bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison of Biochemical Composition and Non-Volatile Taste Active Compounds of Back and Abdominal Muscles in Three Marine Perciform Fishes, Chromileptes altivelis, Epinephelus akaara and Acanthopagrus schlegelii
Authors: Sun Yun , Chen Guisen , Cao Zhenjie , Liu Chunsheng
Published: July 2022

Humpback grouper Chromileptes altivelis (HG), red-spotted grouper Epinephelus akaara (RG) and black seabream Acanthopagrus schlegelii (BS) are three popular perciform fishes with an increasingly important farming industry. The prices of BS are much lower than other grouper species; however, the differences in the nutritive values of these three perciform fishes with commercial specifications have not been reported. In this study, the biochemical composition and non-volatile taste active compounds of adult HG, RG and BS were investigated. Moisture contents in BS were significantly higher than in HG and RG (p < 0.05), and relatively lower crude protein contents in BS were observed. Lipid contents of back muscle were lower than that of abdomen muscle in the three fish species. C22:6n-3 (DHA) was the major poly-unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) in HG and BS, while the main PUFA in RG was C18:2n-6. The total healthy omega-3 fatty acid (Σn-3) profiles in HG were the highest (24.08–24.59%), followed by RG (18.24–19.06%) and BS (13.63–15.91%) (p < 0.05). Glycine was the most abundant free amino acid (FAA) in HG and RG, while lysine was the major FAA in BS. Equivalent umami concentration (EUC) values in BS were the highest, followed by HG and RG (p < 0.05). Lactic acid and PO43− were the major organic acids and inorganic ions, respectively. In conclusion, HG and RG provided more protein and healthy omega-3 fatty acids than BS, while BS had a stronger umami taste according to the EUC values.
Kinetic Characteristics of Curcumin and Germacrone in Rat and Human Liver Microsomes: Involvement of CYP Enzymes
Authors: Su Shaofeng , Wu Hongxian , Zhou Jingfan , Yuan Guangwei , Wang Haibo , Feng Jie
Published: July 2022

Curcumin and germacrone, natural products present in the Zingiberaceae family of plants, have several biological properties. Among these properties, the anti-NSCLC cancer action is noteworthy. In this paper, kinetics of the two compounds in rat liver microsomes (RLMs), human liver microsomes (HLMs), and cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes (CYP3A4, 1A2, 2E1, and 2C19) in an NADPH-generating system in vitro were evaluated by UP-HPLC–MS/MS (ultrahigh-pressure liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry). The contents of four cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes, adjusting by the compounds were detected using Western blotting in vitro and in vivo. The t1/2 of curcumin was 22.35 min in RLMs and 173.28 min in HLMs, while 18.02 and 16.37 min were gained for germacrone. The Vmax of curcumin in RLMs was about 4-fold in HLMs, meanwhile, the Vmax of germacrone in RLMs was similar to that of HLMs. The single enzyme t1/2 of curcumin was 38.51 min in CYP3A4, 301.4 min in 1A2, 69.31 min in 2E1, 63.01 min in 2C19; besides, as to the same enzymes, t1/2 of germacrone was 36.48 min, 86.64 min, 69.31 min, and 57.76 min. The dynamic curves were obtained by reasonable experimental design and the metabolism of curcumin and germacrone were selected in RLMs/HLMs. The selectivities in the two liver microsomes differed in degradation performance. These results meant that we should pay more attention to drugs in clinical medication–drug and drug–enzyme interactions.
Development of a Quantitative Method for Detection of Multiclass Veterinary Drugs in Feed Using Modified QuPPe Extraction and LC–MS/MS
Authors: Jang Sunyeong , Seo Hyungju , Kim Hojin , Kim Hyoyoung , Ahn Jongsung , Cho Hyunjeong , Hong Sunghie , Lee Seunghwa , Na Taewoong
Published: July 2022

A method was developed for the rapid and quantitative analysis of 30 veterinary drugs belonging to 17 classes (amphenicols (1), anthelmintics (1), cephalosporins (4), coccidiostats (1), lincosamides (1), macrolide (1), nitroimidazole (1), penicillins (3), phenylhydrazines (1), polypeptides (1), pyrethrins (1), quinolones (5), sulfonamides (3), tetracycline (3), neuroleptic agents (1), triazene trypanocidal agents (1), other. (1)) in feeds. The proposed method with a modified Quick Polar Pesticides (QuPPe) sample preparation was validated for the determination of 30 veterinary drugs in feed samples by liquid chromatography triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). The sample was extracted with methanol containing 1% acetic acid and purified by dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) with C18. Good linearity (r2 ≥ 0.98) was observed, and the LOQ values ranged from 10 to 200 µg/kg. Average recoveries ranged from 70.8 to 118.4%, and the relative standard deviation was ≤ 18.7%. This validated method was used in the determination of 30 veterinary drugs in 142 feed samples obtained from South Korea. The results show that lincomycin was present in only one of the tested feed samples, although it was detected at a value lower than the LOQ. In conclusion, this multi-residue method can be used for screening through the detection and quantitation of residual multiclass veterinary drugs in feed samples.
Molecular Insight into the Binding of Astilbin with Human Serum Albumin and Its Effect on Antioxidant Characteristics of Astilbin
Authors: Han Xiangyu , Sun Jing , Niu Tianmei , Mao Beibei , Gao Shijie , Zhao Pan , Sun Linlin
Published: July 2022

