bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Impact of the growth environment in inductively coupled plasma on the synthesis and morphologies of carbon nanohorns
Authors: Casteignau Fanny , Aissou Taki , Menneveux Jérôme , Veilleux Jocelyn , Martel Richard , Braidy Nadi
Published: November 2022

The fabrication of carbon nanohorns (CNHs) from a methane precursor with argon in an inductively coupled plasma was recently demonstrated with a high production rate of ∼20 g/h by Casteignau et al. [Plasma Chem. Plasma Process. 42, 465 (2022)]. The presence of a promotor gas such as hydrogen was found to be important for the growth of CNHs, but the mechanisms at play remain unclear. Here, we study the impact of different promotor gases by replacing hydrogen with nitrogen and helium at different promotor:precursor (Pm:Pr) ratios, X:CH4 = 0.3–0.7 (X = H2 or N2, Ar, and He), and global flow rates FX+FCH4=1.7 and 3.4 slpm. The nature of the promotor gas is shown to directly influence the morphology and the relative occurrence of CNHs, graphitic nanocapsules (GNCs), and graphene nanoflakes. Using quantitative transmission electron microscopy, we show that CNHs are favored by an X:CH4 = 0.5, preferably with X = He or N2. With a lower total flow rate (1.7 slpm) of N2, even larger production rates and higher selectivity toward CNHs are achieved. Optical emission spectroscopy was used to probe the plasma and to demonstrate that the nature promotor gas strongly modulates the C2 density and temperature profile of the plasma torch. It is shown that CNHs nucleation is favored by high C2 density at temperatures exceeding 3500 K localized at the exit-end of the nozzle, creating a reaction zone with extended isotherms. H2 favors CH4 dissociation and creates a high C2 density but cools the nucleation zone, which leads to structures with a strong graphitic character such as GNCs.
Championship and Sponsor Analysis in Intercollegiate Athletics: A Case Study Examining the Effects of Identification, Expectations, and Game Outcomes on Event Sponsorship Evaluations
Authors: Brown-Devlin Natalie , Devlin Michael B. , Peña Vincent
Published: November 2022

To examine the relationship among identification, fan expectations, and sponsorship outcomes, this study examined Alabama and Clemson fan expectations and responses to the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) football championship game outcome. This case study sought to understand how fans of winning and losing teams evaluated a sporting event’s sponsor following the conclusion of an event, positing that highly identified fans would demonstrate a halo effect, and report favorable attitudes toward the sponsoring brand as suggested by previous research. However, there is a lack of theoretical evidence regarding consumer expectations when applied within the context of sport. Thus, using the theoretical framework of identification and expectation violation theory, the authors inquired to what extent the outcome of the game and one’s expectations of the outcome influenced their evaluation of the event sponsor. The results support previous research regarding potential halo effects, but also add nuance to earlier work demonstrating that a halo effect is not unilaterally applied for all fans. Given the unpredictable nature of sport and the increasing cost of sponsoring sporting events, these findings help explain the extent to which violations of one’s expected outcome affect subsequent evaluations of a sponsor.
Heating the Skin Over the Knee Improves Kinesthesia During Knee Extension
Authors: Lamers Meghan , Howe Erika E. , Power Geoffrey A. , Bent Leah R.
Published: November 2022

To determine how heating affects dynamic joint position sense at the knee, participants (n = 11; F = 6) were seated in a HUMAC NORM dynamometer. The leg was passively moved through extension and flexion, and participants indicated when the 90° reference position was perceived, both at baseline (28.74 ± 2.43 °C) and heated (38.05 ± 0.16 °C) skin temperatures. Day 2 of testing reduced knee skin feedback with lidocaine. Directional error (actual leg angle–target angle) and absolute error (AE) were calculated. Heating reduced extension AE (baseline AE = 5.46 ± 2.39°, heat AE = 4.10 ± 1.97°), but not flexion. Lidocaine did not significantly affect flexion AE or extension AE. Overall, increased anterior knee-skin temperature improves dynamic joint position sense during passive knee extension, where baseline matching is poorer. Limited application of lidocaine to the anterior thigh, reducing some skin input, did not influence dynamic joint position sense, suggesting cutaneous receptors may play only a secondary role to spindle information during kinesthetic tasks. Importantly, cutaneous input from adjacent thigh regions cannot be ruled out as a contributor.
Startling Acoustic Stimulation Has Task-Specific Effects on Intracortical Facilitation and Inhibition at Rest and During Visually Guided Isometric Elbow Flexion in Healthy Individuals
Authors: Chen Yen-Ting , Li Shengai , Zhang Yingchun , Zhou Ping , Li Sheng
Published: November 2022

