bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
MicroRNAs in Cancer: From Gene Expression Regulation to the Metastatic Niche Reprogramming
Authors: Semina Ekaterina V. , Rysenkova Karina D. , Troyanovskiy Konstantin E. , Shmakova Anna A. , Rubina Kseniya A.
Published: June 2021

By 2003, the Human Genome project had been completed; however, it turned out that 97% of genome sequences did not encode proteins. The explanation came later when it was found the untranslated DNA contain sequences for short microRNAs (miRNAs) and long noncoding RNAs that did not produce any mRNAs or tRNAs, but instead were involved in the regulation of gene expression. Initially identified in the cytoplasm, miRNAs have been found in all cell compartments, where their functions are not limited to the degradation of target mRNAs. miRNAs that are secreted into the extracellular space as components of exosomes or as complexes with proteins, participate in morphogenesis, regeneration, oncogenesis, metastasis, and chemoresistance of tumor cells. miRNAs play a dual role in oncogenesis: on one hand, they act as oncogene suppressors; on the other hand, they function as oncogenes themselves and inactivate oncosuppressors, stimulate tumor neoangiogenesis, and mediate immunosuppressive processes in the tumors, The review presents current concepts of the miRNA biogenesis and their functions in the cytoplasm and nucleus with special focus on the noncanonical mechanisms of gene regulation by miRNAs and involvement of miRNAs in oncogenesis, as well as the authors’ opinion on the role of miRNAs in metastasis and formation of the premetastatic niche.
Biharmonic Attractors of Internal Gravity Waves
Authors: Ryazanov D. A. , Providukhina M. I. , Sibgatullin I. N. , Ermanyuk E. V.
Published: June 2021

Abstract—

The hydrodynamic system that admits the development of internal wave attractors under biharmonic forcing is investigated. It is shown that in the case of low amplitude of external forcing the wave pattern consists of two attractors that interact between themselves only slightly: the total energy of the system is equal to the sum of energies of the components with high accuracy. In the nonlinear case the attractors interact in the more complex way which leads to the development of a cascade of triad interactions generating a rich set of time scales. In the case of closely adjacent frequencies of the components of a biharmonic perturbation, the nonlinear “beating” regime develops, namely, the mean energy of the system of coupled attractors performs oscillations at a large time scale that corresponds to the beating period. It is found that the high-frequency energy fluctuations corresponding to the same mean energy can differ by an order of magnitude depending on whether the envelope of the mean value increases or decreases.
Postdengue chronic fatigue syndrome in an adolescent boy
Authors: Thadchanamoorthy Vijayakumary , Dayasiri Kavinda
Published: June 2021

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is often preceded by a viral illness and has recurrent ‘flulike’ symptoms which include a wide spectrum of musculoskeletal and neurological clinical features. The condition is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis and systemic exertional intolerance syndrome. CFS has been reported following dengue among adult patients. We report the case of an 11-year-old boy who developed CFS following recovery of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF). The reported child was initially managed as for DHF and was clinically asymptomatic on post-discharge day 3. He was re-admitted after 3 weeks with severe joint pains, myalgia and unbearable headache. As his symptoms persisted, he was investigated in-depth. All investigations were normal except mild elevation of liver functions. The diagnosis of CFS secondary to DHF was made by exclusion of differential diagnosis. At 1-year follow-up, patient continues to have symptoms after treatment with physiotherapy and nutrition counselling.
Multiple thromboses in a late preterm infant present at birth
Authors: Marriage Thomas , Nair Vrinda , Skeath Thomas
Published: June 2021

A late preterm infant was born to a diabetic mother on a background of reduced fetal movements and a poor CTG. It was noted immediately at birth that there was pathology in both upper limbs. Targeted investigation led to the diagnosis of bilateral upper limb arterial thromboses. Prompt assessment and multidisciplinary discussion led to an individualised management plan resulting in a positive outcome.
Postoperative endophthalmitis with and without intracameral moxifloxacin prophylaxis in a high volume surgery setting
Authors: Bhatta Subash , Pant Nayana , Poudel Manish
Published: June 2021

Objective

This study was conducted to understand the effects of intracameral moxifloxacin in decreasing the incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis after cataract surgery in an eye hospital with a high volume surgical load.

Methods and analysis

In this single-centre, retrospective, clinical registry-based study, we compared the rates of postoperative endophthalmitis in 31 340 cataract surgery patients operated during 22 months after June 2018 who received intracameral moxifloxacin to 80 643 patients operated during 41 months before June 2018 who did not receive intracameral moxifloxacin. All patients received subconjunctival gentamycin and dexamethasone. Combined surgical procedures were excluded from the study.

