bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effects of supplementing diet with Thyme (Thymuas vulgaris L.) essential oil and/or selenium yeast on production performance and blood variables of broiler chickens
Authors: Noruzi Shokufe , Torki Mehran , Mohammadi Hamed
Published: January 2022

Background

Organic products for animals are becoming more widely accepted by consumers. Using herbal additives may lead to more healthy animal products. In this research, it is hypothesized that thyme essential oil (TEO) and/or selenium yeast (SY) would be helpful to enhance production performance in broilers.

Objective

In the current study, the effects of adding TEO and/or SY to the diet on broiler performance and blood parameters were evaluated in broiler chickens.

Methods

A total of 480 chicks were distributed in 24 cages with 20 chicks (10 males and 10 females) each and assigned to be fed four iso‐caloric and iso‐nitrogenous diets including two levels (0 and 250 mg/kg) of TEO and two levels (0 and 0.3 mg/kg) of SY in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with six replicates.

Results

Adding SY significantly decreased feed intake in finishing period (22–42 d) (p < 0.05). Supplementation with SY and TEO significantly decreased plasma uric acid and triglyceride levels, respectively (p < 0.05). However, neither of the supplements had any influence on the plasma glucose and albumin levels (p > 0.05). The lowest level of plasma cholesterol was detected in the birds fed the TEO‐supplemented diet (p < 0.05). Addition of SY significantly increased blood glutathione peroxidase activity (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

Dietary supplemental TEO has a favourable effect on feed intake, weight gain, and body weight values. Besides, SY may decrease blood concentration of uric acid, as well as blood glutathione peroxidase activity. An interaction is detected between TEO and SY on blood cholesterol.
A caveat on the effect of modulators in the synthesis of the aluminum furandicarboxylate metal‐organic framework MIL‐160
Authors: Steinert Dominik Moritz , Schmitz Alexa , Fetzer Marcus , Seiffert Philipp , Janiak Christoph
Published: January 2022

Modulators are widely used in the synthesis of metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) for improving the porosity and morphology. For aluminum MOFs modulation has been seldom reported and as is shown here for the example of the aluminum furandicarboxylate MOF MIL‐160 the positive effects of modulators are small and disadvantageous effects will be more likely. Formic acid as modulator can slightly increase the BET surface area and pore volume of MIL‐160 up to a modulator:linker ratio of 1.25 : 1. Acetic acid only shows some increase in both surface area and pore volume at the smallest tested ratio of 0.125 : 1. The stronger acids oxalic acid and hydrochloric acid with the also more aluminum‐coordinating anions have no positive porosity effect and decrease surface area and pore volume already at small amounts. At a 1 : 1 modulator:linker ratio for oxalic acid and at 0.75 : 1 for hydrochloric acid no porous MOF is formed anymore from the analysis by powder X‐ray diffraction and nitrogen sorption. Further, thermogravimetric analysis and scanning electron microscopy suggests that none of the tested modulators has any noticeable positive effect on the introduction of linker defects or the improvement of crystallinity or crystal size.
Concept and Application of Green and Hybrid Infrastructure
Authors: Nakamura Futoshi
Published: January 2022

Recently, Japan has suffered extraordinary damage from typhoons, heavy rains, and megafloods, each of which has exceeded the upper limit of control by managed infrastructure for flood mitigation. First, I present a conceptual framework of hybrid infrastructure at the watershed scale, combining (1) fundamental green infrastructure (GI), composed of forests and wetlands in the watershed; (2) additional multilevel GI, such as flood control basins; and (3) existing engineered disaster prevention infrastructure, such as dams and artificial levees. Second, I introduce the disaster risk reduction function of natural forests and wetlands and three representative traditional flood control measures: discontinuous levees, overflow embankments, and flood protection forests. This GI should be properly allocated and maintained at the watershed scale to reduce damage by megafloods. The multiple types and functions of GI may provide essential habitats for wildlife and recreational opportunities for local residents and others. Finally, I address key points for planning, implementation, and governance of GI at the watershed scale.
Designing High-Mn Steels
Authors: Sawaguchi Takahiro
Published: January 2022

High-Mn austenitic steels undergo characteristic plasticity mechanisms of the γ-austenite with an FCC structure, such as extended dislocation glide, mechanical twinning, and mechanical martensitic transformation into ε-martensite with an HCP structure and/or α’-martensite with a BCC/BCT structure. Distortions of polyhedron models are used to describe these plasticity mechanisms. These are the smallest volumetric units occupying the lattices and reflect the crystallographic characteristics of the lattices. The complicated crossing shears are correlated to the fine crystal phases formed at the intersection of the ε-martensite variants. The unidirectionality of the {1 1 1} < 1 1 2 > γ twinning shear provides reversibility to the dislocation motion under cyclic loading. Based on this knowledge, the design concept of high-Mn steels is described considering microstructural, thermodynamic, and crystallographic characteristics.
LHC constraints on hidden gravitons
Authors: Cembranos J. A. R. , Delgado R. L. , Villarrubia-Rojo H.
Published: January 2022

