bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A safe power controlling method for a phase-shift migration inverter to drive a high-power ultrasonic transducer
Authors: Jang Tae-Sok , An Yong-Nam , Kang Un-Im , Yun Yong Il , Ryu Hyok-Chol
Published: September 2023

The aim of this work is to investigate and analyze the operation mechanism and power control principle of a bolted Langevin type (BLT)-loaded phase-shifted control inverter and to find a safe power control method for a phase-shifted control inverter used to drive a high-power BLT by preventing the differential current (shock current) from occurring in the right branches of a phase-shifted full-bridge circuit. In this paper, by allowing the inverter operating frequency to operate under inductive loads that coincide with the zero points of voltage and current rather than the resonant frequency of the BLT, which results in the generation of a shock current in the right branch of the full-bridge circuit, the switches of the right-branch also enabled zero-voltage, zero-current switching on (ZVZCS turn-on). The proposed method can fundamentally eliminate the generation of shock current by realizing ZVZCS turn-on on the right-branch switch elements of the inverter. The phase-shift angle control limit for power control by this scheme is 90° and the power control range is 20%–100%.
Draft genome sequences of 12 triclosan tolerant bacteria isolated from returned activated sewage sludge
Authors: van Hamelsveld Sophie , McGill Erin , Taylor William , Weaver Louise
Published: September 2023

Herein we report the whole genome sequences of 12 highly triclosan tolerant bacteria isolated from returned activated sludge spiked with triclosan.
Infants exposed
in utero
to Hurricane Maria have gut microbiomes with reduced diversity and altered metabolic capacity
Authors: Zhang Ai , de Ángel Solá David , Acevedo Flores Midnela , Cao Lijuan , Wang Leran , Kim Josh G. , Tarr Phillip I. , Warner Barbara B. , Rosario Matos Nicolás , Wang Leyao
Published: September 2023

The gut microbiome is a potentially important mechanism that links prenatal disaster exposures with increased disease risks. However, whether prenatal disaster exposures are associated with alterations in the infant’s gut microbiome remains unknown. We established a birth cohort study named Hurricane as the Origin of Later Alterations in Microbiome (HOLA) after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017. We enrolled vaginally born Latino term infants aged 2 to 6 months, including
n
= 29 infants who were exposed
in utero
to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico and
n
= 34 infants who were conceived at least 5 months after the hurricane as controls. Shotgun metagenomic sequencing was performed on infant stool swabs. Infants exposed
in utero
to Hurricane Maria had a reduced diversity in their gut microbiome compared to the control infants, which was mainly seen in the exclusively formula-fed group (
P
= 0.02). Four bacterial species, including
Bacteroides vulgatus
,
Clostridium innocuum
,
Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum
, and
Clostridium neonatale
, were depleted in the exposure group compared to the control group. Compositional differences in the microbial community and metabolic genes between the exposure and control groups were significant, which were driven by the formula feeding group (
P
= 0.02 for the microbial community and
P
= 0.008 for the metabolic genes). Metabolic modules involved in carbohydrate metabolism were reduced in the exposure group. Prenatal maternal exposure to Hurricane Maria was associated with a reduced gut commensal and an altered microbial composition and metabolic potential in the offspring’s gut. Breastfeeding can adjust the composition of the gut microbiomes of exposed infants.

IMPORTANCE

Climate change is a serious issue that is affecting human health. With more frequent and intense weather disasters due to climate change, there is an urgent need to evaluate and understand the impacts of prenatal disaster exposures on the offspring. The prenatal stage is a particularly vulnerable stage for disease origination. However, the impact of prenatal weather disaster exposures on the offspring’s gut microbiome has not been evaluated. Our HOLA study starts to fill this knowledge gap and provides novel insights into the microbiome as a mechanism that links prenatal disaster exposures with elevated disease risks. Our major finding that reduced microbial diversity and altered metabolic capacity are associated with prenatal hurricane exposures warrants further studies to evaluate the impact of weather disasters on the unborn.
A putative lipase affects
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
biofilm matrix production
Authors: Pan Somalisa , Erdmann Mary , Terrell Julia , Cabeen Matthew T.
Published: September 2023

Pseudomonas aeruginosa
is an opportunistic pathogen that is widely known for infecting patients with underlying conditions. This species often survives antibiotic therapy by forming biofilms, in which the cells produce a protective extracellular matrix.
P. aeruginosa
also produces virulence factors that enhance its ability to cause disease. One signaling pathway that influences virulence is the nitrogen-related phosphotransferase system (Nitro-PTS), which consists of an initial phosphotransferase,
PtsP
, a phosphocarrier, PtsO, and a terminal phosphate receptor, PtsN. The physiological role of the Nitro-PTS in
P. aeruginosa
is poorly understood. However, PtsN, when deprived of its upstream phosphotransfer proteins, has an antagonistic effect on biofilm formation. We thus conducted a transposon mutagenesis screen in an unphosphorylated-PtsN (i.e., ∆
ptsP
) background to identify downstream proteins with unacknowledged roles in PtsN-mediated biofilm suppression. We found an unstudied gene,
PA14_04030
, whose disruption restored biofilm production. This gene encodes a predicted phospholipase with signature alpha/beta hydrolase folds and a lipase signature motif with an active-site Ser residue. Hence, we renamed the gene
bipL
, for
b
iofilm-
i
mpacting
p
hospho
l
ipase. Deletion of
bipL
in a ∆
ptsP
background increased biofilm formation, supporting the idea that BipL is responsible for reducing biofilm formation in strains with unphosphorylated PtsN. Moreover, substituting the putative catalytic Ser for Ala phenocopied
bipL
deletion, indicating that this residue is important for the biofilm-suppressive activity of BipL
in vivo
. As our preliminary data suggest that BipL is a lipase, we performed lipidomics to detect changes in the lipid profile due to
bipL
deletion and found changes in some lipid species.

