bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Differential Metabarcoding Approach to Describe Taxonomy Profiles of Bacteria and Archaea in the Saltern of Margherita di Savoia (Italy)
Authors: Leoni Claudia , Volpicella Mariateresa , Fosso Bruno , Manzari Caterina , Piancone Elisabetta , Dileo Maria C.G. , Arcadi Erika , Yakimov Michail , Pesole Graziano , Ceci Luigi R.
Published: June 2020

Microorganisms inhabiting saline environments are an interesting ecological model for the study of the adaptation of organisms to extreme living conditions and constitute a precious resource of enzymes and bioproducts for biotechnological applications. We analyzed the microbial communities in nine ponds with increasing salt concentrations (salinity range 4.9–36.0%) of the Saltern of Margherita di Savoia (Italy), the largest thalassohaline saltern in Europe. A deep-metabarcoding NGS procedure addressing separately the V5-V6 and V3-V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene of Bacteria and Archaea, respectively, and a CARD-FISH (catalyzed reporter deposition fluorescence in situ hybridization) analysis allowed us to profile the dynamics of microbial populations at the different salt concentrations. Both the domains were detected throughout the saltern, even if the low relative abundance of Archaea in the three ponds with the lowest salinities prevented the construction of the relative amplicon libraries. The highest cell counts were recorded at 14.5% salinity for Bacteria and at 24.1% salinity for Archaea. While Bacteria showed the greatest number of genera in the first ponds (salinity range 4.9–14.5%), archaeal genera were more numerous in the last ponds of the saltern (salinity 24.1–36.0%). Among prokaryotes, Salinibacter was the genus with the maximum abundance (~49% at 34.6% salinity). Other genera detected at high abundance were the archaeal Haloquadratum (~43% at 36.0% salinity) and Natronomonas (~18% at 13.1% salinity) and the bacterial “Candidatus Aquiluna” (~19% at 14.5% salinity). Interestingly, “Candidatus Aquiluna” had not been identified before in thalassohaline waters.
Genetic Variants and Phenotypic Characteristics of Salmonella Typhimurium-Resistant Mutants after Exposure to Carvacrol
Authors: Berdejo Daniel , Merino Natalia , Pagán Elisa , García-Gonzalo Diego , Pagán Rafael
Published: June 2020

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance has raised questions about the safety of essential oils and their individual constituents as food preservatives and as disinfection agents. Further research is required to understand how and under what conditions stable genotypic resistance might occur in food pathogens. Evolution experiments on Salmonella Typhimurium cyclically exposed to sublethal and lethal doses of carvacrol permitted the isolation of SeSCar and SeLCar strains, respectively. Both evolved strains showed a significant increase in carvacrol resistance, assessed by minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations, the study of growth kinetics in the presence of carvacrol, and the evaluation of survival under lethal conditions. Moreover, antibiotic susceptibility tests revealed a development of SeLCar resistance to a wide range of antibiotics. Whole genome sequencing allowed the identification of single nucleotide variations in transcriptional regulators of oxidative stress-response: yfhP in SeSCar and soxR in SeLCar, which could be responsible for the increased resistance by improving the response to carvacrol and preventing its accumulation inside the cell. This study demonstrates the emergence of S. Typhimurium-resistant mutants against carvacrol, which might pose a risk to food safety and should therefore be considered in the design of food preservation strategies, or of cleaning and disinfection treatments.
Sex-Specific Associations between Gut Prevotellaceae and Host Genetics on Adiposity
Authors: Cuevas-Sierra Amanda , Riezu-Boj José Ignacio , Guruceaga Elizabeth , Milagro Fermín Ignacio , Martínez José Alfredo
Published: June 2020

The gut microbiome has been recognized as a tool for understanding adiposity accumulation and for providing personalized nutrition advice for the management of obesity and accompanying metabolic complications. The genetic background is also involved in human energy homeostasis. In order to increase the value of nutrigenetic dietary advice, the interplay between genetics and microbiota must be investigated. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate interactive associations between gut microbiota composition and 95 obesity-related single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) searched in the literature. Oral mucosa and fecal samples from 360 normal weight, overweight and obese subjects were collected. Next generation genotyping of these 95 SNPs and fecal 16S rRNA sequencing were performed. A genetic risk score (GRS) was constructed with 10 SNPs statistically or marginally associated with body mass index (BMI). Several microbiome statistical analyses at family taxonomic level were applied (LEfSe, Canonical Correspondence Analysis, MetagenomeSeq and Random Forest), and Prevotellaceae family was found in all of them as one of the most important bacterial families associated with BMI and GRS. Thus, in this family it was further analyzed the interactive association between BMI and GRS with linear regression models. Interestingly, women with higher abundance of Prevotellaceae and higher GRS were more obese, compared to women with higher GRS and lower abundance of Prevotellaceae. These findings suggest relevant interrelationships between Prevotellaceae and the genetic background that may determine interindividual BMI differences in women, which opens the way to new precision nutrition-based treatments for obesity.
S-methyl Methanethiosulfonate: Promising Late Blight Inhibitor or Broad Range Toxin?
Authors: Joller Charlotte , De Vrieze Mout , Moradi Aboubakr , Fournier Claudine , Chinchilla Delphine , L’Haridon Floriane , Bruisson Sebastien , Weisskopf Laure
Published: June 2020

