bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Factors Affecting Gut Microbiota of Puppies from Birth to Weaning
Authors: Balouei Fatemeh , Stefanon Bruno , Sgorlon Sandy , Sandri Misa
Published: February 2023

The review described the most important factors affecting the development of the intestinal microbiota in puppies from birth to weaning. The health and well-being of the microbiome in puppies is influenced by the type of parturition, the maternal microbiota, and the diet of the mother, directly or indirectly. The isolation of bacteria in dogs from the placenta, fetal fluids, and fetuses suggests that colonization could occur before birth, although this is still a matter of debate. Accordingly, newborn puppies could harbor bacteria that could be of maternal origin and that could influence microbial colonization later in life. However, the long-term impacts on health and the clinical significance of this transfer is not yet clear and needs to be investigated. The same maternal bacteria were found in puppies that were born vaginally and in those delivered via cesarean section. Potentially, the relationship between the type of parturition and the colonization of the microbiome will influence the occurrence of diseases, since it can modulate the gut microbiome during early life. In addition, puppies’ gut microbiota becomes progressively more similar to adult dogs at weaning, as a consequence of the transition from milk to solid food that works together with behavioral factors. A number of researches have investigated the effects of diet on the gut microbiota of dogs, revealing that dietary interference may affect the microbial composition and activity through the production of short-chain fatty acids and vitamins. These compounds play a fundamental role during the development of the fetus and the initial growth of the puppy. The composition of the diet fed during pregnancy to the bitches is also an important factor to consider for the health of newborns. As far as it is known, the effects of the type of parturition, the maternal microbiota, and the diet on the microbial colonization and the long-term health of the dogs deserve further studies. Definitely, longitudinal studies with a larger number of dogs will be required to assess a causal link between microbiome composition in puppies and diseases in adult dogs.
Estimating the Prevalence and Factors Affecting the Shedding of Helminth Eggs in Irish Equine Populations
Authors: Elghryani Nagwa , McOwan Trish , Mincher Craig , Duggan Vivienne , de Waal Theo
Published: February 2023

Gastrointestinal helminths are ubiquitous in horse populations across the world. Intensive anthelmintic treatments have succeeded in controlling some of the pathogenic effects of these parasites. However, the success of anthelmintic drugs has been threatened by the development of widespread resistance to those most commonly used. To develop improved control strategies, information on helminth distribution patterns is needed, which can be obtained by identifying animals regarded as high egg shedders and taking age, gender, and other risk factors into account. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of helminth infection in the Irish equine population using faecal egg counts and to evaluate the effects of risk factors on these faecal egg counts. For the 2700 horses that were included in the study, the prevalence of gastrointestinal helminth infection was 52.40%, 4.22%, 2.59%, and 0.89% for strongyle species, Parascaris spp., Anoplocephala spp., and Strongyloides westeri, respectively. Overall, strongyle faecal egg counts from 159 farms averaged 250.22 eggs per gram. Both age and season had significant effects on strongyle egg shedding. In conclusion, this study revealed high prevalence of strongyle worm infection in horses on Irish farms, which highlights the need to optimize and develop good management practices and strategic deworming.
Biofloc Technology in Fish Aquaculture: A Review
Authors: Yu Young-Bin , Choi Jae-Ho , Lee Ju-Hyeong , Jo A-Hyun , Lee Kyung Mi , Kim Jun-Hwan
Published: February 2023

The application of biofloc to fish species has several advantages, including the enhancement of production by increasing growth performance and survival rate and the improvement of fish aquaculture physiological activity. There has been a recent increase in biofloc addition to fish culture, and this review examines changes this causes to the survival and growth rate of fish and its economic feasibility. Physiological activity and disease resistance of biofloc-fed fish is being extensively studied. The hematological parameters and antioxidant and immune responses of fish fed biofloc were reviewed in this study, as well as their disease resistance by testing them for major specific diseases. Standards for effectively applying biofloc to fish aquaculture are also suggested.
Sarcasm Detection Base on Adaptive Incongruity Extraction Network and Incongruity Cross-Attention
Authors: He Yuanlin , Chen Mingju , He Yingying , Qu Zhining , He Fanglin , Yu Feihong , Liao Jun , Wang Zhenchuan
Published: February 2023

Sarcasm is a linguistic phenomenon indicating a difference between literal meanings and implied intentions. It is commonly used on blogs, e-commerce platforms, and social media. Numerous NLP tasks, such as opinion mining and sentiment analysis systems, are hampered by its linguistic nature in detection. Traditional techniques concentrated mostly on textual incongruity. Recent research demonstrated that the addition of commonsense knowledge into sarcasm detection is an effective new method. However, existing techniques cannot effectively capture sentence “incongruity” information or take good advantage of external knowledge, resulting in imperfect detection performance. In this work, new modules are proposed for maximizing the utilization of the text, the commonsense knowledge, and their interplay. At first, we propose an adaptive incongruity extraction module to compute the distance between each word in the text and commonsense knowledge. Two adaptive incongruity extraction modules are applied to text and commonsense knowledge, respectively, which can obtain two adaptive incongruity attention matrixes. Therefore, each of the words in the sequence receives a new representation with enhanced incongruity semantics. Secondly, we propose the incongruity cross-attention module to extract the incongruity between the text and the corresponding commonsense knowledge, thereby allowing us to pick useful commonsense knowledge in sarcasm detection. In addition, we propose an improved gate module as a feature fusion module of text and commonsense knowledge, which determines how much information should be considered. Experimental results on publicly available datasets demonstrate the superiority of our method in achieving state-of-the-art performance on three datasets as well as enjoying improved interpretability.
Otolaryngology Conditions and Diseases in Migrants: The Experience of the PROTECT Project
Authors: Ralli Massimo , Colizza Andrea , Russo Francesca Yoshie , Palaia Gaspare , Angeletti Diletta , Bruscolini Alice , Marinelli Alessia , Bossù Maurizio , Ottolenghi Livia , de Vincentiis Marco , Greco Antonio , Polimeni Antonella
Published: February 2023

