bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Preliminary Technical Feasibility Analysis, Operational, Economic Of Radin Inten II International Airports Trains, South Lampung
Authors: Nurwanda Sari S.T M.T , Ananda Agneshia Putri S.T.
Published: October 2021

Lampung Province is the second largest province on the island of Sumatra. Given the function of Bandar Lampung as the capital city, its effect is very significant in increasing the need for comprehensive and optimal transportation. One of the problems with transportation in the city of Bandar Lampung is the effort to increase the mode of transportation, such as transportation to the International Raden Inten II International Airport. This research, conducted an analysis of the technical feasibility, operational feasibility, economic and financial feasibility of the Radin Inten II International Airport Train, South Lampung. This study uses 3 scenarios for the number of airport train fill in which the scenario is an optimistic scenario, a moderate scenario and a pessimistic scenario. Technical feasibility can be said to be feasible to operate if several indicators are met. Based on the results of the analysis, the airport train is not feasible to operate if it uses the existing line. A project is declared economically and financially feasible by comparing the feasibility parameters such as NPV, BCR, IRR, and Payback Period. Meanwhile, based on the results obtained, the feasibility parameters used indicate the economic feasibility analysis of the highest NPV value: Rp. 32,490,236,361,014> 0, BCR: 0,269, <0, and IRR: 21.04%. While the financial feasibility analysis of the highest value is obtained in the optimistic scenario where the NPV value: Rp. 467,181,556,733> 0, payback period of 20 years, and IRR: 6.36%. It can be concluded that only the optimistic scenario shows that all investment parameters are feasible to use. The results of the sensitivity analysis show that the project is more sensitive to the age of the concession
The impact of landuse and the relationship between NDVI on the bird species richness in Sukmajaya District, Depok
Authors: Debataraja I B , Pradana D H , Winarni N L
Published: October 2021

A high human population increase will affect the landuse change, and as a result, there will be a conversion of green areas into residential and industrial lands. The natural habitat of wildlife such as avifauna will be highly fragmented and even lost. This research was conducted in Sukmajaya District, which was the most densely populated sub-district in Depok City. Normalized Differences Vegetation Index (NDVI) can show the vegetation map of an area. Sukmajaya sub-district is dominated by residential areas, about 62.1 % of the total area of this sub-district is residential area and leaving only 21.2 % of the vegetated land fragmented by buildings as habitat for wildlife. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct research on how different landuse types affect avifauna species richness which is important as input for stakeholders in avifauna conservation efforts. The research was conducted by using point count method in a total of 37 observation points divided into residential areas, industrial areas, and vegetated lands. The results of this study indicated that the correlation between landuse and avifauna species richness can be explained by the characteristics of the landuse habitat. Using linear regression, all habitat characters, such as NDVI, total individual vegetation, number of vegetation types, canopy cover, human activity disturbance, and temperature can simultaneously predict the value of the Margalef species richness index. The number of vegetation types and canopy cover are the characters that most influence the avifauna species richness in this study.
Geocomputation of Monte Carlo Simulation for hydrocarbon reserves estimation, case study offshore Kalimantan, Indonesia
Authors: Sagoro R A , Supriyanto  , Haryono
Published: October 2021

Uncertainty in geological and geophysical data affects the estimation of hydrocarbon reserves. To reduce the uncertainty, risk analysis can be performed, one of which by using Monte Carlo simulation. The purpose of this study is to estimate the volumetric reserves of petroleum using the Monte Carlo simulation. This research was conducted in the case of offshore in Kalimantan, Indonesia. There are two stages in this study, first analysing the reservoir zones to obtain rock property values used for estimation of reserves, second is calculating the probabilities by simulating random values based on their distribution and estimating hydrocarbon reserves based on these probability calculations. In addition, both stages need to be carried out as a basis for making effective decisions on the drill prospects.
The application of remote sensing technology for environmental quality analysis of settlement in Bengkulu
Authors: Legowo D A , Susiloningtyas D , Supriatna
Published: October 2021

Environmental quality research was conducted in Bengkulu City which aims to determine the quality of the residential environment. the method used in this study is a combination of high-resolution image interpretation techniques (Google Earth) assisted by geographic information system technology (GIS). high-resolution images are used to identify objects that function as parameters. Then these parameters are given a rating or scoring to obtain an analysis of the environmental conditions of the settlement, by giving weights we can determine the level of ability based on the level of these parameters. The parameters used in this study were settlement density, settlement layout, and settlement location. Based on the study results, the quality of settlements in Bengkulu City is dominated by good category, especially in Muara Bangkahalu and Selebar subdistrict, these two subdistricts still have a lot of non-developed lands and are close to transportation access in the form of bus terminals and airports so it will attract people to live there. For suggestion, good planning is really needed to build a settlement, thus the settlements and environment quality can also be well preserved.
Indonesia paleotsunami database: Concept and design
Authors: Ibtihaj I , Septyandy M R , Supriyanto S
Published: October 2021

