bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Dialogic reading in the rehabilitation of Children with Hearing Loss and the “Born to Read” Project: A pilot study
Authors: Continisio Grazia Isabella , Mattiello Amalia , Toscano Silvia , Continisio Paola , Paternoster Mariano , Guarino Alfredo , Cuomo Francesca Maria , Cristiani Tiziana , Manetti Stefania , Giannattasio Antonietta , Marciano Elio
Published: July 2018

The “born to read” initiative entails a dialogic reading to children in poor socio‐economical conditions aimed at fostering cognitive and relational skills. Reading is professionally delivered by experts to promote psycho‐social development of children and their parents. In this study the project was extended to include children positive at early screening for hearing impairment. A total of 26 children were included and 14 parents were taught to read aloud and emphatically. Reading session were delivered for at least 10 minutes at least 3 times/week, usually at bedtime, for one year. The Griffiths scale were applied to explore the expressive and receptive language skills (Scale C) and eye and hand coordination (Scale D), as measures of linguistic and neurocognitive skills. Program sustainability and reactions by the parents were also investigated. All 14 families successfully received the training, becoming capable of reading aloud and emphatically and provided reading sessions for the entire duration of the study. Children receiving the intervention performed slightly better than controls and those who were exposed to increased number of sessions, performed even better although the differences with controls were not significant. Parents enjoyed reading to their children. They expressed satisfaction and gratitude for being able to play an active and productive role in children rehabilitation. The results of this pilot study suggest that the born to read initiative may be considered in adjunct to medical and psychological interventions to enhance the benefits of early screening of hearing function.
False positive viral marker results in blood donors and their unintended consequences
Authors: Kiely Philip , Hoad Veronica C. , Wood Erica M.
Published: July 2018

False positive (FP) viral marker results in blood donors continue to pose many challenges. Informing donors of FP results and subsequent deferral can result in stress and anxiety for donors and additional complexity and workload for blood services. Donor management strategies need to balance the requirement to minimise donor anxiety and inconvenience while maintaining sufficiency of supply. Decisions about how and when to inform donors of FP results and determine deferral periods can be difficult as FP results, while often transitory, can take up to several years to resolve. Additional complexities include the interpretation of indeterminate serological confirmatory testing without detectable viral RNA or non‐discriminated NAT results with concomitant anti‐HBc reactivity ‐ both may be due to FP results, but the former may also represent past infection and the later may represent occult hepatitis B infection. In this review we discuss strategies to minimise indeterminate serological confirmatory results, possible donor deferral policies and the impact on donors when notified of FP results. We also provide some new data from Australia that address the challenge of interpreting non‐discriminated NAT results with concomitant anti‐HBc reactivity. Ultimately, the challenge is for each blood service to develop appropriate strategies for donor management, taking into account local information and requirements.
Thermal recrystallization of short-range ordered WS2 films
Authors: Heyne Markus H. , de Marneffe Jean-François , Radu Iuliana , Neyts Erik C. , De Gendt Stefan
Published: July 2018

The integration of van der Waals materials in nanoelectronic devices requires the deposition of few-layered MX2 films with excellent quality crystals covering a large area. In recent years, astonishing progress in the monolayer growth of WS2 and MoS2 was demonstrated, but multilayer growth resulted often in separated triangular or hexagonal islands. These polycrystalline films cannot fully employ the specific MX2 properties since they are not connected in-plane to the other domains. To coalesce separated islands, ultrahigh-temperature postdeposition anneals in H2S are applied, which are not compatible with bare silicon substrates. Starting from the deposition of stoichiometric short-ordered films, the present work studies different options for subsequent high-temperature annealing in an inert atmosphere to form crystalline films with large grains from stoichiometric films with small grains. The rapid thermal annealing, performed over a few seconds, is compared to excimer laser annealing in the nanosecond range, which are both able to crystallize the thin WS2. The WS2 recrystallization temperature can be lowered using metallic crystallization promoters (Co and Ni). The best result is obtained using a Co cap, due to the circumvention of Co and S binary phase formation below the eutectic temperature. The recrystallization above a critical temperature is accompanied by sulfur loss and 3D regrowth. These undesired effects can be suppressed by the application of a dielectric capping layer prior to annealing. A SiO2 cap can suppress the sulfur loss successfully during annealing and reveals improved material quality in comparison to noncapped films.
Recognition of Spanish consonants in 8-talker babble by children with cochlear implants, and by children and adults with normal hearing
Authors: Moreno-Torres Ignacio , Madrid-Cánovas Sonia
Published: July 2018

This paper presents the results of closed-set recognition task for 80 Spanish consonant-vowel sounds in 8-talker babble. Three groups of subjects participated in the study: a group of children using cochlear implants (CIs; age range: 7–13), an age-matched group of children with normal hearing (NH), and a group of adults with NH. The speech-to-noise ratios at which the participants recognized 33% of the target consonants were +7.8 dB, −3 dB, and −6 dB, respectively. In order to clarify the qualitative differences between the groups, groups were matched for the percentage of recognized syllables. As compared with the two groups with NH, the children with CIs: (1) produced few “I do not know” responses; (2) frequently selected the voiced stops (i.e., /b, d, ɡ/) and the most energetic consonants (i.e., /l, r, ʝ, s, ʧ/); (3) showed no vowel context effects; and (4) had a robust voicing bias. As compared with the adults with NH, both groups of children showed a fronting bias in place of articulation errors. The factors underlying these error patterns are discussed.
Ultrasonic waves in uniaxially stressed multilayered and one-dimensional phononic structures: Guided and Floquet wave analysis
Authors: Demčenko Andriejus , Wilson Rab , Cooper Jonathan M. , Mazilu Michael , Volker Arno W. F.
Published: July 2018

