bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Touring Anglo-America: Emerson as Transatlantic Lecturer
Authors: Sommer Tim
Published: May 2022

Focusing on Emerson, this chapter opens with a discussion of his early lectures on English and American literature and culture from the 1830s and 1840s, in particular the early Boston lecture series on ‘English Literature’ and the later course on ‘New England’. The chapter then offers a discussion of Emerson’s British lecture tour of 1847–48, which focuses both on his perception in the British press and on his engagement with his transatlantic audiences. The chapter’s two final sections move from Emerson’s later American lectures and speeches on transatlantic topics to English Traits, the book that eventually grew out of his British tour. The key argument of the chapter is that across his career on the lecture stage Emerson capitalised on the inherent characteristics of performance (the fugitive nature of live deliveries and the changing composition of audiences) to experiment with a diplomatic voice that allowed him to cater to British and American sentiments at the same time.
‘Tricontinental Tropicalism’: The Convulsive Carnival of a Syncretic Populism in Glauber Rocha’s Terra em Transe (1967), Der Leone Have Sept Cabeças (1970) and A Idada da Terra (1980)
Authors: Gardner Colin
Published: May 2022

This chapter pursues a non-Eurocentric ‘return to zero’ by tracing the radical shift in Glauber Rocha’s political cinema from his early Cinema Nôvo phase to his later syncretic experiments. In all cases silence is used to express the fact that ‘the people are missing,’ that they are ‘yet to come,’ and ultimately unrepresentable. Thus Terra em Transe traces the tragic odyssey of the alienated poet, Paulo Martins, as he vacillates between the right wing demagogue Porfirio Diaz, the Populist Felipe Vieira and traditional Marxism. Alienated on all fronts, Martins ends up advocating the violent overthrow of Diaz, leading to his own assassination. Der Leone Have Sept Cabeças (1970) underlines the shortcomings of this failed poetics by adopting Che’s Tricontinental Manifesto which advocated simultaneous anti-colonial wars in Asia, Africa and Latin America as a means of overstretching the Global North’s resources. Filmed in the Congo, Rocha’s syncretic hodgepodge of colonialism and resistance uses silence to show that revolution will be a ‘long march.’ Finally, in The Age of the Earth, Rocha produces an unlikely ecosophical solution, coloured by the intertextual Tropicalist and cannibalist tendencies (anthropophagy) that dominated Brazilian cinema at the time.
Capitalist Critique of Karl Marx on Surplus Value
Authors: Onuoha Gerald Kelvin , Gwunireama Ishmael U
Published: May 2022

Karl Marx (1818–1883) was an outstanding German philosopher of political economy. His disdain and displeasure for capitalism as an economic and political system logically stems from his claim that it is unjustifiably exploitative, dehumanizing, and alienating. He conceives of it as being characterised by wage labor, and this leads to industrial disharmony between the capitalists and the laborers. This paper examines Marx’s conception of surplus value, the nature and character of labour theory of value, and alienation, which are key issues in Marxist-Leninist political philosophy. It is, particularly, a reaction to the Marxian claim that surplus value is created in the course of production. It argues that profit and extra capital are the basis for the survival of many businesses. Therefore, it concludes that what Marx refers to as surplus value actually is a return on investment that the capitalist further puts back into the business to enable the equipment, payment of wages, salaries, and delivery of welfare packages/incentives to workers in order to make a business a going concern. As a result, there is no surplus value, and it is not a valid basis for industrial disharmony between capitalists and laborers as long as the parties are bound by the employment contract negotiated in accordance with the legal regime.
Romanticism (the First Half of the 19th Century). The Pathos of Individualism
Authors:   Saratov State L.V. Sobinov Conservatoire, Demchenko A.I.
Published: May 2022

The essence of the series of essays published by the journal is that with the maximum compactness of the presentation it provides a summary of the main phenomena of world artistic culture, covered in general both from the point of view of the overall historical process and in relation to the various forms of art (literature, fine arts, architecture, music, theater and cinema). At the same time, there is a tendency to overcome the customary categorization of national schools and the division into separate forms of art with the genre specification inherent in each of them, which meets the positive trends of globalization and provides a holistic view of artistic phenomena. The following artistic and historical periods are examined in stages: the Ancient World, Antiquity, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque Era, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Post-Romanticism, the First Modern Age I, the Second Modern Age, the Third Modern Age, the Post-Modern Age, and as an afterword — “The Golden age of Russian Artistic Culture”.
A Microtonal Analysis of Igor Stravinsky’s Concept of Pitch and Its Resulting Scale
Authors:   Manhattan School of Music, Reinhard Johnny
Published: May 2022

