bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Exploring the Nutritional Ecology of Stunting: New Approaches to an Old Problem
Authors: Raiten Daniel J. , Bremer Andrew A.
Published: January 2020

Despite a declining prevalence, stunting remains an elusive target for the global health community. The perception is that stunting represents chronic undernutrition (i.e., due to inadequate nutrient intake associated with food insecurity, low-quality diet, and suboptimal infant feeding practices in the first two years of life). However, other causes include maternal–fetal interactions leading to intrauterine growth retardation, poor maternal nutrition during pregnancy and lactation, and maternal and pediatric infections. Moreover, physical, economic, demographic, and social environments are major contributors to both food insecurity and conditions that limit linear growth. Overall, factors representing both the internal and external “nutritional ecologies” need to be considered in efforts to reduce stunting rates. Nutritional assessment requires better understanding of the mechanism and role of nutrition in growth, clear expectations about the sensitivity and specificity of the tools used, and inclusion of bio-indicators reflecting the extent and nature of the functional effect of poor nutrition and environmental factors contributing to human physical growth. We provide a perspective on current knowledge about: (i) the biology and contribution of nutrition to stunting/poor growth; (ii) our current nutritional assessment toolkit; (iii) the implications of current assessment approaches for clinical care and public interventions; and (iv) future directions for addressing these challenges in a changing global health environment.
Oral Manifestations in HIV-Positive Children: A Systematic Review
Authors: Lauritano Dorina , Moreo Giulia , Oberti Luca , Lucchese Alberta , Di Stasio Dario , Conese Massimo , Carinci Francesco
Published: January 2020

Background: The number of pediatric patients affected by HIV still remains high, mainly in developing countries, where the main cause of infection is vertical transmission from the mother. Even today, a large number of these children do not have access to treatment, and, without proper care, they die in the first few years of life. Objective: The aim of our review was to assess the prevalence of oral hard and soft tissue lesions in HIV-positive pediatric patients by identifying the most common manifestations and the overall impact that they may have on the children’s quality of life. Study design: A systematic review of the articles in the English language in PubMed and Scopus was conducted in March 2019 in order to identify the main epidemiological and cross-sectional studies on the topic. Results: Oral diseases are still one of the most common manifestations in HIV-positive pediatric patients, and they often represent the first form in which immunosuppression shows itself. An analysis of the literature shows that candidiasis is the most common oral lesion found in HIV-positive children. A significant incidence of gingivitis and gingival disease is also evident, though not strictly correlated to HIV infection. However, thanks to the introduction of new antiretroviral therapies, the incidence of HIV-related oral lesions is decreasing. Conclusions: An HIV-positive children care program should also include dental protocols, as oral disease negatively influences the quality of life, affecting both functional and social aspects.
Isolation of Naegleria spp. from a Brazilian Water Source
Authors: Bellini Natália Karla , Fonseca Ana Letícia Moreira da , Reyes-Batlle María , Lorenzo-Morales Jacob , Rocha Odete , Thiemann Otavio Henrique
Published: January 2020

The genus Naegleria, of the free-living amoeba (FLA) group, has been investigated mainly due to its human health impact, resulting in deadly infections and their worldwide distribution on freshwater systems. Naegleria fowleri, colloquially known as the “brain-eating amoeba,” is the most studied Naegleria species because it causes primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) of high lethality. The assessment of FLA biodiversity is fundamental to evaluate the presence of pathogenic species and the possibility of human contamination. However, the knowledge of FLA distribution in Brazil is unknown, and to rectify this situation, we present research on identifying Naegleria spp. in the Monjolinho River as a model study. The river is a public Brazilian freshwater source that crosses the city of São Carlos, in São Paulo state, Brazil. Five distinct sampling sites were examined through limnological features, trophozoites culturing, and PCR against internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions and 5.8S rRNA sequences. The results identified N. philippinensis, N. canariensisi, N. australiensis, N. gruberi, N. dobsoni sequences, as well as a Hartmannella sequence. The methodology delineated here represents the first Brazilian Naegleria spp. study on a freshwater system. Our results stress the urgency of a large scale evaluation of the presence of free-living amoebas in Brazil.
Ultrasound for Drug Synthesis: A Green Approach
Authors: Draye Micheline , Chatel Gregory , Duwald Romain
Published: January 2020

This last century, the development of new medicinal molecules represents a real breakthrough in terms of humans and animal life expectancy and quality of life. However, this success is tainted by negative environmental consequences. Indeed, the synthesis of drug candidates requires the use of many chemicals, solvents, and processes that are very hazardous, toxic, energy consuming, expensive, and generates a large amount of waste. Many large pharmaceutical companies have thus moved to using green chemistry practices for drug discovery, development, and manufacturing. One of them is the use of energy-efficient activation techniques, such as ultrasound. This review summarizes the latest most representative works published on the use of ultrasound for sustainable bioactive molecules synthesis.
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) Investigation of the Turbulent Airflow in Slot-Die Melt Blowing
Authors: Xie Sheng , Jiang Guojun , Ye Baolin , Shentu Baoqing
Published: January 2020

