bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Technological Innovation and Police Officers' Understanding and Use of Force
Authors: Sierra-Arévalo Michael
Published: December 2018

Today, the TASER is a ubiquitous less-than-lethal force technology lauded for its ability to curb police officers' use of excessive and lethal force. Although less injurious than other weapons, concerns exist that the TASER can still be misused by police officers. This article uses ethnographic observations and unstructured interviews across three urban police departments to describe how the TASER affects officers' understanding and use of force in beneficial and unintended ways. I find that officers understand and use the TASER as a device that can enhance safety for themselves and suspects, including in cases where the TASER is used in lieu of lethal force that officers believe would have been justified. Despite these benefits, understanding of the TASER as a safety-enhancing technology also influences the use of excessive force via TASER by young, inexperienced officers, ultimately contributing to the very problem TASERs were intended to ameliorate.
Loss of genetic diversity, recovery and allele surfing in a colonizing parasite, Geomydoecus aurei
Authors: Demastes James W. , Hafner David J. , Hafner Mark S. , Light Jessica E. , Spradling Theresa A.
Published: December 2018

Understanding the genetic consequences of changes in species distributions has wide‐ranging implications for predicting future outcomes of climate change, for protecting threatened or endangered populations and for understanding the history that has led to current genetic patterns within species. Herein, we examine the genetic consequences of range expansion over a 25‐year period in a parasite (Geomydoecus aurei) that is in the process of expanding its geographic range via invasion of a novel host. By sampling the genetics of 1,935 G. aurei lice taken from 64 host individuals collected over this time period using 12 microsatellite markers, we test hypotheses concerning linear spatial expansion, genetic recovery time and allele surfing. We find evidence of decreasing allelic richness (AR) with increasing distance from the source population, supporting a linear, stepping stone model of spatial expansion that emphasizes the effects of repeated bottleneck events during colonization. We provide evidence of post‐bottleneck genetic recovery, with average AR of infrapopulations increasing about 30% over the 225‐generation span of time observed directly in this study. Our estimates of recovery rate suggest, however, that recovery has plateaued and that this population may not reach genetic diversity levels of the source population without further immigration from the source population. Finally, we employ a grid‐based sampling scheme in the region of ongoing population expansion and provide empirical evidence for the power of allele surfing to impart genetic structure on a population, even under conditions of selective neutrality and in a place that lacks strong barriers to gene flow.
Cognate sensor kinase‐independent activation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis response regulator DevR (DosR) by acetyl phosphate: implications in anti‐mycobacterial drug design
Authors: Sharma Saurabh , Kumari Priyanka , Vashist Atul , Kumar Chanchal , Nandi Malobi , Tyagi Jaya Sivaswami
Published: December 2018

The DevRS/DosT two‐component system is essential for mycobacterial survival under hypoxia, a prevailing stress within granulomas. DevR (also known as DosR) is activated by an inducing stimulus, such as hypoxia, through conventional phosphorylation by its cognate sensor kinases, DevS (also known as DosS) and DosT. Here, we show that the DevR regulon is activated by acetyl phosphate under ‘non‐inducing’ aerobic conditions when Mycobacterium tuberculosis devS and dosT double deletion strain is cultured on acetate. Overexpression of phosphotransacetylase caused a perturbation of the acetate kinase‐phosphotransacetylase pathway, a decrease in the concentration of acetyl phosphate and dampened the aerobic induction response in acetate‐grown bacteria. The operation of two pathways of DevR activation, one through sensor kinases and the other by acetyl phosphate, was established by an analysis of wild‐type DevS and phosphorylation‐defective DevSH395Q mutant strains under conditions partially mimicking a granulomatous‐like environment of acetate and hypoxia. Our findings reveal that DevR can be phosphorylated in vivo by acetyl phosphate. Importantly, we demonstrate that acetyl phosphate‐dependent phosphorylation can occur in the absence of DevR’s cognate kinases. Based on our findings, we conclude that anti‐mycobacterial therapy should be targeted to DevR itself and not to DevS/DosT kinases.
Malignant progression of an extraventricular neurocytoma arising from the VIIIth cranial nerve: A case report and literature review
Authors: Sugita Yasuo , Furuta Takuya , Komaki Satoru , Ohshima Koichi , Sakata Kiyohiko , Morioka Motohiro
Published: December 2018

