bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gut markers of bodily self-consciousness
Authors: Monti Alessandro , Porciello Giuseppina , Panasiti Maria Serena , Aglioti Salvatore M.
Published: March 2021

Bodily self-consciousness, the state of mind that allows humans to be aware of their own body, forms the backdrop for almost every human experience, yet its underpinnings remain elusive. Here we combine an ingestible, minimally invasive capsule with surface electrogastrography to probe if gut physiology correlates with bodily self-consciousness during a virtual bodily illusion. We discover that specific patterns of stomach and bowel activity (temperature, pressure, pH, and gastric peak frequency) covary with specific facets of bodily self-consciousness (feelings of body agency, location, and disembodiment). These results uncover the hitherto untapped potential of minimally invasive probes to study the link between mental and gut states, and reveal a deep visceral pathway to the self-conscious perception of ourselves as embodied beings.
Neutralization heterogeneity of United Kingdom and South-African SARS-CoV-2 variants in BNT162b2-vaccinated or convalescent COVID-19 healthcare workers
Authors: Marot Stéphane , Malet Isabelle , Jary Aude , Leducq Valentin , Abdi Basma , Teyssou Elisa , Soulie Cathia , Wirden Marc , Rodriguez Christophe , Fourati Slim , Pawlotsky Jean-Michel , Boutolleau David , Burrel Sonia , Calvez Vincent , Marcelin Anne-Geneviève
Published: March 2021

There are concerns about neutralizing antibodies (NAb) potency against the newly emerged VOC202012/01 (UK) and 501Y.V2 (SA) SARS-CoV-2 variants in mRNA-vaccinated subjects and in recovered COVID-19 patients. We used a viral neutralization test with a strict 100% neutralizing criterion on UK and SA clinical isolates in comparison with a globally distributed D614G SARS-CoV-2 strain. In two doses BNT162b2-vaccinated healthcare workers (HCW), despite heterogeneity in neutralizing capacity against the three SARS-CoV-2 strains, most of the sera harbored at least a NAb titer ≥ 1:10 suggesting a certain humoral protection activity either on UK or SA variants. However, six months after mild forms of COVID-19, an important proportion of HCW displayed no neutralizing activity against SA strain. This result supports strong recommendations for vaccination of previously infected subjects.
The effect of disturbance and drought on Hairy Jointgrass (Arthraxon hispidus) in north coast New South Wales: Understanding threatened species populations in a dynamic landscape
Authors: White Laura , Catterall Claudia , Taffs Kathryn
Published: March 2021

Ecological disturbances such as fire, grazing or mechanical cultivation can promote or suppress plant populations within vegetation communities. Therefore, such processes can threaten vulnerable species, or play a significant role in their conservation, so an understanding of a species’ ecological response to disturbance is foundational to threatened species management. Various types of anthropogenic disturbance are listed as threats to the vulnerable‐listed Arthraxon hispidus (Hairy Jointgrass) (Poaceae) in NSW; however, there is evidence that slashing, grazing and fire can stimulate the recruitment and establishment of this annual species in some circumstances. We undertook field experiments to investigate the effects of each of these disturbance regimes on A. hispidus populations over two growing seasons within modified wetlands/moist pastures in north coast NSW. We found that the application of fire in winter had a stronger promotional effect on A. hispidus recruitment than slashing, though both treatments increased its abundance and reduced the height and cover of surrounding vegetation, particularly exotic perennial grasses. Following initial establishment, A. hispidus declined under drought conditions during the study, and continuous grazing exacerbated this effect. Drought also increased the abundance of introduced species relative to native wetland species across the study sites. Results confirm that disturbance, particularly fire, can promote A. hispidus populations in some vegetation communities; however, climatic variation also plays a role in its population dynamics. Consideration of each of these factors and their potential interactions is important when developing conservation approaches for this threatened species.
Pregnancy outcomes following gestational exposure to papaverine: An observational comparative study
Authors: Gueta Itai , Braun Adi , Gilan Adi , Berlin Maya , Kohn Elkana , Barchel Dana , Markovits Noa , Berkovitch Matitiahu , Loebstein Ronen
Published: March 2021

Aims

Papaverine is indicated for abdominal pain of various aetiologies. However, data on maternal and foetal safety following gestational exposure are lacking. The aim was to examine whether first trimester exposure to papaverine is associated with increased risk for major malformation and whether gestational exposure at any stage is associated with increased risk for preterm delivery, lower birthweight, small for gestational age, caesarean section (CS), lower Apgar score and perinatal death.

Methods

A retrospective comparative study consisted of pregnant women treated with papaverine between February 2010 and October 2019 at a large tertiary center. The control group comprised of livebirth deliveries randomly selected from the institutional obstetric database.

Results

The study group consisted of 498 pregnancies, which resulted in 537/544 (98.7%) live births, of whom 46/537 (8.6%) were exposed during the first trimester. The control group consisted of 498 pregnancies and 514 live births. Rate of major malformations did not differ between study group (2/46, 4.3%) and control (25/315, 4.9%, P = .67). Papaverine exposure was associated with higher rate of preterm delivery (22.3 vs. 10.3%, P < .001), CS (35.9 vs. 24.1%, P < .001) and lower birth weight (3207 vs. 3246 g, P = .02). Adjustment for treatment indication demonstrated that these remained significant only when given for obstetrical/surgical aetiologies. Comparable rates were observed for the remaining outcomes.