In order to explore the forming mechanism of the fiber whipping motion in slot-die melt blowing, the turbulent airflow in slot-die melt blowing was measured online with the approach of the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique. The PIV results visualized the structure of the turbulent airflow and provided the distributions of air velocity components (vx, vy, and vz). Moreover, the PIV results also demonstrated the evolutive process of turbulent airflow at successive time instants. By comparing the characteristics of the turbulent airflow with the fiber whipping path, the PIV results provide a preliminary explanation for the specific fiber whipping motion in slot-die melt blowing.
Optimal Design of Practical Quantum Key Distribution Backbones for Securing CoreTransport Networks
Authors: Pederzolli Federico , Faticanti Francescomaria , Siracusa Domenico
Published: January 2020

We describe two mixed-integer linear programming formulations, one a faster version of a previous proposal, the other a slower but better performing new model, for the design of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) sub-networks dimensioned to secure existing core fiber plants. We exploit existing technologies, including non-quantum repeater nodes and multiple disjoint QKD paths to overcome reach limitations while maintaining security guarantees. We examine the models’ performance using simulations on both synthetic and real topologies, quantifying their time and resulting QKD network cost compared to our previous proposal.
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Land Use/Cover Patterns and Their Relationship with Land Surface Temperature in Nanjing, China
Authors: Wang Ruci , Hou Hao , Murayama Yuji , Derdouri Ahmed
Published: January 2020

Rapid urbanization is one of the most concerning issues in the 21st century because of its significant impacts on various fields, including agriculture, forestry, ecology, and climate. The urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon, highly related to the rapid urbanization, has attracted considerable attention from both academic scholars and governmental policymakers because of its direct influence on citizens’ daily life. Land surface temperature (LST) is a widely used indicator to assess the intensity of UHI significantly affected by the local land use/cover (LULC). In this study, we used the Landsat time-series data to derive the LULC composition and LST distribution maps of Nanjing in 2000, 2014, and 2018. A correlation analysis was carried out to check the relationship between LST and the density of each class of LULC. We found out that cropland and forest in Nanjing are helping to cool the city with different degrees of cooling effects depending on the location and LULC composition. Then, a Cellar Automata (CA)-Markov model was applied to predict the LULC conditions of Nanjing in 2030 and 2050. Based on the simulated LULC maps and the relationship between LST and LULC, we delineated high- and moderate-LST related risk areas in the city of Nanjing. Our findings are valuable for the local government to reorganize the future development zones in a way to control the urban climate environment and to keep a healthy social life within the city.
Generating and Detecting Solvable Chaos at Radio Frequencies with Consideration to Multi-User Ranging
Authors: Beal Aubrey N. , Cohen Seth D. , Syed Tamseel M.
Published: January 2020

High entropy waveforms exhibit desirable correlation properties in radar and sonar applications when multiple systems are used in close proximity. Unfortunately, the information content of these signals can impose high sampling requirements for digital detection techniques. Solvable chaotic oscillators have been proposed to address such issues due to their simple, matched filters, where hardware has been demonstrated with a bandwidth of 10–20 kHz. To extend applications of these systems, we present theory, design, and experimental verification of solvable chaos at 1 MHz using simple off-the-shelf components. The waveforms produced by this system were propagated over a 2.45 GHz RF link and detected with an RLC-based, purely analog matched filter. Further, we show that properties of this special class of chaotic systems can be exploited to yield RF noise sources that are generally advantageous for multi-user ranging applications when compared to conventional techniques. The result is a simple, low-cost, and potentially low-power RF ranging system that requires very little digital signal processing.
A Rectangular Notch-Band UWB Antenna with Controllable Notched Bandwidth and Centre Frequency
Authors: Abbas Anees , Hussain Niamat , Jeong Min-Joo , Park Jiwoong , Shin Kook Sun , Kim Taejoon , Kim Nam
Published: January 2020

This paper presents the design and realization of a compact ultra-wideband (UWB) antenna with a rectangular notch wireless area network (WLAN) band that has controllable notched bandwidth and center frequency. The UWB characteristics of the antenna are achieved by truncating the lower ends of the rectangular microstrip patch, and the notch characteristics are obtained by using electromagnetic bandgap (EBG) structures. EBGs consist of two rectangular metallic conductors loaded on the back of the radiator, which is connected to the patch by shorting pins. A rectangular notch at the WLAN band with high selectivity is realized by tuning the individual resonant frequencies of the EBGs and merging them. Furthermore, the results show that the bandwidth and frequency of the rectangular notch band could be controlled according to the on-demand rejection band applications. In the demonstration, the rectangular notch band was shifted to X-band satellite communication by tuning the EBG parameters. The simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna has an operational bandwidth from 3.1–12.5 GHz for |S11| < -10 with a rectangular notch band from 5–6 GHz, thus rejecting WLAN band signals. The antenna also has additional advantages: the overall size of the compact antenna is 16 × 25 × 1.52 mm3 and it has stable gain and radiation patterns.
Feature Selection for Machine Learning Based Step Length Estimation Algorithms
Authors: Vandermeeren Stef , Bruneel Herwig , Steendam Heidi
Published: January 2020

