bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Relationship between serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor and cognitive impairment in children with sleep-disordered breathing
Authors: Feng Yani , Ma Lina , Chen Xi , Zhang Yitong , Cao Zine , Yuan Yuqi , Xie Yushan , Liu Haiqin , Shi Yewen , Ren Xiaoyong
Published: January 2023

Background

As an important neuroprotective factor, the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may have a key role in cognitive impairment in children with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). The main aim of this study was to compare the levels of BDNF and tyrosine kinase receptor B (TrkB) in normal children and those with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and primary snoring (PS) and to explore a possible link between BDNF/TrkB, inflammation, and SDB with cognitive impairment in children.

Methods

A total of 44 OSA children and 35 PS children who completed polysomnography between October 2017 and October 2019 were enrolled. At the same time, 40 healthy children during the same period were included as a control. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure serum indices of BDNF, TrkB, interleukin-1beta (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). Correlation and pooled analyses were performed between the cognitive scores and four serological indicators. Logistic regression was used to analyze the risk factors for cognitive impairment.

Results

Significant differences were found in serum BDNF, TrkB, IL-1β, and TNF-α between the three groups (all P < 0.01). The serum BDNF and TrkB in the OSA and PS groups were lower than those in the control group, whereas the serum IL-1β and TNF-α were higher than those in the control group (all P < 0.05). Moreover, among these four indices, the strongest correlation was found between BDNF and the Chinese Wechsler Intelligence Scale (all P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis revealed a correlation between OSA status, TrkB, and course of mouth breathing and cognitive status.

Conclusion

The levels of serum BDNF and TrkB were related to cognitive impairment in children with SDB. Also, BDNF and TrkB could be used as noninvasive and objective candidate markers and predictive indices of cognitive impairment in children with SDB.
An insight into the neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory effects and mechanisms of Moringa oleifera
Authors: Azlan Ummi Kalthum , Khairul Annuar Nur Aisyah , Mediani Ahmed , Aizat Wan Mohd , Damanhuri Hanafi Ahmad , Tong Xiaohui , Yanagisawa Daijiro , Tooyama Ikuo , Wan Ngah Wan Zurinah , Jantan Ibrahim , Hamezah Hamizah Shahirah
Published: January 2023

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) are sporadic maladies that affect patients’ lives with progressive neurological disabilities and reduced quality of life. Neuroinflammation and oxidative reaction are among the pivotal factors for neurodegenerative conditions, contributing to the progression of NDs, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), Alzheimer’s disease (AD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and Huntington’s disease (HD). Management of NDs is still less than optimum due to its wide range of causative factors and influences, such as lifestyle, genetic variants, and environmental aspects. The neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory activities of Moringa oleifera have been documented in numerous studies due to its richness of phytochemicals with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. This review highlights up-to-date research findings on the anti-neuroinflammatory and neuroprotective effects of M. oleifera, including mechanisms against NDs. The information was gathered from databases, which include Scopus, Science Direct, Ovid-MEDLINE, Springer, and Elsevier. Neuroprotective effects of M. oleifera were mainly assessed by using the crude extracts in vitro and in vivo experiments. Isolated compounds from M. oleifera such as moringin, astragalin, and isoquercitrin, and identified compounds of M. oleifera such as phenolic acids and flavonoids (chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, ferulic acid, caffeic acid, kaempferol, quercetin, myricetin, (-)-epicatechin, and isoquercitrin) have been reported to have neuropharmacological activities. Therefore, these compounds may potentially contribute to the neuroprotective and anti-neuroinflammatory effects. More in-depth studies using in vivo animal models of neurological-related disorders and extensive preclinical investigations, such as pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and bioavailability studies are necessary before clinical trials can be carried out to develop M. oleifera constituents into neuroprotective agents.
Dysfunctional mitochondrial processes contribute to energy perturbations in the brain and neuropsychiatric symptoms
Authors: Büttiker Pascal , Weissenberger Simon , Esch Tobias , Anders Martin , Raboch Jiri , Ptacek Radek , Kream Richard M. , Stefano George B.
Published: January 2023

Mitochondria are complex endosymbionts that evolved from primordial purple nonsulfur bacteria. The incorporation of bacteria-derived mitochondria facilitates a more efficient and effective production of energy than what could be achieved based on previous processes alone. In this case, endosymbiosis has resulted in the seamless coupling of cytochrome c oxidase and F-ATPase to maximize energy production. However, this mechanism also results in the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), a phenomenon that can have both positive and negative ramifications on the host. Recent studies have revealed that neuropsychiatric disorders have a pro-inflammatory component in which ROS is capable of initiating damage and cognitive malfunction. Our current understanding of cognition suggests that it is the product of a neuronal network that consumes a substantial amount of energy. Thus, alterations or perturbations of mitochondrial function may alter not only brain energy supply and metabolite generation, but also thought processes and behavior. Mitochondrial abnormalities and oxidative stress have been implicated in several well-known psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD). As cognition is highly energy-dependent, we propose that the neuronal pathways underlying maladaptive cognitive processing and psychiatric symptoms are most likely dependent on mitochondrial function, and thus involve brain energy translocation and the accumulation of the byproducts of oxidative stress. We also hypothesize that neuropsychiatric symptoms (e.g., disrupted emotional processing) may represent the vestiges of an ancient masked evolutionary response that can be used by both hosts and pathogens to promote self-repair and proliferation via parasitic and/or symbiotic pathways.
Efficacy and safety of weekly versus triweekly cisplatin treatment concomitant with radiotherapy for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma: A systematic review and pooled analysis
Authors: Tian Xin , Zhu Qiuxia , Zhang Zhenyong
Published: January 2023