IMPORTANCE

Biofilm formation by bacteria occurs when cells secrete an extracellular matrix that holds them together and shields them from environmental insults. Biofilms of bacterial opportunistic human pathogens such as
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
pose a substantial challenge to clinical antimicrobial therapy. Hence, a more complete knowledge about the bacterial factors that influence and regulate production of the biofilm matrix is one key to formulate more effective therapeutic strategies. In this study, we screen for factors that are important for reducing biofilm matrix production in certain genetic backgrounds. We unexpectedly found a gene encoding a putative lipase enzyme and showed that its predicted catalytic site is important for its ability to reduce biofilm formation. Our findings suggest that lipase enzymes have previously uncharacterized functions in biofilm matrix regulation.
Supplemental Material: Crustal block-controlled contrasts in deformation, uplift, and exhumation in the Santa Cruz Mountains, California, USA, imaged through apatite (U-Th)/He thermochronology and 3-D geological modeling
Authors: Baden Curtis W. , et al.
Published: September 2023

Thermal models, structural cross sections, and supplementary figures, tables, and text.
CrowdQ
Authors: Shou Tieqi , Ye Zhuohan , Hong Yayao , Wang Zhiyuan , Zhu Hang , Jiang Zhihan , Yang Dingqi , Zhou Binbin , Wang Cheng , Chen Longbiao
Published: September 2023

Hospital Emergency Departments (EDs) are essential for providing emergency medical services, yet often overwhelmed due to increasing healthcare demand. Current methods for monitoring ED queue states, such as manual monitoring, video surveillance, and front-desk registration are inefficient, invasive, and delayed to provide real-time updates. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a novel framework, CrowdQ, which harnesses spatiotemporal crowdsensing data for real-time ED demand sensing, queue state modeling, and prediction. By utilizing vehicle trajectory and urban geographic environment data, CrowdQ can accurately estimate emergency visits from noisy traffic flows. Furthermore, it employs queueing theory to model the complex emergency service process with medical service data, effectively considering spatiotemporal dependencies and event context impact on ED queue states. Experiments conducted on large-scale crowdsensing urban traffic datasets and hospital information system datasets from Xiamen City demonstrate the framework's effectiveness. It achieves an F1 score of 0.93 in ED demand identification, effectively models the ED queue state of key hospitals, and reduces the error in queue state prediction by 18.5%-71.3% compared to baseline methods. CrowdQ, therefore, offers valuable alternatives for public emergency treatment information disclosure and maximized medical resource allocation.
Privacy against Real-Time Speech Emotion Detection via Acoustic Adversarial Evasion of Machine Learning
Authors: Testa Brian , Xiao Yi , Sharma Harshit , Gump Avery , Salekin Asif
Published: September 2023

Smart speaker voice assistants (VAs) such as Amazon Echo and Google Home have been widely adopted due to their seamless integration with smart home devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. These VA services raise privacy concerns, especially due to their access to our speech. This work considers one such use case: the unaccountable and unauthorized surveillance of a user's emotion via speech emotion recognition (SER). This paper presents DARE-GP, a solution that creates additive noise to mask users' emotional information while preserving the transcription-relevant portions of their speech. DARE-GP does this by using a constrained genetic programming approach to learn the spectral frequency traits that depict target users' emotional content, and then generating a universal adversarial audio perturbation that provides this privacy protection. Unlike existing works, DARE-GP provides: a) real-time protection of previously unheard utterances, b) against previously unseen black-box SER classifiers, c) while protecting speech transcription, and d) does so in a realistic, acoustic environment. Further, this evasion is robust against defenses employed by a knowledgeable adversary. The evaluations in this work culminate with acoustic evaluations against two off-the-shelf commercial smart speakers using a small-form-factor (raspberry pi) integrated with a wake-word system to evaluate the efficacy of its real-world, real-time deployment.
LAUREATE
Authors: Laporte Matias , Gjoreski Martin , Langheinrich Marc
Published: September 2023

