bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Scoping Review of the Prevalence and Correlates of Sexual Dysfunction in Adults with Substance use Disorders
Authors: Ghosh Abhishek , Kathiravan Sanjana , Sharma Kshitiz , Mattoo Surendra Kumar
Published: December 2021

Background

Substance use may affect sexual functioning in both men and women. Comorbid sexual dysfunction adds to the clinical burden of substance use disorders (SUD).

Aims

The broad aims were to identify research conduct, types of the available evidence, and research gaps in (i) estimating the incidence, prevalence, type, and severity of sexual dysfunction in adults with SUD; (ii) exploring correlates of sexual dysfunction in SUD.

Methods

We conducted systematic searches on PubMed, Google Scholar, and Embase for studies published in the English language between August 1954 and November 2020. We included prospective and cross-sectional observational studies that had examined the prevalence or incidence of any sexual dysfunction in adults of either gender with substance use disorders. Review articles and those with an exclusive focus on tobacco use disorders were excluded. The review was registered in PROSPERO.

Results

Our search identified 65 relevant articles, including five prospective studies. All the prospective studies and most of the cross-sectional studies (n = 40) were done among men and subjects with alcohol (n = 20) and opioid (n = 23) use disorders in clinical populations. Substance use and sexual dysfunction were assessed by a wide range of instruments. Prospective studies reported a prevalence of sexual dysfunction at 75% and 61% for alcohol and opioid use disorders, respectively. The prevalence of any sexual dysfunction in cross-sectional studies ranged between 15 and 100 percent. Erectile dysfunction was the most commonly studied and observed sexual dysfunction. Comorbidity and socioeconomic deprivation were consistently associated with a higher occurrence of sexual dysfunctions.

Strengths

We did not limit our review by the type of substances and year of publication. We adhered to the standards of conducting and reporting scoping reviews; hence, our review results should be replicable, transparent, and reliable.

Limitations

The wide clinical and methodological heterogeneity precluded a systematic review.

Conclusion

Research gaps exist in women, non-clinical population, stimulants, and cannabis use disorders, and effect of treatment of SUD in sexual functioning. The quality of evidence is poor.
Decadal Variability of Winter Warm Arctic‐Cold Eurasia Dipole Patterns Modulated by Pacific Decadal Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation
Authors: Luo Binhe , Luo Dehai , Dai Aiguo , Simmonds Ian , Wu Lixin
Published: December 2021

In recent decades, the winter surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly in the Northern Hemisphere has exhibited a warm Arctic‐cold Eurasia (WACE) dipole pattern and this has undergone significant decadal variation. In this paper, the physical cause of the decadal variability of the WACE pattern is explored, and it is shown to be mediated by the phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). Although the negative PDO (PDO−) or positive AMO (AMO+) favors the WACE pattern, the meridional structure of the pattern is significantly influenced by whether PDO− or AMO+ dominates. During PDO− (AMO+) phase, the winter‐mean WACE pattern shows an asymmetric dipole with weak (strong) warm anomaly over the Barents‐Kara Seas or BKS and strong (weak) cold anomaly over central Eurasia or Siberia, which corresponds to Ural blocking (UB) concurring with the negative (positive) phase of North Atlantic Oscillation in a winter‐mean field. The winter asymmetric WACE pattern is more strongly related to PDO− than AMO+. It is further found that an asymmetric sub‐seasonal WACE dipole pattern with strong (weak) warm anomaly over BKS and weak (strong) cold anomaly over Siberia is usually formed during the UB episode due to favored (suppressed) sub‐seasonal downward infrared radiation and turbulent heat flux over BKS during AMO+ (PDO−), which leads to a strong asymmetric dipole of the winter WACE pattern.
Using Timescales of Deficit and Residence to Evaluate Near‐Bottom Dissolved Oxygen Variation in Coastal Seas
Authors: Zhang Wenxia , Dunne John P. , Wu Hui , Zhou Feng , Huang Daji
Published: December 2021

We identify the local, vertical and lateral processes that cause bottom oxygen variation, and characterize timescales for each process using oxygen budget analysis based on a coupled physical‐biogeochemical model for the coastal seas in east China. Local oxygen deficit often occurs in the summer season due to the faster local consumption than the vertical replenishment in seasonal timescale. Lateral transport of oxygen‐rich ambient water replenishes local deficit of bottom dissolved oxygen. Competition between local deficit and lateral exchange determines seasonal hypoxia formation and sustainment. Short local consumption timescale is favorable for hypoxia formation, and transient hypoxia often forms when the local deficit and lateral exchange processes act on comparable timescales, such as the East China Sea in which the bottom hypoxia usually lasts for days. Extremely long lateral exchange timescale suggests that dissolved oxygen variation is predominantly controlled by local processes, and short local consumption timescale often causes increasingly severe seasonal hypoxia until the onset of the relaxation of local deficit, such as the bottom hypoxia in the Bohai Sea. Using these timescales to evaluate local deficit relative to vertical and lateral residence time and their variability is a convenient and potentially powerful general mechanistic framework to evaluate strategies to mitigate coastal hypoxia worldwide.
Impacts of Extreme Weather on Mercury Uptake and Storage in Subtropical Forest Ecosystems
Authors: Yuan Wei , Wang Xun , Lin Che‐Jen , Zhang Hui , Feng Xinbin , Lu Zhiyun
Published: December 2021

