bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Features of the conformation type of first-born cows of Ukrainian Black-and-White and Red-and-White Dairy breeds
Authors: Khmelnychyi L. , Loboda A. , Bardash D.
Published: January 2020

Research of first-born cows of Ukrainian Black-and-White and Red-and-White Dairy breeds by linear traits was carried out. Research was conducted at the enterprises of the "Ukrlendfarminh" company: PE "Burynske" of Pidlisnivskoho Branch of Sumy District and LLC "Mlynivsky Complex" of Romny Branch of Sumy Region.
According to the 100-point linear classification system, an interbreed difference was determined with the best indicators of animals of Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy breed. The average scores of both breeds for the group traits and final assessment ranged from "good with plus" (80–84 scores). According to the estimation of group traits of dairy type, the predominance of animals of Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy breed over Red-and-White was 1.3 scores (P <0.001); according to assess the condition of limbs and hooves, the difference was in favor of cows of Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy breed with a difference of 1.3 scores (P <0.001). The best developed udder was found in cows of Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy breed, which outperformed the peers of Ukrainian Red-and-White one by 1.4 scores with high reliability (P <0.001). As a result, the final score was higher in cows of Ukrainian black-and-White Dairy breed (83.0 scores) with a slight but significant superiority of peers Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy breed, which was 0.4 scores (P <0.01). The developmental level of 18 descriptive traits of cows showed their considerable variability both within breeds and within each breed. In general, the evaluated animals of Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy breed are characterized by well-pronounced height (6.3 scores), body depth (7.2 scores), angularity (6.8 scores), slope (5.1 scores) and rear width (6,5 scores), front udder parts attachment (6.5 scores), central ligament (6.4 scores) and udder depth (6.6 scores). The first-born cows of Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy breed have better developed chest in width (6.9 scores) and body depth (7.5 scores), stronger hooves (6.4 scores). The conformation of animals of Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy breed had a good characteristic of descriptive traits that determined their milkiness and for Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy breed – strength.
Key words: Ukrainian Black-and-White Dairy breed, Ukrainian Red-and-White Dairy breed, linear assessment, conformation, type, milk productivity.
A note on the volumetric-deviatoric split on the anisotropic constitutive model for fiber-reinforced materials
Authors: Jin Tao , Stanciulescu Ilinca
Published: January 2020

In the literature, it has been suggested that for a class of anisotropic constitutive laws for fiberreinforced materials, the volumetric-deviatoric split should only be performed on the isotropic (matrix) term, but not on the anisotropic (fiber) term. In this research note, we follow up on the theoretical and numerical analyses adopted in these early publications with an intuitive example that allows us to directly analyze the effect of this split. We demonstrate that performing such split on the anisotropic term leads to non-physical volume growth of the material sample. Therefore, we consolidate the observation that the
volumetric-deviatoric split should not be applied to the anisotropic (fiber) term of the total strain energy.
Effect of substrate type and pellet age on the resuspension of Atlantic salmon faecal material
Authors: Carvajalino-Fernández MA , Keeley NB , Fer I , Law BA , Bannister RJ
Published: January 2020

The influence of substrate type and particle age on the remobilization of settled Atlantic salmonSalmo salarfaecal material was studied through a set of controlled experiments in horizontal flow flumes, simulating different bottom conditions present in fish-farming locations along the coast of Norway. There was no significant effect of pellet age on remobilization for up to 1 week old faecal material, but critical shear stresses (τc) and velocities required for resuspending faecal pellets were strongly dependent on substrate type. Smooth substrates such as mud and rock slate required lower stresses for the onset of faeces resuspension (τc%%CONV_ERR%% 0.06 Pa) than rougher surfaces such as sand (τc%%CONV_ERR%% 0.12 Pa) or fragmented rock (τc%%CONV_ERR%% 0.32 Pa), where bedforms and large fractures shield the particles from the direct influence of the drag forces. These newly determined substrate-dependent τcresuspension thresholds will contribute to the construction of more accurate numerical models that include bottom type as a parameter regulating the extent of particle spreading, in contrast to the constant-value approach that has been used to date.
Nutritional Profile of Clients with Obesity Treated at the School Clinic
Authors: Amancio Amorim Maria Marta , Silva Giselle Antunes da , Medeiros Lopes Stephanie Caroline , Magalhães Gonçalves Santos Tamara Augusta de , Souza Alessandra Hugo de
Published: January 2020

Introduction: Obesity can be conceptualized in a simplified way, as a condition of abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in the body. Objective: To characterize the nutritional profile of the clients with obesity treated at the Integrated Clinic of Health Care at UNA University Center, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Methods: This is a longitudinal observational study performed with men and women with obesity in the second half of 2017. Sociodemographic, clinical, anthropometric and nutritional data were collected from 216 clients. The greatest demand for the service was of women, in the age group of 20 to 59 years, in the masculine sex there was the greater amount of stylist. Regarding the level of schooling and physical activity the predominance was female, but the number of smokers was equal in both sexes. Results and Discussion: The reported diseases were 16.47% with arterial hypertension in the female sex. However, a 24.07% share of total treatment withdrawal occurred. The female sex obtained the highest number of consultations performed on average (2.62), but there was a satisfactory weight loss, established according to the number of consultations performed. The greatest weight loss was in the male sex, equivalent to (12kg). Conclusion: The prescribed diet needs to be well planned according to the individuality of each patient, performed and evaluated throughout the process; it requires continuity, effort and permanence in the treatment.
Hubungan Perawatan Payudara Dan Frekuensi Pemberian Asi Terhadap Produksi Asi
Authors: Ningsih Fitriani , Lestari Rizki Muji
Published: January 2020

