bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Localized Bloom Filter-Based CP-ABE in Smart Healthcare
Authors: Priya Remamany Krishna , Maheswari K. , Ramesh Babu Durai C , Anushkannan N. K. , Victoria D. Rosy Salomi , Ben Othman Mohamed Tahar , Hamdi Monia , Hamam Habib
Published: December 2022

Wearable technology-supported cloud-based smart health (s-health) has emerged as a promising answer to increase the efficiency and quality of healthcare as a result of rapid improvements in Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. However, the issues of data security and privacy preservation have not been fully resolved. In recent years, ciphertext policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE), which was developed as a versatile and potent cryptographic fundamental to accomplish one-to-many encryption with fine-grained access control, has been seen as a viable answer to the security issue in the cloud. The attribute values in the access policy, however, are supplied in cleartext in standard CP-ABE. This will conveniently reveal the data owners’ privacy (patients). Because the Internet of Things (IoT) in healthcare stores sensitive data in the cloud, security is crucial. The data must always be accessed via an access key when using traditional encryption techniques. Though the data cannot be accessed right away in an emergency, this offers greater security. The healthcare IoT created the break-glass concept to address this. The encryption technique is integrated with the broken glass idea to offer data protection and simple access in emergency scenarios. The majority of research papers employ cypher text policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) with the broken glass idea to secure electronic health records. For improving data accessibility in the smart healthcare environment, modified cypher text policy attribute-based encryption (MCP-ABE) with the broken glass (BG) technique is suggested. Greater information security is achieved with this method, but the access policy is also dependent on keys that are vulnerable to hacking. To analyze the access policy individually throughout the key generation process, the attribute-based encryption procedure in this case uses the bloom filter. Information about the access policy is kept intact, which enhances the security of the keys. To continue serving patients and saving their lives, this modified CP-ABE is integrated with break glass in the smart healthcare facility. The experimental results demonstrated that, when compared to the lightweight break-glass procedure, the proposed solution is likewise the best in terms of decreased overhead. The main benefit of this strategy is that it uses the bloom filter concept in the MCP-ABE process, which protects the access policy attributes, to ensure that the key is never compromised. For data access in smart healthcare to preserve patients’ lives, the proposed MCP-ABE with broken glass is best.
A Systematic Literature Review on Fake News in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Can AI Propose a Solution?
Authors: Ahmad Tanvir , Aliaga Lazarte Eyner Arturo , Mirjalili Seyedali
Published: December 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an incredible amount of fake news and conspiracy theories around the world. Calls for the integration of COVID-19 and fake news-related research have been advanced in various fields. This paper aims to unpack a structured overview of previous research topics and findings and identify gaps. Our goal in this systematic review is to (a) synthesize the selected earlier studies, (b) offer researchers a structural framework for future COVID-19 and fake news research, and (c) recommend relevant areas for future research. In this study, we focus on eighty conceptual and empirical studies on misinformation of COVID-19-related news on social media. We identify vital publications and methodological and theoretical approaches that exist in the COVID-19 literature. The articles were systematically analyzed, focusing on the research context and time frame, data collection/analysis procedures, and equivalence issues. While COVID-19 research has been advancing significantly over the past couple of months, numerous questions remain unexplained in the domain of the social media landscape. For example, our review suggests that researchers should begin to concentrate on a process framework blending Artificial Intelligence (AI) to curb the fake news problem. This can be achieved in all three phases, e.g., the study of individual decisions and experiences, the experiences of groups and organizations and the interactions between them, and finally, the interactions at the broadest level (micro, meso, and macro stages).
Rhamnolipids Mediate the Effects of a Gastropod Grazer in Regards to Carbon–Nitrogen Stoichiometry of Intertidal Microbial Biofilms
Authors: Gill Stephanie P. , Kregting Louise , Banat Ibrahim M. , Arnscheidt Joerg , Hunter William R.
Published: December 2022

Microbial biofilms have co-evolved with grazing animals, such as gastropods, to develop mutually beneficial relationships. Although microbial biofilms demonstrate resilience and resistance to chemical exposure, pre-existing relationships can be negatively affected by chemical input. In this study, we determined how the grazer, Littorina littorea (common periwinkle sea snail), and a biological surfactant (rhamnolipid) interact on a phototrophic marine biofilm. Biofilms were cultured in 32 twenty-liter buckets at the Queen’s University Marine Laboratory in Portaferry, Northern Ireland on clay tiles that were either exposed to 150 ppm of a rhamnolipid solution or that had no chemical exposure. L. littorea were added into half of the buckets, and biofilms were developed over 14 days. Biofilms exposed to grazing alone demonstrated high tolerance to the disturbance, while those growing on rhamnolipid-exposed substrate demonstrated resistance but experienced slight declines in carbon and stoichiometric ratios. However, when exposed to both, biofilms had significant decreases in stoichiometry and declined in productivity and respiration. This is problematic, as continuing marine pollution increases the likelihood that biofilms will be exposed to combinations of stressors and disturbances. Loss of biofilm productivity within these areas could lead to the loss of an important food source and nutrient cycler within the marine ecosystem.
Identification of Corrosion on the Inner Walls of Water Pipes Using a VGG Model Incorporating Attentional Mechanisms
Authors: Zhao Qian , Li Lu , Zhang Lihua
Published: December 2022

