ahmedabdelwahed/Medical_papers_title_and_abstract_NLP_dataset huggingface dataset:
Testing for the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for CO(2)emissions in Ghana: evidence from the bootstrap rolling window Granger causality test

This paper investigates the existence of the Environmental Kuznets Curve for carbon dioxide emissions in Ghana. The causal relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions being examined and the short-run and long-run parameters of the estimated vector autoregressive models are found to be unstable. This necessitated the use of a time-varying approach and the rolling window Granger causality test to investigate the causal relationship between economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions. We find that GDP has a positive effect on carbon dioxide emissions in the sample periods where GDP Granger causes carbon dioxide emissions. Significant feedbacks from the environment to the economy are observed, with carbon dioxide emissions having a positive effect on GDP in most of the subsample periods. The empirical results show that the Environmental Kuznets Curve for carbon dioxide emissions for Ghana is upward sloping, contrary to the standard Environmental Kuznets Curve theory which postulates an inverted "U"-shaped relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation. The implication of the result is that carbon dioxide emissions increase with increases in GDP. The study recommends that existing policies designed to ensure environmental sustainability and hence control carbon dioxide emissions need to be strengthened and enforced to ensure that the rapid urbanization and industrialization of the Ghanaian economy does not come at a cost to the quality of the environment
A Maximum Caliber analysis of the Foldon Hypothesis

Different models of protein folding favor different mechanisms. Some models rely on a defined pathway, while other models rely on a more heterogeneous set of pathways. The Foldon Hypothesis is based on the concept of a defined pathway. According to the Foldon Hypothesis, protein folding is characterized by the stepwise assembly of small, cooperative units called foldons. The Maximum Caliber (Max Cal) method provides an opportunity to test this model. The Max Cal method gives the probabilities for dynamical trajectories, in much the same way that the maximum entropy principle gives the probabilities for equilibrium states. In this study, the Max Cal method was applied to folding data for the protein cytochrome c (cyt c; Hu W, Kan ZY, Mayne L, Englander SW. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016;113:3809-3814). The overall picture to emerge from this analysis is that the data do not require a dominant, defined pathway. The folding of cytochrome c is likely a heterogeneous process that includes multiple pathways.
Modeling tumor plasticity in organoid models of human cancer

Due to its inherent plasticity and heterogeneity, cancer is a difficult disease to model both in vitro and in vivo. However, recent advances in organoid technology hold great promise for future research into the mechanisms underlying tumor plasticity in human cancers.
The Effect of the Covid-19 Lockdown on Air Quality in Three Italian Medium-Sized Cities

Despite the societal and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown measures put in place by the Italian government provided an unprecedented opportunity to increase our knowledge of the effect transportation and industry-related emissions have on the air quality in our cities. This study assessed the effect of reduced emissions during the lockdown period, due to COVID-19, on air quality in three Italian cities, Florence, Pisa, and Lucca. For this study, we compared the concentration of particulate matter PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and O-3 measured during the lockdown period, with values obtained in the same period of 2019. Our results show no evidence of a direct relationship between the lockdown measures implemented and PM reduction in urban centers, except in areas with heavy traffic. Consistent with recently published studies, we did, however, observe a significant decrease in NO2 concentrations among all the air-monitoring stations for each city in this study. Finally, O-3 levels remained unchanged during the lockdown period. Of note, there were slight variations in the meteorological conditions for the same periods of different years. Our results suggest a need for further studies on the impact of vehicular traffic and industrial activities on PM air pollution, including adopting holistic source-control measures for improved air quality in urban environments.
Primary Testicular Lymphoma with Central Nervous System Relapse Was Successfully Treated by a Chemo-Free Regimen: A Case Report and Literature Review

Primary testicular lymphoma (PTL) is a rare malignancy of testis. Although the multimodality treatment (including orchiectomy, systemic chemotherapy, scrotal radiotherapy, and preventive central nervous system (CNS)-targeted treatment) is widely used to treat PTL, recurrence, especially CNS recurrence, occurred frequently. Patients with relapsed PTL have a dismal prognosis and limited treatment options. In this report, we described the case of a 63-year-old man with early-stage PTL. The patient received the multimodality treatment, but CNS relapse occurred 3 months following the front-line therapy. We gave him a combined chemo-free regimen treatment, including rituximab, ibrutinib, and lenalidomide (RIL), based on the tumor's gene mutation profile and the patient's preference. A complete response was achieved after the first cycle of treatment. Whole-brain radiotherapy was delivered as consolidative treatment following three more cycles of RIL. Thereafter, ibrutinib and lenalidomide continued as maintenance treatment. As of the submission of this manuscript, the response has lasted for more than 16 months. Based on the case, we believe chemo-free regimen RIL might be a favorable approach for PTL patients with CNS relapse, especially those frail elderly patients, when alternative treatments are not available.
A new grading system for evaluating China's cultivated land quality