A rare case of extraventricular neurocytoma (EVN) arising from the VIIIth cranial nerve in a 34‐year‐old woman is reported. The patient had a 20‐year history of hearing loss and facial palsy. Computed tomography showed a 3‐cm enhancing lesion in the left cerebellopontine angle (CPA). At operation, the tumor was seen to originate from the cochlear and vestibular nerves. The tumor was subtotally resected. Histologically, the tumor consisted of uniform cells with oval to round nuclei and scant cytoplasm. Immunohistochemically, the tumor cells were positive for synaptophysin, but negative for glial fibrillary acid protein and S‐100 protein. The Ki‐67 labeling index was 0%. Twelve years after the operation, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed tumor recurrence at the left CPA. The tumor was subtotally resected, and radiation therapy was given. Histologically, the tumor consisted of round cells with mild atypia and one mitosis/20 high‐power fields (HPF). Immunohistochemically, tumor cells showed the same findings as the first operation sample, except for the Ki‐67 labeling index (3%). Twelve years after the second operation, MRI showed a second tumor recurrence at the left CPA and surroundings of the brain stem. The tumor was subtotally resected. Histologically, the tumor consisted of anaplastic short spindle cells and five mitoses/10 HPF. The immunohistochemical findings were almost the same as the earlier operation samples. However, the Ki‐67 labeling index was 20%. In addition, tumor cells from the third specimen were more strongly and more diffusely positive for GAB1 (growth factor receptor‐bound protein 2‐associated binding protein 1) compared to those of the earlier specimens. Electron microscopy showed the presence of numerous cell processes with a dense core and clear vesicles and microtubules. GAB1 immunostaining also indicated that malignant progression might be associated with the sonic hedgehog signaling pathways. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of an EVN arising from the VIIIth cranial nerve with malignant progression.
What is new? The role of asymmetry and breaks in oil price–output growth volatility nexus
Authors: Raheem Ibrahim D. , Olabisi Nafisat O.
Published: December 2018

This study examines the role of asymmetry and breaks in oil price–output growth volatility nexus. A representative of 10 countries was selected from net oil‐exporting and‐importing economies for the period 1986–2017. It is hypothesised that countries respond differently to changes in oil price. To prove this point, we use the recent nonlinear ARDL of Shinet al. (), based on the framework of the dynamic common correlated effect of the heterogeneous panel of Chudik and Pesaran (), to decompose oil price into positive and negative partial sums. Our results show that without accounting for breaks, asymmetry only matters for net oil exporters in both short‐ and long run. However, accounting for breaks expanded the importance of asymmetry to net oil importers (in the short run). These results are robust to changes in the measures of oil price and growth volatility.
Population‐neuroscience study of the Tokyo TEEN Cohort (pn‐TTC): Cohort longitudinal study to explore the neurobiological substrates of adolescent psychological and behavioral development
Authors: Okada Naohiro , Ando Shuntaro , Sanada Motoyuki , Hirata‐Mogi Sachiko , Iijima Yudai , Sugiyama Hiroshi , Shirakawa Toru , Yamagishi Mika , Kanehara Akiko , Morita Masaya , Yagi Tomoko , Hayashi Noriyuki , Koshiyama Daisuke , Morita Kentaro , Sawada Kingo , Ikegame Tempei , Sugimoto Noriko , Toriyama Rie , Masaoka Mio , Fujikawa Shinya , Kanata Sho , Tada Mariko , Kirihara Kenji , Yahata Noriaki , Araki Tsuyoshi , Jinde Seiichiro , Kano Yukiko , Koike Shinsuke , Endo Kaori , Yamasaki Syudo , Nishida Atsushi , Hiraiwa‐Hasegawa Mariko , Bundo Miki , Iwamoto Kazuya , Tanaka Saori C. , Kasai Kiyoto
Published: December 2018

Aim

Adolescence is a crucial stage of psychological development and is critically vulnerable to the onset of psychopathology. Our understanding of how the maturation of endocrine, epigenetics, and brain circuit may underlie psychological development in adolescence, however, has not been integrated. Here, we introduce our research project, the population‐neuroscience study of the Tokyo TEEN Cohort (pn‐TTC), a longitudinal study to explore the neurobiological substrates of development during adolescence.

Methods

Participants in the first wave of the pn‐TTC (pn‐TTC‐1) study were recruited from those of the TTC study, a large‐scale epidemiological survey in which 3171 parent–adolescent pairs were recruited from the general population. Participants underwent psychological, cognitive, sociological, and physical assessment. Moreover, adolescents and their parents underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI; structural MRI, resting‐state functional MRI, and magnetic resonance spectroscopy), and adolescents provided saliva samples for hormone analysis and for DNA analysis including epigenetics. Furthermore, the second wave (pn‐TTC‐2) followed similar methods as in the first wave.

Results

A total of 301 parent–adolescent pairs participated in the pn‐TTC‐1 study. Moreover, 281 adolescents participated in the pn‐TTC‐2 study, 238 of whom were recruited from the pn‐TTC‐1 sample. The instruction for data request is available at: http://value.umin.jp/data‐resource.html.

Conclusion

The pn‐TTC project is a large‐scale and population‐neuroscience‐based survey with a plan of longitudinal biennial follow up. Through this approach we seek to elucidate adolescent developmental mechanisms according to biopsychosocial models. This current biomarker research project, using minimally biased samples recruited from the general population, has the potential to expand the new research field of population neuroscience.
Fatigue in pediatric liver transplant recipients and its impact on their quality of life
Authors: Petersen Irene , Noelle Janka , Buchholz Angela , Kroencke Sylvia , Daseking Monika , Grabhorn Enke
Published: December 2018

