bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Quasi Z-Source Converter Fed Inverter with Active Switched Network
Authors:   Electrical and Electronics Engineering ,Dr.Mahalingam College of Engineering and Technology, India., M Rithi , S Gowri , B Vijayvignesh , D Suganya Devi
Published: May 2023

This paper presents a quasi-Z source converter fed inverter with active switched networks. The converter topology is implemented with the help of capacitor, inductor and diodes connected in such a manner to improve voltage gain. A novel active switching network is developed to improve the harmonic performance of converter. Thus, network designed uses a combination of active switches and diodes to reduce the voltage and current ripple in the quasi-Z source converter. The performance of proposed converter is evaluated using a simulation. The results proves that the proposed converter can achieve a better harmonic performance than a conventional converter.
Introducing an Innovative Technique for the Process of Removal of Space Debris Orbiting Earth
Authors:   Aerospace, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, India., Mitra Shibasish
Published: May 2023

My research paper tries to contribute to the space engineering field, especially in the process of almost complete removal of debris present in space orbiting Earth by providing an innovative idea. This paper deals with the study of the process of atomization, electrostatic nets, unmanned orbiters refuelling from ISS and orbiting Earth in every orbit (LEO, MEO, HEO, GEO). The paper focuses not only on the process of space debris removal but also on the whole process of launching from the ground to orbiting the Earth then ultimately docking to the ISS. According to my paper, this unmanned spacecraft will be launched into space by a rocket at such a location so that it can set its path in low earth orbit and also near the ISS. Throughout its journey, whatever debris comes in the path, the spacecraft will detect and release its electrostatic net of diameter 10 m - 20 m which will fold itself once it gets very close to the debris. Also, the net will produce an electrostatic force so that the debris (every kind of material and of every size) gets attracted towards the net when it comes closer. The debris will then be sent into the spacecraft in the atomization chamber where the materials will be burned in extreme temperature then highly pressurised fluid will be sprayed to the molten material to solidify and transform them into powder. The powder will either be released into space which will cause zero damage to any spacecraft or satellites or most importantly the powder can also be brought to Earth for recycling and manufacturing of new materials. Every time, the ISS will provide fuel to the spacecraft when needed during its mission. According to this process, there is a high chance of having zero space debris by next 10-15 years.
Evaluation of Youth Empowerment and Community Development: A Case Study of Kamunganguzi Sub County, Kabale District, Uganda.
Authors:   Faculty of Business and Management, Department of Public Administration and Development Studies Kampala International University Uganda., Bulhan Samanya , Elias Amanya ,   Faculty of Business and Management, Department of Public Administration and Development Studies Kampala International University Uganda.
Published: May 2023

The youth empowerment and community development in Kamunganguzi Sub-County, Kabale District, Uganda was evaluated. The aim of the study was to find out the Level of the youth empowerment in rural areas, the effect of the informal economy to community development and the extent of the youth empowerment to the National Development in Kabale District. The survey research design was used. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative techniques in collecting and analyzing and presenting the data. The level performance of youth empowerment was; creating employment opportunities among the youth, providing education through payment of fees, training the youth some of the skills, fighting poverty in the community, funding the activities of the youth which are income generating, participated in the formation of policies on health, human rights affecting the youth and capacity building by giving refresher courses to the youth. The factors affecting the effective performance of Youth empowerment were; poor leadership, lack budgeting skills, lack of enough funds, lack of enough funds and the inability to define proper lines of autonomy on policy issues, government interference. Keywords: Youths, Empowerment, Community Development and Kamunganguzi Sub County, Kabale District, Uganda
Non-monetary incentives and employee relations in homes of hope nongovernment organisation (Mbarara district)
Authors:   Faculty of Business and Management, Department of Public Administration and Development Studies Kampala International University Uganda, Bulhan Samanya
Published: May 2023

The purpose of the study was to determine if there is significant relationship between Nonmonetary incentives and staff relations of Kampala International University. A crosssectional survey research design and simple random sampling techniques were used to establish the influence of none-monetary incentives and employees’ relations of teaching staff. Data was analyzed using SPSS descriptive statistics with Likert like scale of 1, strongly agree, 2, agree, 3, undecided, 4, disagree, 5, strongly disagree, showing frequencies and means of the independent and dependent variables. Three none-monetary incentives objective which included, working conditions, opportunities for training and relations, recognition and employees’ relations were computed and also dependent variable, the total mean was divided by the total number of questions to get the mean. The researcher came with the conclusion basing on means of independent variable (2.676) and dependent (2.541) which indicates that there is undecided relationship between nonemonetary incentives and their relations at Kampala International University, that there is a big gap of undecided perception of the employees towards the employers. This necessitates a much readdress of the situation at hand for harmonious relationship. Recommendations were made that, there is a need for the management to improve on the relations of its employees through provision of all necessary working equipment’s, leave, good policy governing training and relations, and ways of encouraging the employees to feel recognized through participation in management which can lead to their relations. Keywords: Non-monetary, incentives and employee relations, homes and NGO.
MEASURING PATIENTS SATISFACTION THROUGH SERVPERF-MODEL IN PUBLIC SECTOR HOSPITALS
Authors: Fawad Khan  , Qamar Afaq Qureshi
Published: May 2023

Aim: Purpose of this existing study is to investigate the quality services through patient satisfaction using SERVPERF-model.

