bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Advances in the Structural Strategies of the Self-Assembly of Photoresponsive Supramolecular Systems
Authors: Santamaria-Garcia Vivian J. , Flores-Hernandez Domingo R. , Contreras-Torres Flavio F. , Cué-Sampedro Rodrigo , Sánchez-Fernández José Antonio
Published: July 2022

Photosensitive supramolecular systems have garnered attention due to their potential to catalyze highly specific tasks through structural changes triggered by a light stimulus. The tunability of their chemical structure and charge transfer properties provides opportunities for designing and developing smart materials for multidisciplinary applications. This review focuses on the approaches reported in the literature for tailoring properties of the photosensitive supramolecular systems, including MOFs, MOPs, and HOFs. We discuss relevant aspects regarding their chemical structure, action mechanisms, design principles, applications, and future perspectives.
Differences in the Autophagy Response to Hypoxia in the Hippocampus and Neocortex of Rats
Authors: Churilova Anna , Zachepilo Tatiana , Baranova Ksenia , Rybnikova Elena
Published: July 2022

Autophagy is a regulated mechanism of degradation of misfolded proteins and organelles in the cell. Neurons are highly differentiated cells with extended projections, and therefore, their functioning largely depends on the mechanisms of autophagy. For the first time in an animal model using immunohistochemistry, dot analysis, and qRT-PCR, the autophagy (macroautophagy) activity in neurons of two brain regions (hippocampus and neocortex) under normoxia and after exposure to hypoxia was studied. It was found that under normoxia, the autophagic activity was higher in the hippocampal neurons than in the neocortex of rats. In the hippocampus, the exposure of rats to hypoxia resulted in a decrease in the content of autophagy markers LC3 and p62, which was followed by activation of the autophagy-related gene expression. In the neocortex, no changes in these marker proteins were observed after the exposure to hypoxia. These data indicate that the neurons in the hippocampus and neocortex differ in the autophagy response to hypoxia, which may reflect the physiological and functional differences of the pyramidal cells of these brain regions and may to some extent account for the extreme vulnerability of the CA1 hippocampal neurons and relatively high resistance of the neocortical neurons to hypoxia.
Study of the Experimental and Simulated Vibrational Spectra Together with Conformational Analysis of Thioether Cyanobiphenyl-Based Liquid Crystal Dimers
Authors: Kocot Antoni , Loska Barbara , Arakawa Yuki , Mehl Georg H. , Merkel Katarzyna
Published: July 2022

Infrared spectroscopy (IR) and quantum chemistry calculations that are based on the density functional theory (DFT) have been used to study the structure and molecular interactions of the nematic and twist-bend phases of thioether-linked dimers. Infrared absorbance measurements were conducted in a polarized beam for a homogeneously aligned sample in order to obtain more details about the orientation of the vibrational transition dipole moments. The distributions to investigate the structure and conformation of the molecule dihedral angle were calculated. The calculated spectrum was compared with the experimental infrared spectra and as a result, detailed vibrational assignments are reported.
Overexpression of MxbHLH18 Increased Iron and High Salinity Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Liang Xiaoqi , Li Yingmei , Yao Anqi , Liu Wanda , Yang Tianyu , Zhao Mengfei , Zhang Bingxiu , Han Deguo
Published: July 2022

In the life cycle of apple, it will suffer a variety of abiotic stresses, such as iron stress and salt stress. bHLH transcription factors (TFs) play an indispensable role in the response of plants to stress. In this study, a new bHLH gene named MxbHLH18 was separated from Malus xiaojinensis. According to the results of subcellular localization, MxbHLH18 was localized in the nucleus. Salt stress and iron stress affected the expression of MxbHLH18 in Malus xiaojinensis seedlings to a large extent. Due to the introduction of MxbHLH18, the resistance of Arabidopsis thaliana to salt, high iron and low iron was significantly enhanced. Under the environmental conditions of high iron and low iron, the overexpression of MxbHLH18 increased many physiological indexes of transgenic Arabidopsis compared to wild type (WT), such as root length, fresh weight and iron content. The high level expression of MxbHLH18 in transformed Arabidopsis thaliana can not only increased the content of chlorophyll and proline, as well as increasing the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT); it also reduced the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), which was more obvious under high salt conditions. In addition, the relative conductivity, H2O2 content and O2− content in transgenic Arabidopsis decreased under salt stress. Meanwhile, MxbHLH18 can also regulate the expression of downstream genes associated with salt stress (AtCBF1/2/3, AtKIN1 and AtCOR15a/b) and iron stress (AtIRT1, AtFRO2, AtNAS2, ATACT2, AtZIF1 and AtOPT3). Therefore, MxbHLH18 can actively promote the adaptability of plants to the growth environment of salt and low and/or iron.
Cancer-Associated Dysregulation of Sumo Regulators: Proteases and Ligases
Authors: Lara-Ureña Nieves , Jafari Vahid , García-Domínguez Mario
Published: July 2022

