bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exploring the association between female genital mutilation/cutting and HIV
Authors:   Evidence to End FGM/C Programme Consortium
Published: October 2022

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) threatens the health and well-being of girls in a variety of ways. Some experts have suggested that human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may be among the practice’s adverse health outcomes. They theorize that because women with FGM/C risk genital trauma and bleeding during intercourse, their chances of acquiring HIV from an infected male partner are increased. While evidence that FGM/C increases susceptibility to HIV could bolster FGM/C eradication efforts, this connection has received limited research attention. This brief highlights the Evidence to End FGM/C program’s findings on the current state of evidence on the association between FGM/C and HIV, including the quality of the existing research and recommendations for further investigation.
Fortaleciendo las capacidades de programación centradas en niños, niñas, adolescentes y jóvenes: Cuaderno de trabajo—tercer taller
Authors:   Population Council
Published: October 2022

Diseñemos juntos nuestro programa [Let’s Design our Program Together] is a collection of tools developed with the objective of complementing the learning of coordinators of the Childhood, Adolescence and Youth Programs (PMIAJ / COMVIDA) that are implemented in different municipalities of Honduras. These tools supplement the material produced by the Population Council as part of a series of workshops called "Strengthening programmatic capacities focused on children, adolescents and young people," taught in 2017. The tools in this collection (see below) will help those who use them to offer advice about recruitment strategies for program participants, identify subgroups of participants in high risk and vulnerable conditions, build protective assets for program participants, and monitor the progress of activities and report participation data for the program. --- Diseñemos juntos nuestro programa es una colección de herramientas elaboradas con el objetivo de complementar el aprendizaje de las y los coordinadores de los Programas de Infancia, Adolescencia y Juventud (PMIAJ/COMVIDA) que se implementan en diferentes municipios de Honduras. Estas herramientas son un complemento al material producido por Population Council como parte de una serie de talleres llamados “Fortaleciendo las capacidades programáticas centradas en niños, niñas, adolescentes y jóvenes,” impartidos en 2017. Las herramientas de esta colección (ver más abajo) ayudarán a quienes las utilicen a asesorar estrategias de reclutamiento de participantes del programa, identificar subgrupos de participantes en mayores condiciones de riesgo y vulnerabilidad, construir activos protectores de las y los participantes del programa, y monitorear el avance de las actividades y reportar datos de participación en el programa.
ANALISIS PENGARUH INFRASTRUKTUR PADA WISATA ALAM NEGERI DI ATAS AWAN KABUPATEN TORAJA UTARA
Authors: Pongsitanan Bate , Rante Harmonis , Siregar Tiurlina
Published: October 2022

One of the most visited natural attractions is tourism with natural scenery in the form of clouds that can be seen in a place that is higher than the clouds. This tour is better known as the Land Above the Clouds, which is precisely located in Lolai Village, Kapalapitu District, North Toraja Regency, South Sulawesi Province. According to the Tana Toraja Regency Culture and Tourism Service (Disbudpar), tourism development in Tana Toraja Regency is still constrained by infrastructure and supporting facilities. Tourism infrastructure is natural and man-made resources that are absolutely needed by tourists traveling in tourist destinations, such as roads, electricity, water, telecommunications, terminals, bridges and so on. In the development of NDA-L tourism infrastructure, the North Toraja district government is more dominant because they can take multiple benefits from this development, such as increasing the flow of information, economic traffic flow, the flow of human mobility between regions and so on which of course can increase business opportunities and work. With the better condition of roads and infrastructure at the NDA-L tourist sites, it is not surprising that there are increasing tourist visits. Especially on holidays or holidays. The number of visitors can be up to 20 thousand visitors per day. Of course this will be very beneficial in terms of the economy and tourism development. Especially for economic improvement through the tourism industry, there are many benefits that can be taken if the existing economic industry can develop optimally.
ANALISIS DAMPAK PENGEMBANGAN BANDAR UDARA WAMENA TERHADAP PERTUMBUHAN EKONOMI DI KABUPATEN JAYAWIJAYA
Authors: Wanimbo Obatius , Ngutra Risky Novan , Safanpo Apolo
Published: October 2022

The development of Wamena airport transportation infrastructure is able to encourage new growth centers that have an impact on economic growth for the surrounding area. Along with the increasing number of visitors and airport passengers, the existing service facilities around the airport will be needed, so that the airport will foster trade and service activities that are able to provide jobs for the surrounding community. The most visible impact of the existence of a new airport in an area is the shift of business activity units and changes in land use carried out by the community around the airport. With the impact of the construction of the airport after it was developed. The community is manifested in the form of perceptions from the public regarding the airport development plan as well as the tendency for business reorientation plans to be carried out after the airport is built. Perceptions related to business reorientation are needed because in the end they will find out which business directions are in demand by the community around the airport affected area due to changes in land function on economic growth by affecting the surrounding economic growth.
ANALISIS KEBIJAKAN PRASARANA, SARANA DAN UTILITAS (PSU) TERHADAP PERKEMBANGAN PERUMAHAN DI KABUPATEN JAYAPURA STUDY KASUS PERUMAHAN DJOKO INDAH
Authors: Noya Dedi Julians , Rante Harmonis , Bachtiar Petrus
Published: October 2022

