bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Analiza rezultata Europskoga zdravstvenoga potrošačkog indeksa od 2014. do 2017. – s posebnim osvrtom na pokazatelje preventive
Authors: Lukovnjak Boris
Published: February 2020

U radu su, na temelju analize istraživanja koje je pod nazivom Europski zdravstveni potrošački indeks (Euro Health Consumer Index – EHCI) provela renomirana švedska tvrtka Health Consumer Powerhouse, uspoređeni mjerljivi pokazatelji kvalitete i učinkovitosti zdravstvene skrbi u Republici Hrvatskoj s ostalim zemljama Europe. Spomenuta tvrtka svake godine objavljuje novu ediciju EHCI-ja kojom prati kretanja pojedinih pokazatelja ili cjelina pokazatelja u svakoj zemlji. S obzirom na tekovinu Andrije Štampara i njegovih istomišljenika, Hrvatska je u europskim i svjetskim okvirima prepoznata kao pionir postojećega europskog modela primarne zdravstvene zaštite i preventivnih aktivnosti. Zbog nedovoljnih financijskih ulaganja te nesustavnoga pristupa edukaciji populacije, Hrvatska je u spomenutoj analizi najlošije pokazatelje zdravstvene zaštite ostvarila upravo u području preventive. Istaknuti su kao važni i farmakoekonomski učinci ulaganja u prevenciju i primarnu zdravstvenu zaštitu jer je općepoznato kako je jedna kuna uložena u preventivu ekvivalentna iznosu od deset kuna uloženih u kurativu.
Design and Referentiality in Analogue and Digital Photography
Authors: Schröter Jens
Published: February 2020

This short archaeology of digital photography underlines the constitutive role that image processing has for the constitution of referentiality - in opposition to arguments that 'manipulation' would reduce the credibility of photographic images (although that can happen). Design and referentiality are systematically related.
Chico-to-Cairo: An Analysis of International Virtual Discussions of Terrorism
Authors: Irish Adam
Published: February 2020

Whether focusing on the readings included in a syllabus, the learning activities that expose students to other perspectives, or physical travel to a foreign locale, political science classes face the pedagogical obstacle and opportunity of conveying the different political perspectives held diverse groups and states. This article builds on prior calls for internationalizing the classroom and develops a videoconference discussion of terrorism between students in Chico, California and Cairo, Egypt. Surveys reveal that students who attended the conference reported an increased confidence in their knowledge of terrorism as well as a deeper appreciation of international perspectives on terrorism. Based on this study, I argue for the creation of a more formal networking opportunities between US-based and foreign-based instructors in order to facilitate the availability of low-cost, international experiences as part of a more inclusive, internationalized classroom.
Is Anybody There? Exploring the Role of Social Presence in an Online Political Science Research Methods Class
Authors: Daigle Delton , Stuvland Aaron
Published: February 2020

Social presence, or the “being there” and “being real” presence of others in an online learning environment, is widely considered to have a positive impact on student motivation and participation, actual and perceived learning, course and instructor satisfaction, and retention in online courses (Richardson et al. 2017; Oh et al. 2018). Several aspects of social presence remain understudied however, such as how gender, class rank, and other demographical characteristics may influence perceptions of social presence and condition the relationship between perceptions of social presence and academic performance or course satisfaction. Furthermore, although studies of the impact of social presence abound, few studies examine the impact of perceptions of social presence on academic performance and course satisfaction across modalities – sections of online and face-to-face classes.
12 Miles, 14 Years: A Critical Report on the Life Expectancy Gap between
two N.J. Cities
Authors: Borges Carolina Marques , Cleary Seana , Amarosa Deanna , Villanueva Viane , Martins Ribeiro de Souza Marina Celly
Published: February 2020

The U.S. is a well-developed country with some of the most innovative medical advancements in the world. However, health disparities still present a major public health challenge that manifests itself in residents who live just 12 miles apart, as seen in Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey. This critical report aimed to discuss life expectancy with a focus on the social determinants of health, contrasting the current panorama seen in Trenton and Princeton. This study has shown that the life-expectancy gap will continue to grow between these towns unless political action is taken. There cannot be a disconnect between the government and the community; it is necessary for government officials to listen to individual voices from the areas that they are impacting, whose lives depend on the actions they do or do not take. Any public policies implemented should be a collaboration between the public sector and private sector of Trenton in order to reach all consumers while still having the resources and funding available from the government to initiate the policies.
Uncontrolled Outdoor Access for Cats: An Assessment of Risks and Benefits
Authors: Tan Sarah M.L. , Stellato Anastasia C. , Niel Lee
Published: February 2020

