bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An Assessment Model of McKinsey 7S Model-Based Framework for Knowledge Management Maturity in Agility Promotion
Authors: Razmi Jafar , Mehrvar Mahmood , Hassani Anis
Published: November 2020

In today’s knowledge-based advanced world, pioneer organisations emphasise more on knowledge orientation, being leaders in knowledge management (KM) implementation. The purpose of this paper is to identify the key factors influencing the successful implementation of each KM process in Iranian Oil and Gas Industry, specifically about operational projects which are classified based on the McKinsey 7S model as KM enablers, namely, strategy, structure, system, skill, style, staff and shared values. Then the paper assesses the KM maturity level to categorise and prioritise the KM enablers in each level. Moreover, a conceptual model is proposed to theorise the relationship between organisational agility and each KM process, namely, knowledge creation, storage, sharing and utilisation. Data analysis and statistical tests are concluded using structural equation model through the combination of confirmatory factor and path analysis. The results show the validity and fitness of the proposed model and verification of all the hypotheses, i.e. there are positive relationships between each KM process and agility.
A Model for Measuring the Impact of Organisational Factors on the Effectiveness of the Knowledge Sharing System
Authors: Kazemi Ali , Ghasvari Mahdi , Eshlaghi Leila Eslami , Moradi Fateme , Molavi Homa
Published: November 2020

Knowledge Sharing (KS), as a serious part of promoting the organization’s success, is a process of swapping knowledge among families, people, and organizations. Therefore, this paper tries to study the impact of organisational factors on the effectiveness of the KS, via four important variables. We presented a project plan that contains four research hypotheses, with the effectiveness of the KS as a dependent construct. Data were collected by questionnaires. The size of the sample for structural equations has come to be 247 via the utilization of the sample measurement procedure. A case study was carried out in 247 employees of the East Azerbaijan Customs organizations in Iran include: Customs of Tabriz, Nurduz, Jolfa, Sahlan, and Maragheh. In our investigation, Smart PLS 2.0 has been utilised for the measurement assess. Besides, the structural equation modelling (SEM) procedure has been utilised for testing the validity and reliability of the supplied model’s measurement. The results showed that organisational culture is the most important factor in the effectiveness of KS. Furthermore, information technology (IT) acceptance, attitude towards KS, organisational climate, and attitude to KS play an important role in the effectiveness of the KS. As a general result, organization managers must implement KS in their organizations to improve organisational performance, reduce costs, enhance organisational innovation, and reduce repetitive work, through which international trade facilitates and helps the country’s economy. Also, the managers may arrange rules for the efficiency of rewards; moreover, they should maintain an open and conducive environment for new ideas and criticism. Managers of organizations should make the culture of teamwork pervasive through actions such as education of teamwork and identification benefits of working in teams. In this way, they can improve the attitude of staff to KS and information and reach behaviours accompanied by KS.
Text Categorisation Through Dimensionality Reduction Using Wavelet Transform
Authors: Chamorro-Padial Jorge , Rodríguez-Sánchez Rosa
Published: November 2020

This paper proposes a new method of dimensionality reduction when performing Text Classification, by applying the discrete wavelet transform to the document-term frequencies matrix. We analyse the features provided by the wavelet coefficients from the different orientations: (1) The high energy coefficients in the horizontal orientation correspond to relevant terms in a single document. (2) The high energy coefficients in the vertical orientation correspond to relevant terms for a single document, but not for the others. (3) The high energy coefficients in the diagonal orientation correspond to relevant terms in a document in comparison to other terms. If we filter using the wavelet coefficients and fulfil these three conditions simultaneously, we can obtain a reduced vocabulary of the corpus, with less dimensions than in the original one. To test the success of the reduced vocabulary, we recoded the corpus with the new reduced vocabulary and we obtained a statistically relevant level of accuracy for document classification.
Determination of diffusion coefficient by image-based fluorescence recovery after photobleaching and single particle tracking system implemented in a single platform
Authors: Lee Donghee , Lee Jeonghoon , Kim Jung Kyung
Published: November 2020

Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) and single particle tracking (SPT) techniques determine the diffusion coefficient from average diffusive motion of high-concentration molecules and from trajectories of low-concentration single molecules, respectively. Lateral diffusion coefficients measured by FRAP and SPT techniques for the same biomolecule on cell membrane have exhibited inconsistent values across laboratories and platforms with larger diffusion coefficient determined by FRAP, but the sources of the inconsistency have not been investigated thoroughly. Here, we designed an image-based FRAP-SPT system and made a direct comparison between FRAP and SPT for diffusion coefficient of submicron particles with known theoretical values derived from Stokes–Einstein equation in aqueous solution. The combined [Formula: see text]FRAP-SPT technique allowed us to measure the diffusion coefficient of the same fluorescent particle by utilizing both techniques in a single platform and to scrutinize inherent errors and artifacts of FRAP. Our results reveal that diffusion coefficient overestimated by FRAP is caused by inaccurate estimation of the bleaching spot size and can be corrected by simple image analysis. Our [Formula: see text]FRAP-SPT technique can be potentially used for not only cellular membrane dynamics but also for quantitative analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of the solutes in small scale analytical devices.
A short note on a curious convergent series
Authors: Mukherjee Rajib , Sarkar Niladri
Published: November 2020