Conclusions

Short‐term gestational exposure to papaverine adjusted for indication was not associated with preterm deliveries, CS, lower birthweight, small for gestational age or perinatal death. Rate of major malformations among 46 first trimester exposures was comparable to controls.
Influence of prenatal perceived stress on postpartum weight retention is mediated by high gestational weight gain in women with overweight
Authors: Leonard Krista S. , Adams Elizabeth L. , Savage Jennifer S. , Paul Ian M. , Kraschnewski Jennifer L. , Pattison Krista L. , Kjerulff Kristen H. , Symons Downs Danielle
Published: March 2021

Women with excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) are at risk for poor psychosocial well‐being and postpartum weight retention (PPWR). Scant research has examined longitudinal interrelations of GWG, psychosocial factors, and PPWR. This study examined: (a) pre‐pregnancy weight status (ie, normal, overweight, obesity) differences in PPWR and its psychosocial determinants (perceived social support, perceived stress, depression) in women with excessive GWG (ie, above 2009 Institute of Medicine guidelines); and (b) whether GWG mediated associations between psychosocial determinants and PPWR. Women (N = 1352) reported third trimester perceived social support, perceived stress, and depressive symptoms, GWG, and 6‐ and 12‐month PPWR via telephone interviews. Multivariate ANOVA analyses showed women with normal weight had higher 6‐month PPWR than women with obesity; univariate ANOVA showed no group differences in psychosocial factors. Hayes mediation analyses indicated that GWG mediated the association between perceived stress and PPWR in women with overweight but not women with normal weight or obesity; perceived stress predicted GWG, and in turn, PPWR. Prenatal perceived stress may be a modifiable target of GWG and PPWR. Future research is needed to examine the utility of tailoring perinatal weight regulation interventions to reduce perceived stress in pregnant women with overweight.
Safety and feasibility of dopamine‐atropine stress echocardiography
Authors: Khemka Abhishek , Rao Roopa A , Ghumman Waqas , Mahenthiran Jothiharan , Feigenbaum Harvey , Sawada Stephen G.
Published: March 2021

Background

Dobutamine‐atropine stress echocardiography (DSE) has lower sensitivity in patients with advanced liver disease (ALD) due to vasodilation.

Hypothesis

Dopamine‐atropine stress echocardiography (DopSE) may be an alternative to DSE in ALD patients by improving the blood pressure response to stress.

Methods

The safety and tolerability of DSE and DopSE were compared in 10 volunteers. The safety, adverse effects, and efficacy of DopSE were then assessed in 105 patients, 98 of whom had ALD. Dopamine was infused in stepwise fashion from 5 µg/kg/min to a peak dose of 40 µg/kg/min. Atropine was given before and in early stages of dopamine infusion up to cumulative dose of 1.5 mg. The hemodynamic responses of 98 ALD patients were compared with 102 patients with ALD who underwent standard DSE.

Results

In normal volunteers, systolic BP increased more with DopSE compared to DSE (61 ± 19 mm Hg vs 39 ± 15 mm Hg, P = .008). In 105 patients who underwent DopSE, none had adverse effects that required early stress termination. In the groups with ALD, the systolic BP increase (38 ± 28 mm Hg vs 12 ± 27 mm Hg, P < .001) and peak rate pressure product (RPP) (22 861 ± 5289 vs 17 211 ± 3848, P = <.001) were both higher in those undergoing DopSE versus DSE. The sensitivity and specificity of DopSE were 45% and 88%, respectively for coronary disease (≥70% stenosis) in 37 patients who had angiography.

Conclusions

Dopamine‐atropine stress echocardiography appears to be a safe stress modality and provides greater increases in RPP in patients with ALD compared to DSE.
Right lateralized alpha desynchronization increases with the proportion of symmetry in the stimulus
Authors: Makin Alexis D. J. , Tyson‐Carr John , Rampone Giulia , Morris Amie , Bertamini Marco
Published: March 2021

