bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Design of Prototype Formulations for In Vitro Dermal Delivery of the Natural Antioxidant Ferulic Acid Based on Ethosomal Colloidal Systems
Authors: Londoño Cesar A. , Rojas John , Yarce Cristhian J. , Salamanca Constain H.
Published: January 2019

Ferulic acid (FA), a naturally occurring antioxidant, is currently used to prevent skin damage. However, FA is very unstable upon exposure to UV radiation and other factors, which decrease its shelf-life and effectiveness. Therefore, in this work, different prototypes of ethosomal FA vesicular systems were designed and developed to provide protection against different environmental factors. A two-level fractional factorial design was employed using particle size, zeta potential (ZP), incorporation efficiency (EE), polydispersity index (PDI), and the existing relationship between length and width of vesicles or aspect ratio (AR) as response variables. The optimal formulation was characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), infrared analysis, UV-Vis absorption, in-vitro permeability, and thermal degradation studies. Depending on the processing conditions, the EE and particle size varied between 3 and 87% and 470 and 1208 nm, respectively. Membrane studies indicated that the free product released ~4.8% of the compound, whereas the encapsulated material released ~7.1%. Because of their enhanced permeability, ethosomes could be a promising alternative for the topical administration of antioxidants to reduce the oxidative damage caused by solar radiation.
Synthesis and Characterization of AlCoCrFeNiNbx High-Entropy Alloy Coatings by Laser Cladding
Authors: Jiang Hui , Han Kaiming , Li Dayan , Cao Zhiqiang
Published: January 2019

AlCoCrFeNiNbx (x in molar ratio x = 0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1.0) high-entropy alloy (HEA) coatings were manufactured on 304 stainless steel by laser cladding. The constituent phases, microstructures, chemical composition, micro-hardness and wear resistance of the HEA coatings were investigated respectively by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), a Vickers hardness tester and a friction/wear testing machine. It was found that an AlCoCrFeNi alloy coating without Nb consisted of body-centered-cubic (BCC) and order BCC (B2) phases, while the AlCoCrFeNiNbx (x > 0) alloy coatings consisted of BCC, B2 and Laves phases. Microstructures of the AlCoCrFeNiNbx alloy coatings evolved from equiaxed grain (x = 0) to hypoeutectic (0.25 ≤ x < 0.75), then to full eutectic (x = 0.75), and finally to hypereutectic (x > 0.75). With increasing Nb content, the Vickers hardness values increased. AlCoCrFeNiNb0.75 alloy coating with a fully eutectic microstructure demonstrated the best wear resistance among the AlCoCrFeNiNbx (x ≥ 0) alloy coatings.
Towards Identifying Author Confidence in Biomedical Articles
Authors: Onofrei Plămadă Mihaela , Trandabăț Diana , Gîfu Daniela
Published: January 2019

In an era where the volume of medical literature is increasing daily, researchers in the biomedical and clinical areas have joined efforts with language engineers to analyze the large amount of biomedical and molecular biology literature (such as PubMed), patient data, or health records. With such a huge amount of reports, evaluating their impact has long stopped being a trivial task. In this context, this paper intended to introduce a non-scientific factor that represents an important element in gaining acceptance of claims. We postulated that the confidence that an author has in expressing their work plays an important role in shaping the first impression that influences the reader’s perception of the paper. The results discussed in this paper were based on a series of experiments that were ran using data from the open archives initiative (OAI) corpus, which provides interoperability standards to facilitate effective dissemination of the content. This method may be useful to the direct beneficiaries (i.e., authors, who are engaged in medical or academic research), but also, to the researchers in the fields of biomedical text mining (BioNLP) and NLP, etc.
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Designs in 2018
Authors:   Designs Editorial Office
Published: January 2019

Rigorous peer-review is the corner-stone of high-quality academic publishing [...]
PAOT-Liquid® Technology: An Easy Electrochemical Method for Evaluating Antioxidant Capacity of Wines
Authors: Joël Pincemail , Mouna-Messaouda Kaci , Claire Kevers , Jessica Tabart , Raymond Ebabe Elle , Smail Meziane
Published: January 2019

Polyphenol compounds present in high quantity in wines are well-known to have potent cardio-protective properties through several biological mechanisms including antioxidant activity. A large number of methods have been developed for evaluating the antioxidant capacity of food matrices. Most of them have, however, the disadvantage of being time consuming and require specific analytical protocols and devices. In the present study, we present the electrochemical PAOT (Pouvoir Antioxydant Total)-Liquid® Technology which can be easily used by winemakers for evaluating antioxidant activity of wine during all steps of making process. The methodology is based on the measurement of electric potential variation resulting from chemical reactions between wine polyphenols and a free radical mediator M• as source of oxidants. Total antioxidant activity as estimated by the PAOT-Liquid® activity was 6.8 fold higher in red wines (n = 14) when compared to rosé (n = 3) and white (n = 3) wines bought in a commercial market. Moreover, PAOT-Liquid® activity was highly correlated with total polyphenols content (TPC) of all wines (r = 0.9540, p < 0.0001) and the classical DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryhydrazyl) assay which is often used for evaluating antioxidant capacity of food matrices (r = 0.9102, p < 0.0001).
Transients as the Basis for Information Flow in Complex Adaptive Systems
Authors: Sulis William
Published: January 2019

