bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Deriving ER2 – the east riding elbow rule
Authors: Arundel David
Published: October 2021

Introduction

We found variability in ordering radiographs for patients with elbow injury in our Emergency Department (ED). Review of the literature at the outset of our study provided few data to guide practice. It seemed possible to use clinical data, such as elbow extension to guide decision making. Recent large scale studies have suggested full elbow extension to be a reasonable rule out for fracture, although less sensitive in children. We aim to derive a maximally sensitive decision rule for elbow x-ray in adults and children.

Method

We prospectively recruited patients attending the ED with elbow injury. Practitioners were advised to treat patients according to their usual practice, including applying their current criteria for selection for x-ray. Clinical variables were recorded, including site of tenderness and range of motion. Those not x-rayed were followed up by structured telephone interview at 1 week, and invited to return for re-evaluation if they had ongoing symptoms.

Results

467 patients were recruited over 2 years. 50.5% were male, and 26.3% were children (<16 years). 424 (90.8%) were x-rayed. 156 investigations (37% of radiographs performed) demonstrated an abnormality. Of those not x-rayed, 28 were followed up by telephone and had no problems, 13 could not be contacted (no return to our ED within 3 months) and one returned early and was x-rayed (no fracture).

We found elbow extension to have a sensitivity of 83% (95% CI 77% to 88%) and specificity 54% (49% to 60%) for abnormal x-ray in our whole dataset (76% sensitivity in children and 88% in adults).

Discussion

We found elbow extension to be relatively insensitive as a rule out for fracture following elbow injury. We plan to use other clinical variables to derive a maximally sensitive decision rule for elbow x-ray after injury from these data.
The assessment of non-technical skills in the emergency department: Figure 1
Authors: Flowerdew Lynsey
Published: October 2021

Introduction

Analysis of adverse events in the Emergency Department (ED) reveals that contributory factors commonly relate to non-technical skills such as decision-making. Crisis Resource Management courses, designed to improve non-technical skills, invariably centre on the critically ill patient. While resuscitation is undeniably important, little attention has been paid to the skills necessary for routine management of the ED and the vital leadership role of registrars. Furthermore, many UK trainees receive little specific assessment or feedback on the behavioural aspects of performance.

Figure 1

Distribution of time spent in emergency departments by age

Aim

To produce an observational tool for the assessment of registrar non-technical skills in the ED, with a particular focus on leadership.

Methods

Following a successful feasibility study, data was gathered from a variety of sources to allow subsequent triangulation of results. A literature review was undertaken to explore the evidence linking non-technical skills to safety in the ED. Various curricula were studied to ensure the observational tool reflected these competencies. Transcripts from an interview study with ED staff were analysed to determine which skills were considered to be important for effective teamwork. A series of observations were carried out to identify skills that were both observable and sufficiently common. The final skill set was reviewed by a team of behavioural psychologists and Emergency Medicine (EM) physicians.

Results

A taxonomy for non-technical skills was developed that consisted of 12 skills, each with observable behaviours indicative of good or poor performance. These skills were organised into four categories: (1) supervision and management; (2) teamwork and cooperation; (3) decision-making and (4) situation awareness.

Discussion

This observational tool is empirically based in Emergency Medicine and explicitly describes the skills required to structure observation and feedback for trainees during everyday activities. The validity of the skills taxonomy is currently being tested and future studies are planned to assess reliability, usability and acceptability.
CRP in the diagnosis of pulmonary embolism
Authors: Hogg Kerstin
Published: October 2021

Background

Diagnosing pulmonary embolism (PE) can be a difficult process for junior doctors, because it relies on clinical probability scoring and knowledge of how to apply and interpret D-dimer, VQ and CT scanning. The THREAD study aimed to assess the potential diagnostic role of novel biomarkers, in attempt to identify a future, more simple test. The aim of this analysis is to assess the potential role of C reactive protein (CRP) in the diagnosis of PE.

Methods

The prospective diagnostic study was conducted at a single general hospital in the UK, between September 2008 and June 2009. All patients investigated for PE were eligible. Exclusions were age <16, lack of capacity and refusal. All patients underwent an evidence based protocol to diagnose or exclude PE, along with a 3 month clinical follow-up period. CRP was not conducted as a blinded research test, instead, the study documented the initial CRP result when the investigating physician ordered the test. Potential for diagnostic use was assessed by constructing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for all patients investigated for PE and emergency department patients investigated for PE.

Results

411/414 patients investigated for PE were approached for consent and 354 patients investigated for PE were enrolled to the study. PE was diagnosed in 19.2% patients. Of this cohort, 269 patients had CRP testing ordered by their physician. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for CRP in the diagnosis of PE was 0.72 (95% CI 0.65 to 0.78). The AUC for PE was 0.77 (95% CI 0.69 to 0.84) in patients presenting to the emergency department (n=199).

Discussion

This is a limited exploratory analysis. Results will be available for the full cohort of patients (n=354) by the conference.

