bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Usability of Functional Electrical Stimulation in Upper Limb Rehabilitation in Post-Stroke Patients: A Narrative Review
Authors: Sousa Andreia S. P. , Moreira Juliana , Silva Cláudia , Mesquita Inês , Macedo Rui , Silva Augusta , Santos Rubim
Published: February 2022

Stroke leads to significant impairment in upper limb (UL) function. The goal of rehabilitation is the reestablishment of pre-stroke motor stroke skills by stimulating neuroplasticity. Among several rehabilitation approaches, functional electrical stimulation (FES) is highlighted in stroke rehabilitation guidelines as a supplementary therapy alongside the standard care modalities. The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive review regarding the usability of FES in post-stroke UL rehabilitation. Specifically, the factors related to UL rehabilitation that should be considered in FES usability, as well a critical review of the outcomes used to assess FES usability, are presented. This review reinforces the FES as a promising tool to induce neuroplastic modifications in post-stroke rehabilitation by enabling the possibility of delivering intensive periods of treatment with comparatively less demand on human resources. However, the lack of studies evaluating FES usability through motor control outcomes, specifically movement quality indicators, combined with user satisfaction limits the definition of FES optimal therapeutical window for different UL functional tasks. FES systems capable of integrating postural control muscles involving other anatomic regions, such as the trunk, during reaching tasks are required to improve UL function in post-stroke patients.
Offline Scaling of IoT Devices in IOTA Blockchain
Authors: Rawat Abhimanyu , Daza Vanesa , Signorini Matteo
Published: February 2022

An increased pattern of hidden Internet of Things (IoT) devices has been observed. Due to the increased number of security attacks, a large number of IoT devices are disappearing from the public internet. Operating blockchain operations in such ad hoc connectivity becomes challenging. However, multiple past studies have pointed towards IOTA Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) that closely caters to offline blockchain use cases. However, there has been little to no empirical study or introduction to time bounds on transaction confirmation. Therefore, this study explains what provisions the existing IOTA blockchain has to accommodate the increased pattern of hidden IoT devices, and if IOTA is truly sufficient as a solution. In summary, we approach research questions by analyzing the studies that explore the trend of offline IoT devices and evaluating the relevance of offline blockchains, assessing the IOTA specification and codebase around offline transaction-making capabilities and pointing out some bounds that IOTA blockchain nodes must follow towards incoming transactions. Furthermore, we confirm by experimental runs that outside and within the tight time bounds transactions in offline Tangle can become stale and not get confirmed, and the effective time-bound can be even less. Realizing the need for a better offline blockchain scalability solution.
Spherical Robots for Special Purposes: A Review on Current Possibilities
Authors: Bujňák Marek , Pirník Rastislav , Rástočný Karol , Janota Aleš , Nemec Dušan , Kuchár Pavol , Tichý Tomáš , Łukasik Zbigniew
Published: February 2022

The review discusses the possibilities of different driving mechanisms and sensors of spherical robots, and a special kind of mobile robots is introduced and discussed. The sensors discussed can expand robots’ sensing capabilities which are typically very limited. Most spherical robots have holonomic characteristics and protect the inner environment using a shell. Today, there are a diversity of driving mechanisms. Therefore, this article provides a review of all of them and identifies their basic properties. Accordingly, many spherical robots have only inner sensors for moving, balancing, driving, etc. However, a few of them are also equipped with sensors that can measure environmental properties. Therefore, in this paper, we propose the possibility of using such sensors as cameras, LiDARs, thermocouples, and gas sensors, which can be used for special purposes underground, for example, in mines, underground tunnels, or road tunnels. After combining all components are combined, it is possible to design a special type of spherical robot designed for underground exploration, such as accidents in mines or road tunnels.
Trunk Muscle Coactivation in People with and without Low Back Pain during Fatiguing Frequency-Dependent Lifting Activities
Authors: Varrecchia Tiwana , Conforto Silvia , De Nunzio Alessandro Marco , Draicchio Francesco , Falla Deborah , Ranavolo Alberto
Published: February 2022

Lifting tasks are manual material-handling activities and are commonly associated with work-related low back disorders. Instrument-based assessment tools are used to quantitatively assess the biomechanical risk associated with lifting activities. This study aims at highlighting different motor strategies in people with and without low back pain (LBP) during fatiguing frequency-dependent lifting tasks by using parameters of muscle coactivation. A total of 15 healthy controls (HC) and eight people with LBP performed three lifting tasks with a progressively increasing lifting index (LI), each lasting 15 min. Bilaterally erector spinae longissimus (ESL) activity and rectus abdominis superior (RAS) were recorded using bipolar surface electromyography systems (sEMG), and the time-varying multi-muscle coactivation function (TMCf) was computed. The TMCf can significantly discriminate each pair of LI and it is higher in LBP than HC. Collectively, our findings suggest that it is possible to identify different motor strategies between people with and without LBP. The main finding shows that LBP, to counteract pain, coactivates the trunk muscles more than HC, thereby adopting a strategy that is stiffer and more fatiguing.
Survey on Optimization Methods for LEO-Satellite-Based Networks with Applications in Future Autonomous Transportation
Authors: Çelikbilek Kaan , Saleem Zainab , Morales Ferre Ruben , Praks Jaan , Lohan Elena Simona
Published: February 2022

