bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Improving Medical X-ray Report Generation by Using Knowledge Graph
Authors: Zhang Dehai , Ren Anquan , Liang Jiashu , Liu Qing , Wang Haoxing , Ma Yu
Published: November 2022

In clinical diagnosis, radiological reports are essential to guide the patient’s treatment. However, writing radiology reports is a critical and time-consuming task for radiologists. Existing deep learning methods often ignore the interplay between medical findings, which may be a bottleneck limiting the quality of generated radiology reports. Our paper focuses on the automatic generation of medical reports from input chest X-ray images. In this work, we mine the associations between medical discoveries in the given texts and construct a knowledge graph based on the associations between medical discoveries. The patient’s chest X-ray image and clinical history file were used as input to extract the image–text hybrid features. Then, this feature is used as the input of the adjacency matrix of the knowledge graph, and the graph neural network is used to aggregate and transfer the information between each node to generate the situational representation of the disease with prior knowledge. These disease situational representations with prior knowledge are fed into the generator for self-supervised learning to generate radiology reports. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method using metrics from natural language generation and clinical efficacy on two public datasets. Our experiments show that our method outperforms state-of-the-art methods with the help of a knowledge graph constituted by prior knowledge of the patient.
Development of Liquid Crystal Cream Containing Germinated Brown Rice
Authors: Jarupinthusophon Suekanya , Preechataninrat Phatlita , Anurukvorakun Oraphan
Published: November 2022

Herbal cosmetics are gaining popularity over chemicals for beauty products. However, natural products are often prone to deterioration. Therefore, stability and compatibility testing are the main examinations of the safety and reliability of herbal cosmetics. Liquid crystal structures provide better application performances than conventional emulsion systems in terms of stability, controlled release, and moisturizing. Rice is the most profitable crop in Thailand, and the skin healing benefits of rice have been reported. Thus, the current study aimed to develop a liquid crystal cream containing germinated brown rice extract (GBR) or biological cosmetic active ingredients, to study its efficacy on hydration effects and moisturizer, to identify the active ingredient content, such as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), phenolic content, and to evaluate the physical properties and stability of the product. Results revealed that GBR contained GABA and a total phenolic content of 273.28 mg GABA/100 g of rice and 2.58 mg GAE/100 g of rice, respectively. The GBR-liquid crystal cream had good stability and moisturizing effect. The developed products were statistically significantly in hydrating more than a counter brand product. The product that increased moisture the most was the GBR-liquid crystal cream. The GBR-liquid crystal cream provided a high-efficiency moisturizing effect and reliability enabling it to be a premium commercial product shortly.
GWO-Based Simulated Annealing Approach for Load Balancing in Cloud for Hosting Container as a Service
Authors: Patra Manoj Kumar , Misra Sanjay , Sahoo Bibhudatta , Turuk Ashok Kumar
Published: November 2022

Container-based virtualization has gained significant popularity in recent years because of its simplicity in deployment and adaptability in terms of cloud resource provisioning. Containerization technology is the recent development in cloud computing systems that is more efficient, reliable, and has better overall performance than a traditional virtual machine (VM) based technology. Containerized clouds produce better performance by maximizing host-level resource utilization and using a load-balancing technique. To this end, this article concentrates on distributing the workload among all available servers evenly. In this paper, we propose a Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) based Simulated Annealing approach to counter the problem of load balancing in the containerized cloud that also considers the deadline miss rate. We have compared our results with the Genetic and Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm and evaluated the proposed algorithms by considering the parameter load variation and makespan. Our experimental result shows that, in most cases, more than 97% of the tasks were meeting their deadline and the Grey Wolf Optimization Algorithm with Simulated Annealing (GWO-SA) performs better than all other approaches in terms of load variation and makespan.
Recent Advances in Swarm Robotics Coordination: Communication and Memory Challenges
Authors: Gutiérrez Álvaro
Published: November 2022

Swarm robotics research has been present for some decades, providing nature-inspired algorithms in swarms of robots [...]
DPMF: Decentralized Probabilistic Matrix Factorization for Privacy-Preserving Recommendation
Authors: Yang Xu , Luo Yuchuan , Fu Shaojing , Xu Ming , Chen Yingwen
Published: November 2022

Collaborative filtering is a popular approach for building an efficient and scalable recommender system. However, it has not unleashed its full potential due to the following problems. (1) Serious privacy concerns: collaborative filtering relies on aggregated user data to make personalized predictions, which means that the centralized server can access and compromise user privacy. (2) Expensive resources required: conventional collaborative filtering techniques require a server with powerful computing capacity and large storage space, so that the server can train and maintain the model. (3) Considering only one form of user feedback: most existing works aim to model user preferences based on explicit feedback (e.g., ratings) or implicit feedback (e.g., purchase history, viewing history) due to their heterogeneous representation; however, these two forms of feedback are abundant in most collaborative filtering applications, can both affect the model, and very few works studied the simultaneous use thereof. To solve the above problems, in this study we focus on implementing decentralized probabilistic matrix factorization for privacy-preserving recommendations. First, we explore the existing collaborative filtering algorithms and propose a probabilistic matrix co-factorization model. By integrating explicit and implicit feedback into a shared probabilistic model, the model can cope with the heterogeneity between these two forms of feedback. Further, we devise a decentralized learning method that allows users to keep their private data on the end devices. A novel decomposing strategy is proposed for users to exchange only non-private information, in which stochastic gradient descent is used for updating the models. Complexity analysis proves that our method is highly efficient with linear computation and communication complexity. Experiments conducted on two real-world datasets FilmTrust and Epinions show that our model gains a guarantee of convergence as the RMSE decreases quickly within 100 rounds of iterations. Compared with the state-of-the-art models, our model achieves lower model loss in rating prediction task and higher precision in item recommendation task.
Extraction of the Electromagnetic Parameters of a Metamaterial Using the Nicolson–Ross–Weir Method: An Analysis Based on Global Analytic Functions and Riemann Surfaces
Authors: Angiulli Giovanni , Versaci Mario
Published: November 2022