Uncontrolled outdoor access is associated with a number of welfare concerns for companion cats, including increased risks of disease and parasites, injury or death due to traffic, predation or ingestion of toxic substances, and getting permanently separated from their owner. In addition, cats pose a threat to local wildlife due to predatory behaviors, and can sometimes be a nuisance to human neighbors. Despite these concerns, recent estimates suggest that many owners are still providing their cats with uncontrolled outdoor access, likely because it also offers welfare benefits by allowing cats to perform natural behaviors, such as hunting, exploring, and climbing. While some have suggested that outdoor access is necessary to meet cats’ behavioral needs and to prevent related behavioral problems, others have recommended various environmental enrichment strategies that can be developed to meet these needs within an indoor environment or through supervised and controlled outdoor access. This review examines the welfare issues and benefits associated with outdoor access for cats, as well as what is currently known about peoples’ practices, knowledge, and attitudes about the provision of outdoor access for cats.
Model-Based Distribution and Abundance of Three Delphinidae in the Mediterranean
Authors: Karamitros Grigorios , Gkafas Georgios A. , Giantsis Ioannis A. , Martsikalis Petros , Kavouras Menelaos , Exadactylos Athanasios
Published: February 2020

Monitoring of Delphinidae species population patterns in the Mediterranean Sea was carried out in a sequence of surveys employing different approaches. Data from seven-year surveys with small catamaran sailing boats were analyzed under model-based approaches. Density Surface Models were used to produce spatial distribution prediction of three Delphinidae species (Stenella coeruleoalba, Tursiops truncatus, and Delphinus delphis) in an extended study area covering much of the Mediterranean Sea. A classical distance sampling protocol was applied in order to calculate the detection probability of clusters. Static (depth, slope, distance from the coast, and distance from isobaths of 200 m) and nonstatic (sea surface temperature and chlorophyll) variables were used to predict the species distribution/abundance in a generalized additive model context. Stenella coeruleoalba was found to be the dominant species, with an extended distribution in the study area; its abundance was significantly affected by both depth and distance. Tursiops truncatus and Delphinus delphis illustrated a significant abundance correlation with depth and chlorophyll, respectively, while both species showed a robust longitude correlation. Our model pinpoints the significance of nondesigned transect line surveys, suggesting the importance of specific habitat areas for future monitoring and conservation aspects of marine mammals.
Fermentation Pattern of Several Carbohydrate Sources Incubated in An in Vitro Semicontinuous System with Inocula From Ruminants Given Either Forage or Concentrate-Based Diets
Authors: Amanzougarene Zahia , Yuste Susana , Fondevila Manuel
Published: February 2020

The fermentation pattern of several carbohydrate sources and their interaction with the nature of microbial inoculum was studied. Barley (B), maize (M), sorghum, (S), sugarbeet pulp (BP), citrus pulp (CP) and wheat bran (WB) were tested in an in vitro semicontinuous system maintaining poorly buffered conditions from 0 to 6 h, and being gradually buffered to 6.5 from 8 to 24 h to simulate the rumen pH pattern. Rumen fluid inoculum was obtained from lambs fed with either concentrate and barley straw (CI) or alfalfa hay (FI). The extent of fermentation was higher with CI than FI throughout the incubation (p < 0.05). Among the substrates, S, BP and M maintained the highest pH (p < 0.05), whereas CP recorded the lowest pH with both inocula. Similarly, CP recorded the highest gas volume throughout the incubation, followed by WB and B, and S recorded the lowest volume (p < 0.05). On average, the total volatile fatty acid (VFA), as well as lactic acid concentration, was higher with CP than in the other substrates (p < 0.05). The microbial structure was more affected by the animal donor of inoculum than by the substrate. The in vitro semicontinuous system allows for the study of the rumen environment acidification and substrate microbial fermentation under intensive feeding conditions.
How Does Antimicrobial Stewardship Affect Inappropriate Antibiotic Therapy in Urological Patients?
Authors: Uda Atsushi , Shigemura Katsumi , Kitagawa Koichi , Osawa Kayo , Onuma Kenichiro , Inoue Shigeaki , Kotani Joji , Yan Yonmin , Nakano Yuzo , Nishioka Tatsuya , Yano Ikuko , Miyara Takayuki , Fujisawa Masato
Published: February 2020

Antimicrobial stewardship teams (ASTs) have been well-accepted in recent years; however, their clinical outcomes have not been fully investigated in urological patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcomes of intervention via a retrospective review of urological patients, as discussed in the AST meetings, who were treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics between 2014 and 2018 at the Department of Urology, Kobe University Hospital in Japan. Interventions were discussed in AST meetings for patients identified by pharmacists as having received inappropriate antibiotic therapy. The annual changes in numbers of inappropriate medications and culture submissions over five years at the urology department were statistically analyzed. Among 1,033 patients audited by pharmacists, inappropriate antibiotic therapy was found in 118 cases (11.4%). The numbers of inappropriate antibiotic use cases and of interventions for indefinite infections had significantly decreased during the study period (p = 0.012 and p = 0.033, respectively). However, the number of blood and drainage culture submissions had significantly increased (p = 0.009 and p = 0.035, respectively). Our findings suggest that urologists have probably become more familiar with infectious disease management through AST intervention, leading to a decrease in inappropriate antibiotic use and an increase in culture submissions.
Strategies to Combat Multidrug-Resistant and Persistent Infectious Diseases
Authors: Pacios Olga , Blasco Lucia , Bleriot Inès , Fernandez-Garcia Laura , González Bardanca Mónica , Ambroa Antón , López María , Bou German , Tomás Maria
Published: February 2020