This paper shows that acoustoelasticity in one-dimensional (1D) multilayered isotropic hyperelastic materials can be understood through the analysis of elastic wave velocities as a function of applied stress. This theoretical framework is used for eigenvalue analyses in stressed elastic structures through a reformulation of the stiffness matrix method, obtaining modal solutions, as well as reflection and transmission coefficients for different multilayered configurations. Floquet wave analysis for the stressed 1D structures is supported using numerical results.
Observation of an environmentally insensitive solid-state spin defect in diamond
Authors: Rose Brendon C. , Huang Ding , Zhang Zi-Huai , Stevenson Paul , Tyryshkin Alexei M. , Sangtawesin Sorawis , Srinivasan Srikanth , Loudin Lorne , Markham Matthew L. , Edmonds Andrew M. , Twitchen Daniel J. , Lyon Stephen A. , de Leon Nathalie P.
Published: July 2018

In search of the right diamond defect

Certain defects in diamond are among the most promising physical implementations of qubits, the building blocks of quantum computers. However, identifying a defect with balanced properties is tricky: Nitrogen vacancy centers have a long lifetime but comparatively poor optical properties, whereas negatively charged silicon vacancy centers have the opposite characteristics. Rose
et al.
used careful materials engineering to stabilize the neutral charge state of silicon vacancy centers and found that they combine long coherence times with excellent optical properties.

Science
, this issue p.
60
Imaging CF
3
I conical intersection and photodissociation dynamics with ultrafast electron diffraction
Authors: Yang Jie , Zhu Xiaolei , Wolf Thomas J. A. , Li Zheng , Nunes J. Pedro F. , Coffee Ryan , Cryan James P. , Gühr Markus , Hegazy Kareem , Heinz Tony F. , Jobe Keith , Li Renkai , Shen Xiaozhe , Veccione Theodore , Weathersby Stephen , Wilkin Kyle J. , Yoneda Charles , Zheng Qiang , Martinez Todd J. , Centurion Martin , Wang Xijie
Published: July 2018

Motion picture of a conical intersection

In most chemical reactions, electrons move earlier and faster than nuclei. It is therefore common to model reactions by using potential energy surfaces that depict nuclear motion in a particular electronic state. However, in certain cases, two such surfaces connect in a conical intersection that mingles ultrafast electronic and nuclear rearrangements. Yang
et al.
used electron diffraction to obtain time-resolved images of CF
3
I molecules traversing a conical intersection in the course of photolytic cleavage of the C–I bond (see the Perspective by Fielding).

Science
, this issue p.
64
; see also p.
30
DNA-induced liquid phase condensation of cGAS activates innate immune signaling
Authors: Du Mingjian , Chen Zhijian J.
Published: July 2018

Liquid droplets step on the cGAS

Spontaneous partitioning of a homogeneous solution of molecules, or liquid-phase separation, underlies the formation of cellular bodies from P granules to nucleoli. Essentially, dense-phase liquid droplets act like cellular compartments. Du and Chen show that DNA binding to its cytoplasmic sensor, cyclic GMP–AMP synthase (cGAS), results in liquid droplets containing activated cGAS (see the Perspective by Ablasser). This phenomenon occurs through multivalent interactions, augmented by zinc, between DNA binding domains on cGAS and DNA in a length-dependent manner. Binding triggers a switchlike reaction that concentrates the enzyme and reactants to enhance STING-dependent interferon responses.

Science
, this issue p.
704
; see also p.
646
Single-crystal x-ray diffraction structures of covalent organic frameworks
Authors: Ma Tianqiong , Kapustin Eugene A. , Yin Shawn X. , Liang Lin , Zhou Zhengyang , Niu Jing , Li Li-Hua , Wang Yingying , Su Jie , Li Jian , Wang Xiaoge , Wang Wei David , Wang Wei , Sun Junliang , Yaghi Omar M.
Published: July 2018

Covalent organic frameworks writ large

Covalent organic framework (COF) materials have been difficult to characterize structurally and to exploit because they tend to form powders or amorphous materials. Ma
et al.
studied a variety of three-dimensional COFs based on imine linkages (see the Perspective by Navarro). They found that the addition of aniline inhibited nucleation and allowed the growth of crystals large enough for single-crystal x-ray diffraction studies. Evans
et al.
describe a two-step process in which nanoscale seeds of boronate ester–linked two-dimensional COFs can be grown into micrometer-scale single crystals by using a solvent that suppresses the nucleation of additional nanoparticles. Transient absorption spectroscopy revealed superior charge transport in these crystallites compared with that observed in conventional powders.