Results

There was a significant reduction (p<0.001) of postoperative endophthalmitis rates in cataract surgeries from 0.144% (116/80 643) to 0.025% (8/31 340) after initiation of intracameral moxifloxacin. Endophthalmitis rates decreased from 0.120% (12/9942) to 0.009% (1/10 787) in phacoemulsification group and from 0.147% (104/70 701) to 0.034% (7/20 553) in manual small-incision cataract surgeries. Gram-positive organisms including Coagulase-negative staphylococci (37.9%, n=11) andStaphylococcus aureus(S. aureus34.5%, n=10) were the most common organisms isolated out of 29 culture-positive cases. 24.1% (28/116) endophthalmitis cases in group without moxifloxacin were culture positive compared with 14.3% (1/7) of cases in moxifloxacin group. 72% (n=8) of the Coagulase-negative staphylococci and 80% ofS.aureusisolates (n=8) showed in vitro sensitivity to moxifloxacin.

Conclusion

Prophylactic use of intracameral moxifloxacin injection in addition to subconjunctival gentamycin in cataract surgery is associated with a significant decrease in rates of postoperative endophthalmitis when compared with the use of subconjunctival gentamycin alone in high volume settings.
Local anesthetic systemic toxicity in children: a review of recent case reports and current literature
Authors: Singaravelu Ramesh Archana , Boretsky Karen
Published: June 2021

Background

Local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST) in children occurs at an estimated rate of 8 per 100 000 blocks (95% CI 0.3 to 1.6). Due to the potential lethality of this iatrogenic complication, a better clarity of risk factors, clinical presentation, and prognosis may be clinically useful for contemporary treatment and prevention.

Methods

An extensive literature search and detailed analysis of reported cases of LAST in patients less than 18 years of age published between April 2014 and August 2019 was performed. Clinical patterns were summarized.

Results

Thirty-two cases of LAST were described in 17 published articles and 2 additional cases reported to lipidrescue.org, for a total of 34 cases. Three patients did not meet the inclusion criteria. Thirty-one cases were included in the analysis.

Discussion

Infants represented a disproportionately large number of reports of LAST. The majority of local anesthetic doses were within currently published guidelines. Among the reported cases, penile and caudal blocks were the most commonly associated with LAST. Needle aspiration and test dosing with epinephrine failed to predict LAST with certainty. When LAST presented with severe cardiac compromise, intravenous lipid emulsion was given within 10 min in 43% of cases (13 of 30 reported cases). The vast majority of children were under general anesthesia when local anesthetic medications were administered. In children under general anesthesia, LAST presented with cardiac manifestations in 90% of cases (19 of 21 cases). There were no deaths or long-term morbidity reported.
“Shining Armour”: what Margaret-Ann Armour taught us about equity, diversity, and inclusion and mentorship in the natural sciences
Authors: Dengate Jennifer , Farenhorst Annemieke , Peter Tracey , Franz-Odendaal Tamara
Published: June 2021

In addition to her contributions to the field of chemistry, Dr. Margaret-Ann Armour was the foremother of equity, diversity, and inclusion in the natural sciences in Canada and was an exemplary mentor to many women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Dr. Armour emphasized that, to make progress in natural sciences and engineering fields, we also need to make advancements in workplace EDI. Dr. Armour was among the first to recognize the need to fix gender biased systems and not women. Analyses of the 2017–2018 Faculty Workplace Climate Survey, administered to approximately 700 natural sciences and engineering professors from 13 Canadian universities, supports Dr. Armour’s position. We present a synthesis of the key findings from the survey, which speak to some of the gendered challenges that women faculty members in Canada still face; and discuss the implications of these findings in light of women’s continued lack of access to mentors, with an emphasis on gender bias in mentorship within academic chemistry.
Influence of weather and day length on intra-seasonal growth of Norway spruce (Picea abies) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica) in a natural montane forest
Authors: Ježík Marek , Blaženec Miroslav , Mezei Pavel , Sedmáková Denisa , Sedmák Róbert , Fleischer Peter , Fleischer Peter , Bošeľa Michal , Kurjak Daniel , Střelcová Katarína , Ditmarová Ľubica
Published: June 2021

Intra-seasonal growth responses of co-occurring European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) to weather variability in montane forests can provide useful information on their future growth trends. To improve growth predictions, we aimed to identify (i) the main seasonal windows during which weather variability influences tree-ring growth, (ii) species-specific differences in the response to weather fluctuations, and (iii) teleconnections to remote sites in the Western Carpathians. We monitored intra-seasonal growth dynamics based on proxies extracted growth signals detected by high-resolution dendrometers in the transition zone between the beech and spruce altitudinal belt. Over 12 consecutive seasons in the natural montane forest (1350 m a.s.l.), the main part of spruce (68% to 10 July) and beech (95% to 26 August) annual increment was under the prevailing influence of temperature. After this, precipitation pattern (regarding spruce) and day length became the most influential variables during deceleration and cessation of growth. In addition, synchronous patterns with remote sites in the Western Carpathians were found. The results emphasize the importance of studying the influence of shorter-term weather fluctuations during the season. Our findings suggest that montane spruce tends to be less temperature-demanding and more drought-sensitive than beech, which may favor beech over the spruce under the future climate.
Topological preons from algebraic spinors
Authors: Gresnigt Niels G.
Published: June 2021

