bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The interactive effects of age and sex on the neuro‐cardiovascular responses during fatiguing rhythmic handgrip exercise
Authors: D'Souza Andrew W. , Takeda Ryosuke , Manabe Kazumasa , Hissen Sarah L. , Washio Takuro , Coombs Geoff B. , Sanchez Belinda , Fu Qi , Shoemaker J. Kevin
Published: April 2023

The impact of age on exercise pressor responses is equivocal, likely because of sex‐specific neuro‐cardiovascular changes with age. However, assessments of the interactive effects of age and sex on muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) responses to exercise are lacking. We tested the hypothesis that older females would exhibit exaggerated increases in blood pressure (BP) and MSNA discharge patterns during handgrip exercise compared with similarly aged males and young adults. Twenty‐five young (25 (2) years; mean (SD)) males (YM; n = 12) and females (YF; n = 13) and 23 older (71 (5) years) males (OM; n = 11) and females (OF; n = 12) underwent assessments of BP, total peripheral resistance (TPR; Modelflow) and MSNA action potential (AP) discharge patterns (microneurography) during incremental rhythmic handgrip exercise and post‐exercise circulatory occlusion (PECO). OM demonstrated larger ∆BP and ∆TPR from baseline than YM (both P < 0.001) despite smaller increases in ∆APs/burst (OM: 0.4 (3) vs. YM: 5 (3) spikes/burst, P < 0.001) and ∆AP clusters/burst (OM: 0.1 (1) vs. YM: 1.8 (1) clusters/burst, P < 0.001) during exercise. Testosterone was lower in OM than YM (P < 0.001) and was inversely related to ∆BP but positively related to ∆AP clusters/burst in males (both P = 0.03). Conversely, YF and OF demonstrated similar ∆BP and ∆AP discharge during exercise (range: P = 0.75–0.96). Age and sex did not impact haemodynamics or AP discharge during PECO (range: P = 0.08‐0.94). Altogether, age‐related changes in neuro‐cardiovascular reactivity exist in males but not females during fatiguing exercise and seem to be related to testosterone. This sex‐specific impact of age underscores the importance of considering biological sex when assessing age‐related changes in neuro‐cardiovascular control during exercise.

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Key points

Older males have the largest increase in blood pressure despite having the smallest increases in sympathetic vasomotor outflow during rhythmic handgrip exercise.

Young males demonstrate greater increases in sympathetic action potential (AP) discharge compared with young females during rhythmic handgrip exercise.

Older adults (regardless of sex) demonstrate smaller increases in muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) burst amplitude and total AP clusters compared with young adults during exercise, as well as smaller increases in integrated MSNA burst frequency, incidence and total MSNA activity during post‐exercise circulatory occlusion (i.e. independent effect of age).

Males, but not females (regardless of age), reflexively modify AP conduction velocity during exercise.

Our results indicate that age and sex independently and interactively impact the neural and cardiovascular homeostatic adjustments to fatiguing small muscle mass exercise.
Bubble Effects on Manufacturing of Silicon Nanowires by Metal-Assisted Chemical Etching
Authors: Lee Pee-Yew , Weng Chun-Jen , Huang Hung Ji , Wu Li-Yan , Lu Guo-Hao , Liu Chao-Feng , Chen Cheng-You , Li Ting-Yu , Lin Yung-Sheng
Published: April 2023

Micro/nano-textured Si wafers manufactured using metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) have been the focus of several studies, but the mechanism of bubble generation during the MACE process affecting textured surfaces has rarely been reported. This study investigated the bubble effect due to the different placement patterns of the Si wafer (face-up, stirred face-down, and face-down). The results indicated that the placement pattern of the Si wafer notably influences the uniformity of outward appearance. At 2 h of etching, the outward appearance uniformity of face-up etching was more homogeneous than that of stirred face-down and face-down patterns, and the Si nanowires (SiNWs) processed through face-up etching were longer (41 μm) than those subjected to stirred face-down etching (36 μm) and face-down etching (32 μm). Therefore, the placement pattern of Si wafer can affect the uniformity and properties of SiNWs because of bubbles trapped inside cavities or between SiNWs.
Can We Get an Intervention, Please? The Utility of Teaming Interventions on Engineering Design Student Psychological Safety
Authors: Scarpinella Samantha , Cole Courtney , Ritter Sarah , Mohammad Susan , Jablokow Kathryn , Miller Scarlett
Published: April 2023

Research on psychological safety has been growing in recent years due to its role in promoting creativity and innovation since teams with high levels of psychological safety feel safe to express ideas and opinions. However, there is limited evidence in how to facilitate or build it within teams, particularly in an educational context. This paper was developed to respond to this research void by identifying the impact of teaming interventions aimed at improving psychological safety in engineering design student teams. Specifically, we studied two cohorts of students in a cornerstone design class (N = 411 students), one who received a series of video interventions and introduced role playing (intervention) and one who did not (control). These role assignments—referred to as the lenses of psychologically safety—were created to promote key leadership attributes that have been shown to be crucial in facilitating psychologically safe teams. To compare the utility of the intervention, psychological safety was gathered at five key time points of a multi-week design project. The results identified three key findings. First, the interventions were successful in increasing psychological safety in engineering teams. In addition, the results indicated the utility of the lenses of psychological safety throughout the design process. Finally, the results identified that groups who used these lenses had higher perceptions of psychological safety in their teams. Overall, these results indicated that psychological safety can be improved in engineering education through the intervention methods described within.
Full Stage Axial Compressor Performance Modeling Incorporating the Effects of Blade Damage Due to Particle Ingestion
Authors: Chirayath Emanuel , Xu Haosen , Yang Xiang , Kunz Robert
Published: April 2023