Latar belakang: Air Susu Ibu dapat memenuhi kebutuhan nutrisi bayi, imunologi dan psikologis. Walaupun ASI memiliki manfaat yang baik untuk bayi, namun faktanya masih banyak ibu yang tidak memberikan ASI secara ekslusif. Hal ini disebabkan karena beberapa alasan yaitu puting susu lecet, payudara bengkak, saluran susu tersumbat, mastitis, abses payudara, kelainan anatomi puting, atau bayi enggan menyusu sehingga membuat ibu tidak memberikan ASI secara eksklusifTujuan: Penelitian ini untuk melihat hubungan perawatan payudara dan frekuensi menyusui dengan produksi asiMetode: Desain penelitian ini menggunakan desain penelitian analitik dengan pendekatan cross sectional. Besar sampel pada penelitian sebanyak 30 responden ibu nifas yang ada di ruang Nifas RSUD dr. Doris Sylvanus Kota Palangka Raya. Pengambilan sampel menggunakan teknik purposive sampling dan pengujian statistik menggunakan uji statistik Chi-Square.Hasil: Berdasarkan hasil penelitian pada variabel perawatan payudara diperoleh nilai p = 0,048 (P Value a 0, 05) sehingga dapat disimpulkan bahwa ada hubungan perawatan payudara dengan produksi ASI dan pada variabel frekuensi pemberian ASI diperoleh nilai p = 0,009 (P Value a 0,05).Kesimpulan: ada hubungan perawatan payudara dan frekuensi pemberian ASI terhadap produksi ASI sehingga tindakan perawatan payudara yang baik dan secara rutin serta pemberian ASI sesering mungkin dapat membantu meningkatkan produksi ASI. Kata Kunci: Perawatan, Frekuensi, Menyusui dan Produksi ASIBackground: Breast milk can meet the nutritional needs of infants, immunology and psychological. Although breast milk has good benefits for babies, in fact there are still many mothers who do not exclusively breastfeed. This is due to several reasons, namely blisters nipples, swollen breasts, blocked milk ducts, mastitis, breast abscesses, anatomical abnormalities of the nipple, or the baby is reluctant to breastfeed so that the mother does not exclusively breastfeedObjective: This study is to look at the relationship between breast care and frequency of breastfeeding with breast milk productionMethod: The design of this study uses analytic research design with cross sectional approach. The sample size in the study were 30 postpartum mothers in the post-partum hospital RSUD dr. Doris Sylvanus Palangkaraya City. Sampling using purposive sampling techniques and statistical testing using the Chi-Square statistical test.Results: Based on the results of research on the variable breast care obtained p value = 0.048 (P Value a0.05) so it can be concluded that there is a relationship between breast care with breast milk production and on the variable frequency of breastfeeding obtained p value = 0.009 (P Value a 0.05).Conclusion: there is a relationship between breast care and the frequency of breastfeeding to the production of breast milk so that good and routine breast care measures and breastfeeding as often as possible can help increase milk production. Keywords: Care, Frequency, Breastfeeding and Breast Milk Production
A educação como um direito social e o impacto das teorias de estado no conceito de cidadania
Authors: Araújo Roberta Negrão de , Araújo Luiz Eduardo de
Published: January 2020

Diante do uso banalizado do termo cidadão, sobretudo a partir da década de 1980, pesquisadores de distintas áreas do conhecimento dedicaram-se a compreender esse processo de construção da cidadania. O presente artigo de revisão narrativa apresenta as teorias de Estado e seu impacto na educação, haja vista a estreita relação entre eles, bem como o conceito de cidadania plena a partir dos direitos civis, políticos e sociais. Aborda também o reflexo desta relação na organização das instituições escolares.
Farmers’ Awareness of the Low Yield of Conventional Rice Production in Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar: A Case Study of Myaungmya District
Authors: Paing Oo Soe
Published: January 2020

The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation introduced the Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) of rice in 2008. The adoption rate of GAPs is still low. As the first step of the adoption process, this study investigates farmers’ awareness of the low yield of conventional rice production. Based on the data of 315 farmers collected from a field survey conducted from July to August 2018 in Myaungmya District, Myanmar, and by applying the cluster analysis and binary logit model, the study found that farmers’ awareness was low for the aspects of farmer management and Ministry management. The finding of most interest is that farmers with more experience, higher income level, larger farmland size, and receiving agricultural information were associated with low awareness. Farmers with more farming experience were satisfied with the return of rice from conventional production. Some farmers received a higher total income from crop production because of a larger farmland size, and they are less aware of the low yield of conventional rice production. Even though farmers received agricultural information, they could not apply the information to rice production. Farmers’ awareness of the low yield can be increased through developing extension services programs to distribute useful information on rice production effectively.
Intravenous Ceftriaxone Versus Multiple Dosing Regimes of Intravenous Anti-Staphylococcal Antibiotics for Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA): A Systematic Review
Authors: Kamfose Musaiwale M. , Muriithi Francis G. , Knight Thomas , Lasserson Daniel , Hayward Gail
Published: January 2020

