bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Military‐Related Stress and Family Well‐Being Among Active Duty Army Families
Authors: O'Neal Catherine Walker , Lavner Justin A.
Published: June 2021

Objective

To examine associations between objective (i.e., rank, time away for deployment, combat deployments) and subjective (i.e., difficulty coping with military life) military‐related stressors and multiple domains of family well‐being, including marital interactions, marital quality, parenting quality, and family functioning.

Background

Military‐related stressors are associated with individual well‐being, but less is known about associations with family well‐being.

Method

Dyadic data from 266 active duty (AD) service members and their civilian partners were used to test a structural equation model examining associations between objective and subjective military‐related stressors and both partners' ratings of couple functioning (marital quality, marital interactions), parenting quality, and family functioning.

Results

For both partners, difficulty coping with military life was significantly associated with perceptions of multiple dimensions of family well‐being. Rank, time away for deployment, and number of combat deployments were not significantly associated with any of the family well‐being variables.

Conclusion

Subjective, but not objective, indicators of military‐related stress were robustly associated with family well‐being for AD and civilian partners.

Implications

These findings call attention to the importance of understanding subjective experiences of military‐related stress for both AD and civilian partners. Policy and program considerations to improve military family members' coping abilities and enhance their family well‐being are discussed.
Multiaxial fatigue behavior of SLM Ti6Al4V alloy under different loading conditions
Authors: Renzo Danilo A. , Sgambitterra Emanuele , Maletta Carmine , Furgiuele Franco , Biffi Carlo A. , Fiocchi Jacopo , Tuissi Ausonio
Published: June 2021

The multiaxial fatigue behavior of Ti6Al4V samples, made by selective laser melting (SLM) process, was investigated in this work. Fatigue tests were carried out under three different loading conditions: (i) tensile, (ii) torsion, and (iii) in‐phase axial–torsional. A modified damage model, based on the Sines criterion, is proposed and used to analyze proportional multiaxial fatigue data. Preliminary results showed that the proposed version provides a better prediction with respect to the Sines model. Infrared thermography and digital image correlation were also used to capture both temperature and strain evolutions during fatigue tests. Fatigue results highlighted different failure modes due to surface crack initiation and internal crack initiation, as also demonstrated by scanning electron microscopy of the fracture surface.
Pension coverage extension as social innovation in Zambia: Informal economy workers’ perceptions and needs
Authors: Miti Jairous Joseph , Perkiö Mikko , Metteri Anna , Atkins Salla
Published: June 2021

With the enactment of Statutory Instrument No. 72 (2019), Zambia is extending pension coverage to workers in the informal economy. We present evidence on the experiences and perspectives of domestic workers and bus and taxi drivers regarding pension scheme coverage in Zambia. We use data generated through interviews and focus group discussions. The analysis shows that pension schemes, as conventionally designed for formal economy employees, are not compatible with the values, beliefs and needs of informal economy workers, and pension coverage was not a priority for them. As a form of social innovation, extending access to pension coverage had a lower relative advantage and lacked incentives to attract informal economy workers. We propose a member‐centred framework for initiating the extension of social security coverage to informal economy workers.
Minimizing inequality in the financing of Argentina’s pension system: Modelling three scenarios
Authors: Geri Milva , Durand Guillermo , Lago Fernando
Published: June 2021

One mechanism for influencing income redistribution through a pension system is to incorporate non‐contributory financing. Using mathematic modelling tools, this study compares two arrangements for financing Argentina’s pension system that emerged from an optimization exercise. One arrangement permits financing through income tax and the other does not. The former is found to be preferable in terms of equality and proves robust to changes in the investment rate and the inequality aversion parameter. The use of mathematical modelling tools by decision‐makers with access to sufficient high‐quality data would allow for a credible assessment of the extent to which a particular parametric reform might (or might not) contribute to improved income distribution.
An overview of the mental and physical health status and post‐migration psychosocial stressors of refugee toddlers and preschoolers
Authors: Ünver Hatice , Çeri Veysi , Perdahlı Fiş Neşe
Published: June 2021

Purpose

Although thousands of refugee children are being born in resettlement areas, few studies have described the mental and physical status in early childhood. We aimed to study the mental, physical status, and post‐migration psychosocial stressors of refugee toddlers and preschoolers.

Design and Methods

The Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood was used to assess psychiatric disorders, parent–child relational context, physical health conditions, psychosocial and environmental stressors, and developmental competencies of children who were evaluated at the clinic site. This study was a retrospective examination of these health records. Seventy participants were divided into two groups: children born during resettlement in Turkey and children born in Syria. The Syria group consisted of 33 participants aged 66.73 ± 13.05 months. The Turkey group consisted of 37 participants aged 38.78 ± 16.82 months.

Findings

In both groups, children suffered from a wide range of mental and physical disorders and a variety of psychosocial stressors. Monthly income and resettlement time in the Turkey group were more statistically significant (χ2 = 10.611, p = 0.014; χ2 = 5.976, p = 0.050). Also in the Turkey group, parents and siblings had significantly more mental health problems (χ2 = 4.39, p = 0.04; χ2 = 5.38, p = 0.02).