Indonesia’s tectonic conditions are one of the regions in the world with the most active tectonic activity. As a result of these conditions, Indonesia is prone to earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. Tsunamis are the most violent movements of ocean waves. The mechanism for tsunamis formation is through processes that generate shock waves, such as underwater earthquakes, underwater landslides, volcanic activity, and asteroid impacts. Indonesia has experienced a series of tsunami events that have caused thousands of casualties. Tsunami events are not fully recorded in human historical records. Unrecorded tsunami or paleotsunami events can be studied through the characteristics of paleotsunami deposits or related archaeological information about tsunamis. Knowing the history of tsunami events is essential to understand tsunamis frequency and intensity in the present. This study aims to conceptualize and design a historical database of tsunami occurrences in Indonesia. The database will be based on WebGIS. Tsunami event data is sourced from literature related to tsunami events, such as published books, journals, reports, final projects, and others. The results of database processing are 326 data on tsunami events in Indonesia. The WebGIS is an update for tsunami information media in Indonesia to be more comprehensive and informative.
The validation of water quality parameter algorithm using Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 image in Palabuhanratu Bay
Authors: Mukhtar M K , Supriatna  , Manessa M D M
Published: October 2021

Remote sensing and geographic information systems can be applied to extract coastal and marine parameters related to the identification of possible data types, approaches and algorithms as a quick solution in water quality assessment. The purpose of this research are to find the suitable algorithms of salinity and total suspended solid for Palabuhanratu Bay and see the performance of Sentinel-2 satellite image in implementing algorithms based on Landsat satellite image. This study applies several algorithms to extract the estimated salinity and total solid suspended values from the Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2 satellite image using Google Earth Engine. The results of the analysis show algorithms that are suitable for implementation in the waters of Palabuhanratu Bay are the Cilamaya algorithm for estimating salinity values, and the Budhiman algorithm for estimating the total suspended solid value. Sentinel-2 satellite image has a good performance for implementing algorithms that built on Landsat image. So, the algorithm that build on Landsat image can be used to detect salinity and TSS in Sentinel-2 image.
Vegetative conservation of landslide prone areas in the Cidadap Watershed Area, Sukabumi Regency
Authors: Suci M I , Supriatna S , Rustanto A
Published: October 2021

The sub-district of Cidadap has a high level of vulnerability to landslides, with a characteristic slope of more than 25 % and is overgrown with vegetation. This study aims to identify the effect of changes in land use with vegetative conservation methods that have been carried out in landslide-prone areas in Cidadap watershed. The method used in this research is the Storie Index method. Temporal analysis was carried out on changes in land cover in 1999 and 2019, while spatial analysis was carried out on landslide-prone areas, as well as soil conservation that had been carried out. In this study, there are five variables, namely rainfall, land cover, slope, soil type, and location of landslides. Conservation identification is carried out by overlaying between vegetative conservation and the distribution of landslide-prone areas in the study area. The results of this study indicate that in 1999–2019, land use in the form of settlements and moor/fields has increased. Whereas for the land use class, the types of water bodies, forests, gardens, rice fields, shrubs and empty land decreased. In 1999–2019, Cidadap watershed was dominated by a moderate landslide hazard level with an area of 10,080.49 Ha or 84.92 % of the area of the Cidadap watershed. The conservation that has been carried out in Cidadap watershed uses several combinations of vegetative conservation techniques, namely crop rotation, crop and agroforestry, and agroforestry rotation.
Integrated analysis of inversion acoustic impedance method and spectral decomposition method for sandstone identification, case study Kutai Basin, Eastern Kalimantan
Authors: Adli I S , Riyanto A , Haryono
Published: October 2021

Seismic reflection is a method commonly used to map hydrocarbons. The reservoir can be characterized using the inversion method by converting the seismic data into acoustic impedance values of rock and spectral decomposition methods are used to delineate low-frequency shadow beneath reservoir caused by the presence of hydrocarbon. The combination of these two methods is used to distribute the hydrocarbon reservoir in the target zone. The inversion used in this research is a model-based inversion, while the spectral decomposition method used is continuous wavelet transform. The result of this study shows that reservoir distribution with low acoustic impedance located at inline 1583, inline 1290, inline 1360, inline 1399. Three of four inline show by spectral decomposition result delineating low-frequency shadow at inline 1290, inline 1360 dan inline 1399, while inline 1583 produces high-frequency anomaly. This phenomenon could occur due to the effect of reservoir thickness that is less than 1/4λ. The reservoir has an acoustic impedance value of 18000–19000 ft.g/s.cc and low-frequency shadow beneath reservoir has 20 Hz frequency indicating the presence of hydrocarbon, while inline 1583 shows high-frequency anomaly 60 Hz this phenomenon shows that the reservoir thickness is thin or less than 1/4λ and indicates of containing gas fluid.
The Separation of Oily Water Mixture Using Membrane
Authors: Chik N S I , Shaari N Z K , Shamsudin S A
Published: October 2021

