bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Characterizing Social TV Activity Around Televised Events: A Joint Topic Model Approach
Authors: Hu Yuheng
Published: February 2021

Viewers often use social media platforms like Twitter to express their views about televised programs and events like the presidential debate, the Oscars, and the State of the Union speech. Although this promises tremendous opportunities to analyze the feedback on a program or an event using viewer-generated content on social media, there are significant technical challenges to doing so. Specifically, given a televised event and related tweets about this event, we need methods to effectively align these tweets and the corresponding event. In turn, this will raise many questions, such as how to segment the event and how to classify a tweet based on whether it is generally about the entire event or specifically about one particular event segment. In this paper, we propose and develop a novel joint Bayesian model that aligns an event and its related tweets based on the influence of the event’s topics. Our model allows the automated event segmentation and tweet classification concurrently. We present an efficient inference method for this model and a comprehensive evaluation of its effectiveness compared with the state-of-the-art methods. We find that the topics, segments, and alignment provided by our model are significantly more accurate and robust.
Endogenous Evaluation and Sequential Search
Authors: Guo Liang
Published: February 2021

When consumers evaluate product value under sequential search, higher sampling costs may in equilibrium lead to more sampling, lower prices and profits, and greater consumer surplus.
Supplier Encroachment in a Nonexclusive Reselling Channel
Authors: Hotkar Parshuram , Gilbert Stephen M.
Published: February 2021

We consider a setting in which a nonexclusive reseller procures partially substitutable products from two suppliers, one of whom introduces a direct channel. We find that the presence of the second supplier alters many of the existing results about the interactions between a reseller and an encroaching supplier. For instance, the reseller’s and the supply chain’s benefit from the direct channel disappears when the product substitutability is sufficiently large. In addition, when the reseller is nonexclusive, the encroaching supplier may either sell exclusively through its direct channel even when that channel is less efficient than the reselling channel, or sell through both channels even when its direct channel is more efficient than the reselling channel. Neither of these would occur in an exclusive reselling environment with only one supplier.

This paper was accepted by Jayashankar Swaminathan, operations management.
How Does Regulation Impact Strategic Repositioning by Firms Across Submarkets? Evidence from the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry
Authors: Bhaskarabhatla Ajay , Anurag Priyatam , Chatterjee Chirantan , Pennings Enrico
Published: February 2021

We study coercive institutional pressures as an impetus for firms to reposition across intraindustry boundaries. Integrating the literatures on strategic repositioning and submarkets, we predict that firms respond to regulations limiting the profitability of a submarket by repositioning and shifting demand to proximate, unregulated submarkets within the industry. We expect repositioning to be more pronounced for firms with greater ability to shift demand across submarkets. Evidence from pharmaceutical firms’ responses to partial price regulation in India supports our hypotheses. Repositioning firms increase prices and sales in the unregulated submarket, consistent with a Dorfman–Steiner-type model of endogenous and costly demand shifting toward the unregulated submarket. We contribute to the literature on strategic repositioning and highlight challenges of regulating industries with internal boundaries and insulated niches.
Winnie’s personality in Natalie Babbit’s tuck everlasting a scientific publication
Authors: Rizkhan Aulia
Published: February 2021

This research is entitled” Winnie’s Personality In Natalie Babbit’s Tuck Everlasting.” The object of this study is to see the personalities of the character in the novel. This research is based on the awareness psychological approach to the type study and laws of psychology are applied to literary works. In this research, the researcher applied psychological approach and Individual psychological theory. Through the objective approach the researcher see the personalities of the character in the novel. The method of the research is descriptive qualitative method. The main data are taken from words, phrases, and sentences of the novel. The supporting data are taken from some books, articles, and internet. The results of this study are clearly explained as follows. The researcher found six personalities in the novel: fictional finalism, social interest, inferiority feeling, striving superiority, style of life, and creative power. From the six analysis of Adler’s individual psychological is connected to each other and builds a unity from the main character’s personality.
Jogja Digital Valley’s persuasive communication strategy in improving the potential of digital creative industry in Yogyakarta
Authors: Saputri Aprilia Ayu , Fajri Choirul
Published: February 2021

