bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Revealing the Tomato Endophyte Bacteria Communities Under Long-term Organic and Conventional Agricultural Practice System
Authors: Zhang Zeyu , Zhan Yabin , Zhang Zengqiang , Liu Youzhou , Xu Ting , Wei Yuquan , Li Ji
Published: April 2021

Purpose: Microorganisms associated with the plant can contribute to plant health. Discrepancy both soil microbial structure and physicochemical properties observed in the organic and conventional agricultural systems. However, very little is known about the diversity of endophytic bacterial communities in plants grown in separate manipulation systems. The goal of this work was to get a broader overview of the diversity and dynamics of the tomato endophytic bacteria in the different agricultural practice systems.Methods: The structure of tomato endophyte bacterial communities under different growing stage (seeding stage, flowering stage, fruiting stage and harvesting stage), agricultural manipulation practices (organic and conventional systems) and organ-type (root or stem) were explored by using 16S rRNA gene profiling in this study.Results: A total of 2,014,992 16S rRNA gene sequences were obtained. These sequences revealed large-scale functional taxonomy units (OTUs). That is, there are 648 different OTUs in libraries, and 96 OTUs are common. Tomato endophyte bacteria consisted mainly of four phyllum, of which Proteobacteria was the most represented, followed by Firmcutes, Bacteroides, Actinobacteria, Gamma proteobacteria, the most abundant class are proteobacteria, bacteriobacteria, and so on. Proteobacteria are low. Enterobacteriaceae, Vecella, Bacillus, Mesorizobium and Chrysobacterium were shared by all plant development stage. Rich endophytic bacterial diversity was observed at the seedling stage（TI）, and endophytic bacterial diversity at the flowering stage （T2）and fruiting stage （T4）was low. Significant difference in endophytic bacterial communities emerged from roots and different host biographical stages, and tomato exerts greater influence on endophyte bacteria compared to organ type (main) agricultural manipulation methods.Conclusions: Tomato endophyte microbiota have a distinct structure in different plant development stage. Bacillus.spp were enriched seeding stage (TI) and decreased in the fruiting stage while Mesorhizobium.spp increased during in the fruiting stage(T4). Tomato have distinct endosphere microbiota by comparing beta diversity of microbiota in all crop season, compared with the manipulation resume and organ niche. And a strong correlation was observed between the structure of the microbiota in the whole dataset and soil chemistry which indicated that the soil type and treatment affected the endosphere microbiota of tomato. Organ niche exert more influence on the tomato microbiota compared with agricultural treatments between organic-farming and conventional farming.
Associations between glucose metabolism disorders and prognosis in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure
Authors: Hu Han , Hu Xinxin , Tian Caiyun , Zhu Yanping , Liu Yujuan , Cheng Qijiao , Yang Fangwan , Liu Jun , Li Ying , De Lin Shi
Published: April 2021

Background/Purpose Associations between glucose metabolism disorders and prognosis in patients with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) remain unclear. This study was conducted to investigate the clinical characteristics of glucose metabolism disorders and their associations with 90-day mortality in patients with ACLF. Methods Ninety-six patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related ACLF without pre-existing diabetes were retrospectively included. Glucose metabolism disorders were diagnosed based on fasting plasma glucose and oral glucose tolerance test results on admission and during follow-up. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards analysis was used to identify independent risk factors for death within 90 days after admission. Results Among 96 patients with ACLF, 51 (53.1%) had diabetes, 29 (30.2%) had impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and 17 (17.7%) had hypoglycemia. Patients with diabetes had significantly lower levels of homeostasis model assessment 2-β-cell function than did patients with normal glucose tolerance. Of 22 patients with diabetes or IGT and without antihyperglycemic treatment, 8 (36.4%) exhibited regression of their glucose metabolism disorders after a follow-up of 32.8 ± 28.8 days, and higher platelet levels were associated with regression. Twenty-five patients (25.0%) with ACLF died of liver failure within 90 days. Diabetes (odds ratio [OR] = 3.601, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.342–9.661) and age (OR = 1.045, 95% CI: 1.010–1.082) were the independent risk factors associated with mortality. Conclusions Impaired pancreatic β-cell function is related to diabetes development, and diabetes is associated with high mortality in patients with chronic HBV-related ACLF.
Fibromyalgia-Associated Hyperalgesia and Psychopathological Alterations are Unrelated to Gut Microbiome Diversity
Authors: Weber Thomas , Tatzl Eva , Kashofer Karl , Holter Magdalena , Trajanoski Slave , Berghold Andrea , Heinemann Akos , Holzer Peter , Herbert Michael Karl
Published: April 2021

