bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Multi-Channel Generative Framework and Supervised Learning for Anomaly Detection in Surveillance Videos
Authors: Vu Tuan-Hung , Boonaert Jacques , Ambellouis Sebastien , Taleb-Ahmed Abdelmalik
Published: May 2021

Recently, most state-of-the-art anomaly detection methods are based on apparent motion and appearance reconstruction networks and use error estimation between generated and real information as detection features. These approaches achieve promising results by only using normal samples for training steps. In this paper, our contributions are two-fold. On the one hand, we propose a flexible multi-channel framework to generate multi-type frame-level features. On the other hand, we study how it is possible to improve the detection performance by supervised learning. The multi-channel framework is based on four Conditional GANs (CGANs) taking various type of appearance and motion information as input and producing prediction information as output. These CGANs provide a better feature space to represent the distinction between normal and abnormal events. Then, the difference between those generative and ground-truth information is encoded by Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio (PSNR). We propose to classify those features in a classical supervised scenario by building a small training set with some abnormal samples of the original test set of the dataset. The binary Support Vector Machine (SVM) is applied for frame-level anomaly detection. Finally, we use Mask R-CNN as detector to perform object-centric anomaly localization. Our solution is largely evaluated on Avenue, Ped1, Ped2, and ShanghaiTech datasets. Our experiment results demonstrate that PSNR features combined with supervised SVM are better than error maps computed by previous methods. We achieve state-of-the-art performance for frame-level AUC on Ped1 and ShanghaiTech. Especially, for the most challenging Shanghaitech dataset, a supervised training model outperforms up to 9% the state-of-the-art an unsupervised strategy.
Systematic Performance Evaluation of a Novel Optimized Differential Localization Method for Capsule Endoscopes
Authors: Zeising Samuel , Ararat Kivanc , Thalmayer Angelika , Anzai Daisuke , Fischer Georg , Kirchner Jens
Published: May 2021

Capsule endoscopy is a well-established diagnostic tool for the gastrointestinal tract. However, the reliable tracking of capsule endoscopes needs further investigation. Recently, the static magnetic differential method for the localization of capsule endoscopes has shown promising results. This method was experimentally validated by investigating the difference in the measured values of the geomagnetic flux density of a representative sensor pair. In the measurements, it was revealed that misalignment of the sensors and ferromagnetic material near the sensor pair had the most significant impact on the differential approach. Besides, a systematical simulation-based study was conducted. Herein, the position and alignment of all sensors of the localization system were randomly varied. Furthermore, root-mean-squared noise was added to the sensor measurements, and the influence of nearby ferromagnetic material was evaluated. Subsequently, non-idealities were applied simultaneously on the proposed localization system, and the entire system was rotated. The proposed method was significantly better than state-of-the-art geomagnetic compensation methods for the localization of capsule endoscopes with mean position and orientation errors of approximately 2 mm and 1°, respectively.
Glucose Prediction under Variable-Length Time-Stamped Daily Events: A Seasonal Stochastic Local Modeling Framework
Authors: Montaser Eslam , Díez José-Luis , Bondia Jorge
Published: May 2021

Accurate glucose prediction along a long-enough time horizon is a key component for technology to improve type 1 diabetes treatment. Subjects with diabetes might benefit from supervision and control systems that accurately predict risks and trigger corrective actions early enough with improved mitigation. However, large intra-patient variability poses big challenges to glucose prediction. In previous works by the authors, clustering and local modeling techniques with seasonal stochastic models proved to be efficient, allowing for good glucose prediction accuracy for long prediction horizons. Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data were partitioned into fixed-length postprandial time subseries and clustered with Fuzzy C-Means to collect similar behaviors, enforcing seasonality at each cluster after subseries concatenation. Then, seasonal stochastic models were identified for each cluster and local predictions were integrated into a global prediction. However, free-living conditions do not support the fixed-length partition of CGM data since daily events duration is variable. In this work, a new algorithm is provided to overcome this constraint, allowing better coping with patient’s variability under variable-length time-stamped daily events in supervision and control applications. Besides predicted glucose, two real-time indices are additionally provided—a crispness index, indicating good representation of current glucose behavior by a single model, and a normality index, allowing for the detection of an abnormal glucose behavior (unusual according to registered historical data). The framework is tested in a proof-of-concept in silico study with ten patients over four month training data and two independent two month validation datasets, with and without abnormal behaviors, from the distribution version of the UVA/Padova simulator extended with diverse sources of intra-patient variability.
Measuring Outdoor Walking Capacities Using Global Positioning System in People with Multiple Sclerosis: Clinical and Methodological Insights from an Exploratory Study
Authors: Delahaye Coralie , Chaves Dorine , Congnard Florian , Noury-Desvaux Bénédicte , de Müllenheim Pierre-Yves ,   on behalf of the SOCOS Group
Published: May 2021

