bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Seismic evidence for craton chiseling and displacement of lithospheric mantle by the Tintina fault in the northern Canadian Cordillera
Authors: Estève Clément , Audet Pascal , Schaeffer Andrew J. , Schutt Derek L. , Aster Richard C. , Cubley Joel F.
Published: July 2020

The northern Canadian Cordillera (NCC) of northwestern Canada is segmented by several margin-parallel, right-lateral, strike-slip faults that accumulated several hundred kilometers of displacement between the Late Cretaceous and the Eocene. The depth extent of these faults, notably the Tintina fault (TF), has important implications for the tectonic assemblage and evolution of NCC lithospheric mantle, but geophysical models and geochemical data remain inconclusive. Using a recent three-dimensional P-wave seismic velocity model, we resolved a series of sharp (∼10 km) P-wave velocity contrasts (∼4%) at uppermost mantle depths beneath the surface trace of the TF. Seismic anisotropy data that represent upper-mantle fabrics revealed similar changes in the orientation and magnitude of anisotropy in the vicinity of the TF. These data suggest that the TF is a lithospheric-scale shear zone. After restoration of 430 km of right-lateral displacement along the TF, fast P-wave anomalies align with the outline of the North American craton margin. We propose the fast anomaly structure currently located in eastern Alaska represents a fragment of the Mackenzie craton that was chiseled and displaced to the northwest by the TF between the Late Cretaceous and the Eocene. A second cratonic fragment currently located in the southern NCC may be associated with the Cassiar terrane at upper-mantle depth. These observations provide the first evidence that large lithospheric-scale shear zones cut through refractory mantle and produce major lateral displacement of cratonic mantle material within cordilleras worldwide.
One-stage fluoroscopic-guided laparoscopic transcystic papillary balloon dilation and laparoscopic cholecystectomy for the treatment of choledocholithiasis after Roux-en-Y reconstruction
Authors: Kamada Teppei , Ohdaira Hironori , Yamanouchi Eigoro , Suzuki Yutaka
Published: July 2020

Patients with a history of gastrectomy have a higher incidence of cholecystocholedocholithiasis and morbidities. In particular, the management of choledocholithiasis with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) has been challenging in patients after Roux-en-Y or Billroth II reconstruction due to the altered gastrointestinal anatomy. A 92-year-old man presented with high fever. He had undergone laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with Roux-en-Y reconstruction 9 years earlier for gastric cancer. Choledocholithiasis was diagnosed and ERCP was attempted, but cannulation of the papilla of Vater failed. An elective one-stage operation was planned. One-stage fluoroscopic-guided laparoscopic transcystic papillary balloon dilation (LTPBD) and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) were performed. The operation time was 130 min with 3 mL of intraoperative bleeding. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 3 with no complications. We report this case in which one-stage LTPBD and LC was successfully performed for a super-elderly patient with choledocholithiasis after Roux-en-Y reconstruction.
A therapy-led, multidisciplinary programme for treatment-resistant functional fixed dystonia
Authors: Hsieh Yvonne , Deshpande Shaunak
Published: July 2020

Functional neurological disorder (FND) describes various neurological symptoms that are not explained by an organic aetiology. The condition has a poor prognosis. Despite this, there is sparse research that informs clinical interventions for FND, particularly when treating functional fixed dystonia. Our article has outlined an intervention for a patient with a treatment-resistant functional fixed dystonia that was informed by a biopsychosocial model, which aimed to rehabilitate the patient’s functional motor symptoms. This led to favourable outcomes including restoring full range of movement in the patient’s right foot and improvements in routine outcome measurement scores. The patient also described the programme as life-changing and was able to re-engage in meaningful and purposeful activities.
Association of hepatitis B surface antigen seropositivity and hepatitis B surface antibody seropositivity with diabetes: a cross-sectional study based on two Chinese populations in Guangdong, China
Authors: Liu Yuan , Jiang Chaoqiang , Hao Yuantao , Xu Lin , Zhang Weisen , Jin Ya Li , Zhu Tong , Lam Tai Hing
Published: July 2020

Objectives

To examine whether hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) seropositivity and hepatitis B surface antibody (HBsAb) seropositivity were associated with the presence of diabetes in two population-based studies in southern China, the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study (GBCS) and the Major Infectious Disease Prevention and Control (MIDPC) study.

Design

A cross-sectional study.

Setting

The GBCS was conducted among a community social and welfare organisation with branches in all 10 districts of Guangzhou. The MIDPC was conducted among the community residents in two districts of Guangzhou and three districts of Zhongshan.

Participants

4947 participants from the GBCS and 4357 participants from the MIDPC were included in this study.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Type 2 diabetes was the main study outcome, which was diagnosed by fasting blood glucose ≥7.0 mmol/L, and/or self-reported history of diabetes.