Antibiotic failure is one of the most worrying health problems worldwide. We are currently facing an international crisis with several problematic facets: new antibiotics are no longer being discovered, resistance mechanisms are occurring in almost all clinical isolates of bacteria, and recurrent infections caused by persistent bacteria are hampering the successful treatment of infections. In this context, new anti-infectious strategies against multidrug-resistant (MDR) and persistent bacteria, as well as the rescue of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved compounds (drug repurposing), are being explored. Among the highlighted new anti-infectious strategies, in this review, we focus on antimicrobial peptides, anti-virulence compounds, phage therapy, and new molecules. As drugs that are being repurposed, we highlight anti-inflammatory compounds, anti-psychotics, anti-helminthics, anti-cancerous drugs, and statins.
GIS and BIM as Integrated Digital Environments for Modeling and Monitoring of Historic Buildings
Authors: Tsilimantou Elisavet , Delegou Ekaterini T. , Nikitakos Ioannis A. , Ioannidis Charalabos , Moropoulou Antonia
Published: February 2020

Multidisciplinary data integration within an information system is considered a key point for rehabilitation projects. Information regarding the state of preservation and/or decision making, for sustainable restoration is prerequisite. In addition, achieving structural integrity of a historic building, especially one that has undergone many construction phases and restoration interventions, is a very elaborate task and should, therefore, involve the study of multidisciplinary information regarding historical, architectural, building material and geometric data. In this paper the elaboration of such data within 2D and 3D information systems is described. Through the process described herein, a methodology, including the acquisition, classification and management of various multisensory data, is displayed and applied within a geographic information system (GIS). Moreover, the multidisciplinary documentation process, aggregated with the surveying products, generates 3D heritage building information modeling (HBIM), including information regarding construction phases, pathology and current state of preservation of a building. The assessment of the applied methodology is performed concluding in a qualitative and a quantitative manner, in both 2D and 3D environments, providing information to facilitate the structural assessment of a historic building. Thus, in this work, the described methodology is presented, combining the multidisciplinary data with the development of GIS thematic maps and an HBIM. Representative results of the suggested methodology applied on the historic building of Villa Klonaridi, Athens, Greece are displayed.
Measurements of Entropic Uncertainty Relations in Neutron Optics
Authors: Demirel Bülent , Sponar Stephan , Hasegawa Yuji
Published: February 2020

The emergence of the uncertainty principle has celebrated its 90th anniversary recently. For this occasion, the latest experimental results of uncertainty relations quantified in terms of Shannon entropies are presented, concentrating only on outcomes in neutron optics. The focus is on the type of measurement uncertainties that describe the inability to obtain the respective individual results from joint measurement statistics. For this purpose, the neutron spin of two non-commuting directions is analyzed. Two sub-categories of measurement uncertainty relations are considered: noise–noise and noise–disturbance uncertainty relations. In the first case, it will be shown that the lowest boundary can be obtained and the uncertainty relations be saturated by implementing a simple positive operator-valued measure (POVM). For the second category, an analysis for projective measurements is made and error correction procedures are presented.
Temperature Impact on the Assessment of Reinforcement Corrosion Risk in Concrete by Galvanostatic Pulse Method
Authors: Raczkiewicz Wioletta , Wójcicki Artur
Published: February 2020

The electrochemical galvanostatic pulse method (GPM) is used for the evaluation of the degree of corrosion risk of reinforcement in concrete. This non-destructive method enables determining the corrosion promoting conditions through the measurements of reinforcement stationary potential and concrete cover resistivity, and determining the probability of reinforcement corrosion in the tested areas. This method also allows for the estimation of the reinforcement corrosion activity and the prediction of the development of the corrosion process on the basis of corrosion current density measurements. The ambient temperature (and the temperature of the examined element) can significantly affect the values of the measured parameters due to electrochemical character of the processes as well as specific measurement technique. Differences in the obtained results can lead to a wrong interpretation of reinforcement corrosion risk degree in concrete. The article attempts to assess the effect of temperature on the measured parameters while using the galvanostatic pulse method. The GP-5000 GalvaPulseTM set was used. The results of this study confirmed the impact of temperature changes on the values of three measured parameters (reinforcement stationary potential, concrete cover resistivity, and corrosion current density) and contributed to catching the trend of these changes.
A Part Consolidation Design Method for Additive Manufacturing based on Product Disassembly Complexity
Authors: Kim Samyeon , Moon Seung Ki
Published: February 2020