Pemanfaatan teknologi digital saat ini bukan hal baru lagi. Tidak hanya sebagai sarana komunikasi tetapi juga untuk mendukung perkembangan industri kreatif di Indonesia, sehingga muncul istilah industri kreatif digital. Industri kreatif digital adalah pemanfaatan kreativitas dan keterampilan individu dalam menciptakan kesejahteraan dan lapangan kerja dengan memanfaatkan teknologi digital. Dengan berkembangnya industri kreatif digital, banyak perusahaan yang berlomba-lomba mengoptimalkan potensi industri kreatif digital sebagai tujuannya. Salah satunya TELKOM yang mendirikan Jogja Digital Valley sebagai fasilitator perkembangan industri kreatif digital di Yogyakarta. Oleh karena itu, harus ada strategi komunikasi yang persuasif dalam mencapai tujuan tersebut. Selanjutnya,Penelitian kualitatif ini mengungkap fenomena yang terjadi secara mendalam dan diperkuat dengan studi kasus. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui observasi, wawancara mendalam, dan dokumentasi. Analisis data dilakukan dengan sistem pengisian dimana data digabungkan dengan teori-teori yang ada kemudian divalidasi melalui triangulasi dengan pengecekan data dari berbagai sumber.Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui strategi komunikasi persuasif yang dilakukan Jogja Digital Valley dalam meningkatkan potensi industri kreatif digital di Yogyakarta. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian, Jogja Digital Valley menerapkan strategi komunikasi persuasif dengan menggunakan elemen AIDDA. Dalam strategi komunikasi persuasif, salah satunya dengan melaksanakan beberapa program yang target audiensnya adalah para pelaku industri kreatif digital dengan memanfaatkan media. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa Jogja Digital Valley menerapkan strategi komunikasi persuasif yang efektif untuk meningkatkan potensi industri kreatif digital di Yogyakarta.
Community opinion on the personal brand of Bobby Nasution to Prospective Medan Mayor in 2020
Authors: Panjaitan Fathur Rahman , Harahap Muhammad Said
Published: February 2021

The current phenomenon in the world of politics is flooded with families of politicians who run for politics. Where the next cabinet will be dominated by young people. On the other hand, a young politician, although included in the scope of a political dynasty, shows that young people are not politically apathetic. And to continue to exist in the world of politics, personal branding is needed where every candidate for politicians must build a name or reputation which means creating a "brand" or public perception of them. Bobby Nasution as one of the candidates for the mayor of Medan 2020 tries to create positive personal branding among the people of Medan. This study aims to determine how the public opinion on the personal brand of the 2020 Medan Mayor Candidates. This type of research uses quantitative descriptive research. The population in this study were the people of Tanjung Selamat Subdistrict, Medan Tuntung District, with 100 people as the sample in the study. Data collection techniques in this study were observations and questionnaires (questionnaires). Data analysis in this research is a single table analysis. This research was conducted in the environment III Tanjung Selamat, Medan Tuntung District. When this research was conducted in July 2020. The results of the study, namely personal branding, aim to obtain perceptions that give rise to a positive reputation for the individual. But in fact, the personal brand Bobby Nasution tends to be less than optimal in the Tanjung Selamat Community. This research concludes that Bobby Nasution's brand as a candidate for Mayor of Medan in 2020 raises public opinion and raises the pros and cons of society.
Broken guidewire intramedullary: what to do now?
Authors: Lim JW , McMillan TE , Stevenson IM
Published: February 2021

Instrument breakage during orthopaedic procedures is relatively uncommon, but it remains a challenging problem to orthopaedic surgeons. We report a case of a broken guidewire during intramedullary nail fixation of a proximal femur fracture with subtrochanteric extension. We also report a simple yet effective technique for removal of a broken guidewire from the medulla of the proximal femur without causing much iatrogenic trauma.
Aggressive angiomyxoma of the ischioanal fossa in a post-menopausal woman
Authors: Peterknecht E , Agerbak E , Mohamedahmed AYY , Stonelake S , Kulkarni K , Peravali R , Zaman S
Published: February 2021

Aggressive angiomyxoma is a rare mesenchymal tumour, primarily arising in the soft tissue of the pelvis and perineum in women of reproductive age. There is a paucity of evidence on optimal management because of the rarity of these tumours, but the consensus has been for surgical excision. We present the case of a 65-year-old woman who was admitted with left-sided buttock pain and initially diagnosed with a perianal abscess. She underwent examination under anaesthesia rectum with surgical excision of the lesion, subsequent histopathological and immunochemical analysis was suggestive of aggressive angiomyxoma. To complement our case report, we also present a literature review focusing on aggressive angiomyxoma in the ischioanal fossa (also known as the ischiorectal fossa) with only eight cases of primary aggressive angiomyxoma involving the ischioanal fossa documented to date. The primary aims of this case report and literature review are to familiarise clinicians with the clinical, histopathological and immunochemical features of these tumours, and to increase appreciation that despite the rarity of aggressive angiomyxoma, it might be considered in the differential diagnosis of ischioanal lesions.
Multi-Objective Routing and Resource Allocation Based on Reinforcement Learning in Optical Transport Networks
Authors: Li Xin , Zhao Yongli , Li Yajie , Rahman Sabidur , Wang Feng , Li Xinghua , Zhang Jie
Published: February 2021

We propose a multi-objective routing and resource allocation algorithm baesd on reinforcement learning in optical transport networks. Results show promising results by achieving the shortest route and by using the least number of wavelength converters.
Robust non-contact peripheral oxygenation saturation measurement using smartphone-enabled imaging photoplethysmography
Authors: Sun Zhiyuan , He Qinghua , Li Yuandong , Wang Wendy , Wang Ruikang K.
Published: February 2021

