bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Triple Helix Twins: A Framework for Achieving Innovation and UN Sustainable Development Goals
Authors: Zhou Chunyan , Etzkowitz Henry
Published: June 2021

This study invents a Triple Helix of university-public-government for sustainable development, as a complement to the Triple Helix of university-industry-government for innovation. Twinning the two retains the dynamic properties of a tertius gaudens in the framework which addresses environment, resource protection, social change and equality issues. Adding a risk space and raising the “Triple Helix Spaces” concept to the world level are also proposed as a methodology to fulfill related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through joint projects transcending national borders. A project for collaborative world region development of advanced solar photovoltaics is then suggested as an exemplar. Achieving the UN SDGs requires education institutions, governments, non-government organizations and individuals to commit to collaborations, adopting dynamically interacting triple helices to unite innovative development and sustainable development. Debate over expanding the Triple Helix model has focused on whether the fourth and fifth helix might improve or disrupt the triadic model. Although a four-actor system is far away from satisfaction, an expanded model is required to incorporate the critical issues of reconciling innovative and sustainable development. Harnessed together, the Triple Helix twins provide a framework for SDGs attainment.
An Approach to Sustainability Risk Assessment in Industrial Assets
Authors: García-Gómez Fco. Javier , Rosales-Prieto Víctor Fco. , Sánchez-Lite Alberto , Fuentes-Bargues José Luis , González-Gaya Cristina
Published: June 2021

Asset management, as a global process through which value is added to a company, is a managerial model that involves major changes in strategies, technologies, and resources; risk management; and a change in the attitude of the people involved. The growing commitment of companies to sustainability results in them applying this approach to all their activities. For this reason, it is relevant to develop sustainability risk assessment procedures in industrial assets. This paper presents a methodological framework for the inclusion of sustainability aspects in the risk management of industrial assets. This approach presents a procedure to provide general criteria, methodology, and essential mandatory requirements to be adopted for the identification, analysis, and evaluation of sustainability aspects, impacts, and risks related to assets owned and managed by an industrial company. The proposed procedure is based on ISO 55,000 and ISO 31,000 standards and was developed following three steps: a preliminary study, identification of sustainability aspects and sustainability risks/opportunities, and impact assessment and residual risks management. Our results could serve as a model that facilitates the improvement of sustainability analysis risks in industrial assets and could be used as a basis for future developments in the application of the standards to optimize management of these assets.
Exploratory Analysis of Urban Sustainability by Applying a Strategy-Based Tailor-Made Weighting Method
Authors: Buzási Attila , Jäger Bettina Szimonetta
Published: June 2021

The Hungarian cities are rarely analyzed in current urban studies, especially in terms of urban sustainability. The present study aimed at analyzing the Hungarian county seats by comparing them through economic, social, and environmental indicators, which cover a broad spectrum of urban sustainability by applying independent indicators. Altogether 30 variables have been involved from 2014 and 2018–2019 to reveal the regional pattern of urban sustainability among the Hungarian county seats by applying the strategy-based tailor-made (SBTM) weighting methodology. It takes into consideration the different emphases regarding local aspects and main issues of sustainability through the analysis of integrated settlement development strategies, which is a unique method compared to current approaches. After the evaluation of the results, it can be stated that the east–west axis was revealed regarding weighted and unweighted sustainability indices; furthermore, a highly heterogeneous spatial trend can be drawn with regard to the relative changes in urban sustainability performance without clearly defined regional clusters. This analysis can fill the current literature gap by analyzing the Hungarian context and elaborating an easy-to-use weighting methodology based on the cities’ development strategies which contribute to improving the variety of planning and decision-making tools in the field of urban development.
The Spatial Characteristics of Sustainable Development for Agricultural Products E-Commerce at County-Level: Based on the Empirical Analysis of China
Authors: Chen Zhiheng , Shu Wen , Guo Hongpeng , Pan Chulin
Published: June 2021

This paper used the sectional data of Chinese counties to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of sustainable development of e-commerce for agricultural products in China at the county-level. The standard deviation ellipses and Moran’s index were used to research this subject. Then, by constructing spatial measurement models, the spatial spillover effects and influencing factors of the development of county-level agricultural products e-commerce were analyzed from economic development, economic structure, economic vitality, and agricultural development. The results show that: (1) the top 100 counties of agricultural products e-commerce mainly concentrate in southeastern China, spreading along the northeast and southwest; (2) the county-level agricultural products e-commerce shows significant negative spatial spillover effects; (3) the level of economic development and public services have a positive impact on the development of county-level agricultural products e-commerce, while the level of industrial development shows a negative correlation; (4) the level of agricultural development and industrial development have a significant negative external effect on the development of agricultural products e-commerce. This study is of great significance to promote the sustainable development of agricultural products e-commerce, the process of rural urbanization and the optimization of county industrial patterns.
Methodology of Urban Safety and Security Assessment Based on the Overall Risk Management Perspective
Authors: Chen Guohua , Yang Qin , Chen Xuexi , Huang Kongxing , Zeng Tao , Yuan Zhi
Published: June 2021