Parts with complex geometry have been divided into multiple parts due to manufacturing constraints of conventional manufacturing. However, since additive manufacturing (AM) is able to fabricate 3D objects in a layer-by-layer manner, design for AM has been researched to explore AM design benefits and alleviate manufacturing constraints of AM. To explore more AM design benefits, part consolidation has been researched for consolidating multiple parts into fewer number of parts at the manufacturing stage of product lifecycle. However, these studies have been less considered product recovery and maintenance at end-of-life stage. Consolidated parts for the manufacturing stage would not be beneficial at end-of-life stage and lead to unnecessary waste of materials during maintenance. Therefore, in this research, a design method is proposed to consolidate parts for considering maintenance and product recovery at the end-of-life stage by extending a modular identification method. Single part complexity index (SCCI) is introduced to measure part and interface complexities simultaneously. Parts with high SCCI values are grouped into modules that are candidates for part consolidation. Then the product disassembly complexity (PDC) can be used to measure disassembly complexity of a product before and after part consolidation. A case study is performed to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed design method. The proposed method contributes to guiding how to consolidate parts for enhancing product recovery.
Feasibility Analysis of a Membrane Desorber Powered by Thermal Solar Energy for Absorption Cooling Systems
Authors: Ibarra-Bahena Jonathan , Venegas-Reyes Eduardo , Galindo-Luna Yuridiana R. , Rivera Wilfrido , Romero Rosenberg J. , Rodríguez-Martínez Antonio , Dehesa-Carrasco Ulises
Published: February 2020

In absorption cooling systems, the desorber is a component that separates the refrigerant fluid from the liquid working mixture, most commonly completed by boiling separation; however, the operation temperature of boiling desorbers is generally higher than the low-enthalpy energy, such as solar, geothermal, or waste heat. In this study, we used a hydrophobic membrane desorber to separate water vapor from an aqueous LiBr solution. Influencing factors, such as the H2O/LiBr solution and cooling water temperatures, were tested and analyzed. With the experimental data, a solar collector system was simulated on a larger scale, considering a 1 m2 membrane. The membrane desorber evaluation shows that the desorption rate of water vapor increased as the LiBr solution temperature increased and the cooling water temperature decreased. Based on the experimental data from the membrane desorber/condenser, a theoretical heat load was calculated to size a solar system. Meteorological data from Emiliano Zapata in Mexico were considered. According to the numerical result, nine solar collectors with a total area of 37.4 m2 provide a solar fraction of 0.797. The membrane desorber/condenser coupled to the solar system can provide an average of 16.8 kg/day of refrigerant fluid that can be used to produce a cooling effect in an absorption refrigerant system.
A Modification of Offset Strip Fin Heatsink with High-Performance Cooling for IGBT Modules
Authors: Yahyaee Ali , Bahman Amir , Blaabjerg Frede
Published: February 2020

For reliability and thermal management of power devices, the most frequently used technique is to employ heatsinks. In this work, a new configuration of offset strip fin heatsink based on using the concept of curvy fins and U-turn is proposed with the aim of improving the heat transfer performance. With this aim, a three-dimensional model of heatsink with Silicon Insulated-Gate Bipolar Transistors (IGBTs) and diodes, solder, Direct Bonded Copper (DBC) substrate, baseplate and thermal grease is developed. Richardson’s extrapolation is used for increasing the accuracy of the numerical simulations and to validate the simulations. To study the effectiveness of the new offset design, results are compared with conventional offset strip fin heatsink. Results show that in aspects of design of heatsinks (including heat transfer coefficient, maximum chip temperature and thermal resistance), the new introduced model has advantages compared to the conventional offset strip fin design. These enhancements are caused by the combination of the longer coolant passage in the heatsink associated with generation of disturbance and recirculation areas along the curvy fins, creation of centrifugal forces in the U-turn, and periodic breaking up boundary layers. Also, it is shown that due to narrower passage and back-and-forth route, the new introduced design can handle the hot spots better than conventional design.
Amharic OCR: An End-to-End Learning
Authors: Belay Birhanu , Habtegebrial Tewodros , Meshesha Million , Liwicki Marcus , Belay Gebeyehu , Stricker Didier
Published: February 2020

In this paper, we introduce an end-to-end Amharic text-line image recognition approach based on recurrent neural networks. Amharic is an indigenous Ethiopic script which follows a unique syllabic writing system adopted from an ancient Geez script. This script uses 34 consonant characters with the seven vowel variants of each (called basic characters) and other labialized characters derived by adding diacritical marks and/or removing parts of the basic characters. These associated diacritics on basic characters are relatively smaller in size, visually similar, and challenging to distinguish from the derived characters. Motivated by the recent success of end-to-end learning in pattern recognition, we propose a model which integrates a feature extractor, sequence learner, and transcriber in a unified module and then trained in an end-to-end fashion. The experimental results, on a printed and synthetic benchmark Amharic Optical Character Recognition (OCR) database called ADOCR, demonstrated that the proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art methods by 6.98% and 1.05%, respectively.
Influence of Natural Cavities on the Design of Shallow Foundations
Authors: Benito Olmeda Jesús Luis , Moreno Robles Javier , Sanz Pérez Eugenio , Olalla Marañón Claudio
Published: February 2020