It is demonstrated that many of the assumed rules that govern the structure of a previously proposed topological preon model, in which simple non-trivial braids consisting of three twisted ribbons are mapped to the first generation of leptons and quarks, are automatically adhered to when the algebraic spinors of two complex Clifford algebras are identified with braids via a suitable map. Much of the assumed topological architecture of this model can therefore be interpreted as a direct consequence of the deeper algebraic structures upon which the minimal ideals of these Clifford algebras are constructed. This result deepens the understanding of how these two complementary descriptions, one topological and one algebraic, of Standard Model symmetries are intimately connected despite originating from very different perspectives.
Greybody radiation and quasinormal modes of Kerr-like black hole in Bumblebee gravity model
Authors: Kanzi Sara , Sakallı İzzet
Published: June 2021

In the framework of the Lorentz symmetry breaking (LSB), we investigate the quasinormal modes (QNMs) and the greybody factors (GFs) of the Kerr-like black hole spacetime obtained from the bumblebee gravity model. In particular, we analyze the scalar and fermionic perturbations of the black hole within the framework of both semi-analytic WKB method and the time domain approach. The impacts of the LSB on the bosonic/fermionic QNMs and GFs of the Kerr-like black hole are investigated in detail. The obtained results are graphically depicted and discussed.
Polymer-Infiltrated Nanoparticle Films Using Capillarity-Based Techniques: Toward Multifunctional Coatings and Membranes
Authors: Venkatesh R. Bharath , Manohar Neha , Qiang Yiwei , Wang Haonan , Tran Hong Huy , Kim Baekmin Q. , Neuman Anastasia , Ren Tian , Fakhraai Zahra , Riggleman Robert A. , Stebe Kathleen J. , Turner Kevin , Lee Daeyeon
Published: June 2021

Polymer-infiltrated nanoparticle films (PINFs) are a new class of nanocomposites that offer synergistic properties and functionality derived from unusually high fractions of nanomaterials. Recently, two versatile techniques,capillary rise infiltration (CaRI) and solvent-driven infiltration of polymer (SIP), have been introduced that exploit capillary forces in films of densely packed nanoparticles. In CaRI, a highly loaded PINF is produced by thermally induced wicking of polymer melt into the nanoparticle packing pores. In SIP, exposure of a polymer–nanoparticle bilayer to solvent vapor atmosphere induces capillary condensation of solvent in the pores of nanoparticle packing, leading to infiltration of polymer into the solvent-filled pores. CaRI/SIP PINFs show superior properties compared with polymer nanocomposite films made using traditional methods, including superb mechanical properties, thermal stability, heat transfer, and optical properties. This review discusses fundamental aspects of the infiltration process and highlights potential applications in separations, structural coatings, and polymer upcycling—a process to convert polymer wastes into useful chemicals.
Wearable and Implantable Soft Bioelectronics: Device Designs and Material Strategies
Authors: Sunwoo Sung-Hyuk , Ha Kyoung-Ho , Lee Sangkyu , Lu Nanshu , Kim Dae-Hyeong
Published: June 2021

High-performance wearable and implantable devices capable of recording physiological signals and delivering appropriate therapeutics in real time are playing a pivotal role in revolutionizing personalized healthcare. However, the mechanical and biochemical mismatches between rigid, inorganic devices and soft, organic human tissues cause significant trouble, including skin irritation, tissue damage, compromised signal-to-noise ratios, and limited service time. As a result, profuse research efforts have been devoted to overcoming these issues by using flexible and stretchable device designs and soft materials. Here, we summarize recent representative research and technological advances for soft bioelectronics, including conformable and stretchable device designs, various types of soft electronic materials, and surface coating and treatment methods. We also highlight applications of these strategies to emerging soft wearable and implantable devices. We conclude with some current limitations and offer future prospects of this booming field.
Well Performance from Numerical Methods to Machine Learning Approach: Applications in Multiple Fractured Shale Reservoirs
Authors: Liu Kailei , Xu Boyue , Kim Changjea , Fu Jing
Published: June 2021

Horizontal well fracturing technology is widely used in unconventional reservoirs such as tight or shale oil and gas reservoirs. Meanwhile, the potential of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods including huff-n-puff miscible gas injection are used to further increase oil recovery in unconventional reservoirs. The complexities of hydraulic fracture properties and multiphase flow make it difficult and time-consuming to understand the well performance (i.e., well production) in fractured shale reservoirs, especially when using conventional numerical methods. Therefore, in this paper, two methods are developed to bridge this gap by using the machine learning technique to forecast well production performance in unconventional reservoirs, especially on the EOR pilot projects. The first method is the artificial neural network, through which we can analyze the big data from unconventional reservoirs to understand the underlying patterns and relationships. A bunch of factors is contained such as hydraulic fracture parameters, well completion, and production data. Then, feature selection is performed to determine the key factors. Finally, the artificial neural network is used to determine the relationship between key factors and well production performance. The second is time series analysis. Since the properties of the unconventional reservoir are the function of time such as fluid properties and reservoir pressure, it is quite suitable to apply the time series analysis to understand the well production performance. Training and test data are from over 10000 wells in different fractured shale reservoirs, including Bakken, Eagle Ford, and Barnett. The results demonstrate that there is a good match between the available and predicated well performance data. The overall