Fibromyalgia-syndrome (FMS) is a complex disease characterized by chronic widespread pain and additional symptoms including depression, cognitive dysfunction (“fibro-fog”) and maldigestion. We examined whether FMS-related pain parameters assessed by quantitative sensory testing (QST) are related to changes of microbial diversity.We recruited 25 patients with FMS and 26 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Medical background, food habits, psychopathology and quality of life were assessed with questionnaires. Stool samples were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene amplification and sequencing. QST was performed according to the protocol of the German Network for Neuropathic Pain.QST showed that both lemniscal and spinothalamic afferent pathways are altered in FMS patients relative to healthy controls and that peripheral as well as central pain sensitization processes are manifest. Psychometric assessment revealed enhanced scores of depression, anxiety and stress. In contrast, neither the composition nor the alpha- and beta-diversity of the fecal microbiome was changed in FMS patients.FMS patients segregate from healthy controls in various parameters of QST and psychopathology, but not in terms of composition and diversity of the fecal microbiome. Despite consideration of several confounding factors we conclude that the impact of the gut microbiome on the pathophysiology of FMS is limited.
Optimized Soft Frame Design of Traditional Printing and Dyeing Process in Xiangxi Based on Pattern Mining and Edge-Driven Scene Understanding
Authors: Xiao Hong
Published: April 2021

Traditional folk crafts are handicrafts and corresponding activities created by Chinese working people in all ages to meet their material and spiritual needs by using various material materials and handicrafts. It reflects the general characteristics of Arts and crafts, but also shows the distinctive personality of national culture. The folk printing and dyeing process of Miao Nationality in Xiangxi and Southeast Guizhou has this characteristic, which once brought a lot of convenience to people's life and became an important part of people's life at that time. However, under the impact of economic globalization, the diversity of human culture and the intangible cultural heritage of all ethnic groups are facing serious challenges. With the development of economy, the traditional manual printing and dyeing technology is gradually replaced by modern printing and dyeing technology, and its position in textile printing and dyeing is greatly reduced. However, it can not be ignored that the manual printing and dyeing process is still full of vitality, which is welcomed and loved by the public in the optimization design of fashion textiles. Traditional art carries a lot of spiritual things in its material form, so it has high aesthetic value, cultural value and profound spiritual connotation. Therefore, the optimization design of traditional printing and dyeing process framework in Xiangxi is worth studying. In this paper, using big data pattern mining algorithm and scene understanding algorithm, a framework optimization system of traditional printing and dyeing process in Xiangxi is constructed.
Anxiety and Depression in School-age Patients With Spinal Muscular Atrophy: a Cross-sectional Study
Authors: Yao Mei , Xia Yu , Feng Yijie , Ma Ying , Hong Yi , Zhang Yanyi , Chen Jie , Yuan Changzheng , Mao Shanshan
Published: April 2021

Background: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare neurogenetic disease which involves multisystem dysfunctions such as respiratory, digestive, and motor disorders. Anxiety, depression and other psychological disorders often accompany severe chronic physical diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of anxiety and depression along with their influencing factors among school-age patients with SMA.Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study on school-age SMA patients in China. Patients aged 8–18 years with a genetic diagnosis of 5qSMA were invited to answer a questionnaire composed of sociodemographic and clinical questions, then to complete the Screen for Child Anxiety-Related Emotional Disorders and Depression Self-Rating Scale for depression and anxiety level evaluation. At the end of the questionnaire, further questions assessed the subjective anxiety and subjective depression of patients’ caregivers and their expectations for their child’s future. Results: Complete data were available for 155 patients. The sample included 45.8% boys and 54.2% girls; 65.2% were type II, 27.1% were type III, and the remainder were type I SMA. Rates of anxiety and depression in these school-age SMA patients were 40.0% and 25.2%, respectively. Gender, age, and disease type were not associated with anxiety or depression, but respiratory system dysfunction, digestive system dysfunction, skeletal deformity, rehabilitation exercise, academic delay, specialized support from school, household income level, caregivers’ subjective anxiety, and caregivers’ expectations were significantly related to both anxiety and depression. Conclusions: There was a high prevalence of anxiety and depression in school-age SMA patients in China. Professional psychological care maybe included in the standard of care. These results also call for possible targets for intervention such as reducing complications, improving drug accessibility, retaining normal schooling, strengthening school support, and enhancing the ability of the caregivers of SMA patients to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of the disease, so improving the mental health of SMA patients.
Nonholonomic Dynamics of the Twistcar Vehicle: Asymptotic Analysis and Hybrid Dynamics of Frictional Skidding
Authors: Or Yizhar , Halvani Oriel
Published: April 2021

The Twistcar vehicle is a classic example of a nonholonomic dynamical system. The vehicle model consists of two rigid links connected by an actuated rotary joint and supported by wheeled axles, where nonholonomic constraints are assumed to impose no skidding of the wheels. Recent experimental measurements conducted with a robotic Twistcar prototype have shown disagreements with previous theoretical analyses. In particular, significant skidding has been observed, in addition to discrepancies with respect to theoretical predictions of divergence in oscillations of the vehicle’s speed and orientation, as well as direction reversal depending on the vehicle’s structure.

