bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Review of Waste Cooking Oil (WCO) as a Feedstock for Biofuel—Indian Perspective
Authors: Manikandan Gurunathan , Kanna P. Rajesh , Taler Dawid , Sobota Tomasz
Published: February 2023

A detailed review was conducted to explore waste cooking oil (WCO) as feedstock for biodiesel. The manuscript highlights the impact on health while using used cooking oil and the scope for revenue generation from WCO. Up to a 20% blend with diesel results in less pollutants, and it does not demand more modifications to the engine. Also, this reduces the country’s import bill. Furthermore, it suggests the scope for alternate sustainable income among rural farmers through a circular economy. Various collection strategies are discussed, a SWOC (strength, weakness, opportunity, and challenges) analysis is presented to aid in understanding different countries’ policies regarding the collection of WCO, and a more suitable method for conversion is pronounced. A techno-economic analysis is presented to explore the viability of producing 1 litre of biodiesel. The cost of 1 litre of WCO-based biodiesel is compared with costs Iran and Pakistan, and it is noticed that the difference among them is less than 1%. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is mandatory to reveal the impact of WCO biodiesel on socio-economic and environmental concerns. Including exergy analysis will provide comprehensive information about the production and justification of WCO as a biodiesel.
Heat Transfer Analysis Using Thermofluid Network Models for Industrial Biomass and Utility Scale Coal-Fired Boilers
Authors: Rousseau Pieter , Laubscher Ryno , Rawlins Brad Travis
Published: February 2023

Integrated whole-boiler process models are useful in the design of biomass and coal-fired boilers, and they can also be used to analyse different scenarios such as low load operation and alternate fuel firing. Whereas CFD models are typically applied to analyse the detail heat transfer phenomena in furnaces, analysis of the integrated whole-boiler performance requires one-dimensional thermofluid network models. These incorporate zero-dimensional furnace models combined with the solution of the fundamental mass, energy, and momentum balance equations for the different heat exchangers and fluid streams. This approach is not new, and there is a large amount of information available in textbooks and technical papers. However, the information is fragmented and incomplete and therefore difficult to follow and apply. The aim of this review paper is therefore to: (i) provide a review of recent literature to show how the different approaches to boiler modelling have been applied; (ii) to provide a review and clear description of the thermofluid network modelling methodology, including the simplifying assumptions and its implications; and (iii) to demonstrate the methodology by applying it to two case study boilers with different geometries, firing systems and fuels at various loads, and comparing the results to site measurements, which highlight important aspects of the methodology. The model results compare well with values obtained from site measurements and detail CFD models for full load and part load operation. The results show the importance of utilising the high particle load model for the effective emissivity and absorptivity of the flue gas and particle suspension rather than the standard model, especially in the case of a high ash fuel. It also shows that the projected method provides better results than the direct method for the furnace water wall heat transfer.
Physical Modelling of Tidal Stream Turbine Wake Structures under Yaw Conditions
Authors: Zhang Can , Zhang Jisheng , Angeloudis Athanasios , Zhou Yudi , Kramer Stephan C. , Piggott Matthew D.
Published: February 2023

Tidal stream turbines may operate under yawed conditions due to variability in ocean current directions. Insight into the wake structure of yawed turbines can be essential to ensure efficient tidal stream energy extraction, especially for turbine arrays where wake interactions emerge. We studied experimentally the effects of turbines operating under varying yaw conditions. Two scenarios, including a single turbine and a set of two turbines in alignment, were configured and compared. The turbine thrust force results confirmed that an increasing yaw angle results in a decrease in the turbine streamwise force and an increase in the turbine spanwise force. The velocity distribution from the single turbine scenario showed that the wake deflection and velocity deficit recovery rate increased at a rate proportional to the yaw angle. The two-turbine scenario results indicated that the deployment of an upstream non-yawed turbine significantly limited the downstream wake steering (i.e., the wake area behind the downstream turbine). Interestingly, a yawed downstream turbine was seen to influence the steering of both the upstream and the downstream wakes. These systematically derived data could be regarded as useful references for the numerical modelling and optimisation of large arrays.
Sensitivity Analysis of Battery Aging for Model-Based PHEV Use Scenarios
Authors: Patil Tejas-Dilipsing , Vinot Emmanuel , Ehrenberger Simone , Trigui Rochdi , Redondo-Iglesias Eduardo
Published: February 2023

Battery lifetime is an important parameter in the life cycle assessment (LCA) of a plug-in hybrid-electric vehicle (PHEV). This paper aims to study the impact of various parameters on the battery aging of a PHEV. For this purpose, model-based use cases are generated, the outputs of which are the daily driven distances for a period of one year, recharge scenarios, and battery temperature. A combined aging model (calendar and cycling aging) is used to calculate the capacity lost by the battery at the end of one year of use. The thermal model of the battery is using an electro-thermal coupling equation, for which the ambient temperature is modeled using daily minimum and maximum temperature data varying throughout the year for different cities. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is carried out using the conditioned variance method to identify the most important input parameters which largely affect the output of this study. The results of this study show that battery size, annual mileage, external temperature, and charging behavior are the most important parameters to be considered in the aging study of the battery of a PHEV personal car.
Increasing the Energy Efficiency of Gas Boosters for Hydrogen Storage and for Refueling Stations
Authors: Rufer Alfred
Published: February 2023