With the expansion of urbanization, the interaction between different hazards has become increasing evident. In order to promote sustainable development of urban areas, it is particularly important to systematically analyze and evaluate urban safety and security under the coupling effect of multi-hazard risks. In response to the practical needs of urban safety and security assessment practice, this paper constructs an application-oriented urban safety and security quantitative assessment methodology. First, following the comprehensive risk management perspective, the logical relationship between urban safety and security elements is analyzed. It proposes “comprehensive screening, key analysis, and comprehensive evaluation” as a new assessment concept. Second, a system of urban safety and security assessment methods consisting of a weighting method and a function model is constructed. The function model includes two sub-models: a quantitative risk assessment model that considers triggering effects and a quantitative assessment model of emergency capacity that considers the evolution of emergencies. Finally, the method was applied to a coastal urban area in south China. The case study proved that the proposed method system can not only effectively evaluate various disaster risks and emergency capacity but also provide evidence for the formulation and implementation of urban safety and security management measures.
The Importance of Water and Climate-Related Aspects in the Quality of Urban Life Assessment
Authors: Ptak-Wojciechowska Agnieszka , Januchta-Szostak Anna , Gawlak Agata , Matuszewska Magda
Published: June 2021

Global challenges such as urbanization, aging societies, climate change, and environmental and water crises are becoming increasingly important in terms of the impact they might have on the quality of life (QoL) in cities. Appraisal instruments for QoL assessment, such as rankings and guides, should therefore include these aspects. The aim of this research was to verify the significance of water and climate-related aspects in assessment tools. A comparative analysis of 24 selected QoL assessment tools shows to what extent these aspects are included in the domains, criteria, and indicators proposed in the instruments. The method of verification is a comparison of the position of winning cities in QoL rankings and city resilience rankings. The results show that water and climate-related aspects are still underestimated in the QoL rankings and guides, and only a few cities with the highest quality of life ranked highly in sustainability and climate resiliency ratings. Our results suggest that the tools for the evaluation and comparison of cities need remodeling, taking into account the most important global risks and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in order to create aging-friendly and climate-neutral cities.
The Role of Performance and Environmental Sustainability Indicators in Hotel Competitiveness
Authors: Duric Zorica , Potočnik Topler Jasna
Published: June 2021

Environmental protection and environmental sustainability are becoming increasingly important factors in the hotel business and their competitiveness, in a market that brings numerous benefits. Environmental sustainability is, increasingly, considered one of the most important functions of the hotel business, as well as communication and marketing, which attracts a larger number of guests. Some of the key aspects of hotel environmental sustainability are performance and environmental sustainability indicators, as well as hotel management of environmental performance in order to establish efficiency in that process. The principal question arising is how environmentally sustainable business affects hotel performance, and what are the most important indicators of the environmental hotel business. The aim of this article is to offer an insight into, and analysis of, performance and indicators of the environmental sustainability of hotels through the relevant literature. A case study from Serbia is used to point out the complexity and the significance of these indicators in the hotel business, as well as to emphasise the importance of environmental reports in the case of Serbia. The findings of our study are significant because they help hotel managers identify new opportunities for employing more sustainable processes for saving resources.
Evaluation of Livelihood Sustainability in the Context of Natural Forest Land Degradation Vulnerability: A Case Study of Five Counties in China
Authors: Lin Yuguo , He Chao
Published: June 2021

Land degradation, especially natural forest land degradation (NFLD), is a severe environmental concern in China. This natural disaster itself and its derivative control policies have caused some impacts on surrounding farmers’ livelihood level and strategies, but the literature on the sustainable livelihood of different households in NFLD vulnerability is limited, and there is an urgent need to bridge the gap and conduct studies on the sustainable livelihood of Changting, Libo, Lixian, Menghai and Wuxi, the typical NFLD-prone areas in China. A new livelihood sustainability index (LSI) including livelihood asset, livelihood strategy and sustainability engagement is constructed to assess the basic situation. The results showed that: (1) The overall LSI of five NFLD areas was not high, and the social, financial and natural assets, in particular, were relatively low. A disparity was found among the five areas, and the rank sequence of the LSI value was sorted in a descending order: Changting > Menghai > Libo > Lixian > Wuxi. (2) In detail, farmers in Changting had the relative highest LSI because of the inherent high value of livelihood assets, which constrain the scores of the livelihood strategy and sustainability engagement. (3) Households in Libo, Menghai and Lixian had middle level LSI scores. The relative low livelihood assets in Libo and Menghai drove parts of local farmers to carry out off-farm/forestry employment, leading to high scores of livelihood strategy, while farmers in Lixian had lower livelihood diversification scores and higher sustainability engagement due to their working content for the local forestry bureau. (4) The low scores of the livelihood asset and sustainability engagement restricted farmers in Wuxi. A discussion of LSI in the NFLD vulnerability was conducted to determine the characteristics and analyze the reasons. Accordingly, targeted policy recommendations were proposed to realize a sustainable livelihood in NFLD areas.
Combined Use of Endophytic Bacteria and Pre-Sowing Treatment of Thiamine Mitigates the Adverse Effects of Drought Stress in Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cultivars
Authors: Amjad Syeda Fasiha , Mansoora Nida , Yaseen Samia , Kamal Afifa , Butt Beenish , Matloob Humera , Alamri Saad A. M. , Alrumman Sulaiman A. , Eid Ebrahem M. , Shahbaz Muhammad
Published: June 2021

