bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Privacy-Preserving Public Auditing and Data Dynamics for Secure Cloud Storage Based on Exact Regenerated Code
Authors: Pasupuleti Syam Kumar
Published: May 2021

Cloud storage allows users to store their data in the cloud to avoid local storage and management costs. Since the cloud is untrusted, the integrity of stored data in the cloud has become an issue. To address this problem, several public auditing schemes have been designed to verify integrity of the data in the cloud. However, these schemes have two drawbacks: public auditing may reveal sensitive data to verifier and does not address the data recovery problem efficiently. This article proposes a new privacy-preserving public auditing scheme with data dynamics to secure the data in the cloud based on an exact regenerated code. This scheme encodes the data for availability, then masks the encoded blocks with randomness for privacy of data and enables a public auditor to verify the integrity of the data. Further, this scheme also supports dynamic data updates. In addition, security and performance analysis proves that proposed scheme is provably secure and efficient.
A Review of Different Techniques for Biomedical Data Security
Authors: Kaur Harminder , Pahuja Sharvan Kumar
Published: May 2021

The aging population is vulnerable to various illnesses and health conditions because with increase in age the people suffer from chronic disease. Quite often, they are partially handicapped due to their restricted mobility and their reduced mental abilities. To resolve these problems, health monitoring systems are designed for real-time monitoring of patients. WBAN use medical sensors for acquiring patient physiological data with wireless technologies to send data to healthcare providers. Due to wireless transmission, the chances of attacking and occurring security issues in the data are more. So, the security of the system is the main concern because the system consists of patient privacy concerns. Due to these reasons there is need of designing security algorithms to prevent data from being stolen by attackers. The aim of this chapter is to present a review of different attacks that occurred during transmission of data and security issues related to data. The chapter also describes different algorithms to prevent data from being stolen through various attacks and security issues.
Artificial Bee Colony-Based Approach for Privacy Preservation of Medical Data
Authors: Mewada Shivlal , Gautam Sita Sharan , Sharma Pradeep
Published: May 2021

A large amount of data is generated through healthcare applications and medical equipment. This data is transferred from one piece of equipment to another and sometimes also communicated over a global network. Hence, security and privacy preserving are major concerns in the healthcare sector. It is seen that traditional anonymization algorithms are viable for sanitization process, but not for restoration task. In this work, artificial bee colony-based privacy preserving model is developed to address the aforementioned issues. In the proposed model, ABC-based algorithm is adopted to generate the optimal key for sanitization of sensitive information. The effectiveness of the proposed model is tested through restoration analysis. Furthermore, several popular attacks are also considered for evaluating the performance of the proposed privacy preserving model. Simulation results of the proposed model are compared with some popular existing privacy preserving models. It is observed that the proposed model is capable of preserving the sensitive information in an efficient manner.
E-Commerce Security Research in Big Data Environment
Authors: Zhang Mei , Liu Huan , Wen Jinghua
Published: May 2021

Rapid development of e-commerce and mobile communication opens a new era of big data. In this article, the authors put big data and e-commerce security together. They construct electronic commerce security system from these aspects: the creation of database, the security of information storage, the mining of information based on big data environment thoroughly. The second-generation product distributed platform- Apache Hadoop which is more popular and instant has been brought in. what's more, this article expounds the structure and working process. On the base of this platform, this article analyses the certainty and security of e-commerce transactions data developed on the condition of big data. It puts forward a construction view that people should guide and monitor the behavior of e-commerce, and improve the security system of electronic commerce on the base of data.
Human Factors in Cybersecurity
Authors: Zhang Xichen , Ghorbani Ali A.
Published: May 2021

Over recent years, the extensive development of information technology has dramatically advanced the way that people use the internet. The fast growth of the internet of things and mobile crowdsensing applications raise challenging security and privacy issues for the society. More often than before, malicious attackers exploit human vulnerability as the weakest link to launch cyberattacks and conduct fraudulent online activities. How to profile users' daily behavior becomes an essential component for identifying users' vulnerable/malicious level and predicting the potential cyber threats. In this chapter, the authors discuss human factors and their related issues in cyber security and privacy. Three categories of human behaviors—desktop behavior, mobile behavior, and online behavior—and their corresponding security and privacy issues are demonstrated in detail to estimate the vulnerabilities of internet users. Some future directions related to human-factor based security and privacy issues are proposed at the end of this chapter.
Analysis of the US Privacy Model
Authors: Martínez Francisco García
Published: May 2021