Startling acoustic stimulation (SAS) causes a transient effect on the primary motor cortex (M1) nonreflexively. It reduces the cortical excitability at rest, but not during voluntary contraction. However, the effect of SAS on intracortical activity is not clear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the SAS effect on short-interval intracortical inhibition and intracortical facilitation using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Eleven healthy individuals performed isometric elbow flexion at 10% of maximum voluntary contraction on the dominant side with a real-time visual target (i.e., M1 preactivation) or at rest. TMS was delivered to the M1 ipsilateral to elbow flexion without or with SAS delivered 90 ms prior to TMS. There were three TMS delivery conditions: (a) single pulse, (b) short-interval intracortical inhibition, and (c) intracortical facilitation. TMS-induced motor-evoked potential (MEP) was compared between predetermined TMS and SAS conditions at rest and during ipsilateral voluntary contraction. We confirmed that SAS decreased the MEP amplitude at rest, but not during M1 preactivation. SAS caused task-specific effects on intracortical excitability. Specifically, SAS increased intracortical facilitation at rest and during voluntary contraction. However, SAS decreased short-interval intracortical inhibition only during M1 preactivation. Collectively, our results suggest that SAS transiently influences the motor cortex excitability, possibly via its activation of higher centers, to achieve a visually guided goal-directed task.
Unified epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic taxonomy of Alzheimer’s disease progression and heterogeneity
Authors: Iturria-Medina Yasser , Adewale Quadri , Khan Ahmed F. , Ducharme Simon , Rosa-Neto Pedro , O’Donnell Kieran , Petyuk Vladislav A. , Gauthier Serge , De Jager Philip L. , Breitner John , Bennett David A.
Published: November 2022

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a heterogeneous disorder with abnormalities in multiple biological domains. In an advanced machine learning analysis of postmortem brain and in vivo blood multi-omics molecular data (N= 1863), we integrated epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic profiles into a multilevel biological AD taxonomy. We obtained a personalized multilevel molecular index of AD dementia progression that predicts severity of neuropathologies, and identified three robust molecular-based subtypes that explain much of the pathologic and clinical heterogeneity of AD. These subtypes present distinct patterns of alteration in DNA methylation, RNA, proteins, and metabolites, identifiable in the brain and subsequently in blood. In addition, the genetic variations that predispose to the various AD subtypes in brain predict distinct spatial patterns of alteration in cell types, suggesting a unique influence of each putative AD variant on neuropathological mechanisms. These observations support that an individually tailored multi-omics molecular taxonomy of AD may represent distinct targets for preventive or treatment interventions.
On-chip distribution of quantum information using traveling phonons
Authors: Zivari Amirparsa , Fiaschi Niccolò , Burgwal Roel , Verhagen Ewold , Stockill Robert , Gröblacher Simon
Published: November 2022

Distributing quantum entanglement on a chip is a crucial step toward realizing scalable quantum processors. Using traveling phonons—quantized guided mechanical wave packets—as a medium to transmit quantum states is now gaining substantial attention due to their small size and low propagation speed compared to other carriers, such as electrons or photons. Moreover, phonons are highly promising candidates to connect heterogeneous quantum systems on a chip, such as microwave and optical photons for long-distance transmission of quantum states via optical fibers. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of distributing quantum information using phonons by realizing quantum entanglement between two traveling phonons and creating a time-bin–encoded traveling phononic qubit. The mechanical quantum state is generated in an optomechanical cavity and then launched into a phononic waveguide in which it propagates for around 200 micrometers. We further show how the phononic, together with a photonic qubit, can be used to violate a Bell-type inequality.
A bistable and reconfigurable molecular system with encodable bonds
Authors: Zhou Chunyang , Yang Donglei , Sensale Sebastian , Sharma Pranav , Wang Dongfang , Yu Lei , Arya Gaurav , Ke Yonggang , Wang Pengfei
Published: November 2022

Molecular systems with ability to controllably transform between different conformations play pivotal roles in regulating biochemical functions. Here, we report the design of a bistable DNA origami four-way junction (DOJ) molecular system that adopts two distinct stable conformations with controllable reconfigurability by using conformation-controlled base stacking. Exquisite control over DOJ’s conformation and transformation is realized by programming the stacking bonds (quasi–blunt-ends) within the junction to induce prescribed coaxial stacking of neighboring junction arms. A specific DOJ conformation may be achieved by encoding the stacking bonds with binary stacking sequences based on thermodynamic calculations. Dynamic transformations of DOJ between various conformations are achieved by using specific environmental and molecular stimulations to reprogram the stacking codes. This work provides a useful platform for constructing self-assembled DNA nanostructures and nanomachines and insights for future design of artificial molecular systems with increasing complexity and reconfigurability.
OXPHOS promotes apoptotic resistance and cellular persistence in T
H
17 cells in the periphery and tumor microenvironment
Authors: Hong Hanna S. , Mbah Nneka E. , Shan Mengrou , Loesel Kristen , Lin Lin , Sajjakulnukit Peter , Correa Luis O. , Andren Anthony , Lin Jason , Hayashi Atsushi , Magnuson Brian , Chen Judy , Li Zhaoheng , Xie Yuying , Zhang Li , Goldstein Daniel R. , Carty Shannon A. , Lei Yu Leo , Opipari Anthony W. , Argüello Rafael J. , Kryczek Ilona , Kamada Nobuhiko , Zou Weiping , Franchi Luigi , Lyssiotis Costas A.
Published: November 2022

