bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Square–torsion gravity, dark matter halos and the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation
Authors: Mégier Elias A. S.
Published: December 2020

Square–torsion gravity is applied to the long standing dark matter problem. In this context the theory reduces to General Relativity complemented by a dark stress–energy tensor due to the torsion of spacetime and is studied under the simplifying assumption of spherical symmetry. The dark stress–energy tensor satisfies an anisotropic structure equation. In vacuum this is equivalent to a wave equation with sources. A natural class of exact solutions is found which explicitly perturbs any seed spacetime metric by a conformal factor. This leads to the concept of dark coating. Static solutions are then used to construct structures that model dark matter halos surrounding baryonic bodies. In the Newtonian régime the baryonic mass $$m_b$$

m
b

and the flat rotation curve velocity $$v_f$$

v
f

are related by the baryonic Tully–Fisher relation$$m_b\propto v_f^4$$

m
b

∝

v
f
4

, a hitherto purely empirical result. The example of a dark halo on the Schwarzschild geometry is made as a toy model for a galaxy. Qualitative an quantitative features of galactic rotation curves are recovered. In this setting, a boundary of staticity is found, called torsion sphere, placed between the photon sphere and the event horizon. The phenomenon of dark radiation is briefly exposed.
Running of effective dimension and cosmological entropy in early universe
Authors: Xiao Yong
Published: December 2020

In this paper, we suggest that the early universe starts from a high-energetic state with a two dimensional description and the state recovers to be four dimensional when the universe evolves into the radiation dominated phase. This scenario is consistent with the recent viewpoint that quantum gravity should be effectively two dimensional in the ultraviolet and recovers to be four dimensional in the infrared. A relationship has been established between the running of effective dimension and that of the entropy inside particle horizon of the universe, i.e., as the effective dimension runs from two to four, the corresponding entropy runs from the holographic entropy to the normal entropy appropriate to radiation. These results can be generalized to higher dimensional cases.
$$T\bar{T}$$ deformation of chiral bosons and Chern–Simons $$\hbox {AdS}_3$$ gravity
Authors: Ouyang Hao , Shu Hongfei
Published: December 2020

We study the $$T\bar{T}$$

T

T

¯

deformation of the chiral bosons and show the equivalence between the chiral bosons of opposite chiralities and the scalar fields at the Hamiltonian level under the deformation. We also derive the deformed Lagrangian of more generic theories which contain an arbitrary number of chiral bosons to all orders. By using these results, we derive the $$T\bar{T}$$

T

T

¯

deformed boundary action of the $$\hbox {AdS}_3$$

AdS
3

gravity theory in the Chern–Simons formulation. We compute the deformed one-loop torus partition function, which satisfies the $$T\bar{T}$$

T

T

¯

flow equation up to the one-loop order. Finally, we calculate the deformed stress–energy tensor of a solution describing a BTZ black hole in the boundary theory, which coincides with the boundary stress–energy tensor derived from the BTZ black hole with a finite cutoff.
Thermodynamics of spherically symmetric black holes in scale-dependent gravity
Authors: Bargueño P. , Miralles J. A. , Pons J. A.
Published: December 2020

In this work we extend the first law of thermodynamics to spherically symmetric black hole solutions in the context of scale-dependent gravity. After deriving generalized expressions for both the entropy and energy due to the spatial variation of the gravitational constant we analize, by pointing out some relations between scale-dependent andf(R) theories, whether or not the former can be described using equilibrium thermodynamics.
On the spectrality of self-affine measures with four digits on ℝ2
Authors: Chen Ming-Liang , Yan Zhi-Hui
Published: December 2020

In this paper, we study the spectral property of the self-affine measure [Formula: see text] generated by an expanding real matrix [Formula: see text] and the four-element digit set [Formula: see text]. We show that [Formula: see text] is a spectral measure, i.e. there exists a discrete set [Formula: see text] such that the collection of exponential functions [Formula: see text] forms an orthonormal basis for [Formula: see text], if and only if [Formula: see text] for some [Formula: see text]. A similar characterization for Bernoulli convolution is provided by Dai [X.-R. Dai, When does a Bernoulli convolution admit a spectrum? Adv. Math. 231(3) (2012) 1681–1693], over which [Formula: see text]. Furthermore, we provide an equivalent characterization for the maximal bi-zero set of [Formula: see text] by extending the concept of tree-mapping in [X.-R. Dai, X.-G. He and C. K. Lai, Spectral property of Cantor measures with consecutive digits, Adv. Math. 242 (2013) 187–208]. We also extend these results to the more general self-affine measures.
A weak expectation property for operator modules, injectivity and amenable actions
Authors: Bearden Alex , Crann Jason
Published: December 2020