Background: Most nasopharyngeal carcinoma cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage due to their hidden anatomical structure and atypical clinical symptoms and often require chemoradiotherapy. Here, we present a systematic review and pooled analysis to synthesize existing research on the efficacy and adverse effects of weekly versus triweekly cisplatin chemotherapy concomitant with radiotherapy for locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (LANPC).

Methods: We searched the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases from inception to 1 September 2021, for relevant original research articles published in English. The literature search and data extraction were done independently by two investigators. We used random-effects models to provide point estimates [95% confidence interval (CI)] of overall response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), locoregional recurrence-free survival (LRFS), distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) and the incidence rate of adverse effects (AEs) and with subgroup analysis according to each study type. The primary endpoints were ORR, OS, and PFS; LRFS, DMFS, and grade ≥3 acute AEs were secondary endpoints.

Results: In total, 2,305 patients of eight studies were included in this review. We found that patients who were administered cisplatin weekly or triweekly had no differences in ORR, OS, PFS, DMFS, LRFS, severe mucositis, dermatitis, nausea/vomiting or nephrotoxicity. Patients who were administered weekly cisplatin were at a higher risk of hematological toxicity compared with patients who received the chemotherapy triweekly.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that both regimens could be recommended as the standard of care for the chemoradiotherapy treatment of LANPC, the perceived benefit of lower toxicity with weekly cisplatin could not be established.
Classifying epileptic phase-amplitude coupling in SEEG using complex-valued convolutional neural network
Authors: Li Chunsheng , Liu Shiyue , Wang Zeyu , Yuan Guanqian
Published: January 2023

EEG phase-amplitude coupling (PAC), the amplitude of high-frequency oscillations modulated by the phase of low-frequency oscillations (LFOs), is a useful biomarker to localize epileptogenic tissue. It is commonly represented in a comodulogram of coupling strength but without coupled phase information. The phase-amplitude coupling is also found in the normal brain, and it is difficult to discriminate pathological phase-amplitude couplings from normal ones. This study proposes a novel approach based on complex-valued phase-amplitude coupling (CV-PAC) for classifying epileptic phase-amplitude coupling. The CV-PAC combines both the coupling strengths and the coupled phases of low-frequency oscillations. The complex-valued convolutional neural network (CV-CNN) is then used to classify epileptic CV-PAC. Stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) recordings from nine intractable epilepsy patients were analyzed. The leave-one-out cross-validation is performed, and the area-under-curve (AUC) value is used as the indicator of the performance of different measures. Our result shows that the area-under-curve value is .92 for classifying epileptic CV-PAC using CV-CNN. The area-under-curve value decreases to .89, .80, and .88 while using traditional convolutional neural networks, support vector machine, and random forest, respectively. The phases of delta (1–4 Hz) and alpha (8–10 Hz) bands are different between epileptic and normal CV-PAC. The phase information of CV-PAC is important for improving classification performance. The proposed approach of CV-PAC/CV-CNN promises to identify more accurate epileptic brain activities for potential surgical intervention.
Structural and functional differences between bundles of different lengths: A corpus-driven study
Authors: Cui Xuanjun , Kim Yoonjung
Published: January 2023

This pilot study aims to investigate the differences between varying lengths of bundles in structure and function by comparing the 100 most frequent three-, four-, and five-word bundles in a self-built corpus of dissertations which contains about 3.5 million words. The findings reveal considerable variances between bundles of different lengths in terms of both structure and function. In general, the variances between three-and four-word bundles are greater than those between four-and five-word bundles, and three-and five-word bundles. Structurally, three-and four-word bundles differ significantly in all six main categories. Four-and five-word bundles vary in five categories, while three-and five-word bundles are only different in four categories. Functionally, noticeable variances were observed in research-, text- and participant-oriented bundles between three-and four-word bundles, and three-and five-word bundles. However, four-and five-word bundles only differ significantly in text- and participant-oriented bundles. Interestingly, bundles of varying lengths also vary in patterns that are used to perform the same functions. The results of this study might inform researchers that they need to take bundle lengths into consideration when making generalizations of their findings or comparing bundles between various studies.
Emotional design pictures: Pleasant but too weak to evoke arousal and attract attention?
Authors: Lenski Sina , Großschedl Jörg
Published: January 2023