The latest developments in wearable sensors have resulted in a wide range of devices available to consumers, allowing users to monitor and improve their physical activity, sleep patterns, cognitive load, and stress levels. However, the lack of out-of-the-lab labelled data hinders the development of advanced machine learning models for predicting affective states. Furthermore, to the best of our knowledge, there are no publicly available datasets in the area of Human Memory Augmentation. This paper presents a dataset we collected during a 13-week study in a university setting. The dataset, named LAUREATE, contains the physiological data of 42 students during 26 classes (including exams), daily self-reports asking the students about their lifestyle habits (e.g. studying hours, physical activity, and sleep quality) and their performance across multiple examinations. In addition to the raw data, we provide expert features from the physiological data, and baseline machine learning models for estimating self-reported affect, models for recognising classes vs breaks, and models for user identification. Besides the use cases presented in this paper, among which Human Memory Augmentation, the dataset represents a rich resource for the UbiComp community in various domains, including affect recognition, behaviour modelling, user privacy, and activity and context recognition.
A Meta-Synthesis of the Barriers and Facilitators for Personal Informatics Systems
Authors: Kabir Kazi Sinthia , Wiese Jason
Published: September 2023

Personal informatics (PI) systems are designed for diverse users in the real world. Even when these systems are usable, people encounter barriers while engaging with them in ways designers cannot anticipate, which impacts the system's effectiveness. Although PI literature extensively reports such barriers, the volume of this information can be overwhelming. Researchers and practitioners often find themselves repeatedly addressing the same challenges since sifting through this enormous volume of knowledge looking for relevant insights is often infeasible. We contribute to alleviating this issue by conducting a meta-synthesis of the PI literature and categorizing people's barriers and facilitators to engagement with PI systems into eight themes. Based on the synthesized knowledge, we discuss specific generalizable barriers and paths for further investigations. This synthesis can serve as an index to identify barriers pertinent to each application domain and possibly to identify barriers from one domain that might apply to a different domain. Finally, to ensure the sustainability of the syntheses, we propose a Design Statements (DS) block for research articles.
VAX
Authors: Patidar Prasoon , Goel Mayank , Agarwal Yuvraj
Published: September 2023

The use of audio and video modalities for Human Activity Recognition (HAR) is common, given the richness of the data and the availability of pre-trained ML models using a large corpus of labeled training data. However, audio and video sensors also lead to significant consumer privacy concerns. Researchers have thus explored alternate modalities that are less privacy-invasive such as mmWave doppler radars, IMUs, motion sensors. However, the key limitation of these approaches is that most of them do not readily generalize across environments and require significant in-situ training data. Recent work has proposed cross-modality transfer learning approaches to alleviate the lack of trained labeled data with some success. In this paper, we generalize this concept to create a novel system called VAX (Video/Audio to 'X'), where training labels acquired from existing Video/Audio ML models are used to train ML models for a wide range of 'X' privacy-sensitive sensors. Notably, in VAX, once the ML models for the privacy-sensitive sensors are trained, with little to no user involvement, the Audio/Video sensors can be removed altogether to protect the user's privacy better. We built and deployed VAX in ten participants' homes while they performed 17 common activities of daily living. Our evaluation results show that after training, VAX can use its onboard camera and microphone to detect approximately 15 out of 17 activities with an average accuracy of 90%. For these activities that can be detected using a camera and a microphone, VAX trains a per-home model for the privacy-preserving sensors. These models (average accuracy = 84%) require no in-situ user input. In addition, when VAX is augmented with just one labeled instance for the activities not detected by the VAX A/V pipeline (~2 out of 17), it can detect all 17 activities with an average accuracy of 84%. Our results show that VAX is significantly better than a baseline supervised-learning approach of using one labeled instance per activity in each home (average accuracy of 79%) since VAX reduces the user burden of providing activity labels by 8x (~2 labels vs. 17 labels).
AeroTraj
Authors: Ahmad Fawad , Shin Christina Suyong , Ghosh Rajrup , D'Ambrosio John , Chai Eugene , Sundaresan Karthikeyan , Govindan Ramesh
Published: September 2023

This paper presents AeroTraj, a system that enables fast, accurate, and automated reconstruction of 3D models of large buildings using a drone-mounted LiDAR. LiDAR point clouds can be used directly to assemble 3D models if their positions are accurately determined. AeroTraj uses SLAM for this, but must ensure complete and accurate reconstruction while minimizing drone battery usage. Doing this requires balancing competing constraints: drone speed, height, and orientation. AeroTraj exploits building geometry in designing an optimal trajectory that incorporates these constraints. Even with an optimal trajectory, SLAM's position error can drift over time, so AeroTraj tracks drift in-flight by offloading computations to the cloud and invokes a re-calibration procedure to minimize error. AeroTraj can reconstruct large structures with centimeter-level accuracy and with an average end-to-end latency below 250 ms, significantly outperforming the state of the art.
Detecting Social Contexts from Mobile Sensing Indicators in Virtual Interactions with Socially Anxious Individuals
Authors: Wang Zhiyuan , Larrazabal Maria A. , Rucker Mark , Toner Emma R. , Daniel Katharine E. , Kumar Shashwat , Boukhechba Mehdi , Teachman Bethany A. , Barnes Laura E.
Published: September 2023