R

values of the artificial neural network and time series analysis are both above 0.8, indicating that both methods can provide reliable results for the prediction of well performance in fractured shale reservoirs. Especially, when dealing with the EOR field cases, such as huff-n-puff miscible gas injection, Time series analysis can provide more accurate results than the artificial neural network. This paper presents a thorough analysis of the feasibility of machine learning in multiple fractured shale reservoirs. Instead of using the time-consuming numerical methods, it also provides a more robust way and meaningful reference for the evaluation of the well performance.
Determinants of Seed Distribution System: The Case of Womberma District, North West Ethiopia
Authors: Wosene Minwagaw Gizachew , Gobie Ejigu Wubalem
Published: June 2021

Bread wheat also known as common wheat is one of the most important crops for food security and job opportunities for many smallholders as well as the urban population in Ethiopia. Farmers obtain seed from both formal and informal seed distribution systems. The informal seed sector in the study area is the major supplier of seed for many crops grown in the Womberma district. However, access to the formal seed sector was limited for the farmers. Hence, this study initiated to analyze seed distribution system and determinants of smallholder farmers in selecting seed of bread wheat distribution system in the study areas. The primary data was collected through distributing research questionnaires for the seed distribution systems of bread wheat. The study was based on the data collected from 150 households by using the multistage probability sampling method. The survey result shows that the contribution of public companies for supplying improved bread wheat seed was only 33% whereas 100% of producers confirmed that sources of bread wheat seed were from farm saved and local market which were uncertified leading to production deterioration. In line with these, conducted focus group and key informants confirmed that the major problems of formal seed distribution system were lack of timely supply, price fluctuation, limited quantity, and lack of certified seed suppliers while those of the informal seed distribution system were adulteration, high price, low quality, unable to get the right amount, and lack of timely supply, which concluded that the distribution system was inefficient. The econometrics model was used to analyze determinants of selection in seed distribution system of bread wheat in the study areas. Hence, the result of logit model shows that the level of education, access to credit, household income, extension services, and seed quality significantly and positively influenced farmers’ selection of formal seed distribution system while distance to the nearest seed distribution area influenced negatively the selection of formal seed distribution system in the study areas. Therefore, any concerned bodies should give more attention to establish for farmers formal seed distribution systems of bread wheat seed so as to increase production and productivity of bread wheat in the study areas.
Antimicrobial Resistance of Escherichia coli from Broilers, Pigs, and Cattle in the Greater Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana
Authors: Ohene Larbi Rita , Ofori Linda Aurelia , Sylverken Augustina Angelina , Ayim-Akonor Matilda , Obiri-Danso Kwasi
Published: June 2021

Globally, resistance to antimicrobial drugs in food animals is on the rise. Escherichia coli of livestock, though commensal in nature, serves as reservoir for antimicrobial resistance genes with the potential of disseminating them. This study sought to examine the antimicrobial resistance profiles of Escherichia coli in broilers, pigs, and cattle in the Kumasi Metropolis and undertake molecular characterisation of the resistances. Faecal E. coli isolates (n = 48) were obtained from 10 broiler farms, (n = 43) from 15 pig farms, and (n = 42) from cattle from the Kumasi Abattoir using standard bacteriological techniques. The Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion method was employed in testing the sensitivities of 133 E. coli isolates to 15 antimicrobials. All 48 isolates from broilers presented no resistance to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and ceftiofur. A 100% resistance to meropenem was observed in pig and cattle isolates. Multidrug resistance (MDR) across animal groups was 95.8% (n = 46), 95.3% (n = 41), and 64.3% (n = 27) for broilers, pigs, and cattle, respectively. Twenty-eight isolates presenting phenotypic resistance to aminopenicillins and cephalosporins were screened for the presence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) genes by PCR. One isolate from poultry and another from cattle tested positive for the blaCTX-M ESBL gene. There were no positives for the blaTEM and blaSHV ESBL genes. Commensal E. coli of food animal origin represents an important reservoir of antimicrobial resistance that transfers resistance to pathogenic and nonpathogenic microbes affecting humans and animals. There is an urgent need to institute routine surveillance for the establishment of the mechanisms and molecular orientation of resistance in these organisms.
Corrosion and Mechanical Properties of the Fe‐W‐Wo2 and Fe‐Mo‐MoO2 Nanocomposites
Authors: Yar-Mukhamedova Gulmira , Ved’ Maryna , Sakhnenko Nikolay , Karakurkchi Ann , Yermolenko Iryna
Published: June 2021