Astilbin is a dihydroflavonol glycoside identified in many natural plants and functional food with promising biological activities which is used as an antioxidant in the pharmaceutical and food fields. This work investigated the interaction between astilbin and human serum albumin (HSA) and their effects on the antioxidant activity of astilbin by multi-spectroscopic and molecular modeling studies. The experimental results show that astilbin quenches the fluorescence emission of HSA through a static quenching mechanism. Astilbin and HSA prefer to bind at the Site Ⅰ position, which is mainly maintained by electrostatic force, hydrophobic and hydrogen bonding interactions. Multi-spectroscopic and MD results indicate that the secondary structure of HSA could be changed because of the interaction of astilbin with HSA. DPPH radical scavenging assay shows that the presence of HSA reduces the antioxidant capacity of astilbin. The explication of astilbin–HSA binding mechanism will provide insights into clinical use and resource development of astilbin in food and pharmaceutical industries.
Evaluation of Biological Activity of Natural Compounds: Current Trends and Methods
Authors: Barba-Ostria Carlos , Carrera-Pacheco Saskya E. , Gonzalez-Pastor Rebeca , Heredia-Moya Jorge , Mayorga-Ramos Arianna , Rodríguez-Pólit Cristina , Zúñiga-Miranda Johana , Arias-Almeida Benjamin , Guamán Linda P.
Published: July 2022

Natural compounds have diverse structures and are present in different forms of life. Metabolites such as tannins, anthocyanins, and alkaloids, among others, serve as a defense mechanism in live organisms and are undoubtedly compounds of interest for the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries. Plants, bacteria, and insects represent sources of biomolecules with diverse activities, which are in many cases poorly studied. To use these molecules for different applications, it is essential to know their structure, concentrations, and biological activity potential. In vitro techniques that evaluate the biological activity of the molecules of interest have been developed since the 1950s. Currently, different methodologies have emerged to overcome some of the limitations of these traditional techniques, mainly via reductions in time and costs. These emerging technologies continue to appear due to the urgent need to expand the analysis capacity of a growing number of reported biomolecules. This review presents an updated summary of the conventional and relevant methods to evaluate the natural compounds’ biological activity in vitro.
Prenylated Flavonoids in Topical Infections and Wound Healing
Authors: Sychrová Alice , Škovranová Gabriela , Čulenová Marie , Bittner Fialová Silvia
Published: July 2022

The review presents prenylated flavonoids as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of topical skin infections and wounds, as they can restore the balance in the wound microenvironment. A thorough two-stage search of scientific papers published between 2000 and 2022 was conducted, with independent assessment of results by two reviewers. The main criteria were an MIC (minimum inhibitory concentration) of up to 32 µg/mL, a microdilution/macrodilution broth method according to CLSI (Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute) or EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing), pathogens responsible for skin infections, and additional antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and low cytotoxic effects. A total of 127 structurally diverse flavonoids showed promising antimicrobial activity against pathogens affecting wound healing, predominantly Staphylococcus aureus strains, but only artocarpin, diplacone, isobavachalcone, licochalcone A, sophoraflavanone G, and xanthohumol showed multiple activity, including antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory along with low cytotoxicity important for wound healing. Although prenylated flavonoids appear to be promising in wound therapy of humans, and also animals, their activity was measured only in vitro and in vivo. Future studies are, therefore, needed to establish rational dosing according to MIC and MBC (minimum bactericidal concentration) values, test potential toxicity to human cells, measure healing kinetics, and consider formulation in smart drug release systems and/or delivery technologies to increase their bioavailability.
Rumen Fluid from Slaughtered Animals: A Standardized Procedure for Sampling, Storage and Use in Digestibility Trials
Authors: Fortina Riccardo , Glorio Patrucco Sara , Barbera Salvatore , Tassone Sonia
Published: July 2022

Digestibility trials need a viable rumen fluid as inoculum to degrade feeds. The variability of rumen fluid depends on the animal’s diet, while its viability is greatly influenced by the sampling and handling procedures. In this article, we present a replicable protocol for sampling the rumen fluid from slaughtered animals for in vitro digestibility trials. A detailed list of the tools and a step-by-step standardized procedure for the collection, storage and the transportation of the rumen fluid from the slaughterhouse to the laboratory is presented. We also describe a digestibility trial for establishing the maximum storage time of rumen fluid from sampling to its use. The results show that the rumen fluid, collected and maintained according to the proposed protocol, can be stored and used from 30 to 300 min from sampling without significantly compromising the fermentative activity of the microbial population.
Correction: Shi et al. Ultrathin Stretchable All-Fiber Electronic Skin for Highly Sensitive Self-Powered Human Motion Monitoring. Nanoenergy Adv. 2022, 2, 52–63
Authors: Shi Yapeng , Ding Tianyi , Yuan Zhihao , Li Ruonan , Wang Baocheng , Wu Zhiyi
Published: July 2022

