bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Agricultural Diversification and its Impact on Income and Employment of the Farmers: A Review
Authors: Devi Nisha , Sharma Komal
Published: September 2022

Commercial crop diversity is currently an important approach for increasing agricultural profitability and reducing the risk of crop failure. Diversification can also be used to aid in poverty reduction, employment planning and environmental conservation. Growing a variety of crops does not guarantee increased returns, though it may help to stabilise them. Diversification leads to profit maximisation by taking use of complementary relationships. Agricultural diversification has been stressed at the national level as a strategy for increasing income and creating employment. Many countries have tried crop diversification to increase productivity and cultivate high value crops in order to address the challenges of a globalising agricultural market as well as the expanding and changing requirements of the people, with favourable results. These countries are gradually diversifying their crop sectors in favour of high-value items including fruits, vegetables and spices. Here, we review this under three main sections: the impact of agricultural diversification on farm income, the impact of agricultural diversification on employment and the factors influencing the implementation of crop diversification.
Analysis of Genetic Parameters for Yield, Quality and Related Traits in Mungbean [Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek] Genotypes
Authors: Kumar Pandit Praveen , Lavnaya G. Roopa , Sanadya Sanjay Kumar , Dwivedi Aparajita , Supriya Kaldate
Published: September 2022

Background: The present investigation was effectuated to study mungbean germplasms with an objective to estimate the genetic variability parameterssuch as coefficient of variation, heritability andgenetic advance for yield and its contributing traits. Methods: The experimental material comprises of forty mungbean genotypes evaluated during Kharif-2017. An experimental study was conducted with emphasis on the selection of superior along with highly variable genotypes thatwere analyzed in Randomized Block Design (RBD) with three replications. Result: The results of the analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed thatthe genotypic variations were significant for all of the traits and magnitude of variation was found high for clusters per plant followed by harvest index and seed yield per plant. High heritability coupled with high genetic advance was recorded for clusters per plant (96.00%, 65.48%), seed yield per plant (96.00%, 45.78%), pods per plant (93.00%, 44.81%), harvest index (86.00%, 44.42%). Thus, the present findings could be beneficial to develop superior genotypes through selection in mungbean breeding program.
The Effects of Integrating Digital Storytelling to Students’ Motivation
Authors: Adara Reza Anggriyashati , Haqiyyah Aridhotul
Published: September 2022

Incorporating technology seems to have positive effects on improving students’ motivation on EFL (English as a Foreign Language) learning. One of strategies that can be used to improve students’ motivation in EFL classrooms is incorporating digital storytelling or an amalgamation of audio, text, animation and voice. Therefore, the present study aims to analyse the effects of digital storytelling to motivation of a group of Indonesian EFL learners. The present study applied a quasi-experiment design. The participants of present study are 19 college students whom are divided into experimental and control classes. In order to obtain the results, a set of questionnaires adapted from Deci & Ryan’ Self Determination Theory (2002) and Yoon’s (2013) toward digital storytelling motivation are distributed to the participants. Besides that, semi-structured interviews were conducted to two students to provide deeper insights toward the effects of digital storytelling on students’ motivation. In addition, English tests were given before and after the treatment. The results show that the experimental class shows slightly higher level of motivation than the control class. In addition, the respondents considered digital storytelling as beneficial for improving their English skills and creativity. Besides that, students in experimental class performed better in English test than ones in control class after treatment. Thus, it can be said that digital storytelling seems to have positive effects on students.
A Study of Student’s Perceptions towards Online Distance Learning during Lockdown Period of COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Aryanti Nurul - , Ardiansyah Welly
Published: September 2022

Ensuring the quality of online distance learning in institutions of higher education has been a growing concern during the Covid-19 pandemic. This research was conducted on students’ perceptions toward the quality of online distance learning and utilized qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate the perceptions of students. To collect the data, the researchers used a modified questionnaire. Survey analysis was carried out. A total of 570 students from two study programs, Public Sector Accounting and Business Administration at State Polytechnic of Sriwijaya, were asked to answer a questionnaire. The findings of this research revealed that majority of students considered the use of online distance learning in English teaching and learning is effective and efficient in terms of time. The online distance learning is the best choice to keep students away from the COVID-19 pandemic spread. The findings can be used by any lecturers to understand students’ perceptions regarding online distance learning, and ultimately improve their online distance learning instructional practices.
English Student Teachers’ Academic Writing Strategies: A Survey Study
Authors: Fajaryani Nunung , Abrar Mukhlash , Gilsih Riang Yulia , Arif Nelly
Published: September 2022

Student teachers need to have writing skills to support their academic activities and professional lives. Mastery of writing skills is interrelated to the use of academic writing strategies; metacognitive strategies, cognitive strategies and social strategies. The purpose of this study was to describe students' academic writing strategies, specifically in writing their thesis. This was a quantitative study with a survey design. The sample in this study involved 88 students. The instrument in this study was a questionnaire with a Likert scale. The results indicated that the most dominant strategy used by students was metacognitive. Furthermore, the results also showed that there were different strategies used by male students and female students. Male students preferred to use social strategies to cognitive strategies while female students like cognitive strategies rather than social strategies.
Teachers’ Strategies in Teaching Reading Comprehension through E-learning Platform during the Pandemic
Authors: Syahputra Adhe , Hidayat Marzul , Wulandari Bunga Ayu
Published: September 2022