Methods: For this purpose survey approach was used. Cross-sectional primary data was collected form 100 patients of two public sector hospitals. Data was analyzed in SPSS. Mean, standard deviation, correlation and regression were used.

Findings/Results: It was found that there is positive and significant relationship found between predictors and criterion variables. Moreover only reliability factor has significant impact on patient satisfaction.
Correlations of visfatin with severity of acute myocardial infarction, cardiovascular risk factors and atrial fibrillation after percutaneous coronary intervention
Authors: Zhang Huihui , Lei Dingwei , Zhang Miaolin , Tu Sijia , Shen Chaofeng , Lin Fengxian
Published: May 2023

Background: To investigate the relationship between visfatin level in the peripheral blood of patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients and the severity of AMI, cardiovascular risk factors and atrial fibrillation after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: A total of 37 AMI patients diagnosed and treated in our hospital were selected as experimental group, and 35 patients with normal coronary angiography were enrolled as control group. The general pathological data and occurrence of atrial fibrillation after PCI of all the patients were recorded in detail, and the content of indexes related to the severity of AMI and visfatin was measured. Moreover, the correlations of visfatin with the severity of AMI, cardiovascular risk factors and atrial fibrillation after PCI were explored. Results: The differences in the levels of N-terminal pro-Btype natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), myoglobin (MYO) and creatine kinase isoenzyme MB mass (CK-MBm) in the peripheral blood, left ventricular end-systolic diameter (LVEDs), left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVEDV) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were statistically significant between experimental group and control group. Furthermore, experimental group had a remarkably higher visfatin level in the peripheral blood than control group. The visfatin level in the peripheral blood was positively correlated with the severity of AMI and the cardiovascular risk factors, but it was negatively associated with atrial fibrillation after PCI. Conclusion: The visfatin level in the peripheral blood of AMI patients has close correlations with the severity of AMI, cardiovascular risk factors and atrial fibrillation after PCI. This study suggests that measuring the visfatin level in the peripheral blood of AMI patients can provide useful information on the severity of AMI, cardiovascular risk factors, and the likelihood of atrial fibrillation after PCI. Therefore, visfatin may serve as a potential biomarker for risk stratification and personalized treatment of AMI patients.
CORRUPTION AND INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT BASED ON STOCHASTIC ANALYSIS
Authors: Fan Yanan , Heydari Mohammad , Saeidi Mahdiye , Lai Kin Keung , Yang Jiahui , Cai Xinyu , Chen Ying
Published: May 2023

The effects of corruption in urban development and urban affairs management in several south Asian countries are examined through a series of specific, distinctive, and provocative cases for which the data is more readily available. The stories and themes provide a starting point for analyzing corruption as a symptom and factor of underdevelopment, affecting efforts to use and allocate scarce resources for a higher quality of life in cities. It shows how corruption stifles imaginative and creative solutions to urban challenges while increasing future revenue sources. 3Ps has provided a chance for the public section to look at various funding expertise and options from the business sector to prepare the public infrastructure. On the other hand, governments in the source of budget limitations and other competing demands for state sources can’t supply each citizenry’s infrastructure. Besides, the private sector has been considered a better resource manager, and the government should concentrate on policymaking. Where P3s are put to fair use, the advantages are immense. Unfortunately, vulnerable to bribery. This is the case; whatever benefits 3P offers in reducing the urban infrastructure deficit may be eroded due to corruption, which could lead to an increase in construction or facility costs.’ rehabilitation. Secondly, a PPP process marred by corruption could lead to inferior construction substances. One of the fund’s big chunks will be diverted to the public officials’ bribing via the project company. Thirdly, a corrupt process could compromise officials’ integrity that has been charged with accountability for inspecting and approving construction works.
STEP TOWARDS INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM WITH VEHICLE CLASSIFICATION AND RECOGNITION USING SPEEDED-UP ROBUST FEATURES
Authors: Trivedi Janak , Devi Mandalapu Sarada , Solanki Brijesh
Published: May 2023

Vehicle classification is a crucial task owing to vehicles' diverse and intricate features, such as edges, colors, shadows, corners, and textures. The accurate classification of vehicles enables their detection and identification on roads and facilitates the development of an electronic tollcollection system for smart cities. Furthermore, vehicle classification is useful for traffic signal control strategy. However, achieving accurate vehicle classification poses significant challenges due to the limited processing time for real-time applications, image resolution, illumination variations in the video, and other interferences. This study proposes a method for automated automobile detection, recognition, and classification using statistics derived from approximately 11,000 images. We employ SURF-based detection and different classifiers to categorize vehicles into three groups. The Traffic Management System (TMS) is crucial for studying mobility and smart cities. Our study achieves a high automobile classification rate of 91% with the medium Gaussian Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. The paper's main objective is to analyze five object classifiers for vehicle recognition: Decision Tree, Discriminant Analysis, SVM, K-Nearest Neighbor Classifier (KNN), and Ensemble Classifier. In the discussion section, we present the limitations of our work and provide insights into future research directions.
The function of IT integration in better postal delivery service positioning in the e-commerce market
Authors: Zaimović Adnan , Kulaglić Samira , Bučo Aida
Published: May 2023

