bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Spending and quality after three years of Medicare’s bundled payments for medical conditions: quasi-experimental difference-in-differences study
Authors: Rolnick Joshua A , Liao Joshua M , Emanuel Ezekiel J , Huang Qian , Ma Xinshuo , Shan Eric Z , Dinh Claire , Zhu Jingsan , Wang Erkuan , Cousins Deborah , Navathe Amol S
Published: June 2020

Objective

To evaluate whether longer term participation in the bundled payments for care initiative (BPCI) for medical conditions in the United States, which held hospitals financially accountable for all spending during an episode of care from hospital admission to 90 days after discharge, was associated with changes in spending, mortality, or health service use.

Design

Quasi-experimental difference-in-differences analysis.

Setting

US hospitals participating in bundled payments for acute myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or pneumonia, and propensity score matched to non-participating hospitals.

Participants

238 hospitals participating in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement initiative (BPCI) and 1415 non-BPCI hospitals. 226 BPCI hospitals were matched to 700 non-BPCI hospitals.

Main outcome measures

Primary outcomes were total spending on episodes and death 90 days after discharge. Secondary outcomes included spending and use by type of post-acute care. BPCI and non-BPCI hospitals were compared by patient, hospital, and hospital market characteristics. Market characteristics included population size, competitiveness, and post-acute bed supply.

Results

In the 226 BPCI hospitals, episodes of care totaled 261 163 in the baseline period and 93 562 in the treatment period compared with 211 208 and 78 643 in the 700 matched non-BPCI hospitals, respectively, with small differences in hospital and market characteristics after matching. Differing trends were seen for some patient characteristics (eg, mean age change −0.3 years at BPCI hospitals v non- BPCI hospitals, P<0.001). In the adjusted analysis, participation in BPCI was associated with a decrease in total episode spending (−1.2%, 95% confidence interval −2.3% to −0.2%). Spending on care at skilled nursing facilities decreased (−6.3%, −10.0% to −2.5%) owing to a reduced number of facility days (−6.2%, −9.8% to −2.6%), and home health spending increased (4.4%, 1.4% to 7.5%). Mortality at 90 days did not change (−0.1 percentage points, 95% confidence interval −0.5 to 0.2 percentage points).

Conclusions

In this longer term evaluation of a large national programme on medical bundled payments in the US, participation in bundles for four common medical conditions was associated with savings at three years. The savings were generated by practice changes that decreased use of high intensity care after hospital discharge without affecting quality, which also suggests that bundles for medical conditions could require multiple years before changes in savings and practice emerge.
Experimental study on progressive collapse mechanism in braced and tied-back retaining systems of deep excavations
Authors: Zheng G. , Lei Y.W. , Cheng X.S. , Li X.Y. , Wang R.Z.
Published: June 2020

Collapses of braced or tied-back excavations have occurred frequently. However, the influence of the failure of some retaining structure members on the overall safety performance of a retaining system has not been studied. Model tests of failures of retaining piles, struts or anchors were conducted in this study and the load-transfer mechanisms underlying these conditions were analysed. When failures or large deformations occurred in certain piles, the increasing ratios of the bending moments in adjacent piles were much larger in the braced retaining system than in the cantilever system and more easily triggered progressive failure. When the strut elevation was lower or the excavation depth was greater, the degree of influence and range of pile failures became larger. When certain struts or anchors failed, their loads transferred to a few adjacent struts or anchors, possibly leading to further strut or anchor failure. The influence mechanisms of strut or anchor failure on piles were different from those of pile failure. As the number of failed struts or anchors increases, the bending moments of the piles in the failure zone first decrease and then increase to very high values. Therefore, the progressive failure path extends from struts or anchors to piles and will lead to large-scale collapse.
Efficient Scalable Video Coding Method Using Discrete Bandelet Transform
Authors: Patnaik Yogananda , Patra Dipti
Published: June 2020

Video coding is an imperative part of the modern day communication system. Furthermore, it has vital roles in the fields of video streaming, multimedia, video conferencing and much more. Scalable Video Coding (SVC) is an emerging research area, due to its extensive application in most of the multimedia devices as well as public demand. The proposed coding technique is capable of eliminating the Spatio-temporal regularity of a video sequence. In Discrete Bandelet Transform (DBT), the directions are modeled by a three-directional vector field, known as structural flow. Regularity is decided by this flow where the data entropy is low. The wavelet vector decomposition of geometrically ordered data results in a lesser extent of significant coefficients. The directions of geometrical regularity are interpreted with a two-dimensional vector, and the approximation of these directions is found with spline functions. This paper deals with a novel SVC technique by exploiting the DBT. The bandelet coefficients are further encoded by utilizing Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT) encoder, followed by global thresholding mechanism. The proposed method is verified with several benchmark datasets using the performance measures which gives enhanced performance. Thus, the experimental results bring out the superiority of the proposed technique over the state-of-arts.
Interval Tests and Contractors Based on Optimality Conditions for Bound-Constrained Global Optimization
Authors: Granvilliers Laurent
Published: June 2020

