bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Systematization of the evaluation model of vocabulary control in repositories: research report with the Unesp Institutional Repository
Authors:   Universidade Estadual Paulista, Fugita Mariângela
Published: June 2022

Introduction: Vocabulary control in information resource storage, treatment and retrieval systems is necessary to obtain consistency between indexing and retrieval in order to avoid informational dispersion. Digital repositories in universities are currently fundamentalin the organization and management of knowledge generated by scientific, technological, artistic, and administrative production, however, it is necessary to verify the availability of controlled vocabulary and how vocabulary control is carried out. Objective: With the objective of systematizing a proposal for vocabulary control and the use of controlled vocabularies in university repositories managed by libraries, an evaluation model was developed that proposes to systematize methods, procedures, resources, and techniques. Methodology: For this, the development of the investigation carried out exploratory research with bibliographic and documentary research and applied research in the Unesp Repository. Results: The results obtained constituted an Action Plan, discussed and elaborated by the Study Group, composed of six actions and nine studies to evaluate and control vocabulary in university repositories about: vocabulary control in indexing by professionals and non-professionals; vocabulary control in retrieval; use of subject metadata from academic papers; keyword matching; analysis of terminological variations at semantic, syntactic and pragmatic levels; analysis of transaction logs for searches by subject. Conclusion: Itis concluded that the systematization of actions in an evaluation model is relevant for university repositories to incorporate the advances offered by vocabulary control in their routines and, mainly, for the contribution of new terms arising from scientific and technological evolution
Novel surgical technique of robot-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy in the lateral decubitus position
Authors: Ninomiya Itasu , Okamoto Koichi
Published: June 2022

We performed robot-assisted thoracoscopic esophagectomy in lateral decubitus position (LDP) with camera rotation and manual hand control assignment to reproduce the visualization and manipulation of open esophagectomy or thoracoscopic esophagectomy in LDP. Four robotic ports and two 12 mm assistant ports were placed. The camera image for the operator was vertically and horizontally inverted by camera rotation to create an operative view similar to that achieved under open thoracotomy. We used a forward-oblique viewing endoscope with a 30° down-facing orientation. The mediastinal view was obtained by single lung ventilation, artificial pneumothorax by carbon dioxide insufflation, and trachea retraction by the assistant. The right and left hands were assigned to any combination of two out of the three arms depending on the situation. The remaining arm was used as an assistant to create an adequate surgical view. The robotic platform is useful to manage aortic injury by direct suturing.
Analysis on Ethical Issues Raised by Technology and the Path of Prevention
Authors: Cao Ruike
Published: June 2022

The ethics of science and technology is a hot direction that needs urgent attention in the study of philosophy of science and technology. This paper first analyzes the ethical problems caused by science and technology in four dimensions (individuals, human interaction, human-nature relationship, and social governance), and argues that the essence of these ethical problems is that human equality, freedom, and value judgment are violated, human subjective feelings are ignored, and the harmonious and natural relationship between human and others is impacted. Secondly, this paper discusses the prevention path for ethical problems caused by science and technology, arguing that: firstly, it should be clear that the preventive path to be taken needs to be comprehensive, flexible and people-oriented; secondly, it should take national guidance and supervision as the core to provide principled and rigid constraints; thirdly, it should take social self-regulation as a supplement to make concrete and soft self-discipline; finally, all countries should utilize global power to standardize ethical principles and jointly resist technological risks.
HyperDbg: Reinventing Hardware-Assisted Debugging
Authors: Karvandi Mohammad Sina , Gholamrezaei Mohammad Hosein , Khalaj Monfared Saleh , Medi Soroush , Abbassi Behrooz , Amini Ali , Mortazavi Reza , Gogin Saeid , Rahmati Dara , Schwarz Michael
Published: June 2022

Software analysis, debugging, and reverse engineering have a crucial impact in today’s software industry. Efficient and stealthy debuggers are especially relevant for malware analysis. However, existing debugging platforms fail to address a transparent, effective, and high-performance low-level debugger due to their detectable fingerprints, complexity, and implementation restrictions. In this paper, we present HyperDbg, a new hypervisor-assisted debugger for high-performance and stealthy debugging of user and kernel applications. To accomplish this, HyperDbg relies on state-of-the-art hardware features available in today’s CPUs, such as VT-x and extended page tables. In contrast to other widely used existing debuggers, we design HyperDbg using a custom hypervisor, making it independent of OS functionality or API. We propose hardware-based instruction-level emulation and OS-level API hooking via extended page tables to increase the stealthiness. Our results of the dynamic analysis of 10,853 malware samples show that HyperDbg’s stealthiness allows debugging on average 22% and 26% more samples than WinDbg and x64dbg, respectively. Moreover, in contrast to existing debuggers, HyperDbg is not detected by any of the 13 tested packers and protectors. We improve the performance over other debuggers by deploying a VMX-compatible script engine, eliminating unnecessary context switches. Our experiment on three concrete debugging scenarios shows that compared to WinDbg as the only kernel debugger, HyperDbg performs step-in, conditional breaks, and syscall recording, 2.98x, 1319x, and 2018x faster, respectively. We finally show real-world applications, such as a 0-day analysis, structure reconstruction for reverse engineering, software performance analysis, and code-coverage analysis.
Neuromuscular Fatigue Responses of Endurance and Strength-Trained Athletes during Incremental Cycling Exercise
Authors: Jurasz Maciej , Boraczyński Michał , Wójcik Zbigniew , Gronek Piotr
Published: June 2022