The damage due to particulate matter ingestion by propulsion gas turbine engines can be significant, impacting the operability and performance of plant components. Here, we focus on the axial compressor whose blades become damaged when operated in dusty/sandy environments, resulting in significant performance degradation. In this work, CFD studies are performed to model the effects of airfoil damage on the first-stage rotor blading of a GE T700–401C compressor. We use thermoplastic additive manufacturing to construct representative physical models of three damage morphologies—ballistically bent/curved leading edges, cragged erosion of leading edges, and eroded leading/tailing edges at outer span locations. The resultant damaged plastic geometries, and a baseline undamaged configuration are then optically scanned and incorporated into sublayer resolved full stage, unsteady RANS analyses. Boundary conditions are imposed that conform to damaged compressor operation protocols, and this iterative process for accommodating corrected mass flow and off-design powering is presented. The results for the three damaged and one undamaged configuration are studied in terms of compressible wave field and secondary/tip flows, spanwise performance parameter distributions and efficiency. A method to estimate the effect of rotor damage on engine SFC is presented. The code, modeling, and meshing strategies pursued here are consistent with a validation study carried out for NASA Rotor 37 — these results are briefly included, and provide confidence in the predictions of the T700 geometry studied. The results provide quantitative comparisons of, and insight into, the physical mechanisms associated with damaged compressor performance degradation.
Parent Descriptions of the Active Play Behaviors of Their Twins and Triplets With Autism
Authors: Abu Itham Marie , Kerpan Serene , Balogh Robert , Lloyd Meghann
Published: April 2023

Children with autism engage in active play in different ways than children who are neurotypical, but their active play behaviors are not well understood. Research with twins and triplets with autism offers a unique opportunity to gain a clear picture of the play behaviors of children with autism because twins and triplets share many similarities (age, access to toys, etc.). Through semistructured interviews, this descriptive phenomenological study aimed to describe the active play behaviors of 19 twins and triplets with autism from the perspective of their parents (N = 9). The interviews revealed two main themes: (a) parents’ descriptions of active play and (b) parents’ descriptions of social play. The results reveal the diverse active and social play behaviors of twins and triplets with autism; parents described their children’s play behavior when engaging in sensory, indoor, outdoor, and organized play. These results suggest that children with autism may be meeting the definition of active play in nontraditional ways.
Complex Lemierre syndrome with multisystemic abscesses
Authors: Bourgeaud Johan , Delabays Benoît , Van den Bogaart Lorena , Ratano Damian
Published: April 2023

We present here the challenging case of severe Lemierre syndrome in a healthy woman in her late twenties, whose clinical presentation was characterised by lung abscesses and disseminated systemic abscesses in the brain, the abdomen and the soft-tissues, as a likely consequence of a patent foramen ovale. Blood cultures were positive forFusobacterium necrophorumand a right lingual vein thrombosis was detected at a late stage when the patient developed a septic shock. Initial antimicrobial therapy with metronidazole and ceftriaxone was modified to meropenem due to progressive worsening. The patient underwent laparoscopy and neurosurgical drainage of a cerebral abscess. She spent many days in the intensive care unit and recovered fully after 6 weeks on meropenem therapy. Although considered rare, the incidence of Lemierre syndrome, a potentially life-threatening condition, is increasing. The clinician should promptly recognise and treat it while being aware of its potential atypical presentations.
Police-led real-time surveillance system for suspected suicides in Great Britain
Authors: Marzano Lisa , Norman Hilary , Sohal Baljit , Hawton Keith , Mann Richard
Published: April 2023

It has become increasingly apparent that rapidly available information about the occurrence of suicides is needed, particularly to support suicide prevention efforts. Concerns about the potential impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerability to suicide highlighted the need for such early data internationally. Here, we set out the nature, current status and content of a real-time suicide monitoring system in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), and explore its potential to contribute to timely and targeted suicide prevention initiatives. We also discuss the challenges to successful implementation.
Management of low back pain in Australian emergency departments for culturally and linguistically diverse populations from 2016 to 2021
Authors: Chen Qiuzhe , Maher Chris G , Rogan Eileen , Machado Gustavo
Published: April 2023

Background

Disparate care in the ED for minority populations with low back pain is a long-standing issue reported in the USA. Our objective was to compare care delivery for low back pain in Australian EDs between culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) and non-CALD patients.

Methods

This is a retrospective review of medical records of the ED of three public hospitals in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia from January 2016 to October 2021. We included adult patients diagnosed with non-serious low back pain at ED discharge. CALD status was defined by country of birth, preferred language and use of interpreter service. The main outcome measures were ambulance transport, lumbar imaging, opioid administration and hospital admission.