To accurately classify and identify the different corrosion patterns on the inner walls of water-supply pipes with different morphologies and complex and variable backgrounds, an improved VGG16 convolutional neural network classification model is proposed. Firstly, the S.E attention mechanism is added to the traditional VGG network model, which can be used to distinguish the importance of each channel of the feature map and re-weight the feature map through the globally calculated channel attention. Secondly, the joint-loss-function method is used to improve the loss function and further improve the classification performance of the model. The experimental results show that the proposed model can effectively identify different pipe-corrosion patterns with an accuracy of 95.266%, higher than the unimproved VGG and AlexNet models.
Editorial for the Special Issue “Advances in Air Pollution Meteorology”
Authors: Fitzgerald Rosa M. , Stockwell William R.
Published: December 2022

This Special Issue of the open-access journal Atmosphere, “Advances in Air Pollution Meteorology”, presents papers that highlight important research showing the relationships between meteorology, emissions and air pollutants, including ozone and particulate matter [...]
Multi-Objective Task Scheduling of Circuit Repair
Authors: Liu Shengyu , Qi Xiaogang , Liu Lifang
Published: December 2022

With the development of technology and the increase of equipment usage intensity, the original support mode of circuit repair, with an ideal model and single objective, is no longer applicable. Therefore, we focus on improving the support mode of circuit repair in this article. First, in this article, we propose three rest strategies, and consider the scheduling optimization of flexible rest for repair teams, for the first time. We build a more scientific and comprehensive mathematical model for the task scheduling of circuit repair. Specifically, this model aims to maximize benefits and minimize risks during scheduling up to a certain moment, taking into account constraints, such as geographic information, resources, etc. Second, in this article, we design three hybrid algorithms, namely, NSGAII-2Opt-DE(N2D), SPEA2-2Opt-DE(S2D) and MOEA/D-2Opt-DE(M2D). Third, in this article, we design a comprehensive evaluation indicator, area. It mainly contributes to evaluation of the convergence speed of the multi-objective optimization algorithms. Finally, extensive computational experiments were conducted to verify the scientificity of the rest strategies, model, algorithms and evaluation indicator proposed in this article. The experimental results showed that our proposed N2D, S2D and M2D outperformed the existing algorithms, in terms of solution quality and convergence speed.
Projection Uniformity of Asymmetric Fractional Factorials
Authors: Wang Kang , Ou Zujun , Qin Hong , Zou Na
Published: December 2022

The objective of this paper is to study the issue of the projection uniformity of asymmetric fractional factorials. On the basis of level permutation and mixture discrepancy, the average projection mixture discrepancy to measure the uniformity for low-dimensional projection designs is defined, the uniformity pattern and minimum projection uniformity criterion are presented for evaluating and comparing any asymmetric factorials. Moreover, lower bounds to uniformity pattern have been obtained, and some illustrative examples are also provided.
Second-Ordered Parametric Duality for the Multi-Objective Programming Problem in Complex Space
Authors: Hsu Chia-Yu , Huang Tone-Yau
Published: December 2022

We introduced and discussed a second-ordered parametric dual model of a complex multi-objective programming problem (P). Moreover, the authors constructed and proved the weak, strong and strictly converse duality theorems by the second-ordered generalized Θ-bonvexity.
Serial Increases in Human Leukocyte Antigen-DR Expression and Decreases in Interleukin-10 Expression in Alveolar Monocytes of Survivors of Pneumonia-Related Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome
Authors: Chu Chien-Ming , Chung Chia-Jung , Huang Chih-Yu , Yu Chung-Chieh , Wang Chao-Hung , Li Li-Fu , Wu Huang-Pin
Published: December 2022

ARDS is a potentially lethal syndrome. HLA-DR expression in monocytes reflects their activation and antigen-presenting capacity. However, the correlation between clinical outcomes and HLA-DR expression in alveolar monocytes/macrophages in patients with pneumonia-related ARDS remains unclear. Thus, we determined the trends of HLA-DR and cytokine expressions in alveolar monocytes using repeated measurements to answer this question. Thirty-one pneumonia patients with respiratory failure and ARDS without coronavirus disease 2019 between November 2019 and November 2021 were enrolled in our intensive care unit and three without complete data were excluded. Interleukin (IL)-10, IL-12, and HLA-DR expression in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) monocytes were determined on days one and eight. Monocyte HLA-DR expression (mHLA-DR) and CD4 T lymphocytes percentages in BAL cells of survivors increased remarkably after seven days. Monocyte IL-10 expression and monocytes percentages in BAL cells of survivors decreased substantially after seven days. The mHLA-DR was negatively correlated with disease severity scores on day one and eight. In conclusion, serial increases in HLA-DR expression and decreases in IL-10 expression were observed in BAL monocytes of survivors of pneumonia-related ARDS. More studies are needed to confirm this point of view, and then development of a therapeutic agent restoring mHLA-DR and preventing IL-10 production can be considered.
Recent Advances of Tubulin Inhibitors Targeting the Colchicine Binding Site for Cancer Therapy
Authors: Hawash Mohammed
Published: December 2022