Results

After adjusting for age, sex, education, occupation, smoking status, alcohol use, physical activity and body mass index, we found no association of HBsAg seropositivity in GBCS or MIDPC (OR=1.12, 95% CI 0.74 to 1.69, and OR=0.83, 95% CI 0.59 to 1.17, respectively), and HBsAb seropositivity (OR=0.85, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.12, OR=1.00, 95% CI 0.86 to 1.16, respectively) with the presence of diabetes. Null associations were found for analysis pooling GBCS and MIDPC data after similar adjustment. The adjusted OR for the associations of HBsAg seropositivity and HBsAb seropositivity with the presence of diabetes in the pooled sample was 0.91 (95% CI 0.70 to 1.19) and 0.98 (95% CI 0.86 to 1.12), respectively.

Conclusions

Taking advantage of data from two large cross-sectional studies, we found no association of serological status of HBsAg and HBsAb with the presence of diabetes or glucose measures.
Evaluation of the effectiveness of a comprehensive care plan to reduce hospital acquired complications in an Australian hospital: protocol for a mixed-method preimplementation and postimplementation study
Authors: Jessup Rebecca Leigh , Tacey Mark , Glynn Maree , Kirk Michael , McKeown Liz
Published: July 2020

Introduction

A new healthcare standard (Standard 5: Comprehensive Care) has been introduced by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare. Standard 5 advocates for organisational leadership to develop and maintain systems and processes to deliver patient-centred comprehensive care plans that include appropriate screening to identify and mitigate risks associated with hospitalisation. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a comprehensive care and risk evaluation (Comprehensive Assessment and Risk Evaluation (CARE)) plan to reduce hospital acquired complications (HACs) in an Australian hospital network.

Methods and analysis

This study will comprise a mixed-method pre and post implementation concurrent triangulation evaluation design. The primary clinical outcome will assess the reduction of routinely reported HACs (pressure care and falls), selected based on the likely reliability of routinely collected data prior to implementation. Secondary clinical outcomes will include length of stay and activity-based costing data for each episode, in-hospital mortality, expected and unplanned readmissions within 28 days, compliance with CARE plan completion and referrals for at risk patients, staff satisfaction, patient satisfaction and barriers and enablers to implementation. We expect that the incidence of other HACs (malnutrition, delirium, violence and aggression, and suicide and self-harm) may increase as routine methods for assessing risk were not in place prior to implementation of the CARE plan. We will therefore collect data on incidence of these HACs as tertiary outcomes. Our primary cost-effectiveness outcome will be calculation of an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethics approval has been received from Northern Health Low Risk Ethics Committee. The results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences.
Are population trends in high-risk alcohol consumption in smokers associated with trends in quit attempts and quit success? A time-series analysis
Authors: Beard Emma , Brown Jamie , West Robert , Michie Susan
Published: July 2020

Objectives

Monthly changes in the prevalence of high-risk drinking and smoking in England appear to be positively correlated. This study aimed to assess how far monthly changes in high-risk drinking were specifically associated with attempts to stop smoking and the success of quit attempts.

Design

Data were used from the Alcohol and Smoking Toolkit Studies between April 2014 and June 2018. These involve monthly household face-to-face surveys of representative samples of ~1800 adults.

Setting

England.

Participants

Data were aggregated on 17 560 past-year smokers over the study period.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Autoregressive integrated moving average with exogenous input (ARIMAX) modelling was used to assess the association over time between monthly prevalence of high-risk drinking among smokers and (a) prevalence of attempts to quit smoking and (b) prevalence of successful quit attempts in those attempting to quit. Bayes factors (BF) were calculated to compare the null hypothesis with the hypothesis of an effect sufficiently large (β=0.6) to explain the established association between overall prevalence in smoking and high-risk drinking.

Results

No statistically significant associations were found between monthly changes in prevalence of high-risk drinking among smokers and attempts to quit smoking (β=0.156, 95% CI −0.079 to 0.391, p=0.194) or quit success (β=0.066, 95% CI −0.524 to 0.655, p=0.827). BF indicated that the data were insensitive but suggested there is weak evidence for the null hypothesis in the case of both quit attempts (BF=0.80) and quit success (BF=0.53).

Conclusions

Monthly changes in prevalence of high-risk alcohol consumption in England are not clearly associated with changes in quit attempt or quit success rates.
Establishing reference costs for the health benefit packages under universal health coverage in India: cost of health services in India (CHSI) protocol
Authors: Prinja Shankar , Singh Maninder Pal , Guinness Lorna , Rajsekar Kavitha , Bhargava Balram
Published: July 2020

Introduction

To achieve universal health coverage, the Government of India has introduced Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB - PMJAY), a large tax-funded national health insurance scheme for the provision of secondary and tertiary care services in public and private hospitals. AB - PMJAY reimburses care for 1573 health benefit packages (HBPs). HBPs are designed to cover the treatment of diseases/conditions with high incidence/prevalence or which contribute to high out-of-pocket expenditure. However, there is a dearth of reference cost data against which provider payment rates can be assessed.

