bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Advances in the use of biocontrol applications in preharvest and postharvest environments: A food safety milestone
Authors: Jongman Mosimanegape , Carmichael Patricia , Loeto Daniel , Gomba Annancietar
Published: December 2021

Increasing concerns toward food safety and public health have rendered the use of synthetic chemicals in agricultural environments unacceptable. A shift toward biologically safe approaches has been considered a preferred strategy within the food handling chain and has received increasing attention over the past years in managing undesirable microbial growth. Although several studies have looked at the mode of action of most antagonists, the manipulation of microbial communities in food safety has not been fully explored. Very little is known about the effect of microbial diversity and composition in developing a healthy environmental approach for pathogen management in the farm to fork continuum. In view of the progress made in recent years in metagenomic technologies, information generated should be used to develop a dynamic approach that will consider a comprehensive approach involving environmentally friendly strategies in dealing with food losses caused by microbes to ensure food safety. Thus, this review includes information on the latest biocontrol applications to suppress undesirable microbial growth and extend fresh produce shelf life along the farm to fork continuum. The role of recent trends related to the potential of microbiomes in food safety and quality is further discussed. The use of physical treatments against pathogen growth is also highlighted.
Changes of neuroplasticity in cortical motor control of human masseter muscle related to orthodontic treatment
Authors: Liu Weicai , Cui Congcong , Hu Zhonglin , Li Juan , Wang Jijun
Published: December 2021

Background

Orthodontic treatment is a common clinical method of malocclusion. Studies have found that neurons in the sensorimotor cortex of the brain undergo adaptive remodeling in response to changes in oral behavior or occlusion.

Objective

To explore whether orthodontic treatment could be sufficient to cause neuroplastic changes in the corticomotor excitability of the masseter muscle.

Methods

Fifteen Angle Class II malocclusion patients who were receiving orthodontic treatment participated in the study. Cortical excitability was assessed by electromyographic activity changes evoked by transcranial magnetic stimulation. Four orthodontic time points were recorded, including baseline, day 1, day 7, and day 30. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded in the masseter muscle and the first dorsal interosseous muscle (FDI) serving as a control. The data were analysed by stimulus–response curves and corticomotor mapping. Statistical analyses involved repeated measures analysis of variance, two‐way ANOVA, and Tukey's post hoc tests.

Results

Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) of the masseter muscle were significantly decreased during orthodontic treatment compared with those of the baseline (p < .001). MEPs of the masseter muscle were dependent on session and stimulus intensity (p < .001), whereas MEPs of FDI were only dependent on stimulus intensity (p = .091). Finally, Tukey's post hoc tests demonstrated that MEPs of the masseter muscle on days 1 and 7, with 70%–90% stimulus intensities, were higher than those of baseline values (p < .001).

Conclusions

The present study suggested that orthodontic treatment can lead to neuroplastic changes in the corticomotor control of the masseter muscle, which may add to our understanding of the adaptive response of subjects to changes of oral environment during the orthodontic treatment.
Permutation testing for dependence in time series
Authors: Romano Joseph P. , Tirlea Marius A.
Published: December 2021

Given observations from a stationary time series, permutation tests allow one to construct exactly level tests under the null hypothesis of an i.i.d. (or, more generally, exchangeable) distribution. On the other hand, when the null hypothesis of interest is that the underlying process is an uncorrelated sequence, permutation tests are not necessarily level , nor are they approximately level in large samples. In addition, permutation tests may have large Type 3, or directional, errors, in which a two‐sided test rejects the null hypothesis and concludes that the first‐order autocorrelation is larger than 0, when in fact it is less than 0. In this article, under weak assumptions on the mixing coefficients and moments of the sequence, we provide a test procedure for which the asymptotic validity of the permutation test holds, while retaining the exact rejection probability in finite samples when the observations are independent and identically distributed. A Monte Carlo simulation study, comparing the permutation test to other tests of autocorrelation, is also performed, along with an empirical example of application to financial data.
Effects of microbial transglutaminase on textural, water distribution, and microstructure of frozen‐stored longtail southern cod (Patagonotothen ramsayi) fish mince gel
Authors: Zhang Nana , Yang Ning , Yu Wanying , Jin Zheng , Jiang Pengfei , Yu Chenxu , Dong Xiuping
Published: December 2021

Frozen‐stored fish mince tend to have poor gelling ability due to significant myosin denaturation caused by freezing. In this study, microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) was used to improve the quality of fish mince gel products made from frozen‐stored longtail southern cod (LSC). The gel strength of the gel product increased with the addition of MTGase and reached a plateau value of ~19 N mm beyond 300 U/kg of MTGase, at the same condition, T22 was reduced from 57.22 to 49.77 ms, T23 was reduced from 1,273.88 to 1,072.27 ms. As the MTGase addition increased from 0 to 400 U/kg, the hardness of the fish surimi gel increased from 14.52 to 21.36 N, and the microstructure changed from loose to dense, respectively. This study showed that MTGase could promote gelation to improve the quality of frozen‐stored LSC fish mince gel, especially at 300 U/kg, which potentially can be utilized to produce good surimi gel products out of frozen‐stored fish.
Seasonal variation in serum metabolites of northern European dogs
Authors: Walker Hannah K. , Ottka Claudia , Lohi Hannes , Handel Ian , Clements Dylan N. , Gow Adam G. , Mellanby Richard J.
Published: December 2021

Background

Metabolic profiling identifies seasonal variance of serum metabolites in humans. Despite the presence of seasonal disease patterns, no studies have assessed whether serum metabolites vary seasonally in dogs.