The PSU program in Joko Indah Housing is distributed in the 2018 and 2020 fiscal years for the construction of 120 environmental roads and 182 subsidized housing units. After the provision of this assistance, does it have a direct impact on the residents of the housing, especially the impact of socio-economic activities so that these impacts can affect the development of Joko Indah's housing. The objectives to be achieved in this study are to analyze the existing condition of road infrastructure, analyze the PSU Program policies impacting socio-economic activities and analyze the road infrastructure PSU Program policies affect the development. To achieve the objectives in this study, it was carried out using a quantitative research approach with factor analysis. The results of this study indicate that the existing road infrastructure in the Joko Indah Housing complex does not meet the criteria because it does not have sidewalks on road access or environmental roads. The element of accessibility in general is overall assessed by residents of housing Joko Indah agree that the existence of the PSU program in the form of road casting makes it easier for residents to access educational facilities, workplaces / places of business, health facilities, accessing markets or other economic activities, making it easier for other people outside Joko's housing. Indah to visit the housing, improve the quality of family education, increase family income, improve the quality of family health and improve interaction patterns with fellow residents of Joko Indah's housing. Based on the assessment by residents of the Joko Indah housing estate on the characteristics of the Joko Indah Housing Development, it can be summarized 3 main factors that form the basis of the assessment.
ANALISIS DAMPAK PEMBANGUNAN RUAS JALAN NASIONAL WAMENA-MULIA-SINAK
Authors: Nababan Jontor , Rante Harmonis , Rusim Dewi Ana
Published: October 2022

The basic infrastructure needs to be built in Papua is transportation, settlement and socio-economic infrastructure. Road infrastructure will open the isolation of a region so that it can interact and transact with other regions to meet each other's needs. Road construction certainly has positive and negative impacts on an area. The government, through the National Road Department, builds various road sections that connect regions in Papua. One of them is the Wamena-Mulia-Sinak section, which connects the Wamena, Sinak and Mulia areas. These three regions are still lagging behind other regions in Papua. This section of the road is built through mountains and ravines, so the route is quite extreme. This study aims to analyze the impacts that arise and regional developments in the area traversed by this section. The location of the research was carried out along the road and data analysis was carried out by qualitative methods. The results shown that the construction of roads brings positive benefits in the form of smoother and lower prices of basic commodities, shorter travel times, transportation reach the remote areas, ease transportation of building materials and opening the isolation between regions. The negative impact is related to the destruction of conservation areas and the declining quality of the environment. The areas traversed by this road segment is developing that marked by the growth of new settlements, the economy is moving forward and the increase in community social services
ANALISIS MANFAAT JALAN LINGKAR UTARA KOTA SENTANI TERHADAP PERKEMBANGAN DI WILAYAH SEKITARNYA
Authors: Pallo Sonya Teti , Bachtiar Petrus , Rante Harmonis
Published: October 2022

The North Ring Road section of Sentani City is also expected to require several important things related to the principles contained in regional development. The existing synergy will improve regional economic conditions as well as several social aspects and other conveniences. With the northern ring road, it is intended to reduce the traffic load in the center of Sentani City. However, it is also hoped that the Sentani North Ring Road will have a follow-up impact on economic development and increase productivity in the surrounding area. With the existence of the North Sentani Ring Road, the development of activities, especially economic activities in the vicinity, is not yet visible, whether this economic activity is related to the social characteristics of the surrounding community that do not support regional development, so it is necessary to analyze the extent of the benefits of the road to the development of the surrounding area. The objectives to be achieved in this study are to analyze the impact of the construction of the northern ring road on infrastructure development in the surrounding area, analyze the extent to which the northern ring road affects changes in socio-economic and socio-cultural characteristics of the surrounding population, analyze the extent to which the northern ring road affects regional development surrounding. From the results of this study it can be concluded that the northern ring road has an impact on infrastructure development in the surrounding area, the socioeconomic characteristics of the population around the northern ring road have increased and socio-cultural characteristics have changed with the existence of the northern ring road of the city of Sentani and the northern ring road affect the development the surrounding area
Hypertension Control among Adult Iraqis
Authors: Mousa Nada Abdul Wahhab , Khaleefah Muna A, , Al-Badri Husham  J.
Published: October 2022