A new electrically driven gas booster is described as an alternative to the classical air-driven gas boosters known for their poor energetic efficiency. These boosters are used in small scale Hydrogen storage facilities and in refueling stations for Hydrogen vehicles. In such applications the overall energy count is of significance and must include the efficiency of the compression stage. The proposed system uses an electric motor instead of the pneumatic actuator and increases the total efficiency of the compression process. Two mechanical principles are studied for the transformation of the rotational motion of the motor to the linear displacement of the compressor pistons. The strongly fluctuating power of the compressor is smoothed by an active capacitive auxiliary storage device connected to the DC circuit of the power converter. The proposed system has been verified by numeric simulation, including the thermodynamic phenomena, the kinetics of the new compressor drive and the the operation of the circuits of the power smoothing system.
Methods and Methodologies for Congestion Alleviation in the DPS: A Comprehensive Review
Authors: Gautam Anurag , Ibraheem  , Sharma Gulshan , Ahmer Mohammad F. , Krishnan Narayanan
Published: February 2023

The modern power system has reached its present state after wading a long path facing several changes in strategies and the implementation of several reforms. Economic and geographical constraints led to reforms and deregulations in the power system to utilize resources optimally within the existing framework. The major hindrance in the efficient operation of the deregulated power system (DPS) is congestion, which is the result of the participation of private players under deregulation policies. This paper reviews different setbacks introduced by congestion and the methods applied/proposed to mitigate it. Technical and non-technical methods are reviewed and detailed. Major optimization techniques proposed to achieve congestion alleviation are presented comprehensively. This paper combines major publications in the field of congestion management and presents their contribution towards the alleviation of congestion.
Water Wall Tubes’ High Temperature Corrosion Root Cause Investigation: A 300 MW Level Boiler Case
Authors: Xiong Xiaohe , Chen Falin , Li Liangyu , Tan Houzhang
Published: February 2023

High temperature corrosion poses a great threat to boiler water wall safe operation. To investigate the corrosion root cause, a 300 MW level boiler water wall high temperature H2S corrosion case was reported. The typical hydrogen sulfide H2S corrosion feature was large amounts of sulfur which could be found in the cut down sample tube corrosion layer, with a thickness of 482 μm. In addition, huge amounts of lead (Pb) could be found in the corrosion layer, which resulted from the lead sulfide (PbS) deposition when the high temperature flue gas condensed at the water wall tubes. Meanwhile, the sulfur in the corrosion layer was closely related to the H2S concentration in the water wall ambience. The related ambience test showed that the H2S could achieve up to 1000 ppm when the boiler was in operation, far larger than the suggested reference value of 100 ppm. Hence, the overlarge H2S concentration was a vital factor for the tube corrosion. To further investigate the reason why the H2S was kept in such high concentration in the boiler long term operation, and the reasons for the over-high sulfur content in the coal and the over-large diameter of the imaginary circle of primary air (DICPA), two factors were obtained. The peak sulfur content reached 2.5% and the suggested sulfur content was below 1%. The DICPA was so large (1580 mm) that the pulverized coal easily scoured the water wall tubes, which would boost the thinning process of the tubes. To relieve the high temperature corrosion, improve the coal qualities, decrease the DICPA, adjust the operation diameter and adopt a coating technology four measures were suggested.
Electrically Active Defects in SiC Power MOSFETs
Authors: Chaturvedi Mayank , Haasmann Daniel , Moghadam Hamid Amini , Dimitrijev Sima
Published: February 2023

The performance and reliability of the state-of-the-art power 4H-SiC metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) are affected by electrically active defects at and near the interface between SiC and the gate dielectric. Specifically, these defects impact the channel-carrier mobility and threshold voltage of SiC MOSFETs, depending on their physical location and energy levels. To characterize these defects, techniques have evolved from those used for Si devices to techniques exclusively designed for the SiC MOS structure and SiC MOSFETs. This paper reviews the electrically active defects at and near the interface between SiC and the gate dielectric in SiC power MOSFETs and MOS capacitors. First, the defects are classified according to their physical locations and energy positions into (1) interface traps, (2) near interface traps with energy levels aligned to the energy gap, and (3) near-interface traps with energy levels aligned to the conduction band of SiC. Then, representative published results are shown and discussed for each class of defect.
Energy Consumption Reduction and Sustainable Development for Oil & Gas Transport and Storage Engineering
Authors: Chen Xianlei , Wang Manqi , Wang Bin , Hao Huadong , Shi Haolei , Wu Zenan , Chen Junxue , Gai Limei , Tao Hengcong , Zhu Baikang , Wang Bohong
Published: February 2023