We study the problem of finding the global optimum of a nonlinear real function over an interval box by means of complete search techniques, namely interval branch-and-bound algorithms. Such an algorithm typically generates a tree of boxes from the initial box by alternating branching steps and contraction steps in order to remove non optimal sub-boxes. In this paper, we introduce a new contraction method that is designed to handle the boundary of the initial box where a minimizer may not be a stationary point. This method exploits the first-order optimality conditions and we show that it subsumes the classical monotonicity test based on interval arithmetic. A new branch-and-bound algorithm has been implemented in the interval solver Realpaver. An extensive experimental study based on a set of standard benchmarks is presented.
Sparse Deep Neural Network Optimization for Embedded Intelligence
Authors: Bi Jia , Gunn Steve R.
Published: June 2020

Deep neural networks become more popular as its ability to solve very complex pattern recognition problems. However, deep neural networks often need massive computational and memory resources, which is main reason resulting them to be difficult efficiently and entirely running on embedded platforms. This work addresses this problem by saving the computational and memory requirements of deep neural networks by proposing a variance reduced (VR)-based optimization with regularization techniques to compress the requirements of memory of models within fast training process. It is shown theoretically and experimentally that sparsity-inducing regularization can be effectively worked with the VR-based optimization whereby in the optimizer the behaviors of the stochastic element is controlled by a hyper-parameter to solve non-convex problems.
Building High Performance Explainable Machine Learning Models for Social Media-based Substance Use Prediction
Authors: Ding Tao , Hasan Fatema , Bickel Warren K. , Pan Shimei
Published: June 2020

Social media contain rich information that can be used to help understand human mind and behavior. Social media data, however, are mostly unstructured (e.g., text and image) and a large number of features may be needed to represent them (e.g., we may need millions of unigrams to represent social media texts). Moreover, accurately assessing human behavior is often difficult (e.g., assessing addiction may require medical diagnosis). As a result, the ground truth data needed to train a supervised human behavior model are often difficult to obtain at a large scale. To avoid overfitting, many state-of-the-art behavior models employ sophisticated unsupervised or self-supervised machine learning methods to leverage a large amount of unsupervised data for both feature learning and dimension reduction. Unfortunately, despite their high performance, these advanced machine learning models often rely on latent features that are hard to explain. Since understanding the knowledge captured in these models is important to behavior scientists and public health providers, we explore new methods to build machine learning models that are not only accurate but also interpretable. We evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methods in predicting Substance Use Disorders (SUD). We believe the methods we proposed are general and applicable to a wide range of data-driven human trait and behavior analysis applications.
MEASUREMENT AND FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF THE LOAD-DEPENDENT PRESSURE REDISTRIBUTION BEHAVIOR OF VARIOUS TYPES OF MATTRESSES
Authors: FUWA YASUHIRO , WAN HASAN WAN ZUHA , YAMADA HIROSHI
Published: June 2020

Load dependence must be kept in mind when evaluating mattress pressure redistribution, to prevent the development of pressure ulcers at bony prominences. However, there is no standardized method for analyzing load-dependent behavior after mattress pressure redistribution. In this study, a portable palmtop device with a simple load-sensing mechanism was developed for measuring the mean pressure exerted by a protruding shaft surrounded by a disc on low-resilience polyurethane (LRPu) foam, latex foam, coconut fiber and latex (CFL) mattresses, as well as polyurethane (Pu) foam bed and an LRPu foam mattress laid on a bed. Finite element (FE) analysis was used to analyze deformation and contact pressure in detail. The pressure redistribution was greatest for the LRPu foam mattress, and excessive compression was avoided by using an underlay made of stiff Pu foam. FE analysis revealed that the contact pressure increased significantly near the outer circumference of the protruding shaft and the surrounding disc. Significant nonuniformity in pressure was evident, according to the edge and bottom geometry of the device. The measurements and FE analysis revealed load-dependent pressure redistribution behavior, which should allow mattresses to be tailored on an individual basis.
The complex oxides with octahedral structures: Existence areas and phase transitions
Authors: Geguzina G. A.
Published: June 2020

The experimental and calculated data on the existence of complex oxides in solid state with the octahedral structures of four families, namely perovskites, Bi-containing layered perovskite-like ones, tetragonal tungsten bronzes and pyrochlores, and about their phase transitions are systematized and summarized on the basis of the quasi-elastic or geometric models of these structures. It has been established that similar existence areas and similar correlations between the interatomic bond strains in their structures, on the one hand, and the temperatures of their ferroelectric or antiferroelectric phase transitions, on the other hand, are observed for all of them, despite the differences in the compositions and structures of these oxides, but taking into account their similar parameters.
Dynamic Analysis of a Tapered Composite Thin-Walled Rotating Shaft Using the Generalized Differential Quadrature Method
Authors: Zhong Weiyan , Gao Feng , Ren Yongsheng , Wu Xiaoxiao , Ma Hongcan
Published: June 2020

A dynamic model of a tapered composite thin-walled rotating shaft is presented. In this model, the transverse shear deformation, rotary inertia, and gyroscopic effects have been incorporated. The equations of motion are derived based on a refined variational asymptotic method (VAM) and Hamilton’s principle. The partial differential equations of motion are reduced to the ordinary differential equations of motion by using the generalized differential quadrature method (GDQM). The validity of the dynamic model is proved by comparing the numerical results with those obtained in the literature and by using ANSYS. The effects of taper ratio, boundary conditions, ply angle, length to mean radius ratios, and mean radius to thickness ratios on the natural frequencies and critical rotating speeds are investigated.
Nonlinear Convection Flow of Micropolar Nanofluid due to a Rotating Disk with Multiple Slip Flow
Authors: Zemedu Chaluma , Ibrahim Wubshet
Published: June 2020