The creation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) constituted an enormous advance in data privacy, empowering the online consumers, who were doomed to the complete loss of control of their personal information. Although it may first seem that it only affects companies within the European Union, the regulation clearly states that every company who has businesses in the EU must be compliant with the GDPR. Other non-EU countries, like the United States, have seen the benefits of the GDPR and are already developing their own privacy laws. In this article, the most important updates introduced by the GDPR concerning US corporations will be discussed, as well as how American companies can become compliant with the regulation. Besides, a comparison between the GDPR and the state of art of privacy in the US will be presented, highlighting similarities and disparities at the national level and in states of particular interest.
A Comprehensive Perspective on Data Protection Practices in Organizations
Authors: van Zeeland Ine , Pierson Jo
Published: May 2021

The aim of this chapter is to take readers beyond the prescriptions of the law to present them with a practical perspective on what happens when organizations try to protect personal data. This is based on the acknowledgement that different sectors of society will have different concerns when it comes to the protection of personal data and privacy. The various conceptions of privacy connect a wide variety of academic disciplines, from anthropology to urban planning. We need to understand that there are many different perspectives on what privacy signifies, and hence, that there are many different considerations regarding what to do to protect it.
Perceived Personalization, Privacy Concern, e-WOM and Consumers' Click Through Intention in Social Advertising
Authors: Debora Dhanya A  , Jaidev Uma Pricilda
Published: May 2021

Social advertising, ads in social media platforms, have become popular in recent years because of the evolution of internet technologies such as web analytics and big data mining. The content of the social advertisement is tailored in order to personalize the message to the target consumer groups. In an effort to reach the prospects, marketers should focus on the social leads on social networking sites (SNS) to promote and to sell their brands/products. Drawing on, online personalized advertising literature, e-WOM recommendations and increasing privacy concerns and perceived ad personalization (conceptualized as functions of psychological reactance) on SNS leads to avoid such advertisements. The goal of the study is to investigate the impact of perceived personalization, privacy concern, and e-WOM to consumers' behavioral click through intentions towards social ads. This study contributed to the theory of psychological reactance by indicating that the individuals with less privacy concern and personalized recommendations from their contacts on SNS have a smaller amount of reactance towards social advertisements than commercial advertisements by marketers. Suggestions for advertisers, social media marketing practitioners conclude the paper.
How Do Mobile Applications for Cancer Communicate About Their Privacy Practices?
Authors: Khan Zerin Mahzabin , Ahmed Rukhsana , Sen Devjani
Published: May 2021

No previous research on cancer mobile applications (apps) has investigated issues associated with the data privacy of its consumers. The current chapter addressed this gap in the literature by assessing the content of online privacy policies of selected cancer mobile apps through applying a checklist and performing an in-depth critical analysis to determine how the apps communicated their privacy practices to end users. The results revealed that the privacy policies were mostly ambiguous, with content often presented in a complex manner and inadequate information on the ownership, use, disclosure, retention, and collection of end users' personal data. These results highlight the importance of improving the transparency of privacy practices in health and fitness cancer mobile apps to clearly and effectively communicate how end users' personal data are collected, stored, and shared. The chapter concludes with recommendations and discussion on practical implications for stakeholders like cancer app users, developers, policymakers, and clinicians.
What Can Fitness Apps Teach Us About Group Privacy?
Authors: Metzger Miriam J. , Suh Jennifer Jiyoung , Reid Scott , El Abbadi Amr
Published: May 2021

This chapter begins with a case study of Strava, a fitness app that inadvertently exposed sensitive military information even while protecting individual users' information privacy. The case study is analyzed as an example of how recent advances in algorithmic group inference technologies threaten privacy, both for individuals and for groups. It then argues that while individual privacy from big data analytics is well understood, group privacy is not. Results of an experiment to better understand group privacy are presented. Findings show that group and individual privacy are psychologically distinct and uniquely affect people's evaluations, use, and tolerance for a fictitious fitness app. The chapter concludes with a discussion of group-inference technologies ethics and offers recommendations for fitness app designers.
Research on Linear Programming Algorithm for Mathematical Model of Agricultural Machinery Allocation
Authors: Zhou Xiaoling , Sharma Amit , Mohindru Vandana
Published: May 2021

The objective of this paper is to study the linear programming algorithm of the mathematical model of agricultural machinery allocation when there are many farmland projects and cross operations. In this paper, combined with the mechanization process of crops in XPCC, the linear programming algorithm of mathematical model was used to establish the allocation scheme of different scales. All equations were solved and analyzed, and the allocation schemes of different planting scales were compared. It is also observed that through the interactive conflicts in between multiple objectives a solution vector can be analyzed. The results show that the activity cost of Scheme 5 was the lowest, only 1,260 yuan per mu, which was the best way to equip agricultural machinery. The results present that it is of great significance to optimize the configuration of agricultural machinery. The experimental results present that the portion of water which is reused in comparison with the total water is gradually increasing which leads to the overall reduction in water consumption.
Realization of Agricultural Machinery Equipment Management Information System Based on Network
Authors: Ma Ling , Ikbal Mohammad , Cengiz Korhan
Published: May 2021

