bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Quasinormal modes and their anomalous behavior for black holes in f(R) gravity
Authors: Aragón Almendra , González P. A. , Papantonopoulos Eleftherios , Vásquez Yerko
Published: May 2021

We study the propagation of scalar fields in the background of an asymptotically de Sitter black hole solution in f(R) gravity. The aim of this work is to analyze in modified theories of gravity the existence of an anomalous decay rate of the quasinormal modes (QNMs) of a massive scalar field which was recently reported in Schwarzschild black hole backgrounds, in which the longest-lived modes are the ones with higher angular number, for a scalar field mass smaller than a critical value, while that beyond this value the behavior is inverted. We study the QNMs for various overtone numbers and they depend on a parameter $$\beta $$
β
which appears in the metric and characterizes the f(R) gravity. For small $$\beta $$
β
, i.e. small deviations from the Schwarzschild–dS black hole the anomalous behavior in the QNMs is present for the photon sphere modes, and the critical value of the mass of the scalar field depends on the parameter $$\beta $$
β
while for large $$\beta $$
β
, i.e. large deviations, the anomalous behavior and the critical mass does not appear. Also, the critical mass of the scalar field increases when the overtone number increases until the f(R) gravity parameter $$\beta $$
β
approaches the near extremal limit at which the critical mass of the scalar field does not depend anymore on the overtone number. The imaginary part of the quasinormal frequencies is always negative leading to a stable propagation of the scalar fields in this background.
Seismic glitchness at Sos Enattos site: impact on intermediate black hole binaries detection efficiency
Authors: Allocca A. , Berbellini A. , Boschi L. , Calloni E. , Cardello G. L. , Cardini A. , Carpinelli M. , Contu A. , D’Onofrio L. , D’Urso D. , Dell’Aquila D. , Rosa R. De , Fiore L. Di , Giovanni M. Di , Pace S. Di , Errico L. , Fiori I. , Giunchi C. , Grado A. , Harms J. , Majorana E. , Mangano V. , Marsella M , Migoni C. , Naticchioni L. , Olivieri M. , Oggiano G. , Paoletti F. , Punturo M. , Puppo P. , Rapagnani P. , Ricci F. , Rozza D. , Saccorotti G. , Sequino V. , Sipala V. , Melo I. Tosta E , Trozzo L.
Published: May 2021

Third-generation gravitational wave observatories will extend the lower frequency limit of the observation band toward 2 Hz, where new sources of gravitational waves, in particular intermediate-mass black holes (IMBH), will be detected. In this frequency region, seismic noise will play an important role, mainly through the so-called Newtonian noise, i.e., the gravity-mediated coupling between ground motion and test mass displacements. The signal lifetime of such sources in the detector is of the order of tens of seconds. In order to determine whether a candidate site to host the Einstein Telescope observatory is particularly suitable to observe such sources, it is necessary to estimate the probability distributions that, in the characteristic time scale of the signal, the sensitivity of the detector is not perturbed by Newtonian noise. In this paper, a first analysis is presented, focused on the Sos Enattos site (Sardinia, Italy), a candidate to host the Einstein Telescope. Starting from a long data set of seismic noise, this distribution is evaluated considering both the presently designed triangular ET configuration and also the classical ”L” configuration.
The Local Singular Boundary Method for Solution of Two-Dimensional Advection–Diffusion Equation
Authors: Kovářík Karel , Mužík Juraj
Published: May 2021

This work focuses on the derivation of the local variant of the singular boundary method (SBM) for solving the advection-diffusion equation of tracer transport. Localization is based on the combination of SBM and finite collocation. Unlike the global variant, local SBM leads to a sparse matrix of the resulting system of equations, making it much more efficient to solve large-scale tasks. It also allows solving velocity vector variable tasks, which is a problem with global SBM. This paper compares the results on several examples for the steady and unsteady variant of the advection-diffusion equation and also examines the dependence of the accuracy of the solution on the density of the nodal grid and the size of the subdomain.
Construction of Au@Metal-organic framework for sensitive determination of creatinine in urine
Authors: Jiang Yuning , Cai Yanzheng , Hu Sen , Guo Xiaoyu , Ying Ye , Wen Ying , Wu Yiping , Yang Haifeng
Published: May 2021

Creatinine level in urine is an important biomarker for renal function diseases, such as renal failure, glomerulonephritis, and chronic nephritis. The Au@MIL-101(Fe) was prepared by in situ growth of Au nanoparticles in MIL-101(Fe) as a selective SERS substrate. The Au@MIL-101(Fe) offers the great local surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect due to gold nanoparticles aggregation inside metal-organic frameworks. The framework structure could enrich trace target samples and drag them into SPR hot spots. The optimal Au@MIL-101(Fe) composite substrate is used for analyzing creatinine in urine and the limit of detection is down to 0.1[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mol/L and a linear relationship is ranging from 1[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mol/L to 100[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]mol/L.
Experiences of Knowledge Transfer on Industrial Heritage Using Games, Storytelling, and New Technologies
Authors: López Gonzalo Andrés , Cruz David Checa
Published: May 2021