T cell proliferation and cytokine production are bioenergetically and biosynthetically costly. The inability to meet these metabolic demands results in altered differentiation, accompanied by impaired effector function, and attrition of the immune response. Interleukin-17–producing CD4 T cells (T
H
17s) are mediators of host defense, autoimmunity, and antitumor immunity in the setting of adoptive T cell therapy. T
H
17s are long-lived cells that require mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) for effector function in vivo. Considering that T
H
17s polarized under standardized culture conditions are predominately glycolytic, little is known about how OXPHOS regulates T
H
17 processes, such as their ability to persist and thus contribute to protracted immune responses. Here, we modified standardized culture medium and identified a culture system that reliably induces OXPHOS dependence in T
H
17s. We found that T
H
17s cultured under OXPHOS conditions metabolically resembled their in vivo counterparts, whereas glycolytic cultures were dissimilar. OXPHOS T
H
17s exhibited increased mitochondrial fitness, glutamine anaplerosis, and an antiapoptotic phenotype marked by high BCL-XL and low BIM. Limited mitophagy, mediated by mitochondrial fusion regulator OPA-1, was critical to apoptotic resistance in OXPHOS T
H
17s. By contrast, glycolytic T
H
17s exhibited more mitophagy and an imbalance in BCL-XL to BIM, thereby priming them for apoptosis. In addition, through adoptive transfer experiments, we demonstrated that OXPHOS protected T
H
17s from apoptosis while enhancing their persistence in the periphery and tumor microenvironment in a murine model of melanoma. Together, our work demonstrates how metabolism regulates T
H
17 cell fate and highlights the potential for therapies that target OXPHOS in T
H
17-driven diseases.
Genome Sequence of the Sulfate-Reducing Bacterium Pseudodesulfovibrio portus JCM 14722
T
Authors: Kataoka Takafumi , Kondo Ryuji
Published: November 2022

Pseudodesulfovibrio portus
JCM 14722
T
is a strictly anaerobic, mesophilic sulfate-reducing bacterium isolated from estuarine sediments in Japan. Its draft genome sequence comprises 1 circular chromosome (3,403,863 bp), harboring 3,182 predicted protein- and 60 tRNA-encoding genes, as well as 2 rRNA operons.
Complete Genome Sequences of Two Predatory Bacterial Strains,
Bacteriovorax
sp. HI3 and
Myxococcus
sp. MH1, Isolated from a Freshwater Pond
Authors: Inoue Daisuke , Hiroshima Naoto , Ishizawa Hidehiro , Dohra Hideo , Ike Michihiko
Published: November 2022

We report the complete genome sequences of two predatory bacterial strains,
Bacteriovorax
sp. HI3 and
Myxococcus
sp. MH1, which were isolated from a freshwater pond. These two strains are grouped with the
Bdellovibrio
and like organisms and myxobacteria, respectively. Their genomes expand our knowledge of the characteristics of predatory bacteria.
Identification of Novel
tet
(X3) Variants Resistant To Tigecycline in Acinetobacter Species
Authors: Cheng Yumeng , Li Yakun , Yu Runhao , Ma Mingxiang , Yang Meng , Si Hongbin
Published: November 2022

Although it is illegal to use tigecycline and carbapenems to treat bacterial infections in animals, we can still isolate bacteria containing both mobile resistance genes from animals, and
tet
(X) is currently an essential factor in degrading tigecycline. Here, we characterized two multidrug-resistant
Acinetobacter
sp. strains that contained vital resistance genes, such as
sul2
, a
bla
OXA-164
-like gene,
floR
,
tetM
, and multiple novel
tet
(X3) variants with different tandem structures.
Introduction of the London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy at the booking visit and the midwives’ perspective
Authors: Cheney Kate , Black Kirsten , Pelosi Marilena , Dorney Edwina
Published: November 2022

Background

Pregnancy planning and preconception care benefit women, their children, and future generations. The London Measure of Unplanned Pregnancy (LMUP) is a tool that can be used in antenatal care to identify women with unintended pregnancies who require improved access to such services. This tool was recently implemented into routine antenatal care in two maternity centres in New South Wales, Australia. This study explores midwives’ attitudes to the LMUP 12 months after it was introduced into the booking visit and their understanding of its application to their scope of practice.

Methods

This is a qualitative study using in-depth semi-structured interviews with midwives from two maternity care centres in Australia. All midwives performing antenatal booking visits were eligible to take part. Interviews were transcribed, analysed, and coded to define key themes. Recruitment ceased when thematic saturation was reached.

Results

Ten midwives from two maternity centres were interviewed. Midwives support the inclusion of the LMUP into the booking visit and felt it was in their scope of practice to be using the tool. Time constraints, the impact of COVID-19 and the lack of structured referral pathways were identified as barriers to the implementation of the LMUP in routine care.

Conclusions

Midwives support the inclusion of the LMUP into the antenatal booking visit and see that it falls within their scope of practice. Service barriers were identified at the individual, organisational and external context levels. These need to be addressed to enhance the potential of this tool.
Why women choose self-managed telemedicine abortion in the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic: a national mixed methods study
Authors: Cui Nanke , Gemzell-Danielsson Kristina , Gomperts Rebecca
Published: November 2022

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed strict lockdown restrictions that have introduced barriers to in-person abortion clinic visits in the Netherlands. Women on Web (WoW) is a global medical abortion telemedicine service operating outside the formal health sector.