Results

Of the 14 642 included presentations, 7656 patients (52.7%) were born overseas, 3695 (25.2%) preferred communicating in a non-English language and 1224 (8.4%) required an interpreter. Patients born overseas were less likely to arrive by ambulance (adjusted OR (aOR) 0.68, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.73) than Australian-born patients. Patients who preferred a non-English language were also less likely to arrive by ambulance (aOR 0.82, 95% CI 0.75 to 0.90), yet more likely to be imaged (aOR 1.12, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.23) or be admitted to hospital (aOR 1.16, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.29) than Native-English-speaking patients. Patients who required an interpreter were more likely to receive imaging (aOR 1.43, 95% CI 1.25 to 1.64) or be admitted (aOR 1.49, 95% CI 1.29 to 1.73) compared with those who communicated independently. CALD patients were generally less likely to receive weak opioids than non-CALD patients (aOR range 0.76–0.87), yet no difference was found in the use of any opioid or strong opioids.

Conclusion

Patients with low back pain from a CALD background, especially those lacking English proficiency, are significantly more likely to be imaged and admitted in Australian EDs. Future interventions improving the quality of ED care for low back pain should give special consideration to CALD patients.
Does an electronic pathology ordering system change the volume and pattern of routine testing in hospital? An interrupted time series analysis
Authors: de Carle Madeleine , Macnab Brooke , Utainrat Jenewa , Herkes-Deane Jessica , Attia John , de Malmanche Theo , Teber Erdahl , Palazzi Kerrin , Scowen Craig , Hure Alexis
Published: April 2023

Aims

Identifying and reducing low-value care is a vital issue in Australia, with pathology test ordering a common focus in this field. This study builds on previous research and aimed to quantify the impact of the implementation of an electronic ordering (e-ordering) system on the volume of pathology testing, compared with manual (paper based) ordering.

Methods

An audit and analysis of pathology test data were conducted, using an interrupted time series design to investigate the impact of the e-ordering system on pathology ordering patterns. All medical and surgical adult inpatients at a tertiary referral hospital in Newcastle, Australia, were included over a 3-year period.

Results

Overall, there were no statistically significant differences in the volume of orders due to the implementation of the e-ordering system. There was a slight increase in the aggregated volume (tests per admission and tests per bed day) of tests ordered across the entire study period, reflecting a secular trend.

Conclusions

Despite providing greater visibility and tracking of orders, we conclude that the implementation of an e-ordering system does not, in and of itself, reduce ordering volume. Efforts to identify and reduce low-value care will require intentional effort and specifically designed educational programmes or hard-wired algorithms.
Industry payments to pathologists in the USA between 2013 and 2021
Authors: Murayama Anju , Hirota Shuto
Published: April 2023

Although proper physician-industry financial relationships are essential for improving patient care, they can also cause potential conflicts of interest. However, little is known about the pathologist-industry financial relationships. Using the 2013-2021 Open Payments Database, this cross-sectional study investigated both research and non-research payments to all pathologists in the USA. Payment data were analyzed descriptively. Of 21,664 pathologists, 49.5% of all pathologists have received payments totaling $356.7 million from the healthcare industry, of which 68.2% were research payments. Median per-physician general and associated research payments (IQR) were $145($49–$575) and $70,926 ($17,450–$299,285) over the nine years. The top 1% of pathologists receiving general payments received 68.0% of all general payments. Male pathologists specializing in blood banking and transfusion medicine and hematopathology are significantly more likely than those not to receive research and non-research payments. This first study provides valuable insights into the financial relationships between pathologists and the healthcare industry.
Eruptive history of the Fort Selkirk area, Central Yukon
Authors: Jackson Lionel E. , Huscroft Crystal A.
Published: April 2023

Lying at the large-scale tectonic boundary between the Yukon Tanana and northern extremity of the Stikinia and Quesnellia terranes, mafic eruptions have occurred over the past 4 million years in the Fort Selkirk area. Eruptions have included effusive (lava), explosive activity, and subglacial and subaqueous eruptions that produced hyaloclastite complexes. Eruptions have dammed or disrupted Yukon River at least five times. These volcanic rocks and interstratified sediments are collectively referred to as the Fort Selkirk Volcanic Group. Eruptions occurred from seven centers with activity progressively moving north. An explanation for the northern migration of volcanism is elusive at present.
Long-term stability of northern hardwoods across a topographic gradient and variations in harvest methods
Authors: Premer Michael , Rogers Nicole S. , Froese Robert E.
Published: April 2023

