bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Simple Shear Strength Analysis of Inherent Anisotropy for a Tropical Alluvial Soil
Authors: Hasan Alsidqi , Ismail Nisa , Jye Lee Lin , Alshibli Khalid
Published: October 2022

Tropical alluvial soils have unusual engineering properties and their behavior is not typical of fine-grained soils. The literature regarding strength properties of alluvial soils is limited. This study presents an experimental evaluation of inherent anisotropy of undisturbed tropical alluvial soil samples by comparing the direct simple shear (DSS) test results of 52 specimens cut in horizontal and vertical orientations. The tests were carried out under consolidated undrained constant volume with excess pore water pressure measurements. The peak shear strength, effective stress paths, and secant shear modulus analyses showed that the difference in properties between horizontally and vertically cut specimens was negligible. Nonetheless, the results for vertically cut specimens presented a higher random error compared to the results for horizontal specimens in all aspects. A good relationship between the undrained shear strength and over-consolidation ratio was found but was not comparable to past DSS results for natural clays. Scanning electron microscopy images revealed flocculated edge-to-edge and edge-to-face particle associations. Directionality analysis of microfabric showed that the alluvial soils had low preferred orientation of particles. The general notion that all alluvial soils are highly anisotropic was not evident, based on the experiments reported in this study. The findings herein are useful for geotechnical engineers to better understand the strength behavior of tropical alluvial soils.
Fermatean fuzzy interactive aggregation operators with Application in MADM problems
Authors: Khan Asghar , Aziz Abdul
Published: October 2022

In this manuscript, we give some innovative operations called interactive aggregation operators for Fermatean fuzzy numbers (FFNs). We discuss some drawbacks of the existing operational laws of FFNs, that is, all the existing aggregation operators (AggOps) in the literature for FFNs can't consider the interaction between the participation and non-participation function. We may conclude that the impacts of other degrees of participation or non-participation on a corresponding geometric or an arithmetic AggOps have no effect on the aggregation process. Additionally, the existing AggOps show that the grades of overall participation (non-participation) functions are independent of the grades of non-participation (participation) functions. As a result, under these circumstances, the results of existing models are insufficient and do not provide a realistic preference order of the possibilities. So we introduce the concept of interactive aggregation operations and then design the following several innovative Fermatean fuzzy interactive aggregation operators to address the limitations. Fermatean fuzzy interactive weighted arithmetic (FFIWA) aggregation operator, Fermatean fuzzy interactive ordered weighted arithmetic (FFIOWA) aggregation operator, Fermatean fuzzy interactive hybrid arithmetic (FFIHA) aggregation operator, Fermatean fuzzy interactive weighted geometric (FFIWG) aggregation operator, Fermatean fuzzy interactive ordered weighted geometric (FFIOWG) aggregation operator, Fermatean fuzzy interactive hybrid geometric (FFIHG) aggregation operator. The most remarkable properties of these proposed aggregation operator are studied. Furthermore, numerical examples employing the innovative Fermatean fuzzy interactive arithmetic aggregation operators and Fermatean fuzzy interactive geometric aggregation operators are used to demonstrate and validate a group decision-making issue. To demonstrate the validity of the suggested operators, a comparison of the proposed and existing operators in the literature is done.
Applying dual attention deep learning model to predict oil futures prices
Authors: Yen Hsin-Chun , Huang Wen-Chen
Published: October 2022

Due to the non-linear and complex characteristics of oil futures prices, they are easily affected by external factors. Therefore, predicting the price of oil futures is a very challenging topic in deep learning time series, but the existing literature lacks research on introducing relevant features. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to use a two-way attention mechanism to predict oil futures prices and import gold prices as features.
The data source is taken from Yahoo Finance, providing 5146 items from 2000/02/28 to 2020/06/29. The paper uses CNNBiLSTM, CNNBiGRU models and Attention CNNBiLSTM, Attention CNNBiGRU, Dual Attention CNNBiGRU, Dual Attention CNNBiLSTM and TPA-LSTM, Prophet, ARIMA that increase the attention mechanism to conduct experiments to find the best model. Moreover, explore the sliding window review days to deal with two-dimensional time series data and the influence of the delay of the typical days to predict the experiment's impact.
The experimental results show that increasing the number of review days will decrease the prediction accuracy. The new model is imported using the two-dimensional time series method, and the attention mechanism is integrated. Importing CNNBiGRU with a dual attention mechanism from 80% of the training items and 20% of the test items in the experimental data set can improve the overall prediction accuracy. For example, the model BiGRU has improved the RMSE from 2.79 to 1.85 by adding a dual attention mechanism. In addition, it is found that if the regression model has large fluctuations in the prediction data, it will increase the RMSE and MAE, especially in the experimental items of 96% training and 4% testing data sets.
Selection of Building Blocks for Adaptive Grammatical Evolution in PSO
Authors: Gaddam Jyotheesh , Barca Jan Carlo , Dazeley Richard , Angelova Maia
Published: October 2022