We aimed at showing how Global Positioning System (GPS) along with a previously validated speed processing methodology could be used to measure outdoor walking capacities in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). We also deal with methodological issues that may occur when conducting such measurements, and explore to what extent GPS-measured outdoor walking capacities (maximal walking distance [MWDGPS] and usual walking speed) could be related to traditional functional outcomes (6-min total walking distance) in people with MS. Eighteen people with MS, with an Expanded Disability Status Scale score ≤6, completed a 6-min walking test and an outdoor walking session (60 min maximum) at usual pace during which participants were wearing a DG100 GPS receiver and could perform several walking bouts. Among the 12 participants with valid data (i.e., who correctly completed the outdoor session with no spurious GPS signals that could prevent the detection of the occurrence of a walking/stopping bout), the median (90% confidence interval, CI) outdoor walking speed was 2.52 km/h (2.17; 2.93). Ten participants (83% (56; 97)) had ≥1 stop during the session. Among these participants, the median of MWDGPS was 410 m (226; 1350), and 40% (15; 70) did not reach their MWDGPS during the first walking bout. Spearman correlations of MWDGPS and walking speed with 6-min total walking distance were, respectively, 0.19 (−0.41; 0.95) and 0.66 (0.30; 1.00). Further work is required to provide guidance about GPS assessment in people with MS.
Fiber Bragg Grating Pressure Sensor Integrated with Epoxy Diaphragm
Authors: Her Shiuh-Chuan , Weng Shin-Zhong
Published: May 2021

A fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor integrated with an epoxy diaphragm was developed for the measurement of pressure and water level. The bending strain of a circular diaphragm induced by uniform pressure was transferred to the FBG sensor. The response of the FBG sensor to the pressure was observed in terms of the Bragg wavelength shift which is linearly proportional to the strain. The effect of epoxy diaphragm thickness on the sensitivity and accuracy was investigated. The experimental results show that the sensitivity of FBG/epoxy diaphragm pressure sensor is decreasing with the increase of the diaphragm thickness. The sensitivities of the FBG pressure sensors with diaphragm thicknesses of 0.5 mm, 0.7 mm, and 1.0 mm were 175.5 pm/kPa, 89.5 pm/kPa, and 43.7 pm/kPa, respectively. The pressure measured by the proposed FBG sensor was compared with theoretical prediction and a close agreement was observed.
High Temperature Ultrasonic Transducers: A Review
Authors: Kazys Rymantas , Vaskeliene Vaida
Published: May 2021

There are many fields such as online monitoring of manufacturing processes, non-destructive testing in nuclear plants, or corrosion rate monitoring techniques of steel pipes in which measurements must be performed at elevated temperatures. For that high temperature ultrasonic transducers are necessary. In the presented paper, a literature review on the main types of such transducers, piezoelectric materials, backings, and the bonding techniques of transducers elements suitable for high temperatures, is presented. In this review, the main focus is on ultrasonic transducers with piezoelectric elements suitable for operation at temperatures higher than of the most commercially available transducers, i.e., 150 °C. The main types of the ultrasonic transducers that are discussed are the transducers with thin protectors, which may serve as matching layers, transducers with high temperature delay lines, wedges, and waveguide type transducers. The piezoelectric materials suitable for high temperature applications such as aluminum nitride, lithium niobate, gallium orthophosphate, bismuth titanate, oxyborate crystals, lead metaniobate, and other piezoceramics are analyzed. Bonding techniques used for joining of the transducer elements such as joining with glue, soldering, brazing, dry contact, and diffusion bonding are discussed. Special attention is paid to efficient diffusion and thermo-sonic diffusion bonding techniques. Various types of backings necessary for improving a bandwidth and to obtain a short pulse response are described.
Compensation of a Second Harmonic Wave Included in an Incident Ultrasonic Wave for the Precise Measurement of the Acoustic Nonlinearity Parameter
Authors: Song Dong-Gi , Choi Sungho , Kim Taehyeon , Jhang Kyung-Young
Published: May 2021

The incident second harmonic wave is a problematic issue for the precise measurement of the acoustic nonlinearity parameter. This paper proposes a compensation method to remove the effect of the incident second harmonic component in the measurement of the absolute acoustic nonlinearity parameter using the calibration method. For this, the second harmonic component detected by the receiving transducer is considered as the sum of the component due to material nonlinearity and the component included in the incident signal and a numerical calculation model is developed as a function of the propagation distance. In the model, the factors related to the material nonlinear parameter and the magnitude of the incident second harmonic component are unknown and these are determined by finding a value that best matches the experimental data according to the change in the propagation distance; compensation for the incident second harmonic component is then achieved. The case where the phase of the second harmonic wave due to material nonlinearity is opposite to that of the fundamental wave is also considered. To verify the validity of the proposed method, fused silica and aluminum alloy Al6061-T6 specimens with different thicknesses corresponding to the propagation distance are tested. The experimental results show that the nonlinear parameters changed significantly according to the propagation distance before compensation but were very stable after compensation. Additionally, the average values of the nonlinear parameter are 11.04 in the fused silica, which is within the literature value range (10.1 to 12.4), and that for the Al6061-T6 is 6.59, which is close to the literature value range (4.5 to 6.12).
Cross-Layer-Aided Opportunistic Routing for Sparse Underwater Wireless Sensor Networks
Authors: Zhao Danfeng , Lun Guiyang , Xue Rui , Sun Yanbo
Published: May 2021