The characterization of electromagnetic metamaterials (MMs) plays a fundamental role in their engineering processes. To this end, the Nicolson–Ross–Weir (NRW) method is intensively used to recover the effective parameters of MMs, even though this is affected by the branch ambiguity problem. In this paper, we face this issue in the context of global analytic functions and Riemann surfaces. This point of view allows us to rigorously demonstrate the mathematical foundations of an algorithmic approach for avoiding the branch ambiguity problem, in which the phase unwrapping method is merged with K-K relations for recovering the effective parameters of an MM. In addition, exploiting the intimate relationship between the K-K relations and the Hilbert transform, a simple variant of the above algorithm is presented.
Significant Advancements in Numerical Simulation of Fatigue Behavior in Metal Additive Manufacturing-Review
Authors: Gandhi Ragul , Maccioni Lorenzo , Concli Franco
Published: November 2022

The concept of “Industry 4.0” encourages the use of automated manufacturing processes and the use of advanced technological systems. Some of the most fundamental needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution can only be met with the help of additive manufacturing. However, the mechanical behavior and reliability of additive-manufactured components are hardly recognized. This paper provides a systematic review of metal additive manufacturing technologies, materials, lattice structures, and fatigue properties as well as the development of numerical simulations. The current state of development in metal alloys and the optimization of cellular structures were presented. In addition, this paper discussed the main challenges in numerical simulation methods, their validation with experimental results, and the limitations of commercial software used. Overall, this paper provides an overview of metal additive manufacturing as well as a survey of its simulation software development to optimize several parameters in industrial and academic research fields. The results were critically analyzed and provided a benchmark for future research and development.
Dynamic Investigation and Optimization of a Solar-Based Unit for Power and Green Hydrogen Production: A Case Study of the Greek Island, Kythnos
Authors: Lykas Panagiotis , Bellos Evangelos , Caralis George , Tzivanidis Christos
Published: November 2022

The aim of the present work is the analysis of a solar-driven unit that is located on the non-interconnected island of Kythnos, Greece, that can produce electricity and green hydrogen. More specifically, solar energy is exploited by parabolic trough collectors, and the produced heat is stored in a thermal energy storage tank. Additionally, an organic Rankine unit is incorporated to generate electricity, which contributes to covering the island’s demand in a clean and renewable way. When the power cannot be absorbed by the local grid, it can be provided to a water electrolyzer; therefore, the excess electricity is stored in the form of hydrogen. The produced hydrogen amount is compressed, afterward stored in tanks, and then finally can be utilized as a fuel to meet other important needs, such as powering vehicles or ferries. The installation is simulated parametrically and optimized on dynamic conditions, in terms of energy, exergy, and finance. According to the results, considering a base electrical load of 75 kW, the annual energy and exergy efficiencies are found at 14.52% and 15.48%, respectively, while the payback period of the system is determined at 6.73 years and the net present value is equal to EUR 1,073,384.
Fast and Slow Earthquakes in Alaska: Implications from a Three-Dimensional Thermal Regime and Slab Metamorphism
Authors: Qu Rui , Ji Yingfeng , Zhu Weiling , Zhao Youjia , Zhu Ye
Published: November 2022

Fast and slow earthquakes are predominantly generated along faults constituting active plate boundaries. Characterized by repeated devastating earthquakes and frequent slow slip events and tremors, the Alaska megathrust presents a chance to understand the complicated dynamics of a subduction system changing from steep to shallow dips associated with enigmatically abundant fast and slow seismic events. Based on three-dimensional thermal modeling, we find that the downgoing metamorphosed oceanic crust containing bound water releases a large amount of fluid and causes the recurrence of fast and slow earthquakes by elevated pore fluid pressure and hydrofracturing. The seismogenic interface and the slow slip events (SSEs) identified beneath the Upper Cook Inlet coincide well with the slab metamorphic dehydration regions. The observed slow earthquakes with quasi-stable fault slips preferentially occur, accompanied by high dehydration and temperature downdip along the transition zone.
Thermodynamic Analysis of Three Internal Reforming Protonic Ceramic Fuel Cell-Gas Turbine Hybrid Systems
Authors: Sasmoko Sasmoko , Lee Sheng-Wei , Bhavanari Mallikarjun , Wijayanti Widya , Wardana I.N.G. , Azhari Ahmad Andi , Tseng Chung-Jen
Published: November 2022

Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) offer direct and efficient conversion of hydrocarbon fuels into electricity. In this study, three internal-reforming (IR)-PCFC/gas turbine (GT) hybrid systems are proposed and analyzed to achieve higher system efficiency. High-quality heat from GT in system 1 and system 2 is supplied to anode and cathode preheaters, respectively, whereas in system 3, the heat is simultaneously split into both preheaters. Effects of air flow rate, fuel utilization factor (Uf), and steam to carbon ratio (S/C) are also investigated. It is found that the best system design can be achieved by effectively utilizing GT exhaust heat for both electrode preheaters, as indicated in system 3. The maximum energy system efficiency obtained among the hybrid systems analyzed in this study is 71% with total exergy destruction of 686.7 kW. When fueled by methane, the hybrid system can achieve energy and exergy efficiencies of 71% and 77%, respectively, with 0.85 Uf. On the other hand, propane-fueled systems can achieve energy and exergy efficiencies of 68% and 75%, respectively. As S/C increases from 2 to 7, system efficiency decreases from 71% to 50%. When system 3 is fueled with butane or propane, system efficiency is only 3% lower than that fueled by methane.
Industry 4.0 Technologies as an Obsolescence Mitigator for Testing of Mechatronic Systems in Aviation
Authors: Klein Konstantin , Thoben Klaus-Dieter
Published: November 2022

Companies building products with a usage phase of 25 years and more, have suffered from obsolescence for decades. Software and hardware components inside of the supporting systems, such as avionics test benches, are particularly affected. They consist of components built for 3–7 years but expected to operate for decades. The lack of standardized, open and modular systems for special timing constraints increase the pressure and impede the interoperability in this field. Industry 4.0 systems offer exactly this, but do not support aviation standards. The research in this article aims to show that it is possible to use widespread Industry 4.0 standards and technology at the field level to achieve transferability and maintainability in the operation of test benches. This article describes an implemented and evaluated proof of concept of the implementation of an industrial ethernet standard EtherCAT for the ARINC 429 I/O for an aviation test bench. As a baseline, market available EtherCAT components were evaluated and selected. For the client development, standard components for the EtherCAT logic and ARINC 429 were used. Additionally, the full interoperability at the syntax level, was achieved by implementing a configuration approach of the I/O, in order to encode and decode the messages. The evaluation was performed using an Airbus A350-1000 test bench for secondary flight controls—namely the HighLift system.
Strain Versus 2D Shear-Wave Elastography Parameters—Which Score Better in Predicting Thyroid Cancer?
Authors: Borlea Andreea , Sporea Ioan , Popa Alexandru , Derban Mihnea , Taban Laura , Stoian Dana
Published: November 2022

The aim of this study is to assess the diagnostic performance of strain elastography (SE) versus 2D shear-wave elastography (2D-SWE) by providing a head-to-head comparison of the two methods. Ninety-four thyroid nodules were evaluated using conventional ultrasound (B-mode) and SE, namely, real-time elastography (RTE) with a Hitachi Preirus machine (Hitachi Inc., Tokyo, Japan) and consecutively, 2D-SWE with SuperSonic Mach30 equipment (Supersonic Imagine, Aix-en-Provence, France). The results were compared in all cases to the pathology reports. Out of the 94 nodules, 29 (30.9%) were malignant. Both SE and 2D-SWE parameters proved to have excellent diagnostic quality, with comparable results. The mean elasticity index was the best parameter for the 2D-SWE (AUC 0.912); for a cut-off value of 30.5 kPa, it predicts thyroid malignancy with a sensitivity of 79.3%, specificity of 95.38%, NPV of 91.2% and PPV of 88.5%. The best parameter for SE was the strain ratio (cutoff > 3.9; sensitivity 82.7%; specificity 92.3%; AUC 0.905). When integrated in the ultrasound risk algorithm, both elastography methods improved the diagnostic performance: AUC 0.764 vs. 0.886 vs. 0.861 for B-modes: B-mode + 2D-SWE vs. B-mode + SE. We concluded that elastography adds diagnostic value in predicting malignancy, both when Hitachi RTE and SuperSonic 2D-SWE were used.
Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) Imaging Simulation of the Distant Planetary Magnetosphere and ENA Emission Discussion of the Solar Wind
Authors: Lu Li , Yu Qinglong , Jia Shuai , Chang Yuan
Published: November 2022

We doubt whether the “Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) ribbon” signals, especially the peak ones, scanned remotely by IBEX-Hi at the lunar resonance orbit, are really from the heliopause, which involves assessing the scale of solar wind particle energy loss throughout the solar system. The ENA imaging simulation results at the Earth’s orbit show that the scale of the planetary magnetosphere with a telemetry distance of AU magnitude is too small to contribute to the IBEX-Hi ribbon. However, the simulated effective ENA differential fluxes provide a reference for the physical scale evaluation of the huge magnetic structure in the heliopause. The ENA differential flux of the “ENA emission cone” generated by the charge exchange between the solar wind ion flow and local neutral gas near the Earth’s orbit is also comparable to the measured peak of the IBEX-Hi ribbon, which may be the main ENA emission source of the ribbon’s measured peak. The 2D ENA imaging measurements at the Lagrange points proposed here can be used to investigate the ENA ribbon origination by using the energy spectral lag vs the disparity of the ENA images.
Characteristics of Unorganized Hydrogen Sulfide Dispersion for Industrial Building Layout Optimization
Authors: Ma Weiwu , Guo Jiaxin , Du Weiqiang , Zeng Zheng , Li Liqing
Published: November 2022