In this study, we used grammatical evolution to develop a customised particle swarm optimiser by incorporating adaptive building blocks. This makes the algorithm self-adaptable to the problem instance. Our objective is to provide the means to automatically generate novel population-based meta-heuristics by scoring the building blocks. We propose a new self-adapting algorithm by adaptive selection and scoring of the building blocks to solve multiple problem instances by reducing computation time and iteration count. To achieve our objective, we ranked building blocks that were extracted from a broad set of existing particle swarm optimisers and scored these during the evolutionary process. These scores were provided as an input to the evolutionary process that enabled the replacement of blocks of evolved solutions in cases where they were unable to improve the overall fitness. Our numerical experiments demonstrated that the proposed algorithm with adaptive building blocks reduced the iteration count and computation time with respect to PSO.
Severe acute cholecystitis (Tokyo III) in high risk patients: Should cholecystectomy be preferred over percutaneous drainage?
Authors: Venegas David , Rey Carlos , Girón Felipe , Peña David , Rodriguez Lina , Vanegas Marco , Puello Sebastian , Rodriguez Barbara , Rojas Susana , Conde Danny
Published: October 2022

Background
Current guidelines advise the use of less aggressive procedures for the solution of cholecystitis in high risk patients. However, recent literature has shown better results in those patients managed with laparoscopic cholecystectomy . We aim to describe outcomes in high-risk patients with severe acute cholecystitis (Tokyo III) according to 2018 guidelines.
Methods
Patients that underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy and percutaneous drainage by cholecystostomy between January 2018 and January 2020 were included in descriptive analysis. Bivariate analysis of Tokyo III patients was performed between variables involved.
Results
A total of 622 patients were included. 54.66% of patients were female. The mean age was 66.6 ± 16.52 years. 288 patients were classified as grade III in Tokyo classification, 28.98% underwent cholecystostomy and 71.02% cholecystectomy. Mortality and complication rate had no significant differences between the groups (p = 0.09 - p = 0.1 respectively). The in-hospital length of stay was significantly higher in patients that required cholecystostomy with a mean of 15.43 days versus 9.97 days in the LC group, with a statistically significant difference (p 0.000 CI 95%) .
Conclusions
Laparoscopic cholecystectomy seems to be a feasible treatment choice over percutaneous cholecystostomy in terms of mortality, reintervention and in-hospital stay length.
Topical application of cream containing enriched-schizandrin from Schisandra chinensis fruit exert anti-photoaging efficacy in ultraviolet B- irradicated hairless mice
Authors: Yun Mi-Young , Kim Nam-San , Choi Hwa-Jung
Published: October 2022

Excessive ultraviolet (UV) B irradiation induced skin photoaging. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-photoaging efficacy of enriched-schizandrin from Schisandra chinensis fruit in UVB-induced hairless mice. The cream containing enriched-schizandrin from S. chinensis fruit manufactured with another cosmetic ingredient. UVB-photoaged hairless mice topically applied with the cream once a day for 5 weeks. Application of the cream showed normal changes of body weight and food efficiency in the UVB-photoaged hairless mice. The cream application also was decreased interleukin (IL)-1β, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 mRNA expressions and then it inhibited MMP-2 protein expression in UVB-photoaged hairless mice. Furthermore, the cream application inhibited epidermal wrinkle formation and decreased wrinkle depth and it restored to wrinkle thickness and collagen degradation of skin in UVB-photoaged hairless mice. Therefore, the cream could recover photoaging generated by UVB irradiation via downregulation of IL-1β, MMP-2, MMP-9 mRNA expressions and suppression of expression of MMP-2 proteins.
Treatment and control of invasive Gram-negative bacterial infection in eight hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Aiken Alexander M. , Nyamwaya Brian , Madrid Lola , Edessa Dumessa , Labi Appiah-Korang , Obeng-Nkrumah Noah , Mwabaya William , Chimenya Mabvuto , Cocker Derek , Iregbu Kenneth C. , Nwajiobi-Princewill Philip I.P. , Dramowski Angela , Sonda Tolbert , Mmbaga Blandina Theophil , Ojok David , Fwoloshi Sombo , Scott J. Anthony G. , Whitelaw Andrew , collaborators MBIRA study
Published: October 2022

Background: Bloodstream infections caused by Enterobacterales show high frequency of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in many Low- and Middle-Income Countries. We aimed to describe the variation in circumstances for management of such resistant infections in a group of African public-sector hospitals participating in a major research study.
Methods: We gathered data from eight hospitals across sub-Saharan Africa to describe hospital services, infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship activities, using two WHO-generated tools. We collected monthly cross-sectional data on availability of antibiotics in the hospital pharmacies for bloodstream infections caused by Enterobacterales.We compared the availability of these antibiotics to actual patient-level use of antibiotics in confirmed Enterobacterales bloodstream infections (BSI).
Results: Hospital circumstances for institutional management of resistant BSI varied markedly. This included self-evaluated infection prevention level (WHO-IPCAF score: median 428, range 155 to 687.5) and antibiotic stewardship activities (WHO stewardship toolkit questions: median 14.5, range 2 to 23). These results did not correlate with national income levels. Across all sites, ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin were the most consistently available antibiotic agents, followed by amoxicillin, co-amoxiclav, gentamicin and co-trimoxazole. There was substantial variation in the availability of some antibiotics, especially carbapenems, amikacin and piperacillin-tazobactam with degree of access linked to national income level. Investigators described out-of-pocket payments for access to additional antibiotics at 7/8 sites. The in-pharmacy availability of antibiotics correlated well with actual use of antibiotics for treating BSI patients.
Conclusion: There was wide variation between these African hospitals for a range of important circumstances relating to treatment and control of severe bacterial infections, though these did not all correspond to national income level. For the majority of antibiotics and hospitals, patient-level use reflected local in-hospital drug availability, suggesting external sourcing of antibiotics was relatively infrequent. Antimicrobial resistant bacterial infections could plausibly show different clinical impacts across sub-Saharan Africa due to this contextual variation. More estimates of the impact of AMR are needed from countries of different income levels to account for these differences.
Prediction model for prolonged length of stay in hip fracture patients
Authors: Cao hong , Yu Jian , Chang YaRu , Li Yue , Zhou bingqian
Published: October 2022