This study was aimed to explore EFL teachers' strategies in teaching reading comprehension through an e-learning platform at one public senior high school in Jambi. This study employed a qualitative research design which was a case study. The study utilized two data collection techniques: observation and interview. Two teachers of English were involved in this study. All of the data were analyzed using four significant stages of analysis: coding, data reduction, data display and concluding. The frequency of observations was grounded on reading teaching material taught by participants. This study revealed that the teachers used three strategies to teach reading comprehension through virtual e-learning. The strategies were translating, SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review) and QARs (Question-Answer Relationships). The findings also revealed teachers' reasons for selecting those strategies. Generally, their reasons were (1) to help the students to comprehend the text and (2) to relate students' real-life experience and prior knowledge with the text. The time limitation of lesson hours caused by COVID 19 also affected teachers' decisions in selecting the strategies.
The Role of parents in Online Learning Assistance for Elementary School Students
Authors: Kusuma Wardani Azolla Afifah , Sayekti Ika Candra
Published: September 2022

This research was aimed to explore the role of parents in online learning assistance, identify problems parents encounter, and find a solution. The method used in this research was descriptive qualitative method and case study design. Data collection techniques were conducted by interview, observation, and documentation. The data validity of this research was a triangulation of sources and techniques. The research data analysis technique used interactive analysis; they were data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The location of this research was conducted at Public Elementary School of 01 Girilayu. The results of this study were: 1) most of the respondents' parents have carried out their roles as educators, mentors, motivators, and facilitators; 2) the problems faced by parents come from the parents themselves, students, and the environment; 3) most of the parents can overcome the existing problems, even though, a small number of parent respondents are indifferent to the existing problems. The implication could be concluded that the maximum role of parents in online learning assistance will make student learning at home fun and achieve the desired goals.
Carbon Footprint Analysis of Household Activities and CO2 Reduction Efforts in Pondambea Village, Kadia District, Kendari City
Authors: Indriyani Lies , Gandri La , Padang Jois Liling , Bana Sahindomi
Published: September 2022

The increase in population causes an effect on increasing CO2 production, especially from the household energy sector. The increase in the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is the main trigger for climate change and the effects of greenhouse gases. Indications of the occurrence of this phenomenon can be seen from the increase in air temperature and the formation of an urban heat island in Kendari City in the last 10 years. This study aims to determine the amount of CO₂ emissions from household activities and the absorption of CO2 gas from tree species in Pondambea Village, Kadia District, Kendari City. The method used is a quantitative technique to calculate primary and secondary CO2 emissions. The results show that the total CO2 emission in Pondambea Village is 424.22 tons/month. Meanwhile, the carbon absorption capacity of tree species in Pondambea Village is 421.15 tons/month, so that the remaining carbon emissions are 3.07 tons/month. Therefore, to maintain emission absorption and create zero emission in Pondambea Village, this study recommends maintaining the number of existing trees and adding at least 6 glodokan pole trees or at least 5 king palm trees
Linguistic expert study of the text: parameters of a speech act of abuse in Russian, Belarusian and British juridical discourse
Authors:   Vitebsk State University named after P.M. Masherov, Lavitski Anton A.
Published: September 2022

Evaluation and analysis of a speech act to the presence in its content a fact of abuse is one of the most common applications that linguistic expert studies solve (a subdiscipline of juridical linguistic — interdisciplinary dimension at the junction of language and law interests). Despite serious experience of this kind of special studies, many theoretical problems, as well as methodological issues are not fully resolved for juridical linguistics. In this article, we tried to highlight the qualitative criteria and quantitative indicators to qualify the statement in the implementation of an offense relating to an abuse of the personality, using the method of parameters. For the first time this approach in the linguistic expert studies has been proved in its entirety by M.A. Osadchy in Russia. However, as it was shown by the results of our study, the usage of this approach in other countries should be corrected in accordance with national legislation. Thus, in Russian criminal and administrative proceedings offensiveness of a speech act is set based on the criteria of attribution, non-normative and taboo. In Belarusian legal system the last parameter is replaced by parameters of facts. In the juridical discourse of the UK arrangement of an expert completion focuses on the evaluation of offensiveness and contextuality factors. The last one involves the study of the communication manners of the speaker, context, emotional intensity, an institutional component, and others.
Ideology-related translation problems
Authors:   Peoples Friendship University of Russia, Pugachev Ivan A. , Yarkina Ludmila P.
Published: September 2022