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is the main toxic pollutant emitted to the atmosphere from auto-coating wastewater. Its unorganized dispersion poses a health challenge for workers. Defining safe working distance, which transfers the H2S occupational exposure limit into industrial construction design regulation, would be a useful approach for reducing H2S exposure risk. Therefore, in this study, an H2S dispersion prediction, within 25 m, was performed by a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method to explore the influence of temperature and wind speed on H2S dispersion. With the temperature changes from 288 K to 303 K, the H2S concentration at different observing points decreased. With wind speed changes from 2 m/s to 20 m/s, the plume layer structure was studied in the whole process. According to the H2S distribution characteristics, when the sedimentation tank treatment capacity is less than or equal to 10 m3/h, the safe working distance of H2S unorganized dispersion is 10 m. Hence, when there are workplaces within 10 m of the tank, closed measures should be taken for the sedimentation tank, or the manufacturer layout should be optimized to protect the environment and human health.
Observations and Forecasts of Urban Transportation Meteorology in China: A Review
Authors: Zhu Shoupeng , Yang Huadong , Liu Duanyang , Wang Hongbin , Zhou Linyi , Zhu Chengying , Zu Fan , Wu Hong , Lyu Yang , Xia Yu , Zhu Yanhe , Fan Yi , Zhang Ling , Zhi Xiefei
Published: November 2022

Against the backdrop of intensified global warming, extreme weather events such as dense fog, low visibility, heavy precipitation, and extreme temperatures have been increased and enhanced to a great extent. They are likely to pose severe threats to the operation of urban transportation and associated services, which has drawn much attention in recent decades. However, there are still plenty of issues to be resolved in improving the emergency meteorological services and developing targeted urban transportation meteorological services in modern cities. The present review briefly illustrates the current cutting-edge developments and trends in the field of urban transportation meteorology in China, including the establishment of observation networks and experiments and the development of early warning and prediction technologies, as well as the related meteorological commercial services. Meanwhile, reflections and discussions are provided in terms of the state-of-the-art observation channels and methods and the application of numerical model forecasts and artificial intelligence. With the advantages of various advanced technologies from multiple aspects, researchers could further expand explorations on urban transportation meteorological observations, forecasts, early warnings, and services. Associated theoretical studies and practical investigations are also to be carried out to provide solid scientific foundations for urban transportation disaster prevention and mitigation, for implementing the action of meteorological guarantees, and for the construction of a high-quality smart society.
Lightning Whistler Wave Speech Recognition Based on Grey Wolf Optimization Algorithm
Authors: Yuan Jing , Li Chenxiao , Wang Qiao , Han Ying , Wang Jialinqing , Zeren Zhima , Huang Jianping , Feng Jilin , Shen Xuhui , Wang Yali
Published: November 2022

The recognition algorithm of the lightning whistler wave, based on intelligent speech, is the key technology to break the bottleneck of massive data and study the temporal and spatial variation rules of the lightning whistler wave. However, its recognition effect depends on the hyperparameters determined by manual experiments repeatedly, which takes a great deal of time and cannot guarantee the best recognition effect of the model. Therefore, we proposed the lightning whistler wave recognition algorithm based on grey wolf optimization (GWO). In this paper, the GWO algorithm is used to automatically find the best value of hyperparameters of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) in their limited searching space. Here we consider the number of hidden units (hu) and learning rate (lr) as the hyperparameters to be optimized, and the spatial coordinate (hu, lr) as the grey wolf position. By the end of the GWO process, we obtain the position of the wolf king α with the optimal hu and lr searched by the GWO algorithm. Then we use the optimal hu and lr to configure LSTM and perform supervised learning on the train set to obtain the final lightning whistler wave speech recognition model. Through experimental verification, the recognition model based on the GWO not only overcomes the uncertainty of the traditional model relying on manual finetuning of parameters and realizes the mechanism of automatic search and acquisition of hyperparameters, but also its recognition effect improves by about 2% in accuracy, F1score, and other metrics compared with the model trained by manually setting hyperparameters.
Pseudo-Relativistic Hartree–Fock and Fully Relativistic Dirac–Hartree–Fock Calculations of Radiative Parameters in the Fifth Spectrum of Lutetium (Lu V)
Authors: Maison Lucas , Carvajal Gallego Helena , Quinet Pascal
Published: November 2022