Hypothesis

There is seasonal variation in the serum metabolite profiles of healthy dogs.

Animals

Eighteen healthy, client‐owned dogs.

Methods

A prospective cohort study. Serum metabolomic profiles were assessed monthly in 18 healthy dogs over a 12‐month period. Metabolic profiling was conducted using a canine‐specific proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy platform, and the effects of seasonality were studied for 98 metabolites using a cosinor model. Seasonal component was calculated, which describes the seasonal variation of each metabolite.

Results

We found no evidence of seasonal variation in 93 of 98 metabolites. Six metabolites had statistically significant seasonal variance, including cholesterol (mean 249 mg/dL [6.47 mmol/L] with a seasonal component amplitude of 9 mg/dL [0.23 mmol/L]; 95% confidence interval [CI] 6‐13 mg/dL [0.14‐0.33 mmol/L], P < .008), with a peak concentration of 264 mg/dL (6.83 mmol/L) in June and trough concentration of 236 mg/dL (6.12 mmol/L) in December. In contrast, there was a significantly lower concentration of lactate (mean 20 mg/dL [2.27 mmol/L] with a seasonal component amplitude of 4 mg/dL [0.42 mmol/L]; 95% CI 2‐6 mg/dL [0.22‐0.62 mmol/L], P < .001) during the summer months compared to the winter months, with a peak concentration of 26 mg/dL (2.9 mmol/L) in February and trough concentration of 14 mg/dL (1.57 mmol/L) in July.

Conclusions and Clinical Importance

We found no clear evidence that seasonal reference ranges need to be established for serum metabolites of dogs.
Pharmacokinetics of diphenhydramine following single‐dose intravenous and oral administration in non‐fasted adult horses
Authors: Redmond Jeremy S. , Stang Bernadette V. , Schlipf John W. , Christensen John M.
Published: December 2021

Diphenhydramine is an H1 receptor antagonist used to control urticaria and other allergic signs caused by type I hypersensitivity reactions in horses (Equus caballus). Limited studies have been conducted on pharmacokinetics of this drug in horses, with no studies involving oral formulations. Our study investigated pharmacokinetics of an oral diphenhydramine formulation compared to intravenous administration in non‐fasted adult horses. Six healthy horses underwent a single administration of three different doses of diphenhydramine (1 mg/kg intravenously, 1 mg/kg intragastrically, and 5 mg/kg intragastrically) with a two‐week washout period between doses. Bioavailability of intragastric diphenhydramine was less than one percent and six percent for 1 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg intragastric doses, respectively. This poor bioavailability is similar to what is reported in dogs. Two of six horses experienced transient side effects after intravenous diphenhydramine administration, emphasizing the need for determining therapeutic plasma levels in efforts to determine the lowest effective dose minimizing risk of adverse effects. The main conclusion of our study was that oral diphenhydramine at doses up to 5 mg/kg are unlikely to achieve therapeutic plasma levels in adult horses.
Evaluation of hydrogen peroxide efficacy against AZD1222 chimpanzee adenovirus strain in the recombinant COVID-19 vaccine for application in cleaning validation in a pharmaceutical manufacturing industry
Authors: Ajorio A.C.F.B. , Rhodes V.P. , Rodrigues A.P. , Diniz V.A. , Mattoso J.M.V. , da Silva I.B. , D`Aiuto D.M.M. , Brandão M.L.L.
Published: December 2021

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) to inactivate the chimpanzee adenovirus AZD1222 vaccine strain used in the production of recombinant COVID-19 vaccine for application in cleaning validation in pharmaceutical industries production areas. Two matrixes were tested: formulated recombinant COVID-19 vaccine (FCV) and active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). The samples were dried on stainless steel and exposed to HPV in an isolator. One biological indicator with population >106  Geobacillus stearothermophilus spores was used to validate the HPV decontamination cycle as standard. HPV exposure resulted in complete virus inactivation in FVC (≥5·03 log10) and API (≥6·40 log10), showing HPV efficacy for reducing chimpanzee adenovirus AZD1222 vaccine strain. However, the optimum concentration and contact time will vary depending on the type of application. Future decontamination studies scaling up the process to the recombinant COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing areas are necessary to evaluate if the HPV will have the same or better virucidal effectivity in each specific production area. In conclusion, HPV showed efficacy for reducing AZD1222 chimpanzee adenovirus strain and can be a good choice for pharmaceutical industries facilities disinfection during recombinant COVID-19 vaccine production.
Fire influences reproductive outcomes by modifying flowering phenology and mate‐availability
Authors: Richardson Lea K. , Wagenius Stuart
Published: December 2021

A recent study posited that fire in grasslands promotes persistence of plant species by improving mating opportunities and reproductive outcomes. We devised an investigation to test these predicted mechanisms in two widespread, long‐lived perennials. We expect fire to synchronize flowering, increase mating and boost seed set.

