bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of a resource-saving technology allowing to increase the environmental sustainability of drying cotton raw materials
Authors: Rakhmonov Khayridin , Fayziev Sirojiddin , Qodirov Murtazo , Temirov Azamat , Toyirova Gulnoza
Published: June 2023

The article covers the principle of operation, as well as the results of theoretical research of the improved technology of the screw mixer-feeder unit of a new construction for the drying drum that allows the initial mixing of cotton raw materials with hot air and improves the ecological stability of the environment. The forces acting on the cotton pieces during the drying process have been determined. The graphs of the dependence of the amount of moisture release on the speed and density of hot air at different temperatures during the drying of cotton raw materials have been obtained. The laws of movement of cotton pieces in the screw conveyor along the surface of the screw have been theoretically substantiated.
Concerning partial discharge detection in cable lines using high-frequency sensors
Authors: Morozova Tatiana , Demin Maksim , Bondarchuk Alexander
Published: June 2023

Partial discharges result in cable line faults that can occur in defective insulation systems made of rubber, polyethylene, XLPE, and flexible PVC. Insulation defects may occur due to disruptions in their production process, cable installation, and operational conditions. Therefore, the diagnostic and monitoring of partial discharge occurrence in cable insulation help prevent emergencies in damaged cable line sections. Partial discharge registration is a non-destructive diagnostic method that helps assess the cable line condition and localize the detected defects. There are various methods of operational monitoring and partial discharge cause analysis based on operative partial discharge sensors. The assessment of cable line condition depends on the efficiency of signal detection and processing by the sensors used. This article reviews the problems of detecting and localizing partial discharges in cable lines and junction boxes using HFCT and UHF sensors. Having analyzed the capabilities of these sensors, we believe that the combined usage of HFCT and UHF sensors is the best method of detecting and localizing partial discharge within the entire cable system (lines and junction boxes).
Determination of loads of blast wave on aboveground and underground structures
Authors: Akhmedov Sharif , Juraev Toyir , Abrorov Akbar , Gafurova Nigora , Mirzaev Jasurbek
Published: June 2023

The article covers the problem of determination of loads of blast wave on aboveground and underground structures. In industrial production, the chemical sources of explosion occur, for which the environment is air. The most common and typical source of explosion is solid products of the explosion (PE) in the form of a packed charge. In a chemical explosion, highly compressed and heated gaseous products of the explosion (PE) are formed in the volume of the charge. The main parameters of the shock wave that determine its effect on the structure, i.e., excess pressure on the wave front, time of the wave's actionτ, and the impulse of the wave have been determined according to the empirical formulas obtained by experiment for each explosion source. Therefore, in this work, the formulas for determining the incident wave in large-scale experimental studies are presented. It has been found that loads on the structure of barriers of buildings are increase significantly as a result of secondary returning waves superimposing the first incident wave.
Adhesion and wetting of road bitumen on mineral materials
Authors: Rakhimov Bekzod , Adizov Bobirjon , Shukurullaev Botir , Yakhyaev Nodir
Published: June 2023

The article covers the results of a study of adhesive and wetting (wetting edge angle) characteristics of road bitumen compositions. New ingredients for road bitumen have been selected to increase its adhesive ability. Based on additives such as oil sludge, gossypol resin and technical sulfur, bitumen compositions with improved adhesive characteristics have been obtained. The influence of oil sludge, gossypol resin and industrial sulfur on the structural properties of road bitumen has been studied. Based on the chemical theory that provides adhesion of additives with mineral materials, a number of scientific studies of bituminous compositions on the strength of adhesion to the surface of various mineral materials have been carried out. Based on the results obtained, it was revealed that on the basis of the finished road bitumen grade BND 60/90 and the D-7 additive, a bituminous composition that has the highest adhesion strength to the surface of various mineral materials has been obtained.
Comb-forming roller with elastic rods
Authors: Kiyamov Asror Z.
Published: June 2023

A design diagram of comb formation roller in resilient stems is given. Comb-forming roller consists of support and small discs, as well as elastic rods. Elastic rods are installed along the perimeter of the diameter of the disks through their holes. Analytical dependences and mathematical models are obtained for determining the distance between disks, the diameter of disks, the diameter, length and number of elastic rods. One-factor experiments were carried out to substantiate the diameter of the disks and the number of rods. It was found that with the length of the elastic rods of the comb-forming roller 65-75 cm, the diameters of large, medium and small discs, respectively, at least 600mm, 550 mm and 200 mm, the angle of sharpening of the discs within 55-650, the issue of stems within 64 - 69 trimming and diameter bars 3 mm, intensive defeat of chunk and high- quality creation of ridges is ensured.
Biological diversity dynamics in forest biological community at Western Siberia subtaiga ecological monitoring index plot
Authors: Kazantseva Maria N. , Arefyev Stanislav P. , Gashev Sergey N. , Sorokina Natalia V. , Levykh Alena Yu. , Ganzherli Nadezhda V.
Published: June 2023

