bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Pharmaceutical workers’ perceptions of physical activity and healthy eating: a qualitative study
Authors: Gradidge Philippe Jean-Luc , Draper Catherine E. , Casteleijn Daleen , Palmeira António
Published: September 2021

Objective

The public health message ‘move for health’ is relevant given the high prevalence of insufficient physical activity, particularly in African countries. The call for behaviour modification including limiting unhealthy dietary patterns in these settings is therefore critical; however, there is limited knowledge on the adoption of health promotion strategies in the workplace. This study aimed to investigate workers’ perceptions of physical activity and healthy eating.

Results

Five focus groups were conducted with 28 participants employed in a South African pharmaceutical manufacturing company to explore perceptions of physical activity and healthy eating. Results showed that two categories emerged: physical activity and unhealthy behaviours. Participants recognised the importance of obtaining sufficient physical activity in various domains, however believed that contemporary lifestyle limited opportunities for movement. Likewise, participants viewed healthy eating as unrealistic due to financial constraints. There was however agreement that total physical activity time could be increased during recreational pursuits outside of vocational time and may include intermittent walking for travel. These findings are important for workplace interventions and provide a more robust understanding of workers’ perceptions of physical activity and healthy eating.
Ratio between Lactobacillus plantarum and Acetobacter pomorum on the surface of Drosophila melanogaster adult flies depends on cuticle melanisation
Authors: Mokeev Vladislav , Flaven-Pouchon Justin , Wang Yiwen , Gehring Nicole , Moussian Bernard
Published: September 2021

Objectives

As in most organisms, the surface of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is associated with bacteria. To examine whether this association depends on cuticle quality, we isolated and quantified surface bacteria in normal and melanized flies applying a new and simple protocol.

Results

On wild flies maintained in the laboratory, we identified two persistently culturable species as Lactobacillus plantarum and Acetobacter pomorum by 16S rDNA sequencing. For quantification, we showered single flies for DNA extraction avoiding the rectum to prevent contamination from the gut. In quantitative PCR analyses, we determined the relative abundance of these two species in surface wash samples. On average, we found 17-times more A. pomorum than L. plantarum. To tentatively study the importance of the cuticle for the interaction of the surface with these bacteria, applying Crispr/Cas9 gene editing in the initial wild flies, we generated flies mutant for the ebony gene needed for cuticle melanisation and determined the L. plantarum to A. pomorum ratio on these flies. We found that the ratio between the two bacterial species reversed on ebony flies. We hypothesize that the cuticle chemistry is crucial for surface bacteria composition. This finding may inspire future studies on cuticle-microbiome interactions.
Exercise-induced anaphylaxis unrelated to food ingestion and with hyperleukotrieneuria during challenge testing
Authors: Motomura Chikako , Ide Koji , Shimoda Terufumi , Odajima Hiroshi
Published: September 2021

Background

Exercise-induced anaphylaxis (EIA) is a rare and potentially life-threatening disorder that can develop independently without food ingestion. Cold drinks can also trigger symptoms in some patients with cold-induced anaphylaxis. We present a case of a patient with EIA that was diagnosed on the basis of positive exercise loading test with hyperleukotrieneuria.

Case presentation

A 12-year-old girl presented with acute flushing, cyanosis, swollen eyelids, and dyspnea after an endurance run in winter or swimming in a cold-water pool. She also developed dyspnea after having a cold drink. She had no history of food allergies, atopy, or asthma. No association was noted between anaphylaxis and food intake in her history. On the first day, she ingested 200 mL of 5 °C cold water in 30 s, which did not trigger symptomatic responses, but her urinary leukotriene E4 (LTE4) level increased (pre-challenge test: 295 pg/mg-creatinine (cr), post-challenge test: 400 pg/mg-cr). On the second day, she underwent the exercise loading test according to the Bruce protocol by using an ergometer to increase the power of exercise every 2 min. She had been fasting for > 15 h and did not have breakfast. Just after the exercise loading test, the plasma adrenaline and noradrenaline increased. At 15 min after the exercise loading test, her plasma adrenaline and histamine (pre-challenge test: 0.7 ng/mL, 15 min post-challenge test: 81 ng/mL) rose sharply with anaphylaxis symptoms accompanied by increasing urinary LTE4 (pre-challenge test: 579 pg/mg-cr, post-challenge test: 846 pg/mg-cr). After she was discharged, she was restricted from strenuous exercise especially in cold environments and prescribed an adrenaline autoinjector.

Conclusion

Cold stimulation can become a co-effector of EIA. Measurements of urinary LTE4 levels during challenge testing are useful for diagnosing EIA and capture the pre-anaphylaxis stage.
Interstitial lung disease occurring shortly after tocilizumab infusion in a patient with polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a case report
Authors: Sugihara Koichi , Wakiya Risa , Shimada Hiromi , Kato Mikiya , Kameda Tomohiro , Nakashima Shusaku , Mansour Mai Mahmoud Fahmy , Ushio Yusuke , Kadowaki Norimitsu , Dobashi Hiroaki
Published: September 2021

Background

Tocilizumab has been shown to be effective for treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of interstitial lung disease occurring shortly after tocilizumab infusion in a patient with JIA.

