bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Parametric Effects on Pool Boiling Heat Transfer and Critical Heat Flux: A Critical Review
Authors: Emir Tolga , Ourabi Hamza , Budakli Mete , Arik Mehmet
Published: March 2022

Pool boiling heat transfer offers high-performance cooling opportunities for thermal problems of electronics limited with high heat fluxes. Therefore, many researchers have been extensively studying over the last six decades. This paper presents a critical literature review of various parametric effects on pool boiling heat transfer and critical heat flux (CHF) such as pressure, subcooling, surface topography, surface orientation, working fluid, and combined effects. To achieve an optimal heat removal solution for a particular problem, each of these parameters must be understood. The governing mechanisms are discussed separately, and various options related to the selection of appropriate working fluids are highlighted. A broad summary of correlations developed until now for predicting CHF is presented with their ranges of validity. While proposed correlations for predicting CHF have been quite promising, they still have a considerable uncertainty (±25%). Finally, a correlation proposed by Professor Avram Bar-Cohen and his team (thermal management of electronics (TME) correlation) is compared with the experimental dataset published in previous studies. It shows that the uncertainty band can be further narrowed down to ±12.5% for dielectric liquids by using TME correlation. Furthermore, this correlation has been enhanced to predict CHF values underwater above 50 W/cm2 by applying a genetic algorithm, and new perspectives for possible future research activities are proposed.
Sterile Neutrinos: Are They Real?
Authors: Eberly B. , Lincoln D.
Published: March 2022

Neutrinos are perhaps the least understood of the known denizens of the subatomic world. They have nearly no mass, interact only via the weak nuclear force and gravity, and, perhaps most surprising, the three known species of neutrinos can transform from one variant into another. This transformation, called neutrino oscillation, has been demonstrated only relatively recently and has led to speculation that there might be another, even more mysterious, neutrino variant, called the sterile neutrino. While the sterile neutrino remains a hypothetical particle, it is an interesting one and searches for it are a key research focus of the world’s neutrino scientist community.
Rooted in their reality: Driving question boards as a tool for equity
Authors: Richard Matt
Published: March 2022

This year was my first in a high school classroom. Prior to this I taught nine years in college across all levels of physics. I love teaching and physics. But the longer I’ve been a physics educator, the more I have noticed that physics is often thought of as a “tough” course meant to “weed out” students, and that this perception does not impact all populations equally. Racial gaps in graduation rates from STEM programs are well documented, and contrast starkly with the similar entry rates observed. This is exacerbated by gender inequities. Further, the disparity in female, Black, and Hispanic students completing degrees in STEM fields cannot be explained by preparation levels or socioeconomic status. Research suggests that underrepresented populations seek degrees that allow them to help communities, and the completion discrepancy is evidence that STEM fields are not being presented in this way.
Video Analysis of an Oscillating Cantilever for Introductory Laboratories
Authors: Baker Blane , Sherer Maggie , Mossinghoff Ben , Laycock Will
Published: March 2022

Awood cantilever of length ∼2.5 m is driven into resonance using the hand as a simple driver. Video recordings of these oscillations are analyzed to determine experimental second harmonic (n = 2) damped resonance frequencies. These frequencies are compared to theoretical ones, obtained from measurements of elastic moduli, damping properties, and physical dimensions of the cantilever. Experimental frequencies agree with theoretical ones to within their respective uncertainties. Experiments described here can be incorporated seamlessly into introductory college physics laboratories, following discussions of simple harmonic oscillators (including damping). These kinds of experiments are useful for developing students’ skills in designing and troubleshooting experiments, analyzing video recordings, and modeling data using computers. The ease of set up and simple apparatus also make these activities ideal for remote learning such as during the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
Overtraining Syndrome Symptoms and Diagnosis in Athletes: Where Is the Research? A Systematic Review
Authors: Weakley Jonathon , Halson Shona L. , Mujika Iñigo
Published: March 2022

Context: To understand overtraining syndrome (OTS), it is important to detail the physiological and psychological changes that occur in athletes. Objectives: To systematically establish and detail the physiological and psychological changes that occur as a result of OTS in athletes. Methods: Databases were searched for studies that were (1) original investigations; (2) English, full-text articles; (3) published in peer-reviewed journals; (4) investigations into adult humans and provided (5) objective evidence that detailed changes in performance from prior to the onset of OTS diagnosis and that performance was suppressed for more than 4 weeks and (6) objective evidence of psychological symptoms. Results: Zero studies provided objective evidence of detailed changes in performance from prior to the onset of OTS diagnosis and demonstrated suppressed performance for more than 4 weeks accompanied by changes in psychological symptoms. Conclusions: All studies failed to provide evidence of changes in performance and mood from “healthy” to an overtrained state with evidence of prolonged suppression of performance. While OTS may be observed in the field, little data is available describing how physiological and psychological symptoms manifest. This stems from vague terminology, difficulties in monitoring for prolonged periods of time, and the need for prospective testing. Real-world settings may facilitate the collection of such data, but the ideal testing battery that can easily be conducted on a regular basis does not yet exist. Consequently, it must be concluded that an evidence base of sufficient scientific quality for understanding OTS in athletes is lacking.
Heat Adaptation and Nutrition Practices: Athlete and Practitioner Knowledge and Use
Authors: Alabdulwahed Salma , Galán-López Natalia , Hill Tom , James Lewis J. , Chrismas Bryna Catherine Rose , Racinais Sebastien , Stellingwerff Trent , Leal Diogo V. , Hausen Matheus , Chamari Karim , Fullagar Hugh H.K. , Esh Christopher , Taylor Lee
Published: March 2022