The oil & gas transport and storage (OGTS) engineering, from the upstream of gathering and processing in the oil & gas fields, to the midstream long-distance pipelines, and the downstream tanks and LNG terminals, while using supply chains to connect each part, is exploring its way to reduce energy consumption and carbon footprints. This work provides an overview of current methods and technological improvements and the latest trends in OGTS to show how this industry strives to achieve sustainable development goals. The critical analyses are from increasing flexibility, energy saving, emission reduction, and changing energy structure. The study shows the need to focus on improving energy efficiency further, reducing energy/water/material consumption and emissions, and maintaining safety for such an extensive oil & gas network.
Similarity of Musical Timbres Using FFT-Acoustic Descriptor Analysis and Machine Learning
Authors: Gonzalez Yubiry , Prati Ronaldo C.
Published: February 2023

Musical timbre is a phenomenon of auditory perception that allows the recognition of musical sounds. The recognition of musical timbre is a challenging task because the timbre of a musical instrument or sound source is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon that is influenced by a variety of factors, including the physical properties of the instrument or sound source, the way it is played or produced, and the recording and processing techniques used. In this paper, we explore an abstract space with 7 dimensions formed by the fundamental frequency and FFT-Acoustic Descriptors in 240 monophonic sounds from the Tinysol and Good-Sounds databases, corresponding to the fourth octave of the transverse flute and clarinet. This approach allows us to unequivocally define a collection of points and, therefore, a timbral space (Category Theory) that allows different sounds of any type of musical instrument with its respective dynamics to be represented as a single characteristic vector. The geometric distance would allow studying the timbral similarity between audios of different sounds and instruments or between different musical dynamics and datasets. Additionally, a Machine-Learning algorithm that evaluates timbral similarities through Euclidean distances in the abstract space of 7 dimensions was proposed. We conclude that the study of timbral similarity through geometric distances allowed us to distinguish between audio categories of different sounds and musical instruments, between the same type of sound and an instrument with different relative dynamics, and between different datasets.
Tensor CSRMT System with Horizontal Electrical Dipole Sources and Prospects of Its Application in Arctic Permafrost Regions
Authors: Saraev Alexander K. , Shlykov Arseny A. , Bobrov Nikita Yu.
Published: February 2023

When studying horizontally-inhomogeneous media, it is necessary to apply tensor modifications of electromagnetic soundings. Use of tensor measurements is of particular relevance in near-surface electrical prospecting because the upper part of the geological section is usually more heterogeneous than the deep strata. In the Enviro-MT system designed for the controlled-source radiomagnetotelluric (CSRMT) sounding method, two mutually perpendicular horizontal magnetic dipoles (two vertical loops) are used for tensor measurements. We propose a variant of the CSRMT method with two horizontal electrical dipole sources (two transmitter lines). The advantage of such sources is an extended frequency range of 1–1000 kHz in comparison with 1–12 kHz of the Enviro-MT system, greater operational distance (up to 3–4 km compared to 600–800 m), and the ability to measure the signal at the fundamental frequency and its subharmonics. To implement tensor measurements with the equipment of the CSRMT method described in the paper, a technique of creating a time-varying polarization of the electromagnetic field (rotating field) has been developed based on the use of two transmitters with slightly different current frequencies and two mutually-perpendicular transmitter lines grounded at the ends. In this way, we made it possible to change the direction of the electrical and magnetic field polarization continuously. This approach allows realization of the technique of tensor measurements using the new modification of the CSRMT method. In permafrost areas, the hydrogenic taliks are widespread. These local objects are important in the context of study of environmental changes in the Arctic and can be successfully explored by the tensor CSRMT method. For the numerical modeling, a 2D model of the talik was used. Results of the interpretation of synthetic data showed the advantage of bimodal inversion using CSRMT curves of both TM and TE modes compared to separate inversion of TM and TE curves. These new data demonstrate the prospects of the tensor CSRMT method in the study of permafrost regions. The problems that can be solved using the CSRMT method in the Arctic permafrost regions are discussed.
UDP-Glycosyltransferases in Edible Fungi: Function, Structure, and Catalytic Mechanism
Authors: Yang Yumeng , Liang Yingying , Cui Fengjie , Wang Yongli , Sun Lei , Zan Xinyi , Sun Wenjing
Published: February 2023

UDP-glycosyltransferases (UGTs) are the most studied glycosyltransferases, and belong to large GT1 family performing the key roles in antibiotic synthesis, the development of bacterial glycosyltransferase inhibitors, and in animal inflammation. They transfer the glycosyl groups from nucleotide UDP-sugars (UDP-glucose, UDP-galactose, UDP-xylose, and UDP-rhamnose) to the acceptors including saccharides, proteins, lipids, and secondary metabolites. The present review summarized the recent of UDP-glycosyltransferases, including their structures, functions, and catalytic mechanism, especially in edible fungi. The future perspectives and new challenges were also summarized to understand of their structure–function relationships in the future. The outputs in this field could provide a reference to recognize function, structure, and catalytic mechanism of UDP-glycosyltransferases for understanding the biosynthesis pathways of secondary metabolites, such as hydrocarbons, monoterpenes, sesquiterpene, and polysaccharides in edible fungi.
Integrating Space Syntax and Location-Allocation Model for Fire Station Location Planning in a China Mega City
Authors: Tian Fengshi , Lei Junjun , Zheng Xin , Yin Yanfu
Published: February 2023