Abstract

We analyze LHC data in order to constrain the parameter space of new spin-2 particles universally coupled to the energy-momentum tensor. These new hypothetical particles are the so-called hidden gravitons, whose phenomenology at low energies is determined by two parameters: its mass and its dimensional coupling constant. Hidden gravitons arise in many different extensions of the Standard Model of particles and interactions and General Relativity. Their phenomenology has been studied mainly in relation to modifications of gravity and astrophysical signatures. In this work, we extend the constraints for heavy hidden gravitons, with masses larger than 1 GeV, by taking into account events collected by ATLAS and CMS in the WW channel, Drell-Yan processes, and the diphoton channel from proton-proton collisions at $$ \sqrt{s} $$

s

= 8 TeV.
Internalization of benzylisoquinoline alkaloids by resting and activated bone marrow-derived mast cells utilizes energy-dependent mechanisms
Authors: Alam Syed Benazir , Kulka Marianna
Published: January 2022

Objective and design

Drug delivery to inflammatory cells is dependent upon poorly understood, complex endocytic processes. Berberine (BBR), a benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, binds to heparin and targets glycosaminoglycan-rich granules in mast cells (MC), but the mechanism of BBR internalization is unknown.

Methods

BMMC were treated with various concentrations of BBR for different amounts of time and BBR internalization was assessed by flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy. BMMC were pretreated with endocytic inhibitors or a growth factor (IL-3) prior to BBR exposure to access mechanisms of its internalization.

Results

After 24 h, 48 ± 0.8% of BMMC internalized BBR and this process was dependent upon temperature and the presence of glucose in the medium. Methanol fixation reduced BBR internalization, suggesting the involvement of an energy-dependent active transport mechanism. To determine mode of internalization, BBR was encapsulated into Lipofectamine TM lipoplexes since these are known to circumvent classical endocytic pathways. Incorporating BBR into lipoplexes decreased BBR internalization by 26% and 10% (10 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml Lipo-BBR respectively) by BMMC. BBR endocytosis was significantly reduced by Latrunculin B (88%), Cytochalasin B (87%), Chloroquine (86.5%) and 3-methyladenine (91%), indicating that actin polymerization, lysosomal pH and lysosomal self-degradation via the autophagy pathway was involved. In contrast, IL-3 treatment significantly enhanced BBR endocytosis (54% by 40 ng/ml IL-3) suggesting that IL-3 signaling pathways play a role in internalization.

Conclusions

Our data suggests that internalization of BBR by resting and IL-3-activated BMMC utilizes an energy-dependent pathway that is dependent upon glucose metabolism and temperature. Furthermore, this process requires actin polymerization and lysosomal trafficking. These data suggest internalization of benzylisoquinoline compounds is an active and complex process.
Using Linked Data to create provenance-rich metadata interlinks: the design and evaluation of the NAISC-L interlinking framework for libraries, archives and museums
Authors: McKenna Lucy , Debruyne Christophe , O’Sullivan Declan
Published: January 2022

Linked data (LD) have the capability to open up and share materials, held in libraries, archives and museums (LAMs), in ways that are restricted by many existing metadata standards. Specifically, LD interlinking can be used to enrich data and to improve data discoverability on the Web through interlinking related resources across datasets and institutions. However, there is currently a notable lack of interlinking across leading LD projects in LAMs, impacting upon the discoverability of their materials. This research describes the Novel Authoritative Interlinking for Semantic Web Cataloguing in Libraries (NAISC-L) interlinking framework. Unlike existing interlinking frameworks, NAISC-L was designed specifically with the requirements of the LAM domain in mind. The framework was evaluated by Information Professionals (IPs), including librarians, archivists and metadata cataloguers, via three user-experiments including a think-aloud test, an online interlink creation test and a field test in a music archive. Across all experiments, participants achieved a high level of interlink accuracy, and usability measures indicated that IPs found NAISC-L to be useful and user-friendly. Overall, NAISC-L was shown to be an effective framework for engaging IPs in the process of LD interlinking, and for facilitating the creation of richer and more authoritative interlinks between LAM resources. NAISC-L supports the linking of related resource across datasets and institutions, thereby enabling richer and more varied search queries, and can thus be used to improve the discoverability of materials held in LAMs.
Layout optimization of structures with distributed self-weight, lumped masses and frictional supports
Authors: Fairclough Helen E. , Gilbert Matthew , Tyas Andrew
Published: January 2022

The well-known ‘ground structure’-based truss layout optimization method has recently been extended to allow accurate modelling of distributed self-weight. By incorporating equally stressed catenaries in the ground structure, non-conservative errors caused by neglecting bending effects within members carrying their own weight are eliminated. However, in cases where the self-weight of a structure has a favourable role in supporting the applied loads, solutions that include convoluted arrangements of overlapping elements may often be generated. To address this, an enhanced layout optimization formulation is proposed that explicitly allows inclusion of favourable unstressed masses, such as counterweights. Frictional supports are also modelled and the cost of abutments and anchorages taken account of in the formulation. The efficacy of the proposed methodology is demonstrated through application to benchmark examples and to the conceptual design of a simplified long-span bridge structure, considering both ground anchored and self-anchored alternatives.
Urbanization Impact on Regional Climate and Extreme Weather: Current Understanding, Uncertainties, and Future Research Directions
Authors: Qian Yun , Chakraborty T. C. , Li Jianfeng , Li Dan , He Cenlin , Sarangi Chandan , Chen Fei , Yang Xuchao , Leung L. Ruby
Published: January 2022