The increment of oil discharge in the water system gives a great impact to the environments. Membrane separation has been widely used to treat the oily water mixture due to its environmentally process, low operating cost and has better efficiency. Polysulfone (PSF) is widely used in the membrane fabrication due to its good physico-chemical, mechanical and hydraulic stability, but its hydrophobicity limits its application in the separation of oily mixture due to the fouling. The blend of PSF with poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) could compensate this limitation where the covalent bonding between PSF/PVA could form a protective layer to prevent the deposition of organic foulants on the membrane surface. Furthermore, PVA has been studied intensively for membrane applications because of its good chemical stability, film-forming ability and high hydrophilicity. To ensure the compatibility and high stability of the resultant membrane, the cross linking of the polymer blend (PSF/PVA) with tetraethylorthosilicate as silica nano precursor through sol-gel reaction was conducted in this study. Polyethylene glycol 400 was added as an additive to improve the properties of the integral membrane. The concentration of tetraethylorthosilicate was varied at 0wt.%, 0.5wt.%, and 1wt.% while the concentrations of other polymers are remained constant. Performance testing on the fabricated membrane through pure water flux and rejection of oil particles were conducted. The results exhibited that higher concentration of tetraethylorthosilicate led to higher water flux and higher rejection of oil particles respectively for the fabricated membrane. The crosslinked membranes achieved l00% of oil rejection after 45 minutes filtration time, meanwhile membrane from pure polymer blend only achieved 60.2% of oil rejection. This finding shows the potential of the fabricated membrane to be further explored in the area of oily water mixture treatment process.
Mechanical properties of bio-epoxy resins and synthetic epoxy resins blends
Authors: Derahman A , Abidin Z Z
Published: October 2021

This paper studies the mechanical properties of bio-epoxy resins blended with synthetic epoxy resins (epoxamite). The bio-epoxy resins were derived from Jatropha methyl esters through epoxidation method. They were formulated with epoxamite and hardener at different compositions and then cured at different temperature and time settings. The cured blends were subjected to tensile and flexural tests using Instron machine. Tensile and flexural strength of the mixtures were compared with the 100% epoxamite in order to evaluate the suitability of bio-epoxy resins as an alternative to synthetic epoxy resins with respect to mechanical properties. Tensile strength of 100% epoxamite is 38.32 MPa and flexural strength is 63.32 MPa. The mixtures of bio-resins and epoxamite demonstrated very low mechanical strengths compared to the 100% epoxamite. Therefore, they are not suitable to be used as an alternative to synthetic epoxy resins in industrial applications. However, they may find other usage due to high reactivity of the bio-epoxy resins.
Toxicity Study of Ananas Comosus and Centella Asiatica as Active Ingredients in Anti-inflammatory Lotion
Authors: Rahman N S A , Saadon N , Tap F M , Yusof N A
Published: October 2021

Inflammation, a common disease faced by people, could lead to chronic inflammatory diseases, and worst, cancer. As a result, many inflammatory patients use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) as to relieve their inflammation, which are available in the market. However, these medicines do not cure the disease but relieve it temporarily, and the patients are exposed to their dangerous long-term effects. Since Malaysia is rich with fruits and herbs that are rich in therapeutic properties, more natural remedies from the local fruits and herbs should be discovered. Based on the previous research done, the combination of Ananas comosus and Centella asiatica could have the potential in relieving inflammation. Therefore, this preliminary research was aimed in determining the toxicity in combining the two main active ingredients using in vitro MTT assay against HaCat Cell lines. The findings proved that at the highest concentration (10000 μg/ml), no cytotoxic effect has been recorded. The findings from this research would encourage more natural remedies to be offered to the inflammation patients, who eventually could avoid themselves from depending solely on the harmful medicines.
Study on the Comfort of 3 Local Hijab Sport Brand on Muslim Woman during Physical Activities
Authors: Baharudin A , Hafidz A H A , Roslan N M , Zahir I N , Norjeferi N A , Musa A , Ahmad M R
Published: October 2021

This study goals are to identify the most comfortable sport hijab from 3 local brands. The selection of the sport hijab from the brand are identify through a preliminary survey distributed to 90 students from Faculty of Sport Science UiTM Negeri Sembilan. From the survey, types of sport hijab and the length of sport hijab are identified. The purchased sport hijab is then gone through the fabric identification and testing included weighing, burning test and water impact penetration test. The fabric for the sport hijab labelled as Sample A is Nylon, Sample B as Polyester and Sample C as Acrylic. Among this, it is found that Sample B gives the best comfort according to all 3 selected respondent who wear the sport hijab in the physical test activities. The physical test activities are done by the 3 participants running on a treadmill for 20 minutes at 7.5km/h with warming up and warming down at 2.5km/h for 2 minutes. The results obtained from the comfort evaluation were then analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
Effects of Waste Glass Powder Filler on Intumescent Coating for Steel Structures Application
Authors: Azmi Y M , Ahmad F , Razak S N , Hadi M A H A , Kabir S , Yeoh G H
Published: October 2021