Increased emphasis on forest complexity, resilience, and biodiversity has renewed interest in northern hardwood forests. In parallel, there is concern of impacts of traditional, timber-oriented regeneration methods on successional trajectories and tree communities. To ensure compatibility of emerging goals with site biological capacity, assessment of common silvicultural methods across forest conditions is imperative. This work utilizes a long-term dataset of 407 sampling plots from the Bartlett Experimental Forest in New Hampshire, USA, over 70 years. Topographic and meteorological variables were utilized to test the effects of site conditions and silviculture on tree species diversity and composition. Results show a decline in diversity over time that reflects a shift toward dominance of late successional species, which vary with site-specific conditions. The effect of silviculture was not detectable, and differences in tree communities were attributed to pre-existing conditions of site variables prior to installation of experimental treatments. Tree diversity and composition for both 1932 and 2003 measurements were correlated with solar insolation, local wind speed, and hydrological catchment area. The collective findings highlight the long-term stability of species under past silvicultural regimes, that some areas are more facilitative/limiting to goals of enhancing tree biodiversity and emerging technologies can capture species–site interactions in northern hardwoods.
Dynamically screened strongly quantized electron transport in binary neutron-star merger
Authors: Sarkar Sreemoyee , Adhya Souvik Priyam
Published: April 2023

We examine electron-transport coefficients in magnetized hot and dense electron-ion plasma relevant in binary neutron star merger simulation. We calculate electrical and thermal conductivities in low density, high temperature, highly magnetized plasma of binary neutron star mergers where quantum oscillatory behavior of electrons emerge. For pronounced thermodynamic effects, we consider zeroth Landau level population of electrons for the calculation of conductivity. We solve Boltzmann equation in presence of magnetic field to obtain the dissipative components of electrical and thermal conductivities. The dissipative coefficients are formulated considering frequency dependent dynamical screening in the quantized electron-ion scattering rate. Numerical estimations show that the effect of dynamical screening of photon propagator on electrical and thermal conductivities is pronounced. We observe that dynamical screening reduces the maxima of both the electrical and thermal conductivities by factors of thirty one and twenty respectively leading to a reduction in the corresponding time scales of these coefficients. The common scaling factor between electrical and thermal conductivity is also observed to follow cubic relationship with temperature violating Wiedemann–Franz law.
About this title - Meandering Streamflows: Patterns and Processes across Landscapes and Scales
Authors: Finotello A. , Durkin P.R. , Sylveseter Z.
Published: April 2023

This volume focuses on similarities and differences of meandering patterns across various landscapes and scales. It explores how different processes are expressed in the kinematics, morphology, sedimentology and stratigraphic architecture of meandering streams. Results from various fields and environments are combined to describe the state-of-the-science on meandering patterns.
From Code Complexity Metrics to Program Comprehension
Authors: Feitelson Dror G.
Published: April 2023

Understanding code depends not only on the code but also on the brain.
Please Report Your Compute
Authors: Sevilla Jaime , Ho Anson , Besiroglu Tamay
Published: April 2023

Seeking consistent means of measure.
AlphaFold Spreads through Protein Science
Authors: Edwards Chris
Published: April 2023

Based on machine learning, DeepMind's code now lies at the heart of a variety of protein-structure tools and workflows. It may ultimately be replaced by models that are bigger but faster.
Women in Computer Science Are Making Strides
Authors: Shein Esther
Published: April 2023

Computer science is still not a level playing field for those women who majored in it and choose to pursue it as a career.
Updates, Threats, and Risk Management
Authors: Lipner Steve , Pescatore John
Published: April 2023

Revisiting a recent column considering security updates.
ChatGPT, Can You Tell Me a Story? An Exercise in Challenging the True Creativity of Generative AI
Authors: Raiola Ralph
Published: April 2023

From the intersection of computational science and technological speculation, with boundaries limited only by our ability to imagine what could be.
Text Polishing with Chinese Idiom: Task, Datasets and Pre-trained Baselines
Authors: Liao Junwei , Cheng Shuai , Tan Minghuan
Published: April 2023

This work presents the task of text polishing, which generates a sentence that is more graceful than the input sentence while retaining its semantic meaning. Text polishing has great value in real usage and is an important component in modern writing assistance systems. However, the task is still not well studied in the literature. Further research in this important direction requires more formal task definitions, benchmark datasets, and powerful baseline models. In this work, we formulate the task as a context-dependent text generation problem and conduct a case study on the text polishing with Chinese idiom. To circumvent the difficulties of task data annotation, we propose a semi-automatic data construction pipeline based on human-machine collaboration, and establish a large-scale text polishing dataset consisting of 1.5 million instances. We propose two types of task-specific pre-training objectives for the text polishing task and implement a series of Transformer-based models pre-trained on a massive Chinese corpus as baselines. We conduct extensive experiments with the baseline models on the constructed text polishing datasets and have some major findings. The human evaluation further reveals the polishing ability of the final system.
Comparing User Space and In-Kernel Packet Processing for Edge Data Centers
Authors: Parola Federico , Procopio Roberto , Querio Roberto , Risso Fulvio
Published: April 2023