When inner cavities of significant dimensions exist in natural rocks, problems arise when a shallow foundation for a building, bridge or other structure is builtonthem. Thus, taking one of the most representative cavity geometries in nature, the ellipsoidal horizontal shape, the main objective of this study is to obtain the ultimate bearing capacity of the foundation with cavities of different sizes and positions, on rock masses with different strengths and deformation characteristics. The study focuses on natural rocks of karst origin (in limestones, dolomites or gypsums) and of volcanic origin. The ultimate bearing capacity is determined relative to a situation without the existence of the cavity for different cavern positions and sizes, rock types (mi), strengths (UCS), and states (GSI) of the rock mass. The results showed that the most decisive parameter is the relative eccentricity. The influence of the rock type (Hoek’s parameter mi) is, for practical purposes, negligible (lower than 10%). The strength and condition of the rock mass (parameters UCS and GSI) have relatively little influence on the results obtained. This study aims to provide a simple design criteria for universal use, with different geometric configurations and qualities of rock masses that can be used directly without the need for sophisticated calculations by the designer.
CLEANIR: Controllable Attribute-Preserving Natural Identity Remover
Authors: Cho Durkhyun , Lee Jin Han , Suh Il Hong
Published: February 2020

We live in an era of privacy concerns. As smart devices such as smartphones, service robots and surveillance cameras spread, preservation of our privacy becomes one of the major concerns in our daily life. Traditionally, the problem was resolved by simple approaches such as image masking or blurring. While these provide effective ways to remove identities from images, there are certain limitations when it comes to a matter of recognition from the processed images. For example, one may want to get ambient information from scenes even when privacy-related information such as facial appearance is removed or changed. To address the issue, our goal in this paper is not only to modify identity from faces but also keeps facial attributes such as color, pose and facial expression for further applications. We propose a novel face de-identification method based on a deep generative model in which we design the output vector from an encoder to be disentangled into two parts: identity-related part and the rest representing facial attributes. We show that by solely modifying the identity-related part from the latent vector, our method effectively modifies the facial identity to a completely new one while the other attributes that are loosely related to personal identity are preserved. To validate the proposed method, we provide results from experiments that measure two different aspects: effectiveness of personal identity modification and facial attribute preservation.
Radiation-Induced Structural Changes of Miscanthus Biomass
Authors: Su Xiao-Jun , Zhang Chun-Yan , Li Wen-Jia , Wang Feng , Wang Ke-Qin , Liu Yun , Li Qing-Ming
Published: February 2020

Efficient pretreatment is a prerequisite for lignocellulosic biomass biorefinery due to the structure of lignocellulose. This study is a first-time investigation into the structural changes of Miscanthus biomass treated with 60Co γ-ray irradiation in different doses up to 1200 kGy. The structural properties of the treated sample have been systematically characterized by FTIR, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), XRD, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), a laser particle size analyzer, SEM, an atomic force microscope (AFM), and NMR. The results show that irradiation treatment can partially destroy the intra- or inter-molecular hydrogen bonds of biomass. Irradiation treatment can also reduce particle size, narrow the distribution range, as well as increase the specific surface area of biomasses. Noticeably, the TGA stability of the treated biomass decreases with increasing absorbed doses. To respond to these structural changes, the treated biomass can be easily hydrolyzed by cellulases with a high yield of reducing sugars (557.58 mg/g biomass), much higher than that of the untreated sample. We conclude that irradiation treatment can damage biomass structure, a promising strategy for biomass biorefinery in the future.
Design for Visual Quality Enhancement of Artificial Infrastructure Facilities: An Application to Electricity Pylons
Authors: Di Angelo Luca , Gherardini Francesco , Di Stefano Paolo , Leali Francesco
Published: February 2020

(1) Background: The visual impact of artificial infrastructures on natural landscapes generates a common negative perception in public opinion. However, as in the case of electrical energy, the increasing demand for power supply and its need for capillary distribution require the installation of new lines, commonly overhead lines with tall tower-like pylons. In most countries, this situation is faced with many attempts of solutions, as participatory workshops and design contests. Nevertheless, the solutions are usually not further developed into real structures due to many limitations (e.g., regulatory, safety, lack of feasibility). (2) Methods: This paper presents a systematic method for the design of tower-like pylons (e.g., electric ones) able to improve the visual quality on the landscape areas in which they will be installed. The method identifies a design strategy that advantageously exploits the inevitable visual impact of pylons on the landscape by integrating the symbolic morphology and the topologically optimized pylon structure from the earliest design phases. (3) Results: The resulting structure is designed in three steps. First, a concept is morphologically developed by integrating symbolic references to the landscape, environment, or cultural society. Second, the concept is topologically optimized, by reducing the structural weight and its visual impact, and respecting regulatory requirements. Third, the resulting structure is engineered and embodied into an industrially feasible layout. (4) Conclusions: The method is able to develop an original, brand new tower-like pylon integrating all the types of requirements, such as regulatory, industrial feasibility, and social components’ needs. The resulting electricity pylon presents an enhanced visual quality according to the citizens’ feedback.
Mixed Reality Enhanced User Interactive Path Planning for Omnidirectional Mobile Robot
Authors: Wu Mulun , Dai Shi-Lu , Yang Chenguang
Published: February 2020