Science
, this issue p.
48
, p.
52
; see also p.
35
America's lost dogs
Authors: Goodman Linda , Karlsson Elinor K.
Published: July 2018

The dogs that arrived in the Americas with human settlers ∼10,000 years ago left almost no genetic traces
The dynamic art of growing COF crystals
Authors: Navarro Jorge A. R.
Published: July 2018

Growth modulation leads to large, high-quality covalent organic framework crystals
Colin Frank Haith
Authors: Haith Euan
Published: July 2018

A force of nature who believed that family was everything. He had wanted to be a vet from the age of four and, accepting that he had been blessed with a range of talents, he considered he should use them all to the full.
Unexpected medium effect on the mechanism for aminolysis of aryl phenyl carbonates in acetonitrile and H2O: transition-state structure in the catalytic pathway
Authors: Um Ik-Hwan , Song Ji-Hyun , Bae Ae-Ri , Dust Julian M.
Published: July 2018

Upward curvature in the kinetic plots of pseudo first-order rate constants (kobsd) vs. [amine] for the aminolysis of aryl phenyl carbonates (5a–5j) in MeCN demonstrates that these reactions proceed via a zwitterionic tetrahedral intermediate (T±) that partitions between catalyzed and uncatalyzed routes to give the products. Yukawa–Tsuno plots for the reactions of 5a–5j with piperidine result in excellent linear correlations with ρY = 4.82 and r = 0.47 for the uncatalyzed reaction versus ρY = 2.21 and r = 0.21 for the catalyzed reaction. Brønsted plots for reactions of 4-(ethoxycarbonyl)-phenyl phenyl carbonate (5f) with a series of cyclic secondary amines exhibit excellent linear correlations with βnuc = 0.87 and 0.58 for the uncatalyzed and catalyzed reactions, respectively. The ΔH‡ and ΔS‡ values are 0.92 kcal/mol and –50.1 cal/mol K, respectively, for the catalyzed reaction of 5f with piperidine. Deuterium kinetic isotope effects found for reactions of 5f with piperidine/deuterated piperidine are 0.84 (uncatalyzed) and 1.42 (catalyzed). Multi-parameter analysis supports a concerted catalytic pathway involving a six-membered cyclic transition state rather than a traditionally accepted stepwise pathway with an anionic intermediate. The current unexpected results, where T± is the essential central intermediate in this aminolysis, contrast with previous calculation studies that deemed T± unstable in gas phase or MeCN.
Predicting important rockfish (Sebastesspp.) habitat from large-scale longline surveys for southern British Columbia, Canada
Authors: Carrasquilla-Henao Mauricio , Yamanaka K. Lynne , Haggarty Dana , Juanes Francis
Published: July 2018

Rockfish, particularly yelloweye (Sebastes ruberrimus) and quillback (Sebastes maliger), are vulnerable to overfishing because they mature late and have affinity for shallow water (50–200 m) habitats. Because studies relating habitat characteristics with the distribution and presence of rockfishes at large scales (100s of kilometres) remain scarce, we sought to investigate the relationships between benthic characteristics with the presence–absence and abundance of rockfishes caught in longline surveys in nearshore waters of southern British Columbia. Habitat parameters were calculated from a 20 m resolution bathymetry layer. Yelloweye and quillback were examined separately and combined with 19 other rockfish species in a species aggregate (total rockfish); occurrence data were fitted with generalized linear mixed effects models, and abundance data were fitted with zero-inflated mixed effects models. The relationship between rockfish abundance with presence–absence and slope, distance to rocky habitat, and fine bathymetric position index suggests that these species prefer rocky, steep habitat. While underwater visual observation data offer measures of visual fish habitat and abundance, longline surveys may be a more cost-effective method for large-scale studies.
A note on the Gordian complexes of some local moves on knots
Authors: Zhang Kai , Yang Zhiqing
Published: July 2018

In this paper, the [Formula: see text]-move is defined. We show that for any knot [Formula: see text], there exists an infinite family of knots [Formula: see text] such that the Gordian distance [Formula: see text] and pass-move-Gordian distance [Formula: see text] for any [Formula: see text]. We also show that there is another infinite family of knots [Formula: see text] (where [Formula: see text]) such that the [Formula: see text]-move-Gordian distance [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]-Gordian distance [Formula: see text] for any [Formula: see text] and all [Formula: see text].
Quantifying Welfare Impacts of Air Pollution in Seoul: A Two-Stage Hedonic Price Approach
Authors: Jun Myung-Jin
Published: July 2018

This study aims to measure welfare loss due to the high pollution levels of PM10 and NO2in the Seoul metropolitan area (SMA), Korea, which do not comply with the international standards, using spatial hedonic price models with apartment sales and air pollution data in 2010. The major findings were as follow: First, spatial hedonic model estimation reveals statistically significant negative signs for air pollution index for all submarkets, empirically presenting a trade-off between air pollution level and housing values. Second, the own-good quantity variable (air pollution index) has a statistically significant negative coefficient, indicating a diminishing marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for additional level of the air pollution. Third, a worsening air quality brings about a substantial amount of welfare loss ($26.3 billion) among households residing in the SMA.
Towards Update-Efficient and Parallel-Friendly Content-Based Indexing Scheme in Cloud Computing
Authors: Zhu Nan , Lu Yangdi , He Wenbo , Yu Hua , Ge Jike
Published: July 2018

