bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Knowledge and practices related to menstruation among Lucknow college students in North India: results from a cross-sectional survey
Authors: Ahmad Absar , Garg Surbhi G , Gupta Suman , Alvi Ruqayya
Published: February 2021

Background: Girls in many low and middle-income countries enter puberty with knowledge gaps and misconceptions about menstruation may lead to unsafe hygienic practices that increase health risk. Despite such importance, educated girls' knowledge and hygienic practice towards menstruation are not well addressed in India. Consequently, the present study attempted to assess menstrual hygiene knowledge and practice among college students in Lucknow city in north India.
Method: An online college-based cross-sectional study design was employed in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh in India. Data collection was carried out from September 11 to September 25, 2020, using a google form among undergraduate and Postgraduate students. All variables that were significant at bivariate level (at P-value < 0.05) were entered into multivariate analysis using a logistic regression model to control for confounding factors. In the final model, P-value of less than 0.05 was used as a base to identify factors having a statistically significant association with poor knowledge and hygiene practice at corresponding 95% confidence interval.
Results: More than half of students' ages of menarche were between 12-15 years, and duration of menses flow was between 3-5 days. The most common premenstrual symptom was abdominal pain (67%) and back pain (50.5%). Majority of the students had first time discussed menstrual problems with their mothers (69.2%). Around 94% of students were currently using a sanitary pad as an absorbent. Regarding cleanliness, about (90.9%) girls clean their genitals after urinating during mensuration. Around 18.9% used medication during menstruation. Multivariate analyses reveal that students of Science and Technology (vs Commerce and Management Students) and monthly family income 50-100 thousand (vs < 25 thousands) were associated with good knowledge about menstruation. In contrast, students' fathers were graduates (vs school educated); the occupation was 'Other'(vs Farmer) ; living in a nuclear family(vs Joint family) and residing in urban areas(vs Rural) were less likely to have good menstruation knowledge. Besides, good hygiene practices are less likely to have with 'Other' Religion(vs Hindu), working mother(vs Housewife), monthly family income between 25 to 50 thousand(vs <25 thousands), and Nuclear family(vs Joint family) (p<0.05).
Conclusions
Most college students had poor knowledge but followed hygienic practices correctly. It demonstrates a need to design acceptable awareness creation and advocacy programs to improve college students' knowledge during menstruation. Of all the sociodemographic factors, monthly income and types of family influenced students' knowledge and practices related to menstruation.
Associations between measures of social distancing and SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity: a nationwide population-based study in the Netherlands
Authors: Vos Eric R.A. , van Boven Michiel , den Hartog Gerco , Backer Jantien A. , Klinkenberg Don , van Hagen Cheyenne C.E. , Boshuizen Hendriek , van Binnendijk Rob S. , Mollema Liesbeth , van der Klis Fiona R.M. , de Melker Hester E.
Published: February 2021

This large nationwide population-based seroepidemiological study provides evidence on the effectiveness of physical distancing (>1.5m) and indoor group size reductions on SARS-CoV-2 infection. Additionally, young adults seem to play a significant role in viral spread, opposed to children up until the primary school age with whom close contact is permitted.
CATALYST trial protocol: A multicentre, open-label, phase II, multi-arm trial for an early and accelerated evaluation of the potential treatments for COVID-19 in hospitalised adults
Authors: Veenith Tonny , Fisher Benjamin A. , Slade Daniel , Rowe Anna , Sharpe Rowena , Thickett David R. , Whitehouse Tony , Rowland Matthew , Scriven James , Parekh Dhruv , Bowden Sarah J. , Savage Joshua S. , Richards Duncan , Bion Julian , Kearns Pamela , Gates Simon
Published: February 2021

Introduction

Severe SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with a dysregulated immune response. Inflammatory monocytes and macrophages are crucial, promoting injurious, pro-inflammatory sequelae. Immunomodulation is, therefore, an attractive therapeutic strategy and we sought to test licensed and novel candidate drugs.

Methods and analysis

The CATALYST trial is a multi-arm, open-label, multi-centre, phase II platform trial designed to identify candidate novel treatments to improve outcomes of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 compared with usual care. Treatments with evidence of biomarker improvements will be put forward for larger-scale testing by current national phase III platform trials. Hospitalised patients >16 years with a clinical picture strongly suggestive of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia (confirmed by chest X-ray or CT scan, with or without a positive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay) and a C-Reactive Protein (CRP) ≥40 mg/L are eligible. The primary outcome measure is CRP, measured serially from admission to day 14, hospital discharge or death. Secondary outcomes include the WHO Clinical Progression Improvement Scale as a principal efficacy assessment.

Ethics and dissemination

The protocol was approved by the East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee (20/EM/0115) and given Urgent Public Health status; initial approval was received on 05-May-2020, current protocol version (v6.0) approval on 12-Oct-2020. The MHRA also approved all protocol versions. The results of this trial will be disseminated through national and international presentations and peer-reviewed publications.

