ryuhei Jinushi. Click on the document to view its contents.

Chinese people have indicated a high satisfaction level with China’s political system. To explore the factors influencing the high political satisfaction of Chinese citizens, we conducted a regression analysis and a moderating analysis on data from the Social Consciousness Survey completed by professor Ma Deyong. The results show that the Chinese people’s political satisfaction is high (3.49/5). Moreover, the Confucian Political Heritage ideology’s citizen-oriented dimension (β=-0.121***（-4.960),β=-0.121***(-4.960),β==-0.127***(-7.372)), National Accountability ideology’s stability maintenance dimension (β=0.061***（5.998),β=0.061 * * * (5.998),β=0.070***（9.731)), the nation-oriented dimension (β=-0.045*（-1.460),β=-.094***(-3.232),β=-0.064**(-3.047)), and high-level government trust (β=0.409***（8.298),β=0.409* * * (8.298), (β=0.410 * * * (11.832)）are the main factors predicting political satisfaction. The interaction between benevolent government and grassroots government trust (β=0.045*（2.393）) as well as between the citizen-oriented dimension and high-level government trust (β=0.183***（6.562））also significantly predict political satisfaction. Further, the analysis of different income levels shows that the Confucian Political Heritage does not predict political satisfaction among low- and middle-income citizens, but among high income citizens, the benevolent government dimension does predict political satisfaction (β=0.008*(0.450)). These findings confirm the theory of cultural change. Once citizens have gained a certain level of material abundance, they prefer post-modern liberalism and value a harmonious society, leaning toward the traditional Confucian political ideal of a society with Great Harmony. However, notable at all income levels,

Based on a sample of cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As) of Chinese enterprises in different target countries between 2000 and 2021, this paper explores the impact of target corporate social responsibility overinvestment on M&A performance and the moderating effect on the above impact of Chinese government’s two forms of interventions in the process of corporates financing and operating. The results show that target corporate social responsibility overinvestment has a negative effect on M&A performance. Moreover, government interventions in corporates’ financing and operating process negatively moderate the relationship between target corporate social responsibility overinvestment and M&A performance. This research helps government to take different forms of interventions to motivate enterprises to participate in social responsibility and improve performance.

This study provides a comprehensive account of the various types of calcium oxalate crystals found in the genus Baccharis and assesses the exceptional value of crystal macropatterns for the taxonomy of the genus. The morphotype, occurrence and chemical composition of the crystals found in the stems and leaves are studied. The 44 species included in this study were selected based on a broad phylogeny-based sampling covering seven subgenera and 31 sections. These species were chosen to represent all the main phylogenetic lineages of Baccharis; thus, the sampling also represents a comprehensive coverage concerning evolutionary significance for such a large and environmentally and economically important plant group. The samples were analyzed by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Several morphotypes of crystals, including druses, crystal sand, styloids and prisms, were present. Based on their chemical composition, the crystals were classified as pure calcium oxalate, mixtures of oxalates and sulfates, and mixtures of oxalates, sulfates and silica. The crystal macropatterns observed in this study aid in the species identification and provide novel data for the taxonomy of Baccharis.

Fibrous dysplasia of the mandible typically begins during toddler years and culminates during puberty. These lesions may cause jaw disfigurement and may not be amendable to surgery. Imatinib successfully has treated cherubism associated with SH3BP2 mutations, but similar lesions can present in other conditions such as Noonan syndrome. We report diagnosis of Noonan syndrome caused by a PTPN11 activating mutation and successful treatment of the fibrous dysplasia of the mandible with imatinib.

Brassica crops include various edible vegetable and plant oil crops, and their production is limited by low temperature beyond their tolerant capability. The key regulators of low-temperature resistance in Brassica remain largely unexplored. To identify post-transcriptional regulators of plant response to low temperature, we performed small RNA profiling, and found that 16 known miRNAs were responsive to cold treatment in Brassica rapa. The cold response of seven of those miRNAs were further confirmed by qRT-PCR and/or northern blotting analyses. In parallel, a genome-wide association study of 220 accessions of Brassica napus identified four candidate MIRNA genes, all of which were cold-responsive, at the loci associated with low temperature resistance. Specifically, these large-scale data analyses revealed a link between miR1885 and the plant response to low temperature in both B. rapa and B. napus. Using 5′ rapid amplification of cDNA ends approach, we validated that miR1885 can cleave its putative target transcripts, Bn.TIR.A09 and Bn.TNL.A03, in B. napus. Furthermore, overexpression of miR1885 in Semi-winter type B. napus decreased the mRNA abundance of Bn.TIR.A09 and Bn.TNL.A03, resulting in increased sensitivity to low temperature. Knocking down of miR1885 in Spring type B. napus led to increased mRNA abundance of its targets and improved rapeseed tolerance to low temperature. Together, our results suggested that the loci of miR1885 and its targets could be potential candidates for the molecular breeding of low temperature-tolerant Spring type Brassica crops.