The sheer volume of contents generated by today’s Internet services is stored in the cloud. The effective indexing method is important to provide the content to users on demand. The indexing method associating the user-generated metadata with the content is vulnerable to the inaccuracy caused by the low quality of the metadata. While the content-based indexing does not depend on the error-prone metadata, the state-of-the-art research focuses on developing descriptive features and misses the system-oriented considerations when incorporating these features into the practical cloud computing systems. We propose an Update-Efficient and Parallel-Friendly content-based indexing system, called Partitioned Hash Forest (PHF). The PHF system incorporates the state-of-the-art content-based indexing models and multiple system-oriented optimizations. PHF contains an approximate content-based index and leverages the hierarchical memory system to support the high volume of updates. Additionally, the content-aware data partitioning and lock-free concurrency management module enable the parallel processing of the concurrent user requests. We evaluate PHF in terms of indexing accuracy and system efficiency by comparing it with the state-of-the-art content-based indexing algorithm and its variances. We achieve the significantly better accuracy with less resource consumption, around 37% faster in update processing and up to 2.5[Formula: see text] throughput speedup in a multi-core platform comparing to other parallel-friendly designs.
MobInsight
Authors: Park Souneil , Serrà Joan , Martinez Enrique Frias , Oliver Nuria
Published: July 2018

Collective urban mobility embodies the residents’ local insights on the city. Mobility practices of the residents are produced from their
spatial choices
, which involve various considerations such as the atmosphere of destinations, distance, past experiences, and preferences. The advances in mobile computing and the rise of geo-social platforms have provided the means for capturing the mobility practices; however, interpreting the residents’ insights is challenging due to the scale and complexity of an urban environment and its unique context. In this article, we present MobInsight, a framework for making localized interpretations of urban mobility that reflect various aspects of the urbanism. MobInsight extracts a rich set of neighborhood features through
holistic semantic aggregation
, and models the mobility between
all-pairs of neighborhoods
. We evaluate MobInsight with the mobility data of Barcelona and demonstrate diverse localized and semantically rich interpretations.
A Mirroring-Assisted Channel-RAID5 SSD for Mobile Applications
Authors: Pan Wen , Xie Tao
Published: July 2018

Simply applying an existing redundant array of independent disks (RAID) technique to enhance data reliability within a single solid-state drive for safety-critical mobile applications significantly degrades performance. In this article, we first propose a new RAID5 architecture called channel-RAID5 with mirroring (CR5M) to alleviate the performance degradation problem. Next, an associated data reconstruction strategy called mirroring-assisted channel-level reconstruction (MCR) is developed to further shrink the window of vulnerability. Experimental results demonstrate that compared with channel-RAID5 (CR5), CR5M improves performance up to 40.2%. Compared with disk-oriented reconstruction, a traditional data reconstruction scheme, MCR on average improves data recovery speed by 7.5% while delivering a similar performance during reconstruction.
Lightitude
Authors: Hu Yiqing , Xiong Yan , Huang Wenchao , Li Xiang-Yang , Yang Panlong , Zhang Yanan , Mao Xufei
Published: July 2018

In this paper, we propose an indoor positioning system, Lightitude, which utilizes the already existed, uneven indoor light intensity distribution established by densely deployed indoor lights as the medium. As common indoor lights cannot act as landmarks due to lack of unique features (e.g., unique intensity or flicker frequency), systems that exploiting the received light intensity (RLI) usually impose strong constraints on user's motion and make ideal assumptions about the indoor environment. Different from these approaches, we first propose a realistic light intensity model to reconstruct the RLI distribution given any motion (position, orientation) of the receiver, thus RLI collected with every motion of the receiver could be used for positioning. Then we design a particle-filter-based positioning module, which harnesses user's natural mobility to eliminate the ambiguity of a single RLI. Experiment results show that Lightitude achieves mean accuracy 1.93m and 1.98m in an office (720m2) and a library (960m2) respectively. Lightitude is still robust against interferences like sunlight, shading of human-body and several user behaviors.
Assisted Medication Management in Elderly Care Using Miniaturised Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
Authors: Klakegg Simon , Goncalves Jorge , Luo Chu , Visuri Aku , Popov Alexey , van Berkel Niels , Sarsenbayeva Zhanna , Kostakos Vassilis , Hosio Simo , Savage Scott , Bykov Alexander , Meglinski Igor , Ferreira Denzil
Published: July 2018

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) measures the light reflected from objects to infer highly detailed information about their molecular composition. Traditionally, NIRS has been an instrument reserved for laboratory usage, but recently affordable and smaller devices for NIRS have proliferated. Pairing this technology with the ubiquitous smartphone opens up a plethora of new use cases. In this paper, we explore one such use case, namely medication management in a nursing home/elderly care centre. First, we conducted a qualitative user study with nurses working in an elderly care centre to examine the protocols and workflows involved in administering medication, and the nurses' perceptions on using this technology. Based on our findings, we identify the main impact areas that would benefit from introducing miniaturised NIRS. Finally, we demonstrate via a user study in a realistic scenario that miniaturised NIRS can be effectively used for medication management when leveraging appropriate machine learning techniques. Specifically, we assess the performance of multiple pre-processing and classification algorithms for a selected set of pharmaceuticals. In addition, we compare our solution with currently used methods for pharmaceutical identification in a local care centre. We hope that our reflection on the multiple aspects associated with the introduction of this device in an elderly care setting can help both academics and practitioners working on related problems.
Does the Public Still Look at Public Displays?
Authors: Parker Callum , Tomitsch Martin , Kay Judy
Published: July 2018