This article presents results of a 2001-2021 research into an index plot forest biological community in the Western Siberia subtaiga zone (Tyumen Region, Russia), providing data on dynamics and biological diversity of vegetation cover, fungi and terrestrial vertebrate communities. The current research analyses the influence of climate and weather conditions of certain vegetation seasons and perennial climate trends pertaining to global processes, on biodiversity. Over the observation period as a whole, the xerophily of the forest ecosystem increased.
Growing aquarium fish on organic food objects
Authors: Kozina Elena A. , Vladimtseva Tatyana M.
Published: June 2023

The dependence of the cultivation of predatory aquarium fish on the use of live food in the diet as an organic food object in the aquaterrarium of the Roev Ruchey Park in the city of Krasnoyarsk was studied. When choosing an organic food object for growing ornamental fish, guppies and swordtail fish of the Pecilia family were considered. Their diet consisted of a combination food and meat mix for freshwater fish. Swordtails gave offspring more than guppies by almost 2 times, puberty came 1 week earlier, the life cycle is longer by 2 years. Brilliant cichlazomas of the studied groups received a combined feed in the diet, the fish of the control group were additionally fed a meat mixture for freshwater fish, in the experimental group this mixture and part of the combined feed were replaced with organic food objects - swordtails in the amount of 0.75 g/head per day.
Seasonal carbon accumulation by groundcover in the Central Siberian subtaiga forest-steppe zone
Authors: Mamedova Sevinch , Vais Andrey , Melnik Alexandra , Chanchikova Svetlana , Mikhaylov Pavel , Nepovinnykh Artem
Published: June 2023

The research is dedicated to comparing the above ground living vegetation carbon stock in various site conditions. The study was carried out in the Karaul'noe forestry located near Krasnoyarsk, Russia. We placed the research plots in stands of varying density (0.34-1.06) and landforms. Seven research plots are of the closed type (the groundcover develop under the canopy) and three research plots are of the open type (the bank of the Yenisei River, hayfield, area under power lines). Open (forestless) plots (the bank of the Yenisei River, hayfield, area under power lines) and pine forests with forest floor dominated by ferns/tall grasses were of the maximum above ground living vegetation carbon stocks values (from 2.01 to 2.46 tonnes of carbon per ha). A significant carbon sequestration was observed in the pine forest of lingonberry/moss type (1.58 tonnes of carbon per ha) since the moss layer makes a significant contribution to the groundcover carbon accumulation.
Perspectives for the conservation of rare species of the genus Potentilla L. (Rosaceae) of the flora of the Republic of Bashkortostan
Authors: Elizaryeva Olga , Maslova Natalya
Published: June 2023

The article presents the results of the primary introduction experience of rare species of the genus Potentilla L. (Rosaceae Juss.) of the flora of the Republic of Bashkortostan. There are 5 rare species in the collection: the Pleistocene relic species Potentilla agrimonioides Bieb., P. arenosa (Turcz.) Juz., P. nivea L., the South Ural endemic P. eversmanniana Fisch. ex Ledeb., the Ural endemic P. kuznetzowii (Govor.) Juz. These species are included in the Red Data Book of the Republic of Bashkortostan (2021). In the collection, each species is represented by one sample. The mobilization was carried out by seeds from natural populations. Species of the genus Potentilla were grown in monoculture in the introduction nursery of the Ufa Institute of Biology. Plants go through a full cycle of annual development of shoots and give viable seeds (except P. arenosa). According to the scale of introduction resistance proposed by N.V. Trulevich (1991), under cultivation in the forest-steppe zone of the republic, P. agrimonioides and P. kuznetzowii are resistant species, P. eversmanniana and P. nivea are weakly resistant, P. arenosa is unstable species.
Stem segmentation for sustainable forest management task
Authors: Svoikin Fedor , Zhuk Kirill , Svoikin Vladimir , Ugryumov Sergey , Bacherikov Ivan
Published: June 2023

Harvesting of forest raw materials, namely felling and bucking of log on forest areas, is the first and main stage in the logging chain. One of the problems in this industry is the shortage of highly qualified specialists-operators of forest machines, including feller-delimbing-bucking machines (harvesters). Operators who have just come to the industry or have insufficient experience (have worked for less than a year) cannot correctly configure harvesters, as a result of which the processes in the logging chain are disrupted. Thus, it becomes necessary to apply additional models of working with operators and forest machines to reduce the resulting costs for the company. Understanding how much wood raw material will be obtained from the logging site allows predicting not only the amount of equipment required, but also planning actions for the next stages of logging.
Reproductive effort assessment for woody plants using Siberian spruce and Siberian fir
Authors: Davydychev Alexander , Zaitsev Gleb
Published: June 2023