Case presentation

A 14-year-old female patient with polyarticular JIA developed interstitial lung disease after intravenous and subcutaneous administration of tocilizumab. Her condition improved with glucocorticoid therapy.

Conclusion

Our results suggest that increased interleukin-6 levels in the blood following tocilizumab treatment may be linked to development of interstitial lung disease.
Radial solutions for fully nonlinear elliptic equations of Monge–Ampère type
Authors: Dai Limei , Cheng Huihui , Li Hongfei
Published: September 2021

First, the symmetry of classical solutions to the Monge–Ampère-type equations is obtained by the moving plane method. Then, the existence and nonexistence of radial solutions in a ball are got from the symmetry results. Finally, the existence and nonexistence of classical solutions to Hessian equations in bounded domains are considered.
Temperament-based treatment for young adults with eating disorders: acceptability and initial efficacy of an intensive, multi-family, parent-involved treatment
Authors: Knatz Peck Stephanie , Towne Terra , Wierenga Christina E. , Hill Laura , Eisler Ivan , Brown Tiffany , Han Emily , Miller McKenzie , Perry Taylor , Kaye Walter
Published: September 2021

Background

Adult eating disorder treatments are hampered by lack of access and limited efficacy. This open-trial study evaluated the acceptability and preliminary efficacy of a novel intervention for adults with eating disorders delivered to young adults and parent-supports in an intensive, multi-family format (Young Adult Temperament-Based Treatment with Supports; YA-TBT-S).

Methods

38 YA-TBT-S participants (m age = 19.58; SD 2.13) with anorexia nervosa (AN)-spectrum disorders, bulimia nervosa (BN)-spectrum disorders, and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) completed self-report assessments at admission, discharge, and 12-month follow-up. Assessments measured program satisfaction, eating disorder psychopathology and impairment, body mass index (BMI), and trait anxiety. Outcomes were analyzed using linear mixed effects models to examine changes in outcome variables over time.

Results

Treatment was rated as highly satisfactory. 53.33% were in partial or full remission at 12-month follow-up. 56% of participants received other treatment within the 12-month follow-up period, suggesting that YA-TBT-S may be an adjunctive treatment. Participants reported reductions in ED symptomatology (AN and BN), increases in BMI (AN and ARFID), and reductions in clinical impairment (AN and ARFID) at 12-month follow-up.

Conclusions

YA-TBT-S is a feasible and acceptable adjunctive treatment for young adults with a broad range of ED diagnoses and may be a method for involving parents in ED treatment in ways that are acceptable to both parents and YA. Further evaluation of efficacy is needed in larger samples, and to compare YA-TBT-S to other ED treatment approaches.

Plain English summary Eating disorders are costly and dangerous psychiatric disorders that affect millions of individuals each year. Despite their risks and societal costs, currently available treatments are limited. This study examined the acceptability and efficacy of Young Adult, Temperament-Based Treatment with Supports (YA-TBT-S), a new treatment program for adults with eating disorders. YA-TBT-S was rated highly, and a significant portion of participants improved based on ratings collected 12 months after program participation. Those with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) showed significant reductions in eating disorder pathology, and those with AN and avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) showed increases in BMI over time.
Remote patient monitoring and classifying using the internet of things platform combined with cloud computing
Authors: Iranpak Somayeh , Shahbahrami Asadollah , Shakeri Hassan
Published: September 2021

Many researchers have recently considered patients’ health and provided an optimal and appropriate solution. With the advent of technologies such as cloud computing, Internet of Things and 5G, information can be exchanged faster and more securely. The Internet of things (IoT) offers many opportunities in the field of e-health. This technology can improve health services and lead to various innovations in this regard. Using cloud computing and IoT in this process can significantly improve the monitoring of patients. Therefore, it is important to provide a useful method in the medical industry and computer science to monitor the status of patients using connected sensors. Thus, due to its optimal efficiency, speed, and accuracy of data processing and classification, the use of cloud computing to process the data collected from remote patient sensors and IoT platform has been suggested. In this paper, a prioritization system is used to prioritize sensitive information in IoT, and in cloud computing, LSTM deep neural network is applied to classify and monitor patients’ condition remotely, which can be considered as an important innovative aspect of this paper. Sensor data in the IoT platform is sent to the cloud with the help of the 5th generation Internet. The core of cloud computing uses the LSTM (long short-term memory) deep neural network algorithm. By simulating the proposed method and comparing the obtained results with other methods, it is observed that the accuracy of the proposed method is 97.13%, which has been improved by 10.41% in average over the other methods.
Engineering practices as a framework for STEM education: a proposal based on epistemic nuances
Authors: Simarro Cristina , Couso Digna
Published: September 2021