Conclusions

CRP has a moderate association with PE in emergency department patients, however could not diagnose PE alone.
‘Whole body’ CT scanning following blunt multitrauma: a Delphi study
Authors: Hunt Paul
Published: October 2021

Background

The 2007 NCEPOD report recommends the routine use of ‘top-to-toe’ scanning in the adult trauma patient if no immediate indication for intervention exists. No specific guidelines currently exist for the use of ‘Whole Body’ CT (WBCT) scanning following blunt multi-trauma. Current clinical practice relies on trauma team leader decision-making although a number of UK institutions have presented WBCT protocols and supporting data. However, there is a paucity of evidence with which to inform best clinical practice.

Objective

The aim of this study was to explore the main issues regarding WBCT for blunt multi-trauma as the first stage of a wider research programme aiming to develop a WBCT protocol and recommendations for best clinical practice. A Delphi study was conducted in order to establish national and multidisciplinary consensus on a series of relevant statements which could be used to produce both clinical practice and organisational recommendations, and to highlight areas where further research was required.

Methods

Invitations and follow-up questionnaires were sent to a representative sample of consultants working in the fields of Emergency Medicine, trauma surgery, anaesthesia, critical care and radiology from across the UK. A total of 160 statements were generated from the responses to these questionnaires, which contributors were then able to comment on and modify during two subsequent rounds before a list of final ‘consensus’ statements were agreed.

Results

18/18 of correspondents who replied to the initial invitation completed all three rounds of the study. The results demonstrated considerable agreement on the need for a formal WBCT protocol, evidence-based clinical indicators and an effective clinical governance structure. We present a full description of the consensus statements, initial recommendations and an original WBCT protocol. We believe this is the first systematic attempt to define and identify areas of best clinical practice regarding WBCT for blunt multi-trauma.
Is the diagnostic value of either ESR or CRP sufficient to exclude the need to measure both in paediatric patients presenting with non-traumatic limb pain?
Authors: Robinson Sara
Published: October 2021

Background

Laboratory tests for cases of suspected orthopaedic infection usually include measurement of both the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and the C reactive protein (CRP). This has a time and cost implication for the laboratories. The measurement of both also requires a larger volume blood sample, which can be difficult to obtain.

Objective

To assess if the measurement of either CRP or ESR individually has a likelihood ratio equivalent to that of the measurement of both.

Setting

Emergency Department of a Paediatric Teaching Hospital.

Study design

Retrospective study of Case Notes for patients attending the Emergency Department with a complaint of atraumatic limb pain and in whom both ESR and CRP were measured at the time of presentation. Laboratory results at the time of presentation were recorded along with the final diagnosis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were created using the data. Likelihood Ratios for ESR and CRP individually and in combination were calculated.

Results

259 patients were included in the study of whom 17 were considered to have an Orthopaedic infection. The ROC curves revealed the best results were obtained using cut off values of CRP>7 and ESR>12. The combination of a CRP>7 and an ESR>12 gave the best positive Likelihood Ratio at 6.26 (Likelihood ratio 5.34 (CRP>7) vs 2.57 (ESR>12)) For ruling out disease the combination of CRP≤7 and an ESR≤12 also outperformed either variable individually (negative likelihood ratio 0.09 (CRP≤7 and ESR≤12) vs 0.34 (CRP≤7) vs 0.18 (ESR≤12)).

Conclusion

A raised CRP is a more specific indicator of orthopaedic infection than a raised ESR; however the ESR is more sensitive. Thus the Likelihood Ratios produced by the combination of the two results are superior to those of either measurement individually. The measurement of both CRP and ESR should be considered an important aid in the investigation of atraumatic limb pain.
The management of children in unscheduled care services by emergency care practitioners
Authors: O'Keefe Colin
Published: October 2021

Background/objectives

Emergency Care Practitioners (ECPs) are an example of a new role in healthcare. ECPs are substituting for standard providers such as doctors in various unscheduled care services. In these services ECPs are managing paediatric cases, although there is no evidence for their effective management of this patient group. As part of a multi-centre trial we evaluated ECP effectiveness in the discharge of children following a minor illness or injury care episode.

Methods

Three pairs of unscheduled services (urgent care, minor injury unit and out of hours) were included in the trial. Each pair comprised an intervention ECP service and a matched control service employing standard non-ECP providers. All care episodes of patients under the age of 16 were identified from the three pairs of services. The primary outcome was percentage of patients discharged after consultation.

Results

Across all services the percentage of patients discharged by ECPs was significantly less than the percentage discharged by standard non-ECP providers (59% vs 66%; X2 = 10.1; df=1; p<0.05). ECPs discharged fewer patients in all three pairs of services and in the Out of Hours (X2=4.1; df=1; p< 0.05) and the Urgent Care Centre (X2=4.7; df=1; p<0.05) pairs the difference in discharge rates was statistically significant.