(1) Background: S-methyl methanethiosulfonate (MMTS), a sulfur containing volatile organic compound produced by plants and bacterial species, has recently been described to be an efficient anti-oomycete agent with promising perspectives for the control of the devastating potato late blight disease caused by Phytophthora infestans. However, earlier work raised questions regarding the putative toxicity of this compound. To assess the suitability of MMTS for late blight control in the field, the present study thus aimed at evaluating the effect of MMTS on a wide range of non-target organisms in comparison to P. infestans. (2) Methods: To this end, we exposed P. infestans, as well as different pathogenic and non-pathogenic fungi, bacteria, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as well as the plant Arabidopsis thaliana to MMTS treatment and evaluated their response by means of in vitro assays. (3) Results: Our results showed that fungi (both mycelium and spores) tolerated MMTS better than the oomycete P. infestans, but that the compound nevertheless exhibited non-negligible toxic effects on bacteria, nematodes and plants. (4) Conclusions: We discuss the mode of action of MMTS and conclude that even though this compound might be too toxic for chemical application in the field, its strong anti-oomycete activity could still be exploited when naturally released at the site of infection by plant-associated microbes inoculated as biocontrol agents.
Global Prevalence Estimates of Toxascaris leonina Infection in Dogs and Cats
Authors: Rostami Ali , Riahi Seyed Mohammad , Fallah Omrani Vahid , Wang Tao , Hofmann Andreas , Mirzapour Aliyar , Foroutan Masoud , Fakhri Yadolah , Macpherson Calum N. L. , Gasser Robin B.
Published: June 2020

Toxascaris leonina is an ascaridoid nematode of dogs and cats; this parasite affects the health of these animals. This study estimated the global prevalence of Ta. leonina infection in dogs and cats using random effects meta-analysis as well as subgroup, meta-regression and heterogeneity analyses. The data were stratified according to geographical region, the type of dogs and cats and environmental variables. A quantitative analysis of 135 published studies, involving 119,317 dogs and 25,364 cats, estimated prevalence rates of Ta. leonina in dogs and cats at 2.9% and 3.4%, respectively. Prevalence was highest in the Eastern Mediterranean region (7.2% for dogs and 10.0% for cats) and was significantly higher in stray dogs (7.0% vs. 1.5%) and stray cats (7.5% vs. 1.8%) than in pets. The findings indicate that, worldwide, ~26 million dogs and ~23 million cats are infected with Ta. leonina; these animals would shed substantial numbers of Ta. leonina eggs into the environment each year and might represent reservoirs of infection to other accidental or paratenic hosts. It is important that populations of dogs and cats as well as other canids and felids be monitored and dewormed for Ta. leonina and (other) zoonotic helminths.
Environmental Risk of Leptospirosis in Animals: The Case of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russian Federation
Authors: Zakharova Olga I. , Korennoy Fedor I. , Toropova Nadezhda N. , Burova Olga A. , Blokhin Andrey A.
Published: June 2020

Leptospirosis is a zoonotic natural focal disease caused by the pathogenic bacteria Leptospira. Its spread is related to certain ecological factors. The aim of the current research was to assess potential exposure to the infection as a function of environmental determinants in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Russian Federation. We applied environmental niche modeling using leptospirosis cases in livestock and wild animals in 1995–2019 with regard to a set of landscape, climatic, and socioeconomic variables, both for the current climate and for the projected climate for 2041–2060. The MaxEnt model performed well (AUC = 0.930), with the mean temperature of the warmest quarter, mean diurnal range, land cover type, and altitude being the most contributing variables. Consequent zoning based on the proportion of high-risk cells within each administrative unit suggested that five out of the 36 districts of the Republic are at high risk in the current climate conditions, with three more districts expected to demonstrate a high risk by 2060. This study presents the first-ever attempt at leptospirosis ecological modeling in Russia. Its results correspond well to the findings of other authors and underline the importance of considering ecological factors when conducting a leptospirosis risk assessment.
Wheatgrass Juice Administration and Immune Measures during Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Colon Cancer Patients: Preliminary Results
Authors: Avisar Adva , Cohen Miri , Katz Rina , Shentzer Kutiel Talia , Aharon Anat , Bar-Sela Gil
Published: June 2020

Adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended in high-risk stage II–III colorectal cancer (CC). We examine the effect of daily wheatgrass juice (WGJ) intake in addition to chemotherapy on immune parameters, including IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, and white blood cells (WBCs) among CC patients. In a controlled prospective trial, 100 stage II–III CC patients were enrolled. According to patient preference, they were divided into two subgroups, control group and intervention group, 50 patients each, all of whom received the same standard postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, plus consumption of 60 cc WGJ daily in the intervention group. Blood samples were collected at baseline (T0) and upon treatment termination, 5–6 months later (T1). Cytokine concentrations were assessed using ELISA kits. Anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 concentrations were significantly higher in the WGJ group than in the control group at T1. The decline in WBC counts between T0 and T1 was significantly lower in the WGJ group. No significant differences were observed in IL-6, IL-8, and IL-12 concentrations between the study groups. The higher levels of IL-10 and the attenuating of WBC decline during chemotherapy may constitute preliminary evidence of the beneficial effects of WGJ on immune parameters, when given as a supplement to standard care. In light of these preliminary results, WGJ supports immunological parameters during adjuvant chemotherapy. Nevertheless, future studies are needed in order to translate those results to clinical recommendations for cancer survivors.
Implementing “Link Nurses” as Spiritual Care Support in a General Hospital
Authors: Cusveller Bart , Damsma-Bakker Aliza , Streefkerk Theotimus , van Leeuwen René
Published: June 2020

Background: spiritual care by nurses may be omitted from clinical practice when not structurally embedded in daily professional care routines. Method: a mixed method study was designed to measure qualitative and quantitative outcomes of a “link nurse” as a spiritual care resource (LNSC). Data were gathered from nurses (n = 123–86), link nurses (n = 15–18) and patients (n = 131–122) before and after an implementation and education project among (link) nurses. Results: findings show a self-reported increase of competency in providing spiritual care, especially assessment, counseling and referral in nurses, and referral in link nurses. In interviews afterwards, link nurses (n = 10) and nurses (n = 8) indicated more confidence in providing spiritual care. Patients reported high satisfaction with spiritual care by nurses, although differences in satisfaction between measurements before and after the project could not be demonstrated. Referral frequency to chaplaincy increased during the project. Conclusion(s): nurses may be willing to include spiritual care and collaboration as part of their professional role when support is provided by the hospital leadership. Education and practice development in spiritual care are supported by the implementation of link nurses, while the hospital’s leadership needs to take its responsibility to provide preconditions. Intervention evaluation suggested that the wider context of professional practice, collaboration, and organization needs to be addressed as well.
Spatio-Temporal Representation of an Electoencephalogram for Emotion Recognition Using a Three-Dimensional Convolutional Neural Network
Authors: Cho Jungchan , Hwang Hyoseok
Published: June 2020

Emotion recognition plays an important role in the field of human–computer interaction (HCI). An electroencephalogram (EEG) is widely used to estimate human emotion owing to its convenience and mobility. Deep neural network (DNN) approaches using an EEG for emotion recognition have recently shown remarkable improvement in terms of their recognition accuracy. However, most studies in this field still require a separate process for extracting handcrafted features despite the ability of a DNN to extract meaningful features by itself. In this paper, we propose a novel method for recognizing an emotion based on the use of three-dimensional convolutional neural networks (3D CNNs), with an efficient representation of the spatio-temporal representations of EEG signals. First, we spatially reconstruct raw EEG signals represented as stacks of one-dimensional (1D) time series data to two-dimensional (2D) EEG frames according to the original electrode position. We then represent a 3D EEG stream by concatenating the 2D EEG frames to the time axis. These 3D reconstructions of the raw EEG signals can be efficiently combined with 3D CNNs, which have shown a remarkable feature representation from spatio-temporal data. Herein, we demonstrate the accuracy of the emotional classification of the proposed method through extensive experiments on the DEAP (a Dataset for Emotion Analysis using EEG, Physiological, and video signals) dataset. Experimental results show that the proposed method achieves a classification accuracy of 99.11%, 99.74%, and 99.73% in the binary classification of valence and arousal, and, in four-class classification, respectively. We investigate the spatio-temporal effectiveness of the proposed method by comparing it to several types of input methods with 2D/3D CNN. We then verify the best performing shape of both the kernel and input data experimentally. We verify that an efficient representation of an EEG and a network that fully takes advantage of the data characteristics can outperform methods that apply handcrafted features.
Weighted Structured Sparse Reconstruction-Based Lamb Wave Imaging Exploiting Multipath Edge Reflections in an Isotropic Plate
Authors: Xu Caibin , Yang Zhibo , Deng Mingxi
Published: June 2020