Background: Hypertension is a chronic illness that affects one billion people both in high and low-income countries and is the most common risk factor for death throughout the world. It is also responsible for stroke, ischemic heart disease, heart, and kidney failure in addition to its huge effect on the economy. Like many developing countries, Iraq is undergoing a transitional epidemiological period with increasing burden of hypertension and its contributing risk factors e.g. unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, obesity, hyperglycemias, hypercholesterolemia, and smoking. In spite of the availability of a screening program for the early detection of hypertension in primary health care centres (PHCCs) little data on hypertension control is available.
Objectives: Assessing blood pressure control rate among Iraqi adults 18 years and older, and identifying the related determinants.
Patients and Methods: The study is derived from the second round of Non-Communicable Diseases Risk Factors STEPS survey Iraq 2016. A cross-sectional survey was performed on households from all Iraqi governorates excluding three governorates suffering instability. A Multi-stage cluster sampling technique for a sample of 4120 Iraqi adults was used. Interviews were held from the first week of November for 20 days using Arabic and Kurdish translated versions of STEPS questionnaire. A total of 4071 residents participated.
Results: the prevalence of hypertension/ high blood pressure was 35.6%. Only 7.9% were under medication and controlled with an evident sex-based difference in favour of women (9.3% vs. 6.6% respectively). Uncontrolled blood pressure increased with age (t=7.4 p=<0.001), and declined with years of education (t= -3.3 p=0.01).  It was significant among subjects with hyper-triglycerides (X²= 4.07 p= 0.044), consumption of salty processed food (X²= 7.35 p= 0.007). Blood pressure was not controlled among those reported being currently on medication (X²= 22.4 p= < 0.001).
Conclusions: Blood pressure control rate is low among Iraqi adults on medical and lifestyle management. Further assessment and strengthening of clinical practice on hypertension management is recommended.
N-acetyl cysteine’s effect on semen parameters in a sample of Iraqi men with oligoasthenoteratozoospermia
Authors: Sinan Fatima , I. Al-Qadhi Huda , A. Al Kareem Baraa
Published: October 2022

Background: Infertility is recognized as the incapability of infertile couples to become pregnant following one year of unsafe intercourse, with male factors accounting for roughly half of the documented instances. Several reasons for male infertility factors have been reported; however, the actual cause in the majority of cases remains unknown.
Objective: To study prospectively the outcome of N-acetylcysteine on semen parameters in males with oligoasthenoteratozoospermia.
Patient and methods: A total 45 patients with idiopathic oligoasthenoteratozoospermia have received N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) for 12 weeks, their seminal fluid parameters were measured at the baseline and after 12 weeks.
Results: The results showed that after 3 months of NAC treatment, the motility was statistically significantly higher than pre-NAC baseline, with no statistically significant differences in both count and morphology.
Conclusion: These results confirmed that NAC has a positive effect in improving motility in infertile men and thus resulting in better spermatogenesis and sperm function.
The Incidence and the Clinical Significance of the Gray Zone in the Clinical Phases of Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection
Authors: Asreah Rabah , Alkagany Jawad A.
Published: October 2022

Background: five clinical phases were described in patients with chronic (HBV) infection: HBeAg- positive HBV infection, HBeAg- positive CHB, HBeAg negative HBV infection, HBeAg-negative CHB and occult HBV infection.
Aim: This study aimed to determine the incidence of the unclassified phase (gray zone) in chronic hepatitis B patients and its significant in the clinical practice. 
Patients and methods: The study was conducted retrospectively on 109 patients' who have HBsAg positive for more than 6 months. The data recorded include; HbeAg and anti-HBe Ab, ultrasound of the abdomen, HBV DNA load and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), accordingly; we classify the patients to known clinical phases. Patients who were unfit one of these phases considered to be in the gray zone and subsequently sent for liver fibroscan to determine the fibrosis stage. 
Results: The mean age of our patients was 34.25 (±13.9) years with 54.12% being males. The mean viral load was 5,885,490 IU/ml and mean ALT was 56.22 (±89.88) U/L. eight  patients (7.3%) were in the HBeAg+ve HBV infection, 13 patients (11.9%) were in HBeAg+ve CHB . Thirty four patients (31.1%) were in the HBeAg-ve HBV infection and 23 (21.1%) were in HBeAg-ve CHB phase, both were showed a significant statistical relationship with age> 35 years. Thirty one (28.4%) further patients failed to identify with any of the four phases (normal ALT with HBV load > 2000 IU/ml), this group also showed significant relation to age above 35 years and 12 patients (38.8%) had significant fibrosis on fibroscan.
Conclusions: A considerable number of patients with chronic HBV infection have persistently normal ALT levels, despite elevated levels of viral load; this is known as the "grey zone" phase. These patients merit close follow up with short-interval measurement of liver enzymes, liver fibroscan and biopsy may be considered.
Evaluation of Some New Cytokines in Rheumatoid Arthritis
Authors: Ahmed Zahra'a A.
Published: October 2022

Background: Cytokines have an essential contribution to the inflammatory response and the development of chronic inflammation. Therefore, it has a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Interleukins are closely related to RA, and the exact role of some interleukins in the pathogenesis of RA is not yet known.Objectives: To evaluate the levels of interleukins and their ratio, since the levels of interleukins 35 and 39 in RA patients have not yet been determined in Iraq.Patients and methods: An ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) was used to measure the levels of interleukins in the blood of 56 patients with RA and 44 healthy volunteers who were enrolled in the study from November 2021 to March 2022.Results: The serum levels of IL-39 in the RA patient groups were significantly higher than in the control groups (p = 0.043). In contrast, the level of IL-35 was slightly higher in RA patients but not by significantly different values (p = 0.055). The cytokine ratio, IL-39/IL-35, was the same for the groups, and there were no significant differences when comparing patients to controls (14.30 ± 1.47 vs. 13.18 ± 0.71). In addition, IL-39 concentration levels were significantly higher in RA patients under therapy than in RA patients with a first diagnosis and without therapy.Conclusion: The study concluded the crucial role of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines in the progression of RA.
Antibacterial and antibiofilm effect of sumac (Rhus coriaria L) fruits extracts against some multidrug_resistant pathogenic bacteria
Authors: Alaamery Sally
Published: October 2022