This paper proposes a novel control system for the path planning of an omnidirectional mobile robot based on mixed reality. Most research on mobile robots is carried out in a completely real environment or a completely virtual environment. However, a real environment containing virtual objects has important actual applications. The proposed system can control the movement of the mobile robot in the real environment, as well as the interaction between the mobile robot’s motion and virtual objects which can be added to a real environment. First, an interactive interface is presented in the mixed reality device HoloLens. The interface can display the map, path, control command, and other information related to the mobile robot, and it can add virtual objects to the real map to realize a real-time interaction between the mobile robot and the virtual objects. Then, the original path planning algorithm, vector field histogram* (VFH*), is modified in the aspects of the threshold, candidate direction selection, and cost function, to make it more suitable for the scene with virtual objects, reduce the number of calculations required, and improve the security. Experimental results demonstrated that this proposed method can generate the motion path of the mobile robot according to the specific requirements of the operator, and achieve a good obstacle avoidance performance.
Darcy–Boussinesq Model of Cilia-Assisted Transport of a Non-Newtonian Magneto-Biofluid with Chemical Reactions
Authors: Farooq Ali Ahmad , Shah Zahir , Kumam Poom , O. Alzahrani Ebraheem , Shutaywi Meshal , Anwar Talha
Published: February 2020

The model developed in this study presents a mathematical approach to the physiological transport of seminal liquid due to ciliary movements, which are attached with the lumen of the ductile efferent in the male reproductive system. The rheological properties of the seminal liquids were described using the Jeffrey liquid model. The problem described an electromagnetic mixed convective flow of a Jeffrey liquid through a vertical channel with heat and mass transfers. The effects of chemical reactions and the external heat generation were included in the formulation. The flow took place through an active porous medium (due to thick cilia mat and other deposits) and was influenced by the Lorentz magnetic force. Four basic conservation laws of mass, momentum, energy, and concentration were utilized in the mathematical modeling. These are highly nonlinear equations, which were simplified due to a physiologically valid approach known as LAT (lubrication approximation theory). Analytical solutions for temperature, concentration, and velocity profiles were evaluated. The expressions describing the pressure–volume flow rate relationships were also obtained. Analysis of various physical and geometrical factors affecting the pressure–volume (pumping) characteristics was also presented. One of the main findings of our study is that the difference between our calculated values of the flow rate and the estimated values of the flow rate in the ductile efferent was negligibly small. Moreover, our results can be implemented in the artificial cilia pumping systems in microchannels.
Asserting the Vernacular: Contested Musealities and Contemporary Art in Lima, Peru
Authors: Germana Gabriela , Bowman-McElhone Amy
Published: February 2020

This essay examines three museums of contemporary art in Lima, Peru: MAC (Museum of Contemporary Art), MALI (Lima Art Museum), and MASM (San Marcos Art Museum). As framed through curatorial studies and cultural politics, we argue that the curatorial practices of these institutions are embedded with tensions linked to the negotiation of regional, national, and international identities, coloniality, and alternate modernities between Western paradigms of contemporary art and contemporary vernacular art in Peru. Peruvian national institutions have not engaged in the collection of contemporary art, leaving these practices to private entities such as the MAC, MALI, and MASM. However, these three institutions have not, until recently, actively collected contemporary vernacular Peruvian art and its by-products, thus inscribing this work as “non-Western” through curatorial practices and creating competing conceptions of the contemporary. The curatorial practices of the MAC, MALI, and MASM reflect the complex and contested musealities and conceptions of the contemporary that co-exist in Lima. This essay will address this environment and the emergence of alternative forms of museality, curatorial practices, and indigenous artist’s strategies that continually construct and disrupt different modernities and create spaces for questioning constructs of contemporary art and Peruvian cultural identities.
Representing Organic Compound Oxidation in Chemical Mechanisms for Policy-Relevant Air Quality Models under Background Troposphere Conditions
Authors: Derwent Richard G.
Published: February 2020

This intercomparison has taken thirteen chemical mechanisms and compared how they treat VOC oxidation and degradation and its relationship to the photochemical formation of ozone and hydroxyl radicals. Here, we have looked in some detail at the incremental responses of hydroxyl radicals to incremental additions of a range of organic compounds under conditions appropriate to the background atmosphere. Most of the time, with most organic compounds and most chemical mechanisms, incremental additions of an organic compound led to depletion of hydroxyl radical concentrations. The chemical mechanisms studied demonstrated increasingly negative incremental hydroxyl radical reactivities with increasing carbon numbers for the alkanes ethane, propane and n-butane. Hydroxyl radical incremental reactivities for the simple alkenes, ethylene and propylene, were reasonably consistent across the chemical mechanisms studied. However, this consistent representation did not extend to trans but-2-ene, where reactivity estimates spanned a range of a factor of five. Incremental reactivities were reasonably well-defined for isoprene which was encouraging in view of its importance to background tropospheric chemistry. The most serious discrepancies emerging from this study were found with the aromatics toluene and o-xylene, and with the Master Chemical Mechanism and these are discussed in some detail.
Solution of Levinthal’s Paradox and a Physical Theory of Protein Folding Times
Authors: Ivankov Dmitry N. , Finkelstein Alexei V.
Published: February 2020

