bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Hybrid and Context-Aware Framework for Normal and Abnormal Human Behavior Recognition
Authors: Mojarad Roghayeh , Chibani Abdelghani , Attal Ferhat , Khodabandelou Ghazaleh , Amirat Yacine
Published: May 2023

Human behavior recognition is one of the significant components of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) systems and personal assistive robots allowing to improve the quality of their lives in terms of safety, autonomy, and well-being. A critical aspect of preventing dangerous situations for users, especially elderlies, is to recognize abnormal human behavior. In spite of the extensive exploration of abnormality recognition in various fields, there remain some challenges in developing effective approaches for recognizing abnormal human behaviors in AAL systems due to the limitations of data-driven and knowledge-driven approaches. In this paper, a context-aware framework combining data-driven and knowledge-driven approaches is proposed to better characterize human behaviors and recognize abnormal behaviors using commonsense reasoning while considering human behavior context. The proposed framework comprises five main modules, which leverage Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models and Probabilistic Answer Set Programming (PASP)-based commonsense reasoning to recognize human activities and represent abnormal human behaviors, as well as reason about those behaviors. The proposed framework is evaluated using two datasets, namely Orange4Home and UCI HAR. The obtained results indicate the capability of the proposed framework to characterize human behaviors and recognize abnormal human behaviors with high performance.
Tracing the Iceland plume and North East Atlantic breakup in the lithosphere
Authors: Dacal Maria Laura Gomez , Scheck-Wenderoth Magdalena , Faleide Jan Inge , Abdelmalak Mohamed Mansour , Bott Judith , Anikiev Denis
Published: May 2023

Plumes are domains where hotter material rises through Earth´s mantle, heating also the moving lithospheric plates and causing thinning or even continental breakup. In particular, the Iceland plume in the NE Atlantic (NEA) could have been instrumental in facilitating the breakup between Europe and Laurentia in the earliest Eocene, 55 Ma. This hypothesis relies on different observations that have not yet been integrated into a quantitative description of the present-day geophysical configuration. Here we show an open access three-dimensional model of the entire NEA crust and upper mantle including the conjugate continental margins of Greenland and Norway, as well as the sheared margins of the northernmost NEA. The model is consistent with available seismic, seismological and gravity data. We propose that high-density/high-velocity anomalies in the crust represent the preserved modifications of the lithosphere in consequence of the plate’s journey over the hot mantle plume. Besides, low-density/low-velocity anomalies in the uppermost mantle would represent the present-day effect of the mantle plume and its interaction with the mid-ocean ridges. Overall, the model indicates that the presence of the plume together with the pre-existing crustal configuration controlled the timing, mechanisms and localization of the NEA breakup.
Using the Canadian egg ladder in children with food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome: a case series
Authors: Ye Linlei , Wong Tiffany , Lavine Elana , Cook Victoria Elizabeth , Erdle Stephanie C.
Published: May 2023

Background
Current management of food protein-induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES) involves strict avoidance of the offending food for 12 – 18 months, followed by oral food challenge (OFC) under physician supervision. OFCs are resource-intensive and there is a lack of a universal standardized protocol for FPIES. Prolonged avoidance may increase the risk of IgE-mediated allergy, particularly in atopic patients. Food ladders have shown success in promoting accelerated tolerance in patients with IgE-mediated allergy. Our case series evaluated the safety of use of the Canadian Egg Ladder in patients with mild-to-moderate FPIES to egg.
Methods
From May 2020 to November 2021, patients with mild-to-moderate FPIES to egg, defined as no history of lethargy or intravenous fluid administration, were started on the Canadian Egg Ladder. Instructions for advancing up the ladder were identical to using the Canadian Egg Ladder in patients with IgE-mediated allergy. Patients were followed every 3 – 6 months, at which time information was collected regarding progression up the ladder, symptoms while on treatment and interventions required. Treating allergists completed a survey to capture baseline demographic characteristics and prior tolerance to egg. Descriptive statistics were analyzed using MS Excel.
Results
Twenty-one patients with mild-to-moderate FPIES were started on the Canadian Egg Ladder. Median age at initiation of the ladder was 10 months (IQR, 9 – 11). Nineteen (90.5%) patients completed the ladder, tolerating a serving size amount of cooked egg, over a median duration of 7 month (IQR, 4-9 months). Four patients (19.0%) had mild symptoms including vomiting (9.5%), pallor (9.5%), belching (4.8%), irritability (4.8%) and small spit up (4.8%). In three of the four patients, symptoms were the result of accidental exposure to a higher step of the ladder. There were no reports of lethargy. No patients required health care presentation or intravenous fluid administration. No patients discontinued the ladder.
Conclusions
The Canadian Egg Ladder can safely guide the dietary advancement of egg-containing foods in patients with mild-to-moderate FPIES to egg, without the need for prolonged avoidance and resource-intensive OFCs.
Nonlinear dynamic behaviour and severity of lightly loaded gear rattle under different vibro-impact models and internal excitations
Authors: Zhou Yi , Shi Xiao-hui , Guo Dong , Dazer Martin , Bertsche Bernd , Mei Zi-yuan
Published: May 2023