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]
Parasympathetic and Sympathetic Monitoring Identifies Earliest Signs of Autonomic Neuropathy
Authors: DePace Nicholas L. , Santos Luis , Munoz Ramona , Ahmad Ghufran , Verma Ashish , Acosta Cesar , Kaczmarski Karolina , DePace Nicholas , Goldis Michael E. , Colombo Joe
Published: July 2022

The progression of autonomic dysfunction from peripheral autonomic neuropathy (PAN) to cardiovascular autonomic neuropathy, including diabetic autonomic neuropathy and advanced autonomic dysfunction, increases morbidity and mortality risks. PAN is the earliest stage of autonomic neuropathy. It typically involves small fiber disorder and often is an early component. Small fiber disorder (SFD) is an inflammation of the C-nerve fibers. Currently, the most universally utilized diagnostic test for SFD as an indicator of PAN is galvanic skin response (GSR), as it is less invasive than skin biopsy. It is important to correlate a patient’s symptoms with several autonomic diagnostic tests so as not to treat patients with normal findings unnecessarily. At a large suburban northeastern United States (Sicklerville, NJ) autonomic clinic, 340 consecutive patients were tested with parasympathetic and sympathetic (P&S) monitoring (P&S Monitor 4.0; Physio PS, Inc., Atlanta, GA, USA) with cardiorespiratory analyses, and TMFlow (Omron Corp., Hoffman Estates, Chicago, IL, USA) with LD Technology sudomotor test (SweatC™). This is a prospective, nonrandomized, observational, population study. All patients were less than 60 y/o and were consecutively tested, analyzed and followed from February 2018 through May 2020. P&S Monitoring is based on cardiorespiratory analyses and SweatC™ sudomotor testing is based on GSR. Overall, regardless of the stage of autonomic neuropathy, SweatC™ and P&S Monitoring are in concordance for 306/340 (90.0%) of patients from this cohort. The result is an 89.4% negative predictive value of any P&S disorder if the sudomotor GSR test is negative and a positive predictive value of 90.4% if the sudomotor testing is positive. In detecting early stages of autonomic neuropathy, P&S Monitoring was equivalent to sudomotor testing with high sensitivity and specificity and high negative and positive predictive values. Therefore, either testing modality may be used to risk stratify patients with suspected autonomic dysfunction, including the earliest stages of PAN and SFD. Moreover, when these testing modalities were normal, their high negative predictive values aid in excluding an underlying autonomic nervous system dysfunction.
The Core Human Microbiome: Does It Exist and How Can We Find It? A Critical Review of the Concept
Authors: Sharon Itai , Quijada Narciso Martín , Pasolli Edoardo , Fabbrini Marco , Vitali Francesco , Agamennone Valeria , Dötsch Andreas , Selberherr Evelyne , Grau José Horacio , Meixner Martin , Liere Karsten , Ercolini Danilo , de Filippo Carlotta , Caderni Giovanna , Brigidi Patrizia , Turroni Silvia
Published: July 2022

The core microbiome, which refers to a set of consistent microbial features across populations, is of major interest in microbiome research and has been addressed by numerous studies. Understanding the core microbiome can help identify elements that lead to dysbiosis, and lead to treatments for microbiome-related health states. However, defining the core microbiome is a complex task at several levels. In this review, we consider the current state of core human microbiome research. We consider the knowledge that has been gained, the factors limiting our ability to achieve a reliable description of the core human microbiome, and the fields most likely to improve that ability. DNA sequencing technologies and the methods for analyzing metagenomics and amplicon data will most likely facilitate higher accuracy and resolution in describing the microbiome. However, more effort should be invested in characterizing the microbiome’s interactions with its human host, including the immune system and nutrition. Other components of this holobiontic system should also be emphasized, such as fungi, protists, lower eukaryotes, viruses, and phages. Most importantly, a collaborative effort of experts in microbiology, nutrition, immunology, medicine, systems biology, bioinformatics, and machine learning is probably required to identify the traits of the core human microbiome.
β-Glucan as a Sustainable Alternative to Stabilize Pavement Subgrade
Authors: M Vishweshwaran , Sujatha Evangelin Ramani
Published: July 2022

Beta glucan (β-Glucan), a polysaccharide biopolymer, is used to improve the subgrade strength of clayey soils in an attempt to advocate a sustainable, carbon-neutral, and eco-friendly stabilizer. A design thickness catalog was developed for a three-layered flexible pavement using 3D finite element analysis (FEA) and layered elastic analysis. The analyses were performed for β-glucan-treated fine-grained soils with varying traffic intensities based on a mechanistic design philosophy conforming to IRC: 37-2018. Genetic programming (GP) was employed to obtain equations governing the rutting and fatigue failure in pavements. Thirty-nine datasets were used in the determination and analysis of critical strains governing the failure of a flexible pavement. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Zetasizer analysis, and pH tests of the β-glucan-treated soil revealed the mechanism of strength improvement of the fine-grained soils. The savings in cost for a 1 km stretch of the pavement were estimated to be 14.3%.
Experimental and Theoretical Study of Cyclic Amine Catalysed Urethane Formation
Authors: Waleed Hadeer Q. , Pecsmány Dániel , Csécsi Marcell , Farkas László , Viskolcz Béla , Fejes Zsolt , Fiser Béla
Published: July 2022