Intumescent coating is a passive fire protection system used to prevent and resist the spreading of fire. The coating swells several times of its thickness on exposure to the fire, forming cellular foam and acts as an insulative barrier, thus delaying the heat transfer to the protected substrate. The study aims to analyse waste glass powder filler’s effect into intumescent coating formulation limited to one size of waste glass powder. Waste glass is a broken form of leftover by-product from industrial and domestic. Millions of tons of waste glass generated every year, adding with their non-biodegradable nature causing additional environmental pollution. Waste glass powder contains high silica composition known for its high thermal stability, weather resistance, hydrophobicity, low surface tension, and high oxidation resistance. The coating showed improved thermal stability, weather resistance, and adhesion when added into intumescent coating formulation. The lowest recorded backside substrate temperature 154.6 °C compare to coating without the waste glass filler, 333.7 C. The coating also showed less than 0.1% total weight loss for samples with 4% wt. filler after immersion in seawater for 15 days compared to the control formulation, 0.19%. The char morphology analysis showed the emergence of silica and calcium elements occupying the expandable char’s gaps, thus strengthening the char structure.
An artificial neural network model for forecasting air pollution
Authors: Manan W D W A , Abdullah N R
Published: October 2021

Air pollution has caused a lot of problems to people in terms of health and economy, as well as affecting various floras and faunas. Thus, monitoring air quality levels and forecasting the occurrence of air pollution is important so that preventive measures could be taken. In this study, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used to forecast the air pollution index (API) in Kuala Terengganu. This study focused on the prediction of API based on 5 years of data of main pollutants’ daily concentration taken at the air quality monitoring station in Kuala Terengganu. The aim was to develop an Artificial Neural Network model that can predict the API. A Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP) engine was implemented in the system prototype and developed by using Keras, a deep learning library in Python. The model’s performance was evaluated using the Mean Squared Error (MSE) statistical method and functionality tests were done to ensure the prototype was working correctly. In order to get a good performance model, a hyperparameter tuning process was carried out and the best hyperparameters values were selected. The performance of the model in making predictions was good as the MSE value was 0.0195.
A study of multiple reward function performances for vehicle collision avoidance systems applying the DQN algorithm in reinforcement learning
Authors: Zakaria N J , Shapiai M I , Wahid N
Published: October 2021

Reinforcement Learning (RL) is an area of Machine Learning (ML) that intends to improve the acts of agents learning from environmental interconnection. The significant concern in RL is to achieve the promising potential of the training process in the model. However, network convergence speed is often sluggish in RL and converges quickly to local optimal solutions. Reward function has been used to deal with these problems as a useful tool to speed up the agent’s learning speed. Even though RL convergence properties have been comprehensively explored, there are no specific rules for choosing the reward function. Therefore, searching for efficient potential reward function is still an exciting field of study. This paper discusses the reward function, execute some analysis, and provides the learning agent with the extracted information to increase the speed of learning for collision avoidance task. We provide an experimental study for selecting one reward function in a simulated collision-avoidance environment of an autonomous vehicle by applying the DQN algorithm. It has been conducted on online environments, which is using the CARLA simulator. This experimental study consists of three cases with a various exploration of reward values. Case 1 consists of the range of the penalty value larger than the reward function by 200 times. Case 2 is similar, but with the small range number of the penalty is applied, case 3, which is the reward function and penalty value, is in the same range value. The result shows that case 3 performances outperform case 1 and case 2 with 94% average accuracy; meanwhile, case 1 obtains 70%, and case 2 achieves 85% accuracy. It is may due to the monumental size of the collision penalty in comparison to all else. Hence, the findings obtained show the efficacy of the exploration of the reward function.
Predicting vehicle parking space availability using multilayer perceptron neural network
Authors: Ismail M H , Razak T R , Gining R A J M , Fauzi S S M , Abdul-Aziz A
Published: October 2021

In this study, we have investigated potential use of Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) to predict parking space availability for use within Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) accelerated embedded devices. While previous studies have explored the use of MLP for classification problem in FPGA, very little studies concentrated on the potential use of MLP in regression problem, especially in parking space forecasting. Therefore we formulated five Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) models with varying hidden units to perform single-step prediction to forecast parking space availability within the next 15 minutes based on the previous one-hour parking occupancy. The proposed models were trained on the historical data of Kuala Lumpur Convention Center dataset and evaluated against baseline ARIMA models. The results have shown that our proposed MLP model performed relatively well against baseline model with the root mean square error between (RMSE) 78.25 to 78.41 and mean absolute error (MAE) between 37.02 to 39.17.
Technology acceptance model (TAM) for analysing cloud computing acceptance in higher education institution (HEI)
Authors: Amron M T , Noh N H M
Published: October 2021

Cloud computing is a fast-growing and up-and-coming technology. Cloud computing allows educational users a more flexible, accessible, and wide range of education resources. In this study, the technology acceptance model (TAM) was used as the foundation to explore the effects of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use with two proposed additional variable: security and learning environment towards using cloud computing. The questionnaire was distributed using convenient sampling and a total of 664 higher education institution members consisting of lecturers, students and staffs participated in this research. The response was analysed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation modeling (PLS-SEM), which provides evidence of the reliability and validity of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in this study. The result shows that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness positively and significantly influence the intention to use cloud computing. It is also seen that security and learning environment also have a positive and significant impact on the intention to use cloud computing.
Amenability of groupoids and asymptotic invariance of convolution powers
Authors: Bühler Theo , Kaimanovich Vadim
Published: October 2021