Trial registration number

EudraCT Number: 2020-001684-89

ISRCTN Number: 40580903

Strengths and limitations of this trial

CATALYST will provide a rapid readout on the safety and proof-of-concept of candidate novel treatments

CATALYST will enable phase III trial resources to be focussed and allocated for agents with a high likelihood of success

CATALYST uses Bayesian multi-level models to allow for nesting of repeated measures data, with factors for each individual patient and treatment arm, and allowing for non-linear responses

CATALYST is not designed to provide a definitive signal on clinical outcomes
Symptom reporting in over 1 million people: community detection of COVID-19
Authors: Elliott Joshua , Whitaker Matthew , Bodinier Barbara , Riley Steven , Ward Helen , Cooke Graham , Darzi Ara , Chadeau-Hyam Marc , Elliott Paul
Published: February 2021

Control of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic requires rapid identification and isolation of infected individuals and their contacts. Community testing in England (Pillar 2) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is reserved for those reporting at least one of four ‘classic’ COVID-19 symptoms (loss or change of sense of smell, loss or change of sense of taste, fever, new continuous cough).1 Detection of positive cases in the community might be improved by including additional symptoms and their combinations. We used data from the REal-time Assessment of Community Transmission-1 (REACT-1) study to investigate symptom profiles for PCR positivity at different ages. Among rounds 2–7 (June to December 2020), an age-stratified, variable selection approach stably selected chills (all ages), headache (5–17 years), appetite loss (18–54 and 55+ years) and muscle aches (18–54 years) as jointly and positively predictive of PCR positivity together with the classic four symptoms. Between round 7 (November to December 2020) and round 8 (January 2021) when new variant B.1.1.7 predominated, only loss or change of sense of smell (more predictive in round 7) and (borderline) new persistent cough (more predictive in round 8) differed between cases. At any level of PCR testing, triage based on the symptoms identified here would result in more cases detected than the current approach.
Screening plans for SARS-CoV-2 based on sampling and rotation: an example in the school setting
Authors: Baccini Michela , Cereda Giulia
Published: February 2021

Screening plans for prevention and containment of SARS-CoV-2 infection should take into account the epidemic context, the fact that undetected infected individuals may transmit the disease, and that the infection spreads through outbreaks, creating clusters in the population. In this paper, we compare the performance of six screening plans based on poorly sensitive individual tests, in detecting infection outbreaks at the level of single classes in a school context. The performance evaluation is done by simulating different epidemic dynamics within the class during the five weeks following the day of the first infection. The plans have different costs in terms of number of individual tests required for the screening and are based on recurrent evaluations on all students or subgroups of students in rotation. Especially in scenarios where the rate of contagion is high, at an equal cost, testing half of the class in rotation every week appears to be better in terms of sensitivity than testing all students every two weeks. Similarly, testing one-fourth of the students every week is comparable with testing all students every two weeks, despite the first one is a much cheaper strategy. In the presence of natural clusters in the population, testing subgroups of individuals belonging to the same cluster in rotation may have a better performance than testing all the individuals less frequently. The proposed simulations approach can be extended to evaluate more complex screening plans than those presented in the paper.
Maternal depression and child human capital: A genetic instrumental-variable approach
Authors: Menta Giorgia , Lepinteur Anthony , Clark Andrew E. , Ghislandi Simone , D’Ambrosio Conchita
Published: February 2021

We here address the causal relationship between maternal depression and child human capital using UK cohort data. We exploit the conditionally-exogenous variation in mothers’ genomes in an instrumental-variable approach, and describe the conditions under which mother’s genetic variants can be used as valid instruments. An additional episode of maternal depression between the child’s birth up to age nine reduces both their cognitive and non-cognitive skills by 20 to 45% of a SD throughout adolescence. Our results are robust to a battery of sensitivity tests addressing, among others, concerns about pleiotropy and the maternal transmission of genes to her child.
CD8+ T cell responses in COVID-19 convalescent individuals target conserved epitopes from multiple prominent SARS-CoV-2 circulating variants
Authors: Redd Andrew D , Nardin Alessandra , Kared Hassen , Bloch Evan M , Pekosz Andrew , Laeyendecker Oliver , Abel Brian , Fehlings Michael , Quinn Thomas C , Tobian Aaron AR
Published: February 2021