We propose a robust non-contact method to accurately estimate peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) using a smartphone-based imaging photoplethysmography. The method utilizes the built-in color camera as a remote sensor and the built-in flashlight as illumination to estimate the SpO2. Following the ratio of ratios between green and red channels, we introduce a multiple linear regression algorithm to improve the SpO2 estimation. The algorithm considers the ratio of ratios and the reflectance images recorded at the RGB channels during a calibration process to obtain a set of weighting coefficients to weigh each contributor to the final determination of SpO2. We demonstrate the proposed smartphone-based method of estimating the SpO2 on five healthy volunteers whose arms are conditioned by a manual pressure cuff to manipulate the SpO2 between 90∼100% as detected simultaneously by a medical-grade pulse oximeter. Experimental results indicate that the overall estimated error between the smartphone and the reference pulse oximeter is 0.029 ± 1.141%, leading to a 43% improvement over the conventional ratio of ratios method (0.008 ± 2.008%). In addition, the data sampling time in the current method is 2 seconds, similar to the sampling cycle used in the commercial medical-grade pulse oximeters.
A single-chip multi-beam steering optical phased array: design rules and simulations
Authors: Liu Yaqi , Hao Zhibiao , Wang Lai , Xiong Bing , Sun Changzheng , Wang Jian , Li Hongtao , Han Yanjun , Luo Yi
Published: February 2021

A waveguide-based multi-beam steering device is proposed for light detection and ranging (LIDAR). The device integrates binary gratings with an optical phased array (OPA), thus enabling a single-chip LIDAR system. The device can provide an N×M beam array that covers a wide angular range while phase shifters help realize steering over a narrow angle range between the beams. The antenna structure for 1D beam splitting is realized by combining the design of a grating coupler and a beam splitter grating, and a uniform beam splitting is achieved along the other dimension using non-uniformly distributed antennas. To illustrate the design, an OPA with an 11×11 beam array is designed at a wavelength of 905 nm. The OPA achieves a wide total field of view (FOV) of 68.8° × 77° with a narrow beam-array-steering angle of 6.5°, enabling a wide-FOV 3D sensing with a high frame rate.
A network model of the barrel cortex combined with a differentiator detector reproduces features of the behavioral response to single-neuron stimulation
Authors: Bernardi Davide , Doron Guy , Brecht Michael , Lindner Benjamin
Published: February 2021

The stimulation of a single neuron in the rat somatosensory cortex can elicit a behavioral response. The probability of a behavioral response does not depend appreciably on the duration or intensity of a constant stimulation, whereas the response probability increases significantly upon injection of an irregular current. Biological mechanisms that can potentially suppress a constant input signal are present in the dynamics of both neurons and synapses and seem ideal candidates to explain these experimental findings. Here, we study a large network of integrate-and-fire neurons with several salient features of neuronal populations in the rat barrel cortex. The model includes cellular spike-frequency adaptation, experimentally constrained numbers and types of chemical synapses endowed with short-term plasticity, and gap junctions. Numerical simulations of this model indicate that cellular and synaptic adaptation mechanisms alone may not suffice to account for the experimental results if the local network activity is read out by an integrator. However, a circuit that approximates a differentiator can detect the single-cell stimulation with a reliability that barely depends on the length or intensity of the stimulus, but that increases when an irregular signal is used. This finding is in accordance with the experimental results obtained for the stimulation of a regularly-spiking excitatory cell.
A numerical framework for mechano-regulated tendon healing—Simulation of early regeneration of the Achilles tendon
Authors: Notermans Thomas , Tanska Petri , Korhonen Rami K. , Khayyeri Hanifeh , Isaksson Hanna
Published: February 2021

Mechano-regulation during tendon healing, i.e. the relationship between mechanical stimuli and cellular response, has received more attention recently. However, the basic mechanobiological mechanisms governing tendon healing after a rupture are still not well-understood. Literature has reported spatial and temporal variations in the healing of ruptured tendon tissue. In this study, we explored a computational modeling approach to describe tendon healing. In particular, a novel 3D mechano-regulatory framework was developed to investigate spatio-temporal evolution of collagen content and orientation, and temporal evolution of tendon stiffness during early tendon healing. Based on an extensive literature search, two possible relationships were proposed to connect levels of mechanical stimuli to collagen production. Since literature remains unclear on strain-dependent collagen production at high levels of strain, the two investigated production laws explored the presence or absence of collagen production upon non-physiologically high levels of strain (>15%). Implementation in a finite element framework, pointed to large spatial variations in strain magnitudes within the callus tissue, which resulted in predictions of distinct spatial distributions of collagen over time. The simulations showed that the magnitude of strain was highest in the tendon core along the central axis, and decreased towards the outer periphery. Consequently, decreased levels of collagen production for high levels of tensile strain were shown to accurately predict the experimentally observed delayed collagen production in the tendon core. In addition, our healing framework predicted evolution of collagen orientation towards alignment with the tendon axis and the overall predicted tendon stiffness agreed well with experimental data. In this study, we explored the capability of a numerical model to describe spatial and temporal variations in tendon healing and we identified that understanding mechano-regulated collagen production can play a key role in explaining heterogeneities observed during tendon healing.
Freedom to choose between public resources promotes cooperation
Authors: Salahshour Mohammad
Published: February 2021