We introduce an equivariant version of the weak expectation property (WEP) at the level of operator modules over completely contractive Banach algebras [Formula: see text]. We prove a number of general results — for example, a characterization of the [Formula: see text]-WEP in terms of an appropriate [Formula: see text]-injective envelope, and also a characterization of those [Formula: see text] for which [Formula: see text]-WEP implies WEP. In the case of [Formula: see text], we recover the [Formula: see text]-WEP for [Formula: see text]-[Formula: see text]-algebras in recent work of Buss–Echterhoff–Willett [A. Buss, S. Echterhoff and R. Willett, The maximal injective crossed product, to appear in Ergodic Theory Dynam. Systems, https://doi.org/10.1017/etds.2019.25 ]. When [Formula: see text], we obtain a dual notion for operator modules over the Fourier algebra. These dual notions are related in the setting of dynamical systems, where we show that a [Formula: see text]-dynamical system [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] injective is amenable if and only if [Formula: see text] is [Formula: see text]-injective if and only if the crossed product [Formula: see text] is [Formula: see text]-injective. Analogously, we show that a [Formula: see text]-dynamical system [Formula: see text] with [Formula: see text] nuclear and [Formula: see text] exact is amenable if and only if [Formula: see text] has the [Formula: see text]-WEP if and only if the reduced crossed product [Formula: see text] has the [Formula: see text]-WEP.
Benefits of Herbal Medicine on Bone Mineral Density in Osteoporosis: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: Lin Wan-Ling , Lin Pao-Yen , Hung Yu-Chiang , Hsueh Tun-Pin
Published: December 2020

Bone mineral density (BMD) has been validated not only for the diagnosis of osteoporosis but also for prediction of the risk of osteoporosis-related fractures. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the overall benefits of herbal medicines on BMD using a meta-analytic method. Systematic searches in PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Central, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were performed for eligible studies. A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the benefits of herbal medicine treatment and conventional treatment for BMD. Herbal medicines frequently used for interventions were pooled in the analysis and further investigated. Seventeen studies were pooled in the meta-analysis and showed that BMD was higher in the herbal medicine group than in the control group (standardized mean difference [SMD]: 0.857; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.412 to 1.301). Significant benefits of herbal medicine for BMD were found in the lumbar spine, femoral neck, and femoral trochanter and in postmenopausal women (SMD: 0.600, 95% CI: 0.068 to 1.131) by subgroup analysis. Moreover, through the meta-regression analysis, the age at menopause and the menopause duration were found to influence the herbal intervention effects on BMD. In addition, the most prescribed medicine among the effective herbs in the pooled studies was found to be Epimedium brevicornum Maxim. This paper provides evidence that herbal medicine interventions increase BMD more than conventional treatments in individuals with osteoporosis, especially postmenopausal women. The results of this study suggest that herbal medicines are effective for increasing BMD in individuals with osteoporosis.
Earlier Acupuncture Enhancing Long-Term Effects on Motor Dysfunction in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Xu Jia , Pei Jian , Fu Qin-Hui , Wang Liao-Yao , Zhan Yi-Jun , Tao Lin
Published: December 2020

Stroke is the leading fatal disease in China. This retrospective study aimed to explore the optimal acupuncture intervention time for long-term efficacy on motor dysfunction in patients suffering from acute ischemic stroke through 1-year of follow-up. Three hundred and nine patients collected at Longhua Hospital from January 2016 to December 2017 were classified into 3 groups based on the acupuncture intervention time, including groups A (within 2 days), B (within 3–7 days) and C (within 8–14 days). All patients had received standard treatment combined with acupuncture therapy. Specifically, acupuncture was performed at the acupoints including LI4 (Hegu), ST40 (Fenglong), DU20 (Baihui), and motor area of the scalp, followed by 2 electroacupuncture protocols based on different muscle tensions once a day for 5 days consecutively. The time-effect relationship was assessed using both the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) and the modified Barthel index (MBI) on the 90th day and 1st year, respectively. Meanwhile, the modified Rankin scale (mRS), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and fibrinogen (FIB) were also measured during the 1-year follow-up. The favorable outcome rate was 74.4%. One-way univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed significant differences in FMA and MBI on the 90th day among the 3 groups ([Formula: see text] < 0.05), while no significant differences were observed in FMA, MBI or mRS at the 1st year between groups A and B. The levels of hs-CRP and FIB ([Formula: see text] < 0.05) were markedly reduced. Binary logistic regression analysis suggested that patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) (odds ratio (OR): 3.156), chronic kidney disease (CKD) (OR: 2.563), diabetes mellitus (DM) (OR: 2.174) or stroke history (OR: 1.883) were more inclined to recover poorly from nerve function deficit ([Formula: see text] < 0.05). Earlier acupuncture intervention may have a better long-term effect on motor dysfunction and inflammation during the 1-year follow-up. Moreover, acupuncture within 2 days is probably the optimal treatment time for early recovery on the 90th day.
Antrodia Cinnamomea Attenuates Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis by Suppressing NLRP3 Inflammasome Activation In Vitro and In Vivo
Authors: Yen I-Chuan , Lin Jung-Chun , Chen Yu , Tu Qian-Wen , Lee Shih-Yu
Published: December 2020