Introduction: The number of migrants living in Europe is growing rapidly. The PROTECT project is a national study conducted among refugees and migrants in the Lazio region, Italy from February 2018 to September 2021 to evaluate their otolaryngological, dental, and ophthalmic health status. This article reports the results of this study with a special focus on otolaryngological conditions and diseases. Materials and methods: A total of 3023 participants were included in the project. Data on the participants’ demographic factors, migration status, and otolaryngological history were collected using a questionnaire. Each patient underwent clinical ear, nose, and throat examination, and the main otolaryngological conditions and diseases were noted. Results: nearly two-thirds of participants were males (68.1%). The mean age was 31.6 ± 13.1. Most of the participants were born in Nigeria, followed by Bangladesh, Pakistan, Somalia, Mali, and Gambia. The prevalence of chronic noise exposure was 5.2%. Unilateral hearing loss was reported by 6.5% of the subjects, and bilateral hearing loss by 3.6%. The most frequent symptoms reported in the questionnaire were snoring (10.4%), nasal obstruction (5.9%), vertigo (5.0%), otalgia (4.5%), and tinnitus (4.2%). At the clinical examination, the most frequent findings were nasal septum deviation (25.2%), ear wax (6.5%), hypertrophic palatine tonsils (5.3%), and tympanic membrane perforation (1.3%). Conclusions: the PROTECT project allowed for the evaluation of otolaryngological, dental, and ophthalmological conditions in over 3000 migrants, giving them the possibility to access specialist care.
Advanced Numerical Approaches for Crack Growth Simulation
Authors: Citarella Roberto , Giannella Venanzio
Published: February 2023

The purpose of this Special Issue was to highlight the latest developments in the usage of advanced numerical approaches for crack growth simulation [...]
Field Radiometric Calibration of a Micro-Spectrometer Based on Remote Sensing of Plateau Inland Water Colors
Authors: Shi Jiarui , Shen Qian , Yao Yue , Zhang Fangfang , Li Junsheng , Wang Libing
Published: February 2023

Remote sensing reflectance (Rrs), which is currently measured mainly using the above-water approach, is the most crucial parameter in the remote sensing inversion of plateau inland water colors. It is very difficult to measure the Rrs of plateau inland unmanned areas; thus, we provide a measurement solution using a micro-spectrometer. Currently, commercial micro-spectrometers are not factory calibrated for radiation, and thus, a radiometric calibration of the micro-spectrometer is an essential step. This article uses an Ocean Optics micro-spectrometer (STS-VIS) and a traditional water spectrometer (Trios) to simultaneously measure the irradiance and radiance of diffuse reflectance plates with different reflectance values for field calibration. The results show the following: (1) different fiber types have different calibration coefficients, and the integration time is determined according to the diameter of the fiber and the type of fiber, and (2) by comparing the simultaneous measurement results of STS-VIS with Trios, the mean absolute percentage difference (MAPD) of both reached 18.64% and 5.11% for Qinghai Lake and Golmud River, respectively, which are accurate Rrs measurements of water bodies. The Rrs of the Hoh Xil and Qarhan Salt Lake water bodies in unmanned areas of China was measured, and this was the first collection of in situ spectral information with a micro-spectrometer. This article shows that the micro-spectrometer can perform the in situ measurement of water Rrs in unmanned inland areas. With this breakthrough in the radiometric performance of the micro-spectrometer, we are able to obtain more accurate remote sensing reflectance results of unmanned water bodies.
Synergistic Effect Evaluation of Slot-Type Nozzle Area, Jet Pressure and Jet Distance on Improving Deashing Performance of Flat CARTRIDGE Filter
Authors: Li Xue , Cheng Huan , Chen Haiyan , Xiao Zhengxue , Lv Juan
Published: February 2023