Methods and analysis

The CHSI (Cost of Health Services in India) study will collect cost data from 13 Indian states covering 52 public and 40 private hospitals, using a mixed economic costing methodology (top-down and bottom-up), to generate unit costs for the HBPs. States will be sampled to capture economic status, development indicators and health service utilisation heterogeneity. The public sector hospitals will be chosen at secondary and tertiary care level. One tertiary facility will be selected from each state. At secondary level, three districts per state will be selected randomly from the district composite development score ranking. The private sector hospital sample will be stratified by nature of ownership (for-profit and not-for-profit), type of city (tier 1, 2 or 3) and size of the hospital (number of beds). Average costs for each HBP will be calculated across the different facility types. Multiple scenarios will be used to suggest rates which could be negotiated with the providers. Overall, the study will provide economic cost data for price setting, strategic purchasing, health technology assessment and a national cost database of India.

Ethics and dissemination

The approval has been obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee and Institutional Collaborative Committee of the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and
Research, Chandigarh, India. The results shall be disseminated in conferences and peer-reviewed articles.
Risk assessment and antibiotic prescribing decisions in children presenting to UK primary care with cough: a vignette study
Authors: Nurek Martine , Delaney Brendan C , Kostopoulou Olga
Published: July 2020

Objectives

The validated ‘STARWAVe’ (Short illness duration, Temperature, Age, Recession, Wheeze, Asthma, Vomiting) clinical prediction rule (CPR) uses seven variables to guide risk assessment and antimicrobial stewardship in children presenting with cough. We aimed to compare general practitioners’ (GPs) risk assessments and prescribing decisions to those of STARWAVe and assess the influence of the CPR’s clinical variables.

Setting

Primary care.

Participants

252 GPs, currently practising in the UK.

Design

GPs were randomly assigned to view four (of a possible eight) clinical vignettes online. Each vignette depicted a child presenting with cough, who was described in terms of the seven STARWAVe variables. Systematically, we manipulated patient age (20 months vs 5 years), illness duration (3 vs 6 days), vomiting (present vs absent) and wheeze (present vs absent), holding the remaining STARWAVe variables constant.

Outcome measures

Per vignette, GPs assessed risk of hospitalisation and indicated whether they would prescribe antibiotics or not.

Results

GPs overestimated risk of hospitalisation in 9% of vignette presentations (88/1008) and underestimated it in 46% (459/1008). Despite underestimating risk, they overprescribed: 78% of prescriptions were unnecessary relative to GPs’ own risk assessments (121/156), while 83% were unnecessary relative to STARWAVe risk assessments (130/156). All four of the manipulated variables influenced risk assessments, but only three influenced prescribing decisions: a shorter illness duration reduced prescribing odds (OR 0.14, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.27, p<0.001), while vomiting and wheeze increased them (ORvomit 2.17, 95% CI 1.32 to 3.57, p=0.002; ORwheeze 8.98, 95% CI 4.99 to 16.15, p<0.001).

Conclusions

Relative to STARWAVe, GPs underestimated risk of hospitalisation, overprescribed and appeared to misinterpret illness duration (prescribing for longer rather than shorter illnesses). It is important to ascertain discrepancies between CPRs and current clinical practice. This has implications for the integration of CPRs into the electronic health record and the provision of intelligible explanations to decision-makers.
Mapping of modifiable barriers and facilitators with interdisciplinary chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) guidelines concordance within hospitals to the Theoretical Domains Framework: a mixed methods systematic review protocol
Authors: Issac Hancy , Moloney Clint , Taylor Melissa , Lea Jackie
Published: July 2020

Introduction

Multifarious chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) guidelines have been published by local, national and global respiratory societies. These guidelines subsume holistic evidence based on recommendations to diagnose, treat, prevent and manage acute exacerbation with COPD. Despite the existing comprehensive recommendations, readmission rates and hospitalisations have increased in the last decade. Evidence to date has reported suboptimal clinical guidelines concordance. Acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPD) is a common hospital presentation due to varied causes such as infective exacerbations, worsening disease condition, medication non-adherence, lack of education and incomprehensive discharge planning. AECOPD directly and indirectly causes economic burden, disrupts health-related quality of life (HRQol), hasten lung function decline and increases overall morbidity and mortality. COPD being a multimodal chronic disease, consistent interdisciplinary interventions from the time of admission to discharge may reduce readmissions and enhance HRQol among these patients and their families.

Methods and analysis

This protocol adheres to the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for mixed methods systematic reviews and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews reporting guidelines. Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods studies will append this study to explore determinants of COPD guidelines concordance. Comprehensive three-tier search strategies will be used to search nine databases (COCHRANE, EBSCO HOST, MEDLINE, SCIENCE DIRECT, JBI, SCOPUS, WEB OF SCIENCE, WILEY and DARE) in May 2020. Two independent reviewers will screen abstracts and full-text articles in consonance with inclusion criteria. The convergent integrative method narrative review will contribute a deeper understanding of any discrepancies found in the existing evidence. Quality of the studies will be reported and Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) will be used as a priori to synthesis data. Identified barriers, facilitators and corresponding clinical behavioural change solutions will be categorised using TDF indicators to provide future research and implementation recommendations.