Abstract
Background: The prevalence of multidrug-resistant bacteria and their contribution to increased morbidity and mortality due to the difficult-to-treat diseases caused by these bacteria, has demonstrated a need to develop and use alternative antimicrobial agents to control multidrug-resistant bacteria. There has been a growing interest in medicinal plants and herbs and their extracts as an alternative approach to discovering new antimicrobial compounds
Materials and Methods: The sumac (Rhus coriaria L) plant was selected for this study, and aqueous and alcoholic extracts were prepared from its fruits. They were tested against four multi-antibiotic resistant bacterial isolates that produce biofilms ( Gram-positive and Gram-negative), namely Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa which isolated from Iraqi patients with wounds and burns in Medical City hospitals.
Results: The current study proved that the aqueous and alcoholic extract of sumac ( Rhus coriaria L ) fruit is effective as an antibacterial and anti-biofilm against the studied multidrug-resistant bacterial isolates at all tested concentrations with significant differences. The study also showed that the alcoholic extract is more effective as an anti-bacterial and anti-biofilm than the aqueous extract of the sumac.
Conclusion: The current study provides valuable results for the use of extracts of medicinal plants and herbs, including sumac extracts, to treat pathogenic bacteria that have become more resistant to antibiotics. These plant extracts also contain natural compounds that can be used without causing any harmful effects on patients.
Keywords: Antibacterial activity, Anti-biofilm activity, Multidrug-resistant bacteria, Rhus coriaria L., Sumac,
Quality of life in capecitabine-treated patients with colorectal cancer is affected by their sociodemographic characteristics and their experience of the drug-related adverse effects
Authors: Jabarah Mohammed Abdul- Hassan
Published: October 2022

Background: Colorectal cancer is the third most prevalent cancer worldwide as 1.80 million new cases of the cancer were diagnosed and 862,000 patients died in 2018. Depending on the stage, upfront surgery is the main form of treatment, followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Moreover, many drugs are approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Colorectal cancer including Capecitabine. However, during cancer treatment, the measurement of patient-reported symptoms experience and quality of life can provide additional information to evaluate and compare the efficacy and toxicity profiles of the treatments. Despite the importance of patients' quality of life during treatment while they are on anti-cancer treatment, there was no published data in the literature evaluating this vital parameter concerning Iraqi patients receiving anti-cancer drugs, in general, or those on Capecitabine, in particular. Therefore, the aim of current study was to evaluate quality of life of Iraqi patients with colorectal cancer treated with Capecitabine. Methods: A cross-sectional, open-label prospective study was conducted at Al-Amal and Oncology Teaching Hospitals in Baghdad during the period from November 2021 to June 2022. A convenient sampling method was adopted to enrol patients in the current study. Quality of life assessment was performed using the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire (QLQ-C30). Microsoft Excel 2019 and the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 25) were used for data entry and analysis. The descriptive analysis focused on frequencies and percentages. Continuous variables were presented as mean (± Standard Deviation). Categorical data were presented as proportions and the Chi-squared test was used for the difference between two proportions. The level of significance was considered at P≤0.05.
Results: A total of 102 patients were enrolled in the current study. Generalized fatigue was the most common adverse event as it presented in 63.7% of participants. Also, only 6.9% of participants had abnormal renal function tests. In addition, some capecitabine-treated patients had good quality of life, others did not.
Conclusion: The quality of life of capecitabine-treated colorectal cancer patients seems to be sensitive to their sociodemographic characteristics and adverse effects profile of the drug.
Von der Fleisch- zur Proteinabteilung: Männlichkeitskonstruktionen, Fleisch und vegane Fleischalternativen
Authors: Winter Martin
Published: October 2022

Dieser Beitrag untersucht den Zusammenhang von Fleischalternativen und Männlichkeitskonstruktionen. Der Untersuchung wird eine theoretische Perspektive auf Geschlecht und Lebensmittel zugrunde gelegt, die es erlaubt, die Ko-Materialisierung von Fleischalternativen, Körpern und Männlichkeiten zu analysieren. Empirisch baut der Beitrag auf einem breit angelegten qualitativen Forschungsdesign auf. Im Zentrum stehen Ethnografien bei Ernährungsmessen und Expert*inneninterviews. Die Analyse zeigt, dass Fleischalternativen vom Lebensstil und der Ideologie des Veganismus getrennt positioniert und mit der Kategorie der „Flexitarier*innen“ verbunden werden. Dabei steht ‚nutritionales‘ Wissen im Vordergrund, wodurch Fleisch und Fleischalternativen als Proteinquellen inszeniert werden. Protein wiederum wird unmittelbar männlich vergeschlechtlicht, da es für den muskulösen Körper notwendig ist. Die analysierten diskursiven Praxen nehmen veganen Lebensmitteln eine unmännliche Symbolik und reproduzieren ein Männlichkeitsideal, das sich durch seine körperliche Kraft auszeichnet und sich so von Weiblichkeit abhebt.
Eine kulinarische Geschlechterordnung? Die Polarisierung von Geschlecht im Kontext medialer Inszenierung und alltagsweltlicher Darstellungen des Kulinarischen
Authors: Eremin Oxana
Published: October 2022