Growth in e-commerce significantly affects changes in the postal services market. Besides the opportunity for offering various types of electronic postal services, demand for online bought product delivery services is becoming increasingly important. Shopping in the e-commerce market, especially in the B2C segment of this market, necessarily implies the delivery of purchased products. Different user expectations regarding delivery services such as free or lower shipping price, faster delivery, or the possibility to choose a delivery method are gaining importance. It indicates that common inflexible delivery services do not meet customer expectations. Enabling the delivery method to be chosen by the consumer implies various delivery options being offered through the e-commerce „check out“ process which requires an appropriate integration of the IT (Information Technology) system of the postal operator and the e-retailer’s web store. This paper examines customer delivery service preferences and API functions as IT tools for offering various delivery options within the e-commerce „check out“ process, allowing customers to choose delivery options that meet their needs with the aim of better positioning of postal delivery service in the e-commerce market.
European digital guidelines as a basis for the digitalization process in Bosnia and Herzegovina a review of current state
Authors: Avdagić-Golub Elma , Begović Muhamed , Memić Belma
Published: May 2023

The development of information society and broadband Internet is key indicators of social and economic change. They transform the way companies, political systems, and citizens communicate with each other. Today, we talk about various regional and national initiatives to first stabilize and then improve the economies of countries through the development of the Internet and information society. The European Union has recognized information technology as a major factor influencing economic growth and innovation. Among the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 economic strategy is the Digital Agenda for Europe. This shows the importance that information technologies have in the development of the modern economy. In this paper, we analyze the current state of development of the information society and broadband Internet access in Bosnia and Herzegovina. We highlight the necessity of considering mechanisms for the development of broadband access. We analyzed the current situation and progress in the implementation of the Digital Agenda guidelines in EU countries. The aim of this research is to highlight the advantages of using EU strategic guidelines to improve and develop the current situation in the field of broadband Internet in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Warehouse facility energy efficiency assessment model
Authors: Berković Mirza
Published: May 2023

The aim of this paper is to investigate the formal structural elements of the energy efficiency assessment system of a warehouse facility as part of a complex distribution system. The problem of work starts from the fact that there is still no single method of assessing the energy efficiency of warehouse facilities that would unequivocally evaluate the planned and taken corrective measures, given the lack of methods related to such intensive construction. In this paper, we determine the final consumption systems of the warehouse facility and the supply systems of the warehouse facilities. The goal of a successful assessment model is to look at the financial and environmental benefits of individual measures, point out the possibilities of reducing costs and the cost-effectiveness of investing in energy efficiency measures of warehouse facilities. A successful assessment model should create the preconditions for determining clear economic criteria when setting priorities for the implementation of energy efficiency measures. The research findings show that it is possible to significantly improve the procedure for assessing the energy efficiency of warehouse facilities.
Review of algorithms for monitoring urban traffic in smart cities
Authors: Jotanovic Gordana , Stojanov Zeljko , Perakovic Dragan , Jauševac Goran , Brtka Vladimir , Kostadinovic Miroslav , Stjepanovic Aleksandar
Published: May 2023

Urban traffic, as a complex socio technical system, is one of the most challenging issues for monitoring in urban environments. It becomes one of the main concerns in smart cities. Recently, urban traffic monitoring attracted both researchers from academia and practitioners from variety of technical and social sciences. Although several specific solutions have been proposed and implemented in the practice, there is a need to provide comprehensive literature reviews to reveal recent publishing trends, areas of research, and point out possible further research directions. This paper presents a literature review of algorithms for monitoring urban traffic in smart cities, based on the recommendations for conducting systematic literature reviews. The objectives of the presented literature review are to inquire which types of algorithms are used for monitoring urban traffic, and which segments of urban traffic are monitored. Results of the presented review contribute to the general knowledge base on urban traffic and can be used as starting point for further review studies on specific algorithms or areas in urban traffic. In addition, presented results can serve as a starting point in finding possible solutions to specific problems in practice.
A Case of Perianal Fistula Mimicking Pilonidal Sinus
Authors: AĞAOĞLU Nazım , ULUŞAHİN Mehmet , TAYAR Serkan
Published: May 2023

