bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Determinants of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type I among Radial Head Fracture Patients with Unilateral Arthroplasty
Authors: Wang Ye , Jiang Menglu , Dai Xu , Zhang Qin
Published: June 2022

Objective

This study aims to assess the proportions of complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS I) in radial head fracture patients undergoing unilateral arthroplasty and to explore associated factors.

Methods

This is a prospective observational study. From March 2016 to May 2019, a total of 221 adult patients with radial head fracture patients were included in consecutive studies and completed the 1‐year follow‐up. All patients were treated by unilateral arthroplasty. At each follow‐up visit, the visual analogue scale was used to measure patients' pain level. Occurrence of CRPS I, which was diagnosed by Budapest criteria, was the main outcome collected at baseline and the 1‐, 3‐, 6‐, and 9‐month follow‐ups. The baseline data were collected before surgery and included demographic and clinical data. Independent t‐tests and χ2 tests were used as univariate analyses to compare the baseline data of patients with and without CRPS I. Multivariate analysis (Backword‐Wald) was used to identify factors independently associated with CRPS I.

Results

The proportion of CRPS I cases among radial head fracture patients undergoing unilateral arthroplasty was 11% (n = 24). A total of 19 (79%) patients were diagnosed with CRPS I within 1 month after surgery. Multivariable logistic regression analysis revealed that female gender (odds ratios [OR]: 1.537; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.138–2.072), age younger than 60 years (OR: 1.682; 95% CI: 1.246–2.267), moderate and severe Mayo Elbow Performance Score (MEPS) pain (OR: 3.229; 95% CI: 2.392–4.351) and anxiety (OR: 83.346; 95% CI: 61.752–112.320) were independently associated with CRPS I.

Conclusions

This exploratory study reported that the incidence of CRPS I developing after radial head arthroplasty was 11%. Female sex, younger age, moderate and severe MEPS pain and anxiety patients seems more likely to develop CRPS I.
Childhood cancer survival and avoided deaths in Australia, 1983–2016
Authors: Youlden Danny R. , Baade Peter D. , Moore Andrew S. , Pole Jason D. , Valery Patricia C. , Aitken Joanne F.
Published: June 2022

Background

Large improvements in childhood cancer survival have been reported over recent decades. Data from cancer registries have the advantage of providing a ‘whole of population’ approach to gauge the success of cancer control efforts.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate recent survival estimates for children diagnosed with cancer Australia and to examine the extent of changes in survival over the last 35 years. For the first time, we also estimated the number of deaths among Australian children that were potentially avoided due to improvements in survival.

Methods

A retrospective, population‐based cohort study design was used. Case information was extracted from the Australian Childhood Cancer Registry for 1983–2016, with follow‐up to 31 December 2017. Eligible children were aged 0–14 with a basis of diagnosis other than autopsy or death certificate only. Five‐year relative survival was calculated using the semi‐complete cohort method for three diagnosis periods (1983–1994, 1995–2006 and 2007–2016), and changes in survival over time were assessed via flexible parametric models. Avoided deaths within 5 years for those diagnosed between 1995 and 2016 were estimated under the assumption that survival rates remained the same as for 1983–1994.

Results

Overall 5‐year survival within the study cohort (n = 20,871) increased from 72.8% between 1983 and1994 to 86.1% between 2007 and 2016, equating to an adjusted excess mortality hazard ratio of 1.82 (95% confidence interval 1.67, 1.97). Most cancers showed improvements in survival; other gliomas, hepatoblastoma and osteosarcoma were exceptions. Among children diagnosed between 1995 and 2016, 38.7% of expected deaths within 5 years of diagnosis (n = 1537 of 3970) were avoided due to temporal improvements in survival.

Conclusions

Survival for childhood cancer has continued to improve over recent years, thanks mainly to ongoing progress in treatment development combined with improved supportive care. Providing innovative measures of survival, such as avoided deaths, may assist with understanding outcome data produced by cancer registries.
Performance of predictive models of survival in horses undergoing emergency exploratory laparotomy for colic
Authors: Bishop Rebecca C. , Gutierrez‐Nibeyro Santiago D. , Stewart Matthew C. , McCoy Annette M.
Published: June 2022

Objective

To evaluate previously published predictive survival models in a population of horses undergoing colic surgery in the midwestern United States.

Study design

Retrospective cohort study; single referral hospital.

Animals

A total of 260 horses met the inclusion criteria.

Methods

Medical records of horses undergoing surgical treatment for colic were reviewed. Previously published models were applied to cohort data to predict outcome. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and accuracy for prediction of short‐term survival were calculated.

Results

Single‐variable and multivariable models performed similarly for prediction of survival, with a mean 79% sensitivity (range: 44%–94%), 48% specificity (range: 22%–83%), 63% PPV (range: 56%–72%), 73% NPV (range: 60%–83%), and 64% accuracy (range: 59%–72%). Blood lactate ≤6 mmol/l and the colic severity score (CSS) were highly sensitive for prediction of survival; however, both had poor specificity.

Conclusion

Single‐variable and multivariable predictive models did not perform as well for prediction of survival in the study cohort compared to original reports, suggesting that population‐specific factors contribute to patient survival.