This study explored the development of neuromuscular fatigue responses during progressive cycling exercise. The sample comprised 32 participants aged 22.0 ± 0.54 years who were assigned into three groups: endurance-trained group (END, triathletes, n = 10), strength-trained group (STR, body-builders, n = 10), and control group (CON, recreationally active students, n = 12). The incremental cycling exercise was performed using a progressive protocol starting with a 3 min resting measurement and then 50 W workload with subsequent constant increments of 50 W every 3 minutes until 200 W. Surface electromyography (SEMG) of rectus femoris muscles was recorded during the final 30 s of each of the four workloads. During the final 15 s of each workload, participants rated their overall perception of effort using the 20-point RPE scale. Post-hoc Tukey’s HSD testing showed significant differences between END and STR groups in MF and MPF across all workloads (p < 0.001 and p < 0.01, respectively). Athletes from END group had significantly lower AEMG responses than those from STR (p = 0.0093) and CON group (p = 0.0006). Increasing RPE points from 50 to 200 W were significantly higher in STR than in END group (p < 0.001). In conclusion, there is a significant variation in neuromuscular fatigue profiles between athletes with different training backgrounds when a cycling exercise is applied. The approximately linear trend of the SEMG and RPE values of both groups of athletes with increasing workload support the increased skeletal muscle recruitment with perceived exertion or fatiguing effect.
Biodiversity and Economy but Not Social Factors Predict Human Population Dynamics in South Africa
Authors: Phogole Bopaki , Yessoufou Kowiyou
Published: June 2022

The ongoing exponential growth of human population poses a risk to sustainable development goals (SDGs). Unless we understand the drivers of this growth and inform policy development accordingly, SDGs would remain a dream. One of the old theories of population growth known as the Malthusian theory predicts that resource availability drives population growth to a certain time when population growth outrun resource availability, leading to all sort of crises known as Malthusian crisis. Although the link between economic growth and population has been widely investigated while testing the theory, little is known about environmental and social factors po-tentially driving population growth. Here, because of various crises of our time recalling the Malthusian crisis, we revisited the theory by fitting structural equation models to environmental, social and economic data collected over 30-year period in South Africa. None of the social varia-bles tested predicts population growth. Instead, we found that biodiversity (species protection index) correlates positively with population growth. Biodiversity provides various resources through ecosystem goods and services to human, thus supporting population growth as pre-dicted in the Malthusian theory. However, we also found that this population growth may lead to conservation conflict as we found that biodiversity habitat (wetland area) correlates negatively with population growth, thus raising the compromising effect of population growth on life on earth. What’s more, we found a significant link between economic growth measured as GDP and population growth, further supporting the Malthusian prediction. Overall, our study re-affirms the value of biodiversity to human and suggests that the Malthusian theory should continuously be tested with predictors other than economic.
Analysis of Whirl Characteristics of Drill String Under Multidirectional Coupling Conditions
Authors: Tian Jialin , Xiong Changqing , Fan Changyue , Guo Linpeng , Liu Chenghang
Published: June 2022

The nonlinear contact between the bottomhole assembly (BHA) and the borehole can cause backward whirl. During an actual drilling process, the backward whirl will increase wear of the downhole drilling tool and lead to bending or even bulking failure. Therefore, analyzing the drillstring whirl characteristics considering multidirectional coupling effects, combined with field conditions, is a key issue and research hotspot. In this paper, considering the relationships between axial, torsional, and lateral vibrations of the drillstring system, the whirl model is established with finite element method. Research results indicate that with higher driving speed and larger friction coefficient between drillstring and borehole wall, the drillstring lateral vibration changes from forward to backward whirl. On the contrary, the increasing of drilling fluid density can effectively suppress the occurrence of backward whirl. As drilling fluid density increases, forward and backward whirl coexist, and only the forward whirl occurs at last. The research results can provide a basis for formulating whirl control strategy, and promoting the efficient and safe operations of drilling engineering.
Inhibition of extracellular and intracellular survival of Mycobacterial strains by alkaloids extracted from Justicia adhatoda leaves.
Authors: Mishra Smita , Khatri Manisha , Mehra Varsha
Published: June 2022