This investigation comprehensively compared the elastic contact and the modified stiff impact models, aiming for the lightly loaded backlash-induced gear rattle. Three meshing force models in backlash are incorporated into the elastic model independently. Unlike the previous uncoupled stiff impact model, the modified impact model considers the coupling between the pinion and gearwheel. Three scenarios were investigated with different components of two internal excitations, static transmission error (STE) induced periodical backlash and the time-varying meshing stiffness (TVMS). The analytical results show that the free and forced gear motion, nonlinear characteristics and rattle severity are strongly affected by STE rather than TVMS. Two studied hydrodynamic lubricant (HDL) models show different damping effects. The forced gear motion state and rattle sensitivities show a noticeable difference below 40rad/s2 and turn to a slight variation above 60rad/s2. Finally, the HDL model containing only the oil squeeze effect will likely match the experimental results. The experimentally detected STE component of the gearwheel suggests that an acceptable model should be considered in the gear rattle model.
A Novel Approach for Classifying Battery and Pseudocapacitor Materials Using Capacitive Tendency and Supervised Machine Learning
Authors: Deebansok Siraprapha , Deng Jie , Calvez Etienne Le , ZHU Yachao , Crosnier Olivier , Brousse Thierry , Fontaine Olivier
Published: May 2023

In recent decades, there have been more than 100,000 scientific articles dedicated to developing electrode materials for supercapacitors and batteries. A heated debate nonetheless persists surrounding the standards for determining electrochemical behavior involving faradaic reactions, since the electrochemical signals produced by the various electrode materials and their different physicochemical properties often complicate matters. The difficulty lies in determining which group these materials fall into through simple binary classification as there can be an overlap between battery and pseudocapacitor signals and because both materials are faradaic in origin. To solve this conundrum, we applied supervised machine-learning toward a statistical analysis of electrochemical signals, and consequently developed a new standard which we called capacitive tendency. This predictor not only surpasses the limitations of human-based classification but also provides statistical tendencies regarding electrochemical behavior. Notably, and of particular importance to the electrochemical energy storage community publishing over a hundred articles weekly, we have created an online tool for easy classification of their data.
Synthesis of castor oil/PEG as textile softener
Authors: Fahmy Hesham , Amr Ahmed
Published: May 2023

New CAO/PEG hybrids were synthesized by reacting castor oil (CAO) with different polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecular weights, 300, 600, 1000, 2000 and 4000 Da, in presence of ammonium persufate (APS) as an initiator. The optimum conditions to synthesis such hybrids are: PEG/CAO weight ratio, 35%; APS/PEG weight ratio, 15%; reaction temperature, 80 OC; and reaction time, 60 min. Only the hybrids based on PEGs of the molecular weight 1000 and 2000 Da form oil in water good emulsions. Such hybrids emulsions were applied as textile softeners with a concentration 40 g/L during easy care finishing of cotton fabric. The results obtained illustrated an enhancement in nitrogen content, wrinkle recovery angle, tensile strength, stiffness, and softness along with a reduction in wettability and whiteness index properties of treated fabric, compared to the untreated fabric. Increasing the PEG molecular weight gives rise to a reduction in extents of the nitrogen content, wrinkle recovery angle, wettability and softness along with an enhancement in tensile strength, whiteness index, and stiffness properties of treated fabric. The chemical structure of the synthesized CAO/PEG1000 hybrid was confirmed by the FTIR analysis whereas the TEM analysis showed that the particle size of that hybrid emulsion in the range of 27–56 nm. The CAO/PEG1000 hybrid emulsion treated fabric surface was characterized using SEM and EDX analysis.
Motivations and perceptions for physical activity in women living with metastatic breast cancer: a qualitative interview study
Authors: Liu Mark , Kilbreath Sharon , Yee Jasmine , Beith Jane , McNab Justin , Dylke Elizabeth
Published: May 2023

Background:
The beneficial role of physical activity for people living with cancer is well established. However, the importance of physical activity to women living with metastatic breast cancer is not known. As motivations and perceptions around physical activity influence behavioural uptake, a qualitative study was undertaken to explore the motivations and perceptions towards physical activity of this group.
Methods:
Women living with metastatic breast cancer were recruited through a metropolitan cancer centre to participate in semi-structured interviews about their physical activity. Open-ended questions explored health-specific factors, goals, barriers, enablers, and interests.Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed.
Results:
Twenty-three women participated; median age was 60 years (IQR: 20) and median time since metastatic diagnosis was 3.3 years (IQR: 3.0). Twelve women were engaged with physical activity, seven reported intentions to be active but found it challenging, and four reported nominal interest in physical activity. Four categories, covering nine themes, were identified: i) predispositions towards physical activity, incorporating themes on enjoyment and energy, and positivity and mental resilience; ii) health-related reasons behind physical activity, incorporating themes on motivation from physical and mental health benefits; iii) social influences behind physical activity, incorporating themes on enjoying exercise with others, role models and social support, and others’ perceptions of metastatic breast cancer; and iv) connections between physical activity and metastatic breast cancer, incorporating themes on the uncertainty of health, and reframing limiting perceptions.
Conclusions:
Participants described a wide-ranging spectrum of experiences and perceptions toward physical activity. Whilst most women perceived improved physical and mental well-being from being physically active, some women were not engaged in being physically active. Behaviour change strategies that target both their attitudes and those around them may address this gap.
Spatial association between environmental factors and melioidosis in Thailand
Authors: Onprasonk Suwattana , Laohasiriwong Wongsa , Puttanapong Nattapong
Published: May 2023