The industry has a relevant spatial and socioeconomic importance in most of the Spanish cities and nowadays is one of the main urban economic activities. However, in many situations, and despite recent advances in the past two decades, industrial heritage is a value that is still not sufficiently widespread in society. The factories, their activity, and their historical evolution are often disconnected and isolated from the daily life of the cities, being quite an unknown aspect for most of the citizens. This contribution presents the result of various experiences of knowledge transmission on the heritage value of industry, through the use of games and storytelling technique as an educational tool and the combination of different technologies (3D modelling, videomapping, virtual reality) as useful tools to spread the explanation of this phenomenon.
Timing Matters
Authors: Chawla Shuchi , Naor Joseph (Seffi) , Panigrahi Debmalya , Singh Mohit , Umboh Seeun William
Published: May 2021

This article studies the equilibrium states that can be reached in a network design game via
natural
game dynamics. First, we show that an arbitrarily interleaved sequence of arrivals and departures of players can lead to a polynomially inefficient solution at equilibrium. This implies that the central controller must have some control over the timing of agent arrivals and departures to ensure efficiency of the system at equilibrium. Indeed, we give a complementary result showing that if the central controller is allowed to restore equilibrium after every set of arrivals/departures via
improving moves
, then the eventual equilibrium states reached have exponentially better efficiency.
The Impact of Pair Programming on College Students’ Interest, Perceptions, and Achievement in Computer Science
Authors: Bowman Nicholas A. , Jarratt Lindsay , Culver KC , Segre Alberto M.
Published: May 2021

Active and collaborative learning has shown considerable promise for improving student outcomes and reducing group disparities. As one common form of collaborative learning, pair programming is an adapted work practice implemented widely in higher education computing programs. In the classroom setting, it typically involves two computer science students working together on the same programming assignment. The present study examined a cluster-randomized trial of 1,198 undergraduates in 96 lab sections. Overall, pair programming had no significant effect on students’ course performance; subject matter interest; plans for future coursework; or their confidence, comfort, and anxiety with computer science. These findings were consistent across various student characteristics, except that students with favorable pretest scores exhibited negative effects from pair programming.
FakeMuse
Authors: Zilio Daniel , Orio Nicola , Zamparo Luca
Published: May 2021

This article presents FakeMuse, a serious game about forgery and authentication in archaeological museums that aims at letting users playfully approach this issue. The player takes on the role of a museum curator who is presented with several artifacts that s/he must decide whether they are authentic or not. As the player progresses in the game, s/he can gather additional information by reading magazine articles or earn cultural money by playing minigames with archaeological content. In this way, s/he will be able to make more informed decisions about the authenticity of artifacts. FakeMuse is an Android application that can be played also while visiting an archaeological museum. Evaluation with a group of selected testers showed promising results.
Adaptive Influence Maximization
Authors: Guo Jianxiong , Wu Weili
Published: May 2021

Influence maximization problem attempts to find a small subset of nodes that makes the expected influence spread maximized, which has been researched intensively before. They all assumed that each user in the seed set we select is activated successfully and then spread the influence. However, in the real scenario, not all users in the seed set are willing to be an influencer. Based on that, we consider each user associated with a probability with which we can activate her as a seed, and we can attempt to activate her many times. In this article, we study the adaptive influence maximization with multiple activations (Adaptive-IMMA) problem, where we select a node in each iteration, observe whether she accepts to be a seed, if yes, wait to observe the influence diffusion process; if no, we can attempt to activate her again with a higher cost or select another node as a seed. We model the multiple activations mathematically and define it on the domain of integer lattice. We propose a new concept, adaptive dr-submodularity, and show our Adaptive-IMMA is the problem that maximizing an adaptive monotone and dr-submodular function under the expected knapsack constraint. Adaptive dr-submodular maximization problem is never covered by any existing studies. Thus, we summarize its properties and study its approximability comprehensively, which is a non-trivial generalization of existing analysis about adaptive submodularity. Besides, to overcome the difficulty to estimate the expected influence spread, we combine our adaptive greedy policy with sampling techniques without losing the approximation ratio but reducing the time complexity. Finally, we conduct experiments on several real datasets to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of our proposed policies.
Acceleration of Parallel-Blocked QR Decomposition of Tall-and-Skinny Matrices on FPGAs
Authors: Borbon Jose M. Rodriguez , Huang Junjie , Wong Bryan M. , Najjar Walid
Published: May 2021

QR decomposition is one of the most useful factorization kernels in modern numerical linear algebra algorithms. In particular, the decomposition of tall-and-skinny matrices (TSMs) has major applications in areas including scientific computing, machine learning, image processing, wireless networks, and numerical methods. Traditionally, CPUs and GPUs have achieved better throughput on these applications by using large cache hierarchies and compute cores running at a high frequency, leading to high power consumption. With the advent of heterogeneous platforms, however, FPGAs are emerging as a promising viable alternative. In this work, we propose a high-throughput FPGA-based engine that has a very high computational efficiency (ratio of achieved to peak throughput) compared to similar QR solvers running on FPGAs. Although comparable QR solvers achieve an efficiency of 36%, our design exhibits an efficiency of 54%. For TSMs, our experimental results show that our design can outperform highly optimized QR solvers running on CPUs and GPUs. For TSMs with more than 50K rows, our design outperforms the Intel MKL solver running on an Intel quad-core processor by a factor of 1.5×. For TSMs containing 256 columns or less, our design outperforms the NVIDIA CUBLAS solver running on a K40 GPU by a factor of 3.0×. In addition to being fast, our design is energy efficient—competing platforms execute up to 0.6 GFLOPS/Joule, whereas our design executes more than 1.0 GFLOPS/Joule.
SatNetLab
Authors: Singla Ankit
Published: May 2021