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be one of the world's leading causes of death by the infectious pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which infects one-third of the global population. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic made its spread rapid and the treatment task more daunting. With the havoc of infectious disease expansion, traditional medicines have triggered tremendous interest worldwide. However, less availability of scientific evidence still hinders its practical use. In the present study, we evaluated the potential of the traditional medicinal plant, Justicia adhatoda, which has been used to treat respiratory ailments since ancient times. We have successfully isolated and characterized several bioactive compounds viz- Vasicoline, Vasicolinone, Adhatodine, Adhavasine, Aniflorine, and Vasicinone from J. adhatoda plant leaves, including Vasicine as the principal compound, and showed their anti-tubercular activity on nutrient-starved Mycobacterium smegmatis and Mycobacterium bovis. The study also directs their in-vitro and ex-vivo antimycobacterial potential on THP1 macrophages with internalized Mycobacterium. Our study is one of its first kind, where we assessed the synergistic antimycobacterial effect of the isolated compounds with the first-line drug Isoniazid (INH). Their potential role in promoting phagolysosome fusion and apoptosis of M. bovis infected THP1 macrophages is further evaluated.
Psychometric Properties of the 21-item Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21) among Malaysians during COVID-19: A Methodological Study
Authors: Thiyagarajan Arulmani , James Tyler , Marzo Roy
Published: June 2022

Depression, anxiety, and stress continue to be among the largest burdens of disease, globally. The Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale – 21 Items (DASS-21) is a shortened version of DASS-41 developed to measure these mental health conditions. The DASS-41 has strong evidence of validity and reliability in multiple contexts. However, the DASS-21, and the resulting item properties, have been explored less in terms of modern test theories. One such theory is Item Response Theory (IRT), and we use IRT models to explore latent item and person traits of each DASS-21 sub-scale among people living in Malaysia. Specifically, we aimed to assess Classical Test Theory and IRT properties including dimensionality, internal consistency (reliability), and item-level properties. We conducted a web-based cross-sectional study and sent link-based questionnaires to people aged 18 and above in a private university and requested roll out the link. Overall and individual subscales’ Cronbach’s alpha of the DASS-21 indicates an excellent internal consistency. The average inter-item correlation and corrected inter-item correlations for each of the sub-scales indicated acceptable discrimination. On average, DASS-21 total scores and sub-scale scores were significantly higher among female participants than males. The Graded Response Model had a better empirical fit to sub-scale response data. Raw summated and latent (IRT estimated) scores of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress sub-scales, and overall DASS-21 were strongly correlated. Thus, this study provides evidence of validity supporting the use of the DASS-21 as a mental health screening tool among Malaysians. Specifically, the standard error of measurement was minimized to provide robust evidence of potential utility in identifying participants who are and are not experiencing these mental health issues. Additional research is warranted to ensure that test content is culturally appropriate and accurately measuring cultural norms of depression, anxiety, and stress.
Leveraging Artificial Intelligence in blockchain-based E-health for safer decision making framework
Authors: AlAsqah Muneerah , Moulahi Tarek , Zidi Salah , Alabdulatif Abdulatif
Published: June 2022

Machine learning-based (ML) systems are becoming the primary means of achieving the highest levels of productivity and effectiveness. Incorporating other advanced technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), or e-Health systems, has made ML the first choice to help automate systems and predict future events.The execution environment of ML is always presenting contrasting types of threats, such as adversarial poisoning of training datasets or model parameters manipulation. Blockchain technology is known as a decentralized network of blocks that symbolize means of protecting block content integrity and ensuring secure execution of operations.Existing studies partially incorporated Blockchain into the learning process. This paper propose a more extensive secure way to protect the decision process of the learning model. Using smart contracts, this study executed the model’s decision by the reversal engineering of the learning model’s decision function from the extracted learning parameters. We deploy Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) classifiers decision functions on-chain for more comprehensive integration of Blockchain. The effectiveness of this proposed approach is measured by applying a case study
Revisiting electricity consumption-led growth hypothesis: Why is the rule defied in France?
Authors: RAFINDADI Abdulkadir Abdulrashid , ALIYU Isah Buhari , Usman Ojonugwa
Published: June 2022

Recent economics literature emphasises the inextricable link between economic prosperity and efficient energy supply and consumption, arguing vehemently that much of today's prosperity is predicated on secure and reliable energy use and that modern industry would grind to a halt without the necessary energy infrastructure. France is an example of an advanced country with enormous energy infrastructure, the world's second largest behind the United States. France's economic growth has been rather sluggish in recent years, despite its robust and efficient energy production and consumption. The current study analyses empirically whether France's current sustainable energy use defies the theoretical and empirical frameworks made by top energy economists. To achieve robust results, the extended Cobb-Douglas production model was applied to a time series data spanning the years 1961–2015. The Zivot-Andrews trended and de-trended structural break tests, as well as Autoregressive Distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing were employed to analyse the data. The findings of this study demonstrate that France's economic growth is stimulated by financial development, electricity usage, capital, import, and export. The study sheds light on the feedback impact between economic growth and power usage as well as capital and economic growth. With these findings, we argue that it is not electricity that has ceased to serve a functional purpose in France, but a lack of entrepreneurial innovative capacity to create factors that require an infinite horizon for the continued use of electricity energy seems to be impeding the country's economic growth potential, among other things.
Multi-target position servo control of hydractive suspension based on extended state observer
Authors: Liu Shuang , Zou Xubin , Zheng Tian , Wang Wenbo , Yang Zhihang
Published: June 2022

