bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Senescence and Cancer: A Review of Clinical Implications of Senescence and Senotherapies
Authors: Wyld Lynda , Bellantuono Ilaria , Tchkonia Tamara , Morgan Jenna , Turner Olivia , Foss Fiona , George Jayan , Danson Sarah , Kirkland James L.
Published: August 2020

Cellular senescence is a key component of human aging that can be induced by a range of stimuli, including DNA damage, cellular stress, telomere shortening, and the activation of oncogenes. Senescence is generally regarded as a tumour suppressive process, both by preventing cancer cell proliferation and suppressing malignant progression from pre-malignant to malignant disease. It may also be a key effector mechanism of many types of anticancer therapies, such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and endocrine therapies, both directly and via bioactive molecules released by senescent cells that may stimulate an immune response. However, senescence may contribute to reduced patient resilience to cancer therapies and may provide a pathway for disease recurrence after cancer therapy. A new group of drugs, senotherapies, (drugs which interact with senescent cells to interfere with their pro-aging impacts by either selectively destroying senescent cells (senolytic drugs) or inhibiting their function (senostatic drugs)) are under active investigation to determine whether they can enhance the efficacy of cancer therapies and improve resilience to cancer treatments. Senolytic drugs include quercetin, navitoclax, and fisetin and preclinical and early phase clinical data are emerging of their potential role in cancer treatments, although none are yet in routine use clinically. This article provides a review of these issues.
Lytic Induction Therapy against Epstein–Barr Virus-Associated Malignancies: Past, Present, and Future
Authors: Yiu Stephanie Pei Tung , Dorothea Mike , Hui Kwai Fung , Chiang Alan Kwok Shing
Published: August 2020

Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) lytic induction therapy is an emerging virus-targeted therapeutic approach that exploits the presence of EBV in tumor cells to confer specific killing effects against EBV-associated malignancies. Efforts have been made in the past years to uncover the mechanisms of EBV latent-lytic switch and discover different classes of chemical compounds that can reactivate the EBV lytic cycle. Despite the growing list of compounds showing potential to be used in the lytic induction therapy, only a few are being tested in clinical trials, with varying degrees of success. This review will summarize the current knowledge on EBV lytic reactivation, the major hurdles of translating the lytic induction therapy into clinical settings, and highlight some potential strategies in the future development of this therapy for EBV-related lymphoid and epithelial malignancies.
Enhancement of the Direct Synthesis of Dimethyl Ether (DME) from Synthesis Gas by Macro- and Microstructuring of the Catalytic Bed
Authors: Bizon Katarzyna , Skrzypek-Markiewicz Krzysztof , Continillo Gaetano
Published: August 2020

This work reports on a modelling study of the influence of the distribution of metallic and acidic active centers within a catalytic fixed-bed reactor for the direct synthesis of dimethyl ether (DME), conducted to demonstrate the potential of reactor-level and pellet-level structuring of catalytic active centers in process integration and intensification. To account for the pellet structure, the analysis was performed with the aid of a heterogeneous model considering both interphase and intrapellet mass transport resistances. The study evaluated, in terms of DME and methanol yield and selectivity, the performance of a tubular reactor loaded with a physical mixture of monofunctional catalyst pellets or structured bifunctional catalyst pellets with different arrangements of the catalytic centers. It was confirmed that bifunctional catalysts overperform significantly a physical mixture of monofunctional particles. Moreover, it was shown that the internal structure of a bifunctional catalyst pellet is an important feature that deserves to be exploited deeper, in view of further intensification of the DME synthesis process to be achieved with a better reactor design.
Comparison of Different Metal Doping Effects on Co3O4 Catalysts for the Total Oxidation of Toluene and Propane
Authors: Zhang Weidong , Anguita Paola , Díez-Ramírez Javier , Descorme Claude , Valverde Jose Luis , Giroir-Fendler Anne
Published: August 2020

Metal-doped (Mn, Cu, Ni, and Fe) cobalt oxides were prepared by a coprecipitation method and were used as catalysts for the total oxidation of toluene and propane. The metal-doped catalysts displayed the same cubic spinel Co3O4 structure as the pure cobalt oxide did; the variation of cell parameter demonstrated the incorporation of dopants into the cobalt oxide lattice. FTIR spectra revealed the segregation of manganese oxide and iron oxide. The addition of dopant greatly influenced the crystallite size, strain, specific surface area, reducibility, and subsequently the catalytic performance of cobalt oxides. The catalytic activity of new materials was closely related to the nature of the dopant and the type of hydrocarbons. The doping of Mn, Ni, and Cu favored the combustion of toluene, with the Mn-doped one being the most active (14.6 × 10−8 mol gCo−1 s−1 at 210 °C; T50 = 224 °C), while the presence of Fe in Co3O4 inhibited its toluene activity. Regarding the combustion of propane, the introduction of Cu, Ni, and Fe had a negative effect on propane oxidation, while the presence of Mn in Co3O4 maintained its propane activity (6.1 × 10−8 mol gCo−1 s−1 at 160 °C; T50 = 201 °C). The excellent performance of Mn-doped Co3O4 could be attributed to the small grain size, high degree of strain, high surface area, and strong interaction between Mn and Co. Moreover, the presence of 4.4 vol.% H2O badly suppressed the activity of metal-doped catalysts for propane oxidation, among them, Fe-doped Co3O4 showed the best durability for wet propane combustion.
Depression-Associated Gene Negr1-Fgfr2 Pathway Is Altered by Antidepressant Treatment
Authors: Carboni Lucia , Pischedda Francesca , Piccoli Giovanni , Lauria Mario , Musazzi Laura , Popoli Maurizio , Mathé Aleksander A. , Domenici Enrico
Published: August 2020