The aim of the study was to investigate the occurrence of fatigue in 100 pediatric liver transplant recipients aged 2‐18 years and its impact on their health‐related quality of life (HRQL). HRQL and fatigue were measured using the PedsQL 4.0 Inventory and the PedsQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale, which encompasses three subscales: general fatigue, sleep/rest fatigue, and cognitive fatigue. The impact of the different domains of fatigue and of clinical and sociodemographic factors on the HRQL was identified with stepwise multiple regression analyses. Parent proxy‐reports were available for all 100 participants (2‐18 years), and child self‐reports were available for 71 patients (8‐18 years). Across all domains, participants and their parents reported significantly more fatigue than healthy peers in a large PedsQL validation study. Thirty‐seven percent of patients and 57% of parents scored clinically relevant levels of fatigue. In the multiple regression analyses, none of the clinical and sociodemographic factors contributed to the HRQL for child self‐report. Only general and cognitive fatigue were significant predictors of patients' HRQL, explaining 66% of the variance in the PedsQL total score. For parent proxy‐report, general and cognitive fatigue also significantly predicted child's HRQL. Further predictors were child's age and family income. The regression model explained 65% of the variance. These findings demonstrate the importance of assessing fatigue during regular follow‐up examinations. Further research is urgently needed to better understand the underlying mechanisms of fatigue. Improvement of fatigue symptoms is essential for better HRQL, for cognitive functioning, and for school achievement.
The impact of oil prices on trade
Authors: Nanovsky Simeon
Published: December 2018

This paper introduces an oil price–distance interaction variable in a gravity equation to explain how global trade behaves as a result of oil price changes. The findings are that as oil prices increase, international trade becomes more localized in that countries begin trading relatively more with their neighbors. In contrast, when they decrease, trade becomes more dispersed in that the distance between countries becomes less relevant. These results are highly significant across specifications, and the magnitude is not to be ignored. According to the full specification an oil price halving will make trade more dispersed by relatively increasing trade by 40% for a distance of 10,000 miles and by 25% for a distance of 1,000 miles.
Sudden stops of international fund flows: Occurrence and magnitude
Authors: Li Suxiao , de Haan Jakob , Scholtens Bert
Published: December 2018

Using data of 65 economies from January 2000 (2008) to June 2015, we examine the covariates of sudden stops in fund equity and bond flows. Our results suggest that global, contagion and domestic factors are all related to the likelihood of sudden stops. For sudden stops in equity flows, global factors play a more important role in high‐income economies. For sudden stops in bond flows, global variables are the most important covariates in emerging economies, whereas domestic variables play a more important role in high‐income economies. We also find that global and contagion factors are correlated to the magnitude of sudden stops.
Modeling the parvovirus B19 blood safety risk in Australia
Authors: Styles Claire E. , Hoad Veronica C. , Gorman Elise , Roulis Eileen , Flower Robert , Faddy Helen M.
Published: December 2018

BACKGROUND

Three probable cases of transfusion‐transmitted (TT) parvovirus B19 (B19V) occurred in Australia between 2014 and 2017. This study aimed to determine the B19V DNA prevalence among blood donors, to model the risk to recipients of fresh components, and to assess risk management options.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

Plasma samples from 4232 donors were tested for B19V DNA by polymerase chain reaction. Reactive samples were confirmed and viral load determined. A transmission‐risk model was used to estimate recipient risk, and the risk from community exposure was estimated using seroprevalence data.

RESULTS

Two samples (0.0473%, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.0130‐0.172) confirmed positive for B19V DNA had a potentially infectious viral load of 105 IU/mL or higher. The estimated risk of a TT‐B19V–associated significant complication was low overall at approximately 1 in 300,000 (95% CI, 1 in 82,000 to 1 in 1 million) fresh components transfused, with 3.1 (95% CI, 0.85‐11.3) complications modeled per year. Among vulnerable recipient groups, the risk was higher than 1 in 15,000 patients, but the risk from community exposure far exceeded the transfusion risk for all patient and age groups.

CONCLUSION

In the context of the small contribution of transfusion to the burden of B19V disease, the significant costs that would be incurred by any strategy to reduce the risk, and given the significant uncertainties and likely overestimation of the risk, we conclude TT‐B19V is a tolerable risk to blood safety, despite being high for some vulnerable recipient groups.
Bacterial inactivation of platelet concentrates with the THERAFLEX UV‐Platelets pathogen inactivation system
Authors: Gravemann Ute , Handke Wiebke , Müller Thomas H. , Seltsam Axel
Published: December 2018

BACKGROUND

The THERAFLEX UV‐Platelets system (Maco Pharma) uses ultraviolet C (UVC) light for pathogen inactivation (PI) of platelet concentrates (PCs) without any additional photoactive compound. The aim of the study was to systematically investigate bacterial inactivation with this system under conditions of intended use.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

The robustness of the system was evaluated by assessing its capacity to inactivate high concentrations of different bacterial species in accordance with World Health Organization guidelines. The optimal use of the PI system was explored in time‐to‐treatment experiments by testing its ability to sterilize PCs contaminated with low levels of bacteria on the day of manufacture (target concentration, 100 colony‐forming units/unit). The bacteria panel used for spiking experiments in this study included the World Health Organization International Repository Platelet Transfusion Relevant Reference Strains (n = 14), commercially available strains (n = 13), and in‐house clinical isolates (n = 2).