Ideology affects the work of the translator in different ways, namely, through its presence in the source text, which may be subtle and difficult to reproduce, through the bias of the translator due to his or her personal ideological stance, or through the discrepancy in the reception of the source and target texts when the corresponding audiences belong to opposite ideological camps. The paper examines ideology-related problems in translation. The framework includes the working definition of ideology, indications on how to identify problematic ideology-related elements in the text and how to distinguish ideological issues from cultural ones. It allows for a better understanding of ideology issues, identifies essential factors influencing translator's choices and could be used as a guidance in translation practice.
Semantic properties underlying category transformations
Authors:   Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Gogichev Chermen G.
Published: September 2022

The paper considers various types of features and categories based on their relation to the recategorization procedure. The semantic structure of such categories consists of identification basis as well as a- and b-properties where identification together with the characteristics of the a-type represent a R-neutral block, and b-properties belong to the R-active segment. The b-zone properties are connected to the cognitive coordinates in various modes, the main of which is the mode of potential realizability “may (be)…”. These are the features that underlie recategorization, they are designated as R-active. As cognitive regulators, both various categories and concepts can act, as well as bundles of a concept and a category. The essence of the recategorization process is transition of some properties of the initial category into the a-properties of the final category. During this process, some potential characteristics transform from the “may (be)…” mode in the reality mode.
A Comparative Investigation on Mechanical Properties of Tib2/Cr Multilayer Film by Indentation
Authors: Chen Simeng , Wu Zhengtao , Wang Qimin
Published: September 2022

Alternating TiB2-dcMS and Cr-HiPIMS layers are used to fabricate TiB2/Cr multilayer films. In-troducing a 5-nm-thick Cr interlayer deposited under a substrate bias of -60 V produces slight increases of both film hardness and elastic modulus. The TEM observation indicates that the Cr grains favor epitaxially growth on TiB2 interlayer, forming a coherent TiB2/Cr interface. This produces the hardness increasement. Mechanic measurement by using AFM illustrates that the coherent interface increases the elastic modulus of the Cr up to ~280 GPa, which is significantly higher than bulk material.
Globally Scalable Approach to Estimate Net Ecosystem Exchange Based on Remote Sensing, Meteorological Data, and Direct Measurements of Eddy Covariance Sites
Authors: Zhuravlev Ruslan , Dara Andrey , Santos Andre Luís Diniz dos , Demidov Oleg , Burba George
Published: September 2022

Despite a rapid rise in NBS development in recent years, the methods for evaluating NBS still have certain gaps. We propose an approach based on a combination of remote sensing data and meteorological variables to reconstruct the spatio-temporal variation of net ecosystem exchange from eddy-covariance stations. Lagrangian particle dispersion model was used for upscaling of satellite images and flux towers. We trained data-driven models based on kernel methods separately for each selected land cover class. The results suggest that the proposed approach to quantifying carbon exchange on a medium-to-large scale by blending eddy covariance flux data with moderate resolution satellite and weather data provides a set of key advantages over previously deployed methods: (1) scalability, achieved via the validation design based on a separate set of eddy covariance stations; (2) high spatial and temporal resolution due to use of the Landsat imagery; (3) robust and accurate predictions due to improved data quality control, advanced machine learning techniques, and rigorous validation. The machine learning models yielded high cross-validation results. Overall we present here globally scaled technology for the land sector based on high resolution remote sensing imagery, meteorological variables, and direct carbon flux measurements of eddy covariance flux stations.
Geometric Method: A Novel Fast and Accurate Solution for the Inverse Problem in Risley Prisms
Authors: Sandoval Juan Domingo , Delgado Keyla , Fariña David , De La Puente Fernando , Esper-Chain Roberto , Marrero Margarita
Published: September 2022

Today, mechanical tracking systems have been downsized to allow them to be used in the field of airborne laser communications and in the military domain. Risley systems are used for this purpose, which work by directing a beam of light to a given target point, this procedure is commonly known as the inverse problem. In this paper, an analytical method, the geometric method, has been designed and developed to determine the beam steering in a Risley system and solve the inverse problem. The method focuses on different geometric shapes, like circumference or ellipse, that are described when the beam passes through the second prism. The accuracy and efficiency of the geometric method has been analysed and found to be faster than the two-step method. Furthermore, the geometric method has been implemented in an iterative process and an accuracy of up to 1 pm has been achieved. This high accuracy would allow the geometric method to be applied in fields such as lithography, stereolithography or 3D printers.
Research on Tire Groove Depth Detection System based on MVR
Authors: Qian Feng , Xingwen Li , Zhu Neng , Wang Mingda , Wang Jie , Xu Xiaowei , Zhang Beijia , Liu Mengjie , Qi Qinghua
Published: September 2022

The change of tire groove depth will have a huge impact on tire performance, and the use of excessively worn tires is not conducive to the driving safety of automobiles. Tire groove depth detection has become one of the annual inspection items of automobiles, but the research on its related detection technology is still relatively backward. Based on the principle of monocular vision ranging (MVR), image processing technology and cloud platform technology, this paper develops a tire groove depth detection system, which realizes non-destructive detection of tire groove depth. In addition, the system uses the cloud platform to store the test results, and builds a multi-level data management system, allowing car owners to keep track of the tire wear status and historical changes, which is of great significance to ensuring driving safety.
Horus: An Effective and Reliable Framework for Code-Reuse Exploits Detection in Data Stream
Authors: Yang Gang , Liu Xingtong , Tang Chaojing
Published: September 2022