The role of engineering education has gained prominence within the context of STEM education. New educational perspectives such as the National Research Council’s Framework for K-12 Science Education consider engineering practices one of the central pillars of a sound STEM education. While this idea of developing a set of practices analogous to those of professional engineering resonates with recent views of STEM education research, current approaches such as the NRC’s Framework seem too dependent on and interlinked with the list for scientific practices and adheres to this list too strictly. This paper draws on the NRC’s Framework proposing a new set of engineering practices that seek to incorporate the epistemic nuances that differentiate engineering from science. The nine engineering practices proposed contain epistemological nuances that are missing in other proposals, including essential aspects such as problem scoping, identifying multiple solutions, selecting, testing and improving solutions and materializing solutions. This epistemic approach may facilitate students’ content learning and thinking development, offering a more comprehensive and realistic view of the STEM fields.
A novel mice model of acute flares in osteoarthritis elicited by intra-articular injection of cultured mast cells
Authors: Dan Junpei , Izumi Masashi , Habuchi Hiroko , Habuchi Osami , Takaya Shogo , Kasai Yusuke , Hayashi Ryuzo , Aso Koji , Ushida Takahiro , Ikeuchi Masahiko
Published: September 2021

Purpose

Mast cells are multifunctional in osteoarthritis (OA), and infiltration of activated mast cells likely contributes to disease severity and progression. However, the detailed mechanisms of action are unclear. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the role of mast cell infiltration in OA at histological level using a new mice model and to investigate pharmacological inhibitory effects of existing mast cell stabilizers in this model.

Methods

Mice were injected intra-articularly with monosodium iodoacetate (MIA 0.5 mg) or PBS on day 0, and PBS, with or without mast cells (MC: 1 × 106 cells) on day 14. They were divided into four groups: OA flare (MIA + MC), OA (MIA + PBS), MC non-OA (PBS + MC), and PBS non-OA (PBS + PBS). In OA flare, the MC stabilizer drug (tranilast: 400 mg/kg/day) or PBS was administered intraperitoneally from days 15 to 21.

Results

Histologically, modified Mankin score of the OA flare was significantly higher than that of OA (7.0 [1.8] vs. 3.3 [1.3], P < 0.05), and a larger number of mast cells was observed in OA flare than in OA (34.5 [6.3]/mm2 vs. 27.2 [2.3]/mm2, P < 0.05) on day 22. OA flare also showed acute exacerbation of pain and increased gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and aggrecanase compared with OA. Administration of tranilast to OA flare-up provoked significant improvements in term of histological changes, pain, and gene expression at day 22.

Conclusion

Our novel model possibly mimics OA flare conditions, which may open a new strategy of disease-modifying treatment for OA, focused on controlling the multiple functions of mast cells.
Spontaneous common bile duct perforation due to choledocolithiasis accompanied with pancreaticobiliary maljunction in an adult: a case report
Authors: Sakamoto Risa , Kai Kengo , Hiyoshi Masahide , Imamura Naoya , Yano Koichi , Hamada Takeomi , Nishida Takahiro , Kawano Fumiaki , Sakurahara Daichi , Uchise Yukako , Yamamoto Koji , Kataoka Hiroaki , Nanashima Atsushi
Published: September 2021

Background

Spontaneous common bile duct (CBD) perforation is an extremely rare disease in adults. We report an adult case of CBD perforation due to choledocolithiasis accompanied with pancreaticobiliary maljunction, which is, to our knowledge, the first such case report based on a search using PubMed.

Case presentation

A 71-year-old woman with consciousness disorder was transported to the emergency department of another hospital. She was diagnosed as having severe peritonitis with septic shock and transferred to our hospital for emergency surgery. Enhanced computed tomography (CT) revealed supraduodenal CBD dilation similar to a diverticulum and a defect of bile duct wall continuity. Furthermore, CT showed a long common channel of the pancreaticobiliary duct, so she was diagnosed as having spontaneous CBD perforation with pancreaticobiliary maljunction. Emergency surgery was performed that revealed a necrotic diverticulum-like change on the supraduodenal part, and a 2.5 × 1 cm perforation was found on the anterolateral wall of the CBD. Peritoneal lavage was performed, and CBD perforation was resolved with a T-tube. The patient suffered refractory intra-abdominal and retroperitoneal abscess formation and bleeding from the abdominal wall, which required a long period of postoperative management. The T-tube was removed on day 136, and the patient was transferred on day 153.

Conclusion

The cause of CBD perforation is commonly considered to be increased intraductal pressure or weakness of the bile duct wall. In this case, pancreaticobiliary maljunction may have significantly influenced onset and the postoperative course. This case suggests that early surgical intervention and appropriate drainage are important to ensure survival.
Statistical Inference in Economics in the 1920s and 1930s
Authors: Biddle Jeff
Published: September 2021

Statistical inference is the process of drawing conclusions from samples of statistical data about things not fully described or recorded in those samples. During the 1920s, economists in the United States articulated a general approach to statistical inference that downplayed the value of the inferential measures derived from probability theory that later came to be central to the idea of statistical inference in economics. This approach is illustrated by the practices of economists of the Bureau of Economic Analysis of the US Department of Agriculture, who regularly analyzed statistical samples to forecast supplies of various agricultural products. Forecasting represents an interesting case for studying the development of inferential methods, as analysts receive regular feedback on the effectiveness of their inferences when forecasts are compared with actual events.
The Case against “Indirect” Statistical Inference
Authors: Akhabbar Amanar
Published: September 2021