Background
The length of hospital stay in hip fracture patients is closely associated with medical costs, the burden of which is increasing in aging societies. Herein, we developed and validated models for predicting prolonged length of stay in hip fracture patients to support efficient care in these patients.
Methods
This was a retrospective analysis of all patients undergoing hip fracture from January 2021 to December 2021. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to evaluate the association between risk factors and delayed discharge after hip fracture. Finally, the risk factors obtained from the multivariate regression analysis were used to establish the nomogram model. The validation of the nomogram was assessed by the concordance index (C-index), the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, decision curve analysis (DCA), and calibration curves. the STROBE checklist was used as the reporting guideline.
Results
A total of 1259 patients were included in the present study for evaluation. Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that CCI, Preoperative waiting time, Anemia, Hypoalbuminemia and Arteriosclerosis of lower limbs were independent risk factors for delayed discharge after hip fracture. The C-index of this model was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.793–0.847). Internal validation proved the nomogram model’s adequacy and accuracy, and the results showed that the predicted value agreed well with the actual values.
Conclusions
Our prediction models may help policymakers in developing strategies for the optimal management of hip fracture patients with a focus on patients at a high risk of prolonged length of stay.
A long-duration gamma-ray burst with a peculiar origin
Authors: Zhang Binbin , Yang Jun , Ai Shunke , Zhang Bing , Liu Zi-Ke , Wang X. , Yang Yu-Han , Yin Yi-Han , Li Ye , Lu H.-J.
Published: October 2022

It is generally believed that long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are associated with massive star core-collapse, whereas short-duration GRBs are associated with mergers of compact star binaries. However, growing observations have suggested that oddball GRBs do exist, and multiple criteria (prompt emission properties, supernova/kilonova associations, and host galaxy properties) rather than burst duration only are needed to classify GRBs physically. A previously reported long-duration burst, GRB 060614, could be viewed as a short GRB with extended emission if it were observed at a larger distance and was associated with a kilonova-like feature. As a result, it belongs to the Type-I (compact star merger) GRB category and is likely of the binary neutron star merger origin. Here we report a peculiar long-duration gamma-ray burst, GRB 211211A, whose prompt emission properties in many aspects differ from all known Type-I GRBs, yet its multi-band observations suggest a non-massive-star origin. In particular, significant excess emission in both optical and near-infrared wavelengths has been discovered, which resembles kilonova emission as observed in some Type-I GRBs. These observations point towards a new progenitor type of GRBs. A scenario invoking a white dwarf-neutron star merger with a post-merger magnetar engine provides a self-consistent interpretation for all the observations, including prompt gamma-rays, early X-ray afterglow, as well as the engine-fed kilonova emission.
Diagnostic Accuracy of Novel mRNA Blood Biomarkers of Infection to Predict Outcomes in ED Patients with Undifferentiated Abdominal Pain
Authors: Meltzer Andrew , Wargowsky Richard , Moran Seamus , Jordan Tristan , Toma Ian , Jepson Tisha , Shu Shiyu , Ma Yan , Timothy McCaffrey
Published: October 2022

Introduction: Abdominal pain represents greater than 20% of US Emergency Department (ED) visits due to a wide range of illnesses. There are currently no reliable blood biomarkers to predict serious outcomes in patients with abdominal pain. Our previous studies have identified three mRNA transcripts related to innate immune activation: alkaline phosphatase (ALPL), interleukin-8 receptor-ß (IL8RB), and defensin-1 (DEFA1) as promising candidates to detect an intra-abdominal infection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of these mRNA biomarkers to predict likely infection, hospitalization and surgery in ED patients with undifferentiated abdominal pain.
Methods: We prospectively enrolled ED patients with undifferentiated abdominal pain who received an abdominal CT scan as part of their evaluation. Clinical outcomes were abstracted from the CT scan and medical records. mRNA biomarker levels were calculated independent of the clinical outcomes and their accuracy was assessed to predict infectious diagnoses, surgery and hospital admission.
Results: 89 patients were enrolled; 21 underwent surgery; 47 underwent hospital admission; and, no deaths were observed within 30 days. In identifying which cases were likely infectious, mRNA biomarkers’ AUC values were: ALPL, 0.83; DEFA1 0.51; IL8RB, 0.74; and ALPL+IL8RB, 0.79. In predicting which ED patients would receive surgery, the AUC values were: ALPL, 0.75; DEFA1, 0.58; IL8RB, 0.75; and ALPL+IL8RB, 0.76. In predicting hospital admission, the AUC values were: ALPL, 0.78; DEFA1, 0.52; IL8RB, 0.74; and, ALPL+IL8RB, 0.77. For predicting surgery, ALPL+IL8RB’s positive likelihood ratio (LR) was 3.97; negative LR (NLR) was 0.70. For predicting hospital admission, the same marker’s positive LR was 2.80 with an NLR of 0.45.
Conclusion: In a pragmatic, prospective diagnostic accuracy trial in ED patients with undifferentiated abdominal pain, mRNA biomarkers showed good accuracy to identify patients with potential infection, as well as those needing surgery or hospital admission.
Novel Estimation Technique for the Carrier-to-Noise Ratio of Wireless Medical Telemetry Using Software-Defined Radio with Machine-Learning
Authors: Ishida Kai
Published: October 2022

