bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of NEWS2 response thresholds in a retrospective observational study from a UK acute hospital
Authors: Pankhurst Tanya , Sapey Elizabeth , Gyves Helen , Evison Felicity , Gallier Suzy , Gkoutos George , Ball Simon
Published: February 2022

Objective

Use of National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2) has been mandated in adults admitted to acute hospitals in England. Urgent clinical review is recommended at NEWS2 ≥5. This policy is recognised as requiring ongoing evaluation. We assessed NEWS2 acquisition, alerting at key thresholds and patient outcomes, to understand how response recommendations would affect clinical resource allocation.

Setting

Adult acute hospital in England.

Design

Retrospective observational cohort study.

Participants

100 362 consecutive admissions between November 2018 and July 2019.

Outcome

Death or admission to intensive care unit within 24 hours of a score.

Methods

NEWS2 were assembled as single scores from consecutive 24-hour time frames, (the first NEWS2 termed ‘Index-NEWS2’), or as all scores from the admission (termed All-NEWS2). Scores were excluded when a patient was in intensive care, in the presence of a decision not to attempt cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or on day 1 of elective admission.

Results

A mean of 4.5 NEWS2 were acquired per patient per day. The outcome rate following an Index-NEWS2 was 0.22/100 patient-days. The sensitivity of outcome prediction at Index-NEWS2 ≥5=0.46, and number needed to evaluate (NNE)=52. At this threshold, a mean of 37.6 alerts/100 patient-days would be generated, occurring in 12.3% of patients on any single day. Threshold changes to increase sensitivity by 0.1, would result in a twofold increase in alert rate and 1.5-fold increase in NNE. Overall, NEWS2 classification performance was significantly worse on Index-scores than All-scores (c-statistic=0.78 vs 0.85; p<0.001).

Conclusions

The combination of low event-rate, high alert-rate and low sensitivity, in patients for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, means that at current NEWS2 thresholds, resource demand would be sufficient to meaningfully compete with other pathways to clinical evaluation. In analyses that epitomise in-patient screening, NEWS2 performance suggests a need for re-evaluation of current response recommendations in this population.
Observational retrospective study calculating health service costs of patients receiving surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis in England, using linked patient-level primary and secondary care electronic data
Authors: Clarke Caroline S , Williamson Elizabeth , Denaxas Spiros , Carpenter James R , Thomas Mike , Blackshaw Helen , Schilder Anne G M , Philpott Carl M , Hopkins Claire , Morris Stephen
Published: February 2022

Objectives

Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) symptoms are experienced by an estimated 11% of UK adults, and symptoms have major impacts on quality of life. Data from UK and elsewhere suggest high economic burden of CRS, but detailed cost information and economic analyses regarding surgical pathway are lacking. This paper estimates healthcare costs for patients receiving surgery for CRS in England.

Design

Observational retrospective study examining cost of healthcare of patients receiving CRS surgery.

Setting

Linked electronic health records from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink, Hospital Episode Statistics and Office for National Statistics databases in England.

Participants

A phenotyping algorithm using medical ontology terms identified ‘definite’ CRS cases who received CRS surgery. Patients were registered with a general practice in England. Data covered the period 1997–2016. A cohort of 13 462 patients had received surgery for CRS, with 9056 (67%) having confirmed nasal polyps.

Outcome measures

Information was extracted on numbers and types of primary care prescriptions and consultations, and inpatient and outpatient hospital investigations and procedures. Resource use was costed using published sources.

Results

Total National Health Service costs in CRS surgery patients were £2173 over 1 year including surgery. Total costs per person-quarter were £1983 in the quarter containing surgery, mostly comprising surgical inpatient care costs (£1902), and around £60 per person-quarter in the 2 years before and after surgery, of which half were outpatient costs. Outpatient and primary care costs were low compared with the peak in inpatient costs at surgery. The highest outpatient expenditure was on CT scans, peaking in the quarter preceding surgery.

Conclusions

We present the first study of costs to the English healthcare system for patients receiving surgery for CRS. The total aggregate costs provide a further impetus for trials to evaluate the relative benefit of surgical intervention.
Exploring digital health interventions for pregnant women at high risk for pre-eclampsia and eclampsia in low-income and-middle-income countries: a scoping review
Authors: Shahil Feroz Anam , Afzal Noreen , Seto Emily
Published: February 2022

Objective

To explore digital health interventions that have been used to support pregnant women at high risk for pre-eclampsia/eclampsia (HRPE/E) in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Design

Scoping review.

Data source

EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and CINAHL were searched between 1 January 2000 and 20 October 2020.

Eligibility criteria

The review included original research studies that were published in English, involved pregnant women at HRPE/E and implemented digital health interventions for PE/E in LMICs.

Data extraction and synthesis

Two reviewers independently completed the data extraction for each of the 19 final articles. An inductive approach was used to thematically organise and summarise the results from the included articles.