Research into the neural basis of symmetry perception has intensified in the last two decades; however, the functional role of neural oscillations remains unclear. In previous work Makin et al. (2014, Journal of Vision, 14, 1–12) and Wright et al. (2015, Psychophysiology, 52, 638–647) examined occipital alpha event‐related desynchronization (alpha ERD). It was concluded that alpha ERD is right lateralized during active regularity discrimination but not during a secondary task. Furthermore, alpha ERD was unaffected by stimulus properties, such as the type of regularity. These conclusions are refuted by new time‐frequency analysis on an electroencephalography (EEG) data set first introduced by Makin et al. (2020, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 32, 353–366). We compared alpha ERD across five tasks. First, we found that right lateralization of alpha ERD was evident in all tasks, not just active regularity discrimination. This was caused by hemispheric differences in alpha power during prestimulus baseline (left < right), which equalized after stimulus onset (left = right). Second, we found that Alpha ERD increased with the proportion of symmetric elements in the image (PSYMM). Sensitivity to PSYMM was stronger on the right. These findings suggest that known extrastriate symmetry activations are accompanied by reduced alpha power.
The road to a World Health Organization global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders
Authors: Guekht Alla , Brodie Martin , Secco Mary , Li Shichuo , Volkers Nancy , Wiebe Samuel
Published: March 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) has recognized epilepsy as a public health imperative due to its occurrence at all ages in all regions of the world, its high impact on disability‐adjusted life years and psychosocial aspects, and the accompanying stigma. The International League Against Epilepsy and the International Bureau for Epilepsy have established crucial collaborations with regional and global organizations to promote epilepsy as a treatable disease, close the treatment gap in care, education, and research, and eradicate stigma. In November 2020, the efforts of these three organizations—with support from WHO member states, the World Federation of Neurology, and the European Federation of Neurological Associations—culminated in the unanimous approval of a WHO resolution to create and implement an Intersectoral Global Action Plan on Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders. This unique achievement is built on more than 2 decades of collaboration and effort, and heralds extraordinary opportunities to work toward a world where no person's life is limited by epilepsy.
Fertilized graminoids intensify negative drought effects on grassland productivity
Authors: Van Sundert Kevin , Arfin Khan Mohammed A. S. , Bharath Siddharth , Buckley Yvonne M. , Caldeira Maria C. , Donohue Ian , Dubbert Maren , Ebeling Anne , Eisenhauer Nico , Eskelinen Anu , Finn Alain , Gebauer Tobias , Haider Sylvia , Hansart Amandine , Jentsch Anke , Kübert Angelika , Nijs Ivan , Nock Charles A. , Nogueira Carla , Porath‐Krause Anita J. , Radujković Dajana , Raynaud Xavier , Risch Anita C. , Roscher Christiane , Scherer‐Lorenzen Michael , Schuchardt Max A. , Schütz Martin , Siebert Julia , Sitters Judith , Spohn Marie , Virtanen Risto , Werner Christiane , Wilfahrt Peter , Vicca Sara
Published: March 2021

Droughts can strongly affect grassland productivity and biodiversity, but responses differ widely. Nutrient availability may be a critical factor explaining this variation, but is often ignored in analyses of drought responses. Here, we used a standardized nutrient addition experiment covering 10 European grasslands to test if full‐factorial nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium addition affected plant community responses to inter‐annual variation in drought stress and to the extreme summer drought of 2018 in Europe. We found that nutrient addition amplified detrimental drought effects on community aboveground biomass production. Drought effects also differed between functional groups, with a negative effect on graminoid but not forb biomass production. Our results imply that eutrophication in grasslands, which promotes dominance of drought‐sensitive graminoids over forbs, amplifies detrimental drought effects. In terms of climate change adaptation, agricultural management would benefit from taking into account differential drought impacts on fertilized versus unfertilized grasslands, which differ in ecosystem services they provide to society.
Abandonment of traditional land use and climate change threaten the survival of an endangered relict butterfly species
Authors: Scherer Gwydion , Löffler Franz , Fartmann Thomas
Published: March 2021

The decline of butterflies exceeds those of many other animal taxa due to their high sensitivity to habitat alterations driven by land‐use change. Moreover, cold‐adapted species frequently suffer severe range retractions due to rising temperatures at their trailing‐edge range margins.

In this study, we aim to identify drivers of occupancy of the post‐glacial relict speciesLycaena helleat three spatial scales – (i) landscape, (ii) habitat, and (iii) microhabitat – in one of its last refuges in central Europe.

In our study in the Eifel low mountain range (western Germany), the occurrence ofL. hellewas mainly driven by the (i) isolation, (ii) size, and (iii) quality of habitat patches.Lycaena helleformed metapopulations that were dependent on networks of interconnected but often small habitat patches.

Habitat quality within the semi‐natural grasslands was determined by (i) macro‐ and mesoclimate, (ii) host‐plant abundance, and (iii) vegetation structure, which was interrelated with microclimate.Lycaena hellepreferred moist, nutrient‐poor grasslands in deep, narrow valleys at the highest elevations of the study area, which were characterised by (i) cold winters, (ii) high abundance of the host plant, and (iii) short and sparse swards providing a warm microclimate in summer.

According to these findings, abandonment of traditional land use and climate change are considered the most severe threats for long‐term survival of the species. Hence, conservation measures should aim at maintaining and restoring networks of large and well‐connected habitat patches of high quality, preferably in cold‐air depressions within mountain systems.
The relationship between anti‐consumption lifestyle and the trust triangle in a ride‐sharing platform: A cross‐cultural study of U.S. and Indian consumers
Authors: Lee Hee‐Jung , Cha Moon‐Kyung
Published: March 2021

The aim of this study is to examine three types of trust in services provided in the sharing economy toward the goal of increasing consumers’ intention to use a ride‐sharing service. The three trust factors for sharing services are trust in drivers, trust in users, and trust in platforms. It is hypothesized that related to consumers’ consumption lifestyles would influence their trust in a sharing service; in particular, previous researchers found that anti‐consumption influenced consumers to participate in the sharing economy. Based on previous findings, the attempt with this study is to determine whether an anti‐consumption would affect formation of the three types of trust with regards to the ride‐sharing service. Specifically, the differing effects of anti‐consumption on trust formation in a ride‐sharing service are compared between the United States and India. Data are collected from 253 online surveys from the United States and 266 from India, and data analysis reveals that the anti‐consumption affects the formation of all three types of trust in the ride‐sharing service. In the United States in particular, non‐voluntary anti‐consumption has a greater effect on trust formation than it did in India.
Virtual reality for limb motor function, balance, gait, cognition and daily function of stroke patients: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Authors: Zhang Bohan , Li Dan , Liu Yue , Wang Jiani , Xiao Qian
Published: March 2021

Aims

To explore the beneficial effects of virtual reality (VR) interventions on upper‐ and lower‐limb motor function, balance, gait, cognition and daily function outcomes in stroke patients.