Clinical significance

Predictive models of survival developed in one population may be less reliable when used to predict outcome in horses undergoing colic surgery from an independent population. Additional model testing and refinement using data from multiple surgical centers could be considered to improve prediction of outcome for horses undergoing laparotomy for treatment of colic.
Docencia en contexto de pandemia. En el vórtice de la injusticia social
Authors: Paz-Maldonado Eddy , Silva-Peña Ilich , Nunes-Fernandes Celia
Published: June 2022

Este artículo explora las experiencias docentes en el contexto de la crisis sanitaria por COVID-19. El estudio se sitúa dentro de un enfoque cualitativo, bajo un diseño transversal, con una primera etapa descriptiva. Se efectuaron entrevistas episódicas semiestructuradas a seis profesoras de educación básica que laboran en escuelas urbanas y rurales en Honduras. De las entrevistas emergen cuatro dificultades que impactan en lo educativo: los problemas de alimentación, la precaria situación económica de los hogares, el apoyo de las familias y las desigualdades en acceso a la tecnología, tanto en dispositivos como en conectividad.
Study of the Running-In Period in the Twin-Disc Wear Test Using Steel From a Class C Forged Railway Wheel
Authors: Luccidi Yanna , Rezende Andrei Bavaresco , Fonseca Solange Tamara , Mei Paulo Roberto
Published: June 2022

The railway wheels are one of the most critical components of the train and, any problem that may arise in the wheel, can generate numerous consequences. The ability to manage friction at the wheel–rail interface currently represents one of the greatest challenges and one of the most powerful tools in railway engineering. To define the efficiency of a product for friction control, retentivity tests are performed mainly by the suppliers. However, there is no strict standardization for the tribological test performance, and some critical issues like the influence of running-in period and the necessary superficial conditions of the rolling track to apply the friction control products are neglected. Thus, the objective of this work is to conduct dry twin-disc wear tests with different number of cycles to understand the running-in period and verify the tribosystem behavior. Starting from a rolling track with a polished surface, it was noted that the roughness increased rapidly and stabilized around 1500 cycles. The coefficient of traction (COT) increased at the beginning of the tests reaching the maximum at 750 cycles, reducing the value after that, and stabilizing at a value close to 0.4 with 5000 cycles. Thus, for twin-disc tests using these conditions, it is suggesting the application of friction control products from 5000 cycles because the COT and roughness would be stabilized.
Computational Modeling of Electrochemomechanics of High-Capacity Composite Electrodes in Li-Ion Batteries
Authors: Shah Sameep Rajubhai , de Vasconcelos Luize Scalco , Zhao Kejie
Published: June 2022

Mechanical failure and its interference with electrochemistry are a roadblock in deploying high-capacity electrodes for Li-ion batteries. Computational prediction of the electrochemomechanical behavior of high-capacity composite electrodes is a significant challenge because of (i) complex interplay between mechanics and electrochemistry in the form of stress-regulated Li transport and interfacial charge transfer, (ii) thermodynamic solution non-ideality, (iii) nonlinear deformation kinematics and material inelasticity, and (iv) evolving material properties over the state of charge. We develop a computational framework that integrates the electrochemical response of batteries modulated by large deformation, mechanical stresses, and dynamic material properties. We use silicon as a model system and construct a microstructurally resolved porous composite electrode model. The model concerns the effect of large deformation of silicon on charge conduction and electrochemical response of the composite electrode, impact of mechanical stress on Li transport and interfacial charge transfer, and asymmetric charging/discharging kinetics. The study captures the rate-dependent, coupled electrochemomechanical behavior of high-capacity composite electrodes that agrees well with experimental results.
The outstanding contributions to acarology by Prof Gilberto J. de Moraes
Authors: Castilho Raphael de Campos , Rueda-Ramírez Diana , Palevsky Eric
Published: June 2022

N/A
Designing tomorrow's quantum internet
Authors: Munro W. J. , Piparo Nicolo' Lo , Dias Josephine , Hanks Michael , Nemoto Kae
Published: June 2022

Principles of quantum mechanics promise a future quantum internet that connects a wide variety of quantum devices together in a coherent and secure fashion. It is well known that due to the size of this quantum internet, quantum repeaters will be a critical part in a similar fashion to the importance of repeaters in today's telecommunications internet. Given the inherent differences between classical and quantum physics, it is essential to establish how a quantum internet will function including how we route information as well as the functionality quantum repeaters will need to provide. Our considerations here go far beyond quantum key distribution and instead focus on a true network of connected quantum devices, including computers and sensors. We show how the efficient operation of such quantum networks relies on the seamless integration of both quantum and classical communication resources.
Single-cell antigen-specific landscape of CAR T infusion product identifies determinants of CD19-positive relapse in patients with ALL
Authors: Bai Zhiliang , Woodhouse Steven , Zhao Ziran , Arya Rahul , Govek Kiya , Kim Dongjoo , Lundh Stefan , Baysoy Alev , Sun Hongxing , Deng Yanxiang , Xiao Yang , Barrett David M. , Myers Regina M. , Grupp Stephan A. , June Carl H. , Fan Rong , Camara Pablo G. , Melenhorst J. Joseph
Published: June 2022