Information is the fundamental currency of naturally occurring complex adaptive systems, whether they are individual organisms or collective social insect colonies. Information appears to be more important than energy in determining the behavior of these systems. However, it is not the quantity of information but rather its salience or meaning which is significant. Salience is not, in general, associated with instantaneous events but rather with spatio-temporal transients of events. This requires a shift in theoretical focus from instantaneous states towards spatio-temporal transients as the proper object for studying information flow in naturally occurring complex adaptive systems. A primitive form of salience appears in simple complex systems models in the form of transient induced global response synchronization (TIGoRS). Sparse random samplings of spatio-temporal transients may induce stable collective responses from the system, establishing a stimulus–response relationship between the system and its environment, with the system parsing its environment into salient and non-salient stimuli. In the presence of TIGoRS, an embedded complex dynamical system becomes a primitive automaton, modeled as a Sulis machine.
Removal of HFC-134a from Brackish Water Using a Semi Batch Jet Loop Reactor
Authors: Siregar Devi Marietta , Park Yiseul , Won Yong Sun , Lim Jun Heok
Published: January 2019

Mineral salt components (Na+, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, etc.) are naturally excluded during the gas hydrate in which water molecules form cavities by hydrogen bonding and guest gas molecules are encapsulated into the cavities to stabilize the overall gas hydrate structure. However, when using refrigerant hydrofluorocarbon-134a (HFC-134a) for guest gas, it resided in resulting brackish water after the desalination process because of its high solubility in water. Jet loop reactors (JLRs) are frequently employed in many commercial applications because of their high mass transfer capabilities. In this study, a semi-batch type JLR was introduced to improve the degassing of HFC-134a from brackish water. The effect of parameters, such as the initial HFC-134a concentration (200–772 mg/L), liquid circulation (40–80 L/min) rate, and air flow rate (10–30 L/min), were studied in this JLR. The removal efficiency and overall volumetric transfer were calculated and it was determined that increasing the air flow rate has a high effect on KLa.
Interest and Applicability of Meta-Heuristic Algorithms in the Electrical Parameter Identification of Multiphase Machines
Authors: Gutierrez-Reina Daniel , Barrero Federico , Riveros Jose , Gonzalez-Prieto Ignacio , Toral Sergio L. , Duran Mario J.
Published: January 2019

Multiphase machines are complex multi-variable electro-mechanical systems that are receiving special attention from industry due to their better fault tolerance and power-per-phase splitting characteristics compared with conventional three-phase machines. Their utility and interest are restricted to the definition of high-performance controllers, which strongly depends on the knowledge of the electrical parameters used in the multiphase machine model. This work presents the proof-of-concept of a new method based on particle swarm optimization and standstill time-domain tests. This proposed method is tested to estimate the electrical parameters of a five-phase induction machine. A reduction of the estimation error higher than 2.5% is obtained compared with gradient-based approaches.
Analysis of Different Strategies for Lowering the Operation Temperature in Existing District Heating Networks
Authors: Neirotti Francesco , Noussan Michel , Riverso Stefano , Manganini Giorgio
Published: January 2019

District heating systems have an important role in increasing the efficiency of the heating and cooling sector, especially when coupled to combined heat and power plants. However, in the transition towards decarbonization, current systems show some challenges for the integration of Renewable Energy Sources and Waste Heat. In particular, a crucial aspect is represented by the operating temperatures of the network. This paper analyzes two different approaches for the decrease of operation temperatures of existing networks, which are often supplying old buildings with a low degree of insulation. A simulation model was applied to some case studies to evaluate how a low-temperature operation of an existing district heating system performs compared to the standard operation, by considering two different approaches: (1) a different control strategy involving nighttime operation to avoid the morning peak demand; and (2) the partial insulation of the buildings to decrease operation temperatures without the need of modifying the heating system of the users. Different temperatures were considered to evaluate a threshold based on the characteristics of the buildings supplied by the network. The results highlight an interesting potential for optimization of existing systems by tuning the control strategies and performing some energy efficiency operation. The network temperature can be decreased with a continuous operation of the system, or with energy efficiency intervention in buildings, and distributed heat pumps used as integration could provide significant advantages. Each solution has its own limitations and critical parameters, which are discussed in detail.
Evolution Characteristics of Overburden Strata Structure for Ultra-Thick Coal Seam Multi-Layer Mining in Xinjiang East Junggar Basin
Authors: Wang Xufeng , Qin Dongdong , Zhang Dongsheng , Guan Weiming , Xu Mengtang , Wang Xuanlin , Zhang Chengguo
Published: January 2019