Background
Melioidosis is an infectious disease incurring health burden in Southeast Asia and northern Australia. It is an infectious disease that can be transmitted to both humans and animals whose contact with contaminated soil or water may expose them to the bacteria in an endemic area. This study examined the spatial association between environmental factors and melioidosis incidence in Thailand using the statistics of melioidosis registered in the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (Report 506), administered by the Ministry of Public Health. Data on satellite-based environmental factors, including normalized difference drought index (NDDI), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), daytime and night-time land surface temperature (LST), urban and built-up area, cropland and precipitation, were obtained from Google Earth Engine.
Methods
The study used secondary data on melioidosis registered in the National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System (Report 506) by the Department of Disease Control, Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, and the satellite-based environmental factors, from 2006 to 2020. All variables were aggregated at the provincial level to match the spatial resolution of melioidosis incidence. An analysis of bivariate Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) showed that all of the satellite-based environmental factors were statistically associated with melioidosis incidence at p-value < 0.05. In addition, the statistically significant clusters were mostly located in the Northeast region. Fixed- and random-effect regression models were also used for examining multivariable relationships.
Results
Both models showed similar results, indicating that all of the satellite-based environmental factors were statistically associated with melioidosis incidence at p-value < 0.001, except for precipitation in the fixed-effect model (p-value = 0.096). Particularly, the regression coefficients of NDVI, night-time LST, cropland and precipitation were positive, and those of NDDI, NDWI, daytime LST and urban and built-up area were negative.
Conclusion
All these results indicated that favourable climate condition and farming activity are associated with melioidosis incidence. Furthermore, the satellite data can alternatively provide timely information for future prevention policies.
Serum biomarkers to mild cognitive deficits in children and adolescents
Authors: Tuon Lisiane , Tramontin Natalia dos Santos , Custódio Isis , Comim Vitor Hugo , Costa Barbara , Tietbohl Lariani Tamires Witt , Muller Alexandre Pastoris
Published: May 2023

Introduction: Intellectual Disability (ID) is a condition characterized by significant limitations in both cognitive development and adaptive behavior. The diagnosis is made through clinical assessment, standardized tests, and intelligence quotient (IQ). Genetic, inflammation, oxidative stress, and diet, have been suggested to contribute to ID, and biomarkers could potentially aid in diagnosis and treatment.
Methods: Study included children and adolescents aged 6-16 years. The ID group (n=16), and the control group (n=18) underwent the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-IV) test, and blood samples were collected. Correlations between biomarker levels and WISC-IV test scores were analyzed.
Results: The ID group had an IQ score below 75, and the values of four domains (IQ, IOP, IMO, and IVP) were lower compared to the control group. Serum levels of FKN, NGF-β, and Vitamin B12 were decreased in the ID group, while DCFH and nitrite levels were increased. Positive correlations were found between FKN and the QIT and IOP domains, NGF and the QIT and IMO domains, and Vitamin B12 and the ICV domain. TNF-α showed a negative correlation with the ICV domain.
Discussion: Our study identified FKN, NGF-β, and Vitamin B12 as potential biomarkers specific to ID, which could aid in the diagnosis and treatment of ID. TNF-α and oxidative stress biomarkers suggest that ID has a complex etiology, and further research is needed to better understand this condition and develop effective treatments. Future studies could explore the potential implications of these biomarkers and develop targeted interventions based on their findings.
Visual Servoing on a deformable object with pre-planned trajectory-based geometric primitives
Authors: Derrar Yasser , Saidi Farah , Malti Abed
Published: May 2023

This paper presents a novel approach to rigidly align a prespective camera to the deformation of a non-rigid object. We assume having a reference pre-planned camera trajectory viewing a non-rigid object. Our goal is to align this trajec-tory at the execution time given a prior only on the most relevant landmarks. Our method does not assume any parametric or non-parametric prior model on the physics of deformation. The proposed method is formalized as a tracking problem embedded in an optimal visual control framework. The tracking problem encodes visual servoing of geometric features from the deformable object between pre-planned and execution time. The optimal visual control framework is formalized with a weighted least-square criterion that minimizes the distance between the images of the reference features and the features at runtime. The weights are time-dependent smooth functions that encode the relevance of the visible object’s features. We experimentally prove that our method can adapt to multiple pre-planned trajectories and multiple types of deformations (both linear and nonlinear) without any prior knowledge on them. Robustness to noise in the detection of image features is also experimentally demonstrated.
Using Sequences of Life-events to Predict Human Lives
Authors: Savcisens Germans , Eliassi-Rad Tina , Hansen Lars Kai , Mortensen Laust , Lilleholt Lau , Rogers Anna , Zettler Ingo , Lehmann Sune
Published: May 2023