A document by .. Click on the document to view its contents.

The phenomenon of a doctor unknowingly killing a patient due to sociopathic traits is a serious issue that has been reported in the medical field. A sociopath is a person who has a personality disorder characterized by a lack of empathy and remorse, and a tendency to manipulate and exploit others. These traits can be difficult to detect, and a doctor who is unaware of them may unknowingly harm patients. One example of this phenomenon occurred in the case of Dr. Harold Shipman, a British GP who was convicted of murdering 15 of his patients. It was later discovered that he had a history of sociopathic behavior and had been exploiting his position of trust as a doctor to kill his patients. Another example is Dr. Michael Swango, an American physician who was convicted of poisoning several of his patients. He too was found to have sociopathic tendencies and had been using his position as a doctor to harm others. It is important for medical professionals and institutions to be aware of the possibility of sociopathic doctors and to have systems in place to detect and prevent this type of behavior. This includes thorough background checks, regular evaluations of doctors' performance, and encouraging colleagues to report any suspicious behavior. It is also important for the patients to be vigilant and to report any unusual behavior by their doctors. Patients should also seek a second opinion if they have any doubts about the diagnosis or treatment they are receiving. The unimaginable but real danger of a doctor unknowingly killing a patient due to his/her sociopathic traits is a serious issue that can have devastating consequences. It is important for medical professionals and institutions to be aware of this possibility and to have systems in place to detect and prevent this type of behavior.

Objective: To compare intravenous ferric carboxymaltose, intravenous ferric derisomaltose and oral ferrous sulphate for treatment of postpartum anemia. Design: Single-center, open-label, randomized trial. Setting: Tertiary perinatal center. Population: Three-hundred women with postpartum anemia (hemoglobin < 100 g/L within 48-hours postpartum) were included between September 2020 and March 2022. Methods: Women were randomly allocated to receive intravenous ferric carboxymaltose, intravenous ferric derisomaltose or oral ferrous sulphate. Intravenous iron was given in one or two doses, while ferrous sulphate as two 80 mg tablets once daily. Main outcome measures: Primary outcome was maternal fatigue measured by Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI) six weeks postpartum. Hemoglobin, ferritin and transferrin saturation levels were analyzed as secondary outcomes. Kruskal-Wallis test was used for group comparison (p<0.05 significant). Results: MFI score at six weeks postpartum did not differ between groups (median 38 (inter-quartile range (IQR) 20-74) in the ferric carboxymaltose, median 34 (IQR 20-70) in the ferric derisomaltose, and median 36 (IQR 20-72) in the ferrous sulphate group; p=0.26). Participants receiving oral iron had lower levels of hemoglobin (135 (119-150) vs 134 (113-157) vs 131 (125-137) g/L; p=0.008), ferritin (273 (198-377) vs 187 (155-246) vs 24 (17-37) µg/L; p<0.001) and transferrin saturation (34 (28–38) vs 30 (23–37) vs 24 (17-37) %; p<0.001) than those receiving ferric carboxymaltose or ferric derisomaltose. Conclusions: Intravenous ferric carboxymaltose, intravenous ferric derisomaltose and oral ferrous sulphate had similar impact on maternal fatigue at six weeks postpartum despite improved hematological laboratory parameters in the intravenous iron groups.

In organic solar cells, the singlet and triplet excitons dissociate into free charge carriers with different mechanisms due to their opposite spin state. Therefore, the ratio of the singlet and triplet excitons directly affects the photocurrent. Many methods were used to optimize the performance of the low-efficiency solar cell by improving the ratio of triplet excitons, which shows a long diffusion length. Here we observed that in high-efficiency systems, the proportion of singlet excitons under linearly polarized light excitation is higher than that of circularly polarized light. Since the singlet charge transfer state has lower binding energy than the triplet state, it makes a significant contribution to the charge carrier generation and enhancement of the photocurrent. Further, the positive magnetic field effect reflects that singlet excitons dissociation plays a major role in the photocurrent, which is opposite to the case of low-efficiency devices where triplet excitons dominate the photocurrent.

A document by Colin Rowell. Click on the document to view its contents.