Cultivated land is crucial to food security, social and economic stability, environmental quality, and sustainable urban-rural development in China and around the world. However, most of the current grading systems for evaluating cultivated land quality in China tend to generate homogeneous results and inadequate spatial descriptions mainly due to the use of a composite index method that often fails to recognize the matching relationship between land use needs and the quality of cultivated land. The purpose of this study is to propose a new grading system for evaluating China's cultivated land quality that involves two index systems and a scoring and grading scheme. In the proposed system, cultivated land quality is redefined in terms of production capacity quality and environmental quality, and the minimum limiting factor method and the weighted linear model are coupled for factor scoring and grading. The new system is demonstrated by a case-study in Yimen Town, a loess plateau region in western China's Shaanxi Province. The results of this study clearly indicate that the new grading system is superior to the current system when compared using two methods: the spatial pattern comparison method and the crop performance validation method. The results are also favorable in terms of matching relationships between the subclasses of cultivated land quality versus soil types and landforms. The new grading system not only helps to better understand the cultivated land quality but also provides a clear direction for science-based remediation and amelioration of cultivated land.
Mapping ecosystem services bundles for analyzing spatial trade-offs in inner Mongolia, China

Managing multiple ecosystem services (ESs) to facilitate synergy benefits is a crucial but challenging task for sustainable development, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this paper, the Inner Mongolia was used as a case study to systematically analyze the spatial trade-offs and synergies between 12 ESs consisting of 88 counties using the framework of ecosystem service bundle. We mapped ES distribution and then analyzed the relationships between ESs using Spearman correlation and hotspot/coldspot overlay analysis. In addition, ES bundles were identified using a self-organizing mapping network and the socio-ecological variables that drive the different ESs were explored using redundancy analysis. The results revealed complex spatial interactions between various ESs in Inner Mongolia due to water limitations. ES distribution and ES relationships correlated with gradients in biophysical and socioeconomic factors such as slope, precipitation, temperature, soil properties, and population density, and formed five types of ES bundles. These findings not only promote a clear understanding of the complex relationships among regional ESs, but lay a foundation for exploring win-win management strategies of ecological conservation and social-economic development in arid and semi-arid regions. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Influence of FDI characteristics on high-quality development of China's economy

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) stated: "We should focus on the construction of One Belt and one road, insist on introducing and going out, implement high-level trade and investment liberalization and facilitation policies, and promote the formation of a new pattern of the comprehensive opening." Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), as part of its opening-up, has a direct impact on the quality of China's economic development. This paper studies the impact of FDI quality on the economic development of the provinces in the 30 inland provinces of China, excluding Tibet, from 2007 to 2015. This paper does not find that comprehensive FDI quality has a significant impact on China's high-quality economic development. The further study sample is divided into three texts in the East and West, and found that the export capacity of the eastern provinces of FDI significantly promote high-quality economic development in the region; the technical level of the central provinces of FDI significantly promotes high-quality economic development in the region, but then the actual size of the FDI has a significant inhibitory effect on central provinces.
How does high-speed railway affect green innovation efficiency? A perspective of innovation factor mobility

Growth effects of high-speed railway (HSR) have received increasing attention from scholars. However, little attention has been paid to HSR's effect on green innovation. To bridge this gap, using the difference in differences method, this paper aims to provide insights on how HSR affects green innovation from the perspective of innovation factor mobility, by employing the 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt of China in 2005-2016. The main findings are as follows: (1) Although the effects derived from HSR are heterogeneous, HSR significantly drives green innovation efficiency by 11.3%, which reveals that HSR is a critical variable for understanding the growth of green innovation. (2) This paper presents evidence that HSR promotes the mobility of innovative factors and then contributes to green innovation efficiency, based on which heterogeneity is explored. (3) HSR's effect on green innovation efficiency has a dynamic experience over time and shows an inverted U-shaped curve characterized by "increased first and then decreased," which peaks in the 5th or 6th year. (4) Green innovation growth effects of HSR have spatial proximity: for every 1% increase in distance, the green innovation effect decreases by 0.0061%-0.0124%. A farther distance to an HSR station induces a lower growth effect. (5) This paper concludes with recommendations to improve green innovation through HSR construct and innovative factor mobility.
The psychological role of music and attentional control for religious experiences in worship