Over the past decade, machine learning has revolutionized computers' ability to analyze text through flexible computational models. Due to their structural similarity to written language, transformer-based architectures have also shown promise as tools to make sense of a range of multi-variate sequences from protein-structures, music, electronic health records to weather-forecasts. We can also represent human lives in a way that shares this structural similarity to language. From one perspective, lives are simply sequences of events: People are born, visit the pediatrician, start school, move to a new location, get married, and so on. Here, we exploit this similarity to adapt innovations from natural language processing to examine the evolution and predictability of human lives based on detailed event sequences. We do this by drawing on arguably the most comprehensive registry data in existence, available for an entire nation of more than six million individuals across decades. Our data include information about life-events related to health, education, occupation, income, address, and working hours, recorded with day-to-day resolution. We create embeddings of life-events in a single vector space showing that this embedding space is robust and highly structured. Our models allow us to predict diverse outcomes ranging from early mortality to personality nuances, outperforming state-of-the-art models by a wide margin. Using methods for interpreting deep learning models, we probe the algorithm to understand the factors that enable our predictions. Our framework allows researchers to identify new potential mechanisms that impact life outcomes and associated possibilities for personalized interventions.
EnMSP: An Elastic-net Multi-step Screening Procedure for High-dimensional Regression
Authors: Xue Yushan
Published: May 2023

To improve the estimation efficiency of high-dimensional regression problems, penalized regularization is routinely used. However, accurately estimating the model is still challenging when there are correlated effects that irrelevant variables are strongly correlated with relevant variables. In this paper, we propose the Elastic-net Multi-step Screening Procedure (EnMSP), an iterative algorithm designed to recover sparse linear models in correlated data. EnMSP uses a small repeated penalty strategy to identify truly relevant covariates in a few iterations. Specifically, in each iteration, EnMSP enhances the adaptive lasso method by adding a weighted l2 penalty, which improves the selection of relevant variables. The method is shown to select the true model and achieve the l2-norm error bound under certain conditions. Numerical comparisons and applications demonstrate the effectiveness of EnMSP
Improved online DMP spatial generalization and incorporation of dynamic via-points
Authors: Sidiropoulos Antonis , Doulgeri Zoe
Published: May 2023

Dynamic Movement Primitives (DMP) have found remarkable applicability and success in various robotic tasks, which can be mainly attributed to their generalization, modulation and robustness properties. Nevertheless, the spatial generalization of DMP can be problematic in some cases, leading to excessive or unnatural spatial scaling. Moreover, incorporating intermediate points (via-points) to adjust the DMP trajectory, is not adequately addressed. In this work we propose an improved online spatial generalization, that remedies the shortcomings of the classical DMP generalization, and moreover allows the incorporation of dynamic via-points. This is achieved by designing an online adaptation scheme for the DMP weights which is proved to minimize the distance from the demonstrated acceleration profile to retain the shape of the demonstration, subject to dynamic via-point and initial/final state constraints. Extensive comparative simulations with the classical and other DMP variants are conducted, while experimental results validate the applicability and efficacy of the proposed method.
CLSAN:category-aware Long-and Short-termAttention Network for SequentialRecommendation
Authors: Sun Yanrui , Wang Jiahui
Published: May 2023

Sequence recommendation has become a hot research topic due to its practical applications and high precision in obtaining sequence information. However, existing methods often lack consideration for both the global stability and local volatility of user preferences, resulting in decreased learning of the user’s current preferences. Additionally, the accuracy of recommendations is affected by the high sparsity of user check-in data. To address these challenges, we propose a categoryaware user long- and short-term preference recommendation model, CLSAN. Firstly, item category information embedding is introduced in the embedding layer to capture the relevance of item information and effectively alleviate data sparsity. Secondly, to capture the time dependency and user preferences between sessions, the combination of item category embedding and learnable position embedding is fed into the multi-head self-attention module and long- and short-term feature attention layers. Then, the feature attention layer combines this information with user embedding information to generate the user’s final profile. Finally, the generated user preference information is fed into the prediction layer for the recommendation. We evaluate the proposed model on ten real datasets publicly available on Amazon, and the experimental results show that the CLSAN model performs significantly better than existing methods.
Electromagnetically induced transparency based on metal-graphene hybrid metamaterials
Authors: Wang Yichun , Tong Shengjun , Xiao Lihua , Yu Jiabin , Xiao Binggang
Published: May 2023