A notable number of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients develop CD19-positive relapse within 1 year after receiving chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. It remains unclear if the long-term response is associated with the characteristics of CAR T cells in infusion products, hindering the identification of biomarkers to predict therapeutic outcomes. Here, we present 101,326 single-cell transcriptomes and surface protein landscape from the infusion products of 12 ALL patients. We observed substantial heterogeneity in the antigen-specific activation states, among which a deficiency of T helper 2 function was associated with CD19-positive relapse compared with durable responders (remission, >54 months). Proteomic data revealed that the frequency of early memory T cells, rather than activation or coinhibitory signatures, could distinguish the relapse. These findings were corroborated by independent functional profiling of 49 patients, and an integrative model was developed to predict the response. Our data unveil the molecular mechanisms that may inform strategies to boost specific T cell function to maintain long-term remission.
A biomimetic elastomeric robot skin using electrical impedance and acoustic tomography for tactile sensing
Authors: Park K. , Yuk H. , Yang M. , Cho J. , Lee H. , Kim J.
Published: June 2022

Human skin perceives physical stimuli applied to the body and mitigates the risk of physical interaction through its soft and resilient mechanical properties. Social robots would benefit from whole-body robotic skin (or tactile sensors) resembling human skin in realizing a safe, intuitive, and contact-rich human-robot interaction. However, existing soft tactile sensors show several drawbacks (complex structure, poor scalability, and fragility), which limit their application in whole-body robotic skin. Here, we introduce biomimetic robotic skin based on hydrogel-elastomer hybrids and tomographic imaging. The developed skin consists of a tough hydrogel and a silicone elastomer forming a skin-inspired multilayer structure, achieving sufficient softness and resilience for protection. The sensor structure can also be easily repaired with adhesives even after severe damage (incision). For multimodal tactile sensation, electrodes and microphones are deployed in the sensor structure to measure local resistance changes and vibration due to touch. The ionic hydrogel layer is deformed owing to an external force, and the resulting local conductivity changes are measured via electrodes. The microphones also detect the vibration generated from touch to determine the location and type of dynamic tactile stimuli. The measurement data are then converted into multimodal tactile information through tomographic imaging and deep neural networks. We further implement a sensorized cosmetic prosthesis, demonstrating that our design could be used to implement deformable or complex-shaped robotic skin.
Benthic Biofilms in Glacier-Fed Streams from Scandinavia to the Himalayas Host Distinct Bacterial Communities Compared with the Streamwater
Authors: Ezzat Leïla , Fodelianakis Stilianos , Kohler Tyler J. , Bourquin Massimo , Brandani Jade , Busi Susheel Bhanu , Daffonchio Daniele , De Staercke Vincent , Marasco Ramona , Michoud Grégoire , Oppliger Emmy , Peter Hannes , Pramateftaki Paraskevi , Schön Martina , Styllas Michail , Tadei Virginia , Tolosano Matteo , Battin Tom J.
Published: June 2022

Benthic biofilms represent the dominant form of life in glacier-fed streams. However, it remains unclear how bacterial communities within these biofilms assemble.
Hydride Intercalation of Lithium into Ni3GaTe2
Authors: Buzanov G. A. , Stroganova E. A. , Bykov A. Yu. , Zhizhin K. Yu. , Kuznetsov N. T.
Published: June 2022

In order to expand the methods of lithium intercalation into layered multicomponent matrices, the reaction of lithium hydride with layered telluride Ni3GaTe2 through the stage of formation of mechanocomposites has been studied. Intercalation compounds LixNi3GaTe2 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) have been shown to form when annealing mechanocomposites of the matrix and intercalating agent (LiH) in argon. The channels of hydride ion conversion have been studied and transformations involving the matrix have been described at various temperatures and molar ratios of the matrix and intercalating agent.
Synthesis of MAX Phases in the Ti2AlC–V2AlC System as Precursors of Heterometallic MXenes Ti2 – xVxC
Authors: Simonenko E. P. , Simonenko N. P. , Nagornov I. A. , Simonenko T. L. , Mokrushin A. S. , Sevastyanov V. G. , Kuznetsov N. T.
Published: June 2022

A relatively low-temperature molten salt assisted synthesis is developed to prepare MAX phase solid solutions in the Ti2AlC–V2AlC system, to be used as precursors for the preparation of heterometallic MXenes Ti2 –xVxC. When the synthesis temperature is 1000°С, Ti1V1AlC, Ti0.5V1.5AlC, and Ti0.2V1.8AlC samples (despite the formation of a MAX phase and a systematic shift of reflection (002) in response to progressing vanadium-for-titanium substitution) typically feature appreciable amounts of impurity phases, namely Al2O3 and vanadium (their reflections are partially overlapping). An increase in synthetic temperature to 1100°С appreciably reduces the amount of impurities and, in a Ti1V1AlC sample, decreases the unit cell parameter a, which yet far exceeds the calculated and published values (while the parameter c corresponds with those values). Thermal analysis of Ti2AlC, Ti1V1AlC, and V2AlC samples in the range 20–1000°С shows that the oxidation resistance decreases in the progress of vanadium-for-titanium substitution in a MAX phase. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to study the microstructure of the prepared Ti2AlC and V2AlC phases.
Groin pain in the postradiotherapy pelvis: have you considered osteomyelitis?
Authors: Dworkin Aryeh , Riaz Ehsan , Vasdev Nikhil
Published: June 2022