The difference of deashing performance between the areas of positive-to-blowing holes and that of non-positive-to-blowing holes is an important problem that causes a non-uniform deashing performance to a flat box filter cartridge, which limits the improvement of raising the ash cleaning efficiency to this kind of filter. In order to solve the above problems, the influence of blowing pressure, blowing distance and blowing hole area on cleaning performance was studied. Industrial coating test was also carried out to investigate and verify the actual ash cleaning performance under the optimal conditions obtained from the above investigations. Finally, the design method of the size of the slotted blowing hole was optimized. The results showed that at 0.3 MPa of the pulse pressure, the cleaning performance can meet the cleaning requirements and the best cleaning uniformity can be obtained. With the increase in slot-type nozzle area, the pressure at the areas facing the non-positive nozzles increased significantly, and thus the overall cleaning uniformity increased. The slot-type nozzle area of 273, 546 and 819 mm2 had the best cleaning effects at the jet distances of 40, 20~40 and 20 mm, respectively. The findings of this study are of great significance and can provide theoretical and experimental reference for important parameters selection of the flat cartridges filter in industrial application to improve the efficiency of dust removal.
On the Calculation of Urban Morphological Parameters Using GIS: An Application to Italian Cities
Authors: Esposito Antonio , Grulois Myrtille , Pappaccogli Gianluca , Palusci Olga , Donateo Antonio , Salizzoni Pietro , Santiago Jose Luis , Martilli Alberto , Maffeis Giuseppe , Buccolieri Riccardo
Published: February 2023

The identification of parameters that can quantitatively describe the different characteristics of urban morphology is fundamental to studying urban ventilation and microclimate at the local level and developing parameterizations of the dynamic effect of an urban area in mesoscale models. This paper proposes a methodology to calculate four morphological parameters, namely mean height, aspect ratio, sky view factor, and plan area ratio, of five cities located in southern (Bari and Lecce), central (Naples and Rome), and northern (Milan) Italy. The calculation is performed using the Geographical Information System (GIS), starting from morphological and land use data collected and analyzed in shapefiles. The proposed methodology, which can be replicated in other cities, also presents in detail the procedure followed to properly build input data to calculate the sky view factor using the UMEP GIS tool. The results show a gradual increase in the plan area index, λp, and mean building height, H¯, moving from the south to the north of Italy. Maximum values of λp and H¯ are obtained in the regions of Milan, Rome, and Naples, where the highest spatially-averaged values are also found, i.e., λp = 0.22, H¯ = 10.9 m in Milan; λp = 0.19, H¯ = 12.7 m in Rome; λp = 0.20, H¯ = 12 m in Naples. Furthermore, for all the cities investigated, areas characterized by the Corine Land Cover class as “continuous urban fabric” are those with medium sky view factor SVF values (around 0.6–0.7) and λp values (around 0.3) typical of intermediate/compact cities. The methodology employed here for calculating morphological parameters using GIS proves to be replicable in different urban contexts. This opens to a better classification of cities in local climate zones (LCZ), as shown for the Lecce region, useful for urban heat island (UHI) studies and to the development of parameterizations of the urban effects in global and regional climate models.
How Climate Change Affects River and Lake Water Temperature in Central-West Poland—A Case Study of the Warta River Catchment
Authors: Gizińska Joanna , Sojka Mariusz
Published: February 2023

Climate change has a significant impact on the abiotic and biotic environment. An increase in air temperatures translates into higher temperatures of water constituting the habitat of a wide range of species. The purpose of this study is to present the direction and extent of water temperature increases in eight rivers and three lakes on a monthly and annual basis. The analysis of river water temperatures used both measured data and data reconstructed using artificial neural networks from the period of 1984–2020. The analysis of the direction and extent of changes in air and water temperatures was performed using Mann-Kandall tests and a modified Sen test. The analysis of water temperature changes was conducted against the background of climatic conditions and catchment characteristics. The results indicate that in the Warta River basin in the period of 1984–2020, the average annual temperature rise reached 0.51 °C decade−1, ranging from 0.43 to 0.61 °C decade−1. This translated into an increase in mean annual water temperatures in lakes in a range from 0.14 to 0.58 °C decade−1, and for rivers in a range from 0.10 to 0.54 °C decade−1. The greatest changes in air temperature occurred in April, June, August, September, and November. It was reflected in an increase in water temperature in lakes and rivers. However, these changes did not occur in all rivers and lakes, suggesting the role of local factors that modify the effect of climate change. The study showed that the extent of air temperature changes was significantly higher than the extent of water temperature changes in rivers.
Best Proximity Point for ΓτF-Fuzzy Proximal Contraction
Authors: Patel Uma Devi , Todorcevic Vesna , Radojevic Slobodan , Radenović Stojan
Published: February 2023

In this writing, first, we disclose the first and second category of a ΓτF-fuzzy proximal contraction for a mapping O:U→V which is nonself and also declare a fuzzy q-property to confirm the existence of the best proximity point for nonself function O. Then, we discover a few results using the ΓτF-fuzzy proximal contraction of the first category for a continuous and discontinuous nonself function O in a non-Archimedean fuzzy metric space. Later, we discuss another result for the ΓτF-fuzzy proximal contraction of the second category as well. In between the fuzzy proximal theorems, many examples are presented in support of the definitions and theorems proved in this writing.
Third-Order Neutral Differential Equation with a Middle Term and Several Delays: Asymptotic Behavior of Solutions
Authors: Almarri Barakah , Moaaz Osama , Anis Mona , Qaraad Belgees
Published: February 2023

