bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Research on nowcasting prediction technology for flooding scenarios based on data-driven and real-time monitoring
Authors: Zheng Yue , Jing Xiaoming , Lin Yonggang , Shen Dali , Zhang Yiping , Yuan Dongdong , Yu Mingquan , Zhou Yongchao
Published: September 2023

With the impact of global climate change and urbanization process, the risk of urban flooding has increased rapidly, especially in developing countries. Real-time monitoring and prediction on flooding extent and drainage system are the foundation of effective urban flood emergency management. Therefore, this paper presents a rapidly nowcasting prediction method of urban flooding based on data-driven and real-time monitoring. The proposed method firstly adopts a small number of monitoring points to deduce the urban global real-time water level based on machine learning algorithm. Then, a data-driven method is developed to achieve dynamic urban flooding nowcasting prediction with the real-time monitoring data and high accuracy precipitation prediction. The results show that the average MAE and RMSE of the urban flooding and conduit system in deduction method for water level are 0.101 and 0.144, 0.124 and 0.162 respectively, while the flooding depth deduction is more stable compared to conduit system by probabilistic statistical analysis. Moreover, the urban flooding nowcasting method can accurately predict the flooding depth, and the R2 are as high as 0.973 and 0.962 of testing. The urban flooding nowcasting prediction method provides technical support for emergency flood risk management.
Heterogeneous deformation in fold and thrust belts induced by anisotropies in the ocean topography; the South Portuguese variscan zone example (SW Portugal)
Authors: Bolacha Edite , Dias Rui , Fonseca Paulo
Published: September 2023

The Variscan fold and thrust belt related with the South Portuguese Zone presents a SW forward propagation and the coeval development of synthetic folds and thrusts pervasive at all scales. Although several models have been proposed for their formation, the estimated strain 2 pattern is more compatible with a push from the rear induced by the north-eastern subduction zone.
Although there is a strong consistence concerning the kinematics of these Variscan structures, there is an important contrast of their geometries between the inner and the external sectors, where the very low dips prevails. Although, there are some previous models suggesting that the behaviour of the more external domains could be related with the interference between the undeformed sedimentary sequence of the upper plate with the active margin of the fold and thrust belt, independent evidence of this process is lacking. The realization of scaled analogue experiments concerning the Carboniferous evolution of SW Iberia Variscides, not only show that they could induced the flat lying major thrust of the external domains, but also emphasize their important role in the structural evolution of much of the fold and thrust belt.
Unveiling Optimal Models for Phenotype Prediction in Soybean Branching: An In-depth Examination of 11 Non-linear Regression Models, Highlighting SVR and SHAP Importance
Authors: Zhou Wei , Yan Zhengxiao , Zhang Liting
Published: September 2023

Plant breeding is gaining importance as a sustainable tool to address the challenges posed by a growing global population and enhance food security. Advanced high-throughput omics technologies are utilized to accelerate crop improvement and develop resilient varieties with higher yield performance. These technologies generate vast genetic data, which can be exploited to manipulate key plant characteristics for crop improvement. The integration of big data and AI in plant breeding has the potential to revolutionize the field and increase food security. By using branching data (phenotype) of 1918 soybean accessions and 42k SNP polymorphic data (genotype), this study systematically compared 11 non-linear regression AI models, including four deep learning models (DBN regression, ANN regression, Autoencoders regression, and MLP regression) and seven machine learning models (e.g., SVR, XGBoost regression, Random Forest regression, LightGBM regression, GPS regression, Decision Tree regression, and Polynomial regression). After being evaluated by four valuation metrics: R2 (R-squared), MAE (Mean Absolute Error), MSE (Mean Squared Error), and MAPE (Mean Absolute Percentage Error), it was found that the SVR, ANN, and Autoencoder outperformed other models and could obtain a better prediction accuracy if they were used for phenotype prediction. To support the evaluation of deep learning methods, feature importance and GO enrichment analyses were conducted. After comprehensively comparing four feature importance algorithms, there was no significant difference among the feature importance ranking score among these four algorithms, but the SHAP value could provide rich information on genes with negative contributions, and SHAP importance was chosen for feature selection. The genes identified by the SVR model plus SHAP importance combination clearly grouped into three clusters on the soybean whole genome. Our GO enrichment results also confirmed the prediction accuracy of this methods combination. The results of this study offer valuable insights for AI-mediated plant breeding, addressing challenges faced by traditional breeding programs. The method developed has broad applicability in phenotype prediction, minor QTL mining, and plant smart-breeding systems, contributing significantly to the advancement of AI-based breeding practices and transitioning from experience-based to data-based breeding.
Metabolic adaptation of a photosynthetic angiosperm to extreme CO2 levels in Yellowstone: living on the edge
Authors: Veldhuis Marie-Claire ten , Ananyev Gennady , Dismukes G. Charles
Published: September 2023

