bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
New forehead device in positional obstructive sleep apnoea: a randomised clinical trial
Authors: Hidalgo Armas Laura , Ingles Sandra , Vaca Rafaela , Cordero-Guevara Jose , Duran Carro Joaquin , Ullate Jorge , Barbé Ferran , Durán-Cantolla Joaquin
Published: April 2021

Rationale

Approximately 60% of the patients with obstructive sleep apnoea suffer from a positional effect, and approximately 25% of these patients present events only in the supine position.

Objective

To validate a new positional vibrating device and evaluate its efficacy in reducing the Apnoea–Hypopnoea Index and the total sleep time in the supine position without disturbing sleep.

Methods

A total of 128 patients were recruited for this multicentre, prospective, parallel, randomised controlled trial and were distributed in three arms (general recommendations, inactive and active device). Full overnight polysomnography was performed at baseline and at 12 weeks. Anthropometric variables and sleep and quality of life questionnaires were collected at 4, 8 and 12 weeks.

Results

The Apnoea-Hypopnoea Index decreased from 30.6 per hour to 20.4 per hour (p<0.001) in the active device (AD) group. In this group the reduction was 2.3-fold and 3.3-fold than the ones in the general recommendations (GR) and inactive device (ID) groups, respectively (p=0.014). Sleep time in supine position decreased 17.7%±26.3% in GR group (p<0.001), 13.0%±22.4% with ID group (p<0.001) and 21.0%±25.6% in the AD group (p<0.001). Furthermore, total sleep time increased significantly only in the AD group (22.1±57.5 min, p=0.016), with an increased percentage of time in the N3 (deep sleep) and N3+REM (rapid eye movement) stages, without sleep fragmentation.

Conclusion

The device was effective in reducing the Apnoea–Hypopnoea Index and time spent in the supine position also in improving sleep architecture. Therefore, the device could be a good option for the management of patients with positional obstructive sleep apnoea.

Trial registration details

The trial was registered at
www.clinicaltrials.gov
(
NCT03336515
).
Impact of acute circuit training on irisin in younger and older overweight adults
Authors: Rioux Brittany V. , Brunt Keith R. , Eadie Ashley L. , Bouchard Danielle R. , Fox Jill , Sénéchal Martin
Published: April 2021

Studies show aerobic exercise increases irisin and leads to health benefits. The impact of circuit training (CT) on irisin in overweight younger and older adults is unknown. The objectives were to determine whether, during an acute bout of CT, changes in irisin differed between overweight younger and older adults, and if irisin is associated with body composition, fitness level, or muscle strength. Inactive, overweight adults aged between 19–35 (25.9 ± 5.0; n = 15) and 60–75 years (67.7 ± 4.1; n = 14) participated in this study. The primary exposure variable was an acute bout of CT (12–15 repetitions; 65–70% of 1-repetition maximum; 3 loops). The primary outcome measure was the concentration of irisin determined by ELISA before, during, and after exercise. Repeated-measures analyses showed no effect of time on irisin levels during acute CT, and no interaction effect between age and time (p > 0.05). No associations were observed between changes in irisin and body composition, fitness, or strength (p > 0.05). In conclusion, acute CT does not increase irisin in overweight individuals, and irisin is not associated with the measured outcomes. Further studies are needed to elucidate the release of irisin by different types of exercise across the lifespan. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03715088).

Novelty: Younger and older adults show a similar irisin response to an acute bout of circuit training. Irisin response is not associated with measures of body composition, cardiorespiratory fitness, or muscle strength.
Policies for establishing hybrid poplar plantations on private and public lands in western Canada for bioethanol feedstock: a forest-level financial analysis
Authors: Shooshtarian Ashan , Anderson Jay A. , Armstrong Glen W. , Luckert Martin K.
Published: April 2021

A forest-level model is developed that estimates how policies towards hybrid poplar plantations on private and public land impact harvest levels and values for producing biofuel feedstock. We simulate three policy changes: (i) permitting an increase in harvest levels on public land as a result of establishing hybrid poplar plantations on private land; (ii) permitting the establishment of hybrid poplar plantations on public land; and (iii) including forest carbon emission offsets in the net benefits realized by the forest operator. We are interested in whether the increase in harvest created by the policies might be enough to supply a biorefinery, and how the value of the operation changes. Our results suggest that jointly managing public and private lands under sustained yield can increase harvest by between 7% and 93%, and increase the value of the operation by between 39% and 263%. Results also suggest that hybrid poplar plantations could enable a leaseholder of one million hectares of public forestland to initiate an allowable cut effect and thereby increase harvest enough to supply a new biorefinery, in addition to its existing pulp mill. Carbon offsets further increase the value of the forest, although harvest begins to decline at high carbon prices.
Protective effects of selenium in tacrolimus-induced lung toxicity: potential role of heme oxygenase 1
Authors: Ibrahim Salwa Abdel-Tawab , Eltahawy Nashwa Fathy , Abdalla Ahlam Mohamed , Khalaf Hanaa Mohamed
Published: April 2021