An accurate step length estimation can provide valuable information to different applications such as indoor positioning systems or it can be helpful when analyzing the gait of a user, which can then be used to detect various gait impairments that lead to a reduced step length (caused by e.g., Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis). In this paper, we focus on the estimation of the step length using machine learning techniques that could be used in an indoor positioning system. Previous step length algorithms tried to model the length of a step based on measurements from the accelerometer and some tuneable (user-specific) parameters. Machine-learning-based step length estimation algorithms eliminate these parameters to be tuned. Instead, to adapt these algorithms to different users, it suffices to provide examples of the length of multiple steps for different persons to the machine learning algorithm, so that in the training phase the algorithm can learn to predict the step length for different users. Until now, these machine learning algorithms were trained with features that were chosen intuitively. In this paper, we consider a systematic feature selection algorithm to be able to determine the features from a large collection of features, resulting in the best performance. This resulted in a step length estimator with a mean absolute error of 3.48 cm for a known test person and 4.19 cm for an unknown test person, while current state-of-the-art machine-learning-based step length estimators resulted in a mean absolute error of 4.94 cm and 6.27 cm for respectively a known and unknown test person.
Objectives of Sustainable Development and Youth Employment in Colombia
Authors: Castillo Cristian , Da Silva Julimar , Monsueto Sandro
Published: January 2020

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) aim to raise quality employment, gender equity in access to employment and increase coverage in education. However, in Colombia, high unemployment rates and the informality of young people are risks of achieving these goals. The purpose of this research is to estimate the determinants of youth unemployment and its relationship with SDGs Objective 8, and linking it to the objectives of quality education and gender equity. Using the microdata of the Colombian household survey, DANE, this relationship is estimated with a methodology of age, period, and cohort, through a Probit/Logit Multinomial model. As a novel result for the Colombian case, it is shown that, although new generations of young people are more educated, education per se is not enough to guarantee them a quality insertion into the labor market, penalizing, above all, young women. Lack of work experience and segmentation of the labor market would help explain this outcome. Employment policies, therefore, to achieve the SDGs must not only invest in education, but also expand dual education programs, considering gender.
Research on the Pricing Strategy of “Internet +” Recycling Platforms in a Two-Sided Network Environment
Authors: Zhu Xiaodong , Li Wei
Published: January 2020

“Internet +” platform recycling is an emerging business model with two-sided market characteristics. How to meet the needs of consumers and manufacturers and how to formulate a reasonable two-sided pricing structure have become challenges faced by recycling trading platforms. Based on the theory of a two-sided market, the pricing mechanism of a monopoly platform and a model of competing platforms are studied. Consequently, a sensitivity analysis and comparison analysis are conducted, giving a pricing decision and the optimal profit of closed-loop supply chain systems. Finally, through a numerical simulation analysis, the impacts of the inter-group network externalities, service differentiation, and the matching efficiency on e-waste recycling prices and profits are obtained. The result indicates that the influences of inter-group network externalities on monopoly platforms and competing platforms are different; thus, platforms should choose pricing strategies according to their own market position. The pricing of the two types of platform is inversely proportional to the time-sensitive coefficient of the two platforms, while it is directly proportional to the matching efficiency. The improvement of the differentiation of service will increase the pricing of the platform for single-homing manufacturers without affecting the multi-homing consumers, and profits will increase accordingly.
Commitment to Human Resource Management of the Top Management Team for Green Creativity
Authors: Huo Weiwei , Li Xianmiao , Zheng Manyi , Liu Yan , Yan Jinyi
Published: January 2020

Drawing on the upper echelons theory and targeted at Chinese coal enterprises, this research examines the interactions of commitment to human resource management on green creativity, and discusses the mediating mechanism of green human resource management (GHRM) between them. The results show that commitment to human resource management indirectly affects the enterprise of green creativity, while GHRM intermediates the process. Environmental regulation positively regulates the relationship between commitment to human resource management (COHRM) and GHRM, as well as the intermediary role of GHRM in the relationship between COHRM and green creativity. This study provides an important reference value for the research of GHRM in China and offers practical enlightenment for the manufacturing and coal industry enterprises to carry out environmental management and achieve sustainable development.
What Does Google Trends Tell Us about the Impact of Brexit on the Unemployment Rate in the UK?
Authors: Simionescu Mihaela , Streimikiene Dalia , Strielkowski Wadim
Published: January 2020