In order to study the role of information technology in the promotion of agricultural development and information in today's social and economic development of the most important strategic impact, on the basis of modern management, this paper investigates and studies the existing agricultural machinery management information system through the application of grey theory, information system engineering, information system utility, and other theories. The results show that a new agricultural machinery equipment management information system is developed through PHP and Mysql databases, and the system data is summarized and analyzed to obtain agricultural machinery management information. Through the experiment, the authors found that ordinary users can inquire about agricultural policies and science and technology through the internet and can also inquire about the scientific and technological schemes of various agricultural development processes.
Analyze the Effectiveness of the Algorithm for Agricultural Product Delivery Vehicle Routing Problem Based on Mathematical Model
Authors: Yu Kairong , Liu Yang , Sharma Ashutosh
Published: May 2021

With the recent development in the economic system, the requirement for logistic services has also increased gradually. This increased the demand for efficient and cost-effective delivery services without compromising the quality and timeliness. This has become a challenge to the logistic service providers to maintain the high-quality standards along with reliable delivery services. A mathematical equation model is proposed in this work to solve the problem of random quantity of agricultural products collected/distributed by working vehicle collection/distribution path planning. This article proposes a hybrid algorithm which combines the taboo algorithm search and the taboo hybrid algorithm to solve the problem. In the proposed algorithm, a large-scale problem is several small-scale problems to reduce the time complexity of the algorithm. Since randomness is much more complicated than certain types of problems, accurate algorithms can only be applied to a small range of problem types. The heuristic calculations involved in the development of algorithms make it a convenient simplified tool for the collection and distribution of random agricultural products. An average validation accuracy of 94% has been obtained for the proposed algorithm after completing 200 iterations while obtaining 94.37%, 94.57%, and 94.56% precision, recall, and F-score values, respectively.
S-Box Construction Method Based on the Combination of Quantum Chaos and PWLCM Chaotic Map
Authors: Peng Jun , Jin Shangzhu , Pang Shaoning , Zhang Du , Feng Lixiao , Li Zuojin , Wang Yingxu
Published: May 2021

For a security system built on symmetric-key cryptography algorithms, the substitution box (S-box) plays a crucial role to resist cryptanalysis. In this article, we incorporate quantum chaos and PWLCM chaotic map into a new method of S-box design. The secret key is transformed to generate a six tuple system parameter, which is involved in the generation process of chaotic sequences of two chaotic systems. The output of one chaotic system will disturb the parameters of another chaotic system in order to improve the complexity of encryption sequence. S-box is obtained by XOR operation of the output of two chaotic systems. Over the obtained 500 key-dependent S-boxes, we test the S-box cryptographical properties on bijection, nonlinearity, SAC, BIC, differential approximation probability, respectively. Performance comparison of proposed S-box with those chaos-based one in the literature has been made. The results show that the cryptographic characteristics of proposed S-box has met our design objectives and can be applied to data encryption, user authentication and system access control.
A Classification Framework of Identifying Major Documents With Search Engine Suggestions and Unsupervised Subtopic Clustering
Authors: Zhao Chen , Utsuro Takehito , Kawada Yasuhide
Published: May 2021

This paper addresses the problem of automatic recognition of out-of-topic documents from a small set of similar documents that are expected to be on some common topic. The objective is to remove documents of noise from a set. A topic model based classification framework is proposed for the task of discovering out-of-topic documents. This paper introduces a new concept of annotated {\it search engine suggests}, where this paper takes whichever search queries were used to search for a page as representations of content in that page. This paper adopted word embedding to create distributed representation of words and documents, and perform similarity comparison on search engine suggests. It is shown that search engine suggests can be highly accurate semantic representations of textual content and demonstrate that our document analysis algorithm using such representation for relevance measure gives satisfactory performance in terms of in-topic content filtering compared to the baseline technique of topic probability ranking.
Antecedents and Outcomes of Information Privacy Concerns in the Saudi Arabia Social Networking Context
Authors: Alarefi Mohammed A.
Published: May 2021

Online information privacy has become a developing social worry that may hinder individuals' social site associations. The motivation behind this investigation is to dissect the effect of an err toward privacy and the social presence of a website on a person's privacy concerns about the website. Data were collected from 650 respondents in Saudi Arabia. The findings indicate a significance influence of informativness, social presence, utility of website, perceived severity, and self-efficacy on website-specific privacy concerns. Furthermore, privacy concerns have a significant influence on behavioural intentions. This study also extends the information privacy literature through the analysis of the drivers and outcomes of online privacy concerns in the social network context.
Patterns and Motivations Predicting Mobile Hard News and Soft News Consumption
Authors: Saad Hamza , Hamza Mahinaz
Published: May 2021

