bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Minimum Short Circuit Ratio Requirement for MMC-HVDC Systems Based on Small-Signal Stability Analysis
Authors: Zhang Zheren , Xiao Liang , Wang Guoteng , Yang Jian , Xu Zheng
Published: August 2019

This paper determines the minimum short circuit ratio (SCR) requirement for a modular multilevel converter based high-voltage direct current (MMC-HVDC) transmission systems. Firstly, a simplified model of MMC is introduced; the MMC is represented by its AC and DC side equivalent circuit. Next, by linearizing the MMC subsystem and the DC network subsystem, the deduction of the small-signal models of MMC subsystem, the small-signal model of the DC network and MMC-HVDC are carried out successively. Thirdly, the procedure for determining the minimum SCR requirement of MMC-HVDC is described. Finally, case studies are performed on a two-terminal MMC-HVDC system under four typical control schemes. The results show that the restraint factors for the rectifier MMC is predominantly the voltage safety limit constraint, and the restraint factors for the inverter MMC are mainly the phase locked loop (PLL) or the outer reactive power controller. It is suggested that the minimum SCR requirement for the sending and the receiving systems should be 2.0 and 1.5 in the planning stage.
ATR-FTIR Model Development and Verification for Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis in MDEA–H2O–MEG/TEG–CO2 Blends
Authors: Shoukat Usman , Baumeister Eva , Knuutila Hanna K.
Published: August 2019

A Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy method was developed to identify and quantify various components in an amine-based combined acid gas and water removal process. In this work, an attenuated total reflectance (ATR) probe was used. A partial least-squares (PLS) regression model was also developed using up to four components (methyl diethanolamine (MDEA)-H2O-CO2-ethylene glycol/triethylene glycol (MEG/TEG)), and it was successfully validated. The model was applied on thermally degraded CO2-loaded MDEA blends to predict the weight percentages of MDEA, H2O, CO2, and MEG or TEG to test the performance spectrum. The results confirmed that FTIR could be used as a simpler, quicker and reliable tool to identify and quantify various compounds such as MDEA, MEG/TEG, H2O and CO2 simultaneously in a combined acid gas and water removal process.
Temperature Control in (Translucent) Phase Change Materials Applied in Facades: A Numerical Study
Authors: Tenpierik Martin , Wattez Yvonne , Turrin Michela , Cosmatu Tudor , Tsafou Stavroula
Published: August 2019

Phase change materials (PCMs) are materials that can store large amounts of heat during their phase transition from solid to liquid without a significant increase in temperature. While going from liquid to solid this heat is again released. As such, these materials can play an important role in future energy-efficient buildings. If applied in facades as part of a thermal buffer strategy, e.g., capturing and temporarily storing solar energy in so-called Trombe walls, the PCMs are exposed to high solar radiation intensities, which may easily lead to issues of overheating. This paper therefore investigates the melting process of PCM and arrives at potential solutions for countering this overheating phenomenon. This study uses the simulation program Comsol to investigate the heat transfer through, melting of and fluid flow inside a block of PCM (3 × 20 cm2) with a melting temperature of around 25 °C. The density, specific heat and dynamic viscosity of the PCM are modeled as a temperature dependent variable. The latent heat of the PCM is modeled as part of the specific heat. One side of the block of PCM is exposed to a heat flux of 300 W/m2. The simulations show that once part of the PCM has melted convection arises transporting heat from the bottom of the block to its top. As a result, the top heats up faster than the bottom speeding up the melting process there. Furthermore, in high columns of PCM a large temperature gradient may arise due to this phenomenon. Segmenting a large volume of PCM into smaller volumes in height limits this convection thereby reducing the temperature gradient along the height of the block. Moreover, using PCMs with different melting temperature along the height of a block of PCM allows for controlling the speed with which a certain part of the PCM block starts melting. Segmenting the block of PCM using PCMs with different melting temperature along its height was found to give the most promising results for minimizing this overheating effect. Selecting the optimal phase change temperatures however is critical in that case.
The Effect of Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes-Additive in Physicochemical Property of Rice Brand Methyl Ester: Optimization Analysis
Authors: Kusumo Fitranto , Mahlia T.M.I. , Shamsuddin A.H. , Ong Hwai Chyuan , Ahmad A.R , Ismail Z. , Ong Z.C. , Silitonga A.S.
Published: August 2019