The present study aimed to evaluate the protective effects of selenium (Sel) administration against tacrolimus (Tac) – induced lung toxicity and to assess the relation between heme oxygenase 1 (HO-1) and these effects. The study was conducted on 36 Wistar male albino rats equally divided into four groups: (i) normal control; (ii) Sel (0.1 mg/kg per day p.o. for four weeks); (iii) TAC 3 mg/mL as single oral dose on 27th day; and (iv) Tac + Sel. Lung tissues, lung homogenate, and bronchoalveolar lavage of the sacrificed animals were investigated biochemically and histopathologically, by immunohistochemistry or by PCR. The Tac group showed significantly lower expression of HO-1. Administration of Sel was associated with increased HO-1 expression. Oxidative (malondialdehyde, reduced glutathione, superoxide dismutase, myeloperoxidase, and glutathione peroxidase activity) and nitrosative stress (nitric oxide) markers and markers of inflammation (interleukin 1β (IL-1β), IL-6, and IL-10) showed changes corresponding to HO-1 levels in rat groups. Tac group showed the highest expression of caspase-3. Sel exerted a protective role against Tac-induced lung toxicity.
Extermal forgotten topological index of quasi-unicyclic graphs
Authors: Karimi Amir Taghi
Published: April 2021

The forgotten topological index of a graph [Formula: see text], denoted by [Formula: see text], is defined as the sum of weights [Formula: see text] overall edges [Formula: see text] of [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] denotes the degree of a vertex [Formula: see text]. The graph [Formula: see text] is called a quasi-unicyclic graph if there exists a vertex [Formula: see text] such that [Formula: see text] is a connected graph with a unique cycle. In this paper, we give sharp upper and lower bounds for the F-index (forgotten topological index) of the quasi-unicyclic graphs.
Urban Park Usage During the COVID-19 Pandemic
Authors: Alizadehtazi Bita , Tangtrakul Korin , Woerdeman Sloane , Gussenhoven Anna , Mostafavi Nariman , Montalto Franco A.
Published: April 2021

Urban parks and green spaces provide a wide range of ecosystem services, including social interaction and stress reduction. When COVID-19 closed schools and businesses and restricted social gatherings, parks became one of the few places that urban residents were permitted to visit outside their homes. With a focus on Philadelphia, PA and New York City, NY, this paper presents a snapshot of the park usage during the early phases of the pandemic. Forty-three Civic Scientists were employed by the research team to observe usage in 22 different parks selected to represent low and high social vulnerability, and low, medium, and high population density. Despite speculation that parks could contribute to the spread of COVID-19, no strong correlation was found between the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in adjacent zip codes and the number of park users. High social vulnerability neighborhoods were associated with a significantly higher number of COVID-19 cases ([Formula: see text]). In addition, no significant difference in the number of park users was detected between parks in high and low vulnerability neighborhoods. The number of park users did significantly increase with population density in both cities ([Formula: see text]), though usage varied greatly by park. Males were more frequently observed than females in parks in both high vulnerability and high-density neighborhoods. Although high vulnerability neighborhoods reported higher COVID-19 cases, residents of Philadelphia and New York City appear to have been undeterred from visiting parks during this phase of the pandemic. This snapshot study provides no evidence to support closing parks during the pandemic. To the contrary, people continued to visit parks throughout the study, underscoring their evident value as respite for urban residents during the early phases of the pandemic.
Detecting Expressive Writing in Online Health Communities by Modeling Aggregated Empirical Data
Authors: Ma Haiwei , Parawala Sunny , Yarosh Svetlana
Published: April 2021

Although expressive writing has proved to be beneficial on physical, mental, and social health of individuals, it has been restrained to lab-based experimental studies. In the real world, individuals may naturally engage with expressive writing when dealing with difficult times, especially when facing a tough health journey. Health blogging may serve as an easy-to-access method for self-therapy, if spontaneous expressive writing occurs. However, many posts may not be expressive enough to provide the therapeutic power. In this study, we build a Gaussian naive Bayes model to detect expressive writing in an online health community, CaringBridge. Because we lack full text data as training data, we use a method to learn model parameters from meta-analysis of the literature. The classifier reaches reasonable accuracy on the test set annotated by the authors. We also explore factors that may influence users' spontaneous expressive writing. We find gender, health condition, author type, and privacy settings can affect individuals' spontaneous expressive writing. Finally, we reflect on our methodology and results and provide design implications for online health communities.
"That's dastardly ingenious"
Authors: Gray Colin M. , Chivukula Shruthi Sai
Published: April 2021

Scholars have previously described how online communities engage in particular discourses and forms of argumentation. In parallel, HCI and STS researchers have described discourses surrounding ethics and values and their role in shaping design processes and outcomes. However, little work has addressed the intersection of ethical concern and the discourses of non-expert users. In this paper, we describe the argumentation strategies used by Redditors on the subreddit 'r/assholedesign' as they discuss ethically problematic design artifacts. We used content and sequence analysis methods to identify the building blocks of ethical argumentation in this online community, including ethical positioning when raising issues of concern, identification of potential remedies to the original design artifact or issues of concern, and means of extending or negating these elements. Through this analysis, we reveal the breadth of ethical argumentation strategies used "in-the-wild" by non-experts, resulting in an increased awareness of the capacity of community members to engage in "everyday ethics" regardless of specific ethics training. We describe future opportunities to connect these ethical argumentation strategies with design practices, education, and methods.
Computer-Supported Knotworking
Authors: Abou Amsha Khuloud , Bossen Claus , Grönvall Erik , Lewkowicz Myriam
Published: April 2021