Mobile sensing is a ubiquitous and useful tool to make inferences about individuals' mental health based on physiology and behavior patterns. Along with sensing features directly associated with mental health, it can be valuable to detect different features of social contexts to learn about social interaction patterns over time and across different environments. This can provide insight into diverse communities' academic, work and social lives, and their social networks. We posit that passively detecting social contexts can be particularly useful for social anxiety research, as it may ultimately help identify changes in social anxiety status and patterns of social avoidance and withdrawal. To this end, we recruited a sample of highly socially anxious undergraduate students (N=46) to examine whether we could detect the presence of experimentally manipulated virtual social contexts via wristband sensors. Using a multitask machine learning pipeline, we leveraged passively sensed biobehavioral streams to detect contexts relevant to social anxiety, including (1) whether people were in a social situation, (2) size of the social group, (3) degree of social evaluation, and (4) phase of social situation (anticipating, actively experiencing, or had just participated in an experience). Results demonstrated the feasibility of detecting most virtual social contexts, with stronger predictive accuracy when detecting whether individuals were in a social situation or not and the phase of the situation, and weaker predictive accuracy when detecting the level of social evaluation. They also indicated that sensing streams are differentially important to prediction based on the context being predicted. Our findings also provide useful information regarding design elements relevant to passive context detection, including optimal sensing duration, the utility of different sensing modalities, and the need for personalization. We discuss implications of these findings for future work on context detection (e.g., just-in-time adaptive intervention development).
Contact Tracing for Healthcare Workers in an Intensive Care Unit
Authors: Zhang Jingwen , Dai Ruixuan , Rjob Ashraf , Wang Ruiqi , Hamauon Reshad , Candell Jeffrey , Bailey Thomas , Fraser Victoria J. , Guillamet Maria Cristina Vazquez , Lu Chenyang
Published: September 2023

Contact tracing is a powerful tool for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic. Front-line healthcare workers are particularly at high risk of infection in hospital units. This paper presents ContAct TraCing for Hospitals (CATCH), an automated contact tracing system designed specifically for healthcare workers in hospital environments. CATCH employs distributed embedded devices placed throughout a hospital unit to detect close contacts among healthcare workers wearing Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) beacons. We first identify a set of distinct contact tracing scenarios based on the diverse environmental characteristics of a real-world intensive care unit (ICU) and the different working patterns of healthcare workers in different spaces within the unit. We then develop a suite of novel contact tracing methods tailored for each scenario. CATCH has been deployed and evaluated in the ICU of a major medical center, demonstrating superior accuracy in contact tracing over existing approaches through a wide range of experiments. Furthermore, the real-world case study highlights the effectiveness and efficiency of CATCH compared to standard contact tracing practices.
Efficient Exploration and Exploitation for Sequential Music Recommendation
Authors: Pereira Bruno Laporais , Chaves Pedro Dalla Vecchia , Santos Rodrygo L. T.
Published: September 2023

Music streaming services heavily rely upon recommender systems to acquire, engage, and retain users. One notable component of these services are playlists, which can be dynamically generated in a sequential manner based on the user’s feedback during a listening session. Online learning to rank approaches have recently been shown effective at leveraging such feedback to learn users’ preferences in the space of song features. Nevertheless, these approaches can suffer from slow convergence as a result of their random exploration component and their session-agnostic exploitation component. To overcome these limitations, we propose a novel online learning to rank approach which efficiently explores the space of candidate recommendation models by restricting itself to the orthogonal complement of the subspace of previous underperforming exploration directions. Moreover, we propose a session-aware exploitation component which leverages the momentum of the current best model during updates. Our thorough evaluation using simulated listening sessions from two large Last.fm datasets demonstrates substantial improvements over state-of-the-art approaches in terms of early-stage performance, which results in an improved user experience during online learning. In addition, we demonstrate that long-term convergence can be further enhanced by adaptively relaxing exploration constraints along the way.
Light-Emitting Diode Light Quality Influences Germination and Sprout Characteristics of Motherwort
Authors: Lee Woo-Hyun , Zebro Mewuleddeg , Heo Jae-Yun
Published: September 2023

Motherwort (Leonurus japonicus Houtt) is an important medicinal plant known for its excellent antioxidant properties. Nonetheless, in South Korea, its availability remains limited due to the challenge of low seed germination rates, affecting field production. To tackle this problem, it is imperative to focus on controlled production methods. In our study, we conducted experiments in a laboratory setting, employing various combinations of light-emitting diode (LED) lights to cultivate motherwort. The influence of LED light quality on seed germination, initial growth, and functionality of motherwort is evaluated. The germination rate of motherwort ranged from 36.1 ± 7.35% to 75.0 ± 1.60%, and the highest value was observed in the red LED 100% treatment. The mean shoot length also varied depending on LED light quality. The longest shoot length (3.45 ± 0.13 g) was obtained in the red LED 100% treatment. The highest shoot weight (0.266 ± 0.011 cm) and root weight (0.051 ± 0.008 cm) were obtained in the red LED 70% and blue LED 30% mixed treatment. The total phenolic content of the motherwort sprout ranged from 2.50 ± 0.30 mg GAE/g to 3.01 ± 0.09 mg GAE/g, with the highest value from the white LED (control) treatment, but no significant differences were observed among the treatments. The red LED 30% and blue LED 70% mixed treatment showed the highest total flavonoid content (11.62 ± 0.79 mg QE/g) and DPPH radical scavenging activity (57.64 ± 2.95%). The red LED 70% and blue LED 30% mixed treatment had a similar level of DPPH scavenging activity as the control, and there was no positive or negative effect on the functionality of motherwort sprout. Overall, the results suggest that the red LED 70% and blue LED 30% mixed treatment can be effectively used to increase productivity in motherwort without decreasing its important quality.
Big Data Analytics for the ATLAS EventIndex Project with Apache Spark
Authors: Fernández Casaní Álvaro , García Montoro Carlos , González de la Hoz Santiago , Salt José , Sánchez Javier , Villaplana Pérez Miguel
Published: September 2023