Underwater wireless sensor networks (UWSNs) have emerged as a promising technology to monitor and explore the oceans instead of traditional undersea wireline instruments. Traditional routing protocols are inefficient for UWSNs due to the specific nature of the underwater environment. In contrast, Opportunistic Routing (OR) protocols establish an online route for each transmission, which can well adapt with time-varying underwater channel. Cross-layer design is an effective approach to combine the metrics from different layers to optimize an OR routing in UWSNs. However, typical cross-layer OR routing protocols that are designed for UWSNs suffer from congestion problem at high traffic loads. In this paper, a Cross-Layer-Aided Opportunistic Routing Protocol (CLOR) is proposed to reduce the congestion in multi-hop sparse UWSNs. The CLOR consists of a negotiation phase and transmission phase. In the negotiation phase, the cross-layer information in fuzzy logic is utilized to attain an optimal forwarder node. In the transmission phase, to improve the transmission performance, a burst transmission strategy with network coding is exploited. Finally, we perform simulations of the proposed CLOR protocol in a specific sea region. Simulation results show that CLOR significantly improves the network performances at various traffic rates compared to existing protocols.
Pig Weight and Body Size Estimation Using a Multiple Output Regression Convolutional Neural Network: A Fast and Fully Automatic Method
Authors: Zhang Jianlong , Zhuang Yanrong , Ji Hengyi , Teng Guanghui
Published: May 2021

Pig weight and body size are important indicators for producers. Due to the increasing scale of pig farms, it is increasingly difficult for farmers to quickly and automatically obtain pig weight and body size. Due to this problem, we focused on a multiple output regression convolutional neural network (CNN) to estimate pig weight and body size. DenseNet201, ResNet152 V2, Xception and MobileNet V2 were modified into multiple output regression CNNs and trained on modeling data. By comparing the estimated performance of each model on test data, modified Xception was selected as the optimal estimation model. Based on pig height, body shape, and contour, the mean absolute error (MAE) of the model to estimate body weight (BW), shoulder width (SW), shoulder height (SH), hip width (HW), hip width (HH), and body length (BL) were 1.16 kg, 0.33 cm, 1.23 cm, 0.38 cm, 0.66 cm, and 0.75 cm, respectively. The coefficient of determination (R2) value between the estimated and measured results was in the range of 0.9879–0.9973. Combined with the LabVIEW software development platform, this method can estimate pig weight and body size accurately, quickly, and automatically. This work contributes to the automatic management of pig farms.
The Effects of Individual Differences, Non-Stationarity, and the Importance of Data Partitioning Decisions for Training and Testing of EEG Cross-Participant Models
Authors: Kamrud Alexander , Borghetti Brett , Schubert Kabban Christine
Published: May 2021

EEG-based deep learning models have trended toward models that are designed to perform classification on any individual (cross-participant models). However, because EEG varies across participants due to non-stationarity and individual differences, certain guidelines must be followed for partitioning data into training, validation, and testing sets, in order for cross-participant models to avoid overestimation of model accuracy. Despite this necessity, the majority of EEG-based cross-participant models have not adopted such guidelines. Furthermore, some data repositories may unwittingly contribute to the problem by providing partitioned test and non-test datasets for reasons such as competition support. In this study, we demonstrate how improper dataset partitioning and the resulting improper training, validation, and testing of a cross-participant model leads to overestimated model accuracy. We demonstrate this mathematically, and empirically, using five publicly available datasets. To build the cross-participant models for these datasets, we replicate published results and demonstrate how the model accuracies are significantly reduced when proper EEG cross-participant model guidelines are followed. Our empirical results show that by not following these guidelines, error rates of cross-participant models can be underestimated between 35% and 3900%. This misrepresentation of model performance for the general population potentially slows scientific progress toward truly high-performing classification models.
ResSANet: Learning Geometric Information for Point Cloud Processing
Authors: Zhu Xiaojun , Zhang Zheng , Ruan Jian , Liu Houde , Sun Hanxu
Published: May 2021

Point clouds with rich local geometric information have potentially huge implications in several applications, especially in areas of robotic manipulation and autonomous driving. However, most point cloud processing methods cannot extract enough geometric features from a raw point cloud, which restricts the performance of their downstream tasks such as point cloud classification, shape retrieval and part segmentation. In this paper, the authors propose a new method where a convolution based on geometric primitives is adopted to accurately represent the elusive shape in the form of a point cloud to fully extract hidden geometric features. The key idea of the proposed approach is building a brand-new convolution net named ResSANet on the basis of geometric primitives to learn hierarchical geometry information. Two different modules are devised in our network, Res-SA and Res­SA­2, to achieve feature fusion at different levels in ResSANet. This work achieves classification accuracy up to 93.2% on the ModelNet40 dataset and the shape retrieval with an effect of 87.4%. The part segmentation experiment also achieves an accuracy of 83.3% (class mIoU) and 85.3% (instance mIoU) on ShapeNet dataset. It is worth mentioning that the number of parameters in this work is just 1.04 M while the network depth is minimal. Experimental results and comparisons with state-of-the-art methods demonstrate that our approach can achieve superior performance.
Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Inoculation Reduced the Growth of Pre-Rooted Olive Cuttings in a Greenhouse
Authors: Lopes João I. , Correia Carlos M. , Gonçalves Alexandre , Silva Ermelinda , Martins Sandra , Arrobas Margarida , Rodrigues Manuel Ângelo
Published: May 2021