Results

A total of 19 publications describing 7 unique studies and 9 different digital health interventions were included. Most studies were conducted in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (n=16). Of nine unique digital health interventions, two served the purpose of predicting risk for adverse maternal health outcomes while seven focused on monitoring high-risk pregnant women for PE/E. Both of these purposes used mobile phone applications as interface to facilitate data collection, decision making, and communication between health workers and pregnant women. The review identified key functions of interventions including data collection, prediction of adverse maternal outcomes, integrated diagnostic and clinical decision support, and personal health tracking. The review reported three major outcomes: maternal health outcomes including maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality (n=4); usability and acceptability including ease-of-use, and perceived usefulness, (n=5); and intervention feasibility and fidelity including accuracy of device, and intervention implementation (n=7).

Conclusion

Although the current evidence base shows some potential for the use of digital health interventions for PE/E, more prospective experimental and longitudinal studies are needed prior to recommending the use of digital health interventions for PE/E.
Timing of convalescent plasma administration and 28-day mortality in COVID-19 pneumonia
Authors: González Soledad E , Regairaz Lorena , Salazar Martin R , Ferrando Noelia S , González Martínez Verónica V , Carrera Ramos Patricia M , Pesci Santiago A , Vidal Juan M , Kreplak Nicolás , Estenssoro Elisa
Published: February 2022

This is a multicenter cohort study including consecutive, hospitalized patients ≥18 years, with moderate to severe COVID-19, carried out to evaluate the relationship between the timing of convalescent plasma administration and 28-day mortality. Data were prospectively collected between May 14, 2020 and October 31, 2020. Patients were grouped according to the timing of administration of convalescent plasma as <3 days, between 3 and 7 days, and >7 days. The main outcome variable was 28-day mortality. Independent predictors of mortality were identified by logistic regression. Of 4719 patients receiving convalescent plasma, 3036 (64.3%) were in the general ward, 1171 (24.8%) in the intensive care unit (ICU), and 512 (10.8%) in the ICU on mechanical ventilation. Convalescent plasma was administered to 3113 (66%) patients within the first 3 days of hospital admission, to 1380 (29.2%) between 3 and 7 days, and to 226 after 7 days; 28-day mortality was, respectively, 18.1%, 30.4% and 38.9% (p<0.001). In the regression model, convalescent plasma administration within the first 3 days of admission was associated with reduced 28-day mortality, compared with the administration after 7 days (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.30 to 0.53). Early convalescent plasma administration was associated to a significant decreased mortality in patients in the general ward (OR 0.45, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.69) and in the ICU (OR 0.35, 95% CI 0.19 to 0.64), but not in those requiring mechanical ventilation (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.27 to 1.01). In conclusion, this study suggests that early administration of convalescent plasma to patients with COVID-19 pneumonia is critical to obtain therapeutic benefit.
Effects of switching from a metered dose inhaler to a dry powder inhaler on climate emissions and asthma control: post-hoc analysis
Authors: Woodcock Ashley , Janson Christer , Rees Jamie , Frith Lucy , Löfdahl Magnus , Moore Alison , Hedberg Martin , Leather David
Published: February 2022

Objective

To compare the effects of switching from a pressurised metered dose inhaler (pMDI)-based to a dry powder inhaler (DPI)-based maintenance therapy versus continued usual care on greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide equivalents, CO2e) and asthma control.

Methods

This post-hoc analysis was based on a subset of 2236 (53%) patients from the Salford Lung Study in Asthma who at baseline were using a pMDI-based controller therapy. During the study patients were randomised to fluticasone furoate/vilanterol (FF/VI) via the ELLIPTA DPI (switched from pMDI to DPI) (n=1081) or continued their usual care treatment (n=1155), and were managed in conditions close to everyday clinical practice. Annual CO2e (kg) was calculated for the total number of maintenance and rescue inhalers prescribed. Asthma control was assessed by the proportion of ACT responders (composite of ACT total score ≥20 and/or increase from baseline ≥3).

Results

The groups were well matched for demographic characteristics and baseline Asthma Control Test (ACT) total score (mean age: 49 years; mean ACT score: usual care, 16.6; FF/VI, 16.5). Annual CO2e kg per patient (maintenance plus rescue therapy) was significantly lower with FF/VI DPI treatment (‘switch’ group) than usual care (least squares geometric mean 108 kg (95% CI 102 to 114) vs 240 kg (95% CI 229 to 252), p<0.001). Asthma control was consistently superior over the 12 months in the FF/VI DPI group compared with usual care.

Conclusions

Patients switching from a pMDI-based to a DPI-based maintenance therapy more than halved their inhaler carbon footprint without loss of asthma control. The remaining inhaler carbon footprint could be reduced through switches from pMDI to DPI rescue medications or alternative lower-carbon footprint rescue inhalers if available. Asthma control improved in both groups, with greater control demonstrated in those initiated on FF/VI DPI.

Trial registration number

NCT01706198.
Pediatric dog bite injuries in the USA: a systematic review
Authors: Patterson Kelli Nicole , Horvath Kyle Z , Minneci Peter C , Thakkar Rajan , Wurster LeeAnn , Noffsinger Dana L , Bourgeois Tran , Deans Katherine J
Published: February 2022

Introduction

Dog bites are one of the leading causes of non-fatal emergency room visits in children. These injuries not only cause physical harm but can lead to long-term psychological stress. This study evaluated the current literature related to pediatric dog bite injuries to identify research gaps which should be prioritized to improve a major public health concern.

