bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Late time transition of Universe and the hybrid scale factor
Authors: Aydiner E. , Basaran-Öz I. , Dereli T. , Sarisaman M.
Published: January 2022

In this study, we propose an interacting model to explain the physical mechanism of the late time transition from matter-dominated era to the dark energy-dominated era of the Universe evolution and to obtain a scale factor a(t) representing two eras together. In the present model, we consider a minimal coupling of two scalar fields which correspond to the dark matter and dark energy interacting through a potential based on the FLRW framework. Analytical solution of this model leads to a new scale factor a(t) in the hybrid form $$a(t)=a_{0} (t/t_{0})^{\alpha } e^{ht/t_{0}}$$

a

(
t
)

=

a
0

(
t
/

t
0

)

α

e

h
t
/

t
0

. This peculiar result reveals that the scale factor behaving as $$a (t) \propto (t/t_{0})^{\alpha }$$

a

(
t
)

∝

(
t
/

t
0

)

α

in the range $$t/t_{0}\le t_{c}$$

t
/

t
0

≤

t
c

corresponds to the matter-dominated era while $$a(t) \propto \exp (ht/t_{0})$$

a

(
t
)

∝
exp

(
h
t
/

t
0

)

in the range $$t/t_{0}>t_{c}$$

t
/

t
0

>

t
c

accounts for the dark energy-dominated era, respectively. Surprisingly, we explore that the transition from the power-law to the exponential expansion appears at the crossover time $$t_{0} \approx 9.8$$

t
0

≈
9.8

Gyear. We attain that the presented model leads to precisely correct results so that the crossover time $$t_{0}$$

t
0

and $$\alpha $$
α
are completely consistent with the exact solution of the FLRW and re-scaled Hubble parameter $$H_{0}$$

H
0

lies within the observed limits given by Planck, CMB and SNIa data (or other combinations), which lead to consistent cosmological quantities such as the dimensionless Hubble parameter h, deceleration parameter q, jerk parameter j and EoS parameter w. We also discuss time dependent behavior of the dark energy and dark matter to show their roles on the time evolution of the universe. Additionally, we observe that all main results completely depend on the structure of the interaction potential when the parameter values are tuned to satisfy the zero energy condition. Finally, we conclude that interactions in the dark sector may play an important role on the time evolution and provides a mechanism to explain the late time transition of the Universe.
Enhancement of pairing correlations due to nearly flat bands in the plaquette-Lieb Hubbard model
Authors: Cheng Kai , Fang Shi-Chao , Huang Zhong-Bing
Published: January 2022

Motivated by recent research works on the flat-band correlated electron systems, we construct a plaquette-Lieb lattice, which exhibits nearly flat bands close to the Fermi level around half-filling, when the inter-plaquette hopping integral is much smaller than the intra-plaquette one. A detailed comparison study with the well-known checkerboard lattice indicates that there exist significant differences for the pairing property between the two lattices, and the nearly flat bands on the plaquette-Lieb lattice strongly enhance the [Formula: see text]-wave pairing correlation for repulsive on-site Hubbard interaction and [Formula: see text]-wave pairing correlation for attractive on-site Hubbard interaction. Our study not only provides a new lattice with nearly flat bands, but also deepens the understanding of electronic structure on superconductivity.
A refined cellular automaton model with dual cruise-control limit for reproducing synchronized traffic flow
Authors: Li Qi-Lang , Fu Ding-Jun , Jiang Rui , Wang Bing-Hong
Published: January 2022

In this paper, a cellular automata model with dual cruise-control limit is refined where the length of each cell is set to 1.5 m and each vehicle can still occupy five cells. The prominent feature of this new model is that these vehicles with low-speed and high-speed are not affected by noise and the slow start rule of the Takayasu and Takayasu model is introduced if there is an empty cell in front of the stationary vehicle. Based on the computer simulation results, one obtains that the new refined model can successfully reproduce the empirical characteristics of three-phase traffic flow theory. In the fundamental diagram, there are three-phase traffic states: Free flow, synchronized flow and wide moving jam. In particular, 2[Formula: see text]-characteristic for phase transitions can be presented. Furthermore, the propagation speed of the downstream front of the moving synchronized pattern (MSP) and wide moving jam is within the range of empirical observation data or close to the range of empirical observation data.
An Energy-Efficient DRAM Cache Architecture for Mobile Platforms With PCM-Based Main Memory
Authors: Shin Dongsuk , Jang Hakbeom , Oh Kiseok , Lee Jae W.
Published: January 2022

A long battery life is a first-class design objective for mobile devices, and main memory accounts for a major portion of total energy consumption. Moreover, the energy consumption from memory is expected to increase further with ever-growing demands for bandwidth and capacity. A hybrid memory system with both DRAM and PCM can be an attractive solution to provide additional capacity and reduce standby energy. Although providing much greater density than DRAM, PCM has longer access latency and limited write endurance to make it challenging to architect it for main memory.