The efficient and safe extraction of ultra-thick coal seam in the Xinjiang East Junggar Basin has been a major focus in the future of mining in China. This paper systematically studied the overburden strata fracturing process and the structure evolution characteristics based on a typical ultra-thick coal seam condition in Xinjiang, using both physical and numerical modeling studies. The interactions between shields and the roof strata were also examined, from the perspective of ground support. The results indicated that roof structure was mainly in the form of voussoir beam at the early mining stage, where overburden stability was affected by the rock mass properties and mining parameters. The support load mainly included top coal and immediate roof gravity load and the load caused by main roof rotary consolidation. As a result of mining disturbance and strata movement, the overlying strata re-fractured in the later mining stage. The roof structure changed from beam to arch gradually and propagates upwards with the increase of multi-layer mining times. The support load was mainly the gravity load of the friable rock mass within compression arch. The results will provide a guideline for the improvement of roof stability under similar mining conditions in Xinjiang.
Epigenomics of Pancreatic Cancer: A Critical Role for Epigenome-Wide Studies
Authors: Singh Rahul R. , Reindl Katie M. , Jansen Rick J.
Published: January 2019

Several challenges present themselves when discussing current approaches to the prevention or treatment of pancreatic cancer. Up to 45% of the risk of pancreatic cancer is attributed to unknown causes, making effective prevention programs difficult to design. The most common type of pancreatic cancer, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), is generally diagnosed at a late stage, leading to a poor prognosis and 5-year survival estimate. PDAC tumors are heterogeneous, leading to many identified cell subtypes within one patient’s primary tumor. This explains why there is a high frequency of tumors that are resistant to standard treatments, leading to high relapse rates. This review will discuss how epigenetic technologies and epigenome-wide association studies have been used to address some of these challenges and the future promises these approaches hold.
Forests’ First Decade: A Bibliometric Analysis Overview
Authors: Uribe-Toril Juan , Ruiz-Real José Luis , Haba-Osca Julia , de Pablo Valenciano Jaime
Published: January 2019

Forests is a Swiss open access journal in the field of forestry and forest ecology founded in 2010. Currently, the journal celebrates its 10th anniversary. Therefore, the purpose of this research for the special issue A Decade of Forests Open Access Publishing is to present a whole bibliometric overview of the journal and highlight the state of the art of forestry as an interdisciplinary knowledge area. A bibliometric analysis of 2094 articles, reviews, editorials and corrections was conducted using two different scientific information platforms which publish indexes in online databases: Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus. The most influential countries and their relationship with funding institutions, the most leading and outstanding authors and the most significant articles published in Forests have been analyzed. A complete keyword concurrence network with a graphical visualization and a cluster analysis are adopted for identifying the main trends and opening issues to address in the coming decade, such as genetic diversity, forest productivity, resistance or resilience. This article has identified climate change, remote sensing, biomass and forest management as the main trends in forestry research during the last ten years.
Discrimination of Chinese Liquors Based on Electronic Nose and Fuzzy Discriminant Principal Component Analysis
Authors: Wu Xiaohong , Zhu Jin , Wu Bin , Zhao Chao , Sun Jun , Dai Chunxia
Published: January 2019

The detection of liquor quality is an important process in the liquor industry, and the quality of Chinese liquors is partly determined by the aromas of the liquors. The electronic nose (e-nose) refers to an artificial olfactory technology. The e-nose system can quickly detect different types of Chinese liquors according to their aromas. In this study, an e-nose system was designed to identify six types of Chinese liquors, and a novel feature extraction algorithm, called fuzzy discriminant principal component analysis (FDPCA), was developed for feature extraction from e-nose signals by combining discriminant principal component analysis (DPCA) and fuzzy set theory. In addition, principal component analysis (PCA), DPCA, K-nearest neighbor (KNN) classifier, leave-one-out (LOO) strategy and k-fold cross-validation (k = 5, 10, 20, 25) were employed in the e-nose system. The maximum classification accuracy of feature extraction for Chinese liquors was 98.378% using FDPCA, showing this algorithm to be extremely effective. The experimental results indicate that an e-nose system coupled with FDPCA is a feasible method for classifying Chinese liquors.
2D MHD Simulations of the State Transitions of X-Ray Binaries Taking into Account Thermal Conduction
Authors: Nakamura Kenji E. , Machida Mami , Matsumoto Ryoji
Published: January 2019

Thermal conduction plays an important role in bimodal accretion flows consisting of high-temperature flow and cool flow, especially when the temperature is high and/or has a steep gradient. For example, in hard-to-soft transitions of black hole accretion flows, thermal conduction between the high-temperature region and the low-temperature region is appropriately considered. We conducted two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) numerical simulations considering anisotropic heat conduction to study condensation of geometrically thick hot accretion flows driven by radiative cooling during state transitions. Numerical results show that the intermediate region appears between the hot corona and the cool accretion disk when we consider heat conduction. The typical temperature and number density of the intermediate region of the 10 M ⊙ black hole at 10   R g (   R g = 3.0 × 10 6 cm is the Schwarzschild radius) are 4 × 10 10 < T   [ K ] < 4 × 10 12 and 5 × 10 15 < n   [ cm − 3 ] < 5 × 10 17 , respectively. The thickness of intermediate region is about half of the radius. By comparing two models with or without thermal conduction, we demonstrate the effects of thermal conduction.
Description of Process and Content of Online Dementia Coaching for Family Caregivers of Persons with Dementia
Authors: Jablonski Rita A. , Winstead Vicki , Geldmacher David S.
Published: January 2019

