bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Diagnostic Accuracy of Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate and Corticotropin in Autonomous Cortisol Secretion
Authors: Carafone Lindsay E. , Zhang Catherine D. , Li Dingfeng , Lazik Natalia , Hamidi Oksana , Hurtado Maria Daniela , Young William F. , Thomas Melinda A. , Dy Benzon M. , Lyden Melanie L. , Foster Trenton R. , McKenzie Travis J. , Bancos Irina
Published: June 2021

Autonomous cortisol secretion (ACS) affects up to 50% of patients with adrenal adenomas. Despite the limited evidence, clinical guidelines recommend measurement of serum concentrations of dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEA-S) and corticotropin (ACTH) to aid in the diagnosis of ACS. Our objective was to determine the accuracy of serum concentrations of DHEA-S and ACTH in diagnosing ACS. We conducted a retrospective single center study of adults with adrenal adenoma evaluated between 2000−2020. Main outcome measure was diagnostic accuracy of DHEA-S and ACTH. ACS was defined as post-dexamethasone cortisol >1.8 mcg/dL. Of 468 patients, ACS was diagnosed in 256 (55%) patients with a median post-DST cortisol of 3.45 mcg/dL (range, 1.9–32.7). Patients with ACS demonstrated lower serum concentrations of DHEA-S (35 vs. 87.3 mcg/dL, p < 0.0001) and ACTH (8.3 vs. 16 pg/mL, p < 0.0001) compared to patients with non-functioning adrenal tumors (NFAT). Serum DHEA-S concentration <40 mcg/dL diagnosed ACS with 84% specificity and 81% PPV, while serum ACTH concentration <10 pg/mL diagnosed ACS with 75% specificity and 78% PPV. The combination of serum concentrations of DHEA-S <40 mcg/dL and ACTH <10 pg/mL diagnosed ACS with the highest accuracy with 92% specificity and 87% PPV. Serum concentrations of DHEA-S and ACTH provide additional value in diagnosing ACS.
Potential of an Enzyme Mixture of Glucose Oxidase, Glucosyl Transferase, and Fructosyl Transferase as an Antidiabetic Medicine
Authors: Kim Daham , Yu Juyeon , Wang Eun Kyung , Lee Soohyun , Kim Jung Seung , Hwang Jihwan , Ku Cheol Ryong , Cho Yoon Hee , Lee Eun Jig
Published: June 2021

An enzyme mixture (EM) of glucose oxidase, glucosyl transferase, and fructosyl transferase can regulate glucose absorption into the body by converting carbohydrates in food to indigestible oligosaccharides. We evaluated the antidiabetic effects of repeated oral administration of EM in db/db mice. Seven-week-old db/db mice were divided into control, voglibose, and EM groups. Drugs were administered orally mixed with limited feed for one month. Glucose levels were measured every week. A meal tolerance test was conducted after overnight fasting, before the mice were sacrificed. There were no differences in body weight or food intake between the groups. EM treatment reduced blood glucose levels compared with those in the control group. Blood glucose levels during the meal tolerance test were significantly lower in the EM group than those in the control group. A significant decrease in triglyceride level and a tendency for decreased low-density lipoprotein were observed in the EM group compared with in the control group. The Bacteroidetes-to-Firmicutes ratio was higher in the EM group than that in the control group. EM may be useful for people at risk of hyperglycemia or diabetes who need to safely regulate their blood glucose levels. EM may also improve lipid and gut microbiota profiles.
Strategies to Improve Bone Healing: Innovative Surgical Implants Meet Nano-/Micro-Topography of Bone Scaffolds
Authors: Wähnert Dirk , Greiner Johannes , Brianza Stefano , Kaltschmidt Christian , Vordemvenne Thomas , Kaltschmidt Barbara
Published: June 2021

Successful fracture healing is dependent on an optimal mechanical and biological environment at the fracture site. Disturbances in fracture healing (non-union) or even critical size bone defects, where void volume is larger than the self-healing capacity of bone tissue, are great challenges for orthopedic surgeons. To address these challenges, new surgical implant concepts have been recently developed to optimize mechanical conditions. First, this review article discusses the mechanical environment on bone and fracture healing. In this context, a new implant concept, variable fixation technology, is introduced. This implant has the unique ability to change its mechanical properties from “rigid” to “dynamic” over the time of fracture healing. This leads to increased callus formation, a more homogeneous callus distribution and thus improved fracture healing. Second, recent advances in the nano- and micro-topography of bone scaffolds for guiding osteoinduction will be reviewed, particularly emphasizing the mimicry of natural bone. We summarize that an optimal scaffold should comprise micropores of 50–150 µm diameter allowing vascularization and migration of stem cells as well as nanotopographical osteoinductive cues, preferably pores of 30 nm diameter. Next to osteoinduction, such nano- and micro-topographical cues may also reduce inflammation and possess an antibacterial activity to further promote bone regeneration.
Ethical Challenges in Organoid Use
Authors: Mollaki Vasiliki
Published: June 2021