The space industry is moving rapidly towards offering low-latency and high-bandwidth global Internet coverage using low Earth orbit satellites. Such networks represent "one giant leap" in Internet infrastructure, both in their goals and the underlying technology. Due to their unique characteristics, they open up new opportunities, and pose new research challenges. I thus lay out a case for networking researchers to collaboratively undertake the construction of SatNetLab, a research platform that enables experimentation across upcoming satellite-based networks.
Conceptual Behaviour Underpinning the Occurrence of Nonfaecal Matter in Faecal Sludge in Some Urban Communities, Ghana
Authors: Quarshie Ama Mbeaba , Gyasi Samuel Fosu , Kuranchie Francis Atta , Awuah Esi , Darteh Eugene
Published: May 2021

Faecal sludge (FS) management is pertinent to the achievement of sustainable development goal 6.2 around the world; yet it is constrained by urbanisation challenges, waste management complexities, and defective attitudes. These deny communities of the plausible supply of resources from FS. This paper assesses the perception underpinning the occurrence of nonfaecal matter in FS in Ghana. Primary data were obtained from 400 respondents in four communities in Brong Ahafo and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana, using a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed by using STATA software version 15. Chi-square test and multiple logistic regression were conducted on all independent variables and statistical significance was accepted at

p
<
0.05

. The study identified the following as the most perceived frequently disposed nonfaecal matter into FS: sanitary pads and diapers (38.5%), fabrics/rags (23.2%), toilet rolls (20.8%), razor/shaving sticks (10.3%), and others (7.2%). Gender, state of toilet facility (roof or unroofed), presence of container for collecting other types of waste in the toilet room, and state of container in toilet room either covered or uncovered were the factors found to be significantly associated with the disposal of solid waste (SW) into FS at 95% confidence level. The fear of exposing used sanitary materials for rituals, the use of fabric as an alternative to toilet rolls, and the desire to conceal aborted pregnancies from the public were some of the reasons alluded to the disposal acts. Education and awareness campaigns on proper SW disposal practices, appropriate use of toilet facilities, and the resource potentials of FS were found to be the best way forward to discourage indiscriminate disposal of SW into FS.
Rational Fuzzy Cone Contractions on Fuzzy Cone Metric Spaces with an Application to Fredholm Integral Equations
Authors: Rehman Saif Ur , Aydi Hassen
Published: May 2021

This paper is aimed at proving some common fixed point theorems for mappings involving generalized rational-type fuzzy cone-contraction conditions in fuzzy cone metric spaces. Some illustrative examples are presented to support our work. Moreover, as an application, we ensure the existence of a common solution of the Fredholm integral equations:

μ

τ

=

∫

0

τ

Γ

τ
,
v
,
μ

v

d
v

and

ν

τ

=

∫

0

τ

Γ

τ
,
v
,
ν

v

d
v

, for all

μ
∈
U

,

v
∈

0
,
η

, and

0
<
η
∈
ℝ

, where

U
=
C

0
,
η

,
ℝ

is the space of all

ℝ

-valued continuous functions on the interval

0
,
η

and

Γ
:

0
,
η

×

0
,
η

×
ℝ
⟶
ℝ

.
Network Pharmacology-Based Systematic Analysis of Molecular Mechanisms of Dingji Fumai Decoction for Ventricular Arrhythmia
Authors: Liang Yi , Liang Bo , Wu Xin-Rui , Chen Wen , Zhao Li-Zhi
Published: May 2021

Background. Dingji Fumai Decoction (DFD), a traditional herbal mixture, has been widely used to ventricular arrhythmia (VA) in clinical practice in China. However, research on the bioactive components and underlying mechanisms of DFD in VA is still scarce. Methods. Components of DFD were collected from TCMSP, ETCM, and literature. The chemical structures of each component were obtained from PubChem. Next, SwissADME and SwissTargetPrediction were applied for compounds screening and targets prediction of DFD; meanwhile, targets of VA were collected from DrugBank and Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM). Then, the H-C-T-D network and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network were constructed based on the data obtained above. CytoNCA was utilized to filter hub genes and VarElect was used to analyze the relationship between genes and diseases. At last, Metascape was employed for systematic analysis on the potential targets of herbals against VA, and AutoDock was applied for molecular docking to verify the results. Results. A total of 434 components were collected, 168 of which were qualified, and there were 28 shared targets between DFD and VA. Three function modules of DFD were found from the PPI network. Further systematic analysis of shared genes and function modules explained the potential mechanism of DFD in the treatment of VA; molecular docking has verified the interactions. Conclusions. DFD could be employed for VA through mechanisms, including complex interactions between related components and targets, as predicted by network pharmacology and molecular docking. This work confirmed that DFD could apply to the treatment of VA and promoted the explanation of DFD for VA in the molecular mechanisms.
Distributed Power Trading System Based on Blockchain Technology
Authors: Chen Shuguo , Ding Weibin , Xiang Zhongzheng , Liu Yuanyuan
Published: May 2021