The ATLAS EventIndex was designed to provide a global event catalogue and limited event-level metadata for ATLAS experiment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and their analysis groups and users during Run 2 (2015-2018) and has been running in production since. The LHC Run 3, started in 2022, has seen increased data-taking and simulation production rates, with which the current infrastructure would still cope but may be stretched to its limits by the end of Run 3. A new core storage service is being developed in HBase/Phoenix, and there is work in progress to provide at least the same functionality as the current one for increased data ingestion and search rates and with increasing volumes of stored data. In addition, new tools are being developed for solving the needed access cases within the new storage. This paper describes a new tool using Spark and implemented in Scala for accessing the big data quantities of the EventIndex project stored in HBase/Phoenix. With this tool, we can offer data discovery capabilities at different granularities, providing Spark Dataframes that can be used or refined within the same framework. Data analytic cases of the EventIndex project are implemented, like the search for duplicates of events from the same or different datasets. An algorithm and implementation for the calculation of overlap matrices of events across different datasets are presented. Our approach can be used by other higher-level tools and users, to ease access to the data in a performant and standard way using Spark abstractions. The provided tools decouple data access from the actual data schema, which makes it convenient to hide complexity and possible changes on the backed storage.
Management of a Previously Failed Root Perforation Repair with Geristore and Deepithelialized Gingival Graft: A 5-Year Follow-Up Case Report
Authors: Zahid Talal M.
Published: September 2023

Iatrogenic root perforation presents a significant management challenge for clinicians as it may seriously harm the periodontium. More specifically, perforations occurring relative to the crestal bone have a poor prognosis even after repair due to their proximity to the gingival tissues. The current literature reports the use of various materials for root perforation repair including calcium hydroxide, glass ionomer cement, amalgam, and mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA), to name a few. This case report describes the clinical management of a cervical perforation that occurred on the maxillary central incisor. The perforated area was initially repaired with MTA but failed after one year, which resulted in an active lesion at the midlabial aspect of the tooth. The case was subsequently treated using a resin-modified glass ionomer cement (Geristore®) and deepithelialized free gingival graft (DGG). There were favorable clinical and radiographic outcomes at 1-, 3-, and 5-year follow-up. The use of DGG, however, led to some late complications such as gingival cul-de-sac and color discrepancy, which were later resolved with gingivoplasty and frenectomy. We thus conclude that Geristore® has the potential to be a better repair material than the existing ones for crestal and subcrestal root perforations.
Immunophenotypic Characterization of Citrate-Containing A Concentrates in Maintenance Hemodialysis: A Pre-Post Study
Authors: Shen Yuli , Schmaderer Christoph , Ossadnik Andreas , Hammitzsch Arianne , Carbajo-Lozoya Javier , Bachmann Quirin , Bonell Vera , Braunisch Matthias Christoph , Heemann Uwe , Pham Dang , Kemmner Stephan , Lorenz Georg
Published: September 2023

Introduction. Due to chronic inflammation, maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients continue to show excess mortality. Acetate-free citrate-buffered A concentrates could be a way to improve the biocompatibility of the procedure, reduce chronic inflammation, and thus in the long term improve the prognosis of patients. Methods. Using a pre-post design (3 months of acetate followed by 3 months of citrate-acidified A concentrates in standard bicarbonate-based dialysate hemodialysis, CiaHD) and linear mixed model analysis in 61 stable HD patients, we assessed the impact of CiaHD on counts and phenotypes of peripheral T cells and monocytes by flow cytometry. Results. Switching to CiaHD left C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and leucocyte counts unaffected. However, CiaHD increased lymphocyte counts ex vivo. Furthermore, we found a decrease in total CD3+CD4+CD69+ ((109/L), mean ± SD: acetate, 0.04 ± 1.0 versus citrate, 0.02 ± 0.01;

P

 = 0.02) activated cells, while the number of CD28+ T cells remained stable. No differences were noted regarding T-cell exhaustion marker expression, CD14+CD16+ monocyte counts, and PMN-MDSCs. Conclusion. Compared with acetate, CiaHD has a minor impact on lymphocyte counts and CD4+T-cell activation, which was independent of systemic CRP and ionized magnesium, calcium levels, and other dialysis prescription modalities.
Nonlinear Behavior Study of Reinforced Concrete Coupling Beams Subjected to the Effect of Wind Loading
Authors: Bashour Sarah , Hwaija Bassam , Issa Fadwa
Published: September 2023