Purpose: To survey elite athletes and practitioners to identify (1) knowledge and application of heat acclimation/acclimatization (HA) interventions, (2) barriers to HA application, and (3) nutritional practices supporting HA. Methods: Elite athletes (n = 55) and practitioners (n = 99) completed an online survey. Mann–Whitney U tests (effect size [ES; r]) assessed differences between ROLE (athletes vs practitioners) and CLIMATE (hot vs temperate). Logistic regression and Pearson chi-square (ES Phi [ϕ]) assessed relationships. Results: Practitioners were more likely to report measuring athletes’ core temperature (training: practitioners 40% [athletes 15%]; P = .001, odds ratio = 4.0, 95% CI, 2%–9%; competition: practitioners 25% [athletes 9%]; P = .020, odds ratio = 3.4, 95% CI, 1%–10%). Practitioners (55% [15% athletes]) were more likely to perceive rectal as the gold standard core temperature measurement site (P = .013, ϕ = .49, medium ES). Temperate (57% [22% hot]) CLIMATE dwellers ranked active HA effectiveness higher (P < .001, r = .30, medium ES). Practitioners commonly identified athletes’ preference (48%), accessibility, and cost (both 47%) as barriers to HA. Increasing carbohydrate intake when training in the heat was more likely recommended by practitioners (49%) than adopted by athletes (26%; P = .006, 95% CI, 0.1%–1%). Practitioners (56% [28% athletes]) were more likely to plan athletes’ daily fluid strategies, adopting a preplanned approach (P = .001; 95% CI, 0.1%–1%). Conclusions: Practitioners, and to a greater extent athletes, lacked self-reported key HA knowledge (eg, core temperature assessment/monitoring methods) yet demonstrated comparatively more appropriate nutritional practices (eg, hydration).
The Fitness–Fatigue Model: What’s in the Numbers?
Authors: Vermeire Kobe , Ghijs Michael , Bourgois Jan G. , Boone Jan
Published: March 2022

Purpose: The purpose of this commentary is to outline some of the pitfalls when using the fitness–fatigue model to unravel the interaction between training load and performance. By doing so, we encourage sport scientists and coaches to interpret the parameters from the model with some extra caution. Conclusions: Caution is needed when interpreting the fitness–fatigue model since the parameter values are influenced by the starting parameter values, the modeling technique, and the input of the model. Also, the use of general constants should be avoided since they do not account for interindividual differences and differences between training-load methods. Therefore, we advise sport scientists and coaches to use the model as a way to work more data-informed rather than working data-driven.
Fostering Psychosocial Characteristics Within an English Soccer Academy
Authors: Mitchell Tom O. , Cowburn Ian H.J. , Piggott David , Littlewood Martin A. , Cook Tony , Till Kevin
Published: March 2022

The possession of certain psychosocial characteristics can offer performance advantages in a range of domains. However, integrating a program to support the development of psychosocial characteristics is a lengthy process and involves context-specific knowledge and effective working relationships with stakeholders. The aim of this article is to present a real-life example of the design, delivery, and implementation of a theoretically informed psychosocial development program for players within an academy soccer setting to include player workshops, coach delivery, and ways to influence the environment. This multifaceted approach included formal and informal meetings, observations, coach education, and social media groups. Initial reflections suggested workshops are an effective method to “teach” some of the aspects within the program. Integrating coaches throughout design and implementation is recommended. Key stakeholders should consider investing time in education for coaches to develop strategies to foster psychosocial development in their players. Limitations and future recommendations are discussed.
Nuclear HMGB1 protects from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease through negative regulation of liver X receptor
Authors: Personnaz Jean , Piccolo Enzo , Dortignac Alizée , Iacovoni Jason S. , Mariette Jérôme , Rocher Vincent , Polizzi Arnaud , Batut Aurélie , Deleruyelle Simon , Bourdens Lucas , Delos Océane , Combes-Soia Lucie , Paccoud Romain , Moreau Elsa , Martins Frédéric , Clouaire Thomas , Benhamed Fadila , Montagner Alexandra , Wahli Walter , Schwabe Robert F. , Yart Armelle , Castan-Laurell Isabelle , Bertrand-Michel Justine , Burlet-Schiltz Odile , Postic Catherine , Denechaud Pierre-Damien , Moro Cédric , Legube Gaelle , Lee Chih-Hao , Guillou Hervé , Valet Philippe , Dray Cédric , Pradère Jean-Philippe
Published: March 2022