How to infer from uncontrolled data the numerical values of the parameters of an econometric model? In interwar econometrics, this problem of statistical induction was tackled in various ways. Wassily Leontief’s inter-industry method offers a case study of a nonprobabilistic approach to this problem of the statistical determination of a model’s parameters. Leontief was an outspoken critic of the probabilistic approach to econometrics and presented his interindustry device as an alternative. Focusing on his book published in 1941, The Structure of American Economy, 1929–1929, which gathered a decade of works since 1932, I show how it offered an original answer to the inferential problem of the parameters’ statistical determination. Between what Jan Tinbergen called, in the same period, the “historical method,” based on regression techniques applied to time series, and the “structural method,” relying on direct measures from cross-sectional data and controlled experiments, Leontief engaged in the latter in an ambitious project of “expansion of the field of direct observation.” This laid the statistical foundations of what he called the “direct induction” approach to empirical modeling.
The Battlefield as Enlightened Space: War, the Senses, and the Emotional Soldier, ca. 1790–1840
Authors: Morecroft Eleanor
Published: September 2021

The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars produced a new generation of military authors and artists who recounted their wartime experiences with unprecedented vividness and immediacy. Exploring the intense conflict and suffering of men at war while also underscoring their virtue and heroism, this work typifies what has come to be known as “military Enlightenment.” This essay examines a selection of military texts and images that represent soldiers’ sensory and emotional experience of the wartime spaces of battlefield and bivouac: the anonymous Journal Kept in the British Army (1796), L. T. Jones's Historical Journal of the British Campaign on the Continent (1797), the work of the army officer and historian William Napier (1785–1860), and the Waterloo images of the army officer and painter George “Waterloo” Jones (1786–1869) presented the wider British public with a complex understanding of war. Even as they represented battlefield violence and death with visceral intensity, they understood battlefield space itself to be grounded in affective practices associated with enlightened modes of virtue, sensibility, and civility. There the chaos and horror of conflict gave way to duty, order, civility, and community, and the distinctions of rank were maintained, even as the common humanity of officers and their men was affirmed.
MOrgAna: accessible quantitative analysis of organoids with machine learning
Authors: Gritti Nicola , Lim Jia Le , Anlaş Kerim , Pandya Mallica , Aalderink Germaine , Martínez-Ara Guillermo , Trivedi Vikas
Published: September 2021

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the application of organoids to developmental biology, biomedical and translational studies. Organoids are large structures with high phenotypic complexity and are imaged on a wide range of platforms, from simple benchtop stereoscopes to high-content confocal-based imaging systems. The large volumes of images, resulting from hundreds of organoids cultured at once, are becoming increasingly difficult to inspect and interpret. Hence, there is a pressing demand for a coding-free, intuitive and scalable solution that analyses such image data in an automated yet rapid manner. Here, we present MOrgAna, a Python-based software that implements machine learning to segment images, quantify and visualize morphological and fluorescence information of organoids across hundreds of images, each with one object, within minutes. Although the MOrgAna interface is developed for users with little to no programming experience, its modular structure makes it a customizable package for advanced users. We showcase the versatility of MOrgAna on several in vitro systems, each imaged with a different microscope, thus demonstrating the wide applicability of the software to diverse organoid types and biomedical studies.
Integrative transcriptomic profiling of a mouse model of hypertension-accelerated diabetic kidney disease
Authors: Sembach Frederikke E. , Ægidius Helene M. , Fink Lisbeth N. , Secher Thomas , Aarup Annemarie , Jelsing Jacob , Vrang Niels , Feldt-Rasmussen Bo , Rigbolt Kristoffer T. G. , Nielsen Jens C. , Østergaard Mette V.
Published: September 2021

The current understanding of molecular mechanisms driving diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is limited, partly due to the complex structure of the kidney. To identify genes and signalling pathways involved in the progression of DKD, we compared kidney cortical versus glomerular transcriptome profiles in uninephrectomized (UNx) db/db mouse models of early-stage (UNx only) and advanced [UNxplus adeno-associated virus-mediated renin-1 overexpression (UNx-Renin)] DKD using RNAseq. Compared to normoglycemic db/m mice, db/db UNx and db/db UNx-Renin mice showed marked changes in their kidney cortical and glomerular gene expression profiles. UNx-Renin mice displayed more marked perturbations in gene components associated with the activation of the immune system and enhanced extracellular matrix remodelling, supporting histological hallmarks of progressive DKD in this model. Single-nucleus RNAseq enabled the linking of transcriptome profiles to specific kidney cell types. In conclusion, integration of RNAseq at the cortical, glomerular and single-nucleus level provides an enhanced resolution of molecular signalling pathways associated with disease progression in preclinical models of DKD, and may thus be advantageous for identifying novel therapeutic targets in DKD.
Photoperiod is involved in the regulation of seasonal breeding in male water voles (Arvicola terrestris)
Authors: Poissenot Kevin , Chorfa Areski , Moussu Chantal , Trouillet Anne-Charlotte , Brachet Morgane , Chesneau Didier , Chemineau Philippe , Ramadier Etienne , Pinot Adrien , Benoit Etienne , Lattard Virginie , Dardente Hugues , Drevet Joël , Saez Fabrice , Keller Matthieu
Published: September 2021