The appropriate planning of infrastructure protects people’s lives and property. Fire stations are an essential part of a city’s infrastructure and they must be precisely located to shorten emergency response times and reduce casualties. Recently, the focus of the city emergency service has shifted from fire suppression to technical rescues. We compared the spatial distribution of fire suppression and technical rescues at a city scale to show the variation in their influences. An integrated road-network accessibility and location-allocation model (RNALA) for the location planning of a fire station was proposed. Specific sites for fire stations were identified using the L-A model. Then, the spatial design network analysis was performed to quantify areas around the selected site with high road network accessibility. The RNALA model was used to extend the selection from a point to a region by introducing road network accessibility to accomplish coverage and efficiency requirements. A quantitative and universal approach that focuses on fire station location planning based on emergency services is proposed. This methodology provides a practical solution for implementation, as a specific identified location might not be available for implementation. These results can serve as a reference for identifying fire station locations in cities.
Gleditsia triacanthos Galactomannans in Gluten-Free Formulation: Batter Rheology and Bread Quality
Authors: Sciarini Lorena S. , Palavecino Pablo M. , Ribotta Pablo D. , Barrera Gabriela N.
Published: February 2023

Gluten-free batters, in general, require the incorporation of agents to control their rheology; this role is commonly played by hydrocolloids. New natural sources of hydrocolloids are under permanent research. In this regard, the functional properties of the galactomannan extracted from the seed of Gleditsia triacanthos (Gledi) have been studied. In this work, we evaluated the incorporation of this hydrocolloid, alone and in combination with Xanthan gum, in gluten-free batters and bread and compared it with Guar gum. The incorporation of hydrocolloids increased the viscoelastic profile of the batters. Gledi addition at 0.5% and 1.25% increased the elastic modulus (G′) by 200% and 1500%, respectively, and similar trends were observed when Gledi-Xanthan was used. These increases were more pronounced when Guar and Guar-Xanthan were used. The batters became firmer and more elastically resistant because of the addition of hydrocolloids; batters containing Gledi had lower values of these parameters than batters containing Gledi-Xanthan. The addition of Gledi at both doses significantly increased the volume of the bread compared to the control by about 12%, while when Xanthan gum was included, a decrease was observed, especially at higher doses (by about 12%). The increase in specific volume was accompanied by a decrease in initial crumb firmness and chewiness, and during storage, they were significantly reduced. Bread prepared with Guar gum and Guar-Xanthan gum combinations was also evaluated, and the trends observed were comparable to that of bread with Gledi gum and Gledi-Xanthan gum. The results showed that Gledi addition favors the production of bread of high technological quality.
Use of Machine Learning with Fused Spectral Data for Prediction of Product Sensory Characteristics: The Case of Grape to Wine
Authors: Armstrong Claire E. J. , Niimi Jun , Boss Paul K. , Pagay Vinay , Jeffery David W.
Published: February 2023

Generations of sensors have been developed for predicting food sensory profiles to circumvent the use of a human sensory panel, but a technology that can rapidly predict a suite of sensory attributes from one spectral measurement remains unavailable. Using spectra from grape extracts, this novel study aimed to address this challenge by exploring the use of a machine learning algorithm, extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), to predict twenty-two wine sensory attribute scores from five sensory stimuli: aroma, colour, taste, flavour, and mouthfeel. Two datasets were obtained from absorbance-transmission and fluorescence excitation-emission matrix (A-TEEM) spectroscopy with different fusion methods: variable-level data fusion of absorbance and fluorescence spectral fingerprints, and feature-level data fusion of A-TEEM and CIELAB datasets. The results for externally validated models showed slightly better performance using only A-TEEM data, predicting five out of twenty-two wine sensory attributes with R2 values above 0.7 and fifteen with R2 values above 0.5. Considering the complex biotransformation involved in processing grapes to wine, the ability to predict sensory properties based on underlying chemical composition in this way suggests that the approach could be more broadly applicable to the agri-food sector and other transformed foodstuffs to predict a product’s sensory characteristics from raw material spectral attributes.
Fatty Acid Composition of Northern Pike from an Arctic River (Northeastern Siberia, Russia)
Authors: Dvoretsky Alexander G. , Bichkaeva Fatima A. , Vlasova Olga S. , Andronov Sergei V. , Dvoretsky Vladimir G.
Published: February 2023