To address this challenge, this article introduces CAMP, a novel DRAM

c

ache

a

rchitecture for

m

obile platforms with

P

CM-based main memory. A DRAM cache in this environment is required to filter most of the writes to PCM to increase its lifetime, and deliver highest efficiency even for a relatively small-sized DRAM cache that mobile platforms can afford. To address this CAMP divides DRAM space into two regions: a page cache for exploiting spatial locality in a bandwidth-efficient manner and a dirty block buffer for maximally filtering writes. CAMP improves the performance and energy-delay-product by 29.2% and 45.2%, respectively, over the baseline PCM-oblivious DRAM cache, while increasing PCM lifetime by 2.7×. And CAMP also improves the performance and energy-delay-product by 29.3% and 41.5%, respectively, over the state-of-the-art design with dirty block buffer, while increasing PCM lifetime by 2.5×.
Telomere: Real-Time NAND Flash Storage
Authors: Missimer Katherine , Athanassoulis Manos , West Richard
Published: January 2022

Modern solid-state disks achieve high data transfer rates due to their massive internal parallelism. However, out-of-place updates for flash memory incur garbage collection costs when valid data needs to be copied during space reclamation. The root cause of this extra cost is that solid-state disks are not always able to accurately determine data lifetime and group together data that expires before the space needs to be reclaimed. Real-time systems found in autonomous vehicles, industrial control systems, and assembly-line robots store data from hundreds of sensors and often have predictable data lifetimes. These systems require guaranteed high storage bandwidth for read and write operations by mission-critical real-time tasks. In this article, we depart from the traditional block device interface to guarantee the high throughput needed to process large volumes of data. Using data lifetime information from the application layer, our proposed real-time design, called
Telomere
, is able to intelligently lay out data in NAND flash memory and eliminate valid page copies during garbage collection. Telomere’s real-time admission control is able to guarantee tasks their required read and write operations within their periods. Under randomly generated tasksets containing 500 tasks, Telomere achieves 30% higher throughput with a 5% storage cost compared to pre-existing techniques.
CORIDOR: Using

CO

herence and Tempo

R

al Local

I

ty to Mitigate Read

D

isurbance Err

OR

in STT-RAM Caches
Authors: Manohar Sheel Sindhu , Mittal Sparsh , Kapoor Hemangee K.
Published: January 2022

In the deep sub-micron region,
“spin-transfer torque RAM” (STT-RAM
) suffers from
“read-disturbance error” (RDE)
, whereby a read operation disturbs the stored data. Mitigation of RDE requires restore operations, which imposes latency and energy penalties. Hence, RDE presents a crucial threat to the scaling of STT-RAM. In this paper, we offer three techniques to reduce the restore overhead. First, we avoid the restore operations for those reads, where the block will get updated at a higher level cache in the near future. Second, we identify read-intensive blocks using a lightweight mechanism and then migrate these blocks to a small SRAM buffer. On a future read to these blocks, the restore operation is avoided. Third, for data blocks having zero value, a write operation is avoided, and only a flag is set. Based on this flag, both read and restore operations to this block are avoided. We combine these three techniques to design our final policy, named CORIDOR. Compared to a baseline policy, which performs restore operation after each read, CORIDOR achieves a 31.6% reduction in total energy and brings the relative
CPI (cycle-per-instruction)
to 0.64×. By contrast, an ideal RDE-free STT-RAM saves 42.7% energy and brings the relative CPI to 0.62×. Thus, our CORIDOR policy achieves nearly the same performance as an ideal RDE-free STT-RAM cache. Also, it reaches three-fourths of the energy-saving achieved by the ideal RDE-free cache. We also compare CORIDOR with four previous techniques and show that CORIDOR provides higher restore energy savings than these techniques.
Software Hint-Driven Data Management for Hybrid Memory in Mobile Systems
Authors: Wen Fei , Qin Mian , Gratz Paul , Reddy Narasimha
Published: January 2022

Hybrid memory systems, comprised of emerging non-volatile memory (NVM) and DRAM, have been proposed to address the growing memory demand of current mobile applications. Recently emerging NVM technologies, such as phase-change memories (PCM), memristor, and 3D XPoint, have higher capacity density, minimal static power consumption and lower cost per GB. However, NVM has longer access latency and limited write endurance as opposed to DRAM. The different characteristics of distinct memory classes render a new challenge for memory system design.

Ideally, pages should be placed or migrated between the two types of memories according to the data objects’ access properties. Prior system software approaches exploit the program information from OS but at the cost of high software latency incurred by related kernel processes. Hardware approaches can avoid these latencies, however, hardware’s vision is constrained to a short time window of recent memory requests, due to the limited on-chip resources.

In this work, we propose OpenMem: a hardware-software cooperative approach that combines the execution time advantages of pure hardware approaches with the data object properties in a global scope. First, we built a hardware-based memory manager unit (HMMU) that can learn the short-term access patterns by online profiling, and execute data migration efficiently. Then, we built a heap memory manager for the heterogeneous memory systems that allows the programmer to directly customize each data object’s allocation to a favorable memory device within the presumed object life cycle. With the programmer’s hints guiding the data placement at allocation time, data objects with similar properties will be congregated to reduce unnecessary page migrations.