A new field of research builds on the theoretical assumption that distinct design manipulations, such as human-like features with appealing colors (emotional design), foster multimedia learning by influencing the learners’ affective state (i.e., valence and arousal) and attention. Empirical studies, however, provide inconsistent findings of the affective potential of emotional design, underlining the need for psychophysiological measurements to assess the affective state and attention more objectively. The effects of differently designed stimuli (picture-text combinations with anthropomorphic pictures in bright and saturated colors [emotional design], picture-text combinations with non-anthropomorphic pictures in grayscale [neutral design], and plain text [control design]) on junior high school students’ valence (N = 15), arousal (N = 18), and attention (N = 27) were examined. Valence was determined by students’ judgments on a rating scale; arousal and attention were assessed by psychophysiological parameters (electrodermal activity of students and their dwell time on stimuli, respectively). To allow the examination of valence and arousal as separate dimensions, two independent experiments were conducted. Results of experiment I show that students perceived emotional design stimuli as more pleasant than stimuli in neutral or control design. Besides, an interaction with the content of the stimuli was found. While the positive effect of the emotional design was found for concepts that could be interpreted as potentially positive (e.g., sunlight) or neutral (e.g., consumer), stimuli representing potentially negative concepts (e.g., dead consumer) were not perceived as more pleasant if presented in emotional design. Experiment II shows that emotional design did not induce higher arousal than neutral and control designs and did not attract more attention. Instead, the text within picture-text combinations (emotional and neutral designs) attracted more attention when pictures were presented in neutral than in emotional design. By investigating the emotional state more differentiated and by examining arousal and attention using psychophysiological parameters, the present study helps to understand the heterogeneous findings of previous studies.
Psychological wellbeing, family cohesion, and purposeful life in male prisoners: A cross-sectional study
Authors: Ghazanfari Hooshang , Miri Sakineh , Taebi Mozhgan , Farokhzadian Jamileh
Published: January 2023

Background

Psychological wellbeing, family cohesion, and purposeful life are important determinants of the prisoners’ overall wellbeing and health; therefore, their evaluation is extremely important in prisoners as a vulnerable group.

Objective

This study evaluated psychological wellbeing, family cohesion, purposeful life, and their correlations in male prisoners.

Methods

This cross-sectional study used simple random sampling to select 259 male prisoners. Data were collected using questionnaires of Ryff psychological wellbeing, Fischer family cohesion, and Crumbaugh and Maholick purpose in life.

Results

Majority of (78%) the participants were 20–40 years old and married (59%). The mean scores of psychological wellbeing, family cohesion, and purposeful life of the male prisoners were moderate. Psychological wellbeing was directly correlated to family cohesion in male prisoners, but it had no significant correlation with a purposeful life. Family cohesion was not significantly correlated to a purposeful life.

Conclusion

Regarding the moderate level of psychological wellbeing in prisoners, it is suggested to pay more attention to educational and supportive programs in prisons for promoting such indicators in prisoners.
Superomedial pedicle skin-reducing mastectomy in ptotic and large-sized breasts with two-stage reconstruction through transaxillary video-assisted technique: An effective surgical and anesthetic approach
Authors: Di Monta G. , Marone U. , Avino F. , Esposito E. , Cepparulo V. , Morra E. , Saponara R. , Bifulco F. , Cuomo A. , Cascella M. , Mori S.
Published: January 2023

Introduction

Skin-reducing mastectomy has been applied to several surgical techniques in which subcutaneous mastectomy is associated with various types of skin reduction, with preservation of a lower dermal flap to reinforce the inferior lateral seat of an implant. The aim of the study is to present a case series of patients with pendulous/ptotic and/or large-sized breasts treated for breast cancer at the Breast Surgery Unit of Istituto Nazionale Tumori IRCCS Fondazione “G. Pascale”, Naples, Italy, with the superomedial pedicle skin-reducing mastectomy technique, two-stage reconstruction, and transaxillary video-assisted technique, when a postoperative radiotherapy was indicated. We verified its effectiveness by discussing its results, especially in patients who are candidates for postmastectomy radiotherapy.

Materials and methods

A single-center retrospective study was performed between January 2020 and March 2021 on a prospectively filled database of conservative mastectomies. Of the 64 patients who underwent nipple/skin-sparing mastectomies in the mentioned period, 17 (mean age 46 years, range 30–62 years) were treated with superomedial pedicle skin-reducing mastectomy, with two-stage breast reconstruction through transaxillary video-assisted replacement expander with definitive prosthesis and contralateral symmetrization, selected for postmastectomy radiotherapy.

Results

We had only three minor complications. No flap necrosis, no infections, no breast seromas, and no reconstructive failures were observed. During follow-up of the patients treated with video-assisted reconstruction, there were no cases of infection, hematoma, implant rupture, or suture dehiscence in the reconstructed breast.

