bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Google, Facebook and what else? Measuring the hybridity of Italian journalists by their use of sources
Authors: Delmastro Marco , Splendore Sergio
Published: July 2020

The contemporary media systems present hybrid logics and features that imply an increasingly interdependence among actors, media and communication formats. The hybrid media system approach underlines that legacy news media and non-elite media actors construct flows of news through different media technologies and according to complex temporal structures. A media environment arises in which traditional distinctions between concepts like ‘online’ and ‘offline’, ‘producer’ and ‘audience’, ‘citizens’ and ‘journalists’ become blurred. The emphasis appears to be on change more than continuity, and on difference more than similarity. Although the hybrid media approach is appreciated by numerous contemporary media scholars, hybridity in media often remains an all-encompassing concept and few attempts have been made to measure it. This article assesses the level of hybridity by investigating journalists’ uses of sources. It considers mainly journalists’ use of sources by the medium for which they work (from newspapers to web or radio) and the kinds of news that they produce (hard or soft news, business/finance, tech/science). The assumption is, therefore, that, within a homogeneously hybridized media system, journalists use the same sources regardless of the medium for which they work and the topics with which they deal. This objective is pursued by analysing the data collected via a survey conducted by means of structured interviews with a sample of 1424 Italian journalists between October and November 2016. The findings show that the analytical distinction among platforms for which journalists work still matters in terms of sources. Except for the use of Facebook and Google, journalists have still very defined paths to collect sources according to the medium they work for. The article has implications also for the literature on journalists’ authority and expertise.
Federalism in a Time of Plague: How Federal Systems Cope With Pandemic
Authors: Rozell Mark J. , Wilcox Clyde
Published: July 2020

This article compares and contrasts the responses of Australia, Canada, Germany, and the United States to the COVID-19 outbreak and spread. The pandemic has posed special challenges to these federal systems. Although federal systems typically have many advantages—they can adapt policies to local conditions, for example, and experiment with different solutions to problems—pandemics and people cross regional borders, and controlling contagion requires a great deal of national coordination and intergovernmental cooperation.

The four federal systems vary in their relative distribution of powers between regional and national governments, in the way that health care is administered, and in the variation in policies across regions. We focus on the early responses to COVID-19, from January through early May 2020. Three of these countries—Australia, Canada, and Germany—have done well in the crisis. They have acted quickly, done extensive testing and contact tracing, and had a relatively uniform set of policies across the country. The United States, in contrast, has had a disastrous response, wasting months at the start of the virus outbreak, with limited testing, poor intergovernmental cooperation, and widely divergent policies across the states and even within some states. The article seeks to explain both the relative uniform responses of these three very different federal systems, and the sharply divergent response of the United States.
Public Administration and Creeping Crises: Insights From COVID-19 Pandemic in Italy
Authors: Mascio Fabrizio Di , Natalini Alessandro , Cacciatore Federica
Published: July 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that a new and unforeseen threat easily outmatched political-administrative systems currently in place. Our commentary on the Italian case contributes to the call for public administration scholars to incorporate crisis management into the main research agendas of the field. We focus on regulatory capacity that is needed to tackle the effects of COVID-19. Under crisis conditions of radical urgency and uncertainty, the Italian regulatory policy has been based on temporary, fast-track procedures. The latter have been regularly applied when Italian governments confront with natural disasters and prompt action is ensured by a repertoire of extraordinary measures running in parallel to burdensome ordinary procedures. We discuss the implications of this “two-track” approach for governance capacity and legitimacy. We also extrapolate existing trends and engage with projection of future developments.
Fostering Voluntary Compliance in the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Analytical Framework of Information Disclosure
Authors: Fu Yang , Ma Weihong , Wu Jinjin
Published: July 2020

Although there have been studies investigating the relationship between information disclosure and voluntary compliance behaviors, the terrain of such research is largely fragmented and has been rarely tested empirically in the pandemic contexts. This article reviewed the intervention and control of the pandemic from the perspective of information disclosure with reflections on the experience in China. Furthermore, the authors propose a comprehensive framework demonstrating the overall landscape of information disclosure and voluntary compliance behaviors with highlights on (a) the tensions between privacy and information transparency; (b) the trade-offs between policy rigorousness and compliance behaviors; (c) different sources of information and how they influence public behaviors differently; and most importantly, (d) how the variegated configurations and contextualization of factors result in different influencing and moderating mechanisms between information disclosure and voluntary compliance behaviors. In the end, the authors call for future research and reforms in pandemic control practice to focus on the dynamics of information disclosure, government actions, and public compliance behaviors, which has been largely neglected so far.
The Impact of Government Contracting Out on Spending: The Case of Public Education in New Orleans
Authors: Buerger Christian , Harris Douglas N.
Published: July 2020