Dieser Beitrag widmet sich der Analyse kulinarischer (Geschlechter-)Mythen des Alltags. In Bezug auf die Verwobenheit von Diskursen, die sich rund um die Themenbereiche von Essen und Geschlecht bilden, bietet die Populär- und Alltagskultur einen Fundus an Materialien, die im Hinblick auf die Un/Beweglichkeit von Geschlechterarrangements im Feld des Kulinarischen untersucht werden. Mittels eines diskursanalytischen Zugangs, der sich an der Kritischen Diskursanalyse nach Siegfried Jäger orientiert, wird aufgezeigt, wie Geschlechterglaubensvorstellungen trotz Verschiebungen in Bereichen des Kulinarischen nach wie vor persistent sind. Dabei changiert dieser Beitrag zwischen historischen und gegenwärtigen Bezügen. Mit der Formel „Staging Gender while Doing Culinary“ wird ein Analysetool angeboten, mit dem Verschiebungstendenzen der symbolisch-kulinarischen Geschlechterordnung untersucht werden können.
Geschlechterkonstruktion in der virtuellen Ernährung auf Instagram
Authors: Coskun Beşgül
Published: October 2022

Ernährung als omnipräsentes Thema ist mit der Konstruktion von Geschlecht verbunden. Ziel des Artikels ist es, Doing und Undoing Gender über Bewertungsprozesse der Ernährungspraktiken auf Instagram zu lokalisieren. Die virtuelle Ethnografie wurde als methodisches Vorgehen genutzt, um das Arrangement der Beiträge auf Instagram zu analysieren. Geschlecht und Ernährungspraktiken werden auf Instagram nicht nur dargestellt, sondern von anderen User:innen hergestellt, bewertet und manifestiert, womit eine bestimmte Normativität, Ablehnung und/oder Neutralisierung einhergeht. Darin zeigt sich, wie Ernährung und Geschlecht durch Klassifizierungs-, (Ent-)Differenzierungs- und Hierarchisierungsmodi geprägt sind.
Florence Kelley’s Struggle against Child Labour: Revisiting the Obstacles
Authors: Schneider Nina
Published: October 2022

Florence Kelley (1859–1932) was a leading American reformer and activist against child labour. As an admired national icon, most of the biographical and scholarly accounts focus on her achievements. This article, by contrast, analyses and categorises the numerous obstacles Kelley had to face in her activist life, hereto barely discussed in the Kelley literature. Drawing mainly on her private papers from the New York Public Library, her autobiography, and edited letters, it focuses on her personal experiences and helps to reconstruct the shadowy sides of her activism. Offering an unpolished historical account rather than a simple and incomplete success story, it aims to give readers a grasp of her perseverance, intelligence, and capacity to change her strategy in pursuit of her goals. Often what seemed to be an obstacle turned out to be an important crossroads on the way towards the next important step in her activist life. Overall, the article reconstructs and categorises episodes involving the lesser-known everyday obstacles she faced, but also critically revisits the way Kelley’s activism has been portrayed in the literature.
Streamlining Text Pre-Processing and Metrics Extraction
Authors: Álvarez-García Elena , García-Costa Daniel , Grimaldo Francisco
Published: October 2022

Natural Language Processing involves reshaping and refining data sets into data that can be used for analysis, ensuring that the data is well formatted. The efficiency gap of data scientists spending most of their time preparing data is an opportunity for the technology sector to work on solutions to the problem. For this reason, a web tool has been developed that is capable of, on the one hand, speeding up the text cleaning process and, on the other hand, facilitating the extraction of metrics by analyzing and processing the texts through customized dictionaries in LIWC format, uploaded by the users themselves, and through sentiment analysis. All this, from a single interface that allows the user to customize the whole pipeline offering different modules for pre-processing and metrics extraction in order to be a solution to facilitate, streamline and automate the whole process.
Optimizing Online Time-Series Data Imputation Through Case-Based Reasoning
Authors: Pascual-Pañach Josep , Sànchez-Marrè Miquel , Cugueró-Escofet Miquel Àngel
Published: October 2022

When working with Intelligent Decision Support Systems (IDSS), data quality could compromise decisions and therefore, an undesirable behaviour of the supported system. In this paper, a novel methodology for time-series online data imputation is proposed. A Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) system is used to provide such imputation approach. The CBR principle (i.e., solving the current problem using past solutions to similar problems) may be applied to data imputation, using values from similar past situations to replace incorrect or missing values. To improve the performance of the data imputation process, optimal case feature weights are obtained using genetic algorithms (GA). The proposed methodology is validated with data obtained from a real Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) process.
The Assessment of Clustering on Weighted Network with R Package clustAnalytics
Authors: Arratia Argimiro , Renedo-Mirambell Martí
Published: October 2022