The alcoholysis of phenyl isocyanate (PhNCO) using stoichiometric butan-1-ol (BuOH) in acetonitrile in the presence of different cyclic amine catalysts was examined using a combined kinetic and mechanistic approach. The molecular mechanism of urethane formation without and in the presence of cyclic amine catalysts was studied using the G3MP2BHandHLYP composite method in combination with the SMD implicit solvent model. It was found that the energetics of the model reaction significantly decreased in the presence of catalysts. The computed and measured thermodynamic properties were in good agreement with each other. The results prove that amine catalysts are important in urethane synthesis. Based on the previous and current results, the design of new catalysts will be possible in the near future.
Design and Fabrication of Membranes Based on PAN Copolymer Obtained from Solutions in N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide
Authors: Makarov Igor S. , Vinogradov Markel I. , Golova Lyudmila K. , Arkharova Natalia A. , Shambilova Gulbarshin K. , Makhatova Valentina E. , Naukenov Meirbek Zh.
Published: July 2022

An original method is proposed for preparing highly concentrated solutions of PAN copolymer in N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide (NMMO) and forming membranes for nanofiltration from these solutions. The high activity of the solvent with respect to the polymer provides short preparation time of spinning solutions in comparison with PAN solutions obtained in other solvents. The use of the rheological approach made it possible to find the optimal concentration for obtaining membranes. The formation of PAN membranes from the obtained solutions is proposed by the rolling method. The morphology of the formed membranes depends on the method of removing the precipitant from the sample. The features of the formed morphology of PAN membranes were studied by scanning electron microscopy. It was revealed that the use of water as a rigid precipitant leads to the formation of a homogeneous and symmetric morphology in the membrane. The average pore sizes in the membrane have been obtained by porosimetry. The study of the separating properties of PAN membranes revealed noteworthy values of the permeability and rejection for the anionic dyes Orange II and Remazol Brilliant Blue (74 and 97%, respectively). The mechanical properties of PAN membranes from solutions in NMMO are not inferior to analogs formed from commercially used direct solvents.
The Christian Discourses of “Chao Zhengzhi” (Supra-Politics) in the Early PRC: A Religio-Political Reappraisal
Authors: Ying Fuk-Tsang
Published: July 2022

In the context of the Chinese churches, religio-political relations or interaction is an unavoidable but widely controversial issue. On the one hand, the political control of religion can be regarded as the dominant model of the relationship between state and church in Chinese society. On the other hand, different religions and even diverse traditions within religious bodies have developed divided attitudes and stances on how to deal with their relationships with state and politics. The year 1949 was an important watershed in the contemporary history of China. The new regime carried out a comprehensive remolding and reformation of all sectors of Chinese society, and the religious sphere was not spared. “Supra-politics” (“chao zhengzhi”) was one of the charges that often appeared in the communists’ criticism and reform movement against Christianity after the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This article aims to address the following questions: (1) What does “supra-politics” mean? What is the political context of the emergence of this discourse? (2) Why and how did the Communist Party of China (CPC) use the discourse of “supra-politics” to criticize Christian churches? (3) What are the different understandings and interpretations of the “supra-politics” discourse among churches in China? This article offers a review of the controversy and discourse of the “supra-political” position of Christianity, which may contribute to the critical investigation of the religio-political relations of the early PRC.
AMFuse: Add–Multiply-Based Cross-Modal Fusion Network for Multi-Spectral Semantic Segmentation
Authors: Liu Haijun , Chen Fenglei , Zeng Zhihong , Tan Xiaoheng
Published: July 2022

Multi-spectral semantic segmentation has shown great advantages under poor illumination conditions, especially for remote scene understanding of autonomous vehicles, since the thermal image can provide complementary information for RGB image. However, methods to fuse the information from RGB image and thermal image are still under-explored. In this paper, we propose a simple but effective module, add–multiply fusion (AMFuse) for RGB and thermal information fusion, consisting of two simple math operations—addition and multiplication. The addition operation focuses on extracting cross-modal complementary features, while the multiplication operation concentrates on the cross-modal common features. Moreover, the attention module and atrous spatial pyramid pooling (ASPP) modules are also incorporated into our proposed AMFuse modules, to enhance the multi-scale context information. Finally, in the UNet-style encoder–decoder framework, the ResNet model is adopted as the encoder. As for the decoder part, the multi-scale information obtained from our proposed AMFuse modules is hierarchically merged layer-by-layer to restore the feature map resolution for semantic segmentation. The experiments of RGBT multi-spectral semantic segmentation and salient object detection demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed AMFuse module for fusing the RGB and thermal information.
Multimodal Fusion of Mobility Demand Data and Remote Sensing Imagery for Urban Land-Use and Land-Cover Mapping
Authors: Pastorino Martina , Gallo Federico , Di Febbraro Angela , Moser Gabriele , Sacco Nicola , Serpico Sebastiano B.
Published: July 2022