The original definition of amenability given by von Neumann in the highly non-constructive terms of means was later recast by Day using approximately invariant probability measures. Moreover, as it was conjectured by Furstenberg and proved by Kaimanovich–Vershik and Rosenblatt, the amenability of a locally compact group is actually equivalent to the existence of a single probability measure on the group with the property that the sequence of its convolution powers is asymptotically invariant. In the present article we extend this characterization of amenability to measured groupoids. It implies, in particular, that the amenability of a measure class preserving group action is equivalent to the existence of a random environment on the group parameterized by the action space, and such that the tail of the random walk in almost every environment is trivial.
Slopes of links and signature formulas
Authors: Degtyarev Alex , Florens Vincent , Lecuona Ana
Published: October 2021

We present a new invariant, calledslope, of a colored link in an integral homology sphere and use this invariant to complete the signature formula for the splice of two links. We develop a number of ways of computing the slope and a few vanishing results. Besides, we discuss the concordance invariance of the slope and establish its close relation to the Conway polynomials, on the one hand, and to the Kojima–Yamasakiη\eta-function (in the univariate case) and Cochran invariants, on the other hand.
𝐵-rigidity of the property to be an almost Pogorelov polytope
Authors: Erokhovets Nikolai
Published: October 2021

Toric topology assigns to eachnn-dimensional combinatorial simple convex polytopePPwithmmfacets an(m+n)(m+n)-dimensional moment-angle manifoldZP\mathcal {Z}_Pwith an action of the compact torus TmT^msuch thatZP/Tm\mathcal {Z}_P/T^mis a convex polytope of combinatorial typePP. We study the notion ofBB-rigidity. A property of a polytopePPis calledBB-rigid if each simplenn-polytope QQsuch that the graded ringsH∗(ZP,Z)H^*(\mathcal {Z}_P,\mathbb Z)andH∗(ZQ,Z)H^*(\mathcal {Z}_Q,\mathbb Z)are isomorphic also has this property. We study families of33-dimensional polytopes defined by their cyclickk-edge-connectivity. These families include flag polytopes and Pogorelov polytopes, that is, polytopes realizable as bounded right-angled polytopes in Lobachevsky space L3\mathbb L^3. Pogorelov polytopes include fullerenes—simple polytopes with only pentagonal and hexagonal faces. It is known that the properties to be flag and to be Pogorelov areBB-rigid. We focus on almost Pogorelov polytopes, which are strongly cyclically44-edge-connected polytopes. They correspond to right-angled polytopes of finite volume in L3\mathbb L^3. There is a subfamily of ideal almost Pogorelov polytopes corresponding to ideal right-angled polytopes. We prove that the properties to be an almost Pogorelov polytope and to be an ideal almost Pogorelov polytope areBB-rigid. As a corollary, we obtain that the33-dimensional associahedronAs3As^3and permutohedronPe3Pe^3areBB-rigid. We generalize methods known for Pogorelov polytopes. We obtain results onBB-rigidity of subsets inH∗(ZP,Z)H^*(\mathcal {Z}_P,\mathbb Z)and prove an analog of the so-called separable circuit condition (SCC).
Addressing Posttreatment Selection Bias in Comparative Effectiveness Research, Using Real-World Data and Simulation
Authors: Belviso Nicholas , Zhang Yichi , Aronow Herbert D , Wyss Richard , Barbour Marilyn , Kogut Stephen , Lawal Oluwadolapo D , Zhan Si Y , Don Prabhani Kuruppumullage , Wen Xuerong
Published: October 2021

To examine methodologies that address imbalanced treatment switching and censoring, 6 different analytical approaches were evaluated under a comparative effectiveness framework: intention-to-treat, as-treated, intention-to-treat with censor-weighting, as-treated with censor-weighting, time-varying exposure, and time-varying exposure with censor-weighting. Marginal structural models were employed to address time-varying exposure, confounding, and possibly informative censoring in an administrative data set of adult patients who were hospitalized with acute coronary syndrome and treated with either clopidogrel or ticagrelor. The effectiveness endpoint included first occurrence of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke. These methodologies were then applied across simulated data sets with varying frequencies of treatment switching and censoring to compare the effect estimate of each analysis. The findings suggest that implementing different analytical approaches has an impact on the point estimate and interpretation of analyses, especially when censoring is highly unbalanced.
Choice of Outcome in COVID-19 Studies and Implications for Policy: Mortality and Fatality
Authors: Westreich Daniel , Edwards Jessie K , Tennant Peter W G , Murray Eleanor J , van Smeden Maarten
Published: October 2021

In this brief communication, we discuss the confusion of mortality with fatality in the interpretation of evidence in the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and how this confusion affects the translation of science into policy and practice. We discuss how this confusion has influenced COVID-19 policy in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom and discuss the implications for decision-making about COVID-19 vaccine distribution. We also discuss how this confusion is an example of a more general statistical fallacy we term the “Missing Link Fallacy.”
Management of patients with fibrosing interstitial lung diseases
Authors: Morrow Lee E , Hilleman Daniel , Malesker Mark A
Published: October 2021

Purpose

This article summarizes the appropriate use and pharmacology of treatments for fibrosing interstitial lung diseases, with a specific focus on the antifibrotic agents nintedanib and pirfenidone.