An Interesting result on a curious convergent series is proved by A. J. Kempner. In this short note we study and prove a result on another modification of Harmonic series.
Wavelet frame operators and admissible frames
Authors: Easwaran Nambudiri T. C. , Parthasarathy K.
Published: November 2020

Whereas a characterization of Weyl–Heisenberg frame operators is known, the important class of wavelet frame operators is yet to be characterized. We fill this lacuna in this paper. We first look at the problem in an abstract setting, by looking at a special class of Hilbert frames which we call admissible frames. A simple characterization of frame operators of this class of frames is obtained in terms of “local commutativity” of operators and, specializing to wavelet frames, this leads to a characterization of wavelet frame operators on [Formula: see text]. Necessary and sufficient conditions for two admissible frames to be dual to each other are also presented.
Some fixed point results for multi-valued mappings in metric-like and quasi metric-like spaces
Authors: Mohammadi Babak , Golkarmanesh Farhan , Ghoncheh Seyed Jalaleddin Hosseini , Parvaneh Vahid
Published: November 2020

We establish the existence of fixed point for F-contractive multivalued mappings of Hardy–Rogers type in metric-like spaces. Then, we introduce a new notion called bilateral approximate fixed points for multivalued mappings and establish a common bilateral approximate fixed point result for two [Formula: see text]-dominated multivalued contractive mappings in the sense of [M. Arshad, Z. Kadelburgb, S. Radenovic, A. Shoaibe and S. Shukla, Filomat. 31(11) (2017) 3041–3056] on a closed ball of a K-sequentially complete quasi metric-like space. Finally, one can observe that the common bilateral approximate fixed point results coincide with common fixed point results, whenever we reduce the quasi metric-like spaces to metric-like spaces.
Wiener index and Steiner 3-Wiener index of graphs
Authors: Kovše Matjaž , Rasila V. A. , Vijayakumar Ambat
Published: November 2020

Let [Formula: see text] be a set of vertices of a connected graph [Formula: see text]. The Steiner distance of [Formula: see text] is the minimum size of a connected subgraph of [Formula: see text] containing all the vertices of [Formula: see text]. The sum of all Steiner distances on sets of size [Formula: see text] is called the Steiner [Formula: see text]-Wiener index. A graph [Formula: see text] is modular if for every three vertices [Formula: see text] there exists a vertex [Formula: see text] that lies on the shortest path between every two vertices of [Formula: see text]. The Steiner 3-Wiener index of a modular graph is obtained in terms of its Wiener index. As concrete examples, we discuss the case of Fibonacci, Lucas cubes and the Cartesian product of modular graphs. The Steiner Wiener index of block graphs is also studied.
Understanding the influencing factors of porous cathode contributions to the impedance of a sodium-nickel chloride (ZEBRA) battery
Authors: Hu Yingying , Zha Wenping , Li Yanpei , Wu Xiangwei , Wen Zhaoyin
Published: November 2020

Molten-sodium beta-alumina batteries including sodium–sulfur (NAS) and sodium-metal chloride (ZEBRA) batteries have been considered as promising candidates for reliable low-cost stationary energy storage devices. The structural parameters of the porous cathode wetted by NaAlCl4 have been proved to be one of the important reasons for the degradation of ZEBRA batteries. Herein, the influencing factors of porous cathode on the impedance of Na–NiCl2 battery are investigated in detail. The interface between the NaAlCl4 catholyte and Ni/NaCl cathode material and the ratio of the conductive components in the cathode are discussed in this paper. Based on the wettability results of each component of the cathode material at different porosities and temperatures, the wetting behavior between NaAlCl4 and the porous cathode is summarized. Both the porosity and metal ratio of the cathode need to be considered in order to achieve the optimal catholyte/cathode material interface and minimum operating impedance. The proposed cathode parameters are porosity greater than 24% and conductive component ratio of 1.5 at NaAlCl4 ratio of 1.75. This work provides a quantitative guidance and deep understanding for the material design of ZEBRA battery cathodes.
Dry Heat Among the Red Rocks: Risk Perceptions and Behavioral Responses to Extreme Heat Among Outdoor Recreationists in Southeastern Utah
Authors: Goldstein Kirsten , Howe Peter D.
Published: November 2020

Understanding how people perceive the risks of extreme heat is an essential part of developing better risk communication strategies and ultimately reducing vulnerability to heat. This study analyzed how tourists perceive and respond to extreme heat while recreating on public lands in southeastern Utah, a hot and dry environment. An increasing number of tourists are visiting national parks in the southwestern United States, exposing more people to heat-related health risks. This investigation focuses on how geographic differences of origin and thermal perceptions are associated with risk perceptions of extreme heat, and how risk perceptions in turn are associated with protective behaviors. This study found that risk perceptions of extreme heat were not significantly associated with demographic differences or the geographic origin of respondents. This study did find that while visitors could accurately predict the air temperature, on average within 1.1∘C (2∘F) of the actual temperature, visitors’ risk perception of extreme heat did not increase as temperatures increased. This study also found that visitors with higher risk perceptions were more likely to have engaged in certain protective behaviors — such as checking the weather conditions before their hike — but not others, such as the amount of water they carried. By understanding how people perceive and respond to the hazard, we can better understand best practices for communicating the risks of extreme heat with the intent of saving lives. These results are intended to help tourist agencies, emergency and natural resource managers and planners, and policymakers in creating and improving communication strategies for extreme heat.
Stability of helicoidal surfaces with constant mean curvature
Authors: Hatakeyama Yuta , Koiso Miyuki
Published: November 2020