Family caregivers of persons with dementia encounter resistance to care behaviors (RCBs). The purpose of this methods paper was to describe the process and content of six weekly 60-min caregiver coaching sessions delivered synchronously through an online platform to 26 family caregivers of persons with dementia. All session notes were analyzed for process; two coaching sessions from five purposely-selected participants were transcribed and analyzed thematically for content. The six sessions followed an overall pattern. The first session included the most teaching and goal-setting; the coaches also queried the family caregiver about the premorbid personality, work history, and interpersonal attributes of the person with dementia. Sessions two through five were the most active coaching sessions; previously suggested strategies were evaluated and tailored; caregivers also role-played with the coaches and developed scripts designed to curtail RCB. The sixth session served as a review of successful caregiver strategies and concluded the coaching relationship. Four primary content themes emerged in the coaching process: (1) education; (2) caregiver communication; (3) affirmation of the caregiver; and (4) individualized strategies. These four content categories were used throughout the coaching process and were interwoven with each other so that the participant knew why the behavior was occurring, how to verbally address it, how to use a strategy effectively, and affirmation of the result. The coaching process and content demonstrated alignment with person-centered practices and relationship-centered care.
A Cross-Sectional Survey on the Impact of Irrelevant Speech Noise on Annoyance, Mental Health and Well-being, Performance and Occupants’ Behavior in Shared and Open-Plan Offices
Authors: Di Blasio Sonja , Shtrepi Louena , Puglisi Giuseppina Emma , Astolfi Arianna
Published: January 2019

This cross-sectional survey has compared subjective outcomes obtained from workers in shared (2–5 occupants) and open-plan (+5 occupants) offices, related to irrelevant speech, which is the noise that is generated from conversations between colleagues, telephone calls and laughter. Answers from 1078 subjects (55% in shared offices and 45% in open-plan offices) have shown that irrelevant speech increases noise annoyance, decreases work performance, and increases symptoms related to mental health and well-being more in open-plan than in shared offices. Workers often use headphones with music to contrast irrelevant speech in open-plan offices, while they take a break, change their working space, close the door or work from home in shared offices. Being female, when there are more than 20 occupants, and working in southern cities without acoustic treatments in the office, make it more likely for the occupants to be annoyed by irrelevant speech noise in open-plan offices. While, working in southern cities and with acoustic treatments in the office makes it more likely that noise annoyance will be reported in shared offices. Finally, more than 70% of the interviewed in open-plan offices were willing to reduce their voice volumes when advised by a noise monitoring system with a lighting feedback.
Improving Patient Access to New Drugs in South Korea: Evaluation of the National Drug Formulary System
Authors: Yoo Seung-Lai , Kim Dae-Jung , Lee Seung-Mi , Kang Won-Gu , Kim Sang-Yoon , Lee Jong Hyuk , Suh Dong-Churl
Published: January 2019

This study reviews and evaluates the national drug formulary system used to improve patient access to new drugs by making reimbursement decisions for new drugs as part of the South Korean national health insurance system. The national health insurance utilizes three methods for improving patient access to costly drugs: risk-sharing agreements, designation of essential drugs, and a waiver of cost-effectiveness analysis. Patients want reimbursement for new drugs to be processed quickly to improve their access to these drugs, whereas payers are careful about listing them given the associated financial burden and the uncertainty in cost-effectiveness. However, pharmaceutical companies are advocating for drug prices above certain thresholds to maintain global pricing strategies, cover the costs of drug development, and fund future investments into research and development. The South Korean government is expected to develop policies that will improve patient access to drugs with unmet needs for broadening health insurance coverage. Simultaneously, the designing of post-listing management methods is warranted for effectively managing the financial resources of the national health insurance system.
Consideration of Level of Confidence within Multi-Approach Satellite-Derived Bathymetry
Authors: Chénier René , Ahola Ryan , Sagram Mesha , Faucher Marc-André , Shelat Yask
Published: January 2019