Organoids hold great promises for numerous applications in biomedicine and biotechnology. Despite its potential in science, organoid technology poses complex ethical challenges that may hinder any future benefits for patients and society. This study aims to analyze the multifaceted ethical issues raised by organoids and recommend measures that must be taken at various levels to ensure the ethical use and application of this technology. Organoid technology raises several serious ethics issues related to the source of stem cells for organoid creation, informed consent and privacy of cell donors, the moral and legal status of organoids, the potential acquisition of human “characteristics or qualities”, use of gene editing, creation of chimeras, organoid transplantation, commercialization and patentability, issues of equity in the resulting treatments, potential misuse and dual use issues and long-term storage in biobanks. Existing guidelines and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to organoids are also discussed. It is concluded that despite the serious ethical challenges posed by organoid use and biobanking, we have a moral obligation to support organoid research and ensure that we do not lose any of the potential benefits that organoids offer. In this direction, a four-step approach is recommended, which includes existing regulations and guidelines, special regulatory provisions that may be needed, public engagement and continuous monitoring of the rapid advancements in the field. This approach may help maximize the biomedical and social benefits of organoid technology and contribute to future governance models in organoid technology.
A Quantitative Method for Evaluation of Visual Privacy in Residential Environments
Authors: Zheng He , Wu Bo , Wei Heyi , Yan Jinbiao , Zhu Jianfeng
Published: June 2021

With the rapid expansion of high-rise and high-density buildings in urban areas, visual privacy has become one of the major concerns affecting human environmental quality. Evaluation of residents’ visual exposure to outsiders has attracted more attention in the past decades. This paper presents a quantitative indicator; namely, the Potential Visual Exposure Index (PVEI), to assess visual privacy by introducing the damage of potential visual incursion from public spaces and neighborhoods in high-density residences. The method for computing the PVEI mainly consists of three steps: extracting targets and potential observers in a built environment, conducting intervisibility analysis and identifying visible sightlines, and integrating sightlines from building level and ground level to compute the PVEI value of each building opening. To validate the proposed PVEI, a case study with a sample building located at the center of Kowloon, Hong Kong, was evaluated. The results were in accordance with the common-sense notion that lower floors are subjected to poor visual privacy, and privacy is relatively well-preserved in upper floors in a building. However, residents of middle floors may suffer the worst circumstances with respect to visual privacy. The PVEI can be a useful indicator to assess visual privacy and can provide valuable information in architectural design, hotel room selection, and building management.
Highly Dispersed Pd Species Supported on CeO2 Catalyst for Lean Methane Combustion: The Effect of the Occurrence State of Surface Pd Species on the Catalytic Activity
Authors: Liu Yanxiong , Hu Changhua , Bian Longchun
Published: June 2021

The correlation between the occurrence state of surface Pd species of Pd/CeO2 for lean CH4 combustion is investigated. Herein, by using a reduction-deposition method, we have synthesized a highly active 0.5% PdO/CeO2-RE catalyst, in which the Pd nanoparticles are evenly dispersed on the CeO2 nanorods CeO2-R. Based on comprehensive characterization, we have revealed that the uniformly dispersed Pd nanoparticles with a particle size distribution of 2.3 ± 0.6 nm are responsible for the generation of PdO and PdxCe1−xO2−δ phase with –Pd2+–O2−–Ce4+– linkage, which can easily provide oxygen vacancies and facilitate the transfer of reactive oxygen species between the CeO2-R and Pd species. As a consequence, the remarkable catalytic activity of 0.5% Pd/CeO2-RE is related to the high concentration of PdO species on the surface of the catalyst and the synergistic interaction between the Pd species and the CeO2 nanorod.
The Evolution of Photocatalytic Membrane Reactors over the Last 20 Years: A State of the Art Perspective
Authors: Molinari Raffaele , Lavorato Cristina , Argurio Pietro
Published: June 2021

The research on photocatalytic membrane reactors (PMRs) started around the year 2000 with the study of wastewater treatment by degradation reactions of recalcitrant organic pollutants, and since then the evolution of our scientific knowledge has increased significantly, broadening interest in reactions such as the synthesis of organic chemicals. In this paper, we focus on some initial problems and how they have been solved/reduced over time to improve the performance of processes in PMRs. Some know-how gained during these last two decades of research concerns decreasing/avoiding the degradation of the polymeric membranes, improving photocatalyst reuse, decreasing membrane fouling, enhancing visible light photocatalysts, and improving selectivity towards the reaction product(s) in synthesis reactions (partial oxidation and reduction). All these aspects are discussed in detail in this review. This technology seems quite mature in the case of water and wastewater treatment using submerged photocatalytic membrane reactors (SPMRs), while for applications concerning synthesis reactions, additional knowledge is required.
In Newborn Infants a New Intubation Method May Reduce the Number of Intubation Attempts: A Randomized Pilot Study
Authors: Bruckner Marlies , Morris Nicholas M. , Pichler Gerhard , Wolfsberger Christina H. , Heschl Stefan , Mileder Lukas P. , Schwaberger Bernhard , Schmölzer Georg M. , Urlesberger Berndt
Published: June 2021