Aim

To understand the motivations and perceived barriers women faced when choosing telemedicine abortion outside the formal health sector, and how this was affected by the pandemic.

Methods

178 women who completed an online consultation on the Dutch WoW website during the period 6 March 2020 to 5 March 2021 were included in this cross-sectional cohort study and exploratory qualitative study. Patient characteristics and motivations were analysed and associated with the severity of COVID-19 restrictions. Email exchanges in which women could further describe their requests were also examined for recurrent clarification of motivations.

Results

Women experienced barriers to regular abortion care due to COVID-19 restrictions and had the preference to (1) self-manage their abortion, (2) stay in the comfort of their own home, and (3) keep their abortion private. In particular, women who did not live in the cities where abortion clinics were located experienced barriers to abortion services. As COVID-19 restrictions tightened, it was more frequently mentioned that women sought help from WoW because COVID-19 restrictions and abortion care were not accessible to them in the Netherlands. In the qualitative analysis of email exchanges, the reasons of COVID-19, privacy concerns, and domestic violence were particularly evident.

Conclusions

In the Netherlands, barriers to receiving adequate abortion care were exacerbated for women in vulnerable positions such as being geographically farther away from an abortion clinic, being in a deprived socioeconomic position, or being in an unsafe home situation. Similar to other medical care, abortion care should be deliverable online.
Improving access to quality contraceptive counselling in community pharmacy: examining the knowledge, attitudes and practices of community pharmacists in Australia
Authors: Buckingham Pip Louise Maria , Hussainy Safeera , Soon Judith , Norman Wendy V , Bateson Deborah , Mazza Danielle
Published: November 2022

Background

Across most of Australia, the role of community pharmacists in contraceptive care has been unchanged since 2004. To understand their current scope of practice and potential for practice advancements, we examined community pharmacists’ contraceptive knowledge and their attitudes, practices and perceived barriers to and benefits of contraceptive counselling provision.

Methods

A nationwide postal survey was conducted between September and December 2020. We contacted a state/territory-stratified sample of 2149 community pharmacies and limited eligibility to one pharmacist per pharmacy. Summary statistics of respondent characteristics and parametric (χ2, linear regression) and non-parametric (Mann-Whitney, logistic regression) tests were computed for the outcomes: practices, knowledge (reported and tested), confidence, attitudes, barriers and benefits.

Results

Eligible responses were received from 366 pharmacies (19%). Pharmacists’ median age was 34. Most (85% of) pharmacists agreed that contraceptive counselling fits within their current professional activities and emphasised benefits to their patients, including improved access to contraceptive decision support (80%), as being key motivators of counselling. A lack of payment mechanisms (66%), training opportunities (55%) and technical assistance tools (54%) were the most important barriers. Self-rated knowledge and confidence were highest for combined oral contraceptive pills and lowest for the copper intrauterine device (IUD). When tested, pharmacists were very knowledgeable about method, dosage, frequencies and costs, and relatively less knowledgeable about side-effects and IUD suitability for adolescents.

Conclusions

Community pharmacists provide contraceptive information and counselling but lack the necessary resources and support to be able to consistently provide quality, person-centred care. Remuneration mechanisms, training opportunities and pharmacy-specific professional resources need to be explored.
Reversible Top-Down Syntax Analysis
Authors: Kutrib Martin , Meyer Uwe
Published: November 2022

Top-down syntax analysis can be based on [Formula: see text] grammars. The canonical acceptors for [Formula: see text] languages are deterministic stateless pushdown automata with input lookahead of size [Formula: see text]. We investigate the computational capacity of reversible computations of such automata. A pushdown automaton with lookahead [Formula: see text] is said to be reversible if its predecessor configurations can uniquely be computed by a pushdown automaton with backward input lookahead (lookback) of size [Formula: see text]. It is shown that we cannot trade a lookahead for states or vice versa. The impact of having states or a lookahead depends on the language. While reversible pushdown automata with states accept all regular languages, we are going to prove that there are regular languages that cannot be accepted reversibly without states, even in case of an arbitrarily large lookahead. This completes the comparison of reversible with ordinary pushdown automata in our setting. Moreover, it turns out that there are problems which can be solved by reversible deterministic stateless pushdown automata with lookahead of size [Formula: see text], but not by any reversible deterministic stateless pushdown automaton with lookahead of size [Formula: see text]. So, an infinite and tight hierarchy of language families dependent on the size of the lookahead is shown. Finally, we prove that the language families accepted by reversible deterministic stateless pushdown automata with lookahead of size [Formula: see text] are not closed under standard operations. For example, we show that the families are anti-AFLs which are not closed under intersection.
An Integrated Framework with Deep Learning for Segmentation and Classification of Cancer Disease
Authors: Bhuyan Hemanta Kumar , Ravi Vinayakumar
Published: November 2022