On a global scale, wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is a widely cultivated crop among all cereals. Increasing pollution, population expansion, socio-economic development, ecological and industrial policies have induced changes in overall climatic attributes. The impact of these factors on agriculture dynamics has led to various biotic and abiotic stresses, i.e., significant decline in rainfall, directly affect sustainable agriculture. Increasing abiotic stresses have a direct negative effect on worldwide crop production. More promising and improved stress-tolerant strategies that can help to feed the increasing global population are required. A laboratory experiment was performed on two of the latest wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) genotypes (Akbar 2019 and Anaj 2017) from Punjab Pakistan, to determine the influence of seed priming with thiamine (vitamin B1) along with soil inoculation of Endophytic bacterial strains to mitigate the effects of drought stress at different degrees. Results revealed that thiamine helped in the remote germination; seeds of Anaj 2017 germinated within 16 hours while Akbar 2019 germinated after one day. Overall growth parameters of Anaj 2017 were negatively affected even under higher levels of drought stress, while Akbar 2019 proved to be a susceptible cultivar. A significant increase in RFW (54%), SFW (85%), RDW (69%), SDW (67%) and TChl (136%) validated the effectiveness of D-T3 compared to C-T0 in drought stress. Significant decrease in MDA, EL and H2O2 signified the imperative function of D-T3 over C-T0 under drought stress. In conclusion and recommendation, we declare that farmers can get better wheat growth under drought stress by application of D-T3 over C-T0.
Virtualization of Higher Education during COVID-19: A Successful Case Study in Palestine
Authors: Affouneh Saida , Khlaif Zuheir N. , Burgos Daniel , Salha Soheil
Published: June 2021

The purpose of the study is to explore students’ and faculty members’ responses to universities’ migration from face-to-face to online instruction as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis. To this extent, a qualitative approach was used for data collection and involved a number of qualitative methods: an open-ended question survey, focus group discussion, social media data, and university reports. Additionally, a thematic analysis was used for data analysis. The findings of the study reveal that students and faculty members were overwhelmed and stressed at the beginning, but as they started to acclimate to it, faculty members were satisfied. However, students seemed to be dissatisfied with this new approach to learning. Furthermore, faculty members and students both mentioned different challenges they had faced. The study reports on the technological tools used to mitigate the emerging challenges of both students and faculty members. Evaluating and assessing students was a main challenge for faculty members as the study analyzes the assessment and evaluation tools that they use in their online teaching. Comparative studies from Palestine and other countries are suggested for future research.
Rapid Assessment of Anthocyanins Content of Onion Waste through Visible-Near-Short-Wave and Mid-Infrared Spectroscopy Combined with Machine Learning Techniques
Authors: Tziolas Nikolaos , Ordoudi Stella A. , Tavlaridis Apostolos , Karyotis Konstantinos , Zalidis George , Mourtzinos Ioannis
Published: June 2021

A sustainable process for valorization of onion waste would need to entail preliminary sorting out of exhausted or suboptimal material as part of decision-making. In the present study, an approach for monitoring red onion skin (OS) phenolic composition was investigated through Visible Near-Short-Wave infrared (VNIR-SWIR) (350–2500 nm) and Fourier-Transform-Mid-Infrared (FT-MIR) (4000–600 cm−1) spectral analyses and Machine-Learning (ML) methods. Our stepwise approach consisted of: (i) chemical analyses to obtain reference values for Total Phenolic Content (TPC) and Total Monomeric Anthocyanin Content (TAC); (ii) spectroscopic analysis and creation of OS spectral libraries; (iii) generation of calibration and validation datasets; (iv) spectral exploratory analysis and regression modeling via several ML algorithms; and (v) model performance evaluation. Among all, the k-nearest neighbors model from 1st derivative VNIR-SWIR spectra at 350–2500 nm resulted promising for the prediction of TAC (R2 = 0.82, RMSE = 0.52 and RPIQ = 3.56). The 2nd derivative FT-MIR spectral fingerprint among 600–900 and 1500–1600 cm−1 proved more informative about the inherent phenolic composition of OS. Overall, the diagnostic value and predictive accuracy of our spectral data support the perspective of employing non-destructive spectroscopic tools in real-time quality control of onion waste.
A Systematic Literature Review of Sexual Harassment Studies with Text Mining
Authors: Karami Amir , Spinel Melek Yildiz , White C. Nicole , Ford Kayla , Swan Suzanne
Published: June 2021