As climate change accelerates, extreme weather events become more severe and frequent. We analyzed the datasets of decade‐long observation (2005–2020) of mercury (Hg) stored in two subtropical evergreen forests to understand the impacts of extreme weather on the sequestration of atmospheric Hg in forest ecosystems. Results show a weak correlation between litterfall Hg and atmospheric Hg0 concentration. Droughts and snowstorms significantly disturb Hg accumulation in litterfall and soils. Litterfall Hg concentration and deposition both display an increasing trend during the period of extended droughts in 2011–2014, but a decreasing trend after droughts. This is caused by the water stress that influences the change of tree physiology and processes of foliage Hg0 uptake. Snowstorm damages large areas of canopy, which leads to substantial canopy epiphyte cover mixed into the forest floor, thus considerably increasing soil Hg concentrations. Over a decadal timescale, soil Hg variabilities are shaped by the combined effects of atmospheric Hg inputs and processes of organic soil mineralization mediated climatic factors. Our study highlights that the accelerated climate change increases the unpredictability of Hg accumulation in terrestrial ecosystems. Future studies are needed for better understanding the response of Hg biogeochemical cycling to climate change among different terrestrial biomes.
NiMoFe/Cu nanowire core–shell catalysts for high-performance overall water splitting in neutral electrolytes
Authors: Cao Xiaomin , Fan Ronglei , Zhou Ju , Chen Cong , Xu Shunshun , Zou Shuai , Dong Wen , Su Xiaodong , Ju Sheng , Shen Mingrong
Published: December 2021

NiMoFe/Cu NWs bifunctional core–shell catalyst assembled into a practical solar-driven overall water splitting system delivers a high solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 10.99% in neutral electrolytes.
Protective effects of bioactive peptides in foxtail millet protein hydrolysates against experimental colitis in mice
Authors: Zhang Bowei , Xu Yingchuan , Zhao Congying , Zhang Yunhui , Lv Huan , Ji Xuemeng , Wang Jin , Pang Wenwen , Wang Xiaowen , Wang Shuo
Published: December 2021

FMPH ameliorates IBD through enhancement of the intestinal tight junction and the inhibition of p-P65, Th17 differentiation and inflammasome activation.
Structural, electronic, and electrocatalytic evaluation of spinel transition metal sulfide supported reduced graphene oxide
Authors: Santhosh Kumar Ramasamy , Ramakrishnan Shanmugam , Prabhakaran Sampath , Kim Ae Rhan , Kumar Dharman Ranjith , Kim Do Hwan , Yoo Dong Jin
Published: December 2021

Highly active and durable hierarchical structure of ZnCo2S4grown on reduced graphene oxide nanosheet electrocatalysts for the green production of hydrogen gasviawater electrolysis.
Ionic liquid crystals based on amino acids and gemini surfactants: tunable phase structure, circularly polarized luminescence and emission color
Authors: Yi Mengjiao , Qi Ping , Fan Qi , Hao Jingcheng
Published: December 2021

Non-doped ILC materials featuring tunable phase structures, CPL handedness, and emission colors are fabricated by utilizing cationic gemini surfactants and amino acids.
DNN‐aided read‐voltage threshold optimization for MLC flash memory with finite block length
Authors: Wang Cheng , Wei Kang , Kong Lingjun , Shi Long , Mei Zhen , Li Jun , Cai Kui
Published: December 2021

The error‐correcting performance of multi‐level‐cell (MLC) NAND flash memory is closely related to the block length of error‐correcting codes (ECCs) and log‐likelihood‐ratios of the read‐voltage thresholds. Driven by this issue, this paper optimizes the read‐voltage thresholds for MLC flash memory to improve the decoding performance of ECCs with finite block length. First, through the analysis of channel coding rate and decoding error probability under finite block length, the optimization problem of read‐voltage thresholds to minimize the maximum decoding error probability is formulated. Second, a cross‐iterative search algorithm to optimize read‐voltage thresholds under the perfect knowledge of flash memory channel is developed. However, it is challenging to analytically characterize the voltage distribution under the effect of data retention noise. To address this problem, a deep neural network (DNN)‐aided optimization strategy to optimize the read‐voltage thresholds is developed, where a multi‐layer perception network is employed to learn the relationship between voltage distribution and read‐voltage thresholds. Simulation results show that, compared with the existing schemes, the proposed DNN‐aided read‐voltage threshold optimization strategy with a well‐designed Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) code can not only improve the program‐and‐erase endurance but also reduce the read latency.
Research on driving behaviour assessment based on evidence theory in 5G‐VANET
Authors: Zhang Yang , Tie Ying , Liu Yun
Published: December 2021