Urban environments lie at the confluence of social, cultural, and economic activities and have unique biophysical characteristics due to continued infrastructure development that generally replaces natural landscapes with built-up structures. The vast majority of studies on urban perturbation of local weather and climate have been centered on the urban heat island (UHI) effect, referring to the higher temperature in cities compared to their natural surroundings. Besides the UHI effect and heat waves, urbanization also impacts atmospheric moisture, wind, boundary layer structure, cloud formation, dispersion of air pollutants, precipitation, and storms. In this review article, we first introduce the datasets and methods used in studying urban areas and their impacts through both observation and modeling and then summarize the scientific insights on the impact of urbanization on various aspects of regional climate and extreme weather based on more than 500 studies. We also highlight the major research gaps and challenges in our understanding of the impacts of urbanization and provide our perspective and recommendations for future research priorities and directions.
A Concise Overview on Solar Resource Assessment and Forecasting
Authors: Yang Dazhi , Wang Wenting , Xia Xiang’ao
Published: January 2022

China’s recently announced directive on tackling climate change, namely, to reach carbon peak by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, has led to an unprecedented nationwide response among the academia and industry. Under such a directive, a rapid increase in the grid penetration rate of solar in the near future can be fully anticipated. Although solar radiation is an atmospheric process, its utilization, as to produce electricity, has hitherto been handled by engineers. In that, it is thought important to bridge the two fields, atmospheric sciences and solar engineering, for the common good of carbon neutrality. In this überreview, all major aspects pertaining to solar resource assessment and forecasting are discussed in brief. Given the size of the topic at hand, instead of presenting technical details, which would be overly lengthy and repetitive, the overarching goal of this review is to comprehensively compile a catalog of some recent, and some not so recent, review papers, so that the interested readers can explore the details on their own.
Statistical evidence that honeybees competitively reduced wild bee abundance in the Munich Botanic Garden in 2020 compared to 2019
Authors: Renner Susanne S. , Fleischmann A.
Published: January 2022

In a commentary on our paper (Renner et al., Oecologia 195:825–831, 2021), Harder and Miksha lay out why they think that our finding of higher honeybee abundances reducing wild bee abundances in an urban botanical garden is not statistically supported. Here, we explain the statistical test provided in our paper, which took advantage of a natural experiment offered by 2019 being a poorer year for bee keeping than 2020.
Randomized controlled trial of robotic-assisted versus conventional laparoscopic fundoplication: 12 years follow-up
Authors: Lang F. , Huber A. , Kowalewski K. F. , Kenngott H. G. , Billmann F. , Billeter A. T. , Fischer L. , Bintintan V. V. , Gutt C. N. , Müller-Stich B. P. , Nickel F.
Published: January 2022

Aims

Numerous reports have addressed the feasibility and safety of robotic-assisted (RALF) and conventional laparoscopic fundoplication (CLF). Long-term follow-up after direct comparison of these two minimally invasive approaches is scarce. The aim of the present study was to assess long-term disease-specific symptoms and quality of life (QOL) in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) treated with RALF or CLF after 12 years in the randomized ROLAF trial.

Methods

In the ROLAF trial 40 patients with GERD were randomized to RALF (n = 20) or CLF (n = 20) between August 2004 and December 2005. At 12 years after surgery, all patients were invited to complete the standardized Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS) and the Quality of Life in Reflux and Dyspepsia questionnaire (QOLRAD). Failure of treatment was assessed according to Lundell score.

Results

The GSRS score was similar for RALF (n = 15) and CLF (n = 15) at 12 years´ follow-up (2.1 ± 0.7 vs. 2.2 ± 1.3,p = 0.740). There was no difference in QOLRAD score (RALF 6.4 ± 1.2; CLF 6.4 ± 1.5,p = 0.656) and the QOLRAD score sub items. Long-term failure of treatment according to the definition by Lundell was not different between RALF and CLF [46% (6/13) vs. 33% (4/12),p = 0.806].

Conclusion

In accordance with previous short-term outcome studies, the long-term results 12 years after surgery showed no difference between RALF and CLF regarding postoperative symptoms, QOL and failure of treatment. Relief of symptoms and patient satisfaction were high after both procedures on the long-term. Registration number: DRKS00014690 (https://www.drks.de).
Stand der mechanischen Löseverfahren im Bergbau
Authors: Sifferlinger Nikolaus A.
Published: January 2022

Während zur Gewinnung großer Tonnagen im Erzbergbau die Sprengtechnik optimal genützt werden kann, ist im Streckenvortrieb untertage die mögliche Vortriebsleistung durch die Notwendigkeit, die giftigen Sprenggase auszuwettern, begrenzt.