This study aims to investigate the asymptotic behavior of a class of third-order delay differential equations. Here, we consider an equation with a middle term and several delays. We obtain an iterative relationship between the positive solution of the studied equation and the corresponding function. Using this new relationship, we derive new criteria that ensure that all non-oscillatory solutions converge to zero. The new findings are an extension and expansion of relevant findings in the literature. We apply our results to a special case of the equation under study to clarify the importance of the new criteria.
Wine Cork Closures Impacts on Dimethyl Sulfide (DMS) and Precursors (DMSP) Equilibrium of Different Shiraz Wines during Accelerated Bottle Ageing
Authors: De La Burgade Rémi , Nolleau Valérie , Godet Teddy , Galy Nicolas , Tixador Dimitri , Loisel Christophe , Sommerer Nicolas , Roland Aurélie
Published: February 2023

Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) is a flavor compound, characteristic of the truffle aroma in red wines, and is well-known to be a fruity exhauster. DMS comes from the degradation of dimethyl sulfide potential (DMSP) during winemaking. Up to now, little is known about the role of the closure on the DMSP degradation during ageing. For that purpose, the effect of four micro-agglomerated wine cork closures was studied on the DMS/DMSP equilibrium, along with six other volatile sulfur compounds (VSC), was investigated in six Shiraz wines. After three months of accelerated bottle ageing, DMS levels increased significantly in all bottles. The most permeable closures induced a lesser accumulation of DMS, suggesting that DMS could be dependent on the redox status of the wine. At the same time, the DMSP decrease was proportional to the permeability of the closures. For the first time, a possible implication of closure permeability on DMSP degradation was observed.
Polymeric Materials, Advances and Applications in Tissue Engineering: A Review
Authors: Socci María Cecilia , Rodríguez Gabriela , Oliva Emilia , Fushimi Shigeko , Takabatake Kiyofumi , Nagatsuka Hitoshi , Felice Carmelo José , Rodríguez Andrea Paola
Published: February 2023

Tissue Engineering (TE) is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses materials science in combination with biological and engineering sciences. In recent years, an increase in the demand for therapeutic strategies for improving quality of life has necessitated innovative approaches to designing intelligent biomaterials aimed at the regeneration of tissues and organs. Polymeric porous scaffolds play a critical role in TE strategies for providing a favorable environment for tissue restoration and establishing the interaction of the biomaterial with cells and inducing substances. This article reviewed the various polymeric scaffold materials and their production techniques, as well as the basic elements and principles of TE. Several interesting strategies in eight main TE application areas of epithelial, bone, uterine, vascular, nerve, cartilaginous, cardiac, and urinary tissue were included with the aim of learning about current approaches in TE. Different polymer-based medical devices approved for use in clinical trials and a wide variety of polymeric biomaterials are currently available as commercial products. However, there still are obstacles that limit the clinical translation of TE implants for use wide in humans, and much research work is still needed in the field of regenerative medicine.
First Evidence of Microplastic Occurrence in the Marine and Freshwater Environments in a Remote Polar Region of the Kola Peninsula and a Correlation with Human Presence
Authors: Kaliszewicz Anita , Panteleeva Ninel , Karaban Kamil , Runka Tomasz , Winczek Michał , Beck Ewa , Poniatowska Agnieszka , Olejniczak Izabella , Boniecki Paweł , Golovanova Elena V. , Romanowski Jerzy
Published: February 2023

Microplastics (MPs) have even been detected in remote environments, including high-latitude regions, where human activities are restricted or strongly limited. We investigated the surface water of the bays of the Barents Sea and the freshwater lakes that are located close to and several kilometers from a year-round resident field station in the remote tundra region of the Kola Peninsula. The microplastics’ presence in aquatic environments in this region has not been indicated yet. Microplastics were detected in all samples collected from the Barents Sea (<4800 items·m−3) and the lakes (<3900 items·m−3). Fibers made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET)—the most common thermoplastic polymer of the polyester family—and semi-synthetic cellulosic rayon were the most dominant. This indicated that the source of fiber contamination may come from protective clothes, ropes, ship equipment, and fishing nets. Small microplastics can spread through current and atmospheric transport. The Norwegian Current is likely responsible for the lack of correlations found between MP contamination and the distance from the field station between the studied bays of the Barents Sea. On the contrary, a significant correlation with human presence was observed in the concentration of microfibers in the water of the tundra lakes. The number of MP fibers decreased with an increase in the distance from the field station. This is the first study, to the best of our knowledge, that reports such a correlation in a remote region. We also discuss implications for animals. Our results show that even the most isolated ecosystems are not free from microplastic pollution.
Spodoptera exigua Multiple Nucleopolyhedrovirus Increases the Susceptibility to Insecticides: A Promising Efficient Way for Pest Resistance Management
Authors: Zhou Shuxing , Zhang Jinming , Lin Ya , Li Xiaowei , Liu Min , Hafeez Muhammad , Huang Jun , Zhang Zhijun , Chen Limin , Ren Xiaoyun , Dong Wanying , Lu Yaobin
Published: February 2023