Methods

We performed a keyword search of PubMed, Scopus, and OVID Medline databases (January 1980– March 2020) for all published studies focused on dog bite injuries in the pediatric population (≤18 years of age) using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.

Results

Out of 1859 abstracts screened, 43 studies involving 86 880 patients were included. Twenty-nine studies were retrospective chart reviews characterizing the epidemiology of dog bites and their associated treatment outcomes; six were prospective cohort studies; two were cross-sectional studies; and six were experimental studies. Synthesized results demonstrate that children <9 years of age suffer the greatest burden of injuries, with children <6 years of age at higher risk of more severe injuries involving the head, neck, and face.

Conclusion

Studies analyzing the prevention or psychosocial consequences of dog bites injuries are needed.
Needs assessment of parents for a patient decision aid in pediatric interval appendectomy via the qualitative interview method
Authors: Grandpierre Viviane , Duba Katherine , Toupin April Karine , Oltean Irina , Weir Arielle , Nasr Ahmed
Published: February 2022

Objectives

Appendicitis is one of the most commonly encountered pediatric surgical diagnoses, with non-operative management of perforated appendicitis leading to two treatment options: an interval appendectomy (IA) or expectant management. The primary objective of this study was to assess parents’ need for a patient decision aid (PDA) among parents considering IA or expectant management. A secondary objective was to determine parent preferences for the format and distribution plan of a drafted patient decision aid.

Methods

Coulter’s systematic development process for PDA was used to guide the assessment interviews for parents. Participants included caregivers of a patient who experienced perforated appendicitis, and admission between 2019 and 2020. Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted to collect information about decision-making needs of parents of children who experienced perforated appendicitis.

Results

A total of 12 different parents participated in the interviews. Results indicate decisional conflict associated with the lack of evidence for optimal treatment, supporting the need for the development of a patient decision aid to assist in clarifying information and parent values with practitioners. Parents clearly identified a need for evidence to support decision-making in various formats (eg, pamphlet or electronic). Timing of when to deliver the PDA varied (ie, during hospital admission, at discharge, or at follow-up appointment).

Conclusion

Results indicated various factors contributing to parental decisional conflict, including the lack of evidence showing the optimal treatment, the need for more information, and guidance from practitioners. Overall, findings indicate a strong need for a patient decision aid.
Research into the kinematic singularity problem of an all-attitude simulator and its control
Authors: Luo Peng , Hu Ronghua , Bai Junlin , Shu Yang
Published: February 2022

All-attitude flight simulators can simulate flight attitude through three rotational degrees of freedom. In this paper, the inverse kinematics and singularity of the all-attitude simulator are analyzed. Because a singularity will reduce the fidelity of the flight attitude simulation, we investigated ways to resolve this problem. An approximate method for quickly quantifying singularities is proposed. Static damping and dynamic damping are designed to optimize the singularity of the all-attitude simulator and improve the fidelity of flight attitude simulation. Attitude data of typical flight movements, whose inverse kinematics has an obvious singular position, are used to test the two methods. The results of the simulation show that the two methods are feasible and effective, and that dynamic damping has better control over singular excesses than static damping.
The imaginary potential and entropic force of heavy quarkonia in strongly coupled $$ {\mathcal {N}}=4 $$ supersymmetric Yang–Mills plasma on the Coulomb branch
Authors: Kioumarsipour M. , Sadeghi J.
Published: February 2022

There are two important different mechanisms, the imaginary potential and entropic force, to investigate the dissociation of heavy quarkonia. In this paper, we calculate these two quantities for static and moving quarkonia in the rotating black 3-brane Type IIB supergravity solution dual to $$ {\mathcal {N}}=4 $$

N
=
4

super Yang–Mills theory on the Coulomb branch (cSYM) at strong coupling. At $$ T\ne 0 $$

T
≠
0

, there are two black hole branches: the large and small black hole branches. We investigate the effects of rotating parameter and rapidity for the static and moving quakonium at the large and small black hole branches. We find both mechanisms have the same results. In the large black hole branch: as $$ T/\Lambda $$

T
/
Λ

and $$ \beta $$
β
increase the thermal width decreases and so the suppression becomes stronger. In the small black hole branch: increasing $$ T/\Lambda $$

T
/
Λ

leads to increasing the thermal width and the quarkonium dissociates harder but $$ \beta $$
β
has an opposite effect.
Overview and recent results of the CMS muon system upgrade
Authors: Aruta Caterina
Published: February 2022

The detectors and electronics of the muon spectrometer of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment will be upgraded to cope with the new, challenging data-taking conditions expected at the High Luminosity phase of the Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). These upgrades will improve the present tracking and triggering capabilities. An overview of the upgrade activities is presented.
Constraining the proportion of PBHs in dark matter by GW events
Authors: Ning Shou-Li , Xu Lixin
Published: February 2022