Discussion

Skin-reducing mastectomy with superomedial pedicle is a safe and reliable procedure to treat breast cancer in selected patients, i.e., those with pendulous/ptotic and or large-sized breasts. Particularly, in patients who undergo postmastectomy radiotherapy, the two-stage reconstruction with video-assisted transaxillary endoscopic approach can find its main indication, using incisions positioned far from the mammary region, offering numerous advantages.
Intraoperative allogeneic transfusion is associated with postoperative delirium in older patients after total knee and hip arthroplasty
Authors: OuYang Chun-lei , Hao Xin-yu , Yu Yao , Lou Jing-sheng , Cao Jiang-bei , Yu Ying-qun , Mi Wei-dong
Published: January 2023

Objective

To determine whether intraoperative transfusion of allogeneic or autologous blood is associated with an increased incidence of postoperative delirium (POD) after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and total hip arthroplasty (THA).

Methods

The medical records of 1,143 older (≥65 years old) patients who received an intraoperative blood transfusion while undergoing total knee or hip arthroplasty at the First Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital from 2014 to 2019 were reviewed; of these patients, 742 (64.92%) received allogeneic blood, while 401 (35.08%) received autologous blood. Patients who received autologous transfusion were paired with those received allogeneic transfusion using 1:1 propensity score matching method. The primary outcome was POD. The secondary outcomes were postoperative complications, including heart failure, deep vein thrombosis, myocardial infarction, stroke, and lung infection. Multivariable nominal logistic regression was used to identify any independent associations between intraoperative blood transfusions and POD, and secondary postoperative complications, respectively.

Results

Postoperative delirium occurred in 6.6% (49/742) of patients who had received an allogeneic blood transfusion and in 2.0% (8/401) of patients who had received an autologous blood transfusion. It is noteworthy that the multivariable logistic regression demonstrated a significant association between intraoperative allogeneic blood transfusion and POD (odds ratio [OR]: 4.11; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.95–9.77; p < 0.001). After PSM, Allogeneic transfusion was also the strongest predictor for POD (OR: 4.43; 95% CI: 2.09–10.58; p < 0.001).

Conclusions

In the patients who had received THA or TKA, intraoperative allogeneic blood transfusions were associated with an increased risk of POD.
Calcium channel blocker and risk of postoperation lymphatic-related complications among gynecologic malignances
Authors: Jiang Haote , Sun Mengxiao , Shao Rongrong , Su Shuyue , Zhang Yuyang
Published: January 2023

Purpose

This study was performed to assess the association of calcium channel blockers (CCB) and other potential factors with postoperative lymphatic-related morbidity in patients with cervical cancer and endometrial carcinoma.

Methods

Patients diagnosed with cervical cancer or endometrial carcinoma with pelvic lymphadenectomy between January 2017 and January 2022 were enrolled. Postoperative lymphatic-related morbidity was evaluated by calculating the lymph cyst occurrence within 3 months after surgery and the duration of pelvic drainage. Univariate analyses evaluating the risk factors for lymphatic-related morbidity were performed.

Results

Of a total of 251 patients, 52 patients were diagnosed with lymphatic cysts by B-ultrasound or computed tomography, and the duration of drainage from 110 patients exceeded the average number of days. Univariable analysis revealed that hypertension, CCB, and lymph node metastasis were independent predictors of postoperative complications.

Conclusions

This study demonstrated that CCB may be a factor associated with the incidence of postoperation lymph cysts, and CCB usage prolongs the duration of pelvic drainage.
Optimization of Linear Quantization for General and Effective Low Bit-Width Network Compression
Authors: Yang Wenxin , Zhi Xiaoli , Tong Weiqin
Published: January 2023

Current edge devices for neural networks such as FPGA, CPLD, and ASIC can support low bit-width computing to improve the execution latency and energy efficiency, but traditional linear quantization can only maintain the inference accuracy of neural networks at a bit-width above 6 bits. Different from previous studies that address this problem by clipping the outliers, this paper proposes a two-stage quantization method. Before converting the weights into fixed-point numbers, this paper first prunes the network by unstructured pruning and then uses the K-means algorithm to cluster the weights in advance to protect the distribution of the weights. To solve the instability problem of the K-means results, the PSO (particle swarm optimization) algorithm is exploited to obtain the initial cluster centroids. The experimental results on baseline deep networks such as ResNet-50, Inception-v3, and DenseNet-121 show the proposed optimized quantization method can generate a 5-bit network with an accuracy loss of less than 5% and a 4-bit network with only 10% accuracy loss as compared to 8-bit quantization. By quantization and pruning, this method reduces the model bit-width from 32 to 4 and the number of neurons by 80%. Additionally, it can be easily integrated into frameworks such as TensorRt and TensorFlow-Lite for low bit-width network quantization.
Approaches to Integrated Pest Management in Orchards: Comstockaspis perniciosa (Comstock) Case Study
Authors: Golan Katarzyna , Kot Izabela , Kmieć Katarzyna , Górska-Drabik Edyta
Published: January 2023