Using two independent theoretical methods based on the pseudo-relativistic Hartree–Fock (HFR) and the fully relativistic Multiconfigurational Dirac–Hartree–Fock (MCDHF) approaches, we computed the radiative parameters (transition probabilities and oscillator strengths) corresponding to the spectrum of quadruply ionized lutetium (Lu V). The agreement observed between both sets of results allowed us to deduce the radiative rates for a large amount of transitions in order to calculate the contribution of this ion to the opacity of kilonovae in their early phases, i.e., for T = 25,000 K. The results obtained were compared to previous data computed for other quadruply ionized lanthanide atoms, namely La V, Ce V, Pr V, Nd V and Pm V, in order to highlight the main contributors to the opacity among these ions under kilonovae conditions where the Vth spectra are predominant.
Probiotic Regulation to Modulate Aging Gut and Brain Health: A Concise Review
Authors: Samtiya Mrinal , Puniya Anil Kumar , Puniya Monica , Shah Nagendra P. , Dhewa Tejpal , Vemuri Ravichandra
Published: November 2022

The human gastrointestinal (GI) tract contains a diverse mixture of commensal and pathogenic microbes, forming the gut microbiome. These gut microbes and their potential to improve human health are a topic of great interest to the scientific community. Many intestinal and age-related complications are linked to dysbiosis of the gut microbiome, often associated with a weakened immune system. A decrease in beneficial microbes, generally, along with decreased microbial diversity in the gut, can, in many cases, result in disease, particularly in older individuals. Probiotics, which are ingestible beneficial microorganisms, have the potential to positively modulate the indigenous gut microbiota. There are two predominant and conventional classes of lactic acid bacterial probiotics, lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, which have been confirmed for their health benefits and role in preventing certain gut-related disorders. The proper use of probiotics and/or supplements, along with a consistently healthy lifestyle, is a promising holistic approach to maintaining or improving gut health and minimizing other age-linked disorders. There are many properties that bacterial probiotics possess, which may allow for these beneficial effects in the gut. For instance, probiotics have adhesion capacities (capability to stay in GI tract) that are effective in excluding pathogens, while other probiotics have the potential to stimulate or modulate the intestinal immune system by regulating genes that reside within and outside of the gut environment. This review discussed the possible underlying mechanics of probiotics, evidence of probiotic-based mitigation of age-related disease, and the role of probiotics in modulating gut health and, in turn, maintaining brain health.
Experimental Benchmarking of Redox Flow Cells
Authors: Whitehead Adam H. , Robertson Alasdair , Martin Benjamin , Martin Elisha , Wilson Emma
Published: November 2022

There are increasing numbers of scientific articles dedicated to developments in the field of redox flow batteries. To date it is most common to provide efficiency values as a measure of performance. However, there are no agreed standard experimental conditions for these measurements, and so their merit as a tool for comparing different innovations among research groups is put into question. In the following manuscript, various experimental precautions are outlined to reduce experimental artefacts. Original experimental measurements on vanadium flow cells, together with data from the literature, are examined to explore efficiencies and two alternative benchmarking metrics: resistivity and self-discharge current density. The sensitivity of these parameters to current density, temperature, flow rate and state-of-charge range are examined, from which it is concluded that resistivity and self-discharge current density exhibit superior properties to efficiencies for quantifying flow battery improvements.
Room-Temperature Liquid-Metal Coated Zn Electrode for Long Life Cycle Aqueous Rechargeable Zn-Ion Batteries
Authors: Kidanu Weldejewergis Gebrewahid , Yang Hyewon , Park Saemin , Hur Jaehyun , Kim Il Tae
Published: November 2022

Aqueous rechargeable zinc-ion batteries (ARZIBs) are potential candidates for grid-scale energy storage applications. In addition to its reversible chemistry in aqueous electrolytes, Zn metal is stable in water and air. However, there are critical challenges, such as non-uniform plating, hydrogen evolution, corrosion, and the formation of a passivation layer, which must be addressed before practical applications. In this study, the surface of Zn metal was coated with room-temperature bulk liquid-metal and liquid-metal nanoparticles to facilitate the uniform plating of Zn–ions during cycling. A simple probe ultrasonication method was used to prepare the liquid-metal nanoparticles, and a nanoparticle suspension film was formed through spin coating. At an areal capacity and current density of 0.5 mAh cm−2 and 0.5 mA cm−2, respectively, symmetric cells composed of bare Zn metal electrodes were prone to short-circuiting after ~45 h of deposition/striping cycles. However, under the same operating conditions, symmetric cells employing the room-temperature liquid-metal-coated electrodes operated stably for more than 500 h. Compared to the symmetric cell with bare Zn, the symmetric cell with the bulk liquid-metal coated electrode exhibited a significant reduction in the initial nucleation barrier, with respective values of 113.2 and 10.1 mV. Electrochemical characterization of practical full cells also showed significant improvements in the capacity and cycling performance derived from the room-temperature liquid-metal coating.
“In Situ” Formation of Zn Anode from Bimetallic Cu-Zn Alloy (Brass) for Dendrite-Free Operation of Zn-Air Rechargeable Battery
Authors: Nagy Tibor , Nagy Lajos , Erdélyi Zoltán , Baradács Eszter , Deák György , Zsuga Miklós , Kéki Sándor
Published: November 2022