With the rapid development of 5G and vehicular ad hoc network (VANET), the data fusion plays an increasingly important role in the driving behaviour assessment. However, the unreasonable distribution of conflicting evidence remains a significant issue for decision fusion based on evidence theory. By analysing the parameter information of driving behaviour recognition, this paper proposed a new weighted evidence combination approach to fuse the highly conflicting information. In short, the proposed combination method not only retains the excellent mathematical characteristics of Dempster's combination rule, but also fully considers the mutual relations between evidences and the influence of the characteristics of evidence body. Firstly, a new dissimilarity measure is put forward to quantify the conflict degree between the evidences. Furthermore, the uncertainty measure and internal conflict are adopted to determine the weight of each evidence. Based on the weighted averaging combination method, the reasonable combined results are obtained. According to the experimental results, the proposed method has better performance than the existing methods, and provides an effective solution for driving behaviour assessment.
Codesign of communication scheduling and controller of networked control systems
Authors: Zanma Tadanao , Kuribayashi Toru , Koiwa Kenta , Liu Kang‐Zhi
Published: December 2021

Networked control systems have received increasing attention from many researchers because of their vast potential. The insertion of communication networks in a controlled system brings network‐induced defects, which are mainly caused by limited network resources. This paper proposes a codesign of periodic communication scheduling and a controller using sparsity for efficient use of the network while improving initial control performance. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified through two numerical simulations.
An adaptive two‐dimensional orthogonalization scheme for non‐linear digital canceller in full‐duplex radios
Authors: Cui Zhongpu , Ge Songhu , Li Yaxing , Guo Yu , Xing Jinling , Meng Jin
Published: December 2021

In this letter, an adaptive two‐dimensional orthogonalization (ATDO) scheme for non‐linear digital canceller is proposed to realize self‐interference (SI) suppression in full‐duplex radios. The proposed scheme consists of three parts. First, an adaptive lattice predictor is adopted to orthogonalize the input data over sample delay dimension. Then, a gradient‐based adaptive orthogonalizer is developed to further orthogonalize the basis functions established with predictor output over non‐linear order, and a new set of two‐dimension orthogonal basis functions is constructed consequently. Finally, a least mean square (LMS) model‐based parameter learning approach is utilized to implement the coefficients estimation with the newly established two‐dimension orthogonal basis functions. The proposed ATDO scheme provides an effective solution to track quickly time‐varying interference with high accuracy for real‐time communication system. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed scheme can efficiently improve the cancellation performance of non‐linear digital canceller, especially for higher order non‐linear distortion model compared to other algorithms in previous literatures.
Improving the energy efficiency of slightly inductive three‐phase three‐wire linear systems through single‐phase capacitors banks
Authors: Blasco Pedro A. , Montoya‐Mira Rafael , Diez José M. , Montoya Rafael , Garcerá Gabriel , Figueres Emilio
Published: December 2021

Recent low‐voltage, three‐phase distribution networks carry inefficient power, which can be attributed to the reactive power, imbalance of linear loads, and increase in non‐linear loads. Researchers have mainly focused on developing active filters to improve the quality of electrical energy. However, in most cases, compensating for the reactive power is sufficient, considering cost and quality. Active filters are expensive, thus, passive compensators are more appealing. These devices are composed of single‐phase or three‐phase capacitor banks that act on the reactive power consumed by the load. The operation of these devices has been sufficiently validated owing to their long‐term use. For unbalanced power, compensators that contain coils are used. A methodology to obtain compensators comprising only single‐phase capacitors for the inductive reactive power consumed by the load is presented here; if designed appropriately, these compensators can compensate for a part of or the entire unbalanced power, resulting in greater efficiency in the transfer of electrical energy.
Fast outdoor hazy image dehazing based on saturation and brightness
Authors: Hu Daosong , Yang Yang , Li Bo , Tang Huiming , Xu Yu
Published: December 2021

Haze usually limits the visibility and reduces the contrast of outdoor images. The removal of haze in a single image has always been a challenging problem. Recently, many methods have been proposed to effectively remove haze in harsh conditions. However, these methods fail to balance the dehazing effect and time consumption. This paper proposes a method based on HSV colour space to restore the visibility of uniform scattering medium. It can prevent the atmospheric light and transmission from being miscalculated. This method uses the brightness component of haze image to estimate the global atmospheric light, which reduces the influence of luminescent objects on atmospheric light estimation. Then, this paper deduces the estimation model of the saturation of scene radiance based on the atmospheric scattering model. In the meantime, according to the advantages and problems of the model, the fast estimation of the transmission is realized by using the stretching function. Finally, this paper solves the parameters in the model by iterative method. Since this method can estimate different media transmission for each pixel, better results can be obtained. The simulation results show that the algorithm is superior to the existing algorithms in terms of dehazing effect and time consumption.
Quaternion‐based improved cuckoo algorithm for colour UAV image edge detection
Authors: Liu Dujin , Pu Guolin , Wu Xiaoyan
Published: December 2021