The Negr1 gene has been significantly associated with major depression in genetic studies. Negr1 encodes for a cell adhesion molecule cleaved by the protease Adam10, thus activating Fgfr2 and promoting neuronal spine plasticity. We investigated whether antidepressants modulate the expression of genes belonging to Negr1-Fgfr2 pathway in Flinders sensitive line (FSL) rats, in a corticosterone-treated mouse model of depression, and in mouse primary neurons. Negr1 and Adam10 were the genes mostly affected by antidepressant treatment, and in opposite directions. Negr1 was down-regulated by escitalopram in the hypothalamus of FSL rats, by fluoxetine in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of corticosterone-treated mice, and by nortriptyline in hippocampal primary neurons. Adam10 mRNA was increased by nortriptyline administration in the hypothalamus, by escitalopram in the hippocampus of FSL rats, and by fluoxetine in mouse dorsal dentate gyrus. Similarly, nortriptyline increased Adam10 expression in hippocampal cultures. Fgfr2 expression was increased by nortriptyline in the hypothalamus of FSL rats and in hippocampal neurons. Lsamp, another IgLON family protein, increased in mouse dentate gyrus after fluoxetine treatment. These findings suggest that Negr1-Fgfr2 pathway plays a role in the modulation of synaptic plasticity induced by antidepressant treatment to promote therapeutic efficacy by rearranging connectivity in corticolimbic circuits impaired in depression.
CpG-Islands as Markers for Liquid Biopsies of Cancer Patients
Authors: Sprang Maximilian , Paret Claudia , Faber Joerg
Published: August 2020

The analysis of tumours using biomarkers in blood is transforming cancer diagnosis and therapy. Cancers are characterised by evolving genetic alterations, making it difficult to develop reliable and broadly applicable DNA-based biomarkers for liquid biopsy. In contrast to the variability in gene mutations, the methylation pattern remains generally constant during carcinogenesis. Thus, methylation more than mutation analysis may be exploited to recognise tumour features in the blood of patients. In this work, we investigated the possibility of using global CpG (CpG means a CG motif in the context of methylation. The p represents the phosphate. This is used to distinguish CG sites meant for methylation from other CG motifs or from mentions of CG content) island methylation profiles as a basis for the prediction of cancer state of patients utilising liquid biopsy samples. We retrieved existing GEO methylation datasets on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from HCC patients and healthy donors, as well as healthy whole blood and purified peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples, and used a random forest classifier as a predictor. Additionally, we tested three different feature selection techniques in combination. When using cfDNA samples together with solid tumour samples and healthy blood samples of different origin, we could achieve an average accuracy of 0.98 in a 10-fold cross-validation. In this setting, all the feature selection methods we tested in this work showed promising results. We could also show that it is possible to use solid tumour samples and purified PBMCs as a training set and correctly predict a cfDNA sample as cancerous or healthy. In contrast to the complete set of samples, the feature selections led to varying results of the respective random forests. ANOVA feature selection worked well with this training set, and the selected features allowed the random forest to predict all cfDNA samples correctly. Feature selection based on mutual information could also lead to better than random results, but LASSO feature selection would not lead to a confident prediction. Our results show the relevance of CpG islands as tumour markers in blood.
mtDNA Mutation Accumulation in Muscle Is Not a Major Cause of Fiber Loss. Reply to “Comment on: Mitochondrial Mechanisms of Neuromuscular Junction Degeneration with Aging. Cells 2020, 9, 197”
Authors: Hepple Russell T.
Published: August 2020

I thank you for your comment on our review paper [...]
Neonatal COVID-19 Pneumonia: Report of the First Case in a Preterm Neonate in Mayotte, an Overseas Department of France
Authors: Abasse Soumeth , Essabar Laila , Costin Tereza , Mahisatra Voninavoko , Kaci Mohamed , Braconnier Axelle , Serhal Roger , Collet Louis , Fayssoil Abdallah
Published: August 2020

We report the first case of COVID-19 pneumonia in a preterm neonate in Mayotte, an overseas department of France. The newborn developed an acute respiratory distress by 14 days of life with bilateral ground glass opacities on a chest CT scan and a 6-week-long stay in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). This case report emphasizes the need for a cautious and close follow-up period for asymptomatic neonates born to mothers with COVID-19 infection. Vertical transmission cannot be excluded in this case.
Large Splenic Abscess Caused by Non-Typhoidal Salmonella in a Healthy Child Treated with Percutaneous Drainage
Authors: Lee Hyun Woo , Han Seung Beom
Published: August 2020