In this study, we developed a novel machine-learning model to estimate the carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) of wireless medical telemetry (WMT) using time-domain waveform data measured by a low-cost software-defined radio. If the CNR can be estimated automatically, the management of the electromagnetic environment of WMT can be easier. Therefore, we proposed a machine-learning method for estimating CNR. According to the performance evaluation results by 5-segment cross-validation on 704 types of measured data, CNR was estimated with 99.5% R-square and 0.844 dB mean absolute error using a gradient boosting regression tree. The gradient boosting decision tree classifiers predicted whether the CNR exceeded 30 dB with 99.5% accuracy. The proposed method is effective for investigating electromagnetic environments in clinical settings.
Progressive resolution optimizer (PRO) predominates over photon optimizer (PO) in sparing of spinal cord for spine SABR VMAT plans
Authors: Son Sangjun , Park So-Yeon
Published: October 2022

Background: we assessed the performance of the optimization algorithms by comparing volumetric modulated arc therapy generated by a progressive resolution optimized (VMATPRO) and photon optimizer (VMATPO) in terms of plan quality, MU reduction, sparing of the spinal cord (or cauda equina), and plan complexity.
Methods: Fifty-seven patients who received spine stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) with tumors located in the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine were retrospectively selected. For each patient, VMATPRO and VMATPO with two full arcs were generated with using the PRO and PO algorithms. For dosimetric evaluation, the dose-volumetric (DV) parameters of the planning target volume (PTV), organs at risk (OARs), the corresponding planning organs at risk (PRV), and 1.5-cm ring structure surrounding the PTV (Ring1.5 cm) were calculate for all VMAT plans. The total number of monitor units (MUs) and the modulation complexity score for the VMAT (MCSv) were compared. To investigate the correlations of OAR sparing to plan complexity, Pearson’s and Spearman’s correlation tests were conducted between the two algorithms (PO – PRO, denoted as Δ) in the DV parameters for normal tissues, total MUs, and MCSv.
Results: For the PTVs, Target conformity and dose homogeneity in the PTVs of VMATPRO were better than those of VMATPO with statistical significance. For the spinal cords (or cauda equine) and corresponding PRVs, all of the DV parameters for VMATPRO were markedly lower than those for VMATPO, with statistical significance (all p < 0.0001). Among them, the difference in the maximum dose to the spinal cord between VMATPRO and VMATPO was remarkable (9.04 Gy vs 11.08 Gy with p < 0.0001). For Ring1.5 cm, no significant difference in V115% for VMATPRO and VMATPO was observed.
Conclusions: The use of VMATPRO resulted in coverage and uniformity of dose to the PTV, as well as OARs sparing, compared with that of VMATPO for cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine SABR. Better dosimetric plan quality generated by the PRO algorithm was observed to result in higher total MUs and plan complexity. Therefore, careful evaluation of its deliverability should be performed with caution during the routine use of the PRO algorithm.
Can end-user rationale improve the quality of low-rating software applications: A rationale mining approach
Authors: Ullah Tahir , Khan Javed Ali , Khan Nek Dil , Anjum Nasreen
Published: October 2022