SUMOylation is a post-translational modification that has emerged in recent decades as a mechanism involved in controlling diverse physiological processes and that is essential in vertebrates. The SUMO pathway is regulated by several enzymes, proteases and ligases being the main actors involved in the control of sumoylation of specific targets. Dysregulation of the expression, localization and function of these enzymes produces physiological changes that can lead to the appearance of different types of cancer, depending on the enzymes and target proteins involved. Among the most studied proteases and ligases, those of the SENP and PIAS families stand out, respectively. While the proteases involved in this pathway have specific SUMO activity, the ligases may have additional functions unrelated to sumoylation, which makes it more difficult to study their SUMO-associated role in cancer process. In this review we update the knowledge and advances in relation to the impact of dysregulation of SUMO proteases and ligases in cancer initiation and progression.
Conformational Rearrangements Regulating the DNA Repair Protein APE1
Authors: Komaniecka Nina , Porras Marta , Cairn Louis , Santas Jon Ander , Ferreiro Nerea , Penedo Juan Carlos , Bañuelos Sonia
Published: July 2022

Apurinic apyrimidinic endonuclease 1 (APE1) is a key enzyme of the Base Excision Repair (BER) pathway, which primarily manages oxidative lesions of DNA. Once the damaged base is removed, APE1 recognises the resulting abasic site and cleaves the phosphodiester backbone to allow for the correction by subsequent enzymes of the BER machinery. In spite of a wealth of information on APE1 structure and activity, its regulation mechanism still remains to be understood. Human APE1 consists of a globular catalytic domain preceded by a flexible N-terminal extension, which might be involved in the interaction with DNA. Moreover, the binding of the nuclear chaperone nucleophosmin (NPM1) to this region has been reported to impact APE1 catalysis. To evaluate intra- and inter-molecular conformational rearrangements upon DNA binding, incision, and interaction with NPM1, we used Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), a fluorescence spectroscopy technique sensitive to molecular distances. Our results suggest that the N-terminus approaches the DNA at the downstream side of the abasic site and enables the building of a predictive model of the full-length APE1/DNA complex. Furthermore, the spatial configuration of the N-terminal tail is sensitive to NPM1, which could be related to the regulation of APE1.
Cantilevered Tandem Stator in Annular High Speed Test Rig
Authors: Rückert Roland , Peitsch Dieter
Published: July 2022

The present paper investigates the aerodynamic performance of a cantilevered tandem stator based on experiments conducted within a high speed annular test rig at the Technische Universitaet Berlin. A tandem blade in this context describes a double rowed stator configuration where the turning of the incoming flow is split up between two blades arranged in succession. For evaluation purposes, a conventional single bladed stator is used as reference. To provide machine relevant boundary conditions of cantilevered stator assemblies, the moving hub wall is recreated by a rotating disk. Overall, the tandem stator is able to achieve higher flow turning while keeping the total pressure losses below those of a single stator. It is found that the tandem stator in general behaves similar to the conventional stator. When installed in cantilevered fashion, both stator types benefit considerably in terms of loss reduction. Without the hub clearance and therefore absence of the clearance flow, each of the configurations suffered from severe corner separation. The tandem stator responds more sensitively to change in clearance height.
The Evolution of Volatile Memory Forensics
Authors: Nyholm Hannah , Monteith Kristine , Lyles Seth , Gallegos Micaela , DeSantis Mark , Donaldson John , Taylor Claire
Published: July 2022

The collection and analysis of volatile memory is a vibrant area of research in the cybersecurity community. The ever-evolving and growing threat landscape is trending towards fileless malware, which avoids traditional detection but can be found by examining a system’s random access memory (RAM). Additionally, volatile memory analysis offers great insight into other malicious vectors. It contains fragments of encrypted files’ contents, as well as lists of running processes, imported modules, and network connections, all of which are difficult or impossible to extract from the file system. For these compelling reasons, recent research efforts have focused on the collection of memory snapshots and methods to analyze them for the presence of malware. However, to the best of our knowledge, no current reviews or surveys exist that systematize the research on both memory acquisition and analysis. We fill that gap with this novel survey by exploring the state-of-the-art tools and techniques for volatile memory acquisition and analysis for malware identification. For memory acquisition methods, we explore the trade-offs many techniques make between snapshot quality, performance overhead, and security. For memory analysis, we examined the traditional forensic methods used, including signature-based methods, dynamic methods performed in a sandbox environment, as well as machine learning-based approaches. We summarize the currently available tools, and suggest areas for more research.
Nanocomposites of Copper Trimesinate and Graphene Oxide as Sorbents for the Solid-Phase Extraction of Organic Dyes
Authors: Uflyand Igor E. , Naumkina Victoria N. , Zhinzhilo Vladimir A.
Published: July 2022

A nanocomposite based on graphene oxide and copper trimesinate was obtained by the in situ method. The samples have permanent porosity and a microporous structure with a large surface area corresponding to the adsorption type I. A study of the adsorption properties of the obtained composites with respect to organic dyes (malachite green, indigo carmine, brilliant green, Rose Bengal, crystal violet) showed that adsorption largely depends on the content of graphene oxide in the composites. The complex is an effective sorbent for the extraction of cationic and neutral organic dyes when the content of graphene oxide in the nanocomposite is 20% of the calculated copper trimesinate due to electrostatic forces of interaction. For anionic dyes, the maximum adsorption is achieved when using a composite containing 5% graphene oxide due to the predominance of physical sorption. Experimental results show that the obtained sorbent can be used for extraction in a wide pH range, illustrating the excellent pH window offered by this adsorbent. Kinetics data were properly fitted with the pseudo-second-order model. Equilibrium data were best correlated with the Freundlich model. The process was endothermic and spontaneous in nature. The composite makes it possible to achieve a maximum sorption of 393 mg/g, which is a sufficiently high value for the absorption of dyes.
Searching for the Origin and the Differentiation of Haemocytes before and after Larval Settlement of the Colonial Ascidian Botryllus schlosseri: An Ultrastructural Viewpoint
Authors: Cima Francesca
Published: July 2022