The Canadian Hydrographic Service (CHS) publishes nautical charts covering all Canadian waters. Through projects with the Canadian Space Agency, CHS has been investigating remote sensing techniques to support hydrographic applications. One challenge CHS has encountered relates to quantifying its confidence in remote sensing products. This is particularly challenging with Satellite-Derived Bathymetry (SDB) where minimal in situ data may be present for validation. This paper proposes a level of confidence approach where a minimum number of SDB techniques are required to agree within a defined level to allow SDB estimates to be retained. The approach was applied to a Canadian Arctic site, incorporating four techniques: empirical, classification and photogrammetric (automatic and manual). Based on International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) guidelines, each individual approach provided results meeting the CATegory of Zones Of Confidence (CATZOC) level C requirement. By applying the level of confidence approach, where technique combinations agreed within 1 m (e.g., all agree, three agree, two agree) large portions of the extracted bathymetry could now meet the CATZOC A2/B requirement. Areas where at least three approaches agreed have an accuracy of 1.2 m and represent 81% of the total surface. The proposed technique not only increases overall accuracy but also removes some of the uncertainty associated with SDB, particularly for locations where in situ validation data is not available. This approach could provide an option for hydrographic offices to increase their confidence in SDB, potentially allowing for increased SDB use within hydrographic products.
Small Manhole Cover Detection in Remote Sensing Imagery with Deep Convolutional Neural Networks
Authors: Liu Wei , Cheng Dayu , Yin Pengcheng , Yang Mengyuan , Li Erzhu , Xie Meng , Zhang Lianpeng
Published: January 2019

With the development of remote sensing technology and the advent of high-resolution images, obtaining data has become increasingly convenient. However, the acquisition of small manhole cover information still has shortcomings including low efficiency of manual surveying and high leakage rate. Recently, deep learning models, especially deep convolutional neural networks (DCNNs), have proven to be effective at object detection. However, several challenges limit the applications of DCNN in manhole cover object detection using remote sensing imagery: (1) Manhole cover objects often appear at different scales in remotely sensed images and DCNNs’ fixed receptive field cannot match the scale variability of such objects; (2) Manhole cover objects in large-scale remotely-sensed images are relatively small in size and densely packed, while DCNNs have poor localization performance when applied to such objects. To address these problems, we propose an effective method for detecting manhole cover objects in remotely-sensed images. First, we redesign the feature extractor by adopting the visual geometry group (VGG), which can increase the variety of receptive field size. Then, detection is performed using two sub-networks: a multi-scale output network (MON) for manhole cover object-like edge generation from several intermediate layers whose receptive fields match different object scales and a multi-level convolution matching network (M-CMN) for object detection based on fused feature maps, which combines several feature maps that enable small and densely packed manhole cover objects to produce a stronger response. The results show that our method is more accurate than existing methods at detecting manhole covers in remotely-sensed images.
A Web Service-Oriented Geoprocessing System for Supporting Intelligent Land Cover Change Detection
Authors: Xing Huaqiao , Chen Jun , Wu Hao , Hou Dongyang
Published: January 2019

Remotely sensed imagery-based change detection is an effective approach for identifying land cover change information. A large number of change detection algorithms have been developed that satisfy different requirements. However, most change detection algorithms have been developed using desktop-based software in offline environments; thus, it is increasingly difficult for common end-users, who have limited remote sensing experience and geographic information system (GIS) skills, to perform appropriate change detection tasks. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an online geoprocessing system for supporting intelligent land cover change detection (OGS-LCCD). This system leverages web service encapsulation technology and an automatic service composition approach to dynamically generate a change detection service chain. First, a service encapsulation strategy is proposed with an execution body encapsulation and service semantics description. Then, a constraint rule-based service composition method is proposed to chain several web services into a flexible change detection workflow. Finally, the design and implementation of the OGS-LCCD are elaborated. A step-by-step walk-through example for a web-based change detection task is presented using this system. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the prototype system.
The Expression of Thrombospondin-4 Correlates with Disease Severity in Osteoarthritic Knee Cartilage
Authors: Maly Kathrin , Schaible Inna , Riegger Jana , Brenner Rolf E. , Meurer Andrea , Zaucke Frank
Published: January 2019

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive joint disease characterized by a continuous degradation of the cartilage extracellular matrix (ECM). The expression of the extracellular glycoprotein thrombospondin-4 (TSP-4) is known to be increased in injured tissues and involved in matrix remodeling, but its role in articular cartilage and, in particular, in OA remains elusive. In the present study, we analyzed the expression and localization of TSP-4 in healthy and OA knee cartilage by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), immunohistochemistry, and immunoblot. We found that TSP-4 protein expression is increased in OA and that expression levels correlate with OA severity. TSP-4 was not regulated at the transcriptional level but we detected changes in the anchorage of TSP-4 in the altered ECM using sequential protein extraction. We were also able to detect pentameric and fragmented TSP-4 in the serum of both healthy controls and OA patients. Here, the total protein amount was not significantly different but we identified specific degradation products that were more abundant in sera of OA patients. Future studies will reveal if these fragments have the potential to serve as OA-specific biomarkers.
Facets of Theiler’s Murine Encephalomyelitis Virus-Induced Diseases: An Update
Authors: Gerhauser Ingo , Hansmann Florian , Ciurkiewicz Malgorzata , Löscher Wolfgang , Beineke Andreas
Published: January 2019