How do plants adapt to elevated CO2 levels? This much-studied question has returned ambiguous answers. CO2 is the carbon nutrient for all photosynthesis, underlying global biomass productivity. Small increases in CO2 levels may boost photosynthetic efficiency in the short term, but at higher levels it inhibits biomass production and increases susceptibility to stress. Whether photosynthesis can favorably adapt to extreme CO2 over prolonged periods of time remains yet unknown. Here, we investigate changes in photosynthetic metabolism in a C3 plant growing along a natural CO2 gradient in Yellowstone NP over many decades. We find that plants adapted to grow near high CO2 sources (~ 6000 ppm) require similarly high CO2 to open Linear Electron Flow (LEF) for NADPH reoxidation. Cyclic Electron Flow (CEF) for ATP generation is upregulated and photogenerated ATP is shorter-lived in high CO2-Adapted plants where it is more rapidly lost in the dark. We attribute the shift in regulation away from LEF to higher CEF to the low chloroplast ATP levels caused by the stressful growth conditions, as revealed by stunted biomass and leaf chlorosis.
Investigating the Association Between Resilience and the Impostor Syndrome in Undergraduate Nursing and Medical Students: A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Khalil Amal , Alharbi Ruba , Qtame Hadab Al , Bena Raneem Al , Khan Muhammad Anwar
Published: September 2023

Background: The prevalence of impostor syndrome has been recognized among undergraduate nursing and medical students. Resilience, on the other hand, refers to an individual's ability to adapt and bounce back from adversity. Understanding the relationship between these two constructs is important in promoting student well-being and academic success.
Methods: Thiscross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between resilience and impostor syndrome among undergraduate nursing and medical students. A convenience sample of 300 students from King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences participated in the study. Participants completed self-report questionnaires to assess their levels of resilience and impostor syndrome.
The results revealed that less than half of the participants experienced impostor syndrome, with 41.7% classified as severe, 37.7% as moderate, and 13.0% as intense among nursing students. For medical students, 4.6% were classified as mild, 4.6% as moderate, 4.5% as severe, and 4.5% as intense. The mean resilience score was 24.3±7.15 among nursing students and 25.6±7.22 among medical students. A significant negative correlation was found between resilience and impostor syndrome scores (r = -0.220, p < .001). Regression analysis indicated that resilience was a significant predictor of impostor syndrome, with higher resilience associated with lower levels of impostor syndrome. Specifically, the odds of experiencing severe impostor phenomenon were significantly higher in the 1st quartile (odds ratio = 13.16, p = 0.023) and the 2nd quartile (odds ratio = 56.00, p = 0.008) compared to the reference category.
Conclusion and Recommendations: These findings highlight the importance of resilience in mitigating impostor syndrome among nursing and medical students. Building resilience through interventions may be beneficial in promoting student well-being and academic success. Future research should explore the effectiveness of such interventions and identify other factors contributing to impostor syndrome among healthcare students.
Human hearts have an intrinsic regenerative potential following myocardial infarction
Authors: Hume Robert , Warwick Jessica , Shim Woo Jun , Malecki Cassandra , Li Mengbo , Harney Dylan , Slaughter Eugene , Wang Xiaosuo , Nguyen Lisa , Cole Louise , Edelman James , Rashid Fairooj , Houlahan Callum , Gao Antony , Ferguson Angela , Chong James , Larance Mark , O'Sullivan John , Palpant Nathan , Bannon Paul , Lal Sean
Published: September 2023

Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading cause of death worldwide and can eliminate up to a third of the cardiomyocytes (CMs) within the heart. Several non-human mammalian models and a limited number of human heart studies suggest that CMs can proliferate during early development, but most CMs stop regenerating soon after birth. In contrast, rodent MI models show that CMs increase their regenerative capacity in response to ischemia, however this has not been shown in humans. Using immunostaining, multi-omics and a unique pre-mortem human heart collected 5 days post-MI, we show that adult human CMs exhibit an increased intrinsic regenerative potential in response to ischemia. Furthermore, single nucleus ribonucleic acid sequencing (snRNAseq) reveals the unique gene expression of post-MI proliferative human CMs. Finally, we demonstrate a novel clinical method to safely biopsy peri-ischemic post-MI human heart tissue and provide further evidence of ischemic CM regeneration. Developing a means to enhance this intrinsic CM regenerative potential could lead to novel therapeutics for cardiac injury and heart failure.
Uncovering the hidden structure of small-world networks
Authors: Achahbar Abdelfattah , Lachgar Ahmed
Published: September 2023

The small-world (SW) network model introduced by Watts and Strogatz has had a tremendous impact on the study of complex systems, leading to the emergence of network science as an interdisciplinary field. While the Newman-Watts model is commonly used to analyze SW networks by adding a few randomly placed shortcuts to a regular lattice. We carefully study related previous works and conclude that scaling of different relevant quantities is not convincing. Here, we demonstrate that the small-world property arises mainly from the existence of clusters of nodes linked by shortcuts rather than just the mean number of shortcuts. Introducing the mean degree of clusters linked by shortcuts as a new parameter resolves the scaling ambiguity, providing a more accurate description of the network. Our findings provide a new framework for analyzing SW networks, emphasizing the importance of considering emergent structures in complex systems. We also construct a phase diagram of the crossover transition from the small to the large world, yielding valuable insights into the nature of complex networks and highlighting the power of emergence in shaping their behavior.
Measurement and Removal of Asbestos in Residential Dwellings to be Demolished - Urban Transformation Experience in Izmir-Turkey
Authors: Tetik Yilmaz Ogunc , Bayram-Zumrut Irem , Camurcu Ayse Gizem , Kale Ozge Akboga , Baradan Selim
Published: September 2023