In this article, the performance of brass electrode was investigated in a Zn-air (charcoal-based cathode) rechargeable battery. The construction of the battery was carried out with biodegradable materials, namely a cotton cloth diaphragm and carboxymethyl cellulose sodium salt (CMC-Na) viscosity modifier, while the battery skeleton was printed by 3D printing technology. The brass acted as a collector and a preferable surface for the metallic Zn deposition on the brass anode surface. The electrochemical behavior of the brass anode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Cyclic performance tests were carried out, which showed stable cell operation even in the presence or absence of additives up to more than 100 cycles. Furthermore, high energy (Eeff) and Coulomb (Ceff) efficiencies, 80% (Eeff), 95% (Ceff), 75% (Eeff), and 95% (Ceff) were obtained, respectively. The Shepherd model was applied to describe the discharging processes of the Zn-air battery containing brass as anode in the presence of additive-free electrolyte or electrolyte with CMC-Na salt additive. It was found that the Shepherd equation described only approximately the resulting discharge curves. In order to attain a more precise mathematical description, stretched exponential function was implemented into the last term of the Shepherd equation. The need for such a correction shows the complexity of the electrochemical processes occurring in these systems. In addition, the surface of the brass anode was also investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the composition of the brass alloys was determined by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF). Importantly, the formation of dendritic deposition was successfully suppressed and a smooth and uniform surface was obtained after the cycling tests.
A Space-Time Framework for Sentiment Scope Analysis in Social Media
Authors: Bonifazi Gianluca , Cauteruccio Francesco , Corradini Enrico , Marchetti Michele , Sciarretta Luigi , Ursino Domenico , Virgili Luca
Published: November 2022

The concept of scope was introduced in Social Network Analysis to assess the authoritativeness and convincing ability of a user toward other users on one or more social platforms. It has been studied in the past in some specific contexts, for example to assess the ability of a user to spread information on Twitter. In this paper, we propose a new investigation on scope, as we want to assess the scope of the sentiment of a user on a topic. We also propose a multi-dimensional definition of scope. In fact, besides the traditional spatial scope, we introduce the temporal one, which has never been addressed in the literature, and propose a model that allows the concept of scope to be extended to further dimensions in the future. Furthermore, we propose an approach and a related set of parameters for measuring the scope of the sentiment of a user on a topic in a social network. Finally, we illustrate the results of an experimental campaign we conducted to evaluate the proposed framework on a dataset derived from Reddit. The main novelties of this paper are: (i) a multi-dimensional view of scope; (ii) the introduction of the concept of sentiment scope; (iii) the definition of a general framework capable of analyzing the sentiment scope related to any subject on any social network.
The Landscape of Nucleic-Acid-Based Aptamers for Treatment of Hematologic Malignancies: Challenges and Future Directions
Authors: Wang Si , Yan Xing , Yang Chang , Naranmandura Hua
Published: November 2022

Hematologic malignancies, including leukemia, lymphoma, myeloproliferative disorder and plasma cell neoplasia, are genetically heterogeneous and characterized by an uncontrolled proliferation of their corresponding cell lineages in the bone marrow, peripheral blood, tissues or plasma. Although there are many types of therapeutic drugs (e.g., TKIs, chemotherapy drugs) available for treatment of different malignancies, the relapse, drug resistance and severe side effects due to the lack of selectivity seriously limit their clinical application. Currently, although antibody–drug conjugates have been well established as able to target and deliver highly potent chemotherapy agents into cancer cells for the reduction of damage to healthy cells and have achieved success in leukemia treatment, they still also have shortcomings such as high cost, high immunogenicity and low stability. Aptamers are ssDNA or RNA oligonucleotides that can also precisely deliver therapeutic agents into cancer cells through specifically recognizing the membrane protein on cancer cells, which is similar to the capabilities of monoclonal antibodies. Aptamers exhibit higher binding affinity, lower immunogenicity and higher thermal stability than antibodies. Therefore, in this review we comprehensively describe recent advances in the development of aptamer–drug conjugates (ApDCs) with cytotoxic payload through chemical linkers or direct incorporation, as well as further introduce the latest promising aptamers-based therapeutic strategies such as aptamer–T cell therapy and aptamer–PROTAC, clarifying their bright application, development direction and challenges in the treatment of hematologic malignancies.
Topology Optimization-Based Localized Bone Microstructure Reconstruction for Image Resolution Enhancement: Accuracy and Efficiency
Authors: Kim Jisun , Kim Jung Jin
Published: November 2022

Topology optimization is currently the only way to provide bone microstructure information by enhancing a 600 μm low-resolution image into a 50 μm high-resolution image. Particularly, the recently proposed localized reconstruction method for the region of interest has received much attention because it has a high possibility to overcome inefficiency such as iterative large-scale problems of the conventional reconstruction. Despite the great potential, the localized method should be thoroughly validated for clinical application. This study aims to quantitatively validate the topology optimization-based localized bone microstructure reconstruction method in terms of accuracy and efficiency by comparing the conventional method. For this purpose, this study re-constructed bone microstructure for three regions of interest in the proximal femur by localized and conventional methods, respectively. In the comparison, the dramatically reduced total progress time by at least 88.2% (20.1 h) as well as computational resources by more than 95.9% (54.0 gigabytes) were found. Moreover, very high reconstruction accuracy in the trabecular alignment (up to 99.6%) and morphometric indices (up to 2.71%) was also found. These results indicated that the localized method could reconstruct bone microstructure, much more effectively preserving the originality of the conventional method.
Assessment of Gait Following Locking Plate Fixation of a Tibial Segmental Defect and Cast Immobilization in Goats
Authors: Bowers Kristin M. , Terrones Lori D. , Croy Elizabeth G. , Mulon Pierre-Yves , Adair Henry S. , Anderson David E.
Published: November 2022