Practice Implications

Child and adolescent mental health workers need to be aware of the specific needs of this particular age group of refugees. Social, economic, and policy efforts are needed to improve the living conditions of refugee children.
Governmental inspection and local legislation on environmental protection: Evidence from China
Authors: Ding Zifang , Gao Xiang , Qian Xuesong , Wang Huanhuan
Published: June 2021

Using China's central inspection of environmental protection as a natural experiment, this paper adopts a difference‐in‐difference method to investigate how this campaign‐style governance approach can influence the legislation process related to the conservation of nature. Our empirics find a significant facilitative effect on the enactment of local environmental protection laws in terms of both number and quality, and this facilitative effect is stronger in provinces and regions with weaker legal basis and greater environmental pollution. Moreover, we show that this facilitative effect has already begun to generate favorable judicial consequences. As for policy implications, we not only provide an overall evaluation on the performance of the central inspection, but also demonstrate China's top–down campaign‐style governance indeed has a long‐lasting impact on the establishment of its institutions.
Fast, computer‐assisted detection of dust and debris impact craters on Stardust interstellar foils
Authors: De Gregorio Bradley T. , Opsahl‐Ong Jessica , Chizmadia Lysa , Brintlinger Todd H. , Westphal Andrew J. , Stroud Rhonda M.
Published: June 2021

The NASA Stardust Interstellar Dust collection provides our current best sample set for direct laboratory analysis of dust grains from the contemporary interstellar dust stream. While a handful of likely interstellar dust grains were identified within the silica aerogel collection media, interstellar dust also impacted Al foils covering the collector frame. Locating these rare impacts requires labor‐intensive collection and examination of tens of thousands of high‐resolution SEM images. Here, we implement a Python‐based algorithm to dramatically reduce the human time investment needed to locate impact craters. The algorithm employs a circular Hough transform to identify circular features in the foil images, followed by several tests to detect characteristic morphological features of impact craters—a dark center and a bright rim, with inclusion of multi‐core processing capabilities to significantly increase processing speed. For most data sets, the code produced a pool of potential crater candidates in 1–5% of the input images, producing a more manageable subset of images for a human expert to review. We used this code to locate 31 impact craters across 12 Stardust interstellar foils, 25 of which were located on three adjacent foils, I1008W,1, I1009N,1, and I1020W,1. Many impacts on these foils formed shallow, oblique craters, with residue compositions consistent with solar cell glass and orientations consistent with debris ejected from the spacecraft solar cells. The code can be integrated into future searches for Stardust interstellar grain impacts and can be implemented as a general utility for dust impact studies on spacecraft materials.
Unveiling the CoA mediated salicylate catabolic mechanism in Rhizobium sp. X9
Authors: Zhou Yidong , Gao Siyuan , Zhang Mingliang , Jiang Wankui , Ke Zhijian , Qiu Jiguo , Xu Jianhong , Hong Qing
Published: June 2021

Salicylate is a typical aromatic compound widely distributed in nature. Microbial degradation of salicylate has been well studied and salicylate hydroxylases play essential roles in linking the peripheral and ring‐cleavage catabolic pathways. The direct hydroxylation of salicylate catalyzed by salicylate‐1‐hydroxylase or salicylate‐5‐hydroxylase has been well studied. However, the CoA mediated salicylate 5‐hydroxylation pathway has not been characterized in detail. Here, we elucidate the molecular mechanism of the reaction in the conversion of salicylate to gentisate in the carbaryl‐degrading strain Rhizobium sp. X9. Three enzymes (salicylyl‐CoA ligase CehG, salicylyl‐CoA hydroxylase CehH and gentisyl‐CoA thioesterase CehI) catalyzed the conversion of salicylate to gentisate via a route, including CoA thioester formation, hydroxylation and thioester hydrolysis. Further analysis indicated that genes cehGHI are also distributed in other bacteria from terrestrial environment and marine sediments. These genomic evidences highlight the role of this salicylate degradation pathway in the carbon cycle of soil organic compounds and marine sediments. Our findings of this three‐step strategy enhanced the current understanding of CoA mediated degradation of salicylate.
All in the timing: epigenetic control of greening
Authors: Woodson Jesse D.
Published: June 2021

This article is a Commentary on Islam et al. (2021), 231: 1023–1039.
The Clinical Effect of a Combination of Mouse Nerve Growth Factor and Methylcobalamin to Treat Lumbar Disc Herniation with Foot Drop: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Chen‐yang Zhuang , An‐nan Hu , Yun‐qi Jiang , Hui‐ren Wang , Xi‐Lei Li , Xiao‐gang Zhou , Hong Lin
Published: June 2021

Objective

To investigate the clinical effect of mouse nerve growth factor (mNGF) and methylcobalamin (MeCbl) for the treatment of lumbar disk herniation (LDH) with foot drop.

Methods

A total of 46 patients suffering from LDH with foot drop who underwent transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery in our department from January 2015 to December 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. We divided these patients into two groups according to the different postoperative treatment which independently selected by patients after signing informed consent form: one group of 25 patients was treated with MeCbl alone (Group MeCbl), the other group of 21 patients was treated with a combination of mNGF and MeCbl (Group MeCbl+mNGF). Patient demographics, the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores, sensory and muscular strength improvement statistics at 1 week, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, and 12 months postoperatively were recorded. Motor/sensory deficits, sciatica and overall neurological outcome after treatment of MeCbl alone and combination of mNGF and MeCbl were retrospectively analyzed.