Biodiesel as an alternative to diesel fuel produced from vegetable oils or animal fats has attracted more and more attention because it is renewable and environmentally friendly. Compared to conventional diesel fuel, biodiesel has slightly lower performance in engine combustion due to the lower calorific value that leads to lower power generated. This study investigates the effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) as an additive to the rice bran methyl ester (RBME). Artificial neural network (ANN) and response surface methodology (RSM) was used for predicting the calorific value. The interaction effects of parameters such as dosage of MWCNTs, size of MWCNTs and reaction time on the calorific value of RBME were studied. Comparison of RSM and ANN performance was evaluated based on the correlation coefficient (R2), the root mean square error (RMSE), the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and the average absolute deviation (AAD) showed that the ANN model had better performance (R2 = 0.9808, RMSE = 0.0164, MAPE = 0.0017, AAD = 0.173) compare to RSM (R2 = 0.9746, RMSE = 0.0170, MAPE = 0.0028, AAD = 0.279). The optimum predicted of RBME calorific value that is generated using the cuckoo search (CS) via lévy flight optimization algorithm is 41.78 (MJ/kg). The optimum value was obtained using 64 ppm of < 7 nm MWCNTs blending for 60 min. The predicted calorific value was validated experimentally as 41.05 MJ/kg. Furthermore, the experimental results have shown that the addition of MWCNTs was significantly increased the calorific value from 36.87 MJ/kg to 41.05 MJ/kg (11.6%). Also, the addition of MWCNTs decreased flashpoint (−18.3%) and acid value (−0.52%). As a conclusion, adding MWCNTs as an additive had improved the physicochemical properties characteristics of RBME. To our best knowledge, no research has yet been performed on the effect of multi-walled carbon nanotubes-additive in physicochemical property of rice brand methyl ester application so far.
Behavioral Epigenetics: Perspectives Based on Experience-Dependent Epigenetic Inheritance
Authors: Pang You-Yuan , Lu Rita Jui-Hsien , Chen Pao-Yang
Published: August 2019

Epigenetic regulation plays an important role in gene regulation, and epigenetic markers such as DNA methylation and histone modifications are generally described as switches that regulate gene expression. Behavioral epigenetics is defined as the study of how epigenetic alterations induced by experience and environmental stress may affect animal behavior. It studies epigenetic alterations due to environmental enrichment. Generally, molecular processes underlying epigenetic regulation in behavioral epigenetics include DNA methylation, post-translational histone modifications, noncoding RNA activity, and other unknown molecular processes. Whether the inheritance of epigenetic features will occur is a crucial question. In general, the mechanism underlying inheritance can be explained by two main phenomena: Germline-mediated epigenetic inheritance and interact epigenetic inheritance of somatic cells through germline. In this review, we focus on examining behavioral epigenetics based on its possible modes of inheritance and discuss the considerations in the research of epigenetic transgenerational inheritance.
Black Alder (Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn.) on Compacted Skid Trails: A Trade-off between Greenhouse Gas Fluxes and Soil Structure Recovery?
Authors: Warlo Hannes , von Wilpert Klaus , Lang Friederike , Schack-Kirchner Helmer
Published: August 2019

The compaction of forest soils can deteriorate soil aeration, leading to decreased CH4 uptake and increased N2O efflux. Black alder (Alnus glutinosa) may accelerate soil structure regeneration as it can grow roots under anaerobic soil conditions. However, symbiotic nitrogen fixation by alder can have undesirable side-effects on greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. In this study, we evaluated the possible trade-off between alder-mediated structure recovery and GHG emissions. We compared two directly adjacent 15-year old beech (Fagus sylvatica) and alder stands (loamy texture, pH 5–6), including old planted skid trails. The last soil trafficking on the skid trails took place in 1999. GHG fluxes were measured over one year. Undisturbed plots with beech had a moderately higher total porosity and were lower in soil moisture and soil organic carbon than undisturbed alder plots. No differences in mineral nitrogen were found. N2O emissions in the undisturbed beech stand were 0.4 kg ha−1 y−1 and 3.1 kg ha−1 y−1 in the undisturbed alder stand. CH4 uptake was 4.0 kg ha−1 y−1 and 1.5 kg ha−1 y−1 under beech and alder, respectively. On the beech planted skid trail, topsoil compaction was still evident by reduced macro porosity and soil aeration; on the alder planted skid trail, soil structure of the uppermost soil layer was completely recovered. Skid trail N2O fluxes under beech were five times higher and CH4 oxidation was 0.6 times lower compared to the adjacent undisturbed beech stand. Under alder, no skid-trail-effects on GHG fluxes were evident. Multiple regression modelling revealed that N2O and CH4 emissions were mainly governed by soil aeration and soil temperature. Compared to beech, alder considerably increased net fluxes of GHG on undisturbed plots. However, for skid trails we suggest that black alder improves soil structure without deterioration of the stand’s greenhouse gas balance, when planted only on the compacted areas.
Understanding the Spatial Distribution of Urban Forests in China Using Sentinel-2 Images with Google Earth Engine
Authors: Duan Qianwen , Tan Minghong , Guo Yuxuan , Wang Xue , Xin Liangjie
Published: August 2019

Urban forests are vitally important for sustainable urban development and the well-being of urban residents. However, there is, as yet, no country-level urban forest spatial dataset of sufficient quality for the scientific management of, and correlative studies on, urban forests in China. At present, China attaches great importance to the construction of urban forests, and it is necessary to map a high-resolution and high-accuracy dataset of urban forests in China. The open-access Sentinel images and the Google Earth Engine platform provide a significant opportunity for the realization of this work. This study used eight bands (B2–B8, B11) and three indices of Sentinel-2 in 2016 to map the urban forests of China using the Random Forest machine learning algorithms at the pixel scale with the support of Google Earth Engine (GEE). The 7317 sample points for training and testing were collected from field visits and very high resolution images from Google Earth. The overall accuracy, producer’s accuracy of urban forest, and user’s accuracy of urban forest assessed by independent validation samples in this study were 92.30%, 92.27%, and 92.18%, respectively. In 2016, the percentage of urban forest cover was 19.2%. Nearly half of the cities had an urban forest cover between 10% and 20%, and the average percentage of large cities whose urban populations were over 5 million was 24.8%. Cities with less than half of the average were mainly distributed in northern and western parts of China, which should be focused on in urban greening planning.
Growth and Yield Models for Balsa Wood Plantations in the Coastal Lowlands of Ecuador
Authors: Cañadas-López Álvaro , Rade-Loor Diana , Siegmund-Schultze Marianna , Moreira-Muñoz Geovanny , Vargas-Hernández J. Jesús , Wehenkel Christian
Published: August 2019