The colonial ascidian Botryllus schlosseri possesses an innate immunity, which plays fundamental roles in its survival, adaptability, worldwide spread and ecological success. Three lines of differentiation pathways of circulating haemocytes are known to be present in the haemolymph, starting from undifferentiated haemoblasts: (i) the phagocytic line (hyaline amoebocytes and macrophage-like cells), (ii) the cytotoxic line (granular amoebocytes and morula cells) and (iii) the storage cell line (pigment cells and nephrocytes). Many questions remain about their origin, and thus, observations during various stages of development were undertaken in this study. Haemocytes were detected beginning from the early tailbud embryo stage. Haemoblasts were always present and morula cells were the first differentiated haemocytes detected. In both the next stage, just before hatching, and the swimming tadpole larva stage, hyaline amoebocytes and pigment cells were also recognisable. Some morula cells containing active phenoloxidase migrated from the haemolymph into the tunic after having crossed the epidermis, and this behaviour could be related to the preparation of a defensive function for spatial competition. During larval metamorphosis, macrophage-like cells appeared with their phagosomes positive to acid phosphatase activity and containing apoptotic cells from tail tissue degeneration. After metamorphosis, in the filter-feeding oozoid stage, nephrocytes involved in nitrogen catabolism finally appeared. In both the subendostylar sinus and the peripheral blind-sac vessels (ampullae), clusters of haemoblasts were recognisable, some of which showed incipient specialisations, considering the hypothesis of the presence of putative niches of haemolymph stem cells.
Geologic Framework, Anthropogenic Impacts, and Hydrodynamics Contribute to Variable Sediment Availability and Shoreface Morphology at the Rockaway Peninsula, NY
Authors: Wei Emily , Miselis Jennifer
Published: July 2022

Recent field and modeling studies have shown that barrier island resiliency is sensitive to sediment fluxes from the shoreface, making it important to evaluate how shoreface sediment availability varies in coastal systems. To do this, we assessed shoreface geology and morphology along the Rockaway Peninsula, NY, USA. We find that spatial variability in shoreface volume is influenced by sediment accommodation above the Holocene-Pleistocene (H-P) contact, historical barrier island evolution, and natural and engineered morphologic features, suggesting that simply identifying the H-P boundary may not be adequate for defining the shoreface reservoir. Further, sediment flux from the lower shoreface to the beach may be reduced by geologically limited cross-shore sediment distribution and shoreface steepening mediated by human modifications to the shoreline. Finally, the geologic limit of the shoreface is often shallower than a wave-based estimate of shoreface extent, implying that the geologic shoreface extent at our study site can be mobilized over short time scales (years-decades) and that the wave-based shoreface extent may be inaccurate when estimating shoreline response to sea-level rise. Our results demonstrate that the combination of hydrodynamics, humans, and geology on shoreface sediment fluxes impact how barrier islands respond to future changes in sediment supply and climate.
Sporothrix brasiliensis and Feline Sporotrichosis in the Metropolitan Region of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1998–2018)
Authors: Boechat Jéssica Sepulveda , Oliveira Manoel Marques Evangelista , Gremião Isabella Dib Ferreira , Almeida-Paes Rodrigo , Machado Ana Caroline de Sá , Zancopé-Oliveira Rosely Maria , Oliveira Raquel de Vasconcellos Carvalhaes , Morgado Débora Salgado , Corrêa Maria Lopes , Figueiredo Anna Barreto Fernandes , Menezes Rodrigo Caldas , Pereira Sandro Antonio
Published: July 2022

Feline sporotrichosis is enzootic in different regions of Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro. This study compared the genotype profiles of Sporothrix sp. isolated from cats in Rio de Janeiro between 1998 and 2018 and evaluated their association with clinical and epidemiological characteristics. One hundred nineteen Sporothrix sp. isolates from a cohort of cats with sporotrichosis seen at INI/Fiocruz were included. Clinical and epidemiological data were obtained from the medical records of the animals. T3B PCR fingerprinting was used for molecular identification of the Sporothrix species. All isolates were characterized as Sporothrix brasiliensis, with the observation of low intraspecific variation in 31 isolates (31.3%). The interval between lesion onset and first medical visit at INI/Fiocruz, as well as treatment duration until clinical cure, was longer in cats from the first decade of the epizootic. In addition, the frequency of the variables “good general status” and “presence of lymphadenomegaly” was higher among cats whose strains did not exhibit intraspecific variation. So far, S. brasiliensis has been the only species identified in feline cases of sporotrichosis since the beginning of the epizootic in Rio de Janeiro at INI/Fiocruz.
Use of Mepolizumab in Children and Adolescents with Asthma in the USA
Authors: Davis Jaclyn , McMahon Pamela M. , Welch Emily , McMahill-Walraven Cheryl , Jamal-Allial Aziza , Zhang Tancy , Draper Christine , Kline Anne Marie , Koerner Leslie , Brown Jeffrey S. , Van Dyke Melissa , Wu Ann Chen
Published: July 2022

