bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The mechanisms underlying long-term shaft resistance enhancement of energy pile in clays
Authors: Yazdani Saeed , Helwany Sam , Olgun C. Guney
Published: December 2020

Although there are several studies indicating that heating increases the long-term shaft resistance of energy piles, the mechanisms by which heating causes this increase have not been adequately evaluated yet. This article presents a comprehensive analysis and discussion to assess the important factors contributing to this increase by integrating the findings from three recently published papers studying the thermo-mechanical behavior of clay and the clay–pile interface. In these three studies, reconstituted kaolin clay was used, and cyclic and monotonic heat ranging between 24 and 34 °C were applied to the clay and interface. The interface was sheared under two stiffness boundary conditions: constant normal stiffness (CNS) and constant normal load (CNL), where normal stresses varied between 100 and 300 kPa. The analysis presented in this article reveals that the increase in strength of the interface under the CNL condition is primarily attributed to clay stiffening at the interface. However, the increase in shaft resistance under the CNS condition is primarily attributed to the heating-induced increase of effective lateral stress, although clay stiffening at the interface also partially contributes to the total increase of shaft resistance.
Changes in light spectra modify secondary compound concentrations and BVOC emissions of Norway spruce seedlings
Authors: Kivimäenpää Minna , Virjamo Virpi , Ghimire Rajendra P. , Holopainen Jarmo K. , Julkunen-Tiitto Riitta , Martz Françoise , Nissinen Katri , Riikonen Johanna
Published: December 2020

Our objective was to study how changes in the light spectra affect growth; the concentration of carbohydrate, chlorophyll, carotenoid, terpene, alkaloid, and phenolic compounds; and the emissions of BVOC (biogenic volatile organic compound) of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) seedlings. This study was conducted during the growth of the third needle generation in plant growth chambers. The plants were exposed to two light spectra with equal photon flux densities but different proportions of blue light (400–500 nm) produced by LED (light-emitting diode) lamps: (i) control (white light + 12% blue light) and (ii) increased blue light (+B) (white light + 45% blue light). The +B treatment increased the concentrations of total flavonoids and acetophenones in needles. The major changes in the phenolic profile were an accumulation of astragalin derivatives and the aglycone of picein. The +B treatment also decreased concentrations of the main alkaloid compound, epidihydropinidine, and its precursor, 2-methyl-6-propyl-1,6-piperideine; the emission rates of limonene, myrcene, and total monoterpenes; and the concentrations of a few terpenoid compounds, mainly in stems. Growth as well as the carbohydrates and pigments present in the needles were not affected. The results suggest that supplemental blue light shifts carbon allocation between secondary metabolism routes — from alkaloid and terpenoid synthesis to flavonoid and acetophenone synthesis. The changes may affect herbivory and abiotic stress tolerance of Norway spruce.
Description of the newly observed $$\Xi _c^{0}$$ states as molecular states
Authors: Zhu HongQiang , Ma NaNa , Huang Yin
Published: December 2020

Very recently, three new structures$$\Xi _c(2923)^0$$Ξc(2923)0,$$\Xi _c(2938)^0$$Ξc(2938)0, and$$\Xi _c(2964)^0$$Ξc(2964)0at the invariant mass spectrum of$$\Lambda _c^{+}K^{-}$$Λc+K-observed by the LHCb Collaboration trigger a hot discussion about their inner structure. In this work, we study the strong decay mode of the newly observed$$\Xi ^0_c$$Ξc0assuming that the$$\Xi ^0_c$$Ξc0is a$$\bar{D}\Lambda -\bar{D}\Sigma $$D¯Λ-D¯Σmolecular state. With the possible quantum numbers$$J^p=1/2^{\pm }$$Jp=1/2±and$$3/2^{\pm }$$3/2±, the partial decay widths of the$$\bar{D}\Lambda -\bar{D}\Sigma $$D¯Λ-D¯Σmolecular state into the$$\Lambda _c^{+}K^{-}$$Λc+K-,$$\Sigma _c^{+}K^{-}$$Σc+K-,and$$\Xi _c^{+}\pi ^{-}$$Ξc+π-final states through hadronic loop are calculated with the help of the effective Lagrangians. By comparison with the LHCb observation, the current results of total decay width support the$$\Xi _c(2923)^0$$Ξc(2923)0as$$\bar{D}\Lambda -\bar{D}\Sigma $$D¯Λ-D¯Σmolecule while the decay width of the$$\Xi _c(2938)^0$$Ξc(2938)0and$$\Xi _c(2964)^0$$Ξc(2964)0can not be well reproduced in the molecular state picture. In addition, the calculated partial decay widths withSwave$$\bar{D}\Lambda -\bar{D}\Sigma $$D¯Λ-D¯Σmolecular state picture indicate that allowed decay mode,$$\Xi _c^{+}\pi ^{-}$$Ξc+π-, may have the biggest branching ratio for the$$\Xi _c(2923)^0$$Ξc(2923)0. The experimental measurements for this strong decay process could be a crucial test for the molecule interpretation of the$$\Xi _c(2923)^0$$Ξc(2923)0.
Design and Implementation of a Spiking Neural Network with Integrate-and-Fire Neuron Model for Pattern Recognition
Authors: Rashvand Parvaneh , Ahmadzadeh Mohammad Reza , Shayegh Farzaneh
Published: December 2020