We present clustAnalytics, an R package available now on CRAN, which provides methods to validate the results of clustering algorithms on unweighted and weighted networks, particularly for the cases where the existence of a community structure is unknown. clustAnalytics comprises a set of criteria for assessing the significance and stability of a clustering. To evaluate clusters’ significance, clustAnalytics provides a set of community scoring functions, and systematically compares their values to those of a suitable null model. For this it employs a switching model to produce randomized graphs with weighted edges. To test for clusters’ stability, a non parametric bootstrap method is used, together with similarity metrics derived from information theory and combinatorics. In order to assess the effectiveness of our clustering quality evaluation methods, we provide methods to synthetically generate networks (weighted or not) with a ground truth community structure based on the stochastic block model construction, as well as on a preferential attachment model, the latter producing networks with communities and scale-free degree distribution.
Data Driven Predictive Models Based on Artificial Intelligence to Anticipate the Presence of Plasmopara Viticola and Uncinula Necator in Southern European Winegrowing Regions
Authors: Otero Marta , Velasquez Luisa Fernanda , Basile Boris , Onrubia Jordi Ricard , Pujol Alex Josep , Pijuan Josep
Published: October 2022

Downy and powdery mildews are two of the main diseases threatening grapevine cultivation worldwide caused by the phytopathogens Plasmopara viticola and Uncinula necator, respectively. These diseases may cause severe damage to grapevines by inducing wilting of plant organs, including bunches, especially when vines are untreated. This fact, together with the widespread of these pathogens due to the large extensions of land dedicated to grapevine monoculture, makes necessary to develop new predictive modeling tools that allow anticipating disease appearance in the vineyard, minimizing the losses in fruit yield and quality, and helping farmers in defining appropriate and more sustainable disease management strategies (fungicides applied at the right time and dose). For this purpose, farms located in three countries (Portugal, Spain, and Italy) were selected to study the relationship between the microclimatic characteristics of the plots, the phenological stage of the plants throughout the annual cycle, and the presence of both pathogens using different Machine and Deep Learning classification algorithms: Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, K-Nearest Neighbors, Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machines, and Deep Neural Networks. The results showed that, after an entire annual grapevine cycle, the best performing models were Support Vector Machines for downy mildew and Random Forest for powdery mildew, providing a prediction accuracy of more than 90% for the infection risk and more than 80% for the treatment recommendation. These models will be fine-tuned during two additional vegetative seasons to ensure their robustness and will receive short- and medium-term climatological and phenological forecasts to make recommendations. The preliminary results obtained show that these models are a promising tool in the field of plant disease prevention and resource saving.
Adapting a Fuzzy Random Forest for Ordinal Multi-Class Classification
Authors: Pascual-Fontanilles Jordi , Lhotska Lenka , Moreno Antonio , Valls Aida
Published: October 2022

Fuzzy Random Forests are well-known Machine Learning ensemble methods. They combine the outputs of multiple Fuzzy Decision Trees to improve the classification performance. Moreover, they can deal with data uncertainty and imprecision thanks to the use of fuzzy logic. Although many classification tasks are binary, in some situations we face the problem of classifying data into a set of ordered categories. This is a particular case of multi-class classification where the order between the classes is relevant, for example in medical diagnosis to detect the severity of a disease. In this paper, we explain how a binary Fuzzy Random Forest may be adapted to deal with ordinal classification. The work is focused on the prediction stage, not on the construction of the fuzzy trees. When a new instance arrives, the rules activation is done with the usual fuzzy operators, but the aggregation of the outputs given by the different rules and trees has been redefined. In particular, we present a procedure for managing the conflicting cases where different classes are predicted with similar support. The support of the classes is calculated using the OWA operator that permits to model the concept of majority agreement.
On Flows of Neural Ordinary Differential Equations That Are Solutions of Lotka-Volterra Dynamical Systems
Authors: Arratia Argimiro , Ortiz Carlos , Romaní Marcel
Published: October 2022

Neural Ordinary Differential Equations (NODE) have emerged as a novel approach to deep learning, where instead of specifying a discrete sequence of hidden layers, it parameterizes the derivative of the hidden state using a neural network [1]. The solution to the underlying dynamical system is a flow, and various works have explored the universality of flows, in the sense of being able to approximate any analytical function. In this paper we present preliminary work aimed at identifying families of systems of ordinary differential equations (SODE) that are universal, in the sense that they encompass most of the systems of differential equations that appear in practice. Once one of these (candidate) universal SODEs is found, we define a process that generates a family of NODEs whose flows are precisely the solutions of the universal SODEs found above. The candidate universal SODE family that we present here is the generalized Lotka-Volterra (LV) families of differential equations. We present the NODE models built upon this LV systems and a description of their appropriate flows and some preliminary implementations of this process.
A Curated Dataset for Crack Image Analysis: Experimental Verification and Future Perspectives
Authors: Okran Ammar M. , Abdel-Nasser Mohamed , Rashwan Hatem A. , Puig Domenec
Published: October 2022