Blockade of the NOD-like receptor protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome has been shown to be effective in halting the progression of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Antrodia cinnamomea is a well-known indigenous medicine used by Taiwanese aboriginal tribes. However, its effect on NASH remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the mechanistic insight of Antrodia cinnamomea extract (ACE) in both in vitro and in vivo models of NASH. Murine RAW264.7 macrophages and human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells were treated with the indicated concentration of ACE 30 minutes prior to stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 h. Levels of inflammatory markers, NLRP3 inflammasome, components, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress markers were analyzed by Western blotting. For the in vivo experiments, male C57BL/6 mice weighing 21–25 g were fed a methionine/choline deficient (MCD) diet along with vehicle or ACE (100 mg/kg) for 10 consecutive days. The serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) levels of the mice were measured. The liver tissues from the mice underwent histological analysis (hematoxylin and eosin staining), and the levels of inflammatory markers, NLRP3 inflammasome components, and autophagy-related proteins were evaluated. ACE significantly inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activation in vitro and in vivo. In addition, ACE attenuated the severity of MCD-induced steatohepatitis, reduced the levels of oxidative stress markers, and ameliorated inflammatory responses, but restored autophagic flux. Based on these findings, Antrodia cinnamomea could be developed into an anti-non-alcoholic fatty liver disease/NASH agent.
Anti-Inflammatory and Photoaging-Protective Effects of Olea europaea through Inhibition of AP-1 and NF-κ B Pathways
Authors: Song Chaoran , Jeong Deok , Hong Yo Han , Li Wan Yi , Lee Sang Woo , Hossain Mohammad Amjad , Taamalli Amani , Kim Ji Hye , Kim Jong-Hoon , Cho Jae Youl
Published: December 2020

Olea europaea is a beneficial edible plant with a number of biological activities like anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, antithrombic, antihyperglycemic, and anti-ischemic activities. The mechanisms behind the antiphotoaging and anti-inflammatory effects of Olea europaea are not fully understood. To investigate how an ethanol extract of Olea europaea (Oe-EE) exerts these effects, we explored its activities in human keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts. We assessed the anti-oxidant effects of Oe-EE via 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2[Formula: see text]-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) assays and measured the expression levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), cyclooxygenase-2, interleukin (IL)-6, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-[Formula: see text], and moisturizing factors. Antiphotoaging and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of Oe-EE were explored by assessing signaling molecule activation via immunoblotting. Oe-EE treatment decreased the mRNA expression level of MMPs, cyclooxygenase-2, IL-6, and TNF-[Formula: see text] and restored type I collagen, filaggrin, and sirtuin 1 expression in UVB-irradiated cells. Furthermore, Oe-EE inhibited the activities of several activator protein 1 regulatory enzymes, including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), p38, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and inhibited nuclear factor (NF)-[Formula: see text]B pathway signaling proteins. Therefore, our results indicate that Oe-EE has photoaging-protective and anti-inflammatory effects.
Autophagy Impairment through Lysosome Dysfunction by Brucine Induces Immunogenic Cell Death (ICD)
Authors: Ishimwe Nestor , Wei Pengfei , Wang Meimei , Zhang Hao , Wang Liansheng , Jing Manman , Wen Longping , Zhang Yunjiao
Published: December 2020

Autophagy is an important tightly controlled cellular process that regulates cellular homeostasis and is involved in deciding cell fate such as cell survival and death. The role of autophagy in many intracellular signaling pathways explains its interaction with other different types of cell death, including apoptosis and immunogenic cell death (ICD). The reports showed the complex and intriguing relationship existing between autophagy and immune system signaling pathways. However, the role of autophagy in ICD remains to be clearly elucidated. In this study, we demonstrated that Brucine, a clinically-used small molecule in traditional Chinese medicine, elicited autophagy inhibition. Brucine also triggered cell stress and induced features of ICD, including calreticulin (CRT) exposure and high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) release in MDA-MB-231 and CT26 cancer cells. Brucine impaired autolysosomal degradation and exerted a feedback regulation of ERK1/2-mTOR-p70S6K signaling cascade. Brucine-elicited ICD was confirmed by the rejection of CT26 tumor cells, implanted in the mice after vaccination with Brucine-treated CT26 cells. The impaired autophagy contributed to Brucine-induced ICD, as knock-down of Atg5 significantly reduced Brucine-elicited CRT exposure and HMGB1 release. Our results revealed Brucine as a novel autophagy regulator, ICD inducer and hitherto undocumented role of autophagy in ICD. Thus, these results imply the importance of Brucine in cancer immunotherapy. Therefore, Brucine may be used as an ICD inducer and improve its application in cancer treatment with minimized toxicity.
MONETARY POLICY, FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND INCOME INEQUALITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Authors: IBRAHIM MANSOR H.
Published: December 2020

The paper empirically examines the redistributive effect of monetary policy and assesses whether financial development plays any role in shaping monetary policy — inequality relations in developing countries. We uncover evidence supporting the redistributive consequences of monetary policy especially in more financially developed countries. We further note that while financial development raises income inequality in countries with low financial development, it leads to a reduction in income inequality in high financial development countries. As a side result, economic growth contributes favorably to income equalization in these countries. Finally, such financial indicators as financial access, financial efficiency and financial stability also condition the impacts of monetary policy on income distribution, although they are independently insignificant. Our results hint that the improvements in information and in efficiency rather than depth and access that would attenuate the negative impacts of contractionary monetary policy on income distribution.
OPTIMAL CONTROL ANALYSIS OF A HUMAN–BOVINE SCHISTOSOMIASIS MODEL
Authors: KADALEKA S. , ABELMAN S. , MWAMTOBE P. M. , TCHUENCHE J. M.
Published: December 2020