Weichere Mineralien wie Kohle, Salz oder Kali lassen sich sehr gut mechanisch gewinnen. Für Reef-Erze mit mittlerer Festigkeit, aber hoher Abrasivität sind mechanische Gewinnungssysteme in Erprobung.

Für den Vortrieb in härteren Gesteinen sind die vorhandenen Teilschnittmaschinen mit Rundschaftmeißeln ungeeignet. Vollschnittmaschinen mit Diskenschneidtechnik sind zwar gut geeignet, aber mit ihren großen Wenderadien und dem kreisrunden Streckenprofil zu unflexibel.

Daher sind derzeit von namhaften Maschinenherstellern Teilschnittmaschinen mit Diskenschneidtechnik in Entwicklung und Erprobung im Streckenvortrieb. Dabei werden tägliche Vortriebsleistungen bis 8 m erreicht, dies entspricht aber erst etwa 50 % der von der Industrie gewünschten Leistung im Hartgestein.

Weitere Forschung und Entwicklung ist daher notwendig. Auch kombinierte mechanische Lösemethoden, bei denen das Gestein im Gefüge vorgeschwächt wird, können einen Lösungsbeitrag liefern.
Clinicopathological and immunological features of pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in the subcutis of a 9-year-old Lolo dog
Authors: Hamed Mohamed F. , Moharam Ibrahim , Zaghloul Adel
Published: January 2022

A 9-year-old female Lolo dog presented with a subcutaneous, large mass protruding from the right-side of her flank region with intact covering skin. Surgical excision of the mass revealed a well demarcated, large firm mass without invading the underlying muscle of the flank. The gross examination revealed a fish-flesh colored, large firm mass, histologically neoplastic cells exhibiting pleomorphism, multinucleated giant cells, and bizarre mitosis. Using immunohistochemical staining, the tumor cell was expressed with vimentin, desmin, and myogenin. Based on histological and immunohistochemical staining, it was confirmed as PRMS. The dog was followed up to 2 years after surgical removal. There was no recurrence, and the dog had normal health. The present case indicated that PRMS had characteristically histological and immunohistochemical features that could be used in differential diagnosis from highly confusing alveolar and embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma in dogs, and it must be included in differential diagnosis of anaplastic sarcoma in adult dogs.
Synthetic vascular grafts as a new treatment option for space-occupying tumor bed cysts
Authors: Schieferdecker Simon , Beez Thomas , Rapp Marion , Hänggi Daniel , Kamp Marcel , Sabel Michael
Published: January 2022

Introduction

Several authors have reported the formation of slit valves as the underlying pathomechanism of space-occupying tumor bed cysts. Iatrogenic slit valves following the resection of high-grade gliomas have been linked to certain risk factors such as intraoperative opening of the ventricles and attempts to seal these. The best therapeutic management of such cystic lesions remains elusive. Several treatment options such as cyst fenestration or cystoperitoneal shunting have been employed but remain associated with high rates of recurrence. With the given complications of the above-described treatment options, the objective was to devise a new therapy option that is safe and effective and treats the slit valve itself rather than its symptoms.

Methods

Between the years of 2010 and 2020, we successfully treated four patients with high-pressure tumor bed cysts following glioma resection by implantation of synthetic ringed vascular grafts into the slit valve.

Results

Postoperatively, the tumor bed cysts were regressive in all patients. Moreover, none of the treatment patients developed any complications associated with the implanted vascular grafts. Revision-free survival was 10, 12, 53, and 126 months, respectively.

Conclusion

The use of synthetic vascular grafts as a means of stenting slit valves is a safe and effective novel treatment option for high-pressure tumor bed cysts.
The management and outcome of hyponatraemia following transsphenoidal surgery: a retrospective observational study
Authors: Hussein Ziad , Tzoulis Ploutarchos , Marcus Hani J. , Grieve Joan , Dorward Neil , Bouloux Pierre Marc , Baldeweg Stephanie E.
Published: January 2022

Purpose

Hyponatraemia is a common complication following transsphenoidal surgery. However, there is sparse data on its optimal management and impact on clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the management and outcome of hyponatraemia following transsphenoidal surgery.

Methods

A prospectively maintained database was searched over a 4-year period between January 2016 and December 2019, to identify all patients undergoing transsphenoidal surgery. A retrospective case-note review was performed to extract data on hyponatraemia management and outcome.

Results

Hyponatraemia occurred in 162 patients (162/670; 24.2%) with a median age of 56 years. Female gender and younger age were associated with hyponatraemia, with mean nadir sodium being 128.6 mmol/L on postoperative day 7. Hyponatraemic patients had longer hospital stay than normonatraemic group with nadir sodium being inversely associated with length of stay (p < 0.001). In patients with serum sodium ≤ 132 mmol/L, syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH) was the commonest cause (80/111; 72%). Among 76 patients treated with fluid restriction as a monotherapy, 25 patients (25/76; 32.9%) did not achieve a rise in sodium after 3 days of treatment. Readmission with hyponatraemia occurred in 11 cases (11/162; 6.8%) at a median interval of 9 days after operation.