With the extensive application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), there is an increasing demand for fast processing of coloured UAV images. The coloured UAV image pixels are usually represented by quaternion vectors with three bands of visible light corresponding to the three imaginary parts of the pure imaginary quaternion. Accordingly, the colour image edge points can be determined based on the quaternion polar coordinating the rotation principle. Here, a quaternion‐based improved cuckoo algorithm is proposed to perform fast processing for UAVs images. In particular, a novel guiding equation is used to optimize the positions of the improved cuckoo algorithm before the Levi flight. Furthermore, a novel disturbance equation is used to obtain a varied location for the next location after the Levi flight. Comprehensive experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed solution. The experimental results showed that the proposed method significantly reduces the image processing time and remarkably improves the quality.
Heuristic approach for the multiobjective optimization of the customized bus scheduling problem
Authors: Liu Kaijun , Liu Jianming , Zhang Jingwei
Published: December 2021

Customized bus is a typical demand‐responsive transit (DRT) service that allows passengers to customize their bus route on demand and be picked up and dropped off at their desired location. A set of ride requests sent at various times by geographically dispersed passengers are operated in real time by the controller and then assigned to the shared bus with the assurance of maintaining the minimum vehicle and driver costs, which introduces a new challenge to scheduling. In this paper, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model is presented to solve the customized bus scheduling problem. To quickly generate satisfactory scheduling solutions in the case of single‐ and multi‐depots, a heuristic multi‐objective optimization algorithm based on preemptive scheduling is proposed, which can converge to the optimal solution among a set of vehicle blocks (consecutive trips by one bus). A real‐world customized bus scheduling problem from the public transport company of Chengdu, China that contains 2,000‐trip instances operated on a day is used to demonstrate that the proposed approach reduces total operating costs by 30.51% and 30.71%, compared with the simulated annealing algorithm and genetic algorithm, respectively.
Dynamic driving intention recognition of vehicles with different driving styles of surrounding vehicles
Authors: Zhang Hua , Zhang Zhiyuan , Liang Jun
Published: December 2021

Driving behaviour of surrounding vehicles have impacts on the security of ego vehicle. However, many vehicles do not use the turn signal in advance as a warning when changing lanes, which often leads to traffic accidents. Therefore, in the case of Internet of Vehicles (IoV) technology has not been popularized, recognizing the driving intention of surrounding vehicles timely and accurately through effective method is of great significance to ego vehicle. In this paper, a dynamic driving intention recognition method for surrounding vehicles based on adaptive multi‐dimension continuous Gaussian mixture‐HMM (AMCGM‐HMM) is proposed. Considering that driving styles of surrounding vehicles are different, a feature‐based multi‐dimensional time series clustering algorithm is adopted to cluster the lane changing data samples and the results are used as the input of AMCGM‐HMM. Parameters that may affect the recognition accuracy are optimized by multi‐objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm to realize the adaptive of the method. The proposed method is verified on NGSIM dataset, and the application of this model is tested on the PreScan simulation platform combined with adaptive cruise control (ACC) system. Experimental results show that the proposed method can identify the driving intention of surrounding vehicles in advance and has high accuracy.
Research on power system transient stability with wind generation integration under fault condition to achieve economic benefits
Authors: Mastoi Muhammad Shahid , Tahir M. J. , Usman Muhammad , Wang Delin , Zhuang Shenxian , Hassan Mannan
Published: December 2021

For a few decades, electric power growth and demand have increased globally. To fulfil this demand, distribution generators (DGs) have been installed in the power system. To get numerous benefits such as comprising reduction of power losses, improvement of (voltage, current, rpm) transient stability, leads to economic benefits. DGs integration in the distribution power system (DPS) was reported as an optimal generator placement (OGP) problem to maximize these benefits. This paper performs wind turbine (WT) integration while considering the internal generator's (rpm) transient stability under fault conditions. A power loss index (PLI) method is implemented to select potential candidate buses for generator placement. A self‐sorting analytical approach (SSA) is also used to determine the optimal bus and WT size. The IEEE 14‐bus DPS is used as the OGP test system to demonstrate the proposed method's effectiveness in terms of power losses reduction, system transient stability, and economic benefits. The IEEE 14 Bus system was considered using MATLAB with a 3.2 GHz processor to perform the said approach. WT integration suggested in case‐2 results in a 65.80% power losses reduction, which leads to a 60.88% enhancement of economic benefits of the DPS.
Adaptive control strategy of solid state transformer with fast dynamic response and enhanced balance performance
Authors: Liu Zhi , Li Shuaihu , Xiao Fan , Wang Tingting , Cao Yijia , Li Yong , Zhang Xizhuo
Published: December 2021

Solid state transformer (SST) is designed as a power transmission device between AC grids and DC grids. However, the power fluctuation causes unbalanced power sharing among dual active bridge (DAB) converters and large voltage fluctuations on dc buses. Here, an adaptive virtual impedance control (AVIC) strategy is proposed to improve the balance performance of SST. Adaptive virtual impedance controller gets the same dynamic response for DAB converters, which matches dynamic impedance of DAB converters. Thereby the power balance can be achieved even the load changes. Meanwhile, an adaptive feedforward control scheme is proposed to reduce the influence of load fluctuation on DC bus voltage. The adaptive feedforward scheme also considers the parameter mismatch, thereby the balance of SST will not be destroyed. Moreover, the balanced power sharing achieved by adaptive controller eliminates the difference between actual transmission power and compensation power in each rectifier, which further suppresses the intermediate capacitor voltage fluctuations. Finally, simulation and StarSim experimental results verified the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy.
Power system inertia estimation method based on maximum frequency deviation
Authors: Wang Baocai , Sun Huadong , Li Wenfeng , Yang Chao , Wei Wei , Zhao Bing , Xu Shiyun
Published: December 2021