We formulate and analyze a deterministic mathematical model for the transmission dynamics of schistosomiasis with treatment of both humans and bovines and mollu-sciciding of the contaminated environment. The model effective reproduction number is derived and analytical results show that the disease-free and endemic equilibria are both locally and globally asymptotically stable. Pontryagin’s Maximum Principle which uses both Lagrangian and Hamiltonian principles with respect to a time-dependent constant is used to establish the existence of the optimal control problem and to derive the necessary conditions for optimal control of the disease. Mollusciciding of the contaminated environment has a major impact on disease control. However, combining it with treatment could help mitigate the spread of the disease compared to applying each control measure individually. Numerical simulations are performed to support theoretical results.
MATHEMATICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF HETEROGENEITY IN A CANCER STEM CELL DRIVEN TUMOR GROWTH MODEL WITH NONLINEAR SELF-RENEWAL
Authors: NAZARI FERESHTEH , PEARSON ALEXANDER T , JACKSON TRACHETTE L
Published: December 2020

The detection, in a wide variety of cancer types, of a population of highly tumorigenic cells that exhibit self-renewal and multipotency, which are hallmarks of stem cells, has transformed the current view of tumor initiation, progression, and treatment. Here, we develop and analyze a mathematical model for tumor growth that is based on the current biological understanding of the processes that underlie cellular expansion under the hierarchical guidelines of the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis. Important features of the model include (i) a nonlinear probability of CSC self-renewal that reflects the fact that this key type of stem cell division can be regulated by extrinsic and intrinsic chemical signaling as well as environmental (niche) constraints and (ii) an amplification factor that captures the transient amplifying divisions that are a defining characteristic of progenitor cells. We present a thorough mathematical analysis of the model and highlight the conditions required for tumors to evolve toward either bounded or exponential growth. Numerical simulations further illustrate the impact of the various parameters on the tumor growth rate and on the heterogeneous cellular composition, which varies during progression.
Speech Envelope Dynamics for Noise-Robust Auditory Scene Analysis in Robotics
Authors: Rea Francesco , Kothig Austin , Grasse Lukas , Tata Matthew
Published: December 2020

Humans make extensive use of auditory cues to interact with other humans, especially in challenging real-world acoustic environments. Multiple distinct acoustic events usually mix together in a complex auditory scene. The ability to separate and localize mixed sound in complex auditory scenes remains a demanding skill for binaural robots. In fact, binaural robots are required to disambiguate and interpret the environmental scene with only two sensors. At the same time, robots that interact with humans should be able to gain insights about the speakers in the environment, such as how many speakers are present and where they are located. For this reason, the speech signal is distinctly important among auditory stimuli commonly found in human-centered acoustic environments. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian method of selectively processing acoustic data that exploits the characteristic amplitude envelope dynamics of human speech to infer the location of speakers in the complex auditory scene. The goal was to demonstrate the effectiveness of this speech-specific temporal dynamics approach. Further, we measure how effective this method is in comparison with more traditional methods based on amplitude detection only.
Super-rigidity of certain skeleta using relative symplectic cohomology
Authors: Tonkonog Dmitry , Varolgunes Umut
Published: December 2020

This paper uses relative symplectic cohomology, recently studied by Varolgunes, to understand rigidity phenomena for compact subsets of symplectic manifolds. As an application, we consider a symplectic crossings divisor in a Calabi–Yau symplectic manifold [Formula: see text] whose complement is a Liouville manifold. We show that, for a carefully chosen Liouville structure, the skeleton as a subset of [Formula: see text] exhibits strong rigidity properties akin to superheavy subsets of Entov–Polterovich. Along the way, we expand the toolkit of relative symplectic cohomology by introducing products and units. We also develop what we call the contact Fukaya trick, concerning the behavior of relative symplectic cohomology of subsets with contact type boundary under adding a Liouville collar.
Method to Haulage Path Estimation and Road-Quality Assessment Using Inertial Sensors on LHD Machines
Authors: Stefaniak Pawel , Anufriiev Sergii , Skoczlas Artur , Bartosz Jachnik , Śliwiński Paweł
Published: December 2020

For many years now, the mining industry has seen a boost in exploring and developing the systems for monitoring operational parameters of mining machines, in particular load-haul-dump machines. Therefore, further researches on algorithmics have also advanced dynamically regarding effective performance management as well as predictive maintenance. Nonetheless, the issue of road conditions is still being neglected. That issue has a substantial impact on both the overall operator’s convenience, their performance, and machinery reliability, especially its construction node and tire damages. Moreover, such negligence pertains also to the maintenance of mine infrastructure, including the network of passages. The paper explains the use of the portable inertial measurement unit (IMU) in evaluating road conditions in the deep underground mine. The detailed descriptions of the road quality classification procedure and bump detection have been included. The paper outlines the basic method of tracking the motion trajectory of vehicles and suggests the method of visualization of the results of the road conditions evaluation. This paper covers the sample results collected by the measurements unit in the deep underground mine during six experiments. This paper is an extended version of a paper presented at the ACIIDs 2020 conference [P. Stefaniak, D. Gawelski, S. Anufriiev and P. Śliwiński, Road-quality classification and motion tracking with inertial sensors in the deep underground mine, Asian Conference on Intelligent Information and Database Systems, March 2020, Springer, Singapore, pp. 168–178].
Weather derivatives for managing weather and climate risk in agriculture
Authors: Gyamerah Samuel Asante , Ngare Philip , Ikpe Dennis
Published: December 2020