A case of perianal fistula mimicking pilonidal sinus is presented. The fistula was diagnosed with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination and confirmed with examination under anesthesia by retrograde manipulation of the probe at Morgagni crypts and continuity of the tract up to the external opening in in the sacrococcygeal region was confirmed. Tract of the fistula excised down to intergluteal cleft and the rest of the tract curetted. Patient was followed up to 3 months with complete healing of the fistula. In this unusual case we aimed to draw attention to rare presentation of perianal fistula with an external opening located as far as the sacrococcygeal region mimicking pilonidal sinus. Differentiating unusual presentation of perianal fistula from pilonidal disease sometimes is challenging.
Development of the Distributed Leadership Practice for Inclusive Education (DLPIE) Scale
Authors:   Faculty of Education, Monash University, Victoria, Australia, Mullicka Jahirul
Published: May 2023

Inclusive education reform is a continuous process and it requires all the members of a school community to accept that not all children are ready to learn the same thing in the same manner at the same time. Members of a school community also need to act jointly to enhance the schooling system to ensure the educational rights of all the children. This paper reports on a study that aims to develop a scale named Distributed Leadership Practice for Inclusive Education (DLPIE). The purpose of DLPIE scale is to measure the distributed leadership practices at regular schools for inclusive education. A two-stage cluster sampling method was applied to identify a sample of 673 primary school teachers including head teachers to participate in this study. The study indicates that the DLPIE scale successfully meets the standards for reliability. Factor analysis was also conducted to identify the possible factors in the scale. The results of the present study provide the final scale that consists of 20 items. It also provides preliminary evidence to further use of this instrument for the purpose of measuring leadership practice for inclusion in regular schools.
English Bridging Programme for Immigrant Children in Hong Kong: Inclusion or Exclusion?
Authors:   English Language Teaching Unit, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Li Eddy
Published: May 2023

This paper reports on a study designed to examine how the school-based curriculum of a government-funded English bridging programme in Hong Kong respondsto the linguistic needs of newly arrived children with limited English proficiency. By a case study approach with multiple data collection methods, which includethe collection of documents, lesson observations, and interviews, this qualitative studyattempts to offer insight into how an inclusive curriculum is perceived and realized by language teachers in the cultural context. Recommendations on curriculum design and implementation are made, with the aim of better equipping immigrant students with essential linguistics skills and knowledge to participate and achieve in mainstream classrooms.
JADPRO Live 2022: Reaching the Peak of Practice
Authors: Faiman, PhD, MSN, APRN-BC, AOCN, BMTCN, FAAN, FAPO Beth
Published: May 2023

This special issue of JADPRO includes summaries of select educational sessions presented at JADPRO Live 2022.
Revolutionizing Cancer Treatment: Harnessing the Power of Biomarkers to Improve Patient Outcomes
Authors: C. Moore, PharmD, BCPS, BCOP, DPLA, FCCP Donald , S. Guinigundo, MSN, RN, CNP, ANP-BC Andrew
Published: May 2023

There has been an increasing number of approvals for targeted therapies and immunotherapies in oncology in the past decade. This has changed the treatment paradigm for many solid tumors and hematologic malignancies, and therefore the outcomes of patients with cancer. Advanced practitioners should be up to date with advances in cancer biomarker testing and its implications for the use of targeted therapy and immunotherapy to integrate this information into clinical decision-making.
Best Practices in the Management of Infectious Complications for Patients With Cancer: Management of Febrile Neutropenia
Authors: C. Molina, PharmD, BCIDP, AAVHIP Kyle
Published: May 2023

Managing infection in patients with neutropenia is a difficult challenge, as fever is often the only clinical symptom. At JADPRO Live 2022, Kyle C. Molina, PharmD, BCIDP, AAVHIP, of the University of Colorado Hospital, discussed the epidemiology and pathophysiology associated with febrile neutropenia in patients with cancer. He reviewed appropriate treatment settings and empiric antimicrobial regimens for a patient and how to formulate a plan to safely de-escalate and target therapy for patients with febrile neutropenia.
Cancer-Associated Thrombosis: Risk Assessment, Prevention, and Treatment
Authors: Halsema, NP Keri , McMahon, MD Brandon
Published: May 2023

The risk of developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) is four to seven times higher in patients with cancer than in those without. At JADPRO Live 2022, presenters discussed risk factors and assessing patients for VTE, as well as how to protect patients against VTE in both the inpatient and outpatient clinic settings. They reviewed selecting an appropriate anticoagulation treatment, including the choice of agent and duration of treatment for the patient with cancer, and finally the steps needed to assess and treat patients experiencing therapeutic anticoagulation failure.
Corruption et développement économique et social : esquisse d’un droit de l’homme à l’interdiction de la corruption ?
Authors: Mideso Narcisse
Published: May 2023