RESULTS

Mean log reduction factors after UVC treatment ranged from 3.1 to 7.5 and varied between different strains of the same species. All PCs (n = 12/species) spiked with up to 200 colony‐forming units/bag remained sterile until the end of storage when UVC treated 6 hours after spiking. UVC treatment 8 hours after spiking resulted in single breakthrough contaminations with the fast‐growing species Escherichia coli and Streptococcus pyogenes.

CONCLUSION

The UVC‐based THERAFLEX UV‐Platelets system efficiently inactivates transfusion‐relevant bacterial species in PCs. The comprehensive data from this study may provide a valuable basis for the optimal use of this UVC‐based PI system.
Donor InSight: characteristics and representativeness of a Dutch cohort study on blood and plasma donors
Authors: Timmer Tiffany C. , de Groot Rosa , Habets Karin , Merz Eva‐Maria , Prinsze Femmeke J. , Atsma Femke , de Kort Wim L.A.M. , van den Hurk Katja
Published: December 2018

Background and Objectives

More insight into donor health and behaviour may contribute to more efficient and focused strategies regarding donor care and management. Donor InSight (DIS) is a Dutch cohort study of blood and plasma donors. We aimed to outline the objectives and methods of DIS, describe the cohort, and compare it to the active Dutch donor population.

Materials and Methods

In 2007‐2009 (DIS‐I, n = 31 338) and 2012‐2013 (DIS‐II, 34 826, of whom 22 132 also participated in DIS‐I) questionnaire data on demographics, donation, lifestyle, family composition, health and disease were collected. A second follow‐up (DIS‐III, n = 3046), including donors with differing haemoglobin trajectories, was completed in 2015‐2016. DIS‐III includes data on genetic determinants, iron and red cell indices. Representativeness of the DIS‐I sample for the entire Dutch donor population was assessed by comparing characteristics of both.

Results

Donor InSight was initially set up because of a need for more detailed information and evidence as a basis for decision‐making in blood banks. DIS‐I sample is comparable to the total Dutch donor population in terms of age, body mass index, haemoglobin level, blood pressure, blood type and donation behaviour.

Conclusion

Donor InSight is a cohort study representative of the Dutch donor population. It provides evidence to support evidence‐based decision making.
Reviewer Acknowledgements
Authors: Young James
Published: December 2018

International Journal of Social Science Studies (IJSSS) would like to acknowledge the following reviewers for their assistance with peer review of manuscripts for this issue. Many authors, regardless of whether IJSSS publishes their work, appreciate the helpful feedback provided by the reviewers. Their comments and suggestions were of great help to the authors in improving the quality of their papers. Each of the reviewers listed below returned at least one review for this issue.Reviewers for Volume 6, Number 12Ahmet Yıkmış, Abant Izzet Baysal Univeersity, TurkeyAntónio Calha, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, PortugalFroilan Mobo, Philippine Merchant Marine Academy, PhilippinesJohn Boulard Forkuor , Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) , GhanaMei-Ling Lin, National Open University, TaiwanMickey Langlais, University of Nebraska – Kearney, USAMohamed Mehdi Jelassi , IHEC Carthage, TunisiaSandro Serpa, University of the Azores, Portugal
Membrane-type smart metamaterials for multi-modal sound insulation
Authors: Zhang Xiaodong , Chen Fei , Chen Zhongsheng , Wang Gang
Published: December 2018

Metamaterial provides a promising way to control low-frequency noise, but its narrow bandgap limits its applications. To end this, a membrane-type smart metamaterial with multi-modal sound insulation property is studied. The proposed metamaterial consists of an aluminum membrane bonded with multi-modal resonant piezoelectric resonators. Both simulated and experimental results show that the proposed metamaterial can broaden the locally resonant bandgaps because of the effect of the multi-modal resonance (the percent bandwidths are 0.19 and 0.22 for the lowest mode and higher two modes, respectively). Large multi-modal sound insulations (over 37 dB) are obtained around the designed resonant frequencies in low frequency regime (<2000 Hz) with an ultra-thin thickness (over 1000 times thinner than the acoustic wavelength). It is also demonstrated that the excellent sound insulation property can be tuned by simply adjusting the external circuits instead of modifying the structure itself. The underlying mechanism of the unusual sound insulation of the proposed metamaterial is attributed to the negative effective bending stiffness Deq derived by the effective medium method. In addition, the parametric study shows that the circuital parameters (capacitances) are inversely related to the sound transmission loss of the proposed multi-resonant metamaterial, which benefits the optimization of insulation effect.
Effect of back wood choice on the perceived quality of steel-string acoustic guitars
Authors: Carcagno Samuele , Bucknall Roger , Woodhouse Jim , Fritz Claudia , Plack Christopher J.
Published: December 2018