In contrast to the previous artificial neural networks (ANNs), spiking neural networks (SNNs) work based on temporal coding approaches. In the proposed SNN, the number of neurons, neuron models, encoding method, and learning algorithm design are described in a correct and pellucid fashion. It is also discussed that optimizing the SNN parameters based on physiology, and maximizing the information they pass leads to a more robust network. In this paper, inspired by the “center-surround” structure of the receptive fields in the retina, and the amount of overlap that they have, a robust SNN is implemented. It is based on the Integrate-and-Fire (IF) neuron model and uses the time-to-first-spike coding to train the network by a newly proposed method. The Iris and MNIST datasets were employed to evaluate the performance of the proposed network whose accuracy, with 60 input neurons, was 96.33% on the Iris dataset. The network was trained in only 45 iterations indicating its reasonable convergence rate. For the MNIST dataset, when the gray level of each pixel was considered as input to the network, 600 input neurons were required, and the accuracy of the network was 90.5%. Next, 14 structural features were used as input. Therefore, the number of input neurons decreased to 210, and accuracy increased up to 95%, meaning that an SNN with fewer input neurons and good skill was implemented. Also, the ABIDE1 dataset is applied to the proposed SNN. Of the 184 data, 79 are used for healthy people and 105 for people with autism. One of the characteristics that can differentiate between these two classes is the entropy of the existing data. Therefore, Shannon entropy is used for feature extraction. Applying these values to the proposed SNN, an accuracy of 84.42% was achieved by only 120 iterations, which is a good result compared to the recent results.
Broadband and polarization-mediated unidirectional plasmon polaritons launch based on metallic triangle aperture arrays
Authors: Chen Cong , Xi Jianxin , Chen Panpan , Huang Wanxia , Li Kuanguo , Liang Li , Shi Fenghua , Shi Jianping
Published: December 2020

The application of the subwavelength planar structure to control the propagation direction of surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) has attracted many interests in recent years. However, the traditional unidirectional transmission devices of SPPs are limited by the low extinction ratio, narrow working band and the incapability of controlling the transmission directions. In this study, a novel SPPs unidirectional transmission device based on metallic aperture arrays of the right triangle (RT) is proposed and demonstrated by numerical simulations (finite-difference time-domain method). The maximum extinction ratio of the unidirectional transmission device can reach upto 33 dB under the irradiation of linearly polarized light, and the device possesses a wide operating band ([Formula: see text] nm) while the extinction ratio is greater than 10 dB. Moreover, the transmission direction of SPPs can be flexibly controlled by tuning the polarization of the incident beam. This broadband, polarization-mediated and high extinction ratio unidirectional transmission device shows great potential in the compact plasmonic devices.
Magnetic Lovelock black holes with a cloud of strings and quintessence
Authors: Ali Askar
Published: December 2020

We consider a model of exponential electrodynamics as a source of gravitational field and worked for the solution describing magnetic black hole surrounded by a quintessence and cloud of strings. In this set up, a new family of Lovelock black hole solutions of the gravitational field equations are constructed. The thermodynamics of these black holes is also studied and the mass as well as the other associated thermodynamic quantities such as Hawking temperature and heat capacity in terms of horizon radius are computed. These quantities are dependent on the parameters of exponential electrodynamics, cloud of strings and quintessential dark energy, which have been used for the identification of the regions corresponding to thermal phase transitions and thermodynamic stability of black holes. Furthermore, the effects of thermal fluctuations are also discussed and modified thermodynamic quantities associated to logarithmic correction in entropy are calculated. The Hawking radiations corresponding to these black holes are briefly discussed as well.
An Overview on Recent Researches of Uncertain Group Decision Making: Methodology, Framework and Development
Authors: He Yue , Xu Zeshui
Published: December 2020

The uncertain group decision-making (UGDM) methodology has developed rapidly in recent years, which is synchronous with the evolution of fuzzy set (FS) theory and linguistic term set theory. Generally, the UGDM methods can be divided into three categories, i.e., the multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) methods, the preference-based methods and the dynamic decision-making methods. In this paper, we present an overview on UGDM, including the methodology, framework and recent development of the methods. These methods are classified into different types according to their features and calculation processes. Also, we connect the recent decision-making methods with the development of FS theory, linguistic term set theory and their extensions, etc. We can find that the development of UGDM methodology and the evolution of information expressions interactively influence and promote each other’s progress. This paper integrates the recent development and provides a framework containing different aspects of uncertain decision-making methods.
Back to the common spectral properties of operators satisfying AkBkAk = Ak+1 and BkAkBk = Bk+1
Authors: Hadji Soufiane , Zguitti Hassane
Published: December 2020

In [A. Gupta and A. Kumar, Common spectral properties of linear operators [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] satisfying [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], Asian-European J. Math. 12(5) (2019) 1950084], Gupta and Kumar studied the common spectral properties for two Banach bounded linear operators [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] satisfying [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] for some positive integer [Formula: see text]. In this note, we study the common local spectral properties for such operators by showing that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] share the single valued extension property, the Bishop property [Formula: see text] the property [Formula: see text] the decomposition property [Formula: see text] and decomposability. The closedness of analytic core and the quasinilpotent part and then the Dunford’s property [Formula: see text] and the property [Formula: see text] are also investigated.
Deep Learning Thermal Image Translation for Night Vision Perception
Authors: Liu Shuo , Gao Mingliang , John Vijay , Liu Zheng , Blasch Erik
Published: December 2020