The interstitial lung diseases are a heterogenous group of parenchymal lung disorders with a common feature—infiltration of the interstitial space with derangement of the normal capillary-alveolar anatomy. Diseases characterized by fibrosis of the interstitial space are referred to as the fibrosing interstitial lung diseases and often show progression over time: idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is the most common fibrotic interstitial lung disease. Historically, therapies for fibrosing lung diseases have been limited in number, questionable in efficacy, and associated with potential harms. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of the antifibrotic agents nintedanib and pirfenidone for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in 2014 heralded an era of reorganization of therapy for the fibrotic interstitial lung diseases. Subsequent investigations have led to FDA approval of nintedanib for systemic sclerosis–associated interstitial lung disease and interstitial lung diseases with a progressive phenotype. Although supportive care and pulmonary rehabilitation should be provided to all patients, the role(s) of immunomodulators and/or immune suppressing agents vary by the underlying disease state. Several agents previously used to treat fibrotic lung diseases (N-acetylcysteine, anticoagulation, and pulmonary vasodilators) lack efficacy or cause harm.

Conclusion

With the introduction of effective pharmacotherapy for fibrosing interstitial lung disease, pharmacists have an increasingly important role in the interdisciplinary team managing these patients.
Somatic variant analysis suite: copy number variation clonal visualization online platform for large-scale single-cell genomics
Authors: Chen Lingxi , Qing Yuhao , Li Ruikang , Li Chaohui , Li Hechen , Feng Xikang , Li Shuai Cheng
Published: October 2021

The recent advance of single-cell copy number variation (CNV) analysis plays an essential role in addressing intratumor heterogeneity, identifying tumor subgroups and restoring tumor-evolving trajectories at single-cell scale. Informative visualization of copy number analysis results boosts productive scientific exploration, validation and sharing. Several single-cell analysis figures have the effectiveness of visualizations for understanding single-cell genomics in published articles and software packages. However, they almost lack real-time interaction, and it is hard to reproduce them. Moreover, existing tools are time-consuming and memory-intensive when they reach large-scale single-cell throughputs. We present an online visualization platform, single-cell Somatic Variant Analysis Suite (scSVAS), for real-time interactive single-cell genomics data visualization. scSVAS is specifically designed for large-scale single-cell genomic analysis that provides an arsenal of unique functionalities. After uploading the specified input files, scSVAS deploys the online interactive visualization automatically. Users may conduct scientific discoveries, share interactive visualizations and download high-quality publication-ready figures. scSVAS provides versatile utilities for managing, investigating, sharing and publishing single-cell CNV profiles. We envision this online platform will expedite the biological understanding of cancer clonal evolution in single-cell resolution. All visualizations are publicly hosted at https://sc.deepomics.org.
Cytogenetic, geographical, spore type and plastid haplotype data reveal cryptic patterns of species diversity in the cosmopolitanCystopteris fragiliscomplex (Polypodiopsida: Cystopteridaceae)
Authors: Ekrt Libor , Košnar Jiří , Rothfels Carl J , Hanušová Kristýna , Hornych Ondřej , Urfus Tomáš
Published: October 2021

The delimitation of lineages in the Cystopteris fragilis complex is complicated by the presence of multiple cytotypes and a lack of defining morphological characters. One character, the production of rugose instead of regular spiny spores, is sometimes associated with a potential Scottish endemic, C. dickieana; however, whether this character is associated with a distinct lineage is uncertain. To better understand the diversity in the C. fragilis complex, we selected 87 C. fragilis samples of known ploidy (4x, 5x, 6x) for sequencing of two plastid loci and we assessed their spore types. These samples represent the variability found in Northern Hemisphere populations, including the type locality of C. dickieana in Scotland. Our analyses revealed two haplotype lineages, which we label the hemifragilis and reevesiana clades, based on their potential relationship to the two presumed diploid parents of C. fragilis. Hexaploids and tetraploids were both polyphyletic. Rugose spores were rarer overall (26% of samples), but five times more prevalent in the hemifragilis clade. Although proper delimitation and understanding of C. fragilis remains a challenge, this study further describes great genotypic and cytotypic complexity present in this complex. Furthermore, rugose-spored plants are widely distributed and should not be associated with a single name.
Contemporary outcomes of anemia in US patients with chronic kidney disease
Authors: Wittbrodt Eric T , James Glen , Kumar Supriya , van Haalen Heleen , Chen Hungta , Sloand James A , Kalantar-Zadeh Kamyar
Published: October 2021

Background

Long-term clinical outcome data from patients with non-dialysis-dependent (NDD) chronic kidney disease (CKD) are lacking. We characterized patients with NDD-CKD and anemia using real-world data from the USA.