The purpose of this study is to examine Emirati university students' usage of smartphones as a news resource. In addition to the motivations, patterns, and relationships between hard news and soft news consumption and the different gratifications sought, this study adopted perspectives from the both the uses and gratifications and media displacement theories and utilized a quantitative research design. Data was collected from 488 undergraduate students between February 2019 and March 2019. Results revealed that students were interested in both hard and soft news, but there was 7% more soft news consumption by students. Additionally, results revealed that smartphones have become students' main source of news as they allow them to find information easily. When assessing the relationships and dynamics between mobile news and the gratifications sought, results revealed that the convenience gratification was the only predictor of both mobile soft news and hard news out of all the gratifications offered.
Personality Influences Risk Perception in Online Shopping
Authors: Dangi Amit , Singh Vijay
Published: May 2021

Online shopping is a preferable alternative mode of shopping in the 21st century. The increase in the rate of online shoppers with increasing frequency of shopping pushes e-retailers to look into the buying pattern along with the possible deviations in the buying style of shoppers and developing economies like India has a potential of expansion. The present study checks the influence of personality traits on the risk perception of online shoppers, which restrict them to shop online or is the reason for the online shopping avoidance behavior. For the same, a structured scale is constructed and response is taken from 312 valid respondents and the stepwise regression technique is applied to deduce the inference over the relation of personality traits and risk perception. Openness, neuroticism, conscientiousness and extraversion personality traits show a varying effect over the risk perception in online shopping. Further, the managerial implication for online retailers is also discussed in depth.
Global Pandemics on European Electrical Energy Markets
Authors: Drabecki Mariusz Piotr , Kułak Klaudia Brygida
Published: May 2021

Global pandemics cause crises influencing all branches of economies. Basing on the currently striking COVID-19 pandemic, the authors analyze in this paper to what extent they may impact selected European electrical energy markets. For this, this research performs an empirical survey of the evolution of three market condition indicators: power demand, day-ahead energy prices, and prices of shares of power companies active in the generation sector. These are analyzed on examples of four European countries that all reacted differently to the spreading epidemic at governmental level: Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Sweden. The evolution of indicators is analyzed for the period of COVID-19 outbreak in Europe, from January 27th 2020 until May 27th 2020 and checked with their behaviors in previous periods of time statistically. The study showed that global pandemics may have high impact on power demand and on share prices of power companies. Yet, the impact on day ahead energy prices is less evident and seems not present.
An Open Source Finance System for Stocks Backtesting Trade Strategies
Authors: Rosenberg Eviatar , Alberg Dima
Published: May 2021

A significant part of pension savings is in the capital market and exposed to market volatility. The COVID-19 pandemic crisis, like the previous crises, damaged the gains achieved in those funds. This paper presents a development of open-source finance system for stocks backtesting trade strategies. The development will be operated by the Python programming language and will implement application user interface. The system will import historical data of stocks from financial web and will produce charts for analysis of the trends in stocks price. Based on technical analysis, it will run trading strategies which will be defined by the user. The system will output the trade orders that should have been executed in retrospect and concluding charts to present the profit and loss that would occur to evaluate the performance of the strategy.
Conceptualization and Operationalization of Military Organizational Culture
Authors: Iddagoda Anuradha , Dewasiri Narayanage Jayantha , Keppetipola Manoaj
Published: May 2021

Employee behavior within the organization is governed by organizational culture, which includes values, beliefs, stories, and symbols. Military organizations preserve the sovereignty of the state. Representing the public image and reputation, organizational culture creates a positive atmosphere for the employees. Undoubtedly, certain military metaphors are applicable in the management context. Hence, the study of military organizational culture is essential. This study intends to conceptualize the concept of military organizational culture. In addition, the study also aims at introducing a working definition of organizational culture in the military context and a tool to measure it. The dimensions identified thorough systematic literature review are values, beliefs, symbols, stories, and heroes, and the study intends to develop an instrument to measure the variable of military organizational culture.
Valorization of Plastic Waste in Ghana
Authors: Hervie Dolores Mensah , Winful Ernest Christian , Tsagli Sebrina Kafui
Published: May 2021

Wastes from plastics are ubiquitous and have become a critical global challenge, especially in Africa. There is an urgent call to combat the menace because of its harmful impact on the ecosystem. The research methodology used is the exploratory technique. Circular economy (CE) is the answer to this global problem, especially in advanced countries. Even though some African countries have commenced recycling waste plastics, which is a contribution to circular economy, the idea is now gaining support in Ghana. The aim of this study is to propose a strategy and design a customized business model canvas for an establishment that transforms different types of waste plastics into pavement slabs and paving tiles in Ghana. The rationale is to accentuate the significance of introducing CE as a tool for effective and efficient plastic waste management in the country.
Transformation Rooms
Authors: Haindlmaier Gudrun Rita , Wagner Petra , Wilhelmer Doris
Published: May 2021