Mammals living at temperate latitudes typically display annual cyclicity in their reproductive activity: births are synchronized when environmental conditions are most favorable. In a majority of these species, day length is the main proximate factor used to anticipate seasonal changes and to adapt physiology. The brain integrates this photoperiodic signal through key hypothalamic structures, which regulate the reproductive axis. In this context, our study aimed to characterize regulations that occur along the hypothalamo–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axis in male fossorial water voles (Arvicola terrestris, also known as Arvicola amphibius) throughout the year and to further probe the implication of photoperiod in these seasonal regulations. Our monthly field monitoring showed dramatic seasonal changes in the morphology and activity of reproductive organs, as well as in the androgen-dependent lateral scent glands. Moreover, our data uncovered seasonal variations at the hypothalamic level. During the breeding season, kisspeptin expression in the arcuate nucleus (ARC) decreases, while RFRP3 expression in the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus (DMH) increases. Our follow-up laboratory study revealed activation of the reproductive axis and confirmed a decrease in kisspeptin expression in males exposed to a long photoperiod (summer condition) compared with those maintained under a short photoperiod (winter condition) that retain all features reminiscent of sexual inhibition. Altogether, our study characterizes neuroendocrine and anatomical markers of seasonal reproductive rhythmicity in male water voles and further suggests that these seasonal changes are strongly impacted by photoperiod.
Determination of a cone-beam CT low-dose protocol for root fracture diagnosis in non-endodontically treated anterior maxillary teeth
Authors: Andraws Yalda Fedil , Theodorakou Chrysoula , Clarkson Rosalyn J , Davies Jonathan , Feinberg Lee , Sengupta Anita , Horner Keith
Published: September 2021

Objectives:

The aim of this study was to determine a “low-dose protocol” which provides acceptable diagnostic accuracy for detection of root fractures in unrestored anterior maxillary teeth, using an ex vivo model.

Methods:

48 maxillary anterior teeth, half with horizontal or oblique root fractures, were imaged using CBCT in an anthropomorphic model. Nine X-ray exposure combinations were used, including the manufacturer’s standard (“reference”) exposure and high-resolution settings (“HiRes”), by varying kV, exposure time, and rotation angle. Measurements of Dose Area Product (DAP) were recorded. Five dental radiologists assessed the scans for root fractures and judged image quality. Parameters of diagnostic accuracy were calculated, including area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (Az). Objective measures of image quality were made at the same exposure combinations using an image quality phantom.

Results:

Although there was a significant linear relationship between DAP and mean Az, only the lowest DAP exposure combination had a mean Az significantly different to the reference exposure. There was no significant effect on other diagnostic accuracy parameters when using HiRes compared with the reference exposure. There was a significant positive relationship between DAP and contrast resolution. HiRes did not significantly improve contrast resolution and made a small improvement to spatial resolution.

Conclusions:

Scope existed for radiation dose reduction compared with the manufacturer’s guidance. There was no improvement in diagnostic accuracy using HiRes settings. A cautious recommendation for this CBCT machine is that it is possible to achieve a dose reduction of about 20% compared with the reference exposure parameters.
Scanning mutagenesis of RNA-binding protein ProQ reveals a quality control role for the Lon protease
Authors: El Mouali Youssef , Ponath Falk , Scharrer Vinzent , Wenner Nicolas , Hinton Jay C.D. , Vogel Jörg
Published: September 2021

The FinO-domain protein ProQ belongs to a widespread family of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) involved in gene regulation in bacterial chromosomes and mobile elements. While the cellular RNA targets of ProQ have been established in diverse bacteria, the functionally crucial ProQ residues remain to be identified under physiological conditions. Following our discovery that ProQ deficiency alleviates growth suppression ofSalmonellawith succinate as the sole carbon source, an experimental evolution approach was devised to exploit this phenotype. By coupling mutational scanning with loss-of-function selection, we identified multiple ProQ residues in both the amino-terminal FinO domain and the variable carboxy-terminal region that are required for ProQ activity. Two carboxy-terminal mutations abrogated ProQ function and mildly impaired binding of a model RNA target. In contrast, several mutations in the FinO domain rendered ProQ both functionally inactive and unable to interact with target RNA in vivo. Alteration of the FinO domain stimulated the rapid turnover of ProQ by Lon-mediated proteolysis, suggesting a quality control mechanism that prevents the accumulation of nonfunctional ProQ molecules. We extend this observation to Hfq, the other major sRNA chaperone of enteric bacteria. The Hfq Y55A mutant protein, defective in RNA-binding and oligomerization, proved to be labile and susceptible to degradation by Lon. Taken together, our findings connect the major AAA+ family protease Lon with RNA-dependent quality control of Hfq and ProQ, the two major sRNA chaperones of Gram-negative bacteria.
Two new species of Arisemus (Diptera: Psychodidae) from the Northeast Atlantic Forest, Brazil
Authors: Vilarinho Naiara , Araújo Maíra Xavier , Bravo Freddy , Dos Santos Claudiney Biral
Published: September 2021