Face au très faible niveau de mise en oeuvre des droits économiques et sociaux dans la plupart des pays en développement, on ne peut que s’interroger sur les facteurs explicatifs. En effet, si l’effectivité de ces droits est fonction des ressources disponibles, il convient, d’une part, d’évaluer les capacités de l’État à mobiliser ces ressources et, d’autre part, de suivre la manière dont l’État organise l’accès aux biens et services de base par les différentes couches de la population. À un niveau comme à un autre, on pourrait relever de sérieux défis dont les principaux seraient fortement liés à des pratiques de corruption. Celle-ci intervient en amont dans la mobilisation des ressources et, en aval, dans la fourniture des services publics essentiels. Abordant la question de la corruption sous le prisme des droits de la personne — économiques et sociaux, cet article cherche à démontrer l’existence d’un droit de la personne à l’interdiction de la corruption à partir de la double interdiction des pratiques y afférentes en droit international.
The (Limited?) Utility of Brain Age as a Biomarker for Capturing Cognitive Decline
Authors: Tetereva Alina , Pat Narun
Published: May 2023

For decades, neuroscientists have been on a quest to search for a biomarker that can help capture age-related cognitive decline. One well-known candidate is Brain Age, or a predicted value based on machine-learning models built to predict chronological age from brain MRI data. Here we aim to formally evaluate the utility of Brain Age as a biomarker for capturing cognitive decline. Using 504 aging participants (36-100 years old) from the Human Connectome Project in Aging, we created 26 age-prediction models for Brain Age based on different combinations of MRI modalities. We first tested how much Brain Age from these age-prediction models added to what we had already known from a person’s chronological age in capturing cognitive decline. Based on the commonality analyses, we found a large degree of overlap between Brain Age and chronological age, so much so that, at best, Brain Age could uniquely add only around 1.6% in explaining variation in cognitive decline. Next, the age-prediction models that performed better at predicting chronological age did NOT necessarily create better Brain Age for capturing cognitive decline over and above chronological age. Instead, better-performing age-prediction models created Brain Age that overlapped larger with chronological age, up to around 29% out of 32%, in explaining cognitive decline, thus not improving the models’ ability to capture cognitive decline. Lastly, unlike Brain Age, Brain Cognition, or a predicted value based on machine-learning models built to predict cognitive abilities from brain MRI data, provided much higher unique effects. Brain Cognition added over 11% to explain variation in cognitive decline beyond chronological age, leading to around a 1/3-time improvement of the total variation explained. Accordingly, while demonstrating the limited utility of Brain Age, we provided a solution to improve our ability to use brain MRI data as a biomarker for cognitive decline.
Automated composition of Galician Xota—tuning RNN-based composers for specific musical styles using deep Q-learning
Authors: Mira Rodrigo , Coutinho Eduardo , Parada-Cabaleiro Emilia , Schuller Björn W.
Published: May 2023

Music composition is a complex field that is difficult to automate because the computational definition of what is good or aesthetically pleasing is vague and subjective. Many neural network-based methods have been applied in the past, but they lack consistency and in most cases, their outputs fail to impress. The most common issues include excessive repetition and a lack of style and structure, which are hallmarks of artificial compositions. In this project, we build on a model created by Magenta—the RL Tuner—extending it to emulate a specific musical genre—the Galician Xota. To do this, we design a new rule-set containing rules that the composition should follow to adhere to this style. We then implement them using reward functions, which are used to train the Deep Q Network that will be used to generate the pieces. After extensive experimentation, we achieve an implementation of our rule-set that effectively enforces each rule on the generated compositions, and outline a solid research methodology for future researchers looking to use this architecture. Finally, we propose some promising future work regarding further applications for this model and improvements to the experimental procedure.
Check-worthy claim detection across topics for automated fact-checking
Authors: Abumansour Amani S. , Zubiaga Arkaitz
Published: May 2023

An important component of an automated fact-checking system is the claim check-worthiness detection system, which ranks sentences by prioritising them based on their need to be checked. Despite a body of research tackling the task, previous research has overlooked the challenging nature of identifying check-worthy claims across different topics. In this article, we assess and quantify the challenge of detecting check-worthy claims for new, unseen topics. After highlighting the problem, we propose the AraCWA model to mitigate the performance deterioration when detecting check-worthy claims across topics. The AraCWA model enables boosting the performance for new topics by incorporating two components for few-shot learning and data augmentation. Using a publicly available dataset of Arabic tweets consisting of 14 different topics, we demonstrate that our proposed data augmentation strategy achieves substantial improvements across topics overall, where the extent of the improvement varies across topics. Further, we analyse the semantic similarities between topics, suggesting that the similarity metric could be used as a proxy to determine the difficulty level of an unseen topic prior to undertaking the task of labelling the underlying sentences.
Detecting local communities in complex network via the optimization of interaction relationship between node and community
Authors: Wang Shenglong , Yang Jing , Ding Xiaoyu , Zhao Meng
Published: May 2023

