bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Burst Pressure Solutions of Thin and Thick-Walled Cylindrical Vessels
Authors: Zhu Xian-Kui , Wiersma Bruce , Johnson William R. , Sindelar Robert
Published: April 2023

Pressure vessels (PVs) are widely used in the energy industry. Accurate burst pressure is critical to structural design and safe operation for both thin and thick-walled PVs. The traditional strength theories utilized a single-parameter material property, such as the yield stress or the ultimate tensile stress (UTS) to develop failure models for determining the yield or ultimate pressure carrying capacity in the PV design. The UTS-based Barlow formula is a typical burst pressure model developed from the Tresca strength theory that provides the basis for developing regulation rules and failure models for different industry design codes, such as ASME BPVC, ASME B31.3, and ASME B31G, among others. In order to reduce the conservatism of the Tresca strength model, ASME BPVC recently adapted failure models developed from the von Mises strength theory for the PV design and analysis. It has been commonly accepted that the burst pressure of pipelines depends on the UTS and strain hardening exponent, n, of the pipeline steel. An average shear stress yield theory was thus developed, and the Zhu-Leis solution of burst pressure was obtained as a function of UTS and n for thin-walled line pipes. Experiments showed that the Zhu-Leis solution provides an accurate, reliable prediction of burst pressure for defect-free thin-walled pipes. In order to extend the Zhu–Leis solution to thick-walled cylindrical PVs, this paper defined three new flow stresses, modified the traditional strength theories, and obtained three new burst pressure solutions that are valid for both thin and thick-walled cylindrical vessels. The proposed flow stresses are able to describe the tensile strength and the plastic flow response of PVs for a strain hardening steel. The associated strength theories were then developed in terms of the Tresca, von Mises, and Zhu-Leis yield criteria. From these new strength theories, three burst pressure solutions were obtained for thick-walled cylinders, where the von Mises solution is an upper bound prediction, the Tresca solution is a lower bound prediction, and the Zhu-Leis solution is an intermediate prediction of burst pressure for thick-walled cylinders. Finally, the proposed burst pressure solutions were evaluated and validated by two large datasets of full-scale burst tests for thick-walled tubes and for thin-walled pipes.
Design and Experiment Research of a Novel Retrievable Peripheral Vascular Stent
Authors: Guo Jingzhen , Mao Lin , Song Chengli , Shi Yiling , Tian Yongji
Published: April 2023

Restenosis after stent implantation is a major limitation of revascularization technique. Retrieving the stent safely and smoothly after the vascular remodeling is completed shows important clinical value. In this paper, a novel retrievable peripheral vascular stent and its modified retrieval platform were developed and a finite element analysis (FEA) model was established to study the retrieval process of the stent. Meanwhile, the safety and feasibility of the retrievable stent were assessed through in vivo experiments. The maximum strain of the stent is 6.87% during the whole retrieval process, which is less than the ultimate elastic strain of nitinol alloy. The simulation results indicate that the stent is not damaged during the whole retrieval process. Finally, the stents were implanted into Bama miniature pigs to assess the retrieval process, and the results suggest that the stents can be retrieved successfully within 30 min after implantation, and minor local mechanical injury can be found in the intimal layer of the blood vessel due to the deployment and retrieval of the stent. Studies presented in this work illustrate the feasibility of a novel retrievable peripheral vascular stent, providing an additional avenue to reduce the risk of restenosis.
Evaluating the in Vitro Mechanical Responses of Stem Cell Under Fluid Perfusion in Different Porous Scaffolds
Authors: Majumder Santanu , Gupta Abhisek , Choudhury Sandeep , Roy chowdhury Amit
Published: April 2023

A suitable scaffold architecture is always desirable to get a favorable tissue response for bone tissue engineering. In this regard, a fluid-structure interaction analysis was carried out on different porous scaffolds to observe the in vitro mechanical responses due to fluid flow, followed by a submodeling method to obtain the cellular deformation and strain. Different types of scaffolds were designed based on different porosity and architecture. The cell was modelled with cytoplasm, nucleus, cell membrane, and cytoskeletons. The main objective of the study is to examine the variation of cellular responses due to different porosity and architecture of the scaffold. The results of this study highlight that permeability is higher in the case of gyroid structure and wall shear stress (WSS) is higher in the case of diamond structure. The permeability of all scaffolds increases with the increase of porosity. The opposite trend is shown in the case of WSS within scaffolds. The cell is showing higher deformation when it is placed on the front position of the scaffold towards the direction of fluid flow. This study will guide us in predicting an ideal scaffold for better cell growth.
Control by atomic layer deposition over the chemical composition of nickel cobalt oxide for the oxygen evolution reaction
Authors: van Limpt Renee T. M. , Lavorenti Marek , Verheijen Marcel A. , Tsampas Mihalis N. , Creatore Mariadriana
Published: April 2023