Some of the most prized woods used for the backs and sides of acoustic guitars are expensive, rare, and from unsustainable sources. It is unclear to what extent back woods contribute to the sound and playability qualities of acoustic guitars. Six steel-string acoustic guitars were built for this study to the same design and material specifications except for the back/side plates which were made of woods varying widely in availability and price (Brazilian rosewood, Indian rosewood, mahogany, maple, sapele, and walnut). Bridge-admittance measurements revealed small differences between the modal properties of the guitars which could be largely attributed to residual manufacturing variability rather than to the back/side plates. Overall sound quality ratings, given by 52 guitarists in a dimly lit room while wearing welder's goggles to prevent visual identification, were very similar between the six guitars. The results of a blinded ABX discrimination test, performed by another subset of 31 guitarists, indicate that guitarists could not easily distinguish the guitars by their sound or feel. Overall, the results suggest that the species of wood used for the back and sides of a steel-string acoustic guitar has only a marginal impact on its body mode properties and perceived sound.
Programs on a Diet?: An Examination of Athletic Departments’ Eating Disorder Policies at NCAA Division I Universities
Authors: Wise Taylor K.
Published: December 2018

Disordered eating (DE) plays a significant role in the overall health and athletic performance of collegiate athletes. The present study sought to determine how many NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision Institutions have a policy that specifically addresses the prevention and management of DE for their participating athletes and to examine the content of the existing policies. The study searched for policies in the 128 FBS institutions through an online web-search and by contacting athletic department personnel. A total of 33 currently existing policies on athletes with eating disorders (EDs) were found, 13 of which were found online. A documentary analysis was then conducted to determine the type of information that policies include. Sixteen major themes were found throughout the analysis, including themes that related to prevention, risk factors, identification, treatment, referral, and return-to-play guidelines.
Are parenting practices associated with the same child outcomes in sub-Saharan African countries as in high-income countries? A review and synthesis
Authors: Devlin Alison M , Wight Daniel , Fenton Candida
Published: December 2018

Introduction

There is increasing interest in the transferability of parenting interventions from high-income countries (HICs) to low-income countries (LICs) in order to improve child development and health outcomes. This is based on the premise that associations between parenting practices and child outcomes are similar in both settings. Many parenting interventions in HICs are evidence-based, but less evidence exists on associations of parenting practices with child outcomes in LICs, in particular, sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. This review synthesises evidence on the association of parenting practices with child outcomes in SSA in order to compare findings with those from HICs.

Methods

We searched electronic databases—Web of Science, ASSIA, Embase, IBSS and PsycINFO—to identify studies from SSA that reported quantitative associations between parenting practices and child health or psychosocial outcomes (eg, sexual and reproductive health (SRH), mental health, conduct disorders). Due to inconsistent conceptual framing of parenting across studies, we used a modified version of the international WHO classification of parenting dimensions to guide synthesis of the results.

Results

Forty-four studies met our inclusion criteria. They were conducted in 13 SSA countries and included cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, and were predominantly descriptive studies rather than intervention research. Synthesis of results showed that associations between patterns of parenting (‘positive’/‘harsh’) and child outcomes (including SRH, mental health and conduct disorders) in studies from SSA were broadly similar to those found in HICs.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that the impacts of parenting practices on child outcomes are similar across contrasting global regions and, therefore, parenting interventions from HICs might be successfully transferred to SSA, subject to appropriate adaptation. However, this review also highlights the paucity of evidence in this area and the urgent need for higher quality studies to confirm these findings to help develop effective parenting interventions in SSA.
Epidemiology of musculoskeletal injuries among US Air Force Special Tactics Operators: an economic cost perspective
Authors: Lovalekar Mita , Johnson Caleb D , Eagle Shawn , Wohleber Meleesa F , Keenan Karen A , Beals Kim , Nindl Bradley C , Connaboy Christopher
Published: December 2018

Objectives

Musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) are an important concern in military populations. The purpose of this study was to describe the burden of MSI and associated financial cost, in a sample of US Air Force Special Operations Command Special Tactics Operators.

Methods

In this cross-sectional study, medical records of the Operators were reviewed during the years 2014–2015. MSI that occurred during a 1-year period prior to the date of review were described. MSI attributes described included incidence, anatomic location, cause, activity when MSI occurred, type and lifetime cost of MSI estimated using the Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System.

Results

A total of 130 Operators participated in the study (age: 29.1±5.2 years). The 1-year cumulative incidence of MSI was 49.2 injured Operators/100 Operators/year. The most frequent anatomic location and sublocation for MSI were the lower extremity (40.9% of MSI) and shoulder (20.9%), respectively. Lifting was a common cause of MSI (21.8%). A large per cent of MSI (55.5%) occurred while Operators were engaged in either physical or tactical training. Common MSI types were pain/spasm/ache (44.5%). Many MSI (41.8%) were classified as potentially preventable by an injury prevention training programme. The total lifetime cost of these MSI was estimated to be approximately US$1.2 million.

Conclusion

MSI are an important cause of morbidity and financial cost in this sample of Air Force Special Tactics Operators. There is a need to develop a customised injury prevention programme to reduce the burden and cost of MSI in this population.
Integrative network and brain expression analysis reveals mechanistic modules in ataxia
Authors: Eidhof Ilse , van de Warrenburg Bart P , Schenck Annette
Published: December 2018

Background

Genetic forms of ataxia are a heterogenous group of degenerative diseases of the cerebellum. Many causative genes have been identified. We aimed to systematically investigate these genes to better understand ataxia pathophysiology.