In this paper, a sliding mode adaptive controller is designed for the half-vehicle active suspension model , which can ensure the safety of the vehicle and effectively improve the driving comfort.The nonlinear hydraulic cylinder actuator is added to the established model. The uncertainty of the model includes the mass parameters of the vehicle body, the unknown friction between the system components and the unmodeled dynamics of the suspension system. The control law combines the sliding mode and adaptive algorithm to estimate the uncertain parameters of the vehicle body model. The design of the extended state observer can effectively approach the unmeasurable states such as the vertical acceleration of the wheel and the pressure in the rod cavities on both sides, so that the control method is more practical.The simulation results show that the designed sliding mode adaptive controller can effectively suppress the nonlinear interference signal, which can not only ensure the safety performance , but also greatly improve the ride comfort of the vehicle. Compared with the traditional backstepping adaptive control, the control effect of this control strategy is better when there is large external interference.
Amyloid-beta and tau pathologies act synergistically to induce novel disease stage-specific microglia subtypes
Authors: Kim Dong Won , Tu Kevin , Wei Alice , Lau Ashley , Gonzalez-Gil Anabel , Cao Tiaoyu , Braunstein Kerstin , Ling Jonathan , Troncoso Juan , Wong Philip , Blackshaw Seth , Schnaar Ronald , Li Tong
Published: June 2022

Background
Amongst risk alleles associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD), those that converged on the regulation of microglia activity have emerged as central to disease progression. Yet, how canonical amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau pathologies regulate microglia subtypes during the progression of AD remains poorly understood.
Methods
We use single-cell RNA-sequencing to profile microglia subtypes from mice exhibiting both Aβ and tau pathologies across disease progression. We identify novel microglia subtypes that are induced in response to both Aβ and tau pathologies in a disease stage-specific manner. To validate the observation in AD mouse models, we also generated snRNA-Seq dataset from the human superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and entorhinal cortex (ERC) at different Braak stages.
Results
We show that during early-stage disease, interferon signalling induces a subtype of microglia termed Early-stage AD-Associated Microglia (EADAM) in response to both Aβ and tau pathologies. During late-stage disease, a second microglia subtype termed Late-stage AD-Associated Microglia (LADAM) is detected. While similar microglia subtypes are observed in other models of neurodegenerative disease, the magnitude and composition of gene signatures found in EADAM and LADAM are distinct, suggesting the necessity of both Aβ and tau pathologies to elicit their emergence. Importantly, the pattern of EADAM- and LADAM-associated gene expression is observed in microglia from AD brains, during the early (Braak II)- or late (Braak VI/V)- stage of the disease, respectively. Furthermore, we show that several Siglec genes are selectively expressed in either EADAM or LADAM. Siglecg is expressed in white-matter-associated LADAM, and expression of Siglec-10, the human orthologue of Siglecg, is progressively elevated in an AD-stage-dependent manner but not shown in non-AD tauopathy.
Conclusions
Using scRNA-Seq in mouse models bearing amyloid-β and/or tau pathologies, we identify novel microglia subtypes induced by the combination of Aβ and tau pathologies in a disease stage-specific manner. Our findings suggest that both Aβ and tau pathologies are required for the disease stage-specific induction of EADAM and LADAM. In addition, we revealed Siglecs as biomarkers of AD progression, and potential therapeutic targets.
Association between the epidemiological situation of COVID-19 and the armed conflict in Ukraine: a mathematical modeling approach
Authors: Atchadé Mintodê Nicodème , Agossou Onésime
Published: June 2022

This paper investigates a mathematical model for the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the context of the Ukrainian crisis by considering a population of six (06) compartments: Susceptible, Exposed, Known Infected, Unknown Infected, Recovered, Deaths. This model is used to simulate the propagation of COVID-19 in Ukraine during and after the Ukrainian conflict. The findings revealed that during the conflict the number of infected in Ukraine will increase significantly more than if the world had no known that conflict. The infected for most will not be detected in the period of the conflict. An increase of infected people will occur in undetected infected group while in known infected compartment, this will not be observed. Furthermore, at the end of the conflict, the unknown infected will be tested leading to a brutal increasing of number of infected detected in the population.
Estimation of Energy Consumption by Theoretical Calculations and Iot Based Approach in Machining Process
Authors: Hasabnis Aditya , Kulkarni Harshal , Marimuthu Boopathi
Published: June 2022