In this study, we start with developing a theoretical framework incorporating theories from the contracting literature and adapt them to the unusual case of nonprofit charter schools, which yields several seemingly novel theoretical insights. In contrast to earlier studies, we use a quasi-experimental research design, the synthetic control group approach, to test the impact of contracting on spending for public schooling in New Orleans. Using detailed information on spending, our empirical analysis shows that contracting increases total operating spending. The additional funds were used to increase administrative spending, including both the number and salaries of administrators. Fewer resources were devoted to instruction. Although the number of teachers was largely unchanged, per-teacher salaries and benefits dropped. We utilize the results to complement the theory of contracting with regard to outsourcing based on funding formulas and the mix of inputs chosen by contractors.
Testing the Generalizability of the Event Process Model of Family Violence With an Incarcerated Sample
Authors: Stairmand Meg , Dixon Louise , Polaschek Devon L. L.
Published: July 2020

The event process model of family violence (FVEPM) presents a descriptive theory of a family violence (FV) event from the perpetrator’s perspective. Developed in a community setting, the FVEPM is comprised of four interrelated sections and describes three pathways to FV perpetration (Pathway 1: Conflict escalation, Pathway 2: Automated violence, and Pathway 3: Compliance). This study further developed the FVEPM by testing the generalizability of the model and its pathways with an incarcerated sample of eight men with extensive histories of violent and other offending. Event narratives were gathered during individual semi-structured interviews, and were systematically analyzed using grounded theory methods. Overall, findings suggest that the FVEPM and its pathways can accommodate an incarcerated sample. However, several inconsistencies were found: Event narratives were better represented by splitting Pathway 1 into two sub-types, and no event narratives were assigned to Pathway 3. Implications for FV theories and treatment are discussed.
Replication of Daily and Monthly Freeway Demand Variations for Travel Time Reliability Procedures
Authors: Dehman Amjad , Brijs Tom , Drakopoulos Alexander
Published: July 2020

The sixth edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) incorporates a travel time reliability assessment procedure for freeways and urban streets. Several demand adjustment factors, referred to by demand multipliers, are used to capture traffic demand variation across different days and months. These factors are currently produced by referencing the average daily traffic volume of each day-month combination to a base daily volume. However, practitioners usually perform traffic analyses during specific times of the day, for example, peak periods, off-peak periods, or even peak hours, demand multipliers may therefore replicate demand variation more accurately if they are based on traffic volumes concurred in time intervals narrower than a day. This paper investigates six criteria or periods to derive demand multipliers: full-day, pre AM-peak, AM peak-period, midday, PM peak-period, and post PM-peak. The study explores how these periods affect the scale of demand multipliers and the travel time reliability assessment. It was found that the main statistics of demand multipliers, that is, the mean, range, and standard deviation, greatly differ across the different multiplying periods. If analyzing peak periods on oversaturated corridors, the adoption of daily-volume multipliers was found to significantly overestimate the mean travel time index and planning time index during both the AM and PM peak periods, the accuracy of the travel time reliability estimation was considerably influenced. The study concludes with major findings and recommendations for possible enhancements to the HCM travel time reliability procedure.
Implementation of the AASHTO M 332 Specification: A Case Study
Authors: Gundla Akshay , Salim Ramadan , Shane Underwood B. , Kaloush Kamil E.
Published: July 2020

Over the past 20 years, changes in asphalt binders, the widespread adoption of polymer modified asphalts, and the need to bump asphalt binder grades to consider traffic conditions have exposed the gaps in the AASHTO M 320 specification, and subsequently led to the AASHTO M 332 specification. The State of Arizona initiated an experimental study to explore the possibility of adopting AASHTO M 332 into its binder specifications. In this paper, the specific challenges, technical implications of some key differences in the current Arizona standard compared with the AASHTO M 332 standard, and the approach taken to overcome the differences are explored and documented. Some of the key issues include the shortcomings of the Jnr difference parameter, uncertainty of the pressurized aging vessel (PAV) temperature to be used, effect on the intermediate temperature parameter, |G*|sin δ, and the prospective distribution of asphalt binder grades if the new specification is adopted. Overall, the AASHTO M 332 specification is promising for the State of Arizona with minor changes recommended to prevent changes in binder formulations and influx of asphalt binders inferior to those currently available.
New Low-Cost Transport Planning Method for Small and Medium-Sized Cities in Developing Countries
Authors: Saunders Michael J. , Nakashidze Lasha , Lugovoi Aleksei
Published: July 2020

Traditional transport planning methods are costly and require an advanced degree of understanding not only from the involved transport planning professionals, but also the politicians who must approve the resulting outcomes and transport interventions proposed that are based on these traditional methods. A different approach is proposed for small and medium-sized cities in developing countries that have less technical expertise and fewer financial resources to improve their public transport situation. This approach was trialed in a medium-sized city in West-Asia (Batumi, Georgia) and also in Central Asia, in a larger city (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). The planning interventions suggested in the medium-sized city were validated by an independent consultant at the request of Batumi City planning agency, using traditional transport planning methods, which shows promise for the new low-cost method proposed. With additional validation and research, it may be possible to expand and apply this method to South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and any other area of the world suffering from similar transport planning constraints to these developing regions. If successful, these planning methods could rapidly transform such cities and urban areas to become less carbon intensive and concurrently more efficient and comfortable for public transport users.
United States Pedestrian Fatality Trends, 1977 to 2016
Authors: Schneider Robert J.
Published: July 2020