Considering the debate related to the potential effects of Brexit on the UK economy, the aim of this paper is to assess the impact of Brexit on the monthly unemployment rate since the vote for the UK leave from the European Union. This is one of the most important indicators of sustainable development for the country. The novelty of this research is given by the use of microdata to reflect the political instability brought by Brexit, with Google Trends being the tool for collecting the data. Moreover, the data for the four countries that compose the UK are considered (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) in a panel data and multilevel framework. The results are consistent with the analysis of important macroeconomic indicators and indicate that Brexit concerns decreased the unemployment rate in the period June 2016–March 2019, with few arguments being provided for this. The state policies should encourage the investment in order to support the future economic growth and sustainable development of the UK.
Reuse of Excavated Clayey Silt in Cement–Fly Ash–Bentonite Hybrid Back-fill Grouting during Shield Tunneling
Authors: Xu Jun , Xiao Chao , Wu Huai-Na , Kang Xin
Published: January 2020

Excavated soils from tunnel construction need high treatment cost and pollute the environment. To investigate the feasibility of excavated clayey silt reused in back-fill grout, the flowability, stability and strength were taken as measurement indexes of grouting performance. The clayey silt was tested to be reused as substitutes for fly ash, bentonite and sand, respectively. The experimental results indicated that the clayey silt reused as a substitute for fly ash decreased the flowability and strength of grout mixes, and the clayey silt reused as a substitute for bentonite decreased the stability of grout mixes, and neither of them was feasible. The clayey silt reused as a substitute for sand decreased the flowability, but the grouting performance could be improved by adjusting the mix proportion to meet all grouting requirements. After adding the proportion of water to improve the flowability and increasing the cement:fly ash ratio to improve the strength, a scheme of clayey silt reutilization was suggested, which was cement:fly ash:bentonite:clayey silt:water = 280:230:100:680:660. At the end of this paper, the pore structure feature tests, X-ray diffraction (XRD) tests and scanning electron microscope (SEM) tests were performed to analyze the different morphology, microstructure and mineralogy characteristics before and after the clayey silt was reused as a total substitute for sand in grout mixes.
Analysis of the Effect of R&D Planning Support for SMEs Using Latent Growth Modeling
Authors: Seo Ju Hwan , Cho Daemyeong
Published: January 2020

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Korea play a pivotal role in the national economy. However, due to scale limitations, the resources available to SMEs for innovation activities are limited. Therefore, as a means to compensate for the market failure of SMEs, which can be caused by resource limitations, and to ensure sustainable growth, the government supports the SMEs for innovation activities. Korea has fulfilled SME R&D planning support projects since 2002 to efficiently support SMEs’ technology commercialization activities through systematic support in the early stages of the technology commercialization cycle. In order to analyze the effectiveness of SME R&D planning support program, this study conducted latent growth modeling analysis using financial data of three years of SMEs participating in the program. According to the analysis results, SMEs receiving R&D planning support funds have an increase in sales compared to those that do not. In particular, it was analyzed that the sales increase effect of companies supported by R&D funds continuously appeared more clearly. The result of this analysis is that policy support for SMEs can help technological innovation activities necessary for R&D planning, which is an early stage of SME technological innovation. This study is meaningful in that it quantitatively analyzes using latent growth model and the contribution of government support at the R&D planning stage to SMEs’ innovation capabilities and their contribution to performance. However, it has a limitation that it does not address the specific impact path of the planning stage support on innovation capacity and innovation performance.
Multistage Bounded Evolutionary Algorithm to Optimize the Design of Sustainable Photovoltaic (PV) Pumping Irrigation Systems with Storage
Authors: Monís Julián Ignacio , López-Luque Rafael , Reca Juan , Martínez Juan
Published: January 2020

Small off-grid photovoltaic (PV) pumping irrigation systems with storage tanks are an environmentally friendly, cost effective and efficient way of taking advantage of solar energy to irrigate crops, and they are increasingly being used today. However, finding the optimal design of this type of system is cumbersome since there are many possible designs. In this work, a new heuristic method based on the hybrid approach, which uses search space reduction, is developed and adapted to the optimal design for this type of PV irrigation system. At different stages, the proposed approach iteratively combines a bounding strategy based on the application of engineering rules with the aim of reducing the search space with a genetic algorithm to find the optimal design within this search space. The proposed methodology was applied to minimize the cost of a benchmark case study consisting of a real farm placed in the province of Almería (Spain). The proposed methodology was able to provide a faster and an accurate convergence due to the reduction of the search space. This fact led to a reduced total cost of the system. This study proved that the most sensitive variables were the number of modules and the type of pump, whereas the diameter of the pipe and volume of the storage tank remained more stable.
Experimental Study on Physical-mechanical Properties and Fracture Behaviors of Saturated Yellow Sandstone Considering Coupling Effect of Freeze-Thaw and Specimen Inclination
Authors: Chen Liang , Wu Peng , Chen Yanlong , Zhang Wei
Published: January 2020