Anion exchange membrane water electrolysis (AEMWE) is a promising technology for renewable electricity-driven water splitting toward hydrogen production. However, application of AEMWE at industrial scale requires the development of oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalysts showing long-term stability under mild alkaline conditions. Among these, nickel cobalt oxide thin films are considered promising candidates. The ideal chemical composition of these oxides remains debatable, with recent literature indicating that rock-salt NiCoO2 may exhibit similar OER activity as the traditional spinel NiCo2O4. In this work, we present the development of a plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (ALD) process of nickel cobalt oxide thin films (∼20 nm) with focus on the role of their chemical composition and crystal structure on the OER activity. The film composition is tuned using a supercycle approach built upon CoOx cycles with CoCp2 as a precursor and O2 plasma as a co-reactant and NiOx cycles with Ni(MeCp)2 as a precursor and O2 plasma as a co-reactant. The films exhibit a change in the crystallographic phase from the rock-salt to spinel structure for increasing cobalt at. %. This change is accompanied by an increase in the Ni3+-to-Ni2+ ratio. Interestingly, an increase in electrical conductivity is observed for mixed oxides, with an optimum of (2.4 ± 0.2) × 102 S/cm at 64 at. % Co, outperforming both NiO and Co3O4 by several orders of magnitude. An optimal electrocatalytic performance is observed for 80 at. % Co films. Cyclic voltammetry measurements simultaneously show a strong dependence of the OER-catalytic performance on the electrical conductivity. The present study highlights the merit of ALD in controlling the nickel cobalt oxide chemical composition and crystal structure to gain insight into its electrocatalytic performance. Moreover, these results suggest that it is important to disentangle conductivity effects from the electrocatalytic activity in future work.
Age-related reduction of amplitude modulation frequency selectivity
Authors: Regev Jonathan , Zaar Johannes , Relaño-Iborra Helia , Dau Torsten
Published: April 2023

The perception of amplitude modulations (AMs) has been characterized by a frequency-selective process in the temporal envelope domain and simulated in computational auditory processing and perception models using a modulation filterbank. Such AM frequency-selective processing has been argued to be critical for the perception of complex sounds, including speech. This study aimed at investigating the effects of age on behavioral AM frequency selectivity in young (n = 11, 22–29 years) versus older (n = 10, 57–77 years) listeners with normal hearing, using a simultaneous AM masking paradigm with a sinusoidal carrier (2.8 kHz), target modulation frequencies of 4, 16, 64, and 128 Hz, and narrowband-noise modulation maskers. A reduction of AM frequency selectivity by a factor of up to 2 was found in the older listeners. While the observed AM selectivity co-varied with the unmasked AM detection sensitivity, the age-related broadening of the masked threshold patterns remained stable even when AM sensitivity was similar across groups for an extended stimulus duration. The results from the present study might provide a valuable basis for further investigations exploring the effects of age and reduced AM frequency selectivity on complex sound perception as well as the interaction of age and hearing impairment on AM processing and perception.
Low frequency ambient noise dynamics and trends in the Indian Ocean, Cape Leeuwin, Australia
Authors: Park Joseph , Haralabus Georgios , Zampolli Mario , Metz Dirk
Published: April 2023

Examination of 18 years of nearly continuous low frequency deep ocean ambient noise offshore Cape Leeuwin, Australia, finds evidence of a decreasing nonlinear trend suggestive of long-term cyclic dynamics. The nonlinear trend is found to be consistent with trends in oceanographic sea surface temperature, which are thought to drive changes in Antarctic sea ice extent. Assessment of oscillatory dynamics finds causal covariance between ambient noise levels and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature dipoles. Dynamics of annual ambient noise and Antarctic sea ice extent are examined suggesting a phase-locked relationship revealing nonlinear characteristics of the presumed dependence. Collectively, the hypotheses that deep water ambient noise dynamics in the Indian Ocean are influenced by Antarctic sea ice extent and melt dynamics and that linear models do not fully capture long-term ambient noise trends and dynamics are supported.
Sodium Humate-Derived Gut Microbiota Ameliorates Intestinal Dysfunction Induced by
Salmonella
Typhimurium in Mice
Authors: Wang Dong , Zheng Yingce , Fan Yuying , He Yanjun , Liu Kexin , Deng Shouxiang , Liu Yun
Published: April 2023

Salmonella
Typhimurium is an important zoonotic pathogen, widely distributed in nature.
S
. Typhimurium is one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses worldwide, and more than 350,000 people died from
Salmonella
infection each year, which poses a substantial risk to public health and causes a considerable economic loss.
Atraumatic intraoral buccal fat pad herniation in a neonate
Authors: Menezes Clyde Richard , Raju Rajkiran , John Deepa Susan , Mahadevaiah Shubha
Published: April 2023

An approximately 2-day-old neonate was brought with a fleshy intraoral mass and an inability to suckle adequately, without a preceding history of trauma. Contrast-enhanced CT revealed a fat density mass-like lesion occupying and partially filling the oral cavity. Following detection of a defect in the buccinator muscle with associated herniation of the buccal pad of fat into the mouth, a surgical approach was adopted to tackle the condition. Intraoperatively, the defects in the buccinator muscle and buccal mucosa were repaired after excision of the prolapsed fat pad. Age-appropriate feeding practices were initiated following surgery without residual anatomical or functional limitation. Early radiological diagnosis directing surgical intervention was helpful in management of a benign but functionally impeding lesion.
Developing a post-myocardial infarction medicines optimisation clinic: core competencies for upskilling pharmacists and initial patient feedback
Authors: Price Ruth , Wilson Franki , Hall Alistair , McGawley Gina , Laverty Una , Pepper Chris , Khatib Rani
Published: April 2023

Background

Medicines optimisation and adherence support are essential to secondary prevention after myocardial infarction (MI). Following successful implementation of a consultant pharmacist-led post-MI medicines optimisation clinic, the service was expanded by training advanced clinical pharmacists to manage clinics (with appropriate multidisciplinary team support).