As cooperation incurs a cost to the cooperator for others to benefit, its evolution seems to contradict natural selection. How evolution has resolved this obstacle has been among the most intensely studied questions in evolutionary theory in recent decades. Here, we show that having a choice between different public resources provides a simple mechanism for cooperation to flourish. Such a mechanism can be at work in many biological or social contexts where individuals can form different groups or join different institutions to perform a collective action task, or when they can choose between collective actions with different profitability. As a simple evolutionary model suggests, defectors tend to join the highest quality resource in such a context. This allows cooperators to survive and out-compete defectors by sheltering in a lower quality resource. Cooperation is maximized, however, when the qualities of the two highest quality resources are similar, and thus, they are almost interchangeable.
Mapping parameter spaces of biological switches
Authors: Diegmiller Rocky , Zhang Lun , Gameiro Marcio , Barr Justinn , Imran Alsous Jasmin , Schedl Paul , Shvartsman Stanislav Y. , Mischaikow Konstantin
Published: February 2021

Since the seminal 1961 paper of Monod and Jacob, mathematical models of biomolecular circuits have guided our understanding of cell regulation. Model-based exploration of the functional capabilities of any given circuit requires systematic mapping of multidimensional spaces of model parameters. Despite significant advances in computational dynamical systems approaches, this analysis remains a nontrivial task. Here, we use a nonlinear system of ordinary differential equations to model oocyte selection inDrosophila, a robust symmetry-breaking event that relies on autoregulatory localization of oocyte-specification factors. By applying an algorithmic approach that implements symbolic computation and topological methods, we enumerate all phase portraits of stable steady states in the limit when nonlinear regulatory interactions become discrete switches. Leveraging this initial exact partitioning and further using numerical exploration, we locate parameter regions that are dense in purely asymmetric steady states when the nonlinearities are not infinitely sharp, enabling systematic identification of parameter regions that correspond to robust oocyte selection. This framework can be generalized to map the full parameter spaces in a broad class of models involving biological switches.
α-synuclein impairs autophagosome maturation through abnormal actin stabilization
Authors: Sarkar Souvarish , Olsen Abby L. , Sygnecka Katja , Lohr Kelly M. , Feany Mel B.
Published: February 2021

Vesicular trafficking defects, particularly those in the autophagolysosomal system, have been strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson’s disease and related α-synucleinopathies. However, mechanisms mediating dysfunction of membrane trafficking remain incompletely understood. Using aDrosophilamodel of α-synuclein neurotoxicity with widespread and robust pathology, we find that human α-synuclein expression impairs autophagic flux in aging adult neurons. Genetic destabilization of the actin cytoskeleton rescues F-actin accumulation, promotes autophagosome clearance, normalizes the autophagolysosomal system, and rescues neurotoxicity in α-synuclein transgenic animals through an Arp2/3 dependent mechanism. Similarly, mitophagosomes accumulate in human α-synuclein-expressing neurons, and reversal of excessive actin stabilization promotes both clearance of these abnormal mitochondria-containing organelles and rescue of mitochondrial dysfunction. These results suggest that Arp2/3 dependent actin cytoskeleton stabilization mediates autophagic and mitophagic dysfunction and implicate failure of autophagosome maturation as a pathological mechanism in Parkinson’s disease and related α-synucleinopathies.
Prevalence of dyslipidemia and associated risk factors among adult residents of Mekelle City, Northern Ethiopia
Authors: Gebreegziabiher Gebremedhin , Belachew Tefera , Mehari Kibrti , Tamiru Dessalegn
Published: February 2021

Introduction

Dyslipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). The prevalence of dyslipidemia is not known among Ethiopian adults. The prevalence is expected to rise due to the socio-economic development accompanied by lifestyle changes. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of dyslipidemia and associated risk factors among adult residents of Mekelle City.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 321 randomly selected subjects. Data were collected on sociodemographic, anthropometric, lifestyle, and clinical characteristics of the participants using the WHO STEPS survey instrument. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 24.0. Student’s t-test and Pearson’s Chi-square test were used to assessing the interrelationship between each factor and outcome variables. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to identify risk factors associated with dyslipidemia. All statistical significance was considered at p ≤0.05.

Results

The prevalence of dyslipidemia in this study was 66.7%. The prevalence of high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), elevated triglyceride, elevated total cholesterol, and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) was 49.5%, 40.2%, 30.8%, and 16.5%, respectively. Being above 64 years (aOR: 2.196, 95% CI: 1.183–4.078) and 40–64 years old (aOR: 2.196, 95% CI: 1.183–4.078), overweight (aOR: 2.50, 95% CI: 1.314–4.756) and obesity (aOR: 15.489, 95% CI: 3.525–68.070), walking <150 minutes per week (aOR: 1.722, 95% CI: 1.004–2.953), raised fasting blood glucose (FBG) (aOR: 4.804, 95% CI: 1.925–11.988), and medium socio-economic status (aOR: 2.017, 95% CI: 1.044–3.899) were identified as significant predictors of dyslipidemia.