The main aim of this paper is to constrain the proportion of primordial black holes (PBHs) in dark matter. First, we discussed the formation condition of the PBH binaries, and second, we calculated the merger rate density, [Formula: see text], of charged PBH binaries. According to the origin of angular momentum of PBH binaries and the mechanism of losing energy and angular momentum, we discussed four different kinds of PBH binaries coalescence. We calculated the merger rate densities of them with a constant charge-to-mass ratio. By Bayesian data analysis and comparing the theoretical detection rate with observational data, we found that even if all gravitational wave events originated from the coalescence of PBH binary, the proportion of PBH in dark matter is only [Formula: see text] in mass range [Formula: see text], namely PBHs constitute a tiny fraction of dark matter.
BiRe-ID: Binary Neural Network for Efficient Person Re-ID
Authors: Xu Sheng , Liu Chang , Zhang Baochang , Lü Jinhu , Guo Guodong , Doermann David
Published: February 2022

Person re-identification (Re-ID) has been promoted by the significant success of convolutional neural networks (CNNs). However, the application of such CNN-based Re-ID methods depends on the tremendous consumption of computation and memory resources, which affects its development on resource-limited devices such as next generation AI chips. As a result, CNN binarization has attracted increasing attention, which leads to binary neural networks (BNNs). In this article, we propose a new BNN-based framework for efficient person Re-ID (BiRe-ID). In this work, we discover that the significant performance drop of binarized models for Re-ID task is caused by the degraded representation capacity of kernels and features. To address the issues, we propose the
kernel and feature refinement based on generative adversarial learning
(KR-GAL and FR-GAL) to enhance the representation capacity of BNNs. We first introduce an adversarial attention mechanism to refine the binarized kernels based on their real-valued counterparts. Specifically, we introduce a scale factor to restore the scale of 1-bit convolution. And we employ an effective generative adversarial learning method to train the attention-aware scale factor. Furthermore, we introduce a self-supervised generative adversarial network to refine the low-level features using the corresponding high-level semantic information. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our BiRe-ID can be effectively implemented on various mainstream backbones for the Re-ID task. In terms of the performance, our BiRe-ID surpasses existing binarization methods by significant margins, at the level even comparable with the real-valued counterparts. For example, on Market-1501, BiRe-ID achieves 64.0% mAP on ResNet-18 backbone, with an impressive 12.51× speedup in theory and 11.75× storage saving. In particular, the KR-GAL and FR-GAL methods show strong generalization on multiple tasks such as Re-ID, image classification, object detection, and 3D point cloud processing.
Stop Ignoring Me! On Fighting the Trivialization of Social Robots in Public Spaces
Authors: Schneider Sebastian , Liu Yuyi , Tomita Kanako , Kanda Takayuki
Published: February 2022

Service and social robot in public scenarios will face various tasks in future applications, such as guiding people or admonishing them to provide assistance or convey social norms. Robots in public spaces might also incorporate roles of authority figures who might admonish people (e.g., security or guard robots). However, recent investigations showed that people ignore the admonishment of robots. Thus, in this work, we are looking at the reasons why people might ignore robots based on the Cognitive Dissonance Theory (CDT). We present the results of two consecutive field observations where a robot admonishes participants (i.e., pedestrians in a shopping mall) and requests them to stop using a smartphone while walking, which is considered an unmoral behavior. In the first field observation, we approached 160 participants over four days and conducted semi-structured interviews with 19 of them. Approximately half of the people ignored the robot, and half of them followed the instructions. Our interview results show that people who ignore the robot indeed use trivialization as a cognitive dissonance reduction strategy to justify ignoring the robot. Based on our analysis of the results, we developed a counter-trivialization strategy that anticipates this dissonance reduction strategy. We admonished 167 participants in our second field observation over four days, and our results show that significantly fewer people ignore the instructions of the robot when the robot uses a counter-trivialization strategy.
Scenario Based Run-Time Switching for Adaptive CNN-Based Applications at the Edge
Authors: Minakova Svetlana , Sapra Dolly , Stefanov Todor , Pimentel Andy D.
Published: February 2022

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are biologically inspired computational models that are at the heart of many modern computer vision and natural language processing applications. Some of the CNN-based applications are executed on mobile and embedded devices. Execution of CNNs on such devices places numerous demands on the CNNs, such as high accuracy, high throughput, low memory cost, and low energy consumption. These requirements are very difficult to satisfy at the same time, so CNN execution at the edge typically involves trade-offs (e.g., high CNN throughput is achieved at the cost of decreased CNN accuracy). In existing methodologies, such trade-offs are either chosen once and remain unchanged during a CNN-based application execution, or are adapted to the properties of the CNN input data. However, the application needs can also be significantly affected by the changes in the application environment, such as a change of the battery level in the edge device. Thus, CNN-based applications need a mechanism that allows to dynamically adapt their characteristics to the changes in the application environment at run-time. Therefore, in this article, we propose a scenario-based run-time switching (SBRS) methodology, that implements such a mechanism.
EC-ECC: Accelerating Elliptic Curve Cryptography for Edge Computing on Embedded GPU TX2
Authors: Dong Jiankuo , Zheng Fangyu , Lin Jingqiang , Liu Zhe , Xiao Fu , Fan Guang
Published: February 2022