Recent years have witnessed a rapid growth of code-reuse attacks in advance persistent threats and cyberspace crimes. Carefully crafted code-reuse exploits circumvent modern protection mechanisms and hijack the execution flow of a program to perform expected functionalities by chaining together existing codes. The sophistication and intrication of code-reuse exploits hinder the scrutinization and dissection on them. Although the previous literature has introduced some feasible approaches, effectiveness and reliability in practical applications remain severe challenges. To address this issue, we propose Horus, a data-driven framework for effective and reliable detection on code-reuse exploits. In order to raise the effectiveness against underlying noises, we comprehensively leverage the strengths of time-series and frequency-domain analysis, and propose a learning-based detector that synthesizes the contemporary twofold features. Then we employ a lightweight interpreter to speculatively and tentatively translate the suspicious bytes to open the black box and enhance the reliability and interpretability. Additionally, a functionality-preserving data augmentation is adopted to increase the diversity of limited training data and raise the generality for real-world deployment. Comparative experiments and ablation studies are conducted on a dataset composed of real-world instances to verify and prove the prevalence of Horus. The experimental results illustrate that Horus outperform existing methods on the identification of code-reuse exploits from data stream with an acceptable overhead. Horus does not rely on any dynamic executions and can be easily integrated into existing defense systems. Moreover, Horus is able to provide tentative interpretations about attack semantics irrespective of target program, which further improve system's effectiveness and reliability.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Post-COVID Syndrome: A Common Neuroimmune Ground?
Authors: Ryabkova Varvara A. , Gavrilova Natalia Y , Fedotkina Tamara V , Churilov Leonid P , Shoenfeld Yehuda
Published: September 2022

A Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating chronic disease of unknown aetiology under growing interest now in view of the increasingly recognized post-COVID syndrome as a new entity with similar clinical presentation. We performed the first cross-sectional study of ME/CFS in community population in Russia and then described and compared some clinical and pathophysiological characteristics of ME/CFS and post-COVID syndrome as neuroimmune disorders. Of the cohort of 76 individuals who suggested themselves suffering from ME/CFS 56 subsequently were confirmed as having CFS/ME according to ≥1 of the 4 most commonly used case definition. Of the cohort of 14 individuals with post-COVID-19 syndrome 14 met diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS. The prevalence of clinically expressed and subclinical anxiety and depression in ME / CFS and post-COVID ME/CFS did not differ significantly from that in healthy individuals. Severity of anxiety / depressive symptoms did not correlate with the severity of fatigue neigther in ME / CFS nor in post-COVID ME/CFS, but the positive correlation was found between the severity of fatigue and 20 other symptoms of ME / CFS related to the domains of “post-exertional exhaustion”, “immune dysfunction”, “sleep disturbances”, "dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system", "neurological sensory / motor disorders" and "pain syndromes". Immunological abnormalities were identified in 12/12 patients with ME / CFS according to the results of laboratory testing. The prevalence of postural orthostatic tachycardia assessed by the active standing test was 37.5% in ME / CFS and 75.0% in post-COVID ME/CFS (the latter was higher than in healthy controls, p = 0.02) There was a more pronounced increase in heart rate starting from the 6th minute of the test in post-COVID ME/CFS compared with the control group. Assessment of the functional characteristics of microcirculation by laser doppler flowmetry revealed obvious and very similar changes in ME/CFS and post-COVID ME/CFS compared to the healthy controls. The identified pattern corresponded to the hyperemic form of microcirculation disorders, usually observed in acute inflammatory processes or in deficiency of systemic vasoconstriction influences.
Machine Learning for Financial Investment Indication
Authors: Oliveira Ariel Vieira de , Dazzi Marcia Cristina Schiavi , Fernandes Anita Maria da Rocha , Dazzi Rudimar Luis Scaranto , Ferreira Paulo , Leithardt Valderi Reis Quietinho
Published: September 2022

To support the decision making process of new investors, this paper aims to implement Machine Learning algorithms to generate investment indications. Three artificial intelligence techniques were implemented, namely: Multilayer Perceptron, Logistic Regression and Decision Tree, which performed the classification of investments. The results of the different algorithms were compared to each other using the metrics: accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. The Decision Tree was the algorithm that obtained the best classification metrics and an accuracy of 77%.
A Systematic Approach in Developing Management Workforce Readiness for Digital Health Transformation in Healthcare
Authors: Brommeyer Mark , Liang Zhanming
Published: September 2022