Spodoptera exigua is a polyphagous pest of diverse crops and causes considerable economic losses. The overuse of chemical insecticides for controlling this pest results in insecticide resistance, environmental pollution and toxicity to other non-target organisms. Therefore, a sustainable and efficient way for pest management is urgently required. In this study, laboratory bioassays of eleven commonly used insecticides, the specific entomopathogen of S. exigua (Spodoptera exigua multiple nucleopolyhedrovirus, SeMNPV), and SeMNPV-insecticide combinations against the S. exigua laboratory population and two field populations were tested. Our results indicated that the two field populations had developed resistance to almost half of the tested insecticides, while SeMNPV had good virulence in all populations. Interestingly, the combined use of SeMNPV enhanced the toxicity of the tested insecticides against all populations to a different extent and considerably reduced the insecticide resistance of S. exigua field populations or even recovered the susceptibility to above insecticides. Furthermore, the field trial showed that the combined application of SeMNPV contributed to promoting the control efficacy of emamectin benzonate and chlorfenapyr. These results provide a promising efficient way for pest resistance management and an environmentally friendly approach for controlling S. exigua with the combined application of nucleopolyhedroviruses and insecticides.
Knotify+: Toward the Prediction of RNA H-Type Pseudoknots, Including Bulges and Internal Loops
Authors: Makris Evangelos , Kolaitis Angelos , Andrikos Christos , Moulos Vrettos , Tsanakas Panayiotis , Pavlatos Christos
Published: February 2023

The accurate “base pairing” in RNA molecules, which leads to the prediction of RNA secondary structures, is crucial in order to explain unknown biological operations. Recently, COVID-19, a widespread disease, has caused many deaths, affecting humanity in an unprecedented way. SARS-CoV-2, a single-stranded RNA virus, has shown the significance of analyzing these molecules and their structures. This paper aims to create a pioneering framework in the direction of predicting specific RNA structures, leveraging syntactic pattern recognition. The proposed framework, Knotify+, addresses the problem of predicting H-type pseudoknots, including bulges and internal loops, by featuring the power of context-free grammar (CFG). We combine the grammar’s advantages with maximum base pairing and minimum free energy to tackle this ambiguous task in a performant way. Specifically, our proposed methodology, Knotify+, outperforms state-of-the-art frameworks with regards to its accuracy in core stems prediction. Additionally, it performs more accurately in small sequences and presents a comparable accuracy rate in larger ones, while it requires a smaller execution time compared to well-known platforms. The Knotify+ source code and implementation details are available as a public repository on GitHub.
Sleep in Disorders of Consciousness: A Brief Overview on a Still under Investigated Issue
Authors: Raciti Loredana , Raciti Gianfranco , Militi David , Tonin Paolo , Quartarone Angelo , Calabrò Rocco Salvatore
Published: February 2023

Consciousness is a multifaceted concept, involving both wakefulness, i.e., a condition of being alert that is regulated by the brainstem, and awareness, a subjective experience of any thoughts or perception or emotion. Recently, the European Academy of Neurology has published international guidelines for a better diagnosis of coma and other disorders of consciousness (DOC) through the investigation of sleep patterns, such as slow-wave and REM, and the study of the EEG using machine learning methods and artificial intelligence. The management of sleep disorders in DOC patients is an increasingly hot topic and deserves careful diagnosis, to allow for the most accurate prognosis and the best medical treatment possible. The aim of this review was to investigate the anatomo-physiological basis of the sleep/wake cycle, as well as the main sleep patterns and sleep disorders in patients with DOC. We found that the sleep characteristics in DOC patients are still controversial. DOC patients often present a theta/delta pattern, while epileptiform activity, as well as other sleep elements, have been reported as correlating with outcomes in patients with coma and DOC. The absence of spindles, as well as REM and K-complexes of NREM sleep, have been used as poor predictors for early awakening in DOC patients, especially in UWS patients. Therefore, sleep could be considered a marker of DOC recovery, and effective treatments for sleep disorders may either indirectly or directly favor recovery of consciousness.
Real-Time Monitoring for Effects of Vibration and Temperature of Construction Site on Steel Assembly Bracing of Foundation Pit
Authors: Yang Yingwu , Zeng Hangbin , Liu Xingxi , Yang Bo , Li Ying
Published: February 2023

In this paper, a real-time monitoring system—including vibration acceleration sensors, temperature sensors, and static and dynamic strain sensors—is used to monitor the safety status of a steel assembly bracing in a practical project. It uses 5G wireless networking technology to transmit monitoring data to a cloud server for early warning of abnormal changes and development trends. Real-time monitoring data obtained in a construction site are used as the inputs of the finite element model and the corresponding results of numerical simulation are compared with the results from the real-time monitoring. It can be concluded that: (1) the stress caused by environmental temperature is very significant which can be higher than the initial prestress of the steel assembly bracing; (2) the stress caused by the vertical vibration mainly from construction vehicles is not remarkable, however, the vertical frequency-weighted acceleration of support vibration is relatively large which can affect the sense of safety of engineering technicians on site; (3) the combination of the environmental temperature and vertical vibration does not affect the safety of the steel assembly bracing.
A Survey of Environmental Performance Enhancement Strategies and Building Data Capturing Techniques in the Nigerian Context
Authors: Omoragbon Osamudiamen Meek , Al-Maiyah Sura , Coates Paul
Published: February 2023