Sexual harassment has been the topic of thousands of research articles in the 20th and 21st centuries. Several review papers have been developed to synthesize the literature about sexual harassment. While traditional literature review studies provide valuable insights, these studies have some limitations including analyzing a limited number of papers, being time-consuming and labor-intensive, focusing on a few topics, and lacking temporal trend analysis. To address these limitations, this paper employs both computational and qualitative approaches to identify major research topics, explore temporal trends of sexual harassment topics over the past few decades, and point to future possible directions in sexual harassment studies. We collected 5320 research papers published between 1977 and 2020, identified and analyzed sexual harassment topics, and explored the temporal trend of topics. Our findings indicate that sexual harassment in the workplace was the most popular research theme, and sexual harassment was investigated in a wide range of spaces ranging from school to military settings. Our analysis shows that 62.5% of the topics having a significant trend had an increasing (hot) temporal trend that is expected to be studied more in the coming years. This study offers a bird’s eye view to better understand sexual harassment literature with text mining, qualitative, and temporal trend analysis methods. This research could be beneficial to researchers, educators, publishers, and policymakers by providing a broad overview of the sexual harassment field.
Travel Demand Prediction during COVID-19 Pandemic: Educational and Working Trips at the University of Padova
Authors: Ceccato Riccardo , Rossi Riccardo , Gastaldi Massimiliano
Published: June 2021

The diffusion of the COVID-19 pandemic has induced fundamental changes in travel habits. Although many previous authors have analysed factors affecting observed variations in travel demand, only a few works have focused on predictions of future new normal conditions when people will be allowed to decide whether to travel or not, although risk mitigation measures will still be enforced on vehicles, and innovative mobility services will be implemented. In addition, few authors have considered future mandatory trips of students that constitute a great part of everyday travels and are fundamental for the development of society. In this paper, logistic regression models were calibrated by using data from a revealed and stated-preferences mobility survey administered to students and employees at the University of Padova (Italy), to predict variables impacting on their decisions to perform educational and working trips in the new normal phase. Results highlighted that these factors are different between students and employees; furthermore, available travel alternatives and specific risk mitigation measures on vehicles were found to be significant. Moreover, the promotion of the use of bikes, as well as bike sharing, car pooling and micro mobility among students can effectively foster sustainable mobility habits. On the other hand, countermeasures on studying/working places resulted in a slight effect on travel decisions.
Asymmetric Effects of Decontamination Using Topical Antibiotics for the ICU Patient
Authors: Hurley James
Published: June 2021

There are several antiseptic, antibiotic and non-decontamination-based interventions for preventing intensive care unit (ICU) acquired infection. These have been evaluated in >200 studies. Infection prevention using topical antibiotic prophylaxis (TAP) appears to be the most effective. Whether antibiotic use in the ICU may influence the risk of infection among concurrent control patients within the same ICU and result in asymmetrical herd effects cannot be resolved with individual studies examined in isolation. The collective observations within control and intervention groups from numerous ICU infection prevention studies simulates a multi-center natural experiment enabling the herd effects of antibiotics to be evaluated. Among the TAP control groups, the incidences for both ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) and mortality are unusually high in comparison to literature-derived benchmarks. Paradoxically, amongst the TAP intervention groups, the incidences of mortality are also unusually high and the VAP incidences are similar (i.e., not lower) compared to the incidences among studies of other interventions. By contrast, the mortality incidences among the intervention groups of other studies are similar to those among the intervention groups of TAP studies. Using topical antibiotics to prevent infections acquired within the ICU environment may result in profoundly asymmetrical effects.
The COVID-19 Vaccine Preference for Youngsters Using PROMETHEE-II in the IFSS Environment
Authors: Narayanamoorthy Samayan , Pragathi Subramaniam , Parthasarathy Thirumalai Nallasivan , Kalaiselvan Samayan , Kureethara Joseph Varghese , Saraswathy Ranganathan , Nithya Poosamani , Kang Daekook
Published: June 2021