Design

A systematic review and meta‐analysis of randomized controlled trials.

Data Sources

English databases (PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, Physiotherapy Evidence Database, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses) and Chinese databases (Chinese BioMedical Literature Service System, WANFANG, CNKI) and the Clinical Trial Registry Platform were systematically searched from inception until December 2019. Additionally, reference lists of the included studies were manually searched.

Review Methods

The methodological quality of studies was scored with the Cochrane ‘risk‐of‐bias tool’ and PEDro scale from the Physiotherapy Evidence Database by two independent evaluators.

Results

In total, 87 studies with 3540 participants were included. Stroke patients receiving VR interventions showed significant improvements in Fugl‐Meyer assessment of Upper Extremity, Action Research Arm Test, Wolf Motor Function Test, Fugl‐Meyer Assessment of Lower Extremity, Functional Ambulation Classification, Berg Balance Scale, Time Up and Go, Velocity, Cadence, Modified Barthel Index and Functional Independence Measure. However, differences between VR intervention and traditional rehabilitation groups were not significant for Box‐Block Test, 10 m Walk Test, Auditory Continuous Performance Test, Mini‐Mental State Examination and Visual Continuous Performance Test.

Conclusion

This review suggests that VR interventions effectively improve upper‐ and lower‐limb motor function, balance, gait and daily function of stroke patients, but have no benefits on cognition.

Impact

This review identified the positive effects of VR‐assisted rehabilitation on upper‐ and lower‐limb motor function, balance, gait and daily function of stroke patients. And, we verified the duration of VR intervention affects some health benefits. The benefit of VR on cognitive function requires further investigation through large‐scale multicentre RCTs.
Health Status and Quality of Life of Middle‐Aged and Older Taiwanese Sexual and Gender Minorities
Authors: Wang Ya‐Ching , Chang Shiow‐Ru , Miao Nae‐Fang
Published: March 2021

Purpose

To examine the health status and quality of life of middle‐aged and older sexual and gender minority adults in Taiwan.

Research Design and Methods

A cross‐sectional online survey was conducted between May and December 2019. A total of 535 self‐identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) men and women ≥40 years of age were included in the final sample. An online questionnaire, which included the following three sections, was used to collect data in this study: (a) demographics, (b) the World Health Organization Quality of Life‐Brief Taiwan version, and (c) physical and psychological health status.

Results

Middle‐aged and older Taiwanese LGBT adults who were single, were unemployed, and earned monthly incomes of <20,000 New Taiwan Dollars reported poorer quality of life. Participants with one or more physical or psychological health problems also reported poorer quality of life than those who had no health problems. In addition, singlehood, unemployment, and poor quality of life and health were positively associated with mental health issues.

Conclusions

It is important to attenuate health disparities and mitigate discrimination within Taiwanese society to enhance the quality of life and mental health of middle‐aged and older Taiwanese LGBT adults.

Clinical Relevance

Healthcare providers should be attuned to and knowledgeable about the health issues and specific healthcare needs of middle‐aged and older LGBT adults, and they should also provide culturally competent care to reduce health disparities of the LGBT adults.
Understanding socioeconomic disparities in travel behavior during the COVID‐19 pandemic
Authors: Brough Rebecca , Freedman Matthew , Phillips David C.
Published: March 2021

We document the magnitudes of and mechanisms behind socioeconomic differences in travel behavior during the COVID‐19 pandemic. We focus on King County, Washington, one of the first places in North America where COVID‐19 was detected. We leverage novel and rich administrative and survey data on travel volumes, modes, and preferences for different demographic groups. Large average declines in travel and public transit use due to the pandemic and related policy responses mask substantial heterogeneity across socioeconomic groups. Travel declined considerably less among less‐educated and lower‐income individuals, even after accounting for mode substitution and variation across neighborhoods in the impacts of public transit service reductions. As policy became less restrictive and travel increased, the size of the socioeconomic gap in travel behavior remained stable, and remote work capabilities became increasingly important in explaining this gap. Our results imply that disparities in travel behavior across socioeconomic groups may become an enduring feature of the urban landscape.
Quality of poly(somno)graphy recordings in children
Authors: Olmo Arroyo Jorge , De Sanctis Livio , Sidhoum Lynda , Amaddeo Alessandro , Griffon Lucie , Khirani Sonia , Fauroux Brigitte
Published: March 2021