Context enhancement is critical for the environmental perception in night vision applications, especially for the dark night situation without sufficient illumination. In this article, we propose a thermal image translation method, which can translate thermal/infrared (IR) images into color visible (VI) images, called IR2VI. The IR2VI consists of two cascaded steps: translation from nighttime thermal IR images to gray-scale visible images (GVI), which is called IR-GVI; and the translation from GVI to color visible images (CVI), which is known as GVI-CVI in this article. For the first step, we develop the Texture-Net, a novel unsupervised image translation neural network based on generative adversarial networks. Texture-Net can learn the intrinsic characteristics from the GVI and integrate them into the IR image. In comparison with the state-of-the-art unsupervised image translation methods, the proposed Texture-Net is able to address some common challenges, e.g., incorrect mapping and lack of fine details, with a structure connection module and a region-of-interest focal loss. For the second step, we investigated the state-of-the-art gray-scale image colorization methods and integrate the deep convolutional neural network into the IR2VI framework. The results of the comprehensive evaluation experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed IR2VI image translation method. This solution will contribute to the environmental perception and understanding in varied night vision applications.
A lovely day
Authors: Sampson Ovetta
Published: December 2020

Community + Culture features practitioner perspectives on designing technologies for and with communities. We highlight compelling projects and provocative points of view that speak to both community technology practice and the interaction design field as a whole.--- Sheena Erete, Editor
Emerging roles of calcium-sensing receptor in the local regulation of intestinal transport of ions and calcium
Authors: Chanpaisaeng Krittikan , Teerapornpuntakit Jarinthorn , Wongdee Kannikar , Charoenphandhu Narattaphol
Published: December 2020

Whether the intestinal mucosal cells are capable of sensing calcium concentration in the lumen and pericellular interstitium remains enigmatic for decades. Most calcium-regulating organs, such as parathyroid gland, kidney, and bone, are capable of using calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) to detect plasma calcium and trigger appropriate feedback responses to maintain calcium homeostasis. Although both CaSR transcripts and proteins are abundantly expressed in the crypt and villous enterocytes of the small intestine as well as the surface epithelial cells of the large intestine, the studies of CaSR functions have been limited to amino acid sensing and regulation of epithelial fluid secretion. Interestingly, several lines of recent evidence have indicated that the enterocytes use CaSR to monitor luminal and extracellular calcium levels, thereby reducing the activity of transient receptor potential channel, subfamily V, member 6, and inducing paracrine and endocrine feedback responses to restrict calcium absorption. Recent investigations in zebra fish and rodents have also suggested the role of fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-23 as an endocrine and/or paracrine factor participating in the negative control of intestinal calcium transport. In this review article, besides the CaSR-modulated ion transport, we elaborate the possible roles of CaSR and FGF-23 as well as their crosstalk as parts of a negative feedback loop for counterbalancing the seemingly unopposed calciotropic effect of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 on the intestinal calcium absorption.
Advances in the development of novel compounds targeting cation-chloride cotransporter physiology
Authors: Delpire Eric
Published: December 2020

For about half a century, the pharmacology of electroneutral cation-chloride cotransporters has been dominated by a few drugs that are widely used in clinical medicine. Because these diuretic drugs are so good at what they do, there has been little incentive in expanding their pharmacology. The increasing realization that cation-chloride cotransporters are involved in many other key physiological processes and the knowledge that different tissues express homologous proteins with matching transport functions have rekindled interest in drug discovery. This review summarizes the methods available to assess the function of these transporters and describe the multiple efforts that have made to identify new compounds. We describe multiple screens targeting KCC2 function and one screen designed to find compounds that discriminate between NKCC1 and NKCC2. Two of the KCC2 screens identified new inhibitors that are 3–4 orders of magnitude more potent than furosemide. Additional screens identified compounds that purportedly increase cell surface expression of the cotransporter, as well as several FDA-approved drugs that increase KCC2 transcription and expression. The technical details of each screen biased them toward specific processes in the life cycle of the transporter, making these efforts independent and complementary. In addition, each drug discovery effort contributes to our understanding of the biology of the cotransporters.
Healing after COVID-19: are survivors at risk for pulmonary fibrosis?
Authors: McDonald Lindsay T.
Published: December 2020

The novel SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which is responsible for COVID-19 disease, was first reported in Wuhan, China, in December of 2019. The virus rapidly spread, and the World Health Organization declared a pandemic by March 2020. With millions of confirmed cases worldwide, there is growing concern and considerable debate regarding the potential for coronavirus infection to contribute to an appreciable burden of chronic respiratory symptoms or fibrotic disease among recovered individuals. Because the first case of COVID-19 was documented less than one year ago, data regarding long-term clinical outcomes are not yet available, and predictions for long-term outcome are speculative at best. However, due to the staggering number of cases and the severity of disease in many individuals, there is a critical need to consider the potential long-term implications of COVID-19. This review examines current basic and clinical data regarding fibrogenic mechanisms of viral injury in the context of SARS-CoV-2. Several intersecting mechanisms between coronavirus infection and fibrotic pathways are discussed to highlight factors and processes that may be targetable to improve patient outcome. Reports of post-infection sequelae from previous coronavirus outbreaks are presented toward the goal of improved recognition of potential contributing risk factors for fibrotic disease.
Diverse roles for the posteromedial thalamus in sensory-evoked cortical plasticity
Authors: Buchan Matthew J. , Gothard Gemma , von Klemperer Alexander , van Rheede Joram
Published: December 2020