Rationale refers to making human judgments, sets of reasons, or intentions to explain a particular decision. Nowadays, crowd-users argue and justify their decisions on social media platforms about market-driven software applications, thus generating a software rationale. Such rationale information can be of pivotal importance for the software and requirements engineers to enhance the performance of existing software applications by revealing end-users tactic knowledge to improve software designing and development decision-making. For this purpose, we proposed an automated approach to capture and analyze end-user reviews containing rationale information, focusing on low-rating applications in the amazon store using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and supervised machine learning (ML) classification methods. In the literature, high-rating applications have been emphasized while ignoring low-rating software application that causes potential biasness. Therefore, we examined 59 comparatively low-ranked market-based software applications from the Amazon app store covering various software categories to capture and identify crowd-users justifications. Next, using a developed grounded theory and content analysis approach, we studied and recorded how crowd-users analyze and explain their rationale based on issues encountered, attacking or supporting arguments registered, and updating or uninstalling software applications. Also, to achieve the best results, an experimental study is conducted by comparing various ML algorithms, i.e., MNB, LR, RF, MLP, KNN, AdaBoost, and Voting classifier, on the end-users rationale data set by preprocessing the input data, applying feature engineering, balancing the data set, and then training and testing the ML algorithms with a standard cross-validation approach. We obtained satisfactory results with MLP, voting, and RF Classifiers, having 93%, 93%, and 90% average accuracy, respectively. Also, we plot the ROC curves for the high-performing ML Classifier to identify and capture classifiers yielding the best performance with an under-sampling or oversampling balancing approach. Additionally, we obtained the average Precision, Recall, and F-measure values of 98%, 94%, 96%, 97%, 95%, and 96% for identifying supporting & decision rationale elements in the user comments, respectively. The proposed research approach outer-perform the existing rationale approaches with better Precision, Recall, and F-measure values.
TRIM37 exacerbates hepatic ischemia/reperfusion injury by facilitating IKK pathway through TRAF6 stimulation and IKKγ translocation
Authors: Yang Hang , Huang Zuotian , Luo Yunhai , Lei Dengliang , Yan Ping , Shen Ai , Liu Wenbin , Li Dewei , Wu Zhongjun
Published: October 2022

Background
Hepatic ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury is one of the major pathological processes among various liver surgery. However, there is still a lack of strategies against hepatic I/R injury because of the unrevealed inner mechanism. The present study aimed to identify a potential strategy for hepatic I/R injury and provide the fundamental experimental basis.
Results
Here we report that tripartite motif containing 37 (TRIM37) aggravates hepatic I/R injury through reinforcement of IKK-induced inflammation following dual patterns. Mechanically, TRIM37 directly interacts with tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) thus igniting K63 ubiquitination, eventually leading to the phosphorylation of IKKβ. Meanwhile, TRIM37 enhances translocation of IKKγ, a regulatory subunit of IKK complex, from nucleus to cytoplasm thereby stabilizing cytoplasmic IKK complex and prolonging the duration of inflammation. Inhibition of IKK could rescue the function of TRIM37 both in vivo and in vitro.
Conclusion
Collectively, the present study discloses the critical role of TRIM37 facilitating hepatic I/R injury by activating IKK axis. Targeting TRIM37 might be potential for treatment against hepatic I/R injury.
Autonomic stress response of physiotherapy student in the different scenarios of an objective structured clinical examination
Authors: Martínez-Pascual Beatriz , Ramírez-Adrados Ana , Fernández-Martínez Silvia , Gonzalez-de-Ramos Cristina , Fernández-Elías Valentín E. , Clemente-Suárez Vicente J
Published: October 2022

The aim of the present research was to analyse modifications in the autonomic stress response of Physiotherapy students undergoing a 12-scenario Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE). A total of 86 last year students of the Physiotherapy bachelor’s degree ( 27.29 years (SD = 6.66).; 36 females and 50 males) randomly assigned were monitored during the complete OSCE to measure heart rate variability (HRV) in temporal, frequency, and non-linear domains. The HRV analysed showed a large anticipatory stress response of students maintained during the entire evaluation. The stress response varied regarding OSCE station complexity and demands and the highest sympathetic response was not found in higher emotional scenarios. The autonomic modulation monitoring allows teachers to design OSCE scenarios more adapted to the students, limiting the effect of the stress response to allow a better performance.
SIMPEL: using stable isotopes to elucidate dynamics of context specific metabolism
Authors: Allen Doug , Kambhampati Shrikaar , Hubbard Allen , Koley Somnath , Gomez Javier , Marsolais Frederic , Evans Bradley , Young Jamey
Published: October 2022

High resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) leveraged with transient isotope labeling experiments has untapped potential to provide novel insights on context-specific metabolism, yet manual analyses are error-prone and laborious. Comprehensive mining and quantifying tools are needed. We describe Stable Isotope-assisted Metabolomics for Pathway Elucidation (SIMPEL), a tool to simplify analysis and interpretation of isotope enriched HRMS datasets. The efficacy of SIMPEL is demonstrated through examples of central carbon and lipid metabolism.
On the impact of nuclear quantum effects on zeolite proton hopping kinetics through machine learning potentials and path integral molecular dynamics simulations
Authors: Bocus Massimo , Goeminne Ruben , Lamaire Aran , Cools-Ceuppens Maarten , Verstraelen Toon , Speybroeck Veronique Van
Published: October 2022