Dysregulations of lipid metabolism in the liver may trigger steatosis progression, leading to potentially severe clinical consequences such as nonalcoholic fatty liver diseases (NAFLDs). Molecular mechanisms underlying liver lipogenesis are very complex and fine-tuned by chromatin dynamics and multiple key transcription factors. Here, we demonstrate that the nuclear factor HMGB1 acts as a strong repressor of liver lipogenesis. Mice with liver-specificHmgb1deficiency display exacerbated liver steatosis, whileHmgb1-overexpressing mice exhibited a protection from fatty liver progression when subjected to nutritional stress. Global transcriptome and functional analysis revealed that the deletion ofHmgb1gene enhances LXRα and PPARγ activity. HMGB1 repression is not mediated through nucleosome landscape reorganization but rather via a preferential DNA occupation in a region carrying genes regulated by LXRα and PPARγ. Together, these findings suggest that hepatocellular HMGB1 protects from liver steatosis development. HMGB1 may constitute a new attractive option to therapeutically target the LXRα-PPARγ axis during NAFLD.
Multivariate mining of an alpaca immune repertoire identifies potent cross-neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 nanobodies
Authors: Hanke Leo , Sheward Daniel J. , Pankow Alec , Vidakovics Laura Perez , Karl Vivien , Kim Changil , Urgard Egon , Smith Natalie L. , Astorga-Wells Juan , Ekström Simon , Coquet Jonathan M. , McInerney Gerald M. , Murrell Ben
Published: March 2022

Conventional approaches to isolate and characterize nanobodies are laborious. We combine phage display, multivariate enrichment, next-generation sequencing, and a streamlined screening strategy to identify numerous anti–severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nanobodies. We characterize their potency and specificity using neutralization assays and hydrogen/deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX-MS). The most potent nanobodies bind to the receptor binding motif of the receptor binding domain (RBD), and we identify two exceptionally potent members of this category (with monomeric half-maximal inhibitory concentrations around 13 and 16 ng/ml). Other nanobodies bind to a more conserved epitope on the side of the RBD and are able to potently neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 founder virus (42 ng/ml), the Beta variant (B.1.351/501Y.V2) (35 ng/ml), and also cross-neutralize the more distantly related SARS-CoV-1 (0.46 μg/ml). The approach presented here is well suited for the screening of phage libraries to identify functional nanobodies for various biomedical and biochemical applications.
Novel oxygen sensing mechanism in the spinal cord involved in cardiorespiratory responses to hypoxia
Authors: Barioni Nicole O. , Derakhshan Fatemeh , Tenorio Lopes Luana , Onimaru Hiroshi , Roy Arijit , McDonald Fiona , Scheibli Erika , Baghdadwala Mufaddal I. , Heidari Negar , Bharadia Manisha , Ikeda Keiko , Yazawa Itaru , Okada Yasumasa , Harris Michael B. , Dutschmann Mathias , Wilson Richard J. A.
Published: March 2022

As blood oxygenation decreases (hypoxemia), mammals mount cardiorespiratory responses, increasing oxygen to vital organs. The carotid bodies are the primary oxygen chemoreceptors for breathing, but sympathetic-mediated cardiovascular responses to hypoxia persist in their absence, suggesting additional high-fidelity oxygen sensors. We show that spinal thoracic sympathetic preganglionic neurons are excited by hypoxia and silenced by hyperoxia, independent of surrounding astrocytes. These spinal oxygen sensors (SOS) enhance sympatho-respiratory activity induced by CNS asphyxia-like stimuli, suggesting they bestow a life-or-death advantage. Our data suggest the SOS use a mechanism involving neuronal nitric oxide synthase 1 (NOS1) and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (NOX). We propose NOS1 serves as an oxygen-dependent sink for NADPH in hyperoxia. In hypoxia, NADPH catabolism by NOS1 decreases, increasing availability of NADPH to NOX and launching reactive oxygen species–dependent processes, including transient receptor potential channel activation. Equipped with this mechanism, SOS are likely broadly important for physiological regulation in chronic disease, spinal cord injury, and cardiorespiratory crisis.
In vivo acoustic manipulation of microparticles in zebrafish embryos
Authors: Jooss Viktor Manuel , Bolten Jan Stephan , Huwyler Jörg , Ahmed Daniel
Published: March 2022

In vivo micromanipulation using ultrasound is an exciting technology with promises for cancer research, brain research, vasculature biology, diseases, and treatment development. In the present work, we demonstrate in vivo manipulation of gas-filled microparticles using zebrafish embryos as a vertebrate model system. Micromanipulation methods often are conducted in vitro, and they do not fully reflect the complex environment associated in vivo. Four piezoelectric actuators were positioned orthogonally to each other around an off-centered fluidic channel that allowed for two-dimensional manipulation of intravenously injected microbubbles. Selective manipulation of microbubbles inside a blood vessel with micrometer precision was achieved without interfering with circulating blood cells. Last, we studied the viability of zebrafish embryos subjected to the acoustic field. This successful high-precision, in vivo acoustic manipulation of intravenously injected microbubbles offers potentially promising therapeutic options.
Down-regulation of the bacterial protein biosynthesis machinery in response to weeks, years, and decades of soil warming
Authors: Söllinger Andrea , Séneca Joana , Borg Dahl Mathilde , Motleleng Liabo L. , Prommer Judith , Verbruggen Erik , Sigurdsson Bjarni D. , Janssens Ivan , Peñuelas Josep , Urich Tim , Richter Andreas , Tveit Alexander T.
Published: March 2022