Conclusion

Hyponatraemia is a relatively common occurrence following transsphenoidal surgery, is associated with longer hospital stay and risk of readmission and the effectiveness of fluid restriction is limited. These findings highlight the need for further studies to better identify and treat high-risk patients, including the use of arginine vasopressin receptor antagonists.
The emerging role of magnesium in CKD
Authors: Sakaguchi Yusuke
Published: January 2022

Increasing evidence has suggested a clinical relevance of magnesium in the context of vascular calcification and mortality among patients with CKD. Hypomagnesemia is not rare among non-dialysis CKD patients despite their decreased glomerular filtration rates; the prevalence rate was about 15% even in CKD stages G4 and G5. Among several potential causes of hypomagnesemia, tubular dysfunction/interstitial fibrosis may play a pivotal role in the development of hypomagnesemia in CKD, which impairs tubular magnesium reabsorption. Magnesium deficiency may, in turn, be involved in the progression of CKD. An in vitro study has revealed that magnesium deficiency aggravates tubular cell death and inflammation induced by phosphate load. In a cohort study of patients with CKD, low-serum magnesium levels enhanced the risk of end-stage kidney disease related to high-serum phosphate levels, suggesting a close relationship between magnesium deficiency and phosphate toxicity. More importantly, magnesium has a potent capacity to inhibit the calcification of vascular smooth muscle cells induced by phosphate. A randomized trial has shown the efficacy of oral magnesium oxide in retarding the progression of coronary artery calcification among non-dialysis CKD patients. Thus, magnesium might provide better cardiovascular prognosis; indeed, hemodialysis patients with mild hypermagnesemia exhibited the lowest mortality rate. Further randomized trials are needed to assess the impact of magnesium in terms of hard clinical outcomes among CKD patients.
Decision-making under uncertainty: be aware of your priorities
Authors: Samin Huma , Bencomo Nelly , Sawyer Peter
Published: January 2022

Self-adaptive systems (SASs) are increasingly leveraging autonomy in their decision-making to manage uncertainty in their operating environments. A key problem with SASs is ensuring their requirements remain satisfied as they adapt. The trade-off analysis of the non-functional requirements (NFRs) is key to establish balance among them. Further, when performing the trade-offs it is necessary to know the importance of each NFR to be able to resolve conflicts among them. Such trade-off analyses are often built upon optimisation methods, including decision analysis and utility theory. A problem with these techniques is that they use a single-scalar utility value to represent the overall combined priority for all the NFRs. However, this combined scalar priority value may hide information about the impacts of the environmental contexts on the individual NFRs’ priorities, which may change over time. Hence, there is a need for support for runtime, autonomous reasoning about the separate priority values for each NFR, while using the knowledge acquired based on evidence collected. In this paper, we propose Pri-AwaRE, a self-adaptive architecture that makes use of Multi-Reward Partially Observable Markov Decision Process (MR-POMDP) to perform decision-making for SASs while offering awareness of NFRs’ priorities. MR-POMDP is used as a priority-aware runtime specification model to support runtime reasoning and autonomous tuning of the distinct priority values of NFRs using a vector-valued reward function. We also evaluate the usefulness of our Pri-AwaRE approach by applying it to two substantial example applications from the networking and IoT domains.
Requirements document relations
Authors: Großer Katharina , Riediger Volker , Jürjens Jan
Published: January 2022

Relations between requirements are part of nearly every requirements engineering approach. Yet, relations of views, such as requirements documents, are scarcely considered. This is remarkable as requirements documents and their structure are a key factor in requirements reuse, which is still challenging. Explicit formalized relations between documents can help to ensure consistency, improve completeness, and facilitate review activities in general. For example, this is relevant in space engineering, where many challenges related to complex document dependencies occur: 1. Several contractors contribute to a project. 2. Requirements from standards have to be applied in several projects. 3. Requirements from previous phases have to be reused. We exploit the concept of “layered traceability”, explicitly considering documents as views on sets of individual requirements and specific traceability relations on and between all of these representation layers. Different types of relations and their dependencies are investigated with a special focus on requirement reuse through standards and formalized in an Object-Role Modelling (ORM) conceptual model. Automated analyses of requirement graphs based on this model are able to reveal document inconsistencies. We show examples of such queries in Neo4J/Cypher for the EagleEye case study. This work aims to be a step toward a better support to handle highly complex requirement document dependencies in large projects with a special focus on requirements reuse and to enable automated quality checks on dependent documents to facilitate requirements reviews.
Associations of CXCL12 polymorphisms with clinicopathological features in breast cancer: a case-control study
Authors: Lin Shuai , Zheng Yi , Wang Meng , Zhou Linghui , Zhu Yuyao , Deng Yujiao , Wu Ying , Zhang Dai , Li Na , Kang Huafeng , Dai Zhijun
Published: January 2022

Background

Previous studies suggested that CXCL12 was involved in the development, metastasis, and invasion of breast cancer, and genetic variants were associated with the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with breast cancer. The present study was aimed to assess the relationships between CXCL12 polymorphisms (rs1801157, rs2297630, and rs2839693) and susceptibility and clinicopathological features of breast cancer.