Arisemus atlanticus Vilarinho, Araújo, Bravo & dos Santos sp. nov. and Arisemus benignoi Vilarinho, Araújo & Bravo sp. nov. are described from the Central Corridor of the Atlantic Forest. Currently, thirty-three species of the genus has been described from the Neotropical Region and only one from Brazil.
Generative Teams: Going Beyond High Performance
Authors: Caballero Fernando
Published: September 2021

Al cambiar nuestra atención de un enfoque tradicional centrado en el desempeño individual al de reconocer y apreciar la entidad única del equipo, el ‘nosotros’, aumentamos nuestra capacidad para descubrir y aprovechar su inherente inteligencia, fortalezas y todo su potencial generativo. Para lograr este cambio, el presente artículo propone utilizar como agente catalizador la integración de una mirada sistémica del equipo con un estado mental generativo y el seguimiento continuo del impacto de esta integración por medio de un modelo bidimensional que desarrolle su productividad y positividad. By shifting our attention from a traditional focus on individual performance to recognising and appreciating the unique entity of the team – the ‘we’ – we increase our ability to discover and harness its inherent intelligence, strengths and all of its generative potential. In order to achieve this shift, this article proposes using as a catalyst the integration of a systemic view of the team with a generative state of mind, and the continued monitoring of the impact of this integration through a two-dimensional model that enhances the team’s productivity and positivity.
The Appreciative Dance: Questions and Dialogues to Embrace Change
Authors: Al-Madi Mohanad A. H.
Published: September 2021

En un entorno altamente cambiante, los líderes enfrentan el reto de ayudar a sus equipos a abrazar los planes de cambio para seguir siendo competitivos. El propósito del artículo es ayudar a los equipos enfrentar este reto a través de preguntas y diálogos que les permitan encontrar sentido y les motiven a cambiar juntos, utilizando sus fortalezas, para lograr un propósito compartido. In a highly changeable environment, leaders face the challenge of helping their teams embrace plans for change in order to remain competitive. The aim of this article is to help teams meet this challenge by asking questions and engaging in dialogues that enable them to find meaning and to motivate them to change together, using their strengths to achieve shared goals.
Is Equality Always Desirable? Analyzing the Trade-Off Between Fairness and Attractiveness in Crew Rostering
Authors: Breugem Thomas , Dollevoet Twan , Huisman Dennis
Published: September 2021

Millions of employees around the world work in irregular rosters. The quality of these rosters is of utmost importance. High-quality rosters should be attractive on an individual level, but also divide the work fairly over the employees. We develop novel methodology to compute the trade-off between fairness and attractiveness in crew rostering. First, we propose an intuitive fairness scheme for crew rostering and analyze its theoretical performance. To do so, we introduce the approximate resource-allocation problem. This extension of the resource-allocation problem provides a framework for analyzing decision making in contexts where one relies on approximations of the utility functions. Fairness is a typical example of such a context due to its inherently subjective nature. We show that the scheme has “optimal” properties for a large class of approximate utility functions. Furthermore, we provide a tight bound on the utility loss for this scheme. We then present a unified approach to crew rostering. This approach integrates our proposed fairness scheme with a novel mathematical formulation for crew rostering. We call the resulting problem the Fairness-Oriented Crew Rostering Problem and develop a dedicated exact Branch-Price-and-Cut solution method. We conclude by applying our solution approach to practical instances from Netherlands Railways, the largest passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. Our computational results confirm the importance of taking the fairness–attractiveness trade-off into account.

This paper was accepted by Yinyu Ye, optimization.
Reduced Graphene Oxide-sno2-Polyaniline Ternary Composite for High-Performance Supercapacitors
Authors: Jayaweera Vimukthi , Liyanage W.L.N.C. , Silva R.C.L. De , Rosa S.R.D. , Kottegoda Iresha R. M.
Published: September 2021

A novel symmetric supercapacitor electrode material, rGO-SnO2-polyaniline nanocomposite,was synthesized using graphite oxide, SnCl2.2H2O, and pure Aniline as precursors in a scalable and straightforward one-pot process. Analysis revealed that the rGO-SnO2-polyaniline composite had been successfully synthesized. When the two-electrode supercapacitor was assembled using 1M H2SO4, it showed an outstanding specific gravimetric capacitance of 524.2 F/g at a 5 mV/s scan rate. To the best of our knowledge, such a higher value for a two-electrode specific capacitance for a supercapacitor was never reported.Furthermore, even at a high current density of 1 A/g, the material disclosed an outstanding charge-discharge characteristic. Thus, the rGO-SnO2-polyaniline nanocomposite couldalso be used as an electrode for commercial supercapacitors.
Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMFC) Durability Factors, Challenges, and Future Perspectives: A Detailed Review
Authors: Habib Md Shehan , Arefin Paroma , Salam Md Abdus , Ahmed Kawsar , Uddin Md Sahab , Hossain Tareq , Papri Nasrin , Islam Tauhidul
Published: September 2021