Theiler’s murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV), a naturally occurring, enteric pathogen of mice is a Cardiovirus of the Picornaviridae family. Low neurovirulent TMEV strains such as BeAn cause a severe demyelinating disease in susceptible SJL mice following intracerebral infection. Furthermore, TMEV infections of C57BL/6 mice cause acute polioencephalitis initiating a process of epileptogenesis that results in spontaneous recurrent epileptic seizures in approximately 50% of affected mice. Moreover, C3H mice develop cardiac lesions after an intraperitoneal high-dose application of TMEV. Consequently, TMEV-induced diseases are widely used as animal models for multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and myocarditis. The present review summarizes morphological lesions and pathogenic mechanisms triggered by TMEV with a special focus on the development of hippocampal degeneration and seizures in C57BL/6 mice as well as demyelination in the spinal cord in SJL mice. Furthermore, a detailed description of innate and adaptive immune responses is given. TMEV studies provide novel insights into the complexity of organ- and mouse strain-specific immunopathology and help to identify factors critical for virus persistence.
Bactericidal and Cytotoxic Properties of Silver Nanoparticles
Authors: Liao Chengzhu , Li Yuchao , Tjong Sie Chin
Published: January 2019

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) can be synthesized from a variety of techniques including physical, chemical and biological routes. They have been widely used as nanomaterials for manufacturing cosmetic and healthcare products, antimicrobial textiles, wound dressings, antitumor drug carriers, etc. due to their excellent antimicrobial properties. Accordingly, AgNPs have gained access into our daily life, and the inevitable human exposure to these nanoparticles has raised concerns about their potential hazards to the environment, health, and safety in recent years. From in vitro cell cultivation tests, AgNPs have been reported to be toxic to several human cell lines including human bronchial epithelial cells, human umbilical vein endothelial cells, red blood cells, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells, immortal human keratinocytes, liver cells, etc. AgNPs induce a dose-, size- and time-dependent cytotoxicity, particularly for those with sizes ≤10 nm. Furthermore, AgNPs can cross the brain blood barrier of mice through the circulation system on the basis of in vivo animal tests. AgNPs tend to accumulate in mice organs such as liver, spleen, kidney and brain following intravenous, intraperitoneal, and intratracheal routes of administration. In this respect, AgNPs are considered a double-edged sword that can eliminate microorganisms but induce cytotoxicity in mammalian cells. This article provides a state-of-the-art review on the synthesis of AgNPs, and their applications in antimicrobial textile fabrics, food packaging films, and wound dressings. Particular attention is paid to the bactericidal activity and cytotoxic effect in mammalian cells.
Comparative Phosphoproteomic Analysis of Barley Embryos with Different Dormancy during Imbibition
Authors: Ishikawa Shinnosuke , Barrero José , Takahashi Fuminori , Peck Scott , Gubler Frank , Shinozaki Kazuo , Umezawa Taishi
Published: January 2019

Dormancy is the mechanism that allows seeds to become temporally quiescent in order to select the right time and place to germinate. Like in other species, in barley, grain dormancy is gradually reduced during after-ripening. Phosphosignaling networks in barley grains were investigated by a large-scale analysis of phosphoproteins to examine potential changes in response pathways to after-ripening. We used freshly harvested (FH) and after-ripened (AR) barley grains which showed different dormancy levels. The LC-MS/MS analysis identified 2346 phosphopeptides in barley embryos, with 269 and 97 of them being up- or downregulated during imbibition, respectively. A number of phosphopeptides were differentially regulated between FH and AR samples, suggesting that phosphoproteomic profiles were quite different between FH and AR grains. Motif analysis suggested multiple protein kinases including SnRK2 and MAPK could be involved in such a difference between FH and AR samples. Taken together, our results revealed phosphosignaling pathways in barley grains during the water imbibition process.
Hybrid Design Tools—Image Quality Assessment of a Digitally Augmented Blackboard Integrated System
Authors: Banias Ovidiu , Milincu Camil Octavian
Published: January 2019

In the last two decades, Interactive White Boards (IWBs) have been widely available as a pedagogic tool. The usability of these boards for teaching disciplines where complex drawings are needed, we consider debatable in multiple regards. In a previous study, we proposed an alternative to the IWBs as a blackboard augmented with a minimum of necessary digital elements. The current study continues our previous research on hybrid design tools, analyzing the limitations of the developed hybrid system regarding the perceived quality of the images being repeatedly captured, annotated, and reprojected onto the board. We validated the hybrid system by evaluating the quality of the projected and reprojected images over a blackboard, using both objective measurements and subjective human perception in extensive and realistic case studies. Based on the results achieved in the current research, we conclude that the proposed hybrid system provides good quality support for teaching disciplines that require complex drawings and board interaction.
The Conditions Under Which Piracetam Is Used and the Factors That Can Improve National Institute of Health Stroke Scale Score in Ischemic Stroke Patients and the Importance of Previously Unnoticed Factors From a Hospital-Based Observational Study in Taiwan
Authors: Chen Shu-Yi , Liu Jai-Wen , Wang Yu-Hsun , Huang Jing-Yang , Chen Shiuan-Chih , Yang Shun-Fa , Wang Po-Hui
Published: January 2019