The correlation between the yield of Siberian spruce (Picea obovata Ledeb.) and Siberian fir (Abies sibirica Ledeb.) cones and radial wood increments was examined using long-term data (47 years) from direct observations. Broad-leaved coniferous woods of the Ufa Plateau (PreUral), which are located inside the Ufa River's water protection zone, make up the special polygon where the research was conducted. According to the experiments, there was no correlation with the yield of cones and the radial increment of wood, either positive or negative. Simultaneously, it was discovered that there is a rise in the radial increment of timber wood with an increase in the number of spruce and fir cones in the climatic circumstances of a particular year. The maximum growth of the plant's vegetative mass, in this case, the radial growth of the timber wood, is shown in the year with the highest cone output. Consequently, fir and spruce in this area have the effect of reversing reproductive effort.
To the question of the possibility of operating sawmill complexes in the conditions of timber terminals
Authors: Maganov Ivan , Tihonov Evgeny , Gaiduk Albina , Kiyamov Ilgam , Sabitov Linar , Sokolova Viktoriia
Published: June 2023

At present, the problem of depletion of forest resources and the associated increase in the export shoulder and the corresponding logistics costs are increasingly felt. Today, as one of the solutions to this issue, the concept of using timber terminals has been applied, when the processing of roundwood into a more appropriate form, including for transportation, is carried out in close proximity to the cutting area. The overall efficiency of timber terminals is affected by the equipment operated on them, in particular, the sawmill. This article discusses the main types of sawmills according to the type of working body: tire, frame, tape and disk, indicating their positive and negative qualities for direct use in timber terminals. The article also formulates tasks aimed at improving the energy sustainability of timber terminals - as production sites for deep processing of timber.
Effect of terms and conditions of cutting propagation on the rooting of coniferous trees
Authors: Rachenko Maxim A. , Kiseleva Elena N. , Rachenko Anna M.
Published: June 2023

The Irkutsk region has large forests. They occupy 83% of the territory and amount to more than 11% of the total Russian forests. The active production growth has a negative impact on the environment. Every year, millions of hectares of forest are cut down for the production needs. 14.1 million m³ of wood was harvested only during January-June 2022. Most of the harvested wood is coniferous. Therefore, the need for high-quality planting material is growing every year. The problem of reforestation can be solved by creating a technology for cutting propagation of the main coniferous trees. Our research was devoted to the study of the effect of various terms of propagation of the family Pinaceae representatives by softwood cutting and the conditions for its realization on the yield of planting material. Cutting harvesting was carried out in four terms: from the third decade of June to the end of July. Different conditions were used for cutting propagation: a greenhouse with a mist irrigation system and a climate chamber with manual watering. The study showed that the cuttings planted in the third decade of June into the greenhouses with the controlled mist irrigation systems are characterized by powerful roots.
Multi-Genre Symbolic Music Generation using Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network
Authors: Chauhan Chris , Tanawala Bhavesh , Hasan Mosin
Published: June 2023

Music is an art that uses sound to convey emotions and ideas. It is a universal language that transcends cultural boundaries and can move and inspire individuals of all ages and cultures. As with every art form, the generation of music is a complex and challenging task. Despite the challenges, music generation has made considerable strides in recent years, owing to the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning. However, most research was focused on the generation of only one genre of music, i.e., classical, jazz, etc., while there are more than 40 genres of music, each with sub-genres. This paper proposes a model for multi-genre music generation using Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN). Considering symbolic music, MIDI tracks were converted into piano-roll form after the extraction of musical information. Subsequently, a GAN based model was trained to learn the distribution of training data, and it generates new data using the learned parameters. Generated music was evaluated based on a survey of musicians and professionals. The survey results validate the GAN’s ability to generate music of multiple genres.
Jump Classification with Age and Gender Detection
Authors: Ghadekar Premanand , Karandikar Riddhi , Pawar Janhvai , Sangle Prithviraj , Patil Parth , Patle Parul
Published: June 2023

The major issue is being able to identify human behaviour. The main issue for video categorization systems is common human actions in videos. For instance, a running motion will be included in a long jump or running sports film. Due to its multiple applications in areas like person monitoring, human-to-object interaction, and more, human action recognition is a crucial study subject in the science of computer vision. The computer vision community finds the video classification problem to be very difficult. The main reason that the video categorization problem is so challenging is the shared activities that are seen in the video. A high jump sports film, for instance, combines two distinct actions—running and high jumping—that are also shown in other videos, like running or hurdling sports videos. With just one frame that captures the specific action of the event, the human brain can quickly identify the correct occurrence in a film. By removing a few significant frames from the video and using those frames to conduct the classification procedure, the same premise may also be used in video classification systems.
Emoji Prediction Using Bi-Directional LSTM
Authors: Kone Vinayak Sudhakar , Anagal Atrey Mahadev , Anegundi Swaroop , Jadekar Priya , Patil Priyadarshini
Published: June 2023