We assayed the fatty acid composition of muscles of the northern pike Esox lucius Linnaeus, 1758 inhabiting the Gyda River, Siberia, Russia using gas-liquid chromatography. Of 43 fatty acids identified in the pike samples, 23 fatty acids accounted for 99.3% of the total content. The most abundant saturated fatty acids (SFA, 31.6%) were palmitic (C16:0, 20.0%) and stearic (C18:0, 7.3%) acids. Among monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA, 15.1%), oleic acid (C18:1n9, 10.2%) and palmitoleic acid (C16:1, 4.1%) demonstrated the highest levels. The most represented polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA, 53.3%) were arachidonic acid (C20:4n-6, 7.6%), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5n-3, 7.3%), and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, C22:6n-3, 26.3%). The fatty acid profile of specimens from the Gyda River was different in comparison to profiles found in other pike populations, most likely due to different diets. Pike flesh has good nutrition quality in terms of a low n-6/n-3 ratio (0.36), low atherogenic (0.39), and thrombogenic (0.22) indices, and a high ratio of hypocholesterolemic to hypercholesterolemic fatty acids (2.83), and this species can be recommended as a replacement or alternative to other fish sources in traditional diets.
Cation-Exchange Resin Applied to Paralytic Shellfish Toxins Depuration from Bivalves Exposed to Gymnodinium catenatum
Authors: Leal Joana F. , Bombo Gabriel , Amado Patrícia S. M. , Pereira Hugo , Cristiano Maria L. S.
Published: February 2023

The accumulation of marine biotoxins in shellfish and their consumption causes serious food safety problems, threatening human health and compromising the availability of protein-based food. It is thus urgent to develop methodologies for the detoxification of live bivalves, avoiding their economic and nutritional devaluation. In this context, we tested an adsorption mechanism of paralytic shellfish toxins (PST) based on a cation-exchange resin. The first studies using cultures of Gymnodinium catenatum (natural producers of PST) showed a decrease of about 80% in overall toxicity after 48 h. Interestingly, we found that the toxins are adsorbed differently, with toxins’ structural features playing a part in the adsorption capacity via steric hindrance, electronic effects, or the extent of positive charge density (e.g., dcSTX). The positive effect of the resin in accelerating PST clearance from live mussels (Mytilus edulis) is not evident when compared to resin-free clearance; nevertheless, relevant information could be gathered that will facilitate further in vivo studies. Several factors appear to be at play, namely the competition of natural substances (e.g., salts, organic matter) for the same binding sites, the blocking of pores due to interactions between molecules, and/or difficulties in resin absorption by mussels. Additionally, the present work revealed the ability of mussels to neutralize pH and proposes bioconversion reactions among the PST molecules.
Investigation of a Coupled System of Hilfer–Hadamard Fractional Differential Equations with Nonlocal Coupled Hadamard Fractional Integral Boundary Conditions
Authors: Ahmad Bashir , Aljoudi Shorog
Published: February 2023

We investigate the existence criteria for solutions of a nonlinear coupled system of Hilfer–Hadamard fractional differential equations of different orders complemented with nonlocal coupled Hadamard fractional integral boundary conditions. The desired results are accomplished with the aid of standard fixed-point theorems. We emphasize that the fixed point approach is one of the effective methods to establish the existence results for boundary value problems. Examples illustrating the obtained results are constructed.
Applications of Hydrogels in Drug Delivery for Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases
Authors: Liu Lijia , Wu Dan , Tu Heng , Cao Mengjiao , Li Mengxin , Peng Li , Yang Jing
Published: February 2023

Oral and maxillofacial diseases have an important impact on local function, facial appearance, and general health. As a multifunctional platform, hydrogels are widely used in the biomedical field due to their excellent physicochemical properties. In recent years, a large number of studies have been conducted to adapt hydrogels to the complex oral and maxillofacial environment by modulating their pore size, swelling, degradability, stimulus-response properties, etc. Meanwhile, many studies have attempted to use hydrogels as drug delivery carriers to load drugs, cytokines, and stem cells for antibacterial, anticancer, and tissue regeneration applications in oral and maxillofacial regions. This paper reviews the application and research progress of hydrogel-based drug delivery systems in the treatment of oral and maxillofacial diseases such as caries, endodontic diseases, periodontal diseases, maxillofacial bone diseases, mucosal diseases, oral cancer, etc. The characteristics and applications of hydrogels and drug-delivery systems employed for the treatment of different diseases are discussed in order to provide a reference for further research on hydrogel drug-delivery systems in the future.
Intergenerational Esthetic Co-Creation Program for Promotion of Community Creative Aging
Authors: Hsieh Hsiu-Ching (Laura) , Liu Chun-Wei
Published: February 2023