Results

The follow‐up ranged between 12 and 42 months (mean 20.8 months). There were no significant differences between these two groups of patients with respect to sex ratio, age, smoking, diabetes, disease course, section of protruding disc(s), muscular strength of foot dorsiflexion or preoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) score (P > 0.05). The VAS scores of Group MeCbl+mNGF were significantly lower than Group MeCbl at 1 week, 4 weeks, 12 weeks, and 12 months postoperatively (4.32 ± 0.75 vs 5.25 ± 0.79,2.65 ± 0.48 vs 3.42 ± 0.52, 1.72 ± 0.36 vs 2.45 ± 0.39, 1.12 ± 0.22 vs 1.52 ± 0.24, P < 0.05). The effective rates of sensory improvement were significantly higher in Group MeCbl+mNGF compared with Group MeCbl at 12‐week/12‐month follow‐up time point (90.48% vs 52.00%,95.24% vs 68.00%, P < 0.05). The effective rate of muscular strength improvement of the two groups did not differ significantly at 1 week after surgery but exhibited statistically significant differences at subsequent time points (61.90% vs 32.00%, 76.19% vs 44.00%, 80.95% vs 48.00%, P < 0.05).

Conclusions

Application of mNGF had clinical effects on promoting the recovery of neurological function in patients suffering from LDH with foot drop.
Effect of Local Delivery of Vancomycin and Tobramycin on Bone Regeneration
Authors: Han Wei , Zhang Lei , Yu Ling‐jia , Wang Jun‐qiang
Published: June 2021

Objective

A bone defect rat model was established to investigate the osteogenic effect of local delivery two antibiotics (vancomycin and tobramycin powder) on bone regeneration.

Methods

Twenty‐four Sprague–Dawley (SD) male rats (6 to 8 weeks, 200 to 250 g) were used in this study. All these rats were randomly divided into four groups. Based on dose conversion between rat and humanviabody surface area, the rat dose of two antibiotics was 88μg/g and 176 μg/g for vancomycin and tobramycin, respectively. Con group (no antibiotic), Van group (vancomycin, 88 μg/g), Tob group (tobramycin 176 μg/g), and Van+Tob group (vancomycin 88μg/g combined with tobramycin 176 μg/g). A 5.0‐mm full‐thickness standardized mandibular bone defect was performed with a drill in each rat and different antibiotic powders were placed over the bone defect space, respectively. All these animals were sacrificed after 12 weeks post‐operation. The mandible bones were harvested for further radiographic and histologic analysis. The bone volume/total volume (BV/TV) ratio, bone volume (BV), and bone fractional area (BFA) in the defect areaviamicro‐computed tomography (μCT scanning) were further analyzed. Then, we performed a histological assessmentviahematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and Masson's trichrome staining to analyze bone regeneration and also analyze the number of osteoblasts per filed.

Results

There were no postoperative deaths, signs of vancomycin‐related or tobramycin‐related toxicity, or signs of systemic illness in any of the four groups. All wounds healed well, and no complications or surgical site infection were observed in all rats. From the μCT scans analyses, there was less bone regeneration in the Van group than in the Con group (BV/TV:F = 64.29,R2 = 0.9602;P = 0.0052; BFA:F = 76.17,R2 = 0.9662,P = 0.0007; BV:F = 194.4,R2 = 0.9865,P = 0.0022). However, when the tobramycin and vancomycin were combined, an increase in bone defect re‐ossification was found in the Van+Tob group than in the Van group (BV/TV:F = 64.29,R2 = 0.9602,P = 0.0033; BFA:F = 76.17,R2 = 0.9662,P = 0.0006; BV:F = 194.4,R2 = 0.9865,P = 0.0033). Routine H&E and Masson staining supported the finding of μCT scanning. Quantitative indices confirmed that both the bone regeneration and the number of osteoblasts per filed in the defect area was higher in the Van+Tob group than in the Van group (percentage of bone tissue:F = 145.7,R2 = 0.9562,P = 0.0008; number of osteoblasts per file;F = 67.3,R2 = 0.9098,P < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between the Con group and the Van+Tob group on the number of osteoblasts each field (F = 145.7,R2 = 0.9562,P > 0.9999).

Conclusion

For bone defect, local application of vancomycin combined with tobramycin was recommended over vancomycin alone. This animal study presents data suggesting that the use of local delivery of vancomycin and tobramycin should be investigated further in clinical studies.
Operational tolerance after pediatric composite liver‐pancreas‐intestine transplantation following severe graft‐versus‐host disease
Authors: Osborn Julie , Nathan Jaimie D. , Tiao Gregory , Alonso Maria , Kocoshis Samuel
Published: June 2021

Background

While operational tolerance has been previously described in isolated intestinal transplant, reports of this phenomenon in combined liver‐intestine transplant are lacking.