Background: Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) is a common pathogen associated with a range of clinically important infections. MSSA can cause deep-seated infections requiring prolonged courses of intravenous antibiotic therapy to achieve effective resolution. The move toward ambulatory or outpatient delivery of parenteral antibiotics has led to an increase in the use of ceftriaxone as a pragmatic first choice given its advantageous single daily dosing schedule. Objective: To compare the efficacy of once daily ceftriaxone in the treatment of infections due to confirmed or suspected MSSA to multiple dosing regimes of anti-staphylococcal antibiotics. Methods: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Global Health, PubMed, EMBASE and CINAHL for randomised controlled trials as well as prospective and retrospective cohort studies that compared ceftriaxone to any multiple dosing regime of anti-staphylococcal antibiotics. Outcome measures were the proportion of patients with a resolution of infection based on time after initiation of therapy, adverse reactions, recurrence and duration of hospital admission. Results: We included two randomized controlled trials, one prospective observational study and three retrospective cohort studies (643 participants; 246 children, 397 adults). There was no difference in time to resolution of symptoms. The number of adverse reactions, recurrence of bacteraemia and duration of hospital stay were not significantly different between ceftriaxone and other anti-staphylococcal antibiotics. Conclusions: Based on a small number of low-quality studies, ceftriaxone is as effective as multiple dosing regimes for the treatment of infections due MSSA. An appropriately powered randomized trial is required to demonstrate equivalence and cost effectiveness.
Characteristics of Crack Growth in Rock-Like Materials under Monotonic and Cyclic Loading Conditions
Authors: Ko Tae Young , Lee Sean Seungwon
Published: January 2020

Experiments with gypsum as a model rock material were conducted to investigate the characteristics of crack growth under monotonic and cyclic loading. The specimens had two pre-existing flaws that were placed at different inclination angle, spacing and continuity. Tensile or wing cracks and secondary or shear cracks were observed in both the monotonic and cyclic tests. Wing cracks or tensile cracks initiated at (or near) the tips of flaws and grew parallel to the loading direction. Secondary or shear cracks occurred after initiation of the wing crack and culminated in a final failure. Secondary cracks started at the tips of flaws and propagated in the colinear direction of flaws or perpendicular to loading. Six types of coalescence were observed. Both the monotonic and cyclic tests showed almost identical coalescence types. Coalescence occurred due to the internal shear cracks in specimens containing colinear flaws, while it occurred through combinations of internal shear cracks, internal wing cracks and tension cracks in specimens with non-colinear flaws. Fatigue cracks occurred in tests under cyclic loads. Finally, the subcritical crack growth parameters under monotonic and cyclic loading were determined. Although there were variations in the parameters, the parameter “n” showed similar values.
High-Velocity Impact Performance of Aluminum and B4C/UHMW-PE Composite Plate for Multi-Wall Shielding
Authors: Lu Yangyu , Zhang Qingming , Xue Yijiang , Liu Wenjin , Long Renrong
Published: January 2020

Three types of multi-wall shielding were experimentally investigated for their performances under the high-velocity impact of a cm-size cylindrical projectile by using a two-stage light-gas gun. The three shields contained the same two aluminum bumpers but different rear walls, which were 7075-T651 aluminum (Al) plate, boron carbide (B4C)/Al 7075-T651/Kevlar composite plate and B4C/ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMW-PE) composite plate. The impact test was carried out using a cylindrical shape of 6 g mass 7075-T651 Al projectile in a speed range (1.6 to 1.9 km/s) to achieve an effective shield configuration. A numerical simulation was undertaken by using ANSYS Autodyn-3D and the results of this were in good agreement with the experimental results. Meanwhile, both the experimental and the numerical simulation results indicated that B4C/UHMW-PE composite plates performed a better interception of the high-velocity projectiles within the specific speed range and could be considered as a good configuration for intercepting large fragments in shielding design.
Hierarchical Model Predictive Control for Hydraulic Hybrid Powertrain of a Construction Vehicle
Authors: Wang Zhong , Jiao Xiaohong
Published: January 2020

Hybrid hydraulic technology has the advantages of high-power density and low price and shows good adaptability in construction machinery. A complex hybrid powertrain architecture requires optimization and management of power demand distribution and an accurate response to desired power distribution of the power source subsystems in order to achieve target performances in terms of fuel consumption, drivability, component lifetime, and exhaust emissions. For hybrid hydraulic vehicles (HHVs) that are used in construction machinery, the challenge is to design an appropriate control scheme to actually achieve fuel economy improvement taking into consideration the relatively low energy density of the hydraulic accumulator and frequent load changes, the randomness of the driving conditions, and the uncertainty of the engine dynamics. To improve fuel economy and adaptability of various driving conditions to online energy management and to enhance the response performance of an engine to a desired torque, a hierarchical model predictive control (MPC) scheme is presented in this paper using the example of a spray-painting construction vehicle. The upper layer is a stochastic MPC (SMPC) based energy management control strategy (EMS) and the lower layer is an MPC-based tracking controller with disturbance estimator of the diesel engine. In the SMPC-EMS of the upper-layer management, a Markov model is built using driving condition data of the actual construction vehicle to predict future torque demands over a finite receding horizon to deal with the randomness of the driving conditions. A multistage stochastic optimization problem is formulated, and a scenario-based enumeration approach is used to solve the stochastic optimization problem for online implementation. In the lower-layer tracking controller, a disturbance estimator is designed to handle the uncertainty of the engine, and the MPC is introduced to ensure the tracking performance of the output torque of the engine for the distributed torque from the upper-layer SMPC-EMS, and therefore really achieve high efficiency of the diesel engine. The proposed strategy is evaluated using both simulation MATLAB/Simulink and the experimental test platform through a comparison with several existing strategies in two real driving conditions. The results demonstrate that the proposed strategy (SMPC+MPC) improves miles per gallon an average by 7.3% and 5.9% as compared with the control strategy (RB+PID) consisting of a rule-based (RB) management strategy and proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller of the engine in simulation and experiment, respectively.
A Novel B-Tree Index with Cascade Memory Nodes for Improving Sequential Write Performance on Flash Storage Devices
Authors: Kim Bo-Kyeong , Kim Gun-Woo , Lee Dong-Ho
Published: January 2020