The goal of local community detection algorithms is to explore the optimal community with a reference to a given node. Such algorithms typically include two primary processes: seed selection and community expansion. This study develops and tests a novel local community detection algorithm called OIRLCD that is based on the optimization of interaction relationships between nodes and the community. First, we introduce an improved seed selection method to solve the seed deviation problem. Second, this study uses a series of similarity indices to measure the interaction relationship between nodes and community. Third, this study uses a series of algorithms based on different similarity indices, and designs experiments to reveal the role of the similarity index in algorithms based on relationship optimization. The proposed algorithm was compared with five existing local community algorithms in both real-world networks and artificial networks. Experimental results show that the optimization of interaction relationship algorithms based on node similarity can detect communities accurately and efficiently. In addition, a good similarity index can highlight the advantages of the proposed algorithm based on interaction optimization.
Antibiotic use in infants within the first year of life is associated with the appearance of antibiotic-resistant genes in their feces
Authors: Fadeyi Tolulope Elizabeth , Oyedemi Omolanke Temitope , Awe Olushina Olawale , Ayeni Funmilola
Published: May 2023

Background

Antibiotic resistance, an increasing challenge, is not only a national threat but also a global threat. Carriage of resistance genes is not limited to adults alone, various microbiota niches present in the body system of children have been found to harbor bacteria carrying resistant genes, especially, their gut microbiota. This study aims to identify selected antibiotic-resistant genes from the fecal samples of infants and the association of antibiotics use with the occurrence of resistant genes in the infant’s gut.

Methods

A total number of 172 metagenomic DNA samples previously extracted from stool samples of 28 Nigerian babies longitudinally within their first year of life were screened for the presence of ESBL genes (blaSHV, blaTEM, and blaCTX-M), PMQR genes (qnrA, qnrB, qnrS, qepA), ribosomal protection protein tetracycline resistance gene, (RPP) β-lactamase (blaZ), macrolide (ermA, ermB, mefA/E), aminoglycoside modifying enzymes gentR (aac(6′)/aph(2″)) and dfrA genes by PCR. Nineteen (19) of the 28 babies used antibiotics during the study. The association between antibiotic use by the babies within the first year of life and occurrence of resistant genes were analyzed by Spearman rank correlation.

Results

One hundred and twenty-two (122) samples (71%) out of the 172 isolates had antibiotic-resistance genes. PMQR genes were absent in all the samples. Three isolates had blaTEM gene, nine isolates had blaSHV gene, six isolates had blaCTX-M gene and 19 isolates had dfrA gene, 31 samples had tet gene, 29 samples had mef gene, 27 samples had ermB gene, four samples had ermA gene, 13 samples had blaZ gene and 16 samples had aac gene. The babies whose samples had resistant genes used antibiotics in the same months the samples were collected. Interestingly, the 11 babies whose samples had the dfrA gene all used antibiotics in the same months their samples were collected but none of them used trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole antibiotic. The overall correlation matrix of the babies showed a strong association between antibiotic use (AU) and antibiotic use presence of resistance genes (AUPRG) with a coefficient of 0.89. Antibiotic-resistant genes are present in the gut of infants and their occurrence is strongly connected with antibiotic use by infants.
Green Investment and Price Decisions under the Blockchain Technology Era
Authors: H. Hsiao C. , J. Lai J. , C. Hsieh C.
Published: May 2023

Due to the advancement in network technology, consumer behavior has changed gradually. In face of continually developing technology and the upsurge of environmental awareness, the negative environmental impacts generated from the production process and logistics are gradually being valued. In this research, a mathematical model has been built in consideration for a manufacturer with green investments, an online sales platform with blockchain technology, and consumers with environmental awareness in correlation to a supply chain. From the manufacturer’s perspective, decisions on distribution channels, green investment, and pricing will be explored with illustrations of the influence made on the supply chain.
Prediction of Lungs Cancer Diseases Datasets Using Machine Learning Algorithms
Authors: Fatoki F. M. , Akinyemi E. K. , Phlips S. A.
Published: May 2023

Lung cancer is the most common cause of mortality, and it is the only sort of cancer that affects both men and women globally. The primary goal of this paper is to creates a model for predicting lungs cancer using various machine learning classification algorithms like k Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Logistic Regression (LR), and Gaussian Naive Bayes (NB). Furthermore, assess and compare the performance of the varied classifiers using their accuracy in selecting the best algorithms. The lung cancer dataset is publicly available on the Kaggle Machine Learning Repository, thus the implementation phase dataset will be partitioned as 80% for the training phase and 20% for the testing phase before using machine learning methods. In all parameters, the support vector machine performed well.
Analysis of Food Items and Diet Preference in the Stomach of Synodontis obesus (Boulenger, 1898: Siluriformes, Mochokidae) in the Lower Cross River, Nigeria
Authors: Ukpatu John Etitigwun , Asuquo Idopiseabasi Ekpe
Published: May 2023