This study examined whether CD8+ T-cell responses from COVID-19 convalescent individuals(n=30) potentially maintain recognition of the major SARS-CoV-2 variants. Out of 45 mutations assessed, only one from the B.1.351 Spike overlapped with a low-prevalence CD8+ epitope, suggesting that virtually all anti-SARS-CoV-2 CD8+ T-cell responses should recognize these newly described variants.
Surface-aerosol stability and pathogenicity of diverse MERS-CoV strains from 2012 - 2018
Authors: van Doremalen Neeltje , Letko Michael , Fischer Robert J. , Bushmaker Trenton , Yinda Claude Kwe , Schulz Jonathan , Seifert Stephanie N. , Kim Nam Joong , Hemida Maged G , Kayali Ghazi , Park Wan Beom , Perera Ranawaka APM , Tamin Azaibi , Thornburg Natalie J. , Tong Suxiang , Queen Krista , van Kerkhove Maria D. , Choi Young Ki , Oh Myoung-don , Assiri Abdullah M. , Peiris Malik , Gerber Susan I. , Munster Vincent J.
Published: February 2021

Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) is a coronavirus that infects both humans and dromedary camels and is responsible for an ongoing outbreak of severe respiratory illness in humans in the Middle East. While some mutations found in camel-derived MERS-CoV strains have been characterized, the majority of natural variation found across MERS-CoV isolates remains unstudied. Here we report on the environmental stability, replication kinetics and pathogenicity of several diverse isolates of MERS-CoV as well as SARS-CoV-2 to serve as a basis of comparison with other stability studies. While most of the MERS-CoV isolates exhibited similar stability and pathogenicity in our experiments, the camel derived isolate, C/KSA/13, exhibited reduced surface stability while another camel isolate, C/BF/15, had reduced pathogenicity in a small animal model. These results suggest that while betacoronaviruses may have similar environmental stability profiles, individual variation can influence this phenotype, underscoring the importance of continual, global viral surveillance.
High-fidelity approximation of grid- and shell-based sampling schemes from undersampled DSI using compressed sensing: Post mortem validation
Authors: Jones Robert , Maffei Chiara , Augustinack Jean , Fischl Bruce , Wang Hui , Bilgic Berkin , Yendiki Anastasia
Published: February 2021

While many useful microstructural indices, as well as orientation distribution functions, can be obtained from multi-shell dMRI data, there is growing interest in exploring the richer set of microstructural features that can be extracted from the full ensemble average propagator (EAP). The EAP can be readily computed from diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI) data, at the cost of a very lengthy acquisition. Compressed sensing (CS) has been used to make DSI more practical by reducing its acquisition time. CS applied to DSI (CS-DSI) attempts to reconstruct the EAP from significantly undersampled q-space data. We present a post mortem validation study where we evaluate the ability of CS-DSI to approximate not only fully sampled DSI but also multi-shell acquisitions with high fidelity. Human brain samples are imaged with high-resolution DSI at 9.4T and with polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PSOCT). The latter provides direct measurements of axonal orientations at microscopic resolutions, allowing us to evaluate the mesoscopic orientation estimates obtained from diffusion MRI, in terms of their angular error and the presence of spurious peaks. We test two fast, dictionary-based, L2-regularized algorithms for CS-DSI reconstruction. We find that, for a CS acceleration factor of R=3, i.e., an acquisition with 171 gradient directions, one of these methods is able to achieve both low angular error and low number of spurious peaks. With a scan length similar to that of high angular resolution multi-shell acquisition schemes, this CS-DSI approach is able to approximate both fully sampled DSI and multi-shell data with high accuracy. Thus it is suitable for orientation reconstruction and microstructural modeling techniques that require either grid- or shell-based acquisitions. We find that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the training data used to construct the dictionary can have an impact on the accuracy of CS-DSI, but that there is substantial robustness to loss of SNR in the test data. Finally, we show that, as the CS acceleration factor increases beyond R=3, the accuracy of these reconstruction methods degrade, either in terms of the angular error, or in terms of the number of spurious peaks. Our results provide useful benchmarks for the future development of even more efficient q-space acceleration techniques.
A compact spatial map in V2 visual cortex
Authors: Long Xiaoyang , Deng Bin , Cai Jing , Chen Zhe Sage , Zhang Sheng-Jia
Published: February 2021

Vision plays a critical role in guiding spatial navigation. A traditional view of the visual cortex is to compute a world-centered map of visual space, and visual neurons exhibit diverse tunings to simple or complex visual features. The neural representation of spatio-visual map in the visual cortex is thought to be transformed from spatial modulation signals at the hippocampal-entorhinal system. Although visual thalamic and cortical neurons have been shown to be modulated by spatial signals during navigation, the exact source of spatially modulated neurons within the visual circuit has never been identified, and the neural correlate underpinning a visuospatial or spatio-visual map remains elusive. To search for direct visuospatial and visuodirectional signals, here we recordin vivoextracellular spiking activity in the secondary visual cortex (V2) from freely foraging rats in a naturalistic environment. We identify that V2 neurons forms a complete spatio-visual map with a wide range of spatial tunings, which resembles the classical spatial map that includes the place, head-direction, border, grid and conjunctive cells reported in the hippocampal-entorhinal network. These spatially tuned V2 neurons display stable responses to external visual cues, and are robust with respect to non- spatial environmental changes. Spatially and directionally tuned V2 neuronal firing persists in darkness, suggesting that this spatio-visual map is not completely dependent on visual inputs. Identification of functionally distinct spatial cell types in visual cortex expands its classical role of information coding beyond a retinotopic map of the eye-centered world.
Substrates modulate charge-reorganization allosteric effects in protein-protein association
Authors: Ghosh Shirsendu , Banerjee-Ghosh Koyel , Levy Dorit , Riven Inbal , Naaman Ron , Haran Gilad
Published: February 2021