We implemented the whole system on the FPGA board with embedded ARM processors. In testing under a set of benchmark applications from SPEC 2017 and PARSEC, experimental results show that OpenMem reduces 44.6% energy consumption with only a 16% performance degradation compared to the all-DRAM memory system. The amount of writes to the NVM is reduced by 14% versus the HMMU-only, extending the NVM device lifetime.
Hot Topics in Electrodeposition
Authors: Gewirth Andrew G. , Andricacos Panos C. , Switzer Jay W. , Dukovic John O.
Published: January 2022

The hard work of three leading researchers was recently interrupted when I asked them to ponder the following question: “What, in your view, is an exciting, major development in electrodeposition over the last five years?” Believe it or not, they each had a different answer!
Scintillator Phosphors for Medical Imaging
Authors: Duclos Steven J.
Published: January 2022

Scintillators are high density luminescent materials that convert X-rays to visible light. These materials have been used since the turn of the century to dramatically enhance the sensitivity of film cartridges used in medical diagnostics. Coupling scintillators to photodiodes, charge coupled devices (CCDs), and photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) is an efficient way to convert X-rays to electrical signals.
Pattern-Dependent Charging Damage in High Density Plasma Processes
Authors: Hwang Gyeong S.
Published: January 2022

A Summary Report to The Electrochemical Society for the 1998 Colin Garfield Fink Summer Research Fellowship.
A Roadway Safety Sustainable Approach: Modeling for Real-Time Traffic Crash with Limited Data and Its Reliability Verification
Authors: Yuan Zhenzhou , He Kun , Yang Yang
Published: January 2022

With the development of freeway system informatization, it is easier to obtain the traffic flow data of freeway, which are widely used to study the relationship between traffic flow state and traffic safety. However, as the development degree of the freeway system is different in different regions, the sample size of traffic data collected in some regions is insufficient, and the precision of data is relatively low. In order to study the influence of limited data on the real-time freeway traffic crash risk modeling, three data sets including high precision data, small sample data, and low precision data were considered. Firstly, Bayesian Logistic regression was used to identify and predict the risk of three data sets. Secondly, based on the Bayesian updating method, the migration test towards high and low precision data sets was established. Finally, the applicability of machine learning and statistical methods to low precision data set was compared. The results show that the prediction performance of Bayesian Logistic regression improves with the increasing of sample size. Bayesian Logistic regression can identify various significant risk factors when data sets are of different precision. Comparatively, the prediction performance of the support vector machine is better than that of Bayesian Logistic. In addition, Bayesian updating method can improve the prediction performance of the transplanted model.
Proprioceptive Training with Visual Feedback Improves Upper Limb Function in Stroke Patients: A Pilot Study
Authors: He Jieying , Li Chong , Lin Jiali , Shu Beibei , Ye Bin , Wang Jianhui , Lin Yifang , Jia Jie
Published: January 2022

Proprioceptive deficit is one of the common sensory impairments following stroke and has a negative impact on motor performance. However, evidence-based training procedures and cost-efficient training setups for patients with poststroke are still limited. We compared the effects of proprioceptive training versus nonspecific sensory stimulation on upper limb proprioception and motor function rehabilitation. In this multicenter, single-blind, randomized controlled trial, 40 participants with poststroke hemiparesis were enrolled from 3 hospitals in China. Participants were assigned randomly to receive proprioceptive training involving passive and active movements with visual feedback (proprioceptive training group [PG];n=20) or nonspecific sensory stimulation (control group [CG];n=20) 20 times in four weeks. Each session lasted 30 minutes. A clinical assessor blinded to group assignment evaluated patients before and after the intervention. The primary outcome was the change in the motor subscale of the Fugl-Meyer assessment for upper extremity (FMA-UE-M). Secondary outcomes were changes in box and block test (BBT), thumb localization test (TLT), the sensory subscale of the Fugl-Meyer assessment for upper extremity (FMA-UE-S), and Barthel Index (BI). The results showed that the mean change scores of FMA-UE were significantly greater in the PG than in the CG (p=0.010for FMA-UE-M,p=0.033for FMA-UE-S). The PG group was improved significantly in TLT (p=0.010) and BBT (p=0.027), while there was no significant improvement in TLT (p=0.083) and BBT (p=0.107) for the CG group. The results showed that proprioceptive training was effective in improving proprioception and motor function of the upper extremity in patients with poststroke. This trial is registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChiCTR2000037808).
Dual-Task Balance Training for Motor Skill Development among Children with Intelligence Quotient Discrepancy
Authors: Atak Ebrar , Algun Zeliha Candan
Published: January 2022

The motor skills of people with mental disabilities are reportedly reduced compared with those of their peers. Therefore, any task incorporating both motor and cognitive skills was hypothesized to provide better motor recovery. The aim of this study is to find the effect of dual-task balance training (DTBT) on motor skill development in children of 6–13 years with intelligence quotient discrepancy (IQD) (score: 50–79). Overall, 30 individuals with mental disabilities aged 6–13 years having an IQ score of 50–79 were included. The participants were randomly divided into two groups that received dual-task training and standard balance training, respectively. IQ was measured with the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised, motor proficiency with the Bruininks–Oseretsky test, reaction time with COGNIBOARD, and balance with Functional Reach Test scores. Intervention was provided twice a week for 12 consecutive weeks. Participants in both groups showed higher test scores in all tests after the training program. Both training programs positively affected the motor performance of the participants. The DTBT was more effective in improving balance performance than the standard balance training. DTBT is a better tool than conventional balance training for improving motor skills and balance in children of 6–13 years with IQD (score: 50–79).
BCST-APTS: Blockchain and CP-ABE Empowered Data Supervision, Sharing, and Privacy Protection Scheme for Secure and Trusted Agricultural Product Traceability System
Authors: Zhang Guofeng , Chen Xiao , Feng Bin , Guo Xuchao , Hao Xia , Ren Henggang , Dong Chunyan , Zhang Yanan
Published: January 2022