Motivated by an experimental result on the shape of liquid water supported by a small stainless helical wire, we find a class of stable helicoidal convex surfaces with constant mean curvature whose boundary consists of a single helix and two short arcs.
Effects of Dietary Histidine on Growth Performance, Serum Amino Acids, and Intestinal Morphology and Microbiota Communities in Low Protein Diet-Fed Piglets
Authors: Kang Meng , Yin Jie , Ma Jie , Wu Xin , Huang Ke , Li Tiejun , Ouyang Long
Published: November 2020

Previous study showed that low protein diet-fed pigs are characterized by lower histidine concentration in the serum and muscle, suggesting that histidine may involve in protein-restricted response. Thus, the current study mainly investigated the effects of dietary histidine on growth performance, blood biochemical parameters and amino acids, intestinal morphology, and microbiota communities in low protein diet-challenged-piglets. The results showed that protein restriction inhibited growth performance, blood biochemical parameters and amino acids, and gut microbiota but had little effect on intestinal morphology. Dietary supplementation with histidine markedly enhanced serum histidine level and restored tryptophan concentration in low protein diet-fed piglets, while growth performance and intestinal morphology were not markedly altered in histidine-treated piglets. In addition, histidine exposure failed to affect bacterial diversity (observed species, Shannon, Simpson, Chao1, ACE, and phylogenetic diversity), but histidine-treated piglets exhibited higher abundances of Butyrivibrio and Bacteroides compared with the control and protein-restricted piglets. In conclusion, dietary histidine in low protein diet enhanced histidine concentration and affected gut microbiota (Butyrivibrio and Bacteroides) but failed to improve growth performance and intestinal morphology.
Compound Binomial Model with Batch Markovian Arrival Process
Authors: Jin Fang , Wu Chengxun , Ou Hui
Published: November 2020

A compound binomial model with batch Markovian arrival process was studied, and the specific definitions are introduced. We discussed the problem of ruin probabilities. Specially, the recursion formulas of the conditional finite-time ruin probability are obtained and the numerical algorithm of the conditional finite-time nonruin probability is proposed. We also discuss research on the compound binomial model with batch Markovian arrival process and threshold dividend. Recursion formulas of the Gerber–Shiu function and the first discounted dividend value are provided, and the expressions of the total discounted dividend value are obtained and proved. At the last part, some numerical illustrations were presented.
Honokiol Alleviates Methionine-Choline Deficient Diet-Induced Hepatic Steatosis and Oxidative Stress in C57BL/6 Mice by Regulating CFLAR-JNK Pathway
Authors: Zhai Ting , Xu Wei , Liu Yayun , Qian Kun , Xiong Yanling , Chen Yong
Published: November 2020

Background. Honokiol (HNK) has been reported to possess various beneficial effects in the context of metabolic disorders, including fatty liver, insulin resistance, and oxidative stress which are closely related to nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), however with no particular reference to CFLAR or JNK. Methods. C57BL/6 mice were fed methionine-choline-deficient (MCD) diet and administered simultaneously with HNK (10 and 20 mg/kg once a day, ig) for 6 weeks, and NCTC1469 cells were pretreated, respectively, by oleic acid (OA, 0.5 mmol/L) plus palmitic acid (PA, 0.25 mmol/L) for 24 h, and adenovirus-down Cflar for 24 h, then exposed to HNK (10 and 20 μmol/L) for 24 h. Commercial kits, H&E, MT, ORO staining, RT-qPCR, and Western blotting were used to detect the biomarkers, hepatic histological changes, and the expression of key genes involved in NASH. Results. The in vivo results showed that HNK suppressed the phosphorylation of JNK (pJNK) by activating CFLAR; enhanced the mRNA expression of lipid metabolism-related genes Acox, Cpt1α, Fabp5, Gpat, Mttp, Pparα, and Scd-1; and decreased the levels of hepatic TG, TC, and MDA, as well as the levels of serum ALT and AST. Additionally, HNK enhanced the protein expression of oxidative stress-related key regulatory gene NRF2 and the activities of antioxidases HO-1, CAT, and GSH-Px and decreased the protein levels of prooxidases CYP4A and CYP2E1. The in vivo effects of HNK on the expression of CLFAR, pJNK, and NRF2 were proved by the in vitro experiments. Moreover, HNK promoted the phosphorylation of IRS1 (pIRS1) in both tested cells and increased the uptake of fluorescent glucose 2-NBDG in OA- and PA-pretreated cells. Conclusions. HNK ameliorated NASH mainly by activating the CFLAR-JNK pathway, which not only alleviated fat deposition by promoting the efflux and β-oxidation of fatty acids in the liver but also attenuated hepatic oxidative damage and insulin resistance by upregulating the expression of NRF2 and pIRS1.
Determinants of Anemia among Pregnant Women at Public Hospitals in West Shewa, Central Ethiopia: A Case-Control Study
Authors: Deriba Berhanu Senbeta , Bala Elias Teferi , Bulto Gizachew Abdissa , Geleta Tinsae Abeya , Ayalew Agumas Fentahun , Gebru Addis Adera , Desta Habtamu Oljira , Shiferaew Mengistu Benayew , Sahile Lidya Zerihun
Published: November 2020