Driven by artificial intelligence and computer vision industries, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) are now rapidly achieving extraordinary computing power. In particular, the NVIDIA Tegra K1/X1/X2 embedded GPU platforms, which are also treated as edge computing devices, are now widely used in embedded environments such as mobile phones, game consoles, and vehicle-mounted systems to support high-dimension display, auto-pilot, and so on. Meanwhile, with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), the demand for cryptographic operations for secure communications and authentications between edge computing nodes and IoT devices is also expanding. In this contribution, instead of the conventional implementations based on FPGA, ASIC, and ARM CPUs, we provide an alternative solution for cryptographic implementation on embedded GPU devices. Targeting the new cipher suite added in TLS 1.3, we implement Edwards25519/448 and Curve25519/448 on an edge computing platform, embedded GPU NVIDIA Tegra X2, where various performance optimizations are customized for the target platform, including a novel parallel method for the register-limited embedded GPUs. With about 15 W of power consumption, it can provide 210k/31k ops/s of Curve25519/448 scalar multiplication, 834k/123k ops/s of fixed-point Edwards25519/448 scalar multiplication, and 150k/22k ops/s of unknown-point one, which are respectively the primitives and main workloads of key agreement, signature generation, and verification of the TLS 1.3 protocol. Our implementations achieve 8 to 26 times speedup of OpenSSL running in the very powerful ARM CPU of the same platform and outperform the state-of-the-art implementations in FPGA by a wide margin with better power efficiency.
Protecting Network-on-Chip Intellectual Property Using Timing Channel Fingerprinting
Authors: Biswas Arnab Kumar , Sikdar Biplab
Published: February 2022

The theft of Intellectual property (IP) is a serious security threat for all businesses that are involved in the creation of IP. In this article, we consider such attacks against IP for Network-on-Chip (NoC) that are commonly used as a popular on-chip scalable communication medium for Multiprocessor System-on-Chip. As a protection mechanism, we propose a timing channel fingerprinting method and show its effectiveness by implementing five different solutions using this method. We also provide a formal proof of security of the proposed method. We show that the proposed technique provides better security and requires much lower hardware overhead (64%–74% less) compared to an existing NoC IP security solution without affecting the normal packet latency or degrading the NoC performance.
Efficient-Grad:

Efficient

Training Deep Convolutional Neural Networks on Edge Devices with

Grad

ient Optimizations
Authors: Hong Ziyang , Yue C. Patrick
Published: February 2022

With the prospering of mobile devices, the distributed learning approach, enabling model training with decentralized data, has attracted great interest from researchers. However, the lack of training capability for edge devices significantly limits the energy efficiency of distributed learning in real life. This article describes Efficient-Grad, an algorithm-hardware co-design approach for training deep convolutional neural networks, which improves both throughput and energy saving during model training, with negligible validation accuracy loss.

The key to Efficient-Grad is its exploitation of two observations. Firstly, the sparsity has potential for not only activation and weight, but gradients and the asymmetry residing in the gradients for the conventional back propagation (BP). Secondly, a dedicated hardware architecture for sparsity utilization and efficient data movement can be optimized to support the Efficient-Grad algorithm in a scalable manner. To the best of our knowledge, Efficient-Grad is the first approach that successfully adopts a feedback-alignment (FA)-based gradient optimization scheme for deep convolutional neural network training, which leads to its superiority in terms of energy efficiency. We present case studies to demonstrate that the Efficient-Grad design outperforms the prior arts by 3.72x in terms of energy efficiency.
Semantics and Anomaly Preserving Sampling Strategy for Large-Scale Time Series Data
Authors: Ahmed Shibbir , Islam Md Johirul , Rajan Hridesh
Published: February 2022

We propose
PASS
, a
O
(
n
) algorithm for data reduction that is specifically aimed at preserving the semantics of time series data visualization in the form of line chart. Visualization of large trend line data is a challenge and current sampling approaches do produce reduction but result in loss of semantics and anomalous behavior. We have evaluated
PASS
using seven large and well-vetted datasets (Taxi, Temperature, DEBS challenge 2012-2014 dataset, New York Stock Exchange data, and Integrated Surface Data) and found that it has several benefits when compared to existing state-of-the-art time series data reduction techniques. First, it can preserve the semantics of the trend. Second, the visualization quality using the reduced data from
PASS
is very close to the original visualization. Third, the anomalous behavior is preserved and can be well observed from the visualizations created using the reduced data. We have conducted two user surveys collecting 3,000+ users’ responses for visual preference as well as perceptual effectiveness and found that the users prefer
PASS
over other techniques for different datasets. We also compare
PASS
using visualization metrics where it outperforms other techniques in five out of the seven datasets.
Distinct Cellular Tropism and Immune Responses to Alphavirus Infection
Authors: Kafai Natasha M. , Diamond Michael S. , Fox Julie M.
Published: February 2022

Alphaviruses are emerging and reemerging viruses that cause disease syndromes ranging from incapacitating arthritis to potentially fatal encephalitis. While infection by arthritogenic and encephalitic alphaviruses results in distinct clinical manifestations, both virus groups induce robust innate and adaptive immune responses. However, differences in cellular tropism, type I interferon induction, immune cell recruitment, and B and T cell responses result in differential disease progression and outcome. In this review, we discuss aspects of immune responses that contribute to protective or pathogenic outcomes after alphavirus infection.
Biosensing Efficiency of Nanocarbon-Reinforced Polyacrylonitrile Nanofibrous Matrices
Authors: Apetrei Roxana-Mihaela , Guven Nese , Camurlu Pinar
Published: February 2022