This paper addresses radiologists’ specific diagnosis of cancer disease effectively using integrated framework of deep learning model. Although several existing diagnosis systems have been adopted by a physician, in few cases, it is not so practical to see the infected area from images in the normal eye. Thus, a fully integrated diagnosis framework for disease detection is proposed to find out the infected area from image using deep learning approaches in this paper. In this proposed framework, various components are designed through deep learning approaches such as detection, segmentation, classification etc. based on mass region. The classification technique is used to classify the disease as either benign or malignant. The vital part of this framework is developed by using a full resolution convolutional network (FrCN) that supports different stages of image processing, especially breast cancer disease. Different experimental evaluation is taken to perform on the accuracy, cross-validation tests, and the comparative testing. Since we have taken 4-fold evaluation, the FrCN performs with an average 98.7% Dice index, 97.8% TS/CSI coefficient, 99.1% overall accuracy, and 98.15% MCC. Our experiments demonstrated that the proposed diagnosis system performs on the deep learning approaches at each segmentation stage and classification with good results.
An Effective Depression Diagnostic System Using Speech Signal Analysis Through Deep Learning Methods
Authors: Verma Aman , Jain Pooja , Kumar Tapan
Published: November 2022

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), depression is one of the largest contributors to the burden of mental and psychological diseases with more than 300 million people being affected; however a huge portion of this does not receive effective diagnosis. Traditional techniques to diagnose depression were based on clinical interviews. These techniques had several limitations based on duration and variety of symptoms, due to which these methods lacked subjectivity and accuracy. Speech is tested to be an important tool in diagnosis as they carry the impression of one’s thoughts and emotions. Speech signals not only carry the linguistic feature but they also contain several other features (paralinguistic features) which can reflect the emotional state of the speaker. The analysis of these features can be used for the diagnosis of depression. With the advancement of artificial techniques and algorithms, they have become popular and are widely used in tasks of pattern recognition and signal processing. These algorithms can easily extract the features from the data and learn to recognize patterns from them. Although these algorithms can successfully recognize emotions, their efficiency is often argued. The main objective of this paper is to propose a strategy to efficiently diagnose depression from the analysis of speech signals. The analysis is performed in the following two ways: First, by considering the male and female emotions combined (gender-neutral) where they are classified into two classes, and second, separately for the male and female emotions (gender-based) for a total of four classes. Experiments conducted show the advantages and shortcomings of paralinguistic features for diagnosis of depression. During experimentation we tested several architectures by efficiently tuning the hyperparameters. For K-nearest neighbors (KNN), best attained accuracy was 86%, whereas for Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) architecture the accuracy attained was 87.8%. Best results were obtained from hybrid 1D-Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) and Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) architecture with the accuracy of 88.33% and 90.07% for gender-neutral and gender-based respectively.
autoFPR: An Efficient Automatic Approach for Facial Paralysis Recognition Using Facial Features
Authors: Gogu Sridhar Reddy , Sathe Shailesh R.
Published: November 2022

Facial paralysis (FP) is the most common illness. Nerve damage can cause the affected muscles of the face to lose control. Most FP diagnosis systems heavily depend on skilled clinicians and lack automatic quantitative assessment. This paper introduces a novel automatic facial paralysis recognition (autoFPR) approach, a four-stage machine learning solution, for classifying FP and healthy subjects. Our solution includes the creation of the dataset, feature extraction, dimensionality reduction, and classification. The FP and healthy subject videos are collected from the publicly available YouTube Facial Palsy database and the 300VW database, respectively. Facial features are extracted from the collected facial videos using landmarks, action units, eye gaze, and head pose. Five different experiments were performed to find the best facial paralysis recognition technique. autoFPR can distinguish subjects with facial paralysis and healthy individuals by using movement changes in their eyebrows, eyes, and corners of the mouth. Our goal is to prove that machine learning classifiers are capable of diagnosing FP. We evaluate system performance using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1. Feature selection plus principal component analysis with support vector machine achieved the highest accuracy, with 97.3% for the extracted features.
MIGR: A Categorical Data Clustering Algorithm Based on Information Gain in Rough Set Theory
Authors: Raheem Saddam , Al Shehabi Shadi , Mohi Nassief Amaal
Published: November 2022

Clustering techniques are used to split data into clusters where each cluster contains elements that look more similar to elements in the same cluster than elements in other clusters. Some of these techniques are capable of handling clustering process uncertainty, while other techniques may have stability issues. In this paper, a novel method, called Minimum Information Gain Roughness (MIGR), is proposed to select the clustering attribute based on information entropy with rough set theory. To evaluate its performance, three benchmark UCI datasets are chosen to be clustered by using MIGR. Then, the resulting clusters are compared to those which are resulted from applying Min-Min-Rough (MMR) and information-theoretic dependency roughness (ITDR) algorithms. Both last-mentioned techniques were already compared with a variety of clustering algorithms like k-modes, fuzzy centroids, and fuzzy k-modes. The Global purity, the overall purity, and F-measure are considered here as performance measures to compare the quality of the resulting clusters. The experimental results show that the MIGR algorithm outperforms both MMR and ITDR algorithms for clustering categorical data.
PREDICTION OF NANO-COATED TOOL WEAR USING BAT AND WHALE OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHMS
Authors: SELVARAJ SENTHIL KUMARAN , KALIAPPAN JAYAKUMAR , KUMAR S. RAMESH , PRAKASH CHANDER , BUDDHI DHARAM , GUPTA LOVI RAJ , HADIDI HAITHAM M.
Published: November 2022