The effect of freeze-thaw on the physical-mechanical properties and fracture behavior of rock under combined compression and shear loading was crucial for revealing the instability mechanism and optimizing the structure design of rock engineering in cold regions. However, there were few reports on the failure behavior of rock treated by freeze-thaw under combined compression and shear loading due to the lack of test equipment. In this work, a novel combined compression and shear test (C-CAST) system was introduced to carry out a series of uniaxial compression tests on saturated yellow sandstone under various inclination angles (θ = 0°, 5°, 10°, and 15°) and the number of freeze-thaw cycles (N = 0, 20, 40, and 60). The test results showed that the P-wave velocity dramatically decreased, while the rock quality and porosity increased gradually as N increased; the peak compression strength and elastic modulus obviously decreased with the increasing θ and N, while the peak shear stress increased gradually with the increasing θ and decreased with the increase of N, indicating that the shear stress component can accelerate the crack propagation and reduce its resistance to deformation. The acoustic emission (AE) results revealed that the change of crack initiation (CI) stress and crack damage (CD) stress with the θ and N had a similar trend as that of the peak compression strength and elastic modulus. Particularly, the CI and CD thresholds at 60 cycles were only 81.31% and 84.47% of that at 0° cycle and indicated a serious freeze-thaw damage phenomenon, which was consistent with the results of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with the appearance of some large-size damage cracks. The fracture mode of sandstone was dependent on the inclination angle. The failure mode developed from both the tensile mode (0°) and combined tensile-shear mode (5°) to a pure shear failure (10°–15°) with the increasing inclination angle. Meanwhile, the freeze-thaw cycle only had an obvious effect on the failure mode of the specimen at a 5° inclination. Finally, a novel multivariate regression analysis method was used to predict the peak compression strength and elastic modulus based on the initial strength parameters (θ = 0°, N = 0). The study results can provide an important reference for the engineering design of rock subjected to a complex stress environment in cold regions.
How the Selection of Training Data and Modeling Approach Affects the Estimation of Ammonia Emissions from a Naturally Ventilated Dairy Barn—Classical Statistics versus Machine Learning
Authors: Hempel Sabrina , Adolphs Julian , Landwehr Niels , Janke David , Amon Thomas
Published: January 2020

Environmental protection efforts can only be effective in the long term with a reliable quantification of pollutant gas emissions as a first step to mitigation. Measurement and analysis strategies must permit the accurate extrapolation of emission values. We systematically analyzed the added value of applying modern machine learning methods in the process of monitoring emissions from naturally ventilated livestock buildings to the atmosphere. We considered almost 40 weeks of hourly emission values from a naturally ventilated dairy cattle barn in Northern Germany. We compared model predictions using 27 different scenarios of temporal sampling, multiple measures of model accuracy, and eight different regression approaches. The error of the predicted emission values with the tested measurement protocols was, on average, well below 20%. The sensitivity of the prediction to the selected training dataset was worse for the ordinary multilinear regression. Gradient boosting and random forests provided the most accurate and robust emission value predictions, accompanied by the second-smallest model errors. Most of the highly ranked scenarios involved six measurement periods, while the scenario with the best overall performance was: One measurement period in summer and three in the transition periods, each lasting for 14 days.
Glacial Stream Ecology: Structural and Functional Assets
Authors: Füreder Leopold , Niedrist Georg H.
Published: January 2020

High altitude glacier-fed streams are harsh environments inhabiting specialized invertebrate communities. Most research on biotic aspects in glacier-fed streams have focused on the simple relationship between presence/absence of species and prevailing environmental conditions, whereas functional strategies and potentials of glacial stream specialists have been hardly investigated so far. Using new and recent datasets from our investigations in the European Alps, we now demonstrate distinct functional properties of invertebrates that typically dominate glacier-fed streams and show significant relationships with declining glacier cover in alpine stream catchments. In particular, we present and argue about cause-effect relationships between glacier cover in the catchment and temperature, community structure, diversity, feeding strategies, early life development, body mass, and growth of invertebrates. By concentrating on key taxa in glacial and non-glacial alpine streams, the relevance of distinct adaptations in these functional components becomes evident. This clearly demonstrates that further studies of functional characteristics are essential for the understanding of peculiar diversity patterns, successful traits and their plasticity, evolutionary triggered species adaptions, and flexibilities.
Rainwater Harvesting for Sustainable Agriculture in High Water-Poor Areas in the West Bank, Palestine
Authors: Shadeed Sameer , Judeh Tariq , Riksen Michel
Published: January 2020

In most arid regions of the world, the increasing agricultural water supply–demand gap jeopardizes sustainable agricultural development and, as such, undermines local food security. In such situations, unconventional water resource practices such as agricultural rainwater harvesting (ARWH) can be potentially used to tackle agricultural water poverty (AWP). This study aims to integrate AWP and agricultural rainwater harvesting suitability (ARWHS) maps to identify locations where ARWH can be of the most benefit to the West Bank, Palestine. These maps were developed under the GIS environment. The weighted overlay summation process (WOSP), supported by the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), was utilized. Research findings of the AWP map indicate that high to very high AWP covers about 61% of the study area, whereas, the findings of the ARWHS map shows that highly suitable ARWH areas cover 65% of the total study area. Further, 31% of the study area has highly suitable sites for the implementation of proper ARWH techniques. Finally, the combined mapping between the ARWHS map and agricultural lands indicates that high to very high ARWH-suitable areas cover 53% of the rough grazing areas (62% of the entire West Bank area). Thus, the implementation of proper ARWH techniques in such areas is seen to be a sustainable water management option for achieving agricultural sustainability and, accordingly, improved food security in the West Bank, Palestine.
Current Colorectal Cancer in Thailand
Authors: Lohsiriwat Varut , Chaisomboon Nopdanai , Pattana-Arun Jirawat ,   for the Society of Colorectal Surgeons of Thailand
Published: January 2020