In this paper, we compare two cases of collaboration within healthcare in two European countries, Denmark and France respectively. In each of these two cases, we conducted a design case study, and we found that collaboration is ad hoc, temporary, and shifting with regards to collaborators, aims, and processes. We argue for the relevance of knotworking and its analytic potential for investigating the kind of collaborative work we observed. We also argue that our two cases present a higher complexity level than how knotworking has previously been described in the literature. We describe complex knotworking as having three characteristics: 1) collaboration happens between a dynamic number of actors (who are usually loosely connected), 2) collaboration happens in episodes, and 3) cooperative work arrangements are constantly negotiated. Using the concept of complex knotworking for a comparative analysis of our two design solutions, we outline generic design guidelines for developing computer support to manage complex knotworking situations.
Sensemaking and Coping After Pregnancy Loss
Authors: Andalibi Nazanin , Garcia Patricia
Published: April 2021

Emotional validation describes when one believes that their activities, emotions, beliefs, or other reactions are relevant and meaningful given the circumstance. When people experience distressing, stigmatizing life events, their state of emotional validation and thus their perceived sense of normalcy is often disrupted. Online spaces offer opportunities for coping, managing, and making sense of distress and stigma. In this paper, we focus on pregnancy loss as the context of inquiry and as an important example of a disruptive experience that is also associated with stigma. We examine how online spaces help facilitate or disrupt the process of achieving emotional validation among pregnancy loss survivors. We conducted in-depth interviews with women in the United States who had recently experienced a pregnancy loss. We found that individuals seeking a sense of perceived normalcy after pregnancy loss engage in two forms of validation processes that result in emotional validation - informational and experiential. We identified encounters that disrupt the process of seeking, achieving, and maintaining emotional validation related to: information, designs, algorithms, and interpersonal interactions. We introduce the concept of algorithmic symbolic annihilation to describe the representational and emotional harm participants experienced when they felt they were targets of algorithms assuming that all desired pregnancies proceed as expected. Algorithmic symbolic annihilation refers to how algorithms perpetuate normative and stereotypical narratives about phenomena, where what they account for has power and authority, and what they do not account for does not. To aid in seeking, achieving and sustaining emotional validation among pregnancy loss survivors, we suggest designing for 1) representational belonging to combat symbolic annihilation and 2) information avoidance.
FITNet
Authors: Han Jinda , Chen Qinglin , Jin Xilun , Xu Weikai , Yang Wanxian , Kumar Suhansanu , Zhao Li , Sundaram Hari , Kumar Ranjitha
Published: April 2021

The rise of social media has changed the nature of the fashion industry. Influence is no longer concentrated in the hands of an elite few: social networks have distributed power across a broader set of tastemakers. To understand this new landscape of influence, we created FITNet --- a network of the top 10k influencers of the larger Twitter fashion graph. To construct FITNet, we trained a content-based classifier to identify fashion-relevant Twitter accounts. Leveraging this classifier, we estimated the size of Twitter's fashion subgraph, snowball sampled more than 300k fashion-related accounts based on following relationships, and identified the top 10k influencers in the resulting subgraph. We use FITNet to perform a large-scale analysis of fashion influencers, and demonstrate how the network facilitates discovery, surfacing influencers relevant to specific fashion topics that may be of interest to brands, retailers, and media companies.
"Wiring a City"
Authors: Van Kleunen Lucy , Muller Brian , Voida Stephen
Published: April 2021

We use a sociotechnical perspective to expand upon prior characterizations of deploying end-to-end urban sensor networks that focus primarily on the technical aspects of such systems. Via exploratory, semi-structured interviews with those deploying a number of urban sensor networks in a single American city, we identify ways that human decision-making and collaborative processes influence how these infrastructures are built. We synthesize these findings into a framework in which sociotechnical factors show up across the phases of data collection, management, analysis, and impacts within smart city projects. Each phase can display variability in immediacy, automation, geographic scope, and ownership. Finally, we use our situated work to discuss a generalizable tension within smart city projects between cross-domain data integration and fragmentation and provide implications for CSCW research, the design of smart city data platforms, and municipal policy.
An early exploration of undergraduate student definitions of learning, memorizing, studying, and understanding
Authors: Johnson Staci N. , Gallagher Eliza D.
Published: April 2021