ABSTRACT Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the world’s third most common type of cancer. Case studies have shown an inverse correlation between serum vitamin D levels and the incidence of human colorectal cancer. This study aims to assess vitamin D levels in patients who underwent colonoscopy for diagnostic colorectal cancer. Methods: This research is a cross-sectional study with subjects in this study were patients who came to the Digestive Surgery polyclinic and underwent a colonoscopy for diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Level of vitamin D was collected before the colonoscopy examination and categorized into three groups, vitamin D with a value of < 20 ng/mL indicate a deficiency, a level of 20 – 30 ng/mL as an insufficiency level, and a value > 30 ng/mL as a sufficient value. A colonoscopy examination was performed to obtain a diagnosis of colorectal cancer based on anatomical pathology examination. Result: Examination of vitamin D levels from 120 subjects showed the average vitamin level was 16.36 ng/mL, which indicates vitamin D deficiency levels. A total of 85 subjects (70.8%) showed vitamin D deficiency, as many as 24 (20%) showed vitamin D insufficiency levels, and only 11 study subjects (9.2%) showed sufficient vitamin D levels. The colonoscopy showed 60 subjects (50%) with colorectal cancer. The relationship between vitamin D levels and the diagnosis of CRC showed a value of p = 0.60 (p > 0.05). Conclusion: There is no significant difference between low levels of Vitamin D and the diagnosis of colorectal cancer patients.

Abstract Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the world’s third most common type of cancer. Data in Indonesia based on GLOBOCAN in 2020 shows CRC in the fourth position with around 35,000 new cases each year. The pathogenesis mechanisms of CRC are complex and heterogeneous, one of which is the involvement of NRAS (Neuroblastoma Rat Sarcoma viral oncogene homolog) mutations which play a role in cell growth regulation, as well as the expression of Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). This study aims to assess the association of subject characteristics and NRAS mutations with HER2 expression in CRC. Methods: This research is a cross-sectional study. There were 58 patients included in this study, they were colorectal cancer patients in the Digestive Surgery division at Dr. Hassan Sadikin Hospital. Examination of NRAS mutations was carried out by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) from fresh tumour tissue obtained from surgery or colonoscopy. Meanwhile, HER2 examination used the Immunohistochemistry (IHC) method of paraffin blocks for anatomical pathology examination. Result: HER2 overexpression was found in 6/58 (10.3%) patients with CRC, and from 8 subjects with NRAS mutations, only 1 subject (1.7%) showed overexpression of HER2. Univariate analysis of HER2 expression showed no significant associations to age, sex, histologic feature, tumor location, and NRAS mutations. A significant association was found between HER2 expression and stadium of the CRC with p=0.001. Conclusion: There is no association between NRAS mutations and HER2 overexpression in colorectal cancer patients.

Island partitioning is a solution to restore service in smart distribution systems after the disconnection of the main grid due to faults. A two-stage and multi-objective solution is presented to restore the services of the island system. At first stage, the proposed partitioning scheme is presented with regards to the available time to decide on control measures, considering the voltage stability and the priority and controllability of the loads in the load shedding, and considering the frequency response and the voltage stability margin in finding the borders of the partitions. In the second stage, optimal power flow is done to set the partitions and satisfy the system operational constraints. The results show the proposed method not only leads to the creation of partitions with the allowable bus voltage and frequency but also leads to the lowest losses, the largest amount of restored load, and supplying loads with the highest values. Moreover, proposed method is more comprehensive due to considering voltage stability, frequency stability, occurrence of simultaneous faults, existence of controllable and uncontrollable distributed generation, power reserve, controllability of loads and DGs, position of switches, maximum time available to make decisions about control measures and the time delay between control measures

Farmers are at high risk for developing adverse health problems due to occupational pesticide exposure. we aimed to compare the frequency of the micronuclear (MN) cellular changes, g binucleated cells (BN), karyorrhexis (KR) and karyolysis (KL) in pesticide exposed farmers and non-exposed individuals. Also, to correlate between the frequency of MN cellular changes and the other nuclear abnormalities with farmers‘ age, their use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and the duration of pesticides exposure. A total of 92 buccal smears were collected from Sudanese farmers (cases: n=50, exposed to pesticides) and non-farm workers (controls: n=42, non-exposed to pesticides). The smears were fixed with 95% ethanol and stained following the standard Feulgen technique., A structured questionnaire was designed to collect demographic data and pesticide exposure related information. 39 (78%) farmers do not use PPE. In addition, there was a significant difference (P< 0.05) in the frequency of Micronucleated cells (MN), Total Micronuclei (TMN), Binucleated cells (BN), Karyorehxsis (KH), and Karyolysis (KL) in the buccal cells of cases and control. The application of pesticide without adopting standard protective measures caused genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in farmers’ buccal cells.