After decreasing for three decades, U.S. pedestrian fatalities increased by more than 40% between 2009 and 2016, hindering progress toward a future transportation system that produces zero deaths. While many researchers have investigated changes in the last decade, this study takes a long-term perspective and asks: what are the most common characteristics associated with U.S. pedestrian fatalities, and how have these characteristics shifted over the last 40 years? It analyzes all 231,675 pedestrian fatalities recorded between 1977 and 2016 in the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) database. Over 40 years, most pedestrian fatalities occurred in darkness (65%) and involved male pedestrians (70%) and male drivers (67%). They were commonly in roadway lanes (90%), away from intersections (80%), and involved vehicles traveling straight (83%). Most occurred on roadways with speed limits of 35 mph (56 km/h) or higher (70%) and four or more lanes (50%). Trends were compared across eight 5-year periods. Between the earliest and latest periods, there were significant decreases in the proportion of pedestrian fatalities among children younger than 15 (from 18% to 5%) and involving drivers who were drinking (from 15% to 8%). There were significant increases in pedestrian fatalities during darkness (from 63% to 73%), involving large vehicles (e.g., pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs) (from 22% to 44%), on roadways with speed limits 35 mph or higher (from 60% to 76%), and on roadways with four or more lanes (from 41% to 58%). These findings underscore the need for fundamental transportation systems changes to ultimately eliminate pedestrian fatalities.
Cooperative Highway Work Zone Merge Control Based on Reinforcement Learning in a Connected and Automated Environment
Authors: Ren Tianzhu , Xie Yuanchang , Jiang Liming
Published: July 2020

Given the aging infrastructure and the anticipated growing number of highway work zones in the U.S.A., it is important to investigate work zone merge control, which is critical for improving work zone safety and capacity. This paper proposes and evaluates a novel highway work zone merge control strategy based on cooperative driving behavior enabled by artificial intelligence. The proposed method assumes that all vehicles are fully automated, connected, and cooperative. It inserts two metering zones in the open lane to make space for merging vehicles in the closed lane. In addition, each vehicle in the closed lane learns how to adjust its longitudinal position optimally to find a safe gap in the open lane using an off-policy soft actor critic reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm, considering its surrounding traffic conditions. The learning results are captured in convolutional neural networks and used to control individual vehicles in the testing phase. By adding the metering zones and taking the locations, speeds, and accelerations of surrounding vehicles into account, cooperation among vehicles is implicitly considered. This RL-based model is trained and evaluated using a microscopic traffic simulator. The results show that this cooperative RL-based merge control significantly outperforms popular strategies such as late merge and early merge in terms of both mobility and safety measures. It also performs better than a strategy assuming all vehicles are equipped with cooperative adaptive cruise control.
“They Try and Break Us But They Can’t”: The Cultural Ethos Youth of Color Engage and Rely on to Persevere and Navigate Racial Stressors in the U.S. Public Education System
Authors: Henderson Dawn X. , Irsheid Sireen , Lee Anna , Corneille Maya A. , Jones Jesha , McLeod Kirstyn
Published: July 2020

This study aimed to identify factors that contributed to adaptive coping young people of color engage and rely on to navigate racial stressors in the public education system and to persist into college. The study included 20 undergraduate college students between 18 and 22 years who participated in retrospective interviews documenting critical incidents of racial stressors and coping. Participants self-identified as majority Black/African American (68%) and other nationalities including Honduran, Mexican, and Sudanese. A socioecological systems framework guided in-depth coding of interviews and identified college-going cultural ethos, relational ties, sense of agency, and emotional acuity themes. Findings suggest participants existed in an interdependent system of affirmation and validation that geared them toward college aspirations amid racial stressors encountered in the U.S. public education system. Discussion centers on the value of building the capacities of youths’ social ecologies to affirm their identities and validate their presence in the U.S. education system.
The Role of Contagion and Integration in Risk Management Measures
Authors: Filho Jaime de Jesus , Matos Paulo , Fonseca Ronald
Published: July 2020

We add to the discussion on risk management by proposing an innovative measure of Value at Risk (VaR), which relaxes some statistical assumptions. We provide a VaR based on time-varying moments of the best-fitting probability distribution function. This risk measure can capture the cross-effects associated with contagion and integration through the estimation of a multivariate autoregressive moving average–generalized autoregressive heteroskedasticity (ARMA–GARCH). We implement an empirical exercise to account for the risk management of some of the main worldwide financial sector indices of G20 economies. According to Basel back-testing and back-testing that deals with the frequency and conditionality of losses exceeding VaR, this innovative VaR seems to perform better than Basel VaR.
The Relative Role of Sovereign CDS and Bond Markets in Efficiently Pricing Emerging Market Sovereign Credit Risk
Authors: Raja Zubair Ali , Procasky William J. , Oyotode-Adebile Renee
Published: July 2020

Extant literature reports mixed findings on the relative efficiency of credit default swaps (CDS) and bond markets in pricing emerging market sovereign credit risk. Using a more comprehensive data set than analyzed earlier, we reexamine this issue and find that CDS dominate bonds in the price discovery of this risk, an advantage we attribute to the greater relative liquidity of that market. One exception is during the financial crisis, suggesting that when panic hits, sovereign markets price credit risk differently. However, even then, the CDS market has a greater impact on price discovery than the bond market, indicating greater overall efficiency.