Analyzing of composition electrolytic coatings’ application for the metal surface protection is considered. It is established that using different components for coatings’ modification gives possibility to obtain surfaces with expanding exploitation properties, in particular, with improved wearing and anticorrosion resistance. The new approach for protecting details which are made from cast irons by obtaining two kinds of composition coatings from binary alloys iron‐molybdenum and iron‐tungsten is proposed. It is found that the modification of iron by refractory metals up to 37 wt. % leads to a noticeable change in the microstructure of the coatings’ surface. It is established that the incorporation of refractory metals into the iron matrix is a good way to increase the microhardness of the surface by 2.5–3.5 times and rising of the wear resistance by 40%, as well as decreasing the friction coefficient by 3‐4 times in comparison with the cast iron substrate. The research results can be used for surfaces hardening and protection in different industries.
Artificial Neural Network-Based Deep Learning Model for COVID-19 Patient Detection Using X-Ray Chest Images
Authors: Shorfuzzaman Mohammad , Masud Mehedi , Alhumyani Hesham , Anand Divya , Singh Aman
Published: June 2021

The world is experiencing an unprecedented crisis due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak that has affected nearly 216 countries and territories across the globe. Since the pandemic outbreak, there is a growing interest in computational model-based diagnostic technologies to support the screening and diagnosis of COVID-19 cases using medical imaging such as chest X-ray (CXR) scans. It is discovered in initial studies that patients infected with COVID-19 show abnormalities in their CXR images that represent specific radiological patterns. Still, detection of these patterns is challenging and time-consuming even for skilled radiologists. In this study, we propose a novel convolutional neural network- (CNN-) based deep learning fusion framework using the transfer learning concept where parameters (weights) from different models are combined into a single model to extract features from images which are then fed to a custom classifier for prediction. We use gradient-weighted class activation mapping to visualize the infected areas of CXR images. Furthermore, we provide feature representation through visualization to gain a deeper understanding of the class separability of the studied models with respect to COVID-19 detection. Cross-validation studies are used to assess the performance of the proposed models using open-access datasets containing healthy and both COVID-19 and other pneumonia infected CXR images. Evaluation results show that the best performing fusion model can attain a classification accuracy of 95.49% with a high level of sensitivity and specificity.
Woody Species Composition, Vegetation Structure, and Regeneration Status of Majang Forest Biosphere Reserves in Southwestern Ethiopia
Authors: Tadese Semegnew , Soromessa Teshome , Bekele Tesefaye , Gebeyehu Getaneh
Published: June 2021

The aim of this study was to analyse the species composition, structures, and regeneration of woody plant species and the impacts of site factors on the natural regeneration of tree species in four study sites of MFBR. The vegetation data were collected systematically in 140 plots with the size of 400 m2 for trees; 25 m2 for seedlings, saplings, shrubs, and lianas; and 1 m2 for herbs. Individual tree and shrub DBH ≥ 5 cm were measured and counted. The diameter at breast height (DBH), frequency, basal area, importance value index (IVI), and density were used for vegetation structure description and regeneration. A total of 158 plant species belonging to 115 genera, 56 families, and 80 species (51%) trees, 26 (16%) shrubs, 19 (12%) herbs, and 33 (21%) lianas were identified and recorded. The most dominant families were Euphorbiaceae, Rubiaceae, and Moraceae, each represented by 13 species (7.4%), 12 species (6.8%), and 10 species (5.7%), respectively. The tree densities varied from 1232 to 1478 stem ha−1, sapling density 176.8 to 708.7 stem ha−1, and seedling density 534.7 to 1657.5 stem ha−1, with an average basal area of 63.6 m2 in the study sites. Dracaena afromontana was the most frequent woody species in the MFBR occurring in 90% followed by Celtis zenkeri (65%) and Pouteria altissima (62.5%). The regeneration status of all the woody plant species was categorised as “not regenerate” (9.6%), “poor” (30.7%), “fair” (59.5%), and “good” (10.8%) in all sites. The correlation result between natural regeneration and site factors revealed both positive and negative relationships. However, the main threat to the biosphere reserve is illegal logging for different purposes. Therefore, awareness creation on sustainable forest management, utilisation, conservation of priority species, and livelihood diversification to the local community and encouraging community and private woodlot plantation in the transitional zone of biosphere reserves are recommended.
[Retracted] The Impact of Study Setting on Clinical Characteristics in Older Chinese Adults with Subjective Cognitive Decline: Baseline Investigation of Convenience and Population‐Based Samples
Authors: Zhao Mingyan , Chen Guanqun , Li Taoran , Sheng Can , Li Yuxia , Han Ying
Published: June 2021