Methods

A case-control study was conducted in 434 breast cancer patients and 450 health controls. Student t-test and chi-square test were used to analyze the differences of age distribution and genotype frequencies between the two groups. Correlations between polymorphisms and clinical parameters were also assessed by chi-square test. The potential effects of the three polymorphisms on CXCL12 were investigated by the public database.

Results

A statistical association was found between CXCL12 rs1801157 polymorphism and breast cancer risk, possibility of metastasis, and estrogen receptor status. Patients with rs2839693 C/T or C/T-T/T genotypes were more likely to be progesterone receptor-negative. However, no associations of rs2297630 polymorphism with breast cancer risk or any clinicopathological characteristics were observed. In addition, rs2297630 affected the splicing quantitative trait loci of CXCL12 in the subcutaneous fat, rs2839693 polymorphism affected the splicing quantitative trait loci of CXCL12 in the human breast mammary tissues.

Conclusions

Those results indicated that CXCL12 polymorphisms might be potential diagnostic indicators, and more investigation is needed in the future.
What is Functional Communication? A Theoretical Framework for Real-World Communication Applied to Aphasia Rehabilitation
Authors: Doedens W.J. , Meteyard L.
Published: January 2022

Aphasia is an impairment of language caused by acquired brain damage such as stroke or traumatic brain injury, that affects a person’s ability to communicate effectively. The aim of rehabilitation in aphasia is to improve everyday communication, improving an individual’s ability to function in their day-to-day life. For that reason, a thorough understanding of naturalistic communication and its underlying mechanisms is imperative. The field of aphasiology currently lacks an agreed, comprehensive, theoretically founded definition of communication. Instead, multiple disparate interpretations of functional communication are used. We argue that this makes it nearly impossible to validly and reliably assess a person’s communicative performance, to target this behaviour through therapy, and to measure improvements post-therapy. In this article we propose a structured, theoretical approach to defining the concept of functional communication. We argue for a view of communication as “situated language use”, borrowed from empirical psycholinguistic studies with non-brain damaged adults. This framework defines language use as: (1) interactive, (2) multimodal, and (3) contextual. Existing research on each component of the framework from non-brain damaged adults and people with aphasia is reviewed. The consequences of adopting this approach to assessment and therapy for aphasia rehabilitation are discussed. The aim of this article is to encourage a more systematic, comprehensive approach to the study and treatment of situated language use in aphasia.
Mining patterns of transitional growth using multivariate concept-based models
Authors: Bartak Jakub , Jastrzębska Agnieszka
Published: January 2022

The relationship between income and growth rates has been an elementary problem of research on economic convergence. In the present paper, we study growth-income paths in a new perspective. We assess the similarities of transitional growth trajectories with the use of novel concept-based model. Further, we group economies on the basis of the assessed similarities and we evaluate within-group growth-income relationships. The obtained results point to distinct patterns of development, which help to understand the puzzles of absolute convergence and divergence. Among others, we find evidence of a humped-shaped path of long-run transitional growth. Simultaneously, we identify countries which got stuck in poverty and in the middle-income trap.
What matters in educational performance? Evidence from OECD and non-OECD countries
Authors: Barra Cristian , Boccia Marinella
Published: January 2022

The aim of this paper is to investigate the determinants of school performance measured by the average value of students’ test scores at the school level. PISA data (2000–2012) are used to explore this relationship. A multivariate regression and a quantile and multilevel regression are employed in order to perform the analysis considering both the total sample and grouping for OECD countries and non-OECD countries. The results show that, considering the entire sample and only the OECD countries, school performance is positively driven by student fees, the presence of girls, and computers; the mother’s education also plays an important role, while the father’s education is notable only at a high level and negative otherwise. The results are robust to a battery of robustness checks.
Geoengineering characteristics modeling of Eocene limestone beds of the upper plateau of Mokattam area, Egypt using GIS techniques
Authors: Elgohary Ahmed , Saad Ahmed M. , Sakr Mohamed A. H. , Omar Ali E.
Published: January 2022

This research paper is concerned with studying and evaluating the geoengineering characteristics and potential risks of the area under study with a view to safe urban expansion using GIS techniques. Different geotechnical laboratory tests such Atterberg limits, free swelling test, swell potential and pressure tests, chemical analysis, unconfined compressive strength (UCS) and rock quality designation (RQD) were performed on 28 boreholes (95 samples). Furthermore, X-ray diffraction was used to examine clay minerals. The results indicate that the UCS values range from 47 to 72.2 kg/cm2 and RQD from 21 to 45%. The free swell ratio ranges from 110 to 120%, and the plasticity index from 34 to 37%. In addition, GIS techniques have been utilized to produce the distribution layers of different geotechnical characteristics, then integrated to produce a geospatial urban model for delineating and defining safe and dangerous urban zones. This model is classified into four classes: low, moderate, high and very high hazard. Low and moderate hazards were detected in the major portion of the survey area. These portions are suitable for foundations at shallow depths. However, high to very high hazards were detected in the southeast portion of the study area. The reason for these areas is caused by the existence of heavily fractured limestone and highly swelling clay layers. This model would aid in the creation and discovery of the best areas of shallow base in the region under consideration.
On a conjecture of Gustafsson and Lin concerning Laplacian growth
Authors: Gardiner Stephen J. , Sjödin Tomas
Published: January 2022