The machining process plays an integral role in the manufacturing and machining industry. A considerable amount of energy is consumed by the machine shops for material removal processes. Through a digital twin-based experimentation approach using Thing Worx, we have focused on determining a theoretical calculation to determine the exact amount of energy consumption during the material removal process. We have considered three models for machining operations i.e., Turning, Facing and grooving (undercut operation). We are calculating the power consumption by considering two variable parameters a) Cutting speed and b) Material Removal rate (MRR). Adding to that, we have also demonstrated a simulation using Autodesk Fusion 360 for the energy estimation for different cases. This IoT-based approach will convert conventional shop floors into smart shop floors as per Industry 4.0. This IoT-based prediction will help machine shops develop potential ways to save energy costs. We have considered different machining parameters (tools, material, geometry of the job, etc.) for better and more accurate results.
Terahertz cyclotron emission of two-dimensional Dirac fermions
Authors: Gebert Sebastian , Consejo Christophe , Krishtopenko Sergey , Ruffenach Sandra , Szola Maria , Torres Jeremie , Bray Cedric , Jouault Benoit , Orlita Milan , Baudry Xavier , Ballet Philippe , Morozov Sergey , Gavrilenko Vladimir , Mikhailov Nikolai , Dvoretskii Sergei , Teppe Frederic
Published: June 2022

Since the emergence of graphene, we have seen several proposals for the realization of Landau lasers tunable over the terahertz frequency range. The hope was that the non-equidistance of the Landau levels from Dirac fermions would suppress the harmful non-radiative Auger recombination. Unfortunately, even with this non-equidistance an unfavorable non-radiative process persists in Landau-quantized graphene, and so far no cyclotron emission from Dirac fermions has been reported. One way to eliminate this last non-radiative process is to sufficiently modify the dispersion of the Landau levels by opening a small gap in the linear band structure. A proven example of such gapped graphene-like materials are HgTe quantum wells close to the topological phase transition. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate Landau emission from Dirac fermions in such HgTe quantum wells, where the emission is tunable by both the magnetic field and the carrier concentration. Consequently, these results represent an advance in the realization of terahertz Landau lasers tunable by magnetic field and gate-voltage.
Metabolomics and transcriptomics reveal the effect of hetero-chitooligosaccharides in promoting growth of Brassica napus
Authors: TANG Chao , ZHAI Yang , WANG Zhuo , ZHAO Xing , YANG Chen , ZHAO Yong , ZENG Liang-bin , ZHANG De-yong
Published: June 2022

The hetero-chitooligosaccharide (HTCOS) are a naturally occurring biopolymer in the exoskeleton of crustaceans and insects. Although some studies have been carried out on HTCOS in inducing plant resistance and promoting growth, the molecular regulated of HTCOS in plant is not clear. In this study, an integrated analysis of metabolomics and transcriptomics was performed to analyze the response of Brassica napus to hetero-chitooligosaccharides treatment. The levels of 26 metabolites in B. napus were significantly changed under the HTCOS treatment. Amongst these metabolites, 9 metabolites were significantly up-regulated, such as pentonic acid, indole-3-acetate, and γ-aminobutyricacid. Transcriptome data showed that there were 817 significantly up-regulated genes and 1064 significantly down-regulated genes in B. napus under heterotypic chitosan treatment. Interestingly, the content of indole-3-acetate (IAA) under the HTCOS treatment was about five times higher than that under the control condition. Moreover, four genes related to plant hormone signal transduction, three AUX/IAA genes, and one ARF gene, were significantly up-regulated under the HTCOS treatment. Furthermore, the plant height, branching number, and biomass of B. napus under the HTCOS treatment were significantly increased compared to that in the control condition. This evidence indicated that the HTCOS treatment contributed to accumulating the content of plant hormone IAA in the B. napus, up-regulating the expression of key genes in the signaling pathway of plant growth, and improving the agronomic traits of B. napus.
Correlation between Earnings Management and Financial Distress among Selected Firms in Kenya
Authors: Kamau Charles Guandaru , Banafa Abdulkadir Ali , Kariuki Samuel Nduati
Published: June 2022

Background
This paper evaluates the link between earnings management and financial distress among listed firms in Kenya. Earnings management is the use of accounting practices to prepare financial statements that portray a company's business activity and financial status in an unrealistically favorable manner. On the other hand, financial distress is when an organization's revenues or income no longer satisfy its financial obligations, resulting in bankruptcy and possible dissolution.
Results
The assessment compares the modified Jones score, which is commonly used to measure discretionary accruals, with Altman’s Z score, which measures the degree of financial distress. The earnings management and financial distress. The selected firms under this study are known to be financially distressed as per the publicly available information. The hypothesis tests express whether a correlation exists between earnings management and financial distress. The result also highlights the level of significance of the effect of earnings management on financial distress.
Conclusion
The study concludes that there is some moderate probability that a financially distressed firm is likely to practice earnings management. On the other hand, there is a moderate likelihood that firms that practice earnings management may face financial distress at some point. Earnings management is not necessarily practiced to camouflage financial distress, but that does not mean that it cannot happen. On the other hand, financial distress is not an indicator of earnings management and vice versa.
Urban agglomerations and innovation in developing economies
Authors: Estrin Saul , Shapiro Daniel , Hu Yuan , Zhang Peng
Published: June 2022