Implications

ECPs do not appear to be as effective as standard health providers in discharging children after care. ECPs may be better targeted at patients groups in which there is better evidence of their effectiveness.

Limitations

Findings for these services individually may not be generalisable to other similar service settings. However, nationally, the participating services were not considered atypical in how ECP services had developed. It was not possible to design a randomised study in the context of ECP working because the services were already operational.
Comparing paediatric hospital admission rates between emergency departments in england – a descriptive analysis using hospital episode statistics data
Authors: Thompson Mary
Published: October 2021

Aim

To investigate whether children living near paediatric emergency departments have lower paediatric admission rates than children living near general emergency departments.

Design

(i) Descriptive analysis of paediatric admissions using routine hospital episode statistics data (HES data). (ii) Spatial analysis of paediatric and general emergency departments and census output areas using Geographical Information Systems.

Subjects

All paediatric emergency admissions of 0–14 year olds in the financial years 2001/2002 –2005/2006 in all hospitals in England.

Hypothesis

Null (H0): there is no difference in paediatric admission rates between children living near paediatric emergency departments and children living near general emergency departments. (H1): children living near paediatric emergency departments are less likely to be admitted than populations of children living near general emergency departments.

Main outcome measures

RRs of admission with adjustment for age, sex, deprivation and year of admission, both overall and for specific disease categories: asthma, respiratory diseases, gastroenteritis, other infections, signs and symptoms, injuries and other admissions.

Results

There were 3 156 479 admissions over the 5-year period. Children living near paediatric emergency departments have a lower risk of admission (RR 0.77, 95% CI 0.76 to 0.77) compared with children living nearby general emergency departments. The highest admission rates came from the most deprived areas (Carstairs 5) and the lowest from the least deprived (Carstairs 1). Boys had higher admission rates than girls for all diagnoses and the under-1s had the highest admission rates followed by the 10–14 year olds.

Conclusions

Paediatric emergency departments may have a significant impact in reducing childhood admissions.
Impact of ambulatory intravenous antibiotic therapy for children with pre-septal cellulitis
Authors: Brugha Rossa
Published: October 2021

Aim

To assess the impact of ambulatory intravenous antibiotic therapy for children with preseptal cellulitis.

Design

Retrospective audit of 62 patients presenting with preseptal cellulitis over a 12 month period.

Setting

Paediatric Emergency Department, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London.

Results

62 patients identified from discharge summary coding. On review of medical notes 59 patients fulfilled criteria for preseptal cellulitis. Patients were attributed a modified severity score out of seven, based on signs and symptoms as previously1 19 patients (32%) were discharged home on oral antibiotics, one patient (2%) on topical therapy only, and 39 patients (66%) were started on intravenous antibiotics. There was a significant difference in symptom score between children started on oral versus intravenous antibiotic therapy (2.47 vs 3.21, p=0.021). Of the patients started on intravenous antibiotics, 22 children (56%) were managed on an ambulatory basis and 17 children (44%) were admitted. The management guideline allowed for ambulatory care, provided specified clinical factors were not present. The mean duration of antibiotic therapy was not different between the two groups (2.90 vs 2.75 days, p=0.79). Only three children in the study required imaging and there were no intracranial complications in either group. On a crude cost benefit analysis, the net fiscal benefit of a 3 day course of ambulatory versus inpatient intravenous therapy was calculated as £1672 per patient. For the study group, this represented a saving to the commissioning Trust of £36 784.

Conclusions

In this study group, children requiring intravenous antibiotics for uncomplicated preseptal cellulitis were safely managed on an ambulatory basis. This conveyed a considerable financial benefit to the health economy, in addition to a reduction in the burden of hospitalisation placed upon children and their families.
Massive transfusion in paediatric trauma: a single centre experience
Authors: Hearn Robert
Published: October 2021

Aims

To report the occurrence of major haemorrhage in children following major trauma, the practice of blood products transfusion including monitoring of laboratory parameters in such patients and the outcomes.

Methods

We retrospectively analysed the local paediatric trauma database of all children following trauma call activation on arrival to the Emergency Department in a major urban trauma centre in London. We studies over a period of 15 months, May 2008–August 2009. We defined massive transfusion as packed red cells >40 ml/kg in the first 4 h or >80 ml/kg in the first 24 h.

Results

227 children presented to the accidents and emergency during this period following major trauma call activation. The median age at presentation was 10.2 years. 13 (5.7%) children had major haemorrhage. The median ISS WAS 35 (IQR 10–60). All but one were males. Three had penetrating trauma, one of whom made it to theatre but all died. Four had emergency damage control surgery. Abnormal results were seen in three patients, each having one abnormal result (INR=1.9 and APTT=86, low Hb=7.6, thrombocytopaenia =63). 8/13 patients received additional blood products such as Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP), platelets and Cryoprecipitate. However, no patient received the ration of blood products RBC:FFP of 1:1 as practised in adult trauma. Two patients had no admission bloods done. Worsening coagulation parameters were seen in two patients when measure post-transfusion and the remaining 11 patients did not have routine monitoring of blood parameters post-transfusion. 8 (62%) patients died of which 7 died in the Emergency Department.