Proton hopping is a key reactive process within zeolite catalysis, however the accurate determination of its kinetics poses major challenges both for theoreticians and experimentalists. Nuclear quantum effects (NQEs) are known to influence the structure and dynamics of protons, but their inclusion in a rigorous way through the path integral molecular dynamics (PIMD) formalism was so far beyond reach for zeolite catalyzed processes due to the excessive computational cost of evaluating all forces and energies at the Density Functional Theory (DFT) level. Herein, we overcome this limitation, by training first a reactive machine learning potential (MLP) that can reproduce with high fidelity the DFT potential energy surface of proton hopping around the first Al coordination sphere in the H-CHA zeolite. The MLP offers an immense computational speedup, which enabled us to derive accurate reaction kinetics for the proton hopping reaction. NQEs are explicitly accounted for through PIMD simulations, and the kinetics is derived using the reactive flux formalism allowing also barrier recrossings, thus going beyond standard transition state theory. More than 0.6 μs of simulation time was necessary, which is far beyond reach of any standard DFT approach. NQEs are found to significantly impact the proton hopping kinetics up to ~473 K. These proof-of-concept results open the window to include in a more systematic way NQEs for heterogeneous catalyzed processes.
Morphological and functional changes of the geniohyoid muscle in elderly patients after hip fracture surgery: comparison of ultrasound images with a focus on swallowing function
Authors: Kiyomiya Yuto , Fujiu-kurachi Masako , Hirata Aya , Azuma Masaki , Kishida Shunji , Tsuda Gota
Published: October 2022

Background: The geniohyoid muscle (GH) plays an important role for the hyo-laryngeal movements during swallowing. The purpose of this study was to clarify whether the muscle mass and contraction (shortening) of the GH change in elderly patients after hip fracture surgery using ultrasound imaging.
Methods: The participants were 25 women over 65 years of age who underwent hip fracture surgery. The participants were divided into two groups based on the results of swallowing assessment by water drinking: one with normal swallowing function (NSF) and the other with suspected decline in swallowing function (DSF). The sagittal cross-sectional area (SA) of the GH and the shortening rate (SR) were compared at two time points: immediately and two weeks after surgery. Wilcoxon's signed rank test was performed for the comparison of the SA and SR between two time periods in all patients. Wilcoxon's signed rank test was also used for the intra-group comparison between the NSF and the DSF immediately and two weeks after surgery. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for the comparison between the NSF and the DSF, with respect to changes in the SA and SR at two time points.
Results: The SA of the GH decreased significantly at two weeks after surgery in both groups, regardless of swallowing function, and tended to decrease more in the NSF group. The rate of shortening did not change significantly at two weeks after surgery. However, the DSF group showed a significant decrease in intra-group comparison between two time points, and showed a significantly lower values than the NSF group in the inter-county comparison. The participants in the NSF group showed two types of changes: worsening and improvement in the shortening rate of the GH during the two-week postoperative period.
Conclusions: Atrophy of the GH were observed in both NSF and DSF groups, suggesting the importance of continuous swallowing assessment in the elderly individuals during their perioperative period, even for those whose swallowing function are within normal limits.
Severe macular complications in glaucoma: high-resolution multimodal imaging characteristics and review of the literature
Authors: Lama Hugo , Pâques Michel , Brasnu Emmanuelle , Vu Jade , Chaumette Céline , Dupas Bénédicte , Fardeau Christine , Chehaibou Ismaël , Rouland Jean-François , Besombes Guillaume , LABETOULLE Marc , Labbé Antoine , Rousseau Antoine
Published: October 2022

Purpose: To describe imaging characteristics of severe macular complications occurring in glaucoma and discuss available treatments.
Methods: Retrospective case series of glaucomatous patients with macular retinoschisis (MR) and/or serous retinal detachment (SRD). Patients underwent a complete ophthalmological examination and multimodal imaging including retinography, SD-OCT, fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography (FA & ICGA) and adaptive optics (AO).
Results: Ten eyes (8 patients) were included. Initial BCVA was 1.04 ± 1.12 logMAR and IOP was 24.0 ± 9.3mmHg. All eyes presented with MR while SRD was present in 5 eyes (5 patients), with a central macular thickness of 573 ± 152mm. FA and ICGA allowed to exclude leakage in all cases. A focal lamina cribrosa defect (LCD) was found in four eyes (4 patients) using OCT, with AO providing en-face visualization of the defect in one eye. Outer retinal hole was present in 3 eyes (3 patients). No visual improvement or resolution of the macular retinoschisis was observed in eyes with medical or surgical IOP control (N = 9). Vitrectomy with internal membrane limiting peeling and gas tamponade was performed in one eye with good visual results.
Conclusions: Multimodal high-resolution imaging is essential to diagnose severe macular complications associated with advanced glaucoma.
Geriatric 8 Scale to Predict Functional Decline in Older Adults With Cancer: a Systematic Review
Authors: Olaya Jessica , Ibañez Édgar , Mendoza Alejandro Rico , Ramírez Alexandra Porras , Rico María Andrea
Published: October 2022

Background: to determine the operative characteristics of the Geriatric Scale 8 versus the Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment to detect older adult patients with cancer at risk of functional decline.
Methods: we conducted a systematic search for studies in three major indexed databases: Medline (PubMed), Embase and Google Scholar. We selected studies from 2010-2020, considering criteria such as older adults with some type of cancer, in which the G8 scale has been applied and has been associated with functional decline.
Results: we found 690 relevant titles. After reviewing the titles, abstracts, and full articles, we selected two articles that met the inclusion criteria. From these articles, we found a sensitivity of 81%, a specificity of 38%, a positive likelihood ratio of 1.21 and a negative likelihood ratio of 0.63.
Conclusions: We conclude that the G8 scale has a good sensitivity for the detection of functional decline in older adults with cancer, however, the scale does not have good results in diagnostic performance tests. The use of this scale as a predictor of functional decline should be given with caution to the results presented. More studies are required to evaluate the performance of the G8 scale against predicting functional decline.
Improving the Effectiveness of Teacher Assessment in Higher Education: A Case Study of Professors’ Perceptions in Morocco
Authors: Rasmy Aziz , St-Amand Jérôme , Nabil Abdessamed , Courdi Clémentine
Published: October 2022