Protein function may be modulated by an event occurring far away from the functional site, a phenomenon termed allostery. While classically allostery involves conformational changes, we recently observed that charge redistribution within an antibody can also lead to an allosteric effect, modulating the kinetics of binding to target antigen. In the present study, we study the association of a poly-histidine tagged enzyme (phosphoglycerate kinase, PGK) to surface-immobilized anti-His antibodies, finding a significant Charge-Reorganization Allostery (CRA) effect. We further observe that PGK’s negatively charged nucleotide substrates modulate CRA substantially, even though they bind far away from the His-tag-antibody interaction interface. In particular, binding of ATP reduces CRA by more than 50%. The results indicate that CRA may be affected by charged substrates bound to a protein and provide further insight into the role of charge redistribution in protein function.

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Functional and taxonomic comparison of mouse and human gut microbiotas using extensive culturing and metagenomics
Authors: Beresford-Jones Benjamin S. , Forster Samuel C. , Stares Mark D. , Notley George , Viciani Elisa , Browne Hilary P. , Kumar Nitin , Vervier Kevin , Almeida Alexandre , Lawley Trevor D. , Pedicord Virginia A.
Published: February 2021

Mouse models are essential for biomedical science and drug discovery, yet it is not known how the bacteria in the mouse microbiota – important determinants of phenotypes of health and disease –affect their relevance to human disease. To interrogate the taxonomic and functional differences between the human and mouse gut microbiotas, we developed the Mouse Microbial Genome Collection (MMGC), a compilation of 276 genomes from cultured isolates and 45,218 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from 1,960 publicly available mouse metagenomes. The MMGC reveals that while only 2.65% of bacterial species are shared between mouse and human, over 80% of annotatable functions are present in both microbiomes. Using drug metabolism and butyrate synthesis as examples, we illustrate that although the species harbouring these key functions can differ between hosts, the MMGC enables identification of functionally equivalent taxa in the mouse and human microbiotas. The MMGC thereby facilitates the informed use of mice in biomedical research by providing access to the conservation and taxonomic locations of bacterial functions of interest.
Release of extracellular DNA byPseudomonasspecies as a major determinant for biofilm switching and an early indicator for cell population control
Authors: Kakahi Fatemeh Bajoul , Martinez Juan Andres , Avitia Fabian Moreno , Telek Samuel , Volke Daniel C. , Wirth Nicolas T. , Nikel Pablo I. , Delvigne Frank
Published: February 2021

The different steps involved in biofilm formation have been the subjects of intensive researches. However, the very early cell decision-making process related to the switch from planktonic to sessile state still remains uncharacterized. Based on the use ofPseudomonas putidaKT2440 and derivatives with varying biofilm-forming capabilities, we observed a subpopulation of cells bound to extracellular DNA (eDNA) in the planktonic phase, as indicated by propidium iodide (PI) staining. Strikingly, the size of this eDNA-bound/PI-positive subpopulation correlated with the overall biofilm forming capability of the bacterial population. This finding challenges the conventional view of phenotypic switching and suggests that, inPseudomonas, biofilm switching is determined collectively based on the quantity of eDNA released in the supernatant. The whole process can be followed based on automated flow cytometry, and the appearance of PI-positive cells was considered as an early-warning indicator for biofilm formation. For this purpose, automated glucose pulsing was used successfully to interfere with the proliferation of PI-positive cells, resulting in a reduction of biofilm formation. This study provides insights into the collective determinants of biofilm switching inPseudomonasspecies and introduces a potential strategy for controlling biofilm formation.
Optimal Linkage Disequilibrium Splitting
Authors: Privé Florian
Published: February 2021

A few algorithms have been developed for splitting the genome in nearly independent blocks of linkage disequilibrium. Due to the complexity of this problem, these algorithms rely on heuristics, which makes them sub-optimal. Here we develop an optimal solution for this problem using dynamic programming. This is now implemented as functionsnp_ldplitas part of R package bigsnpr.
The relational embeddedness as the differentiator of the cluster supply chain collaboration – a multidimensional comparative analysis
Authors: Frankowska Marzena , Cheba Katarzyna
Published: February 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to fill the research and cognitive gap by comparative analyzing of the cluster supply chain (CSC) and supply chains not belonging to the clusters to examine the relational embeddedness as the differentiator of supply chains operating in the clusters.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual model was tested with data collected from 475 industrial companies cooperating with their partners within supply chains, including 135 CSC. To identify the livraisons between different indicators, the correspondence analysis was applied.