Most crack image datasets are developed for crack segmentation or detection. They cannot be used to train a deep learning model to detect and segment cracks simultaneously. Most of existing datasets do not include a very accurate annotation. Besides, some crack images cannot be used to train deep learning models because of their inferior quality. In this paper, we propose a promising curated crack image dataset that allows the development of crack segmentation, detection, and classification on the same set of images simultaneously. There is no dataset for road crack that involves detection and segmentation tasks to the best of our knowledge. The current version of the curated database consists of 506 images derived from the RDD2020 dataset taken from multi-countries (Japan, Czech, and India). We use the curated dataset to build different deep learning-based crack detection and segmentation methods. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed dataset yields promising results for crack detection and segmentation.
Object Segmentation of Cluttered Airborne LiDAR Point Clouds
Authors: Carós Mariona , Just Ariadna , Seguí Santi , Vitrià Jordi
Published: October 2022

Airborne topographic LiDAR is an active remote sensing technology that emits near-infrared light to map objects on the Earth’s surface. Derived products of LiDAR are suitable to service a wide range of applications because of their rich three-dimensional spatial information and their capacity to obtain multiple returns. However, processing point cloud data still requires a large effort in manual editing. Certain human-made objects are difficult to detect because of their variety of shapes, irregularly-distributed point clouds, and a low number of class samples. In this work, we propose an end-to-end deep learning framework to automatize the detection and segmentation of objects defined by an arbitrary number of LiDAR points surrounded by clutter. Our method is based on a light version of PointNet that achieves good performance on both object recognition and segmentation tasks. The results are tested against manually delineated power transmission towers and show promising accuracy.
Scenario One: ‘Stable’ States
Authors: Grevi Giovanni
Published: October 2022

The geopolitical evolution of the MENA region has created a favourable environment for relative stability and sustainable growth, characterised by a moderately stable balance of power. The Covid-19 pandemic triggered a series of reforms: regional powers opt for self-restraint to reduce conflict risks, the MENA region reduces its dependence on fossil fuels, new growth models based on scientific innovation emerge and the Maghreb is united through the creation of a single market. However, stability in the region is still a dilemma for NATO. The economic boom has provided the governments of the region with the means to increase their military arsenals and offered extra-regional powers such as China and Russia the opportunity to acquire a stronger role in terms of arms sales and FDI. This development may pose a threat to the security of the southern allies due to increased military capabilities and the risk of inter-state conflicts. For other countries bordering the Mediterranean, the modernisation and development of naval capabilities could be seen as a threat to NATO’s southern neighbourhood, but ultimately NATO should welcome the strengthening of its partners’ military and security capabilities, with the aim of turning partners into security providers rather than security consumers.
Combined Risks of Hyperlipidemia and Hypertension for Coronary Heart Disease: A Case-Control Study of the Local Population of Bahawalpur, Pakistan
Authors: Kausar Tasleem , Aslam Madiha , Talib Saima , Tariq Nabeela
Published: October 2022

Hypercholesterolemia, being one of the most important risk factors for coronary heart disease, is defined as a total cholesterol concentration of ≥240 mg/dL. Hypertension has become a major public health hazard all over the world due to the serious damage it causes to the body organs and the many complications it induces, including the coronary heart disease. The current study aimed to evaluate the combined risks of correlation between hypertension and hyperlipidemia and their association with coronary heart disease. It included 100 patients diagnosed with hypertension and hyperlipidemia, as well as 100 healthy individuals of the same age and background. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect the family history of patients and control. Blood samples with a volume of 3-5ml were drawn from all patients to analyze the composition of blood serum including LDL (low-density lipoprotein), HDL (high-density lipoprotein), triglyceride, and cholesterol levels. The frequencies of all concerned factors were calculated and the mean values of blood pressure, cholesterol, LDL, and HDL were found to be in the hazardous range in patients. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test and binomial regression statistical analysis. The analysis of risk factors revealed that age, BMI (body mass index), high blood pressure, smoking, and high salt intake had a significant association with the high lipid profile in the patients. The risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) is enhanced in patients with high blood pressure and hyperlipidemia.
Microbiological analysis of commonly consumed vegetable: A review on the ongoing studies
Authors: Ava Afia Ibnat , Noor Rashed
Published: October 2022