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of locking plate fixation used for bridging of tibial segmental ostectomy and of cast immobilization on gait biomechanics in goats. We hypothesized that stable fixation of a segmental bone defect, using a locking plate construct, would result in minimal changes in biomechanical variables of gait in goats, but full-limb immobilization would result in lasting alterations in the immobilized limb’s gait kinetics. A pressure-sensing walkway was used to measure biomechanical characteristics for stride, gait, and walking vertical force. Thirteen, non-lame adult Boer-cross goats were trained to walk over a pressure-sensing walkway prior to instrumentation. Segmental ostectomy was performed on the right hind tibia of each goat and the defect was stabilized using bridging plate fixation with a locking compression plate. Per the protocol of an ongoing orthopedic study, the same goats underwent right hindlimb cast immobilization between one and four months postoperatively. Data was collected preoperatively and then over twelve months postoperatively in goats with unrestricted mobility. Statistical analysis revealed no significant alterations in hindlimb kinematics or maximum force when comparing the period after surgery with that after cast immobilization; significant decreases in forelimb stride length and velocity were noted postoperatively but normalized prior to cast placement, suggesting the overall functional stability of fixation. Cast immobilization had a profound and sustained effect on gait with significant alterations in both forelimb kinetics and hindlimb kinetics and kinematics for the remainder of the trial period; increased hindlimb asymmetry characterized by greater weight distribution and impulse to the left hindlimb was observed, suggesting the potential for long-term and/or permanent detrimental effects of prolonged limb immobilization.
Mask-Wearing during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Theoretical Analysis from the Perspective of Public Health Ethics
Authors: Akabayashi Akira , Akabayashi Aru , Nakazawa Eisuke
Published: November 2022

Do we have the right to wear masks during an infectious disease pandemic? If so, what is the underlying philosophical justification for this? During the COVID-19 pandemic, most people wore masks. Should the government be able to intervene to enforce mask wearing? It should be noted that the government’s encouragement to wear masks does not mean that people are encouraged to ignore them. In the field of public health ethics, many current debates boil down to establishing a balance between “individual freedom” and “the public good”. However, a clear definition of “the public good” has yet to emerge, which can make this debate difficult. Based on our philosophical analysis, we propose the following as a new right in the field of public health ethics: the “right to mask for self-protection”. Based on our proposed “right to mask for self-protection”, we offer a justification for the argument that all people have the right to wear a mask during an infectious disease pandemic or endemic.
Wound Healing versus Metastasis: Role of Oxidative Stress
Authors: Lopez Tatiana , Wendremaire Maeva , Lagarde Jimmy , Duquet Oriane , Alibert Line , Paquette Brice , Garrido Carmen , Lirussi Frédéric
Published: November 2022

Many signaling pathways, molecular and cellular actors which are critical for wound healing have been implicated in cancer metastasis. These two conditions are a complex succession of cellular biological events and accurate regulation of these events is essential. Apart from inflammation, macrophages-released ROS arise as major regulators of these processes. But, whatever the pathology concerned, oxidative stress is a complicated phenomenon to control and requires a finely tuned balance over the different stages and responding cells. This review provides an overview of the pivotal role of oxidative stress in both wound healing and metastasis, encompassing the contribution of macrophages. Indeed, macrophages are major ROS producers but also appear as their targets since ROS interfere with their differentiation and function. Elucidating ROS functions in wound healing and metastatic spread may allow the development of innovative therapeutic strategies involving redox modulators.
Theragnostic Radionuclide Pairs for Prostate Cancer Management: 64Cu/67Cu, Can Be a Budding Hot Duo
Authors: Chhabra Anupriya , Thakur Mathew L.
Published: November 2022

Prostate cancer (PCa) is one of the preeminent causes of mortality in men worldwide. Theragnostic, a combination of therapy and diagnostic, using radionuclide pairs to diagnose and treat disease, has been shown to be a promising approach for combating PCa. In PCa patients, bone is one of the most common sites of metastases, and about 90% of patients develop bone metastases. This review focuses on (i) clinically translated theragnostic radionuclide pairs for the management of PCa, (ii) radionuclide therapy of bone metastases in PCa, and (iii) a special emphasis on emerging theragnostic radionuclide pair, Copper-64/Copper-67 (64Cu/67Cu) for managing the disease.
MmpL3 Inhibition as a Promising Approach to Develop Novel Therapies against Tuberculosis: A Spotlight on SQ109, Clinical Studies, and Patents Literature
Authors: Imran Mohd. , Arora Mandeep Kumar , Chaudhary Anurag , Khan Shah Alam , Kamal Mehnaz , Alshammari Manal Mutlaq , Alharbi Raghad Mohammad , Althomali Nuha Abdullah , Alzimam Ibrahim Mohammed , Alshammari Abdullah Ayed , Alharbi Bashair Hamed , Alshengeti Amer , Alsaleh Abdulmonem A. , Alqahtani Shayea A. , Rabaan Ali A.
Published: November 2022