We quantified individual flowering phenology and seed set of Liatris aspera and Solidago speciosa for 3 yr on a preserve in Minnesota, USA. The preserve comprises two management units burned on alternating years, allowing for comparisons between plants in burned and unburned areas within the same year, and plants in the same area across years with and without burns.

Fire increased flowering synchrony and increased time between start date and peak flowering. Individuals of both species that initiated flowering later in the season had higher seed set. Fire was associated with substantially higher flowering rates and seed set in L. aspera but not S. speciosa. In L. aspera, greater synchrony was associated with increased mean seed set.

Although fire affected flowering phenology in both species, reproductive success improved only in the species in which fire also synchronized among‐year flowering. Our results support the hypothesis that reproduction in some grassland species benefits from fire.
An update on current treatment strategies for laryngopharyngeal reflux symptoms
Authors: Krause Amanda J. , Walsh Erin H. , Weissbrod Philip A. , Taft Tiffany H. , Yadlapati Rena
Published: December 2021

Laryngopharyngeal reflux (LPR) is a syndrome caused by reflux of gastric contents into the pharynx or larynx, which leads to symptoms of throat clearing, hoarseness, pain, globus sensation, cough, excess mucus production in the throat, and dysphonia. LPR is a challenging condition, as there is currently no gold standard for diagnosis or treatment, and thus this presents a burden to the healthcare system. Strategies for treatment of LPR are numerous. Medical therapies include proton pump inhibitors, which are first line, H2 receptor antagonists, alginates, and baclofen. Other noninvasive treatment options include lifestyle therapy and the external upper esophageal sphincter compression device. Endoscopic and surgical options include antireflux surgery, magnetic sphincter augmentation, and transoral incisionless fundoplication. Functional laryngeal disorders and laryngeal hypersensitivity can present as LPR symptoms with or without gastroesophageal reflux disease. Though there are minimal studies in this area, neuromodulators and behavioral interventions are potential treatment options. Given the complexity of these patients and numerous available treatment options, we propose a treatment algorithm to help clinicians diagnose and triage patients into an appropriate therapy.
Outcomes following use of pediatric and young adult donor hearts with bicuspid aortic valves: A single‐center case series
Authors: Day Patrick , Hope Kyle , Puri Kriti , Spinner Joseph , Choudhry Swati , Tunuguntla Hari , Price Jack , Dreyer William , Denfield Susan
Published: December 2021

Background

Valvular disease in pediatric and young adult donor hearts may be a relative contraindication to graft use. Outcomes following the use of donor hearts with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) have not been previously reported in children. We describe 4 cases of pediatric heart transplantation (HTx) utilizing a donor heart with a BAV.

Case series

Of the 469 HTx included in this study, 4 utilized a donor heart with a BAV. All recipients were female; median age was 11 years (range 0.3 to 19 years). In all cases, the BAV was not discovered until after HTx. All donors were less than 30 years old. The patients were followed for a median of 6 years (range 2 to 9 years) with all patients alive at last follow‐up. Two patients have transitioned to adult care, and 2 patients continue to follow in our clinic. In follow‐up, no patient has required an aortic valve intervention or had infective endocarditis. At last review, no patient had greater than mild aortic insufficiency or more than mild aortic stenosis. Three patients developed mild‐to‐moderate left ventricular hypertrophy in the first year post‐transplant that improved over time. One patient experienced a peri‐operative embolic stroke at time of transplant unrelated to the BAV.

Conclusion

On short‐ and intermediate‐term follow‐up, pediatric and young adult donor hearts with BAV demonstrated acceptable graft longevity and valvular function. A functionally normal BAV in a pediatric heart transplant donor should not be a contraindication to organ acceptance.
Adaptive preferences in political philosophy
Authors: Terlazzo Rosa
Published: December 2021

The concept of adaptive preferences is supposed to explain how and why victims of injustice might come to endorse their own oppression, and to provide political philosophers with a tool for objecting to that oppression even when its victims do not. Critics, however, argue that using the concept of adaptive preferences further harms the victims of injustice, by denying them the respect owed to moral agents and/or the opportunity to direct the course of their own lives. After canvassing this debate, I consider one proposal for retaining the concept as a helpful political tool while avoiding the harms that detractors point to. This proposal allows us to make different well‐being judgments about adaptive preferences before and after they have been formed. I conclude by considering the parallel literature on adaptive preferences and disability, noting the possible short‐comings of the proposal in that case, and suggesting a variety of ways for moving forward.
Using various artificial soil mixtures to restore dry grasslands in quarries
Authors: Chenot‐Lescure Julie , Jaunatre Renaud , Buisson Elise , Ramone Hervé , Dutoit Thierry
Published: December 2021