This paper aims at exploring the potentiality of the multimodal fusion of remote sensing imagery with information coming from mobility demand data in the framework of land-use mapping in urban areas. After a discussion on the function of mobility demand data, a probabilistic fusion framework is developed to take advantage of remote sensing and transport data, and their joint use for urban land-use and land-cover applications in urban and surrounding areas. Two different methods are proposed within this framework, the first based on pixelwise probabilistic decision fusion and the second on the combination with a region-based multiscale Markov random field. The experimental validation is conducted on a case study associated with the city of Genoa, Italy.
UAV Path Planning Algorithm Based on Improved Harris Hawks Optimization
Authors: Zhang Ran , Li Sen , Ding Yuanming , Qin Xutong , Xia Qingyu
Published: July 2022

In the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system, finding a flight planning path with low cost and fast search speed is an important problem. However, in the complex three-dimensional (3D) flight environment, the planning effect of many algorithms is not ideal. In order to improve its performance, this paper proposes a UAV path planning algorithm based on improved Harris Hawks Optimization (HHO). A 3D mission space model and a flight path cost function are first established to transform the path planning problem into a multidimensional function optimization problem. HHO is then improved for path planning, where the Cauchy mutation strategy and adaptive weight are introduced in the exploration process in order to increase the population diversity, expand the search space and improve the search ability. In addition, in order to reduce the possibility of falling into local extremum, the Sine-cosine Algorithm (SCA) is used and its oscillation characteristics are considered to gradually converge to the optimal solution. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has high optimization accuracy, convergence speed and robustness, and it can generate a more optimized path planning result for UAVs.
Gait Analysis in Children with Cerebral Palsy: Are Plantar Pressure Insoles a Reliable Tool?
Authors: Raposo Maria Raquel , Ricardo Diogo , Teles Júlia , Veloso António Prieto , João Filipa
Published: July 2022

Cerebral palsy (CP) is a common cause of motor disability, and pedobarography is a useful, non-invasive, portable, and accessible tool; is easy to use in a clinical setting; and can provide plenty of information about foot–soil interaction and gait deviations. The reliability of this method in children with CP is lacking. The aim of this study is to investigate test–retest reliability and minimal detectable change (MDC) of plantar pressure insole variables in children with CP. Eight children performed two trials 8 ± 2.5 days apart, using foot insoles to collect plantar pressure data. Whole and segmented foot measurements were analyzed using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). The variability of the data was measured by calculating the standard error of measurement (SEM) and the MDC/ICC values demonstrated high test–retest reliability for most variables, ranging from good to excellent (ICC ≥ 0.60). The SEM and the MDC values were considered low for the different variables. The variability observed between sessions may be attributed to the heterogeneous sub-diagnosis of CP.
CTTGAN: Traffic Data Synthesizing Scheme Based on Conditional GAN
Authors: Wang Jiayu , Yan Xuehu , Liu Lintao , Li Longlong , Yu Yongqiang
Published: July 2022

Most machine learning algorithms only have a good recognition rate on balanced datasets. However, in the field of malicious traffic identification, benign traffic on the network is far greater than malicious traffic, and the network traffic dataset is imbalanced, which makes the algorithm have a low identification rate for small categories of malicious traffic samples. This paper presents a traffic sample synthesizing model named Conditional Tabular Traffic Generative Adversarial Network (CTTGAN), which uses a Conditional Tabular Generative Adversarial Network (CTGAN) algorithm to expand the small category traffic samples and balance the dataset in order to improve the malicious traffic identification rate. The CTTGAN model expands and recognizes feature data, which meets the requirements of a machine learning algorithm for training and prediction data. The contributions of this paper are as follows: first, the small category samples are expanded and the traffic dataset is balanced; second, the storage cost and computational complexity are reduced compared to models using image data; third, discrete variables and continuous variables in traffic feature data are processed at the same time, and the data distribution is described well. The experimental results show that the recognition rate of the expanded samples is more than 0.99 in MLP, KNN and SVM algorithms. In addition, the recognition rate of the proposed CTTGAN model is better than the oversampling and undersampling schemes.
EEG Emotion Classification Network Based on Attention Fusion of Multi-Channel Band Features
Authors: Zhu Xiaoliang , Rong Wenting , Zhao Liang , He Zili , Yang Qiaolai , Sun Junyi , Liu Gendong
Published: July 2022

Understanding learners’ emotions can help optimize instruction sand further conduct effective learning interventions. Most existing studies on student emotion recognition are based on multiple manifestations of external behavior, which do not fully use physiological signals. In this context, on the one hand, a learning emotion EEG dataset (LE-EEG) is constructed, which captures physiological signals reflecting the emotions of boredom, neutrality, and engagement during learning; on the other hand, an EEG emotion classification network based on attention fusion (ECN-AF) is proposed. To be specific, on the basis of key frequency bands and channels selection, multi-channel band features are first extracted (using a multi-channel backbone network) and then fused (using attention units). In order to verify the performance, the proposed model is tested on an open-access dataset SEED (N = 15) and the self-collected dataset LE-EEG (N = 45), respectively. The experimental results using five-fold cross validation show the following: (i) on the SEED dataset, the highest accuracy of 96.45% is achieved by the proposed model, demonstrating a slight increase of 1.37% compared to the baseline models; and (ii) on the LE-EEG dataset, the highest accuracy of 95.87% is achieved, demonstrating a 21.49% increase compared to the baseline models.
Health Behaviors and Behavior Change during Pregnancy: Theory-Based Investigation of Predictors and Interrelations
Authors: Herzog-Petropaki Nathalie , Derksen Christina , Lippke Sonia
Published: July 2022