Gustafsson and Lin recently published a significant result concerning Laplacian growth problems that start from a simply connected planar domain. However, the validity of their result depends on the verification of a particular conjecture. This paper provides the missing proof.
The rising of old foes: impact of lockdown periods on “non-SARS-CoV-2” viral respiratory and gastrointestinal infections
Authors: Maison Nicole , Peck Ana , Illi Sabina , Meyer-Buehn Melanie , von Mutius Erika , Hübner Johannes , von Both Ulrich
Published: January 2022

Background

During COVID-19-related public health non-pharmaceutical prevention measures, such as social distancing, lockdown periods and use of face masks, a decrease in viral respiratory and gastroenterological infections was observed worldwide. Following discontinuation of preventative measures, a potential increase of respective infections outside of their usual seasons was a matter of concern.

Method

We aimed to illustrate annual distribution of confirmed viral infections between 2017 and 2021 based on 32,506 clinical samples in a German pediatric tertiary care center and to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the epidemiology of these infections in children.

Results

While a decrease in overall viral infections was observed during the first and second lockdown period, an extraordinary increase in the number of viral respiratory infections, predominantly caused by human Rhino-/Enterovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), was observed after relaxation of preventive measures. Notably, Rhino-/Enterovirus infections increased 4-fold (2020 vs. 2019) and 16-fold (2021 vs. 2019). The occurrence of RSV was observed beginning from June to August 2021 and reached an all-time record with a 25- to 50-fold increase in numbers in September and October 2021 in relation to previous pre-pandemic years (2017–2019). In contrast, for non-respiratory viruses (i.e. Rota-/Norovirus), the effect on respective seasonal patterns was only minimal compared to previous years.

Conclusion

The observed increase in respiratory infections in children is worrying and is already causing hospitals to become overburdened. Enhanced vigilance will be key to face clinical challenges due to these epidemiological changes in viral disease patterns in the months to come.
Decision-making methods based on fuzzy soft competition hypergraphs
Authors: Akram Muhammad , Shahzadi Sundas , Rasool Areen , Sarwar Musavarah
Published: January 2022

Fuzzy soft set theory is an effective framework that is utilized to determine the uncertainty and plays a major role to identify vague objects in a parametric manner. The existing methods to discuss the competitive relations among objects have some limitations due to the existence of different types of uncertainties in a single mathematical structure. In this research article, we define a novel framework of fuzzy soft hypergraphs that export the qualities of fuzzy soft sets to hypergraphs. The effectiveness of competition methods is enhanced with the novel notion of fuzzy soft competition hypergraphs. We study certain types of fuzzy soft competition hypergraphs to illustrate different relations in a directed fuzzy soft network using the concepts of height, depth, union, and intersection simultaneously. We introduce the notions of fuzzy soft k-competition hypergraphs and fuzzy soft neighborhood hypergraphs. We design certain algorithms to compute the strength of competition in fuzzy soft directed graphs that reduce the calculation complexity of existing fuzzy-based non-parameterized models. We analyze the significance of our proposed theory with a decision-making problem. Finally, we present graphical, numerical, as well as theoretical comparison analysis with existing methods that endorse the applicability and advantages of our proposed approach.
Ethical Realism
Authors: FitzPatrick William J.
Published: January 2022

This Element examines the many facets of ethical realism and the issues at stake in metaethical debates about it—both between realism and non-realist alternatives, and between different versions of realism itself. Starting with a minimal core characterization of ethical realism focused on claims about meaning and truth, we go on to develop a narrower and more theoretically useful conception by adding further claims about objectivity and ontological commitment. Yet even this common understanding of ethical realism captures a surprisingly heterogeneous range of views. In fact, a strong case can be made for adding several more conditions in order to arrive at a proper paradigm of realism about ethics when understood in a non-deflationary way. We then develop this more robust realism, bringing out its distinctive take on ethical objectivity and normative authority, its unique ontological commitments, and both the support for it and some challenges it faces.
Money Laundering and Asset Recovery in Paraguay
Authors: Fernández Zacur José Miguel
Published: January 2022

Money laundering repression and asset recovery are tools that share a very relevant preventive–general role. Both measures in Criminal Law seek to inhibit the monetary stimulus to commit offenses. The former does so by hampering the flow of earnings from illicit sources, and the latter by confiscating the earnings from their beneficiaries. These interlinked goals prove to be most useful from a criminal policy standpoint in the fight against organized crime since they are oriented to the economic disabling of their agents, blockading their financial movement and depriving them of the profits thus generated. This article explains the status of Paraguayan law and its application on these issues.
Juvenile Justice System, Reforms and Policing System in India: Origin, Dialectics, Comparisons, and Way Forward
Authors: Sharma Suhail
Published: January 2022