Introduction: Pediatric asthma affects 5.5 million US children and is the leading cause of pediatric chronic illness globally. Those with severe asthma have significantly higher healthcare costs compared to those with non-severe disease. Biologics are the newest class of anti-asthma therapy approved for use in patients with severe asthma > 6 years with the eosinophilic phenotype. Objective: The goals of this study were to (1) describe the baseline characteristics of new US pediatric mepolizumab users between 2015 and end dates that varied by data partner (6/30/19–5/31/21), (2) describe asthma medication use in the 12 months preceding and following mepolizumab initiation in this group and (3) assess adherence and persistence to mepolizumab in the 12 months following initiation. Methods: Through an observational cohort study using insurance claim databases, we studied children with a diagnosis of asthma in the preceding 12 months who started mepolizumab and had 12 months of follow-up data. Results: Baseline characteristics of the 72 children who initiated mepolizumab showed variable comorbidities, the most common being allergic rhinitis (88%) and recurrent respiratory infections (71%), as well as varied medication dispensings and patterns of healthcare utilization prior to initiating mepolizumab. Half met the criteria for severe asthma per the GINA guidelines. Comparing weighted averages of treatments dispensed in the 12 months prior to versus following mepolizumab initiation, we observed no significant change in asthma treatments dispensed. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that pediatric patients prescribed mepolizumab have variable previous treatment history and severity of disease, and we found no evidence that mepolizumab alters other asthma medications dispensed in the first 12 months following initiation.
Geomorphological and Structural Assessment of the Coastal Area of Capo Faro Promontory, NE Salina (Aeolian Islands, Italy)
Authors: Bonasera Mauro , Cerrone Ciro , Caso Fabiola , Lanza Stefania , Fubelli Giandomenico , Randazzo Giovanni
Published: July 2022

Capo Faro Promontory, located in Salina (Aeolian Islands, southern Italy), is a popular summer destination due to its volcanic morphologies, seaside, and enogastronomy. A flat area, right behind the scarp edge of a coastal cliff, hosts the Capo Faro Estate, one of the most renowned vineyards and residences on Salina Island. The promontory has been characterised in terms of geomorphological features. Remote sensing analysis, after nadir and off–nadir UAV flights, supports the field activities to explore the hazard to which the area is subjected. In particular, the coastal cliff turns out to be affected by a rapid retreat inducing landslides. Therefore, the cliff area has been investigated through a detailed stratigraphic and structural field survey. Using the generated high–resolution Digital Elevation Model, bathymetric–topographic profiles were extracted along the coastline facing the cliff. The thickness of volcanic deposits was evaluated to obtain a geological model of it. The main rock mass discontinuities have been characterised to define the structural features affecting the stability of the rock wall. The obtained results prove the contribution of such research fundamental in planning risk mitigation measures.
Anticancer Potential of Xanthohumol and Isoxanthohumol Loaded into SBA-15 Mesoporous Silica Particles against B16F10 Melanoma Cells
Authors: Krajnović Tamara , Pantelić Nebojša Đ. , Wolf Katharina , Eichhorn Thomas , Maksimović-Ivanić Danijela , Mijatović Sanja , Wessjohann Ludger A. , Kaluđerović Goran N.
Published: July 2022

Xanthohumol (XN) and isoxanthohumol (IXN), prenylated flavonoids from Humulus lupulus, have been shown to possess antitumor/cancerprotective, antioxidant, antiinflammatory, and antiangiogenic properties. In this study, mesoporous silica (SBA-15) was loaded with different amounts of xanthohumol and isoxanthohumol and characterized by standard analytical methods. The anticancer potential of XN and IXN loaded into SBA-15 has been evaluated against malignant mouse melanoma B16F10 cells. When these cells were treated with SBA-15 containing xanthohumol, an increase of the activity correlated with a higher immobilization rate of XN was observed. Considering the amount of XN loaded into SBA-15 (calculated from TGA), an improved antitumor potential of XN was observed (IC50 = 10.8 ± 0.4 and 11.8 ± 0.5 µM for SBA-15|XN2 and SBA-15|XN3, respectively; vs. IC50 = 18.5 ± 1.5 µM for free XN). The main mechanism against tumor cells of immobilized XN includes inhibition of proliferation and autophagic cell death. The MC50 values for SBA-15 loaded with isoxanthohumol were over 300 µg/mL in all cases investigated.
Research on Safety Detection of Transmission Line Disaster Prevention Based on Improved Lightweight Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Du Fujun , Jiao Shuangjian , Chu Kaili
Published: July 2022