The effect of commercial mycorrhizal fungi on pre-rooted olive cuttings was assessed. The study consisted of two experiments, the first arranged as a factorial design with three cultivars (Cobrançosa, Madural, and Verdeal Transmontana) and three soil treatments (commercial mycorrhizal fungi, zeolites, and control) and the second as a completely randomized design with three treatments (commercial mycorrhizal fungi, sterilized soil, and control). Cobrançosa grew better than the other cultivars, showing good rooting and initial growth features. Mycorrhizal plants showed reduced growth in comparison to those of the untreated control. This result was explained by competition for photosynthates between plant growth and the expansion of fungi hyphae. Cuttings of reduced leaf area and a twin-wall polycarbonate cover of the greenhouse, somewhat opaque to photosynthetic active radiation, may also have contributed to limit the maximum photosynthetic rate and delay the growth of the inoculated plants. Accordingly, in the mycorrhizal pots, the soil organic carbon (C) increased, probably due to the presence of fungi hyphae in soil samples. Zeolites reduced plant dry matter (DM) yield and tissue phosphorus (P) concentration compared to the control, while increasing the availability in the soil of the cations present in their initial composition. Soil sterilization seems to have reduced soil P bioavailability by inactivating soil enzymes. This study showed that the inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi of pre-rooted cuttings can delay their initial growth. Although these plants may be better prepared to grow in the field, in the short term, their lower development can be a problem for the nurseryman.
Characterisation and Traceability of Calcium Carbonate from the Seaweed Lithothamnium calcareum
Authors: da Silva Rosana Pereira , Kawai Giovanna Sayuri Domingues , Andrade Fabio Ramos Dias de , Bezzon Vinicius Danilo Nonato , Ferraz Humberto Gomes
Published: May 2021

Calcium carbonate (CaCO3) from the seaweed Lithothamnium calcareum is a suitable dietary supplement for the prevention of osteoporosis, due to its chemical composition. This study compared CaCO3 from L. calcareum to CaCO3 from oyster shell and inorganic minerals that are already used in the pharmaceutical industry. The Rietveld refinement of the XRD showed that the mineral fraction of L. calcareum is composed of aragonite (50.3 wt%), magnesian calcite (45.3 wt%), calcite (4.4 wt%), comin contrast to oyster shell and inorganic minerals, which contain only calcite. The morphology of L. calcareum carbonate particles is granular xenomorphic, which is distinct from the scalenohedral form of inorganic calcite and the fibrous and scale-like fragments of oyster shell. The crystal structures of aragonite and magnesian calcite, present in L. calcareum, have higher contents of oligoelements than the pure calcite in other materials. The isotopic composition (stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen) is heavy in the CaCO3 from L. calcareum (δ13C = 1.1‰; δ18O = −0.1‰) and oyster shell (δ13C = −4‰; δ18O = −2.8‰) in marked contrast to the much lighter isotopic composition of inorganic mineral CaCO3 (δ13C = −19.2‰; δ18O = −26.3‰). The differences indicated above were determined through principal component analysis, where the first and second principal components are sufficient for the clear distinction and traceability of CaCO3 sources.
Evaluation of Rapid Exit Locations Based on Veer-Off Risk for Landing Aircraft
Authors: Galagedera Sameeraű , Adikariwattage Varuna , Pasindu H. R.
Published: May 2021

Rapid exit taxiways enhance runway operational capacities by means of reducing the runway occupancy times of aircraft. The selection of rapid exit taxiway locations is important to achieve the optimum runway capacity. This paper presents a methodology for locating rapid exits based on excursion risk. Considering the level of severity and frequency of historical runway-related accidents and emerging use of rapid exit taxiways in the future, this study explores the associated veer-off risk at rapid exits. The proposed methodology estimates veer-off risk using three successive steps such as event probability, location probability, and severity estimation. An existing logistic regression model developed for landing overrun probability estimation is adapted for the exit taxiway facility to estimate event probability. Aircraft touchdown speed, deceleration, and runway criticality factor are the important operational parameters of this model adaptation. The aircraft turn path radius and kinetic energy at the time of veer-off are used to estimate the respective location probabilities and accident severities. As the sample analysis proves, the associated veer-off risk increases when the exits are closer to the runway threshold. The paper recommends wider taxiways and larger taxiway radii to compensate for increasing veer risks. The methodology helps for planning risk-based rapid exit taxiways for varying design, operational, and weather conditions.
Evaluation of the Sustainable Coupling Coordination of the Logistics Industry and the Manufacturing Industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt
Authors: Gong Ying , Yang Xiao-Qiong , Ran Chun-Yan , Shi Victor , Zhou Yu-Feng
Published: May 2021