Conclusions

The finding of this study indicated that the prevalence of dyslipidemia is unacceptably high among adult residents of Mekelle City, which underlines an urgent need for early detection and public health interventions through the integrated involvement of public, governmental, and non-governmental organizations.
A kinematics-based model for the settling of gravity-driven arbitrary-shaped particles on a surface
Authors: Daghooghi Mohsen , Borazjani Iman
Published: February 2021

A discrete model is proposed for settling of an arbitrary-shaped particle onto a flat surface under the gravitational field. In this method, the particle dynamics is calculated such that (a) the particle does not create an overlap with the wall and (b) reaches a realistic equilibrium state, which are not guaranteed in the conventional discrete element methods that add a repulsive force (torque) based on the amount of overlap between the particle and the wall. Instead, upon the detection of collision, the particle’s kinematics is modified depending on the type of contact, i.e., point, line, and surface types, by assuming the contact point/line as the instantaneous center/line of rotation for calculating the rigid body dynamics. Two different stability conditions are implemented by comparing the location of the projection of the center of mass on the wall along gravity direction against the contact points to identify the equilibrium (stable) state on the wall for particles with multiple contact points. A variety of simulations are presented, including smooth surface particles (ellipsoids), regular particles with sharp edges (cylinders and pyramids) and irregular-shaped particles, to show that the method can provide the analytically-known equilibrium state.
The use of complementary and alternative medicine among hypertensive and type 2 diabetic patients in Western Jamaica: A mixed methods study
Authors: Adeniyi Omolade , Washington LaTimberly , Glenn Christina J. , Franklin Sarah G. , Scott Anniecia , Aung Maung , Niranjan Soumya J. , Jolly Pauline E.
Published: February 2021

Background

The simultaneous or intermittent use of alternative treatments and prescription medications for hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus can have adverse health effects.

Objectives

To identify beliefs and practices associated with the use of alternative treatments for hypertension and type 2 diabetes mellitus among patients.

Methods

A mixed-methods study including an investigator-administered survey and focus group discussion sessions using convenience sampling was conducted among patients aged ≥18 years during May to August 2018. Descriptive statistics were used to describe and compare demographic characteristics among groups of survey participants using JMP Pro 14.0. Thematic analysis was conducted to analyze the qualitative data using NVivo.

Results

Most study participants (87–90%) were on prescription medication for their condition. Of survey participants, 69% reported taking their medication as prescribed and 70% felt that prescription medicine was controlling their condition. Almost all participants (98%) reported using alternative treatments, mainly herbal medications, and 73–80% felt that herbal medicines controlled their conditions. One-third believed that herbal medicines are the most effective form of treatment and should always be used instead of prescription medication. However, most participants (85%) did not believe that prescription and herbal treatments should be used simultaneously. Most (76–90%) did not discuss herbal treatments with their healthcare providers. Four themes emerged from the focus group sessions: 1) Simultaneous use of herbal and prescription medicine was perceived to be harmful, 2) Patients did not divulge their use of herbal medicine to healthcare providers, 3) Alternative medicines were perceived to be highly effective, and 4) Religiosity and family elders played key roles in herbal use.

Conclusions

This study provides useful insights into perceptions and use of alternative treatments by patients that can be used by healthcare providers in developing appropriate interventions to encourage proper use of prescription medicines and alternative medicines resulting in improved management of these chronic diseases.
Toward on-the-fly trajectory optimization for C-arm CBCT under strong kinematic constraints
Authors: Hatamikia Sepideh , Biguri Ander , Kronreif Gernot , Figl Michael , Russ Tom , Kettenbach Joachim , Buschmann Martin , Birkfellner Wolfgang
Published: February 2021

Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) has become a vital tool in interventional radiology. Usually, a circular source-detector trajectory is used to acquire a three-dimensional (3D) image. Kinematic constraints due to the patient size or additional medical equipment often cause collisions with the imager while performing a full circular rotation. In a previous study, we developed a framework to design collision-free, patient-specific trajectories for the cases in which circular CBCT is not feasible. Our proposed trajectories included enough information to appropriately reconstruct a particular volume of interest (VOI), but the constraints had to be defined before the intervention. As most collisions are unpredictable, performing an on-the-fly trajectory optimization is desirable. In this study, we propose a search strategy that explores a set of trajectories that cover the whole collision-free area and subsequently performs a search locally in the areas with the highest image quality. Selecting the best trajectories is performed using simulations on a prior diagnostic CT volume which serves as a digital phantom for simulations. In our simulations, the Feature SIMilarity Index (FSIM) is used as the objective function to evaluate the imaging quality provided by different trajectories. We investigated the performance of our methods using three different anatomical targets inside the Alderson-Rando phantom. We used FSIM and Universal Quality Image (UQI) to evaluate the final reconstruction results. Our experiments showed that our proposed trajectories could achieve a comparable image quality in the VOI compared to the standard C-arm circular CBCT. We achieved a relative deviation less than 10% for both FSIM and UQI metrics between the reconstructed images from the optimized trajectories and the standard C-arm CBCT for all three targets. The whole trajectory optimization took approximately three to four minutes.
Flower and pod development, grain-setting characteristics and grain yield in Chinese milk vetch (Astragalus sinicus L.) in response to pre-anthesis foliar application of paclobutrazol
Authors: Zheng Chunfeng , Liu Chunzeng , Ren Wei , Li Benyin , Lü Yuhu , Pan Ziliang , Cao Weidong
Published: February 2021