Messengers and social media dominate today’s internet usage across the globe. For the large population, a typical day starts with messages flooding on mobiles, from simple good morning wishes, business meeting invites, reminders, and schedules for the day and the list is endless. A striking feature of today’s digital communication is the variety of emojis used, without which text communication almost look incomplete. Emojis are graphic symbols/logograms used with text communication to enhance the effectiveness of emotions and set an undertone that makes texting a more fun experience for the users. Emojis are the visual language of the new generation. They give consumers a means to communicate their feelings while reducing the quantity of text that needs to be typed by the sender. Every social media and messenger platform like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp, and many more have its own emoji set. To lure more and more users, many new emojis are added day by day. Predicting and suggesting emojis based on the text, emotion and user patterns to the user is an important feature of today’s messengers and social media applications. If you start typing a message, relevant emojis will be displayed from which users can choose an emoji, further enhancing the user texting experience. This process is done using natural language processing and machine learning techniques. In this paper, we study emoji prediction techniques and propose an emoji prediction model using bi-directional LSTMs. We compare emoji prediction NLP techniques, including RNN, LSTM, LSTM networks, and Bi-LSTM. Based on our implementation, we suggest that the bi-directional LSTM model is the most effective technique. Our model outperforms many baseline approaches with an accuracy of 94% when tested on a CodaLab Twitter data set with 60000 rows and two columns. Our study shows the effectiveness and efficiency of bi-directional LSTMs for text-based systems for communication.
Classification and Detection of Brain Tumors by Aquila Optimizer Hybrid Deep Learning Based Latent Features with Extreme Learner
Authors: Agrawal Amishi
Published: June 2023

Brain cancer is a potentially fatal illness that affects the brain. To preserve lives, early tumour detection is now crucial. Imaging in medicine is one method for diagnosing brain tumours. To help find brain tumours, researchers are turning to deep learning. Error in individual early diagnosis of the condition has been demonstrated to be reduced using deep learning algorithms. In the case of brain tumours, even a slight misdiagnosis might have serious consequences. When it comes to processing medical images, spotting brain tumours is still a difficult task. It’s difficult to spot the tumour on a brain scan. The precision of the image is impacted by many disturbances and a delay. We used deep learning methods to describe brain disorders in our paper. Brain disease detection utilizing deep learning methods is related to the study of new information. Proposed TL-based DenseNet121 model achieved accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, F1Score, precision, and IoU of 98.38, 97.33, 99.1, 98.23, 98.62, and 96.62 respectively. The results obtained on the brain tumor data set demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms others in terms of F1-score, Precision, Sensitivity, Accuracy, Specificity, and IoU.
Interactive Web App for Fake News Detection
Authors: Agarwal Sparsh , Varun Malempati , Prabakeran S.
Published: June 2023

In the contemporary era of technology, individuals who utilize mobile phones and laptops have developed a preference for accessing news through online media. News organizations disseminate news and offer confirmation sources. However, the issue at hand is how to authenticate stories and articles shared on social networks such as WhatsApp groups, Facebook pages, Twitter, and other smaller blogs and social networking sites. It is hazardous for society to accept rumours disguised as news, especially in developing nations like India, where it is crucial to prevent rumours and specialize in honest and verified information. Classifying written articles as misleading or deceptive is not easy to automate, and even experts in a specific field must evaluate several factors before rendering a judgment regarding the validity of a message. This project proposes the use of a machine learning approach to automatically classify news articles. This endeavour explores numerous text characteristics that can be employed to differentiate fabricated news content from actual news.
A Privacy Preserving Generative Adversarial Network for Image Data
Authors: Nallamolu Sathish , Padmanabhuni Srinivas
Published: June 2023

The extensive usage of online applications and social media has raised serious concerns from the public regarding the exposure of their personal information. So, there is a strong need for data anonymization to prevent privacy breaches and leakages. The era of attacks on databases and servers is an old trend. Now, most attacks are based on earning access to users’ private data. There are techniques like k-anonymity and l-diversity to protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII) from adversaries. However, these techniques still cannot provide security from homogeneity attacks, and their application is limited to structural data only. Till now, the frameworks are only available to anonymize the human face data in image format. In this paper, we proposed a new architecture for protecting privacy-related information in images of Indian vehicle number plates. We propose an architecture for anonymizing the vehicle number plates using Wasserstein’s Generative Adversarial Network (WGAN) by retaining the original data distribution even after anonymization. Our framework guarantees that it does not store any information while processing. Our main goal is to protect personal information from the image data. After anonymization, there is no similarity between the original and generated image. Our dataset includes a wide variety of license plates from all regions of India. Our work ensures that no human or a character recognition algorithm can recognize the characters from our anonymized images.
Advanced Route Optimization using Hybridized Salesforce Geopointe Package
Authors: Chowlur Revanna Jai Keerthy , Arikan Emine , Niture NandKumar , Al-Nakash Nushwan Yousif B.
Published: June 2023