Insect pests have major effects on agricultural production and food supply. Pest control in conventional crop management in orchards is mainly based on agrochemicals, which entails economic, health and environmental costs. Other approaches, such as biological methods or products based on biologically active substances and sex pheromones used for mating disruption, have faced some implementation challenges, particularly in relation to invasive insect species. The key for appropriate insect pest management is to identify the species and understand its biology and behaviour. Pest management systems should monitor, detect and inform fruit growers about changes in insect distribution, population ecology, possible damage level and economic loses. Comstockaspis perniciosa (San José scale—SJS) is a model example of a pest against which the method of integrated pest management should be adopted. This review presents a case study to support this statement.
Optimal Sowing Windows under Rainfall Variability in Rainfed Agriculture in West Africa
Authors: Agoungbome Sehouevi Mawuton David , ten Veldhuis Marie-Claire , van de Giesen Nick
Published: January 2023

Climate change is exacerbating adverse impacts of water stress in rainfed agriculture. This paper seeks to identify safe sowing windows for smallholder farmers in the Sudanian region of West Africa (WA). We hypothesize that the traditional focus on the onset of the season to start sowing leads to crop losses in years of high rainfall intermittency. AquaCrop, an FAO crop model, is used to simulate the yield response of maize (Zea mays L.) to sowing dates ranging from the 1st of May to the 30th of November at 20 locations in WA. We find that sowing directly after the first rains carries a higher risk of water stress, hampering crop development due to insufficient buildup of soil water storage to overcome dry spells. Based on three years of data per station on average, we identify safe sowing windows across the Sudanian region that secure optimal yield in 97% of all cases. We find that delaying sowing to mid-June (savanna and western part of the region) and to July (semi-arid region) ensures optimal yields. Of the three commonly applied local onset approaches covered in our evaluation, only LO10mm (10 mm/day on four consecutive days) achieves a similar yield result. The advantage of the safe window approach is that it is accessible for smallholders, who in many cases do not have access to local rainfall information.
Effect of Soil Moisture Deficit on Aerobic Rice in Temperate Australia
Authors: Champness Matthew , Ballester Carlos , Hornbuckle John
Published: January 2023

Declining water availability is pressing rice growers to adopt water-saving irrigation practices such as aerobic rice to maintain profitability per megalitre (ML) of water input. Irrigators require well-defined irrigation thresholds to initiate irrigation to maximise water productivity. Such thresholds do not exist for temperate rice regions. Adopting a strategy that has been reported to succeed in non-temperate environments may fail in temperate climates, and therefore, needs investigation. This study aimed to investigate, in a temperate Australian environment, the effect of increasing soil moisture deficit during the rice vegetative period on crop physiological development, grain yield and water productivity. The study was conducted in a commercial farm using a randomised complete block design in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 growing seasons. Automated gravity surface irrigation technologies were adopted to enable high-frequency irrigation. Extending soil moisture deficit beyond 15 kPa was found to significantly delay panicle initiation by at least 13–14 days, exposing rice to cold temperatures in Year 1 during the cold-sensitive early pollen microspore period. This reduced yield by up to 55% (4.5 t/ha) compared to the 15 kPa treatment that was not impacted by cold sterility. In the absence of cold sterility, irrigated water productivity and total water productivity ranged between 1.02 and 1.61 t/ML, and 0.84 and 0.93 t/ML, respectively. The highest yields (8.1 and 7.5 t/ha) were achieved irrigating at a soil tension of 15 kPa in growing seasons 2020/21 and 2021/22. This research demonstrates that sound water productivity can be achieved with aerobic rice cultivation in temperate climates, providing cold temperatures during early pollen microspore are avoided. The quantification of the delay in crop development caused by increasing soil moisture deficit provides rice farmers greater confidence in determining the irrigation strategy and timing of pre-emergent irrigation in regions at risk of cold sterility. However, due to the high labour demand associated with aerobic rice, the adoption of aerobic rice at a commercial scale in this Australian environment is unlikely without adopting automated irrigation technology.
Long-Term Application of Organic Fertilizers in Relation to Soil Organic Matter Quality
Authors: Sedlář Ondřej , Balík Jiří , Černý Jindřich , Kulhánek Martin , Smatanová Michaela
Published: January 2023

The quality of soil organic matter plays a central role in soil structure, carbon sequestration and pollutant immobilization. The effect of 16–23 years of fertilization on the quality of soil organic matter was studied in field experiments at ten experimental sites in Central Europe. Soil samples were collected in 2016 after barley harvest. Six crops were rotated: pea–canola–winter wheat–spring barley–beet/potato–spring barley. Six treatments were studied: unfertilized control, mineral fertilization (NPK), farmyard manure, farmyard manure + NPK, straw incorporation, and straw incorporation + NPK. Although carbon input did not significantly correlate with any soil organic carbon fractions, the C/N ratio of applied organic fertilizers significantly correlated with the content of humic acid carbon (C-HA), the C-HA/C-FA ratio and humification index in soil. The combination of farmyard manure + NPK resulted in a higher humic acid carbon content in soil, humification rate, and humification index compared to the application of NPK, straw return, and the combination of straw return + NPK. Although straw return led to a lower E4/E6 (A400/A600, Q4/6) ratio compared to farmyard manure application, the C-HA/C-FA ratio was unchanged among these treatments. The application of farmyard manure with and without the addition of NPK led to higher values of carbon sequestration efficiency in soil compared to the straw return with and without the addition of NPK.
Correlations between R, G, and B Values, Pigment Concentration, and Nitrogen Status in Three Ornamental Potted Plants
Authors: Garcia-Caparros Pedro , Llanderal Alfonso , Lao María Teresa
Published: January 2023