Splenic abscess occurs very rarely in healthy children. Although typhoid fever was the leading cause of splenic abscess in the pre-antibiotic era, Salmonella spp. remain to be the major pathogens causing splenic abscess, with an increasing worldwide frequency of splenic abscess due to non-typhoidal Salmonella infection. Here, we report the case of a 12-year-old boy, who was presumably diagnosed with acute gastroenteritis on admission and eventually diagnosed with a large splenic abscess (maximum diameter, 14.5 cm) caused by non-typhoidal Salmonella. Although splenectomy has been considered in cases of large splenic abscesses, the patient was treated with antibiotics and ultrasonography-guided percutaneous drainage. A detailed physical examination and appropriate imaging studies are necessary for the early diagnosis of extra-intestinal complications of non-typhoidal Salmonella enteritis. For treatment, percutaneous drainage, rather than splenectomy, can be used in large splenic abscesses.
Computational Analysis of Low-Energy Dislocation Configurations in Graded Layers
Authors: Lanzoni Daniele , Rovaris Fabrizio , Montalenti Francesco
Published: August 2020

Graded layers are widely exploited in semiconductor epitaxy as they typically display lower threading dislocation density with respect to constant-composition layers. However, strain relaxation occurs via a rather complex distribution of misfit dislocations. Here we exploit a suitable computational approach to investigate dislocation distributions minimizing the elastic energy in overcritical constant-composition and graded layers. Predictions are made for SiGe/Si systems, but the methodology, based on the exact (albeit in two dimensions and within linear elasticity theory) solution of the stress field associated with a periodic distribution of defects, is general. Results are critically compared with experiments, when possible, and with a previous mean-field model. A progressive transition from one-dimensional to two-dimensional distributions of defects when continuous linear grading is approached is clearly observed. Interestingly, analysis of the low-energy distribution of dislocations reveals close analogies with typical pile-ups as produced by dislocation multiplication.
Spectral Decomposition of X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy Datasets: Methods and Applications
Authors: Martini Andrea , Borfecchia Elisa
Published: August 2020

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) today represents a widespread and powerful technique, able to monitor complex systems under in situ and operando conditions, while external variables, such us sampling time, sample temperature or even beam position over the analysed sample, are varied. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is an element-selective but bulk-averaging technique. Each measured XAS spectrum can be seen as an average signal arising from all the absorber-containing species/configurations present in the sample under study. The acquired XAS data are thus represented by a spectroscopic mixture composed of superimposed spectral profiles associated to well-defined components, characterised by concentration values evolving in the course of the experiment. The decomposition of an experimental XAS dataset in a set of pure spectral and concentration values is a typical example of an inverse problem and it goes, usually, under the name of multivariate curve resolution (MCR). In the present work, we present an overview on the major techniques developed to realize the MCR decomposition together with a selection of related results, with an emphasis on applications in catalysis. Therein, we will highlight the great potential of these methods which are imposing as an essential tool for quantitative analysis of large XAS datasets as well as the directions for further development in synergy with the continuous instrumental progresses at synchrotron sources.
Crystallographic and Geometric Factors in the Shear Development in <001> FCC Single Crystals: Molecular Dynamics Simulation and Experimental Study
Authors: Lychagin Dmitry , Dmitriev Andrey , Nikonov Anton , Alfyorova Ekaterina
Published: August 2020

An approach to the study of the mechanisms of shear deformation in the bulk of face centered cubic (FCC) single crystals based on molecular dynamics simulation is proposed. Similar shear patterns obtained experimentally, and in simulations, allow consideration of the effect of crystallographic and geometric factors on deformation mechanisms. Deformation of <001> single-crystal samples in the form of tetragonal prisms with {110} and {100} lateral faces and different height-to-width ratios was studied. The simulation showed that the sample vertices are the preferential sites for shear initiation. It was found that the formation of deformation domains and interaction of shear planes are caused by the geometry of shear planes in the bulk of the single crystal, i.e., by their location in relation to basic stress concentrators and by their orientations relative to the lateral faces. The deformation patterns obtained in the simulations were in good agreement with those observed in the experiments. The fractions of sliding dislocations and dislocation barriers were determined for different materials, taking into account the crystallographic and geometric factors.
Touch Interactive System Design with Intelligent Vase of Psychotherapy for Alzheimer’s Disease
Authors: Lin Tinglan , Cao Jin
Published: August 2020

This paper introduces the concept of an intelligent vase that combines the cultivation of plants with psychotherapy for the Alzheimer’s adjuvant therapy (from now on, referred to as AD) of patients. RECALL (The name of intelligent vase which defined by this paper), which includes hardware and software applications, as well as a unique hand gesture interaction method, is able to collect patients’ hand gestures and play photos, to remind patients of the plant’s growth status. To evaluate our conceptual system, we created a preliminary prototype. We conducted an experiment with leap motion. This project tries to explore a kind of interaction method by cultivating plants to simulate cognitive training activities, to stimulate memories through family pictures, to slow down the cognitive decline from AD, to incorporate non-drug intervention into the family life of AD patients, to reduce the expenditure, time, and energy costs, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
Radiographic Analysis on the Distortion of the Anatomy of First Metatarsal Head in Dorsoplantar Projection
Authors: Grande-del-Arco Jessica , Becerro-de-Bengoa-Vallejo Ricardo , Palomo-López Patricia , López-López Daniel , Calvo-Lobo César , Pérez-Boal Eduardo , Losa-Iglesias Marta Elena , Martin-Villa Carlos , Rodriguez-Sanz David
Published: August 2020