The study explores how Geopointe, a route optimization tool, affects the effectiveness of industrial supply chains and proposes a novel method for route optimization that is used in the IT industry. Outdated solutions have been retired as Google Maps and its API have been improved. Route optimization is the process of determining the fastest and most economical path for your distribution network between nodes. By improving routes, both the productivity and environmental impact of mobile workers will increase. Along with route optimization, these two-technique based API will be compared to other methods, like Salesforce and Geopointe tool, etc., to evaluate performance, expense, and carbon emission. Numerous optimization technologies, including Geopointe, Map Anything, Amazon, etc., are contrasted in the article to investigate the delivery and cost function difficulties. All sectors must have a strong supply chain, and route optimization technologies, which are utilized by many different businesses and include ERP, Salesforce, NetSuite, and others, may address this issue. This article uses a useful method to assess the impact on IT sectors.
Turbulence in surgical suction heads as detected by MRI
Authors: Hanekop Gunnar , Kollmeier Jost M. , Frahm Jens , Iwanowski Ireneusz , Khabbazzadeh Sepideh , Kutschka Ingo , Tirilomis Theodor , Ulrich Christian , Friedrich Martin G.
Published: June 2023

Background: Blood loss is common during surgical procedures, especially in open cardiac surgery. Allogenic blood transfusion is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Blood conservation programs in cardiac surgery recommend re-transfusion of shed blood directly or after processing, as this decreases transfusion rates of allogenic blood. But aspiration of blood from the wound area is often associated with increased hemolysis, due to flow induced forces, mainly through development of turbulence.Methods: We evaluated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a qualitative tool for detection of turbulence. MRI is sensitive to flow; this study uses velocity-compensated T1-weighted 3D MRI for turbulence detection in four geometrically different cardiotomy suction heads under comparable flow conditions (0–1250 mL/min).Results: Our standard control suction head Model A showed pronounced signs of turbulence at all flow rates measured, while turbulence was only detectable in our modified Models 1–3 at higher flow rates (Models 1 and 3) or not at all (Model 2).Conclusions: The comparison of flow performance of surgical suction heads with different geometries via acceleration-sensitized 3D MRI revealed significant differences in turbulence development between our standard control Model A and the modified alternatives (Models 1–3). As flow conditions during measurement have been comparable, the specific geometry of the respective suction heads must have been the main factor responsible. The underlying mechanisms and causative factors can only be speculated about, but as other investigations have shown, hemolytic activity is positively associated with degree of turbulence. The turbulence data measured in this study correlate with data from other investigations about hemolysis induced by surgical suction heads. The experimental MRI technique used showed added value for further elucidating the underlying physical phenomena causing blood damage due to non-physiological flow.
Signatures of wedgelets over Fennoscandia during the St Patrick’s Day Storm 2015
Authors: Schillings Audrey , Palin Laurianne , Bower Gemma E. , Opgenoorth Hermann J. , Milan Steve E. , Kauristie Kirsti , Juusola Liisa , Reeves Geoff D. , Henderson Mike G. , Paxton Larry J. , Lester Mark , Hamrin Maria , Van de Kamp Max
Published: June 2023

During the long main phase of the St Patrick’s Day storm on March 17, 2015, we found three separate enhancements of the westward electrojet. These enhancements are observed in the ionospheric equivalent currents computed using geomagnetic data over Fennoscandia. Using data from the IMAGE magnetometer network, we identified localised field-aligned current (FAC) systems superimposed on the pre-existing ionospheric current system. We suggest that these localised current systems are wedgelets and that they can potentially contribute to a larger-scale structure of a substorm current wedge (SCW). Each wedgelet is associated with a negative BXspike. Each spike is recorded at a higher latitude than the former one and all three are very localised over Fennoscandia. The first spike occurred at 17:34 UT and was observed at Lycksele, Rørvik and Nurmijärvi, the second spike was recorded at 17:41 UT and located at Lycksele and Rørvik, whereas the last spike occurred at 17:47 UT and was observed at Kevo and Abisko. Simultaneous optical auroral data and electron injections at the geosynchronous orbit indicate that one or more substorms took place in the polar ionosphere at the time of the wedgelets. This study demonstrates the occurrence of small and short-lived structures such as wedgelets at different locations over a short time scale, 15 min in this case.
Evaluation of Sexual Function in Patients with Lower Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Comparison of Pre- and Postoperative Status
Authors: Günerhan Göksal , Aykanat Can , Uçkun Ozhan Merzuk , Aslan Yılmaz , Divanlıoğlu Denizhan , Işıtan Egemen , Tunç Bekir , Tuncel Altuğ , Belen Ahmet Deniz , Dalgıç Ali
Published: June 2023

Background Neuroregulation of sexual functions requires coordination of parasympathetic, sympathetic, and somatosensory neuronal pathways. The nerves formed by the lower lumbar plexus provide the innervation of the urogenital organs. Lower lumbar disc hernias (LDHs) might impair the neuroregulation of sexual functions by compressing the neural structures. This prospective study aims to evaluate the effect of lower LDHs on libido and sexual dysfunctions.

Methods A total of 61 sexually active patients diagnosed with single-level LDH who underwent unilateral microdiscectomy were included in the study. The patients' healthy sex partners were included in study as controls. The International Sexual Function Index-5 (IIEF-5) and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) were used for sexual assessment of male and female participants, respectively. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used for pain assessment.