In this analysis, steady, laminar, and two-dimensional boundary layer flow of nonlinear convection micropolar nanofluid due to a rotating disk is considered. The mathematical formulation for the flow problem has been made. By means of appropriate similarity transformation and dimensionless variables, the governing nonlinear boundary value problems were reduced into coupled high-order nonlinear ordinary differential equations with numerically solved. The equations were calculated using method bvp4c from matlab software for various quantities of main parameters. The influences of different parameters on skin friction coefficients f″0 and G′0, wall duo stress coefficients H1′0, -H2′0, and -H3′0, the Nusselt number -θ′0, and Sherwood number Ω′0, as well as the velocities, temperature, and concentration are analysed and discussed through tables and plotted graphs. The findings indicate that an increase in the values of thermal and solutal nonlinear convection parameters allow to increase the value of velocities f′η and Gη near surface of the disk and reduce at far away from the disk as well as thermal and solutal Grashof numbers tolerate to increase in the value of radial velocity f′η near surface of the disk.
Pharmacokinetic Herb‐Drug Interaction between Hibiscus sabdariffa Calyces Aqueous Extract and Captopril in Rats
Authors: Nurfaradilla Shinta Ayu , Saputri Fadlina Chany , Harahap Yahdiana
Published: June 2020

Hibiscus sabdariffa L. (Malvaceae) is a traditional medicinal herb widely consumed as a beverage (“hibiscus tea”), and its global popularity is expanding due to health benefits such as blood pressure and cholesterol control. Previous studies showed that Hibiscus sabdariffa is coadministered with antihypertensives and antihyperlipidemics, thus predisposing herb‐drug interactions. We investigated the pharmacokinetic interaction between H. sabdariffa L. aqueous extract and captopril, a frequently prescribed antihypertensive. In this study, chemical profile of H. sabdariffa L. aqueous extract was identified using HPLC system equipped with a DAD detector at 360 nm and 520 nm. The male Sprague Dawley rats were divided into two groups of six rats. Group I received a single dose of captopril suspension (4.5 mg/200 g body weight (BW) orally (p.o.)) while group II received H. sabdariffa L. aqueous extract (60 mg/200 g BW; p.o.) daily for two weeks prior to the same captopril dose. Multiple blood samples were collected at predetermined times after captopril administration and the plasma concentration was analyzed using ultrahigh‐pressure liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry. Chemical profiling of the H. sabdariffa L. aqueous extract showed that the extract contains chlorogenic acid, myricetin 3‐arabinogalactoside, 5‐O‐caffeoylshikimic acid, quercetin 3‐rutinoside, delphinidin 3‐sambubioside, and cyanidin 3‐sambubioside. Ingestion of the extract significantly reduced the captopril area under the curve (AUC)0−t (0.1745 (0.1254–0.2429)), AUC0−∞ (0.1734 (0.1232–0.2442))], and peak plasma concentration (0.2119 (0.1337–0.3359)) (geometric mean ratio of the coadministration group to the captopril group (90% CI)). The geometric mean ratios were falling outside the 90% CI of 0.8–1.25 bioequivalent range. Conversely, H. sabdariffa L. extract increased the apparent total body clearance (Cl/F, 0.0257 ± 0.0115 vs. 0.1418 ± 0.0338 mL/h·kg) and the apparent volume of distribution (Vd/F, 0.0541 ± 0.0226 vs. 0.3205 ± 0.0790 mL/kg). This study indicated that coadministration of H. sabdariffa L. aqueous extract could change the pharmacokinetic profile of captopril; therefore, its coadministration should be avoided.
An Automated Workflow for Hemodynamic Computations in Cerebral Aneurysms
Authors: Nita Cosmin-Ioan , Suzuki Takashi , Itu Lucian Mihai , Mihalef Viorel , Takao Hiroyuki , Murayama Yuichi , Sharma Puneet , Redel Thomas , Rapaka Saikiran
Published: June 2020

In recent years, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has become a valuable tool for investigating hemodynamics in cerebral aneurysms. CFD provides flow-related quantities, which have been shown to have a potential impact on aneurysm growth and risk of rupture. However, the adoption of CFD tools in clinical settings is currently limited by the high computational cost and the engineering expertise required for employing these tools, e.g., for mesh generation, appropriate choice of spatial and temporal resolution, and of boundary conditions. Herein, we address these challenges by introducing a practical and robust methodology, focusing on computational performance and minimizing user interaction through automated parameter selection. We propose a fully automated pipeline that covers the steps from a patient-specific anatomical model to results, based on a fast, graphics processing unit- (GPU-) accelerated CFD solver and a parameter selection methodology. We use a reduced order model to compute the initial estimates of the spatial and temporal resolutions and an iterative approach that further adjusts the resolution during the simulation without user interaction. The pipeline and the solver are validated based on previously published results, and by comparing the results obtained for 20 cerebral aneurysm cases with those generated by a state-of-the-art commercial solver (Ansys CFX, Canonsburg PA). The automatically selected spatial and temporal resolutions lead to results which closely agree with the state-of-the-art, with an average relative difference of only 2%. Due to the GPU-based parallelization, simulations are computationally efficient, with a median computation time of 40 minutes per simulation.
Pressure-Predicting Model for Ultralow-Permeability Reservoirs considering the Water Absorption Characteristics of Mudstone Formations
Authors: Liu Kai , Yin Daiyin , Wang Yong
Published: June 2020