Igor Stravinsky towers as the most prominent composer of the 20th century. When asked on a television broadcast what the Maestro believed to be the next direction in music, Stravinsky claimed that it would be microtonality. The author of the article, who is a prominent specialist in microtonality, proposes a microtonal interpretation in performances of Stravinsky’s musical compositions. He substantiates the validity of such an approach from Stravinsky’s particular spelling of certain chromatic intervals in his musical works, which clearly infer certain intervals from the overtone series, as well as the composer’s words pronounced in his written texts. What Stravinsky had in common with other musical geniuses of the 20th century and earlier times was the inner hierarchical ordering of a constellation of tonal relationships. However, each of these composers had a completely different model of idealized intonation constituted in their respective minds. The author’s additional experience with microtonality was his thorough study of historical European and non-European alternate tunings and temperaments, as the result of which he has been able to determine which of them are appropriate for being employing in performing music by composers from past epochs, such as J.S. Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. This provides additional substantiation for microtonal interpretations of performances of Stravinsky’s music. Citing the northern Lithuanian folk music tradition as expressed in the Sutartines, as being close in its essence to the microtonal interpretation of the great composer’s oeuvres, the author presents the 128-note-per-octave scale created by him for use in his own musical compositions, based on the extension of the overtone scale to the eighth octave as a viable tuning to apply to Stravinsky’s music.
An Interview with Austrian Bass-Baritone Rupert Bergmann
Authors:   Moscow State P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Rovner Anton A.
Published: May 2022

The editorial board of the journal ICONI is happy to present to our readers an interview with Austrian bass-baritone Rupert Bergmann, a talented, artistic musician, brilliant performer of the classical vocal repertoire, an ardent enthusiast of contemporary vocal music, and a participant of many contemporary music concerts and festivals. Rupert Bergmann was born in 1956 in Graz, studied at the Graz Music Academy, then moved to Vienna, where he has lived ever since. He has performed in many concert and opera venues in Austria and in other countries of the world, where he has sung premieres of works by composers from many countries. He has frequently instigated composers to write mini-monooperas for solo bass-baritone and small chamber ensemble on Biblical plots, or on comic librettos, from Aristophanes’ plays to those by contemporary playwrights. This interview was taken from the musician in July 2021 at the festival Two Days and Two Nights of New Music, where he sang premieres of two new mini-mono-operas.
From the Dedillo to the Plectrodedo: How an Unusual Technique Became the Stepping Stone of a Modern Revolutionary Guitar School
Authors:   École de Musique Alain Caron, Blanco Angel
Published: May 2022

In this short essay the history of a very little understood classical guitar performance technique is analyzed in an accessible but rigorous way. This essay explores various sources from the first books on the vihuela of the European Renaissance, where the technique was known as the dedillo, passing through the well-known classics of Romanticism such as Dionisio Aguado’s until reaching the revolutionary 20th century with the relevant case of William Foden, to the present day with the innovation of Carlos Reyes and his plectrodedo school.
Sound and Music in Video Games: Relevant Issues
Authors:   Rostov State S.V. Rachmaninoff Conservatoire, Ulyanova Snezhana Yu.
Published: May 2022

The article examines the main current issues of sound and, in particular, soundtrack in the modern video games. The immense popularity of this new genre layer of modern musical culture deserves serious scholarly understanding. So the author names and highlights such important issues as the general characteristic features of sound image of video games, diverse sounds and original musical compositions. The music for the game is presently being written by such famous composers as Hans Zimmer, Jeremy Soul, Harry Gregson-Williams, Akira Yamaoka, and Jesper Kyd. Recently, music in video games has become more in demand by a wide audience than movie music, due to its artistic merit and capabilities. The observation of the functions of music in video games seems to be relevant to the author — their system with various links to well-known products is described in the article. Moreover, the most important issue of the theoretical, aesthetic characteristic features of composers’ original music, which is practically not touched upon in modern literature in Russia and in other countries, is also posed and briefly highlighted. To illustrate such a formulation of the question, various opinions about the musical language, style and stylistic features are presented by the illustrative example of the American composer Paul Anthony Romero. Certain important positions have been made about the entirely new format of composing technique — the use of special network libraries.
“Yellow Stars”: Memory of the Holocaust in the Musical Project of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society
Authors:   Belorussian State Academy of Music, Dvuzhilnaya Inessa F.
Published: May 2022

The title “Yellow Stars” was given to the annual project of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic Society devoted to the International Day of the Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust (January 27). During the six years of its existence (since 2016) it has asserted itself as a bright cultural phenomenon presented by the artistic word and highquality music. Applying the analytical method, the author of the article analyzes concert programs in which two components have been apparently indicated: the literary-musical composition with documentary or artistic verbal texts which return us to the pages of the history of the Holocaust, including separate compositions for symphony orchestra (and those with chorus and solo vocalists) which disclose the traditions of Jewish musical culture (Isaac Schwartz, Max Bruch, Dmitri Shostakovich, Mechislav Weinberg, Leonid Desyatnikov, etc.), as well as other works which reveal the spiritual theme (Giya Kancheli, Alfred Schnittke). A high-quality level of concerts has been provided by the mastery of Valery Galendeyev, the producer of the project, and by his performers: the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the Philharmonic Society (Vladimir Altshuler, conductor) and solo performers (Polina Osetinskaya, Maxim Vengerov, Julian Milkis, Ilya Gindin, Sergei Nakaryakov, etc.). Thereby, the project “Yellow Stars” asserts the significance of the memory of the tragedy of the Jewish people and projects it onto contemporary realities, where the art of music and the spoken word may become a powerful reaction to evil in its various manifestations, assertion of peace and the magnitude of human life.
Musical Intonation: Aesthetic and Historical- Culturological Aspects
Authors:   Astrakhan State Conservatory, Kazantseva Liudmila P.
Published: May 2022