In the industrial machining process, there have been major advances in near-net-shaped forming, which leads machining to be considered a significant modern phenomenon. Machining turns a huge number of metals into chips every year. This study aimed to determine the wear and mechanical properties of various cutting inserts. Polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and Ceramic Inserts were selected as coated inserts. It was discovered that tool wear at the cutting edge impacts various factors, including the amount of cutting forces created during machining; the surface finish of the workpiece is also compromised, resulting in reduced tool life. Owing to the frequent replacement of cutting tools, the decreased wear rate of cutting tools exponentially raises the costs that companies/machine shops would incur. After the second iteration, this insert began to develop crater wear, which resulted in a poor surface finish and high heat generation. However, the surface finish of this instrument was discovered to be the best during the first iteration. From the outcome, the PCD coated tool with feed speeds and low depth of cuts performed the efficient machining process. The surface finish is also accurate for PCD coated tool. The bat and whale algorithms’ optimization involved to find the best technical parameters to achieve the lowest possible error value based on rake and face wear. The bat and whale algorithms were used to determine the optimized rake and face wear values. The bat algorithm outperforms the whale algorithm in terms of wear value predictions.
An Accurate Computational Method for Buckling of Orthotropic Composite Plate with Non-Classical Boundary Restraints
Authors: Zhang Jinghui , Zhao Qingxin , Ullah Salamat , Zhao Dahai , Qi Wenyue , Civalek Ömer
Published: November 2022

New accurate buckling analysis for rectangular orthotropic thin plates with complicated non-classical boundary restraints are conducted through adopting the finite Fourier integral transform approach. Non-classical boundaries such as rotationally restrained edges increase the mathematical difficulty in processing problems of plates, which leads to rare analytical results for benchmark use. The proposed approach is implemented in the framework of integral transform theory, in which trial function for the deflection is not necessary, and offers uniform solution procedures for problems of plates with various boundaries via adopting different integral kernels. The main merits of the approach employed is to enable one to change the complicated title problem into dealing with linear algebraic equations easily solved. Via altering the rotational spring factors introduced, buckling behaviors of plates with Levy-type boundaries and non-Levy-type boundaries can also be studied. Finally, all the given results including critical load factor and mode shape match the FEM analysis exactly, which illustrate the accuracy and validity of the method.
Unprecedented formation of azulicorroles from the scrambling of azulitripyrrane
Authors: Edwin Aathira , Sulfikarali Thondikkal , Kuppadakkath Geethanjali , Gokulnath Sabapathi
Published: November 2022

In this study, we have prepared new tripyrranes embedded with azulene bearing two meso-pentafluorophenyl substituents. They were obtained as diastereomers in high yield which were separated using conventional column chromatography. Their distinct solution structures were unambiguously confirmed by NMR and mass analysis. Our synthetic strategy is simple and straightforward due to the reactivity of 1,3-positions of azulene, which underwent Lewis acid-catalyzed condensation with pyrrole-2-carbinol. These diastereomers were further subjected to acid-catalyzed (CF3COOH) condensation with pyrrole dicarbinol to afford the target N-confused azuliporphyrin (reduced form) in trace amount. However, we obtained the tris-meso-pentafluorophenyl substituted azulicorrole (AzCorA) as major product due to an unprecedented scrambling of the azulitripyrranes. The structural characterization of newly synthesized key precursors and macrocycles was done with the aid of high-resolution mass analyses, and 1H and 2D NMR analyses. The single crystal X-ray structure obtained for AzCorArevealed that the azulene subunit is tilted by 34.03[Formula: see text] due to the steric congestion of inner-NHs.
D-π-A structured porphyrin sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells
Authors: Kang Sung Ho , Zhou Haoran , Kim Hwan Kyu
Published: November 2022

Two porphyrin-based D-[Formula: see text]-A structured dyes of SGT-026 and SGT-027 with different acceptor groups were synthesized and characterized for dye-sensitized solar cells. The structure of SGT-027was designed with a very strong acceptor unit of (5-(naphtho[1,2-c:5,6-c[Formula: see text]]bis[1,2,5]-thiadiazolyl)benzoic acid) (NBTD), resulting in more red-shifted absorption bands and broader NIR absorption ability, but SGT-026 porphyrin with a weak acceptor unit of (2-(thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6(5H)-dionyl)benzoic acid) (TPD) exhibited a blue-shifted Q band absorption, compared to the reference SGT-021dye with a strong acceptor unit of (4-(benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol-4-yl)benzoic acid) (BTD). The photophysical properties of these D-[Formula: see text]-A structured porphyrin sensitizers depend on the degree of the intramolecular charge transfer character with the electron-withdrawing ability order of NBTD> BTD> TPD. The photovoltaic performances were evaluated using cobalt (II/III)-based redox electrolyte, SGT-027 reached a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up to 7.5%, which was surprisingly inferior to the benchmark porphyrin sensitizer SGT-021 with a PCE of 10.9%, and a PCE of 5.9% was exhibited by SGT-026, under AM 1.5G sunlight. The optical, and electrochemical properties and DFT calculations were utilized to understand the cell performance difference between SGT-dyes.
Assessing Cyber Risk in Cyber-Physical Systems Using the ATT&CK Framework
Authors: Amro Ahmed , Gkioulos Vasileios , Katsikas Sokratis
Published: November 2022