Extensive decision-making during the vaccine preparation period is unpredictable. An account of the severity of the disease, the younger people with COVID-19 comorbidities and other chronic diseases are also at a higher risk of the COVID-19 pandemic. In this research article, the preference ranking structure for the COVID-19 vaccine is recommended for young people who have been exposed to the effects of certain chronic diseases. Multiple Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach effectively handles this vague information. Furthermore, with the support of the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Soft Set (IFSS), the entries under the new extension of the Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation-II (PROMETHEE-II) is suggested for Preference Ranking Structure. The concept of intuitionistic fuzzy soft sets is parametric in nature. IFSS suggests how to exploit an intuitionistic ambiguous input from a decision-maker to make up for any shortcomings in the information provided by the decider. The weight of the inputs is calculated under the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Weighted Average (IFWA) operator, the Simply Weighted Intuitionistic Fuzzy Average (SWIFA) operator, and the Simply Intuitionistic Fuzzy Average (SIFA) operator. An Extended PROMETHEE-based ranking, outranking approach is used, and the resultant are recommended under the lexicographic order. Its sustainability and feasibility are explored for three distinct priority structures and the possibilities of the approach. To demonstrate the all-encompassing intuitionistic fuzzy PROMETHEE approach, a practical application regarding COVID-19 severity in patients is given, and then it is compared to other existing approaches to further explain its feasibility, and the sensitivity of the preference structure is examined according to the criteria.
From the Quasi-Total Strong Differential to Quasi-Total Italian Domination in Graphs
Authors: Cabrera Martínez Abel , Estrada-Moreno Alejandro , Rodríguez-Velázquez Juan Alberto
Published: June 2021

This paper is devoted to the study of the quasi-total strong differential of a graph, and it is a contribution to the Special Issue “Theoretical computer science and discrete mathematics” of Symmetry. Given a vertex x∈V(G) of a graph G, the neighbourhood of x is denoted by N(x). The neighbourhood of a set X⊆V(G) is defined to be N(X)=⋃x∈XN(x), while the external neighbourhood of X is defined to be Ne(X)=N(X)∖X. Now, for every set X⊆V(G) and every vertex x∈X, the external private neighbourhood of x with respect to X is defined as the set Pe(x,X)={y∈V(G)∖X:N(y)∩X={x}}. Let Xw={x∈X:Pe(x,X)≠⌀}. The strong differential of X is defined to be ∂s(X)=|Ne(X)|−|Xw|, while the quasi-total strong differential of G is defined to be ∂s*(G)=max{∂s(X):X⊆V(G)andXw⊆N(X)}. We show that the quasi-total strong differential is closely related to several graph parameters, including the domination number, the total domination number, the 2-domination number, the vertex cover number, the semitotal domination number, the strong differential, and the quasi-total Italian domination number. As a consequence of the study, we show that the problem of finding the quasi-total strong differential of a graph is NP-hard.
Hemispheric and Sex Differences in Mustached Bat Primary Auditory Cortex Revealed by Neural Responses to Slow Frequency Modulations
Authors: Washington Stuart D. , Pritchett Dominique L. , Keliris Georgios A. , Kanwal Jagmeet S.
Published: June 2021

The mustached bat (Pteronotus parnellii) is a mammalian model of cortical hemispheric asymmetry. In this species, complex social vocalizations are processed preferentially in the left Doppler-shifted constant frequency (DSCF) subregion of primary auditory cortex. Like hemispheric specializations for speech and music, this bat brain asymmetry differs between sexes (i.e., males>females) and is linked to spectrotemporal processing based on selectivities to frequency modulations (FMs) with rapid rates (>0.5 kHz/ms). Analyzing responses to the long-duration (>10 ms), slow-rate (<0.5 kHz/ms) FMs to which most DSCF neurons respond may reveal additional neural substrates underlying this asymmetry. Here, we bilaterally recorded responses from 176 DSCF neurons in male and female bats that were elicited by upward and downward FMs fixed at 0.04 kHz/ms and presented at 0–90 dB SPL. In females, we found inter-hemispheric latency differences consistent with applying different temporal windows to precisely integrate spectrotemporal information. In males, we found a substrate for asymmetry less related to spectrotemporal processing than to acoustic energy (i.e., amplitude). These results suggest that in the DSCF area, (1) hemispheric differences in spectrotemporal processing manifest differently between sexes, and (2) cortical asymmetry for social communication is driven by spectrotemporal processing differences and neural selectivities for amplitude.
A Practical Privacy-Preserving Publishing Mechanism Based on Personalized k-Anonymity and Temporal Differential Privacy for Wearable IoT Applications
Authors: Guo Junqi , Yang Minghui , Wan Boxin
Published: June 2021

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT), wearable devices have become ubiquitous and interconnected in daily lives. Because wearable devices collect, transmit, and monitor humans’ physiological signals, data privacy should be a concern, as well as fully protected, throughout the whole process. However, the existing privacy protection methods are insufficient. In this paper, we propose a practical privacy-preserving mechanism for physiological signals collected by intelligent wearable devices. In the data acquisition and transmission stage, we employed existing asymmetry encryption-based methods. In the data publishing stage, we proposed a new model based on the combination and optimization of k-anonymity and differential privacy. An entropy-based personalized k-anonymity algorithm is proposed to improve the performance on processing the static and long-term data. Moreover, we use the symmetry of differential privacy and propose the temporal differential privacy mechanism for real-time data to suppress the privacy leakage while updating data. It is proved theoretically that the combination of the two algorithms is reasonable. Finally, we use smart bracelets as an example to verify the performance of our mechanism. The experiment results show that personalized k-anonymity improves up to 6.25% in terms of security index compared with traditional k-anonymity, and the grouping results are more centralized. Moreover, temporal differential privacy effectively reduces the amount of information exposed, which protects the privacy of IoT-based users.
Stability of Radiomic Features across Different Region of Interest Sizes—A CT and MR Phantom Study
Authors: Jensen Laura J. , Kim Damon , Elgeti Thomas , Steffen Ingo G. , Hamm Bernd , Nagel Sebastian N.
Published: June 2021