Background: The diagnostic of flat and crest-shaped of first metatarsal heads has been associated as an important risk factor for hallux deformities, such as hallux valgus and hallux rigidus. The rounded form of the first metatarsal head on the dorsoplantar radiograph of the foot has been believed to be associated with the development of hallux valgus. Purpose: The aim of this study was to clarify the effect of tube angulation on the distortion of first metatarsal head shape, and verify the real shape of the metatarsal head in anatomical dissection after an X-ray has been taken. Materials and Methods: In this prospective study at Universidad Complutense de Madrid, from December 2016 to June 2019, 103 feet from embalmed cadavers were included. We performed dorsoplantar radiograph tube angulation from 0° until 30° every 5° on all specimens; then, two observers verified the shape of the first metatarsal head in the radiographs and after its anatomic dissection. Kappa statistics and McNemar Bowker tests were used to assess and test for intra and interobserver agreement of metatarsal shape. Results: We calculated the intraobserver agreement, and the results showed that the first metatarsal head is distorted and crested only when the angle of the X-ray beam is at 20° of inclination (p < 0.001). The interobserver agreement showed good agreement at 0°, 5°, 10°, 20°, and 25° and was excellent at 30° (p < 0.001). Conclusion: All of the studies that we identified in the literature state that there are three types of shapes of the first metatarsal head and relate each type of head to the diagnosis of a foot pathology, such as hallux valgus or hallux rigidus. This study demonstrates that there is only the round-shaped form, and not three types of metatarsal head shape. Therefore, no diagnoses related to the shape of the first metatarsal head can be made.
Potential Co-Factors of an Intraoral Contact Allergy—A Cross-Sectional Study
Authors: Olms Constanze , Schor Jana , Yahiaoui-Doktor Maryam
Published: August 2020

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate the frequency of dental allergens and potential co-factors, especially hypothyroidism, for patients with an intraoral contact allergy. From 2015 to 2016, patients with confirmed symptoms of an intraoral contact allergy (study group SG n = 50) were recruited in the dental clinic of the University of Leipzig. The participants of the control group (CG n = 103) were patients without oral diseases or intraoral symptoms of a contact allergy. For the data collection, a new “Allergy questionnaire” was developed. Information on allergies and general diseases were collected. The statistical analysis was carried out with SPSS 23.0. Sensitizations/allergies to metals and composites were higher in SG compared to CG. Of all study participants (n = 148), 14.2% (n = 21) had a nickel allergy. In 18% (n = 8) of the SG a cobalt allergy based on all metal allergens could be seen. In addition, an association between a nickel and cobalt allergy was found. Hypothyroidism occurred significantly more frequently (p = 0.049) in SG than in CG. Sensitizations and allergies can occur to metals in dental alloys. Hypothyroidism increased the risk of having an allergy threefold.
Comparison of Postoperative Bleeding between Application of Polyglycolic Acid Sheet and Primary Closure in Tongue Cancer Patients with Partial Glossectomy
Authors: Fukuzawa Satoshi , Yamagata Kenji , Hasegawa Yuuma , Ishibashi-Kanno Naomi , Uchida Fumihiko , Yanagawa Toru , Bukawa Hiroki
Published: August 2020

The technique of covering a mucosal defect with fibrin glue and a polyglycolic acid sheet (MCFP) for the resection of mucosa is applied in oral cancers. The MCFP technique for partial glossectomy provides faster relief from postoperative pain and the prevention of scar contracture, unlike primary closure. However, it has a major complication of postoperative bleeding. This study sought to compare postoperative bleeding between the MCFP technique and primary closure. We designed a retrospective study with a cohort of 57 patients who underwent partial glossectomy with the MCFP technique or primary closure. Our primary predictor variable was the wound closure procedure (primary closure or the MCFP technique). The primary outcome variable was postoperative bleeding, and the other variables were patient characteristics, excision area and depth, tooth contact for the wound, and antithrombotic therapy. Statistical evaluation was performed with Pearson’s chi-squared test, Welch’s t-test, and multiple logistic regression. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The MCFP technique was selected for cases with a large excision area (1433 vs. 963 mm2, P = 0.029). Total postoperative bleeding occurred in 10 of 57 patients (MCFP technique: 7 of 37 cases; primary closure: 3 of 20 cases). There was no significant difference in bleeding between the two groups (P = 0.71). Postoperative bleeding was significant in patients with antithrombotic therapy (MCFP: 40% vs. primary closure: 2%, P = 0.0024). Postoperative bleeding timing was significantly different in the MCFP technique (6.4 days) from that of primary closure (1 day; P = 0.0076). Postoperative bleeding was not associated with the MCFP technique or primary closure. However, postoperative bleeding with the MCFP technique occurred later than that with primary closure. The MCFP technique is not recommended for patients on antithrombotic therapy.
The Rr Form of the Kedem–Katchalsky–Peusner Model Equations for Description of the Membrane Transport in Concentration Polarization Conditions
Authors: Batko Kornelia M. , Ślęzak Andrzej , Grzegorczyn Sławomir , Bajdur Wioletta M.
Published: August 2020