Quarry restoration is difficult to implement due to the scarcity of the original soil. The restoration of Mediterranean dry grasslands to mitigate similar ecosystem/habitat loss is thus still a developing process. So far, very few studies have created artificial substrates to address the lack of soil. In the La Crau plain (Southeastern France), quarries were established in an ancient Mediterranean steppe‐like dry grassland. Once the remaining grassland zones were protected in 2001, quarries were extended over former intensive orchards established on the grassland in the 1990s before it was protected. Now, restoration has to be done without the unaltered protected grassland soil but with the soil from orchards, which contains fertilizers spread during the orchard exploitation. To recreate a more suitable substrate, the orchard topsoil was mixed with poor substrate materials directly extracted from the quarry (0–30 mm pebbles with sandy matrix). Different substrate mixtures were tested with or without sowing the dominant species of the grassland, a perennial grass: Brachypodium retusum (and an annual grass B. hybridum). After 5 years of monitoring, our results show that raw substrate materials (100%) limit the establishment of all species, and that, at the opposite, orchard topsoil (100%) favors a significantly higher species richness of target and non‐target species. The recommended substrate mixture to reach a compromise between high target species cover and low non‐target species cover is composed of 50% raw quarry material and 50% arable soil. Sowing Brachypodium not only limits non‐target species richness and cover but also reduces target species richness establishment.
Synergistic interaction between ABA and IAA due to moderate soil drying promotes grain filling of inferior spikelets in rice
Authors: Teng Zhenning , Yu Huihui , Wang Guanqun , Meng Shuan , Liu Bohan , Yi Yake , Chen Yinke , Zheng Qin , Liu Ling , Yang Jianchang , Duan Meijuan , Zhang Jianhua , Ye Nenghui
Published: December 2021

Poor grain filling of inferior spikelets is becoming a severe problem in some super rice varieties with large panicles. Moderate soil drying (MD) after pollination has been proven to be a practical strategy to promote grain filling. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain largely unexplored. Here, transcriptomic analysis of the most active grain filling stage revealed that both starch metabolism and phytohormone signaling were significantly promoted by MD treatment, accompanied by increased enzyme activities of starch synthesis and elevated abscisic acid (ABA) and indole‐3‐acetic acid (IAA) content in the inferior spikelet. Moreover, the IAA biosynthesis genes OsYUC11 and OsTAR2 were upregulated, while OsIAA29 and OsIAA24, which encode two repressors of auxin signaling, were downregulated by MD, implying a regulation of both IAA biosynthesis and auxin signal transduction in the inferior spikelet by MD. A notable improvement in grain filling of the inferior spikelet was found in the aba8ox2 mutant, which is mutated in an ABA catabolism gene. In contrast, overexpression of OsABA8ox2 significantly reduced grain filling. Interestingly, not only the IAA content, but also the expression of IAA biosynthesis and auxin‐responsive genes displayed a similar trend to that in the inferior spikelet under MD. In addition, several OsTPP genes were downregulated in the inferior spikelets of both MD/ABA‐treated wild‐type plants and the aba8ox2 mutant, resulting in lower trehalose content and higher levels of ‐6‐phosphate (T6P), thereby increasing the expression of OsTAR2, a target of T6P. Taken together, our results suggest that the synergistic interaction of ABA‐mediated accumulation of IAA promotes grain filling of inferior spikelets under MD.
Photobiomodulation promotes hair regeneration in injured skin by enhancing migration and exosome secretion of dermal papilla cells
Authors: Zhang Yuehou , Su Jianlong , Ma Kui , Li Haihong , Fu Xiaobing , Zhang Cuiping
Published: December 2021

The application of photobiomodulation (PBM) in regenerative medicine has expanded to the treatment of alopecia caused by various reasons. However, the mechanisms responsible for its effects are poorly understood. Here, we aimed to investigate the effects of PBM on hair regeneration in injured skin and to explore the underlying mechanisms. The scratched epidermis or dermis models were established in C57 mice aged 7–8 weeks. We found that the scratched epidermis had no influence on hair regeneration, but the scratched dermis led to obvious hair follicle atrophy and significantly influenced hair regeneration. The wounds in scratched dermis models were treated with PBM (655 nm, 3 J/cm2 [10 min]) and the hair regeneration and cell proliferation in hair follicle were evaluated. Compared with control, the hair coverage level was significantly enhanced after PBM treatment. Sox9+ and PCNA+ cells in hair follicle were obviously observed in PBM‐treated group, but not in control. In vitro, the effects of PBM on the function of dermal papilla cells (DPCs) were investigated. The results showed that the migration of DPCs was increased significantly by PBM (655 nm, 3 J/cm2 [10 min]), whereas no effect was found on proliferation. Furthermore, we found that PBM promoted exosome secretion of DPCs, accompanied by the activation of Akt/GSK‐3β/β‐catenin pathway. AKT inhibitor MK‐2206 effectively blocked PBM‐induced migration and exosome secretion of DPCs. These findings suggest that the enhanced migration and exosome secretion of DPCs mediated by the Akt/GSK‐3β/β‐catenin pathway were responsible for the promotion of hair regeneration in injured skin by PBM.
Sensorimotor integration within the primary motor cortex by selective nerve fascicle stimulation
Authors: Ranieri Federico , Pellegrino Giovanni , Ciancio Anna Lisa , Musumeci Gabriella , Noce Emiliano , Insola Angelo , Diaz Balzani Lorenzo Alirio , Di Lazzaro Vincenzo , Di Pino Giovanni
Published: December 2021