Methods

Key steps in the development process were: definition of a key competency framework based on relevant qualifications and experience, knowledge, skills and clinic management practicalities; creation and enaction of trainee-specific development plans to address gaps (including independent learning, teaching from multidisciplinary colleagues and shadowing in clinics); establishment of relevant protocols and proformas to ensure consistent standards (eg, a patient self-reporting tool for identifying adherence barriers, consultation proforma, directory of clinical parameters and pathway for onward referral when needed); phased clinic roll-out, initially under supervision; and gathering of feedback from patients and colleagues. Clinic letters from 50 attending patients were reviewed to quantify resulting interventions; the first 50 anonymously completed patient feedback questionnaires were also analysed.

Results

Expansion of the service initially doubled capacity. A review of clinic letters from attending patients demonstrated that various interventions were recommended, including further investigations, medication changes, lifestyle adjustments and onward referrals. Most respondents to the patient feedback questionnaire thought the clinic was patient friendly and welcoming (n=48/50; 96%); felt listened to (n=48/50; 96%); considered that adequate explanation was given (n=47/50; 94%); and felt clear plans were provided (n=45/49; 92%). Most agreed that it was valuable (n=44/50; 88%), and the mean rating was 4.48 (on a scale of 1 (very poor) to 5 (excellent)).

Conclusions

A person-centred post-MI medicines optimisation service was successfully delivered by appropriately trained advanced cardiology pharmacists. A structured competency framework and training programme were required, but once completed, the clinic was highly valued by patients. A similar model could be rolled out elsewhere with adaption to local requirements.
Short- versus long-term Dual AntiPlatelet Therapy for Stent-Assisted treatment of CErebral aneurysm (DAPTS ACE): a multicenter, open-label, randomized clinical trial
Authors: Ozaki Tomohiko , Yamagami Hiroshi , Morimoto Masafumi , Hatano Taketo , Oishi Hidenori , Haraguchi Koichi , Yoshimura Shinichi , Sugiu Kenji , Iihara Koji , Matsumaru Yuji , Matsumoto Yasushi , Satow Tetsu , Hayakawa Mikito , Sakai Chiaki , Miyamoto Susumu , Kitagawa Kazuo , Daimon Takashi , Kagimura Tatsuo , Sakai Nobuyuki
Published: April 2023

Background

The optimal duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after stent-assisted coil embolization (SACE) for cerebral aneurysm remains uncertain. This randomized trial of short- versus long-term Dual AntiPlatelet Therapy for Stent-Assisted treatment of CErebral aneurysm (DAPTS ACE) aimed to clarify whether long-term DAPT can reduce the occurrence of ischemic stroke in patients with cerebral aneurysms treated by SACE compared with short-term DAPT.

Methods

Patients treated for cerebral aneurysm with SACE were enrolled from 17 hospitals in Japan. Patients were enrolled within 30 days after SACE and assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive long-term (12 months) or short-term (3 months) DAPT with aspirin and clopidogrel. Randomization was performed centrally through a web-based system. The primary outcome was the time to ischemic stroke event during 3 to 12 months after SACE. This trial was registered with the Japan Registry of Clinical Trials (jRCTs051180141).

Results

A total of 142 patients were recruited from November 4, 2016 to January 7, 2019. Among them, 65 and 68 patients assigned to the long- and short-term DAPT groups, respectively, were included in the full analysis set. Ischemic stroke occurred in no patients in the long-term DAPT group and in one patient in the short-term DAPT group. The incidence rate did not differ between the groups (0.0 vs 2.1/100 person-years; log rank test, P=0.33).

Conclusions

In this multicenter randomized controlled trial, there was not a statistically significant difference in the rate of ischemic strokes between long- and short-term DAPT.
Gender, race and class at work: enlisting African health labour into the Gold Coast Medical Service, 1860–1957
Authors: Tomdi Lucky
Published: April 2023

From the mid-nineteenth century, the people of the Gold Coast formed an essential component of the missionary and early colonial medical services (CMS). The labour of the people was mainly confined to the category of medical auxiliaries. Enlisting these African auxiliaries into the medical service took place within gendered, racial and class boundaries. Yet, the historiography of the Gold Coast does not overtly address the interplay of gender, race and class in connection with the work of African health auxiliaries. This article examines the intersection of race, gender and class in the employment and training of African health labour in the Gold Coast. It argues that European and African gendered ideologies, racial discrimination and class difference influenced the recruitment of Africans into early colonial and missionary medical services. This article is largely based on qualitative research and critical reading and re-reading of textual records. The records include colonial medical reports obtained from the digital archives of the Wellcome Library in London, Manhyia Archives of Ghana, and Public Records and Archives Administration Department in Kumase of Ghana. Books and dissertations were critically re-examined for fragmented details about these auxiliary workers. This article reveals that men dominated the categories of African health labour, that is doctors, orderlies, dispensers, nurses and midwives until the 1940s when more women began to enter the CMS. The relationship between African and European medical staff, and colonial administrators within the Gold Coast Medical Department from the 1890s shows the existence of racial discrimination largely based on physical appearance and intellectualism. Recruiting Africans into the CMS was necessary to augment insufficient European staffing across many occupations, but not to the same rank and class. This research identifies the pathways into the formalised health professions in Ghana within the context of colonial and missionary medicine.
Prostheses of disability: Islamic fundamentalism and the disabled body in postcolonial Arab fiction
Authors: Hamdar Abir
Published: April 2023