Asbestos has been used extensively in the construction industry for its superior insulation properties before its health hazards were discovered and eventually getting banned. It would not be wrong to assume all residential buildings built before the 2000s in Turkey contain asbestos. Therefore, it is important to raise awareness of the potential danger of asbestos exposure during demolition work and to identify asbestos-containing materials and ensure their safe removal and disposal. This study summarizes the efforts being made in the “Asbestos Free Demolition” EU project, which is executed to determine the residential dwellings containing asbestos in Izmir. The project included field study to determine asbestos presence in the buildings that were damaged during the 2020 earthquake. 505 bulk samples were taken from 50 buildings that would go through the demolition process. 11 buildings were found to contain asbestos. This rate corresponds to 22%. In addition to asbestos removal processes in these buildings containing asbestos, air measurements were taken from each building. The detected asbestos type was 60% chrysotile (white asbestos). The concentration of asbestos in the air is ignorable also personal exposure did not exceed the permissible exposure limit (PEL) for 0.1 fiber/cm3. Results demonstrate the findings of asbestos-containing materials and suggestions before demolition work. Also, it is expected that the database created for this study could be useful in other studies involving Turkey, where accurate statistical data related with asbestos measurements is still difficult to obtain.
Experiences of rural clinicians accessing specialist support via telehealth for trauma and emergency care in Queensland, Australia
Authors: Santomauro Chiara , McLanders Mia , Rae Andrew
Published: September 2023

Background
Trauma and emergency patients presenting to rural facilities require time-critical treatment and management that is sometimes beyond the scope and experience of clinicians in the facility. In Queensland, Australia’s second largest state, telehealth infrastructure facilitates 24/7 communication between rural clinicians and tertiary-based critical care specialists. In this study we sought to understand the current state of Queensland’s emergency telehealth system from the perspective of direct end-users to inform future improvement efforts and resource allocation.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 rural Queensland clinicians who use telehealth to access specialist support during critical presentations. Qualitative data were analysed in three inductive phases: immersion; a combination of process coding and in vivo coding; and focused coding.
Results
Overall, the findings highlight that emergency telehealth support provides benefits beyond better patient care, as it fosters a sense of collegiality and alleviates professional isolation often experienced by rural clinicians. Four key themes were identified: (1) Challenges of trauma and emergency care in rural Queensland; (2) Strategies for trauma and emergency care in rural Queensland; (3) Factors that affect perceptions of telehealth effectiveness; and (4) How support for rural trauma and emergency care can be improved.
Conclusions
This study revealed that there are both benefits and frustrations for rural clinicians accessing telehealth specialist support for rural trauma and emergency care. Although telehealth specialist support is seen as a critical service that supports rural clinicians and benefits patient care, the findings suggest that tools, systems, and processes surrounding rural trauma and emergency care could benefit from streamlining, integration, and the introduction of new fit-for-purpose technologies. Addressing limitations of efficiencies would lead to better support for rural clinicians and would likely improve patient outcomes for rural communities.
Lived Experience, Social Support, and Challenges to Health Service Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic among HIV Key Populations in Indonesia
Authors: Sukmaningrum Evi , Levy Judith , Negara Made Diah , N/A Devika , Wardhani Brigitta Dhyah K , Wulandari Luh Putu Lila , Januraga Pande Putu
Published: September 2023

The COVID-19 has greatly affected the lives, health and social well-being of people globally including presenting special challenges in low to middle income countries for people living with HIV. This study investigates the pandemic experiences of the four key HIV-positive populations in Indonesia: men who have sex with men, transgender women, female sex workers, and people who use drugs. In-depth interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of 22 key population members recruited through 9 nongovernment HIV agencies in Jakarta and Bali, Indonesia. Indonesia’s Large-scale Social Restrictions Policy mandating physical distancing and stay-at-home orders had been in effect for 7–10 months. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and coded using NVivo™ (R1.7) software A grounded theory approach identified key concepts along with similarities, differences, and reoccurring patterns of COVID-related lived experience among participants. Participants recounted the impact of both the pandemic and the Restriction Policy on their interpersonal, financial, medical, and psychosocial well-being. When in need, they turned to formal and informal sources of financial and social support plus their own resourcefulness. Along with other factors, HIV medication shortages, HIV and COVID-related stigma, and fear of acquiring COVID-19 negatively impacted antiretroviral adherence and the use of health services. The results point to the latent consequences of government attempts to curb a pandemic through public health lockdowns and enforced policies of physical separation. Its findings reveal the importance of ensuring that public safety nets for HIV key populations are available to supplement more informal personal sources of needed support.
Using Hyperspectral Signatures for Predicting Foliar Nitrogen and Calcium Content of Tissue Cultured Little-leaf Mockorange (Philadelphus microphyllus A. Gray) Shoots
Authors: Khajehyar Razieh , Vahidi Milad , Tripepi Robert
Published: September 2023