In this paper, we develop a pricing model for weather derivatives at a single location and multiple locations. In the first model, a Lévy regime-switching temperature model for a single location is used to price futures written on cumulative average temperature and growing degree-days indices at a single location. To allow analytical pricing for futures on temperature basket, an [Formula: see text]-dimension regime-switching temperature model whose driving noise is captured by a Brownian motion is developed. The correlation between the driving noise in each regime is assumed to be a function of the space between the different farming locations and increases with decreasing space. The temperature basket index assigns a weight to each location that is exposed to risk. However, a location with a higher risk is assigned a larger weight and vice versa.

By assuming that the regimes are independent to each other, the future is calculated for each regime model. The final futures price is calculated using the weighted sum of the individual regimes. These pricing models can be applied in the future markets to price weather derivatives for the agricultural sector. Research on spatial-temporal pricing model is vital to the development of the weather derivatives market, as investors are more vulnerable to temperature risk over different farming locations as compared to single location.
Identification of the Reduction Reaction Mechanism of V3+ on a Graphite Electrode in Acidic Solutions
Authors: Jing Minghua , Fang Dawei , Fan Xinzhuang , Liu Jianguo , Yan Chuanwei
Published: December 2020

The oxidation and reduction reaction mechanisms of the VO2
+/VO2+ redox couple have been studied to better understand the electrode reaction processes and further optimize the battery performance of vanadium flow battery (VFB) in our previous work. However, it is found that the negative electrode process of VFB plays a more important role in the improvement of the overall battery performance as research continues. Hence, the reduction reaction mechanism of V3+ in acidic solutions has been investigated systematacially in this work. Potentiodynamic polarization combined with rotating disk electrode have been applied to calculate the reaction orders (m) and the electron transfer number (n) of the reduction reaction of V3+. The results of this work demonstrated that the reduction reaction of V3+ is a single electron transfer step and H+ keeps out of the electrochemical reaction. Furthermore, the kinetic equation for the reduction reaction of V3+ has been established, and the theoretic polarization curve based on the established kinetic equation is well consistent with the experimental result, indicating an accurate prediction of the polarization behavior in V3+ acidic solutions.
Review—Electrochemistry for Sustainable Solar Photovoltaics
Authors: Tao Meng
Published: December 2020

Electrochemistry and solar photovoltaics are traditionally considered to be in two different domains of science and technology. However, electrochemistry will play an indispensable role in sustaining the production and deployment of solar panels in the coming decades. This paper presents three examples on how electrochemistry will lead to solutions to several roadblocks to sustainable solar photovoltaics. The first example is storage of intermittent solar electricity through a zinc↔zinc oxide loop which requires two technologies: (1) solar electroreduction of zinc oxide and (2) a mechanically-recharged zinc/air battery. Compared to the hydrogen↔water loop, the zinc↔zinc oxide loop is advantageous for long-term (seasonal to multiyear) storage and global trade of solar electricity. The second example is electrorefining to produce solar-grade silicon from metallurgical-grade silicon. Ultrapure materials by electrolysis is an unanswered challenge in electrochemistry. A two-step three-electrode electrorefining process is proposed. Practical challenges in achieving ultrapure silicon by molten-salt electrorefining are outlined. The final example is metal recovery from waste solar panels. Four metals in silicon panels are worth recovery: silver, lead, tin, and copper. They can be leached out in nitric acid and the leachate contains multiple metals. Sequential electrowinning can recover the metals one by one based on their different reduction potentials. The remaining issues in this process are discussed.
Recycling SiC Focus Rings for Reactive Ion Etching Equipment by Insertless Diffusion Bonding using Hot Isostatic Pressing
Authors: Matsumoto Tetsuyuki , Kataoka Junji , Saito Reiko , Homma Tetsuya
Published: December 2020

SiC focus rings are mount on the stage at the surround of wafer in the reactive ion etching chamber, in order to make the etching rate uniform. SiC is used for the material of focus ring because it has higher plasma resistance than Si. We investigated a new method to recycle SiC without using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The recycling process consists of grinding, dry cleaning, hot isostatic pressing (HIP), atmospheric burning, and aqueous solution cleaning. As a result, diffusion bonding with a tensile strength of 100 kg cm−2 or more was realized by reducing the surface roughness at the diffusion bonding surface to 0.1 μm or less. It was confirmed that the SiC surface was oxidized with thickness 135 nm by atmospheric burning in air ambience. It was also confirmed that the oxide layer at the SiC surface was completely removed by the aqueous solution cleaning. We have reduced the cost to 50% for SiC focus ring replacement by using the recycle method.
Novel model to study the physiological effects of temporary or prolonged sex steroid deficiency in male mice
Authors: Kim Na Ri , Khalil Rougin , David Karel , Antonio Leen , Schollaert Dieter , Deboel Ludo , Van Herck Erik , Wardenier Nele , Cools Martine , Decallonne Brigitte , Claessens Frank , Dubois Vanessa , Vanderschueren Dirk
Published: December 2020