Severe desaturation or bradycardia often occur during neonatal endotracheal intubation. Using continuous gas flow through the endotracheal tube might reduce the incidence of these events. We hypothesized that continuous gas flow through the endotracheal tube during nasotracheal intubation compared to standard nasotracheal intubation will reduce the number of intubation attempts in newborn infants. In a randomized controlled pilot study, neonates were either intubated with continuous gas flow through the endotracheal tube during intubation (intervention group) or no gas flow during intubation (control group). Recruitment was stopped early due to financial and organizational issues. A total of 16 infants and 39 intubation attempts were analyzed. The median (interquartile range) number of intubation attempts and number of abandoned intubations due to desaturation and/or bradycardia were 1 (1–2) and 4 (2–5), (p = 0.056) and n = 3 versus n = 20, (p = 0.060) in the intervention group and control group, respectively. Continuous gas flow through the endotracheal tube during intubation seems to be favorable and there are no major unexpected adverse consequences of attempting this methodology.
Supporting Primary School Children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis: A Qualitative Investigation of Teaching Staff Experiences
Authors: Jordan Abbie , Vasileiou Konstantina , Brown Ceri , Caes Line
Published: June 2021

Background: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) has a deleterious impact on numerous areas of children’s lives, including school functioning. This study moves beyond eliciting child reports of school functioning to examine teaching staff’s experiences of supporting a child with JIA in school. Methods: A total of 51 UK-based teaching staff members with experience of supporting a child aged 7–11 years with JIA in school were recruited. Participants completed an online qualitative survey regarding their perceptions and experiences of supporting a child with JIA in school, with a subsample of 9 participants completing a subsequent telephone interview to explore responses in greater detail. Survey and interview data were analyzed using the conventional approach to qualitative content analysis. Results: Analyses generated 4 themes: (1) communicating, (2) flexing and adapting, (3) including, and (4) learning and knowing. Findings highlighted the importance of clear communication between teaching staff and parents in addition to the need for teaching staff to provide individualized support for children with JIA which maximized their inclusion within the class. Conclusions: This paper provides new knowledge regarding how teaching staff adopt proactive and creative strategies to support children with JIA, often in the absence of appropriate training, identifying support needs and resources for teaching staff.
Impact of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic on Bronchiolitis Hospitalizations: The Experience of an Italian Tertiary Center
Authors: Stera Giacomo , Pierantoni Luca , Masetti Riccardo , Leardini Davide , Biagi Carlotta , Buonsenso Danilo , Pession Andrea , Lanari Marcello
Published: June 2021

SARS-CoV-2 pandemic restrictions have deeply altered the common respiratory illnesses burden. The aim of this paper was to clarify how these measures may have influenced bronchiolitis epidemiology, exploring possible explanations. We studied 342 infants hospitalized for bronchiolitis at our center from four different epidemic seasons (October–April 2017–2018, 2018–2019, 2019–2020 and 2020–2021). March–April hospitalization rate, RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) infection, pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admission and oxygen therapy administration data were compared among different seasons to outline any changes during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. In March–April, 30 (23.1%), 28 (24.6%) and 5 (5.1%) infants were hospitalized for bronchiolitis, respectively, in 2017–2018, 2018–2019 and 2019–2020, with a lower rate in March–April 2020 (p < 0.001). No hospitalizations for bronchiolitis occurred during the epidemic season of 2020–2021. No significant differences in RSV infections, oxygen therapy administration and PICU admissions across seasons were outlined. In conclusion, we report a severe decrease in hospitalizations for bronchiolitis at our center throughout the entire SARS-CoV-2 outbreak rather than only during the lockdown periods. This seems to suggest a pivotal role for the systematic implementation of cost-effective non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) such as compulsory face masks and hand hygiene, which were deployed for the entire pandemic, in reducing the circulation of infectious agents.
Integrated Water Vapor during Rain and Rain-Free Conditions above the Swiss Plateau
Authors: Hocke Klemens , Bernet Leonie , Wang Wenyue , Mätzler Christian , Hervo Maxime , Haefele Alexander
Published: June 2021