The power trading system has the characteristics of nonlinearity, dynamics, and complexity. Part of the business data in the trading system needs to be exposed to numerous external business systems. The traditional centralized power trading model has some problems, such as low data security and trust crisis of regulators. Blockchain technology provides prominent ideas for solving these problems. Firstly, the improved AdaBoost algorithm is used to predict the supply and demand gap of power trading nodes. Secondly, based on the fact that the information on the blockchain is only open to the power supply side, a two‐stage game model of asymmetric information between the power supply side and the power user is constructed to capture the price competition behavior between them in order to find the Nash equilibrium price in two stages. Finally, the US PJM market electricity market data are used to carry out an example analysis to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm and model.
Node-Subset Scheduling with a Subset-Reset Mechanism for the Decoding Algorithm of Nonbinary LDPC Codes
Authors: Fu Wentao , Luo Xilun , Ji Yuanfa , Sun Xiyan
Published: May 2021

For the conventional extended min-sum (EMS) algorithm, all check nodes update their check-to-variable (C2V) messages in every iteration. Selected scheduling, which reduces the number of check nodes for message updating in one iteration, can effectively reduce the complexity of the decoding algorithm, but it also lead to some performance degradation. With the introduction of a metric based on node stability, we propose stability-based node-subset scheduling (SNS) for the EMS algorithm, which can improve the performance of node-subset scheduling (NS). Second, to further improve the decoding performance of SNS while maintaining low complexity, we propose the SNS-EMS algorithm with a subset-reset mechanism (RSNS-EMS) based on the abnormal stability found in the processing node subset, which will cause the estimated codeword to fail to converge. The RSNS-EMS algorithm enhances performance through a sliding window detection and reset mechanism, and it resets the elements in the processing node subset to force all check nodes to update new messages when abnormal stability is detected. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can reduce complexity by approximately 25% with negligible performance degradation.
Research Based on Multimodal Deep Feature Fusion for the Auxiliary Diagnosis Model of Infectious Respiratory Diseases
Authors: Zhao Jingyuan , Yu Liyan , Liu Zhuo
Published: May 2021

Pulmonary infection is a common clinical respiratory tract infectious disease with a high incidence rate and a severe mortality rate as high as 30%–50%, which seriously threatens human life and health. Accurate and timely anti-infective treatment is the key to improving the cure rate. NGS technology provides a new, fast, and accurate method for pathogenic diagnosis, which can provide effective clues to the clinic, but determining the true pathogenic bacteria is a problem that needs to be solved urgently, and a comprehensive judgment must be made by the clinician combining the laboratory results, clinical information, and epidemiology. This paper intends to effectively collect and process the missing values of NGS data, clinical manifestations, laboratory test results, imaging test results, and other multimodal data of patients with infectious respiratory diseases. It also studies the deep feature fusion algorithm of multimodal data, couples the private and shared features of different modal data of infectious respiratory diseases, and digs into the hidden information of different modalities to obtain efficient and robust shared features that are conducive to auxiliary diagnosis. The establishment of an auxiliary diagnosis model for the infectious respiratory diseases can intelligentize and automate the diagnosis process of infectious respiratory, which has important significance and application value when applied to clinical practice.
Study on Stability and Plastic Zone Distribution of Tunnel with Thin Carbonaceous Slate at Different Dip Angles
Authors: Zhang Jin , Xi Chuanhao , Zhang Qian , Wang Mengxue
Published: May 2021

Carbonaceous slate is heterogeneous and anisotropic, which has a great influence on the stability of tunnel. In this paper, by means of laboratory test, field measurement, and numerical simulation, the surrounding rock stability and plastic zone distribution characteristics of the carbonaceous slate tunnel at different intersection angles are analyzed. First, combined with the Haibaluo tunnel project, Brazilian splitting and uniaxial compression tests of jointed carbonaceous slate are performed. The test results show that the tensile strength of carbonaceous slate is related to joint dip angle. When the joint angle is 0°, the tensile strength is the largest and decreases with the increase of the joint angle. The uniaxial strength of rock decreases first and then increases. Based on the discrete fracture network (DFN) technology, a calculation model is established. The calculation results show that the maximum displacement is 0.45 m, when the dip angle of the surrounding rock joint is 45°. The field measurement also shows that the dip angle of the surrounding rock joint has an important influence on the distribution of the plastic zone. When the joint dip angle is 45°, the plastic zone develops most strongly.
Evaluation of Silk Fibroin-RGD-Stem Cell Factor Scaffold Effect on Adhesion, Migration, and Proliferation of Stem Cells of Apical Papilla
Authors: Wei Jie , Sun Xiao-Qiang , Hou Ben-Xiang
Published: May 2021

This study explored the effects of a silk fibroin-RGD-stem cell factor (SF-RGD-SCF) scaffold on the migration, proliferation, and attachment of stem cells of apical papilla (SCAPs). SF, SF-RGD, SF-SCF, and SF-RGD-SCF scaffolds were prepared, and laser confocal microscopy was used to observe the adhesion and growth status of SCAPs on the scaffolds. Furthermore, the numbers of SCAPs on the scaffolds were counted by a digestion counting method to evaluate their proliferation. Cells on the SF-RGD-SCF scaffold proliferated more than those on the other scaffolds and showed a more obvious tendency to migrate to the scaffold’s deep porous structure after 7 d seeding. Live/dead cell staining results showed that almost all the adhered cells were alive after 7 d. Furthermore, cell counting showed that the number of cells on the SF-RGD-SCF scaffold was highest after both 1 and 7 d (