Analysis of stomach contents of Synodontis obesus (BOULENGER, 1898: SILURIFORMES, MOCHOKIDAE) in the Lower Cross River, Nigeria was carried out with standard methods to assess the food items and diet preference of the S. obesus. A total of 160 individuals of S. obesus (Mochokidae) were collected from October 2022 - January, 2023 at Akan Obio Uraun fishing port in Itu Local Government Area, Lower Cross River, Nigeria from local fishers and used for the study. Analysis of the fullness of stomach showed that 84.4% had food contents while 15.60% were empty stomachs. Samples with one quarter (25%) stomach fullness had the highest value of 28.13% while samples with 100% stomach fullness (18.75%) were more than those with half (50%) stomach fullness (17.52%). Twelve food items were found in the digestive tubes of the species, indicating that the fish has a high level of food selectivity and rich nutrition regime. The percentage frequency of occurrence of the food items with respect to whole sample indicated that plants part accounted for 36.98 %, animal items 21.93%, and palm fruits 16.05%, detritus 9.49%, sand grains 7.30%, insect /insect appendages 6.80%, and unidentified items 1.45 %. The wider food spectrum exhibited by the species revealed trophic flexibility. Food items increased as the fish grows in size but declined at old age indicating transitional diet shift as the fish grows bigger. The fish species is omnivore, feeding on a wide variety of food items including detritus. The results of this study are useful in determining the relationships between food availability, diet favorite and growth of the species in freshwater ecosystem.
Red Room‐Temperature Afterglow Emissions of Polymer‐Based Doped Materials by Phosphorescence Förster‐Resonance Energy Transfer
Authors: Xu Xinyue , Zhang Weijing , Liu Miaochang , Lei Yunxiang , Zhou Yunbing , Guan Yan , Huang Xiaobo , Wu Huayue
Published: May 2023

A newly emerged and attractive strategy to obtain afterglow is the use of the Förster‐resonance energy transfer (FRET) from an energy donor with room‐temperature phosphorescence (RTP) to an energy acceptor with fluorescence. Due to the transfer of energy between molecules with different emissions, it is possible to develop the ultralong and long‐wavelength afterglow materials. However, there are few reports on red afterglow materials with emission wavelengths up to 650 nm because of the difficulty of accurate design of chemical structures. Herein, a series of red afterglow materials with emission wavelengths of 650 nm are constructed using polyvinylpyrrolidone as the host, multisubstituted isoquinolines as the guests, and triphenylamine‐based dicyanomethylene‐4H‐pyran derivative as the energy acceptor. Two‐component host‐guest materials exhibit yellow‐green, yellow, and orange RTP with delayed lifetimes of 205‐301 ms and phosphorescence quantum yields of 5.3‐13.2%, which originate from the guests in a rigid microenvironment provided by the host polymer. Three‐component doped materials exhibit red afterglow with a delayed lifetime of 11‐83 ms and an emission quantum yield of 16.2‐22.1%, which is determined to be delayed fluorescence caused by triplet‐to‐singlet FRET from isoquinolines to dicyanomethylene‐4H‐pyran derivative. This work provides inspiration for the development of doped materials with long‐wavelength room‐temperature afterglow.
Global health measures from a National Down Syndrome Registry
Authors: Santoro Stephanie L. , Haugen Kelsey , Donelan Karen , Skotko Brian G.
Published: May 2023

People with Down syndrome (DS) have a unique medical profile which may impact views of health. We aimed to study the use of global health measures for DS in a national cohort. We prospectively surveyed parents of individuals with DS from the DS‐Connect® registry with validated Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)® instruments of global health. Analyses included use of scoring manuals and the PROMIS® scoring service, descriptive statistics, and t‐tests. We received completed surveys from 223 parents of individuals with DS; previously published limitations of the instrument in this population were shown again. T‐scores differed from the available comparative standardized scores to these measures from PROMIS® reference population on Fatigue (p < 0.001) and Global Health (p < 0.001), but not on Pain Interference (p = 0.41).
Birth trauma simulated by vaginal distention induced possible irreversible changes in the composition of the fiber types in the external urethral sphincter of rats
Authors: Tsumori Toshiko , Tsumiyama Wakako
Published: May 2023

The external urethral sphincter (EUS) is crucial in urinary continence development. Understanding the morphological features of the EUS in female rats after vaginal distention (VD), using a model of birth trauma, would aid in evaluating its functional and metabolic properties. Our recent study demonstrated that the EUS in female rats expresses one slow (type 1) and two fast (types 2A and 2B) myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms. Our preliminary experiment revealed that type 2B isoform expression was markedly reduced in the EUS 4 weeks after VD. Here, we aimed to examine the expression patterns of these three types of MHC isoforms, and an embryonic MHC, a marker of regeneration fibers, in the EUS of rats 3 days and 1, 2, and 8 weeks after VD using immunofluorescence staining. Hence, type 2B fibers were selectively damaged early in post‐VD and did not recover fully later. Muscle regeneration in the sphincter peaked 1 week after trauma using a marker of immature fibers, embryonic myosin heavy chain. Electron microscopy revealed that the EUS of female rats was composed of mitochondria‐rich muscle fibers. Myoblasts or immature muscle fibers were discovered in the sphincter layer 1 week after trauma. These results suggest that myogenesis after VD may not contribute to restoring normal fiber composition in a female rat's EUS.
Radiology for anatomy educators: Success of an online, 2‐day course for radiology training
Authors: Barger J. Bradley , Resuehr David , Edwards Danielle N.
Published: May 2023