This study aimed to explore the associations of piracetam use and the clinical characteristics of NIHSS (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale) changes—the importance of which, as prognosis related factors, was previously unnoticed—and analyze the associations of piracetem with NIHSS changes by stratifying clinical characteristics. This observational retrospective study was conducted by enrolling patients based on 2483 stroke registration data cohorts from a 1200-bed regional Tungs’ Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital, located in central Taiwan from 1 January 1 2011 to 31 December 2015. Patients were excluded if they had intravenous a thrombolytic agent within 3 hours of symptoms onset (n = 49), incomplete or erroneous NIHSS scores (n = 953), or transient ischemia stroke (n = 130). Logistic regression model was applied for associating piracetam treatment and clinical characteristics with NIHSS score changes between admission and discharge, and subgroup analysis to assess the conditions under which piracetam can be used. Multivariate analysis revealed NIHSS scores improvement in atrial fibrillation, large-artery atherosclerosis, underweight, current smoker, ex-smoker, and piracetam. Subgroup analysis showed piracetam is beneficial in the following: age ≥75 years olds, males, those of normal weight, those who are obese, ex-smokers, those with hypertension, dyslipidemia, those without diabetes mellitus, nor atrial fibrillation. The selection of the conditions under which piracetam treatment should be given, and clinical characteristics, is important for NIHSS improvement of ischemic stroke patients in Taiwan.
Evidence for a Common Genetic Origin of Classic and Milder Adult-Onset Forms of Isolated Hypogonadotropic Hypogonadism
Authors: Cangiano Biagio , Duminuco Paolo , Vezzoli Valeria , Guizzardi Fabiana , Chiodini Iacopo , Corona Giovanni , Maggi Mario , Persani Luca , Bonomi Marco
Published: January 2019

Multiple metabolic and inflammatory mechanisms are considered the determinants of acquired functional isolated hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (IHH) in males, whereas classic IHH is a rare congenital condition with a strong genetic background. Since we recently uncovered a frequent familiarity for classic IHH among patients with mild adult-onset hypogonadism (AO-IHH), here we performed a genetic characterization by next generation sequencing of 160 males with classic or “functional” forms. The prevalence of rare variants in 28 candidate genes was significantly higher than in controls in all IHH patients, independently of the age of IHH onset, degree of hypogonadism or presence of obesity. In fact, it did not differ among patients with classic or milder forms of IHH, however particular genes appear to be more specifically associated with one or the other category of IHH. ROC curves showed that Total Testosterone <6.05 nmol/L and an age of onset <41 years are sensitive cutoffs to identify patients with significantly higher chances of harboring rare IHH gene variants. In conclusion, rare IHH genes variants can frequently predispose to AO-IHH with acquired mild hormonal deficiencies. The identification of a genetic predisposition can improve the familial and individual management of AO-IHH and explain the heritability of congenital IHH.
A New Multi-Bit Flip-Flop Merging Mechanism for Power Consumption Reduction in the Physical Implementation Stage of ICs Conception
Authors: Cherif Lekbir , Chentouf Mohamed , Benallal Jalal , Darmi Mohammed , Elgouri Rachid , Hmina Nabil
Published: January 2019

Recently, the multi-bit flip-flop (MBFF) technique was introduced as a method for reducing the power consumption and chip area of integrated circuits (ICs) during the physical implementation stage of their development process. From the perspective of the consumer, the main requirements for such an optimization method are high performance, low power usage and small area (PPA). Therefore, any new optimization technique should improve at least one, if not all, of these requirements. This paper proposes a new low-power methodology, applying a MBFF merging solution during the physical implementation of an IC to achieve better power consumption and area reduction. The aim of this study is to prove the benefit of this methodology on the power saving capability of the system while demonstrating that the proposed methodology does not have a negative impact on the circuit performance and design routability. The experimental results show that MBFF merging of 76% can be achieved and preserved throughout the entire physical implementation process, from cell placement to the final interconnection routing, without impacting the system’s performance or routability. Moreover, the clock wirelength, nets and buffers needed to balance the clock network were reduced by 11.98%, 3.82% and 9.16%, respectively. The reduction of the clock tree elements led to a reduction of the power consumption of the clock nets, registers and cells by 22.11%, 20.84% and 12.38%, respectively. The total power consumption of the design was reduced by 2.67%.
Environmental Decision Support Systems for Monitoring Small Scale Oil Spills: Existing Solutions, Best Practices and Current Challenges
Authors: Moroni Davide , Pieri Gabriele , Tampucci Marco
Published: January 2019

In recent years, large oil spills have received widespread media attention, while small and micro oil spills are usually only acknowledged by the authorities and local citizens who are directly or indirectly affected by these pollution events. However, small oil spills represent the vast majority of oil pollution events. In this paper, multiple oil spill typologies are introduced, and existing frameworks and methods used as best practices for facing them are reviewed and discussed. Specific tools based on information and communication technologies are then presented, considering in particular those which can be used as integrated frameworks for the specific challenges of the environmental monitoring of smaller oil spills. Finally, a prototype case study actually designed and implemented for the management of existing monitoring resources is reported. This case study helps improve the discussion over the actual challenges of early detection and support to the responsible parties and stakeholders in charge of intervention and remediation operations.
Trend Prediction Classification for High Frequency Bitcoin Time Series with Deep Learning
Authors: Shintate Takuya , Pichl Lukáš
Published: January 2019