P
<
0.05

). Thus, the SF-RGD-SCF composite is biocompatible and promotes the migration, adhesion, and proliferation of SCAPs, making it of potential use as a scaffold for cell-homing pulp regeneration.
ARL Estimation of the Control Chart of Log Likelihood Ratios’ Sum for Markov Sequence
Authors: Guo Yi , Gao Lei , Zhu Yan
Published: May 2021

To evaluate the surveillance performance of a control chart with the charting statistic of the sum of log likelihood ratios in the statistical process control (SPC), in this paper, we give the proof procedure based on Markov chains for the asymptotic estimation of the average run length (ARL) for this kind of chart. The out-of-control

ARL

1

is approximately equal to 1 for any fixed in-control

ARL

0

with a negative control limit. By the equivalence between limit distribution of a sum and that of a suprema sum of Markov chain, we derive the estimation of

ARL

1

with a large enough positive control limit. Numerical experiments are conducted to confirm our results.
Estimating the Impacts of Hospitals’ Organisational and Geographical Characteristics on the Adoption of Health Information Technology in Mongolian Hospitals
Authors: Tsagaankhuu Sarnai , Amgalan Enkhdulguun , Damba Turtushikh , Zhang Xinping
Published: May 2021

Background. The adoption of health information technology (HIT) is an important measure for improving healthcare quality and safety, which is affected by many hospital factors, but it has not yet been estimated in the Mongolian hospital sectors. This study examines how hospitals’ organisational and geographical characteristics influence the adoption of HIT in Mongolian tertiary and secondary care hospitals. Methods. А cross-sectional study involving the executive directors and medical equipment engineers was conducted in 39 hospitals. Data acquired from questionnaires are (1) hospitals’ organisational and geographical characteristics, including bed-size capacity, ownership type, status, and location of the hospitals, and (2) the adoption rate of HIT, and its categories are based on the Health Information and Management Systems Society’s classification (2002). The dependent variable was measured as numbers and the rate of HIT programs adopted clinical, administrative, and strategic information technologies (IT). A regression analysis was used to estimate the factors of impact on the adoption of clinical, administrative, and strategic IT. Results. We found a concerning relationship between the characteristics and adoption of HITs. On average, the number of HIT programs adopted was 18, covering nine clinical IT programs, six administrative IT programs, and three strategic IT programs. The adoption rate of overall HIT was 33.29% in the hospitals. In regression analysis, the organisational and geographical characteristics’ impact and HIT adoption of hospitals was positively associated with large bed-size (clinical IT: β = 0.256,

P
<
0.001

; administrative IT: β = 0.3654,

P
<
0.001

; strategic IT: β = 0.0006,

P
<
0.001

), for-profit (strategic IT: β = 0.1995,

P
<
0.01

), teaching (clinical IT: β = 0.2560,

P
<
0.05

; administrative IT: β = 0.1985,

P
<
0.05

; strategic IT: β = 0.2236,

P
<
0.01

), and urban location (clinical IT: β = 0.2840,

P
<
0.001

, administrative IT: β = 0.2256,

P
<
0.01

; strategic IT: β = 0.2256,

P
<
0.001

). Conclusion. Our study found that the HIT adoption rate in Mongolia is poor, and its adoption is mainly positively associated with bed-size capacity, status, and location of the hospitals. Also, we found that the ownership type is partially affected HIT adoption.
Experimental Study on the Influence Mechanism of the Structural Plane to Rockbursts in Deeply Buried Hard Rock Tunnels
Authors: Cheng Guangtan , Zhang Jian , Gao Qiang , Liu Chuanxiao
Published: May 2021

During the excavation of a large number of deeply buried tunnels and mining projects, rockburst disasters occur frequently due to the complex geologic environment in deep underground, including high initial geostress, adverse tectonic actions, and excavation disturbance. Many rockbursts have been found to be induced by some small‐scale structural planes in the area around the tunnels during the construction of Jinping II hydropower station. In order to study the influence mechanisms of the structural plane to rockbursts, the physical simulation tests of rockbursts under biaxial stress conditions are carried out using marble samples by considering different relative positions of the structural plane with tunnels, namely, in tunnel spandrel, in tunnel sidewall, and at the intersection with the tunnel. The digital image correlation (DIC) technique is used to trace the evolution of the deformation on the surface and the rockburst process of the marble sample. The results reveal that three types of rockbursts are identified, namely, fault‐slip rockburst, split bulking rockburst, and shear rupture rockburst, and their evolution processes are reproduced. The presence of small‐scale structural planes in the vicinity of deep tunnels could be one of the major influence factors in triggering rockbursts. The findings could provide helpful references for predicting the development process and the design of burst‐resistant measures for this type of rockbursts.
Severe Hyperphosphatemia in a Patient with Mild Acute Kidney Injury
Authors: Pham Phuong Chi , Konanur Ventakaram Raghu , Pham Jimmy , Sidhu Harpreet , Bader Nada , Pham Phuong Mai , Pham Phuong Thu
Published: May 2021