Water vapor column density, or vertically-integrated water vapor (IWV), is monitored by ground-based microwave radiometers (MWR) and ground-based receivers of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). For rain periods, the retrieval of IWV from GNSS Zenith Wet Delay (ZWD) neglects the atmospheric propagation delay of the GNSS signal by rain droplets. Similarly, it is difficult for ground-based dual-frequency single-polarisation microwave radiometers to separate the microwave emission of water vapor and cloud droplets from the rather strong microwave emission of rain. For ground-based microwave radiometry at Bern (Switzerland), we take the approach that IWV during rain is derived from linearly interpolated opacities before and after the rain period. The intermittent rain periods often appear as spikes in the time series of integrated liquid water (ILW) and are indicated by ILW ≥ 0.4 mm. In the present study, we assume that IWV measurements from radiosondes are not affected by rain. We intercompare the climatologies of IWV(rain), IWV(no rain), and IWV(all) obtained by radiosonde, ground-based GNSS atmosphere sounding, ground-based MWR, and ECMWF reanalysis (ERA5) at Payerne and Bern in Switzerland. In all seasons, IWV(rain) is 3.75 to 5.94 mm greater than IWV(no rain). The mean IWV differences between GNSS and radiosonde at Payerne are less than 0.26 mm. The datasets at Payerne show a better agreement than the datasets at Bern. However, the MWR at Bern agrees with the radiosonde at Payerne within 0.41 mm for IWV(rain) and 0.02 mm for IWV(no rain). Using the GNSS and rain gauge measurements at Payerne, we find that IWV(rain) increases with increase of the precipitation rate during summer as well as during winter. IWV(rain) above the Swiss Plateau is quite well estimated by GNSS and MWR though the standard retrievals are limited or hampered during rain periods.
Study on the Adsorption Properties of Iron Tailings for GO
Authors: Zhou Jiawei , Yao Liming , Wang Yunfeng , Zhao Weiqi , Gu Jiahui
Published: June 2021

Iron tailings can be used as adsorbents to effectively remove graphene oxide (GO) in aqueous solutions. Experimental data show that pH, iron tailing quality, GO concentration and temperature have significant effects on the removal of GO, the adsorption of the tail involves a single layer adsorbed Langmuir model with exothermic reaction, and it compliance with the proposed dynamics model meets the requirements, the adsorption process is a spontaneous physical adsorption process. Combining scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) to analyze the iron tail according to the mechanisms of ore adsorption of GO, it was concluded that iron tailings might be a very promising material to effectively remove GO in aqueous solutions. The results of this research provide key information for the transportation and potential fate of GO in the natural environment.
Characterization of Polysaccharidic Associations for Cosmetic Use: Rheology and Texture Analysis
Authors: Tafuro Giovanni , Costantini Alessia , Baratto Giovanni , Francescato Stefano , Busata Laura , Semenzato Alessandra
Published: June 2021

As public attention on sustainability is increasing, the use of polysaccharides as rheological modifiers in skin-care products is becoming the first choice. Polysaccharide associations can be used to increase the spreading properties of products and to optimize their sensorial profile. Since the choice of natural raw materials for cosmetics is wide, instrumental methodologies are useful for formulators to easily characterize the materials and to create mixtures with specific applicative properties. In this work, we performed rheological and texture analyses on samples formulated with binary and ternary associations of polysaccharides to investigate their structural and mechanical features as a function of the concentration ratios. The rheological measurements were conducted under continuous and oscillatory flow conditions using a rotational rheometer. An immersion/de-immersion test conducted with a texture analyzer allowed us to measure some textural parameters. Sclerotium gum and iota-carrageenan imparted high viscosity, elasticity, and firmness in the system; carob gum and pectin influenced the viscoelastic properties and determined high adhesiveness and cohesiveness. The results indicated that these natural polymers combined in appropriate ratios can provide a wide range of different textures and that the use of these two complementary techniques represents a valid pre-screening tool for the formulation of green products.
The Role of Serology Testing to Strengthen Vaccination Initiatives and Policies for COVID-19 in Europe
Authors: Bonanni Paolo , Cantón Rafael , Gill Dipender , Halfon Philippe , Liebert Uwe G. , Crespo Katya A. Nogales , Martín Jaime J. Pérez , Trombetta Claudia M.
Published: June 2021

This review explores and positions the value of serology testing to support current immunization policies and the broader policy response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis in Europe. We applied an exploratory approach to analysing existing evidence, international recommendations, and national policies using desk research from secondary sources, document analysis, and expert information. Regional and country-level resources from five focus countries were included: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Seven experts in the fields of COVID-19 immunization, serology testing, seroepidemiology, and vaccine safety and effectiveness studies contributed to the review and convened in two online panel sessions. The paper includes an overview of (1) the impact of the pandemic to date, (2) testing strategies, (3) COVID-19 vaccination policies, (4) lessons on using serology testing to support immunization, (5) current policies and recommendations on the use of a serology testing strategy, and (6) implementation barriers and challenges. Finally, this paper also provides a set of knowledge-based recommendations to advance the effective and timely inclusion of serology testing and resolve impeding knowledge gaps. The recommendations herein are intended to support timely decision-making, raise awareness, guide advocacy initiatives, and inspire future studies.
SC-DDPL as a Countermeasure against Static Power Side-Channel Attacks
Authors: Bellizia Davide , Della Sala Riccardo , Scotti Giuseppe
Published: June 2021