Future autonomous transportation is one of the most demanding application areas in terms of connectivity, as it has to simultaneously meet stringent criteria that do not typically go hand in hand, such as high throughput, low latency, high coverage/availability, high positioning and sensing accuracies, high security and robustness to interferences, etc. In order to meet the future demands of challenging applications, such as applications relying on autonomous vehicles, terrestrial networks are no longer sufficient and are to be augmented in the future with satellite-based networks. Among the emerging satellite networks, Low Earth Orbit (LEO) networks are able to provide advantages over traditional Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) and Geo-Stationary Earth Orbit (GEO) networks in terms of signal latency, cost, and performance. Nevertheless, several challenges exist in LEO system design, which have not been fully addressed in the existing literature. In particular, the problem of LEO-system optimization of design parameters is a multi-dimensional problem with many aspects to be considered. This paper offers a comprehensive survey of the LEO-system design parameters, of the challenges in LEO system design process, and of the optimization methods for satellite communication, positioning, and sensing applications, as well as a summarizing discussion on the design considerations for LEO-based networks to support future autonomous transportation.
Navigating an Automated Driving Vehicle via the Early Fusion of Multi-Modality
Authors: Haris Malik , Glowacz Adam
Published: February 2022

The ability of artificial intelligence to drive toward an intended destination is a key component of an autonomous vehicle. Different paradigms are now being employed to address artificial intelligence advancement. On the one hand, modular pipelines break down the driving model into submodels, such as perception, maneuver planning and control. On the other hand, we used the end-to-end driving method to assign raw sensor data directly to vehicle control signals. The latter is less well-studied but is becoming more popular since it is easier to use. This article focuses on end-to-end autonomous driving, using RGB pictures as the primary sensor input data. The autonomous vehicle is equipped with a camera and active sensors, such as LiDAR and Radar, for safe navigation. Active sensors (e.g., LiDAR) provide more accurate depth information than passive sensors. As a result, this paper examines whether combining the RGB from the camera and active depth information from LiDAR has better results in end-to-end artificial driving than using only a single modality. This paper focuses on the early fusion of multi-modality and demonstrates how it outperforms a single modality using the CARLA simulator.
Information Retrieval from Photoplethysmographic Sensors: A Comprehensive Comparison of Practical Interpolation and Breath-Extraction Techniques at Different Sampling Rates
Authors: Reali Pierluigi , Lolatto Riccardo , Coelli Stefania , Tartaglia Gabriella , Bianchi Anna Maria
Published: February 2022

The increasingly widespread diffusion of wearable devices makes possible the continuous monitoring of vital signs, such as heart rate (HR), heart rate variability (HRV), and breath signal. However, these devices usually do not record the “gold-standard” signals, namely the electrocardiography (ECG) and respiratory activity, but a single photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal, which can be exploited to estimate HR and respiratory activity. In addition, these devices employ low sampling rates to limit power consumption. Hence, proper methods should be adopted to compensate for the resulting increased discretization error, while diverse breath-extraction algorithms may be differently sensitive to PPG sampling rate. Here, we assessed the efficacy of parabola interpolation, cubic-spline, and linear regression methods to improve the accuracy of the inter-beat intervals (IBIs) extracted from PPG sampled at decreasing rates from 64 to 8 Hz. PPG-derived IBIs and HRV indices were compared with those extracted from a standard ECG. In addition, breath signals extracted from PPG using three different techniques were compared with the gold-standard signal from a thoracic belt. Signals were recorded from eight healthy volunteers during an experimental protocol comprising sitting and standing postures and a controlled respiration task. Parabola and cubic-spline interpolation significantly increased IBIs accuracy at 32, 16, and 8 Hz sampling rates. Concerning breath signal extraction, the method holding higher accuracy was based on PPG bandpass filtering. Our results support the efficacy of parabola and spline interpolations to improve the accuracy of the IBIs obtained from low-sampling rate PPG signals, and also indicate a robust method for breath signal extraction.
Cross Encoder-Decoder Transformer with Global-Local Visual Extractor for Medical Image Captioning
Authors: Lee Hojun , Cho Hyunjun , Park Jieun , Chae Jinyeong , Kim Jihie
Published: February 2022

Transformer-based approaches have shown good results in image captioning tasks. However, current approaches have a limitation in generating text from global features of an entire image. Therefore, we propose novel methods for generating better image captioning as follows: (1) The Global-Local Visual Extractor (GLVE) to capture both global features and local features. (2) The Cross Encoder-Decoder Transformer (CEDT) for injecting multiple-level encoder features into the decoding process. GLVE extracts not only global visual features that can be obtained from an entire image, such as size of organ or bone structure, but also local visual features that can be generated from a local region, such as lesion area. Given an image, CEDT can create a detailed description of the overall features by injecting both low-level and high-level encoder outputs into the decoder. Each method contributes to performance improvement and generates a description such as organ size and bone structure. The proposed model was evaluated on the IU X-ray dataset and achieved better performance than the transformer-based baseline results, by 5.6% in BLEU score, by 0.56% in METEOR, and by 1.98% in ROUGE-L.
Digital Twin for Training Bayesian Networks for Fault Diagnostics of Manufacturing Systems
Authors: Ademujimi Toyosi , Prabhu Vittaldas
Published: February 2022