Biology education research often utilizes the terms learning, memorizing, studying, and understanding without providing their specific definition. When definitions have been provided, they are often inconsistent across publications. As part of a larger research study, we interviewed 11 participants on 2 occasions while they were enrolled in a sequence of anatomy and physiology courses. Part of the interview protocol asked participants for their definitions of learning, memorizing, studying, and understanding. Definitions were isolated from the transcript, deidentified, and sorted by qualitative similarities. The research team developed code categories and assigned definitions to these groups after discussing coding differences. Multiple definition groups emerged for each term. Learning, memorizing, and studying definition groups highlighted processes, outcomes, or a combination of both a process and outcome. Understanding definition groups focused solely on an outcome. These findings highlight the need for communication between students and instructors with regard to term usage. In addition, future research in biology and physiology education should be careful to provide working definitions of these terms to ensure communicative and interpretive validity and to promote transferability and repeatability of findings.
Sanguinarine Attenuates Neuropathic Pain in a Rat Model of Chronic Constriction Injury
Authors: Li Ping , Wang Yan-Xiu , Yang Guang , Zheng Zun-Cheng , Yu Chao
Published: April 2021

Objective. There is still no effective treatment of neuropathic pain. Sanguinarine is a natural plant medicine with anti‐inflammatory effects, but its effect on neuropathic pain remains unclear. This study was aimed at investigating the potential of sanguinarine to attenuate neuropathic pain. Methods. Neuropathic pain was induced by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Rats were randomly divided into several groups: sham, CCI, CCI+SG (1.00 mg/kg), CCI+SG (2.50 mg/kg), and CCI+SG (6.25 mg/kg). SG was injected intraperitoneally from the day of surgery every three days. The mechanical withdrawal threshold (MWT) and thermal withdrawal latency (TWL) were recorded before surgery and on days 1, 3, 7, and 14 after surgery. The microglia in the spinal dorsal horn were examined by immunofluorescence. p38 MAPK expression in the spinal dorsal horn was detected by PCR and Western blot analysis. Cytokine levels in the spinal dorsal horn were measured by ELISA. Results. MWT and TWL were significantly reduced in the CCI group, but sanguinarine recovered MWT and TWL in the CCI group. In addition, sanguinarine inhibited the activation of microglia and decreased the expression of p‐p38 and TNF‐α, IL‐1β, and IL‐6 in the spinal dorsal horn of the CCI group in a dose‐dependent manner. Conclusions. Our results suggest that sanguinarine can attenuate neuropathic pain via inhibiting the activation of microglia and the activation of the p38 MAPK signaling pathway.
Increased Circulatory Interleukin-17A Levels in Patients with Progressive and Leukotrichial Vitiligo
Authors: Le Thai Van Thanh , Ngoc Phan Huy , Dang Tran Ngoc , Pham Le Duy
Published: April 2021

Background. Vitiligo is a chronic condition characterized by skin depigmentation. Although not life-threatening, it significantly impacts quality of life. The pathophysiology of vitiligo remains poorly understood, and treatment options are limited. Mounting evidence supports the importance of autoreactive T cells and, particularly interleukin-17A- (IL-17A-) secreting Th17 cells, in vitiligo. IL-17A targeting has been proven successful in various inflammatory dermatological conditions, including psoriasis and lupus erythematosus. Objective. We evaluated the relationship between serum levels of IL-17A and the clinicopathological characteristics of Vietnamese vitiligo patients. Methods. In this cross-sectional study, we analyzed data from 52 nonsegmental vitiligo patients and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy individuals. Serum levels of IL-17A were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. We evaluated the correlation between IL-17A levels and clinical characteristics including leukotrichia, disease duration, vitiligo activity, and body surface area involvement. Results. Patients with progressive vitiligo had significantly higher IL-17A levels than patients with stable vitiligo (

P

 = 0.014) or healthy individuals (

P

 = 0.002). In addition, serum IL-17A levels were higher in vitiligo patients with leukotrichia than in patients without it (

P

 = 0.04). Furthermore, serum IL-17A levels were negatively correlated with age (r = −0.39,

P

 = 0.004) and age of onset (r = −0.33,

P

 = 0.016) in vitiligo patients. Conclusions. Higher serum levels of IL-17A in patients with progressive vitiligo and leukotrichia suggest a potential role of IL-17A in melanocyte destruction in the epidermis and the follicular matrix.
Association of the Ratio of Triglycerides to High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol Levels with the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: A Retrospective Cohort Study in Beijing
Authors: Liu Hongzhou , Yan Shuangtong , Chen Gang , Li Bing , Zhao Ling , Wang Yajing , Hu Xiaodong , Jia Xiaomeng , Dou Jingtao , Mu Yiming , Wen Junping , Lyu Zhaohui
Published: April 2021

Background. Previous studies have shown that the ratio of triglyceride to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (TG/HDL-C) is a risk factor for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The aim of this study was to investigate the nonlinear relationship between TG/HDL-C and the incidence of T2DM in a Chinese population. Methods. We used logistic regression models to estimate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the incidence of T2DM among 7,791 participants from the Risk Evaluation of cAncers in Chinese diabeTic Individuals: a lONgitudinal (REACTION) cohort study at baseline. Results. After adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, smoking status, alcohol intake, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, strenuous activity, education level, family histories of T2DM and tumors, and the presence of hypertension, tumor, stroke, and coronary heart disease, we showed that TG/HDL-C was positively associated with the incidence of T2DM at the 4-year follow-up (