Telecommunication operators are massively moving their network functions in small data centers at the edge of the network, which are becoming increasingly common. However, the high performance provided by commonly used technologies for data plane processing such as DPDK, based on kernel-bypass primitives, comes at the cost of rigid resource partitioning. This is unsuitable for edge data centers, in which efficiency demands both general-purpose applications and data-plane telco workloads to be executed on the same (shared) physical machines. In this respect, eBPF/XDP looks a more appealing solution, thanks to its capability to process packets in the kernel, achieving a higher level of integration with non-data plane applications albeit with lower performance than DPDK. In this paper we leverage the recent introduction of AF_XDP, an XDP-based technology that allows to efficiently steer packets in user space, to provide a thorough comparison of user space vs in-kernel packet processing in typical scenarios of a data center at the edge of the network. Our results provide useful insights on how to select and combine these technologies in order to improve overall throughput and optimize resource usage.
Who Squats IPv4 Addresses?
Authors: Salamatian Loqman , Arnold Todd , Cunha Ítalo , Zhu Jiangchen , Zhang Yunfan , Katz-Bassett Ethan , Calder Matt
Published: April 2023

To mitigate IPv4 exhaustion, IPv6 provides expanded address space, and NAT allows a single public IPv4 address to suffice for many devices assigned private IPv4 address space. Even though NAT has greatly extended the shelf-life of IPv4, some networks need more private IPv4 space than what is officially allocated by IANA due to their size and/or network management practices. Some of these networks resort to using
squat space
, a term the network operations community uses for large public IPv4 address blocks allocated to organizations but historically never announced to the Internet. While squatting of IP addresses is an open secret, it introduces ethical, legal, and technical problems. In this work we examine billions of traceroutes to identify thousands of organizations squatting. We examine how they are using it and what happened when the US Department of Defense suddenly started announcing what had traditionally been squat space. In addition to shining light on a dirty secret of operational practices, our paper shows that squatting distorts common Internet measurement methodologies, which we argue have to be re-examined to account for squat space.
An Interview with Kalyanmoy Deb 2022 ACM Fellow
Authors: Deb Kalyanmoy
Published: April 2023

Prof. Kalyanmoy Deb has been named one of the 2022 ACM Fellows for "Outstanding Contributions That Propel Technology Today", in particular for his "technical contributions in evolutionary multi-objective optimization algorithms and multi-criterion decision support."

Kalyanmoy kindly agreed to answer all our questions, ranging from his seminal contributions to his views and perspectives on evolutionary computation and its role within computing science and artificial Intelligence.
Real Time Fiducial Marker Localisation System with Full 6 DOF Pose Estimation
Authors: Ulrich Jiří , Blaha Jan , Alsayed Ahmad , Rouček Tomáš , Arvin Farshad , Krajník Tomáš
Published: April 2023

The ability to reliably determine its own position, as well as the position of surrounding objects, is crucial for any autonomous robot. While this can be achieved with a certain degree of reliability, augmenting the environment with artificial markers that make these tasks easier is often practical. This applies especially to the evaluation of robotic experiments, which often require exact ground truth data containing the positions of the robots. This paper proposes a new method for estimating the position and orientation of circular fiducial markers in 3D space. Simulated and real experiments show that our method achieved three times lower localisation error than the method it derived from. The experiments also indicate that our method outperforms state-of-the-art systems in terms of orientation estimation precision while maintaining similar or better accuracy in position estimation. Moreover, our method is computationally efficient, allowing it to detect and localise several markers in a fraction of the time required by the state-of-the-art fiducial markers. Furthermore, the presented method requires only an off-the-shelf camera and printed tags, can be quickly set up and works in natural light conditions outdoors. These properties make it a viable alternative to expensive high-end localisation systems.
Advancing Drug Discovery with Deep Learning: Harnessing Reinforcement Learning and One-Shot Learning for Molecular Design in Low-Data Situations
Authors: Dong Liang (Leon) , Qian Yuchen , Gonzalez Paulina , Öz Orhan K. , Sun Xiankai
Published: April 2023

Drug discovery is a complex process that involves exploring vast chemical spaces to identify potential candidates for the development of effective drugs. While deep learning techniques have shown significant promise in data mining and can be used for molecular design, most drug discovery projects face limitations in low-data situations, making it difficult to train deep learning neural networks. In response to this challenge, this paper proposes a novel drug design system based on deep learning that adopts one-shot learning and reinforcement learning to operate in low-data conditions and generate new molecules with desired properties. Numerical experimental results show that our system can produce valid molecules with desired properties, including high negative logarithm of the half maximal inhibitory concentration (pIC50) values and logarithmic partition co-efficients (log
P
) values between 0 and 5. This model is applicable to other molecular design projects with limited data sets, thereby enhancing drug discovery efficiency and effectiveness.
A Medium-Temperature All-Solid-State Sodium Battery Utilizing Sodium-Beta Alumina and a Polymeric Composite Positive Electrode
Authors: Fertig Micha P. , Skadell Karl , Wegner Karl , Schulz Matthias , Stelter Michael
Published: April 2023