Hyperphosphatemia may arise from various conditions including exogenous ingestion, extracellular shifts due to cell death or alterations in acid-base status, increased bone resorption, hormonal dysregulations leading to reduced renal excretion, reduced kidney function, or faulty measurement techniques. We herein present a case of a young pregnant woman who presented with mild acute kidney injury (AKI), invasive mucormycosis receiving liposomal amphotericin, and hyperphosphatemia out of proportion to the degree of kidney injury. While the patient was given routine phosphate-binding agent by her primary care team for presumed AKI-associated hyperphosphatemia, a full investigation by the renal consulting team for contributing factors other than kidney injury revealed that she actually had pseudohyperphosphatemia associated with the use of liposomal amphotericin. Erroneous treatment of pseudohyperphosphatemia may have been detrimental to this pregnant patient. A literature review for conditions associated with pseudohyperphosphatemia other than the use of liposomal amphotericin will be discussed.
Composite Learning Prescribed Performance Control of Nonlinear Systems
Authors: Zhu Fang , Xiang Wei , Yang Chunzhi
Published: May 2021

This paper investigates a composite learning prescribed performance control (PPC) scheme for uncertain strict‐feedback system. Firstly, a prescribed performance boundary (PPB) condition is developed for the tracking error, and the original system is transformed into an equivalent one by using a transformation function. In order to ensure that the tracking error satisfies the PPB, a sufficient condition is given. Then, a control scheme of PPC combined with neural network (NN) and backstepping technique is proposed. However, the unknown functions cannot be guaranteed to estimate accurately by this method. To solve this problem, predictive errors are defined by applying online recorded date and instantaneous date. Furthermore, novel composite learning laws are proposed to update NN weights based on a partial persistent excitation (PE) condition. Subsequently, the stability of the closed‐loop system is guaranteed and all signals are kept bounded by using composite learning PPC method. Finally, simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Validation of the Parkinson’s Disease Caregiver Burden Questionnaire in Progressive Supranuclear Palsy
Authors: Klietz Martin , Eichel Hannah V. , Staege Selma , Kutschenko Anna , Respondek Gesine , Huber Meret K. , Greten Stephan , Höglinger Günter U. , Wegner Florian
Published: May 2021

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is an atypical Parkinson syndrome with axial akinetic-rigid symptoms, early postural instability, and ocular motor impairments. Patients experience a rapid loss of autonomy and care dependency; thus, caregivers must assist in the activities of daily living early in the course of the disease. Caregiver burden is an extremely important factor in disease management. However, there are no specific questionnaires for assessment of caregiver burden in PSP. This study aims to validate the Parkinson’s disease caregiver burden questionnaire (PDCB) as a specific measure of caregiver burden in PSP. PSP patients were assessed by the PSP rating scale, PSP quality-of-life questionnaire (PSP-QoL), Montreal cognitive assessment test (MoCA), and geriatric depression scale (GDS-15). Caregivers filled out the short form 36-health survey, GDS-15, PDCB, and the caregiver burden inventory (CBI). 22 patient caregiver pairs completed the study. PDCB showed a highly significant correlation with the CBI (r 0.911;

p
<
0.001

). Internal reliability of the PDCB measured by Cronbach’s alpha was favourable at 0.803. These data support the specificity of the PDCB in PSP caregivers. Future studies with larger sample sizes of PSP patients and caregivers and a multicentric longitudinal design should be performed to gain further insight of caregiver burden in PSP.
Products of Composition and Differentiation between the Fractional Cauchy Spaces and the Bloch-Type Spaces
Authors: Hibschweiler R. A.
Published: May 2021

The operators

D

C

Φ

and

C

Φ

D

are defined by

D

C

Φ

f

=

f
∘
Φ

′

and

C

Φ

D

f

=

f

′

∘
Φ

where

Φ

is an analytic self-map of the unit disc and

f

is analytic in the disc. A characterization is provided for boundedness and compactness of the products of composition and differentiation from the spaces of fractional Cauchy transforms

F

α

to the Bloch-type spaces

B

β

, where

α
>
0

and

β
>
0

. In the case

β
<
2

, the operator

D

C

Φ

:

F

α

⟶

B

β

is compact

⇔
D

C

Φ

:

F

α

⟶

B

β

is bounded

⇔

Φ

′

∈

B

β

,
Φ

Φ

′

∈

B

β

and

Φ

∞

<
1

. For

β
<
1

,

C

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Genetically Predicted Circulating C-Reactive Protein Concentration and Colorectal Cancer Survival: A Mendelian Randomization Consortium Study
Authors: Hua Xinwei , Dai James Y. , Lindström Sara , Harrison Tabitha A. , Lin Yi , Alberts Steven R. , Alwers Elizabeth , Berndt Sonja I. , Brenner Hermann , Buchanan Daniel D. , Campbell Peter T. , Casey Graham , Chang-Claude Jenny , Gallinger Steven , Giles Graham G. , Goldberg Richard M. , Gunter Marc J. , Hoffmeister Michael , Jenkins Mark A. , Joshi Amit D. , Ma Wenjie , Milne Roger L. , Murphy Neil , Pai Rish K. , Sakoda Lori C. , Schoen Robert E. , Shi Qian , Slattery Martha L. , Song Mingyang , White Emily , Marchand Loic Le , Chan Andrew T. , Peters Ulrike , Newcomb Polly A.
Published: May 2021

Background:

A positive association between circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) and colorectal cancer survival was reported in observational studies, which are susceptible to unmeasured confounding and reverse causality. We used a Mendelian randomization approach to evaluate the association between genetically predicted CRP concentrations and colorectal cancer–specific survival.