This study investigated the psychological dynamics during worship experiences under the influence of different music conditions. In total, 60 believers were recruited to participate in experiments where they were asked to engage in worship and to connect with God while continuously ranking how strongly they sensed the presence of the divine. After each condition, they were asked to rate how well they were able to focus on God during the worship procedure. Based on a previously published Feedback Loop Model that portrays global psychological mechanisms in worship, we deduced two hypotheses: (1) the ability to focus on God is positively associated with how strong the subjective religious experience becomes, and (2) the different musical conditions yield varying degrees in the intensity of the felt presence of God. Our statistical analyses on the current sample demonstrate that both alternative hypotheses can be accepted. For the latter thesis, two further assumptions were at play: (1) we speculated that religious worship songs were associated with stronger divine experiences than with secular ones, and (2) it was assumed that if they could worship to their own selection of songs, the experience would be more powerful than with the ones that were provided by the research team. Whereas upon our investigation the former assumption can be deemed correct, the latter shows a positive but insignificant association.
Remanufacturing for the circular economy: Study and evaluation of critical factors

Remanufacturing is the vital component of the circular economy, which helps in harnessing the environmental, economic, and social benefits by extending the life cycle of end-of-life and end-of-use items. Remanufacturing is being practiced successfully in the developed states like the USA, UK, and Germany for various products while developing nations such as India, Brazil, and China are attempting to begin the remanufacturing on an enormous scale. This paper intends to identify and evaluate the critical factors which possess a significant influence on the remanufacturing. Authors have employed fuzzy DEMATEL method to establish the causal relationship among the critical factors and to determine the degree of importance of a factor. The results reveal that design for the manufacturing, collection strategy, management prescience, and purchase intention are the top factors which impact the remanufacturing most. Moreover, government policies, technology, sorting policies, and identity of the remanufacturer also possess a notable influence on the remanufacturing. It is also observed that design for remanufacturing and government regulations show the maximum number of relationships with other factors while inventory control and scheduling do not exhibit any relationships. Further, this paper provides valuable insights to the decision makers so that a firm may spearhead the remanufacturing business to maintain the circularity in the economy.
Energy, exergy, environmental and economic comparison of various solar thermal systems using water and Thermia Oil B base fluids, and CuO and Al2O3 nanofluids

Recently, the use of solar thermal collectors has increased significantly. In the present work, energy, exergy, enviroeconomic and exergoeconomic analyses of various solar thermal collectors are investigated. These solar thermal collectors include flat-plate solar collector, linear Fresnel solar reflector, parabolic trough solar collector and solar parabolic dish collector. To examine the performance of these solar collectors two different working fluids, i.e. water and Thermia Oil B are considered. Furthermore, evaluation of the performance of solar collectors using nanofluids consisting of Al2O3 and CuO nanoparticles is presented. Also, in this paper, parameters such as exergy destruction rate, entropy generation rate, Sustainability index and Levelized Cost of Electricity for solar collectors are discussed. The performance of solar collectors in two different cities located in Iran (Tehran and Tabriz) is discussed for two different days (a winter day (2-Feb) and a summer day (14-Jun)). MATLAB software is used for mathematical modeling of solar thermal collectors. The results revealed that, the best and weakest performance from energy and energy points of view in all cases are related to the dish collector and flat-plate collector, respectively. Furthermore, the obtained results of the use of nanofluids as well as economic analysis may present new insights to the operation and development of such solar thermal systems. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Assessing the energy dynamics of Pakistan: Prospects of biomass energy

The energy needs of Pakistan have increased many folds in recent years due to improved lifestyle, ever-increasing population, and economic development. Biomass energy has emerged as a promising renewable energy source and has an enormous potential to fulfill the energy requirements of the country. This paper aims to assess the current situation and future projections of electricity generation by using biomass energy resources. For this purpose, we critically reviewed extensive literature i.e., research papers, energy reports, official statistical data, relevant regulations, and government policies. Research findings reveal that the abundant biomass resources of the country include fuelwood, agricultural residues, animal dung, and municipal solid waste. 48% of the domestic energy needs are being fulfilled from fuelwood, while another 32% by crop and animal residues. 85 sugar industries of the country produce enough bagasse to generate 5800 GWh of electricity. Corn stalk, sugarcane trash, rice straw, wheat straw, and cotton stalks are the major crop residues having a production of 6.43, 8.94, 17.86, 35.6, and 50.6 Mt, respectively. The power generation potential from animal dung is 4800-5600 MW. Similarly, the electricity generation potential of municipal solid waste by thermochemical and biochemical conversion is 560 kWh/t and 220 kWh/t, respectively. As envisioned by the Pakistani government to enhance the share of renewables in the total energy mix of the country from 1.1% to 5% by 2030, biomass energy has high prospects to achieve this target. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
A techno-economic sizing method for grid-connected household photovoltaic battery systems