We aimed to evaluate radiomic features’ stability across different region of interest (ROI) sizes in CT and MR images. We chose a phantom with a homogenous internal structure so no differences for a feature extracted from ROIs of different sizes would be expected. For this, we scanned a plastic cup filled with sodium chloride solution ten times in CT and per MR sequence (T1-weighted-gradient-echo and T2-weighted-turbo-inversion-recovery-magnitude). We placed sphere-shaped ROIs of different diameters (4, 8, and 16 mm, and 4, 8, and 16 pixels) into the phantom’s center. Features were extracted using PyRadiomics. We assessed feature stability across ROI sizes with overall concordance correlation coefficients (OCCCs). Differences were tested for significance with the Mann–Whitney U-test. Of 93 features, 87 T1w-derived, 87 TIRM-derived, and 70 CT-derived features were significantly different between ROI sizes. Among MR-derived features, OCCCs showed excellent (>0.90) agreement for mean, median, and root mean squared for ROI sizes between 4 and 16 mm and pixels. We further observed excellent agreement for 10th and 90th percentile in T1w and 10th percentile in T2w TIRM images. There was no excellent agreement among the OCCCs of CT-derived features. In summary, many features indicated significant differences and only few showed excellent agreement across varying ROI sizes, although we examined a homogenous phantom. Since we considered a small phantom in an experimental setting, further studies to investigate this size effect would be necessary for a generalization. Nevertheless, we believe knowledge about this effect is crucial in interpreting radiomics studies, as features that supposedly discriminate disease entities may only indicate a systematic difference in ROI size.
First Report of Domoic Acid Production from Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata in Paracas Bay (Peru)
Authors: Tenorio Cecil , Álvarez Gonzalo , Quijano-Scheggia Sonia , Perez-Alania Melissa , Arakaki Natalia , Araya Michael , Álvarez Francisco , Blanco Juan , Uribe Eduardo
Published: June 2021

The Peruvian sea is one of the most productive ecosystems in the world. Phytoplankton production provides food for fish, mammals, mollusks and birds. This trophic network is affected by the presence of toxic phytoplankton species. In July 2017, samples of phytoplankton were obtained from Paracas Bay, an important zone for scallop (Argopecten purpuratus) aquaculture in Peru. Morphological analysis revealed the presence of the genus Pseudo-nitzschia, which was isolated and cultivated in laboratory conditions. Subsequently, the monoclonal cultures were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and identified as P. multistriata, based on both the morphological characteristics, and internal transcribed spacers region (ITS2) sequence phylogenetic analysis. Toxin analysis using liquid chromatography (LC) with high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) revealed the presence of domoic acid (DA) with an estimated amount of 0.004 to 0.010 pg cell−1. This is the first report of DA from the coastal waters of Peru and its detection in P. multistriata indicates that it is a potential risk. Based on our results, routine monitoring of this genus should be considered in order to ensure public health.
The First Data on the Complete Genome of a Tetrodotoxin-Producing Bacterium
Authors: Melnikova Daria I. , Nijland Reindert , Magarlamov Timur Yu.
Published: June 2021

Tetrodotoxin (TTX)-producing bacteria have attracted great interest as a model system for study of the TTX biosynthetic route. Here, we report the complete genome of the TTX-producing bacterium Bacillus sp. 1839. The genome of the strain Bacillus sp. 1839, previously isolated from the TTX-bearing marine ribbon worm Cephalothrix cf. simula, was obtained using second generation Illumina and third generation nanopore sequencing technologies. Phylogenetic analysis has classified this strain as Cytobacillus gottheilii.
Real-Time Operational Research: Case Studies from the Field of Tuberculosis and Lessons Learnt
Authors: Harries Anthony D. , Thekkur Pruthu , Mbithi Irene , Chakaya Jeremiah Muhwa , Tweya Hannock , Takarinda Kudakwashe C. , Kumar Ajay M. V. , Satyanarayana Srinath , Berger Selma Dar , Rusen I. D. , Khogali Mohammed , Zachariah Rony
Published: June 2021