This article studies the juvenile justice system in juxtaposition to policing in India. To start with, it conducts a comprehensive data analysis of juvenile crimes in India in the last two decades. The author conducted a study involving 400 juveniles in conflict with the law through “Disha,” a project in juvenile re-entry systems. It further marshals the incidences based on social parameters like education, age, and family. Here, the paper impresses upon the “heinousness factor” of the crimes to evaluate the law and institutional response. The article examines the growth of the legal framework on juvenile justice in India and the causal determinants which may have driven its increase. It also scrutinizes the policing systems as far as the legal framework on juvenile justice makes them responsible. It delves deeply into the interactions between juvenile justice and police systems at the institutional and procedural levels. It conducts a detailed inquiry into the international legal framework of juvenile justice systems. Here, it studies such systems in the Americas, Europe, and Asia to suggest the way forward for a transparent, robust and sensitive juvenile justice system in India.
Individual Vessels, Individual Burials? New Evidence on Early Neolithic Funerary Practices on the Iberian Peninsula's Western Façade
Authors: Cardoso João Luís , Carvalho António Faustino , Rebelo Paulo , Neto Nuno , Simões Carlos Duarte
Published: January 2022

Early Neolithic funerary practices and the meaning of complete ceramic vessels found isolated are poorly researched topics in western Iberia. However, recent archaeological salvage excavations at Armazéns Sommer and Palácio Ludovice in Lisbon have revealed individual burial pits of male individuals laid in a foetal position and directly associated with necked vessels. These discoveries suggest that finds of isolated vessels, known since the beginning of the twentieth century in Portugal and usually found fortuitously apparently without archaeological context, may also have originally belonged to similar burials, unnoticed by their finders. This hypothesis opens new perspectives for the interpretation of such finds, which are inventoried in the present article.
Swimming dynamics of a self-propelled droplet
Authors: Li Gaojin
Published: January 2022

Chemically active droplets often show intriguing self-propulsion behaviour in a surfactant solution. The drop motion is controlled by the nonlinear coupling among chemical transport in the bulk fluid, consumption of surfactant at the drop surface, and the fluid flow driven by the self-generated Marangoni stress. To quantify the underlying hydrodynamics, this work investigates the swimming motion of a two-dimensional drop that is determined by two dimensionless parameters, the Péclet number ($Pe$) and Damköhler number ($Da$). The weakly nonlinear analysis shows that near the instability threshold, the drop undergoes a supercritical bifurcation with velocity $U\sim \sqrt {Pe-Pe_c}$, where $Pe_c$ is the critical Péclet number for the onset of dipole mode. In the highly nonlinear regime, the drop transits from steady translation of pusher swimming to unsteady motion of mixed pusher–puller swimming along zigzaging trajectories of quadrangle and/or triangle waves. Mode decomposition shows that the zigzag motion is directly related to the interaction between the secondary wake of low surfactant concentration and the primary wake.
Iterative estimation of mixed exponential random graph models with nodal random effects
Authors: Kevork S. , Kauermann G.
Published: January 2022

The presence of unobserved node-specific heterogeneity in exponential random graph models (ERGM) is a general concern, both with respect to model validity as well as estimation instability. We, therefore, include node-specific random effects in the ERGM that account for unobserved heterogeneity in the network. This leads to a mixed model with parametric as well as random coefficients, labelled as mixed ERGM. Estimation is carried out by iterating between approximate pseudolikelihood estimation for the random effects and maximum likelihood estimation for the remaining parameters in the model. This approach provides a stable algorithm, which allows to fit nodal heterogeneity effects even for large scale networks. We also propose model selection based on the Akaike Information Criterion to check for node-specific heterogeneity.
Variational inference as an alternative to MCMC for parameter estimation and model selection
Authors: Gunapati Geetakrishnasai , Jain Anirudh , Srijith P. K. , Desai Shantanu
Published: January 2022

Most applications of Bayesian Inference for parameter estimation and model selection in astrophysics involve the use of Monte Carlo techniques such as Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) and nested sampling. However, these techniques are time-consuming and their convergence to the posterior could be difficult to determine. In this study, we advocate variational inference as an alternative to solve the above problems, and demonstrate its usefulness for parameter estimation and model selection in astrophysics. Variational inference converts the inference problem into an optimisation problem by approximating the posterior from a known family of distributions and using Kullback–Leibler divergence to characterise the difference. It takes advantage of fast optimisation techniques, which make it ideal to deal with large datasets and makes it trivial to parallelise on a multicore platform. We also derive a new approximate evidence estimation based on variational posterior, and importance sampling technique called posterior-weighted importance sampling for the calculation of evidence, which is useful to perform Bayesian model selection. As a proof of principle, we apply variational inference to five different problems in astrophysics, where Monte Carlo techniques were previously used. These include assessment of significance of annual modulation in the COSINE-100 dark matter experiment, measuring exoplanet orbital parameters from radial velocity data, tests of periodicities in measurements of Newton’s constantG, assessing the significance of a turnover in the spectral lag data of GRB 160625B, and estimating the mass of a galaxy cluster using weak gravitational lensing. We find that variational inference is much faster than MCMC and nested sampling techniques for most of these problems while providing competitive results. All our analysis codes have been made publicly available.