This essay focuses on the representational relationship between disability and Islamic fundamentalism in select contemporary postcolonial literary texts by Arab authors. The essay draws mainly on critical disability theory on the concept of prosthesis to argue that disability functions as a narrative and emotional prosthesis to narratives on Islamic fundamentalism at the same time as it lays bare this very process of instrumentalisation. To this end the essay asks: What are the privileged affects that attach themselves to representations of disability in fictions of Islamic fundamentalism? How do textual and affective prostheses emerge out of, or feed back into, Islamist contexts, worldviews and subjectivities? Finally, in what ways do the narratives under analysis uphold, lay bare or dismantle such prosthetic functions of the disabled body? In particular, this essay focuses on three specific prostheses of disability in the texts: conversion narratives, contemporary histories of Islamic fundamentalist violence and the figure of the disabled Islamist.
Effect of a long-term art-based group therapy with eating disorders
Authors: Eren Nurhan , Tunc Pervin , Yücel Başak
Published: April 2023

Eating disorders (EDs) affect the physical, psychological, emotional and interpersonal areas of the individual and cause serious medical and mental consequences. Their treatment should be handled in a multidisciplinary manner.

The objective of this study was to investigate potential benefits of long-term art-based group therapy (ABGT) as an adjunct to treatment for a variety of EDs. This study examined the effects of ABGT on disease symptoms, difficulty regulating emotions, depression, anxiety, targeted problems, functioning of individuals with EDs and therapeutic efficiency of the group. The study was carried out as a pre-test-post-test, quasi-experimental study with a control group, with a small sample diagnosed with an ED. In addition to their standard treatment at the outpatient centre, participants were included in a 30-week long-term semistructured ABGT focused on raising awareness of their psychological problems. Participants who received ABGT had significantly better functioning and lower severity of target problems compared with the control group. The severity of the three most important problems reported by patients post-ABGT compared with pre-ABGT and the effects of these problems on their social/private lives reduction was observed. The participants mostly benefited from catharsis, universality, self-understanding, existential factors and family re-enactment in the group process. Through the artwork, participants recognised the mental conflicts causing the symptoms of their ED. We found that art-based interventions are useful in the treatment of EDs, as they positively changed the functioning and symptoms of people with EDs. We recommend that clinicians keep these interventions in mind in formulating treatment protocols for these disorders.
Finite element investigation of ground response during diaphragm wall panel installation
Authors: Dong Yuepeng
Published: April 2023

The construction of diaphragm wall panels inevitably changes the initial stress condition and causes movements in the surrounding soil mass. The ground response is affected by a number of aspects including the ground condition and construction procedure, thus creating complexities and uncertainties to explain the field observation and predict the potential influence on adjacent assets. This paper analyzes observed data from field and model tests, and identifies important aspects which may affect the ground response during the diaphragm wall panel installation process. These aspects mainly include (i) construction details in the trench excavation, (ii) concreting characteristics, (iii) initial ground conditions, and (iv) the panel width. Finite element analyses are then conducted to understand their impact on the ground response in a systematic manner. The analysis procedure follows some typical test programmes reported in the literature, to reproduce the observed phenomenon and explain the mechanisms more consistently. This study demonstrates some key issues that should be considered carefully in practice to mitigate risks in the diaphragm wall installation process.
Meson excitation time as a probe of holographic critical point
Authors: Hajilou Ali
Published: April 2023

We study the time evolution of expectation value of Wilson loop as a non-local observable in a strongly coupled field theory with a critical point at finite temperature and nonzero chemical potential, which is dual to an asymptotically AdS charged black hole via gauge/gravity duality. Due to inject of energy into the plasma, the temperature and a chemical potential increase to finite values and the plasma experiences an out-of-equilibrium process. By defining meson excitation time $$t_{ex}$$

t

ex

as a time at which the meson falls into the final excited state, we investigate the behavior of $$t_{ex}$$

t

ex

near the critical point as the system evolves towards the critical point. We observe that by increasing the interquark distance the dynamical critical exponent increases smoothly. Also, we obtain for slow quenches different values of the dynamical critical exponent, although for fast quenches our result for the dynamical critical exponent is in agreement with the one that is reported for studying the quasi-normal modes. Consequently, this indicates that in this model for fast quenches and small values of interquark distances the gauge invariant Wilson loop is a good non-local observable to probe the critical point.
Semileptonic baryonic B decays
Authors: Hsiao Yu-Kuo
Published: April 2023

We study the semileptonic $$B\rightarrow {\textbf{B}{\bar{\mathbf{B'}}}}L{\bar{L}}'$$