Public displays are widely used for displaying information in public space, such as shopping centres. They are typically programmed to display advertisements or general information about the space in which they are situated. Due to recent advances in technology, public displays are becoming ubiquitous in space around cities and can potentially enable new interactions with public space. However, despite these advances, research reports that public displays are often found to be: (1) generally irrelevant to the space in which they are situated; and (2) ignored by passers-by. Although much research has focused on tackling these issues, a gap remains regarding knowledge about how public displays in the wild are currently being used at a time when people are increasingly relying on their smartphones as a main source for accessing information and for connecting with others. The study reported in this article aims to address this gap by presenting new insights about the current practices of non-research public displays and their role in a hyperconnected society. To achieve this, we provide results from a field observation study of non-research public displays and contextualise our findings within an analysis of related work. This article makes three main contributions: (1) identifying how user engagement with public displays has changed over the past 10 years; (2) understanding how the pervasiveness of smartphones and other connected devices has modified whether users notice public displays and their interactions with public displays; and (3) outlining design recommendations and opportunities towards making public displays more relevant in a hyperconnected society.
My Smartphone Recognizes Genuine QR Codes!
Authors: Song Chen , Li Zhengxiong , Xu Wenyao , Zhou Chi , Jin Zhanpeng , Ren Kui
Published: July 2018

Additive manufacturing, or 3D printing, has been widely applied in product manufacturing. However, the emerging unauthorized access of 3D printing data, as well as the growth in the pervasiveness and capability of 3D printing devices have raised serious concerns about 3D printing product anti-counterfeit. Electronic product tags are the current standard for authentication purposes; however, often this technology is neither secure nor cost-effective, and fails to take advantage of other unique 3D printing features. Considering the great usability of the QR code, we are motivated to enhance the QR code for the practical and cost-effective 3D printing product identification. Particularly, we bring up the all-in-one design, all-in-one manufacturing concept incorporating the QR code in the complete 3D printing paradigm. In detail, we explore the possibility of leveraging the random and uncontrollable process variations in the 3D printing system to generate a unique fingerprint for the integrated QR code. To this end, we present an end-to-end 3D-printed QR code verification framework, which does not change the original QR protocol and functionality. The entire solution can be implemented with commodity 3D printers and smartphones. Specifically, we first investigate the inevitable and random process variations in the 3D printing mechanism and analyze the causality between the variations and detectable geometric deformation. We further develop a fingerprint extraction algorithm taking into account both the QR code property and the 3D printer characteristics. The system evaluation indicates that our solution is secure and robust in multiple scenarios.
Targeting Therapies for the p53 Protein in Cancer Treatments
Authors: Levine Arnold J.
Published: July 2018

Half of all human cancers contain TP53 mutations, and in many other cancers, the function of the p53 protein is compromised. The diversity of these mutations and phenotypes presents a challenge to the development of drugs that target p53 mutant cancer cells. This review describes the rationale for many different approaches in the development of p53 targeted therapies: ( a) viruses and gene therapies, ( b) increased levels and activity of wild-type p53 proteins in cancer cells, ( c) p53 protein gain-of-function inhibitors, ( d) p53 protein loss-of-function structural correctors, ( e) mutant p53 protein synthetic lethal drugs interfering with the p53 pathway, and ( f) cellular immune responses to mutant p53 protein antigens. As these types of therapies are developed, tested, and evaluated, the best of them will have a significant impact upon cancer treatments and possibly prevention.
Projected Behavioral Impacts of Global Climate Change
Authors: Evans Gary W.
Published: July 2018

The projected behavioral impacts of global climate change emanate from environmental changes including temperature elevation, extreme weather events, and rising air pollution. Negative affect, interpersonal and intergroup conflict, and possibly psychological distress increase with rising temperature. Droughts, floods, and severe storms diminish quality of life, elevate stress, produce psychological distress, and may elevate interpersonal and intergroup conflict. Recreational opportunities are compromised by extreme weather, and children may suffer delayed cognitive development. Elevated pollutants concern citizens and may accentuate psychological distress. Outdoor recreational activity is curtailed by ambient pollutants. Limitations and issues in need of further investigation include the following: lack of data on direct experience with climate change rather than indirect assessments related to projected changes; poor spatial resolution in environmental exposures and behavioral assessments; few rigorous quasi-experimental studies; overreliance on self-reports of behavioral outcomes; little consideration of moderator effects; and scant investigation of underlying psychosocial processes to explain projected behavioral impacts.
Global Alcohol Markets: Evolving Consumption Patterns, Regulations, and Industrial Organizations
Authors: Anderson Kym , Meloni Giulia , Swinnen Johan
Published: July 2018