Case Description

We detail a unique case of a patient who received a composite allograft including liver, pancreas, and small bowel due to short gut syndrome secondary to gastroschisis complicated by volvulus. The indication for transplantation was permanent dependence on total parenteral nutrition, end‐stage liver disease, recurrent sepsis, and persistent stomal variceal hemorrhage. The patient developed severe graft‐versus‐host disease with grade 3 skin involvement, ophthalmic, and pulmonary involvement with 53% donor T‐cell chimerism. She required aggressive therapy including high‐dose methylprednisolone, rituximab, cyclophosphamide, and alemtuzumab. Due to infection concerns following depletion of her lymphocytes, immunosuppression was discontinued with close surveillance of her allograft. Nearly 10 years later, the patient has continued off all immunosuppression without evidence of rejection or graft dysfunction and demonstrates immunocompetence with normal functional immune assays and development of appropriate live vaccination titers.

Conclusion

This report of operational tolerance following pediatric composite liver‐pancreas‐intestine transplantation provides evidence that the complex immunologic balance in intestinal transplantation may on rare occasions favor immunosuppression reduction or even discontinuation. Future trials of immunosuppression minimization in this population may be warranted.
Next of kin’s experiences with and attitudes towards digital monitoring technology for ageing people with dementia in residential care facilities. A qualitative study based on the voices of next of kin and care providers
Authors: Gullslett Monika K. , Nilsen Etty R. , Dugstad Janne
Published: June 2021

Aim

To explore next of kin's experiences and attitudes regarding information surrounding the introduction and use of technology to monitor residential home residents with dementia.

Background

As our population ages, conditions increase health care and societal challenges. Digitalisation and welfare technology are important for developing health services for the ageing population; adapting information‐sharing and communication about these pics with those involved, such as next of kin, will become increasingly important for developing appropriate services.

Design

This qualitative study has an exploratory and interpretative approach, using in‐depth interviews based on a hermeneutical–phenomenological perspective.

Methods

During the process of implementing a variety of residential care monitoring technologies, data were collected primarily via semi‐structured, in‐depth interviews with care providers and next of kin. In addition to the individual interviews, one focus group interview was carried out with care providers.

Results

Next of kin are a heterogeneous group who need differing types of information – and different styles of communication – to convey information about their relatives in residential care. General attitudes among the next of kin towards welfare technology were positive. Three analytic themes that illustrate the next of kin concerns emerged: (1) concern for safety, autonomy and ethics; (2) resistance and optimism towards technology; (3) information about the use of monitoring technology.

Conclusion

Digital monitoring technology is increasingly being implemented in residential care. Next of kin are salient in this context. Accordingly, best practices for informing and communicating in a collaborative process must be developed. While some next of kin have resources and are able to be highly engaged, others are unable or unwilling to be active participants in their family members’ lives. It is critical that care providers are aware that next of kin are a heterogeneous group. Our proposed profiles may prove helpful for giving the right information and attention to next of kin, and this may improve residential care services.

Relevance to clinical practice

These findings may aid in the tailoring of information and communication systems to individual next of kin's needs and in improving residential care services.
Climate Policy and Moral Consumers*
Authors: Eichner Thomas , Pethig Rüdiger
Published: June 2021

This paper analyzes climate policy (in the form of emissions caps) in a multi‐country game when consumers have preferences with different degrees of morality. In the absence of climate policy, the larger the consumers’ degree of morality, the lower the energy consumption and climate damage. Moral consumer‐voters elect either emissions caps (direct democracy) under majority rule, or policymakers who then choose emissions caps (representative democracy). If voters take prices as given, then election‐winning emissions caps are tighter, the lower the median voters’ degree of morality. If voters seek to influence prices in their favor, then strong strategic price effects are generated and the election‐winning emissions caps are less stringent, the lower the median voters’ degree of morality. We also show that the morality of election‐winning policymakers differs from the morality of median voters. It is possible that a moral median voter elects a policymaker with zero morality who then implements an emissions cap that might be larger than emissions in the absence of climate policy.
Characteristics of arterial catheter use and related complications in dogs and cats in an intensive care unit
Authors: Hagley Matthew J. , Hopper Kate , Epstein Steven E.
Published: June 2021

Objective

To identify characteristics of arterial catheter use, including indwelling times and reasons for removal, and analyze potential risk factors for complications based on patient‐ and catheter‐related variables.

Design

Prospective clinical study from July 2012 to September 2016.

Setting

University teaching hospital.

Animals

One hundred ninety‐eight dogs and 29 cats with an arterial catheter monitored in the ICU.

Interventions

None.

Measurements and Main Results

A questionnaire was used to obtain patient and catheter information for arterial catheters monitored in the ICU during the study period. Two hundred twenty‐seven catheters met the inclusion criteria. Most catheters were placed in the dorsal metatarsal artery in dogs (90.4%) and either the dorsal metatarsal artery (51.7%) or coccygeal artery (48.3%) in cats. Weights ranged from 1.5 to 64 kg in dogs and 0.77 to 8.7 kg in cats. The median indwelling time was 24 hours for dogs and 12 hours for cats. Minor complications occurred in 19.2% of catheters in dogs and 17.2% of those in cats with removal of catheter due to complications in 13 of 198 (6.6%) for dogs and 2 of 29 (6.9%) for cats. There was no association between the incidence of complications and patient weight, catheter indwelling time, species, insertion site, catheter size, or level of consciousness during placement. There was also no association between the method of catheter maintenance (intermittent flushing or continuous pressure transducer) and the failure of a catheter to aspirate or flush.