Introduction. Anemia is highly dominant among pregnant women due to the need for iron for women themselves and their fetuses. Nearly half a billion globally and around one-third in Ethiopia of pregnant women were affected by anemia which has both health and economic impact. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the determinants of anemia among pregnant women attending antenatal care at public hospitals in the West Shewa zone, Oromia regional state, Central Ethiopia, 2019. Methods. An unmatched case-control study was conducted at public hospitals in the West Shewa zone, Ethiopia, from February to April 2019. A consecutive sampling was used to select study participants. Data were collected by a structured questionnaire, and the collected data were entered into Epi Info version 7 and SPSS version 23 for analyses. Descriptive statistics such as tables, graphs, and proportions were used to present the data. Binary and multiple logistic regression analyses were computed to identify the determinants of anemia. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) and

p

value <0.05 were used to determine the presence of an association. Result. A total of 426 women (142 cases and 284 controls) participated in this study with a 95.3% response rate. Family size >5 (AOR = 2.95, 95% CI: 1.34–6.50), peptic ulcer diseases (PUD) (AOR = 2.85, 95% CI: 1.14–7.13), having the previous history of abortion (AOR = 2.84, 95% CI: 1.08–7.47), birth interval <2 years (AOR = 2.61, 95% CI: 1.20–5.70), antepartum hemorrhage (APH) (AOR = 6.05, 95% CI: 1.95–18.81), and not using latrine (AOR = 3.45, 95% CI: 1.30–9.24) were the identified determinants of anemia. Conclusions. Family size, PUD, abortion, birth interval, APH, and unable to use latrine were the determinants of anemia among pregnant women. Therefore, the intervention on anemia prevention should consider the promotion of family planning methods and counseling on latrine utilization.
The Importance of Cancer Registry Linkage for Studying Rare Cancers in Prospective Cohorts
Authors: Maplethorpe Emily , Walker Emily V. , Smith Trenton , Davis Faith G. , Yuan Yan
Published: November 2020

Large prospective cohort studies may offer an opportunity to study the etiology and natural history of rare cancers. Cancer diagnoses in observational cohort studies are often self-reported. Little information exists on the validity of self-reported cancer diagnosis, especially rare cancers, in Canada. This study evaluated the validity of self-reported cancer diagnosis in Alberta’s Tomorrow Project (ATP), a provincial cohort in Canada. ATP data were linked to the Alberta Cancer Registry (ACR). The first instance of self-reported cancer in a follow-up survey was compared to the first cancer diagnosis in the ACR after enrollment. The sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) were estimated for the reporting of cancer status, reporting of common or rare cancer, and reporting of site-specific cancer. Logistic regression analysis explored factors associated with false positive, false negative, and incorrect cancer site reporting. In the 30,843 ATP participants who consented to registry linkage, there were 810 primary cancer diagnoses in the ACR and 959 self-reports of first cancer post-enrollment, for a cancer status sensitivity of 92.1% (95% CI: 90.0-93.9) and PPV of 77.8% (95% CI: 75.0-80.4). Compared to common cancers, rare cancers had a lower sensitivity (62.8% vs. 89.6%) and PPV (35.8% vs. 84.5%). Participants with a rare cancer were more likely to report an incorrect site than those with a common cancer. Rare cancers were less likely to be captured by active follow-up than common cancers. While rare cancer research may be feasible in large cohort studies, registry linkage is necessary to capture rare cancer diagnoses completely and accurately.
Overexpression of miR-506-3p Aggravates DBP-Induced Testicular Oxidative Stress in Rats by Downregulating ANXA5 via Nrf2/HO-1 Signaling Pathway
Authors: Tang Min , Zhang Lei , Zhu Zheng , Li Ran , Wang Shangqian , Wang Wei , Qin Zhiqiang , Zhang Wei
Published: November 2020