The posteromedial thalamus (POm) has extensive recurrent connectivity with the whisker-related primary somatosensory cortex (wS1) of rodents. However, its functional contribution to somatosensory processing in wS1 remains unclear. This article reviews several recent findings, which begin to elucidate the role of POm in sensory-evoked plasticity and discusses their implications for somatosensory processing.
Microstructure and Continuous Phase Transition of the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet AdS Black Hole
Authors: Du Yun-Zhi , Zhao Hui-Hua , Zhang Li-Chun
Published: December 2020

The phase transition of the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet AdS black hole has the similar property with the van der Waals thermodynamic system. However, it is determined by the Gauss-Bonnet coefficient

α

, not only the horizon radius. Furthermore, the phase transition is not the pure one between a big black hole and a small black hole. With this issue, we introduce a new order parameter to investigate the critical phenomenon and to give the microstructure explanation of the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet AdS black hole phase transition. And the critical exponents are also obtained. At the critical point of the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet AdS black hole, we reveal the microstructure of the black hole by investigating the thermodynamic geometry. These results perhaps provide some certain help to deeply explore the black hole microscopic structure and to build the quantum gravity.
Intrusion Detection System for Internet of Things Based on Temporal Convolution Neural Network and Efficient Feature Engineering
Authors: Derhab Abdelouahid , Aldweesh Arwa , Emam Ahmed Z. , Khan Farrukh Aslam
Published: December 2020

In the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), connected objects produce an enormous amount of data traffic that feed big data analytics, which could be used in discovering unseen patterns and identifying anomalous traffic. In this paper, we identify five key design principles that should be considered when developing a deep learning-based intrusion detection system (IDS) for the IoT. Based on these principles, we design and implement Temporal Convolution Neural Network (TCNN), a deep learning framework for intrusion detection systems in IoT, which combines Convolution Neural Network (CNN) with causal convolution. TCNN is combined with Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique-Nominal Continuous (SMOTE-NC) to handle unbalanced dataset. It is also combined with efficient feature engineering techniques, which consist of feature space reduction and feature transformation. TCNN is evaluated on Bot-IoT dataset and compared with two common machine learning algorithms, i.e., Logistic Regression (LR) and Random Forest (RF), and two deep learning techniques, i.e., LSTM and CNN. Experimental results show that TCNN achieves a good trade-off between effectiveness and efficiency. It outperforms the state-of-the-art deep learning IDSs that are tested on Bot-IoT dataset and records an accuracy of 99.9986% for multiclass traffic detection, and shows a very close performance to CNN with respect to the training time.
Biologic Effect of Hydrogen Sulfide and Its Role in Traumatic Brain Injury
Authors: Zhang Jiaxin , Zhang Shaoyi , Shan Haiyan , Zhang Mingyang
Published: December 2020

Ever since endogenous hydrogen sulfide (H2S) was found in mammals in 1989, accumulated evidence has demonstrated that H2S functions as a novel neurological gasotransmitter in brain tissues and may play a key role in traumatic brain injury. It has been proved that H2S has an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptosis function in the neuron system and functions as a neuroprotective factor against secondary brain injury. In addition, H2S has other biologic effects such as regulating the intracellular concentration of Ca2+, facilitating hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP), and activating ATP-sensitive K channels. Due to the toxic nature of H2S when exceeding the physiological dose in the human body, only a small amount of H2S-related therapies was applied to clinical treatment. Therefore, it has huge therapeutic potential and has great hope for recovering patients with traumatic brain injury.
Vitamin D Supplementation Ameliorates Metabolic Dysfunction in Patients with PCOS: A SystematicReview of RCTs and Insight into the Underlying Mechanism
Authors: Guo Shan , Tal Reshef , Jiang Haoyu , Yuan Tao , Liu Ying
Published: December 2020

Objective. Evidence suggests that vitamin D deficiency correlated with metabolic disorders in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of vitamin D supplementation alone on glucose, lipid, and androgen parameters and inflammation biomarkers in women with PCOS. Methods. Literature research was conducted in Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, Clinical Trials, and Cochrane Library to identify relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) up to March 2020. The effect of vitamin D supplementation alone on women with PCOS was compared with administration of placebo. The systematic review and meta-analysis protocol was registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (Prospero) as number CRD42020157444. Results. Thirteen randomized controlled trials with 824 patients in total were included. Serum FPG, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, and VLDL-C were significantly decreased in the vitamin D group versus placebo. Vitamin D supplementation group also showed a significantly elevated level of QUICKI. No significant impact was seen on serum triglyceride, total-C, LDL-C, HDL-C, total testosterone, DHEAS, SHBG, or hs-CRP. Subgroup analysis demonstrated that oral vitamin D intake had significantly decreased serum triglyceride and total-C level in women with PCOS who have vitamin D deficiency (serum vitamin D < 20 ng/ml). Conclusion. The findings of the present meta-analysis indicate that vitamin D supplementation exerted favorable effects among women with PCOS on glucose metabolism and lipid metabolism, especially in vitamin D deficient women, but had no significant effect on the androgenic profile or inflammation status.
Collaborative Strategies and Simulation of Vehicle Group Behaviors for Off-Ramp Areas
Authors: Mo Tong , Li Keyi , Zhang Junjie , Qin Lingqiao , Huang Zhufei , Li Haijian
Published: December 2020