Determining foliar mineral status of tissue cultured shoots can be costly and time consuming, yet hyperspectral signatures might be useful for determining mineral contents of these shoots. In this study, hyperspectral signatures were acquired from tissue cultured little-leaf mockorange (Philadelphus microphillus) shoots to determine the feasibility of using this technology to predict foliar nitrogen and calcium contents. After using a spectroradiometer to take hyperspectral images for determining foliar N and Ca contents, the correlation between the hyperspectral bands, vegetation indices, and hyperspectral features were calculated from the spectra. Features with high correlations were selected to develop the models via different regression methods including linear, random forest (RF), and support vector machines. The results showed that non-linear regression models developed through machine learning techniques, including RF methods and support vector machines provided satisfactory prediction models with high R2 values (%N by RF with R2 = 0.72, and %Ca by RF with R2 = 0.99), that can estimate nitrogen and calcium content of little-leaf mockorange shoots grown in vitro. Overall, the RF regression method provided the most accurate and satisfactory models for both foliar N and Ca estimation of little-leaf mockorange shoots grown in tissue culture.
An Assessment of Existing Wildfire Danger Indices in Comparison to One-class Machine Learning Models
Authors: Ismail Fathima Nuzla , Woodford Brendon J , Licorish Sherlock A , Miller Aubrey D
Published: September 2023

Predicting wildfires using Machine Learning (ML) models is relevant and essential to minimize wildfire threats to protect human lives and reduce significant property damage. Reliance on traditional wildfire indices for forecasting wildfires has failed to provide the expected prediction outcomes, resulting in limited application of these models. Thus, this research compares the outcome of wildfire forecasting using fire danger rating indices against ML model outcomes. Furthermore, the performance effectiveness of the fire danger rating indices and ML model outcomes are assessed using the same wildfire incidents. The Oneclass ML algorithms used are Support Vector Machine, Isolation Forest, Neural network-based Autoencoder and the Variational Autoencoder models. The two global wildfire indices investigated were US National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) for California and the McArthur Forest Fire Danger Index (FFDI) for Western Australia, using similar features. For the same data sets, NFDRS and FFDI prediction outcomes were compared with ML model outcomes. Higher wildfire prediction accuracy was achieved by the One-class models, exceeding the performance of the two wildfire danger indices by at least 20%. The implications of our research findings have the potential to influence both these wildfire indices and state-of-the-art methods in wildfire prediction by proposing alternative ML methods to model the onset of wildfires.
Improving medication dispensing and counselling for patients with vision impairment: A qualitative study of pharmacist-reported barriers and facilitators
Authors: Kentab Basma Y. , Barry Heather E. , Al-Aqeel Sinaa A. , Hughes Carmel M.
Published: September 2023

Background
People with vision impairment encounter many difficulties when it comes to medicines use. However, evidence indicates that there are major gaps in pharmaceutical care service provision worldwide and limited research on interventions to optimise medication use for this patient population. The Theoretical Domains Framework (TDF) provides a method for theoretically understanding individuals’ behaviour and informing development of interventions. The aim of this research was to (a) identify the barriers/facilitators to the provision of medication dispensing and counselling services by pharmacists to patients with vision impairment, and (b) identify key TDF domains to be targeted in a future intervention.
Methods
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with pharmacists from different pharmacy practice settings/areas in Saudi Arabia. The 14-domain TDF was utilised as the theoretical lens through which pharmacists’ behaviours were examined. Interviews were conducted in Arabic or English, either face-to-face or over the telephone based on the participant’s preference. Following transcription, interviews conducted in Arabic were translated into English before analysis. Data analysis involved using the framework method and content analysis to identify important barriers and facilitators to the provision of dispensing/counselling services to those with vision impairment. Key TDF domains that could be targeted in a future intervention were then identified using a consensus-based approach.
Results
Twenty-six pharmacists were interviewed. Pharmacists’ experience in pharmacy practice ranged from two to 28 years. A range of barriers and facilitators were highlighted as important in providing services to those with vision impairment. Eight domains were identified as ‘key domains’ including: ‘Knowledge’, ‘Skills’, ‘Beliefs about capabilities’, ‘Goals’, ‘Memory, attention, and decision processes’, ‘Environmental context and resources’, ‘Social influences’, and ‘Behavioural regulation’.
Conclusions
Barriers and facilitators identified by pharmacists will inform the development of an intervention to ensure its applicability to everyday practice. Key domains identified in this study will be targeted in this intervention that will be developed to improve medication dispensing and counselling by pharmacists to patients with vision impairment.
TSEE: A Novel Knowledge Embedding Framework for Cyberspace Security
Authors: Zhao Angxiao , Gu Zhaoquan , Jia Yan , Feng Wenying , Yang Jianye , Zhang Yanchun
Published: September 2023