Flash storage devices such as solid-state drives and multimedia cards have been widely used in various applications because of their fast access speed, low power consumption, and high reliability. They consist of NAND flash memories that perform slow block erasures before overwriting data on a prewritten page. This characteristic can lead to performance degradation when applying the original B-tree on the flash storage device without any changes. Although various B-trees have been proposed for flash memory, they still require many flash operations that degrade overall performance. To address the problem, we propose a novel B-tree index structure that reduces the number of write operations and improves the sequential writes by employing cascade memory nodes. The proposed B-tree index structure delays the updates for the modified B-tree nodes and later performs batch writes in a cascade manner. Also, when records with continuous key values are sequentially inserted, the proposed B-tree index structure does not split the leaf node so that it improves write throughput and page utilization. Through mathematical analysis and experimental results, we show that the proposed B-tree index structure always yields better performance than existing techniques.
Human Annotated Dialogues Dataset for Natural Conversational Agents
Authors: Merdivan Erinc , Singh Deepika , Hanke Sten , Kropf Johannes , Holzinger Andreas , Geist Matthieu
Published: January 2020

Conversational agents are gaining huge popularity in industrial applications such as digital assistants, chatbots, and particularly systems for natural language understanding (NLU). However, a major drawback is the unavailability of a common metric to evaluate the replies against human judgement for conversational agents. In this paper, we develop a benchmark dataset with human annotations and diverse replies that can be used to develop such metric for conversational agents. The paper introduces a high-quality human annotated movie dialogue dataset, HUMOD, that is developed from the Cornell movie dialogues dataset. This new dataset comprises 28,500 human responses from 9500 multi-turn dialogue history-reply pairs. Human responses include: (i) ratings of the dialogue reply in relevance to the dialogue history; and (ii) unique dialogue replies for each dialogue history from the users. Such unique dialogue replies enable researchers in evaluating their models against six unique human responses for each given history. Detailed analysis on how dialogues are structured and human perception on dialogue score in comparison with existing models are also presented.
Flow-Based Anatomy of Bobbin Friction-Stirred Weld; AA6082-T6 Aluminium Plate and Analogue Plasticine Model
Authors: Tamadon Abbas , Pons Dirk J. , Clucas Don
Published: January 2020

Material flow transportation around the rotating tool and the mass deposition at the backside of the tool are critical characteristics of friction stir welding. To achieve an optimized weld structure, the history of the plastic deformation needs to be identified with a flow-based elucidation. In this study, an analogue model was applied to evaluate the formation of a banded structure using the bobbin tool, with a focus on the interaction between the tool-workpiece. The flow visualization in plasticine analogue was validated in comparison with the aluminium welds. The plastic flow mechanism was visualized both, at the surface and the cross-section of the weld-seam. The cross-section of the weld shows the details of the formation of tunnel voids, caused by the failure of the flow regimes. A physical model of the material flow was proposed to explain the formation mechanism of the tunnel void as a discontinuity during the mass refilling at the rear of the tool.
Weaving Forms of Resistance: The Museo de la Solidaridad and The Museo Internacional de la Resistencia Salvador Allende
Authors: Macchiavello Cornejo Carla
Published: January 2020

From the starting point of a 1975 artwork made by Norwegian artist Kjartan Slettemark in Sweden to stop a tennis match in resistance to the Chilean military dictatorship, this article reframes the linear image of networks of solidarity and resistance through the gaps and connectivity of a mesh. It expands the figure of the mesh taken from critical materialism into the affective realm of art, historiography, and art institutions by exploring the cases of the museums Museo de la Solidaridad (1971–1974) and Museo Internacional de la Resistencia “Salvador Allende” (1975–1990). As this article delves into various knots and lacunas of the meshes of solidarity and resistance partaking in these museums, and analyzing the relations they wove, it also aims to reflect on the capacity of resilience of arpilleras, as well as on the generative possibilities of the incomplete labor of art history and its ethical and political responsibilities.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Atoms in 2019
Authors: Atoms Editorial Office
Published: January 2020

The editorial team greatly appreciates the reviewers who have dedicated their considerable time and expertise to the journal’s rigorous editorial process over the past 12 months, regardless of whether the papers are finally published or not [...]
Comparison of the Anabolic Effects of Reported Osteogenic Compounds on Human Mesenchymal Progenitor-Derived Osteoblasts
Authors: Owen Robert , Bahmaee Hossein , Claeyssens Frederik , Reilly Gwendolen C.
Published: January 2020