Conclusions

Major haemorrhage is associated with a very high mortality in severely injured children. There is a need for instituting a major haemorrhage policy in paediatric trauma and consideration of point-of-care testing of blood parameters.
Trimethylamine oxide: a potential target for heart failure therapy
Authors: Lv Shichao , Wang Yunjiao , Zhang Wanqin , Shang Hongcai
Published: October 2021

Heart failure (HF) is a clinical syndrome in the late stage of cardiovascular disease and is associated with high prevalence, mortality and rehospitalisation rate. The pathophysiological mechanisms of HF have experienced the initial ‘water-sodium retention’ mode to ‘abnormal hemodynamics’ mode, and subsequent to ‘abnormal activation of neuroendocrine’ mode, which has extensively promoted the reform of HF treatment and updated the treatment concept. Since the Human Microbiome Project commencement, the study on intestinal microecology has swiftly developed, providing a new direction to reveal the occurrence of diseases and the mechanisms behind drug effects. Intestinal microecology comprises the gastrointestinal lumen, epithelial secretion, food entering the intestine, intestinal flora and metabolites. Choline and L-carnitine in the diet are metabolised to trimethylamine (TMA) by the intestinal micro-organisms, with TMA being absorbed into the blood. TMA then enters the liver through the portal vein circulation and is oxidised to trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) by the hepatic flavin-containing mono-oxygenase (FMO) family, especially FMO3. The circulating TMAO levels are associated with adverse outcomes in HF (mortality and readmission), and lower TMAO levels indicate better prognosis. As HF progresses, the concentration of TMAO in patients gradually increases. Whether the circulating TMAO level can be decreased by intervening with the intestinal microflora or relevant enzymes, thereby affecting the prognosis of patients with HF, has become a research hotspot. Therefore, based on the HF intestinal hypothesis, exploring the treatment strategy for HF targeting the TMAO metabolite of the intestinal flora may update the treatment concept in HF and improve its therapeutic effect.
Healthy cities after COVID-19 pandemic: the just ecofeminist healthy cities approach
Authors: Triguero-Mas Margarita , Anguelovski Isabelle , Cole Helen V S
Published: October 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has compromised the ‘healthy cities’ vision, as it has unveiled the need to give more prominence to caring tasks while addressing intersectional social inequities and environmental injustices. However, much-needed transdisciplinary approaches to study and address post-COVID-19 healthy cities challenges and agendas have been scarce so far. To address this gap, we propose a ‘just ecofeminist healthy cities’ research approach, which would be informed by the caring city, environmental justice, just ecofeminist sustainability and the healthy cities paradigms and research fields. Our proposed approach aims to achieve the highest standards of human health possible for the whole population—yet putting the health of socially underprivileged residents in the centre—through preserving and/or improving the existing physical, social and political environment. Importantly, the proposed approach recognises all spheres of daily life (productive, reproductive, personal and political) and their connections with inequities, justice and power dynamics. Last, the just ecofeminist healthy cities approach understands human health as interconnected with the health of non-human animals and the ecosystem. We illustrate the proposed new approach focusing on the implications for women’s health and public green spaces research and propose principles and practices for its operationalisation.
‘More than just chitchat’: a qualitative study concerning the need and potential format of a peer mentor programme for patients with early rheumatoid arthritis
Authors: Van der Elst Kristien , De Cock Diederik , Bangels Lore , Peerlings Lianne , Doumen Michael , Bertrand Delphine , De Caluwé Lies , Langers Ilse , Stouten Veerle , Westhovens René , Verschueren P
Published: October 2021

Background

Patients recently diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have specific educational and supportive needs. These could partly be addressed with mentoring by other patients living with RA. This qualitative study explores stakeholder perceptions towards peer mentoring in early RA care.

Methods

Two focus groups with patients with early RA (n=10), one with patient organisation representatives (n=5), one with rheumatologists (n=8) and one with rheumatology nurses (n=5) were held. Two patient research partners supported analysis and interpretation.

Results

Four overarching themes were found: added value, experience with peer mentoring, concerns and need in daily care. Patients and patient organisation representatives confirmed the potential of peer mentoring especially regarding sensitive topics not easily discussed with professionals. Patients felt it could provide additional understanding and recognition. Nurses and rheumatologists were less convinced of the added value of peer mentoring because patients never mentioned it and they were concerned about the loss of control over correct information provision. The need for peer mentoring was perceived as person and disease phase-dependent and should therefore be optional, rather than a care standard. The requirements for a peer mentorship programme remained challenging to define for stakeholders. However, all expressed the need for supervision by healthcare professionals and that peer mentors should be carefully selected, educated and matched to newly diagnosed patients.