With the continuous scaling of CMOS technology, which has now reached the 3 nm node at production level, static power begins to dominate the power consumption of nanometer CMOS integrated circuits. A novel class of security attacks to cryptographic circuits which exploit the correlation between the static power and the secret keys was introduced more than ten years ago, and, since then, several successful key recovery experiments have been reported. These results clearly demonstrate that attacks exploiting static power (AESP) represent a serious threat for cryptographic systems implemented in nanometer CMOS technologies. In this work, we analyze the effectiveness of the Standard Cell Delay-based Precharge Logic (SC-DDPL) style in counteracting static power side-channel attacks. Experimental results on an FPGA implementation of a compact PRESENT crypto-core show that the SC-DDPL implementation allows a great improvement of all the security metrics with respect to the standard CMOS implementation and other state-of-the-art countermeasures such as WDDL and MDPL.
Spin-Phonon Coupling in A2BMnO6 (A = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd; B = Co, Ni) Double-Perovskite Thin Films: Impact of the A-Site Cation Radius
Authors: Meyer Christoph , Ksoll Philipp , Roddatis Vladimir , Moshnyaga Vasily
Published: June 2021

Two series of B-site ordered, double-perovskite A2CoMnO6 and A2NiMnO6 (A = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd) epitaxial films with thickness d ~ 100 nm were grown on SrTiO3(111) substrates via metalorganic aerosol deposition. Polarization and temperature-dependent Raman spectroscopy were carried out in order to determine the spin-phonon coupling constant, λ, and the impact of the A-site cation radius on the phonon properties. The reduction of the A-site cation radius from La3+ down to Gd3+ systematically shifts the Raman modes to lower wavenumbers, and decreases the magnetization-induced softening of the Ag breathing mode, described by the spin-phonon coupling constant, λ, which changes from λ = 1.42 cm−1 (La2CoMnO6) and λ = 1.53 cm−1 (La2NiMnO6) down to λ = 0.58 cm−1 (Gd2CoMnO6) and λ = 0.44 cm−1 (Gd2NiMnO6). A similar effect of the A-cation radius was established for the c-lattice parameter and Curie temperature, TC, in this series of double-perovskite films. Our observations directly demonstrate a strong impact of the lattice structure on the ferromagnetic superexchange interaction in double perovskites. Moreover, the A2CoMnO6 and A2NiMnO6 series exhibit very similar behavior of spin-phonon coupling due to the only moderate difference of Co2+ and Ni2+ cation size.
Study on the Performance of Synergistic Preparation of Sulphoaluminate Based Recycled Concrete by RP and RCA
Authors: Hu Zhenwen , Li Qiuyi , Guo Yuanxin , Lin Xiangling , Liu Junzhe , Zheng Shidong
Published: June 2021

In this paper, the properties of sulphoaluminate based recycled concrete, with high workability and low and medium strength, prepared by recycled powder (RP), recycled coarse aggregate (RCA), and high belite sulphoaluminate cement (HBSAC), were systematically studied. Under the condition of a water binder ratio of 0.45, sulphoaluminate based recycled concrete, with different mix proportions, was prepared by replacing sulphoaluminate cement with RP and natural coarse aggregate (NCA) with RCA. The workability, mechanical properties, durability, and hydration products of the prepared concrete were analyzed. The results showed that when RP and RCA were used together, the workability of recycled concrete could fully meet the pumping demand in actual construction. When the mass replacement rate of RP was less than 30% and that of RCA was less than 20%, the strength of recycled concrete could completely reach the design strength grade, while those that did not reach the design strength grade could reach the next grade. The durability performance was also good.
Cost–Utility Analysis of Radiation Treatment Modalities for Intermediate-Risk Prostate Cancer
Authors: Alyamani Najlaa , Song Jiheon , van Katwyk Sasha , Thavorn Kednapa , Renaud Julie , Haddad Alain , MacPherson Miller , Gaudet Marc
Published: June 2021

Introduction: Variable costs of different radiation treatment modalities have played an important factor in selecting the most appropriate treatment for patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer. Methods: Analysis using a Markov model was conducted to simulate 20-year disease trajectory, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and health system costs of a cohort of intermediate-risk prostate cancer patients with mean age of 60 years. Clinical outcomes on toxicity and disease recurrence were measured and a probabilistic sensitivity analysis was performed, varying input parameters simultaneously according to their distributions. Results: Among the six radiation treatment modalities, including conventionally fractionated intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), hypofractionated IMRT, IMRT combined with high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy, HDR brachytherapy monotherapy, low-dose-rate brachytherapy monotherapy, and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), SBRT was found to be more cost-effective when compared with LDR-b and other treatment modalities, resulting in an incremental cost–utility ratio of $2985 per QALY. Conclusions: Stereotactic body radiotherapy is the most cost-effective radiation treatment modality in treatment of intermediate-risk prostate cancer, while treatment toxicity and cost data are the key drivers of the cost–utility. Further work is required with long-term follow-up for SBRT.
The Potential Use of Vitamin C to Prevent Kidney Injury in Patients with COVID-19
Authors: Xu Feng , Wen Yawei , Hu Xinge , Wang Tiannan , Chen Guoxun
Published: June 2021