Teacher assessment in higher education is a widely used strategy in Western countries, but it is not common practice in Moroccan academia. In consequence, the establishment of a new assessment policy in higher education creates a new dynamic in teaching practices, teacher assessment and professional career development. This type of major change, however, is likely to generate anxiety among staff regarding the learning of new practices, and uncertainty in respect of their involvement in the process of teacher assessment. The objective of the present study was thus to explore the perceptions of professors concerning the implementation of teacher assessment in Moroccan universities (Mohamed V University and Ibn Tofeil), through a survey and interviews carried out among the professors. The majority of professors expressed a positive attitude towards the usefulness of teaching evaluation. According to them, teacher assessment helps them identify strengths and weaknesses in their teaching. In contrast, there is a recurring issue among the respondents, namely the crisis of trust towards the parties involved in the evaluation process and apprehension regarding consequences of these evaluations’ results on faculty status and rank progression. The majority were very suspicious of using student assessment for administrative purposes.
PbO Nanoparticles Increase the Expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 by Increasing Reactive Oxygen Species Production in Rat Choroidal Epithelial Line Z310 Cells
Authors: Wang Weixuan , Li Shuang , Wang Xi , Wang Jianbo , Zhang Yanshu
Published: October 2022

PbO nanoparticles (nano-PbO) are widely used in the production of electrode materials, but exposure to them can cause brain damage. The first barrier preventing nano-PbO from entering the brain is the choroid plexus. However, the effect of nano-PbO on the choroid plexus remains unclear. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the effect of nano-PbO exposure on the adhesion protein of the choroid plexus and the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the process. Results showed that treatment of rat choroidal epithelial Z310 cells with 10 µg/mL nano-PbO upregulated the expression of surface adhesion proteins, including intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1). It also increased intracellular ROS production, and significantly decreased glutathione (GSH) content, glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX) activity and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Treatment with ROS inhibitor N-acetylcysteine (NAC) significantly downregulated the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1expression. In conclusion, exposure of Z310 cells to nano-PbO increases the expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 through oxidative stress.
Prisoner’s Dilemma Game Model Based on Historical Strategy Information
Authors: Gou Zhiqiang , Li Ya
Published: October 2022

In many dilemmas, decisions are determined not by a single factor, but by multiple ones, including memory, reputation, reward and punishment, etc. In recent years, how to design a mechanism to promote cooperation has become a research hot-spot. However, most of the previous studies mainly consider the historical benefits of the game, and pay less attention to the stability of the strategy (that is, the frequency of strategy changes in the length of memory) and the proportion of memory in decision-making. The decision-making process of group evolution involves the influence of memory information on cooperative evolution in multi round games. It makes up for the lack of stability factors and weights in previous studies. Based on the above factors, a new strategy update rule is proposed to study the influence of the stability of historical strategy information on the evolution of cooperation in prisoner’s dilemma game, and the influence of memory weight on cooperation is considered. The stability of the current strategy is measured by the strategy in historical memory (the number of times the strategy in memory is continuous and consistent with the current strategy), which can determine the probability of an individual learning the neighbor strategy next time. Numerical simulation shows that an appropriate increase in the length of historical memory is more conducive to the emergence of cooperation, and the greater the weight of historical strategy information is, the more conducive to promoting cooperation, which shows that historical strategy information is still the main factor in decision-making. This study will help us understand the cooperative evolution of many real systems, such as nature, biology, society and so on, and effectively design reasonable mechanisms to promote cooperation.
Comparison of Different Synthesis Methods After Partial Pulmonary Lobectomy in Dogs
Authors: Silva Paloma Helena Sanches da , Lopes Carlos Eduardo Bastos , Stallmach Larissa Bueno , Ferreira Lucas de Oliveira , Pimentel Pedro Antônio Bronhara , Giuliano Antonio , Freitas Patrícia Maria Coletto , Horta Rodrigo dos Santos
Published: October 2022