In order to promote the sustainable and coordinated development of the logistics industry and the manufacturing industry in the Yangtze River Economic Belt of China and provide the policy makers with decision-making references, this paper explored the spatio-temporal evolution of the coupling coordination development level of the two industries. A three-stage super-efficiency SBM model, which eliminated the influence of environmental factors and random errors, was constructed to make it possible to conduct an in-depth comparative analysis on the effective decision-making units (DMUs), making the calculation results more accurate. This was the main contribution of this paper. Based on the new model considering undesirable output, this paper analyzed the panel data of 11 provinces and cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2007 to 2017 and investigated the coordination development level from the dimensions of time and space considering the energy input and carbon emissions of the two industries. Our main research findings were as follows. First, due to the relative lagging of the logistics industry in promoting the development of the manufacturing industry, the overall level of the coordination between the two industries was at a stage of limited coordination. Second, the regional differences were significant with a spatial evolution pattern of “high in the east and low in the west”. Third, environmental factors affected the input efficiency of the logistics industry and the manufacturing industry, especially the latter. Overall, this paper made theoretical and practical contributions to promoting the joint development of the two industries, improving the logistics industry and upgrading the manufacturing industry.
How Ready Is Higher Education for Quality 4.0 Transformation according to the LNS Research Framework?
Authors: Alzahrani Bandar , Bahaitham Haitham , Andejany Murad , Elshennawy Ahmad
Published: May 2021

The world is evolving, and it has transformed from the industrial age to the era of connected and intelligent products in both organizations and competition. The advances in technology in the last decade have led to the introduction of a new term called Industry 4.0 or the fourth industrial revolution and that has led to the emergence of the term Quality 4.0. Quality 4.0 is the digitalization of traditional quality approaches and the focus on the use of digital tools to improve an organization’s ability to meet customers’ requirements with high quality. The purpose of this paper is to assess the environments of higher education institutions (HEIs) against the 11 axes of LNS Research Quality 4.0 framework and provide insights about their readiness for Quality 4.0 transformation. The framework helps the organizations digitalize their traditional quality practices and transform to Quality 4.0 through exploring the traditional quality—Quality 4.0 continuum of tools and/or concepts related to each axis so they can assess their transformation efforts accordingly. This paper uses these continuums to identify the quality implementation efforts conducted by HEIs through analyzing the continuums’ related practices adopted within their environments and find out what should be done to get to the full transformation to Quality 4.0 within the higher education field. The study shows the HEIs potential of adopting the Quality 4.0 tools and techniques of varies axes of the framework while revealing a limited adoption of most of them in the current times. This is due to several challenges the most impacting of which is having fragmented processes together with fragmented data systems and sources. The study is concluded with a proposed roadmap to assist HEIs to get the best out their efforts in the Quality 4.0 transformation process.
Pleistocene Bryozoans from the Clyde Clay Formation of Scotland, and the Holocene Retreat of Cold-Water Species
Authors: Taylor Paul David
Published: May 2021

Although bryozoans are a diverse phylum of aquatic invertebrates with a rich fossil record, very little has been written about bryozoan faunas from the latest Pleistocene at a time of rapid global change when temperatures increased dramatically and the sea-level rose. Two species of cyclostome and eight species of cheilostome bryozoans are here described from the late Devensian Clyde Clay Formation of Greenock, Scotland, based on historical material in the collections of the NHM, UK. All are illustrated for the first time from this deposit using scanning electron microscopy. Three of the species (Tubulipora cf. marisalbi, Rhamphostomella radiatula and Schizomavella porifera) are unknown from the seas around Scotland at the present-day but occur in colder waters to the north. This is consistent with the poleward retreat of cold-water species as seawater temperatures increased at the end of the Pleistocene.
Influence of Fermions on Vortices in SU(2)-QCD
Authors: Dehghan Zeinab , Deldar Sedigheh , Faber Manfried , Golubich Rudolf , Höllwieser Roman
Published: May 2021

Gauge fields control the dynamics of fermions, and, in addition, a back reaction of fermions on the gauge field is expected. This back reaction is investigated within the vortex picture of the QCD vacuum. We show that the center vortex model reproduces the string tension of the full theory also in the presence of fermionic fields.
Impact of Immunotherapy on CD4 T Cell Phenotypes and Function in Cancer
Authors: Saillard Margaux , Cenerenti Mara , Romero Pedro , Jandus Camilla
Published: May 2021

Immunotherapy has become a standard treatment in many cancers and it is based on three main therapeutic axes: immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), vaccination and adoptive cell transfer (ACT). If originally these therapies mainly focused on exploiting CD8 T cells given their role in the direct elimination of tumor cells, increasing evidence highlights the crucial role CD4 T cells play in the antitumor immune response. Indeed, these cells can profoundly modulate the tumor microenvironment (TME) by secreting different types of cytokine or by directly eliminating cancer cells. In this review, we describe how different CD4 T cell subsets can contribute to tumor immune responses during immunotherapy and the novel high-throughput immune monitoring tools that are expected to facilitate the study of CD4 T cells, at antigen-specific and single cell level, thus accelerating bench-to-bed translational research in cancer.
Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting Surface-Exposed and Secreted Proteins from Staphylococci
Authors: Speziale Pietro , Pietrocola Giampiero
Published: May 2021