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has sped up digital health transformation across the health sectors to enable innovative health service delivery. Such transformation relies on competent managers with the capacity to lead and manage. However, the health system has not adopted a holistic approach in addressing the health management workforce development needs, with many hurdles to overcome. The objectives of this paper are to present the findings of a three-step approach in understanding the current hurdles in developing a health management workforce that can enable and maximise the benefits of digital health transformation, and to explore ways of overcoming such hurdles. Methods: A three-step, systematic approach was undertaken, including an Australian digital health policy documentary analysis, an Australian health service management postgraduate program analysis, and a scoping review of international literatures. Results: The main findings will guide the formulation of strategies in developing a digitally enabled health management workforce in the digital health era. Conclusions: With the ever-changing landscape of digital health, being able to lead and manage in times of system transformation requires a holistic approach to develop the necessary health management workforce capabilities and system-wide capacity. The evidence would support that this can be achieved with the required system, policy, educational and professional organizational enablers, which drive a digital health focused approach across all the healthcare sectors, in a coordinated and contextual manner.
Costs of Nonoperative Procedures for Knee Osteoarthritis in the Year Prior to Primary Total Knee Arthroplasty
Authors: Nin Darren Z. , Chen Ya-Wen , Talmo Carl T. , Hollenbeck Brian L. , Mattingly David A. , Niu Ruijia , Chang David C. , Smith Eric L.
Published: September 2022

Background:

The convergence of national priorities to reduce health-care costs and deliver high-value care warrants the need to examine health-care utilization. The objective of this study was to describe the costs associated with nonoperative procedures in the 1-year period leading up to primary total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

Methods:

An observational cohort study was conducted using the IBM Watson Health MarketScan databases. Patients with late-stage knee osteoarthritis (OA) who underwent unilateral, isolated primary TKA from January 1, 2018, to December 31, 2019, were included. The main outcome was the cost of knee OA-related payments for identified nonoperative procedures in the 1-year period before surgery. Nonoperative procedures examined were (1) physical therapy (PT); (2) bracing; (3) intra-articular injections: professional fee, hyaluronic acid (IA-HA), and corticosteroids (IA-CS); (4) medication: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioids, and acetaminophen; and (5) knee-specific imaging.

Results:

The study population included 24,492 TKA patients with a mean age of 60.4 ± 8.0 years. The average total cost of nonoperative procedures per patient was $1,355 ± $2,087. The most common nonoperative treatment prescribed was IA-CS (54.3%). The nonoperative procedure with the highest cost per patient was IA-HA ($1,019 ± $913 per patient). The total cost of nonoperative procedures was higher among female compared with male patients ($1,440 ± $2,159 versus $1,254 ± $1,992 per patient; p < 0.01). The highest costs were found for patients in the Northeast ($1,740 ± $2,437 per patient). A total of 14,346 (58.6%) and 7,831 (32.0%) of the patients had >1 and ≥3 nonoperative treatments, respectively.

Conclusions:

There is substantial variation in the type and the cost of nonoperative treatment for patients with late-stage OA. Future studies should investigate the effectiveness of nonoperative treatments at different stages of the disease.

Level of Evidence:

Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
New sizes of complete (k, 4)-arcs in PG(2,17)
Authors: Hamed Zainab Shehab
Published: September 2022

In this paper, the packing problem for complete (  4)-arcs in  is partially solved. The minimum and the maximum sizes of complete (  4)-arcs in  are obtained. The idea that has been used to do this classification is based on using the algorithm introduced in Section 3 in this paper. Also, this paper establishes the connection between the projective geometry in terms of a complete ( , 4)-arc in  and the algebraic characteristics of a plane quartic curve over the field  represented by the number of its rational points and inflexion points. In addition, some sizes of complete (  6)-arcs in the projective plane of order thirteen are established, namely for  = 53, 54, 55, 56.
Spectrophotometric Determination of Salbutamol Sulphate and Isoxsuprine Hydrochloride in Pharmaceutical Formulations
Authors: Al Abdali Zeena Z. , Habeeb Nagham N. , Salih Elham S.
Published: September 2022

A simple, sensitive and accurate spectrophotometric method has been developed for the determination of salbutamol sulphate (SAB) and isoxsuprine hydrochloride (ISX) in pure and pharmaceutical dosage. The method involved oxidation of (SAB) and (ISX) with a known excess of N-bromosuccinamid in acidic medium, and subsequent occupation of unreacted oxidant in decolorization of Evans blue dye (EB). This, in the presence of SAB or ISX was rectilinear over the ranges 1.0-12.0, 1.0-11.0 µg/mL, with molar absorptivity 4.21×104 and 2.58×104 l.mol-1.cm-1 respectively. The developed method had been successfully applied for the determination of the studied drugs in their pharmaceutical dosage resulting in a good agreement with certified value and standard addition procedure.
Fine needle aspiration is not a risk factor for cervical lymph node metastasis or prognostic factor in papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: A propensity score-matched analysis
Authors: Ding Min , Zhao Zhi-Feng , Xu Dan , Xiao Guo-Hui , Lin Ting-Yu , Tsang Yiu-Sing , Shen Dong-Jie , Xie Rong-Li , Fei Jian
Published: September 2022