Theory and evidence from developed economies suggests that innovation activities benefit from agglomeration economies in cities. However, whether the same is true of developing countries has not been investigated by large-scale cross-country analysis, despite the fact that eighteen of the world’s top twenty cities by population are in developing countries. We argue that the development path followed by developing countries creates agglomeration costs that may offset the benefits. Hence innovative activity may eventually decline as urban density increases. We build a unique cross-country database where for the first time both urban density and innovation are measured consistently across a large set of developing countries. We find that in developing countries, innovation first increases and then begins to decrease beyond a certain point. The declining part is the most prominent in largest cities. Thus, cities in developing countries follow very different patterns of agglomeration from those in developed countries. Policies based on the experience of developed countries might not adequately reduce agglomeration costs in developing countries, and therefore new policies are required to support innovation.
Transesophageal echocardiographic imaging of the coronary sinus: a retrospective analysis of mid-esophageal views and a novel transgastric view
Authors: Chen Tzonghuei H , Hayward Geoffrey , Apruzzese Patricia , Maslow Andrew
Published: June 2022

Background
Transesophageal echocardiographic imaging plays an important role in assessing coronary sinus anatomy prior to placement of a retrograde cardioplegia cannula. The coronary sinus can be imaged in the long axis by advancing the TEE probe from the mid-esophageal 4-chamber view or using a modified mid-esophageal bicaval view, while a short axis view can be obtained in the mid-esophageal 2-chamber view. While use of a transgastric view is only briefly mentioned in the literature as an alternative to mid-esophageal views, the authors commonly include it in our comprehensive transesophageal echocardiographic exam of the coronary sinus. This study examines the various imaging strategies. We hypothesize that the transgastric view offers comparable coronary sinus imaging to the mid-esophageal views.
Methods
After approval by our institutional review board, the intraoperative transesophageal echocardiographic exams for 50 consecutive elective cardiac surgical patients with a comprehensive echocardiographic assessment of the coronary sinus were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed to evaluate imaging of the coronary sinus in the various views. For each view, we noted and recorded if the coronary sinus and coronary sinus cannula were visualized. Statistical analysis required pairwise comparisons between each of the 4 views. P values were calculated using McNemar’s Exact test.
Results
Both the coronary sinus and coronary sinus cannula were visualized a majority of the time for each view. There was no statistically significant difference between each view in its ability to visualize the coronary sinus, nor was there a statistically significant difference between each view in its ability to visualize the coronary sinus cannula.
Conclusions
Use of a transgastric window provides the echocardiographer with an effective alternate modality for imaging the coronary sinus when mid-esophageal views are limited.
Global warming may significantly increase anemia burden among children under five years in sub-Saharan Africa
Authors: Zhu Yixiang , He Cheng , Gasparrini Antonio , Vicedo-Cabrera Ana , Bachwenkizi Jovine , Liu Cong , Zhou Lu , Kan Lena , Chen Renjie , Kan Haidong
Published: June 2022

It remains unknown whether global warming may have impact on childhood anemia, especially in low-income and middle-income countries (LMIC). We projected childhood anemia cases attributable to climate change in sub-Saharan Africa using anthropometric data of children under 5 years from 26 countries and an ensemble of high-resolution climate change simulations. Compared with the baseline period, the childhood anemia cases attributable to climate change would increase 6,754 cases per 100,000 person-year under the SSP5-8.5 scenario in 2090s, which would be almost 2-fold and over 3-fold more than those in SSP2-4.5 and SSP1-2.6 scenarios. This multi-country study presented the first-hand evidence on significantly increased burden of childhood anemia attributable to global warming in sub-Saharan Africa. The result revealed the vulnerabilities and inequalities of children in climate-sensitive regions, and highlighted the importance of mitigation and adaptation strategies to reduce the impact of global warming, especially among vulnerable subgroups.
Quantum positioning and ranging via a distributed sensor network
Authors: Sun Xiaocong , Li Wei , Tian Yuhang , Li Fan , Tian Long , Wang Yajun , Zheng Yaohui , Peng Kunchi
Published: June 2022

Quantum sensor network with multipartite entanglement offers a sensitivity advantage in optical phase estimation over classical scheme. In order to tackle richer sensing problems, we construct a distributed sensor network with four nodes via four partite entanglements, unveil the estimation of the higher order derivative of radio-frequency signal phase, and unlock the potential of quantum target ranging and space positioning. Therefore, taking phased-array radar as an example, we demonstrate the optimal quantum advantages for space positioning and target ranging missions. Without doubt, the demonstration that endows innovative physical conception opens up a widespread application of quantum sensor network.
Shared binding modes of M3 muscarinic agonists and antagonists may incentivize development of novel IOP-reducing drugs: findings from in-silico assays
Authors: Kim Minjae J. , Jablonski Monica M.
Published: June 2022