OR
=
1.49

,

95
%
CI
=
1.26
–
1.78

). TG/HDL-C and incidence of T2DM showed a nonlinear relationship; the inflection point of TG/HDL-C was 1.50. The ORs (95% CI) on the left and right sides of the inflection point were 2.50 (1.70–3.67) and 0.96 (0.67–1.37), respectively. After adjusting for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) in the linear relationship, the OR of the incidence of T2DM was 1.60 (

95
%
CI
=
1.37
–
1.87

). When the TG/HDL-C was less than 1.50 or greater than 1.76, the ORs (95% CI) were 2.41 (1.82–3.18) or 0.81 (0.53–1.25), respectively. Subgroup analysis showed no relationships of T2DM incidence with sex, BMI, family history of T2DM, or TG/HDL-C. Conclusion. TG/HDL-C is positively associated with diabetes risk. In our study, with each increasing quintile, the risk of T2DM after 4 years was 1.60 or 1.49 depending on the variables adjusted. In addition, our cohort study showed a nonlinear relationship between TG/HDL-C and T2DM incidence, with an inflection point of 1.76 or 1.50, depending on the variables adjusted. When the TG/HDL was less than 1.50, the ORs (95% CI) were 2.41 (1.82–3.18) and 2.50 (1.70–3.67). When the TG/HDL-C was greater than 1.76 or 1.50, there was no significant difference in the change in OR.
Study on the Fast Extension Mechanism of Double-Cavity Shock Absorber with High-Pressure Piston
Authors: Fang Xingbo , Chen Hu , Wei Xiaohui , Nie Hong
Published: April 2021

Double-cavity shock absorber with high-pressure piston is the core component of the nose landing gear of the carrier-based aircraft, and its fast-extension performance seriously affects the safety of the catapult-assisted takeoff. The design of a carrier-based aircraft in our country is carried out based on the traditional method of fast-extension dynamics, and it is found that the fast-extension capability is larger than designed. This paper analyzes the working principle of the high-pressure piston shock absorber and explains that the high-pressure air cavity pushes the piston rod to extend rapidly, which will cause the cavitation phenomenon in the main oil chamber. Thus, the cavitation in the main oil chamber makes the traditional modeling method of oil-liquid resistance force no longer applicable. Then, the axial force modeling method of shock absorber considering the cavitation effect is proposed. Based on the carrier-based aircraft, the dynamic response of the shock absorber in the process of fast extension is calculated and then it is compared with the calculation results of the traditional dynamic method. It is found that due to the cavitation effect caused by the forced fast extension section of the high-pressure air plug shock absorber, the fast extension work increases by 67.6%, thus, revealing the fast extension mechanism of the double-chamber shock absorber with high-pressure piston and successfully explaining the phenomenon of the fast extension ability exceeding the expectation of the shock absorber.
The Weight of HLA-DPA1 rs3077 Single Nucleotide Polymorphism in Prostate Cancer, a Multicenter Study
Authors: Alenzi Mohammed Jayed , Ghazy Amany A. , Taha Diaa-Eldin
Published: April 2021

Prostate cancer (PCa) has almost the highest genetic transmission that mimics an autosomal dominance hereditary pattern of cancers in some families. Its incidence in Arab countries was reported to be steadily increasing. Aim. To determine the relevance of HLA-DPA1 rs3077 (A/G) SNP with prostate cancer’s risk and/or severity. Subjects and Methods. Forty PCa patients and forty age matched patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), as a control group, were enrolled in the study. Serum levels of urea, creatinine, total prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and free PSA were measured. PSA ratio was determined as well. Genotyping of HLA-DPA1 rs3077 (A/G) SNP was done using real-time PCR. Results. The measured lab parameters, except free PSA, were significantly higher among PCa patients in comparison to controls (

P
<

0.001

∗

). Moreover, PSA ratio was significantly high among PCa patients (

P
<

0.001

∗

). HLA-DPA1 rs3077 GG genotype was more frequent in PCa patients and the associated OR was 2.546 (

P
=
0.059

), while AA genotype was more frequent in the control group and the associated OR was 0.145 (

P
=
0.081

). Frequency of G allele was higher among PCa patients than the control group while A allele frequency was significantly decreased (

P
=

0.034

∗

) (protective allele). On multivariate analysis, there is no significant correlation found between HLA-DPA1 rs3077 SNP and PSA ratio (OR = 4.5, 95% CI = 1.2–17.4,

P
=
0.856

). Conclusion. HLA-DPA1 rs3077 G allele could be a risk factor for prostate cancer. However, HLA-DPA1 rs3077 SNP has no relation to PCa severity.
Mesoporous Carbon from Optimized Date Stone Hydrochar by Catalytic Hydrothermal Carbonization Using Response Surface Methodology: Application to Dyes Adsorption
Authors: El Ouadrhiri Faiçal , Elyemni Majda , Lahkimi Amal , Lhassani Abdelhadi , Chaouch Mehdi , Taleb Mustapha
Published: April 2021