Findings

The division of enterprises participating in this study into groups allows for the determination of relatively clear boundaries between enterprises belonging to the cluster and those that do not declare such affiliation. The obtained results confirmed that the relational embeddedness is the differentiator of the CSC collaboration.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitations are referred to as the static character of the data.

Practical implications

The paper contains implications for cluster facilitators, as well as for cluster policy decision makers, to better design support for cluster organizations.

Originality/value

This research is a contribution to the literature on inter-organizational structures, such as clusters and supply chains, and in particular, contributes to the creation of the scientific ground of SCS theory. The research allowed to better understand the nature of collaboration taking into consideration the fact of the relational embeddedness of the companies operating within supply chains located in clusters. It proves the existence of a new type of inter-organizational form that is CSC.
Strategies to manage product recalls in the COVID-19 pandemic: an exploratory case study of PPE supply chains
Authors: Schumacher Roman , Glew Rob , Tsolakis Naoum , Kumar Mukesh
Published: February 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate strategies to manage product recalls where shortages are a critical threat, with impacts such as loss of life. The authors aim to identify key supply chain strategies and opportunities for theoretical advancement by taking a resilience perspective on temporary supply chain design.

Design/methodology/approach

First, the authors conducted an impact event analysis of product recalls by exploring the RAPEX database and official statements of individual country regulators. Second, the authors conducted an exploratory case study with the Cambridge University Hospitals on Personal Protective Equipment to explore product recall risks, utilising an action research methodology.

Findings

Additional processes, mainly testing, can compensate for the risks that may arise from temporary supply chains, where changes in location and product design are not possible due to the immediate nature of demand caused by COVID-19 pandemic. This finding reflects on the resilience of designing and implementing temporary supply chains from the perspective of product, process and location.

Research limitations/implications

This paper does not employ an in-depth multiple case study methodology. However, the authors argue that the role of institutional actors in global supply chains and its implications on product safety needs to be empirically studied in order to expand existing supply chain management theories to cover resilience in emerging, mature and temporary supply chain.

Practical implications

Managers can learn from the Cambridge University Hospitals case study that a downstream quality inspection system can be deployed to manage product quality and safety risks where recalls are not an option, such as during critical situations in the COVID-19 pandemic.

Social implications

The authors’ observations suggest that governments may be socially responsible for implementing rigorous mechanisms to manage product recall risks that compromise consumer safety.

Originality/value

The authors’ study is uniquely designed and studies various specific phenomena of product recalls risks in COVID-19. The unique design features include a dynamic and recent database analysis involving a product, process and location centric perspective complemented with a Cambridge University Hospitals case study.
Challenges and enabling features of small and medium infrastructure public–private partnerships (P3s): a case study of the US P3 infrastructure market
Authors: Liang Yunping , Ashuri Baabak
Published: February 2021

Purpose

In classical perspective, projects under a certain size are not feasible for P3. However, there is an emerging trend on using P3 to deliver projects which are frequently at small- to medium- size to meet ever-increasingly complex social needs, including enhancing lifecycle performance of existing facilities, designing and building for resilience and sustainability, ensuring cost effectiveness of public spending and fostering innovation. In contrast with the increasing implementation, small and medium P3s, especially those in the United States, receive little attention in existing studies. This study aims at answering the question: in the context of US, what features of those small- to medium- sized P3s with success records enable the selection of P3 as delivery method.

Design/methodology/approach

By critically reviewing the literature, this study synthesizes and discusses the challenges in classical perspective. The authors use a framework drawn from the transaction cost to propose two types of enabling features that could contribute to the success of small and medium P3s. The proposed enabling features are supported by case study of twelve identified small- to medium- sized P3s which have reached financial closure as of 2018 in the United States.

Findings

The results show how the identified enabling opportunities have been used in these cases to enhance the viability of the P3 model in the infrastructure market. The two types of features are high tolerance enabler explained by the expectations on indirect and non-monetary compensations, and cost reduction enablers including: (1) being in the sectors with well-established traditions on using private investments; (2) having developers with expertise on infrastructure finance; (3) being in the jurisdictions with favorable legislative environment and (4) having less-uncertain future project revenue.

Originality/value

This study, for the first time, critically examines the enabling features of the P3 model for delivering small and medium infrastructure projects in the United States. This research sheds light on the credibility and viability of small- to medium- sized P3 and increases the confidence in policy makers to promote this model.
Propaganda analysis in social media: a bibliometric review
Authors: Chaudhari Deptii Devendra , Pawar Ambika Vishal
Published: February 2021

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the trends in research studies in the past decade which address the use and analysis of propaganda in social media using natural language processing. The purpose of this study is to conduct a comprehensive bibliometric review of studies focusing on the use, identification and analysis of propaganda in social media.