The two previous lectures from the cycle “Musical Intonation” were devoted to the concept of musical intonation, its sound contours, semantics, genre-related and stylistic traits. The third and final lecture suggests concentrating our attention on the two sides of intonation – its aesthetic particularities and dramaturgical features, as well as its existence in the historical-culturological context. The aesthetical side of intonation is disclosed by means of applying the apparatus of aesthetical categories (the dichotomy of beautiful vs. ugly, etc., the Aristotelian triad). The study of intonational dramaturgy finds the teaching about rhetorical disposition (the logical phases of unfolding the process) and the typology of the intonational-dramaturgic models to be productive. The theory of “intonational vocabulary” and “intonational crises” put forward by Boris Asafiev is conducive towards examination of the evolution of intonation in the mirror reflection of music history. The multiangle analysis of musical intonation as an intrinsically valuable microcosm combined with a large-scale scope of its historical-culturological existence presents a complex, yet perspective path of its knowledge.
EDEN: A High-Performance, General-Purpose, NeuroML-Based Neural Simulator
Authors: Panagiotou Sotirios , Sidiropoulos Harry , Soudris Dimitrios , Negrello Mario , Strydis Christos
Published: May 2022

Modern neuroscience employs in silico experimentation on ever-increasing and more detailed neural networks. The high modeling detail goes hand in hand with the need for high model reproducibility, reusability and transparency. Besides, the size of the models and the long timescales under study mandate the use of a simulation system with high computational performance, so as to provide an acceptable time to result. In this work, we present EDEN (Extensible Dynamics Engine for Networks), a new general-purpose, NeuroML-based neural simulator that achieves both high model flexibility and high computational performance, through an innovative model-analysis and code-generation technique. The simulator runs NeuroML-v2 models directly, eliminating the need for users to learn yet another simulator-specific, model-specification language. EDEN's functional correctness and computational performance were assessed through NeuroML models available on the NeuroML-DB and Open Source Brain model repositories. In qualitative experiments, the results produced by EDEN were verified against the established NEURON simulator, for a wide range of models. At the same time, computational-performance benchmarks reveal that EDEN runs from one to nearly two orders-of-magnitude faster than NEURON on a typical desktop computer, and does so without additional effort from the user. Finally, and without added user effort, EDEN has been built from scratch to scale seamlessly over multiple CPUs and across computer clusters, when available.
Formation and Identification of Six Amino Acid - Acrylamide Adducts and Their Cytotoxicity Toward Gastrointestinal Cell Lines
Authors: Li Dan , Xian Fangfang , Ou Juanying , Jiang Kaiyu , Zheng Jie , Ou Shiyi , Liu Fu , Rao Qinchun , Huang Caihuan
Published: May 2022

Acrylamide (AA) is a food contaminant, and amino acids are suggested to mitigate its toxicity by forming adducts. The emergence of acrylamide adducts may cause underestimation of acrylamide exposure level as well as trigger new safety problems. Based on the acrylamide elimination capability of four amino acids, this study chemically synthesized six amino acid-acrylamide adducts. Their structures were analyzed, followed by content determination in 10 commercially baking foods. The Michael adduct formed by one molecule of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and acrylamide was most abundant in foods among six adducts. Furthermore, it markedly decreased the cytotoxicity of acrylamide in Caco-2 cells and GES-1 cells. This finding suggests that amino acids can be used to reduce acrylamide level in processed foods and mitigate its hazardous effects after intake.
Detecting and Responding to Concept Drift in Business Processes
Authors: Yang Lingkai , McClean Sally , Donnelly Mark , Burke Kevin , Khan Kashaf
Published: May 2022

Concept drift, which refers to changes in the underlying process structure or customer behaviour over time, is inevitable in business processes, causing challenges in ensuring that the learned model is a proper representation of the new data. Due to factors such as seasonal effects and policy updates, concept drifts can occur in customer transitions and time spent throughout the process, either suddenly or gradually. In a concept drift context, we can discard the old data and retrain the model using new observations (sudden drift) or combine the old data with the new data to update the model (gradual drift) or maintain the model as unchanged (no drift). In this paper, we model a response to concept drift as a sequential decision making problem by combing a hierarchical Markov model and a Markov decision process (MDP). The approach can detect concept drift, retrain the model and update customer profiles automatically. We validate the proposed approach on 68 artificial datasets and a real-world hospital billing dataset, with experimental results showing promising performance.
Oxygen Sensing: Physiology and Pathophysiology
Authors: Aaronson Philip I. , Rocher Asuncion
Published: May 2022