The goal of our research is to resolve this disagreement by generalizing the theoretical analysis. First, we extend previous asymptotic analysis by incorporating the effects of links’ inertia and oscillation amplitude of the input angle on the direction of net motion. Next, we formulate the vehicle’s hybrid dynamics under frictional bounds and skid-state transitions. Using numerical analysis, we obtain optimal values for the vehicle’s mean speed and energetic cost-of-transport as a function of the input frequency. Our results improve the agreement between theory and experiments and suggest directions for further experimental investigation.
Prediction of H3K27M-mutant Brainstem Glioma by Amide Proton Transfer Weighted Imaging and Its Derived Radiomics
Authors: Zhuo Zhizheng , Qu Liying , Zhang Peng , Duan Yunyun , Cheng Dan , Xu Xiaolu , Sun Ting , Ding Jinli , Xie Cong , Liu Xing , Haller Sven , Barkhof Frederik , Zhang Liwei , Liu Yaou
Published: April 2021

Purpose H3K27M-mutant associated brainstem glioma (BSG) carries a very poor prognosis. We aimed to predict H3K27M mutation status by amide proton transfer weighted (APTw) imaging and radiomic features. Methods Eighty-one BSG patients with APTw imaging at 3T MRI and known H3K27M status were retrospectively studied. APTw values (mean, median and max) and radiomic features within manually delineated 3D tumor masks were extracted. Comparison of APTw measures between H3K27M-mutant and wildtype groups was conducted by two-sample Student’s T/Mann-Whitney U test and receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis. H3K27M-mutant prediction using APTw-derived radiomics was conducted using a machine-learning algorithm in randomly selected train (n=64) and test (n=17) sets. Sensitivity analysis with additional random splits of train and test sets, 2D tumor masks and other classifiers were conducted. Finally, a prospective cohort including 29 BSG patients was acquired for validation of the radiomics algorithm. Results BSG patients with H3K27M-mutant were younger and had higher max APTw values than those with wildtype. APTw-derived radiomic measures reflecting tumor heterogeneity could predict H3K27M mutation status with an accuracy of 0.88, sensitivity of 0.92 and specificity of 0.80 in the test set. Sensitivity analysis confirmed the predictive ability (accuracy range: 0.71-0.94). In the independent prospective validation cohort, the algorithm reached an accuracy of 0.86, sensitivity of 0.88 and specificity of 0.85 for predicting H3K27M-mutation status. Conclusion BSG patients with H3K27M-mutant had higher max APTw values than those with wildtype. APTw-derived radiomics could accurately predict a H3K27M-mutant status in BSG patients.
Identification of Key Biomarkers Associated with Survival and Prognosis in Colon Adenocarcinoma
Authors: Zhou Yanjie , Jiang Lu , Lin Jiang , Tang Wendong , Jiang Wenqian , Wang Ke
Published: April 2021

Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) has a high rate of relapse and recurrence that result in poor prognosis and unsatisfactory outcomes. Colon adenocarcinoma (COAD) is the most prevalent type of CRC. It is crucial to identify novel molecular biomarkers for the early diagnosis, prognosis evaluation and disease monitoring of COAD.Methods: Three gene expression profile data were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus(GEO), and the differential expression genes(DEGs) were identified by GEO2R. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were conducted by WebGestalt online tool. String database and Cytoscape software were used for protein–protein interaction (PPI) network construction and module analysis. The top 20 Hub Genes were screened from the PPI network using MCC algorithm on CytoHubba app of Cytoscape software, and were verified by ONCOMINE database then. The core genes affecting CRC prognosis were screened by GEPIA2 survival analysis web tool. Finally, the expression level and clinical indicators including core genes was analyzed by TCGA-COAD dataset.Results: In total, 413 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified, and the GO and KEGG enrichment analyses of DEGs were processed. After, the protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed and 20 hub genes were identified. Furthermore, three core genes were selected via survival analysis . Finally, the diagnostic and prognostic value of these core genes was verified by clinical analysis of TCGA-COAD dataset.Conclusion: SPP1, GRP and GNGT1 were all over-expressed in COAD, and may be regarded as novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for COAD.
Nurses’ perceptions of factors influencing treatment engagement among patients with cardiovascular diseases: A systematic review
Authors: Rashidi Amineh , Whitehead Lisa , Kaistha Prachi
Published: April 2021