Reinforced concrete shear walls connected by coupling beams are considered an efficient structural system for tall buildings subjected to lateral loads. For seismic design of such buildings, performance-based design has been commonly used in regions with strong earthquakes for its ability to achieve economical and safe design, however the use of performance-based wind design (PBWD), which permits nonlinear response of ductile elements at specific locations under wind loads is still hindered due to the lack of information regarding the performance of these elements. In addition to that, there is still a need for developing an analytical model that can represent nonlinear behavior of these elements when subjected to wind loads. Therefore, in this study two analytical models using two different methods to consider bond slip effect (Bond SP01 (BS) model and steel modification factor (SMF) model) were developed and implemented in OpenSees software and validated with a tested specimen of reinforced concrete coupling beam subjected to a simulated windstorm loading protocol. Then, a parametric study was conducted using the SMF model to investigate the effect of axial restraint, and modification of the ductility demand. Results showed that both of the models showed good agreement with the experiment, however results of the SMF model were more accurate. As for the parametric study, it was concluded that with axial restraint, the beam behavior was dominated by shear, and a slight increase of strength was observed. At ductility demand of

1.8

θ
y

, the beam performed well with no significant damage and minor residual rotations.
Associated Factors of Cholelithiasis among Younger Children with Sickle Cell Disease at the National Reference Center for Sickle Cell Disease in Brazzaville, Congo
Authors: Galiba Atipo Tsiba Firmine Olivia , Mikia Clément Pacha , Elira Samba Jennifer Armandine , Nziengui Mboumba Jade Vanessa , Malanda Félix , Mikolele Ahoui Clausina , Elira Dokekias Alexis
Published: September 2023

Introduction. Chronic hemolysis predisposes sickle cell patients to the development of gallstones. Their frequency increases with age, but they may appear early in young children. In the absence of management, they expose the patient to complications that can hinder the quality of life and sometimes even death. This survey aimed to identify the associated factors of the occurrence of cholelithiasis. Materials and Methods. It was a case-control study carried out between January 2017 and June 2022 at the National Reference Center for Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) “Antoinette Sassou N’guesso” in Brazzaville. It concerned 37 children with cholelithiasis. Sociodemographic (socioeconomic status and diet) and clinical (body mass index, frequency of vasoocclusive crises and hospitalization for vasoocclusive crises, number of blood transfusion, and chronic complications) as well as hematological examination (type of SCD and blood count in the intercritical period) and hydroxyurea treatment were compared with those of 74 children with no clinical and radiographic signs of cholelithiasis. The chi-squared statistical test and the odds ratio were used for the comparison (

p
 
<
 
0.05

). Results. The average age was 9.70 ± 1.73 years. The 10–12 age group was the most represented (22 cases or 59.45%), followed by 7- to 9-year-olds (12 cases or 32.43%). Three children (8.10%) were 6  years old. The sex ratio was 0.68 vs. 1.38. Factors associated with cholelithiasis were low socioeconomic status (83.78% vs. 45.95%; IC 95% 1.46−3.89;

p
≤
0.001

), a higher number of blood transfusions (5.54 ± 1.22 vs. 2.46 ± 1.13; IC 95% 1.55−6.70;

p
≤
0.001

), and irregular systematic monitoring (5.54 ± 1.22 vs. 2.46 ± 1.13; IC 95% 1.55−6.70;

p
≤
0.001

). Conclusion. A national strategy to facilitate access to care for patients living with sickle cell disease is imperative. Moreover, emphasis should be placed on the prevention and early management of acute complications of SCD.
The Effect of Thyme Honey on the Histopathological Changes of the Testis in Relation to the Side Effects of Valproic Acid in Adult Male Wistar Rats
Authors: Safarian Nasrin , Shakib Pegah , Rajabzadeh Asghar , Zarei Leila
Published: September 2023

Introduction. Valproic acid (VPA) is a widely used drug in the treatment of emotional and nervous depression, mental imbalances, epilepsy, and control of bipolar disorders. Despite its therapeutic effects, VPA has toxic effects on male reproduction. The testis is an organ sensitive to oxidative stress. On the other hand, thyme honey contains antioxidant compounds. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of thyme honey on the histopathological changes of the testis in relation to the side effects of VPA in adult male Wistar rats. Methods. In this study, 48 Wistar rats were used, which were randomly divided into equal eight groups and received their desired substances. Including the control group, Th1, Th2, and Th3 groups receiving 1, 2, and 3 g/kg of thyme honey, respectively, VPA (500 mg/kg), VPA + Th1 (500 mg/kg of VPA + 1 g/kg of thyme honey), VPA + Th2 (500 mg/kg of VPA + 2 g/kg of thyme honey), and VPA + Th3 (500 mg/kg of VPA + 3 g/kg of thyme honey). After 60 days, evaluation of malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and histological studies of hematoxylin-eosin and Masson’s trichrome staining were performed. Results. The use of thyme honey significantly improved some parameters related to spermatogenesis, and in addition, it increased sperm production in the honey groups. In addition, the changes in MDA levels in the groups have shown a decrease in the amount of lipid peroxidation in the VPA + Th2 group. The amount of TAC also increased after increasing the dose of thyme honey. Conclusion. Based on the results of this study, it seems that thyme honey has been able to reduce the side effects of VPA to some extent due to its high percentage of antioxidants.
fpic as Peacebuilding Tool?
Authors: Mitchell Matthew I. , Wagner Landon
Published: September 2023