“How do proteins fold?” Researchers have been studying different aspects of this question for more than 50 years. The most conceptual aspect of the problem is how protein can find the global free energy minimum in a biologically reasonable time, without exhaustive enumeration of all possible conformations, the so-called “Levinthal’s paradox.” Less conceptual but still critical are aspects about factors defining folding times of particular proteins and about perspectives of machine learning for their prediction. We will discuss in this review the key ideas and discoveries leading to the current understanding of folding kinetics, including the solution of Levinthal’s paradox, as well as the current state of the art in the prediction of protein folding times.
Revisiting the Roles of Pro-Metastatic EpCAM in Cancer
Authors: Mohtar M. , Syafruddin Saiful , Nasir Siti , Low Teck Yew
Published: February 2020

Epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) is a cell surface protein that was discovered as a tumour marker of epithelial origins nearly four decades ago. EpCAM is expressed at basal levels in the basolateral membrane of normal epithelial cells. However, EpCAM expression is upregulated in solid epithelial cancers and stem cells. EpCAM can also be found in disseminated tumour cells and circulating tumour cells. Various OMICs studies have demonstrated that EpCAM plays roles in several key biological processes such as cell adhesion, migration, proliferation and differentiation. Additionally, EpCAM can be detected in the bodily fluid of cancer patients suggesting that EpCAM is a pathophysiologically relevant anti-tumour target as well as being utilized as a diagnostic/prognostic agent for a variety of cancers. This review will focus on the structure-features of EpCAM protein and discuss recent evidence on the pathological and physiological roles of EpCAM in modulating cell adhesion and signalling pathways in cancers as well as deliberating the clinical implication of EpCAM as a therapeutic target.
Low Lactic Acid-Producing Strain of Lachancea thermotolerans as a New Starter for Beer Production
Authors: Zdaniewicz Marek , Satora Paweł , Pater Aneta , Bogacz Sylwia
Published: February 2020

Growing consumer interest in new beer flavors is contributing to the application of innovative materials and non-Saccharomyces yeast in brewing. The goal of this study was to test the impact of the low lactic acid-producing Lachancea thermotolerans MN477031 strain on the process of fermenting beer wort, with two different concentrations of bitter compounds, and on the quality of the beer produced. Qualify factors were broadly analyzed, including ethanol content, apparent degree of fermentation, sugars, organic acids, free amino nitrogen, glycerol, volatile compounds, ions and so on. It was proven that the L. thermotolerans MN477031 strain demonstrated a high capacity for rapid initiation of wort fermentation, and a tolerance to hop-derived compounds. As a result, the alcohol content in beer from this method of production was approximately 20% lower, while the content of the real extract was significantly higher in comparison to commercial Safbrew T-58. This strain stands out from many strains of L. thermotolerans due to the low lactic acid production and only marginal influence on pH decrease compared to Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Therefore, the potential of MN477031 in the production of different types of beer (not only sour) is very high. The composition of volatile compounds in L. thermotolerans beer differs—not only in terms of the use of the strain, but also in hop variety.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Biomimetics in 2019
Authors: Biomimetics Editorial Office
Published: February 2020

The editorial team greatly appreciates the reviewers who have dedicated their considerable time and expertise to the journal’s rigorous editorial process over the past 12 months, regardless of whether the papers are finally published or not [...]
Assessing Mothers’ Postpartum Depression From Their Infants’ Cry Vocalizations
Authors: Gabrieli Giulio , Bornstein Marc H. , Manian Nanmathi , Esposito Gianluca
Published: February 2020

Postpartum Depression (PPD), a condition that affects up to 15% of mothers in high-income countries, reduces attention to the needs of the child and is among the first causes of infanticide. PPD is usually identified using self-report measures and therefore it is possible that mothers are unwilling to report PPD because of a social desirability bias. Previous studies have highlighted the presence of significant differences in the acoustical properties of the vocalizations of infants of depressed and healthy mothers, suggesting that the mothers’ behavior can induce changes in infants’ vocalizations. In this study, cry episodes of infants (N = 56, 157.4 days ± 8.5, 62% firstborn) of depressed (N = 29) and non-depressed (N = 27) mothers (mean age = 31.1 years ± 3.9) are analyzed to investigate the possibility that a cloud-based machine learning model can identify PPD in mothers from the acoustical properties of their infants’ vocalizations. Acoustic features (fundamental frequency, first four formants, and intensity) are first extracted from recordings of crying infants, then cloud-based artificial intelligence models are employed to identify maternal depression versus non-depression from estimated features. The trained model shows that commonly adopted acoustical features can be successfully used to identify postpartum depressed mothers with high accuracy (89.5%).
Use of TLS (LiDAR) for Building Diagnostics with the Example of a Historic Building in Karlino
Authors: Nowak Rafał , Orłowicz Romuald , Rutkowski Radosław
Published: February 2020