Background
Patient engagement in treatment plans is important in the management of cardiovascular disease. Nurses are key to the success of patient engagement, yet we know little about nurses’ perceptions on treatment engagement and how they can contribute to treatment engagement. Qualitative evidence to identify factors that influence treatment engagement among patients with CVD from nurse’s perspective is limited.
Methods
This systematic review of qualitative research was based on the PRISMA reporting guidelines. The Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Checklist was used to assess quality by two reviewers independently. Data were collected from Medline, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsychINFO, Embase- Non-Medline, Scopus, and the Cochrane Library, were systematically searched from 2001 to 2020. The search strategy included keywords and MeSH terms to identify relevant studies written in English.
Results
Eight articles were included in the review. Four key themes were synthesised from the findings: nurses need training and up to date information, providing support for patients, patient motivation to engage with treatment plans and perceived lack of time.
Conclusion
Nurses described the importance of training to help them support patients to engage as effectively as possible and their role in providing social and psychological support. They also described the importance of patient motivation to engage in a treatment and plan and sustain engagement and time.
Iron deficiency induced changes in Fe homeostasis and 14-3-3 interactomics of Arabidopsis thaliana
Authors: Gao Jing , Kleeff Paula J. M. , Li Ka Wan , Boer Albertus H.
Published: April 2021

Members of 14-3-3 protein family are involved in the proper operation of Fe acquisition mechanisms at physiological and gene expression levels in Arabidopsis thaliana. To more directly and effectively observe whether members of 14-3-3 non-epsilon group have a function in Fe-deficiency adaptation, three higher order quadruple KOs, kappa/lambda/phi/chi (klpc), kappa/lambda/upsilon/nu(klun), and upsilon/nu/phi/chi (unpc) were generated and applied for physiological analysis in this study. The mutant plants that combine kl with un (klun) or kl with pc (klpc) mutations showed a better Fe uptake than Wt plants at low medium Fe, while this phenotype was absent in unpc mutant. The higher Fe uptake by klun correlated with a higher Fe-deficiency induced expression of selected Fe-related genes. The dynamics of 14-3-3-client interactions analysis showed that a subset of 27 proteins differentially interacted with 14-3-3 in roots caused by Fe deficiency. Many of these Fe responsive proteins have a role in glycolysis and TCA cycle, the FoF1-synthase and in the cysteine/methionine synthesis. Also, the 14-3-3 interactome of the klun roots showed significant differences with that of Wt roots under Fe sufficient conditions, where most of these differential binding proteins showed enhanced binding in the klun mutant. Nevertheless, a clear explanation for the observed phenotypes awaits a more detailed analysis of the functional aspects of 14-3-3 binding to the target proteins identified in this study.
On Whether Therapeutic Plasma Exchange is Effective Against Severe/Critical COVID-19 Pneumonia
Authors: Cegolon Luca , Einollahi Behzad , Imanizadeh Sina , Rezapour Mohammad , Javanbakht Mohammad , Nikpouraghdam Mohammad , Abolghasemi Hassan , Mastrangelo Giuseppe
Published: April 2021

Background. There is a risk of novel mutations of SARS-CoV-2 that may render COVID-19 resistant to most of the therapies, including antiviral drugs. The evidence around the application of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) for the management of critically ill COVID-19 patients is still provisional and further investigations are needed to confirm its eventual beneficial effects. Methods. We therefore carried out a single-centered retrospective observational non-placebo-controlled trial enrolling 73 inpatients from Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran (Iran) with diagnosis of COVID-19 pneumonia confirmed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on nasopharyngeal swabs and high-resolution computerized tomography chest scan. These patients were broken down into two groups: Group 1 (30 patients) receiving standard of care (corticosteroids, ceftriaxone, azithromycin, pantoprazole, hydroxychloroquine, lopinavir/ritonavir); and Group 2 (43 patients) receiving the above regimen plus TPE (replacing 2 liter of patients’ plasma by a solution, 50% of normal plasma and 50% of albumin at 5%) administered according to various time schedules. The follow-up time was 30 days and all-cause mortality was the endpoint. Results. Deaths were 6 (14%) in Group 2 and 14 (47%) in Group 1. However, different harmful risk factors prevailed among patients not receiving TPE rather than being equally split between the intervention and control group. We used an algorithm of Structural Equation Modeling (of STATA) to summarize a large pool of potential confounders into a single score (called with the descriptive name “severity”). Disease severity was significantly (Wilkinson rank sum test p-value=0.0000) lower among COVID-19 patients undergoing TPE (median: -2.82; range: -5.18; 7.96) as compared to those non receiving TPE (median: -1.35; range: -3.89; 8.84), confirming that treatment assignment involved a selection bias of patients according to the severity of COVID-19 at hospital admission. The adjustment for confounding was carried out using severity as covariate in Cox regression models. The univariate Hazard Ratio (HR) of 0.68 (95%CI: 0.26; 1.80; p=0.441) for TPE turned to 1.19 (95%CI: 0.43; 3.29; p=0.741) after adjusting for severity. Conclusions. The lower mortality observed among patients receiving TPE was due to a lower severity of COVID-19 rather than TPE effects. TRIAL REGISTRATIONIRCT registration number: IRCT20080901001165N58 (Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials)Registration date: 2020-05-27, 1399/03/07 (retrospectively registered)
Frailty Assessed by Administrative Tools and Mortality in Patients With Pneumonia Admitted to the Hospital and ICU: a Population-based Data-linkage Study
Authors: Szakmany Tamas , Hollinghurst Joe , Pugh Richard , Akbari Ashley , Griffiths Rowena , Bailey Rowena , Lyons Ronan A
Published: April 2021