Real-time operational research can be defined as research on strategies or interventions to assess if they are feasible, working as planned, scalable and effective. The research involves primary data collection, periodic analysis during the conduct of the study and dissemination of the findings to policy makers for timely action. This paper aims to illustrate the use of real-time operational research and discuss how to make it happen. Four case studies are presented from the field of tuberculosis. These include (i) mis-registration of recurrent tuberculosis in Malawi; (ii) HIV testing and adjunctive cotrimoxazole to reduce mortality in TB patients in Malawi; (iii) screening TB patients for diabetes mellitus in India; and (iv) mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on TB case detection in capital cities in Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe. The important ingredients of real-time operational research are sound ethics; relevant research; adherence to international standards of conducting and reporting on research; consideration of comparison groups; timely data collection; dissemination to key stakeholders; capacity building; and funding. Operational research can improve the delivery of established health interventions and ensure the deployment of new interventions as they become available, irrespective of diseases. This is particularly important when public health emergencies, including pandemics, threaten health services.
Analysis of Observations near the Fourth Electron Gyrofrequency Heating Experiment in EISCAT
Authors: Li Zeyun , Fang Hanxian , Gong Hongwei , Guo Zhe
Published: June 2021

We present the observations of the artificial ionospheric heating experiment of EISCAT (European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association) on 22 February 2012 in Tromsø, Norway. When the pump is operating near the fourth electron gyrofrequency, the UHF radar observation shows some strong enhancements in electron temperature, electron density, ion line, and the outshifted plasma lines. Based on some existing theories, we find the following: first, Langmuir waves scattering off lower hybrid density fluctuations and strong Langmuir turbulence (SLT) in the Zakharov model cannot completely explain the outshifted plasma lines, but the data suggest that this phenomenon is related to the cascade of the pump wave and should be researched further; second, the spatiotemporal consistency between the enhancement in electron density/electron temperature reaches up to three to four times that of the undisturbed state and HF-enhanced ion lines (HFILs) suggest that SLT excited by parametric instability plays a significant role in superthermal electron formation and electron acceleration; third, some enhancements in HFILs and HF-induced plasma lines (HFPLs) are generated by parametric decay instability (PDI) during underdense heating in the third cycle, we suggest that this is due to the existence of a second cut-off in the upper hybrid dispersion relation as derived from a kinetic description.
Testing Gravitational Theories in the Field of the Earth with the SaToR-G Experiment
Authors: Lucchesi David , Anselmo Luciano , Bassan Massimo , Lucente Marco , Magnafico Carmelo , Pardini Carmen , Peron Roberto , Pucacco Giuseppe , Visco Massimo
Published: June 2021

A new satellite-based experiment in the field of gravitation, SaToR-G, is presented. It aims to compare the predictions of different theories of gravitation in the limit of weak-field and slow-motion. The ultimate goal of SaToR-G is searching for possible “new physics” beyond General Relativity, which represent the state-of-the-art of our current knowledge of gravitational physics. A key role in the above perspective is the theoretical and experimental framework that confines our work. To this end, we will exploit as much as possible the classical framework suggested by R.H. Dicke over fifty years ago.
Heating in Magnetar Crusts from Electron Captures
Authors: Chamel Nicolas , Fantina Anthea Francesca , Suleiman Lami , Zdunik Julian-Leszek , Haensel Pawel
Published: June 2021

The persistent thermal luminosity of magnetars and their outbursts suggest the existence of some internal heat sources located in their outer crust. The compression of matter accompanying the decay of the magnetic field may trigger exothermic electron captures and, possibly, pycnonuclear fusions of light elements that may have been accreted onto the surface from the fallback of supernova debris, from a disk or from the interstellar medium. This scenario bears some resemblance to deep crustal heating in accreting neutron stars, although the matter composition and the thermodynamic conditions are very different. The maximum possible amount of heat that can be released by each reaction and their locations are determined analytically taking into account the Landau–Rabi quantization of electron motion. Numerical results are also presented using experimental, as well as theoretical nuclear data. Whereas the heat deposited is mainly determined by atomic masses, the locations of the sources are found to be very sensitive to the magnetic field strength, thus providing a new way of probing the internal magnetic field of magnetars. Most sources are found to be concentrated at densities 1010–1011 g cm−3 with heat power W∞∼1035–1036 erg/s, as found empirically by comparing cooling simulations with observed thermal luminosity. The change of magnetic field required to trigger the reactions is shown to be consistent with the age of known magnetars. This suggests that electron captures and pycnonuclear fusion reactions may be a viable heating mechanism in magnetars. The present results provide consistent microscopic inputs for neutron star cooling simulations, based on the same model as that underlying the Brussels-Montreal unified equations of state.
Selection of Human Cytomegalovirus Mutants with Resistance against PDGFRα-Derived Entry Inhibitors
Authors: Laib Sampaio Kerstin , Lutz Carolin , Engels Rebecca , Stöhr Dagmar , Sinzger Christian
Published: June 2021