(1) Background: Preventing pregnancy complications and maternal deaths and helping women stay healthy before, during, and after pregnancy by means of sexual health and behavior is imperative. Previous research demonstrated that a lack of social support and perceived discrimination have adverse effects on pregnancy outcomes. These determinants may impact health behavior as an important mediator of pregnancy outcomes. To better understand this relation, the Compensatory Carry-Over Action Model (CCAM) was applied. The research question was: how do predictors of health behavior, specifically intention, planning, self-efficacy, social support, and discrimination, interrelate with different health behaviors during pregnancy? (2) Methods: By means of qualitative interviews with ten pregnant women (20–39 years, mean = 28.6) from different cultural backgrounds, the predictors of health behaviors and experiences with pregnancy, including racial discrimination, were investigated. (3) Results: Not all women changed their unhealthy behaviors even though their higher-level goal was to ensure their baby’s and their own health. This appeared partially due to lack of social support, racial discrimination, and unexpected pregnancy side effects. The women who previously performed health behaviors revealed a healthier pattern with maintaining or even expanding their health behaviors, while those performing no health behavior in the past reported more obstacles with a healthy lifestyle. (4) Conclusions: Pregnant women appear to be having difficulties translating good intentions into behavior. The reasons include lack of support, fear, and insecurity, which impact self-efficacy and planning. Improvements in health behaviors were facilitated by specific circumstances, such as working from home. Policy and practice should take these aspects into account and help mobilize support and overcome discrimination by means of more rights and support for pregnant women while also empowering the individuals.
Labour Implications on Agricultural Production in Romania
Authors: Tudor Valentina Constanta , Dinu Toma Adrian , Vladu Marius , Smedescu Dragoș , Vlad Ionela Mituko , Dumitru Eduard Alexandru , Sterie Cristina Maria , Costuleanu Carmen Luiza
Published: July 2022

Throughout this paper, the theoretical concepts from the above areas were combined with the analysis and interpretation of statistical data from the same areas of interest, resulting in a detailed analysis of how the agricultural labour force influences the yields of the five most important crops in the Romanian agricultural sector, namely, wheat, maize, sunflower, rapeseed and soybean. The analysis was carried out within the eight NUTS-listed development regions. A bibliometric analysis of the importance of the academic environment for agricultural labour force research was previously carried out using VOSviewer software. The content of this document aims to determine the impact that the agricultural labour force has on the productivity of the five main crops cultivated in Romania over large areas during the period 2015–2019, where, although the population employed in agriculture has decreased, the yields of these crops have increased due to the technological development process started in agriculture. As of 2019, only 9% of the total Romanian population is represented by the population employed in agriculture and 39.41% and 61.37% of the total area of the country are represented by arable/agricultural area, respectively.
Land Use Land/Cover Change Reduces Woody Plant Diversity and Carbon Stocks in a Lowland Coastal Forest Ecosystem, Tanzania
Authors: Ntukey Lucas Theodori , Munishi Linus Kasian , Treydte Anna Christina
Published: July 2022

The East-African lowland coastal forest (LCF) is one of Africa’s centres of species endemism, representing an important biodiversity hotspot. However, deforestation and forest degradation due to the high demand for fuelwood has reduced forest cover and diversity, with unknown consequences for associated terrestrial carbon stocks in this LCF system. Our study assessed spatio-temporal land use and land cover changes (LULC) in 1998, 2008, 2018 in the LCF ecosystem, Tanzania. In addition, we conducted a forest inventory survey and calculated associated carbon storage for this LCF ecosystem. Using methods of land use change evaluation plug-in in QGIS based on historical land use data, we modelled carbon stock trends post-2018 in associated LULC for the future 30 years. We found that agriculture and grassland combined increased substantially by 21.5% between the year 1998 and 2018 while forest cover declined by 29%. Furthermore, forest above-ground live biomass carbon (AGC) was 2.4 times higher in forest than in the bushland, 5.8 times in the agriculture with scattered settlement and 14.8 times higher than in the grassland. The estimated average soil organic carbon (SOC) was 76.03 ± 6.26 t/ha across the entire study area. Our study helps to identify land use impacts on ecosystem services, supporting decision-makers in future land-use planning.
Are the Sins of the Father the Sins of the Sons, but Not the Daughters? Exploring How Leadership Gender and Generation Impact the Corporate Social Responsibility of Franchise Firms
Authors: Fernández-Muiños María , Money Kevin , Saraeva Anastasiya , Garnelo-Gomez Irene , Vázquez-Suárez Luis
Published: July 2022