In order to solve the problem that the inertia estimation method based on the rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) is only applicable to the centre of inertia (COI) frequency, a novel inertia estimation method is proposed based on the maximum frequency deviation. This method utilizes the property that the maximum frequency deviation of each generator is basically consistent and easy to obtain. Firstly, the inertia support power of the system is quantified according to the disturbance power and frequency, and then the inertia support energy of the disturbance process is obtained. Finally, the system inertia is estimated by the ratio of the inertia support energy to the maximum frequency deviation. The proposed estimation method is suitable for non‐COI frequency, which makes it unnecessary to obtain the COI frequency and RoCoF. On this basis, a simplified estimation method is proposed based on the linearization of regulation power, which improves the estimation accuracy and simplifies the estimation process. According to the proposed method, the governor test data is used to estimate, which increases the estimation times and provides more information for system stable operation. The effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed method are validated by some cases.
High voltage gain bi‐directional Z‐source inverters with dual‐loop feed‐forward peak DC‐link voltage compensation for fuel cell vehicles
Authors: Wang Can , Yang Dewei , Pang Zhicong , Pan Xuewei , Zhao Fei
Published: December 2021

High boost inverter is an essential part to interface the fuel cell stack and traction motor for fuel cell vehicles (FCVs). This paper proposes two novel high voltage gain bi‐directional Quasi‐ZSIs (QZSI) with new active switched inductor cells for FCVs application. The disadvantages of low voltage boost ratio, large start up current, unfavourable mode operations and unidirectional power flow in conventional Z‐source inverter (ZSI) are eliminated. The proposed Z‐source inverters are combined with active switched inductor cells to achieve a higher voltage gain and lower voltage stress over capacitors, which can be widely applied in energy storage systems. A small signal model is derived by dynamic analysis. In order to achieve a constant peak dc‐link voltage, a dual‐loop feed‐forward peak dc‐link voltage control strategy for the proposed QZSI is introduced in this paper. Simulation and experiment waveforms are presented to verify the theoretic analysis of the designed QZSIs and the proposed control strategy.
Adaptive channel estimation for cognitive fully adaptive radar
Authors: Kang Bosung , Gogineni Sandeep , Rangaswamy Muralidhar , Guerci Joseph R. , Blasch Erik
Published: December 2021

The paper addresses channel state information estimation for a cognitive radar system. The underlying radar signal model considered in this paper is based on a stochastic Green's function approach. In the radar model, the clutter returns can be expressed as a convolution of the stochastic Green's function impulse response with the transmit radar waveform. The paper proposes and solves constrained channel estimation algorithms that exploit the cosine similarity constraint and the inner product constraint to improve conventional least squares solutions. Using the fact that adjacent channel transfer functions have a close relationship in terms of a cosine similarity metric, the cosine similarity constraint can be exploited in the least squares problem. It turns out that the derived optimisation problem under the cosine similarity constraint is non‐convex. However, since strong duality holds for the non‐convex optimisation problem, it can be solved using the semi‐definite relaxation (SDR) approach. The paper also proposes a new optimisation problem with an additional inner product constraint, which results in a convex second‐order cone programming (SOCP) and is robust to the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) in terms of the cosine similarity measurement. Numerical simulations are provided to verify the performance of the proposed methods on a challenge dataset generated using the high‐fidelity modelling and simulation tool, RFView®.
Full‐time domain deformation characteristics of water drop on sheds edge causing insulation failure of large‐diameter composite post insulators under heavy rainfall
Authors: Yang Lin , Shang Gaofeng , Liao Yifan , Sun Yijie , Hao Yanpeng , Li Licheng
Published: December 2021

Insulation failures caused by water drops deformation on insulator sheds edge greatly threaten the stable operation of power grid. However, only few studies have focused on water drops deformation characteristics on insulator sheds edge. In this paper, full‐time domain deformation of water drop was defined. The rain tests were performed to study the deformation of water drops and obtain water drops parameters under DC voltage. The water drops deformation parameter was selected according to the state of water drops when arc is generated. A fluid‐electric field coupling method is employed to establish simulation model to study the influence of water drops initial diameter, initial mass flow rate, DC voltage, and conductivity on water drops deformation. It is indicated that water drops maximum deformation length before first break in simulation is in good consistency with that obtained from rain tests. The water drops initial diameter, initial mass flow rate, and DC voltage significantly influence the deformation of water drops on sheds edge. Moreover, the water drops may even bridge adjacent sheds in some cases. In contrast, the effect of water drops conductivity on the water drops deformation is not apparent.
Design and evaluation of innovative protocols for LoRa
Authors: Zhong Chen , Springer Andreas
Published: December 2021