With the increase of vehicle ownership and the rapid growth of urban traffic, the problem of congestion in the off-ramp area of the main expressway has become the main factor restricting overall section efficiency and inducing traffic accidents. This paper focuses on the problem of group collaborative lane-changing behaviors of off-ramp vehicles and through vehicles in off-ramp areas and proposes four kinds of vehicle group collaborative strategies based on different road space balance conditions. According to a three-lane expressway scene, a VISSIM-based simulation model is built and the optimization scheme is simulated and evaluated. The simulation results show that with the increase of traffic flow in off-ramp areas, a flow-balance strategy for downstream lanes where off-ramp vehicles merge with the outside lane in advance is more advantageous. When vehicles are leaving the main road, if traffic flow is heavy, the flow-balance strategy for lanes where off-ramp vehicles merge with the outside lane in advance (for example, the proportion of off-ramp vehicles in three lanes is 0 : 0 : 1) is better; otherwise, when the traffic flow on the main road is relatively small, the flow-balance strategy for lanes where off-ramp vehicles are distributed in lanes with different ratios (e.g., 1 : 3 : 6) is better. What is more, for future traffic management in connected vehicle environments, it can be concluded that collaborative vehicle lane-changing strategies with different traffic flow states can help to enhance traffic efficiency.
SARS-CoV-2 and Other Respiratory Viruses: What Does Oxidative Stress Have to Do with It?
Authors: Fernandes Iara Grigoletto , de Brito Cyro Alves , dos Reis Vitor Manoel Silva , Sato Maria Notomi , Pereira Nátalli Zanete
Published: December 2020

The phenomenon of oxidative stress, characterized as an imbalance in the production of reactive oxygen species and antioxidant responses, is a well-known inflammatory mechanism and constitutes an important cellular process. The relationship of viral infections, reactive species production, oxidative stress, and the antiviral response is relevant. Therefore, the aim of this review is to report studies showing how reactive oxygen species may positively or negatively affect the pathophysiology of viral infection. We focus on known respiratory viral infections, especially severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-CoVs), in an attempt to provide important information on the challenges posed by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Because antiviral therapies for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (e.g., SARS-CoV-2) are rare, knowledge about relevant antioxidant compounds and oxidative pathways may be important for understanding viral pathogenesis and identifying possible therapeutic targets.
Fuzzy Adaptive Control for a Class of Nonlinear System with Prescribed Performance and Unknown Dead-Zone Inputs
Authors: Yang Chunzhi , Xu Song , Lv Hui
Published: December 2020

Based on fuzzy logic systems and prescribed performance technology, this paper investigated the stable tracking problem of a class of nonlinear systems with unknown dead-zone inputs. Firstly, the original system is transformed into an equivalent system. Then, a Nussbaum-type function is added in the predefined performance controller to estimate the unknown control direction, and the boundedness of all signals in the closed-loop system is guaranteed. In addition, tracking errors will always remain within the prescribed performance boundaries. Finally, a comparative simulation example shows the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper.
A Modified Quasisteady Aerodynamic Model for a Sub-100 mg Insect-Inspired Flapping-Wing Robot
Authors: Wang Chenyang , Zhang Weiping , Hu Junqi , Zhao Jiaxin , Zou Yang
Published: December 2020

This study proposes a modified quasisteady aerodynamic model for the sub-100-milligram insect-inspired flapping-wing robot presented by the authors in a previous paper. The model, which is based on blade-element theory, considers the aerodynamic mechanisms of circulation, dissipation, and added-mass, as well as the inertial effect. The aerodynamic force and moment acting on the wing are calculated based on the two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) wing kinematics of flapping and rotating. In order to validate the model, we used a binocular high-speed photography system and a customized lift measurement system to perform simultaneous measurements of the wing kinematics and the lift of the robot under different input voltages. The results of these measurements were all in close agreement with the estimates generated by the proposed model. In addition, based on the model, this study analyzes the 2-DOF flapping-wing dynamics of the robot and provides an estimate of the passive rotation—the main factor in generating lift—from the measured flapping kinematics. The analysis also reveals that the calculated rotating kinematics of the wing under different input voltages accord well with the measured rotating kinematics. We expect that the model presented here will be useful in developing a control strategy for our sub-100 mg insect-inspired flapping-wing robot.
A Binary Cuckoo Search for Combinatorial Optimization in Multiyear Pavement Maintenance Programs
Authors: Xiao Feng , Yang Shunxin , Cheng Jianchuan , Hou Mingyu , Wang Chenzhu
Published: December 2020