Background
Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (UGFNA) has been widely used in clinical practice. Many patients may still worry about UGFNA-related metastasis. The aim of this article was to analyze the potential association between UGFNA and cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) and whether UGFNA influences the long-term prognosis of PTMC.
Methods
A total of 367 adult patients with PTMC who underwent thyroidectomy in our hospital between January 2014 and December 2015 were enrolled in this retrospective cohort study. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to explore the potential risk factors for CLNM. Propensity score (PS)-based 1:1 nearest neighbor matching was performed to select patients with homogeneous baseline characteristics. Then, the rate of CLNM was compared between matched samples with chi-square (χ2) tests. Survival analysis was performed with the Kaplan–Meier method in the PS-matched cohort. The recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate was compared between groups with the log-rank test.
Results
Multivariate analysis showed that male sex (OR = 3.997, 95% CI 2.148 ~ 7.439, P < 0.01) and larger tumor size (OR = 2.319, 95% CI 1.285 ~ 4.186, P < 0.01) were independent risk factors for CLNM. Younger age (< 55 years, OR = 1.809, 95% CI 0.937 ~ 3.492, P > 0.05), capsular invasion (OR = 1.218, 95% CI 0.415 ~ 3.572, P > 0.05), multifocality (OR = 1.949, 95% CI 0.905 ~ 4.196, P > 0.05) and Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT) (OR = 0.824, 95% CI 0.401 ~ 1.696, P > 0.05) were not independent risk factors for CLNM. In the PS-matched cohort, the CLNM rate showed no significant difference between the UGFNA and non-UGFNA groups (29.5% vs. 23.7%, P > 0.05). With a median follow-up of 63.8 months (range 3.1–84.9 months), the 5-year cumulative RFS rate was 99.3% in the UGFNA group and 97.7% in the non-UGFNA group. After PS matching, the Kaplan–Meier curves showed no significant differences between groups (P > 0.05).
Conclusions
UGFNA is a very safe diagnostic tool that does not influence the CLNM rate or long-term prognosis of patients with PTMC. The fear of UGFNA-related metastasis should not deter UGFNA of the thyroid.
Evaluation climate change impacts on water resources over the upper reach of the Yellow River Basin
Authors: Zhuang xiaowen , Fan Yurui , Li Yongping
Published: September 2022

In this study, a climate-streamflow modeling framework (CSF) is advanced to generate future climate projections and assess climate change impacts on water. The proposed CSF incorporates global climate models (GCMs), meteorological factors downscaled by the providing regional climate impacts for studies (PRECIS), and stepwise-clustered hydrological model within a general framework. It has advantages in (1) transferring large scale climate variables from global climate models to high-resolution meteorological datasets by the PRECIS, and (2) quantifying the climate change impacts on streamflow simulation by employing the stepwise cluster analysis method to reflect nonlinear relationships between predictand and predictor. Correspondingly, a real case of streamflow simulation at the upper Yellow River basin is applied to demonstrating the efficiency of the CSF. Results disclose that: (i) an increasing trend of average temperature exists in future with the highest temperature increments happening in November; (ii) there would also be more precipitation in future with the increments can reach more than 200 mm in July in 2030s; (iii) More streamflow rates may be expected in most months except November mainly due to precipitation increments. The future monthly streamflow can reach around 2000 m2/s in July and August in future, which nearly doubled the flow rates in the historical periods.
LncRNA-TBP mediates TATA-binding protein recruitment to regulate myogenesis and induce slow-twitch myofibers
Authors: Ma Manting , Cai Bolin , Zhou Zhen , Kong Shaofen , Zhang Jing , Xu Haiping , Zhang Xiquan , Nie Qinghua
Published: September 2022

Background
Skeletal muscle is comprised of heterogeneous myofibers that differ in their physiological and metabolic parameters. Of these, slow-twitch (type I; oxidative) myofibers have more myoglobin, more mitochondria, and higher activity of oxidative metabolic enzymes compared to fast-twitch (type II; glycolytic) myofibers.
Methods
In our previous study, we found a novel LncRNA-TBP (for “LncRNA directly binds TBP transcription factor”) is specifically enriched in the soleus (which has a higher proportion of slow myofibers). The primary myoblast cells and animal model were used to assess the biological function of the LncRNA-TBP in vitro or in vivo. Meanwhile, we performed a RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) and pull-down analysis to validate this interaction between LncRNA-TBP and TBP.
Results
Functional studies demonstrated that LncRNA-TBP inhibits myoblast proliferation but promotes myogenic differentiation in vitro. In vivo, LncRNA-TBP reduces fat deposition, activating slow-twitch muscle phenotype and inducing muscle hypertrophy. Mechanistically, LncRNA-TBP acts as a regulatory RNA that directly interacts with TBP protein to regulate the transcriptional activity of TBP-target genes (such as KLF4, GPI, TNNI2, and CDKN1A).
Conclusion
Our findings present a novel model about the regulation of LncRNA-TBP, which can regulate the transcriptional activity of TBP-target genes by recruiting TBP protein, thus modulating myogenesis progression and inducing slow-twitch fibers.
Lymphotoxin-α orchestrate hypoxic and immune factors to induces Experimental Cerebral Malaria-Inhibition mitigates pathogenesis, neurodegeneration and increases survival
Authors: Eeka Prabhakar , Phanithi Prakash Babu
Published: September 2022