Cancer accounts for numerous deaths each year, and it is one of the most common causes of death worldwide, despite many breakthroughs in the discovery of novel anticancer candidates. Each new year the FDA approves the use of new drugs for cancer treatments. In the last years, the biological targets of anticancer agents have started to be clearer and one of these main targets is tubulin protein; this protein plays an essential role in cell division, as well as in intracellular transportation. The inhibition of microtubule formation by targeting tubulin protein induces cell death by apoptosis. In the last years, numerous novel structures were designed and synthesized to target tubulin, and this can be achieved by inhibiting the polymerization or depolymerization of the microtubules. In this review article, recent novel compounds that have antiproliferation activities against a panel of cancer cell lines that target tubulin are explored in detail. This review article emphasizes the recent developments of tubulin inhibitors, with insights into their antiproliferative and anti-tubulin activities. A full literature review shows that tubulin inhibitors are associated with properties in the inhibition of cancer cell line viability, inducing apoptosis, and good binding interaction with the colchicine binding site of tubulin. Furthermore, some drugs, such as cabazitaxel and fosbretabulin, have been approved by FDA in the last three years as tubulin inhibitors. The design and development of efficient tubulin inhibitors is progressively becoming a credible solution in treating many species of cancers.
Molecular Pathogenesis of Fibrosis, Thrombosis and Surfactant Dysfunction in the Lungs of Severe COVID-19 Patients
Authors: Krygier Adrian , Szmajda-Krygier Dagmara , Świechowski Rafał , Pietrzak Jacek , Wosiak Agnieszka , Wodziński Damian , Balcerczak Ewa
Published: December 2022

The global scope and scale of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic led to huge amounts of important data from clinical observations and experimental analyses being collected, in particular, regarding the long-term impact of COVID-19 on lung tissue. Visible changes in lung tissue mainly relate to the destruction of the alveolar architecture, dense cellularity, and pulmonary fibrosis with myofibroblast proliferation and collagen deposition. These changes are the result of infection, mainly with virus variants from the first pandemic waves (Alpha to Delta). In addition, proper regulation of immune responses to pathogenic viral stimuli is critical for the control of and recovery from tissue/organ damage, including in the lungs. We can distinguish three main processes in the lungs during SARS-CoV-2 infection: damage or deficiency of the pulmonary surfactant, coagulation processes, and fibrosis. Understanding the molecular basis of these processes is extremely important in the context of elucidating all pathologies occurring after virus entry. In the present review, data on the abovementioned three biochemical processes that lead to pathological changes are gathered together and discussed. Systematization of the knowledge is necessary to explore the three key pathways in lung tissue after SARS-CoV-2 virus infection as a result of a prolonged and intense inflammatory process in the context of pulmonary fibrosis, hemostatic disorders, and disturbances in the structure and/or metabolism of the surfactant. Despite the fact that the new Omicron variant does not affect the lungs as much as the previous variants, we cannot ignore the fact that other new mutations and emerging variants will not cause serious damage to the lung tissue. In the future, this review will be helpful to stratify the risk of serious complications in patients, to improve COVID-19 treatment outcomes, and to select those who may develop complications before clinical manifestation.
Inflammatory Cytokines and Radiotherapy in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma
Authors: Ng Sylvia S. W. , Dawson Laura A.
Published: December 2022

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) remains a therapeutic challenge in clinical oncology. Surgery is the only potentially curative treatment. However, the majority of PDAC patients present with locally advanced/unresectable or metastatic disease, where palliative multiagent chemotherapy is the first-line treatment with the therapeutic intent to delay progression and prolong survival. For locally advanced/unresectable pancreatic cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy, consolidative radiotherapy in the form concurrent chemoradiation or stereotactic ablative radiotherapy improves locoregional control and pain/symptom control. To improve clinical outcomes of PDAC patients, there is a dire need for discoveries that will shed more light on the pathophysiology of the disease and lead to the development of more efficacious treatment strategies. Inflammatory cytokines are known to play a role in mediating tumor progression, chemoresistance, and radioresistance in PDAC. A PubMed search on published articles related to radiotherapy, inflammatory cytokines, and pancreatic cancer patients in the English language was performed. This article primarily focuses on reviewing the clinical literature that examines the association of inflammatory cytokines with clinical outcomes and the effects of radiotherapy on inflammatory cytokines in PDAC patients.
Accessibility Study of a Compact Wind Tunnel with an Unequal Spacing Grid for the Outdoor Wind Environment
Authors: Ma Xiaojun , Zhao Yu , Wen Xueying , Chen Jiujiu
Published: December 2022