Results According to the FSFI scores, all 20 female patients had preoperative sexual dysfunction, which improved in 15 (75%) patients after surgery (p < 0.001). According to the IIEF-5 score for men, 38 of 41 male patients had preoperative sexual dysfunction, which improved in 26 (68.4%) patients postoperatively (p < 0.001).

Conclusion The preoperative sexual dysfunctions of LDH patients improved significantly after the microdiscectomy.
Role of Lactate Measurement in Flap Monitoring: An Useful Adjunct
Authors: Singh Karan , Shah Sheerin , Mittal Rajinder K. , Garg Ramneesh
Published: June 2023

Background Detection of vascular compromise in flap is often a challenging task for reconstructive surgeons. A timely salvage procedure depends on objectivity and reliability of postoperative flap monitoring. This study determined if flap capillary lactate helps in prediction of flap viability in first 48 postoperative hours of surgery.

Methods We conducted this study on all flaps with accessible skin paddle where capillary lactate values were assessed along with clinical observation to check viability of flap at 0, 1, 6, 12, 24 and 48 hours of surgery. The data was statistically analyzed for significance and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was used for calculating cutoff value for lactate.

Results Out of a total of 30 patients included in this study, 25 were males and the mean age was 45.03 years. Fifteen patients underwent free flap and rest pedicled. Highly significant association of role of clinical observation in the outcome of flap was found. The average of lactate values for survived and distally ischemic flap was 5.32 ± 1.91 and 8.38 ± 1.81, respectively, which was highly significant. The cutoff value of lactate below which all flaps survived was found to be 6.09 mmol/L.

Conclusion Flap capillary lactate measurement is an easy, quick, cost-effective, and objective tool for checking viability of flaps.
Expectation versus Reality on Basic Research Topics in Plastic Surgery Conferences: Gap Analysis
Authors: Vathulya Madhubari , Mohapatra Deviprasad
Published: June 2023

The idea of attending conferences in our specialty is defeated if the demands are not met. Hence, the authors have tried to sum up the feedback after attending such conferences to give future organizers an insight into the same and ways to rectify the pitfalls by giving guidelines to amend them.
Accessory Tibionavicular Muscle: An Unusual Cause of Medial Ankle Pain
Authors: Iyengar Karthikeyan P. , Sharma Gaurav Kant , Botchu Rajesh
Published: June 2023

Accessory or anomalous muscles around the ankle are not uncommon and are usually asymptomatic. They are traditionally encountered during imaging undertaken for evaluation of ankle pain. We reported the first case of a new accessory muscle in the anteromedial part of the ankle with associated partial thickness tear in an 18-year-old football player presenting as symptomatic pathology. In this article, we described the role of cross-sectional imaging in its diagnosis including successful management of the condition with ultrasound-guided platelet-rich plasma therapy and review-associated literature.
Vascular Compression of Medulla Oblongata by Non-Dolichoectatic Vertebral Artery
Authors: Nitheesha Reddy V. , Nagarajan K. , Midhusha Reddy V. , Ramesh A.S.
Published: June 2023

Neurovascular conflicts are common in the posterior fossa and basal cisterns due to coexistence of important neural and vascular structures. Neurovascular conflict arising from compression of the cranial nerves by pulsatile flow in the adjacent atherosclerotic arteries is well known and is associated with conditions like trigeminal neuralgia, hemifacial spasm, and glossopharyngeal neuralgia. The medulla is known to be affected by dilated tortuous (dolichoectatic) vertebrobasilar arteries in the elderly or hypertensive. The vertebral artery causing the compression can be dolichoectatic or normal dominant vertebral artery or an elongated tortuous artery. Very few cases of medullary compression by non-dolichoectatic elongated tortuous or dominant vertebral artery were reported in the literature. In this article, we report three cases of medullary compression by the dominant and angulated vertebral artery. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with MR angiography showed indentation of the anterolateral aspect of the inferior medulla by the vertebral artery. The patients are managed conservatively and on regular follow-up.
Understanding the illegal drug supply chain structure: a value chain analysis of the supply of hashish to Europe
Authors: Sánchez-Pérez Manuel , Marín-Carrillo María Belén , Illescas-Manzano María Dolores , Souilim Zohair
Published: June 2023