The aim of the study was to assess the scorability of the signals of four poly(somno)graphy devices and transcutaneous carbon dioxide tracings (PtcCO2) of one device in children. The presence (0%, < 25%, 25%–50%, 50%–75%, 75%–99%, 100% of recording time) and quality (bad, average, good) of the signal of each sensor were analysed. During a 5‐month period, 364 poly(somno)graphies were performed in 12 different hospital units. Forty‐one children had poor/bad cooperation, and 13 severe behaviour disorders. Seventy‐one and 293 poly(somno)graphies were performed in children aged ≤ 2 and > 2 years, respectively; nine poly(somno)graphies failed. For the four poly(somno)graphy devices, the signal was present during 99% of recording time for the electroencephalogram, 99% for thoracic belt, 97% for abdominal belt, 97% for body position, 95% for the microphone, 92% for pulse oximetry, 87% for tracheal sound, 71% for oronasal thermistor, 52% (41% for ≤ 2 years, 55% for > 2 years old) for nasal pressure and 86% for PtcCO2. The signal was of good quality in 98% of poly(somno)graphies for body position, 96% for microphone, 96% for thoracic belt, 95% for pulse oximetry, 91% for abdominal belt, 91% for tracheal sound, 82% for oronasal thermistor, 78% for electroencephalogram, 73% for nasal pressure and 46% of PtcCO2 recordings. The scorability was comparable between devices. Nasal pressure and oronasal thermistor had the lowest scorability, especially in children aged ≤ 2 years. This underlines the necessity of the development or improvement of alternative, ideally face‐free, sensors, or miniaturized devices adapted for infants and children.
Blurred lines: How fictional is pornography?
Authors: McGlynn Aidan
Published: March 2021

Many pornographic works seem to count as works of fiction. This apparent fact has been thought to have important implications for ongoing controversies about whether some pornography carries problematic messages and so influences the attitudes (and perhaps even the behaviour) of its audience. In this study, I explore the claim that pornographic works are fictional and the significance that this claim has for these issues, with a particular focus on pornographic films. Two related morals will emerge. First, we need to pay attention not merely to whether entire pornographic works should be classified as fictional, but to the way that pornographic fictions (like fictional works more generally) have both fictional and non‐fictional elements. Second, we have to understand the ways that pornographic works can blur the lines between fiction and non‐fiction, misleading their audiences into taking their fictional elements to be revealing truths about non‐fictional reality. In the case of pornographic films, we will examine how a pornographic fiction can be portrayed by people having sex on camera, and the ways in which this portrayal can mislead viewers about sex in the non‐fictional world.
Color variation in young and senescent leaves of Formosan sweet gum (Liquidambar formosana) by the gene regulation of anthocyanidin biosynthesis
Authors: Wen Chi‐Hsiang , Tsao Nai‐Wen , Wang Sheng‐Yang , Chu Fang‐Hua
Published: March 2021

In certain plants, leaf coloration occurs in young and senescent leaves; however, it is unclear whether these two developmental stages are controlled by the same regulatory mechanisms. Formosan sweet gum (Liquidambar formosana Hance) is a subtropical deciduous tree species that possesses attractive autumnal leaf coloration. The color of young leaves is closer to purplish red, while senescent leaves are more orange‐red to dark red. It was confirmed that delphinidin and cyanidin are the two anthocyanidins that contribute to the color of Formosan sweet gum leaves, and the content of different anthocyanins influences the appearance of color. To elucidate the regulation of anthocyanidin biosynthesis, recombinant DIHYDROFLAVONOL‐4‐REDUCTASEs (LfDFR1 and LfDFR2) (EC 1.1.1.234) were produced, and their substrate acceptability was investigated both in vitro and in planta. The functions of flavanones and dihydroflavonols modification by FLAVONOID 3′ HYDROXYLASE (LfF3′H1) (EC 1.14.14.82) and FLAVONOID 3′5′ HYDROXYLASE (LfF3′5′H) (EC 1.14.14.81) were verified using a transient overexpression experiment in Nicotiana benthamiana. The results showed that LfMYB5 induced LfF3′5′H and LfMYB123 induced both LfF3′H1 and LfDFR1 in spring when the leaves were expanding, whereas LfMYB113 induced LfF3′H1, LfDFR1, and LfDFR2 in late autumn to winter when the leaves were undergoing leaf senescence. In conclusion, the color variation of Formosan sweet gum in young and senescent leaves was attributed to the composition of anthocyanidins through the transcriptional regulation of LfF3′H1 and LfF3′5′H by LfMYB5, LfMYB113, and LfMYB123.
Design, Modeling, and Manufacturing of a Variable Lateral Stiffness Arm Via Shape Morphing Mechanisms
Authors: She Yu , Gu Zhaoyuan , Song Siyang , Su Hai-Jun , Wang Junmin
Published: March 2021

In this article, we present a continuously tunable stiffness arm for safe physical human–robot interactions. Compliant joints and compliant links are two typical solutions to address safety issues for physical human–robot interactions via introducing mechanical compliance to robotic systems. While extensive studies explore variable stiffness joints/actuators, variable stiffness links for safe physical human–robot interactions are much less studied. This article details the design and modeling of a compliant robotic arm whose stiffness can be continuously tuned via cable-driven mechanisms actuated by a single servo motor. Specifically, a 3D-printed compliant robotic arm is prototyped and tested by static experiments, and an analytical model of the variable stiffness arm is derived and validated by testing. The results show that the lateral stiffness of the robot arm can achieve a variety of 221.26% given a morphing angle of 90 deg. The variable stiffness arm design developed in this study could be a promising approach to address safety concerns for safe physical human–robot interactions.
Knockdown of E-cadherin induces cancer stem-cell-like phenotype and drug resistance in cervical cancer cells
Authors: Sharma Anuka , Kaur Harmandeep , De Renaissa , Srinivasan Radhika , Pal Arnab , Bhattacharyya Shalmoli
Published: March 2021