One of the key issues in architectural design and regional planning is to create a safe and comfortable outdoor building environment, which calls for more studies. Wind tunnel experiments and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations are the primary methods for the current studies. The airflow and boundary conditions are controllable for the wind tunnel experiment, and the data is reliable. In most wind tunnel platforms, spires and roughness elements are applied to create the gradient wind of the atmospheric boundary layer, leading to the oversized, high construction cost, and complex operation. In this paper, in order to explore a simple method for measuring and studying the outdoor building wind environment using wind tunnels, a compact wind tunnel platform adopting grids with unequal spacing was designed and tested, based on the theoretical model of the atmospheric boundary layer. A comparison between the test results and the theoretical values indicated that this new wind tunnel platform could achieve a gradient wind field and is accessible in applying low-speed wind tunnels to the measurement and research of the building wind environment. The application case in a high-rise building of the central business district (CBD) region in Beijing, was presented in this paper. Compared with another analytical method, the CFD simulation, the compact wind tunnel revealed its applicability that could be used for predicting and evaluating the outdoor wind environment around the building. This compact wind tunnel is more flexible and convenient than the traditional ones, with a smaller size, easier construction and operation, and lower costs. Therefore, we suggest more applications of this compact wind tunnel platform in future experimental studies of outdoor wind environments.
Generative Design Methodology and Framework Exploiting Designer-Algorithm Synergies
Authors: Gradišar Luka , Klinc Robert , Turk Žiga , Dolenc Matevž
Published: December 2022

Designing is a problem-solving activity. The process is usually iterative: a solution is proposed, then analysed and tested until it satisfies all constraints and best fulfils the criteria. Usually, a designer proposes a solution based on intuition, experience, and knowledge. However, this does not work for problems they are facing for the first time. An alternative approach is generative design, where the designer focuses on iteratively defining a problem with its constraints and criteria in the form of a parametric computational model, and then leaves the search for the solution to the algorithms and their ability to rapidly generate and test several alternatives. The result of this approach is not only a set of solutions embedding implicitly the knowledge but also a model where problem-defining knowledge is quite explicit. The idea of the proposed approach is the exploitation of synergies between the designer and the algorithms. The designer focuses on problem definition and the algorithm focuses on finding a solution, showing that the capacity of the generative approach to replace the designer is limited. In the paper, we first present the framework of generative design, then apply the process to a case study of designing an efficient shading solution, and in the end, we present the results and compare them with the traditional approach. The approach is general and can be applied in other areas of engineering. It is relevant both to designers as well as software developers who are expected to take this approach further. More theoretical work is needed to study problem definitions as a form of knowledge representation in engineering.
Selective Oxidation of Alcohols and Alkenes with Molecular Oxygen Catalyzed by Highly Dispersed Cobalt (II) Decorated 12-Tungstosilicic Acid-Modified Zirconia
Authors: Pathan Soyeb , Patel Anjali , Tilani Harshita
Published: December 2022

Traditional procedures for oxidation processes suffer from a lack of selectivity, the use of organic solvents, the toxicity of the reagents, and waste production. As a cleaner alternative, highly dispersed Co over 12-tungstosilicicacid modified zirconia was synthesized and used for the selective oxidation of benzyl alcohol and styrene with molecular oxygen to carbonyl compounds under environmentally benign solvent-free conditions. The supremacy of the present catalyst lies in achieving excellent selectivity (>90%) for products with a very high turnover number. The catalytic activity of the recycled catalysts was also explored under optimized conditions to confirm sustainability. Further, the viability of the catalyst was studied via oxidation of various alcohols and alkenes under optimized conditions as well as superiority by comparison with the reported catalysts.
A Parametric Study of the Crystal Phases on Au/TiO2 Photocatalysts for CO2 Gas-Phase Reduction in the Presence of Water
Authors: Marchal Clément , Mary Caroline , Hammoud Leila , Xi Qingyang , Toufaily Joumana , Hamieh Tayssir , Suhadolnik Luka , Fornasiero Paolo , Colbeau-Justin Christophe , Caps Valérie , Cottineau Thomas , Keller Valérie
Published: December 2022

Au/TiO2 photocatalysts were studied, characterized, and compared for CO2 photocatalytic gas-phase reduction. The impact of the nature of the TiO2 support was studied. It was shown that the surface area/porosity/TiO2 crystal phase/density of specific exposed facets and oxygen vacancies were the key factors determining CH4 productivity under solar-light activation. A 0.84 wt.% Au/TiO2 SG (Sol Gel) calcined at 400 °C exhibited the best performance, leading to a continuous mean CH4 production rate of 50 μmol.h−1.g−1 over 5 h, associated with an electronic selectivity of 85%. This high activity was mainly attributed to the large surface area and accessible microporous volume, high density of exposed TiO2 (101) anatase facets, and oxygen vacancies acting as reactive defects sites for CO2 adsorption/activation/dissociation and charge carrier transport.
Carbon Nitride-Based Catalysts for High Pressure CO2 Photoreduction
Authors: Conte Francesco , García-López Elisa I. , Marcì Giuseppe , Bianchi Claudia L. M. , Ramis Gianguido , Rossetti Ilenia
Published: December 2022

In the current research, the productivity of CO2 photoreduction has been boosted by performing the reaction in an innovative photocatalytic reactor, which allows for operation up to 20 bar. A set of photocatalysts were used, including three types of pristine TiO2, i.e., one commercially prepared (Evonik P25), one home-prepared by flame spray pyrolysis (FSP), and one obtained by the hydrolysis of TiCl4 (TiO2exCl), a bare thermo-exfoliated carbon nitride (C3N4-TE), and binary materials composed of TiO2 and C3N4-TE. The photoreduction was carried out in water at pH 14 and in the presence of Na2SO3 as a hole scavenger. Hydrogen and very small amounts of CO were detected in the head space of the photoreactor, while in the liquid phase, the main product was formic acid, along with traces of methanol and formaldehyde. The composites P25/TE and TiO2exCl/TE were found to have a higher productivity if compared to its single constituents used alone, probably due to the heterojunction formed by coupling the two materials. Moreover, the high pressure applied in the photoreactor proved to be very effective in boosting the yield of the organic products.
CKII Control of Axonal Plasticity Is Mediated by Mitochondrial Ca2+ via Mitochondrial NCLX
Authors: Katoshevski Tomer , Bar Lior , Tikochinsky Eliav , Harel Shimon , Ben-Kasus Nissim Tsipi , Bogeski Ivan , Hershfinkel Michal , Attali Bernard , Sekler Israel
Published: December 2022