For millennia, alcoholic drinks have played an important role in food security and health (both positive and negative), but consumption patterns of beer, wine, and spirits have altered substantially over the past two centuries. So too have their production technologies and industrial organization. Globalization and economic growth have contributed to considerable convergence in national alcohol consumption patterns. The industrial revolution contributed to excess consumption by stimulating demand and lowering the cost of alcohol. It also led to concentration in some alcohol industries, especially brewing. In recent years, the emergence of craft producers has countered firm concentration and the homogenization of alcoholic beverages. Meanwhile, governments have intervened extensively in alcohol markets to reduce excessive consumption, raise taxes, protect domestic industries, and/or ensure competition. These regulations have contributed to, and been affected by, the evolving patterns of consumption and changing structures of alcohol industries.
Cardiovascular responses to cold and submaximal exercise in patients with coronary artery disease
Authors: Valtonen Rasmus I. P. , Kiviniemi Antti , Hintsala Heidi E. , Ryti Niilo R. I. , Kenttä Tuomas , Huikuri Heikki V. , Perkiömäki Juha , Crandall Craig , van Marken Lichtenbelt Wouter , Alén Markku , Rintamäki Hannu , Mäntysaari Matti , Hautala Arto , Jaakkola Jouni J. K. , Ikäheimo Tiina M.
Published: July 2018

Regular year-round exercise is recommended for patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). However, the combined effects of cold and moderate sustained exercise, both known to increase cardiac workload, on cardiovascular responses are not known. We tested the hypothesis that cardiac workload is increased, and evidence of ischemia would be observed during exercise in the cold in patients with CAD. Sixteen men (59.3 ± 7.0 yr, means ± SD) with stable CAD each underwent 4, 30 min exposures in a randomized order: seated rest and moderate-intensity exercise [walking, 60%–70% of max heart rate (HR)] performed at +22°C and −15°C. Systolic brachial blood pressure (SBP), HR, electrocardiogram (ECG), and skin temperatures were recorded throughout the intervention. Rate pressure product (RPP) and ECG parameters were obtained. The combined effects of cold and submaximal exercise were additive for SBP and RPP and synergistic for HR when compared with rest in a neutral environment. RPP (mmHg·beats/min) was 17% higher during exercise in the cold (18,080 ± 3540) compared with neutral (15,490 ± 2,940) conditions ( P = 0.001). Only a few ST depressions were detected during exercise but without an effect of ambient temperature. The corrected QT interval increased while exercising in the cold compared with neutral temperature ( P = 0.023). Recovery of postexercise blood pressure was similar regardless of temperature. Whole body exposure to cold during submaximal exercise results in higher cardiac workload compared with a neutral environment. Despite the higher RPP, no signs of myocardial ischemia or abnormal ECG responses were observed. The results of this study are useful for planning year-round exercise-based rehabilitation programs for stable CAD patients.
Central nervous system modulates the neuromechanical delay in a broad range for the control of muscle force
Authors: Del Vecchio A. , Úbeda A. , Sartori M. , Azorín J. M. , Felici F. , Farina D.
Published: July 2018

Force is generated by muscle units according to the neural activation sent by motor neurons. The motor unit is therefore the interface between the neural coding of movement and the musculotendinous system. Here we propose a method to accurately measure the latency between an estimate of the neural drive to muscle and force. Furthermore, we systematically investigate this latency, which we refer to as the neuromechanical delay (NMD), as a function of the rate of force generation. In two experimental sessions, eight men performed isometric finger abduction and ankle dorsiflexion sinusoidal contractions at three frequencies and peak-to-peak amplitudes {0.5, 1, and 1.5 Hz; 1, 5, and 10 of maximal force [%maximal voluntary contraction (MVC)]}, with a mean force of 10% MVC. The discharge timings of motor units of the first dorsal interosseous (FDI) and tibialis anterior (TA) muscle were identified by high-density surface EMG decomposition. The neural drive was estimated as the cumulative discharge timings of the identified motor units. The neural drive predicted 80 ± 0.4% of the force fluctuations and consistently anticipated force by 194.6 ± 55 ms (average across conditions and muscles). The NMD decreased nonlinearly with the rate of force generation ( R2 = 0.82 ± 0.07; exponential fitting) with a broad range of values (from 70 to 385 ms) and was 66 ± 0.01 ms shorter for the FDI than TA ( P < 0.001). In conclusion, we provided a method to estimate the delay between the neural control and force generation, and we showed that this delay is muscle-dependent and is modulated within a wide range by the central nervous system.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY The motor unit is a neuromechanical interface that converts neural signals into mechanical force with a delay determined by neural and peripheral properties. Classically, this delay has been assessed from the muscle resting level or during electrically elicited contractions. In the present study, we introduce the neuromechanical delay as the latency between the neural drive to muscle and force during variable-force contractions, and we show that it is broadly modulated by the central nervous system.
Exercise preconditioning diminishes skeletal muscle atrophy after hindlimb suspension in mice
Authors: Theilen Nicholas T. , Jeremic Nevena , Weber Gregory J. , Tyagi Suresh C.
Published: July 2018