Ethics and dissemination

Ethical approval is not required and results dissemination will occur through peer-reviewed publication.
Wool-derived keratin dressings versus usual care dressings for treatment of slow healing venous leg ulceration: a randomised controlled trial (Keratin4VLU)
Authors: Jull Andrew , Wadham Angela , Bullen Chris , Parag Varsha , Weller Carolina , Waters Jill
Published: July 2020

Objective

To determine the effect of a keratin dressing for treating slow-to-heal venous leg ulcers (VLU) on VLU healing.

Design

Pragmatic parallel group randomised controlled trial.

Setting

Community-dwelling participants.

Participants

People aged 18 or more years with VLU (either present for more than 26 weeks or ulcer area larger than 5 cm2 or both).

Intervention

Wool-derived keratin dressing or usual care formulary of non-medicated dressings, on a background treatment with compression.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

Healing at 24 weeks based on blinded assessment of ulcer photographs. Other outcomes included time to complete healing, change in ulcer area to 24 weeks, change in health-related quality of life and incidence of adverse events.

Results

We screened 1068 patients with VLU and randomised 143 participants (51.1% of target recruitment), 71 to the keratin dressing group and 72 to the usual care group.The mean age was 66.1 years (SD 15.9) and 53 participants (37.1%) were women. There were no significant differences between the groups on the primary outcome (risk difference −6.4%, 95% CI −22.5% to 9.7%), change in ulcer area (−1.9 cm2, 95% CI −16.5 to 12.8 cm2), time to complete healing (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.52 to 1.23) or the incidence of adverse events (incidence rate ratio 1.19, 95% CI 0.89 to 1.59) in the intention-to-treat analyses. However, the direction of effect on the primary outcome was reversed in a per protocol analysis specified a priori (risk difference 6.2%, 95% CI −12.4% to 24.9%).

Conclusion

The effect of adding a keratin dressing to the treatment regimen for prognostically slow-to-heal VLU remains unclear.

Trial registration number

NCT02896725
Cost–benefit analysis of surveillance for surgical site infection following caesarean section
Authors: Wloch Catherine , Van Hoek Albert Jan , Green Nathan , Conneely Joanna , Harrington Pauline , Sheridan Elizabeth , Wilson Jennie , Lamagni Theresa
Published: July 2020

Objective

To estimate the economic burden to the health service of surgical site infection following caesarean section and to identify potential savings achievable through implementation of a surveillance programme.

Design

Economic model to evaluate the costs and benefits of surveillance from community and hospital healthcare providers’ perspective.

Setting

England.

Participants

Women undergoing caesarean section in National Health Service hospitals.

Main outcome measure

Costs attributable to treatment and management of surgical site infection following caesarean section.

Results

The costs (2010) for a hospital carrying out 800 caesarean sections a year based on infection risk of 9.6% were estimated at £18 914 (95% CI 11 521 to 29 499) with 28% accounted for by community care (£5370). With inflation to 2019 prices, this equates to an estimated cost of £5.0 m for all caesarean sections performed annually in England 2018–2019, approximately £1866 and £93 per infection managed in hospital and community, respectively. The cost of surveillance for a hospital for one calendar quarter was estimated as £3747 (2010 costs). Modelling a decrease in risk of infection of 30%, 20% or 10% between successive surveillance periods indicated that a variable intermittent surveillance strategy achieved higher or similar net savings than continuous surveillance. Breakeven was reached sooner with the variable surveillance strategy than continuous surveillance when the baseline risk of infection was 10% or 15% and smaller loses with a baseline risk of 5%.

Conclusion

Surveillance of surgical site infections after caesarean section with feedback of data to surgical teams offers a potentially effective means to reduce infection risk, improve patient experience and save money for the health service.
Protocol for a nationwide prospective, observational cohort study of foreign-body airway obstruction in Japan: the MOCHI registry
Authors: Norii Tatsuya , Igarashi Yutaka , Sung-Ho Kim , Nagata Shimpei , Tagami Takashi , Yoshino Yudai , Hamaguchi Takuro , Maejima Riko , Nakao Shunichiro , Albright Danielle , Yokobori Shoji , Yokota Hiroyuki , Shimazu Takeshi , Crandall Cameron
Published: July 2020

Introduction

Foreign body airway obstruction (FBAO) is a major public health issue worldwide. In 2017, there were more than 5000 fatal choking cases in the USA alone, and it was the fourth leading cause of preventable injury-related death in the home and community. In Japan, FBAO is the leading cause of accidental death and with almost 9000 fatalities annually. However, research on FBAO is limited, particularly on the impact of a foreign body (FB) removal manoeuvres by bystanders. The primary objective of this study is to determine the impact of bystander FB removal manoeuvres on 1 month neurological outcome. Our secondary objectives include (1) evaluating the efficacy of a variety of FB removal manoeuvres; (2) identifying risk factors for unsuccessful removal and (3) evaluating the impact of time intervals from incidents of FBAO to FB removal on neurological outcome.