Lamb wave-based structural health monitoring techniques have the ability to scan a large area with relatively few sensors. Lamb wave imaging is a signal processing strategy that generates an image for locating scatterers according to the received Lamb waves. This paper presents a Lamb wave imaging method, which is formulated as a weighted structured sparse reconstruction problem. A dictionary is constructed by an analytical Lamb wave scattering model and an edge reflection prediction technique, which is used to decompose the experimental scattering signals under the constraint of weighted structured sparsity. The weights are generated from the correlation coefficients between the scattering signals and the predicted ones. Simulation and experimental results from an aluminum plate verify the effectiveness of the present method, which can generate images with sparse pixel values even with very limited number of sensors.
Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Solutions: A Review
Authors: Covaci Corina , Gontean Aurel
Published: June 2020

The goal of this paper is to review current methods of energy harvesting, while focusing on piezoelectric energy harvesting. The piezoelectric energy harvesting technique is based on the materials’ property of generating an electric field when a mechanical force is applied. This phenomenon is known as the direct piezoelectric effect. Piezoelectric transducers can be of different shapes and materials, making them suitable for a multitude of applications. To optimize the use of piezoelectric devices in applications, a model is needed to observe the behavior in the time and frequency domain. In addition to different aspects of piezoelectric modeling, this paper also presents several circuits used to maximize the energy harvested.
Monocular Visual SLAM Based on a Cooperative UAV–Target System
Authors: Trujillo Juan-Carlos , Munguia Rodrigo , Urzua Sarquis , Guerra Edmundo , Grau Antoni
Published: June 2020

To obtain autonomy in applications that involve Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), the capacity of self-location and perception of the operational environment is a fundamental requirement. To this effect, GPS represents the typical solution for determining the position of a UAV operating in outdoor and open environments. On the other hand, GPS cannot be a reliable solution for a different kind of environments like cluttered and indoor ones. In this scenario, a good alternative is represented by the monocular SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) methods. A monocular SLAM system allows a UAV to operate in a priori unknown environment using an onboard camera to simultaneously build a map of its surroundings while at the same time locates itself respect to this map. So, given the problem of an aerial robot that must follow a free-moving cooperative target in a GPS denied environment, this work presents a monocular-based SLAM approach for cooperative UAV–Target systems that addresses the state estimation problem of (i) the UAV position and velocity, (ii) the target position and velocity, (iii) the landmarks positions (map). The proposed monocular SLAM system incorporates altitude measurements obtained from an altimeter. In this case, an observability analysis is carried out to show that the observability properties of the system are improved by incorporating altitude measurements. Furthermore, a novel technique to estimate the approximate depth of the new visual landmarks is proposed, which takes advantage of the cooperative target. Additionally, a control system is proposed for maintaining a stable flight formation of the UAV with respect to the target. In this case, the stability of control laws is proved using the Lyapunov theory. The experimental results obtained from real data as well as the results obtained from computer simulations show that the proposed scheme can provide good performance.
Analysis of Methods for Long Vehicles Speed Estimation Using Anisotropic Magneto-Resistive (AMR) Sensors and Reference Piezoelectric Sensor
Authors: Markevicius Vytautas , Navikas Dangirutis , Miklusis Donatas , Andriukaitis Darius , Valinevicius Algimantas , Zilys Mindaugas , Cepenas Mindaugas
Published: June 2020

With rapidly increasing traffic occupancy, intelligent transportation systems (ITSs) are a vital feature for urban areas. This paper analyses methods for estimating long (L > 10 m) vehicle speed and length using a self-developed system, equipped with two anisotropic magneto-resistive (AMR) sensors, and introduces a method for verifying the results. A well-known cross-correlation method of magnetic signatures is not appropriate for calculating the vehicle speed of long vehicles owing to limited resources and a long calculation time. Therefore, the adaptive signature cropping algorithm was developed and used with a difference quotient of a magnetic signature. An additional piezoelectric polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) sensor and video camera provide ground truth to evaluate the performances. The prototype system was installed on the urban road and tested under various traffic and weather conditions. The accuracy of results was evaluated by calculating the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) for different methods and vehicle speed groups. The experimental result with a self-obtained data set of 600 unique entities shows that the average speed MAPE error of our proposed method is lower than 3% for vehicle speed in a range between 40 and 100 km/h.
The Energy Compensation of the HRG Based on the Double-Frequency Parametric Excitation of the Discrete Electrode
Authors: Zhao Wanliang , Yang Hao , Liu Fucheng , Su Yan , Song Lijun
Published: June 2020

In this study, for energy compensation in the whole-angle control of Hemispherical Resonator Gyro (HRG), the dynamical equation of the resonator, which is excited by parametric excitation of the discrete electrode, is established, the stability conditions are analyzed, and the method of the double-frequency parametric excitation by the discrete electrode is derived. To obtain the optimal parametric excitation of the resonator, the total energy stability of the resonator is simulated for the evolution of the resonator vibration with different excitation parameters and the free precession of the standing wave by the parametric excitation. In addition, the whole-angle control of the HRG is designed, and the energy compensation of parametric excitation is proven by the experiments. The results of the experiments show that the energy compensation of the HRG in the whole-angle control can be realized using discrete electrodes with double-frequency parametric excitation, which significantly improves the dynamic performance of the whole-angle control compared to the force-to-rebalance.
Selective Ultrasonic Gravimetric Sensors Based on Capacitive Micromachined Ultrasound Transducer Structure—A Review
Authors: Barauskas Dovydas , Dzikaras Mindaugas , Bieliauskas Dovydas , Pelenis Donatas , Vanagas Gailius , Viržonis Darius
Published: June 2020