The newly found SARS-CoV-2 has led to the pandemic of COVID-19, which has caused respiratory distress syndrome and even death worldwide. This has become a global public health crisis. Unfortunately, elders and subjects with comorbidities have high mortality rates. One main feature of COVID-19 is the cytokine storm, which can cause damage in cells and tissues including the kidneys. Here, we reviewed the current literature on renal impairments in patients with COVID-19 and analyzed the possible etiology and mechanisms. In addition, we investigated the potential use of vitamin C for the prevention of renal injury in those patients. It appears that vitamin C could be helpful to improve the outcomes of patients with COVID-19. Lastly, we discussed the possible protective effects of vitamin C on renal functions in COVID-19 patients with existing kidney conditions.
Diabetic Retinal Grading Using Attention-Based Bilinear Convolutional Neural Network and Complement Cross Entropy
Authors: Liu Pingping , Yang Xiaokang , Jin Baixin , Zhou Qiuzhan
Published: June 2021

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM), and it is necessary to diagnose DR in the early stages of treatment. With the rapid development of convolutional neural networks in the field of image processing, deep learning methods have achieved great success in the field of medical image processing. Various medical lesion detection systems have been proposed to detect fundus lesions. At present, in the image classification process of diabetic retinopathy, the fine-grained properties of the diseased image are ignored and most of the retinopathy image data sets have serious uneven distribution problems, which limits the ability of the network to predict the classification of lesions to a large extent. We propose a new non-homologous bilinear pooling convolutional neural network model and combine it with the attention mechanism to further improve the network’s ability to extract specific features of the image. The experimental results show that, compared with the most popular fundus image classification models, the network model we proposed can greatly improve the prediction accuracy of the network while maintaining computational efficiency.
Conflict Data Fusion in a Multi-Agent System Premised on the Base Basic Probability Assignment and Evidence Distance
Authors: Liu Jingyu , Tang Yongchuan
Published: June 2021

The multi-agent information fusion (MAIF) system can alleviate the limitations of a single expert system in dealing with complex situations, as it allows multiple agents to cooperate in order to solve problems in complex environments. Dempster–Shafer (D-S) evidence theory has important applications in multi-source data fusion, pattern recognition, and other fields. However, the traditional Dempster combination rules may produce counterintuitive results when dealing with highly conflicting data. A conflict data fusion method in a multi-agent system based on the base basic probability assignment (bBPA) and evidence distance is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the new bBPA and reconstructed BPA are used to construct the initial belief degree of each agent. Then, the information volume of each evidence group is obtained by calculating the evidence distance so as to modify the reliability and obtain more reasonable evidence. Lastly, the final evidence is fused with the Dempster combination rule to obtain the result. Numerical examples show the effectiveness and availability of the proposed method, which improves the accuracy of the identification process of the MAIF system.
Ground-State Properties and Phase Separation of Binary Mixtures in Mesoscopic Ring Lattices
Authors: Penna Vittorio , Contestabile Alessandra , Richaud Andrea
Published: June 2021

We investigated the spatial phase separation of the two components forming a bosonic mixture distributed in a four-well lattice with a ring geometry. We studied the ground state of this system, described by means of a binary Bose–Hubbard Hamiltonian, by implementing a well-known coherent-state picture which allowed us to find the semi-classical equations determining the distribution of boson components in the ring lattice. Their fully analytic solutions, in the limit of large boson numbers, provide the boson populations at each well as a function of the interspecies interaction and of other significant model parameters, while allowing to reconstruct the non-trivial architecture of the ground-state four-well phase diagram. The comparison with the L-well (L=2,3) phase diagrams highlights how increasing the number of wells considerably modifies the phase diagram structure and the transition mechanism from the full-mixing to the full-demixing phase controlled by the interspecies interaction. Despite the fact that the phase diagrams for L=2,3,4 share various general properties, we show that, unlike attractive binary mixtures, repulsive mixtures do not feature a transition mechanism which can be extended to an arbitrary lattice of size L.
Discrimination of Patients with Varying Degrees of Coronary Artery Stenosis by ECG and PCG Signals Based on Entropy
Authors: Zhang Huan , Wang Xinpei , Liu Changchun , Li Yuanyang , Liu Yuanyuan , Jiao Yu , Liu Tongtong , Dong Huiwen , Wang Jikuo
Published: June 2021