Autonomous transport is receiving increasing attention, with research and development activities already providing prototype implementations. In this article we focus on
Autonomous Passenger Ships (APS)
, which are being considered as a solution for passenger transport across urban waterways. The ambition of the authors has been to examine the safety and security implications of such a
Cyber Physical System (CPS)
, particularly focusing on threats that endanger the passengers and the operational environment of the APS. Accordingly, the article presents a new risk assessment approach based on a
Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)
that is enriched with selected semantics and components of the MITRE ATT&CK framework, in order to utilize the encoded common knowledge and facilitate the expression of attacks. Then, the proposed approach is demonstrated through conducting a risk assessment for a communication architecture tailored to the requirements of APSs that were proposed in earlier work. Moreover, we propose a group of graph theory-based metrics for estimating the impact of the identified risks. The use of this method has resulted in the identification of risks and their corresponding countermeasures, in addition to identifying risks with limited existing mitigation mechanisms. The benefits of the proposed approach are the comprehensive, atomic, and descriptive nature of the identified threats, which reduce the need for expert judgment, and the granular impact estimation metrics that reduce the impact of bias. All these features are provided in a semi-automated approach to reduce the required effort and collectively are argued to enrich the design-level risk assessment processes with an updatable industry threat model standard, namely ATT&CK.
Feedback Chain Network For Hippocampus Segmentation
Authors: Huang Heyu , Cong Runmin , Yang Lianhe , Du Ling , Wang Cong , Kwong Sam
Published: November 2022

The hippocampus plays a vital role in the diagnosis and treatment of many neurological disorders. Recent years, deep learning technology has made great progress in the field of medical image segmentation, and the performance of related tasks has been constantly refreshed. In this paper, we focus on the hippocampus segmentation task and propose a novel hierarchical feedback chain network. The feedback chain structure unit learns deeper and wider feature representation of each encoder layer through the hierarchical feature aggregation feedback chains, and achieves feature selection and feedback through the feature handover attention module. Then, we embed a global pyramid attention unit between the feature encoder and the decoder to further modify the encoder features, including the pair-wise pyramid attention module for achieving adjacent attention interaction and the global context modeling module for capturing the long-range knowledge. The proposed approach achieves state-of-the-art performance on three publicly available datasets, compared with existing hippocampus segmentation approaches. The code and results can be found from the link of https://github.com/easymoneysniper183/sematic_seg.
Open Innovation in E-government: Exploring its Practices in Tanzania
Authors: Mkude Catherine
Published: November 2022

Open innovation (OI) in e-government is evolving as an important research agenda, which takes advantage of new collaborations and emerging technologies in provision of public services. The objectives of the article are (1) to examine the understanding of OI in e-government in Tanzania and the practices adopted in selected public institutions, (2) to identify the challenges of OI in e-government, and (3) to identify strategies for addressing the OI challenges. The article adopts a qualitative research method to investigate OI in e-government in Tanzanian context. The article concludes that (1) OI in e-government is still a new but significant research and practical agenda, (2) for Tanzania, OI is expected to accelerate innovation and to strengthen an OI ecosystem, (3) success of OI in e-government depends on how the government creates an enabling environment. This article makes theoretical and practical contributions in exploring OI practices in the Tanzanian public sector. Theoretical framework of OI in e-government is still emerging; thus, this article is timely. The practical recommendations of adoption of OI in e-government for the Tanzanian government add to the key contributions of this article.
Optimized Sample Adaptive Offset Filter in HEVC
Authors: Archana N. , Menaka R. , Raj P. T. Vasanth , Keerthivasan G. , Kumar N.
Published: November 2022

The high-efficiency video coding (HEVC) standard incorporates sample adaptive offset (SAO) as an in-loop filtering technique to reduce distortion. The fundamental tenet of SAO is to classify every reconstructed pixel and then simply add the offset to each group of pixels. The previous existing technique employs 32 bands in band offset (BO) calculation to determine the proper offset value to minimize the distortion in the SAO estimate algorithm for statistics collection and parametric determination procedure. The suggested method will reduce the necessary band count by 16 bands. It does not alter how edge offset is determined in any way. It offers enough and efficient room for creating superior band group predictions and selections, as well as an ideal decrease in the implemented area. Thus, reducing the number of bands to 16 also decreases the amount of storage needed to hold each pixel’s information in binary files by up to 0.65%.
Performance Evaluation of a Photovoltaic-Thermal Collector Coupled Stepped Solar Still for Indian Climatic Conditions
Authors: Narang Ayush , Roy Siddhartha , Kataray Tarun , Bonde Vishal , Rajesh S. , Chiranjeevi C. , Chadha Utkarsh , Hirpha Bulcha Bekele
Published: November 2022