Mitochondrial Ca2+ efflux by NCLX is a critical rate-limiting step in mitochondria signaling. We previously showed that NCLX is phosphorylated at a putative Casein Kinase 2 (CKII) site, the serine 271 (S271). Here, we asked if NCLX is regulated by CKII and interrogated the physiological implications of this control. We found that CKII inhibitors down-regulated NCLX-dependent Ca2+ transport activity in SH-SY5Y neuronal cells and primary hippocampal neurons. Furthermore, we show that the CKII phosphomimetic mutants on NCLX inhibited (S271A) and constitutively activated (S271D) NCLX transport, respectively, rendering it insensitive to CKII inhibition. These phosphomimetic NCLX mutations also control the allosteric regulation of NCLX by mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔΨm). Since the omnipresent CKII is necessary for modulating the plasticity of the axon initial segment (AIS), we interrogated, in hippocampal neurons, if NCLX is required for this process. Similarly to WT neurons, NCLX-KO neurons can exhibit homeostatic plasticity following M-channel block. However, while WT neurons utilize a CKII-sensitive distal relocation of AIS Na+ and Kv7 channels to decrease their intrinsic excitability, we did not observe such translocation in NCLX-KO neurons. Thus, our results indicate that NCLX is regulated by CKII and is a crucial link between CKII signaling and fast neuronal plasticity.
Nutraceuticals in Brown Adipose Tissue Activation
Authors: Armani Andrea , Feraco Alessandra , Camajani Elisabetta , Gorini Stefania , Lombardo Mauro , Caprio Massimiliano
Published: December 2022

Obesity and its associated comorbidities have become pandemic, and challenge the global healthcare system. Lifestyle changes, nutritional interventions and phamaceuticals should be differently combined in a personalized strategy to tackle such a public health burden. Altered brown adipose tissue (BAT) function contributes to the pathophysiology of obesity and glucose metabolism dysfunctions. BAT thermogenic activity burns glucose and fatty acids to produce heat through uncoupled respiration, and can dissipate the excessive calorie intake, reduce glycemia and circulate fatty acids released from white adipose tissue. Thus, BAT activity is expected to contribute to whole body energy homeostasis and protect against obesity, diabetes and alterations in lipid profile. To date, pharmacological therapies aimed at activating brown fat have failed in clinical trials, due to cardiovascular side effects or scarce efficacy. On the other hand, several studies have identified plant-derived chemical compounds capable of stimulating BAT thermogenesis in animal models, suggesting the translational applications of dietary supplements to fight adipose tissue dysfunctions. This review describes several nutraceuticals with thermogenic properties and provides indications, at a molecular level, of the regulation of the adipocyte thermogenesis by the mentioned phytochemicals.
The Putative C2H2 Transcription Factor VadH Governs Development, Osmotic Stress Response, and Sterigmatocystin Production in Aspergillus nidulans
Authors: Li Xiaoyu , Zhao Yanxia , Moon Heungyun , Lim Jieyin , Park Hee-Soo , Liu Zhiqiang , Yu Jae-Hyuk
Published: December 2022

The VosA-VelB hetero-dimeric complex plays a pivotal role in regulating development and secondary metabolism in Aspergillus nidulans. In this work, we characterize a new VosA/VelB-activated gene called vadH, which is predicted to encode a 457-amino acid length protein containing four adjacent C2H2 zinc-finger domains. Mutational inactivation of vosA or velB led to reduced mRNA levels of vadH throughout the lifecycle, suggesting that VosA and VelB have a positive regulatory effect on the expression of vadH. The deletion of vadH resulted in decreased asexual development (conidiation) but elevated production of sexual fruiting bodies (cleistothecia), indicating that VadH balances asexual and sexual development in A. nidulans. Moreover, the vadH deletion mutant exhibited elevated susceptibility to hyperosmotic stress compared to wild type and showed elevated production of the mycotoxin sterigmatocystin (ST). Genome-wide expression analyses employing RNA-Seq have revealed that VadH is likely involved in regulating more genes and biological pathways in the developmental stages than those in the vegetative growth stage. The brlA, abaA, and wetA genes of the central regulatory pathway for conidiation are downregulated significantly in the vadH null mutant during asexual development. VadH also participates in regulating the genes, mat2, ppgA and lsdA, etc., related to sexual development, and some of the genes in the ST biosynthetic gene cluster. In summary, VadH is a putative transcription factor with four C2H2 finger domains and is involved in regulating asexual/sexual development, osmotic stress response, and ST production in A. nidulans.
Ciliated Cells in Ovarian Cancer Decrease with Increasing Tumor Grade and Disease Progression
Authors: Richardson Michael T. , Recouvreux Maria Sol , Karlan Beth Y. , Walts Ann E. , Orsulic Sandra
Published: December 2022