Background. Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) is the earliest symptom stage of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Previous studies have shown that the study setting is an important influence factor of SCD. However, the effect of this factor among a Chinese population with SCD is not clear. Here, we aim to compare the clinical characteristics of SCD between a convenience and a population‐based sample in China. Methods. We included a convenience sample of 212 SCD subjects and a population‐based sample of 110 SCD subjects. We performed univariate analysis to evaluate the between‐group differences in sociodemographic characteristics, neuropsychological performance, psychiatric conditions, different cognitive domains, and the SCD‐plus criteria. Multiple linear regression model was established, adjusted for sex, age, and education, and compared the neuropsychological performance between the groups. Results. The convenience sample had more years of education, a higher family history of dementia, and higher neuropsychological and anxiety depression score than the population‐based sample. Using sex, age, education, group as the independent variables, and neuropsychological score as the dependent variable, multiple linear regression model was established; a statistically significant neuropsychological score difference (MoCA‐B, AVLT‐H‐N4, AVLT‐H‐N5, AVLT‐H‐N7, AFT, and STT‐B) was found between the two samples. In the SCD cognitive domains, the population‐based sample had more complaints about declines in their language and planning domains. For SCD‐plus criteria in memory domain, the convenience sample had more complaints, worry, and cognitive decline within the last 5 years, along with medical help‐seeking. Conclusion. There were some different characteristics among SCD individuals between convenience samples and population‐based samples in China.
Android Malware Detection via Graph Representation Learning
Authors: Feng Pengbin , Ma Jianfeng , Li Teng , Ma Xindi , Xi Ning , Lu Di
Published: June 2021

With the widespread usage of Android smartphones in our daily lives, the Android platform has become an attractive target for malware authors. There is an urgent need for developing an automatic malware detection approach to prevent the spread of malware. The low code coverage and poor efficiency of the dynamic analysis limit the large-scale deployment of malware detection methods based on dynamic features. Therefore, researchers have proposed a plethora of detection approaches based on abundant static features to provide efficient malware detection. This paper explores the direction of Android malware detection based on graph representation learning. Without complex feature graph construction, we propose a new Android malware detection approach based on lightweight static analysis via the graph neural network (GNN). Instead of directly extracting Application Programming Interface (API) call information, we further analyze the source code of Android applications to extract high-level semantic information, which increases the barrier of evading detection. Particularly, we construct approximate call graphs from function invocation relationships within an Android application to represent this application and further extract intrafunction attributes, including required permission, security level, and Smali instructions’ semantic information via Word2Vec, to form the node attributes within graph structures. Then, we use the graph neural network to generate a vector representation of the application, and then malware detection is performed on this representation space. We conduct experiments on real-world application samples. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach implements high effective malware detection and outperforms state-of-the-art detection approaches.
Clinical and PSG Characteristics of Children with Mild OSA and Respiratory Events Terminated Predominantly with Arousal
Authors: Wu Yunxiao , Zheng Li , Wu Panting , Tang Yufen , Xu Zhifei , Ni Xin
Published: June 2021

Objective. To analyze the clinical and polysomnographic characteristics in children with mild OSA and respiratory events terminated predominantly with arousal. Methods. Children aged 3–10 yrs who had mild obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) were enrolled. All children underwent polysomnography, and patients’ data were collected by using sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) questionnaire and OSA-18 quality of life questionnaire. Results. In total, five hundred and seventy-seven children were eligible. Children in arousal predominant group were younger and showed a lower rate of male and obesity. Compared with that of the nonarousal predominant group, the total arousal index, arousal index related to respiratory event, the percentage of NREM stage 1 (N1%), the fraction of respiratory events that were hypopnea, and the mean and minimum oxygen saturation in the arousal predominant group were significantly greater. The percentage of NREM stage 3 (N%), index of obstructive, central, mixed apnea, the fraction of respiratory events that were obstructive, and central and mixed apnea were significantly lower in arousal predominant group. Conclusion. Children with mild OSA in the arousal predominant group had specific characteristics, including younger age, lower rate of male and obesity, worse sleep architecture, higher rates of hypopnea events, and better oxygenation. This trial is registered with NCT02447614.
Dissolution, Solubility, and Stability of the Basic Ferric Sulfate-Arsenates [Fe(SO4)x(AsO4)y(OH)z·nH2O] at 25–45°C and pH 2–10
Authors: Zhu Zongqiang , Yang Hongqu , Liu Jie , Zhu Yinian , Tang Shen , Zhang Lihao , Wang Xingxing
Published: June 2021