Hydrogen fuel cell technology is now being researched extensively globally to provide a stable renewable energy source in the future. New research is aiding in improving performance, endurance, cost-efficiency, and the elimination of fuel cell limitations. Throughout the development process, the many aspects impacting the features, efficiency, durability, and cost of a fuel cell must be examined in a specific method. This review study looked at the impact of several variables on hydrogen fuel cell durability (HFC). In every sphere of fuel cell application, long-term operation is a must to make this electrochemical cell work. The major durability-enhancing aspects of a fuel cell include temperature, catalytic decay, contaminants, thermal energy and water maintenance, and fuel cell component design.
Integrated random projection and dimensionality reduction by propagating light in photonic lattices
Authors: Miri Mohammad-Ali
Published: September 2021

It is proposed that the propagation of light in disordered photonic lattices can be harnessed as a random projection that preserves distances between a set of projected vectors. This mapping is enabled by the complex evolution matrix of a photonic lattice with diagonal disorder, which turns out to be a random complex Gaussian matrix. Thus, by collecting the output light from a random subset of the waveguide channels, one can perform an embedding from a higher- to a lower-dimensional space that respects the Johnson–Lindenstrauss lemma and nearly preserves the Euclidean distances. The distance-preserving random projection through photonic lattices requires intermediate disorder levels that allow diffusive propagation of light. The proposed scheme can be utilized as a simple and powerful integrated dimension reduction stage that can greatly reduce the burden of a subsequent neural computation stage.
Orthogonalizing the control of frequency combs for optical clockworks
Authors: Bourbeau Hébert Nicolas , Scholten Sarah K. , Hilton Ashby P. , Offer Rachel F. , Perrella Christopher , Luiten Andre N.
Published: September 2021

Frequency combs play a crucial supporting role for optical clocks by allowing coherent frequency division of their output signals into the electronic domain. This task requires stabilization of the comb’s offset frequency and of an optical comb mode to the clock laser. However, the two actuators used to control these quantities often influence both degrees of freedom simultaneously. This non-orthogonality leads to artificial limits to the control bandwidth and unwanted noise in the comb. Here, we orthogonalize the two feedback loops with a linear combination of the measured signals in a field-programmable gate array. We demonstrate this idea using a fiber frequency comb stabilized to a clock laser at 259 THz, half the frequency of the

1

S

0

→

3

P

0

Yb transition. The decrease in coupling between the loops reduces the comb’s optical phase noise by 20 dB. This approach could improve the performance of any comb stabilized to any optical frequency standard.
Dynamic mitigation of nonlinear effects in a silicon photonic add-drop filter
Authors: Petrini Matteo , Milanizadeh Maziyar , Morichetti Francesco , Melloni Andrea
Published: September 2021

Nonlinear effects limit the maximum amount of optical power that can be handled by silicon photonic integrated circuits (PICs). This limitation is particularly tight in resonant devices such as microring resonator (MRR) filters, suffering from a power-dependent resonance spread due to intracavity power enhancement. In this Letter, we present an automatic control system that can dynamically mitigate the nonlinear spectral distortion of silicon MRR filters by thermally controlling each MRR. The benefit of the proposed scheme is demonstrated on the spectral response of a polarization-transparent coupled-MRR filter operating on a 200 Gbit/s signal. The proposed technique, which does not require a priori information on the PIC topology and functionality, is scalable to more complex architectures and can be employed to compensate for generic nonlinear effects in different photonic platforms.
Polarization-based intensity correlation of a depolarized speckle pattern
Authors: Roy Abhijit , Brundavanam Maruthi M.
Published: September 2021

A different kind of intensity correlation, denoted as polarization-based intensity correlation (PBIC), is proposed and demonstrated to investigate the correlation between different polarizations of a depolarized speckle pattern (DSP), which has non-uniform spatial polarization distribution. It is shown both theoretically and experimentally that the range of the PBIC for any polarization of the DSP depends on the spatial average intensity of the speckles corresponding to that particular polarization. The experimentally determined nature of the change of the range of the PBIC for different polarization components, due to the variation in the average intensity, is found to be matching well with the theoretical prediction. The existence of non-zero correlation between two orthogonally polarized speckle patterns, filtered from a partially DSP, is also observed. This study may be useful in exploiting the PBIC for different applications such as speckle cryptography.
Enhanced photonic spin Hall effect via singularity induced by destructive interference
Authors: Chen Zhihao , Lin Shuai , Hong Jiahao , Sheng Lijuan , Chen Yu , Zhou Xinxing
Published: September 2021