Methods:

We used individual-level data for 16,918 eligible colorectal cancer cases of European ancestry from 15 studies within the International Survival Analysis of Colorectal Cancer Consortium. We calculated a genetic-risk score based on 52 CRP-associated genetic variants identified from genome-wide association studies. Because of the non-collapsibility of hazard ratios from Cox proportional hazards models, we used the additive hazards model to calculate hazard differences (HD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between genetically predicted CRP concentrations and colorectal cancer–specific survival, overall and by stage at diagnosis and tumor location. Analyses were adjusted for age at diagnosis, sex, body mass index, genotyping platform, study, and principal components.

Results:

Of the 5,395 (32%) deaths accrued over up to 10 years of follow-up, 3,808 (23%) were due to colorectal cancer. Genetically predicted CRP concentration was not associated with colorectal cancer–specific survival (HD, −1.15; 95% CI, −2.76 to 0.47 per 100,000 person-years; P = 0.16). Similarly, no associations were observed in subgroup analyses by stage at diagnosis or tumor location.

Conclusions:

Despite adequate power to detect moderate associations, our results did not support a causal effect of circulating CRP concentrations on colorectal cancer–specific survival.

Impact:

Future research evaluating genetically determined levels of other circulating inflammatory biomarkers (i.e., IL6) with colorectal cancer survival outcomes is needed.
Combined Inhibition of Rad51 and Wee1 Enhances Cell Killing in HNSCC Through Induction of Apoptosis Associated With Excessive DNA Damage and Replication Stress
Authors: Lindemann Antje , Patel Ameeta A. , Tang Lin , Tanaka Noriaki , Gleber-Netto Frederico O. , Bartels Mason D. , Wang Li , McGrail Daniel J. , Lin Shiaw-Yih , Frank Steven J. , Frederick Mitchell J. , Myers Jeffrey N. , Osman Abdullah A.
Published: May 2021

Despite advances in surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, there are limited treatment options for advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and survival remains very poor. Therefore, effective therapies are desperately needed. Recently, selective exploitation of DNA damage and replication stress responses has become a novel approach for cancer treatment. Wee1 kinase and Rad51 recombinase are two proteins involved in regulating replication stress and homologous recombination repair in cancer cells. In this study, we investigated the combined effect of Rad51 inhibitor (B02) and Wee1 inhibitor (AZD1775) in vitro and in vivo in various HNSCC cell lines. Clonogenic survival assays demonstrated that B02 synergized with AZD1775 in vitro in all HNSCC cell lines tested. The synergy between these drugs was associated with forced CDK1 activation and reduced Chk1 phosphorylation leading to induction of excessive DNA damage and replication stress, culminating in aberrant mitosis and apoptosis. Our results showed that elevated Rad51 mRNA expression correlated with worse survival in HNSCC patients with HPV-positive tumors. The combination of B02 and AZD1775 significantly inhibited tumor growth in vivo in mice bearing HPV-positive HNSCC tumors as compared to HPV-negative HNSCC. This differential sensitivity appears to be linked to HPV-positive tumors having more in vivo endogenous replication stress owing to transformation by E6 and E7 oncogenes. Furthermore, addition of B02 radiosensitized the HPV-negative HNSCC tumors in vitro and in vivo. In conclusion, our data implicate that a novel rational combination with Rad51 and Wee1 inhibitors holds promise as synthetic lethal therapy, particularly in high-risk HPV-positive HNSCC.
Discovery of Candidate DNA Methylation Cancer Driver Genes
Authors: Pan Heng , Renaud Loïc , Chaligne Ronan , Bloehdorn Johannes , Tausch Eugen , Mertens Daniel , Fink Anna Maria , Fischer Kirsten , Zhang Chao , Betel Doron , Gnirke Andreas , Imielinski Marcin , Moreaux Jérôme , Hallek Michael , Meissner Alexander , Stilgenbauer Stephan , Wu Catherine J. , Elemento Olivier , Landau Dan A.
Published: May 2021

Epigenetic alterations, such as promoter hypermethylation, may drive cancer through tumor suppressor gene inactivation. However, we have limited ability to differentiate driver DNA methylation (DNAme) changes from passenger events. We developed DNAme driver inference–MethSig–accounting for the varying stochastic hypermethylation rate across the genome and between samples. We applied MethSig to bisulfite sequencing data of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), multiple myeloma, ductal carcinoma in situ, glioblastoma, and to methylation array data across 18 tumor types in TCGA. MethSig resulted in well-calibrated quantile–quantile plots and reproducible inference of likely DNAme drivers with increased sensitivity/specificity compared with benchmarked methods. CRISPR/Cas9 knockout of selected candidate CLL DNAme drivers provided a fitness advantage with and without therapeutic intervention. Notably, DNAme driver risk score was closely associated with adverse outcome in independent CLL cohorts. Collectively, MethSig represents a novel inference framework for DNAme driver discovery to chart the role of aberrant DNAme in cancer.

Significance:

MethSig provides a novel statistical framework for the analysis of DNA methylation changes in cancer, to specifically identify candidate DNA methylation driver genes of cancer progression and relapse, empowering the discovery of epigenetic mechanisms that enhance cancer cell fitness.