Conclusions

Arterial catheter‐related complications were relatively frequent, but most complications were minor and did not justify removal of the catheter. This suggests that the use of arterial catheters in both species is relatively safe. However, further research is needed to assess complications related to longer catheter indwelling times, particularly in cats.
An Experimental Investigation of the Governing Properties in a Vortex Tube
Authors: Fuqua Matthew N. , Rutledge James L.
Published: June 2021

Although awareness of the phenomenon of temperature separation in Ranque-Hilsch vortex tubes dates back at least nine decades, some mystery surrounding the phenomenon remains to this day. These devices split an incoming stream of fluid into two streams—one with a greater total temperature than the incoming fluid and the other with a lower total temperature. This temperature separation is accomplished with no moving parts and no external sources of energy including heat transfer to or from the device. In attempts to understand the physics of the temperature separation, previous researchers have characterized the effect through various inlet temperatures and pressures as well as various gases with different properties. Unfortunately, the findings documented in the literature are sometimes inconsistent indicating the possibility that previously uncontrolled properties and flow conditions govern temperature separation to an unappreciated degree. In the present research, two new flow characteristics are examined for their role in temperature separation—volumetric heat capacity, ρCp, and nozzle velocity. In the present experiments with air, it was found that by matching nozzle velocity and ρCp—even with disparate pressures, temperatures, Reynolds numbers, and Mach numbers—the resulting temperature separation curves are identical. This is the first known documentation of such a finding. The results suggest that nozzle velocity is fundamental to scaling the performance of a vortex tube, while the nozzle volumetric heat capacity is also relevant to its behavior.
Preliminary Study of the Superlubricity Behavior of Polyimide-Induced Liquid Crystal Alignment
Authors: Gao Xinlei , Chen Hao , Lv Sichao , Zhang Zhiyong , Wang Tingting
Published: June 2021

We have studied the friction behavior based on liquid crystal (LC) alignment of a unique tribological system composed of a nematic LC and polyimide (PI). The LC was used as a lubricant and a tribological factor with molecular alignment ability. PI was used as both a rubbing pair part and a LC alignment agent. The LCs used as lubricants included the single LC 5CB and the mixed LCs 5CB–2UTPP3 and 3PEP5–3UTPP4. The PI used as the friction pair was 6FDA-ODA PI, and its counterpart was GCr15 steel. For this system, it was found that under the premise that the nematic phase temperature range of the selected LC meets the operating temperature of the friction test at a suitable ambient temperature, the operating speed and load are controlled to maintain a stable lubricating film thickness between the friction pairs during operation of the system. Moreover, by avoiding excessive or insufficient friction heat generated by the running speed being too high or too low to change the phase state of the LC, with the anchoring energy between the PI and the LC, the LC molecules will align in the rubbing direction, that is, they will arrange parallel to each other along the grooves, which can contribute to achieve superlubricity behavior.
Reduced Uterine Tissue Damage during Chlamydia muridarum Infection in TREM-1,3-Deficient Mice
Authors: McQueen Bryan E. , Kollipara Avinash , Gyorke Clare E. , Andrews Charles W. , Ezzell Ashley , Darville Toni , Nagarajan Uma M.
Published: June 2021

Genital infections with
Chlamydia trachomatis
can lead to uterine and oviduct tissue damage in the female reproductive tract. Neutrophils are strongly associated with tissue damage during chlamydial infection, while an adaptive CD4 T cell response is necessary to combat infection.
Characterization of an α-Glucosidase Enzyme Conserved in
Gardnerella
spp. Isolated from the Human Vaginal Microbiome
Authors: Bhandari Pashupati , Tingley Jeffrey P. , Palmer David R. J. , Abbott D. Wade , Hill Janet E.
Published: June 2021

Increased abundance of
Gardnerella
spp. is a diagnostic characteristic of bacterial vaginosis, an imbalance in the human vaginal microbiome associated with troubling symptoms, and negative reproductive health outcomes, including increased transmission of sexually transmitted infections and preterm birth. Competition for nutrients is likely an important factor in causing dramatic shifts in the vaginal microbial community but little is known about the contribution of bacterial enzymes to the metabolism of glycogen, a major carbon source available to vaginal bacteria.
Caspase-Dependent Cleavage of DDX21 Suppresses Host Innate Immunity
Authors: Wu Wei , Qu Yang , Yu Shengqing , Wang Sa , Yin Yuncong , Liu Qinfang , Meng Chunchun , Liao Ying , Ur Rehman Zaib , Tan Lei , Song Cuiping , Qiu Xusheng , Liu Weiwei , Ding Chan , Sun Yingjie
Published: June 2021

Innate immunity serves as the first barrier against virus infection. DEAD (Glu-Asp-Ala-Glu) box RNA helicases, originally considered to be involved in RNA processing and RNA unwinding, have been shown to play an important role in antiviral innate immunity.
Eptifibatide-induced profound thrombocytopaenia: a rare complication
Authors: Mahajan Pranav , Ayub Fatima , Azimi Roxana , Adoni Naveed
Published: June 2021