The reinforcement of polymer matrices with nanocarbon fillers is highly attractive for electrochemical biosensing (due to enhanced electrical conductivity). Further processing by electrospinning results in versatile nanofibrous mats. This study compares the biosensing performance of composite polyacrylonitrile nanofibers (PAN NFs) electrospun with different carbonaceous fillers (fullerene, carbon nanotubes, graphene). Morphological characterization of the composite NFs is performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and correlated with the performance of the biosensing matrices. Glucose oxidase (GOD) is employed as model enzyme by immobilization through cross-linking. Optimum nanofiller content was evaluated at 2.0 wt%. for carboxyl functionalized-multiwall carbon nanotubes- NFs (highest sensitivity of 61.5 mAM−1cm−2 and limit of detection (LOD) of 2.0 μM), whilst reduced graphene oxide- NFs exhibited 49.3 mAM−1cm−2 sensitivity with the lowest LOD of 1.6 μM within the most extended linear range (up to 20 × 10−3 M). Insignificant effect of interferent sugars led to real sample recovery close to 100%.
Spectroelectrochemical and Electrochromic Characterization of a Conductive Polymer Bearing Both Electron Donor and Acceptor Groups
Authors: Seo Kyeong-Deok , Park Deog-Su , Shim Yoon-Bo
Published: February 2022

A monomer precursor of polyterthiphene derivative bearing both electron donor (-NH2) and acceptor (–COOH) groups (3-([2,2′:5′,2″-terthiophen]-3′-yl)-5-aminobenzoic acid, TABA) was newly synthesized and characterized. The comparison analysis was performed forpTABA with a single acceptor or donor group bearing polymer. The frontier orbital calculation for the monomer reveals the intermolecular electron movement from donor to acceptor through the backbone. The electrical study confirmed that the conductivity of the functionalized polymer increased from 0.11 S cm−1 (with single donor group) to 0.24 S cm−1 (with single acceptor group) through 0.19 S cm−1 (for both donor and acceptor groups), as a result of stabilization of quinoid form on the polymer backbone. Derivative cyclic voltabsorptometry (DCVA) obtained for pTABA confirmed the formation of neutral, polaron, and bipolaron at 470 nm (at +1.07/+0.80 V), 781 nm (at +1.07/+0.80 V), and 950 nm (at +1.30/+1.19 V), respectively. The absorption bands of radical species were blue-shifted by the donor group functionalized polymer and red-shifted by the acceptor group. The electrochromic performance of polymer bearing both donor and acceptor groups achieved nine colors between orange (0.0 V) and midnightblue (1.4 V) compared with that of single functional groups displaying two or three colors.
Review—An Overview on Supercapacitors and Its Applications
Authors: Chakraborty S. , N. L. Mary
Published: February 2022

The efficient and sustainable use of energy is highly imperative to satisfy the escalating energy demands arising from the rapid commercialization of technologies. The development of novel electrochemical energy technologies is an essential aspect in the present-day scenario of rapid depletion of existing sources of energy. Conducting polymers are promising psuedocapacitive materials with an extended delocalisation network ofπelectrons, flexibility to functional modifications and facile intercalation and de-intercalation of electrolyte ions. These factors enable them to possess capacitances comparable with those of metal oxides. The use of copolymers in this context is noteworthy due to their diversity of combining different types of monomer units and facile integration. Carbon based materials have also been extensively employed on account of their high power densities and large number of charge-discharge cycles. The synergism of the non-faradaic double-layer capacitance with the faradaic charge transfer has the ability to provide impressive supercapacitor properties. Different types of polymer and polymer-composites based supercapacitors have been discussed with special emphasis on implantable biomedical devices and wearable electronics.
The Relationship between Body Composition and Bone Mineral Density of Female Workers in A Unit of Tai’an
Authors: Wang Yan , Wang Siqi , Chen Zhengxiu , Ran Zhangshen
Published: February 2022

Objective. To explore the relationship between body composition and bone mineral density (BMD) of female workers in a university of Tai’an. Methods. This study randomly selected 90 female employees in a university of Tai’an. The body composition was monitored by body composition analyzer (inbody770), and the lumbar bone mineral density was monitored by dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (BMD model). The data were analyzed by SPSS 22.0 statistical software. Results. With the increasing of body mass index (BMI), BMD of female lumbar spines 1-4 (L1-4) increased gradually. Spearman correlation analysis showed that BMI, skeletal muscle mass, upper limb muscle mass, trunk muscle mass, lower limb muscle mass, and whole-body phase angle were positively correlated with L1-4BMD. Age was negatively correlated with L1-4BMD. Linear regression analysis showed that age was a negative factor of L1-4BMD, and skeletal muscle mass was a protective factor of abnormal bone mass, especially lower limb muscle mass. Conclusions. Lower limb muscle mass is a protective factor of female BMD. Strengthening physical exercise to improve lower limb muscle mass is conducive to the prevention of female osteoporosis.
Efficient Algorithms and Implementation of a Semiparametric Joint Model for Longitudinal and Competing Risk Data: With Applications to Massive Biobank Data
Authors: Li Shanpeng , Li Ning , Wang Hong , Zhou Jin , Zhou Hua , Li Gang
Published: February 2022