Blockchain provides new technologies and ideas for the construction of agricultural product traceability system (APTS). However, if data is stored, supervised, and distributed on a multiparty equal blockchain, it will face major security risks, such as data privacy leakage, unauthorized access, and trust issues. How to protect the privacy of shared data has become a key factor restricting the implementation of this technology. We propose a secure and trusted agricultural product traceability system (BCST-APTS), which is supported by blockchain and CP-ABE encryption technology. It can set access control policies through data attributes and encrypt data on the blockchain. This can not only ensure the confidentiality of the data stored in the blockchain, but also set flexible access control policies for the data. In addition, a whole-chain attribute management infrastructure has been constructed, which can provide personalized attribute encryption services. Furthermore, a reencryption scheme based on ciphertext-policy attribute encryption (RE-CP-ABE) is proposed, which can meet the needs of efficient supervision and sharing of ciphertext data. Finally, the system architecture of the BCST-APTS is designed to successfully solve the problems of mutual trust, privacy protection, fine-grained, and personalized access control between all parties.
Postoperative Pulmonary Hemodynamics and Systemic Inflammatory Response in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Surgery for Congenital Heart Defects
Authors: Souza Maria Francilene S. , Penha Juliano G. , Maeda Nair Y. , Galas Filomena R. B. G. , Abud Kelly C. O. , Carvalho Eloisa S. , Thomaz Ana Maria , Castro Claudia R. P. , Pereira Juliana , Lopes Antonio Augusto
Published: January 2022

There is scarce information about the relationships between postoperative pulmonary hemodynamics, inflammation, and outcomes in pediatric patients with congenital cardiac communications undergoing surgery. We prospectively studied 40 patients aged 11 (8–17) months (median with interquartile range) with a preoperative mean pulmonary arterial pressure of 48 (34–54) mmHg who were considered to be at risk for postoperative pulmonary hypertension. The immediate postoperative pulmonary/systemic mean arterial pressure ratio (PAP/SAPIPO, mean of first 4 values obtained in the intensive care unit, readings at 2-hour intervals) was correlated directly with PAP/SAP registered in the surgical room just after cardiopulmonary bypass (r=0.68,p<0.001). For the entire cohort, circulating levels of 15 inflammatory markers changed after surgery. Compared with patients withPAP/SAPIPO≤0.40(n=22), those above this level (n=18) had increased pre- and postoperative serum levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (p=0.040), interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (p=0.020), interleukin-6 (p=0.003), and interleukin-21 (p=0.047) (panel for 36 human cytokines) and increased mean platelet volume (p=0.018). Using logistic regression analysis, aPAP/SAPIPO>0.40and a heightened immediate postoperative serum level of macrophage migration inhibitory factor (quartile analysis) were shown to be predictive of significant postoperative cardiopulmonary events (respective hazard ratios with 95% CIs, 5.07 (1.10–23.45), and 3.29 (1.38–7.88)). Thus, the early postoperative behavior of the pulmonary circulation and systemic inflammatory response are closely related and can be used to predict outcomes in this population.
Study on the Phase Equilibria of the Fe-Al-Ni-O System at 750°C
Authors: Du Meng , Mei Haifeng , Liu Ya
Published: January 2022

Phase equilibria of the Fe-Al-Ni-O system at 750°C were determined by scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer and X-ray power diffraction. 54 alloys were prepared with weighted metal and Ni2O3 powder and were annealed at 750°C for 45 days. Two four-phase equilibrium regions and three three-phase equilibrium regions were confirmed, and the boundary between spinel and corundum was obtained. Comparing with the Fe-Al-Ni-O oxidation diagram at 750°C calculated with FSstel and FToxid databases, the phase boundary of the spinel and corundum oxides from experiments was inclined to the Ni-Al side. The determined relationship between primary oxides and alloy composition in this work can be used as a reference for the preparation of the oxide film by selective oxidation.
Double Magnet Ingestion Causing Intestinal Perforation with Peritonitis: Case Report and Review of the Literature
Authors: Abuzneid Yousef S. , Alzeerelhouseini Hussam I. A. , Rabee Abdelrahman , Aqel Wafa , Ayyad Rawan F. , Asad Thikrayat M. , Abukarsh Radwan
Published: January 2022