Despite the social, health, law enforcement, and economic importance of illegal drug supply, the lack of information and understanding regarding these supply chains stands out. This paper carries out a disaggregated analysis of the structure of the hashish supply chain from Morocco to Europe to explain the value contributions at each level, the end-price formation, and the supply chain management practices. The methodology adopted is based on a mixed method of data collection where the primary data are gathered from field interviews with cannabis producers and dealers and secondary information is obtained from official statistics, research papers, informational reports, and documentaries. We review supply and value chain frameworks through the lens of cost–benefit analysis. Our main findings show an unequal contribution on the part of the different levels of distribution, with end-user prices increasing by 7000% of the cost of production during the supply chain. The chain also has high variable costs but limited fixed ones, exacerbating the lack of stability and fostering continuous adaptation. We also detect a reluctance to raise end-user prices but a great propensity to change quality. This research may have implications for several stakeholders. In the case of dealers, we find that they have created a supply-push system thanks to their dominant power, leaning on information sharing as a source of resilience. In the case of law enforcement, we delve into the operational functioning of the drug chain and the reasons for its survival. For financial investigation operations, unknown or unrealized economic parameters are quantified. For development agencies, the need to implement alternative development programs for producers is evidenced. Finally, for health authorities, we highlight the consequences of seizures and prohibitions of hashish trafficking on the deterioration of the quality of hashish and the subsequently added health hazards for end-users.
Efficient and tunable liquid crystal random laser based on plasmonic-enhanced FRET
Authors: Qu Guangyin , Zhang Xiaojuan , Lu Liang , Li Siqi , Du Wenyu , Cao Zhigang , Li Chao , Zhang Lin , Zhou Kaiming , Wu Si , Ma Jiajun , Gao Jiangang , Yu Benli , Hu Zhijia
Published: June 2023

Random lasers (RLs), which possess peculiar advantages (e.g., emission and coherence tunable) over traditional lasers with optical resonators, have witnessed rapid development in the past decades. However, it is still a challenge to tune the lasing peak of an RL over a wide range. Here, a temperature-dependent Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) RL is demonstrated in pyrromethene 597 (PM597, “donor”) and Nile blue (NB, “acceptor”) doped chiral liquid crystals. By changing the temperature that drives the liquid crystal bandgap shift, our RL device exhibits a lasing output change from 560 nm (yellow) to 700 nm (red). While the intrinsic FRET efficiency between PM597 and NB is relatively low, the red lasing is weak. By introducing gold nanorods (GNRs) into these RL devices and utilizing GNRs’ localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effect, the efficiency of FRET transfer is increased by 68.9%, thereby reducing the threshold of the RL devices. By tuning the longitudinal LSPR to match the emission wavelength of NB, the best 200-fold lasing intensity enhancement is recorded. Our findings open a pathway toward realizing LSPR-enhanced FRET tunable RLs and broaden the range of their possible exploration in photonics research and technologies.
Vacancy complexes in Cd3As2
Authors: Rice A. D. , Liedke M. O. , Butterling M. , Hirschmann E. , Wagner A. , Haegel N. M. , Alberi K.
Published: June 2023

Epitaxial growth of the three-dimensional topological semimetal Cd3As2 on semiconductor substrates enables its use and integration in device applications. Epitaxy also provides an avenue for varying and controlling point defects through modification of the chemical potential during growth. In turn, knowledge of the point defects that are generated in Cd3As2 epilayers will aid the interpretation of electron transport behavior and guide growth efforts to produce material with low defect densities. Point defects in Cd3As2 epilayers grown by molecular beam epitaxy with varying As/Cd flux ratios are probed by positron annihilation spectroscopy. We find that lower As/Cd flux ratios produce higher concentrations of point defects. Remarkably, the measurements indicate that the average defect size is larger than a monovacancy. The data presented here contribute to an evolving picture of vacancy point defects in Cd3As2 and can be used to direct future investigation of the defect-transport relationships in this emerging electronic material.
The colliding planar shocks platform to study warm dense matter at the National Ignition Facility
Authors: MacDonald M. J. , Di Stefano C. A. , Döppner T. , Fletcher L. B. , Flippo K. A. , Kalantar D. , Merritt E. C. , Ali S. J. , Celliers P. M. , Heredia R. , Vonhof S. , Collins G. W. , Gaffney J. A. , Gericke D. O. , Glenzer S. H. , Kraus D. , Saunders A. M. , Schmidt D. W. , Wilson C. T. , Zacharias R. , Falcone R. W.
Published: June 2023

We have developed an experimental platform at the National Ignition Facility that employs colliding planar shocks to produce warm dense matter with uniform conditions and enable high-precision equation of state measurements. The platform uses simultaneous x-ray Thomson scattering and x-ray radiography to measure the density, electron temperature, and ionization state in warm dense matter. The experimental platform is designed to create a large volume of uniform plasma (approximately 700×700×150μm3) at pressures approaching 100 Mbar and minimize the distribution of plasma conditions in the x-ray scattering volume, significantly improving the precision of the measurements. Here, we present the experimental design of the platform and compare hydrodynamic simulations to x-ray radiography data from initial experiments studying hydrocarbons, producing uniform densities within ±25% of the average probed condition. We show that the platform creates a homogeneous plasma that can be characterized using x-ray Thomson scattering. Thus, the new platform enables accurate measurements of plasma conditions necessary to test models for the equation of state and ionization potential depression in the warm dense matter regime.
Piezoelectric ZnO nanoarrays for catalytic detection of H2O2 with ultra sensitivity
Authors: Mei Houshan , Liu Xianghong , Song Yixin , Teng Bing , Zhong Degao , Zhang Jun
Published: June 2023