Methods

This retrospective longitudinal observational study evaluated integrated Limited Claims and Electronic Health Record Data (IBM Health, Armonk, NY), including patients ≥18 years with two or more estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) measures <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 ≥90 days apart. Anemia was defined as the first observed hemoglobin <10 g/dL within 6-month pre- and post-CKD index date. Data were analyzed from January 2012 to June 2018. Patients with documented iron-deficiency anemia at baseline were excluded.

Results

Comprising 22 720 patients (57.4% female, 63.9% CKD stage 3, median hemoglobin 12.5 g/dL), median (interquartile range) follow-up for patients with and without anemia were 2.9 (1.5–4.4) and 3.8 (2.2–4.8) years, respectively. The most prevalent comorbidities were dyslipidemia (57.6%), type 2 diabetes mellitus (38.8%) and uncontrolled hypertension (20.0%). Overall, 23.3% of patients had anemia, of whom 1.9% and <0.1% received erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) or intravenous iron, respectively. Anemia prevalence increased with CKD stage from 18.2% (stage 3a) to 72.8% (stage 5). Patients with anemia had a higher incidence rate of hospitalizations for heart failure (1.6 versus 0.8 per 100 patient-years), CKD stage advancement (43.5 versus 27.5 per 100 patient-years), and a 40% eGFR decrease (18.1 versus 7.3 per 100 patient-years) versus those without anemia.

Conclusions

Anemia, frequently observed in NDD-CKD and associated with adverse clinical outcomes, is rarely treated with ESAs and intravenous iron. These data suggest that opportunities exist for improved anemia management in patients with NDD-CKD.
Challenging indication of cardioverter defibrillator implantation after sudden cardiac arrest in the very young: a case series of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia secondary to de novo calmodulin p.Asn98Ser
Authors: Maltret Alice , Benaich Fatima Azzahrae , Rendu John , Fressart Véronique , Roux-Buisson Nathalie , Bonnet Damien , Denjoy Isabelle
Published: October 2021

Background

Calmodulinopathy is an emerging group of primary electrical disease with various, severe, and early onset phenotype. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA)/death can be the first symptom and current medical management seems insufficient to prevent recurrences. Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in the young is challenging and can be harmful.

Case summary

We report the management of two very young boys (aged 3.5 and 5.5 years old) who survived an SCA due to calmodulin mutation responsible of a catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia phenotype. In both case, SCA had an adrenergic trigger. Despite SCA, ICD implantation was denied by the parents. After thorough discussion with the family, the patients were managed with solely betablocker treatment and loop recorder implantation. At last follow-up of 30 and 23 months, respectively, there were no recurrence of any cardiac event.

Discussion

The benefits of ICD implantation at a very young age must be weighed against the risk complication. In the youngest, whom recreative activities are under constant supervision, the decision, jointly made with the parents, could be to postpone ICD.
Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors in patients with heart failure: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials
Authors: Ahmad Yousif , Madhavan Mahesh V , Stone Gregg W , Francis Darrel P , Makkar Raj , Bhatt Deepak L , Howard James P
Published: October 2021

Aims

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors have now been evaluated for the treatment of heart failure in several placebo-controlled randomized controlled trials (RCTs) across various ejection fraction ranges, but these trials were powered for composite outcomes rather than individual clinical endpoints. We therefore performed a meta-analysis to assess their safety and efficacy on all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality, and heart failure hospitalizations.

Methods and results

We performed a prospectively registered random-effects meta-analysis of all RCTs comparing SGLT-2 inhibitors to placebo in patients with heart failure. The pre-specified primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. Secondary endpoints included cardiovascular mortality, heart failure hospitalizations, and the composite of cardiovascular mortality or heart failure hospitalization. Four trials with 15 684 patients were eligible. The SGLT-2 inhibitor tested was empagliflozin in two trials, dapagliflozin in one trial, and sotagliflozin in one trial. The weighted-mean follow-up was 20.0 months. The hazard ratio (HR) for all-cause mortality was 0.91, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.82–1.01, P = 0.071. There was a 12% reduction in cardiovascular mortality (HR 0.88, 95% CI 0.79 to 0.97, P = 0.012), and a 30% reduction in heart failure hospitalization (HR 0.70, 95% CI 0.64 to 0.77, P < 0.001).