Knockdown studies have shown lymphotoxin-α (Lt-α) as a critical molecule for Experimental cerebral malaria (ECM) pathogenesis. We investigated the role of lymphotoxin-α in regulating active caspase-3 and calpain1. T cell infiltration into the brains, and subsequent neuronal cell death are the essential features ofPlasmodium berghei ANKA(PbA)induced ECM in C57BL/6 mice. Our results showed increased Lt-α levels during ECM. Treatment of naïve mice with serum from ECM mice and exogenous Lt-α was lethal. We inhibited Lt-α in vivo duringPbAinfection by injecting the mice with anti-Lt-α antibody. Inhibition of Lt-α mitigated neuronal cell death and increased mice's survival until 30 days post-infection (p.i) compared to only 15 days survival ofPbAcontrol mice.
Publication Trends in Political Economy Scholarship 2011-2020
Authors: Mulligan Robert
Published: September 2022

Political economy occupies a unique place at the intersection of economics and political science, being an essential part of both disciplines, as well as an area that offers special insight into issues of continuing importance in public finance and policy. This article uses journal publications to rank institutions by research productivity in political economy. An incidental byproduct is a ranking of individual scholars. Ranking methodology is developed based on the established literature. Implications for the future evolution of political economy as an interdisciplinary field are suggested and discussed.
Vegetation dynamics and its response to drought in the Kaidu River Basin during 2000-2018
Authors: Zheng Lingqiao , Xing Kun , Li Jiang , Liu Sihai
Published: September 2022

Understanding the effects of drought on vegetation growth is important for regional ecosystem and water resources management. In this study, the standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) were used to analyze the relationship between drought activity and vegetation dynamics at different time scales in the Kaidu River basin from 2000 to 2018. The results showed that (1) during this period, annual, summer and autumn SPEI showed an increasing trend, while spring SPEI showed a decreasing trend. Annual, spring, summer and autumn NDVI showed an increasing trend. (2) In the Kaidu River basin, the percentage of areas with an increasing trend of SPEI in annual, spring, summer and autumn were 85.98%, 41.93%, 65.86% and 98.73%, respectively. However, none of them reached the 0.05 significant level. The trend of NDVI is more obvious than that of SPEI. The proportion of regions with significant increasing trend of NDVI in annual, spring, summer and autumn were 24.10%, 23.63%, 23.06% and 19.15%, respectively. (3) Vegetation growth was positively correlated with drought in most areas of the Kaidu River basin. The percentage of regions with positive correlation between SPEI and NDVI in annual, spring, summer and autumn were 24.10%, 23.63%, 23.06% and 19.15%, respectively. However, the correlation coefficients between SPEI and NDVI were significantly different for different seasons and different vegetation types. (4) The residual analysis revealed that 33.20% of the vegetation in the Kaidu River basin was degraded by human activities and 66.80% was improved by human activities. Similarly, the climatic conditions of the region promote the growth of most vegetation. This study provides a useful reference for vegetation construction and water resources management in inland river basins in arid regions.
Impact of Board Diversity on Firm Performance
Authors: Hasan Fakhrul , Islam Mohammad Raijul
Published: September 2022

The objective of this study is to analyse and understand the connection between firm performance and the demographic diversity of the board. For this study, we combined panel data with the FTSE 100 Index. The Blau index and the coefficient of variations are used to define the board's value for demographic diversity. For our baseline mode, we utilised ROE (Return on Equity) as the dependent variable, and for our robustness test, we used ROA (Return on Assets). According to the study's findings, company performance and demographic diversity are favourably correlated. This study can show that gender diversity has a strongly inverse relationship with ROE and a significantly inverse association with ROA. Additionally, a highly substantial negative association between CEO age and ROA and a highly significant positive correlation between board tenure and ROE are discovered.
Integration of Geothermal-Driven Organic Rankine Cycle with a PEM Electrolyzer for the production of green hydrogen and electricity
Authors: Assareh Ehsanolah , Delpisheh Mostafa , Baldinelli Arianna , Cinti Giovanni , alirahmi mojtaba , emami houman , Lee Moonyong
Published: September 2022

Engineers and scientists are increasingly interested in clean energy options to replace fossil fuels in response to rising environmental concerns and dwindling fossil fuel resources. There has been an increase in the installation of renewable energy resources, and at the same time, conventional energy conversion systems have improved in efficiency. in this paper, several multi-generation systems based on geothermal energy are modeled, assessed, and optimized with an organic Rankine cycle and proton-exchange membrane electrolyzer subsystem in five different arrangements. Based on the results, the evaporator mass flow rate and inlet temperature, turbine efficiency, and inlet temperature are the most influential parameters on system outputs, namely, net output work, hydrogen production, energy efficiency, and cost rate. In this case study, the city of Zanjan (Iran) is selected for a case study, and the results of system energy efficiency for changes in ambient temperature are examined during the four seasons of the year. To determine the optimal values of the objective functions, energy efficiency, and cost rate, NSGA-II multi-objective genetic algorithm is employed, and a Pareto chart is derived as a result. A system's irreversibility and performance are gauged by energy and exergy analyses. At the optimum state, the best configuration yields an energy efficiency and cost rate of 0.65% and 17.40 $/h, respectively.
Mechanistic Insights into Formation of CO and C2 Products in Electrochemical CO2 Reduction – the Role of the ECE Mechanism
Authors: DiDomenico Rileigh Casebolt , Levine Kelsey , Reimanis Laila , Abruna Hector , Hanrath Tobias
Published: September 2022