Balsa trees are native to neotropical forests and frequently grow on fallow, degraded land. Balsa can be used for economic and ecological rehabilitation of farmland with the aim of restoring native forest ecosystems. Although Ecuador is the world’s largest producer of balsa, there is a lack of knowledge about production indicators for management of balsa stands in the country. The aim of this study was to develop growth and yield models (i.e., site index (SI) curves and stem volume models) for balsa plantations in the coastal lowlands of Ecuador. Balsa trees growing in 2161 plots in seven provinces were sampled. Here we present the first growth and yield models for the native, although underutilized, balsa tree. Three curve models were fitted to determine SI for balsa stands, differentiating five site quality classes. Eight volume models were compared to identify the best fit model for balsa stands. The mean annual increment was used to assess balsa production. The generalized algebraic difference approach (GADA) equation yielded one of the best results for the height–age and diameter–age models. The Newnham model was the best volume model for balsa in this comparative study. The maximum annual increment (i.e., for the best stand index) was reached in the second year of plantation. The fitted models can be used to support management decisions regarding balsa plantations. However, the models are preliminary and must be validated with independent samples. Nevertheless, the very fast development of the native balsa tree is particularly promising and should attract more attention from forest owners and politicians.
Estimating Economic and Environmental Impacts of Red-Wine-Making Processes in the USA
Authors: Zhang Congmu , Rosentrater Kurt A.
Published: August 2019

The goal of this study was to examine cost impacts using techno-economic analysis (TEA) and environmental impacts using life-cycle assessment (LCA) for the production of red wine. Three production scales, denoted as “small” (5000 gal per year), “medium” (50,000 gal per year), and “large” (500,000 gal per year) were chosen for analysis. For example, the consumption of water, energy, greenhouse gas emissions, and solid waste generation were considered in order to estimate environmental impacts. A spreadsheet-based economic model was also developed. The results of the LCA and TEA were compared amongst all production scales. The results of the LCA showed that both bottle manufacturing and various wine-making processes contributed the greatest environmental impacts. For TEA, the relationships between costs and profits increased as production scale increased; exponential trend lines could describe the data, but linear models were better. This information can be useful when considering what size of winery might be appropriate to invest in, or what operational categories may be most impactful in terms of costs and environmental burdens and, thus, may be targets for efficiency improvements.
An Improved Method for Named Entity Recognition and Its Application to CEMR
Authors: Gao Ming , Xiao Qifeng , Wu Shaochun , Deng Kun
Published: August 2019

Named Entity Recognition (NER) on Clinical Electronic Medical Records (CEMR) is a fundamental step in extracting disease knowledge by identifying specific entity terms such as diseases, symptoms, etc. However, the state-of-the-art NER methods based on Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) fail to exploit GPU parallelism fully under the massive medical records. Although a novel NER method based on Iterated Dilated CNNs (ID-CNNs) can accelerate network computing, it tends to ignore the word-order feature and semantic information of the current word. In order to enhance the performance of ID-CNNs-based models on NER tasks, an attention-based ID-CNNs-CRF model, which combines the word-order feature and local context, is proposed. Firstly, position embedding is utilized to fuse word-order information. Secondly, the ID-CNNs architecture is used to extract global semantic information rapidly. Simultaneously, the attention mechanism is employed to pay attention to the local context. Finally, we apply the CRF to obtain the optimal tag sequence. Experiments conducted on two CEMR datasets show that our model outperforms traditional ones. The F1-scores of 94.55% and 91.17% are obtained respectively on these two datasets, and both are better than LSTM-based models.
Producing an Emulsified Meat System by Partially Substituting Pig Fat with Nanoemulsions that Contain Antioxidant Compounds: The Effect on Oxidative Stability, Nutritional Contribution, and Texture Profile
Authors: Almaráz-Buendia Isaac , Hernández-Escalona Adriana , González-Tenorio Roberto , Santos-Ordoñez Nestor , Espino-García José Jesús , Martínez-Juárez Víctor , Meza-Nieto Martin A. , Campos Montiel Rafael Germán
Published: August 2019

The objective of this study was the incorporation of a water–oil (W/O) nanoemulsion for the partial substitution of pig fats and the addition of antioxidant compounds in an emulsified meat system (EMS). The nanoemulsion was formulated with orange essential oil and cactus acid fruit (xoconostle). The treatments were different percentages (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5%) of the nanoemulsion for the substitution of pig fat in the EMS. The proximal analysis (moisture, protein, fat, and ash), texture profile (hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, and chewiness), phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2′-Azino-bis-3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), and 2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were evaluated. All variables showed significant differences (p < 0.05). The results for protein, fat, and ash exhibited increments with the addition of the nanoemulsion, and moisture loss was reduced. The profile showed increments in hardness and chewiness. The addition of the nanoemulsion incremented the phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity (DPPH and ABTS), decreased production of Malonaldehyde, and reduced lipid oxidation. The result of the addition of the nanoemulsion in the EMS is a product with a substantial nutritional contribution, antioxidant capacity, and excellent shelf life.
Different Postharvest Responses of Fresh-Cut Sweet Peppers Related to Quality and Antioxidant and Phenylalanine Ammonia Lyase Activities during Exposure to Light-Emitting Diode Treatments
Authors: Maroga Gludia M. , Soundy Puffy , Sivakumar Dharini
Published: August 2019