This review paper discusses the advances of the gravimetric detection devices based on capacitive micromachined ultrasound transducers structure. Principles of gravimetric operation and device modeling are reviewed through the presentation of an analytical, one-dimensional model and finite element modeling. Additionally, the most common fabrication techniques, including sacrificial release and wafer bonding, are discussed for advantages for gravimetric sensing. As functional materials are the most important part of the selective gravimetric sensing, the review of different functional material properties and coating and application methods is necessary. Particularly, absorption and desorption mechanisms of functional materials, like methylated polyethyleneimine, with examples of applications for gas sensing and using immune complexes for specific biomolecules detection are reviewed.
Control on the ‘Boundary-Work’ in Work-Life Articulation for Flexible Knowledge Workers. Insights into Gender Asymmetries
Authors: Carreri Anna
Published: June 2020

In the sociological literature, several studies have shown that the economic and organizational changes of the last decade, including the growth of the service sector and the diffusion of new technologies, have altered the productive and reproductive processes as well as their spatial and temporal dimensions typical of Fordism. In order to shed light on how knowledge workers facing job flexibility and insecurity position themselves with respect to the practices of (de)constructing the boundaries between productive and reproductive domains, specific analytical tools were applied, originating from the interdisciplinary field of boundary-studies, within a perspective focused on gender differences and the subjective experiences of time. With this approach, a discourse analysis was conducted on 37 qualitative interviews with knowledge workers who handle job flexibility and insecurity and who have care responsibilities to uphold at home. The results show that the permeability and flexibility of new (re)productive practices, often presented in neoliberal economy as new opportunities for knowledge workers, especially if they are female, are experienced differently by men and women: for men they represent a new control source, whereas for women they constitute a fictitious, if not constricting, process.
Proactive and Strategic Healthcare Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) in the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Epoch
Authors: Baxter David , Casady Carter B.
Published: June 2020

Abstract: The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has overwhelmed many national healthcare systems around the world. In attempts to meet their emergency needs and mitigate escalating challenges, governments are increasingly reaching out to the private sector to form sustainable, public-private partnerships (PPPs). Unfortunately, many of these ad hoc efforts have been reactive and uncoordinated to date. This perspective article thus offers a proactive, collaborative, and strategic vision for healthcare PPPs, focusing on short-, medium-, and long-term proposals that will harmonize strategic objectives and mobilize both public and private resources to combat and build resilience against global pandemics like COVID-19.
Sustainable Development of the Mortgage Market in Azerbaijan: Commercial Risks of Housing Construction, Social Vision, and State Influence
Authors: Ganbarov Fuad , Smoląg Klaudia , Muradov Rashad , Aghayeva Konul , Jafarova Rumella , Mammadov Yashar
Published: June 2020

The purpose of this study is to formulate a model for sustainable development of the mortgage market in Azerbaijan, taking into account commercial risks of housing construction, the risks of the construction industry, social visions of mortgages, state pressure, and support. The following five key research stages can be distinguished. Namely, identification of commercial risks of housing construction based on a survey; evaluation of the effectiveness of risk diversification strategy; determination of the social vision of a mortgage; substantiating the main directions of state pressure and support for mortgage market development; and creation of a model for sustainable development of the mortgage market in Azerbaijan. At the same time, it is proposed to use a methodological approach to assessing the effectiveness of the model based on the construction of the multivariate linear regression equation. The inclusive model of sustainable development of the mortgage market in Azerbaijan provides for the formation of a favorable institutional environment. Given the selected modules, forecasting the effectiveness of the proposed inclusive model demonstrates its effectiveness in the direction of enhancing mortgage lending based on interest rate regulation taking into account the benefits of green housing construction.
The Spectrum of Gravitational Waves, Their Overproduction in Quintessential Inflation and Its Influence in the Reheating Temperature
Authors: Haro Cases Jaume , Aresté Saló Llibert
Published: June 2020