The aim of the present study was to investigate whether short-term, concurrent exercise training before hindlimb suspension (HLS) prevents or diminishes both soleus and gastrocnemius atrophy and to analyze whether changes in mitochondrial molecular markers were associated. Male C57BL/6 mice were assigned to control at 13 ± 1 wk of age, 7-day HLS at 12 ± 1 wk of age (HLS), 2 wk of exercise training before 7-day HLS at 10 ± 1 wk of age (Ex+HLS), and 2 wk of exercise training at 11 ± 1 wk of age (Ex) groups. HLS resulted in a 27.1% and 21.5% decrease in soleus and gastrocnemius muscle weight-to-body weight ratio, respectively. Exercise training before HLS resulted in a 5.6% and 8.1% decrease in soleus and gastrocnemius weight-to-body weight ratio, respectively. Exercise increased mitochondrial biogenesis- and function-associated markers and slow myosin heavy chain (SMHC) expression, and reduced fiber-type transitioning marker myosin heavy chain 4 (Myh4). Ex+HLS revealed decreased reactive oxygen species (ROS) and oxidative stress compared with HLS. Our data indicated the time before an atrophic setting, particularly caused by muscle unloading, may be a useful period to intervene short-term, progressive exercise training to prevent skeletal muscle atrophy and is associated with mitochondrial biogenesis, function, and redox balance.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY Mitochondrial dysfunction is associated with disuse-induced skeletal muscle atrophy, whereas exercise is known to increase mitochondrial biogenesis and function. Here we provide evidence of short-term concurrent exercise training before an atrophic event protecting skeletal muscle from atrophy in two separate muscles with different, dominant fiber-types, and we reveal an association with the adaptive changes of mitochondrial molecular markers to exercise.
The Advancing of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Biomedical Applications
Authors: Jiang Jinhuan , Pi Jiang , Cai Jiye
Published: July 2018

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) are used in an increasing number of industrial products such as rubber, paint, coating, and cosmetics. In the past two decades, ZnO NPs have become one of the most popular metal oxide nanoparticles in biological applications due to their excellent biocompatibility, economic, and low toxicity. ZnO NPs have emerged a promising potential in biomedicine, especially in the fields of anticancer and antibacterial fields, which are involved with their potent ability to trigger excess reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, release zinc ions, and induce cell apoptosis. In addition, zinc is well known to keep the structural integrity of insulin. So, ZnO NPs also have been effectively developed for antidiabetic treatment. Moreover, ZnO NPs show excellent luminescent properties and have turned them into one of the main candidates for bioimaging. Here, we summarize the synthesis and recent advances of ZnO NPs in the biomedical fields, which will be helpful for facilitating their future research progress and focusing on biomedical fields.
Chitosan/Cellulose Nanofibril Nanocomposite and Its Effect on Quality of Coated Strawberries
Authors: Resende N. S. , Gonçalves G. A. S. , Reis K. C. , Tonoli G. H. D. , Boas E. V. B. V.
Published: July 2018

The aim of this study was to develop a chitosan/cellulose nanofibril (CNF) nanocomposite and evaluate its effect on strawberry’s postharvest quality after coating. From the results of color, thickness, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and permeability to water vapor analyses, the best film formulation for coating strawberries was determined. Three coating formulations were prepared: 1% chitosan, 1% chitosan + 3% CNF, and 1% chitosan + 5% CNF. The strawberries were immersed in the filmogenic solutions and kept under cold storage (1 ± 1°C). The color of the film was not affected by increased concentration of cellulose nanofibrils; however, the thickness and water vapor permeability were affected by the CNF addition. The coating with the highest CNF concentration performed better in reducing fruit mass and firmness loss. The color was positively influenced by the addition of the coating, regardless of formulation, as well as soluble solid content, PG enzymatic activity, and the fruit appearance. The pH and titratable acidity showed no significant difference among treatments. It was observed that the vitamin C, phenolic compounds, and anthocyanin content, as well as the PAL activity and the antioxidant activity (except for % protection), were affected by chitosan coating, however not by the addition of CNFs.
Channel Estimation and Peak‐to‐Average Power Ratio Analysis of Narrowband Internet of Things Uplink Systems
Authors: Ali Md Sadek , Li Yu , Jewel Md Khalid Hossain , Famoriji Oluwole John , Lin Fujiang
Published: July 2018

Narrowband Internet of Things (NB‐IoT) is a cellular based promising low‐power wide‐area network (LPWN) technology standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in release‐13 as a part of the future 5th Generation (5G) wireless communication systems. The main design target of NB‐IoT was to enhance radio coverage by repeating signal over an additional period of time for the ultralow‐end IoT devices that would be operated in extreme coverage environments. But the power efficiency of the low‐cost NB‐IoT user equipment (NB‐IoT UE) in the uplink is the major concern. Coverage improvement from signal repetitions depends on the channel estimation quality at extremely bad radio conditions. The typical operating signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) for NB‐IoT is expected to be much lower than the zero. In this paper, we have proposed two efficient narrowband demodulation reference signal (NDMRS)‐assisted channel estimation algorithms based on the conventional least squares (LS) and minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimation methods. The theoretical analysis and the link‐level performance of our proposed estimation methods are presented. Simulation results exhibit that the proposed methods provide better estimation precision compared to the traditional LS and MMSE methods at the low SNR situations. Furthermore, we have analyzed the raised‐cosine (RC) and square‐root‐raised cosine (RRC) pulse shaping to reduce peak‐to‐average power ratio (PAPR) as an uplink transmit filter. The PAPR values are evaluated through extensive computer simulations for both single‐tone and multi‐tone transmissions. Our evaluation results vindicate that the RRC pulse shaping with lower PAPR values is feasible to design of practical NB‐IoT uplink transmitter and increases power efficiency.
Disturbance Attenuation via Output Feedback for Nonlinear Time-Delay Systems with Input Matching Uncertainty
Authors: Guo Chao , Zhang Kemei
Published: July 2018