Image technologies have been used for real-time estimation of nitrogen (N) and leaf chlorophyll (Chl) concentrations as well as for photosynthetic properties. The aim of this work was to establish correlations between RGB values and chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations in three ornamental potted plants. We evaluated the RGB values, nitrogen status, and chlorophyll concentrations in the leaves of Peperomia obtusifolia, Maytenus senegalensis, and Rosmarinus officinalis. The correlation between the RGB values and the chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations in the leaves was different for each species, since baby rubber correlated with the R and G values, the confetti tree correlated with the G and B values, and rosemary correlated with the R, G, and B values. The correlation between the normalized RGB (rgb) values and the color parameters and the chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations showed R2 values lower than 0.70 in all species. Moreover, the estimation of vegetation indices was not effective due to the lack of correlations between these indices and the chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations in the leaves of each species. According to the findings, rosemary exhibited the best association between the RGB values and chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations in the leaves.
Medical-Grade Honey Enhances the Healing of Caesarean Section Wounds and Is Similarly Effective to Antibiotics Combined with Povidone-Iodine in the Prevention of Infections—A Prospective Cohort Study
Authors: Bocoum Amadou , Riel Senna J. J. M. van , Traoré Soumana Oumar , Ngo Oum II Elisabeth Florine , Traoré Youssouf , Thera Augustin Tioukani , Fané Seydou , Dembele Bakary Tientigui , Cremers Niels A. J.
Published: January 2023

Caesarean sections (CS) are becoming increasingly popular. The antibiotic resistance crisis and relentless risk of infections, especially in developing countries, demand alternative treatment options. Medical-grade honey (MGH) exerts antimicrobial and healing properties. This study aims to evaluate the effect of MGH treatment on CS wound healing and postoperative complications when compared to conventional treatment (antibiotics in combination with povidone-iodine). In this prospective cohort study, 766 CS patients were included and evenly divided into two groups. The treatment group (n = 383) received an MGH-based formulation (L-Mesitran Soft) and the control group (n = 383) received antibiotics (Amoxicillin) combined with povidone-iodine. The wound healing time and complication rate were determined for both groups, and subsequently, predisposing factors for complications among the baseline characteristics and non-patient-related parameters were determined. The baseline characteristics were similar for both study groups, supporting a homogenous distribution. Postoperative complications were experienced by 19.3% of the patients in the control group and 18.8% in the treatment (MGH) group. The treatment group experienced significantly more superficial pus discharge than the control group, while the latter experienced significantly more deeper pus discharge. BMI, age, duration of hospitalization, anesthesia, and duration of CS could affect the complication risk. MGH significantly enhanced wound healing until day 42. On average, the healing time with MGH was 19.12 ± 7.760 days versus 24.54 ± 8.168 days in the control group. MGH is a potent alternative treatment to antibiotics and povidone-iodine because while the complication risk is similar, MGH has additional benefits. MGH promotes wound healing and does not bear the risk of resistance.
Effects on Bioaccumulation, Growth Performance, Hematological Parameters, Plasma Components, and Antioxidant Responses in Starry Flounder (Platichthys stellatus) Exposed to Dietary Cadmium and Ascorbic Acid
Authors: Won Tae-Jun , Yu Young-Bin , Kang Jung-Hoon , Kim Jun-Hwan , Kang Ju-Chan
Published: January 2023

This study evaluates the toxic effects of dietary Cd and mitigative effects of AsA supplementation by measuring the growth performance, bioaccumulation, hematological parameters, plasma components, and antioxidant responses of Starry flounder (Platichthys stellatus). Platichthys stellatus (mean weight, 69.5 ± 1.4 g; mean length, 18.2 ± 0.21 cm) was fed with dietary cadmium-ascorbic acid (Cd-AsA) composed of C0A0, C0A500, C0A1000, C40A0, C40A500, C40A1000, C80A0, C80A500, and C80A1000 mg of Cd-AsA per kg diet for four weeks. Our results showed that Cd accumulation significantly increased in proportion to the Cd concentration, where the highest levels were observed in the intestine, followed by the kidney, liver, and gills. Dietary AsA significantly mitigated the Cd accumulation in all tissues, and the reduction in Cd accumulation was proportional to the increase in AsA concentration. Dietary Cd has adverse effects on growth performance (body weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, and hepatosomatic index) and can alter the hematological parameters (red blood cell count, hematocrit, and hemoglobin), plasma components (glucose, total protein, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, and glutamic pyruvic transaminase), and antioxidant responses (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione S-transferase, and glutathione). Dietary AsA restored the decreased growth performance parameters and the altered hematological parameters, plasma components, and antioxidant responses caused by the dietary Cd exposure. The results of this study showed that dietary Cd is toxic to P. stellatus, while dietary AsA is effective in mitigating the toxic effects of Cd.
Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Modeling on High Temperature Low Cycle Fatigue of Ti2AlNb Alloy
Authors: Wang Yanju , Zhang Zhao , Wang Xinhao , Yang Yanfeng , Lan Xiang , Li Heng
Published: January 2023