The paper presents the Rr matrix form of Kedem–Katchalsky–Peusner equations for membrane transport of the non-homogeneous ternary non-electrolyte solutions. Peusner’s coefficients Rijr and det [Rr] (i, j ∈ {1, 2, 3}, r = A, B) occurring in these equations, were calculated for Nephrophan biomembrane, glucose in aqueous ethanol solutions and two different settings of the solutions relative to the horizontally oriented membrane for concentration polarization conditions or homogeneity of solutions. Kedem–Katchalsky coefficients, measured for homogeneous and non-homogeneous solutions, were used for the calculations. The calculated Peusner’s coefficients for homogeneous solutions depend linearly, and for non-homogeneous solutions non-linearly on the concentrations of solutes. The concentration dependences of the coefficients Rijr and det [Rr] indicate a characteristic glucose concentration of 9.24 mol/m3 (at a fixed ethanol concentration) in which the obtained curves for Configurations A and B intersect. At this point, the density of solutions in the upper and lower membrane chamber are the same. Peusner’s coefficients were used to assess the effect of concentration polarization and free convection on membrane transport (the ξij coefficient), determine the degree of coupling (the rijr coefficient) and coupling parameter (the QRr coefficient) and energy conversion efficiency (the (eijr)r coefficient).
Highly Accurate Digital Current Controllers for Single-Phase LCL-Filtered Grid-Connected Inverters
Authors: Curi Busarello Tiago Davi , Zeb Kamran , Simões Marcelo Godoy
Published: August 2020

Photovoltaic (PV) systems are the most promising technology for residential installation as an alternative source of energy. To interface the primary source of PV to the electrical grid, an LCL-filtered inverter is being broadly adopted due to its low volume compared to the L-filtered one and the superior ability to filter high-frequency harmonics. In this context, this paper proposes highly accurate digital current controllers for single-phase LCL-filtered grid-connected inverters. The proposed controllers are: Integral-single-lead, integral double-lead, integral double-lead taking into account the effect of pulse width modulation (PWM) delay and the proportional-resonant (PR). These controllers are different from the traditional Proportional-Integral (PI), Proportional-Derivative (PD), and Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID). One of the novelties of this paper is the detailed, step-by-step procedure for tuning each parameter of the proposed digital controllers considering the dynamic behavior of the LCL filter. The proposed PR has a different and more straightforward tuning methodology than those procedures commonly found in the literature. Therefore, this paper is an attractive tool for a fast, accurate, and reliable way to tune digital current controllers for a single-phase LCL-filtered grid-connected inverter. The controllers were verified in the digital signal controller (DSC) TMS320F28335 while the power structure runs in a hardware-in-loop (HIL device). Results show the efficacy of the proposed controllers.
A 13.3 Gbps 9/7M Discrete Wavelet Transform for CCSDS 122.0-B-1 Image Data Compression on a Space-Grade SRAM FPGA
Authors: Machairas Elias , Kranitis Nektarios
Published: August 2020

Remote sensing is recognized as a cornerstone monitoring technology. The latest high-resolution and high-speed spaceborne imagers provide an explosive growth in data volume and instrument data rates in the range of several Gbps. This competes with the limited on-board storage resources and downlink bandwidth, making image data compression a mission-critical on-board processing task. The Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS) Image Data Compression (IDC) standard CCSDS-122.0-B-1 is a transform-based 2D image compression algorithm designed specifically for use on-board a space platform. In this paper, we introduce a high-performance architecture for a key-part of the CCSDS-IDC algorithm, the 9/7M Integer Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT). The proposed parallel architecture achieves 2 samples/cycle while the very deep pipeline enables very high clock frequencies. Moreover, it exploits elastic pipeline principles to provide modularity, latency insensitivity and distributed control. The implementation of the proposed architecture on a Xilinx Kintex Ultrascale XQRKU060 space-grade SRAM FPGA achieves state-of-the-art throughput performance of 831 MSamples/s (13.3 Gbps @ 16bpp) allowing seamless integration with next-generation high-speed imagers and on-board data handling networking technology. To the best of our knowledge, this is the fastest implementation of the 9/7M Integer DWT on a space-grade FPGA, outperforming previous implementations.
GC-YOLOv3: You Only Look Once with Global Context Block
Authors: Yang Yang , Deng Hongmin
Published: August 2020