We provide a trend prediction classification framework named the random sampling method (RSM) for cryptocurrency time series that are non-stationary. This framework is based on deep learning (DL). We compare the performance of our approach to two classical baseline methods in the case of the prediction of unstable Bitcoin prices in the OkCoin market and show that the baseline approaches are easily biased by class imbalance, whereas our model mitigates this problem. We also show that the classification performance of our method expressed as the F-measure substantially exceeds the odds of a uniform random process with three outcomes, proving that extraction of deterministic patterns for trend classification, and hence market prediction, is possible to some degree. The profit rates based on RSM outperformed those based on LSTM, although they did not exceed those of the buy-and-hold strategy within the testing data period, and thus do not provide a basis for algorithmic trading.
Is Window-Dressing around Going Public Beneficial? Evidence from Poland
Authors: Lizińska Joanna , Czapiewski Leszek
Published: January 2019

The informativeness of financial reports has been of a great importance to both investors and academics. Earnings are crucial for evaluating future prospects and determining company value, especially around milestone events such as initial public offerings (IPO). If investors are misled by manipulated earnings, they could pay too high a price and suffer losses in the long-term when prices adjust to real value. We provide new evidence on the relationship between earnings management and the long-term performance of IPOs as we test the issue with a methodology that has not been applied so far for issues in Poland. We use a set of proxies of earnings management and test the long-term IPO performance under several factor models (CAPM, and three extensions of the Fama-French model). Aggressive IPOs perform very poorly later and earn severe negative stock returns up to three years after going public. The difference in returns in accrual quantiles is statistically significant in almost half of methodology settings. The results seem to suggest that investors might not be able to discount pre-IPO abnormal accruals and could be overoptimistic. Once the true earnings performance is revealed over time, the market makes downward price corrections.
Quantifying Joule Heating and Mass Transport in Metal Nanowires during Controlled Electromigration
Authors: Yagi Mamiko , Shirakashi Jun-ichi
Published: January 2019

The nanoscale heat dissipation (Joule heating) and mass transport during electromigration (EM) have attracted considerable attention in recent years. Here, the EM-driven movement of voids in gold (Au) nanowires of different shapes (width range: 50–300 nm) was directly observed by performing atomic force microscopy. Using the data, we determined the average mass transport rate to be 105 to 106 atoms/s. We investigated the heat dissipation in L-shaped, straight-shaped, and bowtie-shaped nanowires. The maximum Joule heating power of the straight-shaped nanowires was three times that of the bowtie-shaped nanowires, indicating that EM in the latter can be triggered by lower power. Based on the power dissipated by the nanowires, the local temperature during EM was estimated. Both the local temperature and junction voltage of the bowtie-shaped nanowires increased with the decrease in the Joule heating power and current, while the current density remained in the order of 108 A/cm2. The straight-shaped nanowires exhibited the same tendency. The local temperature at each feedback point could be simply estimated using the diffusive heat transport relationship. These results suggest that the EM-driven mass transport can be controlled at temperatures much lower than the melting point of Au.
A Precautionary Approach to Guide the Use of Transition Metal-Based Nanotechnology to Prevent Orthopedic Infections
Authors: Bottagisio Marta , Lovati Arianna B. , Galbusera Fabio , Drago Lorenzo , Banfi Giuseppe
Published: January 2019

The increase of multidrug-resistant bacteria remains a global concern. Among the proposed strategies, the use of nanoparticles (NPs) alone or associated with orthopedic implants represents a promising solution. NPs are well-known for their antimicrobial effects, induced by their size, shape, charge, concentration and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation. However, this non-specific cytotoxic potential is a powerful weapon effective against almost all microorganisms, but also against eukaryotic cells, raising concerns related to their safe use. Among the analyzed transition metals, silver is the most investigated element due to its antimicrobial properties per se or as NPs; however, its toxicity raises questions about its biosafety. Even though it has milder antimicrobial and cytotoxic activity, TiO2 needs to be exposed to UV light to be activated, thus limiting its use conjugated to orthopedic devices. By contrast, gold has a good balance between antimicrobial activity as an NP and cytocompatibility because of its inability to generate ROS. Nevertheless, although the toxicity and persistence of NPs within filter organs are not well verified, nowadays, several basic research on NP development and potential uses as antimicrobial weapons is reported, overemphasizing NPs potentialities, but without any existing potential of translation in clinics. This analysis cautions readers with respect to regulation in advancing the development and use of NPs. Hopefully, future works in vivo and clinical trials will support and regulate the use of nano-coatings to guarantee safer use of this promising approach against antibiotic-resistant microorganisms.