Providing efficient and environmental friendly ways to recover lignocellulosic waste remains a challenge around the world. In this study, citric acid-catalyzed hydrothermal carbonization (CHTC) was coupled with pyrolysis to convert date seed (Ds) into adsorbent material. In this regard, a central composite design (CCD) using response surface methodology (RSM) was developed to examine the influence of temperature, reaction time, and catalyst dose on the mass yield (Ym(%)) and carbon retention rate (CRR(%)) in the produced hydrochars. The optimized hydrochar (OHC-Ds) was obtained under optimal conditions (200°C, 120 min, 20 mg) and characterized by a Ym(%) and CRR(%) of 59.71% and 75.84%, respectively. Chemical activation by KOH of OHC-Ds followed by pyrolysis at 600°C resulted in an active material (AOHC-Ds) rich in carbon and characterized by a high specific surface area of 1251.5 m2/g, with the dominance of mesopores, as well as an amorphous structure comparable to graphite shown by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Adsorption experiments of two dyes on AOHC-Ds showed a high maximum adsorption capacity (Qm) of 657.89 mg g−1 for methylene blue (MB) and 384.61 mg g−1 for methyl orange (MO) compared to other conventional adsorbents. This result is due to the low acidity (pHpzc) of the surface of AOHC-Ds, which equals 6.75, and its surface, which is also rich in oxygenated functional groups such as (-OH), (C=O), and (C-O) shown by FTIR analysis. These results suggest that the coupling of CHTC and KOH activation followed by pyrolysis is an encouraging way to prepare an efficient and inexpensive adsorbent to remove dyes in wastewater.
[Retracted] Mean Shift Fusion Color Histogram Algorithm for Nonrigid Complex Target Tracking in Sports Video
Authors: Liu Yu , Wang Xiaoyan
Published: April 2021

We analyze and study the tracking of nonrigid complex targets of sports video based on mean shift fusion color histogram algorithm. A simple and controllable 3D template generation method based on monocular video sequences is constructed, which is used as a preprocessing stage of dynamic target 3D reconstruction algorithm to achieve the construction of templates for a variety of complex objects, such as human faces and human hands, broadening the use of the reconstruction method. This stage requires video sequences of rigid moving target objects or sets of target images taken from different angles as input. First, the standard rigid body method of Visuals is used to obtain the external camera parameters of the sequence frames as well as the sparse feature point reconstruction data, and the algorithm has high accuracy and robustness. Then, a dense depth map is computed for each input image frame by the Multi‐View Stereo algorithm. The depth reconstruction with a too high resolution not only increases the processing time significantly but also generates more noise, so the resolution of the depth map is controlled by parameters. The multiple hypothesis target tracking algorithms are used to track multiple targets, while the chunking feature is used to solve the problem of mutual occlusion and adhesion between targets. After finishing the matching, the target and background models are updated online separately to ensure the validity of the target and background models. Our results of nonrigid complex target tracking by mean shift fusion color histogram algorithm for sports video improve the accuracy by about 8% compared to other studies. The proposed tracking method based on the mean shift algorithm and color histogram algorithm can not only estimate the position of the target effectively but also depict the shape of the target well, which solves the problem that the nonrigid targets in sports video have complicated shapes and are not easy to track. An example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness and adaptiveness of the applied method.
On Chamfer Distances on the Square and Body-Centered Cubic Grids: An Operational Research Approach
Authors: Kovács Gergely , Nagy Benedek , Stomfai Gergely , Turgay Neşet Deni̇z , Vizvári Béla
Published: April 2021

Linear programming is used to solve optimization problems. Thus, finding a shortest path in a grid is a good target to apply linear programming. In this paper, specific bipartite grids, the square and the body-centered cubic grids are studied. The former is represented as a “diagonal square grid” having points with pairs of either even or pairs of odd coordinates (highlighting the bipartite feature). Therefore, a straightforward generalization of the representation describes the body-centered cubic grid in 3D. We use chamfer paths and chamfer distances in these grids; therefore, weights for the steps between the closest neighbors and steps between the closest same type points are fixed, and depending on the weights, various paths could be the shortest one. The vectors of the various neighbors form a basis if they are independent, and their number is the same as the dimension of the space studied. Depending on the relation of the weights, various bases could give the optimal solution and various steps are used in the shortest paths. This operational research approach determines the optimal paths as basic feasible solutions of a linear programming problem. A directed graph is given containing the feasible bases as nodes and arcs with conditions on the used weights such that the simplex method may step from one feasible basis to another one. Thus, the optimal bases can be determined, and they are summarized in two theorems. If the optimal solution is not integer, then the Gomory cut is applied and the integer optimal solution is reached after only one Gomory iteration. Chamfer distances are frequently used in image processing and analysis as well as graphics-related subjects. The body-centered cubic grid, which is well-known in solid state physics, material science, and crystallography, has various applications in imaging and graphics since less samples are needed to represent the signal in the same quality than on the cubic grid. Moreover, the body-centered cubic grid has also a topological advantage over the cubic grid, namely, the neighbor Voronoi cells always share a full face.
Joint Optimization of a Dry Port with Multilevel Location and Container Transportation: The Case of Northeast China
Authors: Pian Feng , Shi Qiuju , Yao Xue , Zhu Huiling , Luan Weixin
Published: April 2021