Battery storage provides an effective solution to alleviate the burden of the intermittent photovoltaic production on the grid and increase photovoltaic penetration in residential houses. Despite several existing work dedicated to the evaluation of photovoltaic battery system, the research on system sizing and operation strategy of the household system still has substantial areas to be explored such as techno-economic analysis under different electricity tariffs and comprehensive parametric analyses. In this paper, the mathematical model of a photovoltaic battery system is developed to investigate system performance, based on the various economic and technical indicators. This study demonstrates that the integration of battery energy storage could increase the value of self-consumption and self-sufficiency rates while making payback period longer. Substantial photovoltaic battery systems have been simulated under practical dynamic electricity tariffs in a typical electricity market. Eight cases with different technical performances from the recommended reference combinations are compared and studied in detail. The energy flows among photovoltaic, battery bank, grid and household user are discussed, revealing that systems with high self-sufficiency rate lead to more schedulable photovoltaic production, sold electricity and lower battery usage rate than those with high self-consumption rate. Besides, the entire lifecycle economic analysis indicates that a higher self-sufficiency rate refers to higher initial investment but shorter payback period and larger profit. The revenues breakdown of the cases shows that subsidies have a significant impact, especially for cases with high self-sufficiency rate. The levelized cost of electricity of photovoltaic and photovoltaic battery systems ranges from 0.373 to 0.628 CNY/kWh, demonstrating the possibility of partial grid parity under the current situation in Shanghai.
Industry 4.0 and circular economy: Operational excellence for sustainable reverse supply chain performance

The present research proposes a roadmap to the excellence of operations for sustainable reverse supply chain/logistics by the joint implementation of principles of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) and ReSOLVE model of circular economy (CE) approaches. The connection between I4.0 and CE is unveiled by addressing the case-based model affecting the economic and environmental performances imparting two important dimensions: (i) the information sharing with the reverse logistics system is in real-time mode, and (ii) diffusion of green product in the market. The effectiveness of the virtual world in I4.0 environment is explored using simulation of reverse logistics model involving operations such as inventory and production planning policy, family-based dispatching rules of remanufacturing, and additive manufacturing. The remanufacturing model examines the trade-off between set-up delays and the availability of green transportation. For managerial insights, Taguchi experimental design framework has been used for the analysis. Based on the trade-off analysis between environmental and economic performances, the findings of the paper suggest appropriate combinations of information-sharing and family-based dispatching rules. Further, the findings suggest that, given the I4.0 and circular capabilities, it is necessary to focus on the cost of the socially influenced operations involving factors such as collection investment and size of the end-user market that governs the product returns. Therefore, in the present paper, the integration of I4.0 and CE represents a real-time decision model for the sustainable reverse logistics system.
Maternal Signatures of Cortisol in First Trimester Small-for-Gestational Age

The objective of this study was to identify predictable maternal serum signatures of cortisol metabolism during the first trimester of women who are expected to deliver small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates. This prospective cohort study included 112 pregnant women (with and without SGA, n = 56 each). Maternal serum samples were collected at 10-14 gestational weeks to quantify the levels of cortisol and its precursors and metabolites by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Increased maternal serum levels of tetrahydrocortisol (11.82 ± 8.16 ng/mL vs. 7.51 ± 2.90 ng/mL, P < 0.005) and decreased 21-deoxycortisol (2.98 ± 1.36 ng/mL vs. 4.33 ± 2.06 ng/mL, P < 0.0001) were observed in pregnant women carrying SGA fetus. In conjunction with individual steroid levels, metabolic ratios corresponding to the activity of related enzymes were calculated. In addition to increased tetrahydrocortisol/cortisol ratio (P < 0.006), the SGA group showed a significant increase in the two metabolic ratios including cortisol/11-deoxycortisol (P < 0.03) and cortisol/21-deoxycortisol (P < 0.0003). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve generated in combination with three variables of 21-deoxycortisol concentration and two metabolic ratios of cortisol/21-deoxycortisol and tetrahydrocortisol/cortisol resulted in an area under the ROC curve = 0.824 (95% confidence interval, 0.713-0.918). A significant decrease in maternal serum levels of 21-deoxycortisol and an increase in two metabolic ratios of cortisol/21-deoxycortisol and tetrahydrocortisol/cortisol, indicating cortisol biosynthetic rate, represent potential biomarkers for the prediction of SGA in the first trimester.