This paper introduces a novel metal-graphene composite metamaterial modulator that can produce a tunable EIT (Electromagnetically induced transparency) effect with good modulation effect under the action of an applied voltage. The material structure consists of bright mode coupling between a metal strip and a metal U-shaped ring. We investigated the nature of the field and indicated that the detuning of the dipole of the metallic ribbon structure and the quadrupole structure of the metallic U-ring induces an EIT-like reaction. The coupling effect of the metal resonant cavity was analyzed, this is, the coupling between the metal layer and the mono-graphene on the transparency window. By varying the voltage between the substrate silicon and the monolayer graphene surface in the structure, the modulator can achieve a maximum modulation depth of 83.4% and on the transparent window, the light will have a positive group delay of 8 ps, This wok can be applied to future 6G wireless communications et al.
Glucose trend prediction model based on improved Wavelet Transform and Gated Recurrent Unit
Authors: Yang Tao , wen chuanbiao , yang qicheng , zhou yibo
Published: May 2023

Glucose trend prediction based on continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data is a crucial step in the implementation of an artificial pancreas (AP). A glucose trend prediction model with high accuracy in real-time can greatly improve the glycemic control effect of the artificial pancreas and effectively prevent the occurrence of hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia. In this paper, we propose an improved wavelet transform threshold denoising algorithm for the non-linearity and non-smoothness of the original CGM data. By quantitatively comparing the mean square error (MSE) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) before and after the improvement, we prove that the improved wavelet transform threshold denoising algorithm can reduce the degree of distortion after the smoothing of CGM data and improve the extraction effect of CGM data features at the same time. Based on this, we propose a glucose trend prediction model (IWT-GRU) based on the improved wavelet transform threshold denoising algorithm and gated recurrent unit. We compared the RMSE, MAPE, and \({R}^{2}\) of RNN, LSTM, SVR, GRU, and IWT-GRU on the original CGM monitoring data of 80 patients for 7 consecutive days with different Prediction Horizon (PH). The results showed that the IWT-GRU model outperformed the other four models. At PH = 45 min, the RMSE was 0.5537 mmol/L, MAPE was 2.2147%, \({R}^{2}\) was 0.989, and the average runtime was only 37.2 seconds. Finally, we analyze the limitations of this study and provide an outlook on the future direction of blood glucose trend prediction.
Adding Nitazoxanide to standard triple therapy improves eradication rate of Helicobacter Pylori in post covid-19 antibiotic resistant era: a single center open-label randomized controlled trial
Authors: Hassan Amro M. , Abdel-Gawad Muhammad , Mahmoud Mai Mohamed , abdelrazzak Emad , Sawy Safwat Salama , Mohammed Mohammed Fakhry
Published: May 2023

H. pylori is one of the most prevalent antibiotic-resistant bacteria worldwide. Clarithromycin-based triple therapy had achieved suboptimal cure rate. To evaluate safety and efficacy of adding nitazoxanide as adjuvant therapy to the standard clarithromycin-based therapy versus other standard clarithromycin-based triple therapies, a single-center phase 4 prospective superiority parallel open-label randomized controlled trial was done. Two hundred patients were included in the study and were randomly distributed into 4 groups: Group 1: 50 patients were treated by clarithromycin 500mg bid, amoxicillin1gm bid, omeprazole 20 mg bid for 14 days, Group 2: 50 patients were treated by clarithromycin 500mg bid, metronidazole 500mg bid bid, omeprazole 20 mg bid for 14 days, group 3: 50 patients were treated by clarithromycin 500mg bid, nitazoxanide 500mg bid bid, omeprazole 20 mg bid for 14 days, and group 4: 50 patients were treated by clarithromycin 500mg bid, amoxicillin1gm bid, nitazoxanide 500mg bid bid, omeprazole 20 mg bid for 14 days. All patients were assessed after 4 week post treatment. Our trial showed that patients in group 4 had achieved the highest eradications rate: N=42, 84% in intention to treat analysis (ITT), and 89.36% in per protocol (PP) analysis, followed by group 1 which achieved eradication rate of 64% in ITT and 69.56% in PP, while in group 3 the eradication rate was 56% in ITT, and 56.25% in PP, and finally, group 2 achieved the least eradication rate 36% in ITT and 40.90% in PP, with significant difference between the studied groups (P 0.01). Furthermore, adding nitazoxanide to standard clarithromycin based triple therapy is effective than other used triple regimens and could be used as a first-line regimen for the eradication of H. pylori.
Direct Compression Properties of Co-Processed Excipient Containing Cow Bone Powder, Khaya Gum and Maize Starch
Authors:   Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, Yerima Yohanah Dauda , Isah Adamu Babah ,   Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, Oyi Avosuahi Rukayat ,   Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, Muhammad Musa Aliyu ,   Department of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria, Apeji Yonni Eshovo ,   Department of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria
Published: May 2023