Freshwater scarcity is increasing across many parts of the globe; to meet this demand, seawater desalination is the best choice, and the electrical energy consumption is escalating due to urbanization and industrialization. Sustainable production of electricity and freshwater can be met by an integrating photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) module with stepped solar still (SSS). The present study focuses on the theoretical modeling of the PVT-SSS desalination system for evaluating thermal efficiency, energy efficiency, freshwater productivity, and electrical power generation. The solar still productivity will be influenced by the depth of water, insulation thickness, glass cover material, thickness and inclination, and operational factors like preheating the input water supply and water salinity. A comparative analysis has been made of summer, winter, and rainy climatic conditions of Vellore town (12.9165° N, 79.1325° E), Tamil Nadu. In the present work, a thermodynamic model based on mass and energy balance is developed for the PVT-SSS system, and it is solved by a numerical method. A Runge-Kutta technique of 4th order is employed using a Python program for solving the thermodynamic simulation model. The results from the model depict that for summer, winter, and rainy climatic seasons, the freshwater productivity of PV/T-SSS was determined to be 12.18 kg/m2day, 6.67 kg/m2day, and 2.77 kg/m2day. Also, it is found that electrical efficiency for summer, winter, and rainy seasons is 8.91%, 9.135%, and 9.53%, respectively. A maximum and minimum freshwater production of 1668 kg/m2 and 1218 kg/m2 are observed for a depth of 2 cm and 5 cm, respectively.
Investigation of Early Corrosion Behavior of Canister Candidate Materials in Oxic Groundwater by the EQCM Method
Authors: Kim Gha-Young , Kim Sung-Wook , Jang Junhyuk , Yoon Seok , Kim Jin-Seop
Published: November 2022

This study investigated the corrosion mass changes of canister candidate materials (Cu, Ni, Ti, SS304) in an oxic groundwater solution using the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance method in order to estimate corrosion thickness. The materials were immersed in naturally aerated groundwater with and without the addition of chloride ions to observe the mass changes as well as the open-circuit potential (corrosion potential). In the oxic groundwater solution, Ni, Ti, and SS304 exhibited negligible mass changes, indicating their insusceptibility to general corrosion. In contrast, the Cu electrode exhibited a relatively significant mass change (63.8 ng/cm2 for 60 h), and the maximum corrosion thickness was estimated to be approximately 0.1 μm/yr. In the presence of chloride ions, the Ni and Ti electrodes did not reveal demonstrate any significant changes, whereas the SS304 electrode was slightly increased compared to an absence of chloride ions. A lower mass change occurred when the Cu electrode was immersed in the chloride-containing groundwater solution compared with the absence of chlorides because the dissolution of Cu as

CuCl

2
−

was involved in Cu2O formation.
NBP Relieves Cardiac Injury and Reduce Oxidative Stress and Cell Apoptosis in Heart Failure Mice by Activating Nrf2/HO-1/Ca2+-SERCA2a Axis
Authors: Wang Zhongyu , Zhang Yan , Wang Lei , Yang Chun , Yang Hongliang
Published: November 2022

Although heart failure (HF) has become one of the most fatal diseases in the whole world, there are fewer drugs for its treatment. Therefore, we focused on the protective effect of Dl-3-n-butylphthalide (NBP) on myocardial injury and oxidative stress in heart failure mice and further investigated the relationship with the Nrf2/HO-1/Ca2+-SERCA2a axis. Methods. C57BL/6J mice were divided into the sham group (Sham), heart Failure model group (HF), HF + NBP group (HN), HN + Nrf2 inhibitor (HNM), HN + Calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) antagonist, KN93 (HNK). The HF mice model was prepared using abdominal aorta ligation. Mice’s heart function was accessed by echocardiography. Hematoxylin-eosin staining and MASSON staining were used to identify myocardial injury; the cell apoptosis was determined by the TUNEL staining assay. The expression of oxidative stress-related proteins was detected by the ELISA assay. The reactive oxygen species and Nrf2 expression in heart tissue were observed with the immunofluorescence assay. SERCA2a, calmodulin, endoplasmic reticulum stress regulatory proteins, and Nrf2/HO-1 in mice’ heart tissues were measured using Western blotting. Results. Moreover, NBP could significantly promote heart failure mice’s heart function, relieve the injury and inhibit cell apoptosis. Meanwhile, it could reduce ERS injury of heart failure mice through increasing SERCA2a level and reducing Ca2+ influx. NBP was demonstrated to minimize CaMKII phosphorylation level and decrease cAMP-response element-binding protein phosphorylation level, suggesting NBP could also activate the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway. Conclusions. We demonstrated that NPBs treatment promotes the cardiomyocyte’s ERS and alleviates myocardial injury in heart failure mice, related to stimulating the Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway, regulating Ca2+-SERCA2a, and reducing Ca2+ influx.