Conclusion

Peer mentoring and its implementation remain vague concepts, especially for healthcare providers. However, patients are interested in mentoring by peers, and the current results may support in effectively implementing such programmes early in the disease.
Controlling the process of muon formation for muon-catalyzed fusion: method of non-destructive average muon sign detection
Authors: Holmlid Leif
Published: October 2021

The recent development of intense muon sources (Holmlid, Swedish Patent SE 539,684 C 2 (2017)) is crucial for the use of muon-catalyzed fusion reactors (L. Holmlid, Fusion Science and Technology 75, 208 (2019)) which are likely to be the first generation of practical fusion reactors. For this purpose, only negative muons are useful. For existing sources where negative muons can be ejected (if not formed) preferentially, it is necessary to know the amount of negative muons to determine and optimize the fusion reactor efficiency on-line. Here, a method is developed to measure the absolute muon flux and its average sign without collecting or deflecting the muons. The muons from the patented muon generator have an energy of 100 MeV and above and an intensity of 1013 muons per laser pulse. Here, the detection of the relativistic laser-induced muons from H(0) is reported with a standard particle beam method, using a wire coil on a ferrite toroid as detector for the relativistic particles. The coil detection method shows that these relativistic particles are charged, thus not photons, neutrinos or neutral kaons. This makes the coil method superior to scintillator methods and it is the only possible method due to the large muon intensity. If an equal number of positive and negative mouns passed the coil, no signal would be observed. The signal at the coil in the case shown here is due to relativistic positive muons as concluded from a signal charge sign verification in the coil.
Existence and Hölder continuity to solutions of the complex Monge–Ampère-type equations with measures vanishing on pluripolar subsets
Authors: Hai Le Mau , Quan Vu Van
Published: October 2021

In this paper, we establish existence of Hölder continuous solutions to the complex Monge–Ampère-type equation with measures vanishing on pluripolar subsets of a bounded strictly pseudoconvex domain [Formula: see text] in [Formula: see text].
A REVIEW OF MECHANICAL AND THERMAL PROPERTIES OF PRODUCTS PRINTED WITH RECYCLED FILAMENTS FOR USE IN 3D PRINTERS
Authors: ATAKOK GURCAN , KAM MENDERES , KOC HANIFE BUKRE
Published: October 2021

Three-dimensional printers (3DP), which are often heard with additive manufacturing, are widely used in part production. Sensitive and custom-made products in different designs can be produced more easily and quickly, but waste specimen formed after the failed three-dimensional (3D) prints cause waste and environmental pollution from the expensive filament material. It is thought that such problems can be prevented by minimizing the waste when the scrap materials generated as a result of each production are recovered. This study investigated the benefits of recycling all possible waste filament specimens, including the supports removed from the part after the defective products or supported production, by granulating and reusing in the production of new parts in the next 3D production process. Mechanical differences between the 3D specimens produced with virgin filaments to be printed with recycled filaments are investigated and it has been determined that most of the countries cause environmental pollution due to the waste of materials including additive manufacturing and 3DP processes. The use of the filament material, which takes a long time to procure from abroad and is mainly procured externally, will be increased from one time to twice or thrice, thus facilitating the availability and preventing environmental pollution.
STUDIES ON EFFECT OF Nb SEGREGATION AND FORMATION OF SECONDARY PHASES OF Ni–Cr–Mo CLAD ON 316L SUBSTRATE BY COLD METAL ARC TRANSFER PROCESS
Authors: EVANGELINE A. , SATHIYA P. , ARIVAZHAGAN B.
Published: October 2021

In current scenario, there is an ever increasing demand for alloys with increased wear resistance under severe working conditions. Ni–Cr–Mo alloy is suitable for surface modification and repairing applications. The Ni–Cr–Mo alloy clad region had cellular-dendrite with Laves phase and complex nitrides/carbides (MX) distributed in the interdendritic regions. Microindentation hardness variation was observed on the interdendritic regions as compared to that of dendritic regions. A new solidification path is confirmed through EDS analysis. Ni, Fe and Cr segregate to the dendritic area, whereas Nb and Mo segregate to the interdendritic region. Ni–Cr–Mo microstructure evolution was studied by optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM). The Laves and G phases were identified in the Ni–Cr–Mo clad region, confirming superior resistance to corrosion. Pin-on-disc abrasion wear technique confirmed that cladding with low base metal dilution possesses better wear resistance. The mechanism of wear depends on load applied and sliding time. EBSD analysis revealed random texture and grains have same crystallographic orientation across the interface boundary line due to epitaxial growth.
Bivariate systems of polynomial equations with roots of high multiplicity
Authors: Nikitin I.
Published: October 2021

Given a bivariate system of polynomial equations with fixed support sets [Formula: see text] it is natural to ask which multiplicities its solutions can have. We prove that there exists a system with a solution of multiplicity [Formula: see text] for all [Formula: see text] in the range [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the set of all integral vectors that shift B to a subset of [Formula: see text]. As an application, we classify all pairs [Formula: see text] such that the system supported at [Formula: see text] does not have a solution of multiplicity higher than [Formula: see text].
Domains whose ideals meet a universal restriction
Authors: Zafrullah Muhammad
Published: October 2021