Cervical cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality amongst women in developing countries, and resistance to therapy is the main reason for treatment failure. Recent advances suggest that cancer stem cells (CSCs) are critically involved in regulating the chemo-resistant behavior of cervical cancer cells. In our study, cells with the CSC phenotype were isolated, and we examined the expression levels of stem cell markers and genes associated with epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) using different assays. However, the cells with the CSC phenotype could not be cultured for further cytotoxicity studies, so we established a model of CSC in cervical cancer cells. We performed siRNA-mediated knockdown of E-cadherin in these cells, and studied them for EMT-associated stem-cell-like properties. We also performed dose-dependent cell viability assays using clinically relevant drugs such as cisplatin, cyclopamine, and GANT58 to analyze the drug resistant behavior of these cancer cells. We found that knockdown of E-cadherin induces EMT in cervical cancer cells, imparting stem-cell like characteristics along with enhanced tumorsphere formation, cell migration, invasiveness, and drug resistance. This is the first study to establish a CSC model in cervical cancer cells by knockdown of E-cadherin, which can be used to develop anti-cancer therapies.
Latte
Authors: Christensen Niels , Glavind Mark , Schmid Stefan , Srba Jiří
Published: March 2021

Emerging software-defined and programmable networking technologies enable more adaptive communication infrastructures. However, leveraging these flexibilities and operating networks more adaptively is challenging, as the underlying infrastructure remains a complex distributed system that is a subject to delays, and as consistency properties need to be preserved transiently, even during network reconfiguration. Motivated by these challenges, we propose Latte, an automated approach to minimize the latency of network update schedules by avoiding unnecessary waiting times and exploiting concurrency, while at the same time provably ensuring a wide range of fundamental consistency properties like waypoint enforcement. To enable automated reasoning about the performance and consistency of software-defined networks during an update, we introduce the model of timed-arc colored Petri nets: an extension of Petri nets which allows us to account for time aspects in asynchronous networks, including characteristic timing behaviors, modeled as timed and colored tokens. This novel formalism may be of independent interest. Latte relies on an efficient translation of specific network update problems into timed-arc colored Petri nets. We show that the constructed nets can be analyzed efficiently via their unfolding into existing timed-arc Petri nets. We integrate Latte into the state-of-the-art model checking tool TAPAAL, and find that in many cases, we are able to reduce the latency of network updates by 90% or more.
Scalable Load Balancing in the Presence of Heterogeneous Servers
Authors: Gardner Kristen , Abdul Jaleel Jazeem , Wickeham Alexander , Doroudi Sherwin
Published: March 2021

In large-scale computer systems, deciding how to dispatch arriving jobs to servers is a primary factor affecting system performance. Consequently, there is a wealth of literature on designing, analyzing, and evaluating the performance of load balancing policies. For analytical tractability, most existing work on dispatching in large-scale systems makes a key assumption: that the servers are homogeneous, meaning that they all have the same speeds, capabilities, and available resources. But this assumption is not accurate in practice. Modern computer systems are instead heterogeneous: server farms may consist of multiple generations of hardware, servers with varied resources, or even virtual machines running in a cloud environment. Given the ubiquity of heterogeneity in today's systems, it is critically important to develop load balancing policies that perform well in heterogeneous environments. In this paper, we focus on systems in which server speeds are heterogeneous.
Incentive Analysis of Bitcoin-NG, Revisited
Authors: Niu Jianyu , Wang Ziyu , Gai Fangyu , Feng Chen
Published: March 2021

Bitcoin-NG is among the first scalable blockchain protocols by decoupling blockchain operation into two planes: leader election and transaction serialization. Its decoupling idea has inspired a new generation of blockchain protocols. However, the existing incentive analysis of Bitcoin-NG has several limitations. First, the impact of network capacity is ignored. Second, an integrated incentive analysis that jointly considers both key blocks and microblocks is still missing.

In this paper, we aim to address these two limitations. First, we propose a new incentive analysis that takes the network capacity into account, showing that Bitcoin-NG can still maintain incentive compatibility against the microblock mining attack even under limited network capacity. Second, we leverage a Markov decision process to jointly analyze the incentive of both key blocks and microblocks, showing that the selfish mining revenue of Bitcoin-NG is a little higher than that in Bitcoin only when the selfish miner controls more than 35% of the mining power. We hope that our in-depth incentive analysis for Bitcoin-NG can shed some light on the mechanism design and incentive analysis of nextgeneration blockchain protocols.
Determination of the Ultimate Underground Mining Depth considering the Effect of Granular Rock and the Range of Surface Caving
Authors: He Rongxing , Zhang Jing , Liu Yang , Song Delin , Ren Fengyu
Published: March 2021