JEL Classification: G11, G12, G13, G14, G23
Is Special Education Improving? Case Evidence From New York City
Authors: Stiefel Leanna , Gottfried Michael , Shiferaw Menbere , Schwartz Amy
Published: July 2020

In this study, we assess changes in the education of students with disabilities (SWDs) in the nation’s largest school district, New York City (NYC), over the decade 2005–2015. Specifically, we examine progress toward the twin legislative goals of both the federal Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA) and NYC district goals of (a) including SWDs in general education settings and (b) improving their academic performance. We find that the inclusion of SWDs with their general education peers (GENs) has increased in elementary and middle schools, but decreased in high school. Furthermore, although more SWDs are completing high school, their graduation rate remains considerably below that of GENs (50% vs. 80%). In assessing these patterns, we provide empirical evidence of the changing context of education in NYC before, during, and after policy changes that affected special education.
Reframing the Purpose of Business Education: Crowding-in a Culture of Moral Self-Awareness
Authors: Friedland Julian , Jain Tanusree
Published: July 2020

Numerous high-profile ethics scandals, rising inequality, and the detrimental effects of climate change dramatically underscore the need for business schools to instill a commitment to social purpose in their students. At the same time, the rising financial burden of education, increasing competition in the education space, and overreliance on graduates’ financial success as the accepted metric of quality have reinforced an instrumentalist climate. These conflicting aims between social and financial purpose have created an existential crisis for business education. To resolve this impasse, we draw on the concept of moral self-awareness to offer a system-theoretical strategy for crowding-in a culture of ethics within business schools. We argue that to do so, business schools will need to (1) reframe the purpose of business, (2) reframe the meaning of professional success, and (3) reframe the ethos of business education itself.
COVID-19, Mast Cells, Cytokine Storm, Psychological Stress, and Neuroinflammation
Authors: Kempuraj Duraisamy , Selvakumar Govindhasamy Pushpavathi , Ahmed Mohammad Ejaz , Raikwar Sudhanshu P. , Thangavel Ramasamy , Khan Asher , Zaheer Smita A. , Iyer Shankar S. , Burton Casey , James Donald , Zaheer Asgar
Published: July 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a new pandemic infectious disease that originated in China. COVID-19 is a global public health emergency of international concern. COVID-19 causes mild to severe illness with high morbidity and mortality, especially in preexisting risk groups. Therapeutic options are now limited to COVID-19. The hallmark of COVID-19 pathogenesis is the cytokine storm with elevated levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1β, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), chemokine (C-C-motif) ligand 2 (CCL2), and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). COVID-19 can cause severe pneumonia, and neurological disorders, including stroke, the damage to the neurovascular unit, blood-brain barrier disruption, high intracranial proinflammatory cytokines, and endothelial cell damage in the brain. Mast cells are innate immune cells and also implicated in adaptive immune response, systemic inflammatory diseases, neuroinflammatory diseases, traumatic brain injury and stroke, and stress disorders. SARS-CoV-2 can activate monocytes/macrophages, dendritic cells, T cells, mast cells, neutrophils, and induce cytokine storm in the lung. COVID-19 can activate mast cells, neurons, glial cells, and endothelial cells. SARS-CoV-2 infection can cause psychological stress and neuroinflammation. In conclusion, COVID-19 can induce mast cell activation, psychological stress, cytokine storm, and neuroinflammation.
Reflections on the Post Qualitative
Authors: Mark Lauren
Published: July 2020

In this essay, I describe the possibilities afforded by initial encounters with the post qual, namely through exploring the speculative and shifting from a scholastic mode of reporting toward one of being and experimenting that more closely resembles the experience of living. I trace the relief from reductionism brought by the embracing of live methods and speculative middles, and the reinvigoration that arrives with an agentic responsibility to make space in academia for a dynamic and imaginative inclusion.
Mentalising and conversation-following in autism
Authors: Wu Hsuan-Chen , Biondo Francesca , O’Mahony Ciara , White Sarah , Thiebaut Flora , Rees Geraint , Burgess Paul W
Published: July 2020