How soil microorganisms respond to global warming is key to infer future soil-climate feedbacks, yet poorly understood. Here, we applied metatranscriptomics to investigate microbial physiological responses to medium-term (8 years) and long-term (>50 years) subarctic grassland soil warming of +6°C. Besides indications for a community-wide up-regulation of centralmetabolic pathways and cell replication, we observed a down-regulation of the bacterial protein biosynthesis machinery in the warmed soils, coinciding with a lower microbial biomass, RNA, and soil substrate content. We conclude that permanently accelerated reaction rates at higher temperatures and reduced substrate concentrations result in cellular reduction of ribosomes, the macromolecular complexes carrying out protein biosynthesis. Later efforts to test this, including a short-term warming experiment (6 weeks, +6°C), further supported our conclusion. Down-regulating the protein biosynthesis machinery liberates energy and matter, allowing soil bacteria to maintain high metabolic activities and cell division rates even after decades of warming.
Vaccine Strain and Wild-Type Clades of Varicella-Zoster Virus in Central Nervous System and Non-CNS Disease, New York State, 2004–2019
Authors: Bryant Patrick , Yildirim Tugba , Griesemer Sara B. , Shaw Kara , Ehrbar Dylan , St. George Kirsten
Published: March 2022

Since the introduction of the varicella-zoster virus (VZV) vaccine in the United States in 1995, there has been a dramatic decrease in both the number and severity of varicella cases. However, VZV surveillance data and information on the VZV clade distribution in central nervous system (CNS) disease and non-CNS disease in New York State is not available.
On the Nature of Individual Variation in Diapause Induction among the Progeny of Trichogramma telengai Sor. (Hymenoptera, Trichogrammatidae)
Authors: Voinovich N. D. , Reznik S. Ya.
Published: March 2022

In this communication, we analyze the variation in diapause incidence among isofemale substrains of the main laboratory strain of Trichogramma telengai Sor. (Hymenoptera, Trichogrammatidae) in order to clarify the nature of the previously discovered individual (intrastrain) variation in this trait. During the experiment, the maternal generation developed at a temperature of 20°C under a day length of either 12 or 18 h, and diapause in the progeny was induced by development at 14°C in darkness. In total, the experiment comprised eight replicates in which female diapause incidence was measured in 428 substrains in two consecutive generations. There was statistically significant individual (first-generation) and interfamilial (second-generation) variation in almost all of the replicates. However, the correlation between the diapause incidence values among the progeny of two consecutive generations of the same substrains was weak and largely nonsignificant. These results suggest that intrastrain variation in the percentage of diapausing progeny of T. telengai females is not primarily produced by genetic (hereditary) factors but is due to certain environmental (nonhereditary) effects.
‘Persistent throat symptoms’ versus ‘laryngopharyngeal reflux’: a cross-sectional study refining the clinical condition
Authors: O'Hara James , Fisher Holly , Hayes Louise , Wilson Janet
Published: March 2022

Objective

Many patients are assessed for chronic symptoms including: dysphonia, ‘globus’, throat clearing, postnasal secretions and cough; commonly grouped together and attributed to ‘laryngopharyngeal reflux’. This study aimed to explore a clinical trial’s baseline dataset for patterns of presenting symptoms, which might provide a more rational basis for treatment.

Design

Baseline data were analysed for participants entering the Trial Of Proton-Pump Inhibitors in Throat Symptoms: age, body mass index, Reflux Symptom Index, Comprehensive Reflux Symptom Score, Laryngopharyngeal Reflux-Health-related Quality of Life questionnaire and Reflux Finding Score (RFS-endoscopic examination). The relationships between the questionnaires and demographic factors were assessed. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on individual symptom items in the combined questionnaires. The EFA factors were applied to a Cluster Analysis of participants, to explore the presence of identifiable patient.

Results

Throat clearing and globus were the highest ranked scores in the 344 participants. Increasing age was inversely associated with symptom severity (p<0.01). There was no relationship between the RFS and any of the three questionnaires. EFA resulted in a seven-factor model with clinically meaningful labels: voice, cough, gastrointestinal symptoms, airway symptoms and dysphagia, throat clearing, lump in throat, and life events. Cluster analysis failed to demonstrate any clinically meaningful clusters of patients.

Conclusion

This study offers a framework for future research and demonstrates that individual symptoms cannot be used to group patients. The analysis supports the use of a broad ‘umbrella’ term such as persistent throat symptoms.

Trial registration number

ISRCTN38578686.
Immunosuppressive tumor-associated macrophages expressing interlukin-10 conferred poor prognosis and therapeutic vulnerability in patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer
Authors: Xu Yijia , Zeng Han , Jin Kaifeng , Liu Zhaopei , Zhu Yu , Xu Le , Wang Zewei , Chang Yuan , Xu Jiejie
Published: March 2022

Background

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) secreting IL-10 could be a specific functional cell subset with distinct polarization state and suppressive role in antitumor immune response. Here, we assessed the associations of clinical outcome, therapeutic responses and molecular features with IL-10+TAMs infiltration, and potential impact of IL-10+TAMs on the immune contexture in muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC).