Design/methodology/approach

This work investigates and examines the research papers acquired from the Scopus database which has huge number of peer reviewed literature and also provides interfaces to access required for bibliometric study. This paper has covered subject papers from 2010 to early 2020 and using tools such as VOSviewer and Biblioshiny.

Findings

This bibliometric survey shows that propaganda in social media is more studied in the area of social sciences, and the field of computer science is catching up. The evolution of research for propaganda in social media shows positive trends. This subject is primarily rooted in the social sciences. Also this subject has shown a recent shift in the area of computer science. The keyword analysis shows that the propaganda in social media is being studied in conjunction with issues such as fake news, political astroturfing, terrorism and radicalization.

Research limitations/implications

The lack of highly cited papers and co-citation analysis implies intermittent contributions by the researchers. Propaganda in social media is becoming a global phenomenon, and ill effects of this are evident in developing countries as well. This denotes a great deal of scope of work for researchers in other countries focusing on their territorial issues. This study was conducted in the confines of data captured from the Scopus database. Hence, it should be noted that some vital publications in recent times could not be included in this study.

Originality/value

The uniqueness of this work is that a thorough bibliometric analysis of the topic is demonstrated using several forms such as mind map, co-occurrence, co-citations, Sankey plot and topic dendrograms by using bibliometric tools such as VOSviewer and Biblioshiny.
Evaluation of the influence of ambient air temperature and air velocity on mortar cement durability using a forced convection solar dryer
Authors: Bahammou Younes , Kouhila Mounir , Moussaoui Haytem , Lamsyehe Hamza , Tagnamas Zakaria , Lamharrar Abdelkader , Idlimam Ali
Published: February 2021

Purpose

This work aims to study the hydrothermal behavior of mortar cement toward certain environmental factors (ambient air temperature and air velocity) based on its drying kinetics data. The objective is to provide a better understanding and controlling the stability of mortar structures, which integrate the sorption phenomenon, drying process, air pressure and intrinsic characteristics. This leads to predict the comportment of mortar structures in relation with main environmental factors and minimize the risk of cracking mortar structures at an early age.

Design/methodology/approach

Thermokinetic study was carried out in natural and forced convection solar drying at three temperatures 20, 30 and 40°C and three air velocities (1, 3 and 5 m.s-1). The empirical and semiempirical models tested successfully describe the drying kinetics of mortar. These models simulate the drying process of water absorbed by capillarity, which is the most common humidity transfer mechanism in building materials and contain parameters with physical significance, which integrate the effect of several environmental factors and intrinsic characteristics of mortar structures.

Findings

The models simulate the drying process of water absorbed by capillarity, which is the most common humidity transfer mechanism in building materials and contain parameters with physical significance, which integrate the effect of several environmental factors and intrinsic characteristics of mortar structures. The average activation energy obtained expressed the temperature effect on the mortar diffusivity. The drying constant and the diffusion coefficient can be used to predict the influence of these environmental factors on the drying behavior of various building materials and therefore on their durability.

Originality/value

Evaluation of the effect of several environmental factors and intrinsic characteristics of mortar structures on their durability.
Management of variations in the public-sector building construction projects in Sri Lanka
Authors: Perera B.A.K.S. , Sirimewan D.C. , Senadeera A.D.
Published: February 2021

Purpose

Many public-sector building projects in developing countries are prone to variations owing to the changes made to their original project scopes, and economic depressions and stagnations. Cost and time-overruns are consequences of such variations. Thus, variation management in these projects is important. Hence, this paper aims to analyse the methods of managing variations in public-sector building projects in Sri Lanka.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted a mixed research approach. Seventeen expert interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted to identify the causes and consequences of the variations, and the strategies that will help manage those variations. Manual content analysis and mean weighted rankings (MWR) were used to analyse the collected quantitative and qualitative data, respectively.

Findings

The employer, consultant, contractor and several other factors are mostly responsible for the variations in public-sector building projects in Sri Lanka. Cost and time-overruns, rework and demolition and disputes are the major consequences of such variations. The study findings reveal that a detailed employer’s brief, clearly defined project objectives, a comprehensive design and set of specifications, and preliminary investigations are the strategies that will mostly minimise the variations in public-sector building projects in Sri Lanka.

Originality/value

The study proposes strategies to avoid or minimise the adverse impact of variations, which the industry practitioners can adopt for variation management in public-sector building projects. The study theoretically contributes to knowledge by revealing how variations in public-sector building projects in Sri Lanka can be managed by identifying their causes and consequences.
Banks and their technology investment decision are aligned or not – an experience of Indian banks
Authors: Chhabra Roy Neha
Published: February 2021

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to measure the impact of technology spend on bank profitability focusing on Indian public and private sector commercial banks. The study also assesses the longevity duration of impact for both public and private sector banks. The trade-off is created between the bank’s profitability and technology spent across four identified columns: increase product sales, reduce cost, enhance employee efficiency and optimally use existing resources.