Oxygen is such an essential element for life that multiple mechanisms have evolved to maintain oxygen homeostasis, including those which detect decreases in arterial O2 and generate adaptive responses to hypoxia [...]
Resveratrol Treatment Induces Mito-miRNome Modification in Follicular Fluid from Aged Women with a Poor Prognosis for In Vitro Fertilization Cycles
Authors: Battaglia Rosalia , Caponnetto Angela , Caringella Anna Maria , Cortone Anna , Ferrara Carmen , Smirni Salvatore , Iannitti Rossana , Purrello Michele , D’Amato Giuseppe , Fioretti Bernard , Di Pietro Cinzia
Published: May 2022

Advanced maternal age impairs reproductive performance, influencing the quantity and the quality of oocytes. Mitochondria dysfunction seems to play a decisive role in conditioning the quality of the female gamete. Different in vitro and in vivo studies, demonstrated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Resveratrol and its ability to improve mitochondria function even if the exact mechanism of action has not yet been demonstrated in human oocytes. In this paper, by retrospective analysis, we evaluated follicular fluid (FF) miRNome modification in aged women with a poor ovarian reserve receiving a resveratrol-based supplement the three months before the in vitro Fertilization (IVF) cycle. We found 13 differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) in women treated with resveratrol and specifically miR-125b-5p, miR-132-3p, miR-19a-3p, miR-30a-5p and miR-660-5p, regulating mitochondrial proteins, are able to control metabolism and mitochondrial biogenesis. MiRNA expression differences, observed after resveratrol treatment in FF from women with a poor prognosis for IVF, demonstrated that resveratrol may act on mitomiRNAs to improve follicular microenvironment by transcriptomic and proteomic modifications in granulosa cells.
Review of the Developments of Bacterial Medium-Chain-Length Polyhydroxyalkanoates (mcl-PHAs)
Authors: Reddy V. Uttej Nandan , Ramanaiah S. V. , Reddy M. Venkateswar , Chang Young-Cheol
Published: May 2022

Synthetic plastics derived from fossil fuels—such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, and polystyrene—are non-degradable. A large amount of plastic waste enters landfills and pollutes the environment. Hence, there is an urgent need to produce biodegradable plastics such as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). PHAs have garnered increasing interest as replaceable materials to conventional plastics due to their broad applicability in various purposes such as food packaging, agriculture, tissue-engineering scaffolds, and drug delivery. Based on the chain length of 3-hydroxyalkanoate repeat units, there are three types PHAs, i.e., short-chain-length (scl-PHAs, 4 to 5 carbon atoms), medium-chain-length (mcl-PHAs, 6 to 14 carbon atoms), and long-chain-length (lcl-PHAs, more than 14 carbon atoms). Previous reviews discussed the recent developments in scl-PHAs, but there are limited reviews specifically focused on the developments of mcl-PHAs. Hence, this review focused on the mcl-PHA production, using various carbon (organic/inorganic) sources and at different operation modes (continuous, batch, fed-batch, and high-cell density). This review also focused on recent developments on extraction methods of mcl-PHAs (solvent, non-solvent, enzymatic, ultrasound); physical/thermal properties (Mw, Mn, PDI, Tm, Tg, and crystallinity); applications in various fields; and their production at pilot and industrial scales in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.
Alcohol Use Disorder: Neurobiology and Therapeutics
Authors: Yang Waisley , Singla Rohit , Maheshwari Oshin , Fontaine Christine J. , Gil-Mohapel Joana
Published: May 2022

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) encompasses the dysregulation of multiple brain circuits involved in executive function leading to excessive consumption of alcohol, despite negative health and social consequences and feelings of withdrawal when access to alcohol is prevented. Ethanol exerts its toxicity through changes to multiple neurotransmitter systems, including serotonin, dopamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid, glutamate, acetylcholine, and opioid systems. These neurotransmitter imbalances result in dysregulation of brain circuits responsible for reward, motivation, decision making, affect, and the stress response. Despite serious health and psychosocial consequences, this disorder still remains one of the leading causes of death globally. Treatment options include both psychological and pharmacological interventions, which are aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and/or promoting abstinence while also addressing dysfunctional behaviours and impaired functioning. However, stigma and social barriers to accessing care continue to impact many individuals. AUD treatment should focus not only on restoring the physiological and neurological impairment directly caused by alcohol toxicity but also on addressing psychosocial factors associated with AUD that often prevent access to treatment. This review summarizes the impact of alcohol toxicity on brain neurocircuitry in the context of AUD and discusses pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies currently available to treat this addiction disorder.
Impact of Breast Cancer Awareness Month on Public Interest in the United States between 2012 and 2021: A Google Trends Analysis
Authors: Nishimura Yoshito , Acoba Jared D.
Published: May 2022

Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) has a long history of over 30 years, established in 1985 to occur every October, and the National Breast Cancer Foundation now leads the operation. There have been no studies to evaluate the impact of the BCAM on public awareness of breast cancer. We analyzed the impact of BCAM on public awareness of breast cancer in the U.S. from 2012 to 2021 using the relative search volume (RSV) of Google Trends as a surrogate. We also analyzed the impact of Lung Cancer Awareness Month (LCAM) and Prostate Cancer Awareness Month (PCAM) on public awareness of lung and prostate cancer, respectively, to see differences in their effectiveness among the health observances for the top three most common cancers in the U.S. We performed a joinpoint regression analysis to identify statistically significant time points of a change in trend. There were joinpoints around BCAM for “Breast cancer” every year from 2012 to 2021, with a significant increase in the weekly RSVs from 21.9% to 46.7%. Except for 2013 and 2015 for “Lung cancer”, when significant increases in the RSV at 1.8% and 1.2% per week were observed around LCAM, no joinpoints were noted around LCAM or PCAM. These results imply that BCAM has successfully improved the public awareness of breast cancer in the U.S. compared to other representative health observances, likely due to the effective involvement of non-medical industries, influencers affected by breast cancer, and an awareness symbol.
DJ-1 Expression Might Serve as a Biologic Marker in Patients with Bladder Cancer
Authors: Hirano Shuhei , Matsumoto Kazumasa , Tanaka Kei , Amano Noriyuki , Koguchi Dai , Ikeda Masaomi , Shimizu Yuriko , Tsuchiya Benio , Nagashio Ryo , Sato Yuichi , Iwamura Masatsugu
Published: May 2022

The overexpression of DJ-1 protein and its secretion into the bloodstream has been reported in various neoplasms. However, serum levels and the subcellular localization of DJ-1 have not been analyzed in detail in bladder cancer (BC). Our comprehensive analysis of these variables started with the measurement of DJ-1 in serum from 172 patients with BC, 20 patients with urolithiasis and 100 healthy participants. Next, an immunohistochemical study of DJ-1 expression and localization was conducted in 92 patients with BC, and associations with clinicopathologic factors and patient outcomes were evaluated. Serum DJ-1 was significantly higher in patients with BC than in those with urolithiasis or in healthy participants. Immunohistochemically, a cytoplasm-positive (Cy+) and nucleus-negative (N−) DJ-1 pattern was associated with age and pathologic stage. Log-rank tests indicated that the Cy+, N− pattern was significantly associated with overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and cancer specific survival (CSS). In addition, the Cy+, N− pattern was an independent prognostic factor in the multivariate analysis adjusted for the effects of the clinicopathologic outcomes. The investigation of DJ-1 expression might help physicians to make decisions regarding further follow-up and additional treatments.
Phosphatidylserine: The Unique Dual-Role Biomarker for Cancer Imaging and Therapy
Authors: Kaynak Ahmet , Davis Harold W. , Kogan Andrei B. , Lee Jing-Huei , Narmoneva Daria A. , Qi Xiaoyang
Published: May 2022

Cancer is among the leading causes of death worldwide. In recent years, many cancer-associated biomarkers have been identified that are used for cancer diagnosis, prognosis, screening, and early detection, as well as for predicting and monitoring carcinogenesis and therapeutic effectiveness. Phosphatidylserine (PS) is a negatively charged phospholipid which is predominantly located in the inner leaflet of the cell membrane. In many cancer cells, PS externalizes to the outer cell membrane, a process regulated by calcium-dependent flippases and scramblases. Saposin C coupled with dioleoylphosphatidylserine (SapC-DOPS) nanovesicle (BXQ-350) and bavituximab, (Tarvacin, human–mouse chimeric monoclonal antibodies) are cell surface PS-targeting drugs being tested in clinical trial for treating a variety of cancers. Additionally, a number of other PS-selective agents have been used to trigger cytotoxicity in tumor-associated endothelial cells or cancer cells in pre-clinical studies. Recent studies have demonstrated that upregulation of surface PS exposure by chemodrugs, radiation, and external electric fields can be used as a novel approach to sensitize cancer cells to PS-targeting anticancer drugs. The objectives of this review are to provide an overview of a unique dual-role of PS as a biomarker/target for cancer imaging and therapy, and to discuss PS-based anticancer strategies that are currently under active development.
Artificial Intelligence Enhances Diagnostic Flow Cytometry Workflow in the Detection of Minimal Residual Disease of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia
Authors: Salama Mohamed E. , Otteson Gregory E. , Camp Jon J. , Seheult Jansen N. , Jevremovic Dragan , Holmes David R. , Olteanu Horatiu , Shi Min
Published: May 2022

Flow cytometric (FC) immunophenotyping is critical but time-consuming in diagnosing minimal residual disease (MRD). We evaluated whether human-in-the-loop artificial intelligence (AI) could improve the efficiency of clinical laboratories in detecting MRD in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We developed deep neural networks (DNN) that were trained on a 10-color CLL MRD panel from treated CLL patients, including DNN trained on the full cohort of 202 patients (F-DNN) and DNN trained on 138 patients with low-event cases (MRD < 1000 events) (L-DNN). A hybrid DNN approach was utilized, with F-DNN and L-DNN applied sequentially to cases. “Ground truth” classification of CLL MRD was confirmed by expert analysis. The hybrid DNN approach demonstrated an overall accuracy of 97.1% (95% CI: 84.7–99.9%) in an independent cohort of 34 unknown samples. When CLL cells were reported as a percentage of total white blood cells, there was excellent correlation between the DNN and expert analysis [r > 0.999; Passing–Bablok slope = 0.997 (95% CI: 0.988–0.999) and intercept = 0.001 (95% CI: 0.000–0.001)]. Gating time was dramatically reduced to 12 s/case by DNN from 15 min/case by the manual process. The proposed DNN demonstrated high accuracy in CLL MRD detection and significantly improved workflow efficiency. Additional clinical validation is needed before it can be fully integrated into the existing clinical laboratory practice.
Angiopoietin-1 Upregulates Cancer Cell Motility in Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases through Actin-Related Protein 2/3
Authors: Rada Miran , Kapelanski-Lamoureux Audrey , Tsamchoe Migmar , Petrillo Stephanie , Lazaris Anthoula , Metrakos Peter
Published: May 2022