In the face of societal and environmental challenges in Europe, cities—as socio-technical systems—seek for a deeper understanding of new governance processes and innovative urban policy approaches for profound changes towards sustainability. This paper proposes the ‘transformation room' as orchestration and negotiation format for the joint programming of research and innovation agendas with and for European cities, in order to allow for new urban governance via transnational cooperation and alignment. The ‘transformation room' aims to interlink innovative niches and current regimes in a multi-level governance set-up, in order to allow transformation by (1) defining the main structural elements of roles and rules for cooperation; (2) offering process elements for the co-creation, experimentation, and implementation of orientation; and (3) combining both elements in a specific form of transformative leadership. The paper identifies success criteria for transformative leadership and, consequently, the enhancement of urban transformative capacity.
Business Models for Smart City Solutions
Authors: Croci Edoardo , Molteni Tania
Published: May 2021

Smart city business models identify the mechanisms through which a smart city solution or a combination of integrated solutions are able to create, deliver, and capture private and public value for society. This paper aims to identify the main archetypes of smart city business models in three sectors (energy, mobility, ICT) through an in-depth analysis of three city case studies: Valencia, Dresden, and Antalya (involved in the Horizon 2020 project “MAtchUP”). Cities' business models are analysed through a questionnaire-based survey, targeted to city government representatives and their technical partners. The paper develops a set of smart city business model archetypes, based on the roles and involvement of public and private actors in 1) funding, 2) asset ownership, and 3) operations of smart city solutions. These archetypes range from a model where the city government plays a prevalent role in all three dimensions to a model where private actors are more prevalent with several intermediate models.
Effects of Interactivity on Consumer Behavioral Intention in Mobile Social Commerce in China
Authors: Ye Pinghao , Liu Liqiong
Published: May 2021

The authors study the effects of perceived interactivity on consumer behavioral intention according to the characteristics of consumer behavior in mobile social commerce. Results indicate that the intensity of information interaction has significant and positive effects on the depth, breadth, and novelty of consumer recommendations and reviews. The intensity of interpersonal interaction has significant and positive effects on community-based trust and response intensity. Information interaction has significant and positive effects on interpersonal interaction and suggestion adoption. Findings also reveal the relationship between interactivity and consumer behavioral intention in mobile social commerce. The conclusions provide theoretical support for studying how these constructs interact with each other.
The Influence of Reviewer and Consumer Congruence in Online Word-of-Mouth Transactions
Authors: Furner Christopher P. , Yoon Tom E. , Zinko Robert , Goh Samuel H.
Published: May 2021

Online review platforms compete to attract and retain consumers and facilitate purchases. They invest in sophisticated algorithms that prioritize the order in which product reviews are presented, seeking to provide consumers with easy access to useful information about the ability of a product to meet a need. These algorithms collect and use review and consumer characteristics to provide different consumers with different sets of reviews, seeking to increase purchase intention and reduce returns. This study proposes a new type of factor: the congruence between the consumer and the reviewer. The authors develop a simulation-based experiment in which 281 subjects are categorized based on their travel style and socioeconomic status, then read two reviews: one that appears to be written by someone similar to them and one that appears written by someone different from them. Findings demonstrate relationships between purchase intention and both of the congruence variables, as well as disposition to trust and an interaction between uncertainty avoidance and socioeconomic status.
Influence of Ageing Time and Different Ni wt.% on Triplex Steel
Authors: Maghawry Mahmoud M. , Elfawakhry Mohamed K. , Faramwy Hoda El , Abdelwahab Sabreen A.
Published: May 2021

This paper presents a study of three types of Triples steel, where containing 16 to 28 wt.% manganese, 0.8 to 0.89 wt.% Carbon, 9.9 to 11.21 wt.% Aluminum, and with different Nickel content. We investigated the aging effect on properties of Triplex steel by using an optical microscope, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The used temperature in the ageing process is 550°C and we take three different times in that process (1min, 1hr, and 5hrs). The microstructure shows one austenite phase of an as-rolled sample without Ni and shows two austenite phases of an as-rolled sample with Ni content. The k-carbide, intermetallic phase (Ni3Al) and annealing twins formation will appear after adding Ni element. Furthermore, those phases will be increased with aging time. X-ray diffraction shows a competitive formation between the k-carbides and intermetallic phase formation during the aging time. It's confirmed that K-carbides will be formed first after that intermetallic phase, where k-carbides were formed at low temperature. Finally, we can conclude from these results that adding Ni in Triplex steel improves the ductility with 1hr aging time.
NFAT5 Amplifies Antipathogen Responses by Enhancing Chromatin Accessibility, H3K27 Demethylation, and Transcription Factor Recruitment
Authors: Lunazzi Giulia , Buxadé Maria , Riera-Borrull Marta , Higuera Laura , Bonnin Sarah , Huerga Encabo Hector , Gaggero Silvia , Reyes-Garau Diana , Company Carlos , Cozzuto Luca , Ponomarenko Julia , Aramburu José , López-Rodríguez Cristina
Published: May 2021