Vegetables are frequently consumed by people all over the world and hence, the microbiological quality of vegetable especially fresh produces are of significance for the sake of public health sustainability. Vegetables are spoiled by a range of microorganisms including bacteria and fungi. Among the bacterial species, _Corynebacterium_, _Pseudomonas_ spp., _Listeria monocytogenes_, _Clostridium botulinum_, _Erwinia carotovora_, and _Xanthomonas campestris_ are the common vegetable spoilage microorganisms while the fungal genera _Botrytis cinerea_, _Colletotrichum_, _Aspergillus_, _Alternaria_, _Cladosporium_, _Fusarium_, _Penicillium_, and _Rhizopus_ spp. are the prominent spoiling candidates. Understanding vegetable spoilage mechanism/ microbial pathogenesis is important. The harvesting and handling procedures, storage conditions of vegetables, processing, injury of the vegetable plant tissues, and plant resistance against the pathogens are also of significance in order to analyze the toxic metabolites in the affected sites within the vegetables as well as for the prediction of the foodborne illness outbreaks. Implementation of good agricultural practices (GAPs) and good manufacturing practices (GMPs) during vegetable cultivation, harvesting, sorting, storage, transportation, and distribution is important. Moreover, processing of vegetables prior to consumption; i.e., controlling contamination of microbes, a thorough wash with vinegar water, salt water, and other washing means are important preventive measures to ensure the prevention of microbial contamination. Furthermore, up-to-date knowledge on the vegetable spoiling microorganisms, the epidemiology of such microbial contamination, and possible sources and route of the contamination may attribute to the possible future perspective on food safety.
Photoacoustic imaging of kidney fibrosis for assessing pretransplant organ quality
Authors: Hysi Eno , He Xiaolin , Fadhel Muhannad N. , Zhang Tianzhou , Krizova Adriana , Ordon Michael , Farcas Monica , Pace Kenneth T. , Mintsopoulos Victoria , Lee Warren L. , Kolios Michael , A. Yuen Darren
Published: October 2022

Roughly 10% of the world’s population has chronic kidney disease (CKD). In its advanced stages, CKD greatly increases the risk of hospitalization and death. Although kidney transplantation has revolutionized the care of advanced CKD, clinicians have limited ways of assessing donor kidney quality. Thus, optimal donor kidney–recipient matching cannot be performed, meaning that some patients receive damaged kidneys that function poorly. Fibrosis is a form of chronic damage often present in donor kidneys, and it is an important predictor of future renal function. Currently, no safe, easy-to-perform technique exists that accurately quantifies renal fibrosis. We describe a potentially novel photoacoustic (PA) imaging technique that directly images collagen, the principal component of fibrotic tissue. PA imaging noninvasively quantifies whole kidney fibrotic burden in mice, and cortical fibrosis in pig and human kidneys, with outstanding accuracy and speed. Remarkably, 3-dimensional PA imaging exhibited sufficiently high resolution to capture intrarenal variations in collagen content. We further show that PA imaging can be performed in a setting that mimics human kidney transplantation, suggesting the potential for rapid clinical translation. Taken together, our data suggest that PA collagen imaging is a major advance in fibrosis quantification that could have widespread preclinical and clinical impact.
Revistas depredadoras o “predatory journals”: Algunos avances
Authors: Escobar Andrés
Published: October 2022

Las revistas denominadas “predatory” representan una amenaza global para la comunidad académica en general. Por un lado, los potenciales lectores que buscan información especializada, pueden encontrarse con documentos que no cumplieron con el debido proceso de evaluación académica necesario para su publicación, que garantiza la validez de sus resultados y conclusiones. Por otro lado, los académicos interesados en publicar sus resultados de investigación pueden encontrarse con revistas que no les garantizan una adecuada divulgación académica de los avances de sus investigaciones.

Hoy en día, se pueden identificar algunos elementos comunes que presentan las publicaciones seriadas y que permiten establecer si son publicaciones engañosas (Escobar y Menco, 2018; Escobar y Romero, 2018). Sin embargo, existen aún muchas dudas y muchos aspectos que impiden contar con una clasificación precisa para una adecuada evaluación de los impactos de este tipo de practicas editoriales a nivel global, situación que se torna más compleja cuando consideramos las economías menos desarrolladas.
“Publish or Perish” en un escenario con revistas depredadoras
Authors: Escobar Espinoza Andrés
Published: October 2022

Los tiempos modernos en los que se encuentra la sociedad, son un resultado progresivo del avance de la ciencia en distintos ámbitos y disciplinas. Sin embargo, la ciencia moderna se enfrenta actualmente a importantes y variadas amenazas. Recientemente, existe particular preocupación en la creciente competencia por captar fondos de investigación y la obtención puestos o ascensos académicos. Lo anterior, sumado al creciente uso de la bibliometría para evaluar el progreso académico, ha generado importantes presiones en los científicos para “producir” resultados de investigación “publicables” (Anderson et al., 2007).
La competitividad permite aumentar la eficiencia y la productividad de los investigadores en los países desarrollados (Feller, 1996). Sin embargo, existen innumerables retos cuando la competencia exige parámetros de calidad académica, integridad científica y objetividad. En muchos casos, y dependiendo de las disciplinas, el volumen de artículos es mayor, así como el número de citaciones o impacto, y es mucho más probable publicar en determinadas revistas científicas de alto nivel según la afiliación institucional (Murtaugh, 2002). En esto tiempos modernos, parece que los temores respecto a la objetividad e integridad científica han aumentado como consecuencia de una mayor competitividad y de una precariedad en las carreras académicas (Shapin, 2008).