This article aimed to summarize the current status of colorectal cancer (CRC) in Thailand. In brief, CRC is the third most common cancer and accounts for 11% of the cancer burden in Thailand. It is the only malignancy with an increased incidence in both sexes in Thailand. Over 10,000 new CRC cases occur annually, and about 40% are rectal cancer. Due to the lack of CRC screening and public awareness, nonmetastatic cancer accounts only for 60%–70% of overall cases. The demand for general or colorectal surgeons outmatches the supply at a ratio of 1 general surgeon to 35,000 individuals. There are about 70 board-certified colorectal surgeons serving Thailand’s population of nearly 70 million. As a result, >25% of cancer patients wait more than 1 month before surgery. Regarding training for colorectal surgery, there are 3 major institutes in Bangkok providing a 2-year fellowship program. Cadaveric workshops are an important part of training – especially in laparoscopy for CRC. Recently, a population-based CRC screening program was launched using a fecal immunochemical test. The Ministry of Public Health of Thailand has established additional platforms for laparoscopy to support the potential detection of early CRC following implementation of this nationwide screening program.
The Effects of Preoperative Pain Education on the Decision to Discharge Patients Following Single-Incision Laparoscopic Appendectomy
Authors: Seo Ji Won , Kim Moon Jin , Yoon Sung-Hoon , Paik Kwang Yeol , Park Sun Min , Kang Won Kyung , Lee Dosang , Lee Chul Seung
Published: January 2020

Purpose: Few studies have analyzed the effects of preoperative pain education on the postoperative decision to discharge. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of pain education and management on the decision to discharge patients after single-incision laparoscopic appendectomy (SILA).Methods: We analyzed 135 patients who had undergone SILA for acute appendicitis between March 2017 and April 2018 in a single medical center. Of these, 72 patients (53.3%) had received preoperative pain education (group 1), and 63 (46.7%) had not (group 2). We compared perioperative outcomes and complications between the groups.Results: Baseline characteristics of sex, age, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologist score, and systemic inflammation factors (neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio, C-reactive protein level) did not differ significantly between the groups. There were no postoperative complications for patients in either group. Perioperative consequences and pathologic findings were not significantly different between the groups; however, length of hospital was significantly shorter in group 1.Conclusion: Preoperative pain education in relation to postoperative pain management influenced the decision to shorten the postoperative hospital length of stay after SILA.
Research of Neural Network Approach of Objects Detection in the Images
Authors: Kvetny R. N. , Masliy R. V. , Kyrylenko A. M. , Shcherba V. V.
Published: January 2020

The article is devoted to the study of object detection in ima­ges using neural networks. The structure of convolutional neural networks used for image processing is considered. The formation of the convolutional layer (Fig. 1), the sub-sampling layer (Fig. 2) and the fully connected layer (Fig. 3) are described in detail. An overview of popular high-performance convolutional neural network architectures used to detect R-FCN, Yolo, Faster R-CNN, SSD, DetectNet objects has been made. The basic stages of image processing by the DetectNet neural network, which is designed to detect objects in images, are discussed. NVIDIA DIGITS was used to create and train models, and several DetectNet models were trained using this environment. The parameters of experiments (Table 1) and the compari­son of the quality of the trained models (Table 2) are presented. As training and validation data, we used an image of the KITTI database, which was created to improve self-driving systems that do not go without built-in devices, one of which could be the Jetson TX2. KITTI’s images feature several object classes, including cars and pedestrians. Model training and testing was performed using a Jetson TX2 supercomputer. Five models were trained that differed in the Base learning rate parameter. The results obtained make it possible to find a compromise value for the Base learning rate para­meter to quickly obtain a model with a high mAP value. The qua­lity of the best model obtained on the KITTI validation dataset is mAP = 57.8%.
Estimation of Factors that Affect the Metrological Characteristics of Target Flow Meters
Authors: Korobko I. V. , Pysarets A. V. , Rak A. M.
Published: January 2020