Ti2AlNb alloy is a three-phase alloy, which consists of O phase, β phase and α2 phase. Because of the difference in the mechanical characteristics between phases, Ti2AlNb alloy often exhibits deformation heterogeneity. Based on EBSD images of the Ti2AlNb alloy, a crystal plasticity finite element model (CPFEM) was built to study the effects of O phase and β phase (dominant phases) on stress and strain distribution. Four types of fatigue experiments, and the Chaboche model with 1.2%~1.6% total strain range were conducted to verify the CPFEM. The simulation results showed that the phase boundary was the important position of stress concentration. The main reason for the stress concentration was the inconsistency deformation of grains which resulted from the different deformation abilities of the O and β phases.
Combined Use of an Information System and LCA Approach to Assess the Performances of a Solid Waste Management System
Authors: Ardolino Filomena , Parrillo Francesco , Di Domenico Carlo , Costarella Fabio , Arena Umberto
Published: January 2023

A municipal solid waste information system, named W-MySir, is utilised to acquire high-quality data to implement an attributional life-cycle assessment (LCA) focused on the evolution of the environmental performances of municipal solid waste management in a specific area. The main aim was to investigate how this combined approach can be used for monitoring progress of the management scheme toward important targets, such as being CO2-neutral, increasing the circularity of the service, and planning a transparent approach to cost evaluation. The analysis was applied to the municipality of Procida, one of the three islands of Naples Bay (Italy), and focused on the last ten years of activity of the local solid waste service. The results of the life cycle impact assessment are reported in terms of the main impact categories. They indicate a positive evolution of the environmental performances, with improvements of up to 140% for global warming potential. The positive results are mainly due to the large increase in household source separation and separate collection in Procida during the period under analysis, together with the availability of a more integrated and sustainable regional system of solid waste management. Further improvements may be achieved through better performance at the sorting and remanufacturing stages of dry recyclable fractions and the availability of anaerobic digestion units to produce biomethane from organic fractions of municipal solid waste. The combined approach indicates potential further benefits for both the tools: LCAs could provide reliable results in shorter times; information systems could offer a wider spectrum of services for monitoring and planning waste management systems in a sustainable way.
Speciation Analysis and Pollution Assessment of Heavy Metals in Farmland Soil of a Typical Mining Area: A Case Study of Dachang Tin Polymetallic Ore, Guangxi
Authors: Zhang Jiali , Liu Yinghong , Hong Songtao , Wen Meilan , Zheng Chaojie , Liu Panfeng
Published: January 2023

To explore the distribution characteristics and degree of pollution of heavy metals in the farmland soil around the Dachang tin polymetallic mining area in Guangxi, a total of 140 soil samples were collected around the mining area in this study. The total amount and various forms of seven heavy metals (Cu, Pb, Cd, Cr, Zn, As, and Ni) were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and the improved continuous extraction method of heavy metal speciation analysis in the soil, the potential ecological risk index (RI), the and Nemerow evaluation index (PN) were used to evaluate pollution characteristics of the soil and the bioavailability of heavy metals. Corresponding remediation suggestions were given according to the pollution degree. The results show that the whole soil in the study area is acidic, reducing, and the content of organic matter is low. The average content of heavy metal elements is higher than the background value of Guangxi, among which Cd, Pb, and As exceed the control value and are the main elements of pollution. The speciation analysis of heavy metals in soil shows that Cd is dominated by the ion exchange form; Cu is mainly residual and in a humic acid combined form; and the rest of the elements are mainly in residual form. Among the seven heavy metals, Cd has the strongest mobility, biological toxicity, and ecological risk, followed by As, Ni, and Zn. The overall pollution level of the soil in the study area is heavily polluted (PN = 39.6), which is a very strong ecological risk level (RI = 2196.9), and the main pollutants are Pb, As, and Cd; Cd pollution is the most serious. Correlation (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA) indicate that the pollution sources of Pb, Cu, Zn, Cd, and As among the seven elements were mainly controlled by tailings accumulation, mining, and transportation, and the sources of Cr and Ni were controlled by soil-forming parent materials. Furthermore, according to the actual situation of the farmland around the mining area, two remediation suggestions are put forward: (1) use stabilization remediation technology to clean up the pollution source, such as calcium dihydrogen phosphate to reduce the bioavailability of the most polluted elements, Cd and Pb, in the soil; (2) under the concept of green environmental protection, use Typha orientalis Presl to repair the industrial and mining wasteland and some unused land.
A Modeling Design Method for Complex Products Based on LSTM Neural Network and Kansei Engineering
Authors: Duan Jin-Juan , Luo Ping-Sheng , Liu Qi , Sun Feng-Ao , Zhu Li-Ming
Published: January 2023