Background. Di-N-butylphthalate (DBP) is a kind of unique endocrine toxicity linked to hormonal disruptions that affects the male reproductive system and has given rise to more and more attention. However, the mechanism of DBP-induced testicular injury remains unclear. Here, the objective of this study was to investigate the potential molecular mechanism of miR-506-3p in DBP-induced rat testicular oxidative stress injury via ANXA5 (Annexin A5)/Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway. Methods. In vivo, a total of 40 adolescent male rats were treated from 2 weeks with 800 mg/kg/day of DBP in 1 mL/kg corn oil administered daily by oral gavage. Among them, some rats were also injected subcutaneously with 2 nmol agomir-506-3p and/or 10 nmol recombinant rat ANXA5. The pathomorphological changes of testicular tissue were assessed by histological examination, and the antioxidant factors were evaluated. Subsequently, ANXA5, Nrf2, and its dependent antioxidant enzymes, such as HO-1, NQO1, and GST, were detected by Western blotting or immunohistochemical staining. In vitro, TM3 cells (Leydig cells) were used to detect the cell activity by CCK-8 and the transfection in the DBP-treated group. Results. Differentially expressed miRNAs between the DBP-treated and normal rats were analyzed, and qRT-PCR showed miR-506-3p was highly expressed in testicular tissues of the DBP-treated rats. DBP-treated rats presented severe inflammatory infiltration, increased abnormal germ cells, and missed cell layers frequently existed in seminiferous tubules, resulted in oxidative stress and decreased testicular function. Meanwhile, upregulation of miR-506-3p aggravated the above changes. In addition, miR-506-3p directly bound to ANXA5, and overexpression of miR-506-3p could reduce the ANXA5 expression and also decrease the protein levels of Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway. Additionally, we found that recombinant rat ANXA5 reversed the DBP-treated testicular oxidative stress promoting injury of miR-506-3p in rats. In vivo results were reproduced in in vitro experiments. Conclusions. This study provided evidence that miR-506-3p could aggravate the DBP-treated testicular oxidative stress injury in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting ANXA5 expression and downregulating Nrf2/HO-1 signaling pathway, which might provide novel understanding in DBP-induced testicular injury therapy.
New Insight into Laboratory Tests and Imaging Modalities for Fast and Accurate Diagnosis of COVID-19: Alternative Suggestions for Routine RT-PCR and CT—A Literature Review
Authors: Khorasani Amir , Chegini Amir , Mirzaei Arezoo
Published: November 2020

The globally inimitable and unremitting outbreak of COVID-19 infection confirmed the emergency need for critical detection of human coronavirus infections. Laboratory diagnostic tests and imaging modalities are two test groups used for the detection of COVID-19. Nowadays, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and computed tomography (CT) have been frequently utilized in the clinic. Some limitations that confront with these tests are false-negative results, tests redone for follow-up procedure, high cost, and unable to do for all patients. To overcome these limitations, modified and alternative tests must be considered. Among these tests, RdRp/Hel RT-PCR assay had the lowest diagnostic limitation and highest sensitivity and specificity for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in both respiratory tract and nonrespiratory tract clinical specimens. On the other hand, lung ultrasound (LUS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are CT-alternative imaging modalities for the management, screening, and follow-up of COVID-19 patients.
An Integrated Bioinformatic Analysis of the S100 Gene Family for the Prognosis of Colorectal Cancer
Authors: Zeng Meng-Lu , Zhu Xian-Jin , Liu Jin , Shi Peng-Chong , Kang Yan-Li , Lin Zhen , Cao Ying-Ping
Published: November 2020

Background. S100 family genes exclusively encode at least 20 calcium‐binding proteins, which possess a wide spectrum of intracellular and extracellular functions in vertebrates. Multiple lines of evidences suggest that dysregulated S100 proteins are associated with human malignancies including colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the diverse expression patterns and prognostic roles of distinct S100 genes in CRC have not been fully elucidated. Methods. In the current study, we analyzed the mRNA expression levels of S100 family genes and proteins and their associations with the survival of CRC patients using the Oncomine analysis and GEPIA databases. Expressions and mutations of S100 family genes were analyzed using the cBioPortal, and protein‐protein interaction (PPI) networks of S100 proteins and their mutation‐related coexpressed genes were analyzed using STRING and Cytoscape. Results. We observed that the mRNA expression levels of S100A2, S100A3, S100A9, S100A11, and S100P were higher and the level of S100B was lower in CRC tissues than those in normal colon mucosa. A high S100A10 levels was associated with advanced‐stage CRC. Results from GEPIA database showed that highly expressed S100A1 was correlated with worse overall survival (OS) and disease‐free survival (DFS) and that overexpressions of S100A2 and S100A11 were associated with poor DFS of CRC, indicating that S100A1, S100A2, and S100A11 are potential prognostic markers. Unexpectedly, most of S100 family genes showed no significant prognostic values in CRC. Conclusions. Our findings, though still need to be ascertained, offer novel insights into the prognostic implications of the S100 family in CRC and will inspire more clinical trials to explore potential S100‐targeted inhibitors for the treatment of CRC.
Finite-Time Control for a Coupled Four-Tank Liquid Level System Based on the Port-Controlled Hamiltonian Method
Authors: Xu Tao , Yu Haisheng , Yu Jinpeng
Published: November 2020

This work investigates the finite-time control problem for a nonlinear four-tank cross-coupled liquid level system by the port-controlled Hamiltonian (PCH) model. A fixed-free methodology is exhibited which can be used to simplify the controller design procedure. To get an adjustable convergent gain of the finite-time control, a feasible technique named damping normalization is proposed. A novel parameter autotuning algorithm is given to clarify the principle of choosing parameters of the PCH method. Furthermore, a finite-time controller is designed by a state-error desired Hamiltonian function, and the relationship between the settling time and a parameter is given, which can be applied in practical engineering easily to adjust the settling time according to the industrial need. Finally, simulation and experimental results verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Efficacy and Safety of Acupoint Catgut Embedding for Diarrhea‐Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Constipation‐Predominant Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis
Authors: Wu Jing , Fu Qinwei , Yang Shasha , Wang Hui , Li Yaofeng
Published: November 2020