For the optimization analysis of pavement maintenance programs, combinatorial optimization is a pervasive problem. Genetic algorithms (GAs) are widely used to solve combinatorial optimization problems in pavement maintenance programs. However, owing to the stochastic search mechanisms underlying GAs, they are more likely to produce a relatively unsatisfactory solution due to premature convergence. Hence, a binary cuckoo search (BCS) algorithm was implemented to solve the optimization problem. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that a BCS algorithm has been applied to pavement maintenance management system. Three hypothetical cases are used to investigate and demonstrate the effectiveness of the BCS algorithm, in which uncertainty‐based performance degradation is considered. The results of a comparison between GA and BCS clearly justify the advantages of the search paths underlying the BCS in alleviating premature convergence. Therefore, the BCS algorithm can help decision makers to make more appropriate trade‐off decisions for pavement maintenance programs.
Proline, Total Antioxidant Capacity, and OsP5CS Gene Activity in Radical and Plumule of Rice are Efficient Drought Tolerance Indicator Traits
Authors: Saddique Muhammad Abu Bakar , Ali Zulfiqar , Sher Muhammad Ali , Farid Babar , Ikram Rao Muhammad , Ahmad Muhammad Saeed
Published: December 2020

The success of a plant breeding program is linked with the rapid screening of crop germplasm. In the following study, the germination stage of rice seeds has been examined for the rapid screening of drought-tolerant genotypes. The rice genotypes (10 drought tolerant, 5 moderately drought tolerant, and 5 drought susceptible) were sown in Petri dishes under control and osmotic stress of 15% PEG6000. Data were recorded after four days of sowing for the osmotic stress-induced change in imbibition rate, speed of germination, radical and plumule length, radical and plumule total fresh and dry weight, proline contents, total antioxidant capacity, and malondialdehyde level in radical and plumule of seeds. Moreover, the change in expression of OsP5CS gene was also recorded in one of each drought tolerant, moderately drought tolerant, and drought susceptible genotypes. Under osmotic stress, the level of proline, total antioxidant capacity, and the expression of OsP5CS were increased in drought-tolerant genotypes as compared to moderately drought tolerant and drought susceptible genotypes. While, the change in imbibition rate, speed of germination, radical and plumule length, and fresh and dry weight were not symmetrical in drought tolerant, moderately drought tolerant, and drought susceptible genotypes. In short, the symmetrical change in proline, total antioxidant capacity, and expression of OsP5CS gene within radical and plumule of drought tolerant, moderately drought tolerant, and drought susceptible genotypes can help rapid screening of drought-tolerant rice genotypes.
Sleep Promotion among Critically Ill Patients: Earplugs/Eye Mask versus Ocean Sound—A Randomized Controlled Trial Study
Authors: Chaudhary Abhilasha , Kumari Vinay , Neetu Neetu
Published: December 2020

Background. Poor sleep quality is common in the intensive care unit (ICU), where several factors including environmental factors contribute to sleep deprivation. Objective. This study aims to assess and compare the effectiveness of earplugs and eye mask versus ocean sound on sleep quality among ICU patients. Design. A true experimental crossover design was used. Setting. Medical ICU of the Maharishi Markandeshwar Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Hospital, Mullana, India. Participants. Sixty-eight patients admitted in the medical ICU were randomly allocated by lottery methods into group 1 and group 2. Methods. Nocturnal nine-hour (10 : 00 pm to 7 : 00 am) for a four-night period were measured. Earplugs and eye mask versus ocean sound were crossed over between two groups. Subjective sleep quality of four nights was assessed using a structured sleep quality scale. Scores for each question range from 0 to 3, with a higher score indicating poor sleep quality. Results. Repeated measures ANOVA showed that there was a significant change in the sleep quality score (

p
=
0.001

), which showed that sleep quality score was improved after the administration of earplugs and eye mask and ocean sound. Fisher’s LSD post hoc comparison showed a significant difference (

p
=
0.001

). Conclusion. Earplugs and eye mask were better than ocean sound in improving sleep quality. Earplugs, eye mask, and ocean sound are safe and cost effective, which could be used as an adjuvant to pharmacological interventions to improve sleep quality among ICU patients. However, further research in this area needs to be conducted. This trial is registered with NCT03215212.
Identification and Characterization of Cancer Cells That Initiate Metastases to the Brain and Other Organs
Authors: Berghoff Anna. S. , Liao Yunxiang , Karreman Matthia A. , Ilhan-Mutlu Ayseguel , Gunkel Katharina , Sprick Martin R. , Eisen Christian , Kessler Tobias , Osswald Matthias , Wünsche Susanne , Feinauer Manuel , Gril Brunhilde , Marmé Frederic , Michel Laura L. , Bago-Horvath Zuszanna , Sahm Felix , Becker Natalia , Breckwoldt Michael O. , Solecki Gergely , Gömmel Miriam , Huang Lulu , Rübmann Petra , Thome Carina M. , Ratliff Miriam , Trumpp Andreas , Steeg Patricia S. , Preusser Matthias , Wick Wolfgang , Winkler Frank
Published: December 2020