A man in his 80s presented to the emergency department with a 5-week history of lower abdominal and groin pain which had substantially affected his mobility. He practised intermittent self-catheterisation following radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Multiple suggestive features led to initial treatment for a urinary tract infection (UTI). However, CT imaging revealed pubic symphysis osteomyelitis with associated abdominal wall abscesses and fistulation to the prostate. This case illustrates the need to consider osteomyelitis as a differential for pain in previously irradiated body areas and to beware of diagnosing UTI where pain affects mobility.
Chronic lesion activity and disability progression in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis
Authors: Beynon Vanessa , George Ilena C , Elliott Colm , Arnold Douglas L , Ke Jun , Chen Huaihou , Zhu Li , Ke Chunlei , Giovannoni Gavin , Scaramozza Matthew , Campbell Nolan , Bradley Daniel P , Franchimont Nathalie , Gafson Arie , Belachew Shibeshih
Published: June 2022

Objective

Slowly expanding lesions (SELs), a subgroup of chronic white matter lesions that gradually expand over time, have been shown to predict disability accumulation in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) disease. However, the relationships between SELs, acute lesion activity (ALA), overall chronic lesion activity (CLA) and disability progression are not well understood. In this study, we examined the ASCEND phase III clinical trial, which compared natalizumab with placebo in secondary progressive MS (SPMS).

Methods

Patients with complete imaging datasets between baseline and week 108 (N=600) were analysed for SEL prevalence (the number and volume of SELs), disability progression, ALA (assessed by gadolinium-enhancing lesions and new T2-hyperintense lesions) and CLA (assessed by T1-hypointense lesion volume increase within baseline T2-non-enhancing lesions identified as SELs and non-SELs).

Results

CLA in both SELs and non-SELs was greater in patients with SPMS with confirmed disability progression than in those with no progression. In the complete absence of ALA at baseline and on study, SEL prevalence was significantly lower, while CLA within non-SELs remained associated with disability progression. Natalizumab decreased SEL prevalence and CLA in SELs and non-SELs compared with placebo.

Conclusions

This study shows that CLA in patients with SPMS is decreased but persists in the absence of ALA and is associated with disability progression, highlighting the need for therapeutics targeting all mechanisms of CLA, including smouldering inflammation and neurodegeneration.

Trial registration number

NCT01416181.
Development trend of primary healthcare after health reform in China: a longitudinal observational study
Authors: Feng Jie , Gong Yanhong , Li Hui , Wu Jianxiong , Lu Zuxun , Zhang Guopeng , Zhou Xuan , Yin Xiaoxv
Published: June 2022

Objectives

Reconstructing the primary healthcare system is the focus of the new round of Chinese health reform. Nevertheless, there have been few studies focusing on the strengthening of primary healthcare in Chinese health system.

Design

This study was a longitudinal observational study.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

The data of this study came from China Health Statistical Yearbook (2009–2018). We evaluated the development of primary healthcare based on the absolute values of health resources allocation and health service provision and evaluated the status of primary healthcare throughout the health system based on the composition ratios of the indicators across the health system. The Cochran-Armitage trend test and linear trend test were used to identify the indicators’ trends over time.

Results

From 2009 to 2018, the amounts of health resources allocation and health service provision of Chinese primary healthcare institutions showed a significant upward trend (p<0.001). However, compared with the indicators in 2009, excepting that the proportion of grants from the government in the whole health system has an upward trend, the proportions of other indicators had an escalating trend in 2018 by 3.66% for practicing (assistant) physicians, by 2.69% for nurses, by 3.99% for total revenues, by 5.87% for beds, by 8.39% for outpatient visits.

Conclusion

The primary healthcare system has developed rapidly, but its development speed lagged behind the entire health system, resulting in the weakening of its actual functions, which is not in line with the goal of health reform. The government should be more aware of the importance of primary healthcare at all levels of local governments and ensure adequate financial input.
Standardised protocol for a prospective cross-sectional multicentre clinical utility evaluation of two dual point-of-care tests in non-clinical settings for the screening of HIV and syphilis in men who have sex with men
Authors:   The ProSPeRo Network
Published: June 2022

Introduction

Point-of-care dual tests (POCTs) for simultaneously detecting antibodies to HIV and syphilis (dual HIV-syphilis POCTs) have been developed recently and show encouraging performance compared with the reference tests in laboratory-based studies. As community-based voluntary, counselling and testing (CBVCT) services are effective providers of HIV and syphilis testing and counselling with high acceptability among men who have sex with men (MSM), the evaluation of the utility of these dual tests in CBVCT services is a high priority. This prospective cross-sectional study will conduct a clinical utility evaluation of two dual POCTs in non-clinical settings for the screening of HIV and syphilis in MSM. This master protocol outlines the overall research approach that will be used in four countries.