B
→

B

B
′

¯

L

L

¯

′

decays with $$\textbf{B}{\bar{\textbf{B}}'}$$

B

B

¯

′

($$L{\bar{L}}'$$

L

L

¯

′

) representing a baryon (lepton) pair. Using the new determination of the $$B\rightarrow {\textbf{B}{\bar{\mathbf{B'}}}}$$

B
→

B

B
′

¯

transition form factors, we obtain $$\mathcal{B}(B^-\rightarrow p{\bar{p}} \mu ^-{\bar{\nu }}_\mu ) =(5.4\pm 2.0)\times 10^{-6}$$

B

(

B
-

→
p

p

¯

μ
-

ν

¯

μ

)

=

(
5.4
±
2.0
)

×

10

-
6

agreeing with the current data. Besides, $$\mathcal{B}(B^-\rightarrow \Lambda {\bar{p}} \nu {\bar{\nu }})=(3.5\pm 1.0)\times 10^{-8}$$

B

(

B
-

→
Λ

p

¯

ν

ν

¯

)

=

(
3.5
±
1.0
)

×

10

-
8

is calculated to be 20 times smaller than the previous prediction. In particular, we predict $$\mathcal{B}({\bar{B}}^0_s\rightarrow p{\bar{\Lambda }} e^- {\bar{\nu }}_e,p{\bar{\Lambda }} \mu ^- {\bar{\nu }}_\mu ,p{\bar{\Lambda }} \tau ^- {\bar{\nu }}_\tau ) =(2.1\pm 0.6,2.1\pm 0.6,1.7\pm 1.0)\times 10^{-6}$$

B

(

B

¯

s
0

→
p

Λ

¯

e
-

ν

¯

e

,
p

Λ

¯

μ
-

ν

¯

μ

,
p

Λ

¯

τ
-

ν

¯

τ

)

=

(
2.1
±
0.6
,
2.1
±
0.6
,
1.7
±
1.0
)

×

10

-
6

and $$\mathcal{B}({\bar{B}}^0_s\rightarrow \Lambda {\bar{\Lambda }} \nu {\bar{\nu }})=(0.8\pm 0.2)\times 10^{-8}$$

B

(

B

¯

s
0

→
Λ

Λ

¯

ν

ν

¯

)

=

(
0.8
±
0.2
)

×

10

-
8

, which can be accessible to the LHCb experiment.
AN EFFICIENT ENGLISH TEACHING DRIVEN BY ENTERPRISE-SOCIAL MEDIA BIG DATA: A NEURAL NETWORK-BASED SOLUTION
Authors: TIAN XUE , ALASSAFI MADINI O. , ALSAADI FAWAZ E.
Published: April 2023

The cultivation of creativity is closely related to language learning. How to design the creativity promotion mechanism of English teaching in the public environment is the challenge faced by English teachers. With the advent of the era of big data, English teachers can apply the latest research results to classroom teaching. For example, the rational use of social media helps students to learn and communicate in the language, cultivate students’ creativity in learning English, and improves the quality of teaching. Corporate social media has become the most important way for corporate employees to record their lives, express opinions, share and communicate, and it is also one of the reliable and real-time sources of big data that reflects the true state of English learners. Real, accurate, and timely enterprise social media big data samples contain an enormous educational value, providing more possibilities for educational research. From the perspective of value, through sentiment analysis, topic mining, social network analysis, etc. on social media big data, learner portraits can be realized, thereby providing decision-making reference and support for stakeholders. This paper first builds a learning interest classification model based on TCNN-GRU deep learning, collects experimental data sets from an online English learner’s social media platform and performs learning interest classification and labeling, and then uses the TCNN-GRU model to determine the user’s learning interest tendency. On this basis, the concept of learning interest index is further proposed, and a neural network-based corporate social platform English learner portrait model is established. The experimental results show that, compared with the traditional machine learning model, convolutional neural network model, and recurrent neural network model, the TCNN-GRU model can obtain better results in learning interest classification.
Quantum gases on a torus
Authors: Araújo Filho A. A. , Reis J. A. A. S. , Ghosh Subir
Published: April 2023

This paper is aimed at studying the thermodynamic properties of quantum gases confined to a torus. To do that, we consider noninteracting gases within the grand canonical ensemble formalism. In this context, fermions and bosons are taken into account and the calculations are properly provided in both analytical and numerical manners. In particular, the system turns out to be sensitive to the topological parameter under consideration: the winding number. Furthermore, we also derive a model in order to take into account interacting quantum gases. To corroborate our results, we implement such a method for two different scenarios: a ring and a torus.
HOW CORPORATE PENSIONS AFFECT STOCK RETURNS: THE ROLE OF R&D EXPENDITURES
Authors: HASSAN M. KABIR , KARIM M. SYDUL , DREASSI ALBERTO , PALTRINIERI ANDREA
Published: April 2023

We examine the stock return implications of corporate-defined benefit pension plans in innovative U.S. firms and in R&D- and patent-sorted portfolio specifications. We find that investors underreact to firms increasing off-balance-sheet liabilities. Pensions represent material off-balance-sheet liabilities: in our extensive and large sample (1985–2017, 2541 firms for 26,522 observations), entities with pension plans are 38% more levered when we integrate pension liabilities and assets into the firms’ capital structure. We find that R&D-intensive firms increasing the size of their pension liability subsequently underperform their benchmark returns. Through six alternative R&D-market capitalization portfolios, we also find that this association is stronger for smaller firms. Finally, the relationship remains persistent over a long horizon. These findings are robust to endogeneity concerns addressed through instrumental variables, propensity score matching, and Heckman correction.
Culinary Globalization in Delhi: Filipino Sushi Chefs as Cultural Intermediaries
Authors: LORENZANA JOZON A.
Published: April 2023