Staphylococci (specifically Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis) are the causative agents of diseases ranging from superficial skin and soft tissue infections to severe conditions such as fatal pneumonia, bacteremia, sepsis and endocarditis. The widespread and indiscriminate use of antibiotics has led to serious problems of resistance to staphylococcal disease and has generated a renewed interest in alternative therapeutic agents such as vaccines and antibodies. Staphylococci express a large repertoire of surface and secreted virulence factors, which provide mechanisms (adhesion, invasion and biofilm development among others) for both bacterial survival in the host and evasion from innate and adaptive immunity. Consequently, the development of antibodies that target specific antigens would provide an effective protective strategy against staphylococcal infections. In this review, we report an update on efforts to develop anti-staphylococci monoclonal antibodies (and their derivatives: minibodies, antibody–antibiotic conjugates) and the mechanism by which such antibodies can help fight infections. We also provide an overview of mAbs used in clinical trials and highlight their therapeutic potential in various infectious contexts.
Os estudos legislativos brasileiros: do congresso nacional aos municípios
Authors: Jones Zago Matheus , De Moraes Bennech Anna Paula , José Graciolli Edilson
Published: May 2021

O campo de pesquisa sobre os Estudos Legislativos no Brasil é muito amplo. Além das análises institucionais, encontramos análises das relações entre Legislativo e Executivo, Legislativo e Judiciário. Ademais, há pesquisas dedicadas ao estudo de elites políticas, representação política e análise da atuação de Deputados, Senadores e Vereadores, bem como de suas trajetórias políticas e formas de poder de uma perspectiva histórica e sociológica. O objetivo deste artigo é apresentar diferentes abordagens presentes na literatura brasileira, que tratam da análise do poder legislativo, em especial, no âmbito estadual e municipal. Como metodologia, foi realizado um levantamento bibliográfico de pesquisas sobre os Estudos Legislativos, apresentando técnicas para a análise do comportamento de legisladores, produção legislativa e competências técnicas e institucionais. O resultado do levantamento comprova que os estudos se concentram em âmbito federal e estadual, existindo pouca produção sobre os municípios.
Resenha: OLIVEIRA, R. P. Sem revoluções: os dilemas das democracias neoliberais andinas. 1. ed. Curitiba: Appris, 2019. 117p.
Authors: Oliveira Cruz Dayana A Marques de
Published: May 2021

Não há resumo por se tratar de resenha
Sucesso escolar e desigualdade social: o poder do capital subjetivo
Authors: Morgan de Aguiar Neto Jorge
Published: May 2021

Este artigo destaca as contribuições de Pierre Bourdieu e Jean-Claude Passeron que constituem o ponto de partida para problematizarmos a maneira como a desigualdade social e cultural repercute no meio universitário brasileiro. O artigo está dividido em três partes. Na primeira, discutimos as reflexões dos autores sobre a reprodução das estruturas sociais e culturais na escola e na universidade, bem como a articulação dos conceitos habitus e campo, que ajudam a demarcar o objeto da pesquisa. Na segunda, fazemos um contraponto aos primeiros autores com base no trabalho de Bernard Lahire, que desenvolve a teoria do homem plural tendo como foco conceitos de Bourdieu e a análise do sucesso escolar. Finalmente, confrontamos essas reflexões com os dados obtidos através de uma pesquisa qualitativa, realizada junto a estudantes de origem popular que, oriundos da escola pública, conseguiram ascender ao ensino superior e se encontram matriculados em cursos de prestígio. Ao buscar contribuir para a compreensão de como se configura o sucesso escolar entre os grupos de jovens desfavorecidos, nosso trabalho traz elementos que podem servir como referência para o desenvolvimento de políticas públicas de educação duradouras, inclusivas e consequentes.
interesse pelo desinteresse: contribuições de Bourdieu para a reflexão da escrita no campo acadêmico
Authors: Ribeiro de Almeida Rezende Camila
Published: May 2021

A escrita acadêmica não apenas transmite o conhecimento – ela o cria. É um sistema simbólico, um instrumento estruturado e estruturante do conhecimento e da comunicação que cria ativamente as epistemologias. Por ser um sistema simbólico, ela cumpre a função política de imposição ou de legitimação da dominação. Diante disso, este artigo está interessado na dominação do interesse pelo desinteresse de expor e demarcar o “eu” na escrita acadêmica – resultante do interesse do campo científico em expressar a ciência de forma neutra, impessoal, universal e acabada. O interesse de escrever sobre essa temática foi acionado pelas leituras das escritas de Pierre Bourdieu – escritas que carregam uma estética de repetição e de jogos de palavras, que jogam o jogo acadêmico a sério, que apresentam as regras do próprio jogo fazendo da sociologia uma arma contra o desconhecimento do reconhecimento – contra a violência simbólica. Essa violência é silenciosa, suave, insensível e invisível às suas próprias vítimas. Ela também está impregnada na cultura do campo acadêmico e pode ser notada nos aspectos técnicos e formais de seu estilo de escrita – na sua forma. A partir de uma análise bibliográfica da teoria de Bourdieu e da objetivação participante – da socioanálise proposta por ele – pretendo apresentar algumas reflexões sobre a violência simbólica presente na forma da escrita acadêmica, utilizando como base para a escrita deste artigo a minha própria práxis enquanto leitora da teoria bourdieusiana e enquanto escritora e pesquisadora da escrita acadêmica.
Outcomes among Hospitalized Chronic Kidney Disease Patients with COVID-19
Authors: Khatri Minesh , Charytan David M. , Parnia Sam , Petrilli Christopher M. , Michael Jeffrey , Liu David , Tatapudi Vasishta , Jones Simon , Benstein Judith , Horwitz Leora I.
Published: May 2021

Key Points

Patients with ESKD had higher crude mortality rates than those without CKD, but thiswas no longer significant after multivariate adjustment.