In this work, we report a simple and effective method for enhancing the photonic spin Hall effect (SHE) via singularity induced by destructive interference in an ultrathin uniaxial slab. Deriving from anisotropy, the incident angles corresponding to destructive interference for

p

- and

s

-polarized waves will be deviated, leading to an enhancement peak in transverse spin shift. Interestingly, by adjusting the thickness of slab, the destructive interference and the Brewster effect can act together. At this point, the photonic SHE exhibits great singularity, and the maximum transverse spin shift can approach about three times more than that of the Brewster effect acting alone. This Letter reveals the influence of the interference effect on photonic SHE in layered media and provides a simple way to achieve enhanced photonic SHE.
Active magnetic dipole emission by the Ge2Sb2Te5 nanodisk
Authors: Zhou Mimi , Deng Xiong , Fan Menghui , Yang Qin , Zhang Yao , Zhou Chaobiao , Liu Jiangtao
Published: September 2021

Active light manipulation plays a critical role in nanophotonics. In this Letter, we investigate the modulation properties of magnetic dipole (MD) emission based on the phase change material

G

e

2

S

b

2

T

e

5

hollow nanodisk (GST-HND). The results show that the amorphous GST-HND supports a strong MD response with a radiative decay enhancement of 282 times and quantum efficiency of 100%. More importantly, by tuning the crystallization rate of GST, the active manipulation of MD radiation is achieved with a quantum efficiency modulation depth of up to 95% at a specific wavelength. Our work may provide significant instruction for the active tuning of optical nanodevices.
Enhanced light extraction of the deep-ultraviolet micro-LED via rational design of chip sidewall
Authors: Tian Meng , Yu Huabin , Memon Muhammad Hunain , Xing Zhanyong , Huang Chen , Jia Hongfeng , Zhang Haochen , Wang Danhao , Fang Shi , Sun Haiding
Published: September 2021

In this Letter, we perform a comprehensive investigation on the optical characterization of micro-sized deep-ultraviolet (DUV) LEDs (micro-LEDs) emitting below 280 nm, highlighting the light extraction behavior in relation to the design of chip sidewall angle. We found that the micro-LEDs with a smaller inclined chip sidewall angle (

∼

33

∘

) have improved external quantum efficiency (EQE) performance 19% more than that of the micro-LEDs with a larger angle (

∼

75

∘

). Most importantly, the EQE improvement by adopting an inclined sidewall can be more outstanding as the diameter of the LED chip reduces from 40 to 20 

μ

m

. The enhanced EQE of the micro-LEDs with smaller inclined chip sidewall angles can be attributed to the stronger reflection of the inclined sidewall, leading to enhanced light extraction efficiency (LEE). In the end, the numerical optical modeling further reveals and verifies the impact of the sidewall angles on the LEE of the micro-LEDs, corroborating our experiment results. This Letter provides a fundamental understanding of the light extraction behavior with optimized chip geometry to design and fabricate highly efficient micro-LEDs in a DUV spectrum of the future.
Community engagement in the prevention and control of COVID-19: Insights from Vietnam
Authors: Ha Bui Thi Thu , Ngoc Quang La , Quoc Thanh Pham , Duc Duong Minh , Mirzoev Tolib , Bui Thi My Anh
Published: September 2021

Introduction

Community engagement (CE) is an effective public health strategy for improving health outcomes. There is limited published knowledge about effective approaches to CE in ensuring effective responses to COVID-19 throughout lockdowns, travel restrictions and social distancing. In this paper, we contribute to bridging this gap by highlighting experience of CE in Vietnam, specifically focusing on migrant workers in Vietnam.

Methods

A cross-sectional qualitative study design was used with qualitative data collection was carried out during August-October 2020. Two districts were purposefully selected from two large industrial zones. Data was collected using in-depth interviews (n = 36) with individuals and households, migrants and owners of dormitories, industrial zone factory representatives, community representatives and health authorities. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis approach. The study received ethics approval from the Hanoi University Institutional Review Board.

Results

The government’s response to COVID-19 was spearheaded by the multi-sectoral National Steering Committee for the Prevention and Control of COVID-19, chaired by the Vice Prime Minister and comprised different members from 23 ministries. This structure was replicated throughout the province and local levels and all public and private organizations. Different activities were carried out by local communities, following four key principles of infection control: early detection, isolation, quarantine and hospitalization. We found three key determinants of engagement of migrant workers with COVID-19 prevention and control: availability of resources, appropriate capacity strengthening, transparent and continuous communication and a sense of trust in government legitimacy.

Discussion and conclusion

Our results support the current literature on CE in infection control which highlights the importance of context and suggests that future CE should consider five key components: multi-sectoral collaboration with a whole-of-community approach to strengthen governance structures with context-specific partnerships; mobilization of resources and decentralization of decision making to encourage self-reliance and building of local capacity; capacity building through training and supervision to local institutions; transparent and clear communication of health risks and sensitization of local communities to improve compliance and foster trust in the government measures; and understanding the urgent needs ensuring of social security and engaging all parts of the community, specifically the vulnerable groups.