Ciliated cell markers expressed in epithelial ovarian cancers (EOC) are associated with improved survival. We examined the distribution of cells expressing ciliated cell markers in various EOC histologies and stages. Immunohistochemistry and/or multiplex immunofluorescence were used to determine the expression of FOXJ1 and/or CAPS (ciliated cell markers) in tissue microarrays including 4 normal fallopian tubes, 6 normal endometria, 16 cystadenomas, 25 borderline tumors, 21 low-grade carcinomas, and 118 high-grade carcinomas (HGSOC) (46 serous, 29 endometrioid, 30 clear cell, 13 mucinous). CAPS+ cells were observed in normal fallopian tubes and endometria and in ~85% of serous benign and borderline tumors and low-grade carcinomas but only in <40% of HGSOC. mRNA data from an independent cohort showed higher FOXJ1 and CAPS expression in serous borderline tumors and low-grade carcinomas compared to HGSOC. In HGSOC, ciliated cell-positive markers were observed in 52% primary tumors compared to 26% of patient-matched synchronous metastases, and 24% metachronous metastases (p = 0.009). mRNA data from an independent HGSOC cohort showed lower levels of CAPS in metastases than in primary tumors (p = 0.03). Overall, the study revealed that ciliated cells were less common in mucinous EOC, the percentage of ciliated cell marker-positive cases decreased with increasing grade, and the percentage of ciliated cells decreased in HGSOC metastases compared to patient-matched primary tumors.
Recent Advances of Studies on Cell-Penetrating Peptides Based on Molecular Dynamics Simulations
Authors: Ouyang Jun , Sheng Yuebiao , Wang Wei
Published: December 2022

With the ability to transport cargo molecules across cell membranes with low toxicity, cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) have become promising candidates for next generation peptide-based drug delivery vectors. Over the past three decades since the first CPP was discovered, a great deal of work has been done on the cellular uptake mechanisms and the applications for the delivery of therapeutic molecules, and significant advances have been made. But so far, we still do not have a precise and unified understanding of the structure–activity relationship of the CPPs. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations provide a method to reveal peptide–membrane interactions at the atomistic level and have become an effective complement to experiments. In this paper, we review the progress of the MD simulations on CPP–membrane interactions, including the computational methods and technical improvements in the MD simulations, the research achievements in the CPP internalization mechanism, CPP decoration and coupling, and the peptide-induced membrane reactions during the penetration process, as well as the comparison of simulated and experimental results.
The Missing Quality of Tuberculosis Care and Treatment Delivered in Public-Health Facilities, Northeast Ethiopia: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Abejew Asrat , Abdu Hussen , Seid Yimer , Shibabaw Agumas
Published: December 2022

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public-health problem. TB prevention and control measures are compromised by poor quality of care delivered to TB patients in health facilities during diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up; thus, this study was intended to determine the quality of TB care and treatment delivered in public-health facilities in Northeast Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted in health facilities in South Wollo zone from January to April 2018. Data were collected from each study participant through face-to-face interviews. A TB registration logbook was reviewed for every registered TB patient and compiled using a structured questionnaire and standard checklists. The quality of care for each health facility was graded as very good, good, marginal, poor, and very poor if health facilities achieved [90–100%], [80–90%), [70–80%), [60–70%), and <60% of performance indicators, respectively, using the Donabedian structure, process, and outcome model of healthcare quality. All the health facilities had at least one functional microscope, and all the facilities had sufficient TB drugs almost all the time. All the facilities had reported to have sufficient laboratory reagents and slides for sputum smear microscopy. Of 1579 patients registered, 18.5% and 66.1% were cured and successfully completed the course of treatment, respectively. The overall quality of TB care and treatment was good (72.5%), and ranged from 70.9% to 74.8% among health facilities. Outcome (83.4%) and process (80%) qualities of care were very good but the structural quality of care was very poor. In conclusion, the overall quality of TB care and treatment analysed in this study was found to be good. There should be an integrated approach to improve the quality of TB care and treatment in health facilities in Ethiopia. Based on the findings, continuous supply of anti-TB drugs, laboratory equipment and reagents, availing current guidelines, providing up to-date training for healthcare workers, and proper documentation are important to improve the quality of care delivered to TB patients.
Comparison of Sputtered and Evaporated Vanadium Pentoxide Thin Films for Resistive Microbolometer Application
Authors: Saeed Nimra , Akhtar Saad , Hanif Muhammad Bilal , Hussain Sajid , Dogar Salahuddin , Zia-ur-Rehman  , Bhatti Farrukh Aziz , Mosiałek Michał , Napruszewska Bogna Daria , Motola Martin , Khan Abdul Faheem
Published: December 2022