Smart manufacturing systems are being advocated to leverage technological advances that enable them to be more resilient to faults through rapid diagnosis for performance assurance. In this paper, we propose a co-simulation approach for engineering digital twins (DTs) that are used to train Bayesian Networks (BNs) for fault diagnostics at equipment and factory levels. Specifically, the co-simulation model is engineered by using cyber–physical system (CPS) consisting of networked sensors, high-fidelity simulation model of each equipment, and a detailed discrete-event simulation (DES) model of the factory. The proposed DT approach enables injection of faults in the virtual system, thereby alleviating the need for expensive factory-floor experimentation. It should be emphasized that this approach of injecting faults eliminates the need for obtaining balanced data that include faulty and normal factory operations. We propose a Structural Intervention Algorithm (SIA) in this paper to first detect all possible directed edges and then distinguish between a parent and an ancestor node of the BN. We engineered a DT research test-bed in our laboratory consisting of four industrial robots configured into an assembly cell where each robot has an industrial Internet-of-Things sensor that can monitor vibrations in two-axes. A detailed equipment-level simulator of these robots was integrated with a detailed DES model of the robotic assembly cell. The resulting DT was used to carry out interventions to learn a BN model structure for fault diagnostics. Laboratory experiments validated the efficacy of the proposed approach by accurately learning the BN structure, and in the experiments, the accuracy obtained by the proposed approach (measured using Structural Hamming Distance) was found to be significantly better than traditional methods. Furthermore, the BN structure learned was found to be robust to variations in parameters, such as mean time to failure (MTTF).
Secure Inter-Domain Routing Based on Blockchain: A Comprehensive Survey
Authors: Mastilak Lukas , Helebrandt Pavol , Galinski Marek , Kotuliak Ivan
Published: February 2022

The whole Internet consists of thousands of autonomous systems that transfer data with one another. The BGP plays a significant role in routing, but its behaviour is essentially naive, trusting neighbours without authenticating advertised IP prefixes. This is the main reason why BGP endures various path manipulation attacks. Recently, conventional methods for securing BGP have been implemented, i.e., BGPSec with RPKI. However, these approaches are centralised with a single point of failure that may be compromised, invalidating the whole security mechanism. There have been multiple decentralised projects dealing with various mechanisms, mostly built on Ethereum and blockchain networks. Some with ambition to strengthen existing centralised mechanisms, others to replace them. In this article, we present the first comprehensive survey on blockchain solutions to enforce BGP security, with complex explanations of their contributions and a comparison with different aspects. We explain how blockchain technology can provide an alternative to prevent the false origin of IP prefixes or hijacking AS paths. Moreover, we describe new blockchain-based attacks that BGP would face after the inclusion of blockchain into the inter-domain routing. Finally, we answer the defined research questions and discuss the potential open issues for further study.
3D Platform for Coupling Coefficient Evaluation of an Inductive Power Transfer Systems
Authors: Domajnko Jure , Milanovič Miro , Prosen Nataša
Published: February 2022

This paper presents a custom-made, computer-connected, and controlled 3D platform that enables the evaluation of the coupling coefficient between the transmitter and receiver coil parts of an inductive wireless power transfer (IPT) system. The platform includes a computer application, a 3D positioning mechanism, and an inductance measurement circuit. The positioning mechanism moves the coils to the point in 3D space, and the inductance circuit measures the mutual inductance between the transmitter and the receiver coil. The measured value can be used to calculate the coupling coefficient between the transmitter and the receiver coil. The data are sent to the computer for further visualisation. The transmitter and the receiver coil can be evaluated by measuring the coupling coefficient between them in multiple points in space. Measurements performed with the platform can be used in the design and evaluation phases of inductive wireless power transfer systems and to extrapolate the polynomial function of the coupling coefficient in relation to the distance between coils or their misalignment.
A Limited-View CT Reconstruction Framework Based on Hybrid Domains and Spatial Correlation
Authors: Deng Ken , Sun Chang , Gong Wuxuan , Liu Yitong , Yang Hongwen
Published: February 2022

Limited-view Computed Tomography (CT) can be used to efficaciously reduce radiation dose in clinical diagnosis, it is also adopted when encountering inevitable mechanical and physical limitation in industrial inspection. Nevertheless, limited-view CT leads to severe artifacts in its imaging, which turns out to be a major issue in the low dose protocol. Thus, how to exploit the limited prior information to obtain high-quality CT images becomes a crucial issue. We notice that almost all existing methods solely focus on a single CT image while neglecting the solid fact that, the scanned objects are always highly spatially correlated. Consequently, there lies bountiful spatial information between these acquired consecutive CT images, which is still largely left to be exploited. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid-domain structure composed of fully convolutional networks that groundbreakingly explores the three-dimensional neighborhood and works in a “coarse-to-fine” manner. We first conduct data completion in the Radon domain, and transform the obtained full-view Radon data into images through FBP. Subsequently, we employ the spatial correlation between continuous CT images to productively restore them and then refine the image texture to finally receive the ideal high-quality CT images, achieving PSNR of 40.209 and SSIM of 0.943. Besides, unlike other current limited-view CT reconstruction methods, we adopt FBP (and implement it on GPUs) instead of SART-TV to significantly accelerate the overall procedure and realize it in an end-to-end manner.
Evaluations of Deep Learning Approaches for Glaucoma Screening Using Retinal Images from Mobile Device
Authors: Neto Alexandre , Camara José , Cunha António
Published: February 2022