Semiparametric joint models of longitudinal and competing risk data are computationally costly, and their current implementations do not scale well to massive biobank data. This paper identifies and addresses some key computational barriers in a semiparametric joint model for longitudinal and competing risk survival data. By developing and implementing customized linear scan algorithms, we reduce the computational complexities fromOn2orOn3toOnin various steps including numerical integration, risk set calculation, and standard error estimation, wherenis the number of subjects. Using both simulated and real-world biobank data, we demonstrate that these linear scan algorithms can speed up the existing methods by a factor of up to hundreds of thousands whenn>104, often reducing the runtime from days to minutes. We have developed an R package, FastJM, based on the proposed algorithms for joint modeling of longitudinal and competing risk time-to-event data and made it publicly available on the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN).
Economic Cost Model of Options to Global Sulphur Cap considering Speed Differentiation
Authors: Huang Daozheng , Hua Yimin
Published: February 2022

The 2020 global sulphur cap has been implemented to reduce the sulphur emission of the maritime transportation industry. It is a huge challenge for the ship owners to select a proper strategy to comply with the regulation. This study analyzes the economic costs of measures to comply with the sulphur cap including switching to low sulphur fuel oil (LSFO) and scrubbers. Meanwhile, considering the influence of the speed optimization on the voyage cost, an economic cost model of the LSFO method is combined with speed differentiation inside and outside the Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA). The route from Shanghai to Los Angeles is set as a case study. The optimal speeds inside and outside the SECA are calibrated. Then, the economic costs of both methods are calculated and compared. The results show that the speed differentiation strategy can reduce the economic cost of the LSFO method and thus reduce its cost disadvantage over scrubbers. In addition, a low discount rate would benefit the scrubber option based on sensitivity analysis.
A Hybrid Design of Linkable Ring Signature Scheme with Stealth Addresses
Authors: Li Weizhou , Lin Zhiqiang , Chen Qi
Published: February 2022

Blockchain is a transformational technology which affects finance, Internet, and politics. However, many privacy protection problems for blockchain are waiting to be solved. In this study, we propose a novel linkable ring signature scheme with stealth addresses, which enables the payer and payee of the transaction to be anonymous and unlinkable in the cryptocurrency. The scheme is combined with an elliptic curve discrete logarithm (ECD logarithm)-based key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) stage and a lattice-based signature stage. The master public key and master secret key are much smaller compared with the previous scheme. Complete secure proof of the scheme is also presented in this study.
New Concepts in the Vague Graph Structure with an Application in Transportation
Authors: Shi Xiaolong , Kosari Saeed
Published: February 2022

Fuzzy graph (FG) models take on the presence being ubiquitous in environmental and fabricated structures by humans, specifically the vibrant processes in physical, biological, and social systems. Owing to the unpredictable and indiscriminate data which are intrinsic in real life and problems being often ambiguous, it is very challenging for an expert to exemplify these problems through applying an FG. Vague graph structure (VGS), belonging to the FG family, has good capabilities when facing with problems that cannot be expressed by FGs. VGS can handle the vagueness connected with the incompatible and determinate information of any real-world problem, where FGs may not succeed to bear satisfactory results. The previous definitions’ restrictions in FGs have led us to propose new definitions in the VGS. Domination is one of the key issues that has many applications in computer science and social networks. Today, many researchers are trying to prove its application in medical sciences and psychology. Therefore, in this paper, different concepts related to domination in VGSs such as Ni-dominating set, vague full dominating set, minimal

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-DS, and strong capacity Ni-dominating set are defined using some examples. Finally, an application of domination in medical sciences has been presented.
Entropy on Intuitionistic Fuzzy Sets and Hesitant Fuzzy Sets
Authors: Yu Bicheng , Zhao Xuejun , Zheng Mingfa , Yuan Xiujiu , Hou Bei
Published: February 2022

Since the sufficient conditions for the maximum value of the intuitionistic fuzzy entropy are not unified and the hesitant fuzzy entropy cannot be compared when the lengths of the hesitation fuzzy elements are not equal, improved axiomatic definitions of intuitionistic fuzzy entropy and hesitant fuzzy entropy are proposed, and new intuitionistic fuzzy entropy and hesitant fuzzy entropy based on the improved axiomatic definitions are established. This paper defines the fuzzy entropy that satisfies the properties based on the axiomatized definition of fuzzy entropy and, based on the fuzzy entropy, defines new intuitionistic fuzzy entropy and hesitant fuzzy entropy, so that the three are unified in form. The validity and rationality of the proposed intuitionistic fuzzy entropy and hesitant fuzzy entropy are verified by analysis.
Clinical Evidence and Risk Factors for Reproductive Disorders Caused by Bacterial Infections in Meat Goats in Northeastern Thailand
Authors: Rerkyusuke Sarinya , Lerk-u-suke Sawarin , Sirimalaisuwan Anucha
Published: February 2022