Resistance to anti-angiogenic therapy is a major challenge in the treatment of colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLMs). Vessel co-option has been identified as a key contributor to anti-angiogenic therapy resistance in CRCLMs. Recently, we identified a positive correlation between the expression of Angiopoietin1 (Ang1) in the liver and the development of vessel co-opting CRCLM lesions in vivo. However, the mechanisms underlying its stimulation of vessel co-option are unclear. Herein, we demonstrated Ang1 as a positive regulator of actin-related protein 2/3 (ARP2/3) expression in cancer cells, in vitro and in vivo, which is known to be essential for the formation of vessel co-option in CRCLM. Significantly, Ang1-dependent ARP2/3 expression was impaired in the cancer cells upon Tie2 or PI3K/AKT inhibition in vitro. Taken together, our results suggest novel mechanisms by which Ang1 confers the development of vessel co-option in CRCLM, which, targeting this pathway, may serve as promising therapeutic targets to overcome the development of vessel co-option in CRCLM.
Controlling the Progression of Curvature in Children and Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis Following the Administration of Melatonin, Calcium, and Vitamin D
Authors: Herdea Alexandru , Dragomirescu Mihai-Codrut , Ulici Alexandru , Lungu Claudiu N. , Charkaoui Adham
Published: May 2022

Idiopathic scoliosis affects a severe number of children. Their quality of life and development are also disturbed. Some therapeutic strategies have been developed to control illness progression and to optimize the quality of life. In this perspective, randomized, case-control, interventional study, the impact of using melatonin, calcium, and vitamin D, respectively, on idiopathic scoliosis patients was analyzed. Our preliminary results showed that these drugs positively affected the illness progression quantified by the spine curvature. Patients with idiopathic scoliosis may benefit from a novel treatment by supplementation with vitamin D, calcium, and melatonin.
Detection and Quantification of Forest-Agriculture Ecotones Caused by Returning Farmland to Forest Program Using Unmanned Aircraft Imagery
Authors: Wang Bin , Sun Hu , Cracknell Arthur P. , Deng Yun , Li Qiang , Lin Luxiang , Xu Qian , Ma Yuxin , Wang Wenli , Zhang Zhiming
Published: May 2022

The ‘Returning Farmland to Forest Program’ (RFFP) in China has become an essential factor in land cover changes and forest transition, especially in terms of the ecological processes between two adjacent ecosystems. However, accurately delineating ecotones is still a big challenge for vegetation and landscape ecologists. Acquiring high spatial resolution imagery from a small, unmanned aircraft system (UAS) provides new opportunities for studying ecotones at a small scale. This study aims to extract forest-agriculture ecotones by RGB ultrahigh-resolution images from a small UAS and quantify the small biotopes in 3D space. To achieve these objectives, a canopy height model (CHM) is constructed based on a UAS-photogrammetric-derived point cloud, which is derived from the digital surface model (DSM) minus the digital terrain model (DTM). Afterward, according to the difference of plant community height between abandoned farmland ecosystem and forest ecosystem, the ecotones are delineated. A landscape pattern identified with ecotones and other small biotopes at the fine scale. Furthermore, we assess the accuracy of the ecotones’ delineation based on the transects method with the previous situ work we carried out and quantify the landscape structure using common landscape metrics to describe its spatial and geometric characteristics. Through transect-based analysis at three transects, the overall accuracy of the width of UAS-derived delineation is greater than 70%, and the detection accuracy for the occurrence location is 100%. Finally, we conclude that ecotones extraction from UAS images would also provide the possibility to gain a comprehensive understanding of the entire ecological process of agricultural abandoned land restoration through continuous investigation and monitoring.
Phylogenetic, Microbiome, and Diet Characterisation of Wall Lizards in the Columbretes Archipelago (Spain): Clues for Their Conservation
Authors: Bassitta Marta , Alemany Iris , Pérez-Mellado Valentín , Pérez-Cembranos Ana , Navarro Pilar , Lluch Javier , Jurado-Rivera José A. , Castro José A. , Picornell Antònia , Ramon Cori
Published: May 2022