The world is facing rapid global aging. Global countries are concerned about the development of aging societies and related topics ranging from successful, healthy, and active aging in the past to the current creative aging (CA) perspective. However, in-depth research on applying esthetics to promote community CA in Taiwan is lacking. To address this deficiency, the Hushan community in Douliu City, Yunlin County was selected as the research area, and the CA perspective was adopted to promote community CA through multi-stage intergenerational esthetic co-creation (IEC) workshops. A model for applying IEC workshops to promote CA was constructed. Using the action research approach, community CA enabled the elderly to identify with their inherent values, opening new possibilities for the provision of elderly social care. This study explored the psychological impacts of implementing IEC workshops on the elderly, analyzed their interactions with peers and youth, helped the elderly review their lives, analyzed relevant data to construct a practical model for applying IEC workshops to promote CA, and provided the data collected during the multi-stage applications of CA and an IEC model for promoting CA as a reference for future researchers, thereby opening new possibilities for sustainable care in aging societies.
Amazon Amandaba—Prevalence, Risk Factors and Self-Care Perception Associated with Diabetic Peripheral Neuropathy in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Farias Aline Lobato de , Silva Amanda Suzane Alves da , Tavares Victória Brioso , Souza Josiel de Souza e , Silva Hilton Pereira da , Oliveira Bastos Maria do Socorro Castelo-Branco de , Melo-Neto João Simão de
Published: February 2023

Background: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is one of the most common complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus. There is a gradual loss of protective sensation in the skin and the function of the foot joints, increasing the risk of injury as the disease progresses. The objective of this study was to verify whether socioeconomic factors, health risk factors, and self-care are associated with DPN. Methods: Observational cross-sectional with 228 individuals of ≥30 years in Family Health Strategies in a city in the eastern Amazon, in northern Brazil, using questionnaires containing socioeconomic information, clinical and laboratory parameters, the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities Questionnaire, and the Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument. Results: The prevalence of DPN was 66.6%. The presence of neuropathy is associated with male gender, dyslipidemia, and increased microalbuminuria. Logistic regression analysis revealed male subjects’ increased BMI and altered HDL levels were associated with DPN. Conclusions: In men with altered BMI, and dysregulation in biochemical parameters, neuropathy is more prevalent.
Turnover Intention and Organizational Commitment of Primary Healthcare Nurses
Authors: Callado Ana , Teixeira Gisela , Lucas Pedro
Published: February 2023

Turnover intention is a predictor of the decision to leave an organization, which, if carried out, affects the quality of care provided. There is an association between turnover intention and organizational commitment. The more committed nurses are to the unit in which they work, the more committed they become to the unit’s organizational goals; thus, they tend to continue working for the organization. Aiming to assess the turnover intention and the organizational commitment of nurses in primary healthcare, we conducted a quantitative, observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study. The Intention of Turnover Scale and the Organizational Commitment Scale were applied in a sample of 297 nurses. Data were analyzed based on descriptive statistics. About 92.8% of the nurses intend to stay at their current workplace and only 7.3% plan to leave soon, suggesting low turnover intention; 84.5% of the nurses are willing to make an effort beyond what is normal to help their organization succeed, and 88.7% feel really interested in the destiny of the organization, which shows high organizational commitment. Pearson’s Coefficient revealed the existence of a significant negative correlation between the factors “Intention to leave” and “Committed to the organization” (r = −0.51, p < 0.01). These findings suggest that, when nurses are more committed to their work and to the organization, they display less intention to leave, keeping the teams committed and motivated towards the organizational goals Our findings may guide nurse managers and policy-makers to develop strategies that retain nurses in organizations, keeping them motivated and engaged, and focusing on higher organizational commitment due to the influence it may have on the turnover intention.
Identifying Military Service Status in Electronic Healthcare Records from Psychiatric Secondary Healthcare Services: A Validation Exercise Using the Military Service Identification Tool
Authors: Leightley Daniel , Palmer Laura , Williamson Charlotte , Leal Ray , Chandran Dave , Murphy Dominic , Fear Nicola T. , Stevelink Sharon A. M.
Published: February 2023

Electronic healthcare records (EHRs) are a rich source of information with a range of uses in secondary research. In the United Kingdom, there is no pan-national or nationally accepted marker indicating veteran status across all healthcare services. This presents significant obstacles to determining the healthcare needs of veterans using EHRs. To address this issue, we developed the Military Service Identification Tool (MSIT), using an iterative two-staged approach. In the first stage, a Structured Query Language approach was developed to identify veterans using a keyword rule-based approach. This informed the second stage, which was the development of the MSIT using machine learning, which, when tested, obtained an accuracy of 0.97, a positive predictive value of 0.90, a sensitivity of 0.91, and a negative predictive value of 0.98. To further validate the performance of the MSIT, the present study sought to verify the accuracy of the EHRs that trained the MSIT models. To achieve this, we surveyed 902 patients of a local specialist mental healthcare service, with 146 (16.2%) being asked if they had or had not served in the Armed Forces. In total 112 (76.7%) reported that they had not served, and 34 (23.3%) reported that they had served in the Armed Forces (accuracy: 0.84, sensitivity: 0.82, specificity: 0.91). The MSIT has the potential to be used for identifying veterans in the UK from free-text clinical documents and future use should be explored.
Microbiota Ecosystem in Recurrent Cystitis and the Immunological Microenvironment of Urothelium
Authors: Dominoni Mattia , Scatigno Annachiara Licia , La Verde Marco , Bogliolo Stefano , Melito Chiara , Gritti Andrea , Pasquali Marianna Francesca , Torella Marco , Gardella Barbara
Published: February 2023