Introduction. Foreign body ingestion is a common pediatric complain, and most can be passed spontaneously; however, magnetic object ingestion is rather rare, and they can cause severe complications when multiple magnets are ingested, as they lead to entrapment of bowel walls between them, causing ischemia, pressure necrosis, perforation, and fistula formation. Case Presentation. Herein, we present a case of a 16-month-old female patient presented to our department complaining of continuous vomiting for two days along with fever and irritability. X-ray revealed dilated bowel loops with a radioopaque foreign body in the right lower quadrant. After discussing with the parents, exploratory laparotomy was done, showing two bowel perforations at the site of the magnets. Affected bowel was resected with anastomosis. The patient was discharged after 3 days with an uneventful recovery. Discussion. The diagnosis and management of magnet ingestion differ from those of small foreign bodies, which are usually managed conservatively by watchful waiting. Usually, the diagnosis is done due to complications such as peritonitis and death. On the other hand, management depends on the number, size, magnetic field, and shape of the magnet, and whether it has passed the pylorus or not. Conclusion. It is important to establish the diagnosis of this condition as early as possible to prevent complications. Despite the efforts that were made to try to prevent and minimize the risk of magnet ingestion, more investigations are required to reach a common and united strategy for management of such conditions.
Genetic and Chemical Diversity of Edible Mushroom Pleurotus Species
Authors: Lin Pei , Yan Zheng-Fei , Kook MooChang , Li Chang-Tian , Yi Tae-Hoo
Published: January 2022

The genus Pleurotus is one of the most widely cultivated and edible mushrooms with various cultivators. Three molecular characteristics were used to evaluate the genetic diversity of 132 tested samples. Phylogenetic analysis showed five clades for tested samples of the genus Pleurotus by the combined ITS and LSU sequences with strong bootstraps and Bayesian posterior probability supports. A total of 94 polymorphic fragments ranging from 10 to 100 bp were observed by using an intersimple sequence repeat (ISSR) marker. The DNA fragment pattern showed that P. ostreatus cultivator (strain P9) was clearly distinguished from wild strain based on their clear banding profiles produced. DNA GC content of the genus Pleurotus varied from 55.6 mol% to 43.3 mol%. Their chemical composition was also determined, including sugar, amino acid, polar lipid, mycolic acid, quinone, and fatty acid, which presented some high homogeneity. Most of the tested samples contained mycolic acid; glucose and arabinose as the main sugars; aspartic acid, arginine, lysine, tyrosine, and alanine as the main amino acids; and C16:0, C18:0, C18:2cis‐9,12, anteiso‐C14:0, and summed feature 8 as the main fatty acids. In addition, their polar lipid profiles were investigated for the first time, which significantly varied among Pleurotus species. The genus Pleurotus contained menaquinone‐6 as the sole respiratory quinone, which showed a significant difference with that of its closely related genera. These results of this study demonstrated that the combined method above could efficiently differentiate each Pleurotus species and thus be considered an efficient tool for surveying the genetic diversity of the genus Pleurotus.
Option Pricing under the Subordinated Market Models
Authors: Lv Longjin , Zheng Changjuan , Wang Luna
Published: January 2022

This paper aims to study option pricing problem under the subordinated Brownian motion. Firstly, we prove that the subordinated Brownian motion controlled by the fractional diffusion equation has many financial properties, such as self‐similarity, leptokurtic, and long memory, which indicate that the fractional calculus can describe the financial data well. Then, we investigate the option pricing under the assumption that the stock price is driven by the subordinated Brownian motion. The closed‐form pricing formula for European options is derived. In the comparison with the classic Black–Sholes model, we find the option prices become higher, and the “volatility smiles” phenomenon happens in the proposed model. Finally, an empirical analysis is performed to show the validity of these results.
Research on Virtual Color Restoration of Complex Building System Based on Discrete Wavelet Transform
Authors: Song Chunqiao , Wu Xutong
Published: January 2022

At present, image restoration has become a research hotspot in computer vision. The purpose of digital image restoration is to restore the lost information of the image or remove redundant objects without destroying the integrity and visual effects of the image. The operation of user interactive color migration is troublesome, resulting in low efficiency. And, when there are many kinds of colors, it is prone to errors. In response to these problems, this paper proposes automatic selection of sample color migration. Considering that the respective gray‐scale histograms of the visual source image and the target image are approximately normal distributions, this paper takes the peak point as the mean value of the normal distribution to construct the objective function. We find all the required partitions according to the user’s needs and use the center points in these partitions as the initial clustering centers of the fuzzy C‐means (FCM) algorithm to complete the automatic clustering of the two images. This paper selects representative pixels as sample blocks to realize automatic matching of sample blocks in the two images and complete the color migration of the entire image. We introduced the curvature into the energy functional of the p‐harmonic model. According to whether there is noise in the image, a new wavelet domain image restoration model is proposed. According to the established model, the Euler–Lagrange equation is derived by the variational method, the corresponding diffusion equation is established, and the model is analyzed and numerically solved in detail to obtain the restored image. The results show that the combination of image sample texture synthesis and segmentation matching method used in this paper can effectively solve the problem of color unevenness. This not only saves the time for mural restoration but also improves the quality of murals, thereby achieving more realistic visual effects and connectivity.
Vessel Navigation Behavior Analysis and Multiple-Trajectory Prediction Model Based on AIS Data
Authors: Ma He , Zuo Yi , Li Tieshan
Published: January 2022