This paper proposes a low power application dedicated protocol stack which consists of a contention‐constrained p‐CSMA (CCP) protocol over the LoRa modulation technique and a consecutive successful transmission controlled transport (CSTCT) protocol. The aim of these innovative protocols is to boost the network performance in terms of throughput and energy consumption while the transmission latency is still acceptable. As a reference, firstly, p‐CSMA is evaluated with the consideration of under‐noise‐level communication. Then, the CCP protocol is proposed with the consideration of the speciality of the carrier sensing feature provided by the LoRa modem, which differs from the traditional energy level detection carrier sensing method. The CSTCT protocol resides at the CCP MAC layer which is light‐weight and devised to further improve the overall throughput. The performance of the protocol stack is evaluated in simulations using various settings with predefined parameters that are drawn from experiments. The results show that our CCP MAC protocol and CSTCT transport protocol provide 10% higher throughput compared to the classic p‐CSMA when the offered load is lower than 1.3 while the energy consumption is reduced by a factor of 2 and it remains latency limited.
A Retrospective Study of Disparities in an Academic Ophthalmic Emergency Department
Authors: Szypko Colleen , Hall Nathan , Ta Thong , Gardiner Matthew F. , Lorch Alice C.
Published: December 2021

Purpose Emergency medicine is a common access point to health care; disparities in this care by demographic characteristics, including race and ethnicity, may affect outcomes. The Massachusetts Eye and Ear (MEE) Emergency Department (ED) is a subspecialty emergency department; data from this site can be utilized to better understand social determinants of quality ophthalmic care.

Design This is a retrospective cross sectional cohort study in the MEE ED examining patient visits from June 1, 2016 to June 30, 2019.

Methods Using the electronic medical record system, all unique visits were identified between June 1, 2016 and June 30, 2019 (inclusive); patient demographics (sex, race, ethnicity [Hispanic vs. non-Hispanic], primary care provider [PCP] status, insurance type, zip code, primary language), date of visit, triage category and outcomes (final diagnosis, visit duration, and next visit at MEE within 3 months of the ED visit) were collected. Kaplan-Meier plots were used to visualize likelihood of follow-up visit to MEE for urgent patients based on demographics. Multivariate linear regression was used to examine factors affecting visit durations, as stratified by urgency, and Cox proportional hazards regression was used to establish hazard ratios for next visit to MEE.

Results Of the 46,248 ophthalmology ED initial visits, only triage status, season of visit, out-of-state residency, Medicare coverage, and Medicaid coverage led to statistically significant differences in visit durations for urgent visits compared with the respective reference groups. Similar trends persisted within the non-urgent visit cohort for visit durations. Residency, insurance coverage, season of visit, race, PCP status, and sex were identified as statistically significant predictors of the likelihood of a follow-up visit.

Conclusion Data from an ophthalmic emergency department suggest that demographic factors do impact patient visit duration and time to follow-up visit. These findings suggest a continued need for attention to social determinants of health and equitable care of patients within ophthalmology.
Duodenoscope-Acquired Infections: Risk Factors to Consider
Authors: Thornhill Grace , Dunkin Brian
Published: December 2021

In the wake of highly publicized duodenoscope-associated outbreaks caused by multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO), a herculean effort was made to understand the conditions that led to these transmission events. Although there is now a clearer picture on how these outbreaks happened, there are still significant data gaps when it comes to understanding the rate of duodenoscope-acquired infections (DAIs), especially in nonoutbreak situations. Recent publications indicate that DAIs are still occurring and suggest that infection rates are higher than currently believed. Given this data gap, it is important to identify those patient populations that are most at risk of postprocedure infection, so that appropriate infection control measures may be implemented. Although those patients receiving antibiotic prophylaxis are most at risk for infection, there are additional risk factors that should be considered. For the purposes of this review, risk factors for infection were divided into three broad categories as follows: (1) those that increase patient susceptibility to infection, (2) those related to the endoscopic procedure, and (3) those factors that put reusable duodenoscope inventories at risk of contamination. Infection risk is a complex interaction between the immune status of the patient, the characteristics of the infectious agent (antibiotic sensitivity, virulence factors, and epidemiology), and the environment of care. Because of this complexity, any assessment of the risk of infection should be performed on a case-by-case basis. There is a dearth of information on infection risk for those patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatograpy (ERCP), especially in the context of the development and implementation of new device technology, and new endoscopic procedures that are increasing in complexity. This narrative review was developed using the Medical Subject Heading (MeSH) terms to perform an electronic search in PubMed with the goal of generating a summary of the patient, procedural, and duodenoscope-associated factors that increase the risk of infection in patients undergoing ERCP. This review provides practical information regarding the segmentation of ERCP patients by infection risk, so that endoscopists can make informed decisions about the risk benefits of using enhanced duodenoscope technologies in the care of their patients.
Transcystic Removal of Common Bile Duct Stones in Surgically Altered Anatomy (Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass)
Authors: Thyloor Surakshith K. , Singla Vikas , Chowbey Pradeep
Published: December 2021

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in patients with surgically altered anatomy can be technically challenging. Various techniques have been described; however, the technical success rate depends on the type of reconstruction, length of the afferent limb, access to the papilla, availability of accessories, and adequate expertise. We describe successful transcystic removal of common bile duct stones in a patient with Roux-en-Y gastric bypass using cholangioscope and SpyGlass retrieval device at the time of cholecystectomy.
Comparison between Medical Student Educators and Program Directors in 2010 and 2019
Authors: Sankar Prithvi S. , Giaconi JoAnn A. , Goyal Anju , Graubart Emily G. , Kemp Pavlina S. , Knoch Daniel W. , Rosenberg Jamie B.
Published: December 2021

Objective Over the last decade, prominence of the Directors of Medical Student Education in Ophthalmology (DMSEs) within the Association of University Professors of Ophthalmology (AUPO) has increased. With increased recognition of this important leadership position, an examination of the trending demographic differences between DMSEs and the Ophthalmology Program Directors (PDs) may be helpful, especially in regard to the potential for academic promotion from each track.