Li-ion batteries often use transition metal oxide (TMO) positive electrodes. Sodium-based analogs are also an excellent option for all-solid-state sodium-based batteries. However, combining TMOs with solid electrolytes is challenging, both being rigid in nature. In this work, we use a polymeric secondary electrolyte to combine a sodium manganese oxide composite positive electrode with a sodium-beta alumina solid electrolyte (BASE) to an all-solid-state sodium battery. The composite electrode exhibits intimate interface contact with the solid electrolyte and well-established intra-electrode conduction pathways because mechanical flexible poly(ethylene oxide) acts as an ionically conducting auxiliary agent. The composite electrode shows an ionic conductivity of 5.5·10−6 S cm−1 at 80 °C. The careful co-treatment of the Na|BASE interface, resulting in a superior cycling stability of 1000 h at 0.35 mA cm−2 in a symmetric cell, enhances sodium’s wettability to the BASE surface. The full cell achieves an initial discharge capacity of 80 mAh g−1 at an average voltage of 2.78 V vs Na+/Na, corresponding to a specific energy of 155 Wh kg−1 (positive electrode). Hence, we provide a proof-of-concept for all-solid-state cells, which paves the way for numerous combinations of well-conducting polymeric secondary electrolytes with TMO active materials and BASE.
Combined Hydrogen Potentiometry and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy Approach for Quantification of Oxygen Reduction Kinetics at Buried Metal/Organic Coating Interfaces
Authors: Tripathy Rasmi Ranjan , Vijayshankar Dandapani
Published: April 2023

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is considered a key electrochemical reaction, the kinetics of which are complex and challenging to quantify, even more at such buried metal/polymer interface. Here in this work, a novel approach independent of the polymer barrier property has been developed to quantitively characterize ORR kinetics using a combined hydrogen potentiometry (HP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) approach. For the ORR measured using EIS on the front side of a bare Pd membrane exposed to an alkaline NaOH electrolyte, a 5-fold decrease in the charge transfer resistance (RCT) indicated the progress of ORR, in stark contrast to a corresponding 2-fold increase in inert N2atmosphere. For a polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA)/Pd interface, a 30-fold decrease in RCTas compared to bare Pd correlated well with a cathodic shift of around 50 mV (1 pH unit) in the current-potential I(U) curve. At a molecularly tailored octane-thiol/Pd interface, ORR kinetics was highly inhibited, with the current-potential I(U) curve shifted in the cathodic direction by 190 mV, as compared to the Pd/PMMA interface at a charging (ORR) current of −25μA cm−2. This could be successfully correlated to a 100-fold decrease in RCTvalue indicating interface sensitivity of this HP-EIS combined technique.
Interactive Clothing Optimization Design Model Based on 3D Printing
Authors: Sun Youxia
Published: April 2023

In order to solve the problem of improving the matching degree between the designed clothing and the user’s body shape, the author proposes an interactive clothing optimization design model based on 3D printing. The user logs in to the system through the user layer, and the display layer uses 3D scanning technology to scan the human head, torso, and other information to collect human body data, and project the collected human body data to obtain the human body outline, select the human body contour line obtained by the denoising process of the interpolation algorithm, extract the feature points of the human body contour line after the denoising process through the corner point detection method, and use the final feature points to obtain the final contour line, the 3D human body data file is generated and sent to the interface layer, the interface layer designs clothing through style design, adding colors and patterns, and uses the global optimization method to adaptively adjust the clothing pieces to achieve clothing design, fit the designed clothing through the virtual fitting module until it meets the user’s needs. Experimental results show that: The system collects user size with an accuracy of higher than 99.5%, and the number of iterations for adaptive adjustment of human body size is less than 30 times. Conclusion: The designed clothing virtual design system can effectively make up for the blank of clothing e-commerce, with high innovation and high practicability.
Joint Optimization of Resources in Fog-Radio Access Network with Binary Computation Offloading
Authors: Bai Wenle , Wang Zhuoqi
Published: April 2023

With the dramatic increase in the number of emerging Internet services, the Fog-Radio Access Network (F-RAN) has recently emerged as a promising paradigm to enhance high-load task processing capabilities for mobile devices, such as the Internet of things (IoT) and mobile terminals. Hence, it becomes a challenge for the F-RAN to reduce the offloading cost by designing an effective offloading strategy and rational planning of limited network resources to improve the quality of experience (QoE). This article investigates the F-RAN with a binary offload policy. It proposes an intelligent algorithm capable of optimally adapting to task offload policy, fog computing resource allocation, and offload channel resource allocation. To evaluate the offloading strategy intuitively, we design a system utility metric defined as a delay-energy weighted sum. The joint optimization problem is converted into a convex problem based on this metric, i.e., a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) problem. A novel algorithm based on improved double-deep Q neural networks is DDQN, which is proposed to address this problem. Furthermore, an action space mapping method in the DDQN framework is presented to obtain offloading decisions. Extensive experimental data indicate that the proposed DDQN algorithm can effectively reduce the offloading cost and is adaptable to different offloading scenarios.
Machine Learning Predicts the Oxidative Stress Subtypes Provide an Innovative Insight into Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Zhong Haitao , Yang Le , Zeng Qingshang , Chen Weidong , Zhao Haibo , Wu Linlin , Qin Lei , Yu Qing-Qing
Published: April 2023