Incorporation of radiology training into anatomy education from community college to health professional schools is becoming increasingly popular. However, anatomy educators generally lack training in common radiology modalities, including X‐ray, CT, MRI, and ultrasound. Professional development or continuing education courses provide current and new educators the chance to gain new skills within a short timeframe. Here, a 2‐day, online course for anatomy educators was created. The goals of which were for the participants: to gain basic knowledge of different radiology modalities, recognize normal radiographic images, and apply that information to common diseases or injuries in interactive case studies. Each day focused on different modalities, where Day 1 studied X‐ray, CT, and MRI; and Day 2 studied Ultrasound. A 10‐question pre‐ and post‐test was taken by attendees for each day of instruction on a voluntary basis. Following the completion of the course, attendees were provided a survey to determine their perceptions on course content and knowledge acquired. Most attendees instructed undergraduates at 4‐year universities, though several attendees came from community colleges and high schools. All attendees showed a significant improvement in knowledge from their pre‐ to post‐test scores in X‐ray, CT, MRI, and ultrasound following training. This was also reflected in their survey responses, where attendees felt the course was effective in increasing their knowledge and confidence in radiology. Overall, this study demonstrates the effectiveness of online continuing education courses and the need for more introductory radiology courses for anatomy educators.
Asian Representation on Corporate Boards
Authors: Angele Susan , Barrett Annalisa
Published: May 2023

Susan Angele and Annalisa Barrett are senior advisers with the KPMG Board Leadership Center. In this article, they discuss the importance of board diversity and how that diversity can help improve board decision‐making, financial performance, risk oversight, and sustainability.
Maximizing D&O Insurance Coverage for Delaware Corporations
Authors: Roje Alexandra
Published: May 2023

Alexandra Roje is partner in the Los Angeles office of Lathrop GPM's Insurance Recovery practice. In this article, she discusses the do's and don'ts every decision‐maker needs to know regarding Directors' and Officers' insurance coverage for their organizations.
Feasibility of supervised telehealth exercise for patients with advanced melanoma receiving checkpoint inhibitor therapy
Authors: Crosby Brendan J. , Newton Robert U. , Galvão Daniel A. , Taaffe Dennis R. , Lopez Pedro , Meniawy Tarek M. , Khattak Muhammad A. , Lam Wei‐Sen , Gray Elin S. , Singh Favil
Published: May 2023

Purpose

To determine the feasibility, safety and preliminary efficacy of a telehealth supervised exercise programme in patients with advanced melanoma receiving checkpoint inhibitor therapy.

Methods

A 8‐week non‐randomised feasibility pilot trial utilising a telehealth delivered multimodal exercise programme undertaken thrice weekly with assessments at baseline and post‐intervention. The study was considered feasible if there were no severe or life‐threatening adverse events as a result of exercise, and three or more of the following criteria were met: the recruitment rate was >50%, completion rate was >80%, median programme attendance was >75%, median exercise compliance >75%, and average tolerance was >70%. Preliminary efficacy was assessed for objective measures of physical function (2‐min step test, repeated chair stand test, 30‐s push‐up test, and a modified static balance test) and quality of life (QoL), fatigue and other patient‐reported outcomes were assessed using the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30.

Results

Eleven patients (32–80 years) were included in the study (6 female, 5 male). The recruitment rate was 48%, completion rate 91%, programme attendance 88%, median exercise compliance 82.1% and 84.9% for resistance and aerobic exercise, respectively, and tolerance 88%, with no severe or life‐threatening adverse events as a result of exercise. In terms of preliminary efficacy, physical function significantly improved while QoL was maintained following the intervention.

Conclusion

An 8‐week telehealth exercise intervention is feasible and safe for patients with advanced melanoma and appears to improve physical function while preserving QoL during checkpoint inhibitor therapy.
Faradaic Fenton Pixel: Reactive Oxygen Species Delivery Using Au/Cr Electrochemistry
Authors: Miglbauer Eva , Abdullaeva Oliya S. , Gryszel Maciej , Głowacki Eric Daniel
Published: May 2023

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are an integral part of many anticancer therapies. Fenton‐like processes involving reactions of peroxides with transition metal ions are a particularly potent and tunable subset of ROS approaches. Precise on‐demand dosing of the Fenton reaction is an area of great interest. Herein, we present a concept of an electrochemical faradaic pixel that produces controlled amounts of ROS via a Fenton‐like process. The pixel comprises a cathode and anode, where the cathode reduces dissolved oxygen to hydrogen peroxide. The anode is made of chromium, which is electrochemically corroded to yield chromium ions. Peroxide and chromium interact to form a highly oxidizing mixture of hydroxyl radicals and hexavalent Cr ions. After benchmarking the electrochemical properties of this type of device, we demonstrate how it can be used under in vitro conditions with a cancer cell line. The faradaic Fenton pixel is a general and scalable concept that can be used for on‐demand delivery of redox‐active products for controlling a physiological outcome.