Drug-induced immune thrombocytopaenia (DITP) is a type of thrombocytopaenia caused by medications. It is one of the common causes of unexplained thrombocytopaenia. It is caused by the formation of autoantibodies against a particular drug and is commonly observed with medications like heparin and beta-lactam antibiotics. One of the rare causes of DITP is eptifibatide, a widely used antiplatelet agent for pretreatment in cardiac catheterisation. These patients can be asymptomatic or develop complications like skin bruising, epistaxis and even intracranial haemorrhage. We present a case of a 64-year-old man who developed eptifibatide-induced profound thrombocytopaenia leading to extensive skin bruising. He was treated with platelet transfusions followed by prompt improvement in platelet count.
Development and performance of timber REITs in the United States: a review and some prospects
Authors: Baral Srijana , Mei Bin
Published: June 2021

Timber real estate investment trusts (REITs) are companies that own and manage timberland and generate revenue by harvesting and selling timber or other forest-related products. Due to their popularity with investors, timber REITs in the United States have attracted growing research interest in the recent decades. This necessitates a review of existing knowledge on the evolution of timber REITs and their financial performance over the years. In this review, we summarize the history and development of timber REITs, discuss the tax policies applicable to timber REIT growth and their implications. We also review past studies that focused on the financial performance of timber REITs and synthesize the methodologies used in those studies. At the end, we posit the possibility of consolidation waves in the timber industry and identify some opportunities for future research. This review can shed some new light on the evolution of public timber REITs and their financial performance.
Macroeconomic Uncertainty and Stock Market Uncertainty: Some Further Evidence From Pakistan
Authors: Aziz Tariq , Marwat Jahanzeb , Mustafa Sheraz
Published: June 2021

The paper provides an updated evidence of the linkage between stock market and macroeconomic factors in Pakistan. The sample period is from January 2011 to November 2017. Macroeconomic variables used are money supply, exchange rate, treasury bill rate, inflation and industrial production. Generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH) models have been used to examine the impact of macroeconomic factors on stock market return and stock market volatility. Findings suggest that macroeconomic factors have an impact on stock market volatility. The fluctuations in inflation and money supply negatively influence the volatility of stock market returns. In contrast, industrial production positively affects the fluctuations of stock market returns. The findings are important for shareholders, investors, regulatory authorities and policymakers.
Noise reduction of shot-noise-dominated hyperspectral imagery by combining PCA with existing denoising methods
Authors: Chen Guang Yi , Krzyzak Adam
Published: June 2021

In this paper, we revisit the effects of principal component analysis (PCA) on hyperspectral imagery denoising. Our previous work combined PCA with wavelet shrinkage and particularly good denoising results has been achieved. We debate that any denoising methods can be used to replace wavelet shrinkage in our PCA+wavelet shrinkage algorithm. The major difference between this work and our previous PCA-based denoising method is that we consider a mixture of Gaussian and shot noise in this work whereas our previous methods studied Gaussian white noise alone. In addition, we retain [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] PCA output components in our forward PCA transform in this paper whereas we keep all PCA output components [Formula: see text] in our previous works. The [Formula: see text] above is the number of spectral bands in the original hyperspectral imagery data cube. In addition, PCA is much better than nonlinear PCA for hyperspectral imagery denoising when Gaussian white noise and shot noise are introduced as demonstrated in this paper. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the method proposed in this paper outperforms the existing methods significantly in terms of signal-to-noise ratio for two testing hyperspectral imagery data cubes.
-Score-Based Secure Biomedical Model for Effective Skin Lesion Segmentation Over eHealth Cloud
Authors: Rajput Amitesh Singh , Tanwar Vishesh Kumar , Raman Balasubramanian
Published: June 2021

This study aims to process the private medical data over eHealth cloud platform. The current pandemic situation, caused by Covid19 has made us to realize the importance of automatic remotely operated independent services, such as cloud. However, the cloud servers are developed and maintained by third parties, and may access user’s data for certain benefits. Considering these problems, we propose a specialized method such that the patient’s rights and changes in medical treatment can be preserved. The problem arising due to Melanoma skin cancer is carefully considered and a privacy-preserving cloud-based approach is proposed to achieve effective skin lesion segmentation. The work is accomplished by the development of a
Z
-score-based local color correction method to differentiate image pixels from ambiguity, resulting the segmentation quality to be highly improved. On the other hand, the privacy is assured by partially order homomorphic
Permutation Ordered Binary (POB)
number system and image permutation. Experiments are performed over publicly available images from the ISIC 2016 and 2017 challenges, as well as PH

dataset, where the proposed approach is found to achieve significant results over the encrypted images (known as encrypted domain), as compared to the existing schemes in the plain domain (unencrypted images). We also compare the results with the winners of the ISBI 2016 and 2017 challenges, and show that the proposed approach achieves a very close result with them, even after processing test images in the encrypted domain. Security of the proposed approach is analyzed using a challenge-response game model.
Thinking about the 2020 SIGCAS membership survey
Authors: Schuler Douglas
Published: June 2021

Last November (2020) the SIGCAS executive board conducted a survey of SIGCAS members to get a picture of who we are, where we come from, what we're interested in, and what the membership would like to see the board do to better fulfill its mission. Based on discussions with the executive board, SIGCAS Vice Chair Lisa Kaczmarczyk implemented the survey using Survey Monkey. As with all surveys one can't get all the information one would like and the more information one tries to obtain, the fewer people are likely to supply it. We settled on eight questions and we received input from 68 people, about 23% of our membership (then just under 300 people---now slightly over).