The integration of sensory inputs in the motor cortex is crucial for dexterous movement. We recently demonstrated that a closed‐loop control based on the feedback provided through intraneural multichannel electrodes implanted in the median and ulnar nerves of a participant with upper limb amputation improved manipulation skills and increased prosthesis embodiment. Here we assessed, in the same participant, whether and how selective intraneural sensory stimulation also elicits a measurable cortical activation and affects sensorimotor cortical circuits. After estimating the activation of the primary somatosensory cortex evoked by intraneural stimulation, sensorimotor integration was investigated by testing the inhibition of primary motor cortex (M1) output to transcranial magnetic stimulation, after both intraneural and perineural stimulation. Selective sensory intraneural stimulation evoked a low‐amplitude, 16 ms‐latency, parietal response in the same area of the earliest component evoked by whole‐nerve stimulation, compatible with fast‐conducting afferent fibre activation. For the first time, we show that the same intraneural stimulation was also capable of decreasing M1 output, at the same time range of the short‐latency afferent inhibition effect of whole‐nerve superficial stimulation. The inhibition generated by the stimulation of channels activating only sensory fibres was stronger than that due to intraneural or perineural stimulation of channels activating mixed fibres. We demonstrate in a human subject that the cortical sensorimotor integration inhibiting M1 output previously described after the experimental whole‐nerve stimulation is present also with a more ecological selective sensory fibre stimulation.

image

Key points

Cortical integration of sensory inputs is crucial for dexterous movement.

Short‐latency somatosensory afferent inhibition of motor cortical output is typically produced by peripheral whole‐nerve stimulation.

We exploited intraneural multichannel electrodes used to provide sensory feedback for prosthesis control to assess whether and how selective intraneural sensory stimulation affects sensorimotor cortical circuits in humans.

Activation of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) was explored by recording scalp somatosensory evoked potentials. Sensorimotor integration was tested by measuring the inhibitory effect of the afferent stimulation on the output of the primary motor cortex (M1) generated by transcranial magnetic stimulation.

We demonstrate in humans that selective intraneural sensory stimulation elicits a measurable activation of S1 and that it inhibits the output of M1 at the same time range of whole‐nerve superficial stimulation.
Neutron interferometry, fifth force and axion like particles
Authors: Capolupo A. , Giampaolo S. M. , Quaranta A.
Published: December 2021

We propose a new possible detection strategy to reveal the fermion–fermion interaction mediated by axions and axion-like particles, based on interferometric measurement of neutron beams. We consider an interferometer in which the neutron beam is split in two sub-beams propagating in regions with differently oriented magnetic fields. The beam paths and the strength of the magnetic fields are set in such a way that the phase difference depends only on the axion-induced interaction. The resulting phase difference is directly related to the presence of axions. Our results show that such a phase might represent, in the future, a tool to probe the existence of axions and axion-like particles or a fifth force with interferometry.
MOBILE WALLETS AND CONSUMER SPENDING IN SINGAPORE: AGARWAL et al. REVISITED
Authors: HOVE LEO VAN
Published: December 2021

Agarwal et al. ( 2019 ). Mobile wallet and entrepreneurial growth. AEA Papers and Proceedings, 109, 48–53 analyze the impact of the introduction of quick response (QR) codes for mobile payments in Singapore. They find that this not only resulted in a significant increase in the use of mobile wallets, but that there was also a positive spillover effect on debit and credit card payments — in particular at small and new businesses. This note argues that the increase in card sales cannot have been driven by the QR code technology. I also proffer an alternative explanation, namely, that Agarwal et al. simply capture the concurrent increase in popularity of contactless cards.
FABRICATION AND WEAR BEHAVIOR OF PEC/N HARDENED LAYER ON PURE IRON
Authors: JIN XIAOYUE , CHEN LIN , WEI KEJIAN , LIU RUIHONG , YU JIAHAO , XUE WENBIN , SHANG HONGZHONG
Published: December 2021

In this paper, the antifriction carbonitriding (PEC/N) layers were prepared on pure iron by cathodic plasma electrolytic treatment (PET) in glycerin and carbamide aqueous solution under 360[Formula: see text]V for 1, 3 and 10[Formula: see text]min. Influence of discharge time on morphology, structure, surface roughness and microhardness of PEC/N layer was analyzed. The tribological performance of the PEC/N layer, growth mechanism and diffusion process during PEC/N treatment was investigated. The thickness of the PEC/N layer grew to 48[Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m for 10[Formula: see text]min treatment and the growth of the saturation layer met the parabolic law. The highest microhardness of the surface was up to 811 HV, which was 5 times of that of iron substrate. The PEC/N layer consisted of [Formula: see text]-Fe, Fe[Formula: see text]N, Fe4N, Fe3C, Fe5C2 phases and a little FeO phase. The wear rate of the PEC/N layer reduced by five-sixes comparing with the iron substrate and the surface of the wear track was much smoother. The temperature close to the surface during PEC/N fitted by the tested temperature values inside the sample was 801∘C (1074[Formula: see text]K), and the combination diffusion rate of C and N into pure iron during PET at 360[Formula: see text]V reached [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m2/s. The electron temperature fluctuates between 3000[Formula: see text]K and 8000[Formula: see text]K. The antifriction PEC/N layer displayed a very good wear resistance and the higher diffusion rate makes plasma electrolytic carbonitriding a very effective technique for surface modification of pure iron.
Dimensionality Reduction and Visualization of Bharatanatyam Mudras
Authors: Jisha Raj R. , Dharan Smitha , Sunil T. T.
Published: December 2021