The ability of innate immune cells to respond to pathogen-associated molecular patterns across a wide range of intensities is fundamental to limit the spreading of infections. Studies on transcription responses to pathogen-activated TLRs have often used relatively high TLR ligand concentrations, and less is known about their regulation under mild stimulatory conditions. We had shown that the transcription factor NFAT5 facilitates expression of antipathogen genes under TLR stimulation conditions corresponding to low pathogen loads. In this study, we analyze how NFAT5 optimizes TLR-activated responses in mouse macrophages. We show that NFAT5 was required for effective recruitment of central effectors p65/NF-κB and c-Fos to specific proinflammatory target genes, such as Nos2, Il6, and Tnf in primary macrophages responding to low doses of the TLR4 ligand LPS. By contrast, NFAT5 was not required for p65/NF-κB recruitment in response to high LPS doses. Using the transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing assay, we show that NFAT5 facilitated chromatin accessibility mainly at promoter regions of multiple TLR4-responsive genes. Analysis of various histone marks that regulate gene expression in response to pathogens identified H3K27me3 demethylation as an early NFAT5-dependent mechanism that facilitates p65 recruitment to promoters of various TLR4-induced genes. Altogether, these results advance our understanding about specific mechanisms that optimize antipathogen responses to limit infections.
Effect of postoperative non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on anastomotic leakage after pancreaticoduodenectomy
Authors: Yoon Susie , Kim Hyerin , Cho Hye-Yeon , Lee Ho-Jin , Kim Hongbeom , Lee Hyung-Chul , Jang Jin-Young
Published: May 2021

Background: Although the association between an increase in anastomotic leakage (AL) and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) has been reported in gastrointestinal surgeries, this issue has rarely been addressed for pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). We aimed to investigate the association between postoperative NSAIDs administration and clinically relevant AL (CR-AL) following PD.Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 2,163 consecutive patients who underwent PD between 2007 and 2019. The patients were divided into two groups; patients who received and did not receive NSAIDs by postoperative day (POD) 5. We conducted a propensity score analysis using inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) to adjust the baseline differences between both groups. We compared the occurrence of CR-AL and other postoperative outcomes before and after IPTW. Further, we used the multivariable binary logistic regression method for a sensitivity analysis for CR-AL.Results: A total of 2,136 patients were included in the analysis. Of these, 222 (10.4%) received NSAIDs by POD 5. The overall occurrence rate of CR-AL was 14.9%. After IPTW, postoperative NSAIDs were significantly associated with CR-AL (odds ratio [OR]: 1.24, 95% CI [1.05, 1.47], P = 0.012), prolonged postoperative hospitalization (OR: 1.31, 95% CI [1.14, 1.50], P < 0.001), and unplanned readmission within 30 days postoperatively (OR 1.48: 95% CI [1.15, 1.91], P = 0.002). However, this association was not consistent in the sensitivity analysis.Conclusions: Postoperative NSAIDs use was significantly associated with an increase in CR-AL incidence following PD. However, sensitivity analysis failed to show its association, which precludes a firm conclusion of its detrimental effect.
A Rare Case of Symptomatic Nonunion of Avulsion Fracture of the Posterior Medial Meniscus Root with Concomitant Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injury
Authors: Wu Shen-Han , Lee Shih-Han , Lee Chian-Her , Wu Jia-Lin
Published: May 2021

The menisci are the essential structures of the knee joint because they disperse body weight and reduce friction during the movement. An avulsion fracture of the posterior medial meniscus root, also known as meniscal ossicles, can lead to meniscal extrusion. Consequently, the medial meniscus loses its ability to absorb hoop stress. One patient presented with nonunion posterior root avulsion fracture of the medial meniscus concomitant with posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury. The patient underwent arthroscopic suture repair through the placement of a tibial tunnel 1 year after injury. The fracture united well, and complete recovery was achieved at the 2-year follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing a posterior root avulsion fracture of the medial meniscus with concomitant PCL avulsion fracture.
Погружение открытых римановых поверхностей в сферу Римана
Authors: Forstnerič Franc
Published: May 2021