One of the most important issues in an inflationary theory as standard or quintessential inflation is the mechanism to reheat the universe after the end of the inflationary period in order to match with the Hot Big Bang universe. In quintessential inflation two mechanisms are frequently used, namely the reheating via gravitational particle production which is, as we will see, very efficient when the phase transition from the end of inflation to a kinetic regime (all the energy of the inflaton field is kinetic) is very abrupt, and the so-called instant preheating which is used for a very smooth phase transition because in that case the gravitational particle production is very inefficient. In the present work, a detailed study of these mechanisms is done, obtaining bounds for the reheating temperature and the range of the parameters involved in each reheating mechanism in order that the Gravitational Waves (GWs) produced at the beginning of kination do not disturb the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) success.
REVIEW OF THE CONCLUSION OF A COURT EXPERT AND THE WRITTEN EXPLANATION OF THE SPECIALIST: SIMILARITY AND DIFFERENCE
Authors: Shcherbakovskyi M.
Published: June 2020

Reviewing the conclusions of forensic experts is regulated by the procedure developed by the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. The immediate purpose of the review is to establish the conformity of the study to the approved expert methods, to draw up an expert opinion on the procedural and departmental requirements. The ultimate goal of reviewing is to determine whether the conclusion form complies with the requirements of the law, the scientific validity of the expert opinion as a source of evidence, and the competence of a forensic expert. External reviewing is carried out in accordance with the plans of the Ministry of Justice for experts preparing to receive or confirm their qualifications. Internal peer review is carried out in expert institutions as ongoing quality control of examinations. Gross violations in expert studies have been identified, and organizational and procedural consequences are being drawn, which include sending a court notification about the inaccuracy of the examination. The use of reviews of expert conclusions in court proceedings as a source of evidence is unacceptable, since this document is not provided for by the procedural law, there are no guarantees of the independence and disinterest of the reviewer, reviews do not contain data on the actual circumstances of the dispute or offense. The purpose of providing reviews that are not compiled by the staff of expert institutions is to discredit the authority and professional reputation of forensic experts, leveling their conclusions. At the same time, there is an objective desire of the court to involve knowledgeable persons in the assessment of expert research. This is due to the fact that the parties and the court do not have special knowledge, which make it possible to assess the validity and reliability of the expert’s opinion. The procedural form for establishing these circumstances is to use the help of knowledgeable persons who may be involved as specialists to provide clarifications on issues within their competence. The specialist research the scientific and methodological side of expert examination. A written explanation of a specialist is a procedural document that is prescribed by law, but it does not have the status of a source of evidence. If the specialist provides an explanation that contains a negative response to the expert’s opinion, the judge must invite the expert and expert for interrogation to provide explanations. After hearing a specialist and expert, the court may come to the conclusion that the forensic examination was carried out correctly or, conversely, there are doubts about the reliability of the study and the grounds for appointing a new or repeated examination.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF EVASION FROM PARTICIPATION IN EXAMINATION IN CIVIL PROCEEDINGS: A PRACTICAL ASPECT
Authors: Nestor N.
Published: June 2020

The article is devoted to the study of practical issues that arise in judicial practice when appointing examinations in civil proceedings and further evading a party from participating in such examinations. There are established characteristic features and specific forms of actions of persons testifying to their evasion from participation in the examination. There are also analyzed consequences of the imposition of a special procedure sanction for persons who evade participation in the examination and the categories of cases are identified, where such a sanction most often applied.
COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF EXPERT CONCLUSION IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
Authors: Kravchenko O. , Zaveryko R.
Published: June 2020

The authors of the article on the basis of analysis of scientific sources, forensic practice and legislation considers the conceptual issue of specifying the procedure of comprehensive evaluation of expert’s conclusion in criminal proceedings. There is a distinguishing features of this procedure is the following: the first stage examines the procedural form of the expert’s conclusion, the second – its content, the factual data on the basis of which the presence or absence of facts and circumstances relevant to criminal proceedings and subject to be proved.

The criterion for assessing whether an expert’s conclusion is appropriate depends on the content of the conclusions provided to confirm or refute certain circumstances; confirmation of the reliability or inaccuracy of other evidence; the possibility or inability to use other evidence.

The condition for the admissibility of an expert’s conclusion is compliance with the procedural form for conducting the examination and drawing up a conclusion, namely: compliance with the requirements of the criminal procedural law; due process registration of the appointment of the examination (decision, determination, petitions of the parties, etc.); the procedural independence and individual responsibility of the expert for the conclusion provided by him/her; immediacy of research; objectivity and reliability of the of the conducted research and conclusion; due documentation of the results of expert’s research.

Objective reality indicates that doubts about the reliability of the expert’s conclusion will always be, however, if there are reasonable grounds for the unreliability of the expert’s conclusion, such a conclusion cannot be used in the process of proving. Consequently, there is a need for additional procedural actions aimed at obtaining data that confirm or refute the conclusion of the examination, among such actions is the appointment of a repeated examination.

The dominant role in the criterion for assessing the sufficiency of evidence in the expert’s conclusion is played by the subjective conclusion of the initiator of the expert research, his/her inner conviction, which determines a different approach to the assessment of evidence in connection with a different level of knowledge and experience.
INТЕGRATIONAL CHARACTER OF RESEARCH. COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION.
Authors: Humenskyi О.
Published: June 2020

Today, most research objects are complex objects, both from an engineering and technical point of view, and from the point of view of the integrated nature of the results of economic activity.