What follows is a presentation of the survey results along with some commentary. How I interpret the data and what I think ought to (or could) be done with the data might not be how you'd interpret the data and think about what ought to be done. And that's a good discussion to have! At any rate, the responses that we've received represent a valuable part of our collective intelligence, consciousness, and visions for the future. The hope is that these will inform out work going forward.

Please note that I'm not doing any professional analysis since I'm not qualified to do that. I also suspect that the wisdom we can glean wouldn't be found via additional number crunching. And I would also add that there are dangers to reading too much into survey data. As a precaution I have asked the other board members to take a look at this article so I don't get anything terribly wrong.

Just a reminder that the data we have doesn't necessarily reflect the totality of what our entire membership would provide. (Although, as one somewhat validating figure, the percentage of people outside of North America on our roster is about the same as the percentage of people who told us they were from outside North America on the survey, 72%.) Also, I'm trying to avoid the temptation to comment on everything. There's too much material for that. And, obviously, there are too many suggestions and ideas out there for SIGCAS to move on all of them. But based on these responses a multitude of useful information is now available and it should help lead us into productive discussions and actions.
Evolution and Mass Loss of Cool Aging Stars: A Daedalean Story
Authors: Decin Leen
Published: June 2021

A multitude of phenomena—such as the chemical enrichment of the Universe, the mass spectrum of planetary nebulae, white dwarfs and gravitational wave progenitors, the frequency distribution of supernovae, the fate of exoplanets, etc.—are highly regulated by the amounts of mass that stars expel through a powerful wind. For more than half a century, these winds of cool aging stars have been interpreted within the common interpretive framework of 1D models. I here discuss how that framework now appears to be highly problematic. ▪  Current 1D mass-loss rate formulae differ by orders of magnitude, rendering contemporary stellar evolution predictions highly uncertain.

These stellar winds harbor 3D complexities that bridge 23 orders of magnitude in scale, ranging from the nanometer up to thousands of astronomical units. We need to embrace and understand these 3D spatial realities if we aim to quantify mass loss and assess its effect on stellar evolution. We therefore need to gauge the following: ▪  The 3D life of molecules and solid-state aggregates: The gas-phase clusters that form the first dust seeds are not yet identified. This limits our ability to predict mass-loss rates using a self-consistent approach. ▪  The emergence of 3D clumps: They contribute in a nonnegligible way to the mass loss, although they seem of limited importance for the wind-driving mechanism. ▪  The 3D lasting impact of a (hidden) companion: Unrecognized binary interaction has biased previous mass-loss rate estimates toward values that are too large.

Only then will it be possible to drastically improve our predictive power of the evolutionary path in 4D (classical) spacetime of any star.
Battery Degradation-Aware Current Derating: An Effective Method to Prolong Lifetime and Ease Thermal Management
Authors: Schimpe Michael , Barreras Jorge V. , Wu Billy , Offer Gregory J.
Published: June 2021

To ensure the safe and stable operation of lithium-ion batteries in battery energy storage systems (BESS), the power/current is de-rated to prevent the battery from going outside the safe operating range. Most derating strategies use static limits for battery current, voltage, temperature and state-of-charge, and do not account for the complexity of battery degradation. Progress has been made with models of lithium plating for fast charging. However, this is a partial solution, does not consider other degradation mechanisms, and still requires complex optimization work, limiting widespread adoption. In this work, the calendar and cycle degradation model is analysed offline to predetermine the degradation rates. The results are integrated into the current-derating strategy. This framework can be adapted to any degradation model and allows flexible tuning. The framework is evaluated in simulations of an outdoors-installed BESS with passive thermal management, which operates in a residential photovoltaic application. In comparison to standard derating, the degradation-aware derating achieves: (1) increase of battery lifetime by 65%; (2) increase in energy throughput over lifetime by 49%, while III) energy throughput per year is reduced by only 9.5%. These results suggest that the derating framework can become a new standard in current derating.
A Study of Ferrocene Diffusion in Toluene/Tween 20/1-Butanol/Water Microemulsions for Redox Flow Battery Applications
Authors: Shen Xiaochen , Sinclair Nicholas , Wainright Jesse , Imel Adam , Barth Brian , Zawodzinski Thomas , Savinell Robert F.
Published: June 2021