Methods

In this retrospective study, 128 patients and 391 patients with MIBC from Zhongshan hospital (ZS cohort) and The Cancer Genome Atlas cohort were included respectively. Immunohistochemistry was performed to quantify various immune cell infiltration in the ZS cohort. Single cell RNA sequencing and flow cytometry were performed to examine the functional status of IL-10+TAMs and its correlation with other immune cells. Survival analyses and assessment of the adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT) benefit analyses were also performed.

Results

High IL-10+TAMs infiltration was associated with inferior prognosis in terms of overall survival and recurrence-free survival, but superior chemotherapeutic response in MIBC. IL-10+TAMs with suppressive features were associated with immunoevasive tumor microenviroment characterized by exhausted CD8+T cells, immature NK cells and increased immune checkpoint expression. Additionally, high IL-10+TAMs infiltration showed a strong linkage with basal-featured subtype and augmented EGF signaling.

Conclusions

Immunosuppresive IL-10+TAMs contributed to an evasive contexture with incapacitated immune effector cells and increased immune checkpoint expression, therefore, predicting unfavorable clinical outcomes despite better ACT responsiveness. IL-10+TAMs might provide guidance for customized selection of EGFR-targeted therapy, FGFR3-targeted therapy as well as immunotherapy. The potential of immunosuppressive IL-10+TAMs as a therapeutic target is worth further exploration.
Development of a TCR-like antibody and chimeric antigen receptor against NY-ESO-1/HLA-A2 for cancer immunotherapy
Authors: Liu Xin , Xu Yixiang , Xiong Wei , Yin Bingnan , Huang Yuqian , Chu Junjun , Xing Changsheng , Qian Chen , Du Yang , Duan Tianhao , Wang Helen Y , Zhang Ningyan , Yu John S. , An Zhiqiang , Wang Rongfu
Published: March 2022

Background

The current therapeutic antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are capable of recognizing surface antigens, but not of intracellular proteins, thus limiting the target coverage for drug development. To mimic the feature of T-cell receptor (TCR) that recognizes the complex of major histocompatibility class I and peptide on the cell surface derived from the processed intracellular antigen, we used NY-ESO-1, a cancer-testis antigen, to develop a TCR-like fully human IgG1 antibody and its derivative, CAR-T cells, for cancer immunotherapy.

Methods

Human single-chain variable antibody fragment (scFv) phage library (~10∧11) was screened against HLA-A2/NY-ESO-1 (peptide 157–165) complex to obtain target-specific antibodies. The specificity and affinity of those antibodies were characterized by flow cytometry, ELISA, biolayer interferometry, and confocal imaging. The biological functions of CAR-T cells were evaluated against target tumor cells in vitro. In vivo antitumor activity was investigated in a triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) model and primary melanoma tumor model in immunocompromised mice.

Results

Monoclonal antibody 2D2 identified from phage-displayed library specifically bound to NY-ESO-1157-165in the context of human leukocyte antigen HLA-A*02:01 but not to non-A2 or NY-ESO-1 negative cells. The second-generation CAR-T cells engineered from 2D2 specifically recognized and eliminated A2+/NY-ESO-1+tumor cells in vitro, inhibited tumor growth, and prolonged the overall survival of mice in TNBC and primary melanoma tumor model in vivo.

Conclusions

This study showed the specificity of the antibody identified from human scFv phage library and demonstrated the potential antitumor activity by TCR-like CAR-T cells both in vitro and in vivo, warranting further preclinical and clinical evaluation of the TCR-like antibody in patients. The generation of TCR-like antibody and its CAR-T cells provides the state-of-the-art platform and proof-of-concept validation to broaden the scope of target antigen recognition and sheds light on the development of novel therapeutics for cancer immunotherapy.
Molecular Docking andin silicoEvaluation of Phytochemicals of Bioactive Methanolic Extract ofIpomoea mauritianaJacq. as Anti-Bacterial Agents
Authors: Roney Miah , Aluwi Mohd Fadhlizil Fasihi Mohd , Laman Fuad , Bhuiyan Mohiuddin Ahmed , Huq AKM Moyeenul
Published: March 2022