There is variability in the reported effects of compounds on osteoblasts arising from differences in experimental design and choice of cell type/origin. This makes it difficult to discern a compound’s action outside its original study and compare efficacy between compounds. Here, we investigated five compounds frequently reported as anabolic for osteoblasts (17β-estradiol (oestrogen), icariin, lactoferrin, lithium chloride, and menaquinone-4 (MK-4)) on human mesenchymal progenitors to assess their potential for bone tissue engineering with the aim of identifying a potential alternative to expensive recombinant growth factors such as bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2). Experiments were performed using the same culture conditions to allow direct comparison. The concentrations of compounds spanned two orders of magnitude to encompass the reported efficacious range and were applied continuously for 22 days. The effects on the proliferation (resazurin reduction and DNA quantification), osteogenic differentiation (alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity), and mineralised matrix deposition (calcium and collagen quantification) were assessed. Of these compounds, only 10 µM MK-4 stimulated a significant anabolic response with 50% greater calcium deposition. Oestrogen and icariin had no significant effects, with the exception of 1 µM icariin, which increased the metabolic activity on days 8 and 22. 1000 µg/mL of lactoferrin and 10 mM lithium chloride both significantly reduced the mineralised matrix deposition in comparison to the vehicle control, despite the ALP activity being higher in lithium chloride-treated cells at day 15. This demonstrates that MK-4 is the most powerful stimulant of bone formation in hES-MPs of the compounds investigated, highlighting its potential in bone tissue engineering as a method of promoting bone formation, as well as its prospective use as an osteoporosis treatment.
Co-Networks Poly(hydroxyalkanoates)-Terpenes to Enhance Antibacterial Properties
Authors: Modjinou Tina , Versace Davy Louis , Abbad Andaloussi Samir , Langlois Valérie , Renard Estelle
Published: January 2020

Biocompatible and biodegradable bacterial polyesters, poly(hydroxyalkanoates) (PHAs), were combined with linalool, a well-known monoterpene, extracted from spice plants to design novel antibacterial materials. Their chemical association by a photo-induced thiol-ene reaction provided materials having both high mechanical resistance and flexibility. The influence of the nature of the crosslinking agent and the weight ratio of linalool on the thermo-mechanical performances were carefully evaluated. The elongation at break increases from 7% for the native PHA to 40% for PHA–linalool co-networks using a tetrafunctional cross-linking agent. The materials highlighted tremendous anti-adherence properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus by increasing linalool ratios. A significant decrease in antibacterial adhesion of 63% and 82% was observed for E. coli and S. aureus, respectively.
Aspirin Enhances the Protection of Hsp90 from Heat-Stressed Injury in Cardiac Microvascular Endothelial Cells Through PI3K-Akt and PKM2 Pathways
Authors: Zhang Xiaohui , Chen Bixia , Wu Jiaxin , Sha Junzhou , Yang Bo , Zhu Jie , Sun Jiarui , Hartung Jörg , Bao Endong
Published: January 2020

Heat stress (HS) often causes sudden death of humans and animals due to heart failure, mainly resulting from the contraction of cardiac microvasculature followed by myocardial ischemia. Cardiac microvascular endothelial cells (CMVECs) play an important role in maintaining vasodilatation. Aspirin (ASA) is well known for its protective abilities of febrile animals. However, there is little knowledge about molecular resistance mechanisms of CMVECs and which role ASA may play in this context. Therefore, we used a heat stress model of rat cardiac microvascular endothelial cell cultures in vitro and investigated the cell injuries and molecular resistance mechanism of CMVECs caused by heat stress, and the effect of aspirin (ASA) on it. HS induced severe pathological damage of CMVECs and cellular oxidative stress and dysfunction of NO release. Hsp90 was proven to be indispensable for resisting HS-injury of CMVECs through PI3K-Akt and PKM2 signaling pathways. Meanwhile, PKM2 functioned in reducing Akt phosphorylation. ASA treatment of CMVECs induced a significant expression of Hsp90, which promoted both Akt and PKM2 signals, which are beneficial for relieving HS damage and maintaining the function of CMVECs. Akt activation also promoted HSF-1 that regulates the expression of Hsp70, which is known to assist Hsp90′s molecular chaperone function and when released to the extracellular liquid to protect myocardial cells from HS damage. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show that HS damages CMVECs and the protection mechanism of Hsp90 on it, and that ASA provides a new potential strategy for regulating cardiac microcirculation preventing HS-induced heart failure.
Pathogenic Carboxyl Ester Lipase (CEL) Variants Interact with the Normal CEL Protein in Pancreatic Cells
Authors: Dalva Monica , Lavik Ida K. , El Jellas Khadija , Gravdal Anny , Lugea Aurelia , Pandol Stephen J. , Njølstad Pål R. , Waldron Richard T. , Fjeld Karianne , Johansson Bente B. , Molven Anders
Published: January 2020