The article is devoted to the effective system crea­tion for recording liquids and gases flows. There is extremely relevant for creating metering units of fuel and energy resources.
The aim of the work is to determine the influence of the flowed body geometric configuration of the sensitive element and its orientation relative to the direction of the flow on the hydrodynamic flow meter metrological characteristics, as well as determining the instruments’ rational location in the technological line
Based on the example of the hydrodynamic class measuring transducers factors that have a significant impact on their metrological characteristics are determined, the degree of the transducers sensitivity to the measured medium flows asymmetry is revealed. The flows asymmetry is simulated by hydraulic resistan­ces of different spatial configurations (spatial elbow, elbow, double elbow, contraction, abrupt contraction). Simulation modeling of the operation of such devices is performed. Sensitive elements of different Gaussian curvatures such as zero (cylinder), positive (cone) and negative (hollow hemisphere) were studied.
The value of the registration result uncertainty depends on the flow asymmetry and the instrument spatial orientation relative to the vertical axis in the technological network. The obtained results make it possible to clearly determine the instrument installation place in the technological network under conditions of maximum accuracy and minimal impact on the measured medium. This allows effectively using transducers in places of the technological network, taking into account the specific conditions for the metering units creation. There is no ne­cessary to make straight pipeline sections before and after the instruments.
The researches results show that measuring instruments with flow bodies in the shape of a cone oriented the apex toward the flow are the best.
Non-Visual Exposure to Light as a Production Factor of the Influence of Lighting of the Working Area on Labor Productivity and Safety of Workers
Authors: Serikov Ya. A. , Nazarenko L. A. , Serikova K. S.
Published: January 2020

The statistical data on the level of occupational injuries, which is caused by the discrepancy between the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the working area illumination and the established stan­dards, are presented. The characteristics and features of the functioning of the human visual analyzer are described. Characterized by the non-visual effect of light on the human body. Developed recommendations on the organization of industrial lighting, which will provide a reduction in the level of occupational morbidity and industrial injuries.
130 anos de República no Brasil:
Authors: Gasparetto Júnior Antonio , Teixeira Wagner
Published: January 2020

Apresentação do Dossiê 130 Anos de República no Brasil: entre avanços e retrocessos
Reliability Analysis for the Food Manufacturing Industry
Authors: De Carvalho Lino Israel , Santos de Oliveira Rodriguez Esquerre Karla Patricia , Oliveira Sant’anna Angelo Marcio
Published: January 2020

The present study aims to analyze the main reliability measures for packing equipment used in the production process of corn chips. The Anderson-Darling test was used to evaluate the best distribution of the data collected, showing the lognormal distribution as the best model for the data. We used the Minitab v.17 software for the probability functions of some statistical models. The results showed an MTTF indicator at 2.5 days and R(t)=0.47. Furthermore, the packaging equipment depends on maintenance actions having only a 47% chance of not failing when in operation.
Influence of Different Solvents on the Phenolic Compounds Content Grape Bark Extracts (Vitis vinifera) from Syrah Variety
Authors: Lima de Souza1 Euzélia , Sousa Nascimento Talita , De Abreu Barreto Gabriele , Lessa Leal Ingrid , Pereira dos Anjos Jeancarlo , Souza Machado Bruna Aparecida
Published: January 2020

Grape bark from the wine industry still contains significant amounts of phenolic compounds. Specific characteristics of the applied solvents influence the extraction of phenolic compounds directly. This study aimed to evaluate the influence of different solvents obtaining phenolic compounds in Syrah grape barkextracts by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Grape peel extracts were prepared with three different solvents (water, 50%, and 80% grain alcohol), and evaluated using standard curve with 15 phenolic compounds. It was not possible to quantify the phenolic compounds, but the chromatogramssuggest the presence of some of them. The solvent that provided the best interaction with grape peel was 50% grain alcohol.
ALACAĞIN DEVRİNDE TAKAS
Authors: KAHVECİ Nalan
Published: January 2020

TBK’nin 188. maddesine göre “Borçlu, devri öğrendiği sırada devredene karşı sahip olduğu savunmaları devralana karşı da ileri sürebilir. - Borçlu devri öğrendiği anda muaccel olmayan alacağını, devredilen alacaktan önce veya onunla aynı anda muaccel olması koşuluyla borcu ile takas edebilir.” Çalışmamızın amacı, borçlunun hangi koşullarda alacağı devralan kişiye karşı takas beyanında bulunabileceğinin belirlenmesidir. Ancak bu konunun incelenmesinden önce TBK 186 ve 188/I’in uygulama alanı belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Daha sonra borçlunun takas beyanının TBK 186’ya ve TBK 188/II’ye tabi olduğu durumlar ayrı ayrı inceleme konusu yapılmıştır. TBK 188/II hükmü, hem kaynak İsviçre Borçlar Kanununda ve hem de 818 sayılı Önceki Borçlar Kanununda yer alan bir düzenleme olmasına rağmen doktrinde eleştirilen bir hükümdür. Bu sebeple çalışmamızda son olarak TBK 188/II düzenlemesine getirilen eleştiriler, uluslararası hukuk metinlerindeki düzenlemeler de dikkate alınarak incelenmiştir.
CİNSEL SUÇLAR
Authors: ÖZGENÇ İzzet
Published: January 2020