We developed a rodent model of chemical castration, which can be used as an alternative to surgical castration. Moreover, the transient nature of the intervention enables to study the effects of delayed puberty and reversibility of sex steroid deficiency.
Peripheral and central regulation of insulin by the intestine and microbiome
Authors: Schertzer Jonathan D. , Lam Tony K.T.
Published: December 2020

Blood glucose and insulin homeostasis is disrupted during the progression of type 2 diabetes. Insulin levels and action are regulated by both peripheral and central responses that involve the intestine and microbiome. The intestine and its microbiota process nutrients and generate molecules that influence blood glucose and insulin. Peripheral insulin regulation is regulated by gut-segment-dependent nutrient sensing and microbial factors such as short-chain fatty acids and bile acids that engage G-protein-coupled receptors. Innate immune sensing of gut-derived bacterial cell wall components and lipopolysaccharides also alter insulin homeostasis. These bacterial metabolites and postbiotics influence insulin secretion and insulin clearance in part by altering endocrine responses such as glucagon-like peptide-1. Gut-derived bacterial factors can promote inflammation and insulin resistance, but other postbiotics can be insulin sensitizers. In parallel, activation of small intestinal sirtuin 1 increases insulin sensitivity by reversing high fat-induced hypothalamic insulin resistance through a gut-brain neuronal axis, whereas high fat-feeding alters small intestinal microbiome and increases taurochenodeoxycholic acid in the plasma and the dorsal vagal complex to induce insulin resistance. In summary, emerging evidence indicates that intestinal molecular signaling involving nutrient sensing and the host-microbe symbiosis alters insulin homeostasis and action. Gut-derived host endocrine and paracrine factors as well as microbial metabolites act on the liver, pancreas, and the brain, and in parallel on the gut-brain neuronal axis. Understanding common nodes of peripheral and central insulin homeostasis and action may reveal new ways to target the intestinal host-microbe relationship in obesity, metabolic disease, and type 2 diabetes.
Development of a quantitative systems pharmacology model of chronic kidney disease: metabolic bone disorder
Authors: Gaweda Adam E. , McBride Devin E. , Lederer Eleanor D. , Brier Michael E.
Published: December 2020

Chronic kidney disease mineral bone disorder (CKD-MBD) is a virtually universal complication of kidney diseases, starting early in the course of disease and resulting in devastating clinical consequences ranging from bone fragility to accelerated atherosclerosis and early cardiovascular death. Guidelines for therapeutic goals for CKD-MBD have been published, and achievement of these guidelines is associated with improved survival. However, the incomplete understanding of CKD-MBD and the individual variability in the manifestations of CKD-MBD have made it difficult to achieve these guidelines. We hypothesized that the progression of MBD through all stages of CKD, including end-stage kidney disease, could be represented by a quantitative systems pharmacology/systems biology (QSP) model. To address this hypothesis, we constructed a QSP model of CKD-MBD, building on an open-source model of calcium and phosphorus metabolism. Specifically, we estimated and validated the model using data from 5,496 patients with CKD enrolled in the Chronic Renal Insufficiency Cohort study. Our model accurately predicted changes in markers of mineral metabolism related to progressing CKD. We demonstrated that the incorporation of fibroblast growth factor 23 and the soft tissue compartment is essential for accurate modeling of the changes in calcium, phosphorus, intact parathyroid hormone, and calcitriol in CKD-MBD. We conclude that our systems biology model accurately represents CKD-MBD disease progression and can be used as a test bench for improving therapeutic interventions.
Autoimmunity to urothelial antigen causes bladder inflammation, pelvic pain, and voiding dysfunction: a novel animal model for Hunner-type interstitial cystitis
Authors: Akiyama Yoshiyuki , Yao Jian-Rong , Kreder Karl J. , O’Donnell Michael A. , Lutgendorf Susan K. , Lyu Dan , Maeda Daichi , Kume Haruki , Homma Yukio , Luo Yi
Published: December 2020

Recent evidence revealed that Hunner-type interstitial cystitis (HIC) is a robust inflammatory disease potentially associated with enhanced immune responses and histologically characterized by epithelial denudation and lymphoplasmacytic infiltration with frequent clonal expansion of infiltrating B cells. To date, few animal models that reproduce the histological and clinical correlates of HIC have yet been established. In the present study, we aimed to develop a novel animal model for HIC via autoimmunity to the bladder urothelium using the transgenic mouse model (URO-OVA) that expresses the membrane form of the model antigen ovalbumin (OVA) as a self-antigen on the bladder urothelium. OVA-specific lymphocytes (splenocytes) were generated by immunization of C57BL/6 mice with OVA protein and injected intravenously into URO-OVA mice. The splenocytes from OVA-immunized C57BL/6 mice showed increased interferon (IFN)-γ production in response to OVA stimulation in vitro. URO-OVA mice adoptively transferred with OVA-primed splenocytes developed cystitis exhibiting histological chronic inflammatory changes such as remarkable mononuclear cell infiltration predominantly composed of T and B lymphocytes, increased vascularity, and mucosal hyperemia in the bladder at days 7– 28 with a peak at day 21 tested. No systemic inflammation was found in cystitis-induced URO-OVA mice, nor was any inflammation found in wild-type C57BL/6 mice adoptively transferred with OVA-primed splenocytes. Along with bladder inflammation, URO-OVA mice demonstrated significantly increased pelvic nociceptive responses, voiding dysfunction, and upregulated mRNA expression levels for IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and substance P precursor in the bladder. This model reproduces the histological and clinical features of human HIC, providing a novel model for HIC research.
Developmental and Tissue Patterns of the Basal Expression of Chicken Avian β‐Defensins
Authors: Lyu Wentao , Zhang Long , Gong Yujie , Wen Xueting , Xiao Yingping , Yang Hua
Published: December 2020