Knowledge representation models have been extensively studied and they providean important foundation for artificial intelligence. However, the existing knowledge representation models or related knowledge embedding methods mostly aimat static or temporal knowledge, which are not suitable for highly spatio-temporalrelevant knowledge, such as the cyber security knowledge. In this paper, we propose a knowledge embedding framework called TSEE to handle this problem,which builds on the MDATA model to represent and utilize dynamic knowledgefor cyber security. TSEE is composed of knowledge extraction module, knowledgerepresentation module, knowledge embedding module, and situational awareness module. There modules can obtain, transform, and embed cyber securityknowledge from different sources, improving the detection capabilities of variouscomplicated attacks. We conduct experiments on the cyber range for evaluation,and the experimental results validate the higher prediction accuracy and strongerextendability than existing embedding methods. The framework can effectivelyimprove the cyber security defense capabilities in the future.
Impact of emergency physician performed ultrasound in the evaluation of adult patients with acute abdominal pain: a prospective randomized bicentric trial
Authors: Brau François , Papin Mathilde , Batard Eric , Abet Emeric , Frampas Eric , Thuaut Aurélie Le , Montassier Emmanuel , Bastard Quentin Le , Conte Philippe Le
Published: September 2023

Background
Abdominal pain is common in patients visiting the emergency department (ED). The aim of this study was to assess the diagnostic accuracy of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in patients presenting to the ED with acute abdominal pain.
Methods
We designed an interventional randomized, controlled, open label, parallel-group, trial in two French EDs. We included adult patients presenting to the ED with acute abdominal pain. Exclusion criteria were a documented end-of-life, an immediate need of life-support therapy and pregnant or breast-feeding women. Patients were randomized in the experimental group (i.e., workup including POCUS) or control group (usual care). The primary objective of the study was to assess the added value of POCUS on diagnostic pathway in the ED, according to the diagnostic established a posteriori by an adjudication committee. The primary endpoint was the proportion of exact preliminary diagnosis between the 2 groups. The preliminary diagnosis made after clinical examination and biological results with POCUS (intervention arm) or without POCUS (usual care) was considered exact if it was similar to the adjudication committee diagnosis.
Results
Between June 2021 and June 2022, 256 patients were randomized, but five were not included in the primary analysis, leaving 125 patients in the POCUS group and 126 patients in the usual care group (130 women and 121 men, mean age 45 + 18 years old). There was no difference for exact diagnosis between the two groups (POCUS 70/125, 56% versus control 78/126 (62%), OR 1.23 [95%CI: 0.74 - 2.04]). There was no difference in the accuracy for the diagnosis of non-specific abdominal pain nor number of biological or radiological exams. Diagnostic delays and length of stay in the ED were also similar.
Conclusions
In this trial, systematic POCUS did not improve the rate of diagnostic accuracy in unselected patients presenting to the ED with acute abdominal pain. Further research should focus on the accuracy of POCUS in more selected patients.
Trial registration
This trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov on 2022/07/20 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04912206?id=NCT04912206&rank=1) (NCT04912206)
Study on cutting force of ultrasonic cutting disc cutter for Nomex honeycomb material
Authors: Wu Jiace , Hu Xiaoping , Ji Hua-wei , Zhu Qiyuan , Hong Weijun
Published: September 2023

To systematically investigate the specific factors influencing cutting force variations in ultrasonic cutting of Nomex honeycomb materials with disc cutters, a comprehensive theoretical framework was developed. This framework incorporates cutting parameters like feed speed, cutting width, and ultrasonic amplitude to establish a theoretical cutting force formula. Through an analysis of ultrasonic vibration-assisted cutting motion trajectories with a disc cutter, a microscopic model of material removal for Nomex honeycomb cutting was developed. This model decouples the isotropic motion of the disc cutter, yielding theoretical cutting force formulas for different directions, elucidating the reduction in cutting force under ultrasonic influence in both the vibration and feed directions. The formulated theoretical cutting force expressions were verified through ultrasonic cutting experiments. Results indicate that when cutting Nomex honeycomb materials with a disc cutter in the vibration direction, cutting force reduction arises from narrowing the effective cutting width between the tool and the material, and from intermittent contact that minimizes tool-material interaction time. A corresponding cutting force expression for this direction was established. In the feed direction, a mechanism similar to intermittent cutting with a straight blade is observed. Ultrasonic vibration's impact stress induces tensile stress in the uncut section, prompting microcrack propagation in the material's front end and reducing fracture stress, thus diminishing the cutting force. A damage factor was introduced to establish the cutting force expression in the feed direction. Error analysis comparing theoretical and experimental cutting force values under varying parameters revealed average errors of 32%, 36%, and 23% for different feed speeds, ultrasonic amplitudes, and cutting widths. These findings provide theoretical backing for optimizing cutting parameters.
Simple, sensitive, and cost-effective voltammetric determination of salbutamol at a pencil graphite electrode modified with Nafion and functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes
Authors: Dilgin Didem Giray , Vural Kader , Karakaya Serkan , Dilgin Yusuf
Published: September 2023