Let [Formula: see text] represent a set of proper nonzero ideals [Formula: see text] (respectively, t-ideals [Formula: see text]) of an integral domain [Formula: see text] and let P be a valid property of ideals of D. We say S(D) meets P (denoted [Formula: see text] if each [Formula: see text] is contained in an ideal satisfying P. If S(D) [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] cannot be controlled. When [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] does not imply I(R) [Formula: see text] while [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] implies [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] usually. We say S(D) meets P with a twist [Formula: see text]written [Formula: see text] if each [Formula: see text] is such that, for some [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] is contained in an ideal satisfying P and study [Formula: see text] as its predecessor. A modification of the above approach is used to give generalizations of almost bezout domains.
Polymeric Silver Nanoparticles: Potential for Folate-Targeted Delivery of Cisplatin In Vitro
Authors: Veerappan Radhini , Daniels Aliscia , Singh Moganavelli
Published: October 2021

Nanotechnology is a favorable avenue for improving therapeutic strategies, especially in cancer therapy. The harmful side effects of traditional cancer therapy impact dramatically on the patient’s quality of life. Cisplatin, a commonly used anticancer drug, is implicated in side effects such as neurotoxicity, nephrotoxicity and reduced blood cell count. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have been investigated for their antibacterial effects and their anticancer activities to a lesser extent. Their capability as drug delivery vehicles has not been fully exploited, primarily due to their inconclusive cytotoxicity observed in healthy tissues. This study aimed to synthesize and characterize nanoparticles (NPs), consisting of Ag, chitosan (Cs) and folic acid (FA) (CsAg and FACsAg), loading them with cisplatin (C) (C-CsAg and C-FACsAg) and comparing their anticancer activities in the human embryonic kidney (HEK293), breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7) and cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cells. All NPs and drug nanocomplexes were morphologically and physicochemically characterized, revealing NPs and nanocomplexes of favorable sizes ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]nm), polydispersity and stability. The drug encapsulation efficiencies for C-CsAg and C-FACsAg were 50% and 72%, respectively, while drug release studies indicated that cisplatin release was pH dependent. The C-FACsAg nanocomplexes produced greater anticancer activity than C-CsAg. Folate receptor-mediated uptake was confirmed for the C-FACsAg nanocomplexes in the receptor-rich HeLa cells boding well for future in vivo research.
An improvement for the automatic classification method for ultrasound images used on CNN
Authors: Avazov Kuldoshbay , Abdusalomov Akmalbek , Mukhiddinov Mukhriddin , Baratov Nodirbek , Makhmudov Fazliddin , Cho Young Im
Published: October 2021

It is no secret today that quality software has a higher superiority than leading technology solutions in computer vision. Remarkable advancement has been achieved in ultrasound image classification, essentially because of the availability of large-scale annotated datasets and deep convolutional neural networks (CNN). Applying CNN in the sphere of medicine is also becoming an active and attractive research area for researchers. In this paper, we introduce an efficient method for the classification of fetal ultrasound images using CNN. To classify these images, we collected four types of fetal ultrasound images from hospitals and internet sources. We first analyze and evaluate various CNN models such as AlexNet, Inception_v3, and MobileNet_v1 for training and testing. Then, the results of these CNN models are quantitatively compared with the proposed model in accuracy and speed. The results show that the proposed classification method can be recognized faster without compromising performance and adjust the ultrasound image parameters quickly and automatically. The proposed CNN model’s weight size is less than 1[Formula: see text]Mb and can be used on mobile or embedded operating systems. We also developed and tested the application on the Android operating system-based mobile device.
Orthogonal Aza-BODIPY–BODIPY dyad as heavy-atom free photosensitizer for photo-initiated antibacterial therapy
Authors: Yang Dongliang , Sun Liguo , Xue Lei , Wang Xiaorui , Hu Yanling , Shao Jinjun , Fu Ling , Dong Xiaochen
Published: October 2021

Photodynamic antibacterial therapy shows great potential in bacterial infection and the reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of the photosensitizers is crucial for the therapeutic effect. Introducing heavy atoms is a common strategy to enhance photodynamic performance, while dark toxicity can be induced to impede further clinical application. Herein, a novel halogen-free photosensitizer Aza-BODIPY-BODIPY dyad NDB with an orthogonal molecular configuration was synthesized for photodynamic antibacterial therapy. The absorption and emission peaks of NDB photosensitizer in toluene were observed at 703[Formula: see text]nm and 744[Formula: see text]nm, respectively. The fluorescence (FL) lifetime was measured to be 2.8[Formula: see text]ns in toluene. Under 730 nm laser illumination, the ROS generation capability of NDB was 3-fold higher than that of the commercial ICG. After nanoprecipitation, NDB NPs presented the advantages of high photothermal conversion efficiency (39.1%), good photostability, and excellent biocompatibility. More importantly, in vitro antibacterial assay confirmed that the ROS and the heat generated by NDB NPs could extirpate methicillin-resistant S. aureus effectively upon exposure to 730[Formula: see text]nm laser, suggesting the potential application of NDB NPs in photo-initiated antibacterial therapy.
Key Factors Affecting User Adoption of Open-Access Data Repositories in Intelligence and Security Informatics: An Affordance Perspective
Authors: Wen Bo , Hu Paul Jen-Hwa , Ebrahimi Mohammadreza , Chen Hsinchun
Published: October 2021