This paper studies the problem of output feedback disturbance attenuation for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems with input matching uncertainty and unknown multiple time-varying delays, whose nonlinearities are bounded by unmeasured states multiplying unknown polynomial-of-output growth rate. By skillfully combining extended state observer, dynamic gain technique, and Lyapunov-Krasovskii theorem, a delay-independent output feedback controller can be developed with only one dynamic gain to guarantee the boundedness of closed-loop system states and the achievement of global disturbance attenuation in the L2-gain sense.
Analysis of Steam Explosion under Conditions of Partially Flooded Cavity and Submerged Reactor Vessel
Authors: Kim Sang Ho , Hong Seong-Wan , Park Rae-Joon
Published: July 2018

A steam explosion in a reactor cavity makes a mechanical load of the pressure pulse, which can result in a failure of the containment isolation. To prove the integrity of the containment during the ex-vessel steam explosion, the effects of water conditions on a steam explosion have to be identified, and the impulse of a steam explosion has to be exactly assessed. In this study, the analyses for steam explosions were performed for the conditions of a partially flooded cavity and a submerged-vessel in a pressurized water reactor. The entry velocity of a corium jet for the scale of the test facility was varied to simulate the two plant conditions. The TEXAS-V code was used for simulating the phases of premixing and explosion, and the load of a steam explosion was estimated based on the pressure variation. The impulse of a steam explosion under the condition of a corium jet falling into water without a free-fall height is bigger than that under a free-fall height. The fragmented mass of corium in an explosion phase and the distribution of steam fraction are the main parameters for the total load of the steam explosion. This study is expected to contribute to analyses of a steam explosion for a severe accident management strategy.
Damage Characteristics of Sandstone Subjected to Coupled Effect of Freezing‐Thawing Cycles and Acid Environment
Authors: Deng Hongwei , Yu Songtao , Deng Junren
Published: July 2018

In order to figure out the damage characteristics and mechanisms of sandstone under coupled effect of acid erosion and recurrent freezing‐thawing cycles, sulfuric acid is chosen as acid solution, and sandstone, representative stone in Sichuan province, is chosen as a sample to conduct the freezing‐thawing cycling test. In the meantime, chemical component of the solution is also tested and recorded in the progress of freezing‐thawing cycling. Then, the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) test and magnetic resonance images (MRI) test on samples are conducted with the help of the AniMR‐150 NMR imaging system. After a series of tests, the sample’s appearance, dry mass, porosity, T2 spectrum, solution’s pH, solution’s metallic ion concentration, and magnetic resonance images are obtained and analyzed. The results show that dry mass loss and porosity grow with F‐T cycles increase and pH value decrease. Montmorillonite, illite, and clay in sandstone react with sulfuric acid solution; as a consequence, K+, Mg2+, Fe3+, and Al3+ separate out, and the solution’s pH and concentration of K+, Mg2+, Fe3+, and Al3+ increase with F‐T cycles. Acid erosion and F‐T cycling lead to the generation of new micropores and expansion of micropores at the beginning; when the acid solution is exhausted, new micropores generate under the effect of freezing‐thawing cycling, and micropores in samples keep developing and expanding with the increase of freezing‐thawing cycles. Coupled effect of acid corrosion and recurrent freezing‐thawing cycling causes much more serious deterioration to sandstone samples than acid corrosion.
The Role of Dll4/Notch Signaling in Normal and Pathological Ocular Angiogenesis: Dll4 Controls Blood Vessel Sprouting and Vessel Remodeling in Normal and Pathological Conditions
Authors: Lobov Ivan , Mikhailova Natalia
Published: July 2018

Background. Retina is the highest oxygen-demanding and vascularized tissue in the body. Retinal development and function require proper vascularization and blood vessel function and integrity. Dll4 is most prominently expressed in the endothelium of angiogenic blood vessels and in quiescent arteries and capillaries in all tissues and organs of the mammalian species, and it is the key regulator of blood vessel sprouting.Results. Dll4 is a transmembrane protein that acts as a ligand for Notch receptors 1 and 4. Genetic deletion of Dll4 causes severe abnormalities in embryonic and postnatal vascular development. Deletion of even a single Dll4 allele results in almost complete embryonic lethality due to severe vascular abnormalities, the phenomenon called haploinsufficiency indicating the critical role of Dll4/Notch in vascular development. Dll4/Notch pathway interplays at multiple levels with other signaling pathways including VEGF, Wnt/Fzd, and genes controlling vascular toning. Multiple studies of the effects of Dll4 inhibition were performed in the developing retina to elucidate the key functions of Dll4 in normal and pathological angiogenesis. Several genetic approaches and therapeutic molecules were tested to evaluate the biological and therapeutic effects of acute and prolonged Dll4 inhibition in the eye and oncology.Conclusions. All current studies demonstrated that Dll4 controls blood vessel sprouting, growth, and remodeling in normal and pathological conditions as well as arterial-venous differentiation. Genetic and therapeutic Dll4 modulation studies show that Dll4 inhibition can promote blood vessel sprouting and might be useful to stimulate vessel growth in the ischemic retina and Dll4 is the key modulator of the postangiogenic vascular remodeling that ultimately defines vascular patterning.