Glaucoma is a silent disease that leads to vision loss or irreversible blindness. Current deep learning methods can help glaucoma screening by extending it to larger populations using retinal images. Low-cost lenses attached to mobile devices can increase the frequency of screening and alert patients earlier for a more thorough evaluation. This work explored and compared the performance of classification and segmentation methods for glaucoma screening with retinal images acquired by both retinography and mobile devices. The goal was to verify the results of these methods and see if similar results could be achieved using images captured by mobile devices. The used classification methods were the Xception, ResNet152 V2 and the Inception ResNet V2 models. The models’ activation maps were produced and analysed to support glaucoma classifier predictions. In clinical practice, glaucoma assessment is commonly based on the cup-to-disc ratio (CDR) criterion, a frequent indicator used by specialists. For this reason, additionally, the U-Net architecture was used with the Inception ResNet V2 and Inception V3 models as the backbone to segment and estimate CDR. For both tasks, the performance of the models reached close to that of state-of-the-art methods, and the classification method applied to a low-quality private dataset illustrates the advantage of using cheaper lenses.
Acknowledgment to Reviewers of Sci in 2021
Authors:   Sci Editorial Office
Published: February 2022

Rigorous peer-reviews are the basis of high-quality academic publishing [...]
Malonaldehyde-like Systems: BeF2 Clusters—A Subtle Balance between Hydrogen Bonds, Beryllium Bonds, and Resonance
Authors: Montero-Campillo M. Merced , Mó Otilia , Yáñez Manuel
Published: February 2022

The stability of malonaldehyde is governed by intramolecular hydrogen bonds (IMHBs) as well as in malonaldehyde-like systems where oxygen is replaced by N or S at any of the basic sites. As beryllium bonds have been shown to strongly cooperate with hydrogen bonds, this work explores at the high level ab initio G4 level of theory the effect of including this non-covalent interaction in the system through its association with BeF2. Although malonaldehyde follows the expected trends, where the formation of a pseudocyclic form is favored also when IMHB and Be bonds are present, the subtle balance between both non-covalent interactions leads to some surprising results when other heteroatoms are involved, to the point that interaction energies can be much larger than expected or even cyclization is not favored. A complete analysis using different computational tools gives an answer to those cases escaping the predictable trends.
Separation Methods in Biomedical Analysis, a Booming Field
Authors: Pallotta Arnaud , Boudier Ariane , Gouyon Jérémie , Clarot Igor
Published: February 2022

Many scientific endeavors are dependent upon the accurate quantification of drugs and endogenous substances, such as pharmacokinetics [...]
Study on the Performance of Composite Adsorption of Cu2+ by Chitosan/β-Cyclodextrin Cross-Linked Zeolite
Authors: Xiong Qiuqiu , Zhang Fenge
Published: February 2022

In order to remove Cu2+ from wastewater, a kind of microsphere adsorbent (SCDO) with high efficiency for Cu2+ adsorption was prepared by the microdrop condensation method, where chitosan (CTS) and sodium alginate (SA) were used as the matrix to crosslink β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and zeolite (Zeo). The structure and properties of SCDO were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Upon that, the adsorption performance of SCDO for Cu2+ was studied, in which the effects of pH, initial concentration, dosage, adsorption time and temperature were investigated. The results showed that the removal rate of Cu2+ reached 97.08%, and the maximum adsorption capacity was 24.32 mg/g with the temperature at 30 °C, the dosage of SCDO at 12 g/L, the initial concentration of Cu2+ at 100 mg/L, the pH of the solution at 6.0 and the adsorption time at 120 min, respectively. The adsorption process of Cu2+ by SCDO occurred in accordance with quasi-second-order kinetics model and Langmuir adsorption isotherm. After four repeats of continuous adsorption and desorption, the regenerative removal rate of Cu2+ could still reach 84.28%, which indicated that SCDO had outstanding reusability.
The Effect of Labor Flexibility on Financial Performance in Korea: The Moderating Effect of Labor Relations Climate
Authors: Choe Hyunmin , Kim Yongwon , Moon Sungok
Published: February 2022