This study describes a simple, highly sensitive, and cost-effective electrochemical determination of salbutamol (SBT) at a disposable pencil graphite electrode modified with nafion/functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite material (Nf/f-MWCNTs/PGE). The electrochemical response of SBT at this modified electrode was investigated by both differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques. The voltammetric measurements confirmed that the combination of f-MWCNTs with Nf shows remarkable electrocatalytic activity on the oxidation of SBT due to a synergistic effect of Nf via electrostatic interaction and f-MWCNTs via excellent conductivity and large specific surface area. DPV results show that the composite electrode gives two linear ranges of 0.10–17.5 µM and 17.5–100 µM with a detection limit (LOD) of 0.027 µM SBT. Moreover, the studies of some potential interferants show that there is no significant interference in the determination of SBT. The proposed procedure was successfully applied to determine SBT in tube- and syrup-type pharmaceutical formulations and acceptable results were obtained with high accuracy and precision. Moreover, the proposed sensor displays good intraday and interday precision for the voltammetric determination of SBT..
RETRACTED: Characterization of self-curing concrete's strength and microstructural parameters using pumice stone, polyethylene glycol, light expanded clay aggregate, and super absorbent polymers
Authors: Patil Mahesh Navnath Patil , Dubey Shailendrakumar D. Dubey , Patil Hiteshkumar Santosh Patil
Published: September 2023

The authors have requested that this preprint be removed from Research Square.
A phase diagram of the pinch-off-type behavior of impulsively-induced viscoelastic liquid jets
Authors: Hosokawa Asuka , Kamamoto Kyota , Watanabe Hiroya , Kusuno Hiroaki , Kobayashi Kazuya , Tagawa Yoshiyuki
Published: September 2023

In this study, we systematically investigate the jet behaviors of viscoelastic liquids, focusing on the region of high velocity and high viscoelasticity, which has not been investigated in previous studies. We generate viscoelastic jets using an impulsive force and categorize the resulting jets into two types: pinch-off jets (jets that break up during elongation after ejection) and no-pinch-off jets (jets that pull back to the nozzle after maximum elongation or jets that return without elongation after ejection). We then propose criteria to characterize these regions using the Weissenberg number and the Reynolds number, which are dimensionless numbers composed of the rheological properties of the solution and the initial conditions of the jet injection. It is found that pinch-off jets occur at Re ≳ 23.4Wi in regions of high elasticity Wi ≳ 10, and at Re ≳ 250 in regions of low elasticity Wi ≲ 10. We also show that the phase diagram can be explained by modeling a focused jet using the finitely extensible non-linear elastic dumbbell model with the Chilcott–Rallison closure approximation (FENE-CR).
Analysis of drought characteristics and comparison of historical typical years with 2022 drought in the Yangtze River Basin
Authors: Xing Lisong , Zhao Ruxin , Sun Hongquan , Li Ming , Tan Zhuoyan
Published: September 2023

In 2022, the Yangtze River Basin (YRB) suffered an unprecedented drought event with long duration, large-scale and high severity, catastrophic impacting on agriculture, ecology, industrial production and economic life. In order to investigate the evolution characteristics of the drought event in 2022, and discuss the similarities and differences with its similar historical drought years, this study focused the droughts in July-October (summer and autumn), used the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) as drought indicator, and applied the methods of Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF), Pettitt test, and wavelet analysis to explore the drought spatial and temporal distribution pattern, the drought mutability, and the drought periodicity in YRB during 1951-2022. By utilizing the clustering method, we obtained the similar drought years with 2022 drought spatial pattern. The results shown that the drought in the YRB in 2022 mainly presented a "basin-wide" drought spatial distribution pattern based on the first mode of EOF. The main periodicity of the "basin-wide" drought spatial distribution pattern was about 50 years. The July drought distribution patterns in 1952, 1953 and 2006 were most similar to that in 2022, however, the drought evolution patterns were obviously different after August. By comparison, the YRB suffered from the largest drought impacted area in 2022, and the impacted area proportions of severe and extreme drought increased at the fastest speed.
Structural Brain Correlates of Sleep Microstructure in Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 2 and its role on clinical phenotype
Authors: Rodriguez-Labrada Roberto , Canales-Ochoa Nalia , Galicia-Polo Maria de Lourdes , Cruz-Rivas Edilia , Romanzetti Sandro , Peña-Acosta Arnoy , Estupiñan-Rodriguez Annelié , Vázquez-Mojena Yaimeé , Dogan Imis , Auburger Georg , Reetz Kathrin , Velazquez-Perez Luis
Published: September 2023

Background. The influence of brain atrophy on sleep microstructure impairments in Spinocerebellar Ataxias (SCAs) has not been extensively explored limiting the use of these sleep traits as surrogate biomarkers of neurodegeneration and clinical phenotype. Objective. To explore the relationship between sleep microstructure and the brain atrophy in SCA2 and its role on the clinical phenotype Methods. Fourteen SCA2 mutation carriers (7 pre-manifest and 7 manifest subjects) underwent polysomnographic, structural MRI and clinical assessments. Particularly, markers of REM and non-REM sleep microstructure, measures of cerebellar and brainstem atrophy, and clinical scores were analyzed through correlation and mediation analyses. Results. The sleep spindle activity was directly correlated with the cerebellar volume and the anteroposterior diameter of the pons. Sleep spindles significantly mediated the effect of the cerebellar atrophy on verbal memory test performance. In REM sleep, Phasic EMG activity and REM sleep without atonia were both directly associated with pontine atrophy but showed no causal mediation effect between the atrophy measures and disease severity markers. Conclusions. Our study provides evidence about the association of the pontocerebellar atrophy with sleep microstructure in SCA2 offering insights into the cerebellar involvement in cognition via the control of the sleep spindles activity. Therefore, our findings may help to understand the disease pathogenesis and to better characterize sleep microstructure parameters as useful disease biomarkers. Clinical trial registration number (TRN): No applicable
Modulation of the growth properties, body trophic component, immune response and immunity-related gene expression of red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii upon dietary fucoidan
Authors: Lan Yusi , Liu Yuqing , Li Xue , Mao Yingming , Wu Shengjun
Published: September 2023