Emerging literature suggests that male leaders guide their companies more towards operations-related (OR) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and female leaders lead their companies more towards non-operation-related (Non-OR) CSR activities. Nevertheless, very little research has considered intergenerational issues in CSR practices. This study explores this question in a context unexplored to date, the franchise industry. We apply multivariate analysis to explore differences between franchisor leaders. Our results reveal that successor leaders engage their companies more in normative CSR than founding leaders. Contrary to our expectations, they also encourage more instrumental CSR activities compared to the founders. We found that female leaders promote normative CSR practices to a greater extent than their male counterparts. However, gender differences in instrumental CSR were only present for the group of current leaders, where men outperformed women. When we delved into the analyses by looking at the influence of the gender of the previous founder, we found that female heirs engage their companies at the same levels of instrumental CSR as their male heir counterparts. Implications for CSR practices in franchise firms and directions for future research are discussed.
Experimental and Numerical Investigation of the Flow Behaviour of Fractured Granite under Extreme Temperature and Pressure Conditions
Authors: Kumari Wanniarachchige Gnamani Pabasara , Ranjith Pathegama Gamage
Published: July 2022

As a result of negligible connected porosity—and thus, minimal matrix permeability—the fluid-transport characteristics of crystalline rocks are strongly influenced by the fractures at all scales. Understanding the flow behaviour of fractured rock under extreme stress and temperature conditions is essential for safe and effective deep geo-engineering applications, such as deep geothermal recovery, geological nuclear waste disposal, oil and gas extraction, geological storage and deep mining operations. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the flow characteristics of mechanically fractured Australian Strathbogie granite under a wide range of stress (confining pressures 1–80 MPa) and temperature conditions (20 °C to 350 °C). The study utilised a sophisticated high-temperature, high-pressure tri-axial setup capable of simulating extreme geological conditions, followed by a numerical simulation. According to the experimental results, a linear increment in the steady-state flow rate was observed, with increased injection pressure for the experimental conditions considered. Therefore, linear laminar Darcy flow was considered, and the fracture permeability was calculated using the cubic law. It was found that stress and temperature strongly depend on the flow of fluid through fractures. The steady-state flow rate decreased exponentially with the increase in normal stress, showcasing fracture shrinkage with an increment in effective stress. With regard to permeability through the fractures, increasing temperature was found to cause an initial reduction in fracture permeability due to an increased interlock effect (induced by thermal overclosure), followed by increments because of the thermally induced damage. Furthermore, the increasing temperature caused significant non-linear increments in the fluid flow rates due to the associated viscosity and density reduction in water. Considering the laboratory-scale flow-through exercises, a fully coupled numerical model that can predict hydro–thermo–mechanical variations in the reservoir rocks was developed using the COMSOL Multiphysics simulator. The developed model was calibrated, utilising the temperature- and pressure-dependent properties of granite rocks and fluid (water); was validated against the experimental results; and was used to predict the permeability, pressure development and strain of rock samples under extreme conditions, which were difficult to achieve in the laboratory.
Microstructure, Phase Composition, Mechanical Properties and Tribological Properties of Plasma Sprayed Al-25Si Wear-Resistant Coatings
Authors: Peng Qiqing , Liu Ming , Huang Yanfei , Zhou Xinyuan , Ma Guozheng , Wang Haidou , Xing Zhiguo
Published: July 2022

Owing to the light weight and high energy, the “All-aluminum engine” can reduce fuel consumption and pollutant emissions, showing a great significance in saving resources and protecting the environment, and becoming a research hotspot. However, the aluminum alloy cylinder liners have difficulty withstanding extremely harsh working conditions, such as strong friction and wear, making the engine extremely easy to damage. In this work, Al-25Si wear-resistant coating was deposited by inner hole supersonic plasma spraying technique to improve the wear resistance of the aluminum alloy cylinder liner. The microstructure, phase composition, mechanical properties and tribological properties were tested by SEM, XRD, tribological machine, etc. The results indicated that the coating exhibited an excellent bonding strength of 44.1 MPa, and the average hardness and average friction coefficient of the coating are 267.09 ± 14.85 HV0.2, and 0.20, respectively. The total wear amount, the wear scar width and the wear scar depth of the coating are 2.77 × 10−3 mm3, 654.3 μm and 8.95 μm, respectively, which showed that the coating can significantly improve the tribological properties of the “All-aluminum engine”. The wear mechanism of the coating was mainly interpreted by furrow cutting, extrusion and spalling in two-body abrasive wear, three-body abrasive wear and a small amount of oxidative wear.
Editorial Conclusion for the Special Issue “Advanced Transportation Technologies and Symmetries in Intelligent Transportation Systems”
Authors: Tian Guangdong , Li Zhiwu , Yu Dexin , Fathollahi-Fard Amir M. , Jin Lisheng , Jiang Xingyu
Published: July 2022

The recent advances in the intelligent transportation systems (ITS) are reviewed in this Special Issue in which many techniques in mathematics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, automatic control, and optimization theory were considered to address the ITS based on recent technologies, methods and symmetries [...]
OSNR-Aware Modeling and Optimization of Multi-Core Fiber-Based Spectrally–Spatially Flexible Optical Networks
Authors: Klinkowski Mirosław , Jaworski Marek
Published: July 2022