This study reveals the impact of labor flexibility (i.e., numerical flexibility, functional flexibility, financial flexibility, and time flexibility) on financial performance and the effect of labor relations climate that moderates the two. Numerical flexibility, functional flexibility, financial flexibility, and time flexibility were chosen as the independent variables, and firms’ net profit was selected as the dependent variable to test the hypotheses. Statistical analysis was conducted on 1482 workplaces, and the findings of the regression analysis are as follows. First, numerical flexibility and financial flexibility had a positive effect on net profit among different types of labor flexibility. Second, the labor relations climate had a positive moderating effect on numerical and financial flexibility. This study is critical because it individually tested the four types of labor flexibility and empirically studied the relationship between each type and outcome variables. A labor relations climate strengthens the relationship between labor flexibility and net profit. Therefore, in order to increase the net profit of a company, it is necessary to utilize appropriate numerical and financial flexibility, and it is important to create a good labor–management partnership.
COVID-19 Pneumonia and Lung Cancer: A Challenge for the Radiologist
Review of the Main Radiological Features, Differential Diagnosis and Overlapping Pathologies
Authors: Guarnera Alessia , Santini Elena , Podda Pierfrancesco
Published: February 2022

The COVID-19 pneumonia pandemic represents the most severe health emergency of the 21st century and has been monopolizing health systems’ economic and human resources world-wide. Cancer patients have been suffering from the health systems’ COVID-19 priority management with evidence of late diagnosis leading to patients’ poor prognosis and late medical treatment. The radiologist plays a pivotal role as CT represents a non-invasive radiological technique which may help to identify possible overlap and differential diagnosis between COVID-19 pneumonia and lung cancer, which represents the most frequent cancer histology in COVID-19 patients. Our aims are: to present the main CT features of COVID-19 pneumonia; to provide the main differential diagnosis with lung cancer, chemotherapy-, immunotherapy-, and radiotherapy-induced lung disease; and to suggest practical tips and key radiological elements to identify possible overlap between COVID-19 pneumonia and lung cancer. Despite similarities or overlapping findings, the combination of clinics and some specific radiological findings, which are also identified by comparison with previous and follow-up CT scans, may guide differential diagnosis. It is crucial to search for typical COVID-19 pneumonia phase progression and typical radiological features on HRTC. The evidence of atypical findings such as lymphadenopathies and mediastinal and vessel invasion, as well as the absence of response to therapy, should arouse the suspicion of lung cancer and require contrast administration. Ground-glass areas and/or consolidations bound to radiotherapy fields or pneumonitis arising during and after oncological therapy should always arouse the suspicion of radiation-induced lung disease and chemo/immunotherapy-induced lung disease. The radiological elements we suggest for COVID-19 and lung cancer differential diagnosis may be used to develop AI protocols to guarantee an early and proper diagnosis and treatment to improve patients’ quality of life and life expectancy.
Francisella sp., a Close Relative of Francisella orientalis, Causing Septicemia with Cholestatic Hepatitis in a Patient with Anti-Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) Autoantibodies
Authors: Kajeekul Rattagan , Insiripong Somchai , Riwlord Athita , Poomchuchit Suleeporn , Kerdsin Anusak
Published: February 2022

Francisella is an intracellular, fastidious, Gram-negative bacterium that is difficult to identify using routine microbiological methods in the laboratory. We studied the isolation of Francisella sp. (strain IDAMR664) from the blood of a patient with anti-interferon-γ (IFN-γ) autoantibodies who presented with septicemia and cholestatic hepatitis. Analysis of the strain IDAMR664 genome sequence revealed the isolate was closely related to the strain GA01-2794 that had been isolated from a human in the USA. In addition, it was clustered with F. orientalis, a fish pathogen. The isolate contained several virulence factors and had Francisella pathogenicity island pattern no. 3.
On Emergent Particles and Stable Neutral Plasma Balls in SU(2) Yang-Mills Thermodynamics
Authors: Hofmann Ralf , Grandou Thierry
Published: February 2022

For a pure SU(2) Yang–Mills theory in 4D, we revisit the spatial (3D), ball-like region of radius r0 in its bulk subject to the pressureless, deconfining phase at T0=1.32Tc, where Tc denotes the critical temperature for the onset of the deconfining–preconfining phase transition. Such a region possesses finite energy density and represents the self-intersection of a figure-eight shaped center-vortex loop if a BPS monopole of core radius ∼r052.4, isolated from its antimonopole by repulsion externally invoked through a transient shift of (anti)caloron holonomy (pair creation), is trapped therein. The entire soliton (vortex line plus region of self-intersection of mass m0 containing the monopole) can be considered an excitation of the pressureless and energyless ground state of the confining phase. Correcting an earlier estimate of r0, we show that the vortex-loop self-intersection region associates to the central part of a(n) (anti)caloron and that this region carries one unit of electric U(1) charge via the (electric-magnetic dually interpreted) charge of the monopole. The monopole core quantum vibrates at a thermodynamically determined frequency ω0 and is unresolved. For a deconfining-phase plasma oscillation about the zero-pressure background at T=T0, we compute the lowest frequency Ω0 within a neutral and homogeneous spatial ball (no trapped monopole) in dependence of its radius R0. For R0=r0 a comparison of Ω0 with ω0 reveals that the neutral plasma oscillates much slower than the same plasma driven by the oscillation of a monopole core.
Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception towards COVID-19 Vaccination among the Adult Population: A Cross-Sectional Study in Turkey
Authors: Sonmezer Meliha Cagla , Sahin Taha Koray , Erul Enes , Ceylan Furkan Sacit , Hamurcu Muhammed Yusuf , Morova Nihal , Rudvan Al Ipek , Unal Serhat
Published: February 2022