The injection-production ratio of ultralow-permeability reservoirs is generally higher in the early stage of development because of the water absorption characteristics of transition layers and mudstone formations. In this paper, the water absorption characteristics of mudstone are experimentally studied, and the empirical function of the water absorption process is established. A new mathematical model of the whole lithology is established by applying the research results of mudstone water absorption characteristics. Combining the material balance method and finite difference method, the space terms in the basic differential equation are replaced by the material balance equation, and the finite difference in the time term is obtained. Then, the analytical solutions of the average pressures of the reservoir oil well area, reservoir water well area, transition layers, and mudstone formations are solved. Based on the static parameters of the reservoir in the Chaoyang Gou Oilfield of the ultralow-permeability reservoir in China, the new pressure prediction model is verified by the ideal model of numerical simulation and production data of the oil field. The experimental results show that the saturation water absorption rate of mudstone is 1.54-2.55%, and the water absorption process of mudstone cannot be described by the seepage equation of sandstone. The verification results of the numerical simulation show that the pressure of the transition layers and mudstone at the end of the water well gradually increases, while the pressure at the end of the oil well basically remains unchanged, which is consistent with the assumptions of the model. The verification results of the oilfield production data show that the water well static pressure and oil well static pressure calculated by the new model are highly consistent with the actual values, which well explains the phenomenon of the low reservoir pressure level under the condition of a high injection production ratio in an ultralow-permeability reservoir.
Spatiotemporal Relationships between Air Quality and Multiple Meteorological Parameters in 221 Chinese Cities
Authors: Ji Mengyi , Jiang Yuying , Han Xiping , Liu Luo , Xu Xinliang , Qiao Zhi , Sun Wei
Published: June 2020

Air quality in China is characterized by significant spatial and temporal differences, which are directly related to local meteorological conditions. This study used air quality monitoring data, namely, the air pollution index (API) and air quality index (AQI) between 2005 and 2018, together with meteorological data and identified key meteorological factors that affected the spatial and temporal variation of air quality using a random forest algorithm. The spatial and temporal differences in the threshold values of different meteorological factors affecting the concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and O3 were identified. The AQI has the advantages of facilitating higher index values than the API. The air quality showed an improvement from 2005 to 2018. Wind direction and precipitation were the most important meteorological factors affecting the air quality in northern and southern China, respectively, which to some extent reflected the causes and degradation mechanisms of air pollution in the two regions. There were significant spatial and temporal differences in the effects of meteorological factors on the concentrations of different pollutants. The influence of atmospheric pressure on pollutant concentration differed between the east and west. Precipitation and relative humidity in most cities had significant impacts on PM2.5 and PM10. The influence of relative humidity was most significant for SO2 and it also had a great influence on O3, while wind speed had a great influence on NO2. The results of the study confirm the meteorological sensitivity of air quality and provide support for the implementation of regional air pollution prevention and control initiatives.
Spin-1/2 Particles in Phase Space: Casimir Effect and Stefan-Boltzmann Law at Finite Temperature
Authors: Amorim R. G. G. , Ulhoa S. C. , da Cruz Filho J. S. , Santos A. F. , Khanna F. C.
Published: June 2020

The Dirac field, spin 1/2 particles, is investigated in phase space. The Dirac propagator is defined. The Thermo Field Dynamics (TFD) formalism is used to introduce finite temperature. The energy-momentum tensor is calculated at finite temperature. The Stefan-Boltzmann law is established, and the Casimir effect is calculated for the Dirac field in phase space at zero and finite temperature. A comparative analysis with these results in standard quantum mechanics space is realized.
Biochemical and Histological Evidence on the Protective Effects of Allium hirtifolium Boiss (Persian Shallot) as an Herbal Supplement in Cadmium‐Induced Hepatotoxicity
Authors: Omidifar Navid , Nili-Ahmadabadi Amir , Gholami Ahmad , Dastan Dara , Ahmadimoghaddam Davoud , Nili-Ahmadabadi Hossein
Published: June 2020