The influence of emitting diode (LED) treatments for 8 h per day on functional quality of three types of fresh-cut sweet peppers (yellow, red, and green) were investigated after 3, 7, 11, and 14 days postharvest storage on the market shelf at 7 °C. Red LED light (660 nm, 150 μmol m−2 s−1) reduced weight loss to commercially acceptable level levels (≤2.0%) in fresh-cuts of yellow and green sweet peppers at 7 and 11 d, respectively. Blue LED light (450 nm, 100 μmol m−2 s−1) maintained weight loss acceptable for marketing in red fresh-cut sweet peppers up to 11 d. Highest marketability with minimum changes in color difference (∆E) and functional compounds (total phenols, ascorbic acid content, and antioxidant activity) were obtained in yellow and green sweet pepper fresh-cuts exposed to red LED light up to 7 and 11 d, respectively, and for red sweet pepper fresh-cuts exposed to blue LED light for 11 d. Red LED light maintained the highest concentrations of β carotene, chlorophyll, and lycopene in yellow, green, and red sweet pepper fresh-cuts up to 7 d. Similarly, blue LED light showed the highest increase in lycopene concentrations for red sweet pepper fresh-cuts up to 7 d. Red LED (yellow and green sweet peppers) and blue LED (red sweet pepper) lights maintained phenolic compounds by increasing phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity. Thus, the results indicate a new approach to improve functional compounds of different types of fresh-cut sweet pepper.
Depicting the Non-Covalent Interaction of Whey Proteins with Galangin or Genistein Using the Multi-Spectroscopic Techniques and Molecular Docking
Authors: Ma Chun-Min , Zhao Xin-Huai
Published: August 2019

The non-covalent interactions between a commercial whey protein isolate (WPI) and two bioactive polyphenols galangin and genistein were studied at pH 6.8 via the multi-spectroscopic assays and molecular docking. When forming these WPI-polyphenol complexes, whey proteins had changed secondary structures while hydrophobic interaction was the major driving force. Detergent sodium dodecyl sulfate destroyed the hydrophobic interaction and thus decreased apparent binding constants of the WPI-polyphenol interactions. Urea led to hydrogen-bonds breakage and protein unfolding, and therefore increased apparent binding constants. Based on the measured apparent thermodynamic parameters like ΔH, ΔS, ΔG, and donor-acceptor distance, galangin with more planar stereochemical structure and random B-ring rotation showed higher affinity for WPI than genistein with location isomerism and twisted stereochemical structure. The molecular docking results disclosed that β-lactoglobulin of higher average hydrophobicity had better affinity for the two polyphenols than α-lactalbumin of lower average hydrophobicity while β-lactoglobulin possessed very similar binding sites to the two polyphenols. It is concluded that polyphenols might have different non-covalent interactions with food proteins, depending on the crucial polyphenol structures and protein hydrophobicity.
Training/Match External Load Ratios in Professional Soccer Players: A Full-Season Study
Authors: Clemente Filipe Manuel , Rabbani Alireza , Conte Daniele , Castillo Daniel , Afonso José , Truman Clark Cain Craig , Nikolaidis Pantelis Theodoros , Rosemann Thomas , Knechtle Beat
Published: August 2019

The aim of this study was two-fold: (i) to describe the training/match ratios of different external load measures during a full professional soccer season while analyzing the variations between different types of weeks (three, four and five training sessions/week) and (ii) to investigate the relationship between weekly accumulated training loads and the match demands of the same week. Twenty-seven professional soccer players (24.9 ± 3.5 years old) were monitored daily using a 10-Hz global positioning system with a 100-Hz accelerometer. Total distance (TD), running distance (RD), high-speed running (HSR), sprinting distance (SD), player load (PL), number of high accelerations (ACC), and number of high decelerations (DEC) were recorded during training sessions and matches. An individual training/match ratio (TMr) was calculated for each external load measure. Weeks with five training sessions (5dW) presented meaningfully greater TMr than weeks with four (4dW) or three (3dW) training sessions. Additionally, TDratio (TDr) was significantly greater in 5dW than in 3dW (mean differences dif: 1.23 arbitray units A.U.) and 4dW (dif: 0.80 A.U.); HSRr was significantly greater in 5dW than in 3dW (dif: 0.90 A.U.) and 4dW (dif: 0.68 A.U.); and SDr was significantly greater in 5dW than in 3dW (dif: 0.77 A.U.) and 4dW (dif: 0.90 A.U.). Correlations between the weekly training loads and the match demands of the same week were small for PL (r = 0.250 [0.13;0.36]), ACC (r = 0.292 [0.17;0.40]) and DEC (r = 0.236 [0.11;0.35]). This study reveals that ratios of above 1 were observed for specific measures (e.g., HSR, SD). It was also observed that training sessions are not adjusted according to weekly variations in match demands.
Using a Revised Protein-Sparing Modified Fast (rPSMF) for Children and Adolescents with Severe Obesity: A Pilot Study
Authors: Eneli Ihuoma , Xu Jinyu , Tindall Alexis , Watowicz Rosanna , Worthington Jennifer , Tanner Kelly , Pratt Keeley , Walston Marnie
Published: August 2019