Methods

A manually curated catalogue of 71 genes involved in disorders with progressive ataxias as a major clinical feature was subjected to an integrated gene ontology, protein network and brain gene expression profiling analysis.

Results

We found that genes mutated in ataxias operate in networks with significantly enriched protein connectivity, demonstrating coherence on a global level, independent of inheritance mode. Moreover, elevated expression specifically in the cerebellum predisposes to ataxia. Genes expressed in this pattern are significantly over-represented among genes mutated in ataxia and are enriched for ion homeostasis/synaptic functions. The majority of genes mutated in ataxia, however, does not show elevated cerebellar expression that could account for region-specific degeneration. For these, we identified defective cellular stress responses as a major common biological theme, suggesting that the defence pathways against stress are more critical to maintain cerebellar integrity than integrity of other brain regions. Approximately half of the genes mutated in ataxia, mostly part of the stress module, show higher expression at embryonic stages, which argues for a developmental predisposition.

Conclusion

Genetic defects in ataxia predominantly affect neuronal homeostasis, to which the cerebellum appears to be excessively susceptible. Based on the identified modules, it is conceivable to propose common therapeutic interventions that target deregulated calcium and reactive oxygen species levels, or mechanisms that can decrease the harmful downstream effects of these deleterious insults.
Compliance with packaging and labelling rules for tobacco products marketed in slum areas of Bhubaneswar, India
Authors: Panigrahi Ansuman , Sharma Dheeraj
Published: December 2018

Background

The Government of India has been issuing notifications regarding packaging and labelling rules for tobacco products since 2003 under the ‘Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act’ (COTPA) guidelines.

Methods

The present cross-sectional study was carried out during November 2016 to March 2017 to assess the extent of compliance with the COTPA prescribed packaging and labelling rules for packages of tobacco products marketed in 11 slum areas of Bhubaneswar, India. From 81 retail outlets, 42 different brands of tobacco products were purchased which consisted of 23 in smoking form (17 brands of cigarette, 6 brands of bidi) and 19 in smokeless form (9 brands of gutkha, 4 brands of khaini and 6 brands of betel quid with tobacco).

Results

In most of the product packages, particularly in smokeless tobacco, the health warnings were not in compliance with the COTPA specifications. In a majority of the tobacco brands (69.0%), specified health warnings occupied less than the prescribed size of 85% of the principal display area of the package. Misleading descriptors and promotional messages were also present.

Conclusion

The tobacco products marketed in Bhubaneswar slums were not in compliance with the packaging and labelling rules specified by COTPA. This underscores the need for strict implementation of COTPA guidelines and enforcement measures to assure full compliance.
Improved Compression of DNA Sequencing Data with Cascading Bloom Filters
Authors: Salikhov Kamil
Published: December 2018

Modern DNA sequencing technologies generate prodigious volumes of sequence data consisting of short DNA fragments (reads). Storing and transferring this data is often challenging. With this motivation, several specialized compression methods have been developed. In this paper, we present an improvement of the lossless reference-free compression algorithm, suggested by Rozov et al., based on the technique of cascading Bloom filters. Through computational experiments on real data, we demonstrate that our method results in a significant associated memory reduction in practice.
SpliceTAPyR — An Efficient Method for Transcriptome Alignment
Authors: Teixeira Andreia Sofia , Fernandes Francisco , Francisco Alexandre P.
Published: December 2018

RNA-Seq is a Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) protocol for sequencing the messenger RNA in a cell and generates millions of short sequence fragments, reads, in a single run. These reads can be used to measure levels of gene expression and to identify novel splice variants of genes. One of the critical steps in an RNA-Seq experiment is mapping NGS reads to the reference genome. Because RNA-Seq reads can span over more than one exon in the genome, this task is challenging. In the last decade, tools for RNA-Seq alignment have emerged, but most of them run in two phases. First, the pipeline only maps reads that have a direct match in the reference, and the remaining are set aside as initially unmapped reads. Then, they use heuristics based approaches, clustering or even annotations, to decide where to align the later. This work presents an efficient computational solution for the problem of transcriptome alignment, named SpliceTAPyR. It identifies signals of splice junctions and relies on compressed full-text indexing methods and succinct data structures to efficiently align RNA-Seq reads in a single phase. This way it achieves the same or better accuracy than other tools while using considerably less memory and time to the most competitive tools.
Higher spin currents with manifest SO(4) symmetry in the large 𝒩 = 4 holography
Authors: Ahn Changhyun
Published: December 2018