The use of drones to inspect transmission lines is an important task for the energy maintenance department to ensure the stability and safety of power transmission. However, the current electric power inspection is inseparable from the participation of artificial vision. It is necessary to establish an automatic visual recognition technology with high reliability, high flexibility, and low embedded cost. This paper develops an improved YOLOv5S deep-learning-based transmission line disaster prevention safety detection model, called Model E. Compared to the original network, we use the Ghost convolution operation in the Model E network to improve the redundant computation caused by the conventional convolution operation. The BiFPN network structure is adopted to enhance the feature extraction ability of the original PANet network for unsafe objects in the transmission line image. This occurs in the process of Model E transmission line disaster prevention safety detection model learning. Equalized Focal Loss (EFL) is used to improve the Model E sample imbalance problem processing mechanism. The Model E proposed in this paper is 6.9%, 1.7%, 1.7%, and 2.9% higher than the current lightweight mainstream algorithms YOLOv3-Tiny and YOLOv5S, Model C (based on the original YOLOv5S network, the BiFPN structure in the Model E network part is improved), and Model D network (in the Backbone layer, four conventional convolutions are improved as Ghost convolution operations, and the rest of the structure is the same as the Model E network) in mAP@.5 evaluation index. Meanwhile, the size of the model is only 79.5%, 97.7%, 84.9%, and 93.8% of the above algorithm model. The experimental results show that the Model E transmission line disaster prevention and safety detection model proposed in this paper shows stronger competitiveness and advancement, with high reliability, flexibility, and fast detection ability, and can be applied to cost, reliability, and efficiency in order to have a higher standard of practical engineering needs.
Characterization of 3D Displacement and Stress Fields in Coal Based on CT Scans
Authors: Li Qi , Li Zhen , Li Peng , Pan Ruikai , Zhang Qingqing
Published: July 2022

Computed tomography (CT) scans were performed on samples of an outburst-prone coal seam at different loading stages. The area and roundness of the CT images were used to quantify the degree of the coal macroscopic deformation under different loads. A spatial matching algorithm was used to calculate the three-dimensional (3D) displacement fields of different regions of interest (ROIs, containing primary fractures, minerals, and only coal) under different loads. The presence of fractures and minerals were found to promote and inhibit displacement, respectively, and the 3D displacement field data followed a normal distribution. A meshfree numerical simulation was used to determine the 3D maximum principal stress, shear stress and displacement fields under different loads. The following results were obtained: fractures and minerals significantly affect the stress state and displacement field distribution features, the maximum principal stresses and shear stresses in different matrices differ significantly, and the presence of minerals and fractures induce a prevalent shear stress in coal and make coal prone to stress concentration.
General Anesthesia as a Multimodal Individualized Clinical Concept
Authors: Rogobete Alexandru Florin , Sandesc Dorel
Published: July 2022

In the last decades, several new and modern techniques have been developed for the continuous monitoring of vitals for patients undergoing surgery under general anesthesia. These complex methods are meant to come as an adjunct to classical monitoring protocols used in general anesthesia to increase patient safety. The main objectives of multimodal monitoring are avoiding the over- or underdosing of anesthetic drugs, adapting the concentration for the substances in use, reducing post-anesthetic complications, and increasing patient comfort. Recent studies have shown a series of benefits with significant clinical impact such as a reduced incidence of nausea and vomiting, shorter reversal times, a reduction in opioid consumption, shorter hospital stays, and an increase in patient satisfaction.
Metagenomic Analysis of the Species Composition and Seasonal Distribution of Marine Dinoflagellate Communities in Four Korean Coastal Regions
Authors: Hwang Jinik , Kang Hee Woong , Moon Seung Joo , Hyung Jun-Ho , Lee Eun Sun , Park Jaeyeon
Published: July 2022

Biomonitoring of dinoflagellate communities in marine ecosystems is essential for efficient water quality management and limiting ecosystem disturbances. Current identification and monitoring of toxic dinoflagellates, which cause harmful algal blooms, primarily involves light or scanning electron microscopy; however, these techniques are limited in their ability to monitor dinoflagellates and plankton, leaving an incomplete analysis. In this study, we analyzed the species composition and seasonal distribution of the dinoflagellate communities in four Korean coastal regions using 18S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The results showed significantly high diversity in the dinoflagellate communities in all regions and seasons. Furthermore, we found seasonally dominant species and causative species of harmful algal blooms (Cochlodinium sp., Alexandrium sp., Dinophysis sp., and Gymnodinium sp.). Moreover, dominant species were classified by region and season according to the difference in geographical and environmental parameters. The molecular analysis of the dinoflagellate community based on metagenomics revealed more diverse species compositions that could not be identified by microscopy and revealed potentially harmful or recently introduced dinoflagellate species. In conclusion, metagenomic analysis of dinoflagellate communities was more precise and obtained results faster than microscopic analysis, and could improve the existing monitoring techniques for community analysis.
End-of-Life of Composite Materials in the Framework of the Circular Economy
Authors: Chatziparaskeva Georgia , Papamichael Iliana , Voukkali Irene , Loizia Pantelitsa , Sourkouni Georgia , Argirusis Christos , Zorpas Antonis A.
Published: July 2022