Methods and analysis

MSM presenting at CBVCT services participating in the study for HIV/STI screening will be enrolled. The (WHO preapproved) dual POCTs to be evaluated will be SD Bioline HIV/Syphilis Duo (Abbot) and Dual Path Platform HIV-Syphilis Assay (Chembio). Trained staff will collect a capillary blood sample using finger prick blood to perform both POCTs according the manufacturers’ instructions. An analysis of the feasibility of introducing the dual POCT for the screening of HIV and syphilis in MSM at CBVCT services will be performed, by assessing its acceptability and usability at CBVCT service among MSM users and providers.

Ethics and dissemination

This core protocol was independently peer reviewed and approved by the Research Project Review Panel (RP2) of the WHO Department of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Research and by the WHO Ethics Review Committee (ERC). The protocol has been adapted to individual countries and approved by RP2, ERC and institutional review boards at each site. Results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and relevant conferences.
Managing IBD in patients with previous cancers
Authors: Minnis-Lyons Sarah E , Aiken Zara , Chow Shien , Din Shahida
Published: June 2022

A frequent dilemma faced in the inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) clinic is how to best treat a patient with a previous cancer diagnosis. The changing demographics of our patient population will make this quandary more common. Previous guidance has emphasised the importance of lengthy postcancer drug holidays and cautious use of IBD therapies. However, accumulating evidence suggests this approach may be unnecessarily conservative. This review considers recent evidence on the safety of IBD drugs, cancer and recurrent cancer risk in patients with IBD and provides a framework for shared decision making involving patient, gastroenterologist and oncologist.
Some closed-form solutions, conservation laws, and various solitary waves to the (2 + 1)-D potential B-K equation via Lie symmetry approach
Authors: Gaber A. A. , Alsharari F. , Kumar Sachin
Published: June 2022

The main objective of our work is to obtain some exact closed-form solutions for the (2 + 1)-D potential Bogoyavlensky–Konopelchenko (B-K) equation, which describes the interaction between the Riemann wave propagating and the long-wave propagation along the y-axis and x-axis, by utilizing two effective methods namely: Lie symmetry method and generalized Kudryashov method (GKM). First, we obtained infinitesimals and vector fields of the B-K equation. After that, we used linear combinations of vectors to obtain various reductions of the governing equation. Four ordinary differential equations are obtained; two of them are solved using a series form, while the other two are solved using GKM. Many solitary wave solutions are obtained. The behavior of solutions includes solitary wave solutions, kink wave solutions, anti-kink wave solutions and singular wave solutions. By taking advantage of symbolic computation, the physical phenomena of the demonstrated results are visualized graphically by means of 3D and 2D plots. Using the new conservation theorem and Noether operators, conservation laws and nonlinear self-adjointness for the potential B-K equation are also constructed. It is clearly evident that the obtained results are very useful in studying interactions and processes in optical fibers, mathematical physics, fluid dynamics, engineering and many other areas of science.
Automatic Performance Assessment in Three-dimensional Interactive Haptic Medical Simulators: A Systematic Review
Authors: Sallaberry Lucas H. , Tori Romero , Nunes Fátima L. S.
Published: June 2022

This study presents a literature systematic review of automatic performance assessment in three-dimensional interactive medical and dental simulators with haptic feedback, resulting in 63 included articles. The main contributions regard analysis and discussion of investigated procedures, extracted metrics, experiment types, and assessment techniques. Studies have mostly focused on assessing performance by analyzing metrics using statistical techniques, while machine learning algorithms appear to be underexplored. Metrics related to time were observed in 84% of the studies, and aspects related to force, error and precision were investigated to a lesser degree. Difficulties reported in the articles are discussed, and research opportunities are presented.
A Low Distortion and Steganalysis-resistant Reversible Data Hiding for 2D Engineering Graphics
Authors: Peng Fei , Jiang Wenyan , Long Min
Published: June 2022

To reduce the distortion resulting from the large number of crossing quantization cells and resist steganalysis, a reversible data hiding scheme for 2D engineering graphics is put forward based on reversible dual-direction quantization index modulation (RDQIM). The quantization cell index of the host data is first computed, and its distances to the embedding cells in both the left and the right directions are calculated. After that, the data hiding is performed by modifying the data to the nearest embedding cell. To guarantee the reversibility, each quantization cell is further subdivided into three sub-cells, and the source quantization interval of the host data is marked by the index of the located sub-cell. The data extraction is accomplished by calculating the index of the quantization cell where the stego data is in. Meanwhile, the lossless recovery of the stego data is realized by combining the index of the located sub-cell and the relative distance within the sub-cell. Besides, different embedding strategies are adopted for different types of entities to achieve steganalysis-resistant ability. Experimental results and analysis show that the proposed scheme can strike a good balance among imperceptibility, semi-fragility, and steganalysis-resistant ability. Moreover, under the same conditions, the average imperceptibility and the average capacity are, respectively, improved by at least 7.487% and 41.045% compared with the existing methods.
Towards Learning Generalizable Code Embeddings Using Task-agnostic Graph Convolutional Networks
Authors: Ding Zishuo , Li Heng , Shang Weiyi , Chen Tse-Hsun (Peter)
Published: June 2022