Continuous mining of metal deposits leads the overlying strata to move, deform, and collapse, which is particularly obvious when open-pit mining and underground mining are adjacent. Once the mining depth of the adjacent open-pit lags severely behind the underground, the ultimate underground mining depth needs to be studied before the surface deformation extends to the open-pit mining area. The numerical simulation and the mechanical model are applied to research the ultimate underground mining depth of the southeast mining area in the Gongchangling Iron mine. In the numerical simulation, the effect of granular rock is considered and the granular rock in the collapse pit is simplified as the degraded rock mass. The ultimate underground mining depth can be obtained by the values of the indicators of surface movement and deformation. In the mechanical model, the modified mechanical model for the progressive hanging wall caving is established based on Hoke’s conclusion, which considers the lateral pressure of the granular rock. Using the limiting equilibrium analysis, the relationship of the ultimate underground mining depth and the range of surface caving can be derived. The results show that the ultimate underground mining depth obtained by the numerical simulation is greater than the theoretical calculation of the modified mechanical model. The reason for this difference may be related to the assumption of the granular rock in the numerical simulation, which increases the resistance of granular rock to the deformation of rock mass. Therefore, the ultimate underground mining depth obtained by the theoretical calculation is suggested. Meanwhile, the surface displacement monitoring is implemented to verify the reasonability of the ultimate underground mining depth. Monitoring results show that the indicators of surface deformation are below the critical value of dangerous movement when the underground is mined to the ultimate mining depth. The practice proves that the determination of the ultimate underground mining depth in this work can ensure the safety of the open-pit and underground synergetic mining.
Bayesian Network‐Based Knowledge Graph Inference for Highway Transportation Safety Risks
Authors: Wenhui Luo , Fengtian Cai , Chuna Wu , Xingkai Meng
Published: March 2021

Accurate inference of knowledge about highway transportation safety risks forms a crucial aspect of building a knowledge graph. Based on the data related to highway transportation accidents, this study has developed a Bayesian network model. The initial identification of the network nodes is through expert scoring. The network structure is then constructed by utilizing the prior expert knowledge and K2 greedy search algorithm. Later, the network parameters are trained via the expectation‐maximization (EM) algorithm. Finally, knowledge about highway transportation safety risks is inferred using the junction tree algorithm. A comparison is made between the trained conditional and actual probabilities during the network parameter training to verify the validity of the proposed model that accords with expert experience, thereby proving the model validity. Further, its main “causal chain” is inferred to be an improper emergency response‐human failure‐accident occurrence, where the probability of driver failure is 82%, and the probability of accident occurrence is 68% by taking “a certain road traffic accident” as an example. There is consistency between the inference results and the actual accident sequence that suggests the effectiveness of the proposed knowledge inference method.
Analysis of the Development Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Freezing Temperature Field in the Cross Passage
Authors: Zhuang Yan , Chen Junhao , Zhang Jian , Wang Jianlin , Li Han
Published: March 2021

Based on the analysis of the temperature measurement data of the Shanghai Metro Line 15 cross passage freezing project, it was found that the gray silt layer of cross passage No. 2 outperforms that of cross passage No. 1 on the freezing effect, which is mainly attributed to the large loss of cooling capacity in the latter passage. Within the same stratum, the soil temperature at the duct piece is higher than that of the deep soil. When the soil freezes for 45 days, the temperatures of the sandy silt and gray silt layers of the same cross passage drop to −8.25°C and −6.91°C, respectively, indicating that the freezing effect of the sandy silt layer is better than that of the gray silt layer. Moreover, simulations were performed for deviation freezing pipes, nondeviation freezing pipes, and different freezing pipe diameters in the cross passage No. 1, respectively. It was found that the maximum difference of the closure completion time between the deviation and nondeviation freezing pipes is 6 days. Furthermore, for deviation freezing pipes and nondeviation freezing pipes at the center of the cross passage, the minimum difference in the freezing wall thickness reduces from 0.45 mm after 20 days of freezing to 0.06 mm after 45 days of freezing, indicating that the difference in the freezing wall thickness gradually weakens as freezing develops gradually. The deviation freezing pipe increases the spacing of freezing pipes in the deep soil. As the pipe spacing increases, the influence of the pipe diameter on the closure completion time of the freezing wall decreases.
Design of a Participatory Web-Based Geographic Information System for Determining Industrial Zones
Authors: Chumaidiyah Endang , Dewantoro Mouli De Rizka , Kamil Anton Abdulbasah
Published: March 2021

Different types of site selection exploited by geographic information systems (GIS) by combining various types of data relate to the purpose of site selection. In reality, numerous factors including physical, environmental, and social factors affect the site selection in terms of deciding the location of a new industry. Accordingly, this paper conceives systems for determining new industrial zones in the form of web-based applications or ordinarily called web-based GIS. Thus, the application named the potential industrial zone smart systems, in which the prototype of the application is able to facilitate planning the determination of new industrial zone based on six parameters throughout the analytical hierarchy process method. The result weights of six criteria are soil type 35%, land use 32%, land slope 15%, the distance of land to river 9%, the distance of land from road and accessibility 5%, and the distance of land to public facilities 4%. Additionally, the web-based GIS is a user-friendly application to determine the planned industrial location. Further, the demonstration runs effortlessly in exhibiting data on the potential of new industrial zones in the city of Bekasi, West Java Province of Indonesia.
Camel Milk-Clotting Using Plant Extracts as a Substitute to Commercial Rennet
Authors: Fguiri Imen , Atigui Moufida , Sboui Amel , Samira Arroum , Marzougui Chayma , Dbara Mohamed , Hammadi Mohamed , Khorchani Touhami
Published: March 2021