The large [Formula: see text] nonlinear superconformal algebra is generated by six spin-[Formula: see text] currents, four spin-[Formula: see text] currents and one spin-[Formula: see text] current. The simplest extension of these [Formula: see text] currents is described by the [Formula: see text] higher spin currents of spins [Formula: see text]. In this paper, by using the defining operator product expansions (OPEs) between the [Formula: see text] currents and [Formula: see text] higher spin currents, we determine the [Formula: see text] higher spin currents (the higher spin-[Formula: see text] currents were found previously) in terms of affine Kac–Moody spin-[Formula: see text], one currents in the Wolf space coset model completely. An antisymmetric second rank tensor, three antisymmetric almost complex structures or the structure constant are contracted with the multiple product of spin-[Formula: see text] currents. The eigenvalues are computed for coset representations containing at most four boxes, at finite [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. After calculating the eigenvalues of the zeromode of the higher spin-[Formula: see text] current acting on the higher representations up to three (or four) boxes of Young tableaux in [Formula: see text] in the Wolf space coset, we obtain the corresponding three-point functions with two scalar operators at finite [Formula: see text]. Furthermore, under the large [Formula: see text] ’t Hooft-like limit, the eigenvalues associated with any boxes of Young tableaux are obtained and the corresponding three-point functions are written in terms of the ’t Hooft coupling constant in simple form in addition to the two-point functions of scalars and the number of boxes.
Aspects of nonflat FRW bouncing models with quadratic equation of state
Authors: Singh Ashutosh , Raushan Rakesh , Chaubey R. , Singh T.
Published: December 2018

In this paper, we investigate the possibility of a nonsingular model of universe in the framework of general relativity in nonflat FRW geometries with quadratic equation of state and bulk viscosity. We study whether a nonsingular bounce requires violation of energy conditions. We discuss the thermodynamical aspects of the resulting models with equilibrium description. In particular, we discuss the validity of the generalized second law of thermodynamics for resulting cosmologies.
Properties of Ni–ZrO2nanocomposite coatings by electroplating
Authors: Xiong Chao , Xiao Jin , Zhao Yu , Wang Yuxin , Tay See Leng , Xu Weilong
Published: December 2018

The microstructure, microhardness and wear property of electroplated Ni–ZrO2nanocomposite coatings with different ZrO2concentration were analyzed using SEM, microhardness and wear tests. It was found that in the composite coatings, incorporation of ZrO2particles improves the mechanical property of Ni coatings and the effect of ZrO2nanoparticles concentration on the surface morphology, microstructure and mechanical property of electroplated coatings was discussed. The mechanical properties of Ni–ZrO2coatings reach the optimum value when the ZrO2concentration is 10 g/L.
An analysis of QoS ranking prediction framework techniques
Authors: Kaur Harsimran , Rai Anurag , Bhatia Sarvjit Singh
Published: December 2018

In the real world, building the high quality cloud computing framework is the challenge for the researcher in the present scenario where on demand service is required. The services which are performing the non-functional activities are referred to as Quality-of Service (QoS). The experience of real-world usage services are generally required to obtain the QoS. Many organizations offer various cloud services, such as Amazon, HP and IBM, to the customers. No technique is available to measure the real-world usage and estimate the ranking of the cloud services. From the customer side, it is a very tough job to choose the right cloud service provider (SP), which fulfills all the requirements of the customers. To avoid the confusion to select the right CSP, this paper proposes QoS ranking prediction methods such as Cloud Rank1, Cloud Rank2 and Cloud Rank3. Various experiments are done on the real-world QoS data by using EC2 services of Amazon and providing healthy results and solutions.
Tuning optical properties of cadmium thiourea acetate nonlinear optical crystal exploiting organic ligand of L-proline
Authors: Kulkarni R. B. , Anis M. , Hussaini S. S. , Shirsat M. D.
Published: December 2018

Modifying optical properties of crystal is very fundamental need for designing various photonic devices, hence in the current investigation, the L-proline (LP) has been firstly doped in cadmium thiourea acetate (CTA) crystal with the aim to optimize the UV–Visible, second harmonic generation (SHG) efficiency, luminescence and third-order nonlinear optical (TONLO) properties of CTA crystal. The pure and doped CTA crystals have been grown by slow solvent evaporation technique at [Formula: see text]C. The structural parameters of grown crystals have been determined using the single crystal X-ray diffraction technique. The incorporation of LP in CTA crystal matrix has been confirmed by Fourier transforms infrared analysis. The UV–Visible studies have been employed within the wavelength range of 200–900 nm to explore the enhancing impact of LP on CTA crystal. The LP doped CTA crystals were subjected to Kurtz–Perry test and Z-scan analysis to identify the nonlinear nature of studied crystals. The SHG efficiency of LP-CTA crystal shows significant increase owing to enhanced charge transfer over the organic ligand of LP. The laser-induced TONLO properties of LP-doped CTA crystal have been determined at 632.8 nm. The nature of nonlinear refraction and absorption has been explored by close and open aperture Z-scan configuration. The magnitude of nonlinear refraction [Formula: see text], absorption coefficient [Formula: see text], cubic susceptibility [Formula: see text] and figure of merit has been determined using the transmittance data. The color-centered luminescence studies have been carried out which established the prominent redshift in peak maxima of emission wavelength of CTA crystal due to doping of LP. Comparative analysis of pure and doped crystal confirmed the dominance of LP doping.
Content-Based Image Retrieval Using Color Volume Histograms
Authors: Hua Ji-Zhao , Liu Guang-Hai , Song Shu-Xiang
Published: December 2018