The number of grains per unit land area is the most important grain yield component in Chinese milk vetch. Flower and pod survival seem to be critical determinants of grain number, which is related to the number of fertile flowers and pods during the anthesis period. Flower and pod growth are frequently considered the key determinants to establish grain number. The objective of this study was to explore the influences of paclobutrazol on flower and pod development, grain-setting characteristics and grain yield in Chinese milk vetch under different concentrations of foliar spray and try to explore the physiological regulatory mechanisms. Field experiments were carried out during the 2017–2018 and 2018–2019 growing seasons at the Dayuzhuang experimental field. The experiment involved the Chinese milk vetch cultivar “Xinzi No. 1” and six levels of foliar application of paclobutrazol, 0, 200, 300, 400, 500, and 600 mg L-1, in treatments CK, T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5, respectively. Foliar spray was applied once, at the squaring stage. In comparison with the CK treatment, all of the paclobutrazol treatments yielded, to various degrees, increased values of the number of inflorescences per unit area, number of pods per unit area, grain-setting rate of pods, and number of grains per pod in all six inflorescence layers, with the largest increases observed in the T3 treatment. In the T3 treatment compared with the CK treatment, from the first to sixth inflorescence layers, the number of inflorescences per unit area was increased by 34.07–58.97%, the number of pods per unit area was increased by 39.69–68.35%, the grain number per pod was increased by 44.31–53.69%, and the grain-setting rate of pods was increased by 1.84–4.89%. An analysis of yield composition revealed that the paclobutrazol spray treatment had little impact on the grain weight of Chinese milk vetch. The correlations between the concentration of paclobutrazol spray and the grain yield of Chinese milk vetch reached a significant level. Grain yield was highest at the paclobutrazol concentration of 373.10 mg/L. The inflorescence contents of gibberellic acid 3 (GA3), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), and abscisic acid (ABA) were reduced, whereas that of cytokinin (CTK) was increased, by foliar application of paclobutrazol (400 mg L-1, T3 treatment) relative to CK treatment during the stages of flowers and pods developing into grains.
The task dependent differences in electromyography activity of hamstring muscles during leg curls and hip extensions
Authors: Hirose Norikazu , Kagaya Yoshinori , Tsuruike Masaaki
Published: February 2021

This study aimed to investigate the influence of the task type on the relative electromyography (EMG) activity of biceps femoris long head (BFlh) to semitendinosus (ST) muscles, and of proximal to distal regions during isometric leg-curl (LC) and hip-extension (HE). Twenty male volunteers performed isometric LC with the knee flexed to 30° (LC30) and 90° (LC90), as well as isometric HE with the knee extended (HE0) and flexed to 90° (HE90), at 40% and 100% maximal voluntary contraction (MVIC). Hip position was neutral in all conditions. EMG activity was recorded from the proximal and distal region of the BFlh and ST muscles. BFlh/ST was calculated from the raw root-mean-square (RMS) amplitudes. The RMS of 40% MVIC was normalized using MVIC data and the proximal/distal (P/D) ratio of normalized EMG (NEMG) was calculated. The BFlh/ST ratio was higher in HE0 than in LC90 during MVIC and 40% MVIC (p<0.05), and was higher in HE90 than in LC90 (p<0.05) during 40% MVIC at the proximal region, whereas no difference was observed between HE0 and LC30. There was no inter-task difference in BFlh/ST ratio in the distal region. Furthermore, the P/D ratio was higher in LC90 than in LC30 and HE0 (p<0.05) in BFlh and ST muscles, and was higher in HE90 than in LC30 and HE0 (p<0.05) in BFlh during 40% MVIC. However, there was no difference in P/D ratio between LC30 and LC90, and HE0 and HE90. This showed that there was no task-dependent difference in the EMG activity of the BFlh muscle relative to the ST muscle between prone hip extension and prone knee flexion when the knee joint was set at an equivalent angle. Similarly, there was no task-dependent difference in the NEMG of the proximal region relative to the distal region in BFlh and ST muscles during 40% MVIC.
A pre-training and self-training approach for biomedical named entity recognition
Authors: Gao Shang , Kotevska Olivera , Sorokine Alexandre , Christian J. Blair
Published: February 2021