Currently, an integrated approach to the study of objects of expertise is becoming increasingly relevant, which is interesting both in theoretical and methodological aspects, since it expands the possibilities of expert research, and its results increase the reliability of the evidence obtained [3].

When deciding on the appointment of a comprehensive examination, the investigator, prosecutor, investigator judge, the court shall determine which expert specialties are necessary for its conduct.

The integration task solved with the help of a comprehensive expertise differs from the task of monoexpertise in the following: it is solved only by complexation knowledge of various specialties, its solution lies in the zone of the adjacent field of knowledge. It is at a higher level of generalized knowledge in comparison with the tasks of comprehensive expert specialties [4].

Complexity requires the presence of logical connections between conclusions, when the next conclusion logically follows from the previous one and depends on it. Moreover, the truth of the next conclusion should depend on the truth of the previous one [1].

Currently, some forensic examinations need to be considered as a transitional form from several monoexpertises, each of which is based on one expert specialty, to a more complex related field of knowledge and the related expert specialty based on it. The transition to higher-level monoexpertise is a way of developing related subject areas of expert knowledge and creating new types of expert specialties. The creation of this kind of scientific foundations and relevant expert specialties removes the problem of the procedural regulation of relations arising from the commission of a comprehensive examination. In the case of the appointment of such examinations to the investigator or the court, it is sufficient to know that such a category of expertise exists and what its capabilities are.

The person of a comprehensive examination, along with a commission of experts, can also be a separate expert as a carrier of special knowledge, not only in one, but also in different, including related, fields of knowledge. The epistemological nature of complexity is preserved. The above allows you to separate the one-person comprehensive expertise from the commission comprehensive expertise.
An Effective Framework for Speech and Music Segregation
Authors: Sajid Sidra , Javed Ali , Irtaza Aun
Published: June 2020

Speech and music segregation from a single channel is a challenging task due to background interference and intermingled signals of voice and music channels. It is of immense importance due to its utility in wide range of applications such as music information retrieval, singer identification, lyrics recognition and alignment. This paper presents an effective method for speech and music segregation. Considering the repeating nature of music, we first detect the local repeating structures in the signal using a locally defined window for each segment. After detecting the repeating structure, we extract them and perform separation using a soft time-frequency mask. We apply an ideal binary mask to enhance the speech and music intelligibility. We evaluated the proposed method on the mixtures set at -5 dB, 0 dB, 5 dB from Multimedia Information Retrieval-1000 clips (MIR-1K) dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method for speech and music segregation outperforms the existing state-of-the-art methods in terms of Global-Normalized-Signal-to-Distortion Ratio (GNSDR) values
Efficient isolation and identification of primary endothelial cells from bovine aorta by collagenase P
Authors: Seif Faezeh , Kheirollah Alireza , Babaahmadi-Rezaei Hossein
Published: June 2020

Introduction: Endothelial cells are widely used among researchers for investigation of cardiovascular diseases, particularly atherosclerosis. Since aortic endothelial cells are able to be cultured in high passages, these cells are suitable for physiological and pathological studies of blood vessels. Objectives: The aim of this study was employing a digestion method to isolate the endothelial cells from bovine aorta by utilizing collagenase P and, establishing and characterizing isolated primary endothelial cells (IPECs) cultures. Materials and Methods: IPECs were isolated from fresh bovine aorta via enzymatic digestion method using collagenase P. Cell morphology and its functions were assessed by measuring the gene expression of endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS) and endothelin-1. In order to validate them as IPECs, they were compared with bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Effects of synthetic endothelin-1 (100 nm) were assessed on the phosphorylation of Smad2 transcription factor via western blotting in IPECs for periods of one to four hours. Results: In this study, the morphology of IPECs from bovine aorta was identical to that of the BAECs. The gene expressions of endothelin-1 and eNOS were higher than those of BAECs and VSMCs. In addition, synthetic endothelin-1 resulted in the time-dependent boost of phosphorylation of carboxy-terminal Smad2 in the IPECs for periods of two and four hours. Conclusion: The results of this study confirm the efficacy of the enzymatic digestion method in isolating a large number of endothelial cells with morphological and functional characteristics.
Does the laparoscopic adrenalectomy seem to be less complicated for pheochromocytoma as a pathologic adrenal mass in children? A systematic review study
Authors: Teymoori Esmaeil , Rahmani Vahid , Elmi Arezo , Ahmadian Niazmand Zahra , Arabsorkhi Mishabi Mohammad , Mohebbi Hozesorkhi Reza , Noori Hamid , Nikbakht Dorrin , Chahartangi Masoud
Published: June 2020