Treatment options are limited for children and adolescents with severe obesity. One alternative treatment is the protein-sparing modified fast (PSMF), a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet that can result in substantial weight loss. The aim of the study is to evaluate the adherence and efficacy of a revised PSMF (rPSMF) for severe obesity in a pediatric tertiary care weight-management program. The rPSMF with 1200–1800 calories, 40–60 g of carbohydrate/day and 1.2–1.5 g protein/kg of ideal bodyweight was implemented over 12 months. Twenty-one participants enrolled in the study. Mean age 16.2 ± 1.4 years, females (76.2%) and mean weight at baseline was 119 ± 19.9 kg. Regardless of adherence to the rPSMF, the mean weight change at 1 month was −3.7 ± 3.5 kg, (range −13.5 kg to 0.9 kg); at 3 months was −5.5 ± 5.1 kg, (range −19.3 kg to 1.8 kg) and at 6 months was −4.7 ± 6.6 kg, (range −18.3 kg to 8.6 kg). At 12 months, the mean weight change was −1.3 ± 10.6 kg (range −17.7 kg to 14.8 kg). Parent and child-reported physical and psychosocial quality of life (HRQOL) improved. Despite limited adherence, the rPSMF diet resulted in clinically significant weight loss and improved HRQOL for children and adolescents with severe obesity.
Romantic Attraction and Substance Use in 15-Year-Old Adolescents from Eight European Countries
Authors: Költő András , Cosma Alina , Young Honor , Moreau Nathalie , Pavlova Daryna , Tesler Riki , Thorsteinsson Einar B. , Vieno Alessio , Saewyc Elizabeth M. , Nic Gabhainn Saoirse
Published: August 2019

Sexual minority youth are at higher risk of substance use than heterosexual youth. However, most evidence in this area is from North America, and it is unclear whether the findings can be generalized to other cultures and countries. In this investigation, we used data from the 2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study to compare substance use in same- and both-gender attracted 15-year-old adolescents from eight European countries (n = 14,545) to that of their peers who reported opposite-gender attraction or have not been romantically attracted to anyone. Both-gender attracted, and to a lesser extent, same-gender attracted adolescents were significantly more likely to smoke cigarettes, consume alcohol, get drunk and use cannabis, or be involved in multiple substance use in the last 30 days compared to their opposite-gender attracted peers. Those adolescents who have not been in love had significantly lower odds for substance use than all other youth. The pattern of results remained the same after adjusting for country, gender and family affluence. These findings are compatible with the minority stress and romantic stress theories. They suggest that sexual minority stigma (and love on its own) may contribute to higher substance use among adolescents in European countries.
Male Partners’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Perception of Women’s Breast Cancer in Abha, Southwestern Saudi Arabia
Authors: Al-Musa Hassan M. , Awadalla Nabil J. , Mahfouz Ahmed A.
Published: August 2019

Background: Breast cancer (BC) is ranked as the most frequently diagnosed cancer site among women in Saudi Arabia. Several studies in Saudi Arabia have reported low awareness of BC and significant obstacles to early presentation among Saudi women. A key sociocultural obstacle against breast screening and early detection of BC in several conservative cultures is that men manage women’s choices and activities. The aim of this research is to find out the key background knowledge, attitudes, and related practice among male partners in the city of Abha in relation to women’s BC prevention and means for early detection. Methods: A cross-sectional study targeting husbands aged 20 years or older chosen from the outpatient clinics in the Urban Primary Health Care Centers in Abha City. Through questionnaires, interview data were collected regarding knowledge about BC and wife practices and attitudes towards BC. Results: The study included 832 husbands. The study showed that only 20.2% (95% confidence interval (CI): 19.9–24.1) of husbands had heard about mammography and only 22.1% had heard about breast self-examination among women as a screening test for BC. The most commonly mentioned variations that might occur in relation to BC were size changes (45.6%). The leading source of BC knowledge was from television (48.9%), and the least-mentioned source of information was healthcare workers (22.4%). Husbands mentioned that only 9.3% of wives had been examined before by mammography. In a multivariate logistic regression of male factors associated with wives’ practices and attitudes towards BC, only good knowledge among husbands was a significant factor. Conclusions: The study documented the low level of BC knowledge among male partners. There is an urgent need to pay more consideration to disseminating awareness among men, as they are associates, and they must be armed with proper awareness. There is an urgent demand for establishing a national program and educational campaigns towards BC. Stressing the advantages and access to free mammography is necessary.
Racial/Ethnic Differences in Physiological Stress and Relapse among Treatment Seeking Tobacco Smokers
Authors: Webb Hooper Monica
Published: August 2019