The Columbretes archipelago consists of a group of small volcanic islets located in the western Mediterranean near the east of the Iberian Peninsula. Four of its islands are inhabited by the wall lizard Podarcis liolepis, whose populations have been considered vulnerable. The purpose of this study was to assess the level of genetic diversity across the archipelago and the possible evolutionary origin of the Columbretes lizard populations. Additionally, we investigated the evolutionary ecology of these populations using a DNA-based metabarcoding approach to characterise both their microbiota and trophic interactions. The genetic results reported very low genetic diversity and corroborated the conspecificity between insular populations and P. liolepis from the mainland (Peñagolosa region). The results of the metabarcoding analyses based on faecal samples were in accordance with an omnivorous ecology, suggesting that specific microbiota communities in the insular populations might be correlated with differences in host ecology and phylogeny. These results are a valuable contribution to the current understanding of the evolution of Columbretes’ lizards and provide important information for conservation management.
Diagnosis of Peritoneal Carcinomatosis of Colorectal Origin Based on an Innovative Fuzzy Logic Approach
Authors: Bejan Valentin , Pîslaru Marius , Scripcariu Viorel
Published: May 2022

Colorectal cancer represents one of the most important causes worldwide of cancer related morbidity and mortality. One of the complications which can occur during cancer progression, is peritoneal carcinomatosis. In the majority of cases, it is diagnosed in late stages due to the lack of diagnostic tools capable of revealing the early-stage peritoneal burden. Therefore, still associates with poor prognosis and quality of life, despite recent therapeutic advances. The aim of the study was to develop a fuzzy logic approach to assess the probability of peritoneal carcinomatosis presence using routine blood test parameters as input data. The patient data was acquired retrospective from patients diagnosed between 2010–2021. The developed model focuses on the specific quantitative alteration of these parameters in the presence of peritoneal carcinomatosis, which is an innovative approach as regards the literature in the field and validates the feasibility of using a fuzzy logic approach in the noninvasive diagnosis of peritoneal carcinomatosis.
Finite-Time Pinning Synchronization Control for T-S Fuzzy Discrete Complex Networks with Time-Varying Delays via Adaptive Event-Triggered Approach
Authors: Wu Xiru , Zhang Yuchong , Ai Qingming , Wang Yaonan
Published: May 2022

This paper is concerned with the adaptive event-triggered finite-time pinning synchronization control problem for T-S fuzzy discrete complex networks (TSFDCNs) with time-varying delays. In order to accurately describe discrete dynamical behaviors, we build a general model of discrete complex networks via T-S fuzzy rules, which extends a continuous-time model in existing results. Based on an adaptive threshold and measurement errors, a discrete adaptive event-triggered approach (AETA) is introduced to govern signal transmission. With the hope of improving the resource utilization and reducing the update frequency, an event-based fuzzy pinning feedback control strategy is designed to control a small fraction of network nodes. Furthermore, by new Lyapunov–Krasovskii functionals and the finite-time analysis method, sufficient criteria are provided to guarantee the finite-time bounded stability of the closed-loop error system. Under an optimization condition and linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraints, the desired controller parameters with respect to minimum finite time are derived. Finally, several numerical examples are conducted to show the effectiveness of obtained theoretical results. For the same system, the average triggering rate of AETA is significantly lower than existing event-triggered mechanisms and the convergence rate of synchronization errors is also superior to other control strategies.
A GoPro Look on How Children Aged 17–25 Months Assess and Manage Risk during Free Exploration in a Varied Natural Environment
Authors: Tangen Steffen , Olsen Alexander , Sandseter Ellen Beate Hansen
Published: May 2022

Research indicates that risky play has positive effects on children’s development, learning and health, and ability to assess and manage risk, but there is a lack of knowledge on how toddlers engage in risky play. This study aims to investigate how toddlers assess and manage risk in free exploration in a varied natural environment and was conducted within an explorative qualitative approach. Observations were collected through head-mounted GoPro cameras while seven toddlers freely explored a natural environment. The results show that toddlers are able to assess and manage risks in challenging natural environments. They develop their own risk management skills and assess risks directly and indirectly. The results also show that practitioners sometimes perform risk assessment/management on behalf of the child and thus override the child’s own actions. The findings suggest implications for an early childhood education and care (ECEC) practice where children even as young as 17–25 months should be allowed to explore challenging environments and learn how to assess and manage risks.
Novel H6 Transformerless Inverter for Grid Connected Photovoltaic System to Reduce the Conduction Loss and Enhance Efficiency
Authors: Desai Aditi Atul , Mikkili Suresh , Senjyu Tomonobu
Published: May 2022

Presence of a transformer in a grid connected photovoltaic system provides galvanic isolation between the photovoltaic panels and the grid. However, it increases the overall cost, makes the circuit bulky and reduces the efficiency of the system. Hence, transformerless inverters have gained significant importance owing to its low cost, light weight and increased efficiency. However, due to the absence of the transformer, there is no galvanic isolation between photovoltaic panels and the grid and there is always a threat of flow of leakage current. In this research paper, an elaborate analysis of H4, H5 and H6 transformerless inverter is carried out. DC side decoupled circuits are studied to eliminate the leakage current. Their performances are compared based on the simulations carried out in MATLAB/SIMULINK software. A novel H6 inverter is proposed by introducing an additional switch in H5 topology. A direct current path is provided in H5 topology during one of the active modes, so that current flows through few switches thereby reducing the conduction losses. Common mode voltage remains constant in the proposed H6 inverter and hence the leakage current is eliminated. The proposed H6 inverter can thus be a promising topology to eliminate leakage current and reduce conduction loss in the transformerless grid connected photovoltaic system.
Data-Driven Calibration of Rough Heat Transfer Prediction Using Bayesian Inversion and Genetic Algorithm
Authors: Ignatowicz Kevin , Solaï Elie , Morency François , Beaugendre Héloïse
Published: May 2022