Some people with autism spectrum disorders have been observed to experience difficulties with making correct inferences in conversations in social situations. However, the nature and origin of their problem is rarely investigated. This study used manipulations of video stimuli to investigate two questions. The first question was whether it is the number of people involved in social situations, that is, the source of problems in following conversations, or whether it is the increased mentalising demands required to comprehend interactions between several people. The second question asked was whether the nature and pattern of the errors that autism spectrum disorder participants show are the same as typically developing people make when they make an error. In total, 43 typically developed adults and 30 adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder were studied. We found that it was the amount of mentalising required, rather than the number of people involved, which caused problems for people with autism spectrum disorder in following conversations. Furthermore, the autism spectrum disorder participants showed a more heterogeneous pattern of errors, showing less agreement among themselves than the typically developed group as to which test items were hardest. So, fully understanding the observed behaviour consequent upon weakness in mentalising ability in people with autism spectrum disorders requires consideration of factors other than mentalising.
Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM) Intervention on Chemotherapy-Related Cognitive Impairment in Breast Cancer Survivors
Authors: Ding Ke , Zhang Xiuqing , Zhao Jingjing , Zuo He , Bi Ziran , Cheng Huaidong
Published: July 2020

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of Managing Cancer and Living Meaningfully (CALM), which is used to reduce chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment (CRCI), relieve psychological distress, and improve quality of life (QOL) in Chinese breast cancer survivors (BCs). Methods: Seventy-four BCs were enrolled in this study. All patients were randomly assigned to either the CALM group or the care as usual (CAU) group. All patients were evaluated by the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Cognitive Function (FACT-Cog), Distress Thermometer (DT), and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–Breast (FACT-B) before and after CALM or CAU application to BCs with CRCI. We compared the differences in all these scores between the CALM group and the control group and analyzed the correlation between cognitive function and QOL. Results: Compared with the CAU group, the performance of the CALM group on the FACT-Cog, DT, and FACT-B showed significant differences before and after CALM ( t = −18.909, −5.180, −32.421, P = .000, .000, .000, respectively). Finally, there was a positive correlation between cognitive function and QOL in breast cancer patients before ( r = 0.579, P = .000) and after ( r = 0.797, P = .000) treatment. Conclusions: The present results indicated that CALM has salutary effects on the improvement of cognitive impairment and QOL and relieves psychological distress in breast cancer patients, which may be due to a positive correlation between psychological distress and cognitive function or QOL.
Distinct Effects of Motor Training on Resting-State Functional Networks of the Brain in Parkinson’s Disease
Authors: Droby Amgad , Maidan Inbal , Jacob Yael , Giladi Nir , Hausdorff Jeffrey M. , Mirelman Anat
Published: July 2020

Background. Nigrostriatal dopaminergic loss is a hallmark of Parkinson’s disease (PD) pathophysiology, leading to motor Parkinsonism. Different intervention protocols have shown that motor and cognitive functions improvement in PD occur via the modulation of distinct motor and cognitive pathways. Objective. To investigate the effects of two motor training programs on the brains’ functional networks in PD patients. Methods. Thirty-seven PD patients were prospectively studied. All enrolled patients underwent either treadmill training (TT) (n = 19) or treadmill with virtual reality (TT + VR) (n = 18) for 6 weeks. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans (3 T) acquiring 3-dimensional T1-weighted and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data sets were performed at baseline and after 6 weeks. Independent component analysis (ICA) was conducted, and functional connectivity (FC) changes within large-scale functional brain networks were examined. Results. In both groups, significant post-training FC decrease in striatal, limbic, and parietal regions within the basal ganglia network, executive control network, and frontal-striatal network, and significant FC increase in the caudate, and cingulate within the sensorimotor network (SMN) were observed. Moreover, a significant time × group interaction was detected where TT + VR training had greater effects on FC levels in the supplementary motor area (SMA) and right precentral gyrus within the SMN, and in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) within the cerebellar network. These FC alterations were associated with improved usual and dual-task walking performance. Conclusions. These results suggest that TT with-and-without the addition of a VR component affects distinct neural pathways, highlighting the potential for beneficial neural plasticity in PD. Such distinctive task-specific pathways may foster the facilitation of interventions tailored to the individual needs of PD patients. Registered at Clinicaltrials.gov number: NCT01732653.
Experimental investigation of concrete strength curve based on pull-out post-insert method
Authors: Zheng Yuanxun , Kong Weixing , Ji Mengen , Wan Chao , Moshtagh Ehsan
Published: July 2020

As concrete is a building material that is widely used in the field of infrastructure construction, and its quality is related to the quality and service life in infrastructure engineering, concrete strength is an important reference index that reflects the concrete quality. Based on this, two commercial concretes A and B are selected in Henan Province, China, to perform the concrete strength test under same condition curing and standard condition curing in the pull-out post-insert method, cubic compression, rebound method, and drilling core method. The relationships between the different curing conditions, cubic compressive strength, core sample strength, rebound strength, and pull-out force of different commercial concretes are compared and analyzed. Through a comparative analysis and while considering the convenience and accuracy requirements, the strength curves of the two different concretes based on the pull-out post-insert method were fitted and analyzed, and the local strength curve test in Henan based on the pull-out post-insert method was established. The research results provide technical support for evaluating the strength of concrete structures using the pull-out post-insert method, which has important engineering significance for improving the popularize and application of the pull-out post-insert method.
Research on a lunar mobile spiral surface-soil sampler
Authors: Hou Xuyan , Guo Hongwei , Cao Pan , Xue Pingping , Tang Tianfeng , Deng Zongquan
Published: July 2020