With the increasing application and utility of automatic identification systems (AISs), large volumes of AIS data are collected to record vessel navigation. In recent years, the prediction of vessel trajectories has become one of the hottest research issues. In contrast to existing studies, most researchers have focused on the single-trajectory prediction of vessels. This article proposes a multiple-trajectory prediction model and makes two main contributions. First, we propose a novel method of trajectory feature representation that uses a hierarchical clustering algorithm to analyze and extract the vessel navigation behavior for multiple trajectories. Compared with the classic methods, e.g., Douglas–Peucker (DP) and least-squares cubic spline curve approximation (LCSCA) algorithms, the mean loss of trajectory features extracted by our method is approximately 0.005, and it is reduced by 50% and 30% compared to the DP and LCSCA algorithms, respectively. Second, we design an integrated model for simultaneous prediction of multiple trajectories using the proposed features and employ the long short-term memory (LSTM)-based neural network and recurrent neural network (RNN) to pursue this time series task. Furthermore, the comparative experiments prove that the mean value and standard deviation of root mean squared error (RMSE) using the LSTM are 4% and 14% lower than those using the RNN, respectively.
Paeoniflorin Enhances the Sensitivity of ER-Positive Breast Cancer Cells to Tamoxifen through Promoting Sirtuin 4
Authors: Zhang Pei , Wu Nan , Song Zhi-Jun , Tai Zheng-Fu
Published: January 2022

Tamoxifen is an effective drug for treating patients with advanced estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer (BC), but not for all ER + BC patients. Drug tolerance is the biggest obstacle. In this study, we designed an experiment to investigate whether paeoniflorin affects the ER + BC cell’s sensitivity to tamoxifen in the T47D and MCF-7 cell lines. Herein, we found that paeoniflorin inhibited cell proliferation without inducing apoptosis. However, it enhanced tamoxifen-induced apoptosis in both cell lines. Immunoblotting revealed that paeoniflorin significantly increased the already elevated Bax/Bcl2 protein expression ratio and the caspase 3 activity levels, both induced by tamoxifen. Paeoniflorin was also found to increase SIRT4 expression, and deletion of SIRT4 could significantly reverse the inhibition of cell proliferation induced by paeoniflorin and significantly decrease paeoniflorin-enhanced apoptosis induced by tamoxifen. Moreover, protein expression detection revealed that paeoniflorin enhanced the tamoxifen-induced inhibition of STAT3 activation. Besides, the deletion of SIRT4 could significantly increase STAT3 activation in the T47D and MCF-7 cells. In conclusion, paeoniflorin suppressed STAT3 activation to enhance the sensitivity of ER-positive breast cancer cells to tamoxifen through promoting SIRT4 expression.
Bioinformatic Analysis Identifies Biomarkers and Treatment Targets in Primary Sjögren’s Syndrome Patients with Fatigue
Authors: Chen Guangshu , Che Li , Cai Xingdong , Zhu Ping , Ran Jianmin
Published: January 2022

We aim to identify the common genes, biological pathways, and treatment targets for primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients with varying degrees of fatigue features. We select datasets about transcriptomic analyses of primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) patients with different degrees of fatigue features and normal controls in peripheral blood. We identify common differentially expressed genes (DEGs) to find shared pathways and treatment targets for pSS patients with fatigue and design a protein‐protein interaction (PPI) network by some practical bioinformatic tools. And hub genes are detected based on the PPI network. We perform biological pathway analysis of common genes by Gene Ontology (GO) terms and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway. Lastly, potential treatment targets for pSS patients with fatigue are found by the Enrichr platform. We discovered that 27 DEGs are identified in pSS patients with fatigue features and the severe fatigued pSS‐specific gene is RTP4. DEGs are mainly localized in the mitochondria, endosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, and cytoplasm and are involved in the biological process by which interferon acts on cells and cells defend themselves against viruses. Molecular functions mainly involve the process of RNA synthesis. The DEGs of pSS are involved in the signaling pathways of viruses such as hepatitis C, influenza A, measles, and EBV. Acetohexamide PC3 UP, suloctidil HL60 UP, prenylamine HL60 UP, and chlorophyllin CTD 00000324 are the four most polygenic drug molecules. PSS patients with fatigue features have specific gene regulation, and chlorophyllin may alleviate fatigue symptoms in pSS patients.
A Review on the Immunomodulatory Mechanism of Acupuncture in the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Authors: Liu Zhifeng , Jiao Yi , Yu Tianyuan , Wang Hourong , Zhang Yingqi , Liu Di , Xu Yajing , Guan Qian , Lu Mengqian
Published: January 2022

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disease with a high prevalence and canceration rate. The immune disorder is one of the recognized mechanisms. Acupuncture is widely used to treat patients with IBD. In recent years, an increasing number of studies have proven the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of IBD, and some progress has been made in the mechanism. In this paper, we reviewed the studies related to acupuncture for IBD and focused on the immunomodulatory mechanism. We found that acupuncture could regulate the innate and adaptive immunity of IBD patients in many ways. Acupuncture exerts innate immunomodulatory effects by regulating intestinal epithelial barrier, toll-like receptors, NLRP3 inflammasomes, oxidative stress, and endoplasmic reticulum stress and exerts adaptive immunomodulation by regulating the balance of Th17/Treg and Th1/Th2 cells. In addition, acupuncture can also regulate intestinal flora.
Roles Played by the PI3K/Akt/HIF-1α Pathway and IL-17A in the Chinese Subtype of Chronic Sinusitis with Nasal Polyps
Authors: Cheng Ke-Jia , Zhou Min-Li , Liu Yong-Cai , Zhou Shui-Hong
Published: January 2022