So far, it has been reached the academic consensus that the molecular subtypes are via genomic heterogeneity and immune infiltration patterns. Considering that oxidative stress (OS) is involved in tumorigenesis and prognosis prediction, we propose an innovative classification of colorectal cancer- (CRC-) OS subtypes. We obtain three datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) online databases. 1399 OS-related genes were selected from the GeneCards database. We remove the batch effect before conducting differentially expressed genes (DEGs) analyses between normal and tumor samples. Nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF) was used to perform an unsupervised cluster. Lasso regression and Cox regression were used to construct the signature model. DEGs, robust rank aggregation, and protein-protein interaction networks were used to select hub genes, and then use hub genes to predict OS subtypes by random forest algorithms. NMF identifies two OS-related subtypes of CRC patients. Eight OS-related gene signatures were built to predict the outcome of patients, based on the DEGs between two subtypes. A total of 61 DEGs overlap each dataset, and the RRA analysis shows that 17 genes are important in these three datasets, and 15 genes are shared genes between the two methods. PPI network suggests that five hub genes are confirmed, they are SPP1, SERPINE1, CAV1, PDGFRB, and PLAU. These five hub genes could predict the OS-related subtype of CRC accurately with AUC equal to 0.771. In our study, we identify two OS-related subtypes, which will provide an innovative insight into colorectal cancer.
SecureMed: A Blockchain-Based Privacy-Preserving Framework for Internet of Medical Things
Authors: Rafique Wajid , Khan Maqbool , Khan Salabat , Ally Juma Said
Published: April 2023

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) connects a huge amount of smart sensors with the Internet for healthcare service provisioning. IoMT’s privacy-preserving becomes a challenge considering the life-saving data collected and transferred through IoMT. Traditional privacy protection techniques use centralized management strategies, which lead to a single point of failure, lack of trust, state modification, information disclosure, and identity theft. Edge computing enables local computation of IoMT data, which reduces traffic to the cloud and also helps in accomplishing latency-sensitive healthcare applications and services. This paper proposes a novel framework (i.e., SecureMed) that uses blockchain-based distributed authentication implemented at the edge cloudlets to enforce privacy protection. In SecureMed, IoMT devices interact with edge cloudlets using smart contracts. It uses trusted edge nodes to implement an authentication algorithm that uses public/private key matching to authenticate IoMT. Experimental evaluation performed using the Pythereum blockchain shows that SecureMed outperforms the traditional blockchain scheme based on latency, bandwidth consumption, deployment time, scalability, and accuracy. Therefore, it can be used to protect the edge-enabled IoMT from privacy attacks and to ensure end-to-end healthcare service provisioning.
Effects of Lecithin/Sorbitol Monostearate-Canola Oil Oleogel as Animal Fat Replacer on the Fatty Acid Composition and Physicochemical Properties of Lamb Sausage
Authors: Kong Weizhou , Wang Liping , Xu Hao , Liu Dunhua
Published: April 2023

In the study, the oleogel developed by lecithin/sorbitol monostearate (SMS) with canola oil was prepared and used as lamb fat replacer (0, 25, 50, 75, and 100%) for lamb sausage. Lecithin/SMS-canola oil oleogel decreased the cooking loss, hardness, springiness, chewiness and resilience of sausage, without affecting the cohesiveness. The ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acid increased from 1.12 to 3.38 as the replacement increased from 0 to 100%, presenting a health implication. The sensory scores showed no significant difference when the replacement was lower than 50%. The TBARS values of treatment groups were significantly lower than the control after 24 d storage, indicating the retard of lipid oxidation. These findings suggest that 50% replacement of lamb fat with lecithin/SMS-canola oil oleogels may be the optimal for lamb sausages, which provide new information for developing healthy meat products.
Discovery of New Ligand with Quinoline Scaffold as Potent Allosteric Inhibitor of HIV-1 and Its Copper Complexes as a Powerful Catalyst for the Synthesis of Chiral Benzimidazole Derivatives, and in Silico Anti-HIV-1 Studies
Authors: Azimi Sabikeh G. , Bagherzade Ghodsieh , Saberi Mohammad Reza , Amiri Tehranizadeh Zeinab
Published: April 2023

In this paper, the novel Schiff base ligand containing quinoline moiety and its novel copper chelate complexes were successfully prepared. The catalytic activity of the final complex in the organic reaction such as synthesis of chiral benzimidazoles and anti-HIV-1 activity of Schiff base ligand and the products of this reaction were investigated. In addition, green chemistry reactions using microwaves, powerful catalyst synthesis, green recovery and reusability, and separation of products with economic, safe, and clean methods (green chemistry) are among the advantages of this protocol. The potency of these compounds as anti-HIV-1 agents was investigated using molecular docking into integrase (IN) enzyme with code 1QS4 and the GROMACS software for molecular dynamics simulation. The final steps were evaluated in case of RMSD, RMSF, and Rg. The results revealed that the compound VII exhibit a good binding affinity to integrase (

Δ
g

 = −10.99 kcal/mol) during 100 ns simulation time, and the analysis of RMSD suggested that compound VII was stable in the binding site of integrase.
TRIM9 Interacts with ZEB1 to Suppress Esophageal Cancer by Promoting ZEB1 Protein Degradation via the UPP Pathway
Authors: Lin Zhaoxian , Huang Jianyuan , Zhu Lihuan , Lin Xing , Huang Yangyun , Chen Chun , Pan Xiaojie
Published: April 2023