Piezo-electrocatalytic semiconductors with the piezoelectric effect and catalytic properties offer unprecedented opportunities in a variety of applications of chemical sensors, electrocatalysts, and photocatalysis. Herein, we demonstrate a flexible piezo-electrocatalytic sensor based on ZnO nanoarrays for ultrasensitive detection of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), an important substance in many biologic and medical fields. In situ growth of ZnO nanoarrays on flexible gold interdigital electrodes can effectively couple electrical excitation and external strain-induced piezoelectric polarization to promote catalytic reactions. Therefore, the piezo-electrocatalytic sensor measured by chronoamperometry exhibits an unexpectedly high sensitivity of 487 μA mM−1 cm−2, which is superior to previous results. By using finite element analysis, we simulate the piezoelectric effect of ZnO to elucidate the charge transfer between the strained ZnO and H2O2. This work demonstrates a versatile platform of a flexible piezo-electrocatalytic sensor that can use external mechanical energy to improve chemical and biologic detection.
Tilted-angle insensitive received signal strength in visible light positioning systems using a deep neural network trained by synthetic data
Authors: Zhu Junfeng , Lin Mingliang , Xing Jingchao , Chen Boqian , Gu Zhiliang , Zhang Zhiqing , Xu Yiqin
Published: June 2023

Despite extensive research on received signal strength (RSS)-based visible light positioning (VLP), the receiver (RX) is assumed to stand vertically during the positioning process in most reported system designs. In this work, we propose a positioning strategy using a deep neural network (DNN) trained by synthetic data to address this problem. We further explicitly state the deficiencies in the current RSS-VLP algorithms when handling positioning problems involving RX orientation. Compared with existing RSS-VLP algorithms, our method can achieve high positioning accuracy even when the RX orientation is unknown. The results can further verify the feasibility of the system. In addition to the orientation predictability, the trained DNN can also regulate the algorithm time for each position.
On the frequency bifurcations of the MHD startup modes in NSTX
Authors: Munaretto S. , Ferraro N. M. , Fredrickson E. D.
Published: June 2023

The observed bifurcations of the low frequency (<50 kHz) and low toroidal periodicity (n < 5) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) activity often present in the initial part of the National Spherical Tokamak Experiment (NSTX) discharges can be explained by the evolution of the radial profile of the safety factor (q=rBϕ/RBθ) crossing multiple rational surfaces in the core. Important performance limiting instability mechanisms in the NSTX spherical tokamak are often linked to low frequency and low-n MHD activity. They are quite common in long-pulse NSTX plasmas. They can be present at the beginning of the plasma current flat-top, at the end of the discharge or during the whole duration, and they have been observed to deleteriously impact performance over a wide range of q95. An interesting feature observed in some NSTX discharges is the presence of a bifurcation in the frequency of the low n modes, as low as n = 1, that have frequencies comparable to the plasma core rotation divided by n. Equilibrium reconstructions constrained by magnetic diagnostics data and motional stark effect pitch angle radial profiles suggest that the observed bifurcations are linked to a fast evolving minimum value of q. 3D non-linear resistive MHD simulations show that these modes are ideal and exist as non-resonant before the correspondent rational surface enters the plasma.
Memristive artificial synapses based on Au–TiO2 composite thin film for neuromorphic computing
Authors: Zhu Haonan , Tang Zhenxun , Wang Guoliang , Fang Yuan , Huang Jijie , Zheng Yue
Published: June 2023

Neuromorphic computing architecture is considered to be a highly desirable next-generation computing architecture as it simulates the way the brain processes information. The basic device supporting such an architecture is called an artificial synapse, which possesses synapse-like functionalities. Here in this work, an Au–TiO2 composite thin film (Au nanoparticles embedding into TiO2 matrix) based memristive artificial synapse has been fabricated with excellent interface-type resistive switching (RS) characteristics. The conductivity of the device can be continuously tuned by applying different sequences of pulses, which could be analogous to the weight change of synapses. Various synaptic behaviors have been emulated, such as long-term potentiation/depression, short-term/long-term memory, learning-forgetting process, and paired-pulse facilitation. Finally, an artificial neural network for hand-written digits recognition has been constructed with an accuracy level as high as ∼90%. The excellent performance of the Au–TiO2 based device demonstrates the availability of incorporating the second phase to tune RS properties and shows its potential in a memristor for artificial synapses and neuromorphic computing with enhanced performance.
Performance of double expansion ramp nozzle
Authors: Rathakrishnan Ethirajan
Published: June 2023

Additional thrust gained by expanding the supersonic stream emerging from a convergent–divergent (C–D) nozzle through a symmetric double expansion ramp nozzle (DERN) connected to the nozzle is experimentally investigated. Thrust augmentation caused by the DERN of design Mach number 3.5 attached to a full and a half convergent–divergent (C–D) nozzle of design Mach number 1.5 is studied. The nozzle pressure ratios (NPRs) studied are 3, 4, 5, 5.45, and 6. The ramp angles of the symmetric double expansion ramp nozzle studied were 18° and 22°. It is found that an additional thrust of around 44% can be derived with the DERN in the presence of a favorable gradient of +36%, corresponding to NPR 5.