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to wreak havoc on lives and ravage the world. Several vaccines have been approved for use against COVID-19; however, there may be hesitancy and negative perceptions towards vaccination, which may reduce the willingness to be vaccinated. Further, studies assessing the current perception toward COVID-19 vaccination are scarce. This study aimed to assess community knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions regarding COVID-19 vaccines among the general population of Turkey. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 1009 adult participants from the 13–20 April 2021. Demographic data were collected, and attitudes and perceptions toward COVID-19 vaccines were evaluated. A multivariable regression analysis was performed to identify the factors predicting perception towards COVID-19 vaccinations. Results: Just over half of participants were male (52.6%) and the majority of respondents were aged between 30 and 39 years (33.8%). Our study revealed that 62.7% of participants had positive perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines. Logistic regression analysis results showed that older people (≥30 vs. <30) were less likely to have a positive perception towards COVID-19 vaccines (OR = 0.70, 95% CI = 0.51–0.94). We also found participants who had a previous history of influenza vaccines (OR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.43–2.84), bachelor’s degrees or above (OR = 1.47, 95% CI = 1.12–1.91), and a personal history of COVID-19 (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.10–2.26) were more likely to have a positive perception regarding COVID-19 vaccines. Conclusion: The proportion of the general population in Turkey who believe in COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness is not inferior to that of other countries. However, the low positive perception even among the population applying for vaccination indicates that understanding the perception of the general population and its influencing factors may contribute to developing a strategy for improving vaccination rates by addressing these factors.
Multiple Sclerosis Patients and Disease Modifying Therapies: Impact on Immune Responses against COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination
Authors: Golshani Maryam , Hrdý Jiří
Published: February 2022

This article reviews the literature on SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and multiple sclerosis (MS). The first part of the paper focuses on the current data on immunopathology of SARS-CoV-2 and leading vaccines produced against COVID-19 infection. In the second part of the article, we discuss the effect of Disease Modifying Therapies (DMTs) on COVID-19 infection severity or SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in MS patients plus safety profile of different vaccine platforms in MS patients.
INFLUENCE OF THE TYPE OF FIBERS USED ON THE STRENGTH AND DEFORMATION OF DISPERSED-REINFORCED LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE
Authors: Chernil'nik A. , Smachney V. , El'shaeva D. , Zherebtsov Y. , Dotsenko N.
Published: February 2022

Fiber-reinforced concretes with improved strength and deformation characteristics are widely used in construction. The research is aimed to study the stress-strain condition of lightweight fiber-reinforced concrete, to plot stress-strain diagrams and analyze them. In total, four series of prism specimens are manufactured and tested. The first series is the control composition of lightweight concrete; the second series is lightweight concrete with a basalt fiber content of 3%; the third series is lightweight concrete with a glass fiber content of 3 %; the fourth series is lightweight concrete with a basalt fiber content of 1.5 % and 1.5 % glass fiber. The experimental studies demonstrate that lightweight concrete reinforced with basalt fiber has the highest deformability. In comparison with glass fiber, basalt fiber has a higher tensile strength and a higher elastic modulus. The fact that the concrete matrix and basalt fiber work together better is primarily due to the best mechanical characteristics of the basalt fiber. Further research prospects are determined in terms of determining the adhesion strength of various types of fibers with a matrix and studying the effect of this indicator on both the strength and deformation characteristics of lightweight concrete.
INFLUENCE OF HEAT TREATMENT MODES ON THE PROCESS OF SYNTHESIS OF CALCIUM-ALUMINATE PHASES IN THE TECHNOLOGY OF SPECIAL HIGH PURITY ALUMINUM CEMENT
Authors: Troubitsin M. , Yapryncev M. , Furda L. , Volovicheva N. , Kuzin V. , Zubaschenko R.
Published: February 2022

The results of experimental studies on the phase formation of CaAl2O4 (CA) and CaAl4O7 (CA2) from CaCO3-Al2O3 powder mixtures in the temperature range 1250 - 1450 ° C ate presented. In order to calculate the content of raw materials in the charge, the criterion of obtaining high-alumina clinker with Al2O3 content of 71 - 72 wt. % and CaO 27 - 28 wt.% is proceeded. This mass ratio in the CaO - Al2O3 system state diagram suggests the presence of two calcium-aluminate phases CA and CA2. The projected phase composition of clinker is 64 mol. % CaAl2O4 (CA) and 36 mol. % CaAl4O7 (CA2). As precursors chalk grade M-90 and technical alumina grade G-0 are used. The initial charge is heat-treated at temperatures of 1250, 1300, 1350, 1450°C and isothermal stage times of 1 and 2 hours. It is supposed that the synthesis of target phases CA and CA2 is preceded by formation stage followed by degradation of calcium-enriched metastable phase C12A7. This assumption is confirmed by the results of thermogravimetric and X-ray phase analyses and by scanning electron microscopy. The process of formation of CA and CA2 target products from dispersed powders of aluminum oxide and calcium carbonate with increasing temperature and time of isothermal exposure is determined mainly by diffusion of more mobile Ca2+ cations released in the process of C12A7 phase degradation in the area of high concentrations of aluminum oxide.
Supporting Literacy of English Language Learners in Mainstream Classrooms
Authors: Parlindungan Firman , Rahmatillah Refanja
Published: February 2022