Rich, diverse cybersecurity data are critical for efforts by the
intelligence and security informatics (ISI)
community. Although
open-access data repositories (OADRs)
provide tremendous benefits for ISI researchers and practitioners, determinants of their adoption remain understudied. Drawing on affordance theory and extant ISI literature, this study proposes a factor model to explain how the essential and unique affordances of an OADR (i.e., relevance, accessibility, and integration) affect individual professionals' intentions to use and collaborate with AZSecure, a major OADR. A survey study designed to test the model and hypotheses reveals that the effects of affordances on ISI professionals' intentions to use and collaborate are mediated by perceived usefulness and ease of use, which then jointly determine their perceived value. This study advances ISI research by specifying three important affordances of OADRs; it also contributes to extant technology adoption literature by scrutinizing and affirming the interplay of essential user acceptance and value perceptions to explain ISI professionals' adoptions of OADRs.
Mining High Utility Itemsets with Hill Climbing and Simulated Annealing
Authors: Nawaz M. Saqib , Fournier-Viger Philippe , Yun Unil , Wu Youxi , Song Wei
Published: October 2021

High utility itemset mining (HUIM) is the task of finding all items set, purchased together, that generate a high profit in a transaction database. In the past, several algorithms have been developed to mine high utility itemsets (HUIs). However, most of them cannot properly handle the exponential search space while finding HUIs when the size of the database and total number of items increases. Recently, evolutionary and heuristic algorithms were designed to mine HUIs, which provided considerable performance improvement. However, they can still have a long runtime and some may miss many HUIs. To address this problem, this article proposes two algorithms for HUIM based on Hill Climbing (HUIM-HC) and Simulated Annealing (HUIM-SA). Both algorithms transform the input database into a bitmap for efficient utility computation and for search space pruning. To improve population diversity, HUIs discovered by evolution are used as target values for the next population instead of keeping the current optimal values in the next population. Through experiments on real-life datasets, it was found that the proposed algorithms are faster than state-of-the-art heuristic and evolutionary HUIM algorithms, that HUIM-SA discovers similar HUIs, and that HUIM-SA evolves linearly with the number of iterations.
Cross-Modality Transfer Learning for Image-Text Information Management
Authors: Niu Shuteng , Jiang Yushan , Chen Bowen , Wang Jian , Liu Yongxin , Song Houbing
Published: October 2021

In the past decades, information from all kinds of data has been on a rapid increase. With state-of-the-art performance, machine learning algorithms have been beneficial for information management. However, insufficient supervised training data is still an adversity in many real-world applications. Therefore, transfer learning (TF) was proposed to address this issue. This article studies a not well investigated but important TL problem termed
cross-modality transfer learning
(CMTL). This topic is closely related to distant domain transfer learning (DDTL) and negative transfer. In general, conventional TL disciplines assume that the source domain and the target domain are in the same modality. DDTL aims to make efficient transfers even when the domains or the tasks are entirely different. As an extension of DDTL, CMTL aims to make efficient transfers between two different data modalities, such as from image to text. As the main focus of this study, we aim to improve the performance of image classification by transferring knowledge from text data. Previously, a few CMTL algorithms were proposed to deal with image classification problems. However, most existing algorithms are very task specific, and they are unstable on convergence. There are four main contributions in this study. First, we propose a novel heterogeneous CMTL algorithm, which requires only a tiny set of unlabeled target data and labeled source data with associate text tags. Second, we introduce a latent semantic information extraction method to connect the information learned from the image data and the text data. Third, the proposed method can effectively handle the information transfer across different modalities (text-image). Fourth, we examined our algorithm on a public dataset, Office-31. It has achieved up to 5% higher classification accuracy than “non-transfer” algorithms and up to 9% higher than existing CMTL algorithms.
Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Survey
Authors: Souza Vinicius , Maciel Anderson , Nedel Luciana , Kopper Regis
Published: October 2021

The effectiveness of a virtual reality experience is strongly affected by the sense of presence of the users involved. This article reviews the different definitions of presence and the main proposed methods to measure it through the analysis of 1,214 papers published in the past 30 years. From the analysis of 239 user studies, we found that 85.8% used subjective measures, 11.7% used a combination of subjective and objective measures, while 2.5% used only objective measures. We also identified, from the studies reviewed, 29 main factors to evoke presence in virtual environments, grouped into four categories: Engagement, Personal Characteristics, Interaction Fidelity, and Display Fidelity.
A Survey on End-User Robot Programming
Authors: Ajaykumar Gopika , Steele Maureen , Huang Chien-Ming
Published: October 2021