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) represent one of the most frequent low genital tract diseases in the female population. When UTIs occur with a frequency of at least three times per year or two times in the last six month, we speak of recurrent UTI (rUTI) and up to 70% of women will have rUTI within 1 year. It was previously thought that antibiotic resistance was principally responsible for the recurrence of UTIs, but nowadays new diagnostic technologies have shown the role of microbiota in the pathophysiology of these diseases. Much research has been conducted on the role of gut microbiome in the development of rUTI, while little is known yet about vaginal and urinary microbiome and the possible immunological and microscopical mechanisms through which they trigger symptoms. New discoveries and clinical perspectives are arising, and they all agree that a personalized, multi-modal approach, treating vaginal and urinary dysbiosis, may reduce rUTIs more successfully.
COVID-19 Obesity: Differences in Infection Risk Perception, Obesity Stress, Depression, and Intention to Participate in Leisure Sports Based on Weight Change
Authors: Choi Chulhwan , Oh Kyung-Rok , Jun Mun-Gyu
Published: February 2023

This study examined the impact of COVID-19 on individuals’ weight change and mental health by analyzing differences in risk perception, obesity, stress, depression, and intention to participate in leisure sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected in the Republic of Korea between June and August 2022. This study included 374 individuals aged ≥ 20 years who regularly participated in leisure sports. A comparative analysis subdivided the participants into two groups based on weight changes during the pandemic: weight loss and maintenance (Group 1) and weight gain (Group 2). These formed the independent variable. The dependent variables were (a) infection risk perception, (b) obesity stress, (c) depression, and (d) intention to participate in sports. The results revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups in infection risk perception, obesity stress, and depression factors, but not in the intention to participate in sports. This study demonstrated the impact of COVID-19 on weight changes and mental health. These findings can guide future quarantine strategies to control new infectious diseases and policies to prevent obesity and stress.
Differences in Lipid Metabolism, Polar Metabolites, and Phenolics in Persea americana under Two Storage Conditions
Authors: Uarrota Virgilio Gavicho
Published: February 2023

Harvested avocado fruits can be potentially exposed both to pre- and post-harvest factors that may influence the susceptibility of fruit to quality loss. Regular air (RA) storage consists of approximately 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.3% carbon dioxide, and smaller amounts of some other gasses. A controlled atmosphere (CA) is a changed atmosphere that is used to delay respiration and reduce fungal and physiological deterioration, and it is an appropriate and practical technology for prolonging the shelf life and maintaining the quality of fruits on a large scale. An experiment was conducted by collecting fruits from two different avocado orchards (Bartolillo and Quilhuica) during two harvest seasons based on dry matter content and two subsequent years. The current study was designed to investigate the changes in polar metabolites, phenolic compounds, and fatty acids in the skin of Hass avocados stored under two distinct conditions. Bartolillo orchard fruits were mostly correlated to linoleic and oleic acid as important variables. For Quilhuica, fruits were mostly correlated with palmitoleic, palmitic, and oleic acids. Phenolic content increased at the beginning of storage and decreased at the end of storage for one orchard and contrarily for others, indicating that the result was dependent on the orchard and storage condition. Serine, glutaric acid, xylitol and D-mannitol were the polar metabolites that most correlated with fruits of the Quilhuica orchard while ß-sitosterol and gluconic were related to fruits of the Bartolillo orchard. The differences in fatty acids, polar metabolites and phenolics were dependent on orchard and storage conditions.
Antisense Overexpression of Gγ Subunit CsGG3.1-2 Reduces Soluble Sugar Content and Chilling Tolerance in Cucumber
Authors: Bai Longqiang , Zhu Huixin , Shi Yu , Li Yaling , Miao Yanxiu , Yu Xianchang , Zhang Yi , Li Yansu
Published: February 2023

Plant G protein γ subunits have multiple functions in growth and development processes and in abiotic stress responses. Few functions of Gγ in horticultural crops have been revealed thus far. In this study, the potential function of CsGG3.1-2, one of the two alternative splice variants of Gγ gene CsGG3.1 in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), was investigated using transgenic plants overexpressing antisense CsGG3.1-2 under the control of the 35S promoter. The tolerance to chilling stress in transgenic plants was significantly decreased. Cold stress-related physiological parameters and the expression of CBFs and their downstream target genes were then measured. Compared with WT, the maximum efficiency of photosystem II (Fv/Fm), antioxidative enzymes activities, soluble protein, and proline accumulation decreased significantly in transgenic plants treated with cold stress, whereas the malonaldehyde (MDA) content increased. However, the overexpression of antisense CsGG3.1-2 did not affect the induction of cold-inducible genes. Quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis showed the increased expression of CBF genes and their downstream target genes in transgenic plants, suggesting that CsGG3.1-2 affects cold responses via CBF-independent pathways in cucumber. At the same time, the sucrose and fructose contents decreased in transgenic plants under both normal and cold conditions. These findings suggest that soluble sugar deficiency is associated with chilling sensitivity in transgenic plants, and CsGG3.1-2 may have a role in regulating carbohydrate metabolism in cucumber.
Water Level Forecasting in Tidal Rivers during Typhoon Periods through Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition
Authors: Chen Yen-Chang , Yeh Hui-Chung , Kao Su-Pai , Wei Chiang , Su Pei-Yi
Published: February 2023