Named entity recognition (NER) is a key component of many scientific literature mining tasks, such as information retrieval, information extraction, and question answering; however, many modern approaches require large amounts of labeled training data in order to be effective. This severely limits the effectiveness of NER models in applications where expert annotations are difficult and expensive to obtain. In this work, we explore the effectiveness of transfer learning and semi-supervised self-training to improve the performance of NER models in biomedical settings with very limited labeled data (250-2000 labeled samples). We first pre-train a BiLSTM-CRF and a BERT model on a very large general biomedical NER corpus such as MedMentions or Semantic Medline, and then we fine-tune the model on a more specific target NER task that has very limited training data; finally, we apply semi-supervised self-training using unlabeled data to further boost model performance. We show that in NER tasks that focus on common biomedical entity types such as those in the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), combining transfer learning with self-training enables a NER model such as a BiLSTM-CRF or BERT to obtain similar performance with the same model trained on 3x-8x the amount of labeled data. We further show that our approach can also boost performance in a low-resource application where entities types are more rare and not specifically covered in UMLS.
Comparison of the clinical performance and usefulness of five SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests
Authors: Wakita Mitsuru , Idei Mayumi , Saito Kaori , Horiuchi Yuki , Yamatani Kotoko , Ishikawa Suzuka , Yamamoto Takamasa , Igawa Gene , Hinata Masanobu , Kadota Katsuhiko , Kurosawa Taro , Takahashi Sho , Saito Takumi , Misawa Shigeki , Akazawa Chihiro , Naito Toshio , Miida Takashi , Takahashi Kazuhisa , Ai Tomohiko , Tabe Yoko
Published: February 2021

We examined the usefulness of five COVID-19 antibody detection tests using 114 serum samples at various time points from 34 Japanese COVID-19 patients. We examined Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 from Roche, and four immunochromatography tests from Hangzhou Laihe Biotech, Artron Laboratories, Chil, and Nadal. In the first week after onset, Elecsys had 40% positivity in Group S (severe cases) but was negative in Group M (mild-moderate cases). The immunochromatography kits showed 40–60% and 0–8% positivity in Groups S and M, respectively. In the second week, Elecsys showed 75% and 50% positivity, and the immunochromatography tests showed 5–80% and 50–75% positivity in Groups S and M, respectively. After the third week, Elecsys showed 100% positivity in both groups. The immunochromatography kits showed 100% positivity in Group S. In Group M, positivity decreased to 50% for Chil and 75–89% for Artron and Lyher. Elecsys and immunochromatography kits had 91–100% specificity. Elecsys had comparable chronological change of cut-off index values in the two groups from the second week to the sixth week. The current SARS-CoV-2 antibody detection tests do not provide meaningful interpretation of severity and infection status. Its use might be limited to short-term epidemiological studies.
The comfort in touch: Immediate and lasting effects of handholding on emotional pain
Authors: Sahi Razia S. , Dieffenbach Macrina C. , Gan Siyan , Lee Maya , Hazlett Laura I. , Burns Shannon M. , Lieberman Matthew D. , Shamay-Tsoory Simone G. , Eisenberger Naomi I.
Published: February 2021

Consoling touch is a powerful form of social support that has been repeatedly demonstrated to reduce the experience of physical pain. However, it remains unknown whether touch reduces emotional pain in the same way that it reduces physical pain. The present research sought to understand how handholding with a romantic partner shapes experiences of emotional pain and comfort during emotional recollection, as well as how it shapes lasting emotional pain associated with emotional experiences. Participants recalled emotionally painful memories or neutral memories with their partners, while holding their partner’s hand or holding a squeeze-ball. They additionally completed a follow-up survey to report how much emotional pain they associated with the emotional experiences after recalling them in the lab with their partners. Although consoling touch did not reduce emotional pain during the task, consoling touch increased feelings of comfort. Moreover, participants later recalled emotional memories that were paired with touch as being less emotionally painful than those that were not paired with touch. These findings suggest that touch does not decrease the immediate experience of emotional pain and may instead support adaptive processing of emotional experiences over time.
Effectiveness of mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) as prognostic marker in COVID-19 critically ill patients: An observational prospective study
Authors: Montrucchio Giorgia , Sales Gabriele , Rumbolo Francesca , Palmesino Filippo , Fanelli Vito , Urbino Rosario , Filippini Claudia , Mengozzi Giulio , Brazzi Luca
Published: February 2021

Objective

To test the effectiveness of mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM) in comparison to C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), D-dimer, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in predicting mortality in COVID-19-ICU-patients.

Methods

All consecutive COVID-19 adult patients admitted between March and June 2020 to the ICU of a referral, university hospital in Northern-Italy were enrolled. MR-proADM and routine laboratory test were measured within 48 hours from ICU admission, on day 3, 7 and 14. Survival curves difference with MR-proADM cut-off set to 1.8 nmol/L were tested using log-rank test. Predictive ability was compared using area under the curve and 95% confidence interval of different receiver-operating characteristics curves.