The transformation of camel milk into cheese is an operation considered very delicate because of several difficulties encountered in achieving coagulation. The present study aims to improve coagulation abilities of camel milk using enzyme extracts from pineapple, kiwi, and ginger. Our results concerning the characterization of the enzymatic extract showed an extraction yield that varies according to the type of extract (pineapple: 75.28% ± 4.59, kiwi: 63.97% ± 5.22, and ginger: 28.64% ± 1.47). The optimum coagulation conditions of the 3 types of extract were as follows: for pineapple: pH = 5 and temperature = 45°C; for kiwifruit: pH = 6.6 and temperature = 40°C; and for ginger: pH = 6.6 and temperature = 45°C. A fresh cheese was made from camel milk with a particular nutritional quality and consistency. The kiwi proteases displayed chymosin-like properties and thus hold the best potential for use as a milk coagulant in cheese production.
New Distance Measures between the Interval-Valued Complex Fuzzy Sets with Applications to Decision-Making
Authors: Song Haifeng , Bi Lvqing , Hu Bo , Xu Yingying , Dai Songsong
Published: March 2021

As a generalization of complex fuzzy set (CFS), interval-valued complex fuzzy set (IVCFS) is a new research topic in the field of CFS theory, which can handle two different information features with the uncertainty. Distance is an important tool in the field of IVCFS theory. To enhance the applicability of IVCFS, this paper presents some new interval-valued complex fuzzy distances based on traditional Hamming and Euclidean distances of complex numbers. Furthermore, we elucidate the geometric properties of these distances. Finally, these distances are used to deal with decision-making problem in the IVCFS environment.
Support Measures to Prevent the Deformation and Failure of a Carbonaceous Mudstone Tunnel
Authors: Wang Yongdong , Jiang Haitao , Yan Xin , Liang Huiru , Li Guoan , Liu Xiao , Peng Hao , Wan Shantong , Bai Wenjun
Published: March 2021

A carbonaceous mudstone tunnel is a type of soft rock tunnel. There is little research on the prevention and control measures for the deformation and failure of carbonaceous mudstone tunnels. In this article, we investigated the construction of the Qiguding carbonaceous mudstone tunnel in Meizhou City, Guangdong Province, China. We monitored and analyzed the deformation and stress characteristics of a section under the original support scheme. The monitoring data showed that this section had large peripheral convergence, vault subsidence, steel arch strain, and concrete strain. The deformations exhibited significant differences in the horizontal and vertical directions, eventually resulting in concrete cracking, steel arch bulging, and distortion in the section. The analysis showed that the primary mechanisms for the failure were the softening characteristics of the carbonaceous mudstone, the plastic rheology, and the shear slip of the rock stratum. Based on a comparative analysis and numerical simulation, we proposed a new support measure called the longitudinal rigid enlarged foundation that consists of a steel arch longitudinal connection system and a locking foot anchor pipe system. Several comparative tests were performed at the tunnel site. The results demonstrated the excellent performance and reliability of the proposed support scheme for the deformation control of the carbonaceous mudstone, providing a reference for similar projects.
Multiview Self-Supervised Segmentation for OARs Delineation in Radiotherapy
Authors: Liu Cong , Zhang Xiaofei , Si Wen , Ni Xinye
Published: March 2021

Radiotherapy has become a common treatment option for head and neck (H&N) cancer, and organs at risk (OARs) need to be delineated to implement a high conformal dose distribution. Manual drawing of OARs is time consuming and inaccurate, so automatic drawing based on deep learning models has been proposed to accurately delineate the OARs. However, state-of-the-art performance usually requires a decent amount of delineation, but collecting pixel-level manual delineations is labor intensive and may not be necessary for representation learning. Encouraged by the recent progress in self-supervised learning, this study proposes and evaluates a novel multiview contrastive representation learning to boost the models from unlabelled data. The proposed learning architecture leverages three views of CTs (coronal, sagittal, and transverse plane) to collect positive and negative training samples. Specifically, a CT in 3D is first projected into three 2D views (coronal, sagittal, and transverse planes), then a convolutional neural network takes 3 views as inputs and outputs three individual representations in latent space, and finally, a contrastive loss is used to pull representation of different views of the same image closer (“positive pairs”) and push representations of views from different images (“negative pairs”) apart. To evaluate performance, we collected 220 CT images in H&N cancer patients. The experiment demonstrates that our method significantly improves quantitative performance over the state-of-the-art (from 83% to 86% in absolute Dice scores). Thus, our method provides a powerful and principled means to deal with the label-scarce problem.
The Concept and Genealogy of the Ultimate Origin: An Exploration of Constancy in the Hengxian 《恒先》 Text of the Shanghai Museum Collection
Authors: Wang Zhongjiang
Published: March 2021

The idea “constancy” (Heng 恒) in Hengxian 《恒先》 should not be understood as constant or eternal. It also should not be read as Ji 極. “Constancy” should be understood in the context of Hengxian. By comparing “constancy’ with the cosmology of early Daosim and by analyzing the meaning development of the word Heng 恒in Pre-Qin Confucian literature, it can be inferred that “constancy” in Hengxian refers to ultimate origin of the cosmos and the myriad beings.