Dry port construction can reduce the cost of container transportation, and its location is the focus of existing research. Considering dry port capacity limitations and scale advantages, this study calculates the costs associated with dry port construction and operations, transportation, time, and the environment and constructs a joint optimization model of the dry port location and transportation scheme to minimize the total cost. Taking 35 prefecture‐level cities in Northeast China as the source of container goods and Dalian port as the destination, this study conducts an empirical analysis using the Gurobi 9.0.2 optimizer of the AMPL software to solve the problem and takes the minimum total cost as the goal to select the best dry port and container transshipment scheme. The research draws the following conclusions. Seven dry ports also need to be built in the road‐rail (RD‐RL) mode, which shares 82.76% of the container transshipment volume, to reduce the total transportation cost by approximately 21.67%. Although multimodal transport through dry ports increases the time cost slightly, it can significantly reduce the economic and environmental costs of container transportation.
Experimental and Numerical Investigation on the Effects of Foundation Pit Excavation on Adjacent Tunnels in Soft Soil
Authors: Yu Zi-Tian , Wang Heng-Yu , Wang Wenjun , Ling Dao-Sheng , Zhang Xue-Dong , Wang Can , Qu Yong-Hao
Published: April 2021

Excavations near an existing tunnel are often encountered in underground construction. The influence of the excavation on the adjacent tunnels is not yet fully understood. This study presented a centrifugal model test about excavation next to existing tunnels in soft soil foundation. The bending moment of diaphragm wall, surface settlement, tunnel deformation, and earth pressure around the tunnel were mainly studied. The influence of tunnel location is further studied by numerical simulation. During the stabilization stage of foundation pit, the diaphragm walls present convex deformation towards foundation pit, and the surface settlement outside the diaphragm wall appears to be the concave groove type. During the overexcavation stage, the diaphragm walls are almost damaged, and the shear bands are nearly tangent to the tunnels. The displacement of the tunnels and the surface settlement rapidly increase. The deformation of the diaphragm wall and the surface settlement are limited by the existing tunnel. The numerical results indicate that the change of tunnel location has little effect on the retaining wall but an obvious effect on the tunnel itself.
A Segmentation Algorithm of Image Semantic Sequence Data Based on Graph Convolution Network
Authors: Jia Zheshu , Chen Deyun
Published: April 2021

Image semantic data have multilevel feature information. In the actual segmentation, the existing segmentation algorithms have some limitations, resulting in the fact that the final segmentation accuracy is too small. To solve this problem, a segmentation algorithm of image semantic sequence data based on graph convolution network is constructed. The graph convolution network is used to construct the image search process. The semantic sequence data are extracted. After the qualified data points are accumulated, the gradient amplitude forms complete rotation field and no scatter field in the diffusion process, which enhances the application scope of the algorithm, controls the accuracy of the segmentation algorithm, and completes the construction of the data segmentation algorithm. After the experimental dataset is prepared and the semantic segmentation direction is defined, we compare our method with four methods. The results show that the segmentation algorithm designed in this paper has the highest accuracy.
The Effect of SP/NK1R on the Expression and Activity of Catalase and Superoxide Dismutase in Glioblastoma Cancer Cells
Authors: Korfi Faranak , Javid Hossein , Assaran Darban Reza , Hashemy Seyed Isaac
Published: April 2021

Introduction. Glioblastoma is the most malignant brain tumor with different therapeutic protocols, including surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Substance P (SP), a peptide released by sensory nerves, increases cellular excitability by activating the neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1R) in several human tumor cells. Aprepitant is a potent and long-lasting NK1R antagonist, considered a new agent for inhibiting proliferation and induction of apoptosis in malignant cells. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the SP/NK1R system on the expression and activity of catalase and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in the glioblastoma U87 cancer cell line. Methods. Cytotoxicity was measured by the resazurin test, 24 hours after treatment, with increasing aprepitant concentrations. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was also measured 24 hours after treatment with SP and aprepitant. Enzymes activity of catalase and SOD was measured using the corresponding assay kits. Real-time PCR also measured their expression. Results. Aprepitant significantly reduced the viability of U87 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. ROS production was significantly reduced, and the activity of catalase and SOD increased after treatment with aprepitant. The expression of catalase and SOD enzymes also increased significantly in the presence of aprepitant. Conclusion. The present study showed that aprepitant inhibited SP’s oxidizing effects via inducing the antioxidant effects of catalase and SOD in the U87 cell line. Therefore, this drug might be introduced as a potential candidate for controlling glioblastoma cancer in animal models and clinical trials.
Immunoinformatics Identification of B- and T-Cell Epitopes in the RNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase of SARS-CoV-2
Authors: Yashvardhini Niti , Kumar Amit , Jha Deepak Kumar
Published: April 2021