Stress is robustly associated with tobacco smoking and relapse. African Americans experience greater difficulty quitting compared to whites, yet no studies have examined race differences in physiological stress biomarkers during a quit attempt. This pilot study compared cortisol levels among treatment-seeking African American and white smokers, and relapse rates. Adult smokers (N = 115; n = 72 African American, n = 43 White) received eight sessions of group cognitive behavioral therapy plus transdermal nicotine patches. Assessments included demographics, salivary cortisol (collected at session 1, the end-of-therapy [EOT], and one-month post-therapy), and carbon monoxide-verified smoking relapse. Overall, cortisol levels declined over the course of the day at baseline, the EOT, and the one-month follow-up. African Americans exhibited lower cortisol levels compared to Whites at baseline and the EOT, but not at the one-month follow-up. In addition, African American smokers exhibited flatter slopes compared to Whites at each time point. Relapse rates were greater among African Americans at the EOT and one-month follow-up. The attenuated cortisol pattern observed in African Americans may indicate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) exhaustion and aid our understanding of tobacco-related disparities. There is a need to focus on stress mechanisms and specific intervention approaches in order to eliminate racial/ethnic differences.
Taming Performance Variability of Healthcare Data Service Frameworks with Proactive and Coarse-Grained Memory Cleaning
Authors: Lee Eunji
Published: August 2019

This article explores the performance optimizations of an embedded database memory management system to ensure high responsiveness of real-time healthcare data frameworks. SQLite is a popular embedded database engine extensively used in medical and healthcare data storage systems. However, SQLite is essentially built around lightweight applications in mobile devices, and it significantly deteriorates when a large transaction is issued such as high resolution medical images or massive health dataset, which is unlikely to occur in embedded systems but is quite common in other systems. Such transactions do not fit in the in-memory buffer of SQLite, and SQLite enforces memory reclamation as they are processed. The problem is that the current SQLite buffer management scheme does not effectively manage these cases, and the naïve reclamation scheme used significantly increases the user-perceived latency. Motivated by this limitation, this paper identifies the causes of high latency during processing of a large transaction, and overcomes the limitation via proactive and coarse-grained memory cleaning in SQLite.The proposed memory reclamation scheme was implemented in SQLite 3.29, and measurement studies with a prototype implementation demonstrated that the SQLite operation latency decreases by 13% on an average and up to 17.3% with our memory reclamation scheme as compared to that of the original version.
Effects of Intermittent Hypoxia on Pulmonary Vascular and Systemic Diseases
Authors: Kimura Hiroshi , Ota Hiroyo , Kimura Yuya , Takasawa Shin
Published: August 2019

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) causes many systemic disorders via mechanisms related to sympathetic nerve activation, systemic inflammation, and oxidative stress. OSA typically shows repeated sleep apnea followed by hyperventilation, which results in intermittent hypoxia (IH). IH is associated with an increase in sympathetic activity, which is a well-known pathophysiological mechanism in hypertension and insulin resistance. In this review, we show the basic and clinical significance of IH from the viewpoint of not only systemic regulatory mechanisms focusing on pulmonary circulation, but also cellular mechanisms causing lifestyle-related diseases. First, we demonstrate how IH influences pulmonary circulation to cause pulmonary hypertension during sleep in association with sleep state-specific change in OSA. We also clarify how nocturnal IH activates circulating monocytes to accelerate the infiltration ability to vascular wall in OSA. Finally, the effects of IH on insulin secretion and insulin resistance are elucidated by using an in vitro chamber system that can mimic and manipulate IH. The obtained data implies that glucose-induced insulin secretion (GIS) in pancreatic β cells is significantly attenuated by IH, and that IH increases selenoprotein P, which is one of the hepatokines, as well as TNF-α, CCL-2, and resistin, members of adipokines, to induce insulin resistance via direct cellular mechanisms. Clinical and experimental findings concerning IH give us productive new knowledge of how lifestyle-related diseases and pulmonary hypertension develop during sleep.
Are Risk-Taking and Ski Helmet Use Associated with an ACL Injury in Recreational Alpine Skiing?
Authors: Ruedl Gerhard , Posch Markus , Niedermeier Martin , Greier Klaus , Faulhaber Martin , Schranz Alois , Burtscher Martin
Published: August 2019

According to the risk compensation hypothesis, the use of a ski helmet might provide a false sense of security, resulting in a riskier behavior by skiing faster or more aggressively, which might lead to an increased injury risk. Injury of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is a common diagnosis in downhill skiers. Thus, the aim of the study was to evaluate the potential impact of risk-taking and ski helmet use on ACL injury risk in recreational skiing. Eighty-two ACL injured and 446 uninjured skiers with a mean age of 37.3 ± 11.9 years (52% females) were surveyed during the winter season 2018/19 about age, sex, self-reported risk-taking behavior, self-reported skill level, perceived speed, and ski helmet use. Multiple regression analysis revealed that older age (OR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.2–1.4), riskier behavior (OR: 5.4, 95% CI: 2.8–10.5), and lower skill level (OR: 6.7, 95% CI: 3.4–13.3) were found to be factors associated with ACL injury, while ski helmet use was not. In conclusion, no support for the risk compensation hypothesis was found with regard to ACL injuries. Therefore, we doubt that ski helmet use increases the risk for ACL injury and recommend wearing a ski helmet due to reported protective effects.
WOF-SWAT: A Web-Based Open-Source Framework for Investigating the Hydrological Impacts of Climate Change and Human Activities Through Online Simulation and Visualization of SWAT Models
Authors: Zhang Dejian , Fu Wenjie , Lin Qiaoying , Chen Xingwei
Published: August 2019