Although wide-ranging in scope, a core principle embedded throughout the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is the right to free, prior and informed consent (fpic). Given the widespread nature of protracted struggles over land involving Indigenous peoples, some argue fpic could provide a powerful tool to prevent and resolve land conflicts. Using a case study of the Indigenous Batwa in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the paper examines the promises and perils of employing fpic as a peacebuilding tool. Specifically, it contrasts two land-related conflicts involving the Batwa: (1) the Batwa’s recent attempts to reclaim territories lost via the creation of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park and (2) the decade-long conflict pitting the Batwa and Luba people. In so doing, the analysis explores the role of the proposed ‘Organic bill’, which aims to recognise Indigenous peoples’ right to fpic. This serves to highlight both the limitations and potential dangers of adopting an Indigenous rights framework to resolve land conflict in certain political contexts.
Ancient Chinese Scrolls as Evolving Entities: Implications for Reconstruction and Description
Authors: Staack Thies
Published: September 2023

In recent years, scholars have drawn attention to the fact that manuscripts are hardly static objects but prone to change over the course of time. Following this line of research, the present paper considers ancient Chinese scrolls as evolving entities and discusses some of the implications for their reconstruction and description.
Cleisostoma mulunense (Orchidaceae), a new species from Guangxi, China
Authors: QIN YING , TAN WEI NING , LUO LIU JUAN , LIU YAN
Published: September 2023

Cleisostoma mulunense, a new species of Orchidaceae from Mulun National Nature Reserve, Guangxi, China, is described and illustrated. It is close to C. menghaiense, but can be easily distinguished from the latter mainly by its yellowish green to yellow, with purplish brown flowers, suboblong dorsal sepal, broadly oblong and obviously oblique lateral sepals, oblong petals, lip median lobe with 2 basal backward triangular lobules, cylindroid spur. Detailed morphological descriptions, colour photographs and other information of the new species are provided.
Psychological repercussions of COVID-19 on health care workers, Sudan
Authors: Hassan Salman Fatima , Zainelabdin Mohamed Elmahdi Ziryab. , Elnour Sahar Moawia Balla
Published: September 2023

Healthcare workers around the world were confronted with innumerable torments with the emergence of COVID-19. Amid the pandemic, frontline healthcare personnel serve crucial responsibilities and endure significant social, psychological and economic consequences. This cross-sectional study collected demographic data for 1 year from 385 healthcare officials from all the hospitals spread across the state of Khartoum to research the factors that affected the healthcare workers and doctors who were on the frontline to diagnose and treat the patients with potential or confirmed COVID-19. The degree of symptoms of depression, anxiety and insomnia was also assessed through validated measurement tools. The female participants showed more vulnerability to depression, anxiety and insomnia than their male counterparts. It was reported by the end of the study that the healthcare workers in Sudan are under immense psychological hazards.
Stakeholder engagement does not guarantee impact: A co-productionist perspective on model-based drought research
Authors: Landström Catharina , Sarmiento Eric , Whatmore Sarah J
Published: September 2023

Stakeholder engagement has become a watchword for environmental scientists to assert the societal relevance of their projects to funding agencies. In water research based on computer simulation modelling, stakeholder engagement has attracted interest as a means to overcome low uptake of new tools for water management. An increasingly accepted view is that more and better stakeholder involvement in research projects will lead to increased adoption of the modelling tools created by scientists in water management. However, we cast doubt on this view by drawing attention to how the freedom of stakeholder organizations to adopt new scientific modelling tools in their regular practices is circumscribed by the societal context. We use a modified concept of co-production in an analysis of a case of scientific research on drought in the UK to show how relationships between actors in the drought governance space influence the uptake of scientific modelling tools. The analysis suggests an explanation of why stakeholder engagement with one scientific project led to one output (data) getting adopted by stakeholders while another output (modelling tools) attracted no discernible interest. Our main objective is to improve the understanding of the limitations to stakeholder engagement as a means of increasing societal uptake of scientific research outputs.
Homecoming: Black Same-Gender-Loving Male Couples Navigating Family Matters
Authors: Ferguson Alfonso L. , Johnson Marlon
Published: September 2023

This narrative inquiry utilizes a Quare theory framework to explore the stories of Black same-gender-loving (SGL) male romantic couples and how they reconcile family matters. In this study, “family matters” is a double entendre, that is, highlighting the importance of family bond and ongoing familial conflicts that impact intimate relationships. The findings and implications of this study support counseling professionals with tools to work with Black SGL couples and families.
A statistics view of contact pressure distribution for normal contact of fractal surfaces
Authors: Yang Huiyi , Xu Yang , Xu Chao
Published: September 2023