Design/methodology/approach

The metrics of four columns converted to measurable 11 financial alarming indicators and impact is again checked on profitability indicator ROE. The data used for empirical analysis for the study are between the year 2003 and 2019, across 12 public and 15 private banks. The interface between technology spend and profitability is measured using panel vector autoregression (VAR) and panel vector error correction model (VECM) and further the link between 11 financial indicators and profitability measures is established using panel data analysis.

Findings

The study found that there is a mixed effect of technology spent on profitability and performance of Indian banks, where public sector banks were found to be more unstructured over private sector banks. The study advises the optimal technology spend strategies to gain enhanced productivity for banking business which are to name a few – planned technology reserves, customer awareness campaigns for products, robust employee-customer motivation policy and customized technologies aligned to existing infrastructure.

Originality/value

The data was original and extracted from the Reserve bank of India website and respective banks’ annual reports.
Inflammation in psychiatry especially focused on depression
Authors: Monji Akira
Published: February 2021

The etiology of depression remains unclear, while, in many aspects, the pathology of depression has recently been reported to be closely associated with inflammation. The inflammatory processes often found in the acute stage of depression might have a profound influence of the prognosis of depression. These processes might account for the underlying mechanism between depression and other disorders, including metabolic disorders and dementia. The relationship between depression and inflammation might shed new light on the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for depression.
The composition engineering of red‐emitting Eu3+‐doped Ca10.5(PO4)7‐type solid solution phosphors and application in LED
Authors: Wang Jindi , Huang Shuai , Yan Yu , Shang Mengmeng
Published: February 2021

In this work, using Ca10.5(PO4)7 as the structural model, a number of Eu3+‐doped [Ca9Na3xY1‐x(PO4)7 (CNYP‐I, 0 ≤ x ≤ 1/2) ← Ca10.5(PO4)7 → Ca9+yNa3/2‐y/2Y(1‐y)/2(PO4)7 (CNYP‐II, 0 ≤ y ≤ 1)] phosphors were designed and synthesized through the heterovalent substitution of Y3+ and Na+ to Ca2+. The substitution mechanism, composition structure, luminescence performance, and thermal stability of Eu3+‐doped CNYP‐I (0 ≤ x ≤ 1/2) as well as the solid solutions of CNYP‐II (0 ≤ y ≤ 1), were discussed in detail. The morphology and element composition of CNYP‐I (0 ≤ x ≤ 1/2) and CNYP‐II (0 ≤ y ≤ 1) solid solutions were analyzed by SEM and EDS. The PL spectra of the specimens were containing the predominant red peak of emission at 612 nm caused via the transition of 5D0‐7F2, indicating that Eu3+ occupies the low‐symmetry center. Moreover, the site symmetry Eu3+ occupied changed with the x/y value. The luminous intensity of Eu3+‐doped CNYP‐I (0 ≤ x ≤ 1/2) and CNYP‐II (0 ≤ y ≤ 1) phosphors at 150°C maintained about 60% of room temperature. The representative compound CNYP‐I (x = 1/3) was used as the red phosphor to prepare a near‐UV based white LEDs along with Ra of 80.9 and CCT of 4100 K.
Interspecies bacterial communication produces a delicate balance between Vibrio cholerae and the chironomid egg mass microbiome
Authors: Oliver Jonathan D. , Fountain‐Jones Nicholas M.
Published: February 2021

The evolution of antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens is considered by the World Health Organization to be one of the ten most concerning public health threats facing humanity (World Health Organization, 2020). Bacterial diseases previously controllable by antibiotics are resurging and treatment options are dwindling. Cholera is one such disease. Human pathogenic strains of Vibrio cholerae cause as many as 4 million cases of disease resulting in over 100,000 deaths each year (Ali et al. 2015) and multidrug‐resistant V. cholerae is now established where pandemic cholera persists. Vibrio cholerae is fundamentally an aquatic species thriving in brackish and estuarial waters. Its environmental prevalence, together with both extracellular and intracellular infection of alternative arthropod and mollusc hosts, produces a highly complex ecological milieu that is not well understood. With the absence of reliable antibiotic‐based treatment options, it is necessary to build a better understanding of V. cholerae biology and ecology in order to develop alternative methods for risk modelling and disease control. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, authors Sela, Hammer, and Halpern experimentally investigated a mechanism by which V. cholerae pathogenicity is affected by interspecies quorum sensing involving an array of bacterial species from the microbiome of an alternative arthropod host, the egg mass of a chironomid midge (Diptera:Chironomidae) (Sela et al. 2020). Quorum sensing is a mechanism whereby bacteria communicate with each other using autoinducers and is known to be important, for example, in shaping virulence in a variety of pathogenic bacteria. The innovative methodologies they used, both in molecular and protein biology and reductive investigative microbiomics, are helping to develop the tools needed for understanding this understudied ecological system and fighting cholera in a post‐antibiotic world.
Expectile‐based measures of skewness
Authors: Eberl Andreas , Klar Bernhard
Published: February 2021