Mutations in the gene encoding the digestive enzyme carboxyl ester lipase (CEL) are linked to pancreatic disease. The CEL variant denoted CEL-HYB predisposes to chronic pancreatitis, whereas the CEL-MODY variant causes MODY8, an inherited disorder of endocrine and exocrine pancreatic dysfunction. Both pathogenic variants exhibit altered biochemical and cellular properties compared with the normal CEL protein (CEL-WT, wild type). We here aimed to investigate effects of CEL variants on pancreatic acinar and ductal cell lines. Following extracellular exposure, CEL-HYB, CEL-MODY, and CEL-WT were endocytosed. The two pathogenic CEL proteins significantly reduced cell viability compared with CEL-WT. We also found evidence of CEL uptake in primary human pancreatic acinar cells and in native ductal tissue. Moreover, coexpression of CEL-HYB or CEL-MODY with CEL-WT affected secretion of the latter, as CEL-WT was observed to accumulate intracellularly to a higher degree in the presence of either pathogenic variant. Notably, in coendocytosis experiments, both pathogenic variants displayed a modest effect on cell viability when CEL-WT was present, indicating that the normal protein might diminish toxic effects conferred by CEL-HYB and CEL-MODY. Taken together, our findings provide valuable insight into how the pathogenic CEL variants predispose to pancreatic disease and why these disorders develop slowly over time.
RhoA-ROCK Signaling as a Therapeutic Target in Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors: Mulherkar Shalaka , Tolias Kimberley F.
Published: January 2020

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. TBIs, which range in severity from mild to severe, occur when a traumatic event, such as a fall, a traffic accident, or a blow, causes the brain to move rapidly within the skull, resulting in damage. Long-term consequences of TBI can include motor and cognitive deficits and emotional disturbances that result in a reduced quality of life and work productivity. Recovery from TBI can be challenging due to a lack of effective treatment options for repairing TBI-induced neural damage and alleviating functional impairments. Central nervous system (CNS) injury and disease are known to induce the activation of the small GTPase RhoA and its downstream effector Rho kinase (ROCK). Activation of this signaling pathway promotes cell death and the retraction and loss of neural processes and synapses, which mediate information flow and storage in the brain. Thus, inhibiting RhoA-ROCK signaling has emerged as a promising approach for treating CNS disorders. In this review, we discuss targeting the RhoA-ROCK pathway as a therapeutic strategy for treating TBI and summarize the recent advances in the development of RhoA-ROCK inhibitors.
Metabolic Stress Alters Antioxidant Systems, Suppresses the Adiponectin Receptor 1 and Induces Alzheimer’s Like Pathology in Mice Brain
Authors: Hahm Jong Ryeal , Jo Myeung Hoon , Ullah Rahat , Kim Min Woo , Kim Myeong Ok
Published: January 2020

Oxidative stress and insulin resistance play major roles in numerous neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). A high-fat diet induces obesity-associated oxidative stress, neuronal insulin resistance, microglial activation, and neuroinflammation, which are considered important risk factors for neurodegeneration. Obesity-related metabolic dysfunction is a risk factor for cognitive decline. The present study aimed to elucidate whether chronic consumption of a high-fat diet (HFD; 24 weeks) can induce insulin resistance, neuroinflammation, and amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition in mouse brains. Male C57BL/6N mice were used for a high-fat diet (HFD)-induced pre-clinical model of obesity. The protein expression levels were examined via Western blot, immunofluorescence, and the behavior analysis was performed using the Morris water maze test. To obtain metabolic parameters, insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance tests were performed. We found that metabolic perturbations from the chronic consumption of HFD elevated neuronal oxidative stress and insulin resistance through adiponectin receptor (AdipoR1) suppression in HFD-fed mice. Similarly, our in vitro results also indicated that knockdown of AdipoR1 in the embryonic mouse hippocampal cell line mHippoE-14 leads to increased oxidative stress in neurons. In addition, HFD markedly increased neuroinflammatory markers’ glial activation in the cortex and hippocampus regions of HFD mouse brains. More importantly, we observed that AdipoR1 suppression increased the amyloidogenic pathway both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, deregulated synaptic proteins and behavioral deficits were observed in the HFD mouse brains. Taken together, our findings suggest that excessive consumption of an HFD has a profound impact on brain function, which involves the acceleration of cognitive impairment due to increased obesity-associated oxidative stress, insulin resistance, and neuroinflammation, which ultimately may cause early onset of Alzheimer’s pathology via the suppression of AdipoR1 signaling in the brain.
Agonist Antibody Converts Stem Cells into Migrating Brown Adipocyte-Like Cells in Heart
Authors: Han Kyung Ho , Arlian Britni M. , Lin Chih-Wei , Jin Hyun Yong , Kang Geun-Hyung , Lee Sahmin , Lee Peter Chang-Whan , Lerner Richard A.
Published: January 2020