The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infects fibroblasts via an interaction of its envelope glycoprotein gO with the cellular platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRα), and soluble derivatives of this receptor can inhibit viral entry. We aimed to select mutants with resistance against PDGFRα-Fc and the PDGFRα-derived peptides GT40 and IK40 to gain insight into the underlying mechanisms and determine the genetic barrier to resistance. An error-prone variant of strain AD169 was propagated in the presence of inhibitors, cell cultures were monitored weekly for signs of increased viral growth, and selected viruses were tested regarding their sensitivity to the inhibitor. Resistant virus was analyzed by DNA sequencing, candidate mutations were transferred into AD169 clone pHB5 by seamless mutagenesis, and reconstituted virus was again tested for loss of sensitivity by dose-response analyses. An S48Y mutation in gO was identified that conferred a three-fold loss of sensitivity against PDGFRα-Fc, a combination of mutations in gO, gH, gB and gN reduced sensitivity to GT40 by factor 4, and no loss of sensitivity occurred with IK40. The resistance-conferring mutations support the notion that PDGFRα-Fc and GT40 perturb the interaction of gO with its receptor, but the relatively weak effect indicates a high genetic barrier to resistance.
Human Astrovirus Outbreak in a Daycare Center and Propagation among Household Contacts
Authors: Parrón Ignacio , Plasencia Elsa , Cornejo-Sánchez Thais , Jané Mireia , Pérez Cristina , Izquierdo Conchita , Guix Susana , Domínguez Àngela ,   on behalf of the Working Group for the Study of Acute Gastroenteritis Outbreaks in Catalonia
Published: June 2021

We investigated an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis due to human astrovirus in a daycare center, describing the transmission mechanism, the most affected age groups, conditioning factors and the extent of the outbreak among household contacts of the daycare center attenders. Data were collected from persons exposed at the daycare center and their home contacts. Fecal samples from affected and non-affected daycare center attenders were analyzed for viruses causing acute gastroenteritis by RT-PCR. The percentage of households affected and the attack rates (AR) were calculated. The attack rates were compared using the rate ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals. Information was obtained from 245 people (76 attenders and 169 contacts) of whom 49 were clinical cases. Five HAstV-4, two HAstV-8 and three non-typable HAstV cases were identified (six from clinical cases and four from asymptomatic infected people). The global AR was 20% (41.2% in children aged < 2 years). Data were obtained from 67 households: 20 households of affected attenders and 47 of non-affected attendees. Household contacts of affected attenders had a higher AR (74.3%) than that of non-affected attendees (2.4%). We found asymptomatic infections amongst daycare attendees. The transmission of HAstV during the outbreak was not limited to the daycare center but extended to household contacts of both affected and non-affected attenders.
The Molecular Basis for Escherichia coli O157:H7 Phage FAHEc1 Endolysin Function and Protein Engineering to Increase Thermal Stability
Authors: Love Michael J. , Coombes David , Manners Sarah H. , Abeysekera Gayan S. , Billington Craig , Dobson Renwick C. J.
Published: June 2021

Bacteriophage-encoded endolysins have been identified as antibacterial candidates. However, the development of endolysins as mainstream antibacterial agents first requires a comprehensive biochemical understanding. This study defines the atomic structure and enzymatic function of Escherichia coli O157:H7 phage FAHEc1 endolysin, LysF1. Bioinformatic analysis suggests this endolysin belongs to the T4 Lysozyme (T4L)-like family of proteins and contains a highly conserved catalytic triad. We then solved the structure of LysF1 with x-ray crystallography to 1.71 Å. LysF1 was confirmed to exist as a monomer in solution by sedimentation velocity experiments. The protein architecture of LysF1 is conserved between T4L and related endolysins. Comparative analysis with related endolysins shows that the spatial orientation of the catalytic triad is conserved, suggesting the catalytic mechanism of peptidoglycan degradation is the same as that of T4L. Differences in the sequence illustrate the role coevolution may have in the evolution of this fold. We also demonstrate that by mutating a single residue within the hydrophobic core, the thermal stability of LysF1 can be increased by 9.4 °C without compromising enzymatic activity. Overall, the characterization of LysF1 provides further insight into the T4L-like class of endolysins. Our study will help advance the development of related endolysins as antibacterial agents, as rational engineering will rely on understanding mutable positions within this protein fold.
Local Hemodynamic Changes Immediately after Correction of an Aberrant Right Subclavian Artery in a Dog: A Contrast Computed Tomographic Study
Authors: Mochizuki Yohei , Mikawa Shoma , Kutara Kenji , Sugimoto Keisuke , Sakoya Hirosei , Ohnishi Akihiro , Saeki Kanna , Shimizu Yuki , Kanda Teppei , Asanuma Taketoshi
Published: June 2021

A 1-year-old female Akita dog was referred for intermittent regurgitation. Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) showed an aberrant right subclavian artery (ARSA), resulting in constriction of the esophagus. After surgical ligation of the ARSA, CTA showed that the ARSA was not enhanced by contrast medium, and that sufficient collateral circulation of the right forelimb was supplied through the vertebral artery. Furthermore, the right and left vertebral arteries merged into the basilar artery at the level of the atlas, and no abnormal expansion of the ventral spinal artery was observed. Overall, we demonstrated the importance of post-surgical CTA for identification of surgical complications, including the formation of abnormal vessel alterations.