We focus on the optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR)-aware optical path (lightpath) planning problem in spectrally and spatially flexible optical networks (SS-FONs) connected using weakly coupled multi-core fibers (MCFs) in which distance-adaptive and super-channel transmission is realized using multiple modulation formats. In the SS-FON considered, the quality of transmission (QoT) of optical signals is degraded due to the inter-core crosstalk (XT) effect occurring in MCFs. To account for the XT impairment when planning lightpath connections, we make use of a reliable QoT model based on the OSNR estimation, in which the XT impairment is integrated with other physical-layer impairments. To model the lightpath planning optimization problem, we develop a novel mixed-integer programming (MIP) formulation that incorporates the OSNR model. In addition, we propose an efficient heuristic method that is capable of solving larger instances of the optimization problem considered. The results of numerical experiments indicate the low scalability of the MIP method due to the presence of XT and high effectiveness of the heuristic method. The analysis of three different network topologies and two types of MCFs shows a high impact of XT on network performance and limited performance gains from the presence of the central core in a 7-core MCF.
Deep Learning Automation of Kidney, Liver, and Spleen Segmentation for Organ Volume Measurements in Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease
Authors: Sharbatdaran Arman , Romano Dominick , Teichman Kurt , Dev Hreedi , Raza Syed I. , Goel Akshay , Moghadam Mina C. , Blumenfeld Jon D. , Chevalier James M. , Shimonov Daniil , Shih George , Wang Yi , Prince Martin R.
Published: July 2022

Organ volume measurements are a key metric for managing ADPKD (the most common inherited renal disease). However, measuring organ volumes is tedious and involves manually contouring organ outlines on multiple cross-sectional MRI or CT images. The automation of kidney contouring using deep learning has been proposed, as it has small errors compared to manual contouring. Here, a deployed open-source deep learning ADPKD kidney segmentation pipeline is extended to also measure liver and spleen volumes, which are also important. This 2D U-net deep learning approach was developed with radiologist labeled T2-weighted images from 215 ADPKD subjects (70% training = 151, 30% validation = 64). Additional ADPKD subjects were utilized for prospective (n = 30) and external (n = 30) validations for a total of 275 subjects. Image cropping previously optimized for kidneys was included in training but removed for the validation and inference to accommodate the liver which is closer to the image border. An effective algorithm was developed to adjudicate overlap voxels that are labeled as more than one organ. Left kidney, right kidney, liver and spleen labels had average errors of 3%, 7%, 3%, and 1%, respectively, on external validation and 5%, 6%, 5%, and 1% on prospective validation. Dice scores also showed that the deep learning model was close to the radiologist contouring, measuring 0.98, 0.96, 0.97 and 0.96 on external validation and 0.96, 0.96, 0.96 and 0.95 on prospective validation for left kidney, right kidney, liver and spleen, respectively. The time required for manual correction of deep learning segmentation errors was only 19:17 min compared to 33:04 min for manual segmentations, a 42% time saving (p = 0.004). Standard deviation of model assisted segmentations was reduced to 7, 5, 11, 5 mL for right kidney, left kidney, liver and spleen respectively from 14, 10, 55 and 14 mL for manual segmentations. Thus, deep learning reduces the radiologist time required to perform multiorgan segmentations in ADPKD and reduces measurement variability.
Evaluating Antivenom Efficacy against Echis carinatus Venoms—Screening for In Vitro Alternatives
Authors: Bhatia Siddharth , Blotra Avni , Vasudevan Karthikeyan
Published: July 2022

In India, polyvalent antivenom is the mainstay treatment for snakebite envenoming. Due to batch-to-batch variation in antivenom production, manufacturers have to estimate its efficacy at each stage of IgG purification using the median effective dose which involves 100–120 mice for each batch. There is an urgent need to replace the excessive use of animals in snake antivenom production using in vitro alternatives. We tested the efficacy of a single batch of polyvalent antivenom from VINS bioproducts limited on Echis carinatus venom collected from three different locations—Tamil Nadu (ECVTN), Goa (ECVGO) and Rajasthan (ECVRAJ)—using different in vitro assays. Firstly, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC-HPLC) was used to quantify antivenom–venom complexes to assess the binding efficiency of the antivenom. Secondly, clotting, proteolytic and PLA2 activity assays were performed to quantify the ability of the antivenom to neutralize venom effects. The use of both binding and functional assays allowed us to measure the efficacy of the antivenom, as they represent multiple impacts of snake envenomation. The response from the assays was recorded for different antivenom–venom ratios and the dose–response curves were plotted. Based on the parameters that explained the curves, the efficacy scores (ES) of antivenom were computed. The binding assay revealed that ECVTN had more antivenom–venom complexes formed compared to the other venoms. The capacity of antivenom to neutralize proteolytic and PLA2 effects was lowest against ECVRAJ. The mean efficacy score of antivenom against ECVTN was the greatest, which was expected, as ECVTN is mainly used by antivenom manufacturers. These findings pave a way for the development of in vitro alternatives in antivenom efficacy assessment.