The aim of this study was to evaluate the direct compression properties of a novel coprocessed excipient (CPE) generated by processing cow bone powder (CBP), maize starch (MS) and Khaya gum (KG) together to form a single composite excipient. Design of experiments (DoE) was employed to optimise the formulation of CPE. CPE was prepared by wet granulation using the optimised formulation of CBP (40%), MS (40%) and KG (20%) as recommended by DoE. Assessment of the organoleptic properties of CPE revealed an odourless, tasteless and coarse texture with a neutral pH of 7.3. CPE was found to be partly crystalline and partly amorphous and demonstrated compatibility between the three components of the formulation. The material in terms of flowability compared well with the flow parameters of StarLac, a reference co-processed excipient. Tablets of diclofenac produced by direct compression using CPE as the directly compressible excipient compared well with the hardness and disintegration time of tablets made using StarLac® as the directly compressible excipient. The study’s outcome shows that CPE can be used as a direct compression excipient in the formulation of tablets by direct compression.
Validation of cognitive models for subtraction of time involving years and centuries
Authors: CHIN Huan , CHEW Cheng Meng
Published: May 2023

Years and Centuries are the measurement units used to quantify a longer time duration, while subtraction is the operation required to determine the duration based on two given time points. However, subtraction of time is a difficult skill to be mastered by many elementary students. To identify the root cause of the student's failure in performing subtraction involving the unit of time, we developed and validated the three cognitive models related to this skill by conducting a descriptive study which involved 119 Grade Five students from three Malaysian elementary schools. The cognitive diagnostic assessment developed based on the three cognitive models was used to elicit the participants' responses. Then, Attribute Hierarchy Method and Classical Test Theory were employed to analyse the data. The findings indicated that the hierarchical structures of all cognitive models are supported by the student's responses. The three student-based cognitive models were also highly consistent with the corresponding expert-based cognitive models. The cognitive models developed could guide diagnostic assessment development and diagnostic inference making.
The effects of learning oriented assessment on academic writing
Authors: ER Haticetül Kübra , FARHADY Hossein
Published: May 2023

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of learning-oriented assessment (LOA) on the academic writing ability of EFL students (N:40) during a 12-week in the semester of 2019-2020 academic year in the context of a higher education. Within a pretest-posttest intact group design, the experimental group received instruction following the principles of LOA, and the comparison group received routine procedures for academic writing. This is a quantitative experimental design. The test of normality, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney Tests and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test were administered in order to see the significance of the intervention the data for this study included scores of a pretest, several assessments, and a posttest at the beginning, during, and at the end of instruction, respectively. The prompt for both pre and post-tests required participants to write argumentative essays. To rate the writing tasks, we followed the rubrics developed by the testing office of the institution. The findings revealed that the experimental group outscored the comparison group indicating the effectiveness of LOA procedures in student learning. Further, the findings indicated that implementing LOA could have significant implications and applications for EFL writing education.
Deceso fallido, voto perdido
Authors: Castrillón C. Andrés Alfredo
Published: May 2023

Un día de verano en medio de un insólito vendaval murió mi madre. Fue una extraña tarde de junio de torrencial lluvia y abrumadores rayos. “Tiene poca lividez, pero está muerta”, dijo el médico luego de auscultarla, tomarle el pulso, mirarle el reflejo pupilar a la velocidad de la luz y concluir: “Muerte súbita. Feneció de un ataque al corazón”.
Presentación
Authors: Ruiz Pulgarín Yulieth Estefanía
Published: May 2023

La crisis de las humanidades ocupa un lugar central en el debate intelectual contemporáneo. El porvenir de estas es incierto en un mundo en el que el aparato productivo deviene cada vez más totalizador e intenta permear todas las esferas humanas. Ni siquiera la cultura académica universitaria puede comprenderse al margen de este aparato, pues frecuentemente es condicionada por esquemas de valoración que se producen por fuera de la universidad y que están al servicio de intereses transnacionales (Santos Rego y Fernández-Ríos, 2016).
Risk management and performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria: A re-examination
Authors: Moses Ololade Babatunde , Oyesola Salawu Rafiu , Olufolayemi Olatunji Olaide
Published: May 2023

Risks inherent in banking businesses should be managed to prevent financial losses to the sector’s stakeholders and negative externalities to the global economy. To this end, this study examines the effect of risk management on the performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. A sample of eight (8) deposit money banks with international authorization are purposively selected out of 12 deposit money banks due to data availability. Panel data analysis techniques were adopted to analyze the secondary data that were obtained from the annual reports of banks. Findings based on the disaggregated model results reveal that both liquidity and capital risk variables exert a negative but insignificant effect on performance. However, credit risk drives performance of the internationally authorized banks positively and significantly. Furthermore, Management quality (MQ) is the only control variable that has a significant influence on the performance of the selected deposit money banks. The study concludes that credit risk and management quality significantly and positively drive performance among the financial entities.
Perkembangan Inovasi Fintech di Indonesia
Authors: Adji Yovie Bramantyo , Muhammad Wildan Abineri , Akrabi Abdurrachman Nurwira Lucky , Noerlina Noerlina
Published: May 2023