Patients with ESKD, when directly compared with those with nondialysis CKD, appeared to have reduced risk of mortality, despite adjusting for confounders.

Mortality associated with coronavirus disease 2019 declined significantly during the pandemic, and initial reports likely overestimate mortality rates among patients with CKD.

Background

Patients with CKD ha ve impaired immunity, increased risk of infection-related mortality, and worsened COVID-19 outcomes. However, data comparing nondialysis CKD and ESKD are sparse.

Methods

Patients with COVID-19 admitted to three hospitals in the New York area, between March 2 and August 27, 2020, were retrospectively studied using electronic health records. Patients were classified as those without CKD, those with nondialysis CKD, and those with ESKD, with outcomes including hospital mortality, ICU admission, and mortality rates.

Results

Of 3905 patients, 588 (15%) had nondialysis CKD and 128 (3%) had ESKD. The nondialysis CKD and ESKD groups had a greater prevalence of comorbidities and higher admission D-dimer levels, whereas patients with ESKD had lower C-reactive protein levels at admission. ICU admission rates were similar across all three groups (23%–25%). The overall, unadjusted hospital mortality was 25%, and the mortality was 24% for those without CKD, 34% for those with nondialysis CKD, and 27% for those with ESKD. Among patients in the ICU, mortality was 56%, 64%, and 56%, respectively. Although patients with nondialysis CKD had higher odds of overall mortality versus those without CKD in univariate analysis (OR, 1.58; 95% CI, 1.31 to 1.91), this was no longer significant in fully adjusted models (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.40). Also, ESKD status did not associate with a higher risk of mortality compared with non-CKD in adjusted analyses, but did have reduced mortality when compared with nondialysis CKD (OR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.33 to 0.95). Mortality rates declined precipitously after the first 2 months of the pandemic, from 26% to 14%, which was reflected in all three subgroups.

Conclusions

In a diverse cohort of patients with COVID-19, we observed higher crude mortality rates for patients with nondialysis CKD and, to a lesser extent, ESKD, which were not significant after risk adjustment. Moreover, patients with ESKD appear to have better outcom es than those with nondialysis CKD.
FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI PENGGUNAAN FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY LINKAJA SEBAGAI ALAT PEMBAYARAN ELEKTRONIK
Authors: Mahfuroh Riana , Wicaksono Aditya Pandu
Published: May 2021

Akselerasi perkembangan teknologi digital membawa perubahan pada perilaku konsumen dalam melakukan transaksi keuangan. Perubahan preferensi transaksi keuangan dari offline menjadi online mendorong berkembangnya berbagai aplikasi dompet elektronik, salah satunya yaitu LinkAja. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengamati intensi penggunaan LinkAja sebagai alat pembayaran elektronik. Kuesioner elektronik dibagikan kepada para pengguna aplikasi LinkAja untuk dianalisis. Seluruh kuesioner yang terisi dengan lengkap kemudian dianalisis dengan menggunakan SmartPLS. Penelitian ini mendukung teori Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Perceived Usefulness dan Ease of Use terbukti secara positif mempengaruhi intensi penggunaan LinkAja. Selain itu, Ease of Use memberikan dukungan yang berarti terhadap Perceived Usefulness pengguna untuk menggunakan LinkAja. Hubungan Satisfaction secara positif berpengaruh terhadap Trust. Adapun temuan yang tidak berpengaruh secara signifikan perlu dilakukan investigasi lebih lanjut. Satisfied dan Trust tidak memiliki pengaruh yang signifikan terhadap Intention to Use. Sementara, Satisfied tidak memiliki asosiasi langsung terhadap intensi penggunaan LinkAja.
Innovación al sistema de tutorías para fortalecer su uso e impacto en la acción
tutorial
Authors: Rodríguez-Ramírez Felipe , García-Ortega Irene , Vásquez-Gamboa Saira Antonieta
Published: May 2021

Tutoring has been implemented in higher education institutions as a strategy that contributes to the improvement of the students' academic performance as well as their comprehensive training while improving efficiency in the institutions. At the Instituto Tecnológico de Tehuacán, a web system was developed with the aim of being a support tool in the development of the Tutoring initiatives. This system was operated in 2019, to analyze the impact of its implementation. This document presents the results of the system implementation as well as its innovative approach, which consists of using an opensource framework, compatible with a database that was developed with the objective of having a system that integrates the main actors from the tutoring program, and helps them develop tutoring initiatives in a simpler and more productive way by integrating improvements and new features. Therefore, the system will impact in successfully achieving the goals of the tutoring program. The analysis was executed under a qualitative methodology and the development of the system under an agile methodology.
El sistema ANDON, como herramienta fundamental para disminuir el tiempo de respuesta y eliminar los defectos en línea de panel
Authors: Martínez-Hernández Julio Cesar , Cruz-Solís Edgar Jesús , Hernández-Luna Aldo , Hernández-Hilario Raymundo
Published: May 2021