In order to make the classification and regression of single-stage detectors more accurate, an object detection algorithm named Global Context You-Only-Look-Once v3 (GC-YOLOv3) is proposed based on the You-Only-Look-Once (YOLO) in this paper. Firstly, a better cascading model with learnable semantic fusion between a feature extraction network and a feature pyramid network is designed to improve detection accuracy using a global context block. Secondly, the information to be retained is screened by combining three different scaling feature maps together. Finally, a global self-attention mechanism is used to highlight the useful information of feature maps while suppressing irrelevant information. Experiments show that our GC-YOLOv3 reaches a maximum of 55.5 object detection mean Average Precision (mAP)@0.5 on Common Objects in Context (COCO) 2017 test-dev and that the mAP is 5.1% higher than that of the YOLOv3 algorithm on Pascal Visual Object Classes (PASCAL VOC) 2007 test set. Therefore, experiments indicate that the proposed GC-YOLOv3 model exhibits optimal performance on the PASCAL VOC and COCO datasets.
Optimization of FireNet for Liver Lesion Classification
Authors: Kashala Kabe Gedeon , Song Yuqing , Liu Zhe
Published: August 2020

In recent years, deep learning techniques, and in particular convolutional neural networks (CNNs) methods have demonstrated a superior performance in image classification and visual object recognition. In this work, we propose a classification of four types of liver lesions, namely, hepatocellular carcinoma, metastases, hemangiomas, and healthy tissues using convolutional neural networks with a succinct model called FireNet. We improved speed for quick classification and decreased the model size and the number of parameters by using fire modules from SqueezeNet. We have used bypass connection by adding it around Fire modules for learning a residual function between input and output, and to solve the vanishing gradient problem. We have proposed a new Particle Swarm Optimization (NPSO) to optimize the network parameters in order to further boost the performance of the proposed FireNet. The experimental results show that the parameters of FireNet are 9.5 times smaller than GoogLeNet, 51.6 times smaller than AlexNet, and 75.8 smaller than ResNet. The size of FireNet is reduced 16.6 times smaller than GoogLeNet, 75 times smaller than AlexNet and 76.6 times smaller than ResNet. The final accuracy of our proposed FireNet model was 89.2%.
Security Risk Analysis Approach for Safety-Critical Systems of Connected Vehicles
Authors: Luo Feng , Hou Shuo , Zhang Xuan , Yang Zhenyu , Pan Wenwen
Published: August 2020

Modern vehicles are no longer merely mechanical systems but are monitored and controlled by various electronic systems. Safety-critical systems of connected vehicles become vulnerable to cyberattacks because of increasing interconnection. At present, the security risk analysis of connected vehicles is mainly based on qualitative methods, while these methods are usually subjective and lack consideration for functional safety. In order to solve this problem, we propose in this paper a security risk analysis framework for connected vehicles based on formal methods. Firstly, we introduce the electronic and electrical architecture of the connected vehicle and analyze the attack surfaces of the in-vehicle safety-critical systems from three levels of sensors, in-vehicle networks, and controllers. Secondly, we propose a method to model the target of evaluation (i.e., in-vehicle safety-critical system) as a Markov decision process and use probabilistic computation tree logic to formally describe its security properties. Then, a probabilistic model checker PRISM is used to analyze the security risk of target systems quantitatively according to security properties. Finally, we apply the proposed approach to analyze and compare the security risks of the collision warning system under a distributed and centralized electrical and electronic architecture. In addition, from a practical point of view, we propose a Markov model generation method based on a SysML activity diagram, which can simplify our modeling process. The evaluation results show that we can have a quantitative understanding of the security risks at the system level in the early stage of system design.
Mechanism to Estimate Effective Spectrum Availability Inside Smart Buildings
Authors: Medina Washington , Novillo Francisco , Chancay Eduardo , Romero Juan
Published: August 2020

Smart cities and smart buildings must provide their customers with many services, including those associated with health, productivity, and energy efficiency, among others. Short-range wireless systems can provide all of these services, but the significant growth of wireless networks operating within a smart building (SB) can produce the phenomenon of spectrum shortages. Spectrum shortages could be resolved using Cognitive Radio (CR)-based systems to improve the efficiency of electromagnetic spectrum use by taking advantage of the reusable spectrum available in the building’s interior. This study proposes a mechanism using two interference conditions to quickly estimate the minimum amount of effective spectrum availability (ESA) inside an SB. The results show that an SB contains ESA distributed across 36% to 98% of the building’s area for reuse, as a function of the height of the building and of the distance from the base station (BS) of the primary system.
IoT Technology Applications-Based Smart Cities: Research Analysis
Authors: González-Zamar Mariana-Daniela , Abad-Segura Emilio , Vázquez-Cano Esteban , López-Meneses Eloy
Published: August 2020

The development of technologies enables the application of the Internet of Things (IoT) in urban environments, creating smart cities. Hence, the optimal management of data generated in the interconnection of electronic sensors in real time improves the quality of life. The objective of this study is to analyze global research on smart cities based on IoT technology applications. For this, bibliometric techniques were applied to 1232 documents on this topic, corresponding to the period 2011–2019, to obtain findings on scientific activity and the main thematic areas. Scientific production has increased annually, so that the last triennium has accumulated 83.23% of the publications. The most outstanding thematic areas were Computer Science and Engineering. Seven lines have been identified in the development of research on smart cities based on IoT applications. In addition, the study has detected seven new future research directions. The growing trend at the global level of scientific production shows the interest in developing aspects of smart cities based on IoT applications. This study contributes to the academic, scientific, and institutional discussion to improve decision making based on the available information.
Multi-Scale Modeling and Study of Aerosol Growth in an Amine-based CO2 Capture Absorber
Authors: Kang Jia-Lin , Liu Kuan-Ting , Wong David Shan-Hill , Jang Shi-Shang , Tsai De-Hao
Published: August 2020