The prediction of heat transfers in Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulations requires corrections for rough surfaces. The turbulence models are adapted to cope with surface roughness impacting the near-wall behaviour compared to a smooth surface. These adjustments in the models correctly predict the skin friction but create a tendency to overpredict the heat transfers compared to experiments. These overpredictions require the use of an additional thermal correction model to lower the heat transfers. Finding the correct numerical parameters to best fit the experimental results is non-trivial, since roughness patterns are often irregular. The objective of this paper is to develop a methodology to calibrate the roughness parameters for a thermal correction model for a rough curved channel test case. First, the design of the experiments allows the generation of metamodels for the prediction of the heat transfer coefficients. The polynomial chaos expansion approach is used to create the metamodels. The metamodels are then successively used with a Bayesian inversion and a genetic algorithm method to estimate the best set of roughness parameters to fit the available experimental results. Both calibrations are compared to assess their strengths and weaknesses. Starting with unknown roughness parameters, this methodology allows calibrating them and obtaining between 4.7% and 10% of average discrepancy between the calibrated RANS heat transfer prediction and the experimental results. The methodology is promising, showing the ability to finely select the roughness parameters to input in the numerical model to fit the experimental heat transfer, without an a priori knowledge of the actual roughness pattern.
How to Maintain Sustainable Development of China’s Agriculture under the Restriction of Production Resources? Research with Respect to the Effect on Output of the Substitution of Input Factors
Authors: Li Huaicheng , He Qing , Liu Chenming , Dai Wei , Fei Rilong
Published: May 2022

China agricultural development has been facing the problem of resource constraints because its resources per capita such as land and energy are relatively lower than the global average. By applying the provincial agricultural panel data from 2000 to 2015 and fixed effect model based on the translog production function, this paper estimates both output elasticities and substitution elasticities of agricultural inputs, which may provide insights into sustainable agricultural development. The results show that, except for capital, the output elasticities of other production factors are all positive. Energy has always played an important role in agricultural production, whose elasticity in agriculture increased from 0.0203 in 2000 to 0.1694 in 2015. We also find a severe scarcity of land, and the high intensity of energy in the field of agriculture. Moreover, there exists a substitute relationship between all factors, which means that in the short term, one production factor can be employed to replace another to maintain agricultural development. From the empirical results of this paper, some policy suggestions are proposed as follows: it is crucial that more attention should be placed on land and to plan energy use wisely. In addition, on account of the current situation in China, the input of labor force should be stepped up and energy should be used more efficiently to make up for the shortage of land resources. The empirical results and policy suggestions in this paper may benefit the sustainable development of China’s agricultural economy.
Investigation and Stability Assessment of Three Sill Pillar Recovery Schemes in a Hard Rock Mine
Authors: Xu Huawei , Apel Derek B. , Wang Jun , Wei Chong , Skrzypkowski Krzysztof
Published: May 2022

In Canada, many mines have adopted the sublevel stoping method, such a blasthole stoping (BHS), to extract steeply deposited minerals. Sill pillars are usually kept in place in this mining method to support the weight of the overburden in underground mining. To prolong the mine’s life, sill pillars will be recovered, and sill pillar recovery could cause failures, fatality, and equipment loss in the stopes. In this paper, three sill pillar recovery schemes—SBS, SS1, and SS2—were proposed and conducted to assess the feasibility of recovering two sill pillars in a hard rock mine by developing a full-sized three-dimensional (3D) analysis model employing the finite element method (FEM). The numerical model was calibrated by comparing the model computed ground settlement with the in situ monitored ground settlement data. The rockburst tendency of the stope accesses caused by the sill pillar recovery was assessed by employing the tangential stress (Ts) criterion and burst potential index (BPI) criterion. All three proposed sill pillar recovery schemes were feasible and safe to recover the sill pillars in this hard rock mine, and the scheme SBS was the optimum one among the three schemes.
The Distribution and Detection Issues of Counterfeit Lithium-Ion Batteries
Authors: Kong Lingxi , Das Diganta , Pecht Michael G.
Published: May 2022

This paper presents the various ways that lithium-ion batteries are being counterfeited, the problems that counterfeit batteries present, how they enter the consumer market, and the difficulties of detection. Simple external visual inspection of the battery is unreliable. As shown in the presented case study, even for the same brand batteries, their internal structures are different. The current counterfeit prevention methods focus on the manufacturing step. To reduce the risk of counterfeit batteries, device manufacturers and retail stores should characterize the batteries they receive. In addition, related authorities or organizations should set standards to enable a universal battery tracking method along the supply chain to prevent counterfeit lithium-ion batteries from entering the market.