Background. The Chinese subtype of CRSwNP may have a unique pathogenesis. This study was designed to seek the role of the PI3K/Akt/HIF-1α pathway and IL-17A in CRSwNP. Methods. The total IgE, ECP, and IL-17A levels were determined by UniCAP100 and ELISA. The activity of MPO was detected by the biochemical techniques. The protein expressions of HIF-1α, p-Akt, and PI3K were detected by the WB method. HIF-1α and IL-17A mRNA levels were measured by RT-PCR. Results. The CRSwNP group showed significantly elevated MPO activity, PI3K, p-AKT protein, HIF-1α, and IL-17A mRNA levels in nasal polyps. Stimulated by the TNF-α, the PI3K, p-AKT, HIF-1α, and IL-17A levels significantly elevated in the fibroblasts. Inhibited by the Wortmannin, those indicators significantly declined in the fibroblasts. Conclusion. The PI3K/Akt/HIF-1α pathway played a role in the pathogenesis of CRSwNP. The elevated IL-17A level might be responsible for the neutrophilic inflammation in CRSwNP. The PI3K/Akt/HIF-1α pathway might regulate the IL-17A-related inflammation in CRSwNP.
Efficacy and Safety of Transcutaneous Electrical Acupoint Stimulation (TEAS) for Postoperative Pain in Laparoscopy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Authors: Meng Dan , Mao Yifei , Song Quan-mei , Yan Chun-chun , Zhao Qin-yu , Yang Mengqi , Xiang Guangxin , Song Yongmei
Published: January 2022

Objectives. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of transcutaneous acupoint electrical stimulation (TEAS) for postoperative pain in laparoscopy. The review has been registered on the “INPLASY” website and the registration number is INPLASY202150101. Methods. Relevant randomized controlled trials are selected from seven electronic databases (PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Chongqing VIP Information, WanFang Data, and Chinese Biomedical Database) from their inception up to November 30, 2020. Twenty-eight studies were included in this meta-analysis, and the statistical analyses and the exploration of heterogeneity sources were conducted by Stata 15.0 software. Besides, the bias assessment of the included studies was evaluated using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Results. In total, 28 RCTs covering 2787 participants were included. The meta-analysis suggested that TEAS can effectively relieve pain in the short term after laparoscopy, reduce the postoperative consumption of rescue analgesics, improve the quality of life of patients, and shorten the length of hospitalization. And no serious adverse events are related to TEAS. Therefore, TEAS is relatively safe and efficacy for clinical application. The most used acupoints were Hegu (LI14), Neiguan (PC6), and Zusanli (ST36). Conclusions. TEAS can be recommended as a complementary and alternative therapy for the treatment of postoperative pain after laparoscopy. However, the included RCTs had some methodological limitations. Therefore, larger-size, more rigorous, and higher-quality RCTs are needed in the future to further explore the efficacy and safety of TEAS for postoperative pain after laparoscopy.
Pause, Pivot, and Shift: Situational Human Capital and Responses to Sudden Job Loss
Authors: Gowayed Heba , Mears Ashley , Occhiuto Nicholas
Published: January 2022

How, in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, do workers respond to rapid changes in the labor market? This paper mobilizes existing literature on occupational mobility and job loss to develop a theory of situational human capital in which some workers are better positioned to weather occupational transitions than others depending on the alignment between their skill sets, opportunities, and particular contexts. Previous literature looks at this in the case of “pausing,” when workers, such as women, take time off from work. Relatively less explored but equally consequential are transitions like “pivoting,” in which workers maneuver within their occupations to adjust their practices or platforms in order to keep working, and “shifting,” in which workers change their occupations altogether. Since most government unemployment benefits focus almost exclusively on workers’ pauses, they neglect to support workers as they pivot and shift during periods of labor market instability and disruption. This paper concludes by offering some policy recommendations to fill this gap.
Digitalisation and the foundational economy: A digital opportunity or a digital divide for less-developed regions?
Authors: Reynolds Laura , Henderson Dylan , Xu Chen , Norris Laura
Published: January 2022

The foundational economy’s heightened traction in academic and policy discussion stems in part from its potential to mitigate challenges faced by less-developed regions. While supporting foundational sectors may contribute to inclusive and sustainable growth, we question whether digitalisation can enable these aims. Through a case study of Wales, we point to the differences in digital capability of foundational and non-foundational businesses in urban and rural parts of the region. We show that while investment in digital infrastructure and digital technology use may support the foundational economy, digital barriers risk countering the benefits of its sectors’ embeddedness and exacerbating spatial divides.
Leveraging Joint Planning in Early Intervention: Documenting with Intentionality and Specificity
Authors: Mickelson Ann M. , Hoffman Rebecca
Published: January 2022