Code embeddings have seen increasing applications in software engineering (SE) research and practice recently. Despite the advances in embedding techniques applied in SE research, one of the main challenges is their generalizability. A recent study finds that code embeddings may not be readily leveraged for the downstream tasks that the embeddings are not particularly trained for. Therefore, in this article, we propose
GraphCodeVec
, which represents the source code as graphs and leverages the Graph Convolutional Networks to learn more generalizable code embeddings in a task-agnostic manner. The edges in the graph representation are automatically constructed from the paths in the abstract syntax trees, and the nodes from the tokens in the source code. To evaluate the effectiveness of
GraphCodeVec
, we consider three downstream benchmark tasks (i.e., code comment generation, code authorship identification, and code clones detection) that are used in a prior benchmarking of code embeddings and add three new downstream tasks (i.e., source code classification, logging statements prediction, and software defect prediction), resulting in a total of six downstream tasks that are considered in our evaluation. For each downstream task, we apply the embeddings learned by
GraphCodeVec
and the embeddings learned from four baseline approaches and compare their respective performance. We find that
GraphCodeVec
outperforms all the baselines in five out of the six downstream tasks, and its performance is relatively stable across different tasks and datasets. In addition, we perform ablation experiments to understand the impacts of the training context (i.e., the graph context extracted from the abstract syntax trees) and the training model (i.e., the Graph Convolutional Networks) on the effectiveness of the generated embeddings. The results show that both the graph context and the Graph Convolutional Networks can benefit
GraphCodeVec
in producing high-quality embeddings for the downstream tasks, while the improvement by Graph Convolutional Networks is more robust across different downstream tasks and datasets. Our findings suggest that future research and practice may consider using graph-based deep learning methods to capture the structural information of the source code for SE tasks.
Optimization of an Electrochemical Gas Separation and Inerting System
Authors: Aryal Utsav Raj , Prasad Ajay K.
Published: June 2022

Aircraft fuel tank inerting is typically accomplished by supplying nitrogen enriched air (NEA) into the ullage (volume of air above the fuel level in the tank). We have developed a novel on-board electrochemical gas separation and inerting system (EGSIS) to generate NEA for fuel tank inerting. EGSIS is an electrically powered system that functionally combines a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell cathode with an electrolyzer anode. Water management is important in such a PEM-based system because proton transfer requires proper hydration of the membrane. Extremes of both dryout and flooding conditions should be avoided for optimal EGSIS performance. Previous single-cell EGSIS experiments revealed that supplying liquid water at the anode will maintain sufficient membrane hydration even when the system is operated under dry cathode conditions. However, it was difficult to avoid flooding at low cathode air stoichiometries when parallel flow field channels were employed. Here, we implement various strategies to optimize EGSIS performance such as using serpentine and interdigitated flow field channels, as well as a double-layer gas diffusion layer with graded hydrophobicity to mitigate flooding and improve water management. We also present a theoretical analysis of various stack configurations for a practical EGSIS module.
Lessons Learned from Long-Term Cycling Experiments with Pouch Cells with Li-Rich and Mn-Rich Positive Electrode Materials
Authors: Väli Ronald , Aftanas Stuart , Eldesoky A. , Liu Aaron , Taskovic Tina , Harlow Jessie E. , deGooyer Jack , Phattharasupakun Nutthaphon , Ouyang Dongxu , Rathore Divya , Cormier Marc M. E. , Johnson Michel B. , Nguyen HongNam , Kwak HunHo , Kumakura Shinichi , Paulsen Jens , Dahn J. R.
Published: June 2022

In this work, the performance of commercial (250–300 mAh) Li1.11Ni0.34Mn0.53Al0.02O2/graphite (LNMA) and Li1.167Ni0.183Mn0.558Co0.092O2/graphite (LNMC) pouch cells was evaluated using different cycling drive profiles, temperatures, formation voltages, cycling upper and lower cut-off voltages. A variety of electrolyte additives and additive combinations were tested in the LNMA cells. The best performing electrolyte in high voltage LNMA cells (4.6 V upper cut-off) was Control + 2% fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) + 1% lithium difluorophosphate (LFO) + 1% lithium difluoro(oxalato)borate (LiDFOB) with 87% capacity retention after 720 cycles. LNMA cells cycled to 4.25 V and LNMC cells cycled to 4.44 V at 40 °C were able to cycle for 1000 cycles before reaching 80% capacity. These materials can have surprisingly good high-voltage performance, but we stress that a fundamental breakthrough that can eliminate the voltage fade that is ubiquitous in Li-rich and Mn-rich materials is necessary to make Li-rich materials competitive with existing cell chemistries. We demonstrate that the high specific capacity of Li-rich materials can be deceptive when making conclusions about the energy density of Li-rich/graphite full cells. Hopefully, these results can set a baseline for other researchers in the Li-rich space.
Circadian regulation of digestive and metabolic tissues
Authors: Taleb Zainab , Karpowicz Phillip
Published: June 2022