Complex products (CPs) modeling design has a long development cycle and high cost, and it is difficult to accurately meet the needs of enterprises and users. At present, the Kansei Engineering (KE) method based on back-propagated (BP) neural networks is applied to solve the modeling design problem that meets users’ affective preferences for simple products quickly and effectively. However, the modeling feature data of CPs have a wide range of dimensions, long parameter codes, and the characteristics of time series. As a result, it is difficult for BP neural networks to recognize the affective preferences of CPs from an overall visual perception level as humans do. To address the problems above and assist designers with efficient and high-quality design, a CP modeling design method based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) neural network and KE (CP-KEDL) was proposed. Firstly, the improved MA method was carried out to transform the product modeling features into feature codes with sequence characteristics. Secondly, the mapping model between perceptual images and modeling features was established based on the LSTM neural network to predict the evaluation value of the product’s perceptual images. Finally, the optimal feature sets were calculated by a Genetic Algorithm (GA). The experimental results show that the MSE of the LSTM model is only 0.02, whereas the MSE of the traditional Deep Neural Networks (DNN) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) neural network models are 0.30 and 0.23, respectively. The results verified that the proposed method can effectively grapple with the CP modeling design problem with the timing factor, improve design satisfaction and shorten the R&D cycle of CP industrial design.
Numerical Analysis and Service Quality Evaluation of the Fresh Agricultural Produce Supply Chain Platform
Authors: Wang Yong , Deng Xudong , Lu Qian , Nicolescu Cornel Mihai , Guan Mingke , Kang Aoqian
Published: January 2023

The traditional performance evaluation method, which is mainly based on financial indexes, is no longer applicable to the current dynamic, complex, and coordinated evaluation of the service quality of fresh agricultural produce supply chains. Comprehensive evaluations regarding the quality of coordination-based supply chain services are now required. Specific analyses of index weights, the identification of potential problems, the exploration of the best solutions, and efforts to improve the current situation—regarding the circulation of fresh agricultural products—are also required. By carrying out this research, this paper aims to construct a coordination-based service quality evaluation index system for the fresh agricultural produce supply chain platform. The evaluation system that was created covered the four dimensions involved in platform supply chain coordination. These dimensions are capital flow, logistics, business flow, and information flow. On this basis, this study designed a survey questionnaire to collect data to evaluate customer service quality satisfaction. The research used AHP and the Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation method to calculate and analyze indexes and models in the “Fresh Networking” project. Furthermore, this paper proposed a sensitivity analysis model of MCDM evaluation indexes and their weights. In order to verify whether the numerical analysis method was suitable for use in the MCDM evaluation system, in this paper, the sensitivity analysis process of the indexes and their weights was introduced in the evaluation of the “Fresh Networking” project. The evaluation results may reflect the real quality of service in the “Fresh Network” supply chain. The final conclusion to be drawn from this paper is that capital flow is the most sensitive weight, which means that it should be designed and implemented in accordance with optimization-based decisions. The novelty of this paper lies in: (1) the proposal of a coordination-based service quality evaluation index system which includes four dimensions: capital flow, logistics, business flow, and information flow; (2) the design of a research questionnaire for data collection; and (3) the introduction of an improved sensitivity analysis method for the MCDM index. The results presented in this paper will enrich the theoretical research related to MCDM in supply chain evaluations. The results of the analysis can be used to guide supply chain decision makers to make optimization decisions accordingly, which will ensure overall benefits in terms of supply chain coordination, improving the capacity of preservation services, and loss reduction.
A Study on Longitudinal Motion Scenario Design for Verification of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems and Autonomous Driving Systems
Authors: Cho Kunhee , Park Changwoo , Lee Hyeongcheol
Published: January 2023

This paper proposes a test scenario design method that reflects the longitudinal characteristics of reality for effective verification of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving systems (ADS). Since the target systems interact with the external environment differently from the existing vehicle control system, realistic and various verification scenarios are required for verification. The proposed method consists of a vehicle model for simulating the vehicle behavior and a driver model to actively respond to the driving environment. In particular, the driver model used a model predictive control (MPC) algorithm to reflect the characteristic of human drivers. The longitudinal driving characteristics of human drivers were derived through a large-scale driving database analysis and considered in the driver model. The proposed method was compared with an existing car-following model using computer simulations. It was confirmed that its longitudinal driving behavior is similar to that of human drivers and that various scenarios can be designed by changing the model parameters.