In this study, we aim to evaluate the efficacy and safety of acupoint catgut embedding for the treatment of diarrhea‐predominant irritable bowel syndrome and constipation‐predominant irritable bowel syndrome. We searched seven online databases to collect studies published up to Feb 29th, 2020. Study quality of each included article was evaluated by the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Tool. Systematic reviews and meta‐analyses were conducted based on the Cochrane systematic review method by using RevMan 5.3 software. Among the included trials, acupoint catgut embedding alone or plus oral western medicine or plus other acupoint‐based therapies, or plus oral traditional Chinese medicine were the main therapies in the experimental groups. Interventions in control groups mainly include oral western medicine alone, other acupoint‐based therapies alone, or other acupoint‐based therapies alone. Primary outcomes in this study include recovery rate, accumulative marked effective rate, accumulative effective rate, and recurrence rate. Finally, 30 trials involving 1889 participants were included. The results of systematic reviews and meta‐analyses show that acupoint catgut embedding alone or plus oral western medicine or plus other acupoint‐based therapy or plus oral traditional Chinese medicine was significantly better compared with using oral western medicine alone in terms of efficacy for IBS‐C and IBS‐D. In addition, acupoint catgut embedding alone or plus oral western medicine or plus other acupoint‐based therapy or plus oral traditional Chinese medicine could improve the effective rate and decrease the recurrence rate for IBS‐D compared with using oral western medicine, other acupoint‐based therapies, or oral traditional Chinese medicine alone. Adverse events of acupoint catgut embedding include local induration, redness, swelling, and itchiness, but they were all mild and disappeared swiftly with ordinary local interventions. There is an urgent need for RCTs of high quality and large sample size and with longer treatment duration and follow‐up periods of acupoint catgut embedding for IBS.
An Improved Strategy for Genetic Evolutionary Structural Optimization
Authors: Cui Nannan , Huang Shiping , Ding Xiaoyan
Published: November 2020

Genetic evolutionary structural optimization (GESO) method is an integration of the genetic algorithm (GA) and evolutionary structural optimization (ESO). It has proven to be more powerful in searching for global optimal response and requires less computational efforts than ESO or GA. However, GESO breaks down in the Zhou‐Rozvany problem. Furthermore, GESO occasionally misses the optimum layout of a structure in the evolution for its characteristic of probabilistic deletion. This paper proposes an improved strategy that has been realized by MATLAB programming. A penalty gene is introduced into the GESO strategy and the performance index (PI) is monitored during the optimization process. Once the PI is less than the preset value which means that the calculation error of some element’s sensitivity is too big or some important elements are mistakenly removed, the penalty gene becomes active to recover those elements and reduce their selection probability in the next iterations. It should be noted that this improvement strategy is different from “freezing,” and the recovered elements could still be removed, if necessary. The improved GESO performs well in the Zhou‐Rozvany problem. In other numerical examples, the results indicate that the improved GESO has inherited the computational efficiency of GESO and more importantly increased the optimizing capacity and stability.
Alterations in the Properties of Red Blood Cells in Men with Coronary Artery Diseases after Comprehensive Cardiac Rehabilitation
Authors: Gwozdzinski Krzysztof , Pieniazek Anna , Bernasinska-Slomczewska Joanna , Brzeszczynska Joanna , Irzmanski Robert , Jegier Anna
Published: November 2020

Purpose. Comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation (CCR) is a complex program aimed at improving the health status of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), especially those who have been subjected to cardiac interventions (PCI and CABG).The aim of this study was to measure the changes in the properties of red blood cells (RBCs) in men with CAD after cardiac intervention and after participation in CCR program. Methods. In this study, we have investigated the influence of the physical training-based CCR program in 12 men with CAD, after PCI or CABG. The characteristics of RBCs including the basic morphology of RBCs, the conformational state of RBC membrane protein and hemoglobin, acetylcholinesterase activity, membrane fluidity, the osmotic fragility, and thiol concentration in membrane and in hemolysate were measured. Ascorbate concentration and reduced glutathione were also determined. The analysis was performed in men, before and after participation in CCR. The properties of RBCs were observed in connection with the exercise test, and parameters were evaluated before, immediately after, and 1 hour after the exercise test. Results. After CCR, a decrease in the mobility of erythrocyte membrane proteins was observed, which was accompanied by a decrease in lipid fluidity. In addition, immediately after the exercise test and 1 hour later, we measured a decrease in thiol level in hemolysate, but not in the plasma membrane. Unexpectedly, an increase in reduced glutathione concentration one hour after the exercise test after completing comprehensive cardiac rehabilitation was observed. Conclusion. CCR in men with CAD after cardiac intervention is connected with decreased membrane fluidity and decreased membrane protein mobility, which indicates that reduction of oxidative changes in these components occurs.
Optimal Policy Learning for Disease Prevention Using Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Alam Khan Zahid , Feng Zhengyong , Uddin M. Irfan , Mast Noor , Ali Shah Syed Atif , Imtiaz Muhammad , Al-Khasawneh Mahmoud Ahmad , Mahmoud Marwan
Published: November 2020