As robots interact with a broader range of end-users, end-user robot programming has helped democratize robot programming by empowering end-users who may not have experience in robot programming to customize robots to meet their individual contextual needs. This article surveys work on end-user robot programming, with a focus on end-user program specification. It describes the primary domains, programming phases, and design choices represented by the end-user robot programming literature. The survey concludes by highlighting open directions for further investigation to enhance and widen the reach of end-user robot programming systems.
Evolutionary Machine Learning: A Survey
Authors: Telikani Akbar , Tahmassebi Amirhessam , Banzhaf Wolfgang , Gandomi Amir H.
Published: October 2021

Evolutionary Computation (EC) approaches are inspired by nature and solve optimization problems in a stochastic manner. They can offer a reliable and effective approach to address complex problems in real-world applications. EC algorithms have recently been used to improve the performance of Machine Learning (ML) models and the quality of their results. Evolutionary approaches can be used in all three parts of ML: preprocessing (e.g., feature selection and resampling), learning (e.g., parameter setting, membership functions, and neural network topology), and postprocessing (e.g., rule optimization, decision tree/support vectors pruning, and ensemble learning). This article investigates the role of EC algorithms in solving different ML challenges. We do not provide a comprehensive review of evolutionary ML approaches here; instead, we discuss how EC algorithms can contribute to ML by addressing conventional challenges of the artificial intelligence and ML communities. We look at the contributions of EC to ML in nine sub-fields: feature selection, resampling, classifiers, neural networks, reinforcement learning, clustering, association rule mining, and ensemble methods. For each category, we discuss evolutionary machine learning in terms of three aspects: problem formulation, search mechanisms, and fitness value computation. We also consider open issues and challenges that should be addressed in future work.
A Survey of Automated Programming Hint Generation: The HINTS Framework
Authors: McBroom Jessica , Koprinska Irena , Yacef Kalina
Published: October 2021

Automated tutoring systems offer the flexibility and scalability necessary to facilitate the provision of high-quality and universally accessible programming education. To realise the potential of these systems, recent work has proposed a diverse range of techniques for automatically generating feedback in the form of hints to assist students with programming exercises. This article integrates these apparently disparate approaches into a coherent whole. Specifically, it emphasises that all hint techniques can be understood as a series of simpler components with similar properties. Using this insight, it presents a simple framework for describing such techniques, the Hint Iteration by Narrow-down and Transformation Steps framework, and surveys recent work in the context of this framework. Findings from this survey include that (1) hint techniques share similar properties, which can be used to visualise them together, (2) the individual steps of hint techniques should be considered when designing and evaluating hint systems, (3) more work is required to develop and improve evaluation methods, and (4) interesting relationships, such as the link between automated hints and data-driven evaluation, should be further investigated. Ultimately, this article aims to facilitate the development, extension, and comparison of automated programming hint techniques to maximise their educational potential.
Novel Machine Learning for Big Data Analytics in Intelligent Support Information Management Systems
Authors: Lv Zhihan , Lou Ranran , Feng Hailin , Chen Dongliang , Lv Haibin
Published: October 2021

Two-dimensional
1
arrays of bi-component structures made of cobalt and permalloy elliptical dots with thickness of 25 nm, length 1 mm and width of 225 nm, have been prepared by a self-aligned shadow deposition technique. Brillouin light scattering has been exploited to study the frequency dependence of thermally excited magnetic eigenmodes on the intensity of the external magnetic field, applied along the easy axis of the elements.

Scientific information technology has been developed rapidly. Here, the purposes are to make people's lives more convenient and ensure information management and classification. The machine learning algorithm is improved to obtain the optimized Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) algorithm. Then, an Android-based intelligent support information management system is designed based on LightGBM for the big data analysis and classification management of information in the intelligent support information management system. The system is designed with modules of employee registration and login, company announcement notice, attendance and attendance management, self-service, and daily tools with the company as the subject. Furthermore, the performance of the constructed information management system is analyzed through simulations. Results demonstrate that the training time of the optimized LightGBM algorithm can stabilize at about 100s, and the test time can stabilize at 0.68s. Besides, its accuracy rate can reach 89.24%, which is at least 3.6% higher than other machine learning algorithms. Moreover, the acceleration efficiency analysis of each algorithm suggests that the optimized LightGBM algorithm is suitable for processing large amounts of data; its acceleration effect is more apparent, and its acceleration ratio is higher than other algorithms. Hence, the constructed intelligent support information management system can reach a high accuracy while ensuring the error, with apparent acceleration effect. Therefore, this model can provide an experimental reference for information classification and management in various fields.