Results

57 patients were enrolled. ICU and overall mortality were 54.4%. At admission, lymphocytopenia was present in 86% of patients; increased D-dimer and CRP levels were found in 84.2% and 87.7% of patients respectively, while PCT values > 0.5 μg/L were observed in 47.4% of patients. MR-proADM, CRP and LDH were significantly different between surviving and non-surviving patients and over time, while PCT, D-dimer and NT-pro-BNP did not show any difference between the groups and over time; lymphocytes were different between surviving and non-surviving patients only. MR-proADM was higher in dying patients (2.65±2.33vs1.18±0.47, p<0.001) and a higher mortality characterized patients with MR-proADM >1.8 nmol/L (p = 0.016). The logistic regression model adjusted for age, gender, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus and PCT values confirmed an odds ratio = 10.3 [95%CI:1.9–53.6] (p = 0.006) for MR-proADM >1.8 nmol/L and = 22.2 [95%CI:1.6–316.9] (p = 0.022) for cardiovascular disease. Overall, MR-proADM had the best predictive ability (AUC = 0.85 [95%CI:0.78–0.90]).

Conclusions

In COVID-19 ICU-patients, MR-proADM seems to have constantly higher values in non-survivor patients and predict mortality more precisely than other biomarkers. Repeated MR-proADM measurement may support a rapid and effective decision-making. Further studies are needed to better explain the mechanisms responsible of the increase in MR-proADM in COVID-19 patients.
Sheep farmers’ attitudes towards lameness control: Qualitative exploration of factors affecting adoption of the lameness Five-Point Plan
Authors: Best Caroline M. , Pyatt Alison Z. , Roden Janet , Behnke Malgorzata , Phillips Kate
Published: February 2021

In 2014, best-practice recommendations to treat and control lameness in sheep in the UK were consolidated into a national program, the Five-Point Plan (5PP). As recent evidence suggests that only the minority of sheep farmers are implementing all management practices listed in the 5PP, qualitative investigation is vital to ensure future promotion is aligned with psychological and contextual factors affecting farmers’ decision-making. This qualitative study sought to explore farmers’ attitudes and the factors affecting uptake of best-practice measures listed in the 5PP. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2019 with 12 sheep farmers from England and Wales. In accordance with Thematic Analysis and the principles of Grounded Theory, data collection and analysis were performed iteratively. Two overarching themes, delineated by subthemes, emerged during analysis; (1) Barriers to adoption of 5PP measures and (2) Motivation to adopt 5PP measures. Various farmer-centric factors and physical resources were identified as key barriers or obstacles that limited farmers’ ability to implement 5PP measures outright, or restricted their ability to make changes to facilitate future adoption. Conversely, internal and external influences were identified to increase farmers’ willingness and motivation to implement practices listed on the 5PP. Heterogeneity in farmer perceptions, attitudes, experiences and circumstances identified in this study highlights the difficulty in promoting a one-size-fits-all lameness control plan, where a unique combination of intrinsic factors, social influences, and physical restrictions affect implementation. Future initiatives should focus on removing barriers by changing farmers’ perceptions and mindset towards lameness control, and building farmers’ confidence in their ability to implement practices. Furthermore, farmers’ social licence to farm and their desire to improve their reputation within society, presents an important opportunity to further engage farmers in implementing control practices. Increasing peer-to-peer knowledge transfer opportunities and effective farmer-veterinarian communication and rapport could help establish 5PP measures as normative behaviours.
A túlképzettség vizsgálata a Debreceni Egyetem végzettjei esetében (The effect of overeducation in the case of graduates of University of Debrecen)
Authors: Kotsis Ágnes
Published: February 2021

Jelen cikk célja annak mélyrehatóbb vizsgálata, hogy a felsőfokú végzettséggel rendelkező frissdiplomások nagyarányú létszámnövekedése milyen hatással volt a munkaerő-piaci helyzetükre, jelen esetben keresetükre. Homogén-e az egyetemet végzett hallgatók csoportja, vagy elkülöníthetők olyan alcsoportok, amelyben a végzett hallgatók kevesebbet keresnek jobb helyzetben lévő társaiknál? A fentebbi kérdés megválaszolására a Debreceni Egyetem 2007-ben és 2009-ben végzett hallgatóinak Diplomás Pályakövető Rendszeren keresztül nyert adatait használta fel a szerző. A tömegesedés egyik következménye lehet, hogy a felsőfokú végzettséggel rendelkező munkavállaló nem talál a végzettségének megfelelő munkát, és így kénytelen olyan munkakört betölteni, amelynek végzettségigénye alacsonyabb, mint az övé. Az ilyen módon túlképzett munkavállalók keresete alacsonyabb, mint hasonló végzettségű, de megfelelő munkakörben dolgozó társaiké. Ez a vizsgált minta tanúsága szerint a DE végzettjeinek esetében 12-17% körül alakult, ami megfelel a nemzetközi eredményeknek. _________ The main goal of this article to examine the effect of a large increase in the number of university graduates on their labour market position, mainly on their wages. Is the group of graduated students homogenous, or are there any subgroups in which graduates earn less than their counterparts? To answer this question, the author examines the database of the Graduate Students’ Survey which contains data about the students of University of Debrecen who finished their studies in 2007 and 2009. As a result of overeducation, graduates do not find the kind of jobs which require their level of education. These so called overeducated workers earn less than their counterparts. In this case, this wage penalty is between 12%-17%, which is similar to international results.