Composite materials constitute an appealing choice in many industrial sectors, due to their unique composition and characteristics, such as low maintenance requirements, light weight, corrosion resistance, and durability. However, the sustainable management of end-of-life composite materials remains a challenge. Recovery strategies, design aspects, and their interconnection are currently largely unexplored, while technologies involved in the circular economy (reuse, reduce, recycle, refurbish, etc.) could be improved. The current paper provides an overview of the existing methods of composite material waste management, while presenting new circular economy prospects for end-of-life strategies and providing a brief roadmap towards circularity for industries. Finally, existing circular economy practices in regard to composites are presented in different European countries to present the applicability of composite material end-of-life waste management.
Xanthatin Alleviates LPS-Induced Inflammatory Response in RAW264.7 Macrophages by Inhibiting NF-κB, MAPK and STATs Activation
Authors: Liu Yuanqi , Chen Wenyu , Zheng Fang , Yu Huanan , Wei Kun
Published: July 2022

Xanthatin (XT) is a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from the Chinese herb Xanthium, which belongs to the Asteraceae family. In this study, we developed an inflammation model via stimulating macrophage cell line (RAW 264.7 cells) with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which was applied to assess the anti-inflammatory effect and probable mechanisms of xanthatin. When compared with the only LPS-induced group, cells that were pretreated with xanthatin were found to decrease the amount of nitric oxide (NO), reactive oxygen species (ROS) and associated pro-inflammatory factors (TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6), and downregulate the mRNA expression of iNOS, COX-2, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6. Interestingly, phosphorylated levels of related proteins (STAT3, ERK1/2, SAPK/JNK, IκBα, p65) were notably increased only with the LPS-activated cells, while the expression of these could be reverted by pre-treatment with xanthatin in a dose-dependent way. Meanwhile, xanthatin was also found to block NF-κB p65 from translocating into the nucleus and activating inflammatory gene transcription. Collectively, these results demonstrated that xanthatin suppresses the inflammatory effects through downregulating the nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and signal transducer and activator of transcription (STATs) signaling pathways. Taken together, xanthatin possesses the potential to act as a good anti-inflammatory medication candidate.
Novel Imidazole Liquid Crystals; Experimental and Computational Approaches
Authors: Al-Kadhi Nada S. , Alamro Fowzia S. , Popoola Saheed A. , Gomha Sobhi M. , Bedowr Noha S. , Al-Juhani Shahd S. , Ahmed Hoda A.
Published: July 2022

The liquid crystalline materials named (E)-4-(2-(4-oxo-5,5-diphenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-imidazol-2-yl)hydrazineylidene)methyl)phenyl and 4-(alkoxy)benzoate, In, were synthesized and their mesomorphic behaviors were examined. The chemical structures of the produced compounds were confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), NMR, and elemental analysis. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and polarized optical microscopy were used to investigate the mesomorphic properties of designed heterocyclic derivatives. All the compounds tested had suitable thermal stability and enantiotropic behavior of smectogenic temperature ranges. Furthermore, the enantiotropic smectic C phases were observed to cover all the homologues. Moreover, computational investigations corroborated the experimental findings of the mesomorphic behavior. The reactivity parameters were computed for the derivatives and linked with the experimental data. Theoretical calculations revealed that the polarizability of the studied series increases with the chain length, whereas the HOMO–LUMO energy gap or other reactivity descriptors were less sensitive to the size of the system. On the other hand, the predicted thermodynamic parameters revealed the size dependence of thermal stability of the compounds.
Electrochemical Sensing of Pb2+ and Cd2+ Ions with the Use of Electrode Modified with Carbon-Covered Halloysite and Carbon Nanotubes
Authors: Knihnicki Paweł , Skrzypek Aleksandra , Jakubowska Małgorzata , Porada Radosław , Rokicińska Anna , Kuśtrowski Piotr , Kościelniak Paweł , Kochana Jolanta
Published: July 2022

A novel voltammetric method for the sensitive and selective determination of cadmium and lead ions using screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) modified with carbon-deposited natural halloysite (C_Hal) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was developed. The electrochemical properties of the proposed sensor were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and cyclic voltammetry (CV), while the morphology and structure were established by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). A two-factorial central composite design (CCD) was employed to select the composition of the nanocomposite modifying the electrode surface. The optimal measuring parameters of differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV) used for quantitative analysis were established with the Nelder–Mead simplex method. In the analytical investigation of Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions by DPASV, the MWCNTs/C_Hal/Nafion/SPCE exhibited a linear response in the concentration range of 0.1–10.0 µmol L−1 (for both ions) with a detection limit of 0.0051 and 0.0106 µmol L−1 for Pb(II) and Cd(II), respectively. The proposed sensor was successfully applied for the determination of metal ions in different natural water and honey samples with recovery values of 96.4–101.6%.
Development of Self-Emulsifying Drug Delivery Systems (SEDDSs) Displaying Enhanced Permeation of the Intestinal Mucus Following Sustained Release of Prototype Thiol-Based Mucolytic Agent Load
Authors: Malkawi Ahmad , Alrabadi Nasr , Haddad Razan , Malkawi Azhar , Khaled Khaled , Ovenseri Airemwen Collins
Published: July 2022