Design Present study is a database study.

Methods The AUPO directory was used to ascertain the DMSE and the PD members between 2010 and 2019. The demographic profile for each member was determined using publicly available resources. Chi-square analysis of the data was performed.

Main Outcome Measures Number of DMSE and PD AUPO from 2010 to 2019 in AUPO Directory, sex, geographic location, and graduation year were measured through this study.

Results There has been a steady increase in the number of DMSEs from 2010 to 2019, whereas the number of PDs have remained stable. The number of DMSEs have increased in all regions of the United States. The year of ophthalmology residency graduation was similar in the DMSE and PD cohorts in 2010 and 2019. The number of women have increased in the DMSEs in 2019 compared with 2010; the number of women who were PDs in 2019 were similar to 2010. Finally, more PDs in 2010 became Chairs in 2019, whereas no DMSEs in 2010 became Chair in 2019.

Conclusion There are a growing number of DMSEs, overall, with an increasing proportion of women in the 2019 DMSE group compared with 2010. In contrast, the overall number of PDs have remained stable, as has the proportion of female PDs in 2019 compared with 2010. DMSEs, compared with PDs, are less likely to become Chairs. The increased opportunity for academic leadership with the growing DMSE group may help change leadership patterns overall in academic ophthalmology.
Long-Term Outcome Up To 40 Years after Single Patch Repair of Complete Atrioventricular Septal Defect in Infancy or Childhood
Authors: Reynen Stefanie , Hövels-Gürich Hedwig H. , Vazquez-Jimenez Jaime F. , Messmer Bruno J. , Sachweh Joerg S.
Published: December 2021

Objectives Patients with repaired complete atrioventricular septal defect (CAVSD) represent an increasing portion of grown-ups with congenital heart disease. For repair of CAVSD, the single-patch technique has been employed first. This technique requires division of the bridging leaflets, thus, among other issues, long-term function of the atrioventricular valves is of particular concern.

Methods Between 1978 and 2001, 100 consecutive patients with isolated CAVSD underwent single-patch repair in our institution. Hospital mortality was 11%. Primary endpoints were clinical status, atrioventricular valve function, and freedom from reoperation in long term. Follow-up was obtained contacting the patient and/or caregiver, and the referring cardiologist.

Results Eighty-three patients were eligible for long-term follow-up (21.0 ± 8.7, mean ± standard deviation [21.5; 2.1–40.0, median; min–max] years after surgical repair). Actual long-term mortality was 3.4%. Quality of life (QoL; self- or caregiver-reported in patients with Down syndrome) was excellent or good in 81%, mild congestive heart failure was present in 16%, moderate in 3.6% as estimated by New York Heart Association classification. Echocardiography revealed normal systolic left ventricular function in all cases. Regurgitation of the right atrioventricular valve was mild in 48%, mild–moderate in 3.6%, and moderate in 1.2%. The left atrioventricular valve was mildly stenotic in 15% and mild to moderately stenotic in 2%; regurgitation was mild in 54%, mild to moderate in 13%, and moderate in 15% of patients. Freedom from left atrioventricular-valve-related reoperation was 95.3, 92.7, and 89.3% after 5, 10, and 30 years, respectively. Permanent pacemaker therapy, as an immediate result of CAVSD repair (n = 7) or as a result of late-onset sick sinus syndrome (n = 5), required up to six reoperations in single patients. Freedom from pacemaker-related reoperation was 91.4, 84.4, and 51.5% after 5, 10, and 30 years, respectively.

Conclusion Up to 40 years after single-patch repair of CAVSD, clinical status and functional results are promising, particularly, in terms of atrioventricular valve function. Permanent pacemaker therapy results in a life-long need for surgical reinterventions.
Enhancement of Aqueous Solubility, Dissolution Profile, and Oral Bioavailability of Pentoxifylline by Microsponges
Authors: Pawar Anil Raosaheb , Shete Nikhil Arun , Jadhav Priyanka Vitthal , Deshmukh Vinayak Kashinath , Mehetre Jaswandi Sameer
Published: December 2021