This study explored the effects of dietary fucoidan supplementation on the growth properties, muscle trophic component and innate immunity of red swamp crayfish Procambarus clarkii. Four trial dies were formulated by replacing 0, 1, 3 and 5 g of cellulose with equivalent fucoidan in the basic diet of crayfish and denoted as F0, F1, F3 and F5, respectively. Dietary fucoidansupplementation improved the survival rate, body weight gain rate, specific growth, feed efficiency, muscle protein level, glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase activities and the numbers of total haemocyte count, granular cells, hyaline cells and semigranular cells and the expression of Astacidin, HSP70 and CuZnSOD as well as diseased resistance against white spot syndrome virusand decreased muscle lipid content compared with those fed with F0 diet. However, a high fucoidan dosage (F5) did not improve the growth properties compared with a medium fucoidan dosage (F3). In view of the efficiency of fucoidan in improving the growth propertiesof crayfish, the best dosage of fucoidan supplementation is 3 g/kg. Results indicated that fucoidan can promote the growth properties, ameliorate the body trophic component and increase the innate immunity and disease resistance of crayfish.
Trail Making Test Part B as a Preclinical Indicator and Proxy for Spatial Navigation Change in Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Nevers Jennifer
Published: September 2023

Background Preclinical Alzheimer's disease (AD) may create unrecognized risks for physical injury and death due reduction of acetylcholine and disease presence in brain areas involved with spatial navigation (SN). Possible preclinical changes in SN, such as driving, might be indicated by performance on the Trails Making Test Part B (TMT-B). This neuropsychiatric test has time to completion scores associated with at-risk driving ability.Methods A retrospective longitudinal secondary analysis with linear mixed-effects were performed on TMT-B spanning 1 to 15 years of data on cognitively normal (pre-AD) individuals who later developed AD dementia and compared to those who did not develop the disease (non-AD). Effect size analysis was performed on individual annual time points without confidence interval overlap.Results 1104 pre-AD and 14,663 non-AD participants were included from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center. The pre-AD individuals demonstrated scores associated with at-risk driving. The pre-AD group increased by 3.498 seconds per year, p < .001, whereas the non-AD group increased by 1.845 seconds, p < .001. Effect size range: Cohens d = .217 to .631. Pre-Ad females increased by 3.695 seconds per year, p < .001, .843 p < .001. Effect size range: Cohens d = .383 to .692. Pre-AD males increased by 3.189 seconds per year, p < .001, compared to non-AD males increase of 1.890 seconds, p < .001, with an effect size range of Cohens d = 0.259 to 0.520.Conclusion The TMT-B may serve as a preclinical screening instrument in longitudinal studies, inform further inquiry for SN risks in this population, and correlation with changes in brain acetylcholine levels
Effect of sodium chloride on the enhanced performance of chitosan-based ion actuator
Authors: Cui Zhaoyang , Zhao Xiaoli , Jia Weikun , Ren Yueming , Xu Yan , Lv Yanzhuo
Published: September 2023

In this work, an actuate membrane and an electrode membrane were prepared by a sol-gel method. And then, they were physically pressed to form a chitosan-based ion actuator (CSIA). Importantly, the effect of sodium chloride on CSIA were investigated, the mechanical properties of CSIA were tested by establishing an output force test platform while testing its porosity. And, the electrochemical performance was tested by electrochemical workstation. At the end, the surface morphology and functional groups were measured by scanning electron microscopy and Infrared spectrogram, respectively. The results indicated that the sodium chloride mass ratio was the best at 0.4 % for CSIA. Its output force of mechanical properties could attain at 2.939 mN and the maximum porosity of 12.98 % at the same time. The specific capacitance of the electrochemical performance was up to 0.07719 F g-1, and the minimum resistance reached 13.48 Ω. From the surface morphology and functional groups, the appropriate doping ratio of Nacl into CSIA was helpful for increasing the transport space of internal ions. The effective internal ion concentration and significantly reduced internal stress provided excellent performances under the appropriate voltage conditions. The doping of inorganic ion sodium chloride improved the internal electron transport efficiency of chitosan ion actuator, and it advanced the mechanical properties of the actuator. Hence the enhancement of Nacl output force in CSIA had a good significance for the development of inorganic salt ion strengthened ion actuator.
Unveiling the Calcium Hydroxide Impact: Comparison of Push-out Bond Strength in AHplus and ADseal Resin-based Endodontic Sealers
Authors: Habashi Mina Seyed , Baghban Neda , Nabavizadeh Mohammadreza , Khakpoor Maryam , Jafari Nazanin
Published: September 2023