This article presents the design of a spiral sampling device to perform lunar soil sampling and packaging, considering the special lunar environment and the physical and mechanical properties of the lunar soil. Combining the mechanical properties of lunar soil and the geometrical characteristics of the sampling device, the contact model between particles and the contact parameters between device and particles were adjusted. Through a discrete element simulation of the sampling process, the particles’ streamline, which is between the screw conveying modules and the sampling bailer, is derived. This result provides a theoretical foundation for the structural optimization of the device. Finally, a sampling experiment in simulated lunar soil verifies the feasibility of the sampling device.
Retrospective analysis of risk factors for deep infection in lower limb Gustilo–Anderson type III fractures
Authors: Ukai Taku , Hamahashi Kosuke , Uchiyama Yoshiyasu , Kobayashi Yuka , Watanabe Masahiko
Published: July 2020

Background

Open fractures are among the most severe injuries observed in orthopedic patients. Treating open fractures is difficult because such patients with infections may require multiple operations and amputations. Furthermore, only a few studies have focused on antibiotic prophylaxis in open fractures and evaluated how to cover lost soft tissue to increase the success rate of reconstruction. We evaluated the risk factors for deep infection in lower limb Gustilo–Anderson (G–A) type III fractures.

Materials and methods

This retrospective study investigated patients who underwent surgical procedures for lower limb G–A type III fractures between January 2007 and January 2017 at our institution. We enrolled 110 patients with 114 lower limb G–A type III fractures (77 G–A type IIIA fractures and 37 G–A type IIIB fractures) who were followed up for at least 2 years. We compared patients presenting infections with those without infections by assessing the following factors: severe contamination, diabetes, smoking, Injury Severity Scale, segmental fracture, location of fracture, G–A classification, damage control surgery, methods of surgery, timing of fixation, combination of antibiotics used, duration of antibiotic prophylaxis, timing of wound closure, and soft-tissue reconstruction failure.

Results

Eighteen fractures presented deep infections. Compared with patients without infections, patients developing infections differed significantly in terms of severe contamination (P < 0.01), G–A classification (P < 0.01), duration of antibiotic prophylaxis (P < 0.01), timing of wound closure (P < 0.01), and incidence of soft-tissue reconstruction failure (P < 0.01). Skin grafting was associated with significantly higher failure rates than muscle and free flap reconstructions (P = 0.04). Treatment with antibiotics was significantly longer in patients with drug-resistant bacterial infections than in those without infections (P < 0.01).

Conclusion

Early flaps rather than skin grafting should be used to cover G–A type IIIB fractures, because skin grafting resulted in the highest failure rate among soft-tissue reconstructions in open fractures. Longer duration of antibiotic use had a significant impact not only on deep infection rates but also on the presence of drug-resistant bacteria. These findings suggest that prolonged use of antibiotics should be avoided in cases of open fractures.

Level of evidence

Level IV retrospective observational study.
Graph-based prediction of Protein-protein interactions with attributed signed graph embedding
Authors: Yang Fang , Fan Kunjie , Song Dandan , Lin Huakang
Published: July 2020

Background

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are central to many biological processes. Considering that the experimental methods for identifying PPIs are time-consuming and expensive, it is important to develop automated computational methods to better predict PPIs. Various machine learning methods have been proposed, including a deep learning technique which is sequence-based that has achieved promising results. However, it only focuses on sequence information while ignoring the structural information of PPI networks. Structural information of PPI networks such as their degree, position, and neighboring nodes in a graph has been proved to be informative in PPI prediction.

Results

Facing the challenge of representing graph information, we introduce an improved graph representation learning method. Our model can study PPI prediction based on both sequence information and graph structure. Moreover, our study takes advantage of a representation learning model and employs a graph-based deep learning method for PPI prediction, which shows superiority over existing sequence-based methods. Statistically, Our method achieves state-of-the-art accuracy of 99.15% on Human protein reference database (HPRD) dataset and also obtains best results on Database of Interacting Protein (DIP) Human, Drosophila, Escherichia coli (E. coli), and Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegan) datasets.

Conclusion

Here, we introduce signed variational graph auto-encoder (S-VGAE), an improved graph representation learning method, to automatically learn to encode graph structure into low-dimensional embeddings. Experimental results demonstrate that our method outperforms other existing sequence-based methods on several datasets. We also prove the robustness of our model for very sparse networks and the generalization for a new dataset that consists of four datasets: HPRD, E.coli, C.elegan, and Drosophila.
Genetic diversity among early provitamin A quality protein maize inbred lines and the performance of derived hybrids under contrasting nitrogen environments
Authors: Obeng-Bio Ebenezer , Badu-Apraku Baffour , Ifie Beatrice Elohor , Danquah Agyemang , Blay Essie Takyiwaa , Dadzie Mustapha Abu , Noudifoulè Gilbert Tchala , Talabi Abidemi Olutayo
Published: July 2020