Specific biological properties of those circulating cancer cells that are the origin of brain metastases (BM) are not well understood. Here, single circulating breast cancer cells were fate-tracked during all steps of the brain metastatic cascade in mice after intracardial injection over weeks. A novel in vivo two-photon microscopy methodology was developed that allowed to determine the specific cellular and molecular features of breast cancer cells that homed in the brain, extravasated, and successfully established a brain macrometastasis. Those BM-initiating breast cancer cells (BMIC) were mainly originating from a slow-cycling subpopulation that included only 16% to 20% of all circulating cancer cells. BMICs showed enrichment of various markers of cellular stemness. As a proof of principle for the principal usefulness of this approach, expression profiling of BMICs versus non-BMICs was performed, which revealed upregulation of NDRG1 in the slow-cycling BMIC subpopulation in one BM model. Here, BM development was completely suppressed when NDRG1 expression was downregulated. In accordance, in primary human breast cancer, NDRG1 expression was heterogeneous, and high NDRG1 expression was associated with shorter metastasis-free survival. In conclusion, our data identify temporary slow-cycling breast cancer cells as the dominant source of brain and other metastases and demonstrates that this can lead to better understanding of BMIC-relevant pathways, including potential new approaches to prevent BM in patients.

Implications:

Cancer cells responsible for successful brain metastasis outgrowth are slow cycling and harbor stemness features. The molecular characteristics of these metastasis-initiating cells can be studied using intravital microscopy technology.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COGNITIVE INDICATORS IN PRESCHOOL AND PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN
Authors: Rzhanova Irina E. , Alekseeva Olga S. , Fominykh Anna Ya.
Published: December 2020

Background. Sex differences in the study of the cognitive domain are significant for the interpretation of data in different fields; however, the nature of the differences remains an open question. This article presents the results of a study of gender differences in cognitive performance in children of preschool and primary school age. Objective. To study gender differences in the cognitive performance in children of preschool and primary school age. Methods. The sample consisted of students from kindergartens and schools in Moscow (N = 301). Two versions of the Wechsler Test were used as the main instruments for diagnosing cognitive abilities: the Wechsler test for preschoolers (WPPSI-IV) and the Wechsler children’s test (WISC-V). Analysis of the results used Student’s t-test and a measure of the effect size (Cohen’s d). Results. The effect of gender on cognitive performance varies significantly depending on the age of the children. The most pronounced gender differences were identified among children of early preschool age: girls received significantly higher scores on the index of verbal comprehension and the general intelligence scale. In the children of middle and older preschool age, there were no statistically significant gender differences for any evaluated parameter. In the younger schoolchildren, differences between boys and girls were found in the speed of information processing and the vocabulary subtest. Girls were ahead of boys in completing tasks included in the information-processing speed index, while boys were better at completing the vocabulary subtest.
Buddhism according to Modern Muslim Exegetes
Authors: Ramli Ahmad Faizuddin , Awang Jaffary , Ab Rahman Zaizul
Published: December 2020

This paper offers preliminary notes on Buddhism in modern Muslim exegesis with an emphasis on Tafsir al-Qasimi by Muhammad Jamal al-Din al-Qasimi (1866–1914) and al-Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qurʾan by Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaʾi (1892–1981). The research adopts a qualitative design using content analysis to collect the data. In this paper two main questions regarding both exegetes will be explored. The first question concerns the sources of both scholars for their information about Buddhism by including the discussion in their exegesis. The second question concerns the methodology they used to discuss Buddhism in the Qurʾan since this has not been done by any classical exegetes nor among the most modern exegetes. Studies have found that the approach of the two exegetes is different from both the classical and modern exegetes because their work also contains resources from the fields of comparative religion and the history of religion to make their work relevant in the current context and reliable to be referred to by any parties. The author concludes that both al-Qasimi and Tabatabaʾi used analysis (taḥlil) in discussing verses related to the position of the Buddha.
Battle of Narratives: Political Memes During the 2019 Ukrainian Presidential Election
Authors: Pidkuĭmukha Liudmyla , Kiss Nadiya
Published: December 2020

Battle of Narratives: Political Memes During the 2019 Ukrainian Presidential ElectionThe article highlights the peculiarities of political internet memes as information units that shape public opinion. The article also examines the role of memes in society. The research material includes creolized memes (including both verbal and visual elements) about the Ukrainian politicians Petro Poroshenko and Volodymyr Zelenskyi. These memes were created in 2019 during the Ukrainian presidential election. The article firstly focuses on the verbal aspects of the memes and their semantic and functional features. In addition, the peculiarities of opponent image construction are analysed. The article then examines the influence of Ukrainian politicians on the conduct of the “meme war”. The article also sheds light on the role which memes play in the polarization of society. Wojna narratywów: memy polityczne podczas wyborów prezydenckich na Ukrainie w 2019 rokuArtykuł przedstawia cechy politycznych memów internetowych jako jednostek informacji wpływających na świadomość ludzi, a także wyjaśnia ich rolę w społeczeństwie. Materiałem badań były kreolizowane memy (obecność elementów słownych i ikonicznych) o Piotrze Poroszence i Włodzimierzu Zełenskim, wygenerowane podczas kampanii prezydenckiej na Ukrainie w 2019 roku. Główny nacisk położono na werbalny aspekt memu, jego cechy semantyczne i funkcjonalne, przeanalizowano specyfikę konstruowania wizerunku przeciwnika, podkreślono znaczenie ukraińskich polityków w prowadzeniu „wojny memetycznej” oraz wyjaśniono rolę memów w polaryzowaniu społeczeństwa.
The Process of Becoming Multilingual: Individual Language Biographies of Poles in Bukovina
Authors: Krasowska Helena
Published: December 2020