Cultural dances are practiced all over the world. The study of various gestures of the performer using computer vision techniques can help in better understanding of these dance forms and for annotation purposes. Bharatanatyam is a classical dance that originated in South India. Bharatanatyam performer uses hand gestures (mudras), facial expressions and body movements to communicate to the audience the intended meaning. According to Natyashastra, a classical text on Indian dance, there are 28 Asamyukta Hastas (single-hand gestures) and 23 Samyukta Hastas (Double-hand gestures) in Bharatanatyam. Open datasets on Bharatanatyam dance gestures are not presently available. An exhaustive open dataset comprising of various mudras in Bharatanatyam was created. The dataset consists of 15[Formula: see text]396 distinct single-hand mudra images and 13[Formula: see text]035 distinct double-hand mudra images. In this paper, we explore the dataset using various multidimensional visualization techniques. PCA, Kernel PCA, Local Linear Embedding, Multidimensional Scaling, Isomap, t-SNE and PCA–t-SNE combination are being investigated. The best visualization for exploration of the dataset is obtained using PCA–t-SNE combination.
Spatio-Temporal Inference Transformer Network for Video Inpainting
Authors: Tudavekar Gajanan , Saraf Santosh S. , Patil Sanjay R.
Published: December 2021

Video inpainting aims to complete in a visually pleasing way the missing regions in video frames. Video inpainting is an exciting task due to the variety of motions across different frames. The existing methods usually use attention models to inpaint videos by seeking the damaged content from other frames. Nevertheless, these methods suffer due to irregular attention weight from spatio-temporal dimensions, thus giving rise to artifacts in the inpainted video. To overcome the above problem, Spatio-Temporal Inference Transformer Network (STITN) has been proposed. The STITN aligns the frames to be inpainted and concurrently inpaints all the frames, and a spatio-temporal adversarial loss function improves the STITN. Our method performs considerably better than the existing deep learning approaches in quantitative and qualitative evaluation.
Multiple Imputation by Chained Equations–K-Nearest Neighbors and Deep Neural Network Architecture for Kidney Disease Prediction
Authors: Dhilsath Fathima M. , Hariharan R. , Raja S. P.
Published: December 2021

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a health concern that affects people all over the world. Kidney dysfunction or impaired kidney functions are the causes of CKD. The machine learning-based prediction models are used to determine the risk level of CKD and assist healthcare practitioners in delaying and preventing the disease’s progression. The researchers proposed many prediction models for determining the CKD risk level. Although these models performed well, their precision is limited since they do not handle missing values in the clinical dataset adequately. The missing values of a clinical dataset can degrade the training outcomes that leads to false predictions. Thus, imputing missing values increases the prediction model performance. This proposed work developed a novel imputation technique by combining Multiple Imputation by Chained Equations and [Formula: see text]-Nearest Neighbors (MICE–KNN) for imputing the missing values. The experimental results show that MICE–KNN accurately predicts the missing values, and the Deep Neural Network (DNN) improves the prediction performance of the CKD model. Various metrics like mean absolute error, accuracy, specificity, Matthews correlation coefficient, the area under the curve, [Formula: see text]-score, sensitivity, and precision have been used to evaluate the proposed CKD model performance. The performance analysis exhibits that MICE–KNN with deep learning outperforms other classifiers. According to our experimental study, the MICE–KNN imputation algorithm with DNN is more appropriate for predicting the kidney disease.
UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESSES OF NECESSITY MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS IN DEVELOPING CONTEXTS: THE TIJUANA CASE
Authors: BALLESTEROS-SOLA MARIA , OSORIO-NOVELA GERMAN
Published: December 2021

We conducted an exploratory multi-case study of female, necessity micro-entrepreneurs in developing contexts to partially validate an existing theoretical model and identify relevant omitted variables. Using a sample of eight female, necessity entrepreneurs in Tijuana (Mexico), we were able to challenge the established pull-push binary framework in entrepreneurship as well as the linear entrepreneurial process. Our analysis suggests that motivations, family embeddedness and gender identity are critical factors impacting the female micro-venture creation process in developing contexts. We summarize our theoretical findings in a new process model that accounts for macro, meso and micro factors, offering contributions to the scholarship on female entrepreneurship in developing contexts.
THE ROLE OF EMPOWERED EMPLOYEE ETHICAL VOICE IN SUPPORTING SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Authors: SWAIM JAMES ANTHONY , ROEBUCK DEBORAH
Published: December 2021