Time is considered a fundamental element in any type of industry, which is why it is necessary to improve it, companies that cannot improve their processes through the reduction of waiting times or downtime, problems of serious damage to their operation daily. The company under study presents serious problems in the panel line, for example, laminated sheets, poor cutting, spillage of coating, paper tear, for the operation of this line there is an available time of 48 hours, it is important note that only 71% of the time is productive. The objective of this study is to implement an ANDON system, through the identification of problems that affect production, in order to reduce response times on the Panel Line. ANDON is a visual and auditory communication system used in the industry that allows workers to interact in a simple way to solve problems that arise during the workday when they occur (Vera, 2018). This project contributes to the continuous improvement of the panel line, as well as a change in the work philosophy of the operators.
Eficiencia energética con Generación Distribuida Fotovoltaica (GD-PV); Caso de una Congeladora de Pescados y Mariscos en Campeche, México
Authors: Chan-Gonzalez Jorge J , Shih Meng Yen , Lezama-Zárraga Francisco , Noh-Pat Felipe
Published: May 2021

In this article, an energy efficiency study is presented for the fish and seafood freezer company which possesses a Photovoltaic Distributed Generation (GD-PV) plant of 60.32 kWp installed capacity. An energy audit is performed which consists of analyzing the principal electric variables for the utility billing service. Distributed Generation (GD) from renewable energy has been increasing worldwide as an effective mean to reduce electrical energy costs. It also directly helps companies to be more competitive and promote economic growth. Photovoltaic Distributed Generation (GD-PV) provides other additional benefits such as greenhouse gas mitigation and functioning as a roof barrier that prevents gaining solar radiation in buildings. This fact is particularly relevant in a hot-humid climate such as the state of Campeche, Mexico. The shading area due to GDPV prevents a daily roof thermal gaining of approximately 236.62 kW. Moreover, the GD-PV prevents the atmospheric emission of 4,448.9 kg of CO2 equivalent.
Kecemasan Primipara Dalam Menghadapi Persalinan di Klinik Bersalin N. Tambunan Medan
Authors: Fithri Nurhamida
Published: May 2021

Feelings of anxiety often accompany pregnancy, especially in mothers who are unstable, from an initial survey conducted by researchers in February at the N. Tambunan Clinic, it was found that five mothers who had given birth at the N. Tambunan Clinic felt anxious, the purpose of this study was to determine how the primiparous mother's anxiety in dealing with childbirth. Primiparous mother's anxiety in facing childbirth is the occurrence of disequilibirium or imbalance in personality characterized by physical and psychological changes. The research design used is descriptive. The population of this study were all Primipara women totaling 30 people at the Clinic N. Tambunan Medan. With a sample of 30 respondents. The sampling technique was purposive sampling technique. The variable in this study was the primiparous mother's anxiety in dealing with childbirth. Collecting data using a questionnaire then processed by editing, coding, data entry, the research is presented and analyzed by univariate, then the data is presented in the form of a frequency distribution table. Of the 30 respondents, there were 27 patients who experienced mild anxiety, 3 patients experienced moderate anxiety, and none had severe anxiety. The conclusion from the results of the study was that most mothers experienced mild anxiety. Therefore, it is hoped that midwives will provide more intensive counseling to pregnant women who experience anxiety by providing information about the danger signs of pregnancy and suggesting always thinking positively, sharing stories with others, thinking about something that makes you happy to avoid anxiety.
Assessment of Special Provision for Empowering Diverse Pupils (SPED) Extension Service Project using Context, Input, Process, and Product Evaluation Model (CIPP)
Authors: Peñalba Ericson H.
Published: May 2021

Underlining its role as an agent of empowerment at the community level, the Extension Office of Bulacan State University-Meneses Campus (BulSU-MC) launched in November 2014 an extension service project called Special Provision for Empowering Diverse Pupils (SPED). This university-community partnership had the key objectives of facilitating the transition program for CSNs and raising parents’ awareness regarding their children’s rights as well as their own rights. Since parents played a central role in the total development of their children, their knowledge and skills were also developed through practical trainings that allowed them to generate alternative sources of income. Considering that no evidence-based evaluation of an extension service project in BulSU-MC had been done using the CIPP model, this study sought to evaluate the three-year implementation of SPED following the principles and procedures of the said model. Employing a mixed methods research design, this study utilized surveys, interviews, observation, and documentary analyses in obtaining data from the beneficiaries of the project. The data informed the thorough evaluation of the project in terms of context, input, process, and product. The socio-economic evaluation of the context under which the project was implemented revealed that they parents were not earning enough to address the needs of their children. The input evaluation advanced the need to improve the operational design of the project in terms of the management and allocation of resources. In terms of the evaluation of process, feedback mechanism was found to be falling short of its function of guiding the project’s implementation. Despite the foregoing shortcomings of its operational setup of the project, the product evaluation results found that the project had been responsive to the needs of its target beneficiaries.