Antibacterial treatment has grown difficult due to the increasing growth in bacterial infections, as well as their tolerance to most first-line antibiotics. This is a severe danger to the world’s human health in the 21st century, necessitating further research to identify drugs with improved antibacterial effects and broad-spectrum functions. This study aimed to discover anti-bacterial agents through the molecular docking and in silico approach. Most responsive thirty (32) compounds on UPLC-Q-TOF/MS analysis were selected from our previous report to get the hit compound(s) against inhibition of cell wall synthesis, inhibition of protein synthesis, interference with nucleic acid synthesis, inhibition of a metabolic pathway, inhibition of membrane function and inhibition of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthase. From the molecular docking results, we afforded six compounds for cell wall synthesis protein, four compounds for protein synthesis protein, five for nucleic acid synthesis protein, three for metabolic pathway protein, four for membrane function protein and three for ATP synthase protein which eventually undergoes the pharmacokinetic and drug-likeness properties to obtain lead compound(s). Finally, we discovered that compounds Turpinionosides B, Polydatin, Ledebouriellol, and Pterodontoside A have the strongest binding interactions with cell wall synthesis, inhibition of protein synthesis and inhibition of metabolic pathway synthesis, interference with nucleic acid synthesis and inhibition of ATP synthase, inhibition of membrane function proteins, respectively. These compounds have the potential to become an anti-bacterial therapeutic candidate due to their promising pharmacological properties.
Geological and geotechnical investigations for the Salang highway, Afghanistan
Authors: Woods Norman , Karimi Mohammad , Jafari Ibrahim , Hinchliffe Richard
Published: March 2022

The present road over the Hindu Kush Mountain Range via the Salang Pass (termed the Salang Corridor) links the south of Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, with northern Afghanistan and Central Asia. It is the only route that allows year-round north–south passage of goods and people across the mountain range. However, the present road has suffered years of neglect and is now in a state of serious disrepair. In 2012, the United States Agency for International Development completed a study examining potential alternative routes. Three routes were selected for in-depth study and detailed engineering design. In mid-2017 SMEC International Pty Ltd were appointed to carry out a feasibility study to recommend the most suitable of the three routes and to then carry out a detailed design of the chosen route. This paper outlines the geological and geotechnical studies carried out during the project with a focus on investigations for the detailed design phase, and presents the geotechnical design recommendations arising from those investigations. This paper also explains the difficulties involved in carrying out the investigations including security issues, harsh weather conditions, and maintaining effective communication between the project team both in Afghanistan and around the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Defects, Fault Modeling, and Test Development Framework for RRAMs
Authors: Fieback Moritz , Medeiros Guilherme Cardoso , Wu Lizhou , Aziza Hassen , Bishnoi Rajendra , Taouil Mottaqiallah , Hamdioui Said
Published: March 2022

Resistive RAM (RRAM)
is a promising technology to replace traditional technologies such as Flash, because of its low energy consumption, CMOS compatibility, and high density. Many companies are prototyping this technology to validate its potential. Bringing this technology to the market requires high-quality tests to ensure customer satisfaction. Hence, it is of great importance to deeply understand manufacturing defects and accurately model them to develop optimal tests. This paper presents a holistic framework for defect and fault modeling that enables the development of optimal tests for RRAMs. An overview and classification of RRAM manufacturing defects are provided. Defects in contacts and interconnects are modeled as resistors. Unique RRAM defects, e.g., forming defects, require Device-Aware defect modeling which incorporates the defect’s impact on the device’s electric properties by adjusting the affected technology and electrical parameters. Additionally, a systematic approach to define the fault space is presented, followed by a methodology to validate this space. With this methodology, accurate fault modeling for contact, interconnect, and forming defects is performed and tests are developed. The tests are able to detect all faults in a time-efficient manner, thereby proving the effectiveness of the framework. Finally, an outlook on future RRAM testing is presented.
BACKM-EHA: A Novel Blockchain-enabled Security Solution for IoMT-based E-healthcare Applications
Authors: Wazid Mohammad , Gope Prosanta
Published: March 2022

E-health is the use of information and communication technology (ICT) for the healthcare-related services. It uses various types of digital technologies and telecommunications, such as computers, sensing devices, Internet, and mobile devices to deliver medical services. Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a communication environment optimized for low-power devices (for example, health sensors and actuators) and operation on, in, or around the human body (i.e., a patient). It can be used in various applications that are related to healthcare, such as “body automation,” “healthcare,” “medical monitoring,” “body interaction,” and “medical implants (i.e., pacemaker).” Most of the communications happen in IoMT-based e-healthcare system are wireless in nature. This may cause severe threats to the security of the system. Various information security-related attacks, i.e., replay, man-in-the-middle attack (MiTM), impersonation, privileged insider, unauthorised session key computation, credentials leakage, stolen verifier, malware injection are possible in IoMT-based e-healthcare system. These threats and attacks can create serious problems in the social life of an individual, as this may reveal their confidential healthcare information to other unauthorised parties. Therefore, it is essential to propose an access control and key management scheme to secure the communication of a IoMT-based e-healthcare system. Moreover, the security of such kind of scheme can also be enhanced through the deployment of a blockchain mechanism. Therefore, in this article, we propose a blockchain-enabled access control and key management protocol for IoMT-based e-healthcare system that is named as “BACKM-EHA” in short. The security analysis of proposed BACKM-EHA is also provided through the standard, i.e., “Real-Or-Random model.” The various conducted security analyses prove the security of BACKM-EHA against the different types of potential attacks. The performance of BACKM-EHA is better than the other existing schemes, as it requires less communication cost, computation cost, and provides more “security and functionality features.”
Assessment of Code, Which Aspects Do Teachers Consider and How Are They Valued?
Authors: Neutens Tom , Coolsaet Kris , Wyffels Francis
Published: March 2022