Background and Objectives. Allium hirtifolium Boiss (Persian shallot), as an edible vegetable, has several pharmacological properties including antimicrobial, anti‐inflammatory, and antioxidative effects, while its protective effects in liver cells are controversial. In this study, we examined the effect of A. hirtifolium extract on cadmium‐ (Cd‐) induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Materials and Methods. Thirty‐six male Wistar rats were divided into six groups: groups 1, 2, and 3 received vehicle, Cd (100 mg/L/day by drinking water), and A. hirtifolium extract (200 mg/kg/day; orally), respectively. Groups 4, 5, and 6 were Cd groups which were treated with A. hirtifolium extract (50, 100, and 200 mg/kg/day, respectively). After 2 weeks, liver enzymes such as alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and also oxidative stress biomarkers including lipid peroxidation (LPO), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), total thiol molecule (TTM), and the histopathological changes were determined using standard procedure. Results. The findings showed that Cd caused a remarkable rise in levels of serum hepatic enzymes such as ALT (P < 0.001), AST (P < 0.01) and ALP (P < 0.001) compared with the control group. In addition, Cd led to the decreasing of the levels of TTM (P < 0.001) and TAC (P < 0.001) and increasing of LPO (P < 0.001) in liver tissue in comparison with the control group. In this regard, remarkable vascular congestion, hepatocellular degeneration, and vacuolization were observed in hepatic tissue of Cd‐treated rats. Following the administration of A. hirtifolium extract, a significant improvement was observed in the functional and oxidative stress indices of hepatic tissue alongside histopathologic changes. Conclusion. The current study indicated that the A. hirtifolium extract might prevent hepatic oxidative injury by improving oxidant/antioxidant balance in rats exposed to Cd.
Long Noncoding RNAs CARMN, LUCAT1, SMILR, and MALAT1 in Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm: Validation of Biomarkers in Clinical Samples
Authors: Patamsytė Vaiva , Žukovas Giedrius , Gečys Dovydas , Žaliaduonytė Diana , Jakuška Povilas , Benetis Rimantas , Lesauskaitė Vaiva
Published: June 2020

Background and Objectives. Thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is a silent disease characterised by aortic wall expansion and vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) dedifferentiation from contractile to synthetic phenotype. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) involved in VSMC phenotypic regulation could be considered as potential diagnostic indicators and therapeutic targets of TAA. In vitro studies show that lncRNAs CARMN, LUCAT1, MALAT1, and SMILR are associated with the VSMC phenotypic state. Our aim was to test if these lncRNAs are dysregulated during TAA formation in clinical patient samples. Materials and Methods. Relative expression of lncRNAs CARMN, LUCAT1, SMILR, and MALAT1 was tested in clinical aortic tissue and blood plasma samples from TAA and non-TAA patients using the qRT-PCR method. The Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare ΔCt values between the study groups. ROC curve analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic value of plasma lncRNAs. Results. We found significantly reduced CARMN (p=0.033) and LUCAT1 (p=0.009) expression in aortic tissue samples from TAA patients. Relative expression of MALAT1 (p=0.117) and SMILR (p=0.610) did not differ in aortic tissue between the TAA and non-TAA groups. Expression of both LUCAT1 and SMILR was significantly decreased in TAA patients’ blood plasma compared to controls (p=0.018 and p=0.032, respectively). However, only LUCAT1 showed the ability to discriminate aneurysmal disease in patients’ blood plasma (AUC=0.654, 95%CI=0.534‐0.775, p=0.018). Conclusions. We have shown that the expression of lncRNAs CARMN and LUCAT1 is reduced in dilated aortic tissue and that the LUCAT1 and SMILR expression is lower in the blood plasma of TAA patients. Decreased LUCAT1 expression in TAA patients’ blood plasma may have diagnostic potential in discriminating patients with TAA.
Efficient Multitask Scheduling for Completion Time Minimization in UAV-Assisted Mobile Edge Computing
Authors: Zhang Bingxin , Zhang Guopeng , Ma Shuai , Yang Kun , Wang Kezhi
Published: June 2020

Mobile edge computing (MEC) can alleviate the computing resource shortage problem of mobile user equipment (UEs). However, due to long communication distance or the obstruction of big obstacles, the direct communication link may not exist between a UE and a MEC node. It thus hinders the task offloading in MEC. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have high degree of mobility and can carry lightweight computation and storage modules. This paper presents a UAV-assisted MEC method, in which the UAV can relay the task-input data of a UE to the MEC node and can also utilize the airborne computation and storage resource to shorten the execution time of the offloaded tasks. Considering the strict order dependency among multiple offloaded tasks, this paper optimizes the task scheduling and the UAV flight path in a joint manner. A heuristic algorithm based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) is also developed to find the optimal solution. The simulation results show that the proposed multitask scheduling method can always find the best tradeoff between the UAV’s position and the wireless channel condition. In comparison to the other three baseline scheduling methods, the proposed method can use the minimum execution time to complete all the offloaded tasks.
Vitamin D, Calcium, Parathyroid Hormone, and Sex Steroids in Bone Health and Effects of Aging
Authors: Bhattarai Hitesh Kumar , Shrestha Shreya , Rokka Kabita , Shakya Rosy
Published: June 2020

Bone health of the elderly is a major global health concern, since about 1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men suffer from bone loss and fractures, often called osteoporosis, in old age. Bone health is a complex issue affected by multiple hormones and minerals. Among all the hormones involved in bone health, calcitriol (also vitamin D), parathyroid, and sex hormones (especially estrogen) have been discussed in this review paper. We have discussed the metabolism of these hormones and their effects on bone health. Vitamin D can be obtained from diet or formed from 7-dehydrocholesterol found under the skin in the presence of sunlight. The active form, calcitriol, causes dimerization of vitamin D receptor and acts on the bones, intestine, and kidney to regulate the level of calcium in blood. Similarly, parathyroid hormone is secreted when the serum level of calcium is low. It helps regulate the level of blood calcium through calcitriol. Sex hormones regulate bone modeling at an early age and remodeling later in life. Loss of ovarian function and a decrement in the level of production of estrogen are marked by bone loss in elderly women. In the elderly, various changes in the calcium and vitamin D metabolism, such as decrease in the production of vitamin D, decrease in dietary vitamin D, decreased renal production, increased production of excretory products, decrease in the level of VDR, and decreased calcium absorption by the intestines, can lead to bone loss. When the elderly are diagnosed with osteoporosis, medications that directly target bone such as bisphosphonates, RANK ligand inhibitors, estrogen and estrogen analogues, estrogen receptor modulators, and parathyroid hormone receptor agonists are used. Additionally, calcium and vitamin D supplements are prescribed.
CharTeC-Net: An Efficient and Lightweight Character-Based Convolutional Network for Text Classification
Authors: Samatin Njikam Aboubakar Nasser , Zhao Huan
Published: June 2020