We present data showing that Iodotyrosine Deiodinase (IYD) is a dual-function enzyme acting as a catalyst in metabolism and a receptor for cooperative stem cell differentiation. IYD is present both in thyroid cells where it is critical for scavenging iodine from halogenated by-products of thyroid hormone production and on hematopoietic stem cells. To close the cooperative loop, the mono- and di-Iodotyrosine (MIT and DIT) substrates of IYD in the thyroid are also agonists for IYD now acting as a receptor on bone marrow stem cells. While studying intracellular combinatorial antibody libraries, we discovered an agonist antibody, H3 Ab, of which the target is the enzyme IYD. When agonized by H3 Ab, IYD expressed on stem cells induces differentiation of the cells into brown adipocyte-like cells, which selectively migrate to mouse heart tissue. H3 Ab also binds to IYD expressed on human myocardium. Thus, one has a single enzyme acting in different ways on different cells for the cooperative purpose of enhancing thermogenesis or of regenerating damaged heart tissue.
Regulation of Autophagy Is a Novel Tumorigenesis-Related Activity of Multifunctional Translationally Controlled Tumor Protein
Authors: Lee Ji-Sun , Jang Eun-Hwa , Woo Hyun Ae , Lee Kyunglim
Published: January 2020

Translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) is highly conserved in eukaryotic organisms and plays multiple roles regulating cellular growth and homeostasis. Because of its anti-apoptotic activity and its role in the regulation of cancer metastasis, TCTP has become a promising target for cancer therapy. Moreover, growing evidence points to its clinical role in cancer prognosis. How TCTP regulates cellular growth in cancer has been widely studied, but how it regulates cellular homeostasis has received relatively little attention. This review discusses how TCTP is related to cancer and its potential as a target in cancer therapeutics, including its novel role in the regulation of autophagy. Regulation of autophagy is essential for cell recycling and scavenging cellular materials to sustain cell survival under the metabolic stress that cancer cells undergo during their aggressive proliferation.
Translocation of Drought-Responsive Proteins from the Chloroplasts
Authors: Li Ping , Liu Haoju , Yang Hong , Pu Xiaojun , Li Chuanhong , Huo Heqiang , Chu Zhaohui , Chang Yuxiao , Lin Yongjun , Liu Li
Published: January 2020

Some chloroplast proteins are known to serve as messengers to transmit retrograde signals from chloroplasts to the nuclei in response to environmental stresses. However, whether particular chloroplast proteins respond to drought stress and serve as messengers for retrograde signal transduction are unclear. Here, we used isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) to monitor the proteomic changes in tobacco (Nicotiana benthamiana) treated with drought stress/re-watering. We identified 3936 and 1087 differentially accumulated total leaf and chloroplast proteins, respectively, which were grouped into 16 categories. Among these, one particular category of proteins, that includes carbonic anhydrase 1 (CA1), exhibited a great decline in chloroplasts, but a remarkable increase in leaves under drought stress. The subcellular localizations of CA1 proteins from moss (Physcomitrella patens), Arabidopsis thaliana and rice (Oryza sativa) in P. patens protoplasts consistently showed that CA1 proteins gradually diminished within chloroplasts but increasingly accumulated in the cytosol under osmotic stress treatment, suggesting that they could be translocated from chloroplasts to the cytosol and act as a signal messenger from the chloroplast. Our results thus highlight the potential importance of chloroplast proteins in retrograde signaling pathways and provide a set of candidate proteins for further research.
Molecular Characterization of a Novel Splicing Mutation Underlying Mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS) Type VI—Indirect Proof of Principle on Its Pathogenicity
Authors: Coutinho Maria Francisca , Encarnação Marisa , Matos Liliana , Silva Lisbeth , Ribeiro Diogo , Santos Juliana Inês , Prata Maria João , Vilarinho Laura , Alves Sandra
Published: January 2020

Here, we present the molecular diagnosis of a patient with a general clinical suspicion of Mucopolysaccharidosis, highlighting the different tools used to perform its molecular characterization. In order to decrease the turnaround time for the final report and contribute to reduce the “diagnostic odyssey”, which frequently afflicts affected families, the proband’s sample was simultaneously screened for mutations in a number of lysosomal function-related genes with targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) protocol. After variant calling, the most probable cause for disease was a novel ARSB intronic variant, c.1213+5G>T [IVS6+5G>T], detected in homozygosity. In general, homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in the ARSB gene, underlie MPS type VI or Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome. Still, even though the novel c.1213+5G>T variant was easy to detect by both NGS and Sanger sequencing, only through indirect studies and functional analyses could we present proof of principle on its pathogenicity. Globally, this case reminds us that whenever a novel variant is detected, its pathogenicity must be carefully assessed before a definitive diagnosis is established, while highlighting alternative approaches that may be used to assess its effect in the absence RNA/cDNA sample(s) from the proband. This is particularly relevant for intronic variants such as the one here reported. Special attention will be given to the use of reporter minigene systems, which may be constructed/designed to dissect the effect of this sort of alterations, providing an insight into their consequences over the normal pre-mRNA splicing process of the affected gene.
Control and Entropy Analysis of Tip Leakage Flow for Compressor Cascade under Different Clearance Sizes with Endwall Suction
Authors: Zhang Botao , Liu Bo , Han Changfu , Zhao Hang
Published: January 2020