A family-capacity building approach to coaching, where providers support caregivers to embed identified strategies into daily routines and activities, is commonly embraced in Part C Early Intervention (EI). EI providers use several coaching strategies within this approach, yet few studies have reported process features, and coaching strategies are not well defined in the literature. We partnered in this Participatory Action Research (PAR) with current EI providers engaged in a year-long self-study process to provide an empirical account of one coaching strategy, joint planning, and related documentation. Our results indicate both providers and caregivers view documentation of joint planning as beneficial, highlight supports and challenges, and suggest that joint planning documentation holds significant promise for improving practice, data-based decision making, and progress monitoring of child and family outcomes including changes in caregiver capacity.
“Why Don’t They Just Use Cloth?” Gender Policy Vacuums and the Inequalities of Diapering
Authors: Randles Jennifer
Published: January 2022

Drawing on feminist theories of parenting and the welfare state, I analyze experiences of diaper need as a case of how gender, class, and race inequalities shape the social organization of caregiving and limited policy responses. Data from in-depth interviews with 70 mothers who experienced diaper need and 40 diaper bank staff revealed obstacles low-income mothers face in managing lack of access to children’s basic needs and how gendered assumptions of parental responsibility thwart public diaper support efforts. I use this case to theorize gender policy vacuums: These occur when gender disparities and ideologies prevent systematic responses to structural problems. Empirically this study contributes to understandings of diaper need as a problem of the gender structure that cannot be solved with alternative diapering methods that assume middle-class, white, androcentric privileges. Theoretically it illuminates key mechanisms by which feminized care labor is devalued and rendered invisible and how this erasure rationalizes lack of redress for gendered inequalities and creates policy gaps around caregiving.
Soviet and Post-Soviet Marxism: Braving the Challenges of the Technological Revolution
Authors: Maslov Gleb
Published: January 2022

The article is devoted to the study of the Soviet and post-Soviet Marxists’ views on the problem of technical and economic transformations. The stages in the development of Soviet thought in this matter are systematized, and the potential of applying the authors’ key ideas in the context of the challenges brought in by modern technological shifts is shown. With regard to the period after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the emphasis is on the developments of researchers belonging to the post-Soviet school of critical Marxism, as well as colleagues acting in an active dialogue with this focus area. What is emphasized is the high potential of the Marxist tendency in further studies of the contradictions of the economic system caused by technological transformations.
Mitigation of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and markers of apoptosis by ursolic acid against cisplatin-induced oxidative stress and nephrotoxicity in rats
Authors: Tripathi Pankaj , Alshahrani Saeed
Published: January 2022

Background:

Ursolic acid (UA) is a natural pentacyclic triterpenoid that is known for its benefits under several pathological conditions. Cisplatin (CP) is among the most preferred chemotherapeutic agents; however, its nephrotoxicity limits its clinical utility.

Purpose:

This study was aimed to determine the role of UA in the reduction of CP-induced nephrotoxicity and mitigation of pro-inflammatory cytokines and apoptosis in a rat model.

Methodology:

Male Wistar rats were randomized into vehicle control, CP (7.5 mg/kg), UA 10 mg/kg, and CP with UA 5 and 10 mg/kg groups. Kidney and blood samples were collected for assessment of renal function, measurement of pro-inflammatory cytokines, apoptosis markers, antioxidant activity, and tissue histology.

Results:

CP significantly increased the levels of serum Cr, BUN, and uric acid; it also induced histological damage reflecting the pathophysiology observed during nephrotoxicity. CP has also shown its pro-oxidant activity in kidney tissue because CP decreased the levels of GSH, SOD, and CAT; it increased the lipid peroxidation as measured by MDA content. In addition, CP significantly upregulated the activity of pro-inflammatory cytokines and expression of apoptotic markers, that is, there were increased levels of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, caspase-3, and caspase-9. Two weeks of continuous treatment of UA showed significant recovery against CP-induced nephrotoxicity; UA decreased the levels of Cr, BUN, and uric acid and ameliorated histological damage. UA also downregulated the activities of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α as well as expression of caspase-3 and caspase-9. Furthermore, CP-induced oxidative stress that was antagonized by UA—the levels of GSH, SOD, and CAT were significantly increased while MDA content was decreased.

Conclusions:

UA has a protective effect against CP-induced nephrotoxicity, which may be due to its antioxidant activity and mitigation of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and markers of apoptosis.
Introduction to the Themed collection: Public sector employment relations in turbulent times
Authors: O’Donnell Michael , Williamson Sue , Johnson Michael
Published: January 2022

We introduce a themed collection of articles examining how the public sector has responded to, and been impacted by, the COVID-19 crisis. Although the pandemic has affected the roles, functions, economies, governance and structures of public sectors, this themed collection focuses on public sector employment relations. Authors examine significant areas which have been subject to accelerated change stemming from the pandemic. Building on decades of public sector reform, these changes impact public sector enterprise bargaining, terms and conditions of employment, working arrangements and practices, and the relationship between public servants and their employer. The articles in this collection provide important insights into the longer-term influences of the COVID-19 pandemic for public sector workforces. The collection also raises questions around whether the positive lessons from this crisis can be sustained to help manage serious crises in the future, or whether the public sector will slip back into a state of unpreparedness.