M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (M3R) are G-protein-coupled receptors expressed in the ciliary muscle. Pilocarpine, an M3R agonist, reduces intraocular pressure (IOP) by causing contraction of the ciliary muscle, which leads to widening of the spaces in the trabecular meshwork and facilitates aqueous humor flow out of the eye. Despite their IOP-reducing potentials, there are only four M3R agonists that have been FDA-approved, and the chemical features that differentiate agonists from antagonists are poorly understood. In this study, we created a homology model of human M3R (hM3R) to analyze the binding modes that differentiate M3R agonists from antagonists, using such in-silico assays as high-throughput virtual screening and molecular dynamics. Our in-silico results suggest that a nitrogen ring with a positive charge is crucial for forming cation-π exchange with hM3R, regardless of agonism or antagonism. However, we discovered π-π stacking exchange that is exclusively found among M3R antagonists. Structural analysis suggests that this π-π stacking exchange leads to structural changes in one of the α-helices and causes instability in the cytoplasmic domain, where G protein interactions occur. Together, these finding may prove useful in developing drugs that not only target but also selectively agonize hM3R to reduce IOP in glaucoma patients.
Enhanced therapeutic effects of Mesenchymal Stem Cell-derived Extracellular Vesicles within Chitosan Hydrogel in the treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers
Authors: Yang Shuangshuang , Chen Siyu , Lin Chunyuan , Zhao Xiaohui , Tan Yi
Published: June 2022

Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (UC-MSCs) have emerged as promising cell-free therapy candidates in various diseases, including chronic cutaneous wounds. The goal of this study was to create a safe and efficient method for large-scale production of MSC-derived EVs and establish an EVs identification protocol to advance the clinical application of EVs in wound therapy. Methods: Polyethylene glycol (PEG) precipitation and ultracentrifugation were used to isolate EVs from the culture supernatant of UC-MSCs. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Western blot, and a high-sensitivity flow cytometer (HSFCM) were used to examine the size distribution, particle concentration, and phenotype of EVs. Chitosan hydrogel-EVs were created to improve the use of EVs in wound treatment by incorporating EVs into chitosan hydrogel (CS-EVs). The Transwell method was used to assess the release behavior and uptake dynamics of EVs from chitosan hydrogel in vitro. The scratch wound assay and tube formation assay were used to determine whether EVs altered the migration and angiogenesis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Every five days, CS-EVs were transplanted onto the wound site of a diabetic rat model. On days 0, 5, 10, and 20 following surgery, wound healing processes were graphically recorded and evaluated. Finally, after 15 days of surgery, all rats were sacrificed, and the wound skin was collected for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Results: The majority of the EVs obtained in our protocol had a cup-shaped or round-shaped morphology with a diameter of about 80 nm. CD9, CD63, and CD81 were all found. In the experiment, the chitosan hydrogel was liquid at 4 °C and was gelatinized for 10 minutes at 37 °C. The CS-EVs continuously released EVs into the environment, and the EVs released by the CS-EVs were internalized by human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs), resulting in significant cell migration and angiogenesis promotion. Furthermore, we discovered that CS-EVs have a good therapeutic function in the promotion of wound healing in a rat model of diabetic foot ulcers. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that PEG precipitation and ultracentrifugation can be used to isolate EVs on a large scale. Chitosan hydrogel-EVs (CS-EVs) were formed by incorporating EVs into chitosan hydrogels, which is an effective application scheme for EVs in wound therapy. Overall, our research could help with the purification, characterization, and application of EVs in wound care.
Disparities in exposure to geomorphic hazards in Bangladesh
Authors: Paszkowski Amelie , Tiggeloven Timothy , Borgomeo Edoardo , Hall Jim
Published: June 2022

Natural hazards can impair socio-economic development and disproportionately affect the poorest and most vulnerable. While global and regional studies have quantified population exposure to various natural hazards, they have so far ignored exposure to geomorphic hazards, such as coastal and riverine erosion, land subsidence and siltation of waterbodies. Using high-resolution geomorphic hazard modelling, population and poverty data, this study provides the first-ever spatial assessment of exposure to geomorphic hazards across population and poverty groups, taking Bangladesh as a case study. Bangladesh is an exceptionally geo-dynamic country, where multiple geomorphic hazards coincide with a high population density and poverty rate. We calculate that over 22 million people live within geomorphically hazardous regions, a figure that has increased by 5 million in the last 20 years. Of this exposed population, 86% live in poverty. Given such high levels of exposure disparities, geomorphic hazards need to be incorporated into disaster risk management and poverty alleviation responses in Bangladesh and beyond.
Complete Remission of Recurrent Multiple Insulin-Producing Neuroendocrine Tumors of the Pancreas with Somatostatin Analogs: A Case Report and Literature Review
Authors: Tartaglia Andreas , Busonero Giulia , Gagliardi Lorenza , Boddi Valentina , Nizzoli Maurizio
Published: June 2022

Hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia is most commonly caused by a single, sporadic insulinoma. Multicentric insulinoma disease (insulinomatosis) as well as metachronous neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas, known also as neuroendocrine adenomatosis, represent a very rare condition, if not associated with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 syndrome (MEN1) or Von Hippel Lindau disease.We report a 9-year follow-up of a 41-year old woman, initially presenting with hypoglycemic syndrome caused by two insulin-producing tumors, who underwent subtotal pancreasectomy in 2012, with histology compatible with multiple small neuroendocrine tumors. An approximately 1 centimeter insulin-producing tumor recurred at subsequent biochemical and radiological follow-up, and was cured with the somatostatin analog octreotide as a single treatment, until remission of symptoms and complete regression of the pancreatic lesion achieved after only 16 months of treatment.The possible mechanisms for these findings are discussed and the literature is briefly reviewed.
Investigation of Structure Activity Relationship: In silico Studies of [1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a]pyridine ureas as P38 Kinase Inhibitors
Authors: Asiya Choudhary , Mangala Khandekar , Chandrakant Bagul , Muthal Amol , Kulkarni Ravindra
Published: June 2022

P38 kinases are the members of serine/ threonine kinases family, play a vital role in the progression of inflammation. In the past two decades, numerous p38 kinase inhibitors have been reported and few of them have failed in clinical trials. Recently some of the p38 kinase inhibitors have entered in clinical trials for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. A potential opportunity exists for medicinal chemistry for the discovery of potent and safe p38 kinase inhibitors. In the view of this challenging opportunity, the present manuscript is aimed towards development of a 3D QSAR model and the docking and dynamic simulation studies. A statistically robust 3D QSAR model was developed by employing 21 training set molecules which is attributed with appreciating cross validation coefficient (q2) of 0.0.6269 and conventional correlation coefficient (r2) of 0.8783 respectively. The predicted correlation coefficient (r2 pred) was found to be 0.8644 and standard error of 0.3331. The molecular docking analysis of all the p38 kinase inhibitors revealed that the analogs were well docked into the DFG out pocket of p38 kinase and exhibited hydrogen bond interactions with Asp186 and Lys71. Extension of docking studies to the molecular dynamics simulation study informed that the ligand displayed the strong conformational stability within the active site of p38 kinase forming maximum two hydrogen bonds until 100 ns respectively.
A novel successful strategy for detection of antibiotics and toxic heavy metals based on Fluorescence silver/graphene quantum dots nanocomposites
Authors: Mousa Mahmoud A. , Abdelrahman Hanaa H. , Fahmy Mamdouh A. , Ebrahim Dina G. , Moustafa Amira H.E.
Published: June 2022

Antibiotic residue and toxic heavy metals in aquaculture have a hazardous impact on human health and environmental safety. So the biggest challenge is designing a powerful detecting tool without harming the fisheries and the environment. A novel dual-function silver/graphene quantum dots (Ag@GQDs) based fluorescence nano-sensor was developed to investigate unprecedented sensing strategies for sensitive and selective detection of antibiotics and heavy metals to ensure that they are present in the authorized percentage. Here, the fluorescence nanocomposites (Ag@GQDs) achieve a new successful sensitive and rapid detection for Oxytetracycline (OTC) and Erythromycin (ERY) antibiotics with detection limits 2.714 nM and 3.306 nM, respectively. The proposed strategy provides an efficient detection way of tracing heavy metals Hg, Cd, Pb with a detection limit of less than 5ppm. Nanoprobe was characterized by UV/VIS spectroscopy, X- ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results were compared with graphene quantum dots (GQDs), graphene oxide quantum dots (GOQDs), and green synthesized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) which were synthesized from new extracts of aquatic plants and seaweeds from Edku & Marriott Lake. This novel Fluorescence quenching-based technique is sensitive, selective, less time-consuming, and does not need any expensive preparations to replace the commonly used chromatographic detecting techniques.
WITHDRAWN: Finite-time stability of almost anti-periodic solutions of Clifford-valued RNNs with time-varying delays and $D$ operator on time scales
Authors: Shen Shiping , Meng Xiaofang
Published: June 2022

The main purpose of this paper is to present the finite-time stability of almost anti-periodic solutions for Clifford-valued recurrent neural networks (RNNs) with time-varying delays and $D$ operator on time scales by a direct method. Firstly, some lemmas are obtained by the definitions of almost anti-periodic. Secondly, by using the theory of calculus on time scales and Banach's fixed point theorem, some sufficient conditions to guarantee the finite-time stability of almost anti-periodic solutions for this class of neural networks are obtained. Furthermore, a numerical example is provided to demonstrate the feasibility of the results.
Image retrieval using deep statistical feature descriptor
Authors: Lu Zhou , Liu Guang-Hai
Published: June 2022

The use of deep neural networks to extract deep high-level features has provided excellent image retrieval performance. However, few studies have analyzed low-level features, which have their own advantages in image representation. Combining the advantages of low-level features and deep features remains a challenging problem. To solve it, we propose a deep feature aggregation method that includes texture features. Its highlights are: (1) A novel covariance weight is proposed to select some key feature maps. This enhances the discriminativeness of feature maps. (2) A novel response-region weighting scheme is proposed to balance various response-regions weights. It improves the positive role of some valuable feature maps in retrieval. (3) A novel method is proposed to extract texture features together with deep features. It can combine deep and texture features into a compact representation, and improve the performance of image retrieval. Experiments were conducted with five popular benchmark datasets to show that our method can significantly improve image retrieval performance.