Culinary globalization in Indian cities has resulted in new patterns of food consumption and production. Aside from the increasing presence of global franchises such as Costa Coffee, McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken, local and foreign entrepreneurs have established restaurants that offer various national cuisines. In Delhi, for example, Japanese-themed restaurants cater to the city’s growing appetite for new culinary experiences. So far our knowledge of culinary globalization in Indian cities has focused on consumption: How emerging gastronomic patterns relate to identity formations. The production of cuisines as part of the city’s culinary globalization is rarely explored. In this paper, I focus on the role of Filipino ‘sushi chefs’ as cultural intermediaries who localize Japanese cuisine. This paper discusses their emergent practices of cultural mediation, namely adapting to local taste, peer mentoring and communicative labor. I argue that such practices of cultural mediation point to the social dynamics of cultural production.
THE EFFECT OF ECONOMIC GROWTH DETERMINANTS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH: A STUDY ON DIFFERENT FINANCIAL SYSTEMS
Authors: FERDAOUS JANNATUL
Published: April 2023

One of the main goals of a country is to achieve economic growth. This has led many researchers to understand and determine the factors that boost economic growth. The relationship between these two still remains to be unanswered. It has been discussed in many kinds of research that the variability could result from the different types of financial systems being observed by different countries. By taking 15 years of data from 32 OECD countries, this study attempted to identify if there is any difference in the effects of the factors of economic growth across two distinct financial systems (bank-based and market-based). The results of the study suggest that, overall, financial system differences influence the economic growth of a country. These insights give further clarification on how the economic growth determinants were acting differently in different countries.
“We are Researchers, but we are also Humans”: Creating a Design Space for Managing Graduate Student Stress
Authors: Robledo Yamamoto Fujiko , Cho Janghee , Voida Amy , Voida Stephen
Published: April 2023

Graduate students are facing a mental health crisis due to a combination of individual, community, and societal factors. Many existing stress management interventions engage with one factor at a time, typically focusing on providing a user with data about their stress state. We conducted co-design workshops with graduate students who work closely together to explore their strategies for managing stress and to learn about what types of technologies they envision to help address their stress. Using Ecological Systems Theory as an conceptual framework, our analysis of the designs and discussions from these workshops contributes an expanded design space for stress management—one that foregrounds the affordances and challenges of designing interventions that cut across ecological systems levels along with designs that approach stress management using a broader diversity of strategies: controlling, disconnecting, and normalizing stress. We argue that this expanded design space embraces a more holistic and human approach to designing stress management technologies.
Resilience-by-design in Adaptive Multi-agent Traffic Control Systems
Authors: Al Mallah Ranwa , Halabi Talal , Farooq Bilal
Published: April 2023

Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) with their evolving data gathering capabilities will play a significant role in road safety and efficiency applications supported by Intelligent Transport Systems (ITSs), such as Traffic Signal Control (TSC) for urban traffic congestion management. However, their involvement will expand the space of security vulnerabilities and create larger threat vectors. In this article, we perform the first detailed security analysis and implementation of a new cyber-physical attack category carried out by the network of CAVs against Adaptive Multi-Agent Traffic Signal Control (AMATSC), namely, coordinated Sybil attacks, where vehicles with forged or fake identities try to alter the data collected by the AMATSC algorithms to sabotage their decisions. Consequently, a novel, game-theoretic mitigation approach at the application layer is proposed to minimize the impact of such sophisticated data corruption attacks. The devised minimax game model enables the AMATSC algorithm to generate optimal decisions under a suspected attack, improving its resilience. Extensive experimentation is performed on a traffic dataset provided by the city of Montréal under real-world intersection settings to evaluate the attack impact. Our results improved time loss on attacked intersections by approximately 48.9%. Substantial benefits can be gained from the mitigation, yielding more robust adaptive control of traffic across networked intersections.
XploreNAS
: Explore Adversarially Robust and Hardware-efficient Neural Architectures for Non-ideal Xbars
Authors: Bhattacharjee Abhiroop , Moitra Abhishek , Panda Priyadarshini
Published: April 2023

Compute In-Memory platforms such as memristive crossbars are gaining focus as they facilitate acceleration of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) with high area and compute efficiencies. However, the intrinsic non-idealities associated with the analog nature of computing in crossbars limits the performance of the deployed DNNs. Furthermore, DNNs are shown to be vulnerable to adversarial attacks leading to severe security threats in their large-scale deployment. Thus, finding adversarially robust DNN architectures for non-ideal crossbars is critical to the safe and secure deployment of DNNs on the edge. This work proposes a two-phase algorithm-hardware co-optimization approach called
XploreNAS
that searches for hardware efficient and adversarially robust neural architectures for non-ideal crossbar platforms. We use the one-shot Neural Architecture Search approach to train a large Supernet with crossbar-awareness and sample adversarially robust Subnets therefrom, maintaining competitive hardware efficiency. Our experiments on crossbars with benchmark datasets (SVHN, CIFAR10, CIFAR100) show up to ~8–16% improvement in the adversarial robustness of the searched Subnets against a baseline ResNet-18 model subjected to crossbar-aware adversarial training. We benchmark our robust Subnets for Energy-Delay-Area-Products (EDAPs) using the Neurosim tool and find that with additional hardware efficiency–driven optimizations, the Subnets attain ~1.5–1.6× lower EDAPs than ResNet-18 baseline.
Low-Cost Microfluidic Systems for Detection of Neglected Tropical Diseases
Authors: Pinheiro Kemilly M.P. , Guinati Bárbara G.S. , Moreira Nikaele S. , Coltro Wendell K.T.
Published: April 2023