The Process of Becoming Multilingual: Individual Language Biographies of Poles in BukovinaThis article focuses on multilingual female speakers born in Bukovina in the 1920s using the language biography method. Analysing selected language biographies of Poles living in southern and northern Bukovina entails focusing on a heritage language. The language biography method shows the development process of individual language awareness. The cases analysed in the study indicate that it is difficult to preserve the linguistic and cultural identity of an individual in mixed-language marriages. For Bukovinian Poles, the Polish language and the Roman Catholic religion are factors of identification and indigenous values symbolizing their belonging to the culture of their ancestors. These two elements are at the core of their identity and are fundamental cultural values which are passed on to children. All the language biographies presented in the article show the speakers’ multilingualism and the way and time in which they learned subsequent languages. Their acquisition was voluntary on the one hand, but imposed on the other. Proces stawania się wielojęzycznym. Indywidualne biografie językowe Polaków na BukowiniePrzedmiotem analiz są wielojęzyczne rozmowy prowadzone przez rozmówców urodzonych na Bukowinie w latach dwudziestych XX wieku. W badaniach zastosowano metodę biografii językowej. Analiza wybranych biografii językowych Polaków mieszkających w Południowej i Północnej Bukowinie wiąże się z skupieniem się na języku dziedzictwa kulturowego. Metoda biografii językowej pokazuje proces rozwoju indywidualnej świadomości językowej. Przypadki analizowane w badaniach wskazują, że trudno jest zachować tożsamość językową i kulturową jednostki w małżeństwach mieszanych. Dla bukowińskich Polaków język polski i religia rzymskokatolicka są czynnikami identyfikacji i wartościami rodzimymi, symbolizującymi ich przynależność do kultury przodków. Te dwa czynniki identyfikacji są podstawowymi wartościami kulturowymi, przekazywanymi dzieciom. Wszystkie biografie językowe przedstawione w artykule pokazują wielojęzyczność mówców oraz sposób i czas, w jaki nauczyli się kolejnych języków.
Larysa Masenko, “Surzhyk: Mizh Movoju i Jazykom”. Vydavnychyĭ Dim “Kiievo-Mohylians'ka Akademiia”, Kyiv 2019, Ss. 232
Authors: Levchuk Pavlo
Published: December 2020

Larysa Masenko, “Surzhyk: Mizh Movoju i Jazykom”. Vydavnychyĭ Dim “Kiievo-Mohylians'ka Akademiia”, Kyiv 2019, Ss. 232The reviewed monography is the first vast paper on the phenomenon of the Ukrainian–Russian linguistic contacts. The second edition is extended to include new scientific publications and completed with the respondents answers. The study as a whole depicts the etymology of the name of the phenomenon (Surzhyk), tries to place the phenomenon in the theory of linguistic contacts and gives examples of the use in the respondents answers, literature and the Internet. Larysa Masenko, “Surzhyk: Mizh movoju i jazykom”. Vydavnychyĭ dim “Kiievo-Mohylians'ka Akademiia”, Kyiv 2019, ss. 232Recenzowana monografia jest pierwszą obszerną pracą nad zjawiskiem kontaktów językowych ukraińsko-rosyjskich. Druga edycja jest bardziej rozbudowana o nowe prace naukowe i zilustrowana odpowiedziami respondentów.
Expanding WordNet with Gloss and Polysemy Links for Evocation Strength Recognition
Authors: Maziarz Marek , Rudnicka Ewa
Published: December 2020

Expanding WordNet with Gloss and Polysemy Links for Evocation Strength RecognitionEvocation – a phenomenon of sense associations going beyond standard (lexico)-semantic relations – is difficult to recognise for natural language processing systems. Machine learning models give predictions which are only moderately correlated with the evocation strength. It is believed that ordinary graph measures are not as good at this task as methods based on vector representations. The paper proposes a new method of enriching the WordNet structure with weighted polysemy and gloss links, and proves that Dijkstra’s algorithm performs equally as well as other more sophisticated measures when set together with such expanded structures. Rozszerzenie WordNetu o glosy i relacje polisemiczne na potrzeby rozpoznawania siły ewokacjiEwokacja – zjawisko skojarzeń zmysłowych wykraczających poza standardowe (leksykalne) relacje semantyczne – jest trudne do rozpoznania dla systemów przetwarzania języka naturalnego. Modele uczenia maszynowego dają prognozy tylko umiarkowanie skorelowane z siłą ewokacji. Uważa się, że zwykłe miary grafowe nie są tak dobre w tym zadaniu, jak metody oparte na reprezentacjach wektorowych. Proponujemy nową metodę wzbogacania struktury WordNet o polisemie ważone i linki połysku i udowadniamy, że algorytm Dijkstry zestawiony z tak rozbudowanymi strukturami działa a także inne, bardziej wyrafinowane środki.