A monoethanolamine (MEA) aerosol growth model was developed to quantify the aerosol growth factor in an amine-based CO2 capture absorber that considers the gas-liquid interactions, and it is empirically validated by measuring the aerosol particle size and concentration. The aerosol growth model, using sucrose as the aerosol nuclei instead of sulfuric acid to prevent the corrosion of the test equipment, accurately predicted that the outlet aerosol size increased to the same level regardless of the sucrose concentration. It also found that particle concentration was the primary factor affecting aerosol growth and amine emissions. We found an inverse relationship between aerosol particle concentration and the aerosol size, while the MEA emissions were proportional to particle concentration.
Multi-Decadal Forest-Cover Dynamics in the Tropical Realm: Past Trends and Policy Insights for Forest Conservation in Dry Zone of Sri Lanka
Authors: Ranagalage Manjula , Gunarathna M. H. J. P. , Surasinghe Thilina D. , Dissanayake Dmslb , Simwanda Matamyo , Murayama Yuji , Morimoto Takehiro , Phiri Darius , Nyirenda Vincent R. , Premakantha K. T. , Sathurusinghe Anura
Published: August 2020

Forest-cover change has become an important topic in global biodiversity conservation in recent decades because of the high rates of forest loss in different parts of the world, especially in the tropical region. While human interventions are the major cause, natural disasters also contribute to forest cover changes. During the past decades, several studies have been conducted to address different aspects of forest cover changes (e.g., drivers of deforestation, degradation, interventions) in different parts of the world. In Sri Lanka, increasing rates of forest loss have been recorded during the last 100 years on a regional basis, especially in the dry zone. However, Sri Lanka needs detailed studies that employ contemporary data and robust analytical tools to understand the patterns of forest cover changes and their drivers. The dry zone of Sri Lanka encompasses 59% of the total land area of the country, ergo, the most extensive forest cover. Our study analyzed forest cover dynamics and its drivers between 1992 and 2019. Our specific objectives included (i) producing a forest cover map for 2019, (ii) analyzing the spatiotemporal patterns of forest cover changes from 1992 to 2019, and (iii) determining the main driving forces. Landsat 8 images were used to develop forest-cover maps for 2019, and the rest of the forest cover maps (1992, 1999, and 2010) were obtained from the Forest Department of Sri Lanka. In this study, we found that the dry zone had undergone rapid forest loss (246,958.4 ha) during the past 27 years, which accounts for 8.0% of the net forest cover changes. From 2010 to 2019, the rates of forest loss were high, and this can be associated with the rapid infrastructure development of the country. The findings of this study can be used as a proxy to reform current forest policies and enhance the forest sustainability of the study area.
Transcriptome and Co-Expression Network Analyses Identify the Molecular Signatures Underlying Drought Resistance in Yellowhorn
Authors: Liu Xiaojuan , Cui Yifan , Wu Zhiyan , Zhao Yang , Hu Xiaoyu , Bi Quanxin , Yang Suzhi , Wang Libing
Published: August 2020

Drought is a key factor that limits plant growth and yield. Yellowhorn is an important and vigorously promoted oil tree in China. It can survive under certain drought conditions, but a lack of water severely restricts its growth and results in yield losses in arid and semi-arid areas. Therefore, it is important to identify the key pathways and genes to understand the mechanisms of its drought resistance. In this study, we evaluated drought resistance in four types of yellowhorn, and obtained 2669 and 2451 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) via the transcriptome analysis of the comparison of water-saving/water-consuming and fast-growing/slow-growing yellowhorn, respectively, under long-term drought conditions. The gene ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analyses of DEGs showed the key biological processes and metabolic pathways involved in drought resistance, which demonstrated that there are both the same and different biological processes involved in regulating water use efficiency (WUE) and growth in response to drought stress. Furthermore, the network analysis indicated hub genes (especially seven protein kinases) and potential co-expressed gene clusters in a greenyellow module associated with WUE and a blue module associated with growth. These identified hub genes and key biological processes can significantly enhance our knowledge about the molecular mechanisms of drought resistance in yellowhorn.
A PEKS-Based NDN Strategy for Name Privacy
Authors: Ko Kyi Thar , Hlaing Htet Htet , Mambo Masahiro
Published: August 2020