Defensins are a class of antimicrobial peptides in vertebrates that function as the first line of innate immunity with potent antimicrobial and immunomodulatory activities. Fourteen defensins, namely, avian β‐defensin 1 to 14 (AvBD1‐14), have been identified in chickens. Before characterizing the role of AvBDs in innate immunity during the early development of chickens, we collected tissue segments from the liver, spleen, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract including the esophagus, crop, proventriculus, gizzard, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, cecum, and colon from broilers at days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 28. After RNA isolation and reverse transcription, we determined the expression levels of the 14 AvBD genes in these tissues during the first 28 days after hatching by real‐time PCR. The results suggested the AvBDs were widely expressed in the chicken liver, spleen, and gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Interestingly, we did not detect AvBD11 expressed in the GI tract, even in the liver and spleen. Additionally, AvBDs were differentially expressed in the chicken GI tract. AvBD5 and AvBD14 were expressed most abundantly in the proximal GI tract, especially the esophagus and crop. Moreover, AvBD5, AvBD7, AvBD9, and AvBD14 were expressed in an inverted‐V pattern with the peak being the observed expression at days 3, 7, or 14 in the chicken spleen, esophagus, duodenum, and cecum. Other AvBDs presented biphasic or inverted‐V expression patterns in different tissues. The expression levels of all detected AvBDs were strengthened after hatching rather than decreasing steadily. Therefore, AvBDs were found to be expressed widely in the chicken liver, spleen, and GI tract and their expression levels were primarily up regulated during the early development of chicken, implying the potential essential roles of AvBDs in early innate defense and infection resistance of chickens.
Neuromuscular Blockade Correlates with Hormones and Body Composition in Acromegaly
Authors: Zhang Yu , Guo Xiaopeng , Tan Gang , Zhao Mengyun , Huang Yuguang , Chen Wei , Shi Xiaodong , Pei Lijian , Xing Bing
Published: December 2020

Tumor resection is the first-line therapy for acromegaly patients. In some cases, unsatisfactory intraoperative neuromuscular blockades (NMBs) lead to failed operations. The purpose of this study was to investigate and quantify the NMB status of acromegaly patients and explore the relationship between NMB status and hormone levels and body composition. Twenty patients with untreated acromegaly and seventeen patients with nonfunctioning pituitary adenomas as controls were enrolled in this study. NMB was assessed using the train-of-four (TOF) technique with TOF-Watch® SX. The onset time of NMB, deep neuromuscular blockade duration (DNMBD), and clinical neuromuscular blockade duration (CNMBD) were monitored. We found a significantly longer onset time (110.25 ± 54.90 vs. 75.00 ± 27.56, s,

p
=
0.017

), shorter DNMBD (21.99 ± 5.67 vs. 34.96 ± 11.04, min,

p
<
0.001

), and shorter CNMBD (33.26 ± 8.09 vs. 46.21 ± 10.89, min,

p
<
0.001

) in acromegaly patients compared with the controls. DNMBD and CNMBD decreased in patients with decreasing body fat percentage and increasing growth hormone (GH) level, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) level, and GH and IGF-1 burden. The onset time increased with increasing IGF-1 level and GH and IGF-1 burden. Taken together, a unique NMB status was identified in acromegaly patients with the following characteristics: prolonged onset time and shortened DNMBD and CNMBD. Changes in the levels and burdens of GH and IGF-1 and body composition were linearly correlated with intraoperative NMB in acromegaly patients.
Region-Based Segmentation and Wiener Pilot-Based Novel Amoeba Denoising Scheme for CT Imaging
Authors: Talha Syed Muhammad Umar , Mairaj Tariq , Yousuf Waleed Bin , Zahed Jawwad Ali
Published: December 2020