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2) is a newly emerged beta coronavirus and etiolating agent of COVID-19. Considering the unprecedented increasing number of COVID-19 cases, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency internationally on 11th March 2020. However, existing drugs are insufficient in dealing with this contagious virus infection; therefore, a vaccine is exigent to curb this pandemic disease. In the present study, B- and T-cell immune epitopes were identified for RdRp (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) protein using immunoinformatic techniques, which is proved to be a rapid and efficient method to explore the candidate peptide vaccine. Subsequently, antigenicity and interactions with HLA (human leukocyte antigen) alleles were estimated. Further, physicochemical properties, allergenicity, toxicity, and stability of RdRp protein were evaluated to demonstrate the specificity of the epitope candidates. Interestingly, we identified a total of 36 B-cell and 16 T-cell epitopes using epitopes predictive tools. Among the predicted epitopes, 26 B-cell and 9 T-cell epitopes showed non-allergenic, non-toxic, and highly antigenic properties. Altogether, our study revealed that RdRp of SARS-CoV-2 (an epitope-based peptide fragment) can be a potentially good candidate for the development of a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2.
Surface Electromyography (sEMG) Activity of Masticatory Muscle (Masseter and Temporalis) with Three Different Types of Orthodontic Bracket
Authors: Nishi Shamima E. , Rahman Norma Ab , Basri Rehana , Alam Mohammad K. , Noor Nor Farid M. , Zainal Siti Aishah , Husein Adam
Published: April 2021

Objective. This pre‐post study is aimed at determining the effects of masticatory muscle activity (masseter and temporalis) measured via sEMG between conventional, self‐ligating, and ceramic bracket after six months of orthodontic treatment. Methods. A total of eighteen (18) malocclusion patients were identified. Malocclusion patients were subdivided into 3 groups based on the bracket selection (conventional, self‐ligating, and ceramic bracket) with 6 patients for each group. sEMG of muscles were done using a two‐channel electromyography device, where pregelled and self‐adhesive electrodes (bilateral) were applied. Chewing and clenching of masseter and temporalis muscle activity were recorded for 20 s pre and 6 months of orthodontic treatment using sEMG (frequency 60 Hz). The data were analysed by using repeated measures ANOVA in IBM SPSS Statistics Version 24.0. Results. Chewing and clenching for masseter muscle showed no significant difference (P > 0.05) in sEMG activity of three types of the brackets. However, for temporalis muscle, there was a significant difference found in sEMG activity during chewing (P < 0.05) and clenching (P < 0.05) between these three brackets. Conclusion. The activity of temporalis muscle showed significant changes in chewing and clenching, where the conventional group demonstrated better muscle activity pre and at six months of fixed appliances.
Caputo Fractional Derivative Hadamard Inequalities for Stronglym-Convex Functions
Authors: Feng Xue , Feng Baolin , Farid Ghulam , Bibi Sidra , Xiaoyan Qi , Wu Ze
Published: April 2021

In this paper, two versions of the Hadamard inequality are obtained by using Caputo fractional derivatives and stronglym-convex functions. The established results will provide refinements of well-known Caputo fractional derivative Hadamard inequalities form-convex and convex functions. Also, error estimations of Caputo fractional derivative Hadamard inequalities are proved and show that these are better than error estimations already existing in literature.
Tissue-Resident Memory-Like CD8+ T Cells Exhibit Heterogeneous Characteristics in Tuberculous Pleural Effusion
Authors: Yu Sifei , Lao Suihua , Yang Binyan , Wu Changyou
Published: April 2021

Tissue-resident memory T (TRM) cells are well known to play critical roles in peripheral tissues during virus infection and tumor immunology. Our previous studies indicated that CD69+CD4+ and CD69+CD8+ T cells in tuberculous pleural effusion (TPE) were antigen-specific memory T cells. However, the phenotypical and functional characteristics of CD8+ TRM cells in tuberculosis remain unknown. We found that CD103+CD8+ T cells were the predominant subset of CD103+ lymphocytes in TPE; both CD103 and CD69 expressed on memory CD8+ T cells from TPE were significantly increased compared with those from paired peripheral blood. Phenotypically, CD103+CD69+ and CD103+CD69-CD8+ T cells expressed higher levels of CD45RO than CD103-CD69+CD8+ T cells did; CD103+CD69-CD8+ T cells highly expressed CD27, CD127, and CD62L and some chemokine receptors. We further compared the functional differences among the four distinct CD45RO+CD8+ T subsets identified by CD103 and CD69 expression. In consist with our published results, CD69+CD8+ T cells, but not CD103+CD8+, produced high levels of IFN-γ after treatment with BCG in the presence of BFA. Nevertheless, CD103-CD69+ and CD103+CD69+ memory CD8+ T cells expressed higher levels of Granzyme B, while CD103+CD69- memory CD8+ T cells were characterized as a possibly immunosuppressive subset by highly expressing CTLA-4, CD25, and FoxP3. Furthermore, TGF-β extremely increased CD103 expression but not CD69 in vitro. Together, CD103+CD8+ T cells form the predominant subset of CD103+ lymphocytes in TPE; CD103 and CD69 expression defines distinct CD8+ TRM-like subsets exhibiting phenotypical and functional heterogeneity. Our findings provide an important theoretical basis to optimize and evaluate new tuberculosis vaccines.