Conclusion

SGLT-2 inhibitors significantly reduced cardiovascular mortality and heart failure hospitalizations in patients with heart failure. The effect appears consistent across three drugs studied in four trials. SGLT-2 inhibitors should become standard care for patients with heart failure.
A novel hybrid technique for the repair of an atrioesophageal fistula post-atrial radiofrequency ablation
Authors: Kronenberger Rani , Mana Fazia , Chierchia Gian-Battista , La Meir Mark
Published: October 2021

An atrioesophageal fistula is an uncommon complication of atrial ablation with a mortality rate of 40–100%. Uniform treatment guidelines have yet to be established. Herein, we illustrate the successful surgical management of an atrioesophageal fistula, avoiding the need for an oesophageal surgical intervention by sealing and clipping of the oesophagus. This novel single-step hybrid approach combining cardiac surgical and gastroenterological techniques provides a less aggressive strategy with potentially a more favourable prognosis.
Portfolio rebalancing based on time series momentum and downside risk
Authors: Guo Xiaoshi , Ryan Sarah M
Published: October 2021

To examine the familiar tradeoff between risk and return in financial investments, we use a rolling two-stage stochastic program to compare mean-risk optimization models with time series momentum strategies. In a backtest of allocating investment between a market index and a risk-free asset, we generate scenarios of future return according to a momentum-based stochastic process model. A new hybrid approach, time series momentum strategy controlling downside risk (TSMDR), frequently dominates traditional approaches by generating trading signals according to a modified momentum measure while setting the risky asset position to control the conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) of return. For insight into the outperformance of TSMDR, we decompose each strategy into two aspects, the trading signal and the asset allocation model that determines the risky asset position. We find that 1) weighted moving average can better capture the trend of the stock market than time series momentum computed as past 12-month excess return, 2) mean-risk strategies generally provide better returns whereas risk parity strategies have less investment risk and 3) controlling CVaR limits the investment risk better than controlling variance does.
Recent Immigrant Insect Fauna—Another Look at a Classic Analysis
Authors: Takeuchi Yu , Koch Frank H , Nelson Stacy A C
Published: October 2021

In 1978, Reece Sailer published a seminal retrospective entitled ‘Our Immigrant Insect Fauna.’ His goals were to better understand the origins and historical patterns of alien insect species introductions into the United States and establish a baseline for future work to improve our ability to respond to environmental and agricultural well-being threats. We updated Sailer’s study to include information on species introduced recently into the United States and that are now targeted by regulatory agencies. The recent trends (recorded through 2016) are different from those reported by Sailer. Asian-origin species are much more important than in 1978 and predominate today. Nevertheless, introductions from all parts of the world have continued. Although the diversity of alien species’ origins has increased through time, there has not been a corresponding change in the rate of introductions of species of phytosanitary importance. This finding is inconsistent with our original assumption of a positive nonlinear relationship with international trade imports. Our findings will assist in identifying and prioritizing potential high-risk plant pests as well as enhancing biosecurity capacities.
Polycomb group proteins in cancer: multifaceted functions and strategies for modulation
Authors: Wang Sijie , C. Ordonez-Rubiano Sandra , Dhiman Alisha , Jiao Guanming , Strohmier Brayden P , Krusemark Casey J , Dykhuizen Emily C
Published: October 2021

Polycomb repressive complexes (PRCs) are a heterogenous collection of dozens, if not hundreds, of protein complexes composed of various combinations of subunits. PRCs are transcriptional repressors important for cell-type specificity during development, and as such, are commonly mis-regulated in cancer. PRCs are broadly characterized as PRC1 with histone ubiquitin ligase activity, or PRC2 with histone methyltransferase activity; however, the mechanism by which individual PRCs, particularly the highly diverse set of PRC1s, alter gene expression has not always been clear. Here we review the current understanding of how PRCs act, both individually and together, to establish and maintain gene repression, the biochemical contribution of individual PRC subunits, the mis-regulation of PRC function in different cancers, and the current strategies for modulating PRC activity. Increased mechanistic understanding of PRC function, as well as cancer-specific roles for individual PRC subunits, will uncover better targets and strategies for cancer therapies.
DeepT3 2.0: improving type III secreted effector predictions by an integrative deep learning framework
Authors: Jing Runyu , Wen Tingke , Liao Chengxiang , Xue Li , Liu Fengjuan , Yu Lezheng , Luo Jiesi
Published: October 2021

Type III secretion systems (T3SSs) are bacterial membrane-embedded nanomachines that allow a number of humans, plant and animal pathogens to inject virulence factors directly into the cytoplasm of eukaryotic cells. Export of effectors through T3SSs is critical for motility and virulence of most Gram-negative pathogens. Current computational methods can predict type III secreted effectors (T3SEs) from amino acid sequences, but due to algorithmic constraints, reliable and large-scale prediction of T3SEs in Gram-negative bacteria remains a challenge. Here, we present DeepT3 2.0 (http://advintbioinforlab.com/deept3/), a novel web server that integrates different deep learning models for genome-wide predicting T3SEs from a bacterium of interest. DeepT3 2.0 combines various deep learning architectures including convolutional, recurrent, convolutional-recurrent and multilayer neural networks to learn N-terminal representations of proteins specifically for T3SE prediction. Outcomes from the different models are processed and integrated for discriminating T3SEs and non-T3SEs. Because it leverages diverse models and an integrative deep learning framework, DeepT3 2.0 outperforms existing methods in validation datasets. In addition, the features learned from networks are analyzed and visualized to explain how models make their predictions. We propose DeepT3 2.0 as an integrated and accurate tool for the discovery of T3SEs.