Computed tomography (CT) is one of the most common and beneficial medical imaging schemes, but the associated high radiation dose injurious to the patient is always a concern. Therefore, postprocessing-based enhancement of a CT reconstructed image acquired using a reduced dose is an active research area. Amoeba- (or spatially variant kernel-) based filtering is a strong candidate scheme for postprocessing of the CT image, which adapts its shape according to the image contents. In the reported research work, the amoeba filtering is customized for postprocessing of CT images acquired at a reduced X-ray dose. The proposed scheme modifies both the pilot image formation and amoeba shaping mechanism of the conventional amoeba implementation. The proposed scheme uses a Wiener filter-based pilot image, while region-based segmentation is used for amoeba shaping instead of the conventional amoeba distance-based approach. The merits of the proposed scheme include being more suitable for CT images because of the similar region-based and symmetric nature of the human body anatomy, image smoothing without compromising on the edge details, and being adaptive in nature and more robust to noise. The performance of the proposed amoeba scheme is compared to the traditional amoeba kernel in the image denoising application for CT images using filtered back projection (FBP) on sparse-view projections. The scheme is supported by computer simulations using fan-beam projections of clinically reconstructed and simulated head CT phantoms. The scheme is tested using multiple image quality matrices, in the presence of additive projection noise. The scheme implementation significantly improves the image quality visually and statistically, providing better contrast and image smoothing without compromising on edge details. Promising results indicate the efficacy of the proposed scheme.
Material Performance Tests of the Polymer-Cement Thin Spray-On Liner
Authors: Dong Qizheng , Chen Lianjun , Cheng Weimin , Liu Zhaoxia , Cui Xiangfei , Liu Guoming , Shi Zhiwei , Sun Zhenjiao , Zhang Yaqing
Published: December 2020

Compared to conventional shotcrete, thin spray-on liner (TSL) has several advantages, including high efficiency, good adhesion, and low dust content. In order to study the underlying mechanism of polymers on thin spray-on liner materials, three polymers were tested in this study. They were mixed into the shotcrete materials to conduct viscosity, pulling, flexural strength, and compression tests. The correlations between the viscosity of the materials and their other mechanical properties were analyzed. The optimal mixing ratio obtained by the tests was at a polymer–cement ratio of 15%. The material had better mechanical properties overall when modified with a vinyl acetate-ethylene (VAE) copolymer emulsion. When a VAE emulsion was used to modify cement mortar, the results showed that the VAE modified mortar had the best viscosity performance of any of the tested emulsions at the same polymer–cement ratio. Because of the adhesion of the modified mortar on a marble wall, when the viscosity was 2,300–5,800 mPa·s, the slurry was evenly distributed and did not sag on the wall surface. The VAE emulsion was affected by its own viscosity, and the pull-out strength was also enhanced as the viscosity increased. As the viscosity of the VAE emulsion increased, its flexural strength initially increased and then decreased, whereas its compressive strength decreased linearly. This study provides a theoretical basis for the development and application of thin shotcrete materials.
Human Motion Data Retrieval Based on Staged Dynamic Time Deformation Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Bao Hongshu , Yao Xiang
Published: December 2020

In recent years, with the rapid development of computer storage capabilities and network transmission capabilities, users can easily share their own video and image information on social networking sites, and the amount of multimedia data on the network is rapidly increasing. With the continuous increase of the amount of data in the network, the establishment of effective automated data management methods and search methods has become an increasingly urgent need. This paper proposes a retrieval method of human motion data based on motion capture in index space. By extracting key frames from the original motion to perform horizontal dimensionality reduction and defining features based on Laban motion analysis, the motion segment is subjected to vertical feature dimensionality reduction. After extracting features from the input motion segment, motion matching is performed on the index space. This paper designs the optimization method of the phased dynamic time deformation algorithm in time efficiency and analyzes the optimization method of the phased dynamic time deformation algorithm in time complexity. Considering the time efficiency redundancy, this paper optimizes the time complexity of the phased dynamic time deformation method. This improves the time efficiency of the staged dynamic time warping algorithm, making it suitable for larger-scale human motion data problems. Experiments show that the method in this paper has the advantage of speed, is more in line with the semantics of human motion, and can meet the retrieval requirements of human motion databases.
Evaluation of Cloud Computing Copyright Protection Based on AHP
Authors: Li Wenquan , Peng Xindong
Published: December 2020

To increase the protection level of copyright in cloud computing environment, aiming at the problems that the indicators in the copyright protection evaluation system are difficult to accurately define and cannot be quantified, a comprehensive evaluation model of copyright protection based on the combination of analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation is proposed. First, using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the copyright protection evaluation system is constructed and the weight of each evaluation index is determined through the judgment matrix. Then the quantitative evaluation result is fuzzy operated through index weight and evaluated data. Finally, the simulation evaluation results on specific example show that this model is reasonable and effective, and it can provide the evaluation basis and practical reference for copyright protection evaluation in cloud computing environment.
Multidimensional Self-Attention for Aspect Term Extraction and Biomedical Named Entity Recognition
Authors: Song Xinyu , Feng Ao , Wang Weikuan , Gao Zhengjie
Published: December 2020

Wide attention has been paid to named entity recognition (NER) in specific fields. Among the representative tasks are the aspect term extraction (ATE) in user online comments and the biomedical named entity recognition (BioNER) in medical documents. Existing methods only perform well in a particular field, and it is difficult to maintain an advantage in other fields. In this article, we propose a supervised learning method that can be used for much special domain NER tasks. The model consists of two parts, a multidimensional self-attention (MDSA) network and a CNN-based model. The multidimensional self-attention mechanism can calculate the importance of the context to the current word, select the relevance according to the importance, and complete the update of the word vector. This update mechanism allows the subsequent CNN model to have variable-length memory of sentence context. We conduct experiments on benchmark datasets of ATE and BioNER tasks. The results show that our model surpasses most baseline methods.