Background: The ideal method of identifying frailty is uncertain, and data on long-term outcomes is relatively limited. We examined frailty indices derived from population-scale linked data on Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and hospitalised non-ICU patients with pneumonia to elucidate the influence of frailty on mortality.Methods: Longitudinal cohort study between 2010-2018 using population-scale anonymised data linkage of healthcare records for adults admitted to hospital with pneumonia in Wales. Primary outcome was in-patient mortality. Age, hospital frailty risk score (HFRS), electronic frailty index (eFI), Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), and social deprivation index were entered in the multivariate regression models.Results: Of the 107,188 patients, mean (SD) age was 72.6 (16.6) years, 50% were men. The two frailty indices and the comorbidity index had an increased risk of mortality for individuals with an ICU admission. Advancing age, increased frailty and comorbidity affected short- and long-term mortality. For predicting inpatient deaths, the CCI and HFRS based models were similar, however for longer term outcomes the CCI based model was superior. Discussion: Frailty and comorbidity are significant risk factors for patients admitted to hospital with pneumonia. Frailty and comorbidity scores based on administrative data have only moderate ability to predict outcome.
An Efficient Agent Based Offloading Decision Maker For Mobile Cloud Computing
Authors: MANUKUMAR SHANTHI THANGAM , Muthuswamy Vijayalakshmi , H Bushra
Published: April 2021

The usages of mobile devices are drastically increasing every day with high end support to the users. The high end configurations mobile devices such as smart phones, laptops, tablets, etc., computations are complex in these devices. Computation intensive and data intensive are plays a vital role in the mobile devices. The main challenges in the mobile devices are handling the mobile applications in the devices with high computation and high storage. The above mentioned challenges can be overcome by using mobile cloud computing. The limitations while handling the mobile cloud computing is offloading decision making, which part of computation should offload and which should execute in the mobile side. The proposed work provides the solution to the limitations and challenges mentioned earlier by providing agent based offloading decision maker for mobile cloud. The decision maker should decide which computation part is executed in the mobile side and the cloud side. The evaluation shows the mobile applications having high complexity get benefited over other high applications. The proposed system achieves the better response time, low latency, cost-effective and minimizes the energy consumed by data-intensive and computational-intensive mobile applications.
Analytics for Supply Chain Optimisation
Authors: Uttarwar Harshvardhan
Published: April 2021

Supply Chain analytics has gained greater significance this decade aiding in efficiency and responsiveness of a supply chain leading to a competitive advantage in almost every industry. Small scale industries and organisations are either unaware or reluctant to apply analytics and digitise their supply chain for multiple reasons. This paper is an effort to demonstrate the effect of supply chain analytics on a company and its current constraints. A detailed description of diverse analytics to aid in the surge of productivity at XYZ plant is presented. An underlying objective of this research was to impact all three aspects – strategy, design and execution of the supply chain to boost profits and optimise the system in consideration.
Comparative Study of Solar PV System Performance under Partial Shaded Condition Utilizing Different Control Approaches
Authors: Al-wesabi Ibrahim , Zhijian Fang , Shafik M.B , Al-Muthanna Galal , Shah M. A. K. Yousaf
Published: April 2021

The solar system characteristics are affected due to few obscure terms, causing a reduction of photovoltaic system's power output. Also, partial shaded conditions (PSCs) lead to several peaks on photovoltaic (PV) curves, which decrease conventional techniques' efficiency Also, in these (PSCs), standard equations might not be implemented entirely. Therefore, this study aims, first to modify and re-establish the mathematical model of PV array under (PSCs). Second, heuristic algorithms (Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA) and Modified Particle Swarm Optimization (MPSO)) have been suggested and applied with PV system to promote output power under varying weather conditions and PSCs. Moreover, these algorithms can improve the dynamic response and steady-state PV systems' performance simultaneously and effectively. Later on, the following approaches, modified (MP&O) and (ANN), are also proposed to extract the photovoltaic system's maximum power. Then, MPPT problem is modeled and optimized on MATLAB environment where it is reliable to connect the programmable optimizer with Simulink of photovoltaic cell used to validate results. Finally, proposed methods are examined under several scenarios for (PSCs) to investigate its effectiveness. The results ensure that proposed tracker based on CSA can distinguish between the global and local maximum peaks of PV system effectively comparing to others MPPT approaches.
Investigation and Analysis of Anxiety Dissemination in Various Situations and Research on Methods of Eliminating Anxiety in Population
Authors: Cao Qiang , Zhang Qi , Qiang Yi
Published: April 2021

It is very common that people are affected by different levels of anxiety in different environments. However, there is no effective research or corresponding measures for this phenomenon. This study through the questionnaire survey combined with interviews and experiments, through the investigation and experiment to find out the reasons for the spread of anxiety in the group, and through further experiments found that people can produce positive emotions and eliminate anxiety when watching portraits with positive emotions， and finally find out the method to solve the problem of anxiety in private and public occasions.
Photonic RF and microwave fractional differentiation, integration, and Hilbert transforms with Kerr optical micro-combs
Authors: Tan Mengxi , Xu Xingyuan , Moss David
Published: April 2021