In this study, mucoactive self-emulsifying drug delivery systems (SEDDSs) based on sustained release of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) were developed for providing effective intestinal mucopermeation. Polymeric ionic complexes of NAC were formed with polyethyleneimine (PEI), Eudragit E 100, and Eudragit RS 100 and loaded into a novel SEDDS. The SEDDSs exhibited a stable average size of 75 ± 12 nm (polydispersity index (PDI) < 0.3) and showed a rise in the zeta potential from −17.31 mV to −7.72 mV. On Caco-2 cells, SEDDSs at 1–3% were non-cytotoxic. An average of 91.8 ± 5.4% NAC was released from SEDDSs containing Eudragit E 100 (p ≤ 0.05) and Eudragit RS 100 (p ≤ 0.001) complexes at a significantly slower rate within 80 min, whereas the SEDDS containing PEI released NAC in a matter of seconds. Similarly, the SEDDS complexes revealed a time-dependent reduction in mucus dynamic viscosity of 52.6 ± 19.9%. Consequently, as compared with a blank SEDDS, mucodiffusion revealed about 2- and 1.8-fold significantly greater mucopermeation of SEDDSs anchoring Eudragit E 100–NAC and RS 100–NAC complexes (p ≤ 0.05), respectively. The mucoactive SEDDSs, which steadily released NAC while permeating the mucus, were linked to a significantly increased mucopermeation in vitro as a result of optimal mucolytic targeting.
Synthesis of 3-Aryl-3-(Furan-2-yl)Propanoic Acid Derivatives, and Study of Their Antimicrobial Activity
Authors: Kalyaev Mikhail V. , Ryabukhin Dmitry S. , Borisova Marina A. , Ivanov Alexander Yu. , Boyarskaya Irina A. , Borovkova Kristina E. , Nikiforova Lia R. , Salmova Julia V. , Ul’yanovskii Nikolay V. , Kosyakov Dmitry S. , Vasilyev Aleksander V.
Published: July 2022

Reactions of 3-(furan-2-yl)propenoic acids and their esters with arenes in Brønsted superacid TfOH affords products of hydroarylation of the carbon–carbon double bond, 3-aryl-3-(furan-2-yl)propenoic acid derivatives. According to NMR and DFT studies, the corresponding O,C-diprotonated forms of the starting furan acids and esters should be reactive electrophilic species in these transformations. Starting compounds and their hydroarylation products, at a concentration of 64 µg/mL, demonstrate good antimicrobial activity against yeast-like fungi Candida albicans. Apart from that, these compounds suppress Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.
LHC Search Strategy for Squarks in Higgsino-LSP Scenarios with Leptons and b-Jets in the Final State
Authors: Arganda Ernesto , Delgado Antonio , Morales Roberto A. , Quirós Mariano
Published: July 2022

The higgsino Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP) scenario opens up the possibility of decays of strongly produced particles to an intermediate neutralino, due to the Yukawa-suppressed direct decays to the higgsino. Those decays produce multijet signals with a Higgs or a Z boson being produced in the decay of the intermediate neutralino to the LSP. In this paper, we study the discovery prospects of squarks that produce b-jets and leptons in the final state. Our collider analysis provides signal significances at the 3σ level for luminosities of 1 ab−1, and at the 5σ level if we project these results for 3 ab−1.
Recent Criterion on Stability Enhancement of Perovskite Solar Cells
Authors: Hasan Md Saif , Alom Jahangir , Asaduzzaman Md , Ahmed Mohammad Boshir , Hossain Md Delowar , Saem ASM , Masud Jahangir , Thakare Jivan , Hossain Md Ashraf
Published: July 2022

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have captured the attention of the global energy research community in recent years by showing an exponential augmentation in their performance and stability. The supremacy of the light-harvesting efficiency and wider band gap of perovskite sensitizers have led to these devices being compared with the most outstanding rival silicon-based solar cells. Nevertheless, there are some issues such as their poor lifetime stability, considerable J–V hysteresis, and the toxicity of the conventional constituent materials which restrict their prevalence in the marketplace. The poor stability of PSCs with regard to humidity, UV radiation, oxygen and heat especially limits their industrial application. This review focuses on the in-depth studies of different direct and indirect parameters of PSC device instability. The mechanism for device degradation for several parameters and the complementary materials showing promising results are systematically analyzed. The main objective of this work is to review the effectual strategies of enhancing the stability of PSCs. Several important factors such as material engineering, novel device structure design, hole-transporting materials (HTMs), electron-transporting materials (ETMs), electrode materials preparation, and encapsulation methods that need to be taken care of in order to improve the stability of PSCs are discussed extensively. Conclusively, this review discusses some opportunities for the commercialization of PSCs with high efficiency and stability.
Generalized Cross-Correlation Strain Demodulation Method Based on Local Similar Spectral Scanning
Authors: Tian Yuqi , Cui Jiwen , Xu Zaibin , Tan Jiubin
Published: July 2022

Optical fiber measurement technology is widely used in the strength testing of buildings, the health testing of industrial equipment, and the minimally invasive surgery of modern medical treatment due to its characteristics of free calibration, high precision, and small size. This paper presents an algorithm that can improve the range and stability of strain measurements in order to solve the problems of the small range and measurement failure of optical fiber strain sensors based on optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR). Firstly, a Rayleigh scattering model based on the refractive index perturbation of an optical fiber is proposed to study the characteristics of Rayleigh scattering and to guide the strain demodulation algorithm based on the spectral shift. Secondly, a local similar scanning method that can maintain a high similarity by monitoring local Rayleigh scattering signals (LSs) before and after strain is proposed. Thirdly, a generalized cross-correlation algorithm is proposed to detect spectral offset, solving the problem of demodulation failure in the case of a Rayleigh scattering signal with a low signal-to-noise ratio. Experiments show that the proposed method still has high stability when the spatial resolution is 3 mm. The measurement precision is 6.2 με, which proves that the multi-peaks or pseudo-peaks of the traditional algorithm in the case of a large strain, the high spatial resolution, and the poor signal-to-noise ratio are solved, and the stability of the strain measurement process is improved.
Two-Step Joint Optimization with Auxiliary Loss Function for Noise-Robust Speech Recognition
Authors: Lee Geon Woo , Kim Hong Kook
Published: July 2022