This paper introduces an extremely lightweight (with just over around two hundred thousand parameters) and computationally efficient CNN architecture, named CharTeC-Net (Character-based Text Classification Network), for character-based text classification problems. This new architecture is composed of four building blocks for feature extraction. Each of these building blocks, except the last one, uses 1 × 1 pointwise convolutional layers to add more nonlinearity to the network and to increase the dimensions within each building block. In addition, shortcut connections are used in each building block to facilitate the flow of gradients over the network, but more importantly to ensure that the original signal present in the training data is shared across each building block. Experiments on eight standard large-scale text classification and sentiment analysis datasets demonstrate CharTeC-Net’s superior performance over baseline methods and yields competitive accuracy compared with state-of-the-art methods, although CharTeC-Net has only between 181,427 and 225,323 parameters and weighs less than 1 megabyte.
Radiation-induced Adaptive Response: New Potential for Cancer Treatment
Authors: Coleman C. Norman , Eke Iris , Makinde Adeola Y. , Chopra Sunita , Demaria Sandra , Formenti Silvia C. , Martello Shannon , Bylicky Michelle , Mitchell James B. , Aryankalayil Molykutty J.
Published: June 2020

Radiotherapy is highly effective due to its ability to physically focus the treatment to target the tumor while sparing normal tissue and its ability to be combined with systemic therapy. This systemic therapy can be utilized before radiotherapy as an adjuvant or induction treatment, during radiotherapy as a radiation “sensitizer,” or following radiotherapy as a part of combined modality therapy. As part of a unique concept of using radiation as “focused biology,” we investigated how tumors and normal tissues adapt to clinically relevant multifraction (MF) and single-dose (SD) radiation to observe whether the adaptations can induce susceptibility to cell killing by available drugs or by immune enhancement. We identified an adaptation occurring after MF (3 × 2 Gy) that induced cell killing when AKT-mTOR inhibitors were delivered following cessation of radiotherapy. In addition, we identified inducible changes in integrin expression 2 months following cessation of radiotherapy that differ between MF (1 Gy × 10) and SD (10 Gy) that remain targetable compared with preradiotherapy. Adaptation is reflected across different “omics” studies, and thus the range of possible molecular targets is not only broad but also time, dose, and schedule dependent. While much remains to be studied about the radiation adaptive response, radiation should be characterized by its molecular perturbations in addition to physical dose. Consideration of the adaptive effects should result in the design of a tailored radiotherapy treatment plan that accounts for specific molecular changes to be targeted as part of precision multimodality cancer treatment.
lncRNA MORT Regulates Bladder Cancer Behaviors by Downregulating MicroRNA-146a-5p
Authors: Wang Yunyan , Sun Qing , Ji Lu , Wang Gongcheng , Niu Xiaobing , Sun Su’an
Published: June 2020

Background: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in the progression of various cancers. lncRNA MORT is downregulated in bladder cancer, while its function in this disease is unknown. Methods: lncRNA MORT and miR-146a-5p expression in 56 bladder cancer patients was detected by RT-qPCR. Correlations between MORT and miR-146a-5p were analyzed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient. CCK-8 and flow transwell assays were applied to examine the behavioral changes in HT-1197 and HT-1376. Results: We found that miR-146a-5p was upregulated, while lncRNA MORT was downregulated in bladder cancer. miR-146a-5p and MORT were inversely and significantly correlated in tumor tissues. Overexpression of miR-146a-5p promoted, while overexpression of lncRNA MORT inhibited the invasion, migration, and proliferation of cells of bladder cancer cell lines. In addition, overexpression of lncRNA MORT inhibited miR-146a-5p; miR-146a-5p overexpression failed to significantly affect lncRNA MORT expression but attenuated its inhibitory effects on cancer cell behaviors. Conclusion: lncRNA MORT may regulate bladder cancer cell behaviors by downregulating miR-146a-5p.
Novel Biomarkers, ST‐Elevation Resolution, and Clinical Outcomes Following Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention
Authors: Shavadia Jay S. , Granger Christopher B. , Alemayehu Wendimagegn , Westerhout Cynthia M. , Povsic Thomas J. , Van Diepen Sean , Defilippi Christopher , Armstrong Paul W.
Published: June 2020

Background

Despite restoration of epicardial flow following primary percutaneous coronary intervention (
PPCI
), microvascular reperfusion as reflected by
ST
‐elevation resolution (
ST
‐
ER
) resolution remains variable and its pathophysiology remains unclear.