Integrated Kerr micro-combs are a powerful source of multiple wavelength channels for photonic radio frequency (RF) and microwave signal processing, particularly for transversal filter systems. They offer significant advantages featuring a compact device footprint, high versatility, large numbers of wavelengths, and wide Nyquist bands. We present our recent progress on photonic RF and microwave high bandwidth temporal signal processing based on Kerr micro-combs with comb spacings from 49GHz to 200GHz. We focus on integral and fractional Hilbert transforms, differentiators as well as integrators. The future potential of optical micro-combs for RF photonic applications in terms of functionality and ability to realize integrated solutions is also discussed.
Formação de multiplicadores para reciclagem de resíduos orgânicos por meio da compostagem em tempos de pandemia
Authors: GOMES Juliano da Cunha
Published: April 2021

Em 2016 o Brasil gerou cerca de 78,3 milhões de toneladas de Resíduos Sólidos Urbanos (RSU), sendo que a metade de todo este resíduo é orgânico. Na degradação da fração orgânica dos RSU aterrados ocorre a produção de gases do efeito estufa e lixiviados que oferecem riscos ao solo, ar, águas e à saúde pública. O tratamento mais simples para este tipo de resíduo é a compostagem. Por isso, este projeto de extensão teve como objetivo formar multiplicadores da comunidade externa para reciclagem de resíduos orgânicos por meio da compostagem. A capacitação ofertada à comunidade externa 100% online gerou quinze vídeos sobre o assunto, na forma de Lives, que estão disponíveis canal do YouTube do IFSC - Campus Garopaba, onde além das palestras, houve troca saberes com a comunidade externa. inicialmente foram recebidas 1291 inscrições de diversas regiões do Brasil e ao final foram emitidos 417 certificados de participação para aqueles que conseguiram cumprir 75% de frequência no curso.
Factores para el diseño de políticas de salario emocional
Authors:   Universidad Católica Luis Amigó, Quintero Arango Luis Fernando , Betancur Arias Juan Diego ,   Universidad Católica Luis Amigó
Published: April 2021

Las organizaciones del siglo XXI, no solo deben pensar en generar utilidades y posicionar sus productos o servicios en el mercado, también deben considerar aspectos propios de la gestión del talento humano. Este libro invita a pensar en el constructo de salario emocional como una propuesta vigente, de manera que, detalla factores para el diseño de políticas en esta área, para las empresas que tengan como propósito buscar un equilibrio entre lo laboral y lo personal. Los factores determinantes para el diseño de políticas de salario emocional, que se tratan en la publicación, son: estratégico, humano, motivacional y de creación de valor, asimismo, se vinculan ítems propios que tienen relación directa con cada uno de los cuatro factores mencionados. En síntesis, este libro resalta la importancia de considerar a los colaboradores como actores importantes en las empresas, de manera que se logre el trabajo con gusto, placer y felicidad.
Defended subjectivity in service-learning:a psychosocial analysis of students’ talk about service-learning in psychology
Authors:   , Haselau Tracey Laura
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this qualitative study was to analyse students’ talk about their service-learning experiences in psychology, in South Africa, from a psychosocial perspective. The research aims to identify dominant and subjugated discourses about service-learning in psychology, and to explore why students invest in particular discourses over others. Furthermore, the research aims to explore the intersubjective contexts that mediate students’ talk about their service-learning and their emotional investments in the discourses employed in their talk, drawing on the concept of mentalization. Eight psychology students were interviewed toward the end of their participation in a service-learning psychology honours course. Transcripts from the interviews as well as entries from students’ reflective journals were analysed using a psychosocial methodology. The key findings from this research point to the ways in which students oscillate between employing two competing sets of discourses about their service learning. At times, students drew on what I have referred to as a ‘discourse of rapture’, characterised by fascination with the ‘other’ and the maintenance of power imbalances. This discourse draws on a liberal traditional discourse of learning and a charity discourse of service-learning. In other parts of their talk, students draw on what I have called a ‘discourse of ruptura’, characterised by an inward curiosity about the outward fascination with the ‘other’. This discourse draws on constructivist accounts of service-learning. Findings suggest that students’ emotional investments in discourses of service-learning are mediated by defensive positions caused by the anxieties incurred in service-learning contexts. An important consideration to take forward from this research is the way in which anxieties in service-learning experiences may be contained (or not), and to be aware of the problematic outcomes that may arise from not containing anxieties, such as the perpetuation of prejudicial attitudes and othering. The intersectionality of ‘race’ and disability in the specific service learning programme under investigation in this study is an important consideration in implementing careful supervision of programmes such as this one, so that students’ raptue with the ‘other’ is not compounded and reinforced by the service-learning experience.
Prenatal diagnosis of amyoplasia
Authors: A.A. Lazarevich, O.V. Pribuschenya
Published: April 2021