Tuberculosis (TB) is accountable for considerable global morbidity and mortality. Effective TB therapy with multiple drugs completes in about six months. The longer duration of TB therapy challenges patient compliance and contributes to treatment collapse and drug resistance (DR) progress. Therefore, new medications with an innovative mechanism of action are desperately required to shorten the TB therapy’s duration and effective TB control. The mycobacterial membrane protein Large 3 (MmpL3) is a novel, mycobacteria-conserved and recognized promiscuous drug target used in the development of better treatments for multi-drug resistance TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB). This article spotlights MmpL3, the clinical studies of its inhibitor (SQ109), and the patent literature. The literature on MmpL3 inhibitors was searched on PubMed and freely available patent databases (Espacenet, USPTO, and PatentScope). SQ109, an analog of ethambutol (EMB), is an established MmpL3 inhibitor and has completed Phase 2b-3 clinical trials. Infectex and Sequella are developing orally active SQ109 in partnership to treat MDR pulmonary TB. SQ109 has demonstrated activity against drug-sensitive (DS) and drug-resistant (DR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) and a synergistic effect with isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), clofazimine (CFZ), and bedaquiline (BNQ). The combination of SQ109, clofazimine, bedaquiline, and pyrazinamide (PZA) has been patented due to its excellent anti-TB activity against MDR-TB, XDR-TB, and latent-TB. The combinations of SQ109 with other anti-TB drugs (chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, and sutezolid) have also been claimed in the patent literature. SQ109 is more potent than EMB and could substitute EMB in the intensive stage of TB treatment with the three- or four-drug combination. Developing MmpL3 inhibitors is a promising approach to fighting the challenges associated with DS-TB and DR-TB. The authors foresee MmpL3 inhibitors such as SQ109 as future drugs for TB treatment.
Ultrasensitive Detection of C-Reactive Protein by a Novel Nanoplasmonic Immunoturbidimetry Assay
Authors: Dang Tang , Li Zhenyu , Zhao Liyuan , Zhang Wei , Huang Liping , Meng Fanling , Liu Gang Logan , Hu Wenjun
Published: November 2022

Nanotechnology has attracted much attention, and may become the key to a whole new world in the fields of food, agriculture, building materials, machinery, medicine, and electrical engineering, because of its unique physical and chemical properties, including high surface area and outstanding electrical and optical properties. The bottom-up approach in nanofabrication involves the growth of particles, and we were inspired to propose a novel nanoplasmonic method to detect the formation of nanoparticles in real time. This innovative idea may contribute to the promotion of nanotechnology development. An increase in nanometer particle size leads to optical extinction or density (OD)-value changes in our nanosensor chip at a specific wavelength measured in a generic microplate reader. Moreover, in applying this method, an ultrasensitive nanoplasmonic immunoturbidimetry assay (NanoPITA) was carried out for the high-throughput quantification of hypersensitive C-reactive protein (CRP), a well-known biomarker of cardiovascular, inflammatory, and tumor diseases. The one-step detection of the CRP concentration was completed in 10 min with high fidelity, using the endpoint analysis method. The new NanoPITA method not only produced a linear range from 1 ng/mL to 500 ng/mL CRP with the detection limit reduced to 0.54 ng/mL, which was an improvement of over 1000 times, with respect to regular immunoturbidity measurement, but was also effective in blood detection. This attractive method, combined with surface plasmon resonance and immunoturbidimetry, may become a new technology platform in the application of biological detection.
Biomolecule-Based Optical Metamaterials: Design and Applications
Authors: Torres-Huerta Ana Laura , Antonio-Pérez Aurora , García-Huante Yolanda , Alcázar-Ramírez Nayelhi Julieta , Rueda-Silva Juan Carlos
Published: November 2022

Metamaterials are broadly defined as artificial, electromagnetically homogeneous structures that exhibit unusual physical properties that are not present in nature. They possess extraordinary capabilities to bend electromagnetic waves. Their size, shape and composition can be engineered to modify their characteristics, such as iridescence, color shift, absorbance at different wavelengths, etc., and harness them as biosensors. Metamaterial construction from biological sources such as carbohydrates, proteins and nucleic acids represents a low-cost alternative, rendering high quantities and yields. In addition, the malleability of these biomaterials makes it possible to fabricate an endless number of structured materials such as composited nanoparticles, biofilms, nanofibers, quantum dots, and many others, with very specific, invaluable and tremendously useful optical characteristics. The intrinsic characteristics observed in biomaterials make them suitable for biomedical applications. This review addresses the optical characteristics of metamaterials obtained from the major macromolecules found in nature: carbohydrates, proteins and DNA, highlighting their biosensor field use, and pointing out their physical properties and production paths.