The ethical landscape of social entrepreneurship firms is at a nascent stage of development. To explore and potentially elevate this issue, this paper presents a conceptual model and accompanying research propositions to enhance the ethical climate surrounding social entrepreneurship. The conceptual model includes three compound constructs—ethical empowering leadership, perceived ethical organizational support and empowered employee ethical voice—augmented with two established constructs, a code of ethics and ethics training. A literature review is provided as supporting information for the conceptual model and associated research propositions. Potential applications and research implications are also presented.
EMPLOYEE MOBILITY AND INNOVATION: THE ROLE OF TURNOVER RATE AND NETWORK CENTRALITY
Authors: CHIU HOLLY H. , ZHU YU-QIAN , FONDA WILSON
Published: December 2021

Innovation is crucial to a company’s competitive advantage and employees play an important role in generating innovation within a company. Based on social capital theory, we proposed a new type of social network: the employee mobility network, and explored the impact of employee mobility on innovation. Specifically, we examined the role of both employee turnover rate, and an organisation’s centrality in the employee mobility network in predicting innovation. We collected data from World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Talentale, and Forbes Global 2000 to test our hypotheses. The results showed that turnover rate had a significantly inverted-U curve relationship with innovation, and both degree and closeness centralities of an organisation in the employee mobility network had a significant positive relationship with innovation. Based on the results, we suggest that companies should find a balanced value for their turnover rate to get the highest return in innovation. Also, we suggest that companies should improve social influence in employee mobility networks in order to attract talent and increase company innovation.
INNOVATION FAILURE IN SMEs: A NARRATIVE APPROACH TO UNDERSTAND FAILED INNOVATIONS AND FAILED INNOVATORS
Authors: FORSMAN HELENA
Published: December 2021

While innovation is an attractive path, it is also a rocky path made up of numerous challenges, even failures. This study provides new knowledge for understanding innovation failure. It seeks answers to the question: What are the perceived factors of innovation failure in SMEs? Every individual who has experienced an innovation failure has a story to tell. Therefore, the research question of this study is answered based on these stories. The main data are collected through narratives produced by individuals who have been involved in the development of completely failed innovation initiatives. In addition, four expert interviews are conducted. The results demonstrate that the most common factor for innovation failure is the occurrence of several incidents during the innovation process that slowly contribute to complete failure. In addition, the results reveal three SME-typical narratives of failed innovations as narrators the Passionate Innovator, the Solo Innovator, and the Developer Innovator.
Oscillation dynamic mechanism driven by time delays in the competent gene regulatory circuit of B. subtilis
Authors: Zhao Na , Liu Haihong , Yan Fang
Published: December 2021

Bacillus subtilis with competent states absorbs DNA and may improve the growth of bacteria by integrating new genetic material. Therefore, it is important to clarify how the genes interact in the circuit so that cells enter into a competent state or return to a vegetative state. The gene regulatory circuit consists of two positive feedback loops and one negative feedback loop. In this paper, a mathematical model is developed by considering transcription time delays to further study dynamic behavior of the B. subtilis competent gene regulatory network. Combined with theoretical calculation and numerical simulation, it is verified that the time delay in indirect transcription inhibition indeed has the effect of inducing the periodic oscillation of the B. subtilis competent system. In addition, some important chemical reaction rates can also regulate system dynamic behavior. However, under the control of time delay, the effects of the important chemical reaction rates have changed significantly. In particular, the time delay can advance critical value of the important chemical reaction rates where vibration occurs and can also weaken or even eliminate the effect of the important chemical reaction rates. These results will help us to analyze the competent state of B. subtilis.
A Comparative Performance Study of an Ejector-Expansion Refrigeration Cycle Using R134a and its Alternatives: Application of Automobile Air Conditioning
Authors: Al-Chlaihawi Kadhim K. Idan , Kadhim Hakim T. , Yousif Ahmad Hashim
Published: December 2021

In this study, the performance of ejector-expansion refrigeration cycle (EERC) with R134a alternative refrigerants (R152a, R1234yf, R404A, R407C, R507A and R600a) for automobile air-conditioning application is investigated numerically. The ejector is modeled with a constant mixing-pressure assumption taking into consideration the friction effect in the ejector mixing section. The studied refrigerants are compared based on the optimum area ratio, discharge temperature, compressor input power, volumetric cooling capacity, exergy destruction, COP, exergy efficiency and COP improvement. The results show that R152a and R1234yf have the closest performance to R134a and can be considered the most suitable alternative refrigerants for R134a. The COP and exergy efficiency are improved by 2.26% and 2.27%, respectively, using R152a compared to the use of R134a, whereas they are reduced by 2.89% and 2.88% using R1234yf. The volumetric cooling capacity is reduced for both R152a and R1234yf by 6.14% and 6.8%, respectively. In addition, the effect of compressor rotational speed on the performances is reported.
The risk interdependence of cryptocurrencies: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic
Authors: Zeng Xinru , Li Zhiyong , Yang Weiwei , Huang Zhengyang
Published: December 2021

In this paper, we measure the risk interdependence of 12 major cryptocurrencies before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on a GARCH-Copula-VaR approach and a dynamic network analysis. We find that cryptocurrencies generally show high levels of volatility, speculation, homogeneity and tail risk contagion. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has a continuous impact on the cryptocurrency market. When financial institutions are increasingly investing in crypto assets, the hidden risks in the cryptocurrency market remain high. Therefore, this paper calls for attention on the cryptocurrency market from both investors and regulators.
Film and TV Animation Production Based on Artificial Intelligence AlphaGd
Authors: Li Yunpeng
Published: December 2021