Показано, что пространство голоморфных погружений любой открытой римановой поверхности $M$ в сферу Римана $\mathbb{CP}^1$ слабо гомотопически эквивалентно пространству непрерывных отображений из $M$ в дополнение к нулевому сечению касательного расслоения $\mathbb{CP}^1$. Отсюда, в частности, вытекает, что это пространство имеет $2^k$ компонент линейной связности, где $k$ - число образующих первой группы гомологий $H_1(M,\mathbb{Z})=\mathbb{Z}^k$. Доказана также параметрическая версия аппроксимационной теоремы Мергеляна для отображений из римановых поверхностей в произвольное комплексное многообразие (этот результат используется в доказательстве основной теоремы).
Библиография: 23 наименования.
О многограннике Ньютона якобиевой пары
Authors: Makar-Limanov Leonid Grigor'evich
Published: May 2021

В этой статье вводится и описывается многогранник Ньютона, связанный с "минимальным" контрпримером к гипотезе о якобиане. Это описание позволяет получить более точную оценку геометрической степени полиномиального отображения, заданного парой многочленов с якобианом, равным единице, и дать новое доказательство для случая двух характеристических пар, рассмотренного Абъянкаром.
Библиография: 29 наименований.
Case Report: Visceral Leishmaniasis and Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis: Three Clinical Cases, Three Different Pattern
Authors: Cruz Geydson Silveira , de Jesus Amélia Ribeiro , Almeida Roque Pacheco , Porto Maria Aurélia
Published: May 2021

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a neglected tropical disease with more than 30,000 cases annually reported worldwide. In Brazil, about 3,700 cases are annually reported. The VL clinical presentation is variable, from asymptomatic to severe cases with a high risk of death. We reported three cases of VL with clinical sign similarities but distinct development. All cases had bone marrow hemophagocytosis and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) criteria. HLH is a rare condition that may have secondary causes, including infectious and parasitic diseases, like VL. The delayed recognition of the secondary HLH (sHLH) association to VL may cause unfavorable outcomes and death.
Prospective Surveillance of Primary Healthcare Presentations for Scabies and Bacterial Skin Infections in Fiji, 2018–2019
Authors: Thean Li Jun , Romani Lucia , Engelman Daniel , Jenney Adam , Wand Handan , Mani Jyotishna , Paka Jessica , Devi Rachel , Sahukhan Aalisha , Kama Mike , Tuicakau Meciusela , Kado Joseph , Carvalho Natalie , Whitfeld Margot , Kaldor John , Steer Andrew C.
Published: May 2021

Scabies, impetigo, and other skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are highly prevalent in many tropical, low-middle income settings, but information regarding their burden of disease is scarce. We conducted a surveillance of presentations of scabies and SSTIs, including impetigo, abscesses, cellulitis, and severe SSTI, to primary health facilities in Fiji. We established a monthly reporting system over the course of 50 weeks (July 2018–June 2019) for scabies and SSTIs at all 42 public primary health facilities in the Northern Division of Fiji (population, ≈131,914). For each case, information was collected regarding demographics, diagnosis, and treatment. There were 13,736 individual primary healthcare presentations with scabies, SSTI, or both (108.3 presentations per 1000 person-years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 106.6–110 presentations). The incidence was higher for males than for females (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.15; 95% CI, 1.11–1.19). Children younger than 5 years had the highest incidence among all age groups (339.1 per 1000 person-years). The incidence was higher among the iTaukei (indigenous) population (159.9 per 1000 person-years) compared with Fijians of Indian descent (30.1 per 1000 person-years; IRR, 5.32; 95% CI, 5.03–5.61). Abscesses had the highest incidence (63.5 per 1,000 person-years), followed by scabies (28.7 per 1,000 person-years) and impetigo (21.6 per 1,000 person-years). Scabies and SSTIs impose a substantial burden in Fiji and represent a high incidence of primary health presentations in this population. The incidence in low-middle income settings is up to 10-times higher than that in high-income settings. New public health strategies and further research are needed to address these conditions.
A One Health Approach to Defining Animal and Human Helminth Exposure Risks in a Tribal Village in Southern India
Authors: Sack Alexandra , Palanisamy Gokila , Manuel Malathi , Paulsamy Chinnaduraipandi , Rose Anuradha , Kaliappan Saravanakumar Puthupalayam , Ward Honorine , Walson Judd L. , Halliday Katherine E. , Ajjampur Sitara Swarna Rao
Published: May 2021