V2O5 thin films have made impressive progress in the development of resistive microbolometers. The challenging parameters for microbolometers are the active material selection and the deposition methods. It might be a more promising way to achieve a good performance of the devices. The present work deals with the V2O5 thin films fabricated on soda lime glass substrates by using e-beam evaporation and magnetron sputtering techniques at a substrate temperature of 200 °C. Afterward, samples were annealed at 300 and 400 °C for 1 h to obtain uniform and stoichiometric thin films. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) showed that the thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering were amorphous in nature, even after annealing at elevated temperatures; however, the thin films fabricated by the electron beam evaporation technique show crystalline nature, which was improved by annealing. XRD also revealed various mixed phases of VOx in electron beam-deposited films. Optical properties were determined using UV-Visible spectroscopy, which showed a decrease in transmittance from 81% down to 57% by increasing the annealing temperature. Similarly, the band gap calculated for electron beam evaporated and magnetron sputtered V2O5 thin films was observed in the range of 1.41 to 2.25 eV. Rutherford backscattering (RBS) was performed to determine the thickness and composition of the films. Slight variations have been observed in intended and deposited thicknesses of films fabricated by e-beam and sputtering techniques. Structural properties revealed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) were found to be the uniform, compact and dense surface of the as-deposited and 300 °C annealed samples. However, annealing at 400 °C changed the surface morphology into nanorods in e-beam and plate-like structures in the sputtered film. EDS proved the elemental concentration of vanadium and oxygen in these V2O5 thin films. Electrical properties were investigated using the Hall measurement technique which showed better conductivity of sputtered films than e-beam deposited films. It can be concluded that the cost-effective and reliable microbolometers infrared (IR) sensors can be fabricated using annealed sputtered films.
Molecular Dynamics Study of Phase Transition Heat Transfer in Water Nanofilm on Nanorough Surfaces
Authors: Wang Song , Wu Lianfeng , Tang Yuanzheng , He Yan
Published: December 2022

The thermal management of micro- and nano-electromechanical systems is closely related to maintaining optimal system performance and reliability. Heat dissipation through the phase transition of the working medium has emerged as an effective approach to these problems. In this study, the phase transition of liquid nanofilms over copper surfaces with various heat fluxes, nanoroughness, and wetting conditions is studied by means of molecular dynamics simulations. The results indicate that the phase transition mode of the water nanofilm is normal evaporation at low heat flux and explosive boiling at high heat flux. Two different nanorough surfaces with the same surface area have almost an identical effect on the water nanofilm phase transition. Explosive boiling occurs earlier on hydrophobic surfaces, which is consistent to the macroscopic phenomenon. The heat flux at which explosive boiling occurs on nanorough surface increases for hydrophobic and neutral surfaces compared with smooth surfaces and remains constant for hydrophilic surfaces. The onset of explosive boiling on nanorough surfaces is later than that on smooth surfaces. These findings on the mechanism of heat and mass transfer at the micro- and nanoscale are conducive to efficient utilization and energy conservation.
Learning Explainable Disentangled Representations of E-Commerce Data by Aligning Their Visual and Textual Attributes
Authors: Laenen Katrien , Moens Marie-Francine
Published: December 2022

Understanding multimedia content remains a challenging problem in e-commerce search and recommendation applications. It is difficult to obtain item representations that capture the relevant product attributes since these product attributes are fine-grained and scattered across product images with huge visual variations and product descriptions that are noisy and incomplete. In addition, the interpretability and explainability of item representations have become more important in order to make e-commerce applications more intelligible to humans. Multimodal disentangled representation learning, where the independent generative factors of multimodal data are identified and encoded in separate subsets of features in the feature space, is an interesting research area to explore in an e-commerce context given the benefits of the resulting disentangled representations such as generalizability, robustness and interpretability. However, the characteristics of real-word e-commerce data, such as the extensive visual variation, noisy and incomplete product descriptions, and complex cross-modal relations of vision and language, together with the lack of an automatic interpretation method to explain the contents of disentangled representations, means that current approaches for multimodal disentangled representation learning do not suffice for e-commerce data. Therefore, in this work, we design an explainable variational autoencoder framework (E-VAE) which leverages visual and textual item data to obtain disentangled item representations by jointly learning to disentangle the visual item data and to infer a two-level alignment of the visual and textual item data in a multimodal disentangled space. As such, E-VAE tackles the main challenges in disentangling multimodal e-commerce data. Firstly, with the weak supervision of the two-level alignment our E-VAE learns to steer the disentanglement process towards discovering the relevant factors of variations in the multimodal data and to ignore irrelevant visual variations which are abundant in e-commerce data. Secondly, to the best of our knowledge our E-VAE is the first VAE-based framework that has an automatic interpretation mechanism that allows to explain the components of the disentangled item representations with text. With our textual explanations we provide insight in the quality of the disentanglement. Furthermore, we demonstrate that with our explainable disentangled item representations we achieve state-of-the-art outfit recommendation results on the Polyvore Outfits dataset and report new state-of-the-art cross-modal search results on the Amazon Dresses dataset.
Electrical and Dielectric Properties of Ca-Doped Bi-Deficient Sodium Bismuth Titanate Na0.5Bi0.49−xCaxTiO3−δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.08)
Authors: Yang Fan , Hu Yidong , Hu Qiaodan , Wu Patrick , Sinclair Derek C.
Published: December 2022