This study developed a web-based open-source framework based on the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), named WOF-SWAT (web-based open-source framework for SWAT), to investigate individual and combined impacts of climate change, land use change, and point-source pollutants on watershed-scale hydrological and chemical processes. The architecture, workflows, interfaces, and key processes of WOF-SWAT are described and discussed. Using a previously developed well-calibrated hydrological model of the Jinjiang River basin, four scenarios were simulated in WOF-SWAT and other traditional desktop-based tools (i.e., ArcSWAT and SWAT-CUP) to examine the credibility, efficiency, and functionality of WOF-SWAT. The results show that, in combination with a well-calibrated watershed model, WOF-SWAT is sufficiently sound and reasonable to investigate individual and combined impacts of climate change, land use change, and point-source pollutants. We thus conclude that WOF-SWAT can be used as a substitute for other tools to carry out similar tasks in a web-based environment while providing more user-friendly interfaces, accessibility, and efficiency. We also discuss ongoing and possible future efforts to develop WOF-SWAT into a fully-fledged watershed research and management framework.
Traffic Accident Spatial Simulation Modeling for Planning of Road Emergency Services
Authors: Naboureh Amin , Feizizadeh Bakhtiar , Naboureh Abbas , Bian Jinhu , Blaschke Thomas , Ghorbanzadeh Omid , Moharrami Meisam
Published: August 2019

The appropriate locations of road emergency stations (RESs) can help to decrease the impact of traffic accidents that cause around 50 million injuries per year worldwide. In this research, the appropriateness of existing RESs in the Khuzestan province, Iran, was assessed using an integrated fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) and geographic information system (GIS) approach. The data used in this research were collected from different sources, including the department of roads, the department of health, the statistics organization, forensics, police centers, the surveying and geological department, remotely-sensed and global positioning system (GPS) data of accident high crash zones. On the basis of previous studies and the requirements of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education, as well as the department of roads of Iran for the location of RESs, nine criteria and 19 sub-criteria were adopted, including population, safety, environmental indicators, compatible area in RES, incompatible area in RES, type of road, accident high crash zones, traffic level and performance radius. The FAHP yielded the criteria weights and the ideal locations for establishing RESs using GIS analysis and aggregation functions. The resulting map matched the known road accident and high crash zones very well. The results indicated that the current RES stations are not distributed appropriately along the major roads of the Khuzestan province, and a re-arrangement is suggested. The finding of the present study can help decision-makers and authorities to achieve sustainable road safety in the case study area.
The Ability to Regulate Transmembrane Potassium Transport in Root Is Critical for Drought Tolerance in Barley
Authors: Cai Kangfeng , Gao Huaizhou , Wu Xiaojian , Zhang Shuo , Han Zhigang , Chen Xiaohui , Zhang Guoping , Zeng Fanrong
Published: August 2019

In this work, the effect of drought on K+ uptake in root and its translocation from root to shoot was investigated using six barley genotypes contrasting in drought tolerance. Results showed that drought conditions caused significant changes in K+ uptake and translocation in a time- and genotype-specific manner, which consequently resulted in a significant difference in tissue K+ contents and drought tolerance levels between the contrasting barley genotypes. The role of K+ transporters and channels and plasma membrane (PM) H+-ATPase in barley’s adaptive response to drought stress was further investigated at the transcript level. The expression of genes conferring K+ uptake (HvHAK1, HvHAK5, HvKUP1, HvKUP2 and HvAKT1) and xylem loading (HvSKOR) in roots were all affected by drought stress in a time- and genotype-specific manner, indicating that the regulation of these K+ transporters and channels is critical for root K+ uptake and root to shoot K+ translocation in barley under drought stress. Furthermore, the barley genotypes showed a strong correlation between H+ efflux and K+ influx under drought stress, which was further confirmed by the significant up-regulation of HvHA1 and HvHA2. These results suggested an important role of plasma membrane H+-ATPase activity and/or expression in regulating the activity of K+ transporters and channels under drought stress. Taken together, it may be concluded that the genotypic difference in drought stress tolerance in barley is conferred by the difference in the ability to regulate K+ transporters and channels in root epidermis and stele.
Identification and in Silico Characterization of GT Factors Involved in Phytohormone and Abiotic Stresses Responses in Brachypodium distachyon
Authors: Wen Feng , Xu Liangwei , Xie Yuebin , Liao Liang , Li Tongjian , Jia Mingliang , Liu Xinsheng , Wu Xiaozhu
Published: August 2019