This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 2113
Metronidazole-Induced Irreversible Optic Neuropathy
Authors: Peng Pai-Huei , Wu Tzu-En , Lin Ting-Yu
Published: May 2021

Metronidazole-induced optic neuropathy is a rare complication. Most patients have excellent visual recovery. In this study, we report a patient who presented with a sudden onset of severe visual loss after a 1-week course of metronidazole. Myelitis developed simultaneously. The vision and the accompanying neurological deficiency of the patient did not improve even after metronidazole was discontinued immediately and various treatments were given.
Survival Outcomes of Hemoperfusion and Hemodialysis versus Hemodialysis in Patients with End-Stage Renal Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Authors: Cheng Wendi , Luo Yashuang , Wang Haiyin , Qin Xiaoxiao , Liu Xin , Fu Yuyan , Ronco Claudio
Published: May 2021

Background: The maintenance treatment of ESRD puts a great burden on individual patients, society, and the country of China as a whole. Hemoperfusion plus hemodialysis (HP + HD) in ESRD patients can yield modified outcomes such as prolonged life expectancy and improved dialysis quality and quality of life. This study aimed to systematically analyze the effect of HP + HD on the overall survival (OS) rates of ESRD patients and to provide support for clinical decision-making. Methods: A computerized search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data and SinoMed databases for relevant original research articles. Studies were included or excluded based on their compliance with predefined selection criteria. Results: Twelve studies were included in the qualitative synthesis and quantitative synthesis (meta-analysis). The meta-analysis showed that the 1-year OS rate (odds ratio [OR]: 3.35, 95% CI: 1.89, 5.91, p < 0.05), 2-year OS rate (OR: 2.88, 95% CI: 1.84, 4.53, p < 0.05), and 5-year OS rate (χ2 = 4.3092, p < 0.05) of patients with ESRD treated with HP + HD were better than those treated with HD, but there was no significant difference in 3-year OS rate (OR: 1.97, 95% CI: 0.76, 5.06, p > 0.05). Subgroup analysis showed the same outcomes in different study designs (1-year OS rate: randomized controlled trials [RCTs]: OR: 4.38, 95% CI: 1.61, 11.88, p < 0.05; cohort studies: OR: 2.90, 95% CI: 1.44, 5.85, p < 0.05; 2-year OS rate: RCTs: OR: 2.99, 95% CI: 1.84, 4.84, p < 0.05) and different age-groups (1-year OS rate: 45–50 years: OR: 3.19, 95% CI: 1.55, 6.57, p < 0.05; 55–60 years: OR: 3.37, 95% CI: 1.07, 10.61, p < 0.05; 2-year OS rate: 50–55 years: OR: 2.86, 95% CI: 1.59, 5.16, p < 0.05: 60–65 years: OR: 4.41, 95% CI: 1.19, 16.30, p < 0.05). Conclusions: This meta-analysis suggests that the OS rates of ESRD patients treated with HP + HD were better than those of patients treated with HD. A speculative hypothesis for why this is the case may be that HP + HD can achieve the complementary elimination of metabolites, effectively preventing and treating complications caused by long-term dialysis and prolonging life expectancy. Therefore, HP + HD should be widely used in ESRD patients.
Case of Macular Hole Secondary to Ocular Toxoplasmosis Treated Successfully by Vitrectomy with Inverted Internal Limiting Membrane Flap
Authors: Ikeda Mizuki , Baba Takayuki , Aikawa Yuri , Yotsukura Jiro , Yokouchi Hirotaka , Yamamoto Shuichi
Published: May 2021

We report a case of ocular toxoplasmosis that developed a full-thickness macular hole (FTMH) which was successfully treated by pars plana vitrectomy combined with an inverted internal limiting membrane (ILM) flap. A 49-years-old Japanese man was aware of blurred vision in his right eye. Slit-lamp biomicroscopy, ophthalmoscopy, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) of the right eye showed that there was a grayish-white subretinal lesion at the macula accompanied by retinal exudation and mild vitreous flare and iritis. An increase in the level of serum IgM for toxoplasma led to a diagnosis of ocular toxoplasmosis. He developed a FTMH adjacent to the lesion 2 weeks after administering sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim, and his decimal visual acuity was 0.15. Because the FTMH remained 3 months after the resolution of inflammation and his metamorphopsia persisted, vitrectomy with an inverted ILM flap was performed. After the surgery, the visual acuity improved to 0.2 with the closure of the FTMH confirmed by OCT. A FTMH in an eye with ocular toxoplasmosis was successfully closed by vitrectomy with an inverted ILM flap.
Conjunctival Epithelial Inclusion Cyst following Evisceration with Primary Orbital Implantation
Authors: Lee Patricia Ann L. , Kono Shinjiro , Kakizaki Hirohiko , Takahashi Yasuhiro
Published: May 2021

A 29-years-old Turkish man who had undergone evisceration with primary orbital implantation 20 months prior complained of difficulty wearing his artificial eye. Slit-lamp examination revealed a conjunctival cyst in the center of the anophthalmic socket, with no evidence of scleral or orbital implant exposure. The cyst was completely excised under general anesthesia and did not require use of any sclerosing substance or dye. At 6 months postoperatively, there was no recurrence of the cyst or exposure of the sclera or orbital implant. As the upper and lower fornices were sufficiently deep, the patient could wear his artificial eye.