Background

Information on population structure and genetic diversity of germplasm in a breeding programme is useful because it enhances judicious utilisation of genetic resources to achieve breeding objectives. Seventy early maturing provitamin A (PVA) quality protein maize (QPM) inbreds developed by the IITA- maize improvement programme were genotyped using 8171 DArTseq markers. Furthermore, 96 hybrids derived from 24 selected inbreds plus four checks were evaluated under low-N and optimal environments in Nigeria during 2016 and 2017. Genotypic and phenotypic data of inbreds and hybrids respectively, were analysed to (i) assess the level of genetic dissimilarities and population structure of the inbreds, and (ii) investigate the grain yield performance of derived hybrids under low-N, optimal and across environments.

Results

Genetic diversity among the seventy inbreds was high varying from 0.042 to 0.500 with an average of 0.357. Sixty-six inbred lines with probabilities ≥0.70 were assigned to a single group. The population structure analysis, the UPGMA phylogeny, and the principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) of the DArTseq markers revealed a clear separation of five groups and each followed pedigree records. Clustered inbreds displayed common characteristics including high PVA levels, and drought and low-N tolerance. The top performing hybrid, TZEIORQ 40 × TZEIORQ 26 out-yielded the best hybrid control, TZEIOR 127 × TZEIOR 57 by 8, 3, and 9% under low-N, optimal, and across environments, respectively. High repeatability estimates were detected for grain yield under each and across environments. Similarly, high breeding efficiency of 71, 70 and 72% were computed under low-N, optimal, and across environments, respectively.

Conclusions

The UPGMA clustering, the structure analysis, and the PCoA consistently revealed five groups which largely followed pedigree information indicating the existence of genetically distinct groups in the inbred lines. High repeatability and breeding efficiency values estimated for grain yield of hybrids under low-N, optimal and across environments demonstrated that high productive hybrids could be developed using inbreds from the opposing clusters identified by the DArTseq markers. The 15 top performing hybrids identified, particularly TZEIORQ 40 × TZEIORQ 26 and TZEIORQ 29 × TZEIORQ 43 should be further evaluated for release and commercialization in SSA.
Identification of resistance loci in Chinese and Canadian canola/rapeseed varieties against Leptosphaeria maculans based on genome-wide association studies
Authors: Fu Fuyou , Zhang Xuehua , Liu Fei , Peng Gary , Yu Fengqun , Fernando Dilantha
Published: July 2020

Background

The fungal pathogen Leptosphaeria maculans (Lm). causes blackleg disease on canola/rapeseed in many parts of the world. It is important to use resistant cultivars to manage the disease and minimize yield losses. In this study, twenty-two Lm isolates were used to identify resistance genes in a collection of 243 canola/rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) accessions from Canada and China. These Lm isolates carry different compliments of avirulence genes, and the investigation was based on a genome-wide association study (GWAS) and genotype-by-sequencing (GBS).

Results

Using the CROP-SNP pipeline, a total of 81,471 variants, including 78,632 SNPs and 2839 InDels, were identified. The GWAS was performed using TASSEL 5.0 with GLM + Q model. Thirty-two and 13 SNPs were identified from the Canadian and Chinese accessions, respectively, tightly associated with blackleg resistance with P values < 1 × 10− 4. These SNP loci were distributed on chromosomes A03, A05, A08, A09, C01, C04, C05, and C07, with the majority of them on A08 followed by A09 and A03. The significant SNPs identified on A08 were all located in a 2010-kb region and associated with resistance to 12 of the 22 Lm isolates. Furthermore, 25 resistance gene analogues (RGAs) were identified in these regions, including two nucleotide binding site (NBS) domain proteins, fourteen RLKs, three RLPs and six TM-CCs. These RGAs can be the potential candidate genes for blackleg resistance.

Conclusion

This study provides insights into potentially new genomic regions for discovery of additional blackleg resistance genes. The identified regions associated with blackleg resistance in the germplasm collection may also contribute directly to the development of canola varieties with novel resistance genes against blackleg of canola.
Heritability and genome-wide association analyses of fasting plasma glucose in Chinese adult twins
Authors: Wang Weijing , Zhang Caixia , Liu Hui , Xu Chunsheng , Duan Haiping , Tian Xiaocao , Zhang Dongfeng
Published: July 2020

Background

Currently, diabetes has become one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) levels that are higher than optimal, even if below the diagnostic threshold of diabetes, can also lead to increased morbidity and mortality. Here we intend to study the magnitude of the genetic influence on FPG variation by conducting structural equation modelling analysis and to further identify specific genetic variants potentially related to FPG levels by performing a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in Chinese twins.