Fintech is a company that combines financial services and technology, the more technology develops, the more innovations or ideas there are about how to find solutions for financial services. This paper explains how the development of fintech innovations that already exist in Indonesia and also what are the advantages of fintech in Indonesia. Fintech in Indonesia has been running since 2006. Fintech in Indonesia is growing during the COVID-19 pandemic because Indonesians transact online. This makes fintech continue to grow in Indonesia with almost 800 fintech that already exists in Indonesia.
The Role of Celebrity Endorsement on Impulse Buying Behavior with Customer Loyalty as a Moderating in the E-Commerce Industry
Authors: Li Sin , Suhari Umaidi , Shidiqqi Muhammad  Fajar , Aras Muhammad , Mani La
Published: May 2023

Purpose: Numerous studies have been conducted on celebrities to notice their effect on marketing. Celebrity endorsement has become one of the most popular marketing strategies, and Tokopedia as one of the most popular e-commerce websites in Indonesia also using these strategies for increasing their brand awareness.  The purpose of this study is to explore other effects of celebrity endorsement on consumer behavior. This research aimed to define the impact of celebrities endorsement on consumer psychology, influencing impulsive buying behavior with consumer loyalty as a mediating variable. Research Methodology : This study applied quantitative survey with data was collected using an online questionnaire with sample characteristics were Tokopedia Customers and also a fan of the celebrity who lived in Indonesia by 442 samples using the purposive sampling method and data was conducted using the SmartPLS program. Result: This article indicated the findings that (1) celebrity endorsement had a positive impact on consumer loyalty, (2) a positive effect either directly or indirectly on impulsive buying behavior, and (3) consumer loyalty itself had a positive effect on impulsive buying behavior. Conclusions: This study proposes significant implications about how celebrity endorsement works and how it impacts customer behavior in the e-commerce Industry.
Social Media’s Negative Impact on Mental Health Subjugated by the Advantage on Young Adults
Authors: Hiustra Madeline Lydia , Angelica Aurelia Venus , Pangaribuan Christian Haposan
Published: May 2023

The present research aims to investigate whether presumed negative effects of social media use on mental health have been outweighed by positive factors that contribute influential advantages. Previous research has demonstrated that social media has only negative effects on a person by emphasizing that social media is a major contributor to poor mental health and thus this research examines the relationships between social media impact on learning new knowledge and increased productivity, learning new knowledge and increased productivity on task performance, and direct social media impact on task performance. Researchers used a quantitative approach, collecting questionnaire from 100 respondents that was distributed to young adults (18-26 age), who are currently located in Jakarta, Indonesia. Contrary to what has often been assumed, social media is linked with task performance outcomes. Correlation and data analysis concluded that social media were significantly related with positive associations. Adoption of social media that is used correctly is the main driving force of the beneficial outcomes, which will be explained by the hypotheses centered on direct relationship of social media impact and task performance. The future implications of this study will be discussed.
Polymorphisms of HSD17B13, GCKR, HFE, and CP as factors of the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and comorbid diseases
Authors: Smirnova O. V. , Lagutinskaya D. V.
Published: May 2023

Currently, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is one of the most common chronic liver diseases. In recent years, this condition has been considered as a hepatic manifestation of the metabolic syndrome, which is associated with overweight and impaired glucose and fat metabolism. Despite the obvious role of lifestyle in the development of this disease, it is increasingly being suggested that disorders in the metabolism of fats and carbohydrates have a genetic basis, which determines the tendency to develop NAFLD. Mutant polymorphisms of the HSD17B13, GCKR, HFE, and CP genes have been shown to affect the course of NAFLD, but these effects require further study. Therefore, the aim of this work was to analyze and systematize the available data from foreign articles over the past 10 years. In this study, 573 articles were analyzed, the most important 64 original research works were used here. Mutations in  the HSD17B13  gene are associated with a  milder course of  NAFLD, while GCKR gene polymorphisms, on the contrary, are associated with more severe histological manifestations of this disease, such as steatosis and fibrosis. The HFE and CP genes, although not directly related to macronutrient metabolism, nevertheless contribute to the development of more severe forms of NAFLD, which may be associated with the development of inflammation and oxidative stress caused by excessive accumulation of iron in hepatocytes.
Features of stomach and duodenum peptic ulcer in patients with mesenteric atherosclerosis
Authors: Saenko A. A. , Dolgushina A. I. , Fokin A. A. , Shamaeva T. N. , Genkel V. V. , Tarasov M. V.
Published: May 2023