Basic ferric sulfate-arsenates [FeSAsOH, Fe(SO4)x(AsO4)y(OH)z·nH2O] were prepared and characterized to study their potential fixation of arsenic in the oxidizing and acidic environment through a dissolution for 330d. The synthetic solids were well-shaped monoclinic prismatic crystals. For the dissolution of the sample FeSAsOH–1 [Fe(SO4)0.27(AsO4)0.73 (OH)0.27·0.26H2O] at 25–45°C and initial pH 2, all constituents preferred to be dissolved in the order of AsO43− > SO42− > Fe3+ in 1–3 h, in the order of SO42− > AsO43− > Fe3+ from 1–3 h to 12–24 h, and finally in the order of SO42− > Fe3+ > AsO43−. The released iron, sulfate, and arsenate existed dominantly as Fe3+/Fe(OH)2+/FeSO4+, HSO4−/SO42−/FeSO4+, and H3AsO40/H2AsO4−, respectively. The higher initial pHs (6 and 10) could obviously inhibit the release of Fe3+ from solid into solution, and the solid components were released in the order of SO42− > AsO43− > Fe3+. The crystal tops were first dissolved, and the crystal surfaces were gradually smoothed/rounded until all edges and corners disappeared. The dissociations were restricted by the Fe-O(H) breakdown in the FeO6 octahedra and obstructed by the OH− and AsO4 tetrahedra outliers; the lowest concentration of the dissolved arsenic was 0.045 mg/L. Based on the dissolution experiment at 25°C and pH 2, the solubility products (Ksp) for the basic ferric sulfate-arsenate [Fe(SO4)0.27(AsO4)0.73 (OH)0.27·0.26H2O], which are equal to the ion activity products (logˍIAP) at equilibrium, were calculated to be -23.04 ± 0.01 with the resulting Gibbs free energies of formation (ΔGfo) of −914.06 ± 0.03 kJ/mol.
Increased Global-Brain Functional Connectivity Is Associated with Dyslipidemia and Cognitive Impairment in First-Episode, Drug-Naive Patients with Bipolar Disorder
Authors: Pan Pan , Qiu Yan , Teng Ziwei , Li Sujuan , Huang Jing , Xiang Hui , Tang Hui , Chen Jindong , Wu Chujun , Jin Kun , Wang Bolun , Liu Feng , Wu Haishan , Guo Wenbin
Published: June 2021

Objectives. Previous researches have demonstrated that abnormal functional connectivity (FC) is associated with the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). However, inconsistent results were obtained due to different selections of regions of interest in previous researches. This study is aimed at examining voxel-wise brain-wide functional connectivity (FC) alterations in the first-episode, drug-naive patient with BD in an unbiased way. Methods. A total of 35 patients with BD and 37 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Global-brain FC (GFC) was applied to analyze the image data. Support vector machine (SVM) was adopted to probe whether GFC abnormalities could be used to identify the patients from the controls. Results. Patients with BD exhibited increased GFC in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG), pars triangularis and left precuneus (PCu)/superior occipital gyrus (SOG). The left PCu belongs to the default mode network (DMN). Furthermore, increased GFC in the LIFG, pars triangularis was positively correlated with the triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and negatively correlated with the scores of the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) coding test and Stroop color. Increased GFC values in the left PCu/SOG can be applied to discriminate patients from controls with preferable sensitivity (80.00%), specificity (75.68%), and accuracy (77.78%). Conclusions. This study found increased GFC in the brain regions of DMN; LIFG, pars triangularis; and LSOG, which was associated with dyslipidemia and cognitive impairment in patients with BD. Moreover, increased GFC values in the left PCu/SOG may be utilized as a potential biomarker to differentiate patients with BD from controls.
Detection of Constellation-Modulated Wireless Covert Channel Based on Adjusted CNN Model
Authors: Huang Shuhua , Liu Weiwei , Liu Guangjie , Dai Yuewei , Bai Huiwen
Published: June 2021

With the development of wireless communication technology, more and more information leakage is realized through a wireless covert channel, which brings great challenges to the security of wireless communication. Compared with the wireless covert channel on the upper layer, the wireless covert channel based on the physical layer (WCC-P) has better concealment and greater capacity. As the most widely used scheme of WCC-P, the wireless covert channel with the modulation of the constellation point (WCC-MC) has attracted more and more attention. In this paper, a deep learning scheme based on amplitude-phase characteristics is proposed to detect and classify the WCC-MC scheme. We first extract the amplitude and phase characteristic of error vector magnitude (EVM) and constellation points and then map the amplitude and phase characteristic to the grayscale image, respectively. Finally, the generated feature images are trained, detected, and classified with the adjusted convolution neural network. The experimental results show that the detection accuracy of our proposed scheme can reach 98.5%, and the classification accuracy can reach 81.7%.
Facile Synthesis of rGO/Mn3O4 Composite for Efficient Photodegradation of Phenol under Visible Light
Authors: Shobha P. , Paul Winston Albin John P. , Sunil S. , David T. Manovah , Margaret S. Mary , Muthupandi S. , Sagayaraj P.
Published: June 2021

To enhance reusability and to maintain higher efficiency in degradation, Mn3O4/rGO nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile thermal treatment. Initially, Mn3O4 nanoparticles were prepared and analyzed by powder XRD and HR-SEM. The composition of manganese oxide was varied to obtain different nanocomposites. The Mn3O4 ions were found to be well anchored onto the rGO surface. The obtained samples were taken for the photodegradation studies with phenol as the pollutant. Under a dynamic mode, the absorption efficiency was found to be maximum for the MnsR0.75 sample for phenol.
New Challenges for Ethics: The Social Impact of Posthumanism, Robots, and Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Velázquez G Lourdes
Published: June 2021