Named Data Networking (NDN), where addressable content name is used, is considered as a candidate of next-generation Internet architectures. NDN routers use In-Network cache to replicate and store passing packets to make faster content delivery. Because NDN uses a human-readable name, it is easy for an adversary to guess what kind of content is requested. To solve this issue, we develop a PEKS-based strategy for forwarding packets, where PEKS stands for public key encryption with keyword search. We implement the PEKS-based strategy based on the best route strategy and multicast strategy of NDN and show the performance of the PEKS-based NDN strategy. We also discuss the issues of the PEKS-based NDN strategy.
Meteorological Profiling in the Fire Environment Using UAS
Authors: Brewer Matthew J. , Clements Craig B.
Published: August 2020

With the increase in commercially available small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), new observations in extreme environments are becoming more obtainable. One such application is the fire environment, wherein measuring both fire and atmospheric properties are challenging. The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment offered the unique opportunity of a large controlled wildfire, which allowed measurements that cannot generally be taken during an active wildfire. Fire–atmosphere interactions have typically been measured from stationary instrumented towers and by remote sensing systems such as lidar. Advances in UAS and compact meteorological instrumentation have allowed for small moving weather stations that can move with the fire front while sampling. This study highlights the use of DJI Matrice 200, which was equipped with a TriSonica Mini Wind and Weather station sonic anemometer weather station in order to sample the fire environment in an experimental and controlled setting. The weather station was mounted on to a carbon fiber pole extending off the side of the platform. The system was tested against an RM-Young 81,000 sonic anemometer, mounted at 6 and 2 m above ground levelto assess any bias in the UAS platform. Preliminary data show that this system can be useful for taking vertical profiles of atmospheric variables, in addition to being used in place of meteorological tower measurements when suitable.
Effect of S-triazine Ring Substitution on the Synthesis of Organic Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Xerogels
Authors: Prostredný Martin , Ledingham Caio , Principe Ivan A. , Altoumi Abdelkarim S. M. , Fletcher Ashleigh J.
Published: August 2020

Resorcinol (R) and formaldehyde (F) gel synthesis has been well-studied along with alternative reagents. We present the synthesis of formaldehyde-based xerogels using chemically similar s-triazine precursors, with comparison to traditional analogues. The substitution ranges from tri-hydroxyl to tri-amine, with an intermediate species, allowing changing chemistry to be investigated. Each molecule (X) offers different acid/base properties, known to influence gel formation, as well as differences in crosslinking potential. Varying X/F ratios were selected to recreate the stoichiometry used in RF systems, where one represented higher F to match the increased reaction sites of the additives. X/C ratios were selected to probe different catalyst (C) ratios, while working within the range likely to produce viable gels. Results obtained show little impact for ammeline as an additive due to its similarity to resorcinol (activation sites and pKa); while melamine and cyanuric acid show differing behavior depending on the level of addition. Low concentrations show melamine to have the most impact due to increased activation and competition for formaldehyde; while at high concentrations, cyanuric acid is shown to have the greatest impact as it creates a more acidic environment, which diminishes textural character, possibly attributable to larger clusters and/or weaker cross-linking of the system.
Volume Phase Transition in Gels: Its Discovery and Development
Authors: Dušek Karel , Dušková-Smrčková Miroslava
Published: August 2020

The history of volume phase transition of responsive gels from its theoretical prediction to experimental discovery was described and the major role of mixing Gibbs energy function in theoretical models was stressed. For detailed analysis and fine tuning of the volume phase transition, the generalized Flory–Huggins model with concentration and temperature dependent interaction function coupled with Maxwell construction as a tool is very suitable. Application of expansive stresses can uncover the potential of various swelling gels for volume phase transition. Experimentally, the abrupt, equilibrium-controlled phase transition is often hard to achieve due to passage of gel through states of mechanical instability and slow relaxation processes in macroscopic objects.
The Influences of Bioinformatics Tools and Reference Databases in Analyzing the Human Oral Microbial Community
Authors: Sierra Maria A. , Li Qianhao , Pushalkar Smruti , Paul Bidisha , Sandoval Tito A. , Kamer Angela R. , Corby Patricia , Guo Yuqi , Ruff Ryan Richard , Alekseyenko Alexander V. , Li Xin , Saxena Deepak
Published: August 2020

There is currently no criterion to select appropriate bioinformatics tools and reference databases for analysis of 16S rRNA amplicon data in the human oral microbiome. Our study aims to determine the influence of multiple tools and reference databases on α-diversity measurements and β-diversity comparisons analyzing the human oral microbiome. We compared the results of taxonomical classification by Greengenes, the Human Oral Microbiome Database (HOMD), National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) 16S, SILVA, and the Ribosomal Database Project (RDP) using Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology (QIIME) and the Divisive Amplicon Denoising Algorithm (DADA2). There were 15 phyla present in all of the analyses, four phyla exclusive to certain databases, and different numbers of genera were identified in each database. Common genera found in the oral microbiome, such as Veillonella, Rothia, and Prevotella, are annotated by all databases; however, less common genera, such as Bulleidia and Paludibacter, are only annotated by large databases, such as Greengenes. Our results indicate that using different reference databases in 16S rRNA amplicon data analysis could lead to different taxonomic compositions, especially at genus level. There are a variety of databases available, but there are no defined criteria for data curation and validation of annotations, which can affect the accuracy and reproducibility of results, making it difficult to compare data across studies.