Human visual perception has a close relationship with the HSV color space, which can be represented as a cylinder. The question of how visual features are extracted using such an attribute is important. In this paper, a new feature descriptor; namely, a color volume histogram, is proposed for image representation and content-based image retrieval. It converts a color image from RGB color space to HSV color space and then uniformly quantizes it into 72 bins of color cues and 32 bins of edge cues. Finally, color volumes are used to represent the image content. The proposed algorithm is extensively tested on two Corel datasets containing 15[Formula: see text]000 natural images. These image retrieval experiments show that the color volume histogram has the power to describe color, texture, shape and spatial features and performs significantly better than the local binary pattern histogram and multi-texton histogram approaches.
Generalization of Parameter Recovery in Binocular Vision for a Planar Scene
Authors: Örnhag Marcus Valtonen , Heyden Anders
Published: December 2018

In this paper, we consider a mobile platform with two cameras directed towards the floor. In earlier work, this specific problem geometry has been considered under the assumption that the cameras have been mounted at the same height. This paper extends the previous work by removing the height constraint, as it is hard to realize in real-life applications.

We develop a method based on an equivalent problem geometry, and show that much of previous work can be reused with small modification to account for the height difference. A fast solver for the resulting nonconvex optimization problem is devised. Furthermore, we propose a second method for estimating the height difference by constraining the mobile platform to pure translations. This is intended to simulate a calibration sequence, which is not uncommon to impose. Experiments are conducted using synthetic data, and the results demonstrate a robust method for determining the relative parameters comparable to previous work.
Optical Character Recognition System for Nastalique Urdu-Like Script Languages Using Supervised Learning
Authors: Rizvi S. S. R. , Sagheer A. , Adnan K. , Muhammad A.
Published: December 2018

There are two main techniques to convert written or printed text into digital format. The first technique is to create an image of written/printed text, but images are large in size so they require huge memory space to store, as well as text in image form cannot be undergo further processes like edit, search, copy, etc. The second technique is to use an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) system. OCR’s can read documents and convert manual text documents into digital text and this digital text can be processed to extract knowledge. A huge amount of Urdu language’s data is available in handwritten or in printed form that needs to be converted into digital format for knowledge acquisition. Highly cursive, complex structure, bi-directionality, and compound in nature, etc. make the Urdu language too complex to obtain accurate OCR results. In this study, supervised learning-based OCR system is proposed for Nastalique Urdu language. The proposed system evaluations under a variety of experimental settings apprehend 98.4% training results and 97.3% test results, which is the highest recognition rate ever achieved by any Urdu language OCR system. The proposed system is simple to implement especially in software front of OCR system also the proposed technique is useful for printed text as well as handwritten text and it will help in developing more accurate Urdu OCR’s software systems in the future.
Research on Gas Pipeline Multi-Point Leak Signal Processing and Source Locating Using VMD, BSS and Relative Entropy
Authors: Hao Yongmei , Qin Ni , Xing Zhixiang , Wu Yujia , Yue Yunfei
Published: December 2018

The early multi-point leakage source signals of urban gas pipeline are weak and can be easily affected by environmental noise and signal interference between adjacent sources, which causes large leakage positioning error. In this paper, an integrated signal processing method combining VMD, BSS and Relative entropy for multi-point pipeline leakage signal and source positioning is presented. Firstly, VMD and Relative entropy were employed to obtain effective IMF mode components and their features during the decomposition for pipeline leakage signal. Relative entropy was used to improve signal-to-noise ratio and extract the features of leakage signal. Then, BSS was used to decompose multi-point mixed leakage signals so as to obtain independent signal components. Finally, the time difference and wave velocity were, respectively, obtained by calculating the time domain distribution of the independent signal components and the main modal guided wave, so the precise positioning of the pipeline leakage was realized. The results show that the combined method proposed can not only select and extract leakage signal adaptively but also separate single independent signal from multi-point mixed signal, which helps to locate pipeline multi-point leakage sources more accurately.
Effect of scalar boson on fermionic dark stars
Authors: Wahidin A. B. , Rahmansyah A. , Sulaksono A.
Published: December 2018

The role of scalar boson exchange as a mediator of the fermionic dark particle interaction and the mass of dark particle on the bulk properties of fermionic dark stars including their moment of inertia and tidal deformability are studied. We have found that the role of the attractive nature of the scalar boson exchange and the fermionic dark particle mass can control the stiffness of the fermionic dark star equation-of-state. By increasing the strength of scalar boson coupling, the fermionic dark star becomes more compact. As a consequence, if scalar boson exchange contribution is included the compactness of a dark star can exceed [Formula: see text] = 0.22. We also compare the fermionic dark stars moment of inertia and tidal deformability to those of neutron stars (with and without hyperons in neutron star core) predicted by relativistic mean field model. It is evident that the properties of both types of stars are quite different. We also have found that the universal I-Love relation in fermionic dark stars is not affected by scalar boson exchange contribution and the fermionic dark particle mass. Possible observations of fermionic dark stars are also discussed.