The circadian clock is a self-sustained molecular timekeeper that drives 24-h (circadian) rhythms in animals. The clock governs important aspects of behavior and physiology including wake/sleep activity cycles that regulate the activity of metabolic and digestive systems. Light/dark cycles (photoperiod) and cycles in the time of feeding synchronize the circadian clock to the surrounding environment, providing an anticipatory benefit that promotes digestive health. The availability of animal models targeting the genetic components of the circadian clock has made it possible to investigate the circadian clock’s role in cellular functions. Circadian clock genes have been shown to regulate the physiological function of hepatocytes, gastrointestinal cells, and adipocytes; disruption of the circadian clock leads to the exacerbation of liver diseases and liver cancer, inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer, and obesity. Previous findings provide strong evidence that the circadian clock plays an integral role in digestive/metabolic disease pathogenesis, hence, the circadian clock is a necessary component in metabolic and digestive health and homeostasis. Circadian rhythms and circadian clock function provide an opportunity to improve the prevention and treatment of digestive and metabolic diseases by aligning digestive system tissue with the 24-h day.
Experimental Study on Gas–Water Relative Permeability Characteristics of Tight Sandstone Reservoir in Ordos Basin
Authors: Ren Xiaoxia , Li Aifen , Memon Asadullah
Published: June 2022

Accurate measurement of relative permeability curve is the basis for evaluating gas reservoir performance. The unsteady-state method could bring significant measurement error for low-permeability cores. However, it is difficult to control the constant gas flow rate in the traditional steady-state method, which obstacles the experimental operation. In this study, an improved steady-state method was proposed. First, the pressure value obtained from the experiment, when the gas permeability no longer changed with the average pressure on the rock core, was set as the testing pressure. Then, the gas was injected under constant pressure, and the water was injected with a constant flow rate. Finally, the relative permeability values of gas and water phases were calculated based on Darcy’s law. Comparative analysis of the results of the relative permeability curves under formation pressure and pressure with negligible slip effect indicates that the relative permeability curves are the same in gas and water phases, proving the feasibility of the new method. Further, the results were compared with those of the test method at normal pressure, the water-phase relative permeability showed no significant change, the relative permeability of gas phase was larger, the two-phase flow area became wider, and the irreducible water saturation was lower than that at the normal pressure. This result reflects that pressure does not significantly affect the flow of wetting phase but tremendously influences the nonwetted phase under low pressure. The relationship between relative permeability and water saturation is linear in the semilogarithmic coordinate diagram and can be described by using the following relationship:

ln
 

k

rg

/

k

rw

=
a

S

w

+
ln
 
b

. With the decrease in the core permeability, relative permeability curve, and isotonic point moved to the right, irreducible water saturation gradually increased, and residual gas saturation decreased, indicating that the smaller permeability induced a lower gas-phase flow capacity.
Petrogenesis, Magma Source, and Geodynamics of Paleogene Mafic Rocks, Huimin Sag, Jiyang Depression, Eastern China
Authors: Gao Lihua , Song Zhigang , Han Chao , Han Mei , Zhu Chenlin , Xia Di , Han Zuozhen , Li Shuangjian
Published: June 2022

A suite of Paleogene mafic rocks was collected from boreholes in the Huimin Sag of the Jiyang Depression with the aim of investigating the petrogenesis and nature of mantle source for these rocks and further providing insights into the characteristic of related mantle plume. Whole-rock geochemical data indicate that the mafic rocks have relatively lower SiO2 (42.93%–48.57%) contents and similar characteristics to alkaline basalt and belong to transitional calc-alkaline series. These samples were clearly enriched in LREEs and depleted in HREEs and were also characterized by the enrichment of LILEs, incompatible elements, and HFSEs, similar to those of the Ocean Island Basalt (OIB). In addition, they exhibited Pb enrichment; Y, Pr, and Yb depletion; absence of Nb-Ta anomalies; high Hf and low Zr; and Rb/Yb ratios exceeding 1.0, indicating characteristics of intraplate rift-type alkaline basalt. The samples exhibited (Th/Ta)PM and (La/Nb)PM ratios less than 1 and plotted within the OIB, EMI, and EMII fields, indicating that crustal components had no role in the generation of the rocks. With the exception of individual samples that have a distinctive range of

ε

Nd

values, the majority of samples have complex

ε

Nd

values of -1.15 to 5.56, indicating a mixture of different sources, which was also apparent in the δ18O-87Sr/86Sr diagram, in which the samples plot close to the downward nonlinear curve. Based on the isotopic and trace elemental analyses, these igneous rocks are intraplate rift-type alkaline basalt and are of mantle plume origin. The variations in 87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd,

ε

Nd

values, LREEs, and HFSEs were probably due to the different locations of the mantle plume for different samples. The primary magma of the rocks likely originated from the melting of a mantle plume and the further metasomatism of lithospheric mantle, continental, or oceanic crust.
The Mystery of Exosomes in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Chen Tong , Liu Dan
Published: June 2022

Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is one of the common pregnancy complications, which increases the risk of short-term and long-term adverse consequences in both the mother and offspring. However, the pathophysiological mechanism of GDM is still poorly understood. Inflammation, insulin resistance and oxidative stress are considered critical factors in the occurrence and development of GDM. Although the lifestyle intervention and insulin are the primary treatment, adverse pregnancy outcomes still cannot be ignored. Exosomes have a specific function of carrying biological information, which can transmit information to target cells and play an essential role in intercellular communication. Their possible roles in normal pregnancy and GDM have been widely concerned. The possibility of exosomal cargos as biomarkers of GDM is proposed. This paper reviews the literature in recent years and discusses the role of exosomes in GDM and their possible mechanisms to provide some reference for the prediction, prevention, and treatment of GDM and improve the outcome of pregnancy.
Applying Deep Learning-Based Personalized Item Recommendation for Mobile Service in Retailor Industry
Authors: Xiao Minghua , Zhou Qing , Lu Lei , Tao Xingzhen , He Wenting , Zhou Youmei
Published: June 2022

Various kinds of mobile services allow integrating terminal customers as important coproducers into the whole retailer’s business processes. People have enjoyed increasing popularity in the past years since they allow saving costs and increasing satisfaction. However, in some retail settings, as the technology relies on retailers providing terminals, it does not yet fully utilize the possibilities provided by mobile service, which until recently have mostly served as shopping aids. Recommendation systems can provide accurate recommendation services to users, especially in the field of e-commerce. In this study, a mobile retail terminal, Kkbox, leverages deep learning-based recommendation and self-service technologies to provide an express and personalized self-checkout retail environment without the engagement of storekeepers and cashiers. An attention-based mechanism for product personalization recommendation model is adopted, and it models the intrinsic relationship between users’ historical interactions with products through a multilayer self-attentive network and then feeds the output of the multilayer self-attentive network into a GRU network with attention scores to model the evolution of users’ interests. We analyze the performance of the product recommendation module based on user data from multiple perspectives, such as purchase frequency, purchase time, and product category. In the comparison experiments with some traditional recommendation methods, the recommendation accuracy of the model used in this study achieves better results. Besides, it significantly reduces the labor cost and provides enough flexibility. The time performance of app users is independent of store rush. The time for a transaction is significantly lower for app users than the regular shoppers during peak periods. The Kkbox has been deployed in several communities in Taizhou, China, to provide fast and convenient mobile retail services to residents.
Recognition Method of Corn and Rice Crop Growth State Based on Computer Image Processing Technology
Authors: Tian Li , Wang Chun , Li Hailiang , Sun Haitian
Published: June 2022

The agriculture field is one of the most important fields where computational techniques play an imperative role for decision-making whether it is the automation of watering of plants, controlling of humidity levels, and detection of plant diseases and growth of plants. There are problems in the conventional methods where newer computational techniques and image processing methods are not used to keep track of growth of plants. The traditional image capturing and processing models have problems of large image segmentation error, excessive feature extraction time, and poor recognition output. In order to overcome the problems in the traditional plant growth methods based on image processing automations, computer image processing with computational method has been proposed to analyze the plant growth by utilizing state recognition method for corn and rice crops. An image acquisition platform is established on the basis of CMOS image sensor for crop image acquisition. The binary processing is performed, and then the images are segmented to reduce error of segmentation results in the traditional methods. To extract image features of corn and rice crops, convolution neural network (CNN) with newer architecture is used. According to contour information of images, the block wavelet transform method is used for feature adaptive matching. The binary tree structure is used to divide the growth period of corn and rice crops. The fuzzy mathematical model is also devised to identify the characteristics of crops in different growth periods and to complete the identification of growth state. Experimental results show that the proposed method effectively improves problems of traditional methods with better image recognition effect and reduces the time of feature recognition. The time to extract features by the proposed method is 1.4 seconds, whereas comparative methods such as random forest (RF) take 3.8 s and other traditional techniques take 4.9 s. Segmentation result error of the recognition method is also reduced significantly.
Design and Application of Cloud Resource-Based Ideological and Political Online Course Resource Platform
Authors: Kang Zheqing
Published: June 2022

Online teaching platforms have been popularized and promoted as a result of the development of network information technology, and colleges and universities encourage teachers to use a variety of network teaching platforms to innovate teaching models and improve teaching effectiveness. Using an ideological and political online course as an example, it analyzes the teaching design concepts, instructional effects, and existing problems on the online learning platform, and extracts recommendations for online course construction that have a specific reference for online course teaching. Additionally, aiming at the multiobjective cloud resource scheduling problem, this article aims to optimize the total completion time and total execution cost of the task. It does so by utilizing fuzzy mathematics, establishing a fuzzy cloud resource scheduling model, and proposing a hybrid intelligent optimization algorithm CO. The CO algorithm is validated by randomly generating cloud-computing resource scheduling data using the CloudSim simulation platform. The experimental results indicate that the CO algorithm outperforms traditional cloud resource scheduling algorithms in terms of optimization and load balancing performance.