The dual attributes of artificial intelligence AlphaGd production, combined with modern social culture, industrial economy, and other factors, show rich connotation and extension in the development process of film and television animation production from the perspective of artificial intelligence AlphaGd. This paper first discusses and analyzes the practical significance and points out that AI AlphaGd has powerful functions, can greatly improve the sense of animation, and can effectively promote the technological innovation of animation production, then introduces the role modeling ideas of AI AlphaGd, and describes the modeling steps. Finally, the application of AI AlphaGd works produced after the use of artificial intelligence AlphaGd is more lifelike and specific in both the embodiment of the character image and the basic picture effect, which can make the audience have a more comfortable and perfect viewing experience. After summarizing, this paper puts forward the shortcomings of perspective artificial intelligence AlphaGd. Artificial intelligence may be useful in key decision-making processes, but it may negate the need for humans to be involved in these discussions. In view of these shortcomings, further research and discussion are made to accumulate new experience for product development and production from the perspective of artificial intelligence AlphaGd.
Design of Personalized Recommendation System for Swimming Teaching Based on Deep Learning
Authors: Shi Zhan , Wang Wei
Published: December 2021

Swimming is not only an entertaining hobby but also a sporting event. It is a sport for strengthening the body. Although there are many swimming coaches, there are different swimming teaching courses. However, choosing the right swimming instructor or course is the motivation for learning swimming activities. To this end, this paper conducts related research on the personalized recommendation system for swimming teaching based on deep learning with the purpose of improving the accuracy of the recommendation system to meet the needs of the users and promote the development of swimming events. This article mainly uses the experimental test method, the system construction method, and the questionnaire survey method to analyze and study the personalized swimming teaching system and the students’ attitude to it and draw a conclusion finally. The data results show that the accuracy of the system designed in this paper can meet the basic requirements. Hence, it can bring an excellent experience to the users. According to the questionnaire data, 85%–95% of people have great confidence in the personalized recommendation system.
[Retracted] A Multi‐RNN Research Topic Prediction Model Based on Spatial Attention and Semantic Consistency‐Based Scientific Influence Modeling
Authors: Xu Mingying , Du Junping , Guan Zeli , Xue Zhe , Kou Feifei , Shi Lei , Xu Xin , Li Ang
Published: December 2021

Computer science discipline includes many research fields, which mutually influence and promote each other’s development. This poses two great challenges of predicting the research topics of each research field. One is how to model fine‐grained topic representation of a research field. The other is how to model research topic of different fields and keep the semantic consistency of research topics when learning the scientific influence context from other related fields. Unfortunately, the existing research topic prediction approaches cannot handle these two challenges. To solve these problems, we employ multiple different Recurrent Neural Network chains which model research topics of different fields and propose a research topic prediction model based on spatial attention and semantic consistency‐based scientific influence modeling. Spatial attention is employed in field topic representation which can selectively extract the attributes from the field topics to distinguish the importance of field topic attributes. Semantic consistency‐based scientific influence modeling maps research topics of different fields to a unified semantic space to obtain the scientific influence context of other related fields. Extensive experiment results on five related research fields in the computer science (CS) discipline show that the proposed model is superior to the most advanced methods and achieves good topic prediction performance.
A Generalized Method for Sentiment Analysis across Different Sources
Authors: Ashir Abubakar M.
Published: December 2021

Sentiment analysis is widely used in a variety of applications such as online opinion gathering for policy directives in government, monitoring of customers, and staff satisfactions in corporate bodies, in politics and security structures for public tension monitoring, and so on. In recent times, the field met with new set of challenges where new algorithms have to contend with highly unstructured sources for sentiment expressions emanating from online social media fora. In this study, a rule and lexical-based procedure is proposed together with unsupervised machine learning to implement sentiment analysis with an improved generalization ability across different sources. To deal with sources devoid of syntactic and grammatical structure, the approach incorporates a ruled-based technique for emoticon detection, word contraction expansion, noise removal, and lexicon-based text preprocessing using lexical features such as part of speech (POS), stop words, and lemmatization for local context analysis. A text is broken into number of tokens with each representing a sentence and then lexicon-dependent features are extracted from each token. The features are merged together using a combining function for a given text before being used to train a machine learning classifier. The proposed combining functions leverage on averaging and information gain concepts. Experimental results with different machine leaning classifiers indicate that improved performance with great deal of generalization capacity across both structured and nonstructured sources can be realized. The finding shows that carefully designed lexical features reinforce learning process in unsupervised learning more than using word embeddings alone as the features. Obtained experimental results from movie review dataset (recall = 74.9%, precision = 70.9%, F1-score = 72.9%, and accuracy = 72.0%) and twitter samples’ datasets (recall = 93.4%, precision = 89.5%, F1-score = 91.4%, and accuracy = 91.1%) show the efficacy of the proposed approach in comparison with other state-of-the-art research studies.