Redox flow batteries (RFBs) possess multiple advantages as a flexible energy storage solution. However, RFB researchers are still facing many challenges in finding an appropriate electrolyte. Microemulsions have recently been proposed as a promising alternative RFB electrolyte because of their ability to accommodate organic redox species with fast electron transfer rates that are not soluble in aqueous phase, while still offering the high conductivity of an aqueous salt electrolyte. In this work, we focused on understanding the transport of ferrocene (Fc) in a toluene/Tween 20/1-butanol/water model microemulsion and studied the compositional influence on Fc diffusion. The results show that Fc redistributes among the oil, surfactant, and water microenvironments, and the corresponding diffusion and partition coefficients are quantified. Thus, a tortuous path diffusion model is proposed to describe the mass transport of Fc to an electrode surface. Diffusion coefficients are also obtained by pulsed-field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG NMR), while the values for Fc diffusion are substantially higher than those from electrochemical measurements, suggesting that they measure samples in different ways. The current contributions from each microenvironment indicate that the Fc permeability is much higher in the oil, even though the electron transfer reaction is likely occurring in the surfactant.
Phosphorylation of STAT3 in hypothalamic nuclei is stimulated by lower doses of leptin than are needed to inhibit food intake
Authors: Harris Ruth B. S.
Published: June 2021

The results of this experiment show that doses of leptin too small to inhibit food intake produce a maximal response to leptin in the arcuate nucleus. By contrast the VMH shows a robust response that correlates with inhibition of food intake. This suggests that the VMH plays an important role in the energetic response to hyperleptinemia.
Skeletal myopathy in CKD: a comparison of adenine-induced nephropathy and 5/6 nephrectomy models in mice
Authors: Kim Kyoungrae , Anderson Erik M. , Thome Trace , Lu Guanyi , Salyers Zachary R. , Cort Tomas A. , O’Malley Kerri A. , Scali Salvatore T. , Ryan Terence E.
Published: June 2021

Numerous preclinical models of chronic kidney disease have been used to evaluate skeletal muscle pathology; however, direct comparisons of popular models are not available. In this study, we compared adenine-induced nephropathy and 5/6 nephrectomy models. Both models produced equivalent levels of muscle atrophy and mitochondrial impairment, but the adenine model exhibited lower mortality rates, higher consistency in uremic toxin levels, and dysregulated phosphate homeostasis compared with the 5/6 nephrectomy model.
Characteristics of circular RNAs expression of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in humans with coronary artery disease
Authors: Ji Wen-Feng , Chen Jia-Xin , He Shu , Zhou Ya-Qing , Hua Lei , Hou Can , Zhang Sheng , Gan Xiong-Kang , Wang Yan-Jun , Zhou Han-Xiao , Li Qiang , Jia En-Zhi
Published: June 2021

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) function as promising biomarkers and therapeutic targets for coronary artery disease due to their high stability, covalently closed structure, and potential gene regulation. We aimed to identify the expression profile and role of circular RNAs (circRNAs) in coronary artery disease (CAD). We performed RNA sequence analysis of circRNAs in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of five patients with CAD and five controls. Bioinformatics analyses were adopted to explore biological functions of differentially expressed circRNAs. The miRanda and TargetScan tools were used to predict the microRNA (miRNA)-targeting interactions and to construct a triple network of differentially expressed gene-circRNA-miRNA-mRNA. In total, 13,160 downregulated and 12,905 upregulated circRNAs were identified in CAD. A gene ontology annotation analysis showed that genes in the network were involved in organelle organization, cell cycle, mitotic cycle, and cellular metabolic process. Parental genes of the 10 dysregulated circRNAs were involved in metabolism and protein modification, and these circRNAs might regulate gene expression associated with CAD via miRNA sponges. As potential competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs), dysregulated circRNAs may be involved in the pathogenesis of CAD, which provides new insights into the diagnosis and prognosis of coronary artery disease.
[Retracted] Radio Frequency Link and User Selection Algorithm for 5G Mobile Communication System
Authors: Lv Zhengnan , Xi Zhenghao
Published: June 2021

Based on the millimetre‐wave time‐domain channel detector, this paper conducts channel measurement and modelling for different scenarios and antenna types in typical frequency bands and thus carries out a study on the propagation characteristics of millimetre‐wave channels in typical frequency bands and scenarios for 5G. The time‐varying characteristics and modelling methods of millimetre‐wave clusters are studied, and the time‐varying channel simulation strategy and linear regression fitting method are used to establish the time‐varying generation and extinction model of clusters by combining the measured data of 26 GHz large‐scale antenna channels. The algorithm is based on the correlation dictionary and achieves the efficient and optimal selection of large‐scale antenna arrays in the millimetre‐wave band. A low‐complexity multiuser hybrid precoding design scheme is proposed based on the wideband millimetre‐wave large‐scale Multiple‐Input Multiple‐Output (MIMO) system. The scheme aims to maximize the system spectral efficiency and introduces the net spectral efficiency as a bridge to decouple the analogy precoding design from the digital precoding design, thus significantly reducing the computational complexity. In the analogy precoding stage, a Hungarian algorithm‐based beam assignment method is proposed to avoid beam conflicts and maximize the net spectral efficiency of the system; in the digital precoding stage, the equivalent channel matrix of each subcarrier is diagonalized to eliminate multiuser interference. Finally, the effectiveness of the scheme is verified by simulation. In this paper, we focus on the radio frequency (RF) link and user selection algorithm of 5G mobile communication system. Through the study of these two aspects, the RF link of our communication system has high stability and reliability, and through the study of the algorithm used for selection, our results also have a strong practical value.