Methods and analysis

We will conduct a nationwide multi-centre prospective cohort study of patients with FBAO who present to approximately 100 emergency departments in both urban and rural areas in Japan. Research personnel at each participating site will collect variables including patient demographics, type of FB and prehospital variables, such as bystander FB removal manoeuvres, medical interventions by prehospital personnel, advanced airway management and diagnostic findings. Our primary outcome is 1 month favourable neurological outcome defined as cerebral performance category 1 or 2. Our secondary outcomes include success of FB removal manoeuvres and complications from the manoeuvres. We hypothesise that bystander FB removal manoeuvres improve patient survival with a favourable neurological outcome.

Ethics and dissemination

This study received research ethics approval from Nippon Medical School Hospital (B-2019-019). Research ethics approval will be obtained from all participating sites before entering patients into the registry. The study was registered at the University Hospital Medical Information Network (UMIN) Clinical Trials Registry.

Trial registration number

UMIN 000039907.
Protocol of a retrospective, multicentre observational study on hyperthermic intrathoracic chemotherapy in Germany
Authors: Markowiak Till , Koller Michael , Zeman Florian , Huppertz Gunnar , Hofmann Hans-Stefan , Ried Michael
Published: July 2020

Introduction

Objective of the ‘German hyperthermic intrathoracic chemotherapy (HITOC) study’ is to evaluate the HITOC as additional treatment after surgical cytoreduction for malignant pleural tumours. Even though HITOC is applied with increasing frequency, there is no standardised therapy protocol concerning the technique of HITOC, the selection as well as dosage of chemotherapeutic agents and perioperative management in order to provide a safe and comparable, standardised treatment regime.

Methods and analysis

This trial is a retrospective, multicentre observational study, which is funded by the German Research Foundation. Approximately 300 patients will be included. Four departments of thoracic surgery, which are performing the most HITOC procedures in Germany, are contributing to this study: Center for Thoracic Surgery at the University Hospital Regensburg, Thoracic Clinic Heidelberg of the University of Heidelberg, Center for Thoracic Surgery of the Hospital University of Munich and the Department of Thoracic Surgery at the University Hospital Freiburg. All patients who underwent surgical cytoreduction and subsequent HITOC at one of the four centres between starting the HITOC programme in 2008 and December 2019 will be included. Information on the performed HITOC will be obtained, focusing on the technique as well as the applied perfusion solution including the chemotherapeutic agent. Furthermore, parameters of the patient’s postoperative recovery will be analysed to determine 30-day morbidity and mortality.

Ethics and dissemination

The approvals by the local ethics committee of the respective clinic and the three participating clinics have been obtained. The results will be presented in conferences and published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Trial registration number

German Clinical Trials Registry (DRKS00015012; Pre-results).
Mental health status of students’ parents during COVID-19 pandemic and its influence factors
Authors: Wu Mengting , Xu Wenyan , Yao Yuhong , Zhang Lei , Guo Lei , Fan Juan , Chen Jue
Published: July 2020

Background

During the outbreak of COVID-19, the national policy of home quarantine may affect the mental health of parents. However, few studies have investigated the mental health of parents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Aims

To investigate the depression, anxiety and stress of the students’ parents during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to explore the influence factors, especially the influence of social support and family-related factors.

Methods

The Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7, Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Perceived Stress Scale-10 and Social Support Rating Scale were applied to 1163 parents to measure the parents’ depression, anxiety, stress and social support.

Results

(1) The detection rates of depression and anxiety in parents were 6.1% and 4.0%. The depression, anxiety and perceived stress of parents in central China were significantly higher than those in non-central China. The anxiety of college students’ parents was lower than that of parents of the primary, middle and high school students. The depression, anxiety and perceived stress of parents with conflicts in the family were significantly higher than those with a harmonious family. Other factors that influence parents’ depression, anxiety and perceived stress include marital satisfaction, social support, parents’ history of mental illness and parenting style, etc. (2) The regression analysis results showed that perceived stress, social support, marital satisfaction, family conflicts, child’s learning stage as well as parents’ history of mental illness had significant effects on parents’ anxiety and depression.

Conclusion

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health of parents was affected by a variety of factors. Good marital relationships, good social support, family harmony and parents without a history of mental illness may be protective factors for parents’ mental health, while perceived stress and child in middle or high school are risk factors for parents’ mental health.
Effects of cutting size on the growth and wood property traits of short-rotation coppice willows
Authors: Yang Guo , Li Xiaoping , Xu Qiang , Ling Jiahao , Yin Tongming
Published: July 2020

Short-rotation coppice willows, which are commonly propagated with cuttings, are promising bioenergy resource crops. In this study, a field trial with a completely randomized block design was carried out with 787 clones from three full-sib pedigrees involving two shrub willow species. A total of 7083 cuttings were planted in the field, and the mass of each cutting was recorded correspondingly. The mortality rate, growth traits, and wood property traits of each cutting-propagated plant were measured throughout a complete growing season. The obtained data showed that heavier cuttings produced shoots with lower mortality rate, higher height, thicker ground diameter, and larger biomass production than lighter cuttings. The cutting mass significantly improved plant performance, especially at the early developmental stages. However, the cutting mass had no effect on the basic density and the main chemical composition (i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) of willow wood. This study provided essential information for improving the establishment of short-rotation coppice willow plantations.
The physics of the η–η′ system versus B0 → J/Ψη(η′) and Bs → J/Ψη(η′) decays
Authors: Andreichikov M. A. , Eides M. I. , Novikov V. A. , Vysotsky M. I.
Published: July 2020