The high burden of soil-transmitted helminth infections has been studied in India; however, little data exist on zoonotic helminths, and on animal-associated exposure to soil-transmitted helminths. Our study took place in the Jawadhu Hills, which is a tribal region in Tamil Nadu, India. Using a One Health approach, we included animal and environmental samples and human risk factors to answer questions about the associations among infected household soil, domestic animals, and human risk factors. Helminth eggs were identified by microscopy in animal and soil samples, and a survey about risk factors was administered to the head of the household. Contact with animals was reported in 71% of households. High levels of helminth infections were found across domestic animal species, especially in goats, chickens, and dogs. Helminth eggs were recorded in 44% of household soil (n = 43/97) and separately in 88% of soil near a water source (n = 28/32). Animal contact was associated with 4.05 higher odds of having helminth eggs in the household soil (P = 0.01), and also having a water source at the household was associated with a 0.33 lower odds of having helminth eggs in the household soil (P = 0.04). Soil moisture was a mediator of this association with a significant indirect effect (P < 0.001). The proportion mediated was 0.50. While our work does not examine transmission, these results support consideration of animal-associated exposure to STH and potentially zoonotic helminths in future interventions to reduce helminth burden. Our study provides support for further investigation of the effects of animals and animal fecal matter on human health.
Field Performance of a Rapid Diagnostic Test for the Serodiagnosis of Abdominal Cystic Echinococcosis in the Peruvian Highlands
Authors: Manciulli Tommaso , Enríquez-Laurente Raul , Tamarozzi Francesca , Lissandrin Raffaella , Elizalde Maira , Sedano Cesar , Bardales Karina , Vola Ambra , De Silvestri Annalisa , Tinelli Carmine , Brunetti Enrico , Santivanez Saul , Mariconti Mara
Published: May 2021

We evaluated the performance of a commercial rapid diagnostic test (RDT) in a field setting for the diagnosis of abdominal cystic echinococcosis (CE) using sera collected during an ultrasound population screening in a highly endemic region of the Peruvian Andes. Abdominal CE was investigated by ultrasonography. Sera collected from individuals with abdominal CE (cases) and age- and gender-matched volunteers with no abdominal CE (controls) were tested independently in two laboratories (Peru and Italy) using the VIRapid® HYDATIDOSIS RDT and RIDASCREEN® Echinococcus IgG enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Performance indexes of single and serially combined tests were calculated and applied to hypothetical screening and clinical scenarios. Test concordance was also evaluated. Prevalence of abdominal CE was 6.00% (33 of 546) by ultrasound. Serum was obtained from 33 cases and 81 controls. The VIRapid test showed similar sensitivity (76% versus 74%) and lower specificity (79% versus 96%) than results obtained in a hospital setting. RDTs showed better performance when excluding subjects reporting surgery for CE and if weak bands were considered negative. Concordance between tests was moderate to very good. In hypothetical screening scenarios, ultrasound alone or confirmed by RDTs provided more reliable prevalence figures than serology alone, which overestimated it by 5 to 20 times. In a simulation of case diagnosis with pre-test probability of CE of 50%, positive and negative post-test probabilities of the VIRapid test were 78% and 22%, respectively. The application of the VIRapid test alone would not be reliable for the assessment of population prevalence of CE, but could help clinical decision making in resource-limited settings.
Separating the wheat from the chaff: Delimiting public policy influence on the arbitrability of disputes in Africa
Authors: Ogunranti Akinwumi
Published: May 2021

This article focuses on the arbitrability of disputes. It examines the recent global trend of delimiting the role of public policy in determining matters that should be subject to arbitration. The evaluation shows that the application of doctrines of separability and kompetenz-kompentenz plays a vital role in the delimitation process. However, notwithstanding the global trend to restrict the role of public policy in determining arbitrability, some countries in Africa still widely interpret public policy to revoke arbitral clause, stay arbitral proceedings, or refuse enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. They justify this approach on the basis that public policy is a means to protect national economic interest against foreign manipulation or exploitation. Anchored on Morgan’s theoretical approach, this article criticizes the excessive role of public policy in determining the arbitrability of disputes in Africa. It calls for a change to reflect the global trend through judicial activism and legislative reform. Although protecting national economic interest is an important goal, restricting matters that are arbitrable will not promote foreign investment. Therefore, countries in Africa must fashion arbitration practices that reflect their socio-economic background as well as contemporary arbitral trends around the world.Keywords: Arbitration; Africa; Party Autonomy; Public Policy
Awoism and the unending search for transformational leadership in Nigeria: Political, economic, educational and social challenges
Authors: Babalola Aare Afe
Published: May 2021

No Abstract.
Contractual agreements in Ghana's oil and gas industry: In whose interest?
Authors: Abraham Kow Kwegya Amissah
Published: May 2021

This article examines the history, nature, scope and policy ramifications of the production sharing contract as the core contractual agreement guiding the Ghanaian petroleum sector. It discusses the policy linkages between this form of contractual agreement and the management of the country’s oil exploration activities from 2010 to 2014. The article assesses the extent to which Ghana, as a new oil exporting country, has sought to actualize its resource benefits through negotiated contracts and agreements as well as management policies. The article argues that better negotiated contractual agreements ensure maximum State benefits from oil exploration. Again, production monitoring, periodic evaluation and institutional capacity building are effective ways of securing greater profits from oil resources. Finally, better legal and policy frameworks will also guarantee prudent management of the oil revenues.Keywords: Contracts; policy-making; agreements; oil exploration and production; Ghana.