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of cardiovascular death. This study aimed to propose an effective method for mining cardiac mechano-electric coupling information and to evaluate its ability to distinguish patients with varying degrees of coronary artery stenosis (VDCAS). Five minutes of electrocardiogram and phonocardiogram signals was collected synchronously from 191 VDCAS patients to construct heartbeat interval (RRI)–systolic time interval (STI), RRI–diastolic time interval (DTI), HR-corrected QT interval (QTcI)–STI, QTcI–DTI, Tpeak–Tend interval (TpeI)–STI, TpeI–DTI, Tpe/QT interval (Tpe/QTI)–STI, and Tpe/QTI–DTI series. Then, the cross sample entropy (XSampEn), cross fuzzy entropy (XFuzzyEn), joint distribution entropy (JDistEn), magnitude-squared coherence function, cross power spectral density, and mutual information were applied to evaluate the coupling of the series. Subsequently, support vector machine recursive feature elimination and XGBoost were utilized for feature selection and classification, respectively. Results showed that the joint analysis of XSampEn, XFuzzyEn, and JDistEn had the best ability to distinguish patients with VDCAS. The classification accuracy of severe CHD—mild-to-moderate CHD group, severe CHD—chest pain and normal coronary angiography (CPNCA) group, and mild-to-moderate CHD—CPNCA group were 0.8043, 0.7659, and 0.7500, respectively. The study indicates that the joint analysis of XSampEn, XFuzzyEn, and JDistEn can effectively capture the cardiac mechano-electric coupling information of patients with VDCAS, which can provide valuable information for clinicians to diagnose CHD.
A Semi-Deterministic Random Walk with Resetting
Authors: Villarroel Javier , Montero Miquel , Vega Juan Antonio
Published: June 2021

We consider a discrete-time random walk (xt) which, at random times, is reset to the starting position and performs a deterministic motion between them. We show that the quantity Prxt+1=n+1|xt=n,n→∞ determines if the system is averse, neutral or inclined towards resetting. It also classifies the stationary distribution. Double barrier probabilities, first passage times and the distribution of the escape time from intervals are determined.
A Designed Eco-Art and Place-Based Curriculum Encouraging Students’ Empathy for the Environment
Authors: Sunassee Asvina , Bokhoree Chandradeo
Published: June 2021

Environmental art education is gaining importance in schools as arts education begins to acquire a more significant role in environmental education. This emerging field of study is an interdisciplinary endeavor that is centered on the different fields of environmental education and visual art education and provides a means of making students aware of environmental issues through environmental art education. It has been suggested that students get into a relationship with nature prior to the request to conserve the environment in order to be nature connected. This abstract focuses on teaching and learning through the arts, a pedagogical way in which students discuss the challenging aspects of environmental issues. The aim of this study is to make students act like protectors of their environment through an eco-art place-based curriculum. This paper’s pedagogies will provide educators with a framework for developing environmental art education lessons and curricula. This experimental study has been planned to gather data from interviews and observation of students and by making the students participate in nature-related activities. The findings show that students prefer to let go of their fascination with formulating better ecological perspectives. On the positive side, a few students went through some frustration during the program and the activities. Students have given positive feedback on the program in positive terms, such as “fun”, “interesting”, and “cool”, to express their experience gained through the class activities.
Sustainability Performance of Organization: Mediating Role of Knowledge Management
Authors: Sapta I Ketut Setia , Sudja I Nengah , Landra I Nengah , Rustiarini Ni Wayan
Published: June 2021

Research about sustainable performance and its impact on the organization’s economic, social, and environmental development has attracted the attention of many scholars. However, the research investigating the relationship between sustainable performance from traditional organizations based on local culture is still underdeveloped. This study aimed to examine the relationship among organizational culture and leadership styles with knowledge management and sustainable performance. Moreover, this study investigates knowledge management’s role as a mediating variable in the relationship between organizational culture, leadership style, and sustainable performance. This study adopted a quantitative approach using the purposive sampling method with a questionnaire distributed to 99 respondents in Bali Province, Indonesia. The analysis technique was SEM-PLS. The results revealed that organizational culture and transformational leadership have significant effects on knowledge management. This study also proves that knowledge management mediates the relationship between organizational culture and sustainable performance, as well as the relationship between leadership style and sustainable performance. Theoretically, this study confirms the knowledge-based theory about knowledge management practices and sustainability performance. The present study also highlights the characteristics of organizational culture in traditional organizations and the effectiveness of transformational leadership to achieve sustainable organizational performance. Practically, the results provide insights to aid governments and regulators in continuously implementing knowledge management to achieve sustainable performance.
Trust Hardware Based Secured Privacy Preserving Computation System for Three-Dimensional Data
Authors: Yuan Munan , Li Xiaofeng , Li Xiru , Tan Haibo , Xu Jinlin
Published: June 2021

Three-dimensional (3D) data are easily collected in an unconscious way and are sensitive to lead biological characteristics exposure. Privacy and ownership have become important disputed issues for the 3D data application field. In this paper, we design a privacy-preserving computation system (SPPCS) for sensitive data protection, based on distributed storage, trusted execution environment (TEE) and blockchain technology. The SPPCS separates a storage and analysis calculation from consensus to build a hierarchical computation architecture. Based on a similarity computation of graph structures, the SPPCS finds data requirement matching lists to avoid invalid transactions. With TEE technology, the SPPCS implements a dual hybrid isolation model to restrict access to raw data and obscure the connections among transaction parties. To validate confidential performance, we implement a prototype of SPPCS with Ethereum and Intel Software Guard Extensions (SGX). The evaluation results derived from test datasets show that (1) the enhanced security and increased time consumption (490 ms in this paper) of multiple SGX nodes need to be balanced; (2) for a single SGX node to enhance data security and preserve privacy, an increased time consumption of about 260 ms is acceptable; (3) the transaction relationship cannot be inferred from records on-chain. The proposed SPPCS implements data privacy and security protection with high performance.
Empirical Modeling of Customer Satisfaction for E-Services in Cross-Border E-Commerce
Authors: Taherdoost Hamed , Madanchian Mitra
Published: June 2021