English language learners (ELLs) may not yet be proficient enough to participate in a mainstream classroom in the U.S. schools, and they often feel anxious, frustrated, and embarrassed. Identifying best instructional practices to foster literacy learning of ELLs has been an urgent priority in research given the fact that the ELLs population continues to increase. Teachers in the U.S classrooms need to be equipped with sufficient knowledge and skills to meet the needs of these students. In this paper, current understanding of teaching literacy to ELLs in elementary classroom is presented, which revolve around discussion of oral language, complex text, and teacher engagement which is both culturally and linguistically relevant.
Relationship between Perception of Village Cadre's Interpersonal Communication and Health Service Satisfaction
Authors: Yuliarti Dede , Parlindungan Firman
Published: February 2022

Interpersonal communication is communication that occurs between two or more people, which is usually not formally regulated. In interpersonal communication, each participant uses all elements of the communication process. Village cadres have a very important role in monitoring, controlling and paying attention to the health condition of the community in Keude Tanjong Village, XVI District, West Aceh Regency. The services provided by village cadres with the community at the posyandu are positive and can be well received by visitors at the posyandu, so that the satisfaction achieved gets positive results. This research is quantitative. Respondents who became the target of the study were mothers or people who visited the posyandu in Keude Tanjong village. Data collection using the Likert scale method, in-depth interviews, and using SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solutions) application access. Analysis of the services provided by village cadres to the community got a good response, but there were also some respondents who did not accept the services provided, so that when they got respondents it was not pleasant, it was marked by negative perceptions of the various characteristics of these things and the triggers of the problem. The results showed that the relationship between interpersonal communication of village cadres and satisfaction with health services at the posyandu between posyandu cadres and the community in Keude Tanjong Village was strongly positive, namely, the relationship between interpersonal communication of village cadres and satisfaction of health services in the same direction where the greater the interpersonal communication relationship of village cadres, it would be the greater the satisfaction of health services in the village of Keude Tanjong.
Autodeterminação na aprendizagem musical mediada por tecnologias digitais no ensino médio
Authors: Ribeiro Giann Mendes , Silva Gibson Alves Marinho da
Published: February 2022

Este artigo tem como objetivo investigar a percepção de alunos do ensino médio sobre a satisfação de suas necessidades psicológicas básicas na aprendizagem musical, mediada por tecnologias digitais (Reeve 2006; Ryan e Deci 2017; Deci e Ryan 2000; (Deci e Flaste 1998). Segundo a Teoria da Autodeterminação, a motivação é influenciada por fatores intrapessoais e interpessoais, ou seja, são os fatores internos e externos que influenciam a motivação. Segundo Ryan e Deci (2017; 2000), ambientes nos quais os sujeitos tenham liberdade nas suas escolhas (apoio à autonomia) e as atividades estejam de acordo com as suas habilidades (percepção de competência), proporcionam um vínculo social (sentimento de pertencimento). Para alcançarmos os nossos objetivos, utilizamos o método da pesquisa-ação integral, na perspectiva de André Morin (2004). Os resultados indicaram que a motivação dos alunos nas aulas de artes/música não estava intrinsecamente motivada, mas sim, extrinsecamente, nos seus níveis mais autodeterminados.
La música como estrategia de ritualización
Authors: Díaz-Collao Leonardo
Published: February 2022

En el presente artículo sugiero, basado en mi trabajo etnográfico y en la discusión bibliográfica, que, debido al énfasis en dos ceremonias masivas (ngillatun y machitun), los estudios sobre música mapuche han prestado poca atención al rol de la música en las prácticas “ritualizadas” cotidianas, lo que reduce la reflexión sobre la acción musical en contexto ritual solo a ciertos eventos ceremoniales colectivos. Por el contrario, considero que observar el despliegue de la música en diversas situaciones rituales puede contribuir a la comprensión de las finalidades y agencia que los sonidos y la música poseen en el mundo mapuche. Para este propósito, propongo un modo de abordar la práctica ritual mapuche -que identifica prácticas ritualizadas y eventos rituales colectivos- y considero la acción musical colectiva como una estrategia de ritualización que se enmarca en una dramatización general de los procedimientos rituales utilizados cotidianamente.
Performance e sentido no DVD da Banda Quilombo do Rio das Rãs
Authors: Pereira Rita de Cássia Mendes , Santos Elisabete Tâmara Galvão dos
Published: February 2022

O texto tem por objeto a relação entre performance e produção de sentidos no espetáculo da Banda Quilombo do Rio das Rãs, realizado em 2009, na cidade de Bom Jesus da Lapa-Ba. A análise foi calcada nas regras da performance (Zumthor 2014), tendo como referência o tempo e o lugar de realização do espetáculo, a finalidade do ato comunicacional, as ações dos músicos e das dançarinas e o perfil do público, nos diferentes tempos de recepção. O protagonista da ação performática é o sujeito quilombola, que fez da música o meio para sair da sua condição habitual, marcada pela exclusão e pelo preconceito. Por outro lado, o trabalho buscou refletir sobre o poder da performance, de modificar o conhecimento que artistas e público têm sobre si mesmo e sobre o outro e, portanto, de atuar sobre a percepção do mundo que mobiliza os sujeitos em seus processos identitários.
Protocolo Clínico: Manejo da Influenza
Authors: Soraia Accioly
Published: February 2022