The ethical approach to science and technology is based on their use and application in extremely diverse fields. Less prominence has been given to the theme of the profound changes in our conception of human nature produced by the most recent developments in artificial intelligence and robotics due to their capacity to simulate an increasing number of human activities traditionally attributed to man as manifestations of the higher spiritual dimension inherent in his nature. Hence, a kind of contrast between nature and artificiality has ensued in which conformity with nature is presented as a criterion of morality and the artificial is legitimized only as an aid to nature. On the contrary, this essay maintains that artificiality is precisely the specific expression of human nature which has, in fact, made a powerful contribution to the progress of man. However, science and technology do not offer criteria to guide the practical and conceptual use of their own contents simply because they do not contain the conceptual space for the ought-to-be. Therefore, this paper offers a critical analysis of the conceptual models and the most typical products of technoscience as well as a discerning evaluation of the contemporary cultural trend of transhumanism. The position defended here consists of full appreciation of technoscience integrated into a broader framework of specifically human values.
Incentives for Ridesharing: A Case Study of Welfare and Traffic Congestion
Authors: Song Changle , Monteil Julien , Ygnace Jean-Luc , Rey David
Published: June 2021

Traffic congestion is largely due to the high proportion of solo drivers during peak hours. Ridesharing, in the sense of carpooling, has emerged as a travel mode with the potential to reduce congestion by increasing the average vehicle occupancy rates and reduce the number of vehicles during commuting periods. In this study, we propose a simulation-based optimization framework to explore the potential of subsidizing ridesharing users, drivers, and riders, so as to improve social welfare and reduce congestion. We focus our attention on a realistic case study representative of the morning commute on Sydney’s M4 Motorway in Australia. We synthesize a network model and travel demand data from open data sources and use a multinomial logistic model to capture users’ preferences across different travel roles, including solo drivers, ridesharing drivers, ridesharing passengers, and a reserve option that does not contribute to congestion on the freeway network. We use a link transmission model to simulate traffic congestion on the freeway network and embed a fixed-point algorithm to equilibrate users’ mode choice in the long run within the proposed simulation-based optimization framework. Our numerical results reveal that ridesharing incentives have the potential to improve social welfare and reduce congestion. However, we find that providing too many subsidies to ridesharing users may increase congestion levels and thus be counterproductive from a system performance standpoint. We also investigate the impact of transaction fees to a third-party ridesharing platform on social welfare and traffic congestion. We observe that increasing the transaction fee for ridesharing passengers may help in mitigating congestion effects while improving social welfare in the system.
Numerical Study on the Influence of Length-Diameter Ratio on the Performance of Dynamic Pressure Oil-Air Separator
Authors: Zhang Xiaobin , Zhang Xiaofeng , Gu Delin , Lang Lei , Gao Na
Published: June 2021

In order to study the separation characteristics of the aeroengine dynamic pressure oil-air separator, this paper uses the coupling method of PBM and CFD two-fluid model to study the influencing factors such as cylinder diameter, cylinder length, and other factors on the separator performance. The flow field structure, velocity, gas volume distribution, separation efficiency, and gas and liquid holdup rate in the separator under different operating conditions are analyzed. Combined with the analysis results of the cylinder diameter and the cylinder length, the influence law of length-diameter ratio on separation efficiency is summarized. The optimum length-to-diameter ratio that maximizes the separation performance of the separator is obtained in this research, which provides a reference for the design and improvement of the separator. The results show that, as the diameter of the cylinder increases, the separation efficiency increases first and then decreases. When dsep = 16 mm and dsep = 18 mm, the separator reaches its maximum efficiency, which is about 93%. With the increase of the cylinder length, the separation efficiency first increases and reaches the maximum when l2 = 90 mm and then decreases slowly. When the separator cylinder is either too long or too short, it will cause the separation performance to decrease. There is an optimal aspect ratio. There is an optimal aspect ratio, and the separation performance of the separator is the best when the aspect ratio is between 5 and 6.
Localized Bilateral Superior and Inferior Orbital Neurofibroma in the Absence of Neurofibromatosis
Authors: Rojas-Correa Daniela , Bengoa-González Álvaro , Mencía-Gutiérrez Enrique , Hernández-Laín Aurelio , Salvador Elena , Martín-Clavijo Agustín , Jiménez-Almonacid Justino , Lago-Llinás María-Dolores
Published: June 2021

Localized or isolated neurofibromas are peripheral nerve sheath tumors. They are rare in the orbit and occur without a systemic neurofibromatosis. There are few cases of bilateral tumors reported but none affecting both supraorbital and infraorbital nerves. We report a 45-year-old female who presented an extraconal mass in the right orbit as an incidental finding in a head computer tomography, without ocular symptoms. Magnetic resonance image showed a well-defined oval mass in the right supraorbital and infraorbital nerves, of similar characteristics, as well as smaller masses in the left supraorbital and infraorbital nerves. A progressive increase in size of the left supraorbital and infraorbital tumor motivated their surgical excision. The histological result was compatible with a neurofibroma. These uncommon orbital tumors are slow growing and affect the sensory nerves of the trigeminal nerve. Neurofibromas usually present progressive symptoms due to the orbital mass, proptosis, or visual changes although not in this case. Surgical removal is the only definitive treatment.