In this study, a novel model that performs ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD) and stepwise regression was developed to forecast the water level of a tidal river. Unlike more complex hydrological models, the main advantage of the proposed model is that the only required data are water level data. EEMD is used to decompose water level signals from a tidal river into several intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). These IMFs are then used to reconstruct the ocean and stream components that represent the tide and river flow, respectively. The forecasting model is obtained through stepwise regression on these components. The ocean component at a location 1 h ahead can be forecast using the observed ocean components at the downstream gauging stations, and the corresponding stream component can be forecast using the water stages at the upstream gauging stations. Summing these two forecasted components enables the forecasting of the water level at a location in the tidal river. The proposed model is conceptually simple and highly accurate. Water level data collected from gauging stations in the Tanshui River in Taiwan during typhoons were used to assess the feasibility of the proposed model. The water level forecasting model accurately and reliably predicted the water level at the Taipei Bridge gauging station.
Factors Affecting Disability Disclosure in Employment Setting for Individuals with Intellectual Disability
Authors: Ra Young-An
Published: February 2023

This study aimed to increase the understanding of this disability disclosure of people with intellectual disability by examining the determinants of their disclosure at work. For this aim, six individuals with intellectual disability were interviewed, and consensual qualitative research (CQR) was used to identify factors related to their disability disclosure. As results, the factors that affect the disability disclosure were largely divided into personal variables and environmental variables, and various factors including confidence, disability severity, employment type, employers, co-workers, and organizational culture were mentioned. The results of this study can help people have better understanding about disability disclosure in employment settings. We also discuss how vocational education for individuals with intellectual disability should be offered.
A Bibliometric Analysis of Literature on Prenatal Exposure to Air Pollution: 1994–2022
Authors: Olutola Bukola G. , Phoobane Paulina
Published: February 2023

Early life exposure to air pollutants during pregnancy is one of the leading causes of different health outcomes. However, few studies have provided an overview of this area of research. The aim of this study was to look at the key trends in the research on prenatal exposure to air pollution. Data were retrieved from Web of Science, and the search was conducted based on the paper title, abstract, and keywords. The relevant literature searched was from 1994 to 2022, and 952 English documents were obtained. Of the total documents, 438 documents were included in the review and 83% (n = 365) of the documents were journal articles. Type of document, annual distribution of publications, and distribution of prenatal exposure by countries were extracted. Co-authorship and keywords co-occurrence analyses were also carried out. Of all the countries that published in this field, the United States of America. had the highest number of publications, followed by China. Among the different health and environmental disciplines, 62% (n = 273) of papers came from environmental science. There were limited collaborations among researchers from different countries and institutions. In conclusion, there should be more collaboration among the researchers in this field regarding institutions, countries, and disciplines.
Comparative Analysis of Retinal Organotypic Cultures and In Vivo Axotomized Retinas
Authors: González-Riquelme María José , Lucas-Ruiz Fernando , Galindo-Romero Caridad , Boia Raquel , Ambrósio António Francisco , Vidal-Sanz Manuel , Raquel Santiago Ana , Agudo-Barriuso Marta
Published: February 2023

Retinal organotypic cultures (ROCs) are used as an in vivo surrogate to study retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss and neuroprotection. In vivo, the gold standard to study RGC degeneration and neuroprotection is optic nerve lesion. We propose here to compare the course of RGC death and glial activation between both models. The left optic nerve of C57BL/6 male mice was crushed, and retinas analyzed from 1 to 9 days after the injury. ROCs were analyzed at the same time points. As a control, intact retinas were used. Retinas were studied anatomically to assess RGC survival, microglial, and macroglial activation. Macroglial and microglial cells showed different morphological activation between models and were activated earlier in ROCs. Furthermore, microglial cell density in the ganglion cell layer was always lower in ROCs than in vivo. RGC loss after axotomy and in vitro followed the same trend up to 5 days. Thereafter, there was an abrupt decrease in viable RGCs in ROCs. However, RGC somas were still immuno-identified by several molecular markers. ROCs are useful for proof-of-concept studies on neuroprotection, but long-term experiments should be carried out in vivo. Importantly, the differential glial activation observed between models and the concomitant death of photoreceptors that occurs in vitro may alter the efficacy of RGC neuroprotective therapies when tested in in vivo models of optic nerve injury.