In the literature, quite a few measures have been proposed for quantifying the deviation of a probability distribution from symmetry. The most popular of these skewness measures are based on the third centralized moment and on quantiles. However, there are major drawbacks in using these quantities. These include a strong emphasis on the distributional tails and a poor asymptotic behavior for the (empirical) moment‐based measure as well as difficult statistical inference and strange behaviour for discrete distributions for quantile‐based measures. Therefore, in this paper, we introduce skewness measures based on or connected with expectiles. Since expectiles can be seen as smoothed versions of quantiles, they preserve the advantages over the moment‐based measure while not exhibiting most of the disadvantages of quantile‐based measures. We introduce corresponding empirical counterparts and derive asymptotic properties. Finally, we conduct a simulation study, comparing the newly introduced measures with established ones, and evaluating the performance of the respective estimators.
Haptic Interfacing for Virtual Prototyping of Mechanical CAD Designs
Authors: Hollerbach John M. , Cohen Elaine , Thompson William , Freier Rodney , Johnson David , Nahvi Ali , Nelson Don , Thompson Thomas V.
Published: February 2021

A network-based real-time control architecture has been developed which integrates a haptic interface (the Sarcos Dextrous Arm Master) with an advanced CAD modeling system (Utah’s Alpha.1). New algorithms have been developed and tested for surface proximity testing, fast updates to local closest point on a surface, and smooth transitions between surfaces. The combination of these new algorithms with the haptic interface and CAD modeling system permits a user to actively touch and manipulate virtual parts as well as passively view them on a CRT screen.
Geometrically Nonlinear Response of Beam and Membrane Structures by Exact Reduction Technique
Authors: To Cho W. S. , Li Lingchuan
Published: February 2021

Large scale dynamic finite element analysis of complex nonlinear mechanical or structural systems can be very expensive. To significantly reduce the computational cost various techniques have been developed and presented in the literature. The reduction method based on symmetry group or the so-called group theoretic approach (GTA) of Healey and associates for bifurcation analysis and free vibration analysis of geometrically nonlinear systems with symmetries has been extended by the authors to deal with transient geometrically nonlinear response of structures discretized by the finite element method (FEM). Computed results for two discretized space trusses were obtained with the GTA, and presented by the authors in a previous paper. Application is further made of the GTA for the computation of geometrically nonlinear response of beam and membrane structures during the second phase of the investigation reported here. The obtained numerical results indicate that the GTA can be applied to relatively more complicated structural systems that include symmetry of nodal rotations. It was observed that the results obtained by the GTA are very accurate and the GTA is very efficient compared with technique for the full space problems.
Step Services for Sharing Product Models in a Virtual Enterprise
Authors: Hardwick Martin , Spooner David L.
Published: February 2021

This paper focuses on managing product data in a distributed information infrastructure for a virtual enterprise. It exploits the emerging STEP standards as a common representation for exchanging product data within this infrastructure. A set of STEP services is defined that provide the capability for engineers to retrieve and edit parts or a product model and to integrate those edited parts back into the product model. A demonstration of these services as part of a National Industrial Information Infrastructure Protocols Consortium demonstration is then described. The paper ends by discussing lessons learned from this demonstration. It also discusses future plans for development of the STEP services.
Integrated Design and Rapid Manufacturing Over the Internet
Authors: Rajagopalan Sanjay , Pinilla J. Miguel , Losleben Paul , Tian Qi , Gupta Satyandra K.
Published: February 2021

An Internet-based infrastructure is being developed in order to provide designers with access to multiple layered-manufacturing services. The design domain being addressed is that of small mechanisms or electro-mechanical assemblies that would be used in robots or other mechatronic devices. The approach presented relies on the formalization of the data exchange interface between designers and manufacturers. The primary operatives in this system are Design Clients, Manufacturing Services and Process Brokers. The Design Client allows designers to submit completed designs for algorithmic decomposition, or alternately, to compose a design from primitives and library components that have been primed with some process-related information. During this early phase, the Manufacturing Service consists of a highly automated machine that can be used to build ceramic parts, and the associated software components for design decomposition, process planning and machine control. In later phases, multiple service providers will be made accessible. The Process Broker implements a number of supporting services including process selection and optimal part orientation. Future broker services will include manufacturability analysis, directory services and accreditation etc. Currently, this interface is being built and evaluated internally at Stanford and CMU. It will be made available for use by other selected universities in the near future.