Bismuth-deficient sodium bismuth titanate (nominal Na0.5Bi0.49TiO2.985, NB0.49T) presents high oxide ion conductivity, which makes it a potential electrolyte material for intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells. Acceptor doping has been proven an effective approach to enhance the bulk conductivity (σb) of NB0.49T. Here, divalent Ca2+ ions were selected to partially replace Bi3+ on the A-site of NB0.49T, and the temperature and composition dependences of σb and permittivity were investigated. Results showed that Ca2+ doping was effective for enhancing σb of NB0.49T by creating oxygen vacancies. The highest σb (0.006 S·cm−1 at 500 °C) was achieved by 2% Ca2+ doping. Further increase in the doping level decreased σb, which was more pronounced at temperatures below ~350 °C. Most importantly, Ca doping increased the temperature at which the activation energy for bulk conduction changed from ~0.80 eV (at low temperatures) to ~0.40 eV (at high temperatures), and reduced the temperature dependence of permittivity of NB0.49T. Results from the average structural parameters and the local defect associates are discussed. The findings of this work are helpful for understanding the defect and conduction mechanisms for acceptor-doped NB0.49T, and are also useful for developing NBT-based dielectrics with temperature-independent permittivity.
A Study of the Field of View Performance for Full-Color Waveguide Displays Based on Polarization Volume Gratings
Authors: Gu Yuchen , Weng Yishi , Zhang Yuning , Wang Chuang , Wei Ran , Wang Wei , Lin Nan , Zhang Lixuan , Wang Baoping
Published: December 2022

Multilayer waveguide structures can realize full-color AR displays of diffractive waveguides. This paper discusses the field-of-view characteristics of a waveguide system with a multilayer structure when polarization volume gratings (PVG) are applied as couplers to achieve a full-color display. The effects of the refractive index and period parameter of PVG-couplers on the field of view are investigated. In addition, a PVG waveguide sample with an optimized design is prepared. The experimental results show that the designed waveguide system can achieve a full-color AR display with a 45° diagonal field of view, which verifies the feasibility of the design and provides a potential solution for AR color waveguide display applications.
Inter- and Intra-Observer Agreement When Using a Diagnostic Labeling Scheme for Annotating Findings on Chest X-rays—An Early Step in the Development of a Deep Learning-Based Decision Support System
Authors: Li Dana , Pehrson Lea Marie , Tøttrup Lea , Fraccaro Marco , Bonnevie Rasmus , Thrane Jakob , Sørensen Peter Jagd , Rykkje Alexander , Andersen Tobias Thostrup , Steglich-Arnholm Henrik , Stærk Dorte Marianne Rohde , Borgwardt Lotte , Hansen Kristoffer Lindskov , Darkner Sune , Carlsen Jonathan Frederik , Nielsen Michael Bachmann
Published: December 2022

Consistent annotation of data is a prerequisite for the successful training and testing of artificial intelligence-based decision support systems in radiology. This can be obtained by standardizing terminology when annotating diagnostic images. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the annotation consistency among radiologists when using a novel diagnostic labeling scheme for chest X-rays. Six radiologists with experience ranging from one to sixteen years, annotated a set of 100 fully anonymized chest X-rays. The blinded radiologists annotated on two separate occasions. Statistical analyses were done using Randolph’s kappa and PABAK, and the proportions of specific agreements were calculated. Fair-to-excellent agreement was found for all labels among the annotators (Randolph’s Kappa, 0.40–0.99). The PABAK ranged from 0.12 to 1 for the two-reader inter-rater agreement and 0.26 to 1 for the intra-rater agreement. Descriptive and broad labels achieved the highest proportion of positive agreement in both the inter- and intra-reader analyses. Annotating findings with specific, interpretive labels were found to be difficult for less experienced radiologists. Annotating images with descriptive labels may increase agreement between radiologists with different experience levels compared to annotation with interpretive labels.
Ganglioneuroma of the Bladder in Association with Neurofibromatosis Type 1
Authors: Ţarcă Elena , Cojocaru Elena , Trandafir Laura Mihaela , Luca Alina Costina , Melinte Popescu Alina Sinziana , Butnariu Lăcrămioara Ionela , Melinte Popescu Marian George , Anton Păduraru Dana Teodora , Moscalu Mihaela , Rusu Daniela , Ţarcă Viorel
Published: December 2022

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic disease, with autosomal dominant transmission, related to pathogenic variant of the tumor suppressor gene NF1 (17q11.2), predisposing affected subjects to a variety of benign (neurofibromas and plexiform neurofibromas) and malignant tumors. The lack of the NF1-neurofibromin gene product can cause uncontrolled cell proliferation in the central or peripheral nervous system and multisystemic involvement, and so the disease includes a heterogeneous group of clinical manifestations. Ganglioneuromas are benign tumors developing from the neural crest cells of the autonomic nervous system, considered to be part of neuroblastic tumors. Bladder localization is extremely rare in adults, and only three such cases were reported in children so far. The aim of our study, in addition to a brief review of the literature of these pathologies, is to bring to your attention the case of a sixteen year old patient with a very rare association of NF1 and bladder ganglioneuroma, who presented at the hospital with gross hematuria. Since bladder ganglioneuroma is a rare pathological condition, the differential diagnosis is difficult and imaging investigations and pathological investigations are the ones that elucidate this disease. The clinical approach of the medical multidisciplinary team involved should help the patient in managing her medical and surgical situation.