The need to improve the performance of Nigeria’s office buildings is due to, energy challenges, increasing population, changing user needs, and climate change. With the expansion of several Nigerian cities, existing buildings constitute a significant portion of the building stock, and improving their environmental performance could be more cost-effective than reconstruction. The use of simulation packages to assess alternative retrofitting enhancement scenarios is a straightforward approach. However, in Nigeria it is often challenging to get appropriate information to facilitate this type of evaluation; many buildings were not built to their original specifications, and when available, the records are often in a poor state due to deterioration. Studies that aimed at enhancing a building’s performance hardly stated the acquisition of the required building information. This paper investigates current practices and future possibilities of improvement measures and data capturing of existing buildings using a questionnaire survey of 133 building professionals in Benin City. The inter-relationship between energy efficiency, the environment, and building design with a high potential for meaningful retrofit to mitigate energy inefficiencies is known but not fully utilized. The collected thought on current practices signifies the need for developing a more economical and reliable methodology for data capturing and evaluation.
Architecture for Community-Based Ageing—A Shape Grammar for Transforming Typical Single-Family Houses into Older People’s Cohousing in Slovenia
Authors: Belčič Ana , Eloy Sara
Published: February 2023

In Slovenia, the existing organised housing infrastructure for people over 65 years of age is insufficient and lacks diversification. Older people are often homeowners, many of whom dwell in large, underused single-family houses that require adaptations. Some have the potential to be transformed into small co-housing communities of 3–6 older people. The houses in question are mostly pattern-book houses of various types, built in the first decades after WWII. To approach the problem of converting this mass resource while providing enough flexibility for individual customisation, a shape grammar was proposed, with the intension of expanding the range of design variations for the transformation of single-family houses and presenting them to both users and architects for further assessment. The shape grammar was inferred based on a corpus of case studies developed by architecture students across two weeklong workshops. Three general strategies emerged—splitting the house vertically (according to sleeping/private and living/communal functions), horizontally, or with the maximum number of sleeping/private spaces. Essential spaces were catalogued to determine the conditions and requirements for assigning every transformation rule. The result was a simple, yet versatile composition generator. Through the development of a user-friendly interface, this resource could be used to empower potential inhabitants in the transformation design process.
Developing Low-pH 3D Printing Concrete Using Solid Wastes
Authors: Li Xiao-Sheng , Li Long , Zou Shuai
Published: February 2023

Three-dimensional concrete printing technology provides the possibility to fabricate specific and eco-friendly concrete components for application on shorelines or in other areas, providing environmental protection. In this study, solid wastes in Hong Kong are employed for low-pH 3D printing concrete to further decrease the impact on the environment. The results indicate that WGP replacement in a classic low-pH recipe leads to lower yield stress and surface pH, as well as volume stability. The employment of slag improves workability and printability, but maintains the surface pH and drying shrinkage. The printing height is not merely determined by slump flow, and contributions from every binder on the surface pH are quantified based on simplified calculations. Reducing OPC and increasing SF in the classic low-pH recipe achieves the best printing performance and improved environmental friendliness.
Cannabinoids Transmogrify Cancer Metabolic Phenotype via Epigenetic Reprogramming and a Novel CBD Biased G Protein-Coupled Receptor Signaling Platform
Authors: Bunsick David A. , Matsukubo Jenna , Szewczuk Myron R.
Published: February 2023

The concept of epigenetic reprogramming predicts long-term functional health effects. This reprogramming can be activated by exogenous or endogenous insults, leading to altered healthy and different disease states. The exogenous or endogenous changes that involve developing a roadmap of epigenetic networking, such as drug components on epigenetic imprinting and restoring epigenome patterns laid down during embryonic development, are paramount to establishing youthful cell type and health. This epigenetic landscape is considered one of the hallmarks of cancer. The initiation and progression of cancer are considered to involve epigenetic abnormalities and genetic alterations. Cancer epigenetics have shown extensive reprogramming of every component of the epigenetic machinery in cancer development, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, nucleosome positioning, non-coding RNAs, and microRNA expression. Endocannabinoids are natural lipid molecules whose levels are regulated by specific biosynthetic and degradative enzymes. They bind to and activate two primary cannabinoid receptors, type 1 (CB1) and type 2 (CB2), and together with their metabolizing enzymes, form the endocannabinoid system. This review focuses on the role of cannabinoid receptors CB1 and CB2 signaling in activating numerous receptor tyrosine kinases and Toll-like receptors in the induction of epigenetic landscape alterations in cancer cells, which might transmogrify cancer metabolism and epigenetic reprogramming to a metastatic phenotype. Strategies applied from conception could represent an innovative epigenetic target for preventing and treating human cancer. Here, we describe novel cannabinoid-biased G protein-coupled receptor signaling platforms (GPCR), highlighting putative future perspectives in this field.
The Emerging Role of m6A Modification in Endocrine Cancer
Authors: Ji Xiaoyu , Wang Zhiyuan , Sun Wei , Zhang Hao
Published: February 2023