Results

The final sample included 382 twin pairs: 139 dizygotic (DZ) pairs and 243 monozygotic (MZ) pairs. The DZ twin correlation for the FPG level (rDZ = 0.20, 95% CI: 0.04–0.36) was much lower than half that of the MZ twin correlation (rMZ = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.62–0.74). For the variation in FPG level, the AE model was the better fitting model, with additive genetic parameters (A) accounting for 67.66% (95% CI: 60.50–73.62%) and unique environmental or residual parameters (E) accounting for 32.34% (95% CI: 26.38–39.55%), respectively. In the GWAS, although no genetic variants reached the genome-wide significance level (P < 5 × 10− 8), 28 SNPs exceeded the level of a suggestive association (P < 1 × 10− 5). One promising genetic region (2q33.1) around rs10931893 (P = 1.53 × 10− 7) was found. After imputing untyped SNPs, we found that rs60106404 (P = 2.38 × 10− 8) located at SPATS2L reached the genome-wide significance level, and 216 SNPs exceeded the level of a suggestive association. We found 1007 genes nominally associated with the FPG level (P < 0.05), including SPATS2L, KCNK5, ADCY5, PCSK1, PTPRA, and SLC26A11. Moreover, C1orf74 (P = 0.014) and SLC26A11 (P = 0.021) were differentially expressed between patients with impaired fasting glucose and healthy controls. Some important enriched biological pathways, such as β-alanine metabolism, regulation of insulin secretion, glucagon signaling in metabolic regulation, IL-1 receptor pathway, signaling by platelet derived growth factor, cysteine and methionine metabolism pathway, were identified.

Conclusions

The FPG level is highly heritable in the Chinese population, and genetic variants are significantly involved in regulatory domains, functional genes and biological pathways that mediate FPG levels. This study provides important clues for further elucidating the molecular mechanism of glucose homeostasis and discovering new diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets for diabetes.
Integrated small RNA and Degradome sequencing provide insights into salt tolerance in sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)
Authors: Zhang Yujuan , Gong Huihui , Li Donghua , Zhou Rong , Zhao Fengtao , Zhang Xiurong , You Jun
Published: July 2020

Background

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) exhibit important regulatory roles in the response to abiotic stresses by post-transcriptionally regulating the target gene expression in plants. However, their functions in sesame response to salt stress are poorly known. To dissect the complex mechanisms underlying salt stress response in sesame, miRNAs and their targets were identified from two contrasting sesame genotypes by a combined analysis of small RNAs and degradome sequencing.

Results

A total of 351 previously known and 91 novel miRNAs were identified from 18 sesame libraries. Comparison of miRNA expressions between salt-treated and control groups revealed that 116 miRNAs were involved in salt stress response. Using degradome sequencing, potential target genes for some miRNAs were also identified. The combined analysis of all the differentially expressed miRNAs and their targets identified miRNA–mRNA regulatory networks and 21 miRNA–mRNA interaction pairs that exhibited contrasting expressions in sesame under salt stress.

Conclusions

This comprehensive integrated analysis may provide new insights into the genetic regulation mechanism of miRNAs underlying the adaptation of sesame to salt stress.
Lung ultrasound score to determine the effect of fraction inspired oxygen during alveolar recruitment on absorption atelectasis in laparoscopic surgery: a randomized controlled trial
Authors: Kim Bo Rim , Lee Seohee , Bae Hansu , Lee Minkyoo , Bahk Jae-Hyon , Yoon Susie
Published: July 2020

Background

Although the intraoperative alveolar recruitment maneuver (RM) efficiently treats atelectasis, the effect of Fio2 on atelectasis during RM is uncertain. We hypothesized that a high Fio2 (1.0) during RM would lead to a higher degree of postoperative atelectasis without benefiting oxygenation when compared to low Fio2 (0.4).

Methods

In this randomized controlled trial, patients undergoing elective laparoscopic surgery in the Trendelenburg position were allocated to low- (Fio2 0.4, n = 44) and high-Fio2 (Fio2 1.0, n = 46) groups. RM was performed 1-min post tracheal intubation and post changes in supine and Trendelenburg positions during surgery. We set the intraoperative Fio2 at 0.4 for both groups and calculated the modified lung ultrasound score (LUSS) to assess lung aeration after anesthesia induction and at surgery completion. The primary outcome was modified LUSS at the end of the surgery. The secondary outcomes were the intra- and postoperative Pao2 to Fio2 ratio and postoperative pulmonary complications.

Results

The modified LUSS before capnoperitoneum and RM (P = 0.747) were similar in both groups. However, the postoperative modified LUSS was significantly lower in the low Fio2 group (median difference 5.0, 95% CI 3.0–7.0, P < 0.001). Postoperatively, substantial atelectasis was more common in the high-Fio2 group (relative risk 1.77, 95% CI 1.27–2.47, P < 0.001). Intra- and postoperative Pao2 to Fio2 were similar with no postoperative pulmonary complications. Atelectasis occurred more frequently when RM was performed with high than with low Fio2; oxygenation was not benefitted by a high-Fio2.

Conclusions

In patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery in the Trendelenburg position, absorption atelectasis occurred more frequently with high rather than low Fio2. No oxygenation benefit was observed in the high-Fio2 group.

Trial registration

ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03943433. Registered 7 May 2019,