GT factors play critical roles in plant growth and development and in response to various environmental stimuli. Considering the new functions of GT factors on the regulation of plant stress tolerance and seeing as few studies on Brachypodium distachyon were available, we identified GT genes in B. distachyon, and the gene characterizations and phylogenies were systematically analyzed. Thirty-one members of BdGT genes were distributed on all five chromosomes with different densities. All the BdGTs could be divided into five subfamilies, including GT-1, GT-2, GTγ, SH4, and SIP1, based upon their sequence homology. BdGTs exhibited considerably divergent structures among each subfamily according to gene structure and conserved functional domain analysis, but the members within the same subfamily were relatively structure-conserved. Synteny results indicated that a large number of syntenic relationship events existed between rice and B. distachyon. Expression profiles indicated that the expression levels of most of BdGT genes were changed under abiotic stresses and hormone treatments. Moreover, the co-expression network exhibited a complex regulatory network between BdGTs and BdWRKYs as well as that between BdGTs and BdMAPK cascade gene. Results showed that GT factors might play multiple functions in responding to multiple environmental stresses in B. distachyon and participate in both the positive and negative regulation of WRKY- or MAPK-mediated stress response processes. The genome-wide analysis of BdGTs and the co-regulation network under multiple stresses provide valuable information for the further investigation of the functions of BdGTs in response to environment stresses.
Aggregation States of Aβ1–40, Aβ1–42 and Aβp3–42 Amyloid Beta Peptides: A SANS Study
Authors: Festa Giulia , Mallamace Francesco , Sancesario Giulia Maria , Corsaro Carmelo , Mallamace Domenico , Fazio Enza , Arcidiacono Laura , Garcia Sakai Victoria , Senesi Roberto , Preziosi Enrico , Sancesario Giuseppe , Andreani Carla
Published: August 2019

Aggregation states of amyloid beta peptides for amyloid beta A β 1 – 40 to A β 1 – 42 and A β p 3 – 42 are investigated through small angle neutron scattering (SANS). The knowledge of these small peptides and their aggregation state are of key importance for the comprehension of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease). The SANS technique allows to study the size and fractal nature of the monomers, oligomers and fibrils of the three different peptides. Results show that all the investigated peptides have monomers with a radius of gyration of the order of 10 Å, while the oligomers and fibrils display differences in size and aggregation ability, with A β p 3 – 42 showing larger oligomers. These properties are strictly related to the toxicity of the corresponding amyloid peptide and indeed to the development of the associated disease.
p53, miR-34a and EMP1—Newly Identified Targets of TFF3 Signaling in Y79 Retinoblastoma Cells
Authors: Busch Maike , Klein Stefan , Große-Kreul Jan , Scheiner Oliver , Metz Klaus , Stephan Harald , Dünker Nicole
Published: August 2019

Trefoil factor family peptide 3 (TFF3) is supposed to have tumor suppressive functions in retinoblastoma (RB), but the functional pathway is not completely understood. In the study presented, we investigated the downstream pathway of TFF3 signaling in Y79 RB cells. Results from pG13-luciferase reporter assays and western blot analyses indicate induced p53 activity with an upregulation of miR-34a after TFF3 overexpression. Expression levels of the predicted miR-34a target epithelial membrane protein 1 (EMP1) are reduced after TFF3 overexpression. As revealed by WST-1 assay, BrdU, and DAPI cell counts viability and proliferation of Y79 cells significantly decrease following EMP1 knockdown, while apoptosis levels significantly increase. Opposite effects on Y79 cells’ growth could be shown after EMP1 overexpression. Caspase assays showed that EMP1 induced apoptosis after overexpression is at least partially caspase-3/7 dependent. Colony formation and soft agarose assays, testing for anchorage independent growth, revealed that EMP1 overexpressing Y79 cells have a significantly higher ability to form colonies. In in ovo chicken chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assays inoculated EMP1 overexpressing Y79 cells form significantly larger CAM tumors. Moreover, miR-34a overexpression increases sensitivity of Y79 cells towards RB chemotherapeutics, however, without involvement of EMP1. In summary, the TFF3 signaling pathway in Y79 RB cells involves the activation of p53 with downstream induction of miR-34a and subsequent inhibition of EMP1.
Splicing Mutations Impairing CDKL5 Expression and Activity Can be Efficiently Rescued by U1snRNA-Based Therapy
Authors: Balestra Dario , Giorgio Domenico , Bizzotto Matteo , Fazzari Maria , Ben Zeev Bruria , Pinotti Mirko , Landsberger Nicoletta , Frasca Angelisa
Published: August 2019

Mutations in the CDKL5 gene lead to an incurable rare neurological condition characterized by the onset of seizures in the first weeks of life and severe intellectual disability. Replacement gene or protein therapies could represent intriguing options, however, their application may be inhibited by the recent demonstration that CDKL5 is dosage sensitive. Conversely, correction approaches acting on pre-mRNA splicing would preserve CDKL5 physiological regulation. Since ~15% of CDKL5 pathogenic mutations are candidates to affect splicing, we evaluated the capability of variants of the spliceosomal U1 small nuclear RNA (U1snRNA) to correct mutations affecting +1 and +5 nucleotides at the 5′ donor splice site and predicted to cause exon skipping. Our results show that CDKL5 minigene variants expressed in mammalian cells are a valid approach to assess CDKL5 splicing pattern. The expression of engineered U1snRNA effectively rescued mutations at +5 but not at the +1 nucleotides. Importantly, we proved that U1snRNA-mediated splicing correction fully restores CDKL5 protein synthesis, subcellular distribution and kinase activity. Eventually, by correcting aberrant splicing of an exogenously expressed splicing-competent CDKL5 transgene, we provided insights on the morphological rescue of CDKL5 null neurons, reporting the first proof-of-concept of the therapeutic value of U1snRNA-mediated CDKL5 splicing correction.