Objectives. To describe ultrasound and pathomorphological signs of amyoplasia in the fetus.
Materials. Sporadic case of prenatal diagnosis on second trimester ultrasound examination is presented.
Prenatal diagnosis is confirmed on pathomorphological and histological examinations.
Results. The ultrasound signs were contractures of the upper and lower extremities, bilateral clubfoot,
akinesia, extreme cervical spinal hyperextension. The diagnosis was established by pathomorphological and
histological expertise. Histological examination of the muscle tissue of the rectus femoris muscle determined
the residual muscle tissue infiltrated with fat and connective tissue.
Conclusions. Amyoplasia, especially its severe subtypes, can be diagnosed prenatally. The ultrasound
signs were contractures of the upper and lower extremities, bilateral clubfoot, akinesia, extreme cervical spinal
hyperextension. Histological examination of muscle tissue in fetuses with signs of arthrogryposis will increase
the frequency of diagnosis of amioplasia
Trends in Positive, Negative, and Neutral Themes of Popular Music From 1998 to 2018: Observational Study
Authors: Kwon Lois , Medina Daniela , Ghattas Fady , Reyes Lilia
Published: April 2021

Background

Across the United States, the incidence of adolescent depression and suicide cases has risen in the past 10 years. Despite the risk factors and causes being multifactorial, the influence of popular culture on society and adolescents in this media-driven generation cannot be mitigated. Although the impact of social media and its effect on shaping self-identity in adolescents have been observed, the impact of music and its potential for subliminal negative messages to adolescents remains unclear.

Objective

This study analyzes the lyrics and music videos of the most popular music of multiple genres to quantify the frequencies of varying music theme trends.

Methods

The frequencies of themes of 1052 total American and Latin songs were collected from the Nielsen Music and Billboard’s top 100 chart performance from 1998 to 2018 for hip hop/rhythm and blues (R&B), pop, Latin, country, and rock/metal genres. Themes from songs were identified, quantified, and categorized with a rubric into negative, neutral, and positive themes by 3 different reviewers. Analysis was performed using 2-tailed t tests and a generalized linear model.

Results

Popular songs were reviewed for positive, negative, and neutral themes in the following 3-year intervals for ease of analysis purposes: 1998 to 2000 (n=148), 2001 to 2003 (n=150), 2004 to 2006 (n=148), 2007 to 2009 (n=156), 2010 to 2012 (n= 150), 2013 to 2015 (n=150), and 2016 to 2018 (n=150). There was a significant 180% increase in the percentage of songs with negative themes between all the interval years and across all genres (P<.001), while there was no significant difference in the frequency of songs with positive (P=.54) or neutral (P=.26) themes by year. There were significant differences in the number of negative themes found across genres (P<.001), with hip hop/R&B having the highest frequency of 130 out of 208 (62.5%) of the negative themes when compared to each of the individual genres (P<.001).

Conclusions

This study shows there is an increase in the frequency of negative themes over the span of 20 years across all genres, with hip hop/R&B having the highest frequency among the genres. These findings point to the potential impact that music may have in popular culture and on society. Furthermore, these results can help shape discussions between caregivers and their adolescent dependents and between primary care providers and their adolescent patients.
Texas Public Agencies’ Tweets and Public Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Natural Language Processing Approach (Preprint)
Authors: Tang Lu , Liu Wenlin , Thomas Benjamin , Tran Hong Thoai Nga , Zou Wenxue , Zhang Xueying , Zhi Degui
Published: April 2021

BACKGROUND

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is characterized by different morbidity and mortality rates across different states, cities, rural areas, and diverse neighborhoods. The absence of a national strategy for battling the pandemic also leaves state and local governments responsible for creating their own response strategies and policies.

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the content of COVID-19–related tweets posted by public health agencies in Texas and how content characteristics can predict the level of public engagement.

METHODS

All COVID-19–related tweets (N=7269) posted by Texas public agencies during the first 6 months of 2020 were classified in terms of each tweet’s functions (whether the tweet provides information, promotes action, or builds community), the preventative measures mentioned, and the health beliefs discussed, by using natural language processing. Hierarchical linear regressions were conducted to explore how tweet content predicted public engagement.

RESULTS

The information function was the most prominent function, followed by the action or community functions. Beliefs regarding susceptibility, severity, and benefits were the most frequently covered health beliefs. Tweets that served the information or action functions were more likely to be retweeted, while tweets that served the action and community functions were more likely to be liked. Tweets that provided susceptibility information resulted in the most public engagement in terms of the number of retweets and likes.