Türk Ceza Kanununda yer alan cinsel suçlara ilişkin düzenlemelerin dayandığı felsefi yaklaşım esas alınmadan uygulama geliştirilmesinin, çeşitli sorunlara sebebiyet vereceği kaçınılmaz bir gerçektir. Doğru bir uygulama gerçekleştirebilmek için, öncelikle, cinsel suçlara ilişkin düzenlemelerin dayandığı felsefi yaklaşımı ortaya koymak gerekir. Bu yaklaşım sorunu dolayısıyladır ki, yüksek mahkeme içtihatlarında cinsel davranışlara yönelik rızanın cinsel suçlar bakımından bir “hukuka uygunluk sebebi” oluşturduğu yönündeki yanlış gerekçelendirmelere devam edilmektedir. Keza, bir kusurluluğu etkileyen ve hatta bazı durumlarda ortadan kaldıran sebep olarak haksızlık hatasına ilişkin kanun hükümlerinin özellikle cinsel suçlar bakımından uygulanmasındaki çekingenlik, ortaya bir dizi sorunlu mahkumiyet hükmü ve hükümlü sorunu çıkarmıştır.
Bu sorunların TCK’nın mevcut hükümleri çerçevesinde geliştirilen içtihatlarla çözümlenmesi mümkün ve gerekirken, söz konusu çekingenlik, yasama faaliyetiyle, yani geçici madde şeklinde de olsa, kanuni düzenlemeyle “çözümlenmesi” çabalarını tetiklemiştir.
Çalışmamızda, özellikle cinsel istismar suçunun mağduru ile failinin bilahare “evlendirilmeleri” bağlamında ortaya çıkan sun’î “sorunun” kanuni düzenlemeyle “çözümlenmesine” çalışılmasının yanlışlığına ve doğru çözüme ilişkin açıklamalarda bulunulmuştur.
RATING OF USERS INVOLVEMENT IN THE RADICAL GROUPS IN SOME SOCIAL NETWORKS
Authors: Barabash N.S. , Zhukov D.S.
Published: January 2020

This issue is an enclosure to the theory of self-organized criticality (SOC) for studying of the radical protest groups of people in some social networks. The SOC theory needs for the value of level of the users involvement in Facebook communities which support the protest moves in Hong Kong in 2019. There were studied about 35 Facebook pages. The period of studying 01.03 to 23.03.2019. This article claims that the communities with the high level of users involvement are based on self-organized criticality. This item also explains some SOC theory approaches according to which a method of pink noise identity is one of the SOC attribute. It is necessary to say that some protest communities work in SOC regime. In spite of the seeming polycentric of the protest network the connection of reflection comes to a few number of Facebook pages which are the source of information and intension of the protesters so they can become the event’s drivers.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF CREATION AND PRODUCTION OF ROTARY PISTON ENGINES FOR UAVS ABROAD
Authors: Kostyuchenkov A.N. , Minin V.P. , Klementyev S.A. , Fedin A.V.
Published: January 2020

The purpose of the study was to analyze the scientific and technological aspects of the development and production of modern rotary piston engines (MRPE) for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) of leading foreign countries and to develop recommendations on the priorities of their development in the Russian Federation. In the course of the study, a significant amount of information on the main, most significant achievements in the creation of aviation MRPE abroad was summarized, analyzed and systematized.
Based on the results of the analysis, the main factors and trends are shown, a number of specific areas most typical for research and development, determining the development of aviation MRPE in the most developed countries, recommendations for the development and production of MRPE in Russia are given. Due to the severity of the problem of import substitution of foreign MRPE for UAVs in the Russian Federation, the results of the study shown in the article are relevant, can be used by interested specialists in solving the problems of development, production and use of MRPE in the interests of defense and security of Russia
BUILD-UP OF ANTI-MISSILE COMBAT CAPABILITIES OF THE US DEFENSE
Authors: Izyumov D.B. , Kondratyuk E.L.
Published: January 2020

The article presents the results of the analysis of the main elements and directions of development of the US missile defense system, evaluation of planned investments in its improvement and expansion. The main scientific and technological solutions for the global missile defense of the United States and NATO member states are considered.
ORGANIZATION OF CONDUCTING OF RESULTS MONITORING OF SCIENTIFIC ACHIEVEMENTS ABROAD
Authors: Logunov A.B. , Olshevsky D.V. , Grenchikhin A.V.
Published: January 2020

The article deals with organizational issues of monitoring the results of scientific activities carried out abroad at the global, national, sectoral and corporate levels.
MOLECULAR BASES OF ATEROGENESIS
Authors: Storozhenko P.A. , Rasulov M.M. , Zhigacheva I.V. , Gukasov V.M. , Myakinkova L.L.
Published: January 2020

The review article provides evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction plays an important role in the initiation and development of atherosclerosis. Such aspects as the mechanism of mitochondrial oxidative dysfunction, the formation of reactive forms of oxygen radicals, the regulation of their formation and their «targets», the mechanisms of vascular dysfunction and atherosclerosis associated with mitochondrial dysfunction, the formation of free radicals and the role of mitochondrial dysfunction with various risk factors for atherosclerosis.