Diseases can have a huge impact on the quality of life of the human population. Humans have always been in the quest to find strategies to avoid diseases that are life-threatening or affect the quality of life of humans. Effective use of resources available to human to control different diseases has always been critical. Researchers are recently more interested to find AI-based solutions to control the human population from diseases due to the overwhelming popularity of deep learning. There are many supervised techniques that have always been applied for disease diagnosis. However, the main problem of supervised based solutions is the availability of data, which is not always possible or not always complete. For instance, we do not have enough data that shows the different states of humans and different states of environments, and how all different actions taken by humans or viruses have ultimately resulted in a disease that eventually takes the lives of humans. Therefore, there is a need to find unsupervised based solutions or some techniques that do not have a dependency on the underlying dataset. In this paper, we have explored the reinforcement learning approach. We have tried different reinforcement learning algorithms to research different solutions for the prevention of diseases in the simulation of the human population. We have explored different techniques for controlling the transmission of diseases and its effects on health in the human population simulated in an environment. Our algorithms have found out policies that are best for the human population to protect themselves from the transmission and infection of malaria. The paper concludes that deep learning-based algorithms such as Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) have outperformed traditional algorithms such as Q-Learning or SARSA.
High‐Fat Diet Induced Hedgehog Signaling Modifications during Chronic Kidney Damage
Authors: Mehmood Rabia , Sheikh Nadeem , Khawar Muhammad Babar , Abbasi Muddasir Hassan , Tayyeb Asima , Ashfaq Isbah , Mukhtar Maryam , Fatima Naz
Published: November 2020

Excessive consumption of dietary fats leads to the deposition of unnecessary metabolites and multiple organ damage. Lipids, important key regulators of Hedgehog signaling, are involved in triggering fibrotic chronic kidney disease. The present study encompasses the assessment of renal morphofunctional modifications and alteration of lipid metabolism influencing the changes in gene expression of hedgehog signaling pathway genes. Fifteen male Rattus norvegicus of 200 ± 25 grams weight were equally divided into three groups: control (standard rat chow), D‐1 (unsaturated high‐fat diet) and D‐2 (saturated high‐fat diet). Animals were provided with respective diets and were followed for 16 weeks. Both HFD‐fed groups did not show overall body weight gain as compared to the control. While significant downregulation of hedgehog pathway genes was found in fatty diet groups. In comparison with the control group, Shh, Gli1, Gli2, and Gli3 were downregulated after the consumption of both unsaturated and saturated fatty diets. Ihh and Smo exhibit a similar downregulation in the D‐1 group, but an upregulation was detected in the D‐2 group. D‐2 group also had an increased serum urea concentration as compared to the control (P = 0.0023). Furthermore, renal histopathology revealed tubular necrosis, glomerular edema, glomerular shrinkage, and hypocellularity. Collagen deposition in both HFD groups marks the extent of fibrosis summary figure. Extravagant intake of dietary fats impaired normal kidney functioning and morphofunctionally anomalous kidney triggers on Hh signaling in adult rats. These anomalies can be linked to an escalated risk of chronic kidney disease in adults strongly recommending the reduced uptake of fatty diets to prevent impaired metabolism and renal lipotoxicity.
Multipopulation Genetic Algorithms with Different Interaction Structures to Solve Flexible Job-Shop Scheduling Problems: A Network Science Perspective
Authors: Deng Ding-Shan , Long Wei , Li Yan-Yan , Shi Xiao-Qiu
Published: November 2020

Populations of multipopulation genetic algorithms (MPGAs) parallely evolve with some interaction mechanisms. Previous studies have shown that the interaction structures can impact on the performance of MPGAs to some extent. This paper introduces the concept of complex networks such as ring-shaped networks and small-world networks to study how interaction structures and their parameters influence the MPGAs, where subpopulations are regarded as nodes and their interaction or migration of elites between subpopulations as edges. After solving the flexible job-shop scheduling problem (FJSP) by MPGAs with different parameters of interaction structures, simulation results were measured by criteria, such as success rate and average optimal value. The analysis reveals that (1) the smaller the average path length (APL) of the network is, the higher the propagation rate will be; (2) the performance of MPGAs increased first and then decreased along with the decrease of APL, indicating that, for better performance, the networks should have a proper APL, which can be adjusted by changing the structural parameters of networks; and (3) because the edge number of small-world networks remains unchanged with different rewiring possibilities of edges, the change in performance indicates that the MPGA can be improved by a more proper interaction structure of subpopulations as other conditions remain unchanged.
Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio in Predicting Infective Endocarditis: A Case-Control Retrospective Study
Authors: Chen Ying , Ye Liang-jun , Wu Yue , Shen Bing-zheng , Zhang Fan , Qu Qiang , Qu Jian
Published: November 2020

Background. Infective endocarditis (IE) is a complex infectious disease with high morbidity and mortality. The inflammation mechanism of IE is a complex network including interactions of inflammatory cytokines and other components of host response. As an important inflammation marker, the prediction ability of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in IE deserves further investigation. Methods. NLR values were measured and compared between IE patients and healthy controls, good and bad clinical outcome groups. The receiver operating characteristic curves (ROCs) of NLR and cut-off values were measured in IE patients, pathogen-subgroups, and different clinical outcome groups. Results. There were 678 IE patients and 2520 healthy controls enrolled in our study. The number of good and bad clinical outcome patients was 537 and 141, respectively. The value of NLR was significantly higher in IE patients than healthy controls (

6.29
±
9.36

vs.