Introduction. The high frequency of complicated forms of the stomach and duodenum peptic ulcer (PU) in patients with atherosclerosis requires the study of additional factors of ulcerogenesis in addition to infection withHelicobacter pylori(H. pylori) and the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Currently, there is no clear understanding of the role of mesenteric artery (MA) atherosclerosis in the development of gastroduodenal ulcers.The purpose of the study. To evaluate the contribution of MA atherosclerosis to the development of gastric and duodenal ulcer in patients with multifocal atherosclerosis.Material and methods. The study included 91 patients with atherosclerosis of two or more vascular beds in the period from 2019 to 2021. The examination included the determination of the gastrin-17, pepsinogen I, pepsinogen II and antibodies toH. pyloriIgG concentration in blood serum, as well as multispiral computed tomoangiography of the abdominal aortic branches and esophagogastroduodenoscopy with histological examination.Results. The patients were divided into two groups: group I – 36 (39.6%) patients with PU, group II – 55 (60.4%) patients without PU. A more frequent occurrence of hemodynamically significant stenosis of the MA and a higher percentage of the superior mesenteric artery (SMA) stenosis in group I were noted. A positive correlation was found between the severity of erosive and ulcerative lesions and the percentage of SMA stenosis, levels of pepsinogen I and pepsinogen II. The combination of PU and MA atherosclerosis is characterized by a lesser severity of abdominal pain syndrome (p = 0.049). Risk factors for PU were identified: MA atherosclerosis (OR 4.953; CI 1.571–15.608); more than 8 points on the HADS depression scale (OR 2.970; CI 1.062–8.320) and on the Audit questionnaire (OR 5.787; CI 1.348–24.837).Conclusions. Risk factors for PU in patients with multifocal atherosclerosis were identified: MA atherosclerosis, subclinical depression, and health-threatening alcohol consumption. PU in patients with multifocal atherosclerosis is characterized by asymptomatic course.
Indicators of the hemostasis system and markers of endothelial damage in patients with steatosis and liver fibrosis
Authors: Bulatova I. A. , Shevlyukova T. P. , Gulyaeva I. L. , Sobol A. A. , Paducheva S. V.
Published: May 2023

Introduction. According to the analysis of indicators of the hemostasis system in liver pathology, there are multidirectional data in the literature, which may be associated with the examination of patients with varying degrees of severity and etiology of the process. Aim. The aim of the study was to study the indicators of hemostasis and markers of endothelial damage in patients with non-alcoholic steatosis and liver fibrosis of viral etiology. Materials and methods. A total of 64 people were examined. The first group included 32 patients with non-alcoholic liver steatosis on the background of obesity of 1–2 degrees, with an average age of 46.3 ± 4.3 years (12 men and 20 women). The second group consisted of  22  patients with liver fibrosis on the  background of  chronic hepatitis C  (HCV) with an average age of 36.8 ± 4.7 years (12 men and 10 women). The control group included 10 practically healthy individuals with an average age of 38.9 ± 5.3 years without liver pathology. The number of platelets, platelet aggregation with ADP inducers, collagen and ristocetin, functional activity of Willebrand factor (vWF), coagulation hemostasis and fibrinolysis system, and serum concentration of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were determined. Statistical processing of the obtained data was carried out using the program “Stat2015”. Results. Induced platelet aggregation in  steatosis and liver fibrosis significantly decreased with ADP agonists and collagen against the background of a normal platelet count. In both study groups, signs of endothelial damage with a tendency to increase the functional activity of vWF and VEGF hyperproduction were found. An elongation of thrombin time was also recorded, more significantly in patients with steatosis. Conclusion. Patients with non-alcoholic liver steatosis and liver fibrosis on the background of HCV are characterized by disorders in  the vascular-platelet  (endothelial damage and thrombocytopathy in  the form of  platelet hypocoagulation) and coagulation (hypocoagulation) links of hemostasis.
Efficiency of glucocorticosteroids in severe alcoholic hepatitis
Authors: Rodina A. S. , Kurbatova I. V. , Shubina M. E. , Dudanova O. P.
Published: May 2023

Introduction. The feasibility and risks of glucocorticosteroids (GCS) in severe alcoholic hepatitis (SAH) are actively discussed, and there is a real need to develop new biomarkers both to determine indications for the GCS use and to evaluate their effectiveness. Аim. Тo evaluate the effectiveness of GCS in SAH using a marker of hepatocyte apoptosis and inflammatory cytokines along with traditional laboratory parameters. Materials and methods. Prednisolone at a dose of 40 mg per day was received by 68 patients with SAH. The effectiveness of therapy was assessed after 7 days by the Lille index, the level of cytokeratin-18 fragments (FCK-18) and cytokines – IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6 and IL-8. Results. A positive effect of GCS was noted in 50 (73.5%) patients, after 7 days the Lille index was 0.23 ± 0.09, the levels of FCK18, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α were significantly reduced, with subsequent decrease and improvement in hepatic functional parameters. These patients had a 100% short-term (within 28 days) survival rate. Eighteen (26.5%) patients had a negative result, the Lille index was 0.61 ± 0.11, there was no significant decrease in FCK-18 and cytokines. After GCS was discontinued, they developed liver failure, 1/3 developed bacterial infections, all patients died of multiple organ failure within 28 days. Conclusion. The short-term effect of GCS therapy in SAH patients was 73.5%. Along with the traditional Lille index, the following indicators demonstrated diagnostic significance: fragments of cytokeratin-18, cytokines IL-6, IL-8, and, to a lesser extent, TNF-α and IL-1β.