Introduction: This study was aimed to review the complications of the laparoscopic adrenalectomy for pheochromocytoma. Materials and Methods: International databases including PubMed, Web of Science and Scopus were considered for search of English articles by 24 May 2019. Seventeen published articles were finally entered into the study. Keywords were adrenalectomy, laparoscopy, chromaffin, PC12 cells, pheochromocytoma and children or a combination of them in the title and abstracts. Results: There were more than 647 individuals reviewed in this systematic review of 17 published articles consisted of 16 retrospective studies and one prospective study. Conclusion: According to the results, laparoscopic adrenalectomy can be used safely with a short hospital stay and less hemorrhagia, short time of surgery and low-risk of recurrence for the management of pediatric adrenal pathology. It is suggested to undergo partial adrenalectomy, which provides steroid independent at long-term follow up.
Anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of Ferulago angulata
Authors: Hajhashemi Valiollah , Rafieian Kopaei Samira , Sajjadi Seyed Ebrahim
Published: June 2020

Introduction: Ferulago angulata from the Apiaceae family, has high flavonoid content and is detected to have anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects. Objectives: In this study, we sought to determine the components of essential oil and to estimate total phenol and flavonoid contents of its various extracts. We also aimed to find out the anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of essential oil, hydro-alcoholic and phenolic extracts of F. angulata aerial parts. Materials and Methods: The plant’s essential oil and extracts were prepared according to standard methods. Acetic acid, hot plate and formalin tests were used to investigate anti-nociceptive effects. Additionally, carrageenan and croton oil tests were used to evaluate anti-inflammatory effects. Results: Ferulago angulata aerial parts yielded 0.2% (v/w) yellowish essential oil. The gas chromatography/ mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of essential oil identified 82 compounds, which represented 98.9% of the essential oil. Thymol (7.9%), spathulenol (6.5%), trans-anethol (6.4%), myristicin (5.1%) and alpha-pinene (4.5%) were the main components. In acetic acid and formalin tests, the essential oil, hydro-alcoholic and phenolic extracts showed significant anti-nociceptive effects (P<0.001). In hot plate test, morphine which was used as standard drug, revealed significant anti-nociceptive effect while the plant extracts and essential oil were ineffective. High dose of the extracts and essential oil in croton oil test (P<0.001) and high dose of hydro-alcoholic and phenolic extracts in carrageenan test (P<0.05) reduced the inflammation. Conclusion: Ferulago angulata extracts and essential oil have anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects. However, further studies are needed to clarify their mechanism of actions.
ANALISIS STATISTICAL QUALITY CONTROL DALAM UPAYA MENGURANGI JUMLAH PRODUK CACAT DI PABRIK ROTI THE LI NO’U BAKERY
Authors: AHMAD RAHMAWATY , RESMAWAN RESMAWAN , ISA DEWI RAHMAWATY
Published: June 2020

Quality control is a technical and management activity which measures the quality characteristics of a product or service. Statistical quality control can be used to find production errors that result in defective products so that further corrective action can be taken to overcome them. The objective to be achieved in this research is to determine the Statistical Quality Control (SQC) method with pareto diagrams, control charts, cause and effect diagrams and 5W+1H analysis applied to The Li No'u Bakery in controlling quality to minimize failed products. The data in this study were obtained through direct observation and field interviews. Data analysis tools used are control charts, pareto diagrams, cause and effect diagrams and 5W + 1H analysis. Through a cause and effect diagram, the main factors causing the failure of bakery products at The Li No'u Bakery are manufacturers/employees. This is because the operator fails in making bakery products both the preparation of raw materials, the production process and packaging. So training is needed on making the dough, how to put bread and how to covenant and employee order according to the standard of The Li No'u Bakery.
PENDEKATAN MODEL VECTOR AUTOREGRESSIVE (VAR) UNTUK MERAMALKAN FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI INFLASI DI PROVINSI GORONTALO
Authors: USMAN HARIYATI H. , DJAKARIA ISMAIL , PAYU MUHAMMAD REZKY FRIESTA
Published: June 2020

The vector autoregressive (VAR) model is a simultaneous equation modeling used to construct forecasting systems from interrelated time-series data. This study intends to predict factors that significantly influence inflation in the province of Gorontalo. Moreover, the data used in this study involved inflation data and factors that influence inflation every month in the province in the period of January 2009 - December 2018. The results of inflation forecasting in Gorontalo in 2019 show that at the beginning of 2019, the inflation was considered to be very low at around -0.48% to -0.40%. However, the inflation surged in March with -0.25% (the highest inflation rate). The percentage decreased to -0.30% and -0.33% in April and May. After the decline in April and May, in the middle of the year (June) inflation returned to -0.31% and did not experience a significant change until the end of the year, which was still in the range of -0.32%. The accuracy of the prediction results seen in the MAPE value from out sample data of variables Y1 to Y8 is on the average below 10%, indicating that VAR is a significant forecasting model.