To investigate the influence of the change of tip clearance size on the control effect of the endwall suction, the effects of endwall suction on the aerodynamic performance of the axial compressor cascade were studied numerically. Three tip clearance sizes of 0.5% h, 1.0% h, and 2.0% h (h is the blade height) were mainly considered. The results show that the endwall suction scheme whose coverage range was 8–33% axial chord can reduce the leakage flow and improve the aerodynamic performance by directly influencing the structure of tip leakage vortex. The overall total pressure loss coefficients of the three clearance size schemes at 0° angle of incidence with 0.4 inlet Mach number are reduced by about 10.3%, 10.8%, and 6.0%, respectively, at the suction flow rate of 0.7%. Under the same suction flow rate, the onset position of the tip leakage vortex of the cascade with small clearance is shifted from the 15% of the axial chord length of original to the 48% of the axial chord length, which with large clearance is nearly no changed. The leakage flow rate and the distance from the leakage vortex to the suction slot are the main reasons for the different control effect of the endwall suction under different tip clearance sizes. The difference of the spanwise distribution of flow field parameters may also cause the difference of flow control effect.
A Power-Efficient Pipelined ADC with an Inherent Linear 1-Bit Flip-Around DAC
Authors: Wan Peiyuan , Su Limei , Zhang Hongda , Chen Zhijie
Published: January 2020

An unity-gain 1-bit flip-around digital-to-analog converter (FADAC), without any capacitor matching issue, is proposed as the front-end input stage in a pipelined analog-to-digital converter (ADC), allowing an input signal voltage swing up to be doubled. This large input swing, coupled with the inherent large feedback factor (ideally β = 1) of the proposed FADAC, enables a power-efficient low-voltage high-resolution pipelined ADC design. The 1-bit FADAC is exploited in a SHA-less and opamp-sharing pipelined ADC, exhibiting 12-bit resolution with an input swing of 1.8 Vpp under a 1.1 V power supply. Fabricated in a 0.13-μm CMOS process, the prototype ADC achieves a measured signal-to-noise plus distortion ratio (SNDR) of 66.4 dB and a spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR) of 76.7 dB at 20 MS/s sampling rate. The ADC dissipates 5.2 mW of power and occupies an active area of 0.44 mm2. The measured differential nonlinearity (DNL) is +0.72/−0.52 least significant bit (LSB) and integral nonlinearity (INL) is +0.84/−0.75 LSB at a 3-MHz sinusoidal input.
An All-At-Once Newton Strategy for Marine Methane Hydrate Reservoir Models
Authors: Gupta Shubhangi , Wohlmuth Barbara , Haeckel Matthias
Published: January 2020

The migration of methane through the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) in the marine subsurface is characterized by highly dynamic reactive transport processes coupled to thermodynamic phase transitions between solid gas hydrates, free methane gas, and dissolved methane in the aqueous phase. The marine subsurface is essentially a water-saturated porous medium where the thermodynamic instability of the hydrate phase can cause free gas pockets to appear and disappear locally, causing the model to degenerate. This poses serious convergence issues for the general-purpose nonlinear solvers (e.g., standard Newton), and often leads to extremely small time-step sizes. The convergence problem is particularly severe when the rate of hydrate phase change is much lower than the rate of gas dissolution. In order to overcome this numerical challenge, we have developed an all-at-once Newton scheme tailored to our gas hydrate model, which can handle rate-based hydrate phase change coupled with equilibrium gas dissolution in a mathematically consistent and robust manner.
Control Strategies and Economic Analysis of an LTO Battery Energy Storage System for AGC Ancillary Service
Authors: Sun Bingxiang , He Xitian , Zhang Weige , Li Yangxi , Gong Minming , Yang Yang , Su Xiaojia , Zhu Zhenlin , Gao Wenzhong
Published: January 2020

With the rapid growth of renewable energy and the DC fast charge pile of the electric vehicle, their inherent volatility and randomness increase a power system’s unbalance of instantaneous power. The need for power grid frequency regulation is increasing. The energy storage system (ESS) can be used to assist the thermal power unit so that a better frequency regulation result is obtained without changing the original operating mode of the unit. In this paper, a set of different charging/discharging control strategies of the lithium titanate battery (LTO) is proposed, which are chosen according to the interval of the State of energy (SOE) to improve the utilization rate of the ESS. Finally, the cost-benefit model of the ESS participating in automatic generation control ancillary service is established. Case analysis proves that after a 1.75 MWh ESS is configured for a 600 MW thermal power unit, Kp and D is increased from 1.42 to 6.38 and 2857 to 6895 MW. The net daily income is increased from 20,284 yuan to 199,900 yuan with a repayment period of 93 days. The results show that the control strategies and the energy configuration method can improve the performance and economic return of the system.
Analysis of a Battery Pack with a Phase Change Material for the Extreme Temperature Conditions of an Electrical Vehicle
Authors: Talluri Teressa , Kim Tae Hyeong , Shin Kyoo Jae
Published: January 2020

Thermal management in an electric vehicle is important to extend the life of the battery. This paper is about modelling and analysis of a 6-kW battery module for improving the thermal performance of the lithium ion battery in electric vehicles with PCMs (phase change materials). For a battery thermal management system, we considered phase change materials such as RT15 (Rubitherm15), RT31, EG5 (Expanded Graphite5), and EG26 PCMs with different thermal properties. The ambient temperature conditions range considered was over 40 °C and below −10 °C, also tested on the hot and cool soaking conditions. The lithium polymer pouch single battery was designed and simulation analysis was performed with and without PCMs to enhance heat transfer rate. The simulation and experiment results on a single battery were satisfied to control the battery temperature within the safe operating conditions. Hence the proposed battery thermal management system (BTMS) was applied on a 6-kW battery pack. The design of the battery module was done in AUTOCAD and analysis was done in ANSYS CFD (computational fluid dynamics) software tool.