An approach to the properties of the [Formula: see text] system developed to solve the famous [Formula: see text] problem is used to calculate the partial widths ratios to [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] in the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] decays. We obtain the results in agreement with the experimental data.
An independent time optimized hybrid infrastructure for big data analytics
Authors: Vats Satvik , Sagar B. B.
Published: July 2020

In Big data domain, platform dependency can alter the behavior of the business. It is because of the different kinds (Structured, Semi-structured and Unstructured) and characteristics of the data. By the traditional infrastructure, different kinds of data cannot be processed simultaneously due to their platform dependency for a particular task. Therefore, the responsibility of selecting suitable tools lies with the user. The variety of data generated by different sources requires the selection of suitable tools without human intervention. Further, these tools also face the limitation of recourses to deal with a large volume of data. This limitation of resources affects the performance of the tools in terms of execution time. Therefore, in this work, we proposed a model in which different data analytics tools share a common infrastructure to provide data independence and resource sharing environment, i.e. the proposed model shares common (Hybrid) Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) between three Name-Node (Master Node), three Data-Node and one Client-node, which works under the DeMilitarized zone (DMZ). To realize this model, we have implemented Mahout, R-Hadoop and Splunk sharing a common HDFS. Further using our model, we run [Formula: see text]-means clustering, Naïve Bayes and recommender algorithms on three different datasets, movie rating, newsgroup, and Spam SMS dataset, representing structured, semi-structured and unstructured, respectively. Our model selected the appropriate tool, e.g. Mahout to run on the newsgroup dataset as other tools cannot run on this data. This shows that our model provides data independence. Further results of our proposed model are compared with the legacy (individual) model in terms of execution time and scalability. The improved performance of the proposed model establishes the hypothesis that our model overcomes the limitation of the resources of the legacy model.
Joint Effects of Aging and Process Variations on Soft Error Rate of Nano-Scale Digital Circuits
Authors: Aghadadi Mohammad Sajjad , Fazeli Mahdi , Beitollahi Hakem
Published: July 2020

Soft errors have always been a concern in the design of digital circuits. As technology down-scales toward Nanometer sizes, emergence of aging effects, process variations, and Multiple Event Transients (METs) has made the soft error rate (SER) estimation of digital circuits very challenging. This paper intends to characterize the challenges by investigating the cross effects of theses issues in overall SER of a circuit. To this regard, we employ a simulation-based SER estimation approach in which the aging effect, process variations and METs are jointly considered in our fault injection process. In our simulation-based SER estimation approach, a statistical gate delay model is used. The fault injection results into ISCAS85 circuit benchmark reveal that the SER estimation without taking into account the aging effects, the process variations, and METs is significantly inaccurate.
Archaeology of Everyday Life
Authors: Robin Cynthia
Published: July 2020

Everyday life is critical in the constitution of selves and societies alike. Archaeology, with its attention to material and spatial remains, is in a unique position to further studies of everyday life, as ordinary materials and spaces formalize how people learn about themselves and their world. This review defines an archaeology of everyday life, examines its historical roots, synthesizes new literature on the topic, and outlines future directions. Although there is no established subfield called “everyday archaeology,” a rich and ever-growing body of recent research illustrates the impact of everyday life studies on archaeological interpretations and practice. Research on everyday life peoples the past in a way that few other paradigms do.
Archaeology of Cuisine and Cooking
Authors: Graff Sarah R.
Published: July 2020

This review demonstrates that recent contributions by archaeologists to the study of cuisine and cooking present a new addition to the field of anthropology. Archaeologists situate their work historically and contextually by examining cuisines that are culturally constructed. Studying cooking and food preparation helps elucidate relationships among material practices, understandings of taste, identity, power, and meaning in a society. Archaeologists can not only discover specific ingredients in food, but also reconstruct recipes, decipher regional cuisines, ascertain sensory experiences, recover the tools in spatial context, recreate techniques used to prepare food in the past, and overall learn more about the social and cultural contexts of the human experience. This type of investigation is possible because archaeological work uses complementary data to explain social practices and because advances in archaeological methods make accessible previously undetectable data. Experimental archaeology focused on cooking in the past has not only revealed important social information but also captured the imagination of the public. Archaeological research on cooking and cuisine reveals social, political, religious, and economic practices in the past, and it has a unique ability to engage the present with the past through public outreach and solutions to food-related problems.
Amyloid Signaling in Filamentous Fungi and Bacteria
Authors: Saupe Sven J.
Published: July 2020