The objective of this study was to identify risk factors related to reproductive disorders caused by bacterial infections in goats in northeastern Thailand. Two hundred twenty farms were investigated, and 49 herds were found to have clinical reproductive disorders. Moreover, 96% (47/49) of herds showing clinical reproductive failure preferred to circulate bucks between herds. A total of 118 sera, including 85 clinical reproductive disorder cases such as abortion (n = 70), abortion with arthritis (n = 1), orchitis (n = 3), repeat breeder (n = 6), sterile (n = 1), and weak kids (n = 4), and 33 bucks’ circulations were serologically tested for bacterial infections caused by Coxiella burnetii, Chlamydophila abortus, and Brucella spp. Results showed 69% (81/118 cases) were seropositive for Q fever (n = 55; 46.61%), brucellosis (n = 8; 6.78), and chlamydiosis (n = 18; 15.25%), respectively; 82% of herds (40/49 herds) were infected with at least one of those diseases. Moreover, 40% of infected herds (16/40) had coinfection among the three of those diseases. Approximately 60% (20/33) of buck circulation showed seropositivity to at least one of the diseases, and 85% of infected bucks were seropositive for Q fever (17/20). Buck circulation between herds is a risk factor for diseases on farms (p=0.001); odds ratio (OR = 109.29; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 6.61–1,807.38). Moreover, the annual brucellosis test is a protective factor against reproductive failure cases on farms (p=0.022; OR = 0.45; 95% CI = 0.23–0.89). Reproductive disorder cases can be caused by sexual transmission, so buck circulation can yield Q fever, brucellosis, and chlamydiosis in communities. This investigation is the first report of chlamydiosis infection in our area. Concerning Q fever, chlamydiosis, and brucellosis are zoonotic diseases that impact animal health and production losses. Control and prevention measures related to risk factors together with active surveillance programs should be incorporated into client education.
Streptococcus lutetiensis Induces Autophagy via Oxidative Stress in Bovine Mammary Epithelial Cells
Authors: Chen Peng , Yang Jingyue , Wu Naiwen , Han Bo , Kastelic John P. , Gao Jian
Published: February 2022

Streptococcus lutetiensis, an emerging pathogen causing bovine mastitis, has not been well characterized. We reported that S. lutetiensis was pathogenic both in vivo and in vitro and caused inflammatory reactions in the mammary gland. However, roles of autophagy and oxidative stress in the pathogenesis of S. lutetiensis-induced mastitis are unclear. In this study, an autophagy model of S. lutetiensis-infected bovine mammary epithelial cells (bMECs) was used to assess oxidative stress and autophagy flux. Expressions of Beclin1, light chain 3II, and Sequestosome 1/p62 were elevated in bMECs after S. lutetiensis infection. In addition, autophagosome and lysosome formation confirmed autophagy occurred. Based on LysoTracker Red and acridine orange, lysosome degradation was blocked, and lower expressions of lysosomal-associated membrane protein 2, cathepsins D, and cathepsins L confirmed lysosomal damage. Concurrently, the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2), kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1), heme oxygenase 1 (HO1), and NAD (P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), and basilic proteins associated with the Nrf2/Keap1 signaling pathway, were detected. Decreased keap1 and increased Nrf2, HO1, NQO1, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) indicated increased oxidative stress. Treatment with N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), an ROS inhibitor, decreased both oxidative stress and autophagy. Therefore, we concluded that S. lutetiensis caused intracellular oxidative stress and autophagy in bMECs. In addition, crosstalk between autophagy and oxidative stress affected the autophagic flux and blocked downstream autophagy. The Nrf2-keap1-p62 pathway participated in this process, with ROS acting upstream of these effects, interfering with normal cell functions.
Biomechanical Process of Skeletal Muscle under Training Condition Based on 3D Visualization Technology
Authors: Chen Chen
Published: February 2022

With the development and popularization of 3D technology, human behavior recognition has gradually developed from plane feature recognition to elevation feature recognition. In the process of collecting motion characteristics, the research on skeletal muscle will lead to a series of data in time series, which is the basis of sports biomechanics research and sports training. Some important semantic information such as centerline and joint center can be obtained by further data processing. The results of the study showed that the three-dimensional coordinate positions of the femur and pelvic attachment points of the muscles surrounding the hip joint from the pelvis were measured and positioned. A 3D model is built to simulate the human skeletal model subjected to speeds of 3 and 7 m/s, and different motion velocities can exhibit different motions. The research in this study shows that using 3D technology and comprehensively utilizing the expertise of biomechanical analysis and graphical modeling to study the mechanical properties of bone joints and soft tissues provide new ways and methods.
Exploring the Relationship of Perivascular Adipose Tissue Inflammation and the Development of Vascular Pathologies
Authors: Rami Afifah Zahirah Abd , Hamid Adila A. , Anuar Nur Najmi Mohamad , Aminuddin Amilia , Ugusman Azizah
Published: February 2022

Initially thought to only provide mechanical support for the underlying blood vessels, perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT) has now emerged as a regulator of vascular function. A healthy PVAT exerts anticontractile and anti-inflammatory actions on the underlying vasculature via the release of adipocytokines such as adiponectin, nitric oxide, and omentin. However, dysfunctional PVAT produces more proinflammatory adipocytokines such as leptin, resistin, interleukin- (IL-) 6, IL-1β, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha, thus inducing an inflammatory response that contributes to the pathogenesis of vascular diseases. In this review, current knowledge on the role of PVAT inflammation in the development of vascular pathologies such as atherosclerosis and hypertension was discussed.