CONCLUSIONS

Public health agencies should continue to use Twitter to disseminate information, promote action, and build communities. They need to improve their strategies for designing social media messages about the benefits of disease prevention behaviors and audiences’ self-efficacy.
Emergence of the First Strains of SARS-CoV-2 Lineage B.1.1.7 in Romania: Genomic Analysis (Preprint)
Authors: Lobiuc Andrei , Dimian Mihai , Sturdza Olga , Filip Roxana , Covasa Mihai
Published: April 2021

BACKGROUND

The United Kingdom reported the emergence of a new and highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variant (B.1.1.7) that rapidly spread to other countries. The impact of this new mutation—which occurs in the S protein—on infectivity, virulence, and current vaccine effectiveness is still under evaluation.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to sequence SARS-CoV-2 samples of cases in Romania to detect the B.1.1.7 variant and compare these samples with sequences submitted to GISAID.

METHODS

SARS-CoV-2 samples were sequenced and amino acid substitution analysis was performed using the CoV-GLUE platform.

RESULTS

We have identified the first cases of the B.1.1.7 variant in samples collected from Romanian patients, of which one was traced to the region of the United Kingdom where the new variant was originally sequenced. Mutations in nonstructural protein 3 (Nsp3; N844S and D455N) and ORF3a (L15F) were also detected, indicating common ancestry with UK strains as well as remote connections with strains from Nagasaki, Japan.

CONCLUSIONS

These results indicate, for the first time, the presence and characteristics of the new variant B.1.1.7 in Romania and underscore the need for increased genomic sequencing in patients with confirmed COVID-19.
Incorporating African American Veterans’ Success Stories for Hypertension Management: Developing a Behavioral Support Texting Protocol (Preprint)
Authors: DeLaughter Kathryn L , Fix Gemmae M , McDannold Sarah E , Pope Charlene , Bokhour Barbara G , Shimada Stephanie L , Calloway Rodney , Gordon Howard S , Long Judith A , Miano Danielle A , Cutrona Sarah L
Published: April 2021

BACKGROUND

Peer narratives engage listeners through personally relevant content and have been shown to promote lifestyle change and effective self-management among patients with hypertension. Incorporating key quotations from these stories into follow-up text messages is a novel way to continue the conversation, providing reinforcement of health behaviors in the patients’ daily lives.

OBJECTIVE

In our previous work, we developed and tested videos in which African American Veterans shared stories of challenges and success strategies related to hypertension self-management. This study aims to describe our process for developing a text-messaging protocol intended for use after viewing videos that incorporate the voices of these Veterans.

METHODS

We used a multistep process, transforming video-recorded story excerpts from 5 Veterans into 160-character texts. We then integrated these into comprehensive 6-month texting protocols. We began with an iterative review of story transcripts to identify vernacular features and key self-management concepts emphasized by each storyteller. We worked with 2 Veteran consultants who guided our narrative text message development in substantive ways, as we sought to craft culturally sensitive content for texts. Informed by Veteran input on timing and integration, supplementary educational and 2-way interactive assessment text messages were also developed.

RESULTS

Within the Veterans Affairs texting system Annie, we programmed five 6-month text-messaging protocols that included cycles of 3 text message types: narrative messages, nonnarrative educational messages, and 2-way interactive messages assessing self-efficacy and behavior related to hypertension self-management. Each protocol corresponds to a single Veteran storyteller, allowing Veterans to choose the story that most resonates with their own life experiences.

CONCLUSIONS

We crafted a culturally sensitive text-messaging protocol using narrative content referenced in Veteran stories to support effective hypertension self-management. Integrating narrative content into a mobile health texting intervention provides a low-cost way to support longitudinal behavior change. A randomized trial is underway to test its impact on the lifestyle changes and blood pressure of African American Veterans.

CLINICALTRIAL

ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03970590; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03970590

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT

DERR1-10.2196/29423
Demographic Imbalances Resulting From the Bring-Your-Own-Device Study Design (Preprint)
Authors: Cho Peter Jaeho , Yi Jaehan , Ho Ethan , Shandhi Md Mobashir Hasan , Dinh Yen , Patil Aneesh , Martin Leatrice , Singh Geetika , Bent Brinnae , Ginsburg Geoffrey , Smuck Matthew , Woods Christopher , Shaw Ryan , Dunn Jessilyn
Published: April 2021

UNSTRUCTURED

Digital health technologies, such as smartphones and wearable devices, promise to revolutionize disease prevention, detection, and treatment. Recently, there has been a surge of digital health studies where data are collected through a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) approach, in which participants who already own a specific technology may voluntarily sign up for the study and provide their digital health data. BYOD study design accelerates the collection of data from a larger number of participants than cohort design; this is possible because researchers are not limited in the study population size based on the number of devices afforded by their budget or the number of people familiar with the technology. However, the BYOD study design may not support the collection of data from a representative random sample of the target population where digital health technologies are intended to be deployed. This may result in biased study results and biased downstream technology development, as has occurred in other fields. In this viewpoint paper, we describe demographic imbalances discovered in existing BYOD studies, including our own, and we propose the Demographic Improvement Guideline to address these imbalances.