In many countries, computer programming is becoming an integral part of the secondary school curriculum. However, many teachers, especially in the first years of Flemish secondary school, have limited experience with teaching programming. To improve their knowledge about programming, many different types of professional development programs have been proposed. Nevertheless, these programs mostly focus on technical skills and less on pedagogical skills. One aspect that is often overlooked in these programs is how teachers can assess code. To get insight into what teachers currently value when assessing code, we designed an experiment that analyzes the different aspects teachers consider during the assessment of code. During the experiment, the teachers (N=13) assess a set of programs from five different fictional learners. After the assessment, they participated in a semi-structured interview, giving us insight into the assessment process. We evaluated the transcripts of the interviews using deductive thematic analysis using a coding schema defining the different aspects of code that can be assessed. Additionally, we linked the assessment strategies of teachers to their teaching experience. Our results indicate that many teachers are unaware of the different concepts that can be part of the assessment of code, which might lead to inaccurate or invalid feedback. Moreover, although our experimental group was too small to draw hard conclusions about the inter-case results, our results indicate that the number of concepts considered by teachers seems to increase with experience. These results provide an initial insight into the code assessment practices of teachers and reveals interesting pathways for future research into the assessment of code.
Toward High-quality Face-Mask Occluded Restoration
Authors: Feihong Lu , Hang Chen , Kang Li , Qiliang Deng , Jian Zhao , Kaipeng Zhang , Hong Han
Published: March 2022

Face-mask occluded restoration aims at restoring the masked region of a human face, which has attracted increasing attention in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. One major challenge of this task is the large visual variance of masks in the real world. To solve it we first construct a large-scale Face-mask Occluded Restoration (FMOR) dataset, which contains 5,500 unmasked images and 5,500 face-mask occluded images with various illuminations, and involves 1,100 subjects of different races, face orientations, and mask types. Moreover, we propose a Face-Mask Occluded Detection and Restoration (FMODR) framework, which can detect face-mask regions with large visual variations and restore them to realistic human faces. In particular, our FMODR contains a self-adaptive contextual attention module specifically designed for this task, which is able to exploit the contextual information and correlations of adjacent pixels for achieving high realism of the restored faces, which are however often neglected in existing contextual attention models. Our framework achieves state-of-the-art results of face restoration on three datasets, including CelebA, AR, and our FMOR datasets. Moreover, experimental results on AR and FMOR datasets demonstrate that our framework can significantly improve masked face recognition and verification performance.
DMCP: A Distributed Mobile Charging Protocol in Wireless Rechargeable Sensor Networks
Authors: Kaswan Amar , Jana Prasanta K. , Dash Madhusmita , Kumar Anupam , Sinha Bhabani P.
Published: March 2022

On-demand charging of sensor nodes (SNs) in wireless rechargeable sensor networks has garnered immense attention. Existing works with multiple mobile chargers (MCs) overlooked the benefits of partial charging and distributed control in large-scale wireless rechargeable sensor networks. In addition, most of them have not considered the complete heterogeneity of SNs’ energy profiles and idleness of the MCs. In this article, we address the aforesaid issues and present a game theory based distributed mobile charging protocol, called DMCP. We formulate the mobile charging problem as a series of repeated games played among the MCs and represent a game as a 0-1 integer linear programming to maximize the total profit of the MCs. In each game, DMCP dynamically determines the factor of charging of the energy-deficit SNs based on their relative criticality and selects the next-to-be-recharged SNs using an efficient bi-objective payoff function. In addition, it utilizes an innovative strategy and a self-enforcing agreement to promote cooperation among the MCs. Through extensive simulations and hypothesis testing, we show that DMCP reduces the charging delay up to 44.04% and enhances the charging coverage and survival rate up to 45.12% and 49.97%, respectively.
Competitive Bidding Strategies for Online Linear Optimization with Inventory Management Constraints
Authors: Lee Russell , Zhou Yutao , Yang Lin , Hajiesmaili Mohammad , Sitaraman Ramesh
Published: March 2022

This paper develops competitive bidding strategies for an online linear optimization problem with inventory management constraints in both cost minimization and profit maximization settings. In the minimization problem, a decision maker should satisfy its time-varying demand by either purchasing units of an asset from the market or producing them from a local inventory with limited capacity. In the maximization problem, a decision maker has a time-varying supply of an asset that may be sold to the market or stored in the inventory to be sold later. In both settings, the market price is unknown in each timeslot and the decision maker can submit a finite number of bids to buy/sell the asset. Once all bids have been submitted, the market price clears and the amount bought/sold is determined based on the clearing price and submitted bids. From this setup, the decision maker must minimize/maximize their cost/profit in the market, while also devising a bidding strategy in the face of an unknown clearing price. We propose DEMBID and SUPBID, two competitive bidding strategies for these online linear optimization problems with inventory management constraints for the minimization and maximization setting respectively. We then analyze the competitive ratios of the proposed algorithms and show that the performance of our algorithms approaches the best possible competitive ratio as the maximum number of bids increases. As a case study, we use energy data traces from Akamai data centers, renewable outputs from NREL, and energy prices from NYISO to show the effectiveness of our bidding strategies in the context of energy storage management for a large energy customer participating in a real-time electricity market.
Online Learning for Hierarchical Scheduling to Support Network Slicing in Cellular Networks
Authors: Song Jianhan , de Veciana Gustavo , Shakkottai Sanjay
Published: March 2022