In this paper, a new two-step joint optimization approach based on the asynchronous subregion optimization method is proposed for training a pipeline model composed of two different models. The first-step processing of the proposed joint optimization approach trains the front-end model only, and the second-step processing trains all the parameters of the combined model together. In the asynchronous subregion optimization method, the first-step processing only supports the goal of the front-end model. However, the first-step processing of the proposed approach works with a new loss function to make the front-end model support the goal of the back-end model. The proposed optimization approach was applied, here, to a pipeline composed of a deep complex convolutional recurrent network (DCCRN)-based speech enhancement model and a conformer-transducer-based ASR model as a front-end and a back-end, respectively. Then, the performance of the proposed two-step joint optimization approach was evaluated on the LibriSpeech automatic speech recognition (ASR) corpus in noisy environments by measuring the character error rate (CER) and word error rate (WER). In addition, an ablation study was carried out to examine the effectiveness of the proposed optimization approach on each of the processing blocks in the conformer-transducer ASR model. Consequently, it was shown from the ablation study that the conformer-transducer-based ASR model with the joint network trained only by the proposed optimization approach achieved the lowest average CER and WER. Moreover, the proposed optimization approach reduced the average CER and WER on the Test-Noisy dataset under matched noise conditions by 0.30% and 0.48%, respectively, compared to the approach of separate optimization of speech enhancement and ASR. Compared to the conventional two-step joint optimization approach, the proposed optimization approach provided average CER and WER reductions of 0.22% and 0.31%, respectively. Moreover, it was revealed that the proposed optimization approach achieved a lower average CER and WER, by 0.32% and 0.43%, respectively, than the conventional optimization approach under mismatched noise conditions.
The Impact of Data Augmentations on Deep Learning-Based Marine Object Classification in Benthic Image Transects
Authors: Tan Mingkun , Langenkämper Daniel , Nattkemper Tim W.
Published: July 2022

Data augmentation is an established technique in computer vision to foster the generalization of training and to deal with low data volume. Most data augmentation and computer vision research are focused on everyday images such as traffic data. The application of computer vision techniques in domains like marine sciences has shown to be not that straightforward in the past due to special characteristics, such as very low data volume and class imbalance, because of costly manual annotation by human domain experts, and general low species abundances. However, the data volume acquired today with moving platforms to collect large image collections from remote marine habitats, like the deep benthos, for marine biodiversity assessment and monitoring makes the use of computer vision automatic detection and classification inevitable. In this work, we investigate the effect of data augmentation in the context of taxonomic classification in underwater, i.e., benthic images. First, we show that established data augmentation methods (i.e., geometric and photometric transformations) perform differently in marine image collections compared to established image collections like the Cityscapes dataset, showing everyday traffic images. Some of the methods even decrease the learning performance when applied to marine image collections. Second, we propose new data augmentation combination policies motivated by our observations and compare their effect to those proposed by the AutoAugment algorithm and can show that the proposed augmentation policy outperforms the AutoAugment results for marine image collections. We conclude that in the case of small marine image datasets, background knowledge, and heuristics should sometimes be applied to design an effective data augmentation method.
The Method of Evaluation of Radio Altimeter Methodological Error in Laboratory Environment
Authors: Kurdel Pavol , Češkovič Marek , Gecejová Natália , Labun Ján , Gamec Ján
Published: July 2022

The presented article is focused on the evaluation of aviation radio altimeter (ALT) methodological error in order to increase air traffic safety. It briefly explains the background of methodological error at the theoretical level and offers practical conclusions to understand the issue. A radio altimeter provides information on an aircraft or helicopter’s instantaneous (radar) altitude or UAV to the pilot and another assistance system, such as an autopilot or an anticollision system. The height measurement of the most common used ALTs is realized with an accuracy of from ±0.30 m to ±0.75 m. This error rate corresponds to and is caused by the radio altimeter’s methodological error (ΔH). The ALT operating parameters are defined by carrier frequency, modulation frequency, and frequency lift. The methodological error of ALT can be obtained in three ways—calculated on a theoretical level, simulated in a suitable simulation environment, or evaluated in laboratory conditions. The ambiguity of ALT methodological error measurement causes bias in its presentation. This often leads to an incorrect determination of measurement inaccuracy (too optimistic statement of error value). The article’s primary goal is to present a new method for determining the value of the methodological error and its effect on the resulting error of measurement of the radio altitude (radar altitude). It presents a new experimental laboratory method for measuring ΔH and the resulting accuracy of height measurement with a radio altimeter. Thanks to this method, it can be verified that the information obtained by measuring the height above the ground corresponds to the standard specified by the manufacturer.