This paper presents an empirical analysis of significant features of the e-service satisfaction model (ESM) as an important element of a sharing economy. Customer satisfaction is regarded as one determining factor in the success of businesses. Therefore, customer satisfaction is considered one of the most critical features that determine the success of activities conducted by online businesses for cross-border e-commerce. Therefore, companies essentially need to measure the interaction and satisfaction level of their customers to improve the performance of their business. In this study, we employed content validity, exploratory factor analysis, constructive testing, and cluster discrimination to examine the survey instrument and test the e-service satisfaction model (ESM) in the context of e-commerce. To ensure the validation of measurement models and the proposed instruments, structural equation modeling was applied through SPSS AMOS software. According to the results of our study, the presented survey instrument is a strong and reliable tool to create customer interaction in cross-border e-commerce by identifying the various key factors affecting customer satisfaction.
Monte Carlo-Based Indoor RFID Positioning with Dual-Antenna Joint Rectification
Authors: Tao Yonghui , Wu Lujie , Sidén Johan , Wang Gang
Published: June 2021

A novel Monte Carlo-based indoor radio-frequency identification (RFID) positioning scheme is proposed for dual-antenna RFID systems with the cooperation of dual-antenna joint rectification. By deploying reference passive RFID tags on the ground to establish an RFID tag-based map, indoor self-positioning of a moving platform carrying an RFID reader with two forward-looking antennas can be simply implemented by looking up the positions of responded RFID tags at each time step of movement, and estimating the platform position by using the proposed Monte Carlo-based algorithm. To improve the positioning accuracy of Monte Carlo-based positioning, each antenna channel, with its own footprint on the ground, may rectify its position estimation by using the tag position information interrogated by the other antenna channel. The algorithm for dual-antenna rectification is proposed. The performance of the proposed Monte Carlo-based self-positioning scheme is demonstrated by both simulation and experiment tests. Some factors in a practical indoor-positioning system, such as the reference tag distribution pattern, reader antenna footprint size, and footprint overlap, are discussed. Some guide rules for deploying the RFID indoor-positioning system are also reported.
Advancing Stress Detection Methodology with Deep Learning Techniques Targeting UX Evaluation in AAL Scenarios: Applying Embeddings for Categorical Variables
Authors: Liapis Alexandros , Faliagka Evanthia , Antonopoulos Christos P. , Keramidas Georgios , Voros Nikolaos
Published: June 2021

Physiological measurements have been widely used by researchers and practitioners in order to address the stress detection challenge. So far, various datasets for stress detection have been recorded and are available to the research community for testing and benchmarking. The majority of the stress-related available datasets have been recorded while users were exposed to intense stressors, such as songs, movie clips, major hardware/software failures, image datasets, and gaming scenarios. However, it remains an open research question if such datasets can be used for creating models that will effectively detect stress in different contexts. This paper investigates the performance of the publicly available physiological dataset named WESAD (wearable stress and affect detection) in the context of user experience (UX) evaluation. More specifically, electrodermal activity (EDA) and skin temperature (ST) signals from WESAD were used in order to train three traditional machine learning classifiers and a simple feed forward deep learning artificial neural network combining continues variables and entity embeddings. Regarding the binary classification problem (stress vs. no stress), high accuracy (up to 97.4%), for both training approaches (deep-learning, machine learning), was achieved. Regarding the stress detection effectiveness of the created models in another context, such as user experience (UX) evaluation, the results were quite impressive. More specifically, the deep-learning model achieved a rather high agreement when a user-annotated dataset was used for validation.
Swarm-Like Distributed Algorithm for Scheduling a Microservice-Based Application to the Cloud Servers
Authors: Rusek Marian , Dwornicki Grzegorz
Published: June 2021

Introduction of virtualization containers and container orchestrators fundamentally changed the landscape of cloud application development. Containers provide an ideal way for practical implementation of microservice-based architecture, which allows for repeatable, generic patterns that make the development of reliable, distributed applications more approachable and efficient. Orchestrators allow for shifting the accidental complexity from inside of an application into the automated cloud infrastructure. Existing container orchestrators are centralized systems that schedule containers to the cloud servers only at their startup. In this paper, we propose a swarm-like distributed cloud management system that uses live migration of containers to dynamically reassign application components to the different servers. It is based on the idea of “pheromone” robots. An additional mobile agent process is placed inside each application container to control the migration process. The number of parallel container migrations needed to reach an optimal state of the cloud is obtained using models, experiments, and simulations. We show that in the most common scenarios the proposed swarm-like algorithm performs better than existing systems, and due to its architecture it is also more scalable and resilient to container death. It also adapts to the influx of containers and addition of new servers to the cloud automatically.