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) affect tropical and subtropical countries and are caused by viruses, bacteria, protozoa, and helminths. These kinds of diseases spread quickly due to the tropical climate and limited access to clean water, sanitation, and health care, which make exposed people more vulnerable. NTDs are reported to be difficult and inefficient to diagnose. As mentioned, most NTDs occur in countries that are socially vulnerable, and the lack of resources and access to modern laboratories and equipment intensify the difficulty of diagnosis and treatment, leading to an increase in the mortality rate. Portable and low-cost microfluidic systems have been widely applied for clinical diagnosis, offering a promising alternative that can meet the needs for fast, affordable, and reliable diagnostic tests in developing countries. This review provides a critical overview of microfluidic devices that have been reported in the literature for the detection of the most common NTDs over the past 5 years.
Hydrodynamic Investigation of Ultraclean Wafer Drying Combining Marangoni Effect and Centrifugal Force
Authors: Li Changkun , Li Kun , Cao Zili , Zhao Dewen , Lu Xinchun
Published: April 2023

The Marangoni effect induced by organic vapor has drawn considerable attention in integrated circuit manufacturing for eliminating watermark defects encountered in the wafer drying process. Accordingly, a vertical rotational Marangoni (VRM) dryer based on the combination of the Marangoni effect and centrifugal force is proposed and developed. In particular, the hydrodynamic behavior of the VRM dryer is investigated to reveal the mechanism of ultraclean drying. A three-dimensional model of the VRM dryer is proposed, and the flow field of the water film and distribution of organic species are adequately analyzed. The results show that the rotational velocity and wettability significantly affect the coverage uniformity of the water film, and the exposure region at the three-contact line leads to the watermark. Furthermore, the coupling behavior of the Marangoni effect and centrifugal force is revealed. A higher rotational velocity leads to worse integrity of the water film covering, and thus, fainter Marangoni effect. Polishing and cleaning experiments are conducted to verify the effectiveness of theoretical analysis. The results indicate that the optimized rotational velocity for the hydrophilic surface is higher than that of the hydrophobic surface. The mechanism analysis of wafer drying based on the VRM drying technology provides effective guidance for ultraclean surface manufacturing during the cleaning process.
A simple and effective scaffold for mouse hepatic stellate cell primary culture
Authors: Le Trinh Van , Diep Thai Trieu Ngoc , Nhan Vo Thanh , Uyen Nguyen Luu Thao , Thanh Dang Minh , Truong Nhung Hai
Published: April 2023

Fibrin gel is appropriate for maintaining quiescence characteristics in primary culture of mouse hepatic stellate cells. Embedded culture of hepatic stellate cells in fibrin gel simulates in vivo cell morphology. Stiffness and adhesion molecules of fibrin gel play a crucial role in the hepatic stellate cell’s primary culture.
Neural discharge of muscle afferents and pressor response to mechanical stimulation are associated with muscle deformation velocity in rats
Authors: Ishizawa Rie , Estrada Juan A. , Kim Han-Kyul , Hotta Norio , Fukazawa Ayumi , Iwamoto Gary A. , Smith Scott A. , Vongpatanasin Wanpen , Mizuno Masaki
Published: April 2023

Skeletal muscle reflexes play a crucial role in determining the magnitude of the cardiovascular response to exercise. However, evidence supporting an association between the magnitude of the pressor response and the velocity of muscle deformation has remained to be elucidated. Thus, we investigated the impact of different muscle deformation rates on the neural discharge of muscle afferents and pressor and sympathetic responses in Sprague–Dawley rats. In an ex vivo muscle-nerve preparation, action potentials elicited by sinusoidal mechanical stimuli (137 mN) at different frequencies (0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.25 Hz) were recorded in mechanosensitive group III and IV fibers. The afferent response magnitude to sine-wave stimulation significantly varied at different frequencies (ANOVA, P = 0.01). Specifically, as compared with 0.01 Hz (0.83 ± 0.96 spikes/s), the response magnitudes were significantly greater at 0.20 Hz (4.07 ± 5.04 spikes/s, P = 0.031) and 0.25 Hz (4.91 ± 5.30 spikes/s, P = 0.014). In an in vivo decerebrated rat preparation, renal sympathetic nerve activity (RSNA) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) responses to passive stretch (1 kg) of hindlimb skeletal muscle at different velocities of loading (slow, medium, and fast) were measured. Pressor responses to passive stretch were significantly associated with the velocity of muscle deformation (ANOVA, P < 0.001). The MAP response to fast stretch (Δ 56 ± 12 mmHg) was greater than slow (Δ 33 ± 11 mmHg, P = 0.006) or medium (Δ 30 ± 11 mmHg, P < 0.001) stretch. Likewise, the RSNA response was related to deformation velocity (ANOVA, P = 0.024). These findings suggest that the muscle neural afferent discharge and the cardiovascular response to mechanical stimulation are associated with muscle deformation velocity.
Nonlinear Predictive Control with Sliding Mode for Hypersonic Vehicle
Authors: Wu Xiande , Bai Wenbin , Xie Yaen , Ma Qingnan , Song Xiangshuai
Published: April 2023