This article presents the use of TLS (LiDAR) measurement for the evaluation of the technical conditions of a historic building. A FARO M70 laser scanner was used in the study. The measurements was taken as an RCP point cloud. The measurement allowed to partially determine the cause of the building damage. The performed measurement allows to propose a precise solution that could be pre-fabricated. The study shows the usefulness of TLS in building diagnostics. Improper measurement could lead to a wrong solution and a certain degree of uncertainty.
Clinical Decision Support Systems in Breast Cancer: A Systematic Review
Authors: Mazo Claudia , Kearns Cathriona , Mooney Catherine , Gallagher William M.
Published: February 2020

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women, with more than 2.1 million new diagnoses worldwide every year. Personalised treatment is critical to optimising outcomes for patients with breast cancer. A major advance in medical practice is the incorporation of Clinical Decision Support Systems (CDSSs) to assist and support healthcare staff in clinical decision-making, thus improving the quality of decisions and overall patient care whilst minimising costs. The usage and availability of CDSSs in breast cancer care in healthcare settings is increasing. However, there may be differences in how particular CDSSs are developed, the information they include, the decisions they recommend, and how they are used in practice. This systematic review examines various CDSSs to determine their availability, intended use, medical characteristics, and expected outputs concerning breast cancer therapeutic decisions, an area that is known to have varying degrees of subjectivity in clinical practice. Utilising the methodology of Kitchenham and Charter, a systematic search of the literature was performed in Springer, Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed, ACM, IEEE, and Scopus. An overview of CDSS which supports decision-making in breast cancer treatment is provided along with a critical appraisal of their benefits, limitations, and opportunities for improvement.
Near-Infrared Fluorescent Imaging for Monitoring of Treatment Response in Endometrial Carcinoma Patient-Derived Xenograft Models
Authors: Fonnes Tina , Strand Elin , Fasmer Kristine E. , Berg Hege F. , Espedal Heidi , Sortland Kristina , Stefansson Ingunn , Bjørge Line , Haldorsen Ingfrid S. , Krakstad Camilla , McCormack Emmet
Published: February 2020

Imaging of clinically relevant preclinical animal models is critical to the development of personalized therapeutic strategies for endometrial carcinoma. Although orthotopic patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) reflecting heterogeneous molecular subtypes are considered the most relevant preclinical models, their use in therapeutic development is limited by the lack of appropriate imaging modalities. Here, we describe molecular imaging of a near-infrared fluorescently labeled monoclonal antibody targeting epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM) as an in vivo imaging modality for visualization of orthotopic endometrial carcinoma PDX. Application of this near-infrared probe (EpCAM-AF680) enabled both spatio-temporal visualization of development and longitudinal therapy monitoring of orthotopic PDX. Notably, EpCAM-AF680 facilitated imaging of multiple PDX models representing different subtypes of the disease. Thus, the combined implementation of EpCAM-AF680 and orthotopic PDX models creates a state-of-the-art preclinical platform for identification and validation of new targeted therapies and corresponding response predicting markers for endometrial carcinoma.
Multi-Reader Multi-Case Study for Performance Evaluation of High-Risk Thyroid Ultrasound with Computer-Aided Detection
Authors: Wu Ming-Hsun , Chen Kuen-Yuan , Shih Shyang-Rong , Ho Ming-Chih , Tai Hao-Chih , Chang King-Jen , Chen Argon , Chen Chiung-Nien
Published: February 2020

Physicians use sonographic characteristics as a reference for the possible diagnosis of thyroid cancers. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether physicians were more effective in their tentative diagnosis based on the information provided by a computer-aided detection (CAD) system. A computer compared software-defined and physician-adjusted tumor loci. A multicenter, multireader, and multicase (MRMC) study was designed to compare clinician performance without and with the use of CAD. Interobserver variability was also analyzed. Excellent, satisfactory, and poor segmentations were observed in 25.3%, 58.9%, and 15.8% of nodules, respectively. There were 200 patients with 265 nodules in the study set. Nineteen physicians scored the malignancy potential of the nodules. The average area under the curve (AUC) of all readers was 0.728 without CAD and significantly increased to 0.792 with CAD. The average standard deviation of the malignant potential score significantly decreased from 18.97 to 16.29. The mean malignant potential score significantly decreased from 35.01 to 31.24 for benign cases. With the CAD system, an additional 7.6% of malignant nodules would be suggested for further evaluation, and biopsy would not be recommended for an additional 10.8% of benign nodules. The results demonstrated that applying a CAD system would improve clinicians’ interpretations and lessen the variability in diagnosis. However, more studies are needed to explore the use of the CAD system in an actual ultrasound diagnostic situation where much more benign thyroid nodules would be seen.