Due to inherent nonlinear stiffness and damping characteristics, dry friction interfaces have a significant impact on the dynamics of jointed structures. When two surfaces are brought into purely normal contact, contact pressure distribution is of high concern. This work focused on the statistics of the contact pressure distribution between a rough surface and a smooth rigid plane, which provides new insight into the interface contact behaviour. First, the fractal rough surface is generated using the Weierstrass–Mandelbrot function with measured roughness parameters. With meshed rough surfaces, an elastic–plastic finite element contact analysis is performed to determine the contact pressure distribution. Then, the results of contact pressure are statistically analysed. The effects of roughness and contact load on contact area, contact stiffness and mean contact pressure are thoroughly investigated. The probability distribution of contact pressure is determined by fitting a continuous function using a twofold Weibull mixture model. The proposed probability distribution function is found to be capable of describing contact pressure. The contact pressure distribution is affected by the surface fractal characteristics and evolves with the contact load.
Development and characterization of kapok/waste silk nonwoven as a multifunctional bio-based material for textile applications
Authors: Wang Hongchang , Cao Liyao , Yuan Hang , Li Yuling , Wen Run , Xu Guangbiao
Published: September 2023

The pollution caused by petroleum-based waste has motivated the development of ecologically friendly bio-based materials. Natural fibers are becoming increasingly popular as a renewable and biodegradable resource. In this study, we prepared a kapok/waste silk nonwoven (KSN) by wet-laid and hot-pressing, which had adequate mechanical strength, hydrophilic, lipophilic, and biodegradable properties. The effects of the kapok fiber proportion on the morphology, air permeability, softness, mechanical property, wettability, and biodegradability of KSN were studied. The results demonstrated that the thickness, porosity, air permeability, and softness decreased as the proportion of kapok fiber increased. The mechanical property was significantly enhanced, and the breaking strength increased from 0.58 MPa to 10.85 MPa. With the increase in the proportion of kapok fiber, the spreading time of oil and water increased and decreased respectively, and the static contact angles were below 50°. Degradation rate improved with the increase of kapok fiber proportion, with a maximum degradation rate of 49.41% (30 days). Therefore, the multifunctional, low-cost, easily prepared, and biodegradable kapok/waste silk nonwovens is a promising bio-based material with superior application prospects in dressings, facial mask substrate, packaging, and related fields.
Patient-Reported Outcome Measures After Endoscopic Cubital Tunnel Release With At Least 1-Year Postoperative Follow-up
Authors: Shekouhi Ramin , Chughtai Morad , Benjamin Jonathan A. , Saengchote Supreeya A. , Chim Harvey
Published: September 2023

Background:

The primary objective of this study was to investigate midterm outcomes following endoscopic cubital tunnel release (ECuTR) with the Seg-Way system using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs). A secondary aim was to evaluate symptom resolution as assessed through Dellon’s stage, McGowan’s grade, and Messina’s criteria and recurrence following ECuTR.

Methods:

Functional outcomes were assessed in 38 patients who underwent 43 surgeries. Details on baseline characteristics as well as preoperative and postoperative symptoms were collected. Patient-reported outcome measures were administered with at least 1-year follow-up in all patients.

Results:

Mean age of patients was 50.2 ± 16.1 years, with 20 men (52.6%) and 18 women (47.4%). Postoperatively, pain completely resolved in 21 (72.4%), while sensory and motor deficits improved completely in 22 (56.4%) and 11 (64.7%) patients, respectively. Mean time interval between ECuTR and PROMs was 26.3 (13-63) months. Median Michigan Hand Outcomes Questionnaire score was 73.2 (48-91). Median Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) and Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) scores were 12.9 (7-35) and 2.5 (0-5), respectively. Most of the patients were satisfied postoperatively with a median satisfaction score of 4 (3-5). There was a significant difference in median DASH and NRS scores between patients with and without concomitant proximal nerve disease.

Conclusion:

Endoscopic cubital tunnel release is a safe and effective option for surgical management of primary cubital tunnel syndrome. The presence of other proximal nerve disease is associated with poorer outcomes, less symptom resolution, and higher recurrence rates. One-year postoperative PROMs show equivalence to those reported in other studies following open cubital tunnel release.
Antidepressant-induced burning mouth syndrome: A case report
Authors: Alesa Alaa , Kattan Wid , Albadri Abdulhadi
Published: September 2023

Burning mouth syndrome is a chronic condition characterized by oral pain in the absence of intraoral clinical signs. The pathogenesis and etiology of burning mouth syndrome are not fully understood. Both men and women of all ages are at risk of developing this syndrome, but women are at an even higher risk. The management of burning mouth syndrome usually consists of the use of antidepressants. In this case report, we present a case of a 75-year-old lady who presented to the psychiatric clinic for management of her depressive symptoms. She was prescribed escitalopram and her dose was later increased. She then started experiencing a burning sensation in her mouth. She was seen by dental, medical, and psychological specialties regarding her symptoms. After careful historical and clinical evaluation, she was finally diagnosed with antidepressant-induced burning mouth syndrome. Antidepressant-induced burning mouth syndrome is a rare but very important condition to recognize. It has a huge effect on patients’ quality of life. The management of patients with antidepressant-induced burning mouth syndrome needs the involvement of a multidisciplinary team. Further high-quality studies are needed to help healthcare professionals better approach such patients.