Methods and Results

Using principal component analyses, we explored associations between 91 serum biomarkers drawn before
PPCI
clustered into 14 pathobiologic processes (including
NT‐
pro
BNP
[N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide] as an independent cluster), and (1)
ST
‐
ER
resolution ≥50% versus <50%; and (2) 90‐day composite of death, shock, and heart failure. Network analyses were performed to understand interbiomarker relationships between the
ST
‐
ER
groups. Among the 1160 patients studied, 861 (74%) had
ST
‐
ER
≥50% at a median 40 (interquartile range, 23–70) minutes following
PPCI
, yet both groups had comparable post‐
PPCI TIMI
(Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction) grade 3 flow (86.6% versus 82.9%;
P
=0.25).
ST
‐
ER
≥50% was associated with significantly lower pre‐
PPCI
concentrations of platelet activation cluster (particularly P‐selectin, von Willebrand factor, and platelet‐derived growth factor A) and
NT‐
pro
BNP
, including after risk adjustment. Across both
ST
‐
ER
groups, strong interbiomarker relationships were noted between pathways indicative of myocardial stretch, platelet activation, and inflammation, whereas with
ST
‐
ER
<50% correlations between iron homeostasis and inflammation were observed. Of all 14 biomarker clusters, only
NT
‐pro
BNP
was significantly associated with the 90‐day clinical composite.

Conclusions

Suboptimal
ST
‐
ER
is common despite achieving post‐
PPCI TIMI
grade 3 flow. The cluster of platelet activation proteins and
NT‐
pro
BNP
were strongly correlated with suboptimal
ST
‐
ER
and
NT‐
pro
BNP
was independently associated with 90‐day outcomes. This analysis provides insights into the pathophysiology of microvascular reperfusion in
ST
‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction and suggests novel pre‐
PPCI
risk targets potentially amenable to enhancing tissue‐level reperfusion following
PPCI
.
Theophylline as an Add-On to Thrombolytic Therapy in Acute Ischemic Stroke
Authors: Modrau Boris , Andersen Grethe , Mikkelsen Irene Klærke , Nielsen Anne , Hansen Mikkel Bo , Johansen Martin Berg , Eskildsen Helle Wulf , Povlsen Jan Plougmann , Yavarian Yousef , Mouridsen Kim , Østergaard Leif , Bach Flemming Winther , Hjort Niels
Published: June 2020

Background and Purpose:

Delayed recanalization increases the risk of infarct growth and poor clinical outcome in acute ischemic stroke. The vasoactive agent theophylline has shown neuroprotective effects in animal stroke models but inconclusive results in case series and randomized clinical trials. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate whether theophylline, as an add-on to thrombolytic therapy, is safe and effective in acute ischemic stroke patients.

Methods:

The TEA-Stroke trial (The Theophylline in Acute Ischemic Stroke) was an investigator-initiated 2-center, proof-of-concept, phase II clinical study with a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled design. The main inclusion criteria were magnetic resonance imaging–verified acute ischemic stroke, moderate to severe neurological deficit (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score of ≥4), and treatment with thrombolysis within 4.5 hours of onset. Participants were randomly assigned in the ratio 1:1 to either 220 mg of intravenous theophylline or placebo. The co-primary outcomes were early clinical improvement on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score and infarct growth on magnetic resonance imaging at 24-hour follow-up.

Results:

Theophylline as an add-on to thrombolytic therapy improved the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score at 24 hours by mean 4.7 points (SD, 5.6) compared with an improvement of 1.3 points (SD, 7.5) in the control group (
P
=0.044). Mean infarct growth was 141.6% (SD, 126.5) and 104.1% (SD, 62.5) in the theophylline and control groups, respectively (
P
=0.146). Functional independence at 90 days was 61% in the theophylline group and 58% in the control group (
P
=0.802).

Conclusions:

This proof-of-concept trial investigated theophylline administration as an add-on to thrombolytic therapy in acute ischemic stroke. The co-primary end points early clinical improvement and infarct growth at 24-hour follow-up were not significantly different after post hoc correction for multiplicity (Bonferroni technique). The small study size precludes a conclusion as to whether theophylline has a neuroprotective effect but provides a promising clinical signal that may support a future clinical trial.

Registration:

URL:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov
. Unique identifier: EudraCT number 2013-001989-42.
A validation of coauthorship credit models with empirical data from the contributions of PhD candidates
Authors: Donner Paul
Published: June 2020

A perennial problem in bibliometrics is the appropriate distribution of authorship credit for coauthored publications. Several credit allocation methods and formulas have been introduced, but there has been little empirical validation as to which method best reflects the typical contributions of coauthors. This paper presents a validation of credit allocation methods using a new data set of author-provided percentage contribution figures obtained from the coauthored publications in cumulative PhD theses by authors from three countries that contain contribution statements. The comparison of allocation schemes shows that harmonic counting performs best and arithmetic and geometric counting also perform well, while fractional counting and first author counting perform relatively poorly.
Using supervised learning to classify metadata of research data by field of study
Authors: Weber Tobias , Kranzlmüller Dieter , Fromm Michael , Tavares de Sousa Nelson
Published: June 2020