Hypersonic vehicles are difficult to control due to their rapid time variation, dynamic nonlinearity, strong coupling, and model uncertainty. This paper proposes a new nonlinear predictive controller to solve the problem. An improved model predictive controller is used to improve the dynamic control performance of hypersonic vehicles by converting nonlinear dynamics into a state-dependent linear model. The sliding surface can significantly increase the speed of convergence. The radial basis function is used to reduce the influence of system uncertainty. The stability of the proposed controller is analyzed based on the Lyapunov approach. The comparison of simulation results verifies the excellent control performance of the proposed method both in convergence speed and antidisturbance ability.
Artificial Intelligence in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Endoscopy: Advanced Development and New Horizons
Authors: Chang Yu , Wang Zhi , Sun Hai-Bo , Li Yu-Qin , Tang Tong-Yu
Published: April 2023

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex chronic immune disease with two subtypes: Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Considering the differences in pathogenesis, etiology, clinical presentation, and response to therapy among patients, gastroenterologists mainly rely on endoscopy to diagnose and treat IBD during clinical practice. However, as exemplified by the increasingly comprehensive ulcerative colitis endoscopic scoring system, the endoscopic diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of IBD still rely on the subjective manipulation and judgment of endoscopists. In recent years, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) has grown substantially in various medical fields, and an increasing number of studies have investigated the use of this emerging technology in the field of gastroenterology. Clinical applications of AI have focused on IBD pathogenesis, etiology, diagnosis, and patient prognosis. Large-scale datasets offer tremendous utility in the development of novel tools to address the unmet clinical and practice needs for treating patients with IBD. However, significant differences among AI methodologies, datasets, and clinical findings limit the incorporation of AI technology into clinical practice. In this review, we discuss practical AI applications in the diagnosis of IBD via gastroenteroscopy and speculate regarding a future in which AI technology provides value for the diagnosis and treatment of IBD patients.
Triple Threat: Three Primary Malignancies Simultaneously Involving Three Genitourinary Organs
Authors: Mitchell Katharina , El Naili Reima , Pillai Lakshmikumar , Lopez Eric Mark , Riordan John , Marsh Wallis , Luchey Adam , Hajiran Ali
Published: April 2023

Statistically, the chance of having concurrent renal cell carcinoma (RCC), urothelial carcinoma of the bladder (UC), and a neuroendocrine tumor (NET) of the renal parenchyma is less than one in a trillion. Herein, we describe an unusual case of a 67-year-old female who presented with bilateral flank pain and severe gross hematuria. Cross-sectional imaging revealed two large heterogeneous, endophytic renal masses with a single enlarged paracaval lymph node. Diagnostic cystoscopy was performed for completion of gross hematuria evaluation and revealed a concurrent papillary bladder tumor. Percutaneous biopsies of bilateral renal masses revealed clear cell RCC involving the left kidney and well-differentiated NET involving the right kidney, and transurethral resection of the bladder tumor revealed high-grade nonmuscle invasive urothelial carcinoma. The patient elected to undergo bilateral nephroureterectomy, radical cystectomy, and retroperitoneal and pelvic lymphadenectomy. Final pathology confirmed the presence of three different malignancies: noninvasive high-grade papillary UC of the bladder (pTaN0), left renal clear cell RCC (pT2bN0), right renal well-differentiated NET, and a single paracaval lymph nodes positive for metastatic NET (pT2aN1).
Water Inrush Mechanism in Fault Fracture Zone Based on a Nonlinear Mechanical Model of Three Flow Fields
Authors: Dian-chen Hou , Xiao-jian Su , Wen-qiang Wang , Feng Du , Yu-yao Zhao
Published: April 2023

Water inrush in the working face caused by seepage instability of fault fracture zone is a major disaster which threatens the safety production in a coal mine. Based on the principle of fluid mechanics, a nonlinear mechanical model with three flow fields is established in this paper. Combining with the actual situation of a fault fracture zone in a coal mine, a multicoupled numerical model is built in COMSOL Multiphysics, in order to study the water pressure and flow velocity in the three flow fields and the flow state of fluids in the aquifer and fault under different ratios of fault permeability and aquifer permeability. The research results show that the permeability in the fault fracture zone is an essential factor affecting the danger of water inrush, and the pressure and flow velocity in the boundary zone of the adjacent flow field varies significantly. Besides, the water inrush in the fault fracture zone is a gradual dynamic process, and the fluid flow from the aquifer through the fault gradually changes from a linear flow state into a nonlinear flow state. Meanwhile, the non-Darcy effect increases and decreases with the growth and decrease of the permeability in the fault fracture zone.