1.87
±
0.34

,

p
<
0.001

), and the area under the ROC (AUC) was 0.817 (95% CI (0.794, 0.839),

p
<
0.001

). The critical value of NLR for diagnosis of IE was 2.68, with a sensitivity of 69%, and a specificity of 88%. The value of NLR was significantly higher in bad clinical outcome patients than in good clinical outcome patients (

5.8
±
6.02

vs.

3.62
±
2.61

,

p
<
0.001

). The critical value of NLR to predict the outcome of IE was 5.557, with a sensitivity of 39.0% and a specificity of 85.3%. Conclusions. NLR is a predictive marker for IE patients, especially in Gram-negative bacteria and Gram-positive bacteria-infected IE patients. NLR also can predict the outcome of IE. Early detecting NLR upon admission may assist in early diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with IE.
Inclusion Relation between Various Subclasses of Harmonic Univalent Functions Associated with Wright’s Generalized Hypergeometric Functions
Authors: Themangani Rajavadivelu , Porwal Saurabh , Magesh Nanjundan
Published: November 2020

The purpose of the present paper is to obtain some inclusion relation between various subclasses of harmonic univalent functions by applying certain convolution operators associated with Wright’s generalized hypergeometric functions.
Modification of Lime‐Fly Ash‐Crushed Stone with Phosphogypsum for Road Base
Authors: Zhang Hao , Cheng Yuan , Yang Lei , Song Weikang
Published: November 2020

In order to increase the recycling of phosphogypsum waste, this study explored the feasibility of using phosphogypsum to replace some of the lime and aggregate in the lime‐fly ash‐crushed stone mixture which is a widely used road base material in China. For this purpose, compaction, compressive strength, composition structures, wetting‐drying cycle tests, and shrinkage tests were carried out on the lime‐fly ash‐phosphogypsum‐crushed stone composite to investigate its performance. The results indicate that lime‐fly ash‐crushed stone modified with phosphogypsum has the required strength of the road base material and favourable performances in environment (wetting‐drying cycle) stability. The image processing analysis and shrinkage tests demonstrated that phosphogypsum can significantly improve the compactness and shrinkage performance of lime‐fly ash‐crushed stone mixture. A suitable content of phosphogypsum and a reasonable content of fine aggregate are conducive to improving the roadway engineering properties (i.e., decreasing shrinkage cracks and increasing compressive strength) of lime‐fly ash‐phosphogypsum‐crushed stone composites.
Enabling Clustering for Privacy-Aware Data Dissemination Based on Medical Healthcare-IoTs (MH-IoTs) for Wireless Body Area Network
Authors: Ullah Fasee , Ullah Izhar , Khan Atif , Uddin M. Irfan , Alyami Hashem , Alosaimi Wael
Published: November 2020

There is a need to develop an effective data preservation scheme with minimal information loss when the patient’s data are shared in public interest for different research activities. Prior studies have devised different approaches for data preservation in healthcare domains; however, there is still room for improvement in the design of an elegant data preservation approach. With that motivation behind, this study has proposed a medical healthcare-IoTs-based infrastructure with restricted access. The infrastructure comprises two algorithms. The first algorithm protects the sensitivity information of a patient with quantifying minimum information loss during the anonymization process. The algorithm has also designed the access polices comprising the public access, doctor access, and the nurse access, to access the sensitivity information of a patient based on the clustering concept. The second suggested algorithm is K-anonymity privacy preservation based on local coding, which is based on cell suppression. This algorithm utilizes a mapping method to classify the data into different regions in such a manner that the data of the same group are placed in the same region. The benefit of using local coding is to restrict third-party users, such as doctors and nurses, when trying to insert incorrect values in order to access real patient data. Efficiency of the proposed algorithm is evaluated against the state-of-the-art algorithm by performing extensive simulations. Simulation results demonstrate benefits of the proposed algorithms in terms of efficient cluster formation in minimum time, minimum information loss, and execution time for data dissemination.
Analysis of Influencing Factors of Academic Entrepreneurship Based on Blockchain
Authors: Zhao Jingfang , Ge Zhenfeng
Published: November 2020

Under the background of mass entrepreneurship, academic entrepreneurship activities in universities are booming. DEA model is used to analyze the input-output data of academic entrepreneurship in colleges and universities in 2012 and 2016. According to the validity of the input-output data of academic entrepreneurship in different regions, the differences in efficiency between regions are compared and the reasons are analyzed. The research shows that the economic service function of colleges and universities to regional economic and social development is becoming increasingly prominent, resulting in a certain scale effect; the overall development of academic entrepreneurship efficiency, pure technical efficiency, and scale of colleges and universities in various regions is good, showing an upward trend; academic entrepreneurship activities of colleges and universities in different regions show different development trends. The scale efficiency of each region is at a higher level, but we should also actively pay attention to the utilization efficiency of academic entrepreneurship resources in colleges and universities, improve the allocation of resources, and prevent excessive investment in human and financial resources to produce redundancy, so as to achieve scale expansion while improving efficiency.