With the development of RNA modification research, N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is regarded as one of the most important internal epigenetic modifications of eukaryotic mRNA. It is also regulated by methylase, demethylase, and protein preferentially recognizing the m6A modification. This dynamic and reversible post-transcriptional RNA alteration has steadily become the focus of cancer research. It can increase tumor stem cell self-renewal and cell proliferation. The m6A-modified genes may be the primary focus for cancer breakthroughs. Although some endocrine cancers are rare, they may have a high mortality rate. As a result, it is critical to recognize the significance of endocrine cancers and identify new therapeutic targets that will aid in improving disease treatment and prognosis. We summarized the latest experimental progress in the m6A modification in endocrine cancers and proposed the m6A alteration as a potential diagnostic marker for endocrine malignancies.
The Class IIA Histone Deacetylase (HDAC) Inhibitor TMP269 Downregulates Ribosomal Proteins and Has Anti-Proliferative and Pro-Apoptotic Effects on AML Cells
Authors: Urwanisch Laura , Unger Michael Stefan , Sieberer Helene , Dang Hieu-Hoa , Neuper Theresa , Regl Christof , Vetter Julia , Schaller Susanne , Winkler Stephan M. , Kerschbamer Emanuela , Weichenberger Christian X. , Krenn Peter W. , Luciano Michela , Pleyer Lisa , Greil Richard , Huber Christian G. , Aberger Fritz , Horejs-Hoeck Jutta
Published: February 2023

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a hematopoietic malignancy characterized by altered myeloid progenitor cell proliferation and differentiation. As in many other cancers, epigenetic transcriptional repressors such as histone deacetylases (HDACs) are dysregulated in AML. Here, we investigated (1) HDAC gene expression in AML patients and in different AML cell lines and (2) the effect of treating AML cells with the specific class IIA HDAC inhibitor TMP269, by applying proteomic and comparative bioinformatic analyses. We also analyzed cell proliferation, apoptosis, and the cell-killing capacities of TMP269 in combination with venetoclax compared to azacitidine plus venetoclax, by flow cytometry. Our results demonstrate significantly overexpressed class I and class II HDAC genes in AML patients, a phenotype which is conserved in AML cell lines. In AML MOLM-13 cells, TMP269 treatment downregulated a set of ribosomal proteins which are overexpressed in AML patients at the transcriptional level. TMP269 showed anti-proliferative effects and induced additive apoptotic effects in combination with venetoclax. We conclude that TMP269 exerts anti-leukemic activity when combined with venetoclax and has potential as a therapeutic drug in AML.
PD-1/PD-L1 and DNA Damage Response in Cancer
Authors: Kciuk Mateusz , Kołat Damian , Kałuzińska-Kołat Żaneta , Gawrysiak Mateusz , Drozda Rafał , Celik Ismail , Kontek Renata
Published: February 2023

The application of immunotherapy for cancer treatment is rapidly becoming more widespread. Immunotherapeutic agents are frequently combined with various types of treatments to obtain a more durable antitumor clinical response in patients who have developed resistance to monotherapy. Chemotherapeutic drugs that induce DNA damage and trigger DNA damage response (DDR) frequently induce an increase in the expression of the programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1) that can be employed by cancer cells to avoid immune surveillance. PD-L1 exposed on cancer cells can in turn be targeted to re-establish the immune-reactive tumor microenvironment, which ultimately increases the tumor’s susceptibility to combined therapies. Here we review the recent advances in how the DDR regulates PD-L1 expression and point out the effect of etoposide, irinotecan, and platinum compounds on the anti-tumor immune response.
Highly Sensitive Plasmonic Sensor with Au Bow Tie Nanoantennas on SiO2 Nanopillar Arrays
Authors: Venugopalan Priyamvada , Kumar Sunil
Published: February 2023

We report on plasmonic sensors based on arrays of metallic bow tie nanoantennas with high sensitivity and an enhanced figure of merit. In the present sensing device, each gold nanoantenna is positioned on the upper surface of a SiO2 nanopillar that is placed on a quartz substrate. The presence of the nanopillar significantly reduces the coupling of the enhanced electromagnetic field generated at the plasmon resonance to the substrate. The simulated results show that the sensitivity of the device to refractive index sensing is 612 nm/RIU, calculated by the resonance wavelength shift per refractive index unit due to the change in the ambient medium index, while the full width at half maximum is calculated at around 10 nm with a figure of merit of 61. The proposed sensor thus has a great potential for sensing and detection applications.
Influence of Combined Air-Entraining Superplasticizer and Surface Treatments on Airport Pavement Concrete against Salt Freezing
Authors: Li Molan , Lai Yong , Ma Daoxun , Wang Junjie , Xu Lei , Gao Zhibin , Liu Yan , Li Le , Guo Yaopu , Zheng Lifan , Zhang Yi
Published: February 2023

Effective improvement of the frost resistance of concrete in cold regions is critical for the durability of airport pavement concrete in plateau. This paper intends to contribute to a better knowledge of the effects of combined air-entraining superplasticizer and surface treatments on the resistance against freezing-thawing and salt freezing. First, an optimum mixing by considering w/c, cement content, sand ratio, and air-entraining superplasticizer was obtained by comparing compressive and flexural strength, microstructure, pore distribution, and resistance to freezing-thawing of different mixes. From the results, a concrete mix with air-entraining superplasticizer, w/c = 0.4, cement amount at 330 kg/m3, and sand ratio = 0.3 was selected for airport pavement. Then, this mix was subjected to salt freezing with different surface treatments (smoothing, brushing, spraying with silane, and impregnating with silane), and the spalled mass loss in salt freeze cycles was reported. The results show that combined use air-entraining superplasticizer and surface treatments can provide an obvious improvement on the resistance to salt freezing. Compared to silane impregnation, surface treatment by silane spraying performed much better in early time.
Nonparametric Estimation of Range Value at Risk
Authors: Biswas Suparna , Sen Rituparna
Published: February 2023