Objectives: This in vitro study aimed to evaluate effects of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) on bond-strength of two resin-based endodontic sealers, AHplus and ADseal. In light of ADseal's recent introduction to the dental market and the absence of research on the effects of Ca(OH)2 on its bonding strength to dentinal walls, our investigation sought to fill this gap in knowledge.
Methods: Root canals of 128 single-rooted teeth were prepared and randomly divided into two groups (n = 64): Control group without Ca(OH)2 and experimental group with Ca(OH)2 inside canals. After a week of keeping samples at 100% humidity and 37°C, Ca(OH)2 was removed, and the samples were further subdivided into two subgroups (n = 32) for filling with AHplus sealer or ADseal sealer. Following another week of incubation, the samples were cut into 2mm thick plates and subjected to pressure. Maximum force was measured in Newton just before bond failure and calculated using push-out bond-strength in MPa.
Results: The results showed average bonding-strength of AHplus sealer in treatment group with Ca(OH)2 was significantly lower than in group without Ca(OH)2 (p-value=0.00). However, no significant was observed in the average bonding-strength between the control and treatment groups with Ca(OH)2 in ADseal (p-value=0.36). Comparing control groups, the average bond strength of AHplus sealer was significantly higher than that of ADseal sealer (p-value=0.01). Interestingly, the average bonding-strength of ADseal Sealer in experimental group was significantly more than AHplus sealer (p-value=0.00).
Conclusions: This study highlights that the presence of Ca(OH)2 decreases bonding-strength of AHplus sealer while it does not significantly affect the bond strength of ADseal sealers. These findings provide valuable insights into the interplay between calcium hydroxide and resin-based endodontic sealers, contributing to a deeper understanding of their performance and potential applications in clinical settings.
Unraveling the Preparatory Processes of the 2023 Kahramanmaraş Earthquake Doublet
Authors: Jiang Changsheng , Yin Fengling
Published: September 2023

On February 6, 2023, within a span of 9 hours, two significant earthquakes of Mw7.8 and Mw7.6 struck the southeastern region of Turkey and northern Syria, resulting in substantial loss of life and extensive economic damage. These strong events occurred in an area where multiple tectonic plates converge, characterized by a complex fault system, presenting significant challenges in understanding their preparatory processes. To investigate whether the preparatory process of the Mw7.8-7.6 earthquake doublet could be identified at a large spatial scale prior to its occurrence, we focused on the b-value, a parameter with clear physical meaning in the magnitude-frequency relationship. We examined the migration pattern of the relative background value difference Δb before the earthquakes. In our study, we employed a data-driven approach for b-value calculation and the Cumulative Migration Pattern (CMP) method to quantitatively measure the migration pattern. The results indicate an overall decrease in b-values in the study area prior to the main-shock occurrence, signifying an evident enhancement of crustal differential stress. Noticeably, distinct migration patterns emerged near the epicenters before the earthquakes, revealing the preparatory process of the Mw7.8-7.6 earthquake doublet and potentially aiding in identifying the location of rupture nucleation points. These findings are expected to provide valuable scientific insights for the prevention of similar destructive earthquakes in the future.
The role and mechanism of LARP7 in regulating the STING-dependent autophagy-lysosomal negative feedback loop in diabetic cardiomyopathy
Authors: Sun Jingjing , Wang Ziming , Cheng Zheng , Duan Yixuan , Liu Chang , Zhao Sihai , Deng Jie
Published: September 2023

Background
Diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM) is an important cause of heart failure in diabetic patients, and there is no specific drug for DCM. The aim of this study was to investigate the pathogenesis of DCM and identify potential therapeutic targets.
Methods
Neonatal mouse ventricular cardiomyocytes (NMVCMs) were isolated and cultured. Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) models were established by high glucose (33 mmol/L) treatment. The knockdown/overexpression of LARP7 was achieved through adenovirus transduction, the overexpression of STING was achieved through plasmid transfection, and the inhibition of STING was achieved through C-176. Then, the expression, activation, and localization of STING and LARP7 in cardiomyocytes under different treatment conditions were observed, and the interaction between the two and the effect of this interaction on the STING-dependent autophagy‒lysosomal "negative feedback loop" were explored. In addition, the fibrosis and apoptosis of cardiomyocytes were evaluated.
Results
In this study, high glucose increased the expression and activation of STING in NMVCMs, which was accompanied by increased α-SMA and caspase3, and the degradation of STING through the autophagy-lysosomal pathway was suppressed. In addition, high glucose levels caused LARP7 to translocate from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and interact with accumulated STING to inhibit STING degradation, whereas inhibiting STING or LARP7 expression significantly improved high glucose-induced myocardial injury.
Conclusion
Under high glucose conditions, LARP7 damages mouse cardiomyocytes by inhibiting the STING-dependent autophagy-lysosomal degradation pathway. Targeted inhibition of LARP7 or STING expression may be a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of DCM.