Background. Esophageal cancer remains one of the most lethal malignant diseases globally. Previous studies indicated that TRIM9 (Tripartite Motif Containing 9) is a potential marker in breast cancer patients. Therefore, in the current research, we intended to clarify the regulatory network of TRIM9 and its relative role in esophageal cancer patients. We aimed to elucidate the regulatory role of TRIM9 in esophageal cancer. Methods. Clinical tumor tissue samples combined with cancer cell line models were utilized to explore the TRIM9 expression pattern. Functional experiments including transwell assay, cell viability assay, and ubiquitination blocking experiments were performed to evaluate the role of the TRIM9/ZEB1 (zinc finger E‐box binding homeobox 1) axis and UPP pathway in esophageal cancer progression and exacerbation. Results. Both esophageal cancer samples and cell line models showed significantly suppressed levels of TRIM9. Functional experiments confirmed that TRIM9 overexpression inhibited the cell viability, invasiveness, and stem‐like phenotype of cancer cells. Subsequent investigations suggested that TRIM9‐ZEB1 interaction accelerated ZEB1 protein degradation through the modulation of the UPP pathway, which confirmed the protective role of TRIM9 in esophageal cancer progression and metastasis. Conclusion. This study concluded that TRIM9 was a tumor suppressor that interacted with ZEB1 and accelerated ZEB1 protein degradation via the ubiquitin‐proteasome pathway (UPP). Our research emphasized TRIM9‐ZEB1 interaction as a valuable target for esophageal cancer treatment in future development. More detailed studies are needed to further consolidate our findings.
Multisensor Intelligent Fall Perception Algorithm considering Precise Classification of Human Behavior Characteristics
Authors: Ding Yafei
Published: April 2023

In order to improve the accuracy and efficiency of human motion perception, a multisensor intelligent fall perception algorithm considering the precise classification of human behavior characteristics is proposed. Multisensor devices (smart watches, smart phones) collect data such as acceleration and heart rate of the human body to obtain human behavior data. On the basis of human behavior data collection, the acceleration characteristics of a falling state are extracted, and the SVM method is used to classify human behavior characteristics. Cuckoo search is used to optimize the width of the SVM kernel and improve the accuracy of human behavior recognition. Finally, based on the behavior recognition results, the intelligent perception of human falling behavior is realized through the exercise preparation potential. The experimental results show that the perceptual accuracy of this method is high, which has reached 90%, and the perception efficiency is higher. The minimum perception time is only 0.56 s, which fully verifies the effectiveness of this method. It can be widely used in human‐computer interaction, machine vision, and other fields.
Prognostic and Immunological Significance of the Molecular Subtypes and Risk Signatures Based on Cuproptosis in Hepatocellular Carcinoma
Authors: Tang Xiaolong , Ren Xiangqing , Huang Tian , Miao Yandong , Ha Wuhua , Li Zheng , Yang Lixia , Mi Denghai
Published: April 2023

Background. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains a challenging medical problem. Cuproptosis is a novel form of cell death that plays a crucial role in tumorigenesis, angiogenesis, and metastasis. However, it remains unclear whether cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) influence the outcomes and immune microenvironment of HCC patients. Method. From The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) databases, we obtained the mRNA expression file and related clinical information of HCC patients. We selected 19 CRGs as candidate genes for this study according to previous literature. We performed a differential expression analysis of the 19 CRGs between malignant and precancerous tissue. Based on the 19 CRGs, we enrolled cluster analysis to identify cuproptosis-related subtypes of HCC patients. A prognostic risk signature was created utilizing univariate Cox regression and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression analyses. We employed independent and stratification survival analyses to investigate the predictive value of this model. The functional enrichment features, mutation signatures, immune profile, and response to immunotherapy of HCC patients were also investigated according to the two molecular subtypes and the prognostic signature. Results. We found that 17 CRGs significantly differed in HCC versus normal samples. Cluster analysis showed two distinct molecular subtypes of cuproptosis. Cluster 1 is preferentially related to poor prognosis, high activity of immune response signaling, high mutant frequency of TP53, and distinct immune cell infiltration versus cluster 2. Through univariate and LASSO Cox regression analyses, we created a cuproptosis-related prognostic risk signature containing LIPT1, DLAT, MTF1, GLS, and CDKN2A. High-risk HCC patients were shown to have a worse prognosis. The risk signature was proved to be an independent predictor of prognosis in both the TCGA and ICGC datasets, according to multivariate analysis. The signature also performed well in different stratification of clinical features. The immune cells, which included regulatory T cells (Treg), B cells, macrophages, mast cells, NK cells, and aDCs, as well as immune functions containing cytolytic activity, MHC class I, and type II IFN response, were remarkably distinct between the high-risk and low-risk groups. The tumor immune dysfunction and exclusion (TIDE) score suggested that high-risk patients had a higher response rate to immune checkpoint inhibitors than low-risk patients. Conclusion. This research discovered the potential prognostic and immunological significance of cuproptosis in HCC, improved the understanding of cuproptosis, and may deliver new directions for developing more efficacious therapeutic techniques for HCC patients.