Range value at risk (RVaR) is a quantile-based risk measure with two parameters. As special examples, the value at risk (VaR) and the expected shortfall (ES), two well-known but competing regulatory risk measures, are both members of the RVaR family. The estimation of RVaR is a critical issue in the financial sector. Several nonparametric RVaR estimators are described here. We examine these estimators’ accuracy in various scenarios using Monte Carlo simulations. Our simulations shed light on how changing p and q with respect to n affects the effectiveness of RVaR estimators that are nonparametric, with n representing the total number of samples. Finally, we perform a backtesting exercise of RVaR based on Acerbi and Szekely’s test.
Chest X-ray Interpretation: Detecting Devices and Device-Related Complications
Authors: Gambato Marco , Scotti Nicola , Borsari Giacomo , Zambon Bertoja Jacopo , Gabrieli Joseph-Domenico , De Cassai Alessandro , Cester Giacomo , Navalesi Paolo , Quaia Emilio , Causin Francesco
Published: February 2023

This short review has the aim of helping the radiologist to identify medical devices when interpreting a chest X-ray, as well as looking for their most commonly detectable complications. Nowadays, many different medical devices are used, often together, especially in critical patients. It is important for the radiologist to know what to look for and to remember the technical factors that need to be considered when checking each device’s positioning.
Teaching and Learning Research Methodologies in Education: A Systematic Literature Review
Authors: Matos João Filipe , Piedade João , Freitas André , Pedro Neuza , Dorotea Nuno , Pedro Ana , Galego Carla
Published: February 2023

This study aims to contribute to understanding of the state of the art regarding the pedagogical cultures associated with teaching and learning research methods in advanced studies education through the identification of trends and pitfalls. The rationale behind this objective is the recognition that most of the research in education comes from academic programmes, in particular master’s and doctoral programmes, which generally include research methods as components. A systematic literature review was adopted as the research methodology, following the PRISMA model. Three stages of article selection were implemented, resulting in the selection of 68 studies out of an initial set of 3631 articles found in the main journal databases. Three specific dimensions were addressed: (i) methodological knowledge, (ii) research competencies, and (iii) pedagogical practices in teaching research methods in education programmes. The results illustrate the complexity of the subject. Learners are constantly reported to hold negative attitudes towards research methods courses, apparently due to instructors’ pedagogical difficulties, which translate into restricted understandings of methodological knowledge. Several misunderstandings between learners and teachers are identified which call for action towards the construction of a research-based scientific culture that will lead to inclusive pedagogical practices in which teachers and learners act as researchers.
KPE-YOLOv5: An Improved Small Target Detection Algorithm Based on YOLOv5
Authors: Yang Rujin , Li Wenfa , Shang Xinna , Zhu Deping , Man Xunyu
Published: February 2023

At present, the existing methods have many limitations in small target detection, such as low accuracy, a high rate of false detection, and missed detection. This paper proposes the KPE-YOLOv5 algorithm aiming to improve the ability of small target detection. The algorithm has three improvements based on the YOLOv5 algorithm. Firstly, it achieves more accurate size of anchor-boxes for small targets by K-means++ clustering technology. Secondly, the scSE (spatial and channel compression and excitation) attention module is integrated into the new algorithm to encourage the backbone network to pay greater attention to the feature information of small targets. Finally, the capability of small target feature extraction is improved by increasing the small target detection layer, which also increases the detection accuracy of small targets. We evaluate KPE-YOLOv5 on the VisDrone-2020 dataset and compare performance with YOLOv5. The results show that KPE-YOLOv5 improves the detection mAP by 5.3% and increases the P by 7%. The KPE-YOLOv5 algorithm has better detection outcome than YOLOv5 for small target detection.
High-Frequency Systolic Array-Based Transformer Accelerator on Field Programmable Gate Arrays
Authors: Chen Yonghao , Li Tianrui , Chen Xiaojie , Cai Zhigang , Su Tao
Published: February 2023

The systolic array is frequently used in accelerators for neural networks, including Transformer models that have recently achieved remarkable progress in natural language processing (NLP) and machine translation. Due to the constraints of FPGA EDA (Field Programmable Gate Array Electronic Design Automation) tools and the limitations of design methodology, existing systolic array accelerators for FPGA deployment often cannot achieve high frequency. In this work, we propose a well-designed high-frequency systolic array for an FPGA-based Transformer accelerator, which is capable of performing the Multi-Head Attention (MHA) block and the position-wise Feed-Forward Network (FFN) block, reaching 588 MHz and 474 MHz for different array size, achieving a frequency improvement of 1.8× and 1.5× on a Xilinx ZCU102 board, while drastically saving resources compared to similar recent works and pushing the utilization of each DSP slice to a higher level. We also propose a semi-automatic design flow with constraint-generating tools as a general solution for FPGA-based high-frequency systolic array deployment.