Many interesting use cases of research data classifiers presuppose that a research data item can be mapped to more than one field of study, but for such classification mechanisms, reproducible evaluations are lacking. This paper closes this gap: It describes the creation of a training and evaluation set comprised of labeled metadata, evaluates several supervised classification approaches, and comments on their application in scientometric research. The metadata were retrieved from the DataCite index of research data, pre processed, and compiled into a set of 613,585 records. According to our experiments with 20 general fields of study, multi layer perceptron models perform best, followed by long short-term memory models. The models can be used in scientometric research, for example to analyze interdisciplinary trends of digital scholarly output or to characterize growth patterns of research data, stratified by field of study. Our findings allow us to estimate errors in applying the models. The best performing models and the data used for their training are available for re use.
Celebrating Sultan Nevruz: Between Theological Debate and Multi-Framed Practice in Contemporary Albania
Authors: Bria Gianfranco
Published: June 2020

This work analyses the historical developments and the acculturation of Sultan nevruz’s rite in post-socialist Albania. The general aim of this work is to examine the intertwining of social and cultural transformations with different religious discourses (native/foreign or Bektashi/sunni legacies) in Albanian society, which is shaped by communist patterns (nationalistic and secularistic heritage) and by post-socialist transformation (pluralisation). Firstly, it analyses public narratives and counter-narratives that Bektashi and other authorities produce about nevruz merging positivistic science, nationalistic rhetoric and ʿAlī’s venerations; finally, the paper focuses on worship diversification and subjectivities by believers that could build their own individual religiosity embodying, recreating or reworking the discourses of “correctness” framed by Islamic authorities.
Al-Karkh: the Development of an Imāmī-Shīʿī Stronghold in Early Abbasid and Būyid Baghdad (132-447/750-1055)
Authors: Neggaz Nassima
Published: June 2020

Following the foundation of Baghdad by Caliph al-Manṣūr (r. 136-158/754-775) in 145/762, the neighbourhood of al-Karkh attracted many Imāmī scholars, becoming the centre of the Imāmī wikāla (network of deputies of the Imām) in the late 3rd/9th century, and then the heart of the Imāmī ḥawza (seminary) and the rationalist school of theology which developed under the Būyids (333-447/945-1055). Al-Karkh also became the centre of a popular movement of Imāmī-Shīʿa; from the Būyid period onward, the latter played a significant role in the social and political life of the city until its fall under the Mongol invasion of 656/1258. From the point of view of the micro-history, this article investigates the incubation of the Imāmī-Shīʿī movement in this suburban area of the city, bringing together topography and social history data from medieval geography manuals, historical chronicles, local histories, biographical dictionaries, poetry, and travellers’ accounts. More than a quarter, al-Karkh acted as a city within Baghdad; repeatedly destroyed and burnt down, its history sheds light on urban life in the Abbasid capital, and on the development of Imāmī-Shīʿism during its formative period.
World as (Arabic) Text: Mīr Dāmād and the Neopythagoreanization of Philosophy in Safavid Iran
Authors: Melvin-Koushki Matthew
Published: June 2020

The heavily Neoplatonic and antiquarian-perennialist tenor of Safavid philosophy is now widely recognized by specialists; but few have acknowledged its equally notable Neopythagorean turn. Likewise, that the primary mode of applied Neoplatonic-Neopythagorean philosophy as a Safavid imperial way of life was occult science has been ignored altogether, making impossible a history of its practice. The case of the Twelver Shiʿi sage-mage Mīr Dāmād – famed down to the present as an occult scientist – is here especially illustrative: for he was largely responsible for this Neopythagoreanization of Safavid philosophy, which saw the remarkable transmogrification of Ibn Sīnā himself into a Neopythagorean-occultist, by his espousal of a peculiarly Mamluk-Timurid-Aqquyunlu brand of philosophical lettrism (ʿilm al-ḥurūf) in at least three of his many works. The example of this imperial Neopythagoreanizing lettrist is thus crucial for understanding the intellectual and religiopolitical continuity of Safavid Shiʿi culture with Sunni precedent, as well as contemporary Persianate and Latinate parallels. Within Western history of science more broadly, Mīr Dāmād and the host of his fellow Muslim kabbalists must now be restored to the master mathesis narrative whereby scientific modernity is but the upshot of early modern Western philosophers’ penchant for reading the world as a mathematical text.
Les Imams et les Ghulāt. Nouvelles réflexions sur les relations entre imamisme « modéré » et shiʿisme « extrémiste »
Authors: Amir-Moezzi Mohammad Ali
Published: June 2020

L’article examine la complexité voire la confusion qui marque la notion de ghulūw à travers l’étude des ouvrages hérésiologiques et doctrinaux dans leur grande diversité. L’étude montre que tous les thèmes qualifiés d’« extrémistes » se trouvent intégrés, d’une façon ou d’une autre, dans le corpus doctrinal shiʿite dit « modéré » ; tous sauf un : l’antinomisme (ibāḥa). A l’époque pré-bouyide, le ghulūw consistait-il principalement en ibāḥa ? Il s’agit d’une nouvelle problématique à ajouter au dossier de l’hypothèse de l’auteur, examinée dans plusieurs études antérieures, selon laquelle une distinction nette entre un shiʿisme « modéré » et un shiʿisme « extrémiste » semble tardive et idéologiquement orientée.