Este protocolo adotado pelo Hospital Santa Izabel tem por objetivo orientar a equipe assistencial sobre manejo clínico de pacientes com suspeita clínica de Influenza.
Aspects of the desalination of mineralized water in arid and water-deficient territories
Authors: Мажуга А.Г. , Каграманов Г.Г. , Парусов Д.В. , Бланко-Педрехон А.М.
Published: February 2022

Получение питьевой воды в приморских аридных и вододефицитных регионах является актуальной проблемой вследствие роста населения и прогрессирующего загрязнения природных вод. Для опреснения морской воды обычно используется выпаривание (дистилляция) или мембранный процесс разделения – обратный осмос. Обоснование выбора способа опреснения морской воды и производительности опреснительных установок основано на решении ряда тесно связанных инженерных, экономических и экологических задач. Опреснение воды требует относительно высоких затрат энергии, поэтому для снижения издержек необходимо повышение коэффициента использования теплоты топлива, то есть использование когенерации (совместной выработки тепла и электроэнергии). Это обусловливает комплексную технологию опреснения, использующую мембранные методы обессоливания с последующей выпаркой концентрата. При этом баланс производительности обратноосмотической и выпарной установок определяется соотношением получаемой тепловой и электрической энергии.

Supplying drinking water in coastal arid and water-deficient regions has been an urgent problem due to the population growth and progressive pollution of natural waters. To desalinate seawater, evaporation (distillation) or a membrane separation process – reverse osmosis – is usually used. The justification for choosing a seawater desalination method and the productivity of desalination plants is based on the solution of a number of closely related engineering, economic and environmental tasks. Water desalination involves relatively high energy costs; therefore, reducing the costs can be provided by increasing the fuel heat-availability factor, that is, by using cogeneration (cogeneration of heat and electricity). This determines the comprehensive technology of desalination using membrane methods of demineralization followed by the evaporation of the reject water. Herewith, the balance of the reverse osmosis and evaporator plant performance is determined by the ratio of the generated thermal and electrical energy.
HUBUNGAN TINGKAT STRESS DENGAN KUALITAS TIDUR PADA PASIEN DIABETES MELITUS TIPE 2 DI RUMAH SAKIT GMIM PANCARAN KASIH MANADO
Authors: Sumiok Cindy Sweetenia , Madianung Agnes , Katuuk Mario E.
Published: February 2022

Abstract Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus usually experience severe stress so that patients have poor sleep quality, sleep quality is closely related to emotional stress which can have an impact on sleep quality. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between stress levels and sleep quality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Research Methods Using aapproach cross sectional. Respondents consisted of 75 respondents with a sampling technique by means of purpose sampling. Measurement of stress levels was carried out using the DDAS (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale) questionnaire. And the measurement of sleep quality was done using the PSQI (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) questionnaire. Test results show that there is a relationship between stress levels and sleep quality inpatients type 2 diabetes mellitus at Pancaran Kasih Hospital Manado. Where the p-value = 0.011 is smaller than α = (0.05), the conclusion of this study shows that stress levels affect the quality of sleep in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Suggestion The results of this study are expected to be used as information and input for Pancaran Hospital. The love of GMIM Manado especially for nurses to be a reference in handling stress levels in type 2 Diabetes Mellitus patients.Keywords : Stress Level, Sleep Quality, Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus PatientsAbstrak Penderita diabetes mellitus tipe 2 biasanya mengalami stress berat sehingga penderita memiliki kualitas tidur yang buruk, kualitas tidur sangat berhubungan erat dengan stress emosional yang bisa berdampak pada kualitas tidur. Tujuan Penelitian ini di lakukan untuk mengetahui hubungan antara tingkat stress dengan kualitas tidur pada pasien diabetes mellitus tipe 2. Metode Penelitian Menggunakan pendekatan cross sectional. Responden terdiri dari 75 responden dengan teknik pengambilan sampel dengan cara purpose sampling. Pengukuran Tingkat stress dilakukan dengan menggunakan kuisioner DDAS (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale). Dan pengukuran kualitas tidur dilakukan dengan menggunakan kuisioner PSQI (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index). Hasil Uji Menunjukan adanya hubungan antara tingkat stress dengan kualitas tidur pada pasien diabetes mellitus tipe 2 di rumah sakit Pancaran Kasih Manado. Dimana p-value= 0,011 lebih kecil dari α=(0,05), Kesimpulan hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa faktor tingkat stress mempengaruhi kualitas tidur pada pasien diabetes mellitus tipe 2. Saran Hasil penelitian ini Diharapkan dapat dijadikan informasi dan masukkan bagi Rumah Sakit Pancaran Kasih GMIM Manado terutama bagi perawat untuk bisa menjadi acuan dalam penanganan tingkat stress pada pasien Diabetes Melitus tipe 2Kata Kunci : Tingkat Stres, Kualitas Tidur, Pasien Diabetes mellitus tipe 2