Amyloids are implicated in many protein misfolding diseases. Amyloid folds, however, also display a range of functional roles particularly in the microbial world. The templating ability of these folds endows them with specific properties allowing their self-propagation and protein-to-protein transmission in vivo. This property, the prion principle, is exploited by specific signaling pathways that use transmission of the amyloid fold as a way to convey information from a receptor to an effector protein. I describe here amyloid signaling pathways involving fungal nucleotide binding and oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptors that were found to control nonself recognition and programmed cell death processes. Studies on these fungal amyloid signaling motifs stem from the characterization of the fungal [Het-s] prion protein and have led to the identification in fungi but also in multicellular bacteria of several distinct families of signaling motifs, one of which is related to RHIM [receptor-interacting protein (RIP) homotypic interaction motif], an amyloid motif regulating mammalian necroptosis.
Structural Basis of Hydrogenotrophic Methanogenesis
Authors: Shima Seigo , Huang Gangfeng , Wagner Tristan , Ermler Ulrich
Published: July 2020

Most methanogenic archaea use the rudimentary hydrogenotrophic pathway—from CO2and H2to methane—as the terminal step of microbial biomass degradation in anoxic habitats. The barely exergonic process that just conserves sufficient energy for a modest lifestyle involves chemically challenging reactions catalyzed by complex enzyme machineries with unique metal-containing cofactors. The basic strategy of the methanogenic energy metabolism is to covalently bind C1species to the C1carriers methanofuran, tetrahydromethanopterin, and coenzyme M at different oxidation states. The four reduction reactions from CO2to methane involve one molybdopterin-based two-electron reduction, two coenzyme F420–based hydride transfers, and one coenzyme F430–based radical process. For energy conservation, one ion-gradient-forming methyl transfer reaction is sufficient, albeit supported by a sophisticated energy-coupling process termed flavin-based electron bifurcation for driving the endergonic CO2reduction and fixation. Here, we review the knowledge about the structure-based catalytic mechanism of each enzyme of hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis.
Conflict, Competition, and Cooperation Regulate Social Interactions in Filamentous Fungi
Authors: Gonçalves A. Pedro , Heller Jens , Rico-Ramírez Adriana M. , Daskalov Asen , Rosenfield Gabriel , Glass N. Louise
Published: July 2020

Social cooperation impacts the development and survival of species. In higher taxa, kin recognition occurs via visual, chemical, or tactile cues that dictate cooperative versus competitive interactions. In microbes, the outcome of cooperative versus competitive interactions is conferred by identity at allorecognition loci, so-called kind recognition. In syncytial filamentous fungi, the acquisition of multicellularity is associated with somatic cell fusion within and between colonies. However, such intraspecific cooperation entails risks, as fusion can transmit deleterious genotypes or infectious components that reduce fitness, or give rise to cheaters that can exploit communal goods without contributing to their production. Allorecognition mechanisms in syncytial fungi regulate somatic cell fusion by operating precontact during chemotropic interactions, during cell adherence, and postfusion by triggering programmed cell death reactions. Alleles at fungal allorecognition loci are highly polymorphic, fall into distinct haplogroups, and show evolutionary signatures of balancing selection, similar to allorecognition loci across the tree of life.
The Ingenuity of Bacterial Genomes
Authors: Kirchberger Paul C. , Schmidt Marian L. , Ochman Howard
Published: July 2020

The genomes of bacteria contain fewer genes and substantially less noncoding DNA than those of eukaryotes, and as a result, they have much less raw material to invent new traits. Yet, bacteria are vastly more taxonomically diverse, numerically abundant, and globally successful in colonizing new habitats compared to eukaryotes. Although bacterial genomes are generally considered to be optimized for efficient growth and rapid adaptation, nonadaptive processes have played a major role in shaping the size, contents, and compact organization of bacterial genomes and have allowed the establishment of deleterious traits that serve as the raw materials for genetic innovation.
Epigenetic Regulation of Virulence and Immunoevasion by Phase-Variable Restriction-Modification Systems in Bacterial Pathogens
Authors: Seib Kate L. , Srikhanta Yogitha N. , Atack John M. , Jennings Michael P.
Published: July 2020

Human-adapted bacterial pathogens use a mechanism called phase variation to randomly switch the expression of individual genes to generate a phenotypically diverse population to adapt to challenges within and between human hosts. There are increasing reports of restriction-modification systems that exhibit phase-variable expression. The outcome of phase variation of these systems is global changes in DNA methylation. Analysis of phase-variable Type I and Type III restriction-modification systems in multiple human-adapted bacterial pathogens has demonstrated that global changes in methylation regulate the expression of multiple genes. These systems are called phasevarions (phase-variable regulons). Phasevarion switching alters virulence phenotypes and facilitates evasion of host immune responses. This review describes the characteristics of phasevarions and implications for pathogenesis and immune evasion. We present and discuss examples of phasevarion systems in the major human pathogens Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Helicobacter pylori, Moraxella catarrhalis, and Streptococcus pneumoniae.
The Nuclear Legacy Today of Fukushima
Authors: Vetter Kai
Published: July 2020

The accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station (FDNPS) following the Great East Japan Earthquake and the subsequent tsunami in March 2011 changed people's perceptions regarding nuclear power generation in Japan and worldwide. The failure to prevent the accident and the response to it had an enormous impact specifically on the communities close to the site but also across Japan and globally. In this review, I discuss radiation detection technologies, their use and limits in the immediate assessment and response, and improvements since then. In particular, I examine recent developments in radiation detection and imaging systems that, in combination with the enormous advances in computer vision, provide new means to detect, map, and visualize radiation using manned and unmanned deployment platforms. In addition to smarter and more adaptable technologies to prevent and minimize the impact of such events, an important outcome of this accident is the need for informed and resilient citizens who are empowered by knowledge and technologies to make rational decisions. The accident at FDNPS leaves a legacy concerning the importance of historical information, technologies, and resilience as well as challenges regarding powerful technologies that can provide substantial benefits to human society but that are also associated with risks of which we must be aware.
ZnO-Polystyrene Composite as Efficient Energy Harvest for Self-Powered Triboelectric Nanogenerator
Authors: Gupta Akhilesh Kumar , Hsu Chih-Hsien , Lai Sz-Nian , Lai Chao-Sung
Published: July 2020

Energy harvest systems are a scientific key and an economic driver for global industries in the near future with applications in health care, environmental monitoring, and more. Among them, the solution-processed Triboelectric Nanogenerator (TENG) substrate has fascinated important attention in the past decades and increasingly becomes the most suitable and promising prototype for healthcare/environmental protection as no battery is needed to power the devices. In this paper, we proposed a solution-processed ZnO-NR & ZnO-Polystyrene (ZnO-PS) composite for the development of the TENG model for the future self-powered medical device applications. Morphology of nanostructure shown via FE-SEM images, an improvement of ZnO-PS composite NRs due to the diffusion of polystyrene in ZnO-NR at higher seeding temperature. Furthermore, samples were characterized and analyzed by Raman spectrum & UV-visible absorption, which verify the improvement of the morphology. The power density of the ZnO-PS composite (2.30 × 10−4 W m−2) was 71% higher than that of the TENG with ZnO Nanorods (1.65 × 10−4 W m−2) due to the surface improvement. Thus, we present a new perspective of the ZnO-PS composite TENGs model for developing a new technology which is vitally important in the future application for self-powered healthcare monitors.
Molecular Dynamics Investigation on Thermal Conductivity and Phonon Transmission of Folded Graphene
Authors: Gao Jian , Si Chao , Yang Yan-Ru , Cao Bing-Yang , Wang Xiao-Dong
Published: July 2020

This work employs the molecular dynamics approach to investigate effects of folding on thermal conductivity of graphene that contains 86 × 60 atoms, to provide the phononics understanding for thermal conductance modulator devices constituted by the folded graphene. The spectral energy density method is utilized to perform phononics analyses. It is found that the folding significantly reduces the contribution of the TA-phonon to the thermal conductivity, so that the thermal conductivity of folded graphene is 64.42% of the one before folding. The phonon dispersion curves are analyzed to quantify the TA-phonon transmission before and after folding. It turns out that the TA-phonon lifetime of the graphene, averaging 7.57 ps before folding, is significantly reduced and only remains 4.27 ps after folding. The effects of the stress contribution and phonon mode mismatch behavior are discussed to understand how the folding affects the TA-phonon transmission. It is found that the effects of stress on the TA branch phonon transmission and the thermal conductivity are negligible. While the phonon-folding scattering should be responsible for the reduced lifetime and the decreasing thermal conductivity for folded graphene. When the phonons pass the fold, some phonons along the in-plane direction need to change from the in-plane mode into a mixed mode, and change back to an in-plane mode after passing the fold.
Sputtered-Growth of High-Temperature Seed-Layer Assisted β-Ga2O3 Thin Film on Silicon-Substrate for Cost-Effective Solar-Blind Photodetector Application
Authors: Arora Kanika , Kumar Mukesh
Published: July 2020

β-Ga2O3 thin films was grown on cost-effective p-Si(100) substrate by sputtering technique. The evolution of crystalline structure with growth parameters revealed that the gallium oxide thin film grown on the high-temperature seed layer and various optimised growth parameters like sputtering power, deposition pressure and pre-substrate annealing has been proved extremely beneficial in exhibiting excellent crystalline quality. However, the direct growth of β-Ga2O3 on Si substrate with seed-layer was found to be amorphous in nature. The discussion about the critical role of varied growth conditions were carried in detail. The photoresponse of the optimized device showed a photoresponsivity of 95.64 AW−1 and a corresponding quantum efficiency of 4.73 × 104% at moderate bias under 250 nm illumination which is higher than most of the devices being reported on planar β-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetectors deposited on high cost substrates. Moreover, the device showed the high transient response at moderate as well as at self-bias mode with good reproducibility and stability. The rise and decay time of the photodetector at self-powered mode was found to be in millisecond (58.3 ms/34.7 ms). This work paves the alternative way towards the fabrication of β-Ga2O3 solar-blind photodetector on cost-effective substrate and compatible with mature Si technology.