Background: Pulmonary loborraphy can be performed using manual sutures and staples, although other methods such as tissue adhesives are also cited in the veterinary literature. However, despite the wide availability, no efficient suture material has yet been recognized that is completely safe in preventing any air leakage, a complication that is heavily investigated in medicine and not uncommon in veterinary medicine, despite the few studies and reports in dogs. Although the surgery is well tolerated in the canine species, failure in pulmonary aerostasis is still a reality, since all the methods described so far eventually lead to air leakage after the use of the partial lobectomy technique in the lungs. Within this context, the aim of this research was to compare the effectiveness of different hermetic sealing methods after partial lobectomy of the right caudal lung lobe (RCLL) in dogs. Using 30 cadaver models of canine lungs obtained immediately after death. The 30 cadavers models were divided in 6 groups: G1 - cobbler suture associated with simple continuous; G2 - overlapping continuous suture associated with simple continuous suture; G3 - Ford interlocking suture; G4 - Stapling device; G5 - Tissue glue (cyanoacrylate). After performing the sealing techniques, the lungs were submerged in water, inflated with oxygen at positive ventilatory pressures at physiological (20 cmH2O) and supraphysiological levels (above 20 cmH2O) to evaluate the performance of the sealing methods and to asses the level of ventilatory pressures at which air leakage occur.
Results: At physiological ventilatory pressure levels there was no difference between groups. However, when evaluating such methods at ventilation pressure levels above 20 cmH2O, it was found a superiority of G5 over G3 and G4. Conclusion: Manual sutures, as well as staples and synthetic tissue glue were able to promote aerostasis after partial lobectomy of the RCLL at physiological ventilatory pressures. Sealing with surgical glue was superior to Ford interlocking suture and stapling device at supraphysiological levels of ventilatory pressure. This study supports the efficay of all manual, mechanical sutures and synthetic glue sealant when used after partial lobectomy in dogs.
Myxoma of the left atrium revealed by a stroke in a young female patient: case report
Authors: Charfo Mahamadou , ELAMRAOUI Asmaa , GAMBOBO Sadissou , HABOUB Meryem , AROUSS Salim , BENOUNA Ghali , HABBAL Rachida
Published: October 2022

Introduction: Cardiac myxoma is a primary benign tumor most often located in the left atrium and it is a rare source of cerebral stroke of young subjects. Case Presentation: We report the case of a young women with cardiac myxoma revelated by hemiplegia. The patient suddenly presented vertigo followed by a fall, a heaviness of her left body, and dysarthria. The brain CT scan and magnetic resonance imaging have revealed cerebral ischemia located in the right Sylvian territory. Transthoracic echocardiography highlighted a round cardiac mass, mobile, heterogeneous, multilobed, appended to the interatrial septum and the atrial side of the large mitral valve by wide implantation and measuring 38x25mm in the parasternal short axis (PSAX) and apical 4 chamber views evocative of left atrium myxoma. After the surgical resection, which was postponed for a month, the removed tumor was sent for histopathological examination. The morphological examination revealed a myxoid tumor proliferation compatible with cardiac myxoma expressing calretinin by these tumor cells in the immunohistochemical study. Conclusions: Left atrium myxoma is a benign cardiac tumor and a rare cause of ischemic stroke. Transthoracic echocardiography facilitates the diagnosis of this tumor which will then be confirmed by histological analysis.
Modeling and Prediction of Land use/Land Cover Change using Land Change Modeler in Suluh River Basin, Northern Highland of Ethiopia.
Authors: Entahabu Hailay Hagos , Minale Amare Sewnet , Hizikias Emiru Birhane
Published: October 2022

Background: Land use/land cover change has been known globally as an essential driver of environmental change. The study focuses on modeling and prediction of land use/land cover using land change modeler in the Suluh river basin. Landsat images and other ancillary data sources were used to achieve the objectives. The nearest neighbor fuzzy classification was performed in eCognition Developer 9.2 to classify images. Change detection and modeling was performed on IDRISI selva 17.3 software. The data was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.
Result: The finding confirmed that Bar land by 10.6%, built up land by 29.4% and cultivated land by 65.4% were rapidly expanding in the face of an overall decline of the forest land by 97.2%, grazing land by 89.8%, plantation land by 89.1% shrub-bush land by 1.5% and water body by 84.8% during 1990 to 2002.
Conclusion: If the model predictions hold; in the coming 2028 and 2048, bar land, built up land, and cultivated land will be shown an increase on the expense of water body, forest, shrub-bush and plantation land. Rainfall, slope, elevation, distance to rivers, distance to roads, distance from towns and population density were identified as the prominent LULC change drivers in the study area. This will increase the vulnerability of the watershed to soil erosion and soil macro fauna loss of the studied river basin in particular and the Tekeze basin in general. Therefore, suitable and timely management measures must be taken by policy decision makers to enable sustainable development and to protect the river basin in order to reduce the severity of the changes.
The more numerous the longer: how the interaction between numerosity and time affects their topographic cortical representation
Authors: Fortunato Gianfranco , Togoli Irene , Bueti Domenica
Published: October 2022

If you are stuck in a traffic jam, the more numerous the queuing cars, the longer you expect to wait. Time and numerosity are stimulus dimensions often associated and whose interaction leads to misjudgments. Neuroimaging studies have shown that the cortical representation of time and numerosity is organized in partially overlapping topographic maps located in a wide network of brain areas. Here we used 7-Tesla fMRI with neural model-based analyses to investigate how numerosity and time maps change when these dimensions are varied together on the same stimulus. Variations in both stimulus dimensions lead to changes in numerosity and duration preferences. These changes were observed in all maps, although were more pronounced in parietal and frontal ones. Finally, while tuning became more sensitive to both magnitudes, the map’s topography degraded. Overall, our results show that the representation of time and numerosity is not independent and changes as function of integration.
The Antibiotic Resistance Patterns of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Strains Isolated from Microbiological Specimens
Authors: TUNA Duygu Kubra
Published: October 2022

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.