The electrochemical reduction of CO2 presents an attractive opportunity to not only valorize CO2 as a feedstock for chemical products, but also to provide a means to effectively store renewable electricity in the form of chemical bonds. The recent surge of experimental and computational studies of electrochemical CO2 reduction (ECR) has brought about significant scientific and technological advances. Yet, considerable gaps in our understanding of and control over the reaction mechanism persist, in particular for the formation of products. Moreover, while theoretical and computational studies have proposed many candidate reaction pathways, comprehensively reconciling these models with experimental observations remains challenging and elusive. The conventional electrocatalytic analysis of catalyst activity and selectivity generally relies on steady-state measurements. In a departure from this convention, we show in this study that time-resolved measurements (i.e., chronoamperometry) provide a powerful diagnostic tool to gain valuable insights into the complex interplay of electrochemical reactions, chemical reactions, and mass transport. Specifically, we show that the initial ECR reaction sequence involves a chemical reaction interposed between two charge transfer reactions (“ECE”). We hope that the methods and insights presented in this work will inspire future studies to exploit chronoamperometric analysis to resolve outstanding questions in ECR and other multi-step electrochemical reaction pathways.
Liquid metal-embedded hydrogel sensors for unsupervised learning enabled sign-to-verbal translation
Authors: Wu Lidong , Ma Hude , Qin Haiyang , Xiao Xiao , Liu Na , Wang Shaolei , Li Junye , Shen Sophia , Dai Shuqi , Sun Mengmeng , Li Peiyi , Pan Xiaofang , Huang Mingjun , Lu Baoyang , Chen Jun
Published: September 2022

Highly stretchable and robust strain sensors are rapidly emerging as promising candidates for a diverse array of wearable electronics and sensing devices. Conductive hydrogels represent a unique class of materials for bioelectronic applications due to their electrical and mechanical adaptability to human body. A common material engineering strategy is thus combining rigid electronic and/or ionic conductors with hydrogels to form conductive and stretchable composites. However, there exist trade-offs between high conductivity and excellent mechanical properties. To address this limitation, we designed a highly conductive yet highly stretchable hybrid hydrogel by simply encapsulating the liquid metal into polyacrylamide-alginate double networks. The resultant hydrogel simultaneously exhibits high conductivity (up to 22 S m-1), low elastic modulus (23 kPa), and ultrahigh stretchability (1500%) with excellent robustness (consistent performance against 12, 000 mechanical cycling), overcoming the traditional trade-off between electrical and mechanical properties. To demonstrate the potential impact of our technology on wearable electronics, a motion monitoring system with Self-Organizing Map was developed to achieve hand gesture monitoring and sign-to-speech translation. The use of our liquid metal-embedded hydrogels could be integral to the development of wearable electronics and human-machine interfaces.
A comparative study of stabilizing collapsible soil using different types of biopolymers
Authors: Sawwaf Mostafa A. El , Shahien Marawan M. , Nasr Ahmed M. , Habib Mahmoud S.
Published: September 2022

This article presents a comparative study of using three different kinds of biopolymers (xanthan gum, sodium alginate, and gelatin), environmentally friendly materials, in stabilizing collapsible soil. Modified Proctor, single oedometer, unconsolidated undrained triaxial, and California bearing ratio (CBR) tests were conducted to estimate the engineering characteristics of the soil after being mixed with various biopolymer contents. Biopolymer effect on the collapse index was investigated using different mixing conditions (dry mixing and wet mixing). Additionally, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) tests were utilized to demonstrate the changes in the microstructure of the treated samples. The results showed that after mixing the soil with 4% xanthan gum content in the dry case, the collapse index decreased significantly from 13.48–1.27% and the cohesion stress increased from 47 to 144 kPa, resulting in the shear strength improvement. The results proved that the superiority of xanthan gum over sodium alginate and gelatin in shear strength improvement is approximately 38% more than sodium alginate and 72% more than gelatin at the same conditions, as well as reducing the collapse index by approximately 5% more than sodium alginate and 12% more than gelatin at the same conditions. The findings also indicated that biopolymers increase the unsoaked CBR value by about 147%, 128%, and 117% when the soil was mixed with a 3% concentration of xanthan gum, sodium alginate, and gelatin, respectively. The results of SEM and XRD studies also demonstrated the interaction between the fine-grained particles and the strings of the biopolymers.