Microsponge, a novel drug delivery system, is designed to deliver a pharmaceutically active ingredient efficiently at the minimum dose. Microsponge plays an important role in enhancing drug stability, reducing side effects, and modifying drug release profiles. It is mostly used for transdermal delivery. Recent studies also explored their use for oral administration. This study aimed to explore the potential use of the microsponge technique in improving the aqueous solubility and dissolution profile of pentoxifylline (PTX). In this study, microsponges were prepared by a quasi-emulsion solvent diffusion method by varying concentrations of carriers. Nine different ratios of the PTX:Eudragit E-100 with varying amounts of dichloromethane were used. All formulated microsponges were evaluated for %production yield, compatibility of drug excipient, encapsulation efficiency, in vitro drug release, and in vivo bioavailability, as well as recorded by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and differential scanning calorimetry(DSC). Our data suggested that the aqueous solubility of PTX microsponges was four times greater than that of pure drug. The in vitro drug release of selected microsponges (M8) was found to be 70%; furthermore, the in vivo study suggested that the selected formulation significantly enhanced drug concentration in the plasma (9,219 ng/mL in 12 hours) in comparison to pure drug PTX (2,476 ng/mL in 12 hours). SEM showed that the prepared microsponges were spherical with porous nature. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and DSC studies confirmed an absence of incompatibility among drugs and selected excipients. The pH of the selected gel was found to be 6.8, which was compatible with those of skin and oral formulations also. All above data suggested a highly successful and beneficial use of the microsponge technique in enhancing aqueous solubility, dissolution profile, and oral bioavailability of PTX. Microsponge-based delivery of PTX may represent an alternative strategy to improve the bioavailability of the drug.
The Impact of Virtual Interviews on the Geographic Distribution of Ophthalmology Match Results in the 2020–2021 Cycle
Authors: Rasendran Chandruganesh , Rahman Sarah , Younis Uthman , Wadhwa Raoul , Kapadia Manasvee , Lass Jonathan H. , Ohsie-Bajor Linda H.
Published: December 2021

Background Instead of the traditional in-person interviews, the 2020 to 2021 ophthalmology application cycle was conducted with virtual interviews due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019). Little is known about differences between the results of this application cycle with previous years.

Objectives The aim of this study was to determine the effect of virtual interviews on the geographic distribution of matched ophthalmology residency applicants.

Methods Information was collected on the medical school location and matched residency program location for 2020 to 2021 applicants as well as applicants during the 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, and 2018 to 2019 cycles from publicly available Web sites. Pearson chi-squared tests were conducted to determine whether there was a significant difference in the proportion of applicants matching in the same region, state, and institution as their medical schools in the 2020 to 2021 interview cycle when compared with past cycles.

Results Three-hundred seventy-five applicants from 2020 to 2021 and 1,190 applicants from 2016 to 2019 application cycles were analyzed. There was no difference in the type of medical school attended (allopathic vs. osteopathic vs. international medical graduate) (p = 0.069), the likelihood of attending a residency program in the same region as the home medical school (54% for 2020–2021 vs. 57% for 2016–2019 applicants, p = 0.3), and the likelihood of attending a residency program in the same state as the home medical school (31 vs. 28%, p = 0.2). There was a higher likelihood of applicants during the 2020 to 2021 cycle matching at a residency program affiliated with their home medical school than previous cycles (23 vs. 18%, p = 0.03).

Conclusions Virtual interviews did not increase the likelihood of medical students staying in the same region or state as their medical school, while there was a higher likelihood of applicants matching at residency programs at institutions affiliated with their medical schools. A hybrid approach to maintain geographic diversity of applicants' final residency programs involving virtual interviews with the addition of in-person away rotations is suggested.
Energy quadratization Runge–Kutta method for the modified phase field crystal equation
Authors: Shin Jaemin , Lee Hyun Geun , Lee June-Yub
Published: December 2021

In this paper, we propose high order and unconditionally energy stable methods for a modified phase field crystal equation by applying the strategy of the energy quadratization Runge–Kutta methods. We transform the original model into an equivalent system with auxiliary variables and quadratic free energy. The modified system preserves the laws of mass conservation and energy dissipation with the associated energy functional. We present rigorous proofs of the mass conservation and energy dissipation properties of the proposed numerical methods and present numerical experiments conducted to demonstrate their accuracy and energy stability. Finally, we compare long-term simulations using an indicator function to characterize the pattern formation.
The modeling of a Tokamak plasma discharge, from first principles to a flight simulator
Authors: Fable Emiliano , Janky Filip , Treutterer W , Englberger Michael , Schramm Raphael , Muraca Marco , Angioni Clemente , Kudlacek Ondrej , Poli Emanuele , Reich Matthias , Siccinio Mattia , Tardini Giovanni , Weiland Markus , Wu Chuanren , Zohm Hartmut
Published: December 2021

A newly developed tool to simulate a tokamak full--discharge is presented. The tokamak "flight--simulator" Fenix couples the tokamak control system with a fast and reduced plasma model, yet realistic enough to take into account several of the plasma non--linearities. Distinguishing feature of this modeling tool is that it only requires the Pulse Schedule (PS) as input to the simulator. The output is a virtual realization of the full discharge, which time traces can then be used to judge if the PS satisfies control/physics goals or needs to be revised. This tool is thought for routine use in the control--room before each pulse is performed, but can also be used off--line to correct PS in advance, or to develop and validate reduced models, control schemes, and in general the simulation framework.