We study a learning-based hierarchical scheduling framework in support of network slicing for cellular networks. This addresses settings where users and/or service classes are grouped into slices, and resources are allocated hierarchically. The hierarchy is implemented by combining a slice-level scheduler which allocates resources to slices, and flow-level schedulers within slices which opportunistically allocate resources to users/services. Optimizing the slice-level scheduler to maximize system utility is typically hard due to underlying heterogeneity and uncertainty in user channels and performance requirements. We address this by reformulating the problem as an online black-box optimization where slice-level schedulers (parameterized by a weight vector) combined with flow-level schedulers result in user/service level stochastic rewards representing performance fitness; the goal is to learn the best weight vector. We develop a bandit algorithm based on queueing cycles by building on Hierarchical Optimistic Optimization (HOO). The algorithm guides the system to improve the choice of the weight vector based on observed rewards. Theoretical analysis of our algorithm shows a sub-linear regret with respect to an omniscient genie. Finally through simulations, we show that the algorithm adaptively learns the optimal weight vectors when combined with opportunistic and/or utility-maximizing flow-level schedulers.
Evaluating FFT-based Algorithms for Strided Convolutions on ARMv8 Architectures?
Authors: Huang Xiandong , Wang Qinglin , Lu Shuyu , Hao Ruochen , Mei Songzhu , Liu Jie
Published: March 2022

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have been widely adopted in all kinds of artificial intelligence applications. Most of the computational overhead of CNNs is mainly spent on convolutions. An effective approach to reducing the overhead is FFT-based fast algorithms for convolutions. However, current FFT-based fast implementations cannot be directly applied to strided convolutions with a stride size of greater than 1. In this paper, we first introduce rearrangement- and sampling-based methods for applying FFT-based fast algorithms on strided convolutions. Then, the highly optimized parallel implementations of the two methods on ARMv8-based many-core CPU are presented. Lastly, we benchmark the implementations against the two GEMM-based implementations on this ARMv8 CPU. Our experimental results with convolutions of different kernel, and feature maps, and batch sizes show that the rearrangementbased method generally exceed the sampling-based one under the same optimizations in most cases, and these two methods can get much better performance than GEMMbased ones when the kernel, feature maps and batch sizes are large. The experimental results with the convolutional layers in popular CNNs further demonstrate the conclusion above.
On the Quantum Performance Evaluation of Two Distributed Quantum Architectures
Authors: Vardoyan Gayane , Skrzypczyk Matthew , Wehner Stephanie
Published: March 2022

Distributed quantum applications impose requirements on the quality of the quantum states that they consume. When analyzing architecture implementations of quantum hardware, characterizing this quality forms an important factor in understanding their performance. Fundamental characteristics of quantum hardware lead to inherent tradeoffs between the quality of states and traditional performance metrics such as throughput. Furthermore, any real-world implementation of quantum hardware exhibits time-dependent noise that degrades the quality of quantum states over time. Here, we study the performance of two possible architectures for interfacing a quantum processor with a quantum network. The first corresponds to the current experimental state of the art in which the same device functions both as a processor and a network device. The second corresponds to a future architecture that separates these two functions over two distinct devices. We model these architectures as continuous-time Markov chains and compare their quality of executing quantum operations and producing entangled quantum states as functions of their memory lifetimes, as well as the time that it takes to perform various operations within each architecture. As an illustrative example, we apply our analysis to architectures based on Nitrogen- Vacancy centers in diamond, where we find that for presentday device parameters one architecture is more suited to computation-heavy applications, and the other for networkheavy ones. We validate our analysis with the quantum network simulator NetSquid. Besides the detailed study of these architectures, a novel contribution of our work are several formulas that connect an understanding of waiting time distributions to the decay of quantum quality over time for the most common noise models employed in quantum technologies. This provides a valuable new tool for performance evaluation experts, and its applications extend beyond the two architectures studied in this work.
A Heavy Traffic Theory of Two-Sided Queues
Authors: Mahavir Varma Sushil , Theja Maguluri Siva
Published: March 2022

Motivated by emerging applications in online matching platforms and marketplaces, we study a two-sided queue. Customers and servers that arrive into a two-sided queue depart as soon as they are matched.
Learning traffic correlations in multi-class queueing systems by sampling queue lengths, with routing applications
Authors: Zubeldia Martin , Mandjes Michel
Published: March 2022

We consider a system of parallel single-server queues. Work of different classes arrives as correlated Gaussian processes with known drifts but unknown covariance matrix, and it is deterministically routed to the different queues according to some routing matrix.
On the Representation of Correlated Exponential Distributions by Phase Type Distributions
Authors: Buchholz Peter
Published: March 2022

In this paper we present results for bivariate exponential distributions which are represented by phase type distributions. The paper extends results from previous publications [3, 